Protests Spur Congressional Retreat from Support of Anti-Piracy Bills

As websites such as Wired and Wikipedia went dark today to express their opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act, at least two Senators announced they would no longer support the legislation as introduced and urged fellow lawmakers to undertake further study of the problem of web piracy in the hope of crafting better bills.  In the House, Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) also announced that they were no longer willing to be SOPA co-sponsors.  Opponents of SOPA and PIPA assert that enactment of these provisions would stifle Internet innovation and squelch free speech without effectively remedying concerns about the misuse of content.  In submissions to Congress, Professors Laurence Tribe and Marvin Ammori have argued that SOPA would violate the First Amendment.

JFB