Cue the little orange people, the wicked bill aimed to destroy the Internet has died (for the time being)!
Mashable reports that Texas Republican Lamar Smith has pulled the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”
The decision comes just two days after a widespread public boycott of the bill by Wikipedia, Reddit and others made it extremely clear that there was growing disdain for the bill. Several key members of Congress shifted their position on the bill, and it’s counterpart in the Senate, the Protect IP Act is also stalled out due to a lack of support.
What remains clear is that our elected officials do not fully understand how the Internet works, nor do they fully represent the interests of the people who have voted them into office.
Related articles
- SOPA and PIPA both shelved for now. (arstechnica.com)
- SOPA Author Attacks Wikipedia, Schedules Debate on Bill (mashable.com)
- Rep. Lamar Smith, SOPA Author, Blasts Wikipedia over Blackout (blippitt.com)
- Photo Du Jour: Stop SOPA (sfist.com)
- The Web Wins: SOPA & PIPA Now Dead in the Water (omgubuntu.co.uk)
