Senate and House leaders announced earlier Friday that SOPA and PIPA votes will be put on hold, due undoubtedly to the large online protests that made several congressmen rethink the legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that the Tuesday procedural vote is being postponed on the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Following suit, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith stated his committee is postponing PIPA's House counterpart SOPA, "until there is a wider agreement on a solution."
This is good news for the internet. Of course, this issue isn't quite dead just yet. There are talks of starting over on a bill that tackles online piracy and illegal use of copyrighted material. Harry Reid went on to state that, "[w]e must take action to stop these illegal practices." The bills in their current form are dead for now, but the issue is not.
After the overwhelming backlash from numerous sites (including a move of solidarity in the form of a censored logo from our own CBM), it would seem unimaginable that any future form of the bill would not have some form of expert input from computer experts and internet companies. The current bills had little, if any input.
The recent shutdown of Megaupload shows that PIPA and SOPA aren't needed to change the internet. Changes are coming, but the actual laws governing that have been sent back to square one.
While we may have just dodged a bullet on PIPA and SOPA, the issue is still going to be addressed in the future. But for now, take solace in the fact that people's voices were heard.