SOPA and PIPA Defeated? Smith Postpones Bill

Wednesdays worldwide internet protest from large internet websites like Google, Wikipedia, Reddit, and other sites might have had a large impact on how the Senate viewed their proposed legislation – but the chaos is not over until the revised version of the bill will resurface at a later date. Websites from around the world showed their support for the anti-SOPA/PIPA bills, but was this protest really worth showing the government how detrimental the legislation would have impacted continued innovation and the U.S. economic growth? Yes, it was worth the effort, but the fight is not over. The senators involved in the forming of the two bills will not back down until another form of legislation is formed to “combat” online piracy outside the U.S. boarders.

Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, stated on Friday morning that he has “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 also released the following on Friday:

“The Committee will continue work with copyright owners, Internet companies, financial institutions to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America’s intellectual property.  We welcome input from all organizations and individuals who have an honest difference of opinion about how best to address this widespread problem.  The Committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.”

This is not the end of SOPA, nor is it the end of PIPA. Even though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stated he would “postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT IP Act,” it still means he will bring attention to the bill at a later day when announced during a Meet the Press interview, “we need to work on this and we’re going to — I will hope we can have a manager’s amendment when we get back here in a week or 10 days and move forward on this. It’s important that we try to do this on a fair basis and I’m going to do everything I can to get that done.”

Do we need to continue to see these bills resurfacing in another twisted form? Speak out and be sure to vote these Senators out of office before we see the internet crumble before us. Make this action a warning for future senators trying to bring back these bills to cripple free speech, innovation, and economic growth within our boarders.

Related articles

• SOPA and PIPA both shelved for now. (arstechnica.com)
• Did it work? The results of the SOPA/PIPA blackout (heidi-miller.com)