Music Sales and General IP theft

As far as Intellectual Property is concerned, I have been an avid supporter my entire life (as most of us have). I am a BIG fan of Spotify , I've enjoyed buying MP3 albums from iTunes and Amazon for the past 8 or so years, and before that, I bought thousands of CD's, tapes and vinyl - and that's just the music. When I saw a chance to email my Senator, Chuck Schumer,  regarding IP theft, I quickly composed and sended'd.
I wanted to share the letter I received in return...

Dear Mr. Parker:

     Thank you for your letter regarding S.968, the PROTECT IP Act. I share your concerns about intellectual property theft and have continued to fight for legislation that protects American workers and companies from counterfeiters, which is why I am an original co-sponsor of S.968, the PROTECT IP Act in the 112th Congress.  

     The threat to intellectual property owners is clear. Every year, the US Chamber of Commerce estimates that copyright theft costs our nation about $58 billion in lost output, 373,375 in lost jobs, and $16 billion in lost employee earnings. These numbers present an unacceptable burden to US businesses. In addition, companies are less likely to innovate because their products may be stolen by intellectual property pirates. These real and perceived fears are an enormous drag on the US economy.

     As you may know, PROTECT IP Act provides law enforcement and intellectual property holders additional tools to protect American intellectual property from websites.  The PROTECT IP Act would allow the Department of Justice to seek a court order against the domain name of the site providing the illegal goods. If the site is not registered by a US company, the DOJ could approach various third parties, such as payment processors, to prevent funds and visitors from reaching the offending websites selling counterfeit and other goods which violate intellectual property rights. The PROTECT IP Act currently is awaiting action on the floor of the Senate, and I eagerly await its passage.

     Thank you for contacting me on this important issue.  Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can ever be of assistance to you on this, or any other matter.  

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senator

Working for Paul and Eminem at Shady records, I have learned a lot about music theft and computer hacking. The language regarding domain names outside of the country is particularly important as many music thieves are from outside our borders. It's reassuring to see level headed leaders tackling such an amorphic issue. Thanks Chuck!

HELL YUP