It's pretty rare these days to have legislation drafted in Congress on bipartisan basis that attempts to address a serious national problem in a meaningful way. Sure, bipartisanship may still occur in naming post offices or designating a new national Peanut Butter Day or Green Pea Day, but not much else.
But Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Adam Schiff (D-CA) released a discussion draft of the Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors (Block BEARD) Act of 2025. The legislation, if adopted, would allow copyright owners who have had their property stolen to seek an order in federal court to block dedicated foreign online piracy operations from making that stolen content available to American households.
Foreign websites pirating American movies, TV shows, art, and books steal tens of billions of dollars from the U.S. economy each year. This theft of Americans' intellectual property enabled by foreign websites costs the U.S. creative community hundreds of thousands of jobs. Consumers are harmed through the malware, phishing, identity theft, and financial fraud perpetuated online by the international pirates.
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Here is a short summary of what the Discussion Draft intends to accomplish copied from Senator Tillis's press release:
The Block BEARD Act would empower copyright owners to seek U.S. federal court orders against foreign websites dedicated to digital piracy, preventing them from making stolen content accessible to American households. To obtain relief, copyright holders must present evidence of specific harm and demonstrate the criminal nature of the targeted site. Courts could then direct internet service providers block access to the identified sites, while granting those providers immunity from liability, including for claims related to the petitioner’s actions. The legislation includes strong public interest safeguards to protect free expression, due process, and legitimate online services operating in compliance with U.S. law. This targeted legal tool mirrors successful approaches used in over 50 democratic countries to curb foreign piracy operations that undermine creative industry jobs and expose users to malware, identity theft, and fraud.
While it's always possible the draft bill might be improved as it goes through the legislative process, the draft appears to strike a proper balance in addressing what is a very serious problem of foreign theft of the intellectual property of the U.S. creative community while safeguarding the legitimate interests of others, including online providers.
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