Okay, now this is official. It’s been reported online January 20, 2012 that SOPA’s sponsor, Rep. Lamar Smith, has postponed the bill.
For all intents and purposes, SOPA is stopped. For now.
Note: I said for now. It can, of course, be “resurrected” some time in the future.
CNet has more:
The Stop Online Piracy Act has officially been put on hold.
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) announced today that the House Judiciary Committee, which he heads, “will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution.” Smith added that he has taken critics’ concerns “seriously.”
Its Senate counterpart, Protect-IP, has similarly been delayed:
The decision to wave the white flag on SOPA comes just hours after U.S. Senate leaders announced they had postponed their vote on the Protect IP Act (PIPA) scheduled for Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the recent criticism on both SOPA and PIPA forced his hand, but Reid did acknowledge that he hopes to reach an agreement with the legislation’s foes “in the coming weeks.”
For me comes the next challenge: working with others involved to find some degree of agreement, much more consensus, on how to deal with piracy and unauthorized sharing of copyrighted material. That’ll be tough, but not impossible if people just put their minds to it.
So for now, we definitely can rest easy. Others are keeping an eye out should a similar approach be brought up in the future, but it’ll definitely be reported. Kudos to everyone who “voiced” their opposition to this!
As always, feel free to share your thoughts below or spread the word online. I’ll just be around.
