New Bill Aims to Curb Foreign Piracy in the US
Legislation aimed at countering “foreign piracy sites” has been introduced in the US Congress. The proposed Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors (Block BEARD) Act empowers copyright holders to petition federal courts for site-blocking orders against piracy websites, reports 24brussels.
This bipartisan initiative, spearheaded by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Adam Schiff (D-CA), represents another significant effort to combat digital piracy. Earlier this year, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) introduced the Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA), which seeks to compel Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to foreign piracy sites.
Under the Block BEARD Act, copyright holders who discover infringing materials on foreign websites can request a court to label these sites as “foreign piracy sites.” The court will assess whether the copyright holder has suffered harm from the infringement and evaluate whether the targeted site is “primarily designed” for infringing purposes.
If designated as a “foreign piracy site,” copyright holders can subsequently petition the court to mandate ISPs to prevent access to the site for users within the US. Website owners will also be afforded the opportunity to contest both the order and the piracy site designation.
Previous attempts to block piracy sites in the US met with significant backlash, including widespread internet activism against proposed regulations over a decade ago. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) criticized the new site-blocking measures earlier this year, arguing that they are “dangerous, unnecessary, and ineffective.” The organization pointed out that restricting access to a single domain can inadvertently affect thousands of other sites sharing the same cloud infrastructure, and noted that determined users can easily circumvent these blocks using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
Despite these concerns, Schiff maintains that the Block BEARD Act aims to “protect creators and consumers alike from foreign criminal enterprises seeking to steal our intellectual property and exploit Americans.”