Last November, the Business Software Alliance, which counts Microsoft as one of its members, pulled its previous support of the Stop Online Piracy Act. At the time many media outlets suggested that meant Microsoft was also no longer supporting SOPA; however the company did not issue a direct statement which stated its position on the proposed bill that is under debate by the US House of Representatives.
That changed today as Microsoft finally issued its own separate SOPA position, saying that the company is in opposition to the bill as it is currently written. The Seattle Times website has the statement from Microsoft which says:
We oppose the passage of the SOPA bill as currently drafted. We think the White House statement points in a constructive way to problems with the current legislation, the need to fix them, and the opportunity for people on all sides to talk together about a better path forward.
Microsoft"s brief statement refers to an announcement made over the weekend on the White House web site where the Obama administration outlined its own issues with SOPA.
This news comes just a few hours before large web sites like Reddit, Wikipedia and many more plan to go dark for at least part of the day on Wednesday to protest the possible approval of SOPA in the US House.