Ten Ton Hammer is reporting something that is quite the victory in the fight against SOPA;
Opponents of the very controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) have won a small victory of sorts today. The bill’s sponsor Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has agreed to drop the controversial DNS blocking provision (at least temporarily) to allow time to study its potential impacts. The provision could potentially have a wide range of implications on everything ranging from forums, game chat Facebook, Twitter, blogs and more. But as Techdirt notes, the spirit of that DNS piece is still alive and well.
The move comes following a number of developers and communities speaking out against the bill such as Epic Games, Riot Games, Red 5 Studios, Mojang, Trion Worlds, 38 Studios and others. Certain developers such as Firefall developer Red 5 and Minecraft developer Mojang even joined another group of Internet sites like Reddit, Wikipedia, Major League Gaming and lots of others for a planned service blackout on January 18th in opposition of the bill. In place of the usual website, visitors will be greeted with a message explaining the implications of the SOPA and the Protect IP Act, which Senator Harrry Reid (D-Nevada) is trying to push through.
As some added good news for opponents of SOPA, Techdirt also reported that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) has also stated that he will not allow the bill to come to the floor for a vote unless there is some real consensus. For now, it doesn't look like the bill may not be getting fast-tracked certain industries and politicians had hoped. This saga is far from over, so stay tuned and we'll update you when we have more.
Wednesday will be a quiet day on the Internet but it will still speak loudly in protest. The number of websites going dark to oppose SOPA and Protect IP is continuing to grow. For those interested in finding out who will be taking part in Wednesday's blackout protest, check out the list NLB Creations has put together.
As another note though, the blackout of many large websites is still planned to go ahead on the 18th of January. The list of sites is staggering; http://nlb-creations.com/2012/01/13/...otesting-sopa/
I was truly hoping the giants like Google, Facebook and even Microsoft might join in. Disrupt the world for a day, preserve this way of life for the future (and i'm NOT talking about piracy with this comment), but so far, i've not heard of any updates on their plans other than "ideas".
Additionally, Barack Obama appears to have sided with the front against SOPA according to The Guardian.
It's to the point that the SOPA hearing has been postponed;
January 15th: SOPA Hearing Postponed
After sponsors of the bill agreed to remove a controversial provision requiring service providers to block access to users by manipulating the Domain Name Service (DNS), it was reported by several news agencies including New York Time that another hearing of SOPA will be shelved indefinitely until a clearer consensus could be reached. According to the statement released by House Oversight Chairman Representative Darrell Issa:
“While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House. …Majority leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build a consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote.”
Regardless, it's still important that we don't go casual about it and let them almost silently pass it. Keep pushing until we get to a point where they'll never even consider this sort of thing again (at least, not a bill that open to so much abuse and misinterpretation).
