Ah, America. Land of opportunity. Land of (semi) prosperity. Land considering SOPA, a bill that would make it all right for Uncle Sam to limit access to websites it finds reprehensible.
Wait, what?
Yes, our country is considering a new bill called SOPA, or Stop Online Piracy Act. This bill would essentially allow the government to choose which websites would be blocked, a decision made largely on how much a website provides content that infringes on IP. Oh, it also raises the punishments “for individuals who traffic in counterfeit medicine and military goods”. One of these things is not like the others, but who am I to compare games with medicine?
So, who supports and who opposes such a bill? Find out after the break, along with a very biased infographic that tells you a little bit more!
In terms of support, there are the usual suspects: the MPAA, SAG, NBC/Universal, and several other movie and music centered companies. However, behind this bill we also find Sony, which isn’t surprising considering they own a movie studio, a music label, and a major video game brand, as well as EA and Nintendo. Yes, Nintendo, whose DS and Wii have both experienced massive piracy to the point that their sales were lackluster. Although it doesn’t come through in text, I’m being sarcastic.
But fear not, my internet brothers (and sisters)! We’ve got some heavyweights in our corner fighting this attempt at censorship, and they include Facebook, some company called Yahoo! (again, sarcasm), and a little company known as Google. You too can jump into the fray with the usual stuff that gets ignored, including letters and phone calls to your congressman.
Keep in mind that this bill is still in early stages; in fact, it is still in progress with the House Judiciary Committee, but it is never too early to strike!
Here, I’ll even make it easy for you.
Also, check out this incredibly unbalanced infographic!
4 Comments
Ok, so the infographic is a bit biased in places. But still legitimately frightening.
I doubt something like this would actually pass, even if it did, they would have to deal with a clusterfuck of issues.
Keep in mind that this bill is directly supported by Nintendo and Sony. The bill is also supported by the ESA whose member list includes among others: Microsoft, Capcom, Epic, Square Enix, Namco, and Konami. The video game industry is not happy about pirating and this is their solution.
Yes, but I didn’t single those companies out since the ESA can officially support something without unanimous member support.
Oh, I seriously doubt this will pass, but it is always good to be aware of the future. Q mentioned it to me yesterday and I dismissed it, but then I remembered that knowing is half the battle, so I thought I’d contribute.