In a surprise move today, Representative Eric Cantor(R-VA) announced that he will stop all action on SOPA, effectively killing the bill. This move was most likely due to several things. One of those things is that SOPA and PIPA met huge online protest against the bills. Another reason would be that the White House threatened to veto the bill if it had passed. However, it isn’t quite time yet to celebrate, as PIPA(the Senate’s version of SOPA) is still up for consideration.
The online protests about the bill were surprising and large. They ranged anywhere from calling Representatives, companies, and senators to get them to change their mind, to actively moving domain’s away from and targeting the business model of the companies that supported/lobbied for the bill. GoDaddy lost well over 100,000 domains in the space of about 10 days due to their involvement with these bills, along with other various targets. Reddit in particular has been influential in turning the tide against SOPA and PIPA, and is a good demonstration of how the Internet enables Democracy.
PIPA is less well known than SOPA, but the provisions are basicly the same. It still includes the same DNS blocking and censoring system that the original SOPA did, just without the SOPA name. There are around 40 co-sponsors of the bill in the Senate so far, with no word on how many senators support the bill in addition to that. There will most likely need to be 60 votes in the Senate in order to invoke cloture and end an almost guaranteed filibuster.
So, what are your thoughts? Relieved? Happy? Let me know down below in the comments. Want to hear more from me? Click here to get a notification whenever I publish a new article. Would you like to see other article’s I’ve written? Click here to see those.
Since people are requesting sources, here you go.
- http://oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=…
- http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2012_01/putting_sopa_o…
- http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/204167-sopa-shelved-…
- http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/sopa-shelved-indefinitely-but-red…
- http://www.slashgear.com/sopa-shelved-after-obama-announcement-16209449/
- http://www.infowars.com/dead-on-arrival-sopa-shelved-indefinitely-obama-…
- http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/sopa-derailed/1897
- http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngaudiosi/2012/01/16/obama-says-so-long-s…
- Among others.
These bills have been presented to congress before and never got passed. This won’t be the last time this issue rises, because there is a lot of money in lobbying for the corporate backers of this bill such as the @MPAA. If they try to pass it again it will be hopefully stopped, but may be hidden in another bill. VOTERS BEWARE
This is just an unbelievable act on congress. As americans we enjoy our liberties, one of them being the right to stay informed. Even bringing this up to vote on is scary.
I am PROUD and HONORED to be a part of this movement! We murdered SOPA now lets go hunt down PIPA! Happy Hunting everyone…DOn’t be paralyzed by fear, STAND UP and FIGHT rather than lay down and get stomped to death. ”We as a group now have a greater moral responsibility to act than those who live in ignorance. Once you become knowledgeable, you have an obligation to do something about it”. – Ron Paul
To be honest i m still scared as all hell. The fact that these bills are even being considered means that we may not be far away from some sweet talker being able to convince the ignorant senators and have it pass.