DNS Provision Pulled From SOPA, Victory For Opponents

By Greg Sandoval and Declan McCullagh 
January 13, 2012 1:27 PM PST 
Courtesy Of "CNET"

In a move the tech sector will surely see as a victory, a controversial antipiracy bill in being debated in Congress will no longer seek to require ISPs to block access to overseas Web sites accused of piracy.

Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today said he plans to remove the Domain Name System (DNS) blocking provision.

"After consultation with industry groups across the country," Smith said in a statement released by his office, "I feel we should remove (DNS) blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the [U.S. House Judiciary] Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision. We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers.