A bill giving the government the power to shut down Web sites that host materials that infringe copyright is making its way quietly through the lame-duck session of Congress, raising the ire of free-speech groups and prompting a group of academics to lobby against the effort.

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) was introduced in Congress this fall by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). It would grant the federal government the power to block access to any Web domain that is found to host copyrighted material without permission.

Critics say the bill is both a giveaway to the movie and recording industries and a step towards widespread and unaccountable censorship of the Internet.

Opponents note that the powers given the government under the bill are very broad. Because the bill targets domain names and not specific materials, an entire Web site can be shut down. So for example, if the US determines that there are copyright-infringing materials on YouTube, it could theoretically block access to all of YouTube, whether or not particular material being accessed infringes copyright.

If this passes (and give me a good reason why it won’t), then you know what’s next — China-style censorship for content the government doesn’t like.




  1. tdkyo says:

    Wait, does it applies to all domains (including foreign ones) regardless where the website is hosted (such as not in the US)? I feel some countries might have a problem if it is the case…

  2. ? says:

    Shutdown eBay then, as it is a pirate’s den and counterfeiter’s playground.

  3. LDA says:

    “Senate Bill 510”

  4. bb says:

    #1: Yes it does apply to foreign websites. The headline is disingenuous as websites are *not* shutdown, they are trying to be more clever than that. The bill establishes a black list of sites that must be dropped from all DNS servers, e.g., a reference to ‘musicsharesite.com’ would return a 404, site not found.

    And yes, that’s lame and easily bypassed. And makes the bill, besides bad in concept, also lame and stupid.

  5. Orion314 says:

    This god-damned evil government is totally out of control. Time for the peasants and peons to storm the Bastille with clubs, pitchforks and torches.
    Soon, VERY soon, getting on the web is going to be as much fun as going thru airport security. I wish they’d just stop fucking around and openly launch REX 84…then maybe the people would finally see how deep the shit we are in really is. What will it take to wake up ‘mericans from there generation long coma? Of course, what is going on here is the salami theory being perfectly executed by Hitler’s spawns, i.e remove peoples rights one at a time (like slicing a salami) and before you know it, the salami is gone, and so are our rights.

  6. Luc says:

    I thought it was a Marc Perkel article when I saw the title. I’ve known about that bill for years.

  7. Improbus says:

    Someone wake me up when its time to storm Washington D.C. and hang us some mofos.

  8. jbenson2 says:

    materials that infringe copyright

    Goodbye YouTube.
    Goodbye search engines.

  9. jbenson2 says:

    Luc worte

    I thought it was a Marc Perkel article when I saw the title. I’ve known about that bill for years.

    For years? Well! Aren’t you special! COICA was introduced in Congress this fall by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

  10. msbpodcast says:

    And this is a surprise because?

    We may have spawned several billion dollar enterprises as a side-effects of the unleashing in the DOD’s internet pet project, but it was definitely not the intent of the internet in the first place.

    The internet is as open as the gummint lets it be.

    And apparently, the era of free-wheeling is over.

    Domestic choke holds are enough to stop the messages, emails, PDFs, audios, videos and other files (be they clear, DRMd or encrypted.)

    This gummint can use the fact that other gummints usually aren’t sophisticated enough NOT to rely on the internet for communications.

    ISP are stuck using the internet, the CanAmerican gummint can use the Internet 2. (Remember that really fast internet, developed between universities and other research facilities that can shovel data around really fast? Yes THAT ONE!)

    The Gummint uses IPv6 on THAT ONE and we get stuck with IPv4 and NAT on “slow” commercially available switches running over “dirty” fiber.

  11. GigG says:

    Name one other illegal activity that the government doesn’t have the legal ability to shut down?

    Just because it is on the internet doesn’t make it OK to break the law.

  12. Angel H. Wong says:

    And if you think that getting enough signatures from the constituents is going to make them change their mind think again.

    Those signatures are useless, at best that paper where they’re signed on will be used as toilet paper because the only signatures these Senators are interested in are the ones on the checks they get from lobbyists and special interest groups..

  13. jbenson2 says:

    #11 – Good thing we live in a country where the government never exceeds or abuses it regulatory power.

  14. dusanmal says:

    @GigG Yes, after proving the parties guilty first. Govt. can’t just come to any business and say we think you are operating illegal something… we lock your doors. Govt. can investigate, get Court order and prove wrongdoing to be able to define something illegal. And the accused party has right to defense and is presumed innocent. This puts the whole process on its head for Internet and only Internet. There you are presumed guilty and to be “unlocked” you need to prove you are innocent.

    @bb You can easily bypass it now. But it provides legal basis for worse to come. Add to it international treaties and soon whole World could be under Chinese-like Internet oppression. Once passed in principle, its scope and efficiency can easily be expanded.

  15. JimD says:

    Don’t worry, if it is defeated in the Lame Duck Congress, the Repukes will BRING IT BACK, IN THE NEW CONGRESS !!! We all know how far up the A$$ of Big Business the Repukes have their noses !!!

  16. jbenson2 says:

    #15 JimD

    Nice try, but the bill was written and introduced by by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

  17. JMJahn says:

    Helpless is the boy or girl, that just knows how to point and click ….

    What delusional person sees the future as a bright and cheery place ?

    Now to eat, all this talk of salami has made me hungry.

  18. chuck says:

    As anyone who watches “Law & Order” knows, with the Patriot Act, the government can do anything to anyone for any reason.

    It’s a good thing that Obama will repeal it as soon as he is elected. Wait, what? He got elected 2 years ago?

  19. Angel H. Wong says:

    #17 Jm,

    Everyone knows we have to protect our children from these images

    http://superdickery.com/images/stories/oneshot/smartbombstudios-justice.jpg

  20. ethanol says:

    @jbenson2,

    You are on a roll, stop using logic and facts by golly! I would add to your your post #13 that it does it at the behest of large corporations and ultra-rich individuals. Think of how ridiculous the copyright and patent laws have become…

  21. The0ne says:

    There’s a lot of crazy bills in Congress at any given time. By this I mean daily. For instance, there might be a bill there from me to ban craziest nutballs like some here from continuing to persuade even crazier nutballs like me from owing a gun.

    That and a bill to Ban Boobs, Pedro and myself from DU 🙂

  22. Charleton says:

    If websites are outlawed, then only outlaws will have websites. I don’t think the DNS filter will work, a DNS can be anything anywhere and can certainly be outside the jurisdiction of the US. If kiddie pr0n, bomb instructions, or nekkid pictures aren’t enough to justify Big Brotherfication of the internet then there’s always Mickey’s Law (copyright).

  23. Obama: The Stool Softener Years says:

    We should shut the entire net down to protect the children.

  24. Dallas says:

    I agree this is very bad.

    Unfortunately, Congress is now campaigning for 2012 so it may pass esp if attached to some defense contractor pork called the “support our troops bill”.

    I expect Pres. Obama to veto it.

  25. The Pirate says:

    Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Remember this name, he is stealing your culture. Notice that he is a Democrat.

    Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Remember this name, he is stealing your culture. Notice that he is a republican.

    President Barack Obama (D). Remember this name, he is stealing your culture. Notice that he is a Democrat.

    The list goes on … just like Sally, just like Sue, there aint no difference between the two

    Remember downloading something IS NOT ILLEGAL(yet)! No matter how much “they” tell you it is, it isn’t (yet). Providing copyrighted material you don’t own is illegal, however extended copyrights, 95/120 years or life plus 70 years, is theft of your culture!

    Copyright is an agreement between society and creators granting a temporary protected monopoly for the benefit of the creators, and then after a reasonable period of time reverts to public domain allowing society to benefit as a whole for providing this protection.

    This isn’t happening.

    Corrupt politicians have perverted the intent of the copyright law. Every time copyrights are set to expire they change the rules (every time – look it up). Special interests are not society.

    Your culture is being stolen.

  26. SimonSezz says:

    #25, Under current U.S. law it is not illegal to download, but it is illegal to “copy and distribute copyrighted music. Criminal penalties for first-time offenders can be as high as five years in prison and $250,000 in fines, even if you didn’t copy and distribute for financial or commercial gain.”

    So by downloading someone else’s copy you are indeed ‘copying’ the item.

    So you say your culture is being stolen? What about small bands that are on an indie label? What about their livelihood being stolen? What about small software companies that release shareware and then it’s cracked and distributed for free online? What is that programmer supposed to do, work for free?

    The internet is like the wild west right now. Everyone does what they want with little to no consequences. I think there needs to be a worldwide online enforcement system, sort of like the FBI. Sure you would lose privacy, but if you have no morals and feel the need to download everything for free then why should your government have any morals? An eye for an eye. If piracy wasn’t so rampant then the government wouldn’t be bothering with stuff like this.

  27. deowll says:

    The Fed Gov and and sold out law makers are the most what is wrong with this nation.

    Of course we elected them and keep re-electing them.

  28. The Pirate says:

    @SimonSez
    Saying the mantra over and over impresses me not. Nor are you completely accurate.

    The what about and what if questions impress me not. Confusing the argument is childish at best.

    I never said no copyrights exist or shouldn’t exist. What I said was “… extended copyrights, 95/120 years or life plus 70 years, is theft of your culture!”.

    14 years, one renewal, 28 years total. This is fair and as intended. Don’t assume by the nom de plume that you are wizened to what I think, you fail in this regard.

    “Sure you would lose privacy, but if you have no morals and feel the need to download everything for free then why should your government have any morals?”, your argument fails here also. Serving the public in a government position means (or is supposed to mean) that you serve the public, not the corporate interests, period.

    It was once “legal” to kill Jews in a certain country because of a law, the being Jewish law. Just because these “laws” (uh-huh) were passed by politicians didn’t make it right, period.

  29. SimonSezz says:

    In your own argument you fail to separate the corporations and the people. Most of these musicians are the public. So by enforcing the copyright law on the internet you are serving the public, because you are protecting the rights of the musicians who worked hard to make the music and to record it and promote it. Only a small number of artists make it to a major corporate label.

  30. The Pirate says:

    Simonsez.
    /Yawn.
    You are confused with the real issue. Get back to me after ya figure it out.


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