COICA Questions Mount as Markup Nears
Late in September, we expressed serious concerns over the Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act. The bill would allow the Department of Justice to obtain blocking orders from courts that would interfere with the domain name system in ways that could undermine free expression and cybersecurity. We have continued to voice those concerns to Senate staff, and with markup of the bill set for tomorrow, other groups have been weighing in. The growing list of those expressing serious problems with issuing blocking orders against ISPs and DNS registries and registrars now includes Internet companies, prominent Internet engineers, members of ICANN’s Non-commercial Users Constituency, and 51 law professors.
All these eyes will be on the markup tomorrow, and we’ll post an update then.