The news that Netflix is expanding its presence on Capitol Hill isn’t going over well with the Internet community. First, headlines started traveling around the web associating FLIXPAC with the hugely unpopular SOPA, and now a popular Anonymous-affiliated twitter account has started urging its followers to boycott the video streaming service.
“Dear freedom lovers, @netflix is forming a PAC to push for a new version of SOPA, cancel your sub and go back to pirating!” tweeted @youranonnews.
Netflix has issued statement distancing itself from SOPA, PIPA, or other anti-piracy legislation, but this damage might be hard to undo. Corporate PR doesn’t hold much water in many circles, and Anonymous holds tremendous sway in the twittersphere.
This flap will also make any FLIXPAC attempts at navigating the new controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) near impossible. That legislation has already raised suspicions amongst many of the same groups that opposed SOPA, with a few notable exceptions – major technology companies. If Netflix wants to enter that fight now, it will have to be prepared for becoming a focal point.
Netflix ended up staying neutral when it came to the original SOPA legislation. FLIXPAC, according to the statement, will focus on “issues including network neutrality, bandwidth caps, usage based billing and reforming the Video Privacy Protection Act."
