Harry Reid postpones vote on the Senate’s Protect I.P. Act.
Following real life and internet protests on the House SOPA and Senate PIPA bills, the internet witnessed representatives and senators begin to pull their support from the controversial internet censorship measure almost instantly.
Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid postponed voting on the PIPA Act for an undetermined amount of time signaling that the momentum behind the bill has faltered. However, Senator Reid did encourage the authors of the bill to reassess the balance between IP protections and American Freedom, so the internet must stay vigilant ensure PIPA’s corpse does not arise as a zombie once the media’s attention wanes.
(Source: Think Progress)
11 comments
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oldebabe
January 20, 2012 at 17:57 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hooray!
Mr.Kosta
January 20, 2012 at 18:13 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
After hearing about the Megaupload wicht hunt, this is a relief.
Mr.Kosta
January 20, 2012 at 18:14 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
*Witch hunt
Damn typos.
unbound
January 20, 2012 at 18:55 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is what happens when a flashlight gets turned on in a dark room…all the cockroaches (congress-critters) start scattering.
The Lorax
January 20, 2012 at 19:07 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yes, celebrate, minions of the Internet. But remain ever-vigilant, for in every defeat, they reform and try again with different tactics. Don’t think of this as “we won”, think of this as “they bit off more they can chew, so they will resume nibbling.”
Assassin Actual
January 20, 2012 at 19:42 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I hate that I have to agree; while PIPA might be the grave for now It will arise again or come back in a different incarnation. Still we should always celebrate our victories because they remind us that winning is possible.
Aliasalpha
January 21, 2012 at 02:45 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Less ‘in a grave’ and more ‘in another room out of sight’ sadly. They’ll try and sneak it back in, probably in parts over multiple bills and just a little more onerous than before.
After all they have to, just look at the eleventy trillion dollars a second that was lost to the film industry with the invention of the vcr, the music industry with cassette recorders (and later mp3s) and the computer game industry when you could copy c64 games with a double cassette deck. All those industries are dead and burie… wait a minute, they’re still around? Wow they must be operating in such massive debt by now with losses even vaguely like they claim…
F
January 20, 2012 at 20:24 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
SOPA, PIPA, RIPA.
Until they find another way.
Guts Knuckleson
January 21, 2012 at 01:59 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hell yes. A thousand years from now this time in human history will be seen as another renaissance. Living in the middle of it we don’t see the significance of the internet revolution, but this is at least as significant as the era following the invention of the printing press.
My feeling is that the megacorporation and all it’s abusive influence is on the way out, obsolete, because now the average nobody can speak just as loud and far as CNN. The people have real power now. The power to start a worldwide business from nothing more than a laptop on a kitchen table. The power to influence millions of people with a few keystrokes.
It should be no suprise that the old bulls are ganging up on us. They want this genie back in the bottle. They want their big easy back. Well they can’t have it. It’s the people’s turn to run this son of a bitch and they can go rot for all we care.
Aliasalpha
January 21, 2012 at 02:38 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Damn that level of optimism is going to really come back & bite you later on, you know?
Assassin Actual
January 22, 2012 at 02:22 (UTC -4) Link to this comment
As a life long pessimist I have to admire the guy for his sunny view and he might very well be right. Or we will end up with chips in our brains shocking us whenever we think badly about our Corporate overlords and serving pop ups directly into our eyes.