Government intervention fails and makes the harms of the affirmative worse

But lawmakers seemed hesitant to implement drastic legislation, with many suggesting they would prefer companies came to agreements among themselves. "I think it's important that we recognise, as with doctors, first do no harm," said Representative Zoe Lofgren. Representative Adam Smith seemed sympathetic to the issues faced by the internet companies. In their testimony, Oyama and Sieminski and others presented evidence of a growing issue of abusive takedown notices being used to censor critical commentary or interfere with "legitimate competition." Smith said there should be statutory damages for the abusive use of takedown notices, as there is for copyright infringement. "I hope you can all figure out a way to solve this problem without getting the government involved," said Representative Poe. Somewhat ironically for a Congressman, he added: "Because government makes it worse, not better."