Earlier in the week, many website around the Internet "went dark" to show the world what the Internet may look like if SOPA and PIPA were passed. For those that missed the news, SOPA was Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA was Protect IP Act. PIPA was in the Senate and SOPA was in the house. The problem was that if gave such sweeping power to the US government that it scared most of the Internet-connected world. The intent was to protect the intellectual property, but the vagueness of the bill made the government "god of the Internet." It also gave them the power to shut down websites hosted overseas if the infringed on US copyrights.
The Internet freaked out and 2 billion users can't be wrong. Senate majority leader and big time PIPA advocate Senator Harry Reid said he was postponing the bill "in light of recent events." The House had similar responses, postponing their vote of SOPA "until there is wider agreement on a solution." Both sides have realized this wouldn't work in its current incarnation and dropped the idea to force it through anyway. At last count, 15 legislators had pulled support by the end of Wednesday.
The issue of protecting the rights and property of artists and companies is important, but SOPA and PIPA were not the way to do it. The overwhelming response from the Internet community made it an obvious choice for lawmakers to drop this. Senator Reid did comment, however, that he believes the issues people found with PIPA could be addressed so a retooled version of the bill may yet appear. If it is written correctly and is detailed, many people may drop their opposition.
In the meantime, a california lawmaker has introduce a new bill, just hours after SOPA and PIPA were shelved. It's called OPEN and it stands for Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act. It is more details than SOPA and adds quite a bit to the enforcement process by including the US International Trade Commission in the process.
Congratulations and kudos to the Internet community for standing up for what is right. This is a tremendous victory for the freedoms and keeping a free, open Internet and a connected world.
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