Ron Wyden again spoke out against the government’s copyright infringement strategy. Wyden: Explain sports site take-down

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) says the federal government’s take-down of websites that provided access to sporting and other copyrighted events may have silenced free speech and denied the websites due process, according to a letter he sent to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday.

In the letter, Wyden asked the administration to explain the reasoning and strategy behind the agencies’ seizure of domain names of websites that allegedly violate copyright laws. The federal government seized the Web addresses of 10 websites accused of illegally providing access to copyrighted sporting and pay-per-view events this week. A similar campaign in November resulted in authorities taking down 82 sites.


The seizures “represent a major shift in the way the U.S. government combats copyright infringement in the digital environment,” Wyden wrote. “I worry that domain name seizures could function as a means for end-running the normal legal process in order to target websites that may prevail in full court.”

In the letter, Wyden listed 10 questions that he wants Morton and Holder to answer. While several ask for a deeper explanation into the process behind the seizures, a few asked for specifics about websites taken down this week.

One of the sites, Rojadirecta.org, based in Spain, had been exonerated in Spanish courts of copyright infringement. In his letter, Wyden asked if DOJ and ICE officials had considered “the legality of Rojadirecta.org before it seized its domain name” and if the agencies had consulted the State Department or U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to see if seizing the site “is consistent with U.S. foreign policy and commercial objectives.”

The 10 sites taken down this week did not host the pirated sporting events, but instead provided links to other places on the Web where people could download or stream the sports games from a third party. Because of this distinction, Wyden asked: “Does the administration believe that hyperlinks to domain names that offer downloadable infringing content represent a distribution of infringing content, or do they represent speech?”

ICE acknowledged that it received Wyden’s letter.

“We have received the Senator’s letter, directed to ICE and the Attorney General,” said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Brigham. “We will respond as appropriate, working with the Department of Justice. We have previously briefed Senator Wyden’s staff on this issue and are happy to do so again.”

This isn’t the first time Wyden has spoken out against the government’s strategy to clamp down on copyright infringement.

Before the end of last Congress, Wyden put a hold on the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), telling POLITICO at the time that it could potentially “set up a regime of censorship” and “put restrictions on sites in a way that chills innovation.” The Oregon lawmaker also called for more transparency in the negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.