Stop Online Piracy Act & Protect IP Act

[Carbo]

That's where he's wrong. SOPA doesn't *just* remove sites from US soil, SOPA will create a IP/Website blacklist. All American ISPs must go through SOPA's IP/website blacklist at all times. If Viacom wants to add TSS to the blacklist, Americans cannot visit TSS anymore. Viacom doesn't HAVE to ask the French webhosts to shut TSS down or block American IPs.

It's *exactly* like China's internet. We are no better.

This is if a US based copyright owner files for a select website to be taken down or deemed inaccessible, and an ISP provider needs to approve of such. Viacom has no stake in Sonic material apart from the shows, and we don't host or link to those. If they had any single say in what goes on here, as I said before, we'd been shut down ages ago, much like Retro.

Sega USA are the only ones able to interfere with material on sites such as this one and Retro, and considering how they've sanctioned community activity (Summer of Sonic and Sonic Boom in particular), much like Capcom, they aren't going to have much of a problem with what we still have going, because as Sven of Capcom put it, they're not going to prevent these kind of communities or community activities, and every single company part of the ESA is only in on it when it comes to legislative matters. Calling out a singular company that's part of it is rather silly because pretty much every major media company is part of it.

EDIT: Looks like I was wrong with the "IPs" in the blacklist. SOPA will ONLY block domain names. If TSS has a private IP address we can still visit it seems, by just typing the IP address on the address bar.

Example if TSS gets blocked:

Americans cannot type in: sonicstadium.org

What Americans can type to access: 192.56.32.22 (whatever TSS' IP is)

But still, this will cause a lot of problems, even for TSS.

TSS can't be accessed through a public IP since the site isn't set to function as such.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

This is if a US based copyright owner files for a select website to be taken down or deemed inaccessible, and an ISP provider needs to approve of such. Viacom has no stake in Sonic material apart from the shows, and we don't host or link to those. If they had any single say in what goes on here, as I said before, we'd been shut down ages ago, much like Retro.

There are members here with avatars that could belong to Viacom's shows. It can be something as small as that and Viacom will take that to an advantage. Please note also, I'm using Viacom as an example. But Viacom are most likely going to challenge this site if they see ANY content of theirs here, including copyrighted photos and animated GIFs we find in our avatars.

Sega USA are the only ones able to interfere with material on sites such as this one and Retro, and considering how they've sanctioned community activity (Summer of Sonic and Sonic Boom in particular), much like Capcom, they aren't going to have much of a problem with what we still have going, because as Sven of Capcom put it, they're not going to prevent these kind of communities or community activities, and every single company part of the ESA is only in on it when it comes to legislative matters. Calling out a singular company that's part of it is rather silly because pretty much every major media company is part of it.

This is why I didn't use Sega as an example. I know TSS and Sega are somewhat cool with each other, as seen with Summer of Sonic. But Sega can still have the power to take down sites if they want to without any hassle of going to court. It doesn't have to be TSS. Capcom won't take down videos and communities, I know that since I read it myself before quoting but again, it doesn't HAVE to be Capcom themselves to take down communities. That's why I'm annoyed they are not seeing the picture here.

For TSS to be 100% safe and not get blocked, everyone must only use images related to Sonic the Hedgehog or SEGA for avatars and signatures. You can say Capcom won't do anything to this site if we leave Capcom stuff here, but there is no guarantee.

Lastly I am not calling out a single company, I know every major old media company is supporting it (though I don't know what 'singular company' you're talking about so I'm gonna leave it at that...)

Edited January 6, 2012 by Spiced Christmas

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Can someone refresh my memory as to when the mass blackout occurs?

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

It may happen January 18th. Don't know if all major sites will perform the blackout though.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Riot Games, the makers of the popular League of Legends, is DEFINITELY against this bill. To add more to it, a congressman, Rep. Jared Polis, is a major fan of League of Legends.

Take that how you will, but here's the news:

Riot Games came out against the flawed legislation, and a "fan" quickly posted his position.

Videogame companies generally

don't like the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) because it restricts the creativity of individuals on the internet. Riot Games has a particular horse in that race, as sharing and networking amongst the community is a big part of what makes League of Legends so popular. Riot Games announced its official opposition to the legislation today, but the surprising bit is the 5th post in response on theLoL forums is from a representative in the U.S. Congress - Rep. Jared Polis. He proclaims his love of LoL and his desire to see SOPA fail, thereby becoming the coolest congressman I currently know about.

"As a member of the League of Legends community (partial to Anivia and Maokai), and as someone who made his living as an Internet entrepreneur before being elected to Congress, I'm greatly concerned about the future of the Internet and gaming if Congress doesn't wake up," Polis said.

"I'm particularly concerned that SOPA might stifle the kind of innovation that brings us games we love, such asLoL. The bill makes it far too easy for angry competitors to sue good law abiding companies out of existence," he continued. "It threatens any company or website that depends on user-generated content, even companies like Riot. Instead of coming up with great ways to keep making games like LoL even better, companies will have to spend their money hiring lawyers."

Polis said he's working on an alternative to SOPA, but he called for intelligent gamers to head to websites like

KeepTheWebOpen.com to join in the conversation.

Not only is Polis a gamer, but he also earns respect for being the first man elected to serve in the United States House of Representatives as an open homosexual in 2009. He and his partner have an adopted son by the name Caspian Julius - which gives Polis double points for naming his son after a Narnian Prince.

[link]

Edited January 13, 2012 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[null]

So when exactly is the next session going to be held?

[#EndyGate]

So when exactly is the next session going to be held?

This, I know that they said early 2012 (January or February), but an actual date would be lovely

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Another update, Red 5 Studios creators of the upcoming game Firefall WILL shut down their game on January 18th to protest.

Red 5 Studios will shut down the Firefall beta on January 18, joining Reddit in its one day protest of the "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA). CEO Mark Kern told Shacknews that the "misguided legislation" would hurt smaller game companies that wouldn't have the legal resources to protect themselves in case of an "unwarranted shutdown."

"We are also ashamed of the ESA for supporting a bill which is clearly not in the best interests of gamers or the game industry," Kern said, taking his protest of the organization that puts on the annual E3 event one step further. "We will not attend E3 unless ESA reverses their stance."

"We issue a call to all our industry peers, including developers, publishers and game press, to join us in letting the ESA know they do not represent our views on this issue, and strongly oppose SOPA and PIPA."

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/13/firefall-shutting-down-beta-in-sopa-protest/

We feel ya, Red 5....

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to add Minecraft and its developers website will also protest that day.

So when exactly is the next session going to be held?

Tuesday, January 24th.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Spice on the Starlight

[Stacy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-16544335

So it begins!

[Cobalt_Bolt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...kshire-16544335

So it begins!

All the more reason to spread the word against this piece of legislation internationally.

Edited January 14, 2012 by Cobalt_Bolt

[Carbo]

http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2012/01/lamar-smith-dns-sopa/

Representative Lamar Smith (R. Texas), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has announced earlier today that he shall forcibly remove the DNS blocking provision from the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The provision previously allowed someone to obtain a court order to completely block any access to a website that is considered to contain pirated material in the United States.

This provision, mind you, was among the most controversial in the bill, and perhaps the biggest factor that led to much of the outcry against SOPA in the past few weeks. While this is indeed a step in the right direction for either reshaping SOPA or eliminating the bill all-together, there are other provisions that can basically preform the same function indirectly. One of the bigger ones cited by Joystiq, include the blocking of advertisements to offending websites, cutting the flow of revenue to any who would be deemed using pirated material. Other methods include removing them from search engines such as Google, or preventing Paypal from receiving transactions against known offenders.

“After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision,” Smith said in the statement. “We will continue to look for ways to ensure that foreign websites cannot sell and distribute illegal content to U.S. consumers.”

On the video game front, today both Bungie, the developers behind the Halo series, and GOG.com, the website that offers classic PC games for DRM free downloads, have stated publicly they are against SOPA and the PIPA act. Both are just two more groups in the growing number in our industry to publicly go against the current stance by the ESA.

It’s only getting more and more pronounced at this point. While the removal of one of the more egregious offensives to net neutrality is now gone, there is still a lot to be done before a more appropriate bill can be created. Until then, I hope those U.S residents keep on wiring congress against these major flaws in SOPA. Until we have unity on this matter, the threat of it still remains.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/under-voter-pressure-members-of-congress-backpedal-on-sopa.ars

The public outcry over the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act seems to have gotten so loud that even members of Congress can hear it. On Thursday we covered the news that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was expressing second thoughts about SOPA's DNS provisions. He said he changed his mind after he "heard from a number of Vermonters" on the issue.

On Friday, several Republicans started backpedaling as well.

SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith (R-TX) announced that he would be pulling the DNS-blocking provisions from his own bill. “After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision," Smith said in a Friday statement.

Meanwhile, six GOP senators who served on the Senate Judiciary Committee (which unanimously approved the legislation last year) wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking him to postpone a vote on PIPA to give them more time to study the legislation.

"We strongly believe that the theft of American intellectual property is a significant problem that must be addressed," they wrote. But since the Judiciary Committee last considered the legislation, "we have increasingly heard from a large number of constituents and other stakeholders with vocal concerns about possible unintended consequences of the proposed legislation, including breaches in cybersecurity, damaging the integrity of the Internet, costly and burdensome litigation, and dilution of First Amendment rights."

The current plan for the full Senate to consider the bill on January 24 "may not permit us to work through many of the concerns that have been raised," they warned.

Lest anyone doubt the signers' tough-on-piracy bona fides, they include Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who once proposed that Congress give copyright holders a special exemption allowing them to hack into the computers of those suspected of piracy. In a 2003 hearing, he suggested that damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights."

Another member of Congress that has been feeling the heat from voters is Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). After reddit members raised $15,000 in 48 hours for his anti-SOPA challenger, Ryan came out with a clear statement of opposition to the legislation.

"It appears that lawmakers are beginning to realize how much damage their anti-'piracy' bills could cause to the Internet and to Internet-related businesses," said Public Knowledge's Sherwin Siy in a statement. "While we are pleased that some progress is being made, we are also firm in our opposition to both bills because some very bad provisions remain."

Washington insiders hold disproportionate sway on Capitol Hill. But members of Congress are ultimately chosen by American voters. When enough of them express a strong view on an issue, members of Congress do pay attention.

[eXtaticus]

Yet another reason to by from Good Old Games: they've just declared their opposition of both SOPA and PIPA:

http://www.gog.com/en/news/gog_com_joins_opposition_to_sopa_and_pipa

[AdventChild]

Well, CR posted a new Familiar Faces on the subject. Probably old news, but the representative pushing this bill (un)surprisingly (and accidently I guess) went against his own bill recently. Just watch.

http://thatguywithth...rep-lamar-smith

[Cobalt_Bolt]

Just because the people in D.C. pulled out a part of SOPA doesn't mean that it will cause people to simmer down. This bill needs to be killed period.

[Nova]

Just because the people in D.C. pulled out a part of SOPA doesn't mean that it will cause people to simmer down. This bill needs to be killed period.

[PaddyFancy]

Barack Obama is against the legislation.

Obama administration responds to SOPA petition

Barack Obama's administration has said that it will not support anti-piracy legislation that facilitates online censorship.

The White House issued the statement in response to a protest against the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bills.

© WENN / Dominic Chan

© stock.xchng

"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," read the Oval Office statement.

The US government added that it is essential for anti-piracy laws to "avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet," while offering rights holders and prosecutors "new legal tools to combat online piracy".

The Obama's administration's stance suggests that it will not support SOPA in its current form. However, it was recently announced that the controversial DNS-blocking provisions of the bill, which would have forced service providers to block non-US websites accused of copyright violations, have been removed.

Universal, Warner Bros, Viacom, ESPN, ABC, Major League Baseball and the National Football League are among SOPA's key supporters. Marvel Entertainment and its parent company Disney are also in favour. Facebook, Google, AOL, Yahoo, Twitter, eBay and Wikipedia are leading the opposition.

The US government added that it will continue to work with "all sides" in order to "pass sound legislation" on the issue. It also appealed to the public for suggestions on tackling online piracy.

"We should all be committed to working with all interested constituencies to develop new legal tools to protect global intellectual property rights without jeopardising the openness of the Internet. Our hope is that you will bring enthusiasm and know-how to this important challenge."

PIPA author senator Patrick Leahy has conceded that further study into DNS-blocking is required before his bill is put to the vote.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a360194/obama-administration-responds-to-sopa-petition.html

Edited January 16, 2012 by Major Ziggy

[Chaos Warp]

Barack Obama is against the legislation.

http://www.digitalsp...a-petition.html

Well, if the president himself is not supporting it............Correct me if I'm wrong, people from America, but can't he veto it if he wants to? Because it practically does not matter if it passes now, he could just (If he can) veto it.

[Your Vest Friend]

Theoretically yes. However, I think the government backing him up has the power to control him, most of the time. Not too knowledgeable on American politics, honestly.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Nice, but that doesn't mean SOPA is over and done with.

Obama will in the end go along and support the bill. Look what he did with NDAA - signed it New Year's Eve. He was against it as well. He will pull the old switcheroo again. Rinse, repeat. Him passing on Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Protection Agency was it for me. I'll be happy to be proven wrong, but when he signs it into law I won't be surprised at all.

[SonikkuForever]

Okay, so even if this does get passed, how are they gonna enforce it? Shut down the entire internet? Are they going to hire lawyers to pick through all of the over 300 million web pages, looking for infringement? I just don't see how something like this can even be enforced. I mean, it's technically illegal to post things on Youtube and the like if you don't own it, but generally, nobody cares. I'm not concerned.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Okay, so even if this does get passed, how are they gonna enforce it? Shut down the entire internet? Are they going to hire lawyers to pick through all of the over 300 million web pages, looking for infringement? I just don't see how something like this can even be enforced. I mean, it's technically illegal to post things on Youtube and the like if you don't own it, but generally, nobody cares. I'm not concerned.

They are going to start from somewhere, and the big names The Pirate Bay, Facebook and Google will be their very first targets.

Any company then has the power to shoot down websites they see that has their own copyrighted content. They don't have to go through one by one, all it takes is for someone to leak out a link to a site with copyrighted content to the public and they will be caught out.

[Dark Qiviut]

Well, if the president himself is not supporting it............Correct me if I'm wrong, people from America, but can't he veto it if he wants to? Because it practically does not matter if it passes now, he could just (If he can) veto it.

He could veto it, but the process does not end there. Even after a veto, Obama can still be overwritten if two-thirds of the Congress (from both the Senate AND the House) vote to support the legislature. Edited January 16, 2012 by Dark Qiviut

[Kevin]

The internet has scored a victory. SOPA has been shelved. While this is great news, there's still the Protect IP Act to worry about, so hopefully the pressure to make it not pass will remain. But even if that gets shelved, I have no doubt a similar kind of bill will try and come up again in the future.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Sadly, this is not a *victory* until we see what the White House actually DOES about the threat. I'm a huge supporter of President Obama generally, but his follow-through on some issues has left something to be desired.

Like as I said two posts before:

Look what he did with NDAA - signed it New Year's Eve. He was against it as well. He will pull the old switcheroo again. Rinse, repeat. Him passing on Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Protection Agency was it for me. I'll be happy to be proven wrong, but when he signs it into law I won't be surprised at all.

[Cobalt_Bolt]

We need to keep up the pressure on the SOPA/PIPA supporters politically and economically until this bill is dead. Contact the people in office to express dissatisfation over this bill and the companies as well. Boycott the companies who support this piece of legislation so that they feel the damage that it will do to their bottom lines. If a similar bill comes up in the near future we need to apply the same political and economic pressure to those supporters to let them know we will not let them get away with censoring the internet.