Motion Picture Association urges Congress to authorize site blocking to curb global piracy and protect U.S. jobs
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Summary
The Motion Picture Association told senators that global piracy causes billions in lost revenue and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and urged adoption of judicial site‑blocking measures used in other democracies to reduce traffic to illegal streaming sites.
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) told the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property that online piracy poses an economic threat to the U.S. film, television and streaming industry and urged Congress to authorize judicial site blocking.
Ms. Temple, senior executive vice president and global general counsel for the MPA, said the industry supports a judicial site‑blocking regime and emphasized that more than 55 countries have adopted no‑fault injunctions or blocking regimes that she said reduced traffic to piracy sites and increased legitimate consumption.
Temple said the industry generates $22,600,000,000 in exports with a $15,300,000,000 trade surplus and that, as of 2023, MPA member companies supported 2,300,000 American jobs and $229,000,000,000 in wages. She testified that piracy is massive: she cited an estimate of 91,800,000,000 visits to movie and TV piracy sites in 2022 and said piracy costs the U.S. creative industries about $29,200,000,000 in lost revenue and more than 230,000 jobs annually.
"These sites often may look legitimate, but are populated by stolen IP," Temple said, and told senators that foreign piracy operators often deploy sophisticated criminal infrastructure that also risks exposing consumers to malware, scams and data theft. She urged a legislative site‑blocking approach similar to models used in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and countries in the EU.
Senators questioned whether U.S. Internet service providers would cooperate; Temple said ISPs in other countries have been partners in site‑blocking regimes and suggested a targeted immunity for ISPs enforcing orders could be considered but said in many countries immunity has not been an obstacle to implementation. She added the MPA stands ready to work with Congress on legislative language and supporting tools, including watermarking and enforcement collaboration.
Senators indicated interest in pursuing site‑blocking legislation and asked Temple to submit proposed language and technical suggestions for committee consideration.