SOPA Tide Turning

Congress seems to be getting the message – and SOPA, the controversial proposed “Stop Online Piracy Act” might be on its last legs.

Wednesday’s online protests and coordinated website blackouts by several members of a SOPA opposition group billing itself as The NetCoalition may have created the additional momentum needed to turn the congressional tide against SOPA.  Public awareness and opposition have been growing since mid-December.  Now, however – with the hearings only a few days away – members of Congress have begun to pull support as they rethink their positions on the issue.

Several Congressional representatives have taken to Twitter and Facebook, assuring the public that they will not back the bill.  Some are going so far as to predict that SOPA is a dead issue.

This turning tide is the result of massive public protest, industry protest, and substantial efforts on the part of the tech community to educate lawmakers who, by their own admission, lack a fundamental understanding of how the Internet works and how the average user would be affected by such sweeping legislation.

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