WASHINGTON—Legislation aimed at online piracy is being shelved after White House criticism.

The Stop Online Piracy Act, H.R. 3261, which was introduced in October, authorized the attorney general to seek a court order against U.S.-directed foreign Internet sites committing, or facilitating online piracy to cease and desist, among its provisions.

The White House said in its blog Saturday that it was responding to two petitions on “We the People,” the White House's online petition initiative, on the legislation. The blog states that “While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber security risk, or undermines the dynamic innovative global Internet.”

The blog was authorized by Victoria Espinel, intellectual property enforcement coordinator at the Office of Management and Budget; Aneesh Chopra, U.S. technology officer; and Howard Schmidt, special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator for the National Security Staff.

The blog links to a petition on the issue that garnered close to 52,000 signatures.

“Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses, large and small,” according to the blog.

House Oversight co-chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said in a statement that House Majority leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., told him the House of Representatives will not vote on SOPA unless there is a consensus on the bill.

He referred to a related bill, the Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act, S. 968, also known as the Protect IP Act.

“While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House,” said Rep. Issa. “ Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote.”

A spokesman for Rep. Cantor could not be reached.

A joint letter sent to members of Congress last year by co-founders of Google Inc., Mozilla, Netscape Communications, Yahoo! Inc. and LinkedIn Corp., among others, said they opposed both bills, stating they were worried the bills would undermine “a regulatory climate that promotes entrepreneurship, innovation, the creation of content and free expression online.”

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