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The Stop Online Piracy Act is a controversial bill that would allow the Justice Department to pull foreign sites "dedicated" to copyright infringement out of the DNS system and search engine results — effectively altering the way the internet works. It's a hugely controversial bill that takes a scorched-earth approach to solving the thorny problem of copyright infringement on the web, and it's attracting a lot of attention from around the web. We're tracking the bill's progress and reaction from the industry right here.
- Jan 26, 2012, 9:32 PM UTC
Inside Hollywood's failed SOPA efforts — and a glimmer of hope
The Hollywood Reporter offers a fresh account of events surrounding the collapse of SOPA / PIPA legislation in Congress. Separately, an EMI executive states that he believes lawmakers chose the "wrong method" in drafting the bills.
By Chris Welch
- Jan 20, 2012, 6:50 PM UTC
SOPA tabled by Rep. Lamar Smith, for now
It looks like Wednesday's SOPA Blackout Day should be considered a success: Reuters is reporting that the Stop Online Piracy Act has been withdrawn by its chief sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith.
- Jan 20, 2012, 4:16 PM UTC
Senator Reid delays PIPA vote as backlash mounts
Senator Harry Reid has announced that next Tuesday's vote on the Protect-IP Act has been canceled, but that doesn't mean the bill is close to dead.
By T.C. Sottek
- Jan 20, 2012, 2:58 PM UTC
MPAA chairman Chris Dodd expresses regret over pro-SOPA strategy, calls for compromise
Former senator and current MPAA chairman Chris Dodd has expressed surprise over the level of protest over SOPA, but acknowledged that the bill was derailed by a slow timeline and a public image based around Hollywood.
- Jan 20, 2012, 1:54 PM UTC
Neelie Kroes, VP of the European Commission, speaks out against SOPA
A number of politicians have started withdrawing support for SOPA and PIPA, and the bills now even being criticized by politicians from abroad. Neelie Kroes, VP of the European Commission, tweeted today that she was "glad [the] tide is turning on #SOPA; don't need bad legislation when should be safeguarding benefits of open net."
- Jan 18, 2012, 5:57 PM UTC
US Senate websites hit with technical difficulties following SOPA blackout
It looks like the SOPA blackout day has encouraged many citizens to get out and email their senators to voice their disapproval. If you head over to the US Senate's home page and reach this list of senators, many (if not all) of the "contact" links are currently returning a "technical difficulties" message.
- Jan 18, 2012, 3:49 PM UTC
Former senator and MPAA CEO Chris Dodd speaks out against SOPA blackouts
The MPAA has taken notice of the many websites blacking out their content today in protest of SOPA, and thinks these companies would be better off supporting efforts to combat piracy rather than protesting.
- Jan 18, 2012, 2:18 PM UTC
Why The Verge and Vox Media are opposed to SOPA
Vox Media and The Verge believe SOPA is overbroad, dangerous to the technical operation of the internet, and will ultimately cost us more in compliance costs than it might save by "protecting" our work. It's a bad law, and we think it needs to be stopped.
By Nilay Patel
- Jan 18, 2012, 5:10 AM UTC
The SOPA blackout: Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, Google, and many others protest proposed law
Two new laws proposed by US legislators, the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, have been attracting a very negative reaction from the web community over the past couple of months, which is today culminating in a day of protests.
By Vlad Savov
- Jan 17, 2012, 11:54 PM UTC
Microsoft says it opposes SOPA
Microsoft announces it opposes SOPA as currently drafted, hours before a Wikipedia blackout.
By Tom Warren
- Jan 16, 2012, 10:05 PM UTC
Wikipedia plans 24-hour blackout this Wednesday to protest SOPA / PIPA
Wikipedia will be shutting down all its English-language sites for a full 24 hours in protest of both SOPA and PIPA legislation. The blackout starts Wednesday at midnight ET. The pages will reportedly be replaced with a call to action for people to write and call Congress - Wales says he hopes to "melt phone systems" in Washington.
By Ross Miller
- Jan 15, 2012, 10:46 PM UTC
Rupert Murdoch takes on Obama, SOPA, Google, and high popcorn prices on Twitter
Rupert Murdoch blasts SOPA, Google, and Obama on Twitter
- Jan 14, 2012, 8:45 PM UTC
White House raises concern over DNS-blocking bills; House tables SOPA vote until 'consensus' is reached
Today the Obama Administration issued a statement on the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect-IP Act, in response to two online petitions opposing the bills — the White House says that while it still supports anti-piracy efforts, it "will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet."
By T.C. Sottek
- Jan 13, 2012, 10:01 PM UTC
SOPA author Lamar Smith defends bill, questions critics' credibility
US Representative Lamar Smith, who authored the Stop Online Privacy Act, has defended the bill and accused its critics of making money from foreign sites that infringe copyright.
- Jan 13, 2012, 6:33 PM UTC
Under pressure, PIPA author to propose 'further study' on DNS blocking
Under mounting pressure, PIPA's author — Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont — says that "further study" is needed to identify the positive and negative effects of the bill before it reaches a vote on January 24th.
By T.C. Sottek
- Jan 12, 2012, 9:05 AM UTC
Riot Games anti-SOPA forum thread sparks support from Congressman Jared Polis
Riot Games has publicly denounced the SOPA and PIPA bills, using its social pages to incite protests to the government from its users.
By Jamie Keene
- Jan 11, 2012, 10:12 PM UTC
Comcast kills DNS rerouting to protect DNSSEC, while it continues to push for SOPA's DNS blocking
By T.C. Sottek
- Jan 11, 2012, 12:56 PM UTC
Reddit plans January 18 blackout to oppose SOPA
Some opponents of the Stop Online Piracy Act have wondered if any of the larger websites would conduct service "blackouts," and now one major player is set to shutter its doors: Reddit says that it will be blacking out the popular content sharing website on January 18th from 8AM to 8PM EST.
By T.C. Sottek
- Jan 6, 2012, 1:22 PM UTC
RIAA calls online piracy a threat to national security
RIAA Senior Executive VP Mitch Glazier has written a blog post criticizing OPEN, and suggesting that the ITC is unable to work at the necessary speed to take down copyright-infringing websites.
By Jamie Keene
- Dec 31, 2011, 9:18 PM UTC
Ron Paul blasts SOPA on the 2012 presidential campaign trail
Ron Paul speaks out on SOPA
- Dec 26, 2011, 9:38 PM UTC
GoDaddy accused of dragging feet on domain transfers, says there's nothing unusual going on
Users of domain registrar Namecheap who've been trying to transfer domains in from GoDaddy in the wake of its SOPA revolt in the past couple days have been running into a bit of a speed bump: Namecheap alleges in customer service emails that GoDaddy is blocking its WHOIS requests, which means it needs to "manually insert WHOIS details into the form."
- Dec 23, 2011, 10:50 PM UTC
SOPA: the public debate
The Stop Online Piracy Act has generated a load of controversy, and we're bringing you up to speed on the conversation.
By T.C. Sottek
- Dec 23, 2011, 6:51 PM UTC
GoDaddy withdraws SOPA support in face of massive protests
Internet domain registrar GoDaddy just announced it will no longer support the controversial SOPA legislation after being threatened with a massive boycott from users who oppose the bill.
By Nilay Patel
- Dec 22, 2011, 9:27 PM UTC
What is SOPA and how does it work? The Stop Online Piracy Act explained
By Nilay Patel
