<b><i>Online Extra</b></i> Google GC Calls Out MPAA 'Secret' SOPA Campaign

The movie industry was already having a bad week with the Sony hacking and then the fallout between North Korea and Hollywood over 'The Interview.' Now Kent Walker, Google Inc. senior vice president and general counsel,'has spoke out against the Motion Picture Association of America'in a blog post on Dec. 18. He says he is 'deeply concerned' about reports the MPAA has led a secret campaign to revive failed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) legislation.

Back in 2012, a massive online protest helped'scuttle the legislation, which would have expanded U.S. law enforcement's ability to fight online copyright infringement.'NextGov's Brendan Sasso says'it was a top priority for the entertainment industry, but 'the backlash was a traumatic lesson for members of Congress about the danger of siding against tech companies and Internet activists, who warned the bill could break the Internet.'

The anti-SOPA protest'was comprised of 115,000 websites waging a campaign that in a single day saw Congress receive 8 million phone calls and 4 million emails.

The backlash is coming back. Walker alleges the MPAA and six movie studios (including Sony) met to conspire as to how to secretly revive the legislation. He quotes a recent article by The Verge's Russell Brandom, with the apt title''Project Goliath: Inside Hollywood's Secret War Against Google,''for his information. Brandom partially uses leaked emails from the Sony hack as his source, which he says reveal a 'multiyear effort to 'respond to/rebut Goliath's public advocacy' and 'amplify negative Goliath news,” and'significance evidence suggests Goliath equals Google.

The New York Times reports'the movie-industry group has conspired with state attorneys general, in particular SOPA supporter Jim Hood, the Mississippi state attorney general, to draft legal documents to be served on Google. 'While we of course have serious legal concerns about all of this, one disappointing part of this story is what this all means for the MPAA itself,' says Walker. He says the organization's founding ideal was to promote and defend the First Amendment. 'Why, then, is it trying to secretly censor the Internet?' he asks.

Marlisse Silver Sweeney writes for'Corporate Counsel, an ALM sibling of Entertainment Law & Finance. Foloow her on Twitter'@MarlisseSS.

The movie industry was already having a bad week with the Sony hacking and then the fallout between North Korea and Hollywood over 'The Interview.' Now Kent Walker, Google Inc. senior vice president and general counsel,'has spoke out against the Motion Picture Association of America'in a blog post on Dec. 18. He says he is 'deeply concerned' about reports the MPAA has led a secret campaign to revive failed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) legislation.

Back in 2012, a massive online protest helped'scuttle the legislation, which would have expanded U.S. law enforcement's ability to fight online copyright infringement.'NextGov's Brendan Sasso says'it was a top priority for the entertainment industry, but 'the backlash was a traumatic lesson for members of Congress about the danger of siding against tech companies and Internet activists, who warned the bill could break the Internet.'

The anti-SOPA protest'was comprised of 115,000 websites waging a campaign that in a single day saw Congress receive 8 million phone calls and 4 million emails.

The backlash is coming back. Walker alleges the MPAA and six movie studios (including Sony) met to conspire as to how to secretly revive the legislation. He quotes a recent article by The Verge's Russell Brandom, with the apt title''Project Goliath: Inside Hollywood's Secret War Against Google,''for his information. Brandom partially uses leaked emails from the Sony hack as his source, which he says reveal a 'multiyear effort to 'respond to/rebut Goliath's public advocacy' and 'amplify negative Goliath news,” and'significance evidence suggests Goliath equals Google.

The New York Times reports'the movie-industry group has conspired with state attorneys general, in particular SOPA supporter Jim Hood, the Mississippi state attorney general, to draft legal documents to be served on Google. 'While we of course have serious legal concerns about all of this, one disappointing part of this story is what this all means for the MPAA itself,' says Walker. He says the organization's founding ideal was to promote and defend the First Amendment. 'Why, then, is it trying to secretly censor the Internet?' he asks.

Marlisse Silver Sweeney writes for'Corporate Counsel, an ALM sibling of Entertainment Law & Finance. Foloow her on Twitter'@MarlisseSS.