Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Ron Wyden made an appearance today at the Consumer Electronics Show here to voice their concerns about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and push their own solution, dubbed the OPEN Act.

LAS VEGASRep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Ron Wyden made an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show here today to voice their concerns about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and push their own solution, dubbed the OPEN Act.

"This is going to be a legal quagmire," Sen. Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said about SOPA and its Senate companion, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

Issa, a California Republican, called SOPA "massive legislation that would be expensive [and] hurt the Internet."

SOPA is intended to go after overseas, "rogue" Web sites that traffic in counterfeit or infringing content. The bill would allow the Justice Department to obtain a court order and take down these sites, and also get them removed from search engines. Detractors, however, argue that the bill could potentially harm Web sites that don't actually contain infringing content or were acting in good faith.

The OPEN Act from Wyden and Issa would have the International Trade Commission handle these rogue Web sites instead of the DOJ. Issa is set to introduce the OPEN Act on Jan. 17, one day before he holds a hearing on security issues surrounding the Domain Name System (DNS).

Since the 30s, the ITC has been the place to go to stop unreasonable trade practices and foreign import, so it is a "logical" choice to handle this issue, Issa argued. The ITC also usually addresses things in a faster and cheaper manner than the federal courts, he said.

The "Russian oligarchs" running these rogue Web sites are not going to show up in court, Issa said. The OPEN Act would give the ITC the ability to "follow the money," issue injunctions, and shut down those sites, mainly by cutting off their payment options.

"We're not claiming that the ITC is perfectly prepared," but OPEN is a better solution than SOPA, Issa said.

Wyden and Issa championed the grass-roots opposition to SOPA and PIPA. "Educate the public, [and] have the public educate Congress," Issa said. "Whether you're looking at OPEN, SOPA or a third bill, get Congress educated."

"Both sides agree that copyright infringement is a serious problem," Wyden said. The difference is that Wyden and Issa "don't believe that you ought to go out and do all this damage to the architecture of the Internet [and] the DNS in the name of stopping copyright infringement."

With SOPA and PIPA both working their way through their respective chambers, meanwhile, there's a "crucial window" to get an alternative like the OPEN Act on the table before the other two bills are passed, Wyden said.

The Senate is scheduled to take up PIPA later this month, and Wyden pledged to strongly fight against it, possibly even filbustering if it came to that. He said, however, that he is "sympathetic" to content owners, as his father was an author. But "that's not a justitcaition for going out and saying you're going to do all this damages to the Internet," he said.

Some high-profile companies have come out against SOPA, including Facebook, Twitter, and Google. But smaller firms have also joined the fight, from Tumblr to Reddit. Yesterday, in opposition to SOPA; that same day, Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit.com, is scheduled to testify at Issa's hearing.

Reddit users have been actively working to oppose SOPA, with some members starting campaigns against pro-SOPA members of Congress who are up for re-election. One member they targeted was Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, though he was never a SOPA co-sponsor. The controversy surrounding his stance on the bill prompted the congressman to release a statement against SOPA this week.

"The Internet is one of the most magnificent expressions of freedom and free enterprise in history. It should stay that way. While H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, attempts to address a legitimate problem, I believe it creates the precedent and possibility for undue regulation, censorship and legal abuse," Ryan said. "I do not support H.R. 3261 in its current form and will oppose the legislation should it come before the full House."

During Wednesday's press conference, Issa said he had spoken with Ryan about his opposition to SOPA and that Ryan now backed the OPEN Act. A spokesman for Ryan confirmed that he had spoken to Issa about online piracy issues, but said that Ryan has not signed on as an official co-sponsor of the OPEN Act.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Rep. Ryan as a Democrat.