WASHINGTON — A blackout by Wikipedia and other popular Web sites yesterday convinced lawmakers to dim their view of proposed new laws to police the Internet.
New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, who co-sponsored the Senate version of the bill, quickly changed their minds about it just hours into the one-day blackout protest.
In a joint statement, the two Democratic senators promised to “continue to work” on the bill until “both sides can come together on a solution that satisfies their respective concerns.”
“While the threat to tens of thousands of New York jobs due to online piracy is real and must be addressed, it must be done in a way that allows the Internet and our tech companies to continue to flourish,” they said.
The bills — the Protect Intellectual Property Act, in the Senate, and the Stop Online Piracy Act, in the House — are supported by the music and movie industries as a way to crack down on Internet piracy.
But tech companies, including Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and Twitter, say the new laws would expose them to expensive lawsuits and give media companies the power to shut down Web sites over alleged copyright violations.
In protest, several sites shut down for the day and others, like Google, posted messages of solidarity and directed customers to contact their Congress members in opposition to the law.
The stunt succeeded at broadband speed.
Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also had a change of heart about the bills.
DeMint tweeted that Congress’ attempt to crack down on Internet piracy had produced “misguided bills that will do more harm than good.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said it was “pretty clear to many of us that there’s a lack of consensus at this point.”