Republican Representative Darrell Issa has formally introduced the American Copyright Protection Act in the United States Congress, a bill that would allow copyright owners to seek court orders requiring internet service providers (ISPs), domain name system (DNS) resolvers and virtual private networks (VPNs) to block access to foreign piracy sites. The measure would give US copyright owners a tool already available in many European countries.
What the bill proposes#
The proposed act says American courts could issue web-blocking orders against:
- broadband internet access services
- providers of domain name resolution services
- virtual private networks
An earlier draft of the bill did not include VPNs.
Web-blocking against ISPs has been available in many European countries for years. Record companies and sports broadcasters have increasingly sought court orders that extend blocking duties to other kinds of internet companies. Although the music industry now talks less about piracy, music companies have been prolific users of web-blocking where it is available. Movie studios and sports broadcasters also support the tactic.
Opposition from Re:Create#
The Re:Create Coalition has criticised the bill, describing it as a “one-sided legal process modelled on European site-blocking laws which have been shown to cause widespread censorship”. The group said the measure would “violate American due process, First Amendment rights and American ingenuity”.
Executive Director Brandon Butler said the proposed web-blocks “threaten user privacy and risks catastrophic collateral damage to the open web”. He added that the “fast-track site-blocking scheme bypasses effective legal channels, undermines the digital ecosystem and invites copyright abuse – disrupting small businesses, nonprofit and internet users across the globe”.
Previous US web-blocking fights#
Earlier attempts to add web-blocking to US copyright law led to a major backlash from the technology sector. Wikipedia blacked out its English language service for 24 hours in protest in 2012, and the proposals were dropped. For many years the idea was not revived, even as courts in other countries began regularly issuing web-blocking injunctions.
In more recent years, copyright industries, especially the movie industry, have lobbied again for an American web-block law and have found some support in Washington.
Parallel bills and European friction#
Issa’s bill is not the only web-blocking proposal in Congress. Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren introduced the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act last year, and various senators are backing similar provisions in the draft Block BEARD Act.
In most other countries, ISP-focused web-blocking was implemented with little drama once courts began issuing orders. More recent European efforts to force VPNs and DNS resolvers to block piracy sites have been more controversial.
Cisco, which operates the OpenDNS domain name resolution service, has criticised applying web-blocks to DNS resolvers. The company has shut down OpenDNS in countries where such blocks have been introduced, including France, Portugal and Belgium.
Critics have long argued that web-blocks do not fully work because web-savvy users can circumvent them. Copyright owners counter that any hurdle placed in front of piracy services is useful, and that blocks become harder to bypass if VPNs and DNS resolvers also enforce them. Opponents say forcing VPNs and especially DNS resolvers to implement blocking is more problematic and can affect the stability and security of the wider internet.
Re:Create, whose membership includes technology sector groups, has published a one-page summary of objections to the American Copyright Protection Act. It points to issues created by web-blocking in Europe, including Cisco’s withdrawal of OpenDNS from some markets, and says that “forcing network providers to automatically block DNS queries introduces severe risks to internet stability and reliability”.
