SOPA fighters vs Comcast
Steve Welch, who wants to replace US Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., is willing to defy Pennsylvania's most successful company to help his online-startup pals
Chester County engineer-businessman Steve Welch, founder of Mitos (now part of Parker Hannifin) and KinderTown and the start-up tech firm developer Dreamit Ventures, and one of the Republican candidates jockeying to knock off US Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., this fall, has added his voice to the Google-led chorus of critics of the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in Congress.
“As someone who has been intimately involved in the startup of multiple web-based companies, this SOPA/PIPA legislation is the perfect example of how out–of-touch Washington is with the real world," Welch begins.
“As someone who has been intimately involved in the startup of multiple web-based companies, this SOPA/PIPA legislation is the perfect example of how out–of-touch Washington is with the real world," Welch begins.
Of course, SOPA isn't a wholly made-in-Washington creation. It's backed by Fox News owner News Corp., CBS, Disney-ABC, TimeWarner, the NFL, Major League Baseball - and NBC owner Comcast, the most successful company (by market value) still based in Pennsylvania, and one of the Philadelphia region's biggest employers.
Supporters of SOPA, want to get paid for the content they produce, when companies like Google's YouTube retail it, free or cheap, to Internet and smartphone users. They don't want to end up like newspapers, giving away their content online, for free.
SOPA opponents, like the start-ups in Welch's world, want online content to be easily re-transmittable, or at least shielded from the threat of relentless legal protests, so they can sell ads and subscriptions and otherwise get paid for distributing content someone else created.
"Protecting Intellectual Property Rights is something we need discuss," but SOPA "goes beyond that," Welch charges. Ignoring the law's corporate beneficiaries, he says the rule would "empower regulators" and "bureaucrats," along with unnamed "power brokers in Washington," who could "shut down and censor websites based on very loosely-defined terms in this legislation."
I asked Welch aid Peter Towey if Welch has talked to anyone at Comcast, one of his biggest potential corporate constituents, about why it supports SOPA and what its defeat will mean for the company's business. His reply: "As a Senator Steve would work to ensure that not only Comcast’s ideas are protected, but so are the ideas of every Pennsylvanian are when it comes to Intellectual Property Rights." Also: "As a Senator Steve would continue to build on his preexisting relationship with Comcast that he has through Dreamit to ensure that there are strong protections in place for intellectual property rights."
SOPA opponents, like the start-ups in Welch's world, want online content to be easily re-transmittable, or at least shielded from the threat of relentless legal protests, so they can sell ads and subscriptions and otherwise get paid for distributing content someone else created.
"Protecting Intellectual Property Rights is something we need discuss," but SOPA "goes beyond that," Welch charges. Ignoring the law's corporate beneficiaries, he says the rule would "empower regulators" and "bureaucrats," along with unnamed "power brokers in Washington," who could "shut down and censor websites based on very loosely-defined terms in this legislation."
I asked Welch aid Peter Towey if Welch has talked to anyone at Comcast, one of his biggest potential corporate constituents, about why it supports SOPA and what its defeat will mean for the company's business. His reply: "As a Senator Steve would work to ensure that not only Comcast’s ideas are protected, but so are the ideas of every Pennsylvanian are when it comes to Intellectual Property Rights." Also: "As a Senator Steve would continue to build on his preexisting relationship with Comcast that he has through Dreamit to ensure that there are strong protections in place for intellectual property rights."
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Joseph N. DiStefano | Columnist
Alaine K. Arnott, For The Inquirer
Associated Press
Abdel Kareem Hana and Toqa Ezzidin, Associated Press
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