SOPA vote delayed until January

Tomorrow’s scheduled committee vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act has been postponed, with no apparent new date on the books so far. That’s the second postponement in committee for SOPA, which would require ISPs and search engines to alter DNS records and search results to keep foreign sites “dedicated” to copyright infringement away from US citizens; the bill was the subject of two marathon hearings last week that ended abruptly after opponents voiced passionate opposition to the bill.

Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who sponsored the bill and chairs the House Judiciary committee, vowed to open hearings again as soon as possible and set tomorrow as the new date, but it appears the upcoming Congressional break for the holidays simply got in his way. That should give SOPA’s opposition additional time to gear up against the bill — a Committee spokesperson told The Washington Post a new date won’t be set until early January.