SOPA Withdrawn: Lamar Smith Pulls Controversial Web Anti-Piracy Bill

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The Texas Congressman whose proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) prompted dozens of websites to go dark or run protest messages this week said Friday he is pulling the measure from consideration "until there is wider agreement on a solution."

"I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy," U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products," Smith said.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth; Editing by Daniel Trotta)

Comments

[friskymojito]

10:10 AM on 01/24/2012

this sopa thing is how they do it in china. thats why my friend calls me at 3am to download something for him (a legitimate app for his cellphone) cause of weird blocks. add me here now you guys might want to ask me to do this for you (God forbid) if this sopa thing happens. i dont like this bill, mainly because i dont want to have to dthroat government on a daily basis.

[alucard624]

08:05 PM on 01/21/2012

Why does these bills sound like something that would lead this country into the society that was presented in the book 1984? Never mind, because it DOES. Sooner or later we'll have the thought police too.

Lamar Smith, your days as a rep are numbered thanks to this fiasco. Vote this guy out in November if possible.

[Hugo Stiglitz1]

03:03 PM on 01/21/2012

That’s more or less what happened with the SOPA fight. It’s true that website-seizures-without-trials are not quite as lawless as indefinite detentions, since there are actual statutes conferring this power. But it nonetheless sends a very clear message when citizens celebrate a rare victory in denying the Government a power it seeks — the power to shut down websites without a trial — only for the Government to turn around the very next day and shut down one of the world’s largest and best-known sites. Whether intended or not, the message is unmistakable: Congratulations, citizens, on your cute little “democracy” victory in denying us the power to shut down websites without a trial: we’re now going to shut down one of your most popular websites without a trial.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/two_lessons_from_the_megaupload_seizure/singleton/

[Jen Wilkinson]

12:27 AM on 01/21/2012

People can rock the crap!

[Thanks4Watching]

07:54 PM on 01/20/2012

And all will be well in the land of Washington, right?

Don't believe that for a second guys. The Hollywood Lobby never takes no for an answer. Watch them like a hawk; we haven't seen the end of SOPA. Don't let your guard down for a second.

[radikal76]

04:00 PM on 01/21/2012

I point to the lame duck session. These bills are too radioactive with November looming. It will be rammed through soon after November, and our lives will resemble Stalanist Russia even more.

[brklynivn]

06:23 PM on 01/20/2012

Lamar Smith needs to lose his job, but like Rick Perry he'll probably be put back in office.

[dana94591]

06:11 PM on 01/20/2012

Hopefully, they will call people who actually know what the internet is and have them help them ferret out the criminals in the internet without censoring the freedom of the net!!!

[Joel Mendez]

01:25 PM on 01/21/2012

it's like a bunch of tubes, innit?

[Luluu]

05:19 PM on 01/20/2012

About time!

[Fotadh]

04:53 PM on 01/20/2012

Here's an idea, DO SOME RESEARCH before you try to pass a stupid bill that will cause more harm than good, i.e. SOPA, PIPA, and NCLB.

[Thanks4Watching]

08:04 PM on 01/20/2012

Trust me, the MPAA and the RIAA don't care. They don't take no for an answer. We won this battle, but they'll be back. They always are.

Stay diligent. We haven't seen the last of SOPA.

[JPHR]

04:12 PM on 01/20/2012

Won a skirmish now, not even a battle let alone the war. Intellectual Property protection of some 70 years is an obscene imbalance between awarding creative work and the public interest of having that in the public domain. Note that pharmaceutical patents (quite a lot more work/investment involved) last only twelve years.
Do expect the MPAA and RIAA and politicians in their pocket to resume this initiative if nobody is looking or the will use the ACTA approach (secret international negotiations, participants having to sign non disclosure agreements and once the treaty is signed only ratification and no in depth discussion) by keeping the actual law making as long as possible out of the public view.
Dodd's description of consumers being the pawns of the tech industry is quite telling. He himself is either rewarded for previous dealing or has sold his influence to the MPAA/RIAA. Whatever you prefer, but describing the protest of consumers/voters/citizens as being pawns is outrageous and insulting when clearly this SOPA/PIPA is so completely out of proportion giving precedence to a subordinate interest while damaging privacy, due process and free speech.

[Godweiser]

12:37 PM on 01/21/2012

Dodd's just cranky because the people that objected quashed his big retirement bonus from his owners.

[ILoveGreatDanes]

03:26 PM on 01/20/2012

Of course he's got to be from Texas! I didn't know for sure who came up with SOPA. I'm so embarrassed to be from Texas. There's way too many Reflublican clowns here.

[dana94591]

06:12 PM on 01/20/2012

I hear ya! I live here too and am embarrassed everyday!!!

[Godweiser]

12:38 PM on 01/21/2012

Well, to be honest, they could have found any out of touch, obsolete old man to push this bill; congress has lots of guys that think computers are for solitaire and forwarding chain letters. Any one of them could have authored the bill.

[tgonz37]

02:51 PM on 01/20/2012

Good! And hopefully it will stay dead. We have enough laws in this country and don't need one driven by such a narrow interest like one industry's financial interest.

[Lindsay Blogs]

02:28 PM on 01/20/2012

It's about time this guy finally realized that his proposed legislation just didn't cut it. It was far too wide-reaching and undefined. If we want to stop foreign "rogue" websites, SOPA was NOT the way to do it.

[Jason Wilczak]

02:23 PM on 01/20/2012

SOPA is down, which rocks... My question is what is next, our enemy will only become smarter after this blind sided assault against their interests, I wrote more here on my blog: http://temporalrelativity.blogspot.com/2012/01/day-20-dark-side-of-rebellion.html

[Crashleo]

02:19 PM on 01/20/2012

"foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products"

WTF is he talking about??!?!?!?

[TopBrain]

04:22 PM on 01/20/2012

sites like http://thepiratebay.org/.