As promised last week, GOP Congressman Steve Scalise (District 1), officially removed his name from the list of cosponsors for H. R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

See here the list of the 24 sponsors for the bill, and the seven house members who have withdrawn that support.

A spokesman for Scalise said that he would have taken that action late last week, but that the U. S. House of Representatives was not in session Thursday and Friday.

Last week, an firestorm of internet protests occurred afterWikipedia, Reddit, and an estimated 7,000 other smaller websites coordinated a service blackout, or posted links and images in protest against SOPA and the Senate bill, the Protect IP Act(PIPA), in an effort to raise awareness of the legislation.

Both the U. S. Senate and the House removed the bills from their calendars.