Issa Introduced Legislation to Block Piracy Sites

The proposed American Copyright Protection Act targets large-scale VPNs and DNS resolvers to curb unauthorized media access.

Updated on Sept. 21, 2026 in Cybersecurity

Issa Introduced Legislation to Block Piracy Sites

Live Poll

Should the U.S. government require internet service providers to block websites for copyright enforcement?

Representative Darrell Issa introduced the American Copyright Protection Act, which would force ISPs, DNS resolvers, and large VPNs to restrict access to foreign piracy sites. This legislation marks a significant expansion of site-blocking authority for copyright holders in the United States.

Why it matters

The bill seeks to accelerate the enforcement of intellectual property rights by mandating that service providers act on court-ordered site blocks for content released within 24 hours. It introduces a specific threshold for regulatory compliance, excluding smaller services from these federal requirements.

Service providers with at least 100,000 monthly users in the United States must comply with blocking orders within 14 to 30 days. Courts retain the power to shorten this implementation window for time-sensitive content such as live sports.

The players

Darrell Issa

A U.S. Representative who serves on House committees overseeing intellectual property and technology policy.

The details

Under the proposed framework, copyright holders must petition a federal court to designate a domain as a foreign piracy site. Once an order is issued, service providers—including ISPs, DNS resolvers, and VPNs—are required to prevent user access to that site. The legislation mandates that providers protect movies and TV shows released within 24 hours of their authorized distribution, though the bill explicitly prohibits courts from dictating the specific technical implementation method used to achieve the block.

Representative Issa discussed draft legislation at a House hearing in June 2025.
The American Copyright Protection Act was introduced on September 14, 2026.

The Tech Race

This legislation builds upon the long-standing legal precedents established by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by shifting from individual takedown notices to infrastructure-level blocking. It signals a move toward forcing network-level intermediaries to police content access at the point of distribution.

If enacted, the bill would potentially lead to increased blocking of foreign domains by major U.S. service providers and VPN networks. Users who rely on these services to access international content may find certain sites unreachable under the proposed judicial mandates.

The takeaway

The proposed legislation highlights a growing legislative focus on using network infrastructure to enforce copyright compliance. Stakeholders should track the bill's progress in committee as the representative's retirement at year-end adds uncertainty to its legislative future.