Congress and Senate postpone PIPA and SOPA votes after ‘Recent Events’

It might not be the win we were all hoping for, but it seems that our actions on Wedenesday made Congress and the Senate stop and think for a change.   Senate majority leader Harry Reid stated that he decided to at least delay the vote on the controversial Protect IP Act (PIPA). Without giving much more of an explanation other than because of “recent events.” That is more likely due to the over whelming and support from the widescale protest we saw flood the web a few short days ago. The bill is not off the table as of yet. Mr. Reid is at least acknowledging the bill has “legitimate issues.”

On the other side of our fight, congressman Lamar Smith, the primary supporter of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also is postponing the vote. Stating that they will “postpone consideration” until there is a “wider agreement” on ending piracy. Again, he didn’t make mention of when the act would be put to vote.

PIPA still has a majority in favor at 37 to 22 against, but the gap is closing. SOPA on the other hand has shifted to 100 against and 22 in favor. With a hot topic such as PIPA and SOPA floating around, the Obama administration had to step in to. Stating that they would most likely veto both bills if they passed as-is. Claiming that would violate American principles and the concept of an open internet. I’ll believe it when or if I have to see it.

I would like to believe that the postponement of both bills is due to all our actions on January 18th. Wouldn’t it be great if the people finally stood up for something together and made a difference? According to some reports we sure as heck weren’t just dismissed. The planned day of action was so wide-spread that 4.5 million petition signatures were gathered just through Google alone. We jammed up phone lines and flooded inbox’s all day long.

Did you sign the petition, or do you even care? Do you even know what the story is and why so many websites from Wikipedia to Craigslist and even Google support stopping these bills? We sure as heck jumped on the bandwagon Wednesday, and you can expect to see us do so again and again. You can look further into it HERE.

Source: Electonista