The end of SOPA/PIPA?

Last week, the internet faced one of its biggest shutdowns in protest of SOPA and PIPA. The internet was fiery hot over the bill that many say could cripple the internet. What kind of fruit has the protest bore? Well first off, the ESA has finally dropped support of SOPA and PIPA

The Entertainment Software Association announced that it no longer supports the Stop Online Piracy Act or the Protect IP Act. In a statement released today the trade group representing the video game industry said that it had always intended to support a bill that was balanced and fair.

Of course a simple read-through of either law would indicate that SOPA and PIPA did not take a balanced approach to the internet’s nature of free expression and sharing. In fact it took a draconian approach to enforcement that used the power of the federal government to take down websites without due process. The ESA's statement:

"From the beginning, ESA has been committed to the passage of balanced legislation to address the illegal theft of intellectual property found on foreign rogue sites," the group said in a statement. "Although the need to address this pervasive threat to our industry's creative investment remains, concerns have been expressed about unintended consequences stemming from the current legislative proposals. Accordingly, we call upon Congress, the Obama Administration, and stakeholders to refocus their energies on producing a solution that effectively balances both creative and technology interests. As an industry of innovators and creators, we understand the importance of both technological innovation and content protection and are committed to working with all parties to encourage a balanced solution."

The ESA was widely criticized by the gaming community for being hypocritical on the issue of free speech – particularly in light of the groundswell of support from gamers in their Supreme Court fight against the state of California (Brown v. EMA). Some publications even called for a boycott of the group’s annual game industry event E3.

With the ESA's support of SOPA and PIPA dropped, that was another nail in the coffin for SOPA and PIPA. However, it seems the bills may be all but dead

SOPA
House Judiciary Committee Chairman and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) lead Sponsor Lamar Smith (R-Texas) announced on Friday that he was postponing any further action on the bill.

Smith said he would stop work on the bill until there was wider agreement on a solution to combating piracy. Earlier this week, SOPA was stopped in its tracks by Virginia Republican Representative Eric Cantor, but on Wednesday Smith was defiant, saying that he planned to continue working on the bill in February in a markup committee hearing.

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

PIPA
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) announced this morning that he would postpone a vote on the Protect IP Act that was scheduled to happen next Tuesday.

"In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act," Reid said in a statement. "There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved. Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs. We must take action to stop these illegal practices. We live in a country where people rightfully expect to be fairly compensated for a day’s work, whether that person is a miner in the high desert of Nevada, an independent band in New York City, or a union worker on the back lots of a California movie studio."

Is this the end of SOPA and PIPA? Will California Rep Darrel Issa(R)'s OPEN act take its place? What is to be sure, is that one of PIPA's sponsors isn't taking this lying down.

From Senator Patrick Leahy(D)

“I understand and respect Majority Leader Reid’s decision to seek consent to vitiate cloture on the motion to proceed to the PROTECT IP Act. But the day will come when the Senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem. Somewhere in China today, in Russia today, and in many other countries that do not respect American intellectual property, criminals who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided it was not even worth debating how to stop the overseas criminals from draining our economy.”

Ironic how he mentions that since Russia and China's internets are heavily censored.



Works Cited:
Game Politics link 1
Game Politics Link 2
Game Politics Link 3

Note: The GameOverthinker has a video article on Beyond SOPA. Though the article was taped before SOPA and PIPA crashed down, much of his non-story portion of the video points out what will happen after SOPA and what may end up happening. You can look at it at http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.com/2012/01/episode-64-beyond-sopa.html