Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) has announced that the House has ceased all action on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA would have given copyright holders the ability to block sites accused of violating copyright or trademarks. The bill received a huge backlash from the internet and the White House recently threatened to veto the bill if it was brought before President Obama.
SOPA’s demise still leaves the Protect IP Act (PIPA), the Senate version of SOPA, on the books. PIPA includes the same DNS blocking proposals that SOPA did, just under a different moniker.
A number of sites around the internet have banded together to stage a blackout protest of both bills. The internet blackout is scheduled for Jan 18, with sites like Reddit, Wikipedia, MoveOn, Wordpress, BoingBoing, and Mozilla all planning to bring themselves down for 24 hours.
