SOPA, PIPA stumble amid online protests

Antipiracy bills in Congress are facing new hurdles today after House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio announced the legislation wasn’t ready for a vote and more than a half-dozen senators expressed reservations in some form, The Wall Street Journal reports. A response by Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, was among the most significant shifts. In a statement released this afternoon, he says the bill is “simply not ready for prime time.” Other senators expressing reservations today include Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., formerly a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the legislation; Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass.; and Sen. Roy Blunt, R.-Mo. Rubio says he withdrawing his support and is now calling for “new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet.” The setbacks to the bills come on the day Internet powerhouses such as Wikipedia staged an online protest by blacking out its website for the entire day. The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and Protect Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA, are aimed at stopping domestic access and funding to foreign-based websites that offer pirated movies, music and other content. The legislation would give the U.S. attorney general new powers to cut off funding, advertising and access to the sites. While the entertainment industries support the bills, those in opposition say the bills will stymie economic development and restrict freedom of speech online. Read the full story here; subscription is required.