‘Why SOPA, PIPA went off chart @ Congress’

Some reasons have began to emerge on why the America’s proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and Protect IP Act (PIPA) were taken off the chart of the United States Congress at the weekend.

ITRealms Online gathered from industry observers that the number of protests recorded both online and offline have remained steady following the escalation of the protest beyond  the America.

Also, Internet enthusiasts have continued to gain more and more support from their colleagues across the world, it was imminent that the two bills would cause more harm than good.

The stepped up protest against SOPA and PIPA were recently heightened with the blank websites display of Wikipedia, Google and WordPress to name a few.

Reuters reports that the United States’ lawmakers decided to stop the anti-piracy legislation, last Friday following unprecedented protest by online companies and Internet Service Providers, especially in the States against the bills known at the Senate as PIPA and House of Representatives as SOPA.

The report quoted Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid as saying that he decided to postpone a critical vote that had been scheduled for Tuesday, January 24 “in light of recent events.”

Also, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Mr. Lamar Smith, followed suit, saying his panel would delay action on similar legislation until there is wider agreement on the issue.

“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. 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 in a statement.

The bills, known as PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House, were aimed at curbing access to overseas websites on alleged traffic in pirated content and counterfeit products, such as movies and music.

ITRealms Online gathered that the legislation has been a priority for entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and other industry groups who see it as critical to curbing online piracy, which they believed costs them billions of dollars annually.

On the other hand, technology companies are concerned the laws would likely undermine Internet freedoms, be difficult to enforce and encourage frivolous lawsuits.

Remmy Nweke

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