PIPA vote delayed by Senate majority leader
Online protests seem to have worked
The leader of the majority in the US Senate, Senator Harry Reid, has decided to delay the vote on the PIPA bill.
PIPA and its counterpart from the House of Representatives, SOPA, are designed to help reduce online piracy by giving copyright holders and the US government the power to block access to sites that host pirated content.
The outcry has been so great that supporters of both SOPA and PIPA have been withdrawing their support with PIPA losing 13 supporters including several co-sponsors of the bill.
Senator Reid announced that the vote on the PIPA bill will be delayed. In a statement he elaborated: "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... I admire the work that Chairman Leahy has put into this bill. I encourage him to continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge a balance between protecting Americans' intellectual property, and maintaining openness and innovation on the internet."
Thanks Gamasutra.
