Official Bill Info

• Latest Action: Dec 17, 2010 By Senator Leahy from Committee on the Judiciary filed written report. Report No. 111-373.

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• Committee Assignment: Senate Judiciary

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  This bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary committee.

Bill Statistics on OpenCongress

Contribution Data

OpenCongress Bill Summary

• This bill would give the Department of Justice new power to shut down entire internet domains if they deem copyright infringement to be "central to the activity of the Internet site or sites accessed through a specific domain name." It would also require the DoJ to maintain a public list of sites they have determined are "dedicated to infringing activities," but for which they have not taken action against yet. Net neutrality and free speech advocates fear that the ambiguous wording of the bill could lead it to being used against sites like Rapidshare and YouTube that allow users to control content, and blogs that use excerpts from media articles under fair use.

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  Here's a summary from OpenCongress.org: This bill would give the Department of Justice new power to shut down entire internet domains if they deem copyright infringement to be "central to the activity of the Internet site or sites accessed through a specific domain name." It would also require the DoJ to maintain a public list of sites they have determined are "dedicated to infringing activities," but for which they have not taken action against yet. Net neutrality and free speech advocates fear that the ambiguous wording of the bill could lead it to being used against sites like Rapidshare and YouTube that allow users to control content, and blogs that use excerpts from media articles under fair use.

Supporting Organizations

• US Chamber of Commerce

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• Screen Actors Guild

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• Viacom

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• Motion Picture Association of America

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• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States

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• Property Rights Alliance

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• Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse

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• Association of American Publishers

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• NBC Universal

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• Entertainment Software Association

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• Merck

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• Johnson and Johnson

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• Xerox Corporation

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• Warner Music Group

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• Tiffany & Co

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• Major League Baseball

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• Fortune Brands

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• Nike Inc

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• International Brotherhood of Teamsters

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• International Association of Fire Fighters

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• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

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• Building & Construction Trades Department

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• Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union

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• Communication Workers of America

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Opposing Organizations

• Electronic Frontier Foundation

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• Distributed Computing Industry Association

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• Center for Democracy & Technology

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Most-commented sections of the bill text

• S. 3804 (7 comments, Link )

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  specifically, this section of the legislation: "S. 3804",
• (B) VOLUNTARY ACTIONS- No domain name registry, domain name registrar, financial transaction provider, or service that provides advertisements to Internet sites shall be liable to any person on account of any action described in this subsection voluntarily taken if the entity reasonably believes the Internet site is dedicated to infringing activities or to prevent the importation into the United States of goods or services described under subsection (a)(2) offered by such an Internet site. (2 comments, Link )

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  specifically, this section of the legislation: " (B) VOLUNTARY ACTIONS- No domain name registry, domain name registrar, financial transaction provider, or service that provides advertisements to Internet sites shall be liable to any person on account of any action described in this subsection voluntarily taken if the entity reasonably believes the Internet site is dedicated to infringing activities or to prevent the importation into the United States of goods or services described under subsection (a)(2) offered by such an Internet site. ",
• (I) to offer goods or services in violation of title 17, United States Code, or that enable or facilitate a violation of title 17, United States Code, including byut not limited to offering or providing access to, without the authorization ofin a manner not authorized by the copyright owner or otherwise by operation of law, copies or phonorecords of, or public performance or display of,s or displays of works protected by title 17, in complete or substantially complete form, by any means, including by means of download, transmission, or otherwise, including thestreaming, or other transmission, provision of a link or aggregated links to other sites or Internet resources for obtaining such copies for accessing such performance or displays; or‘(iiaccess to such copies, phonorecords, performances, displays, goods, or services; or (1 comments, Link )

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  specifically, this section of the legislation: " (I) to offer goods or services in violation of title 17, United States Code, or that enable or facilitate a violation of title 17, United States Code, including byut not limited to offering or providing access to, without the authorization ofin a manner not authorized by the copyright owner or otherwise by operation of law, copies or phonorecords of, or public performance or display of,s or displays of works protected by title 17, in complete or substantially complete form, by any means, including by means of download, transmission, or otherwise, including thestreaming, or other transmission, provision of a link or aggregated links to other sites or Internet resources for obtaining such copies for accessing such performance or displays; or‘(iiaccess to such copies, phonorecords, performances, displays, goods, or services; or ",

Highest Rated User Comments

• On September 28, 2010, by nmeagent - They are going to have a hell of a time censoring foreign DNS servers or preventing individuals from routing to them.

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  As noted by nmeagent, a user on OpenCongress.org, on September 28, 2010, "They are going to have a hell of a time censoring foreign DNS servers or preventing individuals from routing to them."
• On September 29, 2010, by libercogito - This is a beautiful example of why people that don't understand technology shouldn't be permitted to legislate it. This bill would do absolutely nothing but establish a dangerous precedent. The sponsors and writers of this bill should be ashamed at themselves for publically displaying such starling ignorance. This bill will not affect piracy, because unlike our brilliant legislators, the average pirate actually has a decent grasp of the technology. Not resolving a domain name will not stop traffic to that domain. Rogue DNS providers will spring up immediately, it isn't as though creating a DNS server is challenging. Beyond that, domain names are an entirely unnecessary conveniance...people will just use the IP addresses.

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  As noted by libercogito, a user on OpenCongress.org, on September 29, 2010, "This is a beautiful example of why people that don't understand technology shouldn't be permitted to legislate it. This bill would do absolutely nothing but establish a dangerous precedent. The sponsors and writers of this bill should be ashamed at themselves for publically displaying such starling ignorance. This bill will not affect piracy, because unlike our brilliant legislators, the average pirate actually has a decent grasp of the technology. Not resolving a domain name will not stop traffic to that domain. Rogue DNS providers will spring up immediately, it isn't as though creating a DNS server is challenging. Beyond that, domain names are an entirely unnecessary conveniance...people will just use the IP addresses. "
• On September 27, 2010, by BenVreeland - This bill seems ripe for abuse. It empowers the government through the courts to censor web content from the American public. This is being pushed by the Motion Picture Association of America but, a wall is a wall. Once the barriers are in place is there any way to stop the courts from ruling that site like Wikileaks are “dedicated to infringing activities?”

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  As noted by BenVreeland, a user on OpenCongress.org, on September 27, 2010, "This bill seems ripe for abuse. It empowers the government through the courts to censor web content from the American public. This is being pushed by the Motion Picture Association of America but, a wall is a wall. Once the barriers are in place is there any way to stop the courts from ruling that site like Wikileaks are “dedicated to infringing activities?”"

Highly Rated Blog Articles

• H.Res.200: Providing for consideration of the joint resolution ... - April 02, 2011 by opencongress.org - This Bill currently has no wiki content. If you would like to create a wiki entry for this bill, please Login, and then select the wiki tab to create it. ..... Opposing Bill, Opposing Senator, Opposing Representative. S.3804 Combating Online Infr.. ... Ope

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  As noted by opencongress.org on April 02, 2011, "This Bill currently has no wiki content. If you would like to create a wiki entry for this bill, please Login, and then select the wiki tab to create it. ..... Opposing Bill, Opposing Senator, Opposing Representative. S.3804 Combating Online Infr.. ... Ope" (http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-hr200/show)
• H.Con.Res.28: Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of ... - March 07, 2011 by opencongress.org - This Bill currently has no wiki content. If you would like to create a wiki entry for this bill, please Login, and then select the wiki tab to create it. ..... Opposing Bill, Opposing Senator, Opposing Representative. S.3804 Combating Online Infr.. .... Op

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  As noted by opencongress.org on March 07, 2011, "This Bill currently has no wiki content. If you would like to create a wiki entry for this bill, please Login, and then select the wiki tab to create it. ..... Opposing Bill, Opposing Senator, Opposing Representative. S.3804 Combating Online Infr.. .... Op" (http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-hc28/show)
• autumnrayne.dot.net » Blog Archive » A Letter From Sen. Cardin re ... - January 03, 2011 by autumnrayne.dot.net - Thank you for regarding the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), S. 3804. On September 20, 2010, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced this legislation and on November 18th it was reported out of the Senate ...

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  As noted by autumnrayne.dot.net on January 03, 2011, "Thank you for regarding the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), S. 3804. On September 20, 2010, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced this legislation and on November 18th it was reported out of the Senate ..." (http://autumnrayne.net/archives/332)

Highly Rated News Articles

• Piracy, Counterfeiting, Web Domains & the Evolution of Property Rights - December 20, 2010 by Digital Society - ...Internet presence. As noted before in this space, the Feds are aggressively pursuing this option (see here), and the proposed S. 3804 would create additional tools (here, here and here). Content creators are also pursuing private enforcement options, pe

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  As noted by Digital Society on December 20, 2010, "...Internet presence. As noted before in this space, the Feds are aggressively pursuing this option (see here), and the proposed S. 3804 would create additional tools (here, here and here). Content creators are also pursuing private enforcement options, pe" (http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/12/piracy-counterfeiting-web-domains-the-evolution-of-property-rights/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=piracy-counterfeiting-web-domains-the-evolution-of-property-rights)
• The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act ("COICA") Moves to the ... - December 08, 2010 by JD Supra (press release) - ... (D-Vt) and senior Republican member Orrin Hatch (R-Ore) have introduced the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act ("COICA")(S. 3804)1[1], ...

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  As noted by JD Supra (press release) on December 08, 2010, " ... (D-Vt) and senior Republican member Orrin Hatch (R-Ore) have introduced the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act ("COICA")(S. 3804)1[1], ... " (http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=f22a46d0-a667-49cf-afe0-1d7bcfae9965)
• Protecting Property on the Internet - December 08, 2010 by The American | American Enterprise Institute - ...of immunity, out of concern that their incentives for blocking a content site might not be pure. The original version of S.3804 was introduced on September 20 (the version voted out by Judiciary was a last-minute modification), and the opposition began

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  As noted by The American | American Enterprise Institute on December 08, 2010, "...of immunity, out of concern that their incentives for blocking a content site might not be pure. The original version of S.3804 was introduced on September 20 (the version voted out by Judiciary was a last-minute modification), and the opposition began " (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/American/~3/46_ntSlVL8M/get-the-governments-hands-on-this-junk)