It's a small victory for the technology sector.
On Friday, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he plans to remove the Domain Name System (DNS) blocking provision from the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which is a copyright enforcement bill that's has stirred up some rather heated controversy from all corners of the internet.
Prior to its removal, the provision would have required ISPs to block their subscribers from accessing foreign websites accused of infringing the copyrights of U.S. companies. But with this provision now removed, Smith now has a better chance of actually getting SOPA pushed through Congress.
"After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove (DNS) blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the [U.S. House Judiciary] Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision," Smith said in a statement released by his office.
"We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign Web sites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers," he added.
Smith was forced to suspend the bill after facing strong opposition to SOPA during the bill's markup in the Judiciary Committee at the end of the year. So far the Judiciary Committee has yet to schedule a date for when it will continue the markup.
Chairman Lamar Smith is one of the biggest backers of SOPA. His move to yank DNS-blocking out of his pet bill arrives just after Sen. Patrick Leahy, the sponsor of the music and film industry's prized stallion Protect IP bill, decided on Friday to remove the DNS sections that mandate DNS blocking and redirecting.
Also on Friday, six Republican senators asked Majority Leader Harry Reid in a letter to actually postpone a vote on Protect IP. "Prior to committee action, some members expressed substantive concerns about the bill, and there was a commitment to resolve them prior to floor consideration," their letter stated.
Meanwhile, next week there will be a hearing to examine the impact of DNS and search engine blocking practices on the Internet, headed by one of the lead opponents to SOPA, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary. Public interest groups are also keeping a watchful eye on this new shift that's taking place in in Washington.
"It appears that lawmakers are beginning to realize how much damage their anti-piracy bills could cause to the Internet and to Internet-related businesses," said Sherwin Siy, the deputy legal director of Public Knowledge. "While we are pleased that some progress is being made, we are also firm in our opposition to both bills because some very bad provisions remain."
Earlier this week, social news site Reddit said that it plans to sign off from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST on January 18 to protest the controversial bill. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales also said that his firm may conduct a protest blackout, although it's unknown if he plans to join Reddit, or go dark on a different date.
"I'm all in favor of it, and I think it would be great if we could act quickly to coordinate with Reddit," Wales wrote. " I'd like to talk to our government affairs adviser to see if they agree on this as useful timing, but assuming that's a greenlight, I think that matching what Reddit does ... is a good idea."
Stop trying to fix what isn't broken! LEAVE PIRACY ALONE. We get that piracy isn't good, per se, for companies, but the alternative is screwing up the internet as we know it. Just suck it up. The United States government is incapable of making an act that will stop piracy and not screw up the internet, so just DON'T TRY.
TL;DR The internet is fine how it is stop trying to change it.
Stop trying to fix what isn't broken! LEAVE PIRACY ALONE. We get that piracy isn't good, per se, for companies, but the alternative is screwing up the internet as we know it. Just suck it up. The United States government is incapable of making an act that will stop piracy and not screw up the internet, so just DON'T TRY.
TL;DR The internet is fine how it is stop trying to change it.
have a look
thing is, it may have snuck in via the back door (typical mandelson tactic. he loves the back door
every 1 that has the net in there home should contact there local mp(uk) and house reps/ state goveners (America) and demand this kind of bill be dropped or you dont vote for em next time round...
if enough people do it they will have no option but to adhere to public opinion...
remember sometimes the little guy can pick a fight and win... especially if he brings a gun to a knife fight
I think to understand the full scale of this situation we need to take a little history lesson to see what our forefathers meant. We've all lived in a world where creative works are protected by law, but I wonder, what is a world without the protection of creative works like? I know I've never been taught such a thing even in college history classes.
In the end, what these acts boil down to is, do we wish to protect 18th century ideals, and continue protecting the profits of crappy mainstream music artists, and George Lucus, or continue on our path of free information?
Do we protect the profits of others, or the spread of knowledge for the greater good of humanity?
On another note, protecting artistry from personal enjoyment is not an ideal I believe in. I believe that artistry should be protected from a) monetary gain of those that aren't the creator and b) plagiarism. Artistry should NOT be protected from a person seeking enjoyment for themselves or their friends.
You are sadly correct. If SOPA is dismantled and divided up into several bills the uproar against those bills will not be nearly as great. It would be much easier for them to slowly do it in small increments. SOPA was too large of a push and thus received a giant push back.
The reason I fell in love with the internet when I was little was because it was a chaotic playground for those who saw fit to play. If the internet was only email and facebook when I first booted up and dialed, I would have gone and played sports or something boring like that.
http://youtu.be/HUEvRyemKSg