Whitehouse: Legitimate Businesses May Enable Piracy

AT&T, Google and Visa got what could be described as unintentional, unwanted attention from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) June 23 during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when discussion turned to the growing problem of online piracy.

Describing piracy as possibly "the biggest transfer of wealth in history," Sen Whitehouse discussed how legitimate businesses can play a role in enabling online piracy. He went on to describe how with a few clicks of a mouse one can use a search engine such as Google to help find the Web sites where illegal content can be downloaded over the networks operated by an Internet service provider like AT&T and how illegal content can be bought using payment systems provided by credit card companies such as Visa. "A lot of legitimate businesses are supporting online piracy," Sen Whitehouse said in asking a panel of private sector representatives whether they are working with these businesses to help combat IP theft.