After millions of signatures from fellow Americans and several headling websites "blacking out," SOPA/PIPA has officially been pulled from congress.
House Judicary Committee Chariman and the chief sponsor of the SOPA bill Lamar Smith (Rep.Texas) told reporters Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on the solution."
Both SOPA and PIPA have been losing their steam in the House of Representatives this past week, and with President Obama doubting the "intent" of the bills, Smith had no other choice than to pull them from congress.
Smith, not willing to accept the death of SOPA, told reporters that he plans to revise the bill and ultimately push it back through congress:
“We need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products. The problem of online piracy is too big to ignore. American intellectual property industries provide 19 million high-paying jobs and account for more than 60% of U.S. exports. The theft of America’s intellectual property costs the U.S. economy more than $100 billion annually and results in the loss of thousands of American jobs. Congress cannot stand by and do nothing while American innovators and job creators are under attack.
The online theft of American intellectual property is no different than the theft of products from a store. It is illegal and the law should be enforced both in the store and online.
The Committee will continue work with copyright owners, Internet companies, financial institutions to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America’s intellectual property. We welcome input from all organizations and individuals who have an honest difference of opinion about how best to address this widespread problem. The Committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.”
Piracy is definitely a problem in this country, and is unquestionably wrong, but both SOPA and PIPA gave the goverment control to shut down sites with no direct reasoning. This entire fiasco just goes to show us that peaceful protests can go a long ways, especially when backed up by millions of Americans.
