Gobs and gobs of lobbyists' cash are about to go down the drain as the now stalled Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) could be postponed "indefinitely". What's more, Barack Obama's (D) cabinet hinted that the President could veto the two pending House's bills out of concern that the bills Orwellian takedown provisions could damage the legitimate internet economy. This essentially means that SOPA and PIPA in their present forms are shelved till a consensus can emerge on them, which is nowhere in sight, as the juggernaut of public and institutional outrage has rolled over PR of several of the bills' previous proponents and endorsers.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, one of the architects of these two works of literature today posted a statement in response to the Senate decision to what he calls a postponment of the two bills. SOPA and PIPA have been widely criticized by everyone from large corporations such as Google and Microsoft, to the Human Rights Watch. The bills are criticized to be too broad scoped to tackle piracy and IP theft, and could be misused for corporate censorship.

Yes, you've read that right. The draconian and much despised internet censorship bill introduced by Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith and being steamrollered through Congress, backed by Big Media, who's interests it serves has been stalled due to a lack of 'consensus', reports The Hill. The serious backlash from companies large and small, plus boycotts of companies that supported it, such as GoDaddy, has forced this bill to be stalled. On Saturday, the House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) was promised by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) that the House won't vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) unless there is consensus on the bill. Issa said in a statement:

While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House. Majority Leader 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.

Note that this comes a mere hours after Smith was forced to back down on the website blocking provision in the bill (one of its central aims). The bill may still continue wending its way through Congress after a delay, however, it doesn't look all that likely, thankfully. Now the general public just need to make enough noise about PROTECT IP and ACTA so that they don't get in either, as they're really just the same thing by any another name.