Murdoch Takes to Twitter
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch took to Twitter yesterday to express his distaste for the position taken by the Obama Administration on controversial online piracy legislation currently moving through the House and Senate.
His Twitter tirade came just hours after the Obama Administration issued a statement on the two pieces of anti-piracy legislation—the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act in the Senate—in response to an online petition asking for a veto of the legislation that received more than 51,000 signatures.
The administration’s statement said that while online piracy was harmful and important to combat, they would "not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber-security risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet."
The evening following the petition's release, Murdoch, CEO of media conglomerate News Corporation, took to Twitter to vent.
"So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery," he tweeted.
Murdoch went on to attack Google specifically, tweeting: “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying.”
News Corp. includes 20th Century Fox, the producer of such films as “Alien” and “Home Alone.” Murdoch seemed to have this company in mind when he tweeted that “Film making risky as hell. This [Online piracy] has to lead to less, hurting writers, actors, all concerned.”
Both bills will be cause for debate upon Congress' return, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has scheduled a Jan. 24 vote on a motion to begin debate on the Senate bill, and the lengthy SOPA markup is expected to continue in the House Judiciary Committee.
