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Site-Blocking Legislation Is Back. It’s Still a Terrible Idea.

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More than a decade ago, Congress tried to pass SOPA and PIPA—two sweeping bills that would have allowed the government and copyright holders to quickly shut down entire websites based on allegations of piracy. The backlash was immediate and massive. Internet users, free speech advocates, and tech companies flooded lawmakers with protests, culminating in an “Internet Blackout” on January 18, 2012. Turns out, Americans don’t like government-run internet blacklists. The bills were ultimately shelved. 

Thirteen years later, as institutional memory fades and appetite for opposition wanes, members of Congress in both parties are ready to try this again. 

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Act Now To Defend the Open Web  

The Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act (FADPA), along with at least one other bill still in draft form, would revive this reckless strategy. These new proposals would let rights holders get federal court orders forcing ISPs and DNS providers to block entire websites based on accusations of infringing copyright. Lawmakers claim they’re targeting “pirate” sites—but what they’re really doing is building an internet kill switch.

These bills are an unequivocal and serious threat to a free and open internet. EFF and our supporters are going to fight back against them. 

Site-Blocking Doesn’t Work—And Never Will 

Today, many websites are hosted on cloud infrastructure or use shared IP addresses. Blocking one target can mean blocking thousands of unrelated sites. That kind of digital collateral damage has already happened in Austria, This article has been indexed from Deeplinks

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