Republican bill would order ISPs, DNS providers, and VPNs to block piracy sites

Representative Darrell Issa has circulated the American Copyright Protection Act of 2026, a bill that would let copyright holders obtain court declarations that a foreign web location is primarily a piracy site and then seek court orders forcing network operators to block it. The statute would apply to ISPs, DNS resolvers and VPN services with at least 100,000 U.S. monthly users, exempting root nameserver operators, top-level domain registries and certain on‑premises Wi‑Fi. Courts could grant a declaration on a preponderance‑of‑the‑evidence standard and then issue blocking orders; providers would generally have 14 days to object but judges could accelerate deadlines for time‑sensitive events such as live sports broadcasts or content released within 24 hours.

Industry and civil‑liberties groups warn the measure would create a sweeping censorship infrastructure ripe for abuse, threaten user privacy, and risk widespread “overblocking” that would disrupt legitimate businesses and services. Opponents point to European examples where site‑blocking schemes affected payment processors, healthcare providers and hundreds of otherwise lawful sites, and to Cloudflare’s resistance to Italy’s DNS‑based enforcement. The Motion Picture Association and some lawmakers argue site blocking is a necessary tool against overseas piracy and its alleged links to criminal networks; critics counter that VPNs and other evasive actors will limit effectiveness while collateral damage will hit small businesses, nonprofits and the broader open web. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.