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Topic: Piracy

SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

Summary: Both SOPA and PIPA have been shelved, and "no further action" will be taken until a general consensus has been made, and compromises sought.

Zack Whittaker

By for Between the Lines |

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the PROTECT-IP Act, known as PIPA, have both been postponed from being voted on in the House and Senate respectively.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the author of SOPA, said today that he will postpone any further action on the bill until compromises were reached.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a tweet that "in light of recent events", he has, "decided to postpone Tuesday's vote" on the PIPA bill.

An impending vote on SOPA triggered widespread protests leaving hundreds of millions of Web users without access to their favourite sites.

Though both bills have been shelved, both SOPA and PIPA are far from dead. What is clear, however, is that the bills will not return in their current form.

A statement from the White House last week made it clear that the President could veto such bills should they pass across his desk if Congress passed them.

By the numbers: over 75,000 websites were blacked out during Wednesday's online protest, with 160 million people seeing Wikipedia's blacked out pages alone. 4.5 million people signed Google's anti-SOPA petition, and an estimated 2--4 million anti-SOPA and PIPA messages were tweeted.

This isn't Washington losing. This is Washington listening to the people that it represents. The delay of any action on SOPA and PIPA is a victory for us all, from news publications to ordinary folks on the street.

Nice work, everyone.

Image credit: CNET.

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Topics: Piracy, Google, Legal

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19 comments
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  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    Well I would gather they would given 1% of the population bothered to take notice. It is a known political fact that if you get more than 5000 responses of any form for or against an issue that it most likely represents the consensus of the US population's view on an issue. Having things number be in the millions most likely scared the hell out of the. Not to mention now they know what these companies could do to their political careers. It makes the poultry money from the chamber of commerce and media industry pale. Grassroots is like a nuclear weapon compared to a the lobbyist sling shot in their minds. The important thing is to not let ourselves lose attention.
    alricsca
    Reply Vote

    • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

      @alricsca
      SOPA and PIPA are GREAT legislation! The politicians are cowards!
      Loverrock Davidsen
      Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    Maybe next time Congress will let the architects of the Internet have a hand in writing the legislation? as opposed to the RIAA and MPAA?<br><br>/wishful thinking
    UrNotPayingAttention
    Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    "... postpone any further action on the bill until compromises were reached." says it all.
    Agnostic_OS
    Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    The US Government does not need SOPA or any other anti piracy bill -
    megaupload.com has been shutdown and the upper echelon have been arrested in New Zealand at the request of the USA - Visit the website and see the FBI notice and what charges are pending. Very Scary
    bagbros1
    Reply Vote

    • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

      @bagbros1 Yes, they shut down megaupload.com and megavideo.com, but just like what happened when they shut down Napster in the late 1990's, they'll soon be a thousand more websites and technologies to take its place. The federal government can bust and arrest piracy and hackers all they want to, but they'll never be able to solve the problem, just like they've been fighting the so called "war on drugs" for the last 50 years and the drugs are still out there on just about every street corner. Shutting down megaupload isn't about stopping online piracy, its more about politicians getting more campaign contributions from the record labels and the Hollywood movie studios that fund their re-election campaigns, especially with this being an election year. Just like your local county sheriff normally would not care about the meth lab that your next door neighbor is cooking or marijuanna that's growing next to ya, but when election year comes, watch out, here comes the busts. This is all about politics and a certain few, including the president, getting re-elected and looking like he's doing something about piracy to the voters and those who contribute huge sums of money to his campaigns. After the elections, everything will go back to being normal and the illegal file sharing will continue and you'll be able to get those illegal drugs from a new dealer at a higher price. Nothing will ever change.
      robbiestewart89@...
      Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    We have demonstrated to the Washington elitists that we can resist their intrusion into our lives when it matters. Let us use this example to resist the tyrants on higher taxes, on government waste and corruption, on shredding the Constitution, on increasing our cost of living with baseless regulations, etc. We need to take back the power which became ours when we defeated the British and established our republic. The politicians and elite are too irresponsible and too full of lust for power which they use to restrict our liberties and prosperity.
    plen411@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

      @plen411@...

      Very nicely said. Thanks!
      sissy sue
      Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    So the postponement only means that they will pass it on a holiday and sign it into law on some holiday when no one is paying attention like Obama signing the NDAA into law that basically allows Americans to be picked up and thrown into Internment camps or even assasinated without any rights to due process or even a phone call.
    kandrolewicz2@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

      @kandrolewicz@...
      You dumb, Fox news brain washed ^*%^%. Obama said he will veto the bill if it passes!
      kirovs@...
      Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    That's fantastic, now let's go after the NDAA tyranny. The audacity of an elected cognocenti is appauling. My only regret is the 30-40 years of hard civil rights struggle that is having to be fought again. By all means we must not let our guards down again.I agree totally with plen411@
    toodevastate
    Reply Vote

    • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

      @toodevastate

      Very nicely said. Thank you!
      sissy sue
      Reply Vote

  • Sopa + pipa + ndaa = attack on Constitution, High Treason and Tyranny!

    Apart from the Obvious Unconstitutional and Tyrannical nature of proposed laws I really have a gut feeling that what caused Washington to stop or at least to set back for a while was not exactly the million of protests, but rather the Big Web companies _joining_ and engaging in the protests and also stopping their funding to that kind of people ... and the notion they could be up against a revolt next time they would try to participate in elections ... Fortunately the web reaches the masses like they never would dream.
    That is real Massive Political Power.
    And they were not counting on it.
    They thought he big Web players would set back and watch ... Wrong!
    ZDNET for example under sopa would be Illegal and would not be possible.
    Wanna know how ?
    Just put a ling in one of this comments ... that's it!
    Maybe a youtube link, an article and so many other possibilities.
    The notion that millions could stop that kind of people is far reaching ... and it only shows the power of the Net to Harness the will of the People.
    Nothing like someone start making calculations over when is my next election ... i could be out of Congress very fast ...
    Regards.
    p_msac@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

      @p_msac@...

      Amen! As you say, "the web reaches the masses like they never would dream." And it puts power in the hands of the powerless. Now, everyone, no matter how small, can have a voice. That is one reason why those in power are trying so very hard to restrain the web. Those in power cannot stand the fact that there is something beyond their control.
      sissy sue
      Reply Vote

  • Don't Celebrate Yet

    Neither SOPA nor PIPA is dead and gone by any stretch of the imagination. It's congressional supporters and their financial supporters will reintroduce the bill, or at least the more egregious portions thereof, as an amendment or as a rider to another bill this session. It will have a different title but will be essentially, if not exactly, the same. This will happen under the radar and unless opponents are vigilant, it will pass with little or no opposition.

    Be Aware.
    sperry532@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    Agree with @sperry532, this seems enevitable that like one of my local school construction levys which was passed during after the 7th try during a special election when most voters didn't even know there was a vote to be made.
    sdavis4fun@...
    Reply Vote

  • A Case for Libertarianism

    I really like what's happened here. All of it. The proposed legislation itself, followed by the backlash, followed by the temporary withdrawl of the bills.

    It paints a picture of what the internet is all about. Libertarians dream of dynamics like this - and it seems clear to me that this is a perfect example of it. The fact that the grassroots people AND their service providers have pushed back against these laws which had the potential to regulate free speech proves the point: everyone from booksellers to record producers have to find a way to work within libertarian ideals. It can be done - it just takes some brainstorming and ingenuity, improvisation and innovation. There's still money to be had, and markets to exploit, if done correctly. But they (government and consumption producers) all need to stop trying to enforce a wheel-and-buggy mindset when we're all about driving BMWs.

    (Ok - that last was a tortured analogy but you get the idea)
    wolfshades
    Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    From Watchdog.

    I agree with the proponents that the government will stick this on a rider on some other useless bill and we all have to be vigilant. With the country in financial difficulty and unemployment reaching staggering heights, the cost of oil skyrocketing, the Chinese holding the debt, you would think that the government would set their sights on the things that really really matter instead of trying to make the acedemics and artists happy.

    The WEB is the world and unless you can harness the world, you will not be able to control the entier WEB. The government will not get a world or even another country consensus to abide by their laws. If these WEB companies are pressured too hard, they will just move off shore where there are virtually no restrictions.

    The meek share inherit the earth.. humm where have we heard that before.
    mike_patburgess@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: SOPA, PIPA postponed: Nice work, everyone

    Congress you are Listening To The People who put you there! Now we can move on to more important matters....
    geofer50
    Reply Vote
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