House won't vote on SOPA until 'consensus' reached

It's not quite victory, but at least our defeat has been postponed. Darrell Issa, chair of the House Oversight Committee, has announced that the Stop Online Piracy Act bill won't be voted on yet. Issa had originally scheduled a hearing for January 18, The Hill reports, but canceled it following Rep. Lamar Smith's decision to drop the DNS-blocking provision.

"While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act," Issa said, "I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House. Majority Leader [Eric] Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote."

As for that Senate action, Sen. Patrick Leahy has announced that the ISP blocking component of the Senate's PIPA act will be removed through a managers' amendment, so that the other parts of the bill can be pushed through while that is studied in further detail.

[Thanks, Eric; image: Infographic from AmericanCensorship.org]