House, Senate Postpone Piracy Bills (SOPA/PIPA) Under Pressure

National Journal ^ | January 20, 2012 | Josh Smith, Dan Friedman and Juliana Gruenwald

[abb]

This just in...

[abb]

ping

[SumProVita]

Continue to contact your senators and let them know that we do NOT want SOPA/PIPA.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

[Erik Latranyi]

Kept quiet until being rammed through during Obama’s lame-duck months?

[bgill]

As if we don’t have worse problems that we have to waste time with this.

[dagogo redux]

As with ALL Federal laws in recent memory, this is not about “piracy” or any other possible good for society - this is simply an enormous power grab by tyrants bent on keeping We the People under their scrutiny and control, and that’s a “bad” for society.

[mrsmith]

“Majority Leader Reid’s decision to seek consent to vitiate cloture on the motion to proceed...”

LOL!

Senate Kabuki translation:

“Reid’s gotten us big bucks from Hollywood for writing this.
Now he’ll get us big bucks from the internet giants to amend it- and even more big bucks from Hollywood not to amend it too much.”

[brownsfan]

Their masters have spoken, this will get done.

Another poster said it, I can’t who remember or I’d credit him/her, to paraphrase:

Congress doesn’t understand tech, but they do understand legalise. They’ll modify it and ram it through.

[Steamburg]

This is more important than it first appears. These bills hand over command and control of the internet to Holder and his people.
If they can stop communication between people at a whim they have shut down one more way they can be challenged. There is a manifest need for people to be able to organize and exchange ideas electronically. Why are the dictators of the world so afraid of the internet?

[BlueLancer]

I just contacted my Congressman's office in Washington DC .. Congressman John Carter, 31st District in Texas .. and, after voicing my opposition to SOPA, I was informed that Congressman Carter has withdrawn his support of the bill.

Keep up the fire ... the opposition is beginning to crumble ...

[ChildOfThe60s]

As if we don’t have worse problems that we have to waste time with this.

This is a very big deal. It has nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with controlling communication.

Passing this as it stands is a significant step to despotism. Or rather, it will bring the despotism into the open without the smoke and mirrors. They don't like what you are saying on your site? No problem, they shut it down. Once that starts, we are in a heap of trouble.

Communication is essential to dissent. And Obama's people (and many Republicans) have not been subtle in their disgust with the internet's capability of communicating (uncontrolled) information and dissent.

They don't give a damn about piracy except as a tool for extorting funds.

[ZULU]

The operative word here is “postpone”. The villians-in-office were taken off guard by Internet Alert members of the public who were wise to this bipartisan bit of treachery.

They are HOPING the issue will coool off, the light of scrutiny on them and their insidious matings with special interest groups, and this repugnant legislation will fade. THEN they will try to strike again.

Its OUR responsibilty to continue to monitor these demons on this issue and make sure our Internet peers are aware of their machinations.

My guess is their NEXT step will be to attempt to HIDE this in some monstrous irrelevant Omnibus Bill, like Funding for Children, Wildlife, Apple Pie and the American Way.

[Bigg Red]

Puzzling reaction on your part, given your tagline....

[pepperhead]

They will find a way to cram it in a emergency appropriations bill.

[diji]

BUMP!

We need to tighten their screws for sure!

[TheOldLady]

Boop Her Nose!

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[abb]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/sopa-action-delayed/2012/01/20/gIQAFxYhDQ_story.html
SOPA action delayed in House until ‘wider consensus’

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577172703397383034.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop
Antipiracy Bills Put on Hold in Congress

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/technology/senate-postpones-piracy-vote.html?_r=1&hp
Senate Delays Vote on Piracy Bill as House Balks, Too

http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/sopa-pipa-bills-postponed-because-everyone-hates-them_b32886
SOPA, PIPA Bills Postponed Because Everyone Hates Them

http://allthingsd.com/20120120/the-full-valenti-dodd-trades-his-olive-branch-to-tech-for-a-howitzer-after-sopapipa-gets-delayed/
The Full Valenti: Dodd Trades His Olive Branch to Tech for a Howitzer, After SOPA/PIPA Gets Delayed

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=48930
SOPA and PIPA opponents successfully delay Congressional action

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/248469/megaupload_takedown_proves_sopa_and_pipa_are_unnecessary.html
MegaUpload Takedown Proves SOPA and PIPA Are Unnecessary

[af_vet_rr]

Big surprise, most of the remaining support is from Democrats:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203750404577171270036110402.html

The push for antipiracy legislation brought lawmakers together for much of the past year, but in the Senate at least, the support that remains after nationwide protests appears to be mostly from Democrats.

It's a tougher call for some Democrats, thanks in part to the bill's strong union backing and the fact that Hollywood has opened its collective wallet wider for Democrats historically. The bill is a top priority of the Motion Picture Association of America, which hired veteran Democratic senator Chris Dodd as its chairman last year.

[af_vet_rr]

Anybody interested in this needs to read this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2835685/posts

[RayChuang88]

In the end, once Jimmy Wales (one of the co-founders of Wikipedia) announced that Wikipedia was going to “go dark” on January 18, 2012 as a protest against SOPA and PIPA, that got the attention of every MSM outlet and the story became front page news. When this happened, the public pressure was on, and it didn’t take long for Congress to quickly back down from supporting SOPA and PIPA—especially since 2012 is a major election year!