Florida moving to unmask anonymous websites to combat online piracy

Florida lawmakers are considering legislation that would make it unlawful to run a website anonymously if it offers "commercial" recordings and videos. The aim of the bill is to close or disrupt websites that don't comply -- all in the name of protecting intellectual property rights. The bill, which landed on the state's House and Senate floors on March 3rd, requires websites to display a "correct name, physical address, and telephone number or e-mail address" of the owner if they play a "substantial part in the electronic dissemination of commercial recordings or audiovisual works, directly or indirectly." The disclosure is required even if all the recordings or audiovisual works disseminated by the website are owned by the website owner.

The bill excludes Internet service providers from its purview and would give copyright owners the right to ask a judge to unmask the identity of the website operator. According to a legislative analysis of the bill, the recording or motion picture industry intends "to proceed with third-party injunctions to discourage Internet service providers, hosting services, payment services or other Internet website services from working with websites that fail to disclose their personal information required by this bill."