PIPA, SOPA put on hold in wake of protests

Updated at 3:17 p.m. ET

Senate and House leaders announced Friday they are postponing work on two controversial anti-piracy bills in the wake of large online protests that spurred several congressmen to rethink the legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that he is postponing Tuesday's procedural vote on the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith said his committee is postponing consideration of PIPA's House companion, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), "until there is wider agreement on a solution."

PIPA and SOPA are intended to strengthen protections against copyright infringement and intellectual property theft, but Internet advocates say they would stifle expression on the World Wide Web. CBS Corporation is among the media and entertainment companies that support the legislation.

In protest of the legislation, major sites like Wikipedia and Reddit participated in a 24-hour "Internet blackout" on Wednesday, while other sites like Google took less drastic steps to signify their opposition to the legislation. The protests inspired voters to deluge their congressmen with phone calls and emails in protest of the bills as well, and by Wednesday afternoon, several congressmen either came out in opposition to the bills or said Congress should take more time to reconsider them. It seemed unlikely PIPA would find the 60 votes necessary to pass Tuesday's test vote in the Senate.

Adam Green, co-founder of the grassroots group Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said the legislation's delay shows that "people power works." His organization helped about 43,000 people call their congressmen in opposition to the bill.

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Reid said in a statement, "There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved. He encouraged PIPA's author, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to continue working with stakeholders on the bill "to forge a balance between protecting Americans' intellectual property, and maintaining openness and innovation on the Internet."

Reid said the Senate had made "good progress" through its discussions on the bill in recent weeks and that he's optimistic that the Senate can reach a compromise. He stressed that counterfeiting and piracy are serious problems that hurt major industries, including the movie industry, which supports 2.2 million jobs alone.

"We must take action to stop these illegal practices," he said. "We live in a country where people rightfully expect to be fairly compensated for a day's work, whether that person is a miner in the high desert of Nevada, an independent band in New York City, or a union worker on the back lots of a California movie studio."

The House Judiciary Committee was slated to take up SOPA again in February, but Smith issued a statement after Reid's PIPA announcement, noting that he also has heard from critics of the bills.

"I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy," he said. "It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products."

Smith said "the problem of online piracy is too big to ignore" and that the House Judiciary Committee will continue to work with both copyright owners and Internet companies to find the right solution.

In his own statement, Leahy criticized the senators who walked back their support for PIPA, compelling Reid to postpone the procedural vote, which would have officially started a Senate floor debate on the bill.

"The day will come when the Senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem," Leay said. "Somewhere in China today, in Russia today, and in many other countries that do not respect American intellectual property, criminals who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided it was not even worth debating how to stop the overseas criminals from draining our economy."

Opponents of SOPA and PIPA object to the bill in part because they argue it would impose a huge, unmanageable burden on Internet companies to police their sites for connections to copyright or intellectual property infringers. Start ups in particular would not be able to handle the legal costs involved, and it could quash innovation in the Internet industry.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Friday he was "encouraged" by Reid's decision to postpone the vote.

"We all agree that we must do more to combat the on-line theft of intellectual property," McConnell said in a statement, but he said PIPA "raised serious legal, policy and operational concerns."

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon co-authored a bill intended to serve as an alternative to SOPA and PIPA -- the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act.

"For all those who might have thought that their voice didn't count in their government, I hope you now know it does," Wyden tweeted after Reid postponed the PIPA vote.

Issa said in a statement that postponing the PIPA vote "removes the imminent threat to the Internet, but it's not over yet. Copyright infringement remains a serious problem and any solution must be targeted, effective, and consistent with how the Internet works."

Computer & Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said in a statement that "Those who value and appreciate the Internet can breathe a little easier today."

"We recognize that the dynamic quality of the Internet can be disruptive to established entities and practices, whether they be governments, companies, or individuals," Black said. "When legitimate interests and problems result, we remain prepared to address those problems in ways that don't damage the core principles on which the Internet depends."

17 Photos

Websites go dark to protest SOPA

[AdelbertAmes]

There is enough law to protect copyright. SOPA and PIPA are not about copyright they are about stifling free expression and creativity.

[Behinnotben]

Duh stupid congress the internet is out of your jurisdiction this is the information age keep your censoring out of our progress. Censorship belongs with prohibition in a failed bygone Era - let's make a new America where freedom is recognized again!

If we continue on the path the patriot act put us on and these bills represent then we can expect to lose our position as world superpower this century I guarantee it.

[cybervigilante]

Shuttering Megaupload certainly does pull the skids out from under SOPA, which was a bought-and-paid-for law (but then, they all are these days. We have the most corrupt Congress on record.) But if they can do this to Megaupload we obviously never needed SOPA.

It's no coincidence the Megaupload takedown was a day after the net showed its power by hamstringing SOPA. This was our friendly government showing its naked fist since Internet power - the power of the people - of things like the Blackout, OWS, and Arab Spring, have our masters worried we might get out of hand. Especially since most of us now know our government is bought and paid for and our vote is a joke.

Ain't it odd. They can spend years building a case against a lousy downloading site, but can't seem to find one thing wrong with Goldman-Sachs, that caused the nation ten thousand times more damage.

This is so obviously corrupt it's disgusting. They target whom they please, but don't dare bother Timmy Geithner's crooked pals. Even Bush Sr. prosecuted a thousand S&L crooks. Obama- NONE.

And I'm a Democrat. But this total partiality to allow Any crime by banksters, is not only disgusting and makes a mockery of law, but holds back any recovery. Criminals who are not punished will do the crime again, and sure enough, banksters are still doing more harm than good, even after a giant bailout.

[Notabillionaire]

Billionaires created SOPA - - and fought against it - - Hollywood, MLB, NFL, NBA
in favor - - Zuckerberg, Brin & Page (Google), David Filo and Jerry Yang (Yahoo) etc., opposed
http://www.billionairechronicles.net/billionaires-split-sopa

[cybervigilante]

There is a difference. The pro-SOPA crowd are fat-duff money managers who create Nothing - except for the banksters, who create Destruction.

OTOH, the Internet crowd all actually created something of value, instead of just sucking in the cash. The cash came from the value. The SOPA and Bankster crowd just wants the cash to come from the cash. If they could eliminate the value entirely they'd be as happy as pigs in sh**.

[noloyalisti]

All anyone has to know is that the evil, greedy, corrupt, money laundering US Chamber of Commerce is for something and everyone in the 99% should be against it. Simple rule.

[polish5]

Why do the big media conglomerates and so-called creative artists always favor bludgeon-like, draconian laws which run roughshod over any sort of due process of law and over the rights of others in their hysterical efforts to protect their intellectual property? You'd think they'd be a little more thoughtful and philosophical about it, rather than being such ravenous, Bain-like capitalists. They're perfectly wiling to destroy the freedom of the internet, which really does provide an open marketplace of ideas. Why are they all so short-sighted? Money seems to have that effect on one's eyesight.

[Fatesrider]

The media companies usually own the copyrights to the stuff that they put out. The artist sells them those rights in return for royalties (assuming they get any). The people who make the most money off an artist are the promoters - the copyright holders. They create nothing, but they promote it and get more money than the artist does.

This is why most people don't think artists are hurt by copyright and IP infringements.

But the methods used today for most of the major media want to control every aspect of your use. They would love to see you have to pay for something every time you used it - paying for listening to a song (they make radio stations do that every time they play a song - which is why so many radio stations are owned by entertainment conglomerates since they provide their own content, and why there's usually a very limited number of songs ever played in a day.) The media companies are going too far in that respect.

There is a balance between artist-controlled media and corporate-controlled media. In today's world, the artist has just as much ability to create and distribute their work as any conglomerate. The only difference is promotion - and that's what scares the media empires to death. If the artist only needs promotion and not distribution, the media empires that buy up copyrights of the artists would be relegated to the job of contracted promoter - which is what they should be today - leaving the artist with the lion's share of the income, and a much better position to handle copyright and IP abuses of their material.

[noloyalisti]

Because they are run by greedy, rich, evil 1% ers who only care about one thing.

[RDG1268]

This is a no brainer......... why is the federal government even involved? These industries make billions of dollars a year if they want to stop piracy let them fix the problem. If they don't want their materials copied then fix them where they can't be.....AT THEIR EXPENSE

[liquidtouch]

Why do the supporters only ever talk about the Music and Movie industry? What about the book and publishing industries? Why do I not hear about book publishers complaining about kindles, nooks and public libraries offering FREE digital downloads? If SOPA and PIPA are about IP and copyright shouldn't public library's be illegal or responsible to make sure that everyone whom reads a book pays and compensates the owner for the full purchase price of the book?

My bet is that the book and publishing industry do not have the resources to lobby the government. Well that and they are probably a bit more educated...

This is not about IP, its not about Copyright, its about control and money. Period.

[curse914]

This is absolutely about protecting the copyright of those with the money.

[samXXkiley]

coucou,
once again, the legislation in the service of a wealthy few at the expense of a majority, it is the campaign period for the presidential and all means lead to bank accounts of wealthy donors in Hollywwood,
"au revoir"

[krogerz]

Oh boo hoo now hollywood can't earn trillions, they'll have to settle for billions. idgaf

[hayseedbears]

I may not be able to sleep tonight, my grief will be so great.