White House Will Not Support SOPA, PIPA

Huffington Post reports: Saturday marked a major victory for opponents of proposed anti-piracy legislation Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which would target foreign-based websites violating U.S. copyrights.
The White House on Saturday officially responded to two online petitions, "Stop the E-PARASITE Act" and "Veto the SOPA bill and any other future bills that threaten to diminish the free flow of information," urging the President to reject SOPA and PIPA.

"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," the statement read in part.

[Chupa-Chupa]

Great news!

[dc1]

yep. It was the right thing to do considering that it would have paved the way for future 'more intrusive' legislation.

[JsonHenry]

Just like the administration wouldn't support the NDAA with a clause that allows for indefinite detention without due process? Right...

[PopRocks359]

Weren't there provisions in the NDAA bill that needed to get through?

Also wasn't the portion involving citizen detention added after the President signed it into law?

[fooxy]

Grrrrreat news !

[WildStyles]

*fist pumps*

[SmashBrawler101]

Good. Now if they can just wake up, smell the coffee, and legalize weed.

[LoaMcLoa]

The people disagreeing with you haven't tried weed.

[DragonKnight]

I haven't tried weed, I don't intend to try weed, but I clicked agree because I know a lot of people who smoke weed and I have yet to see any seriously threatening effects of smoking it. After all, it's been around for centuries, native tribes have been smoking it for just as long, and where's the supposed serious effects of it?

OT: Wow, the government actually listened for once? This really is the end of the world.

[SmashBrawler101]

Yeah. Or they're just a bunch of old farts, still stuck in the reefer madness age.

[dark-hollow]

A friend with weed, is a friend indeed.

[Mr-Dude]

I live in holland... here u can buy weed on every corner in the city... legal! haha

[SmashBrawler101]

You lucky, lucky bastard. :(

[CoD511]

Success.

[Megaton]

Yeah, yeah. Obama also claimed to not support the NDAA bill, but signed it into law anyway. We can celebrate when these bills actually crash and burn.

[Rai]

My thoughts exactly. He didn't like NDAA because it didn't even give enough power. He probably wants SOPA to be worst

[JsonHenry]

The president DOESN'T have the final say. But he could have vetoed it. And he didn't. (even though he said otherwise, until it came out on CSPAN on the house floor that the administration was the one that ASKED for the wording to include American citizens)

[OcularVision]

Obama doesn't make the decision to sign it or not, the congress (i think) does. He just makes it official, which is his duty.

[Megaton]

Congress passes it, he can veto or sign it. He "reluctantly" signed it.

[DragonKnight]

Wow. No, just no. The President ALWAYS has the final say. Especially these days when the President has more power than ever.

[OcularVision]

If you two are right, then what kind of democracy does America have?

[RedDead]

OcularV

http://www.mediamonitors.ne...

[Dusdg]

America is not a democracy it is a republic with a checks and balances system.

[kevinertia]

Ocular asked for the type of democracy, not the type of government. The US has a representative democracy, one in which US citizens have an indirect say in the government.

[ThichQuangDuck]

Just like they do not support the National Defense Authorization but Obama signed it anyway.......

[D3mons0ul]

A major blow to the la-li-lu-le-lo

[ScubaSteve1]

so is it the supreme court or congress > president, cause couldnt the president veto this bill?

[kevinertia]

The President can veto it, but Congress can overturn the veto.