SOPA and PIPA Votes Delayed in the US Senate and House

Whoever said that you can’t fight city hall – or its bigger governmental cousins – was obviously wrong.  Online protests, huge public outcries, and unrelenting pressure from the technology community seem to be doing the trick.  The votes on the controversial twin bills SOPA (stop online piracy act) and PIPA(protect IP act), scheduled to take place January 24^th in both the US Senate and the House of Congress, have been officially delayed.

Majority leader Harry Reid and Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith have said that, while the issues of piracy and copyright infringement on the Internet must be addressed, they will not be voting on the proposed acts “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

This is a significant victory for the masses who have been vocally and actively opposing both bills since their proposal.  Critics claim that both SOPA and PIPA are exceptionally harsh, would be prone to abuse, and would change the very nature of the Internet.

“No SOPA” Add-on From Chrome Helps You Boycott SOPA Supporters

If you’re among the many still furious about the proposed SOPA legislation, Google Chrome is giving you a new way to protest.  You can download a “No SOPA” add-on for the browser, which will alert you every time you visit a website owned by a parent company that supports the legislation.  The add-on won’t block the site – it simply flashes a red banner at the top of the screen alerting you to the fact that the company is a SOPA supporter.  What you do after that is up to you – but, chances are, if you are opinionated enough regarding SOPA to download the Chrome add-on, you won’t want to frequent sites that support the legislation.

SOPA Brings Out the Angry Mob

This is the latest form of protest against the infamous Stop Online Piracy Act.  In late-December, opponents of the bill organized an official “Dump Go Daddy Day,” in reaction to Go Daddy’s initial support of SOPA.  Go Daddy reversed their position – apparently in time to save their own skins – because the dumping effect was barely noticeable.  Although the domain name registrar lost close to 40 thousand domains over the course of the controversy, they gained slightly more.

Time will tell if Chrome’s “No Sopa” add-on is any more effective.

“Dump Go Daddy Day” Numbers Not Known Yet

December 29th was marked as the official “Dump Go Daddy Day,” a protest born of the backlash against the Internet giant’s initial support of the controversial SOPA legislation.  A grass-roots movement enouraged customers to show their displeasure by taking their business elsewhere — and it would appear that many did just that.  But how many?  On the day following the protest, that’s the question everyone is asking.

Go Daddy Issues a Statement

Go Daddy’s CEO, Warren Adelman, issued a statement late Thursday, in which he said, “We have observed a spike in domain name transfers, which are running above normal rates and which we attribute to Go Daddy’s prior support for SOPA, which was reversed.”  Adelman declined to reveal the actual number of transfers, however, so protesters will have to wait to see how large an effect their actions had.  It could be a significant figure — it is estimated that, prior to Christmas, the company had already lost more than 37000 domains as a result of the controversy.