Narrowing COICA’s Scope to Protect Safe Drug Importation
posted Thu, 3 Feb 2011A recent article in The Hill's Congress Blog takes a critical look at the proposed Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). We applaud the Administration's efforts to crack down on drug counterfeiters and those among them that offer such products on the Internet. These pirates should be made to walk the plank—as they endanger public safety.
But we also caution, as does Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), that legislators should consider the potential "collateral damage” that could go along with the bill’s sweeping language pertaining to enforcement. In its current form, COICA could endanger free speech and shut down potentially legitimate websites.
The fallout from such legislation could be serious for those people who have come to rely on online drug importation. Over a million Americans currently access safe and affordable medications through trustworthy Internet channels. COICA’s collateral damage must not include inadvertently blocking access to this “virtual lifeline.”
We join the chorus of those who note that the legislation can and must be "more narrowly tailored” to deal with rogue websites.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to take up the CIOCA (Sen. Leahy) bill on February 16th.
Lee Graczyk, RxRights