Big-name website hosting company GoDaddy.com have dramatically made a U-turn on their support of an upcoming US Anti-Online Piracy bill that could have key consequences for the online video and content industry.

The American government-sanctioned Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was first introduced as a potential bill in congress on 26 October, and after two separate hearings on the subject by the House Judiciary Committee since then, with further discussion on the planned legislation set to happen in the new year.

While the original supporters of the bill claim that it will deter online piracy (by banning websites seeming to do so) and promote greater control from the content’s rights holders, there appear to be much more in quantity proclaiming that they are against the changes. Only 12 companies in support, naturally big names looking for that extra slice of profit, with News Corp and Time Warner amongst those lending their support to SOPA.

While GoDaddy had originally supported the fight against piracy, they have now switched allegiances in the legal battle to anti-SOPA, with company Warren Adelman stating on GoDaddy’s official blog: “Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation – but we can clearly do better. It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.”

He also confirmed that it was threats of customer websites (including Wikipedia and their affiliate) withdrawing their business that triggered the U-turn, and added their official stance on the matter: “As a company that is all about innovation, with our own technology and in support of our customers, Go Daddy is rooted in the idea of First Amendment Rights [right to free speech] and believes 100 percent that the Internet is a key engine for our new economy.”

As the conflict gets set to intensify as talks progress, will America’s online free speech remain intact, or will unauthorised hosts of big-name content be forced to shut down?

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