Titan Media says U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), introducing a bill aimed at curbing arbitrary subpoena power against online file-swappers, used anti-gay sentiment and homophobia "to distort the facts and cloud the true issues," when he singled out Titan – who has fought online piracy of its videos – during committee hearings last week.
"Theatrical antics and salacious sound bites may grab headlines," said Titan attorney Gill Sperlein September 22, "but the attempt to use Titan Media as a sacrificial lamb does not ring true."
Brownback held a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing last week, during which he introduced a bill requiring the copyright holder to file John Doe lawsuits, instead of just asking for and serving subpoenas to obtain identifying information of Internet users. The Brownback bill would also allow digital transmission content providers to impose a mark on their transmissions that tells other electronic gadgets electronically that the content cannot be distributed over the Internet.
"I support strong protections of intellectual property," Brownback told the September 16 hearing. "And I will stand by my record in support of property rights against any challenge. But I cannot in good conscience support any tool such as the DMCA information subpoena that can be used by pornographers, and potentially even more distasteful actors, to collect the identifying information of Americans, especially our children."
Sperlein told AVN Online Titan has used the Digital Millenium Copyright Act subpoena authority to find the identities of infringers "but we dealt quickly and quietly with them and resolved them. Without making them public. Just because we create adult material doesn't mean we have some sort of ill intent for acquiring the data."
Brownback's singled out Titan during the hearing for filing a subpoena in July against SBC Communications, demanding the ISP reveal 59 subscribers Titan believes swapped its videos online in violation of Titan copyrights. Sperlein said Brownback is looking to divert attention from "the real issues" – the Senator's own presumed anti-gay agenda, including a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
"Upon news that a 'gay pornographer' was marginally involved in the controversy," Sperlein said, "the Senator immediately started his anti-gay attack without any foundation in fact…Even greater irony lays in the fact that Titan Media is using the…subpoenas to assist in removing adult material from P2P networks where children can easily view it, while the Republican Senator is trying to protect those who distribute adult materials on the networks. It appears that Senator Brownback's disdain for homosexuals outweighs his desire to protect children from adult materials."
Titan served eleven DMCA-rooted subpoenas against major ISPs like Comcast, Yahoo, SpeakEasy, and others prior to the SBC subpoena, and each time the other ISPs complied, letting Titan contact the individual and remove the stolen copyright materials from cyberspace without publicly exposing the individuals in question. Sperlein said Brownback's idea for the John Doe lawsuits would actually guarantee public disclosure of a file swapper's identity by way of public court documents.
"(We're) part of the solution, not part of the problem," he said. "Titan Media values the protection of children above the privacy rights of 'shoplifters' that make adult materials available freely and anonymously to millions of P2P users."
