The Digital Freedom Campaign responded to today’s hearing on H.R. 5353, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008. The following statement can be attributed to Maura Corbett of the Digital Freedom Campaign.“We are most appreciative of the Committee for holding today’s hearing on Net Neutrality. And in many ways, we have outgrown the term, as what we are really talking about now is the Open Internet versus the Closed Internet.This is especially important because even at today’s hearing, we continued to experience the myths that distract us from addressing this.We must stop confusing the Open Internet and commercial piracy. Open Internet does not mean open season on copyrighted content. It does not mean all-you-can-eat content for free, rampant commercial piracy, rights holders without rights or outright stealing. Content and conduit are two entirely different considerations, and it is always when we mix up the two that we get ourselves into trouble.As some testimony suggested today, we must resist the urge to deputize ISPs as the copyright right police as this could impose a host of unintended consequences. We believe that piracy must be prevented, but not at the expense of eroding the openness of Internet. These benefits have allowed new independent artists the opportunity to reach new listeners and build a fan bases. This is the exact type of benefit that needs to be protected and not derailed by short sided attempts to impose overreaching solutions to curb online piracy.”