Influential US legislator bows to Reddit pressure and speaks out against SOPA

Rich Fiscus
9 Jan 2012 17:40

Members of the online community Reddit, often referred to as redditors, have notched another minor victory in the war against SOPA, the widely criticized anti-piracy bill being considered in the US House of Representatives.
Last month redditors were behind a campaign to boycott Internet domain name registrar GoDaddy because of their support for SOPA. When the dust settled, GoDaddy lost a lot of customers and ultimately decided to retract their official support for the bill.
Fresh off that victory, redditors set their sights on unseating a federal legislator. After much debate, which actually involved a number of issues besides SOPA, a target was chosen. That target was Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan.
Ryan was not one of SOPA's sponsors, and in fact had never made a statement of any kind on the bill before the Reddit campaign started. Today that changed when the following was posted on his official page:

The internet is one of the most magnificent expressions of freedom and free enterprise in history. It should stay that way. While H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, attempts to address a legitimate problem, I believe it creates the precedent and possibility for undue regulation, censorship and legal abuse. I do not support H.R. 3261 in its current form and will oppose the legislation should it come before the full House.

Even more imporant than the question of his former position on SOPA, or whether Reddit's Operation Pull Ryan was a factor in his decision, is the fact Ryan is a very influential figure in Washington, particularly on economic issues. He chairs the House Budget Committee.
Representative Lamar Smith, SOPA's chief sponsor and chairman of the committee where the bill originated, responsded to the news of Ryan's statement, saying:

Had Chairman Ryan read the manager?s amendment, he would have realized that the bill targets only foreign websites dedicated to illegal activity.

Unfortunately, the reality of SOPA is very different. In fact it creates significant incentives for DNS operators, web hosting providers, and advertisers to take action privately against websites which have not even been accused of violating the law.