Anti-piracy an election year 'hot potato'

After SOPA and PIPA went down in flames last week, industry and the Hill are sifting through the ashes, trying to figure out what’s next. The answer: probably not much.

What’s certain is that the anti-piracy debate has turned toxic. And that makes it all the less likely that lawmakers will go anywhere near it again in 2012. “Going into an election year, there’s going to be a lot of [reluctance] to do anything that can end up being an unnecessary battle,” a Republican House aide told POLITICO. “It became a political hot potato.”