Insights and Policy Priorities from the Digital Piracy Symposium

Dear Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Durbin, Chairman Jordan, and Ranking Member Raskin:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ("Chamber") appreciates the Judiciary Committees' dedication to supporting copyright-intensive industries and the legal frameworks enabling the U.S. creative ecosystem to grow. Digital piracy is an issue of significant importance to American creators, businesses, consumers, and the broader economy.

On September 17, 2026, the Chamber convened its symposium, "The Anti-Piracy Playbook," to examine the rapidly evolving nature of digital piracy and the policy tools needed to address it. The discussion brought together experts from across industries affected by piracy, cybersecurity threats, and online criminal activity.

Symposium participants agreed on a central conclusion: digital piracy is no longer solely a copyright issue. Piracy platforms increasingly serve as infrastructure for fraud, malware distribution, organized crime, counterfeit goods, financial scams, and broader national security risks. Criminal enterprises have industrialized piracy operations through sophisticated online networks, cryptocurrency-enabled transactions, international reseller channels, and money-laundering mechanisms.

Participants highlighted significant consumer harms associated with piracy services and illicit streaming devices, including exposure to malware, ransomware, identity theft, credit card fraud, and other cyber threats. The impacts extend well beyond the entertainment sector, affecting publishing, software, gaming, telecommunications, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, banking, and e-commerce industries.

The symposium also examined emerging challenges posed by the misuse of artificial intelligence, including its potential to accelerate large-scale infringement and unauthorized use of copyrighted works and datasets. Speakers emphasized that the policy response must evolve as rapidly as the threat landscape itself.

Several priorities emerged from the discussion. These include strengthening public-private partnerships among rights holders, technology companies, telecommunications providers, financial institutions, and law enforcement; expanding international cooperation to disrupt piracy infrastructure and illicit financial networks; increasing consumer awareness of the security risks associated with piracy services; and pursuing tools capable of addressing foreign-based piracy operations operating beyond the practical reach of U.S. enforcement authorities.

Participants further noted that the United States remains an outlier among major economies in lacking a judicial site-blocking mechanism. More broadly, speakers urged policymakers to treat major piracy networks as part of a larger digital crime ecosystem and to incorporate anti-piracy efforts into economic security and national security strategies.

The Chamber appreciates Congress's continued leadership on intellectual property and innovation policy, but the evolving threat landscape demands immediate and decisive action. We strongly urge the Committees to launch comprehensive hearings investigating the nexus between organized crime, national security, and IP theft, and to swiftly advance legislation that equips law enforcement and rightsholders with modern enforcement tools, while balancing industry concerns over liability and excessive burdens. The Chamber stands ready to brief Congress on the actionable insights from The Anti-Piracy Playbook symposium. We call on policymakers to move urgently to implement strategies that actively protect creators, consumers, trusted digital markets, and America's global economic competitiveness before these criminal networks expand further.

Sincerely,

Brad Watts
Senior Vice President
Global Innovation Policy Center
U.S. Chamber of Commerce