*Support for piracy bills? It's going, going, gone

It's the predictable but nonetheless stunning fallout to today's protest of the anti-piracy legislation that had been wending its way through Congress (a test vote was being planned in the Senate next week). Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is no longer backing the measure, and Republican Sen. John Cornyn said more time was needed to study the proposal. (Translation: I'm running for the hills!) Later, Sen. Orrin Hatch called it "simply not ready for prime time." All of which is clearly the result of an online campaign that had several major websites, including Wikipedia, shutting down for the day. If this was a battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley - that is, old vs. new media interests - the newbies are the clear winners. It's also a reminder of how the digital world has changed everything - and how the old farts, by and large, still haven't a clue. From the NYT:

In the Tea Party era of grass-roots muscle, though, the old school was taken to school, Congressional aides and media lobbyists agree. "The problem for the content industry is they just don't know how to mobilize people," said John P. Feehery, a former Republican leadership aide and executive at the motion picture lobby. "They have a small group of content makers, a few unions, whereas the Internet world, the social media world especially, has a tremendous reach. They can reach people in ways we never dreamed of before. This has been a real learning experience for the content world," Mr. Feehery added.

*Nate Silver tweets:

About 90% of the movie industry's contributions go to Democrats, which may explain their support for #SOPA / #PIPA.

*FT columnist John Gapper raises a good point:

Silicon Valley damages itself with its persistent scaremongering over efforts to crack down on piracy. By refusing to engage in a serious effort to prevent it - instead equating copyright enforcement with censorship, or with "breaking the internet" - it undermines its credibility.