Site-Blocking
Site-blocking is a draconian enforcement tool sought by Big Content since the dawn of the internet, a legal mechanism to force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to prevent users from accessing a foreign website or online service based on an alleged copyright violation.
Re:Create opposes site-blocking legislation because…
- Site-blocking leads to overblocking. Innocent, lawful uses are inevitably impacted by site-blocking’s take down orders.
- Site-blocking legitimizes dangerous mechanisms for internet censorship and hurts free speech and expression online. It undermines American leadership on freedom of speech and weakens our moral authority to denounce censorship abroad.
- One-sided judicial proceedings are fundamentally unfair and unconstitutional.
- There are significant technical and privacy problems with site-blocking.
- The DMCA’s notice-and-takedown system already gives rightsholders massive power to enforce copyright regulations online.
- The U.S. Copyright Office declined to support site-blocking in the 2020 Section 512 DMCA report and instead called for more study.
- Site-blocking frameworks serve as a tool for widespread censorship in other countries and concerns about similar legislation violating fundamental rights are now being raised.