A bill introduced in the US House of Representatives would allow copyright owners to petition federal judges directly for orders blocking access to foreign piracy sites, adding to existing rules under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The measure was introduced by Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA). Issa said current DMCA procedures for blocking such sites are too slow for the current digital landscape.
How the blocking process would work
Under the bill, a court finding that a webpage qualifies as a foreign piracy site could order service providers to block access to it in the United States.
- Copyright owners could petition a federal judge after judicial review.
- Orders could be adjusted or rescinded based on further legal action.
Opposition from advocacy groups
Brandon Butler, executive director of Re:Create, an advocacy group focused on the US copyright system, opposes the bill.
“By codifying a one-sided legal process modeled on European site-blocking laws, which have been shown to cause widespread censorship, this bill violates American due process, First Amendment rights, and American ingenuity.”
Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, said:
“Rather than attacking the problem at its source by bringing the people running overseas piracy websites to court, Congress and its entertainment industry allies have decided to build out a sweeping infrastructure for censorship. Site-blocking orders force any service provider, from residential broadband providers to global DNS resolvers, to disrupt traffic from targeted websites simply accused of copyright infringement.”
