SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – The Texas Congressman whose proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) prompted dozens of websites to go dark or run protest messages this week said Friday he is pulling the measure from consideration “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”
“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
“It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products,” Smith said.
But I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again- SOPA and its Senate version PIPA will not be truly dead until there is metaphorical political blood drawn over it. Guys like Lamar Smith need to be thrown out of office for even proposing to do things like this. People in Congress need to be scared of regulating the internet in any form for fear they will get tossed on their kiesters in the next election.
So remember who the punks were who were pushing these bills, and support their opponents with your time and cash in the coming 9 months. And maybe we should send people to Congress who actually understand technology instead of letting a group of sept-and-octogenarians write our internet laws. For example, one of PIPA’s sponsors was Utah douchebag I mean Republican Orrin Hatch, and he is being challenged by Pete Ashdown, an internet entrepreneur who runs Utah ISP Xmission. Maybe HE would be a better representative for Utah instead of sending the guy back to Washington who has literally been the Senator from Utah all of Swankmotron’s life.
Send the douches home who would support ending internet freedom– that’s the solution.
Or else SOPA, or something like it, will be back.