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[Update]: SOPA Shelved For Now
[Update]: House Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) says that Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has told him that he won't bring SOPA up to a vote in the House, shelving the proposed legislation for the time being.
In a statement, Issa said, "While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act [PIPA], 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 consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote."
[Via The Hill, with thanks to Brandon Fothergill for the tip!]
[Original Story]: One of the more controversial elements of the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act has been at least temporarily removed by its key sponsor. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has pulled DNS blocking from SOPA, pending further study.
“After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision," Smith wrote in a press release on his official site. "We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers."
In its revised form, SOPA will still allow the U.S. government the power to track and block overseas transactions related to illicit sites, and would require search engines such as Google to block those sites from showing up in search results.
The move caused Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA), to shelve his plans to hold hearings with DNS experts. Issa then said attention should be given to the Senate version of SOPA, PIPA.
"Although SOPA, despite the removal of this provision, is still a fundamentally flawed bill, I have decided that postponing the scheduled hearing on DNS blocking with technical experts is the best course of action at this time," said Issa in a statement reposted by Techdirt. "Right now, the focus of protecting the Internet needs to be on the Senate where Majority Leader Reid has announced his intention to try to move similar legislation in less than two weeks."
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