Writers Guild of America East is sending a team of writers down to Washington to brief lawmakers on issues surrounding net neutrality and piracy.
One of their goals is to make the point that preserving an open Internet does not mean open season on content piracy and that preserving that openness and protecting it from content are not mutually exclusive. They are against piracy, but for being able to reach audiences directly rather than through filters--as in consolidated media companies--that might limit that access.
The group, led by WGAE President Michael Winship, will hold court in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room, the site of numerous debates on piracy protection, which is under its jurisdiction.
On hand to give their views will be a mix of on-air and online writers including Tom Ruprecht (How I Met Your Mother and formerly the Letterman show); Gina Gionfriddo, (Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Cold Case); Duane Tolllison, news writer for CBS; Daryn Strauss, DigitalChickTV.com; and Thom Woodley of Dinosaur Diorama, which creates online video series.
WGAE comes down about once a year to get some face time with legislators for what they are billing as the Internet from the creators' perspective, though that would be the creators of content, not of the internet.
