Lawmakers begin to retreat from piracy bills in face of Web blackout (updated)

Submitted: January 18, 2012 - 10:53pm
Originally published: January 18, 2012
Last updated: January 19, 2012 - 8:47am

Source: Hill, The

Location:

Capitol Building, East Capitol Street, NE and 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20002, United States

Lawmakers are beginning to retreat from online piracy legislation in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Thousands of websites went dark on Wednesday to protest the two Internet piracy bills, the House's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA).

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) became the latest lawmaker to public oppose SOPA and PIPA, calling them "misguided bills that will cause more harm than good." Sen DeMint was joined by Republican rising star Marco Rubio (R-FL), who dropped his support of the bill and said Congress should take its time in crafting new legislation that addresses the concerns raised by both the technology and content industries. PIPA sponsors Sens John Boozman (R-AR) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) also pulled their support. Sen Hatch is a major defection, as the senator is the co-chairman of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus.

Opposition is also building in the House. Two of the original Republican co-sponsors of SOPA, Reps Ben Quayle (R-AZ) and Lee Terry (R-NE), withdrew their support before the protests began, and scores of other lawmakers took to Twitter Jan 18 to affirm their opposition.

Additional coverage:

In Fight Over Piracy Bills, New Economy Rises Against Old (NYTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/technology/web-protests-piracy-bill-and-2-key-senators-change-course.html?ref=todayspaper

With Twitter, Blackouts and Demonstrations, Web Flexes Its Muscle (NYT)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/technology/protests-of-antipiracy-bills-unite-web.html?ref=todayspaper

Hollywood Loses SOPA Story (WSJ)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204555904577168843130020190.html?mod=ITP_marketplace_0

Net-Rule Doubts Hit Congress (WSJ)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203735304577169182887217166.html?mod=ITP_marketplace_1

Silicon Valley learns fast in game of lobbying (FT)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f426700a-41f5-11e1-a1bf-00144feab49a.html

'SOPA Blackout' is Web's political coming of age (SF Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/18/BUQO1MR5DR.DTL

Internet community cheers power of protest (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-01-19/sopa-protest-shows-internet-power/52654106/1