• Los Angeles Times, Friday, January 20, 2012 12:17 PM

Facing a major backlash, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that he plans to postpone next week's scheduled vote on the PIPA anti-piracy bill. As the Los Angles Times reports, the move represents a “defeat to Hollywood and a major victory to Internet companies that launched online protests to battle the legislation and its House companion, known as SOPA.”

Reid is calling on all sides to work together to resolve "legitimate issues" raised by the bill to crack down on foreign Eeb sites that traffic in pirated movies, music and other goods. "Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs,” Reid said. “We must take action to stop these illegal practices … We made good progress through the discussions we've held in recent days, and I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks."

Wikipedia led a blackout by more than 10,000 websites on Wednesday in protest of the proposed Protect Intellectual Property Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act. The sites directed people to contact their members of Congress, flooding Capitol Hill with calls and emails.

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