In the unheralded accomplishments department, President Obama saved the internet. You're welcome.

"Nah you don't have to thank me. You know I've got your back."

Courtesy of the Washington Monthly:

At issue are two related bills: the Senate’s Protect IP Act and the even more offensive Stop Online Piracy Act in the House, both of which are generated intense opposition from tech giants and First Amendment advocates. The first sign that the bills’ prospects were dwindling came Friday, when SOPA sponsors agreed to drop a key provision that would have required service providers to block access to international sites accused of piracy. 

The legislation ran into an even more significant problem yesterday when the White House announced its opposition to the bills. Though the administration’s chief technology officials officials acknowledged the problem of online privacy, the White House statement presented a fairly detailed critique of the measures and concluded, “We will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” It added that any proposed legislation “must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet.” 

Until now, the Obama administration had not taken a position on the issue. The response was published yesterday as part of the online “We The People” petition initiative launched by the White House last year. 

Though the administration did not issue a formal veto threat, the White House’s opposition signaled the end of these bills, at least in their current form. 

A few hours later, Congress shelved SOPA, putting off action on the bill indefinitely.

So there you go.

For those of us who use the internet quite frequently, or have an opinion blog that borrows from the writings of journalists to make a point, this has been a rather frightening time.

Not me of course, I had total trust in the President to stop this thing before it got out of hand.

I mean it's not like I was lying awake at night rocking to and fro in my bed weeping or anything. Because that would be, you know, unmanly.

Anyhow now SOPA is dead in the water. And PIPA (The Senate version) actually died a little earlier after six of the GOP co-sponsors begged Harry Reid NOT to bring the bill to the floor for a vote.

So what that means for us is that we still get to talk about politics, religion, and Sarah Palin to our heart's content, without fear of being sued or shut down.

And as Martha Stewart would say, "That's a good thing."