US politicians drop SOPA support

Several high-profile US politicians have pulled their support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) following yesterday’s online protests.

Republicans Ben Quayle of Arizona, Dennis Ross of Florida and and Lee Terry of Nebraska have all backed away from the controversial legislation, according to Eurogamer.

However, the House of Representatives still intends to continue processing SOPA next month. If passed, it will allow courts to order internet service providers to block access to any websites that illegally share copyrighted material.

Yesterday, a number of sites shut down in a 24-hour protect to demonstrate what would happen if SOPA became law. Protestors included Wikipedia and Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

A similar proposal, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) also lost support from its co-sponsors, Senators Marco Rubio from Florida and Roy Blunt from Missouri.

Earlier this week, House majority leader Eric Cantor promised SOPA will not be passed "unless there is consensus on the bill".