Woohooo! After #SopaBlackout, Congress Postpones Action on #SOPA, #PIPA
A big hurrah to you!!!!! We've won for now SOPA and PIPA were dropped by Congress today. The votes we've been scrambling to mobilize against have been cancelled. When the entire Internet gets angry, Congress takes notice. Both the House and the Senate on Friday backed away from a pair of controversial anti-piracy bills, tossing them into limbo and throwing doubt on their future viability.
Google Inc. said today it collected more than 7 million signatures from the U.S. for its online petition to Congress during an Internet protest against anti- piracy legislation backed by Hollywood. Visitors to Google, the world's most popular search engine, were greeted yesterday by a black box covering the company's familiar icon, and a message that read "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the Web!" The message linked to a page outlining Google's opposition and an option to join a petition urging Congress to reject the legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that he would delay a vote on PIPA, while SOPA sponsor Rep. Lamar Smith said the House Judiciary Committee would also postpone action on his bill.PIPA was scheduled to be taken up by the Senate on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 2:15pm. But "in light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote," Sen. Reid said in a statement.
"There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved," Reid says in a statement, adding that the Senate must take action to stop piracy.
The announcement by Reid comes two days after Wikipedia, Reddit and other prominent sites coalesced to protest SOPA and PIPA votes by blacking out their sites.
Tweet with us, shout on the internet with us, let's celebrate: Round of applause to the 13 million people who stood up - #PIPA and #SOPA are tabled 4 now. #THN #Security #Sopablackout
We're indebted to everyone who helped in the beginning of this movement you, and all the sites that went out on a limb to protest in November. #SOPA and #PIPA will likely return in some form. But when they do, We'll be ready.
