While the House has shelved the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) due to the backlash from interested parties, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) is still winding its way through the Senate. After seeing what happened with SOPA, some of PIPA’s former Senatorial supporters have decided to change their tunes. Senator Macro Rubio (R-FL) was the first to publicly withdraw his support of the act in a post on Facebook.
“On the Senate side, I have been a co-sponsor of the PROTECT IP Act because I believe it’s important to protect American ingenuity, ideas and jobs from being stolen through Internet piracy, much of it occurring overseas through rogue websites in China. However, we must do this while simultaneously promoting an open, dynamic Internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies,” Rubio wrote.
“Therefore, I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor. Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses Internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the Internet.”
Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) followed Rubio’s statement with his own withdrawal.
“Senate Leader Harry Reid is pushing forward with legislation that is deeply flawed and still needs much work. That is why I’m withdrawing my co-sponsorship for the Protect IP Act,” Blunt posted on Facebook.
Ars Technica tallied up the full list of senators now opposed to PIPA (* indicates co-sponsors of the Act):
- Roy Blunt (R-MO) *
- John Boozman (R-AR) *
- Ben Cardin (D-MD) *
- Orrin Hatch (R-UT) *
- Marco Rubio (R-FL) *
- Scott Brown (R-MA)
- Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Jim DeMint (R-SC)
- James Inhofe (R-OK)
- Mark Kirk (R-IL)
- Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
- David Vitter (R-LA)
- Tom Coburn (R-OK)
- Pat Toomey (R-PA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
SOPA and PIPA have officially become things that politicians care about, but 35 senators still have not declared a position for or against PIPA.
