The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA), formerly known as the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA), is a US Congressional bill to make a crime to create or sell any kind of computer equipment that "does not include and utilize certified security technologies" approved by the federal government. The bill was drafted by Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings (Democrat, South Carolina), who is backed by the US entertainment industry.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States law passed in October 2000, based upon the "WIPO Copyright Treaty" of 20 December 1996. The DMCA increases the exclusive rights granted to copyright holders. The most controversial provisions impose criminal and civil penalties for distributing methods of breaking copy protection schemes.

The European Union Copyright Directive ("EUCD") based on the 1996 WIPO [World Intellectual Property Organization] Copyright Treaty, required by the 1995 TRIPS [Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights] Agreement. It is the European analogue to the US's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Some of its controversial provisions impose penalties for distributing methods to circumvent copy protection schemes or region blocking access controls (used in media like DVDs).

Filesharing here refers to making files available for general download over the Internet, generally over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks like Gnutella or Napster before it was reconstructed as a music store.

Sites related to the USA's Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, which extends the term of copyright restrictions by 20 years. Sometimes called the "Mickey Mouse Copyright Act" by critics, since the Disney Corporation lobbied hard for it. Opponents pointed out that Congress had extended the terms of copyrights eleven times in the preceding fifty years, with the effect that no works created since 1923, such as the earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons, had ever passed into the public domain.

News, legal information, analysis and commentary on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and related acts such as the Protect-IP Act (PIPA), currently before the U.S. Congress.