H.R. 10364 would make ISPs, DNS resolvers, and large VPNs block foreign sites, so Americans can lose innocent pages by mistake

On September 14, 2026, Rep. Darrell Issa introduced H.R. 10364, the American Copyright Protection Act. It is in the House Judiciary Committee. It is not law. A copyright owner could ask a court to brand a site a “foreign piracy site” on a preponderance of the evidence, then seek an order that covered networks keep U.S. users off it.

Covered “service providers” include broadband ISPs, public DNS resolvers, and VPNs with at least 100,000 monthly U.S. users. Root nameservers, TLD registries, and on-site café or library Wi-Fi are carved out. Users get no hearing. If a block hits a shared CDN or IP, unrelated shops, mail, and docs go dark with the target.

Live events can be blocked on a shortened clock. Italy’s Piracy Shield left collateral domains unreachable for about 320 days on average. Spain’s match-day IP blocks hit more than 500,000 legitimate domains in the first half of 2026. Those are foreign systems, not this bill, but they show what IP and DNS cuts do on shared infrastructure.

The documented stake is overblocking and VPN filtering, not a hidden plot. Readers can read the introduced text. Competing drafts (FADPA, Block BEARD) are also pending. Until a floor vote, nothing is required of any provider.

Sources

Congress.gov — H.R. 10364 introduced Sept. 14, 2026; referred to House Judiciary; status Introduced: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/10364

Congress.gov text — “service provider” includes broadband, domain-name resolution, and virtual private networks; excludes root nameservers and TLD registries: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/10364/text

Rep. Issa press release, Sept. 23, 2026 — two-step court declaration, then blocking order; claims of due-process safeguards: http://issa.house.gov/media/press-releases/chairman-issa-introduces-american-copyright-protection-act-combat-online

Ars Technica, Sept. 17, 2026 — 100,000-user threshold; Public Knowledge copy of the bill: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/republican-bill-would-order-isps-dns-providers-and-vpns-to-block-piracy-sites/

TorrentFreak, Sept. 21, 2026 — final text adds VPNs to ISPs and DNS resolvers: https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-site-blocking-bill-adds-vpns-to-the-list-of-blocking/

University of Twente / TorrentFreak, Sept. 2025 — Piracy Shield collateral; \~320-day average; 510+ confirmed non-piracy sites: https://torrentfreak.com/piracy-shield-study-reveals-massive-overblocking-collateral-damage-250909/

OONI, June 30, 2026 — Spain LaLiga IP blocks; 554,000+ domains affected H1 2026; Cloudflare majority: https://ooni.org/post/2026-laliga-collateral/