US bill brings back blocking of foreign websites

A dozen members of the US House of Representatives on Thursday jointly introduced a new bill intended to make allegedly copyright-infringing websites, sometimes called 'rogue' websites, virtually disappear from the internet.

Rep. Lamar Smith is one of the sponsors of the Stop Online Piracy Act. Image credit: US House of Representatives

The bill, called the Stop Online Piracy Act (PDF), with the web-blocking portions known as the 'e-Parasite Act', represents a long-anticipated escalation by major copyright holders to curb online piracy and counterfeit goods via the law. It would force search engines, some DNS providers and others to make the target site effectively 'invisible' to web users.

Representative Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who heads the House Judiciary committee, said the measure will help "stop the flow of revenue to rogue websites and ensures that the profits from American innovations go to American innovators".

Some differences to the Protect IP Act, a related bill, include that search engines are explicitly defined; foreign websites are treated differently to US websites; and the general-purpose law used to prosecute not-for-profit copyright infringements has been made more Draconian.

For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Copyright bill revives internet 'death penalty' on CNET News.