I wrote to my senator to ask what his views were that caused him to sponsor such a bill.  He replied:

Dear Mr. Hoerr:

Thank you for regarding the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), S. 3804.  On September 20, 2010, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced this legislation and on November 18th it was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  However, action was not taken on the floor of the Senate before the completion of the 111th Congress.

The Internet is an invaluable resource for millions of people worldwide and I agree that it is important that access remain unfettered.  However, illegal activity such as online piracy and counterfeiting has become increasingly pervasive and has assumed a potentially threatening form.  For this reason, I have cosponsored S. 3804.  I disagree that this legislation would inhibit free speech, rather, it simply gives law enforcement new tools to ensure that intellectual property receives the same legal protections online as it would anywhere else. An amendment offered by Senator Leahy and adopted as part of the legislation helped to strengthen the privacy protections in the bill by eliminating a provision that would have authorized the Department of Justice to publish the domain names only suspected of copyright infringement, but against which the government has taken no action.

Currently, the federal government does not have the necessary tools to combat websites that traffic in pirated music, movies and other intellectual property, as well as counterfeit goods such as pharmaceuticals.  Many of the websites engaged in digital piracy and counterfeiting are foreign-owned and operated.  However, this illegal activity impacts the American economy, consumers and businesses.  This legislation would allow the Department of Justice to obtain civil court orders against only those domain names that have the sole purpose of offering pirated content or counterfeit goods. COICA would apply to domain names registered in the United States, as well as those registered elsewhere under certain circumstances. A domain name registered abroad would be covered by this legislation if it provides access to a site offering pirated content or counterfeit material, and the site’s activities have a commercial effect in the United States

COICA includes safeguards to allow the domain name owner or site operator to petition the court to lift the order, including in the situation where the operator takes effective steps to exclude pirate or counterfeiting activity from the site.  It also would allow for a dismissal of an order if the domain name has been deleted following expiration of its registration and has been re-registered by a different party.

Again, thank you for contacting me regarding this legislation. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future regarding this or any other matter of concern.

Sadly, he’s pretty naive that law enforcement has any idea how the internet works.

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