US legislatures put anti-piracy bills on almost permanent hold

It is official; the US Congress has halted debate on two contested anti-online piracy bills. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delayed a vote on the Protect IP Act scheduled for Tuesday. Furthermore, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith then said his panel would not consider the Stop Online Piracy Act until a compromise was reached.

For many internet users, the news comes as a landmark victory, as traditional lobbying seemed to be on the side of the Hollywood elite. However, the decisions follow protests by online encyclopedia Wikipedia, and thousands of other websites, which went “dark” in protest for 24 hours earlier this week.

“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday‘s vote on the PROTECT IP Act,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said in a statement on Friday.

Smith, a Texas Republican in the House of Representatives, said in a statement: “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy.”

According to the BBC, more than seven million people signed a petition on Google saying that passage of the legislation would result in censoring the web and impose a regulatory burden on businesses.

Now though, business leaders in Hollywood may not be planning for their next move, but rather orchestrate to clean up a public relations disaster. Economists say that without the backing of net savvy users participating and viewing content from companies such as Time Warner and News Corp., traditional media companies may have lost a significant portion of their traditional audience.

(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com