The coronavirus continues to dominate the headlines. What many folks aren’t reporting is how (and why) the World Health Organization (WHO) has dropped the ball on responding to the pandemic. Well, TPA is talking about that. In a new op-ed ([link removed]) , TPA’s Director of Policy Ross Marchand explains how the WHO is protecting China instead of coronavirus victims. “Despite being ‘asked’ to contribute half a billion dollars each year to the global bureaucracy, U.S. taxpayers have watched as the WHO kowtows to China amid the authoritarian regime’s missteps in containing the coronavirus. The American people, and the entire world, deserve better than a corrupt cabal of bureaucrats fiddling while the world burns (or coughs).” But even though the coronavirus has dominated the headlines and, yes, our op-ed topics for the week, TPA is still in the business of providing sizzling hot takes
on a variety of issues, including…intellectual property (IP).

Online Pirates Could Kill Baby Yoda

Yes, I am going to defend Hollywood. I know it’s fun to make fun of Hollywood, but we all watch movies and/or binge watch our favorite shows on Netflix or Hulu. These new and novel offerings are regularly compromised by online piracy, which makes it exceedingly difficult for content creators to earn their due. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center, this wanton theft costs the economy more than $29 billion per year in lost revenue. Online pirates are ruining the experience for law-abiding denizens of the digital domain by stealing the content outright. According to British piracy-tracking company MUSO, “global piracy numbers reached almost 190 billion pirate site visits in 2018 [latest year available].” Unsurprisingly, TV-related piracy took up the lion’s share of incidents, followed by film and music theft. These visits result in significant, tangible losses for content creators. In 2017, scholars from Chapman University and Carnegie Mellon
University noted, “we are aware of 26 peer-reviewed journal articles studying the economic harm caused by piracy, with 23 of them finding piracy causes significant harm to legal sales.”

Fortunately for consumers, authorities around the globe are picking up the pace on enforcement. In 2019, an 18-country joint operation undertaken by the European police agency and local offices managed to take down more than 30,000 sites continent-wide. Not all efforts need rely on immediate law enforcement actions. A 2020 report by the Information Technology & Innovation Association finds that, “The European Union is starting to use specific voluntary agreements to limit advertising on piracy websites and mobile applications that infringe copyrights or disseminate counterfeit goods, including by integrating parts of TAG’s European operations into these agreements.”

These voluntary and law enforcement actions complement each other and are succeeding in sending a strong message to infringers that their piracy days are numbered. In fact, America can stand to learn a thing or two as lawmakers review and consider restructuring the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. While the groundbreaking legislation envisioned this sort of cooperative private and public framework, the legal framework has morphed into a patchy system which places too much responsibility on creators to bring pirates to justice. America must move beyond this outdated system and work closely with its international partners to bring online thieves to justice.

Senseless Census Hysteria

There is plenty of hysteria in the world. The last thing needed is fake hysteria. Recently, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel took to Twitter to fret about people who lack internet access being counted in this year’s Census. But there are several safeguards in place to ensure that everyone participates. Plus, more than 87 percent of Americans have access to the internet. Rosenworcel tweeted that this was the nation’s “first online census.” To dub this the nation’s first online census is exaggerating the point, given that responders could fill out surveys online in 2010. People can also fill out their surveys in paper form in 2020, as they have been able to do since the first Census in 1790. Invitations to complete the Census online are being mailed out beginning this week.

While there is certainly a push for people to complete their questionnaires online this year, there are back-up plans to ensure that people are counted. The bureau discovered some connectivity issues while doing address canvassing in some remote locations in West Virginia and Washington but says that data will be stored and encrypted until the device used by workers is connected to the internet. On top of this, the bureau will mail paper questionnaires to the 20 percent of households located in areas of limited connectivity and to older populations less likely to be tech-savvy. And for the first time, every household can answer census questions by phone. Communities are also stepping up to ensure they are counted. There is a big push in Prince George’s County in Maryland for public awareness campaigns and assistance after roughly 30 percent of residents were not counted during the 2010 Census – and, that was in the days of primarily paper surveys.

Rosenworcel told Axios that the FCC “radically overstates” the level of broadband service, as its figures suggest that 21 million Americans don’t have broadband while Microsoft estimates that 162 million people don’t have broadband. But we are talking about broadband (i.e. download speeds of 25 megabits per second), not no internet access at all. If a device can run Netflix at 5 Mbps, one would think it could pull up a census questionnaire. The concern over the digital divide is overblown. The Census Bureau has established many safeguards to make sure that everyone who chooses to participate can take part in the decennial population count.

Blogs:

Monday: Watchdogs Slam Taxpayer-Funded World Health Organization for Coronavirus Response ([link removed])

Wednesday: World Health Organization protects China instead of coronavirus victims ([link removed])

Thursday: Time for Online Pirates to Walk the Plank ([link removed])

Friday: Coronavirus Paid Sick Leave Benefit Not What the Doctor Ordered ([link removed])

Media:

March 9, 2020: The New York Post (New York, N.Y.) mentioned TPA in their story, “Europe’s impotent anti-Trumpism and other commentary.”

March 9, 2020: The Center Square ran TPA’s op-ed, “State lawmakers look to protect local internet providers from KentuckyWired partner.”

March 10, 2020: The Tennessee Star (Nashville, Tenn.) mentioned TPA in their story, “Some Senate Republicans Might Not Go Along with Lamar Alexander on Surprise Medical Billing.”

March 11, 2020: The Washington Examiner (Washington, D.C.) ran TPA’s op-ed, “World Health Organization protects China instead of coronavirus victims.”

March 11, 2020: Townhall ran TPA’s op-ed, “Broadband Study Finds States Implementing Better Accountability Measures for Grants.”

March 11, 2020: TPA Policy Director Ross Marchand appeared on “Stu Does America” (BlazeTV) to discuss millennial attitudes toward capitalism and socialism.

March 12, 2020: WBFF (Fox, Baltimore) interviewed me about government spending to combat the coronavirus.

March 12, 2020: Townhall ran TPA’s op-ed, “Coronavirus Paid Sick Leave Benefit Not What the Doctor Ordered.”

March 12, 2020: Townhall ran TPA’s op-ed, “Time for Online Pirates to Walk the Plank.”

March 12, 2020: TPA Policy Director Ross Marchand appeared on “The Ben Ferguson Show” (WERC 92.1 FM & 600 AM; Memphis, Tenn.) to talk about government spending to combat the coronavirus.

March 12, 2020: The American Conservative ran TPA’s op-ed, “Yes To A Coronavirus Vaccine, No To More Government Slush Funds.”

March 13, 2020: TPA Policy Director Ross Marchand appeared on “The Charlie James Show” (WTMA 1260 AM; Charleston, S.C.) to talk about government spending to combat the coronavirus.

Have a great weekend, and as always, thanks for your continued support.

Best,
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1401 K Street, NW
Suite 502
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx
www.protectingtaxpayers.org ([link removed])

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