An unprecedented online protest against a Hollywood-backed copyright bill may be working: some of its previous supporters in the US Congress are backing down.
A number of US politicians have withdrawn support for the SOPA and Protect IP anti-piracy bills after a number of websites (including The Kernel, above) staged a day of protest against the legislation.
The protest, which included a Wikipedia blackout and home-page alerts at Google.com and Amazon.com, has prompted some senators contacted by ZDNet UK's sister site CNET News on Wednesday to abandon their earlier enthusiasm for Protect IP and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). A Senate floor vote on Protect IP is scheduled for 24 January.
"I'm withdrawing my co-sponsorship for the Protect IP Act," said senator Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican. Senator John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican, "will be withdrawing his name as a co-sponsor" of Protect IP, a spokesman told CNET News on Wednesday.
For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Protests lead to weakening support for Protect IP, SOPA on CNET News.
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Talkback
fantastic that the so called piracy bills have been withdrawn. however, these anti-democracy supporters are still in the shadows so lets be alert to they,re next move.