The House Judiciary Committee might consider the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) this year after all. A committee spokeswoman said today that if the House is in session on Wednesday, SOPA will be on the agenda.
The Senate, meanwhile, is prepping to take on the SOPA-esque PROTECT IP act in late January.
House committee members adjourned Friday without voting on SOPA and said they would reconsider the legislation in 2012. Over the weekend, however, House leadership announced that the chamber would be in session on Monday and Tuesday and possibly on Wednesday.
"The ... Stop Online Piracy Act markup will resume on Wednesday at 9am if the House is in session," a spokeswoman said today. "We do not have any additional information at this time."
The committee started debating proposed amendments to SOPA on Thursday around 11am, continuing well into the night. They reconvened Friday morning, but adjourned after considering about 25 amendments—without a final vote.
SOPA would expand the ability of the Justice Department to go after Web sites overseas that traffic in fake goods like counterfeit purses or prescription drugs. According to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Lamar Smith, the DOJ would have to get a court order against an infringing site, and if granted, could request that the site be blocked. Search engines would then have to remove links to those sites.
Critics, however, are concerned that the bill is too far-reaching and broad, and could potentially harm Web sites that don't actually contain infringing content or were acting in good faith.
On Friday, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), said the two-day markup extravaganza made clear that SOPA "is not yet ready for prime time."
"Before continuing the markup, we urge the Committee to get the facts about the impact of the bill on our economy and on national security," CEA senior vice president of governmental affairs, Michael Petricone, said in a statement. "A good start would be a public hearing featuring Internet engineers and cybersecurity experts."
CEA praised the efforts of members who took issue with provisions included in SOPA, including Rep. Darrell Issa, who proposed rival legislation, dubbed the OPEN Act, that would have the International Trade Commission (ITC) handle these "rogue" Web sites.
A Web site, keepthewebopen.com, has been set up to discuss the OPEN Act, with a chart (below) comparing OPEN, SOPA, and PROTECT IP. The bill has not yet been formally introduced; supporters are urging people to sign up online and offer suggestions to help "build a better bill."
Meanwhile, In the Senate ...
Over the weekend, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a motion to proceed on a similar bill, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act. The legislation would allow the government to get court orders that would require ISPs, search engines, ad networks, and online payment processors to stop supporting sites with pirated content.
"The costs of online infringement are American jobs, harm to America's economy, and very real threats to consumers' safety," Sen. Patrick Leahy, the bill's sponsor, said in a Saturday statement. "The answer cannot simply be to do nothing. The Internet is a vibrant and free marketplace; it cannot be lawless."
Though Leahy said that "few issues before Congress today are as well supported on both sides of the political aisle as the PROTECT IP Act," the bill, as well as SOPA, has been criticized by tech giants like Google.
In May, Google's Eric Schmidt voiced his concern with the PROTECT IP Act. "If there is a law that requires DNSs ... to do X and it's passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president of the United States and we disagree with it then we would still fight it," he said at the time.
Google later backtracked a bit on Schmidt's comments.
"Free expression is an issue we care deeply about, and we continue to work closely with Congress to make sure the PROTECT IP Act will target sites dedicated to piracy while protecting free expression and legitimate sites," a spokeswoman said via email.
According to the Senate calendar, the PROTECT IP Act will be considered on Jan. 24 at 2:15pm.
UPDATE: The House Judiciary Committee said Tuesday that the House would not be in session on Wednesday, so SOPA is once again delayed until 2012.
