It seems that "Internet Censorship Day" (the coordinated internet protest of SOPA/PIPA) has had a strong impact.
Eric Engleman and Derek Wallbank reported for the Washington Post that "six U.S. lawmakers dropped their support for Hollywood-backed anti-piracy legislation as . . . websites protest the measures."
Timothy B. Lee wrote for Ars Technica and counted 13 new Senators opposed to PIPA. The article noted that PIPA has roughly 35 supporters and 30 opponents, leaving another 35 Senators undecided.
Jennifer Martinez, David Saleh Rauf, and Tony Romm reported for Politico that the SOPA/PIPA protest has "rattled" Congress. Noting the defections of the aforementioned U.S. lawmakers, the article explained that more Democrats and Republicans are considering withdrawing their support from the legislation.
The LATimes reported that 4.5 million people signed the anti-SOPA petition made available through Google's homepage.
Chloe Albanesius wrote for PCMag.com and explained that the Motion Picture Association of America (a major lobbying organization in favor of SOPA) called the protest an "abuse of power."
The New York Times ran an editorial on the result of the internet protest and argued that "internet companies now have the responsibility to come up with a workable alternative . . ."
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Really quite an interesting day. Anecdotally, I overheard several people asking about SOPA/PIPA in the hallways and on the street. It's still unclear what impact these protests will have. However, they seem to have definitely raised awareness.
Remember how the House Judiciary Committee shelved SOPA? Well, Rep. Smith has quietly announced that markup is back on for February. That didn't last long. SOPA/PIPA are far from dead.
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