DNS blocking dropped from SOPA
Controversial anti-piracy bill gets watered down - a bit
One radical provision has been dropped from the controversial US Stop Online Piracy Act in order to allow further discussion.
The DNS blocking provision that allows sites suspected of hosting pirated materials to have their domain names removed from the Domain Name System effectively removing them from the internet to all but those who know the actual IP addresses has been dropped due to pressure from the White House.
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Lamar Smith explained the decision: "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. We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers."
President Obama's administration release a memo on Saturday detailing their opposition to the SOPA legislation. It read: "Proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of internet security. Our analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online."
Thanks GamesIndustry.biz.
