I can't believe I missed this one.
On Jan. 14th, 2012, Brendan Sasso reported for The Hill that House leaders have decided to shelve SOPA until there is a consensus amongst lawmakers. The article quoted House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa:
"While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House . . . Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote."
The article notes that Rep. Issa believes that SOPA is "fundamentally flawed" even without the controversial site-blocking provision. Rep. Issa has canceled Wednesday's hearing. Checking out Reddit, it looks like the Jan. 18th blackout is still on. For anyone who has visited Craigslist recently, I'm sure you've noticed the anti-SOPA blog post.
This certainly doesn't mean that SOPA is dead. However, it's clear that internet opposition to the bill has had a strong effect. On to PIPA.
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On Jan. 15th, 2012, Jenna Wortham and Somini Sengupta wrote for the New York Times on SOPA/PIPA. The article notes that the tide of public opinion has shifted away from SOPA/PIPA: the White House opposes both bills, tech companies oppose both bills, and the denizens of the internet hate both bills. Nevertheless, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) won't let SOPA/PIPA drop, and have urged the White House to reconsider its stance on the legislation.
The article also explores the tremendous internet response to the legislation. The article seems to claim that Facebook and Google "marshal[led] opposition from technologists, entrepreneurs, and computer-adept consumers." I don't buy that. The Internet marshalled opposition to SOPA, not Facebook or Google. It seems that a lot of people stopped posting funny cat pictures just long enough to create a genuine, home-grown opposition to both pieces of legislation. The article has a great quote from Erik Martin, general manager of Reddit: "It's not a battle between Hollywood and tech, its [a battle between] people who get the Internet and those who don't."
Echoing that sentiment, HLS prof Jonathan Zittrain said that this "rallying of the Internet" was signifigant because "it is one of the few times that the industry has united around a focal point."
There's more to the New York Times article, so I recommend checking it out.
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