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SOPA Update

BY Steven Salkin
December 27, 2011

On Dec. 15 and 16, just as Congress was preparing to go dark until after the New Year, The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary held hearings on SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) that we reported on last issue (see, “Companies and Lobbyists on Both Sides of SOPA,” http://bit.ly/sahiiY). And what seemed destined to be a long drawn-out fight by a few in attendance who were in opposition of passing the Bill against Committee Chairman and sponsor Lamar Smith (R-TX) and its many supporters, took a bizarre and sudden turn as Day 2 restarted after lunch ' and maybe more importantly, as Representatives' flights home for recess were in danger of being missed.

On Day One, it seemed from watching the hearings as if SOPA was one of those in-class worksheets that had to be finished before the teacher would let the class leave for break, and that Smith just wanted it sent to the full House “as is.”
Proposed Amendment after proposed Amendment, most of which were aimed at resolving the major objections of the technology community, was voted down, despite seemingly persuasive arguments by their authors.

The Bill has changed since we last reported on it. The latest version, referred to in the hearings as the Manager's Amendment (http://1.usa.gov/uSPOD4) was introduced on Dec. 12, leading some Representatives to argue that the Committee wasn't given enough time to fully grasp the changes (more on that later).

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