At this year’s CinemaCon, Motion Picture Association of America president and CEO Charles Rivkin revealed a plan that will make it more difficult to navigate the “digital ocean” under the Jolly Roger flag. Rifkin said the association will work with Congress to develop and enforce website blocking legislation in the United States. He added that nearly 60 countries use website blocking as a tool to combat piracy, “including major democracies and many of America’s closest allies.” The only reason the United States is not one of them, he continued, is “a lack of political will coupled with an outdated understanding of what website blocking actually means, how it works, and who it affects.”
Once the rules are implemented, “film and television, music and book publishers, sports leagues and broadcasters” can ask a court to order ISPs to block websites that share stolen content. Rifkin advocated for blocking websites, explaining that the practice would not impact legitimate businesses. He said legislation around the practice would require detailed evidence that an entity was engaged in illegal activity, and that alleged perpetrators could appear in court to defend themselves.
Rifkin cited illegal movie streaming FMovies as an example of how website blocking in the United States can minimize traffic to piracy sites. Apparently, FMovies receives 160 million visits per month, a third of which come from the United States. If the rule also existed in that country, the site would theoretically see a significant drop in traffic. The MPA president also addressed previous website blocking measures in the US, which critics have said will “break the internet” and potentially stifle free speech. While he insisted the experience of other countries since then had proven those predictions wrong, he promised the organization would take the concerns seriously.
He ended his speech by asking for the support of theater owners across the country. “MPA is leading this effort in Washington,” he said. “We need the voices of theater owners — your voices — among us. Because this action benefits us all: content creators, theaters, our workforce, our country.”
