In a very strange turn of events, it appears six Republican senators have gone to the Majority Leader, Harry Reid, and asked him not to hold a vote on PIPA, which is the senate version of SOPA.
The senators, Charles Grassley, Orrin Hatch, Jeff Sessions, John Cornyn, Mike Lee, and Tom Coburn, all signed the letter, which includes phrases like “Prior to committee action, some members expressed substantive concerns about the bill, and there was a commitment to resolve them prior to floor consideration. That resolution has not yet occurred”.
Also, acknowledging the enormous response to SOPA that has appeared on the Internet, they also write:
Since the mark-up, we have increasingly heard from a large number of constituents and other stakeholders with vocal concerns about possible unintended consequences of the proposed legislation, including breaches in cyber security, damaging the integrity of the Internet, costly and burdensome litigation, and dilution of First Amendment rights.
A PDF of the letter can be found right here.
Before you go out and celebrate, they’re not killing PIPA or SOPA, they’re requesting a postponing of the vote so that more analysis and thought can be put into it. This does not mean that we can stop protesting the bill, stop fighting the bill and stop calling our senators to voice our concerns over the bill.