2025 MPA Industry Champion Award Senator Chris Coons on the Real Cost of Piracy
Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) is the 2025 MPA Industry Champion Award recipient for his efforts to strengthen copyright protections, spur innovation, and preserve free expression. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Coons advocates for measures that support intellectual property laws and defend copyrighted works from piracy.
Online piracy is far from a victimless crime—in the U.S. alone, it costs the creative industry billions of dollars and thousands of jobs annually. Yet, unlike many other nations, the U.S. is still not at the forefront of anti-piracy laws. This is something Senator Coons aims to change.
We spoke with Senator Coons about his work protecting filmmakers and storytellers across the entertainment industry, why there’s no such thing as a “free” movie, and why a certain Nicolas Cage movie remains his favorite.
Can you tell us about the Block BEARD Act and why it’s important for film, TV, and sports enthusiasts to be aware of?
The Block BEARD Act is a bipartisan effort to bring the same kind of anti-piracy protections to the United States that a dozen of our closest allies and partners have already shown can be effective at protecting the work of the creative community. Whether it’s a live sports event, a film, or a TV show, the United States lacks effective legal protections for the creative community and their work products in combating piracy.
Who have you worked with on this bill?
I am grateful to two Republican senators, Senator Tillis and Senator Blackburn, as well as Democratic Senator Adam Schiff from California. These are my co-sponsors. Senator Tillis and I have worked really hard on this, and the Block BEARD anti-piracy bill is one of the pieces of intellectual property legislation I am proudest of for this Congress.
Many people are unaware of the dangers associated with visiting piracy sites, which extend beyond legal issues. Can you speak to that?
Millions of Americans inadvertently open their computers and expose their personal data and hardware to malware, risk having their data stolen, or experience operating problems with their laptop, computer, or phone after visiting one of these piracy websites. There’s a lot of work being done by the folks who are stealing our intellectual property to also then take advantage of Americans who think they’re getting a deal, but they aren’t. They’re opening a pathway for criminals to gain access to their computers.
Let’s imagine you order pizza for takeout and you’re expecting it in 20 minutes. Five minutes after you order it, this guy shows up at the front door and says, “Hey, here’s a fresh hot pizza.” And you say, “How much?” And he says, “It’s free. You just gotta leave your door open.” Would you take that pizza, go in, feed it to your family, and ignore the fact that you just let this complete stranger roam around your house and take anything he wants?
I can’t imagine that I would, no.
That’s what it’s like when you click download on a free piracy site. You might get to watch Wicked for free, but you just let someone in the front door of your whole system who’s then going to take it over and steal your data. Then they’re going to send you junk texts and junk emails, and who might actually download ransomware onto your computer that will force you to pay many, many times more than it would’ve cost you to follow the law, to pay the creators, and to just use legal websites.
Why has it been so challenging to implement site blocking in the United States when so many other countries already have it?
More than a decade ago—I believe it was in 2012—a significant debate took place in the Senate over two bills known by the acronyms PIPA [Protect IP Act] and SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act]. There was a huge blowback because a number of pop stars and popular figures organized online against these bills. I was a co-sponsor of PIPA and SOPA, and I was proud to be one and thought we needed to protect American inventors and creators from online piracy. But it really pushed back the move to legislate in this space by years.
What’s happened since?
For better or worse, two things have happened. The volume and the value of online piracy have skyrocketed. It’s costing tens of billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs in the creative community here in the United States every year. And we have all those partners around the world who’ve demonstrated that, in a free market economy and a democracy, you can impose laws that impose obligations on streaming platforms and ISPs [Internet Service Providers]. They can comply, they can make it work, the technology works, and it stops or dramatically reduces online piracy.
We’re also in the midst of a watershed moment in technology, with the rapid spread in the use and capabilities of artificial intelligence. How do you think about AI, and what do you hope the NO FAKES Act will achieve?
Like a knife that can be used either for an armed robbery or to conduct life-saving surgery, artificial intelligence is a tool. AI is a technology that will permeate every aspect of our lives and will have enormous positive potential. It’ll unlock everything from cures for rare diseases to ways we can deal with climate change and improve energy efficiency, as well as new materials we have never imagined before.
It will also pose some real threats. In the creative space, AI now makes it possible to steal and copy someone’s voice, image, or likeness in a way that makes it hard to distinguish whether that’s the real artist or just an AI-generated likeness. For example, Drake and The Weekend had an AI-generated recording that was so similar to their style that if you listen to it for 30 seconds, you’re like, “Oh yeah, I know who that is.”
And this is where your bill comes in?
What we tried to do in NO FAKES was to come up with a nationwide right of publicity that protects the rights of singers, songwriters, and artists. The NO FAKES Act is broad. It doesn’t just protect those who make a great living from creativity. It doesn’t just protect celebrities. It can also be used to protect everyday Americans. It gives you the right to go sue to have your image or likeness taken down or removed, and it imposes that obligation on ISPs.
We did a lot of negotiating around what these rights look like and exactly how they will be enforced, because there also have to be First Amendment protections, so that users of platforms like YouTube or Meta can still create and post satire, parody, or historical commentary. Out of a great big group of bipartisan senators who spent most of two years studying AI, the NO FAKES Act was the first to be ready to go.
Pivoting to the creators you’re trying to protect, care to share your favorite film?
There are different answers to that question. Movies that I am currently rewatching a lot – partly because of what’s available as I travel around the world – I just rewatched National Treasure. I’m friends with the director, Jon Turteltaub, and I just think National Treasure is an amazing film. It’s fun, engaging, and action-oriented, but it also teaches lessons about history and some of our nation’s treasures.
Any others?
I also watch Gladiator, The Hangover, Guardians of the Galaxy, and We’re the Millers because these are all movies that I can drop in anywhere and watch 10 minutes or half an hour and be entertained, engaged, and distracted. There are deeper films like Schindler’s List and Gandhi that actually touched me, spoke to me, and moved me, and I still remember what it was like to watch them.
Featured image: WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 23: Senator Chris Coons, D-DE, questions FBI Director Christopher Wray during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing June 23, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The committee is hearing testimony regarding the proposed budget for fiscal year 2022 for the FBI. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger-Pool/Getty Images)
