US delays vote on piracy bill

The US Senate leader has postponed Tuesday’s vote on online piracy bill amid widespread internet protests.

On Wednesday, popular websites such as Wikipedia blocked their sites to protest the bills.

On Thursday, several lawmakers dropped their support of the controversial measure and all four Republican presidential candidates were against it.

The bills propose that anyone found guilty of streaming copyrighted content without permission 10 or more times within six months should face up to five years in jail.

The US government and rights holders would have the right to seek court orders against any site accused of enabling or facilitating piracy.

This could theoretically involve an entire website being shut down because it contains a link to a suspect site.

No new date has been set for the vote.