Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday canceled a vote on the the Protect Intellectual Property Act, the Senate version of the Stop Online Piracy Act that is before the House. The acts were so controversial that the Internet industry joined forces to drive consumers to contact their senators and representatives to ask them to bring the legislation to a halt.

Wikipedia, Reddit, Wordpress and Mozilla shut down at least in part, while Google and Facebook joined the protest by promoting awareness of the bills on their sites. The protest included a 24-hour blackout designed to show consumers the potential impacts of the bills. Tellingly, Reid announced the Senate decision via Twitter.

"There's no reason that legitimate issues raised about Protect I.P. can't be resolved," he tweeted. "Counterfeiting & piracy cost 1000s of #jobs yearly. Americans rightfully expect to be fairly compensated 4 their work. I'm optimistic that we can reach compromise on PROTECT IP in coming week."

Senators Talk Back

The House of Representatives is also backing down. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Tex., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, canceled plans to formally draft SOPA, his bill, in February despite an earlier vow to charge ahead.

"The committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation," Smith said. "The House Judiciary Committee will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution."

The entertainment and book publishing industries lobbied aggressively for the acts in hopes of cracking down on foreign piracy of copyright material. But Internet companies are concerned the bill would squash innovation and free speech.

Sen. Patrick Leahy is predicting more time will pass with jobs and economies hurt by foreign criminals who are stealing American intellectual property and selling it back to...