Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), Ranking Member on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, released the following statement in support of the Internet blackout protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act. Additionally, Rep. Eshoo blacked out her website in support of the Internet protest (http://eshoo.house.gov), and tweeted her support.

Rep. Eshoo: "History is being made by the more than 10,000 websites that have chosen to boycott SOPA by participating in today's blackout.

"Members of Congress need to hear about the consequences of SOPA, and when they do, they'll learn of the serious consequences to the Internet the bill poses. It's time to pull up the emergency brake on this legislation."

Eshoo's website:

Background:

Rep. Eshoo is opposed to online piracy and committed to combating it, but this legislation would cause substantial harm to innovation and the economic opportunities created by the Internet. Specifically, the legislation gives the government broad new authority to order Internet Service Providers to implement various filtering technologies on their networks and create new forms of private legal action against websites. Eshoo previously sent a letter along with a group of bipartisan Members to Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith and Ranking Member John Conyers, expressing their opposition to H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). They expressed concern that the legislation would give the government broad new authority to order Internet Service Providers to implement various filtering technologies on their networks and create new forms of private legal action against websites.

In that letter, the Members wrote: "At a time of continued economic uncertainty, this legislation will result in fewer new businesses, fewer new investments, and fewer new jobs. 'Rogue websites' are no doubt a serious problem and we fully support targeted measures to shut them down. Like you, we understand the importance of combating piracy to protect the intellectual property of the American entertainment industry from copyright infringement in other parts of the world. We believe this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. The SOPA as written, however, is overly broad and would cause serious and long term damage to the technology industry, one of the few bright spots in our economy. We hope you will work with the technology community to find narrow and targeted remedies against online infringers. We also stand ready to work with you and your colleagues to find a solution that protects innovation, while combating against truly 'rogue' websites." The full letter by the bipartisan group of Members can be found here.