In response to Wednesday’s anti-SOPA blackouts on Wikipedia and other sites, Chris Dodd, the chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), released a statement calling the blackouts a “gimmick” and “an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services.”
The former senator, who was appointed to lead the Association in March 2011, criticized the blackout sites’ action as punishment for elected officials who strive to protect American jobs from “foreign criminals”.
“Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents and then called for all parties to work cooperatively together, some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging,” Dodd said.
MPAA, which includes the Paramount Pictures Corporation, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures Entertainment, says that it works to safeguard the interests of the American motion picture, home video and television industries around the globe.
