SOPA to be Reworked

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA bill, that was the subject of several protests has been sent back to the drawing board.

According to the Times story, “The move came shortly after the Senate postponed a key vote on the companion PIPA bill scheduled for next week and amid calls for consensus before Congress moves forward on any legislation to address the problem of foreign piracy websites.”

The bill aims to block foreign web sites that steal American intellectual property and keep the profits for themselves.

But local groups, including Occupy Redlands, have opposed it, saying SOPA and the Protect IP Act or PIPA, are ill conceived.

“The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, H.R. 3261) is on the surface a bill that attempts to curb online piracy,” Occupy members wrote recently. “Sadly, the proposed way it goes about doing this would devastate the online economy and the overall freedom of the web. It would particularly affect sites with heavy user generated content. Sites like Youtube, Reddit, Twitter, and others may cease to exist in their current form if this bill is passed.”

The Occupy group joined Google, Wikipedia and a number of other sites in a mass online protest on Jan. 18 by placing a black bar on their website to blockout content.

The bill was drafted by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) who has since said the committee "will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution," According to the Times.

According to a news release issued by Smith and posted on the US House of Representatives Committee of the Judiciary website, discussion on SOPA has concluded for the month.

“Due to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks, markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act is expected to resume in February.”

“I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that saves American jobs and protects intellectual property."