The controversial bill that has caused so much attention has finally been stopped dead in it's tracks, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said he would postpone the vote that would have been held on the 24th on January.
Harry Reid has postponed the vote "in light of recent events." meaning the widespread blackout of the English Wikipedia, Reddit and the black bar over Google's homepage. Lamar smith the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee also said that his panel would delay action on PIPA until wider agreement of the issue.
"I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. 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 in a statement.
Although many sponsors of these two bills have pulled their support it does not mean that SOPA and PIPA are dead, simply wounded, Harry Reid also commented that "There was no reason why concerns about the legislation cannot be resolved. He offered no new date for the vote." Reid's action comes a day after a senior Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the measure lacked the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle in the 100-member Senate.
Today is a happy day for the internet, not so much Hollywood "We appreciate that lawmakers have listened to our community's concerns, and we stand ready to work with them on solutions to piracy and copyright infringement that will not chill free expression or threaten the economic growth and innovation the Internet provides," a Facebook spokesman said.
Chris Dodd, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America and a former Democratic senator, said the stalling of legislation is a boost for criminals. "As a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves," Dodd said.
In my opinion this is just the same old people in government not understanding the fundamentals of how the internet and piracy works, it's using a sledgehammer to hang a picture.
-Fren
Also sorry if i got some of the American politics stuff mixed up, im a brit, we have a Queen