SOPA interest by the numbers (and the end of the hearing)

Congressman Darrell Issa, an opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act, released web stats that showed 157,767 people from more than 150 counties watched some portion of the House’s markup hearing held on Thursday to debate the bill. The hearing, which adjourned Friday afternoon, could reconvene next week or next year. The exact date should be determined Monday, according to The Hill. The act, which has the technology community riled up, seeks to protect copyright on the web, but takes some severe methods of doing so.

For more on the law and its repercussions, visit any one of a number of articles or web sites devoted to the topic. It seems like interest is high, judging by Issa’s stats. He’s tracking the number of visitors to a web site called KeeptheWebOpen.org, where he has posted a version of a different IP bill called Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade or OPEN. On Thursday, the site screened a webcast of the hearing, and according to the post, people were watching. How many? Check out the stats:

  • Visits: 197,726
  • Unique Page Views: 219,712
  • Page Views: 287,208
  • American Visitors: 138,917

As of yesterday afternoon, people had made almost 10,000 calls to members of Congress regarding the legislation according to Engine Advocacy, which is offering a service that makes it easy to call a representative about the bill.

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