VPNs dodge a bullet — New US piracy bill targets ISPs but leaves VPNs alone
The bicameral bill merges two previous legislative drafts into a single proposal aimed at giving copyright holders the power to compel intermediaries to block foreign pirate sites.However, Representative Darrell Issa's competing American Copyright Protection Act (ACPA) included VPNs in its scope. This high financial threshold easily captures tech giants like Google and Cloudflare.Yet, the proposed legislation specifically carves out an exemption for virtual private network (VPN) tools. First, a federal court must formally classify a website as a "foreign digital piracy site." To qualify, the platform must be primarily designed for copyright infringement or intentionally marketed as a piracy destination.Once designated, rightsholders can return to a judge to request a formal blocking order.
- ▪The bicameral bill merges two previous legislative drafts into a single proposal aimed at giving copyright holders the power to compel intermediaries to block foreign pirate sites.However, Representative Darrell Issa's competing American Co
- ▪This high financial threshold easily captures tech giants like Google and Cloudflare.Yet, the proposed legislation specifically carves out an exemption for virtual private network (VPN) tools.
- ▪First, a federal court must formally classify a website as a "foreign digital piracy site." To qualify, the platform must be primarily designed for copyright infringement or intentionally marketed as a piracy destination.Once designated, ri
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| Original publisher | TechRadar |
| Canonical URL | https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/vpns-dodge-a-bullet-new-us-piracy-bill-targets-isps-but-leaves-vpns-alone |
| Publication time | Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:22:35 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-09-30T15:32:01.917Z |
| Last seen | 2026-09-30T15:32:01.917Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Cluster | A_8Pa5N2BxHc · 1 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
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| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
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VPN VPN Privacy & Security VPNs dodge a bullet — New US piracy bill targets ISPs but leaves VPNs alone News By Rene Millman Published 30 September 2026 The newly introduced DEFEND IP Act targets broadband providers and DNS resolvers to fight overseas piracy, but explicitly excludes virtual private networks When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Shutterstock) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter The DEFEND IP Act is a new bicameral site-blocking bill targeting ISPs, DNSThe bill explicitly exempts VPNs from carrying out blocking ordersIt allows…
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