SOPA goes back to the drawing board

The Stop Online Piracy Act, the bill that in part sparked this week’s Internet protests, will be redrafted, its lead sponsor says. The Los Angeles Times reports the move came shortly after the Senate postponed a key vote scheduled for next week on the companion bill, Protect IP Act, and amid calls for consensus before Congress moves forward on any legislation to address the problem of foreign piracy websites. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, had hoped to push his antipiracy bill through the committee next month. But in the wake of growing opposition triggered by Wednesday’s Internet blackouts, Smith says the committee “will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution.” On Wednesday, some of the Internet’s largest entities blacked out their websites—or their logos or some of their content—in a joint protest against the SOPA and PIPA antipiracy bills. Wikipedia, the largest Web player to block access to its pages for a full 24 hours, says 162 million people experienced the blackout on the online encyclopedia’s landing page. In addition, 8 million U.S. readers took Wikipedia’s suggestion and looked up their congressional reps from the site. Google reports at least 4.5 million people signed its petition asking lawmakers to reject the bills, and Twitter says 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets were sent in the first 16 hours of the day Wednesday.