Misguided
efforts to combat online privacy have been threatening to stifle
innovation, suppress free speech, and even, in some cases, undermine
national security. As of yesterday, though, there’s a lot less
to worry about.
The first
sign that the bills’ prospects were dwindling came Friday, when
SOPA sponsors agreed to drop a key provision that would have required
service providers to block access to international sites accused
of piracy.
The legislation
ran into an even more significant problem yesterday when the White
House announced its opposition to the bills. Though the administration’s
chief technology officials officials acknowledged the problem
of online privacy, the White House statement presented a fairly
detailed critique of the measures and concluded, “We will
not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases
cybersecurity risk or undermines the dynamic, innovative global
Internet.” It added that any proposed legislation “must
not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet.”
…
Though the
administration did issue a formal veto threat, the White
House’s opposition signaled the end of these bills, at least in
their current form.
A few hours
later, Congress shelved SOPA, putting off action on the
bill indefinitely.
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