SOPA, PIPA Consideration Delayed Indefinitely

Congress won't go further with the bills until a greater consensus is reached.

Congress has put the brakes on two proposed bills that critics said would damage the Internet.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Friday that the vote originally scheduled for next week on the Protect IP Act will be postponed. Lawmakers will also stop reviewing the Stop Online Piracy Act “until there is wider agreement on a solution,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said in a statement Friday, according to CNN Money.

“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns,” Smith said in a statement. “It is clear that we need to revisit (SOPA).”

The decision to shelve the legislation comes two days after Google, Wikipedia, and Reddit led a Internet “blackout” protest to draw attention to the proposed bills. Thanks largely to that effort, more than 7 million Americans have signed an online petition against SOPA and PIPA, The Washington Post reports. —Abram Brown