White House Won’t Support SOPA, PIPA

Yesterday marked a major victory in the battle against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), as the White House vowed not to support the two controversial measures.

The House of Representatives bill SOPA and its Senate counterpart PIPA are meant to punish/block websites that make available free movies, music, and other copyrighted material without the permission of the U.S. rights holders.

Opponents of the bills worry that the proposed legislation would give the Department of Justice too much regulatory power and lead to internet censorship.

The hacktivist group Anonymous has warned about the bills.  Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has called the measures “draconian.” Reddit is planning a 12-hour blackout protesting the measures.

Yesterday, the White House officially responded to two online petitions, “Stop the E-PARASITE Act” and “Veto the SOPA bill and any other future bills that threaten to diminish the free flow of information,” urging President Barack Obama to reject SOPA and PIPA.

The statement was drawn up by Victoria Espinel (Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget), Aneesh Chopra (U.S. Chief Technology Officer), and Howard Schmidt (Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff).

The trio made it abundantly clear that the White House will not support legislation that disrupts the open standards of the internet.

“While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet,” the statement read.

While this has to be seen as a win for the internet community, the battle isn’t over. President Obama also previously stated that he would veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), under which American citizens can be detained indefinitely without trial. He ended up signing the bill anyway.

Following the release of yesterday’s statement from the White House, SOPA sponsor and House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) seemed to remain somewhat defiant, issuing a statement of his own.

“I welcome today’s announcement that the White House will support legislation to combat online piracy that protects free speech, the internet and America’s intellectual property,” Smith said. “That’s precisely what the Stop Online Piracy Act does.”

So where do we go from here?  Only time will tell.

Related articles

• White House Responds To SOPA Critics, Says Administration Will Not Support Censorship (forbes.com)
• White House “will not support” SOPA as it stands (vg247.com)
• Obama administration joins the ranks of SOPA skeptics (arstechnica.com)
• On SOPA, Obama walks a thin line – Politico (politico.com)