As MTR reported on today’s show, controversy and rancor over the Stop Online Piracy Act is raging, along with threats and promises from various popular websites to black out for a day in protest over the bill and its far reaching effects online. We mentioned Reddit’s planned blackout and Wikipedia’s contemplation of the same. I’ve even read about the Cheezburger Network planning a blackout (“I CAN HAZ PRINCIPLED OPPOZITION?!”).
Well, Senator Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) has been around long enough to read which way the wind blows and in his role as sponsor of the PROTECT IP Act, the Senate version of SOPA, he says he’s going to tinker with the language in the bill to try to make it more palatable before bringing it to the floor on January 24th. Essentially he wants the bill to pass but to contain language that delays its implementation.
“As I prepare a managers’ amendment to be considered during the floor debate, I will therefore propose that the positive and negative effects of this provision be studied before implemented, so that we can focus on the other important provisions in this bill, which are essential to protecting American intellectual property online, and the American jobs that are tied to intellectual property,” Leahy said.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is a staunch opponent of Leahy’s bill and while he welcomes its reexamination, he says he still plans to try to block it from ever coming up for a vote on the Senate floor.
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