Sopa Opponents Discuss Blackouts Of Service

[BG45]

CNET is now reporting that opponents of the Stop Online Privacy Act are considering a blackout of services in protest of the bill. Google's co founder has even stated, "would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world." How serious are they? I'm not really sure, but the NetCoalition trade association, which includes almost every major web corporation has begun discussing a blackout on the United States of America.

So if it was to happen, who would black out their pages with warnings of the coming censorship? [url="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57349540-281/sopa-opponents-may-go-nuclear-and-other-2012-predictions/?tag=mncol;topStories"]Not really anyone big...[/url]
Wikipedia. Facebook. LinkedIn. Tumblr. Craigslist. Amazon.com (which also hosts hundreds of thousands of sites on its cloud service). Google (who owns YouTube and Blogger). Twitter. Yahoo. eBay.

[quote]
The Internet's most popular destinations, including eBay, Google, Facebook, and Twitter seem to view [url="/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/"]Hollywood-backed copyright legislation[/url] as an existential threat.

It was Google co-founder Sergey Brin who [url="https://plus.google.com/109813896768294978296/posts/Dt6FoRv6hXJ"]warned[/url] that the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act "would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world." Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman [url="/8301-31921_3-57342914-281/silicon-valley-execs-blast-sopa-in-open-letter/"]argue[/url] that the bills give the Feds unacceptable "power to censor the Web."

But these companies have yet to roll out the heavy artillery.

When the home pages of Google.com, Amazon.com, Facebook.com, and their Internet allies simultaneously turn black with anti-censorship warnings that ask users to contact politicians about a vote in the U.S. Congress the next day on SOPA, you'll know they're finally serious.

True, it would be the political equivalent of a nuclear option--possibly drawing retributions from the the influential politicos backing SOPA and Protect IP--but one that could nevertheless be launched in 2012.

"There have been some serious discussions about that," says Markham Erickson, who heads the [url="http://www.netcoalition.com/"]NetCoalition[/url] trade association that counts Google, Amazon.com, eBay, and Yahoo as members. "It has never happened before." (See [url="/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/"]CNET's SOPA FAQ[/url].)

Web firms may be outspent tenfold on lobbyists, but they enjoy one tremendous advantage over the SOPA-backing Hollywood studios and record labels: direct relationships with users.

How many Americans feel a personal connection with an amalgamation named Viacom -- compared with voters who have found places to live on Craigslist and jobs (or spouses) on Facebook and Twitter? How would, say, Sony Music Entertainment, one of the Recording Industry Association of America's board members, cheaply and easily reach out to hundreds of millions of people?

Protect IP and SOPA, of course, represent the latest effort from the Motion Picture Association of America, the RIAA, and their allies to counter what they view as rampant piracy on the Internet, especially offshore sites such as [url="http://thepiratebay.org/"]ThePirateBay.org[/url]. It would allow the Justice Department to obtain an order to be served on search engines, Internet providers, and other companies forcing them to make a suspected piratical Web site effectively vanish, a kind of Internet death penalty.

There are early signs that the nuclear option is being contemplated. Wikimedia (as in Wikipedia) [url="http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/11/15/wikimedia-supports-american-censorship-day/"]called[/url] SOPA an "Internet Blacklist Bill." Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#Request_for_Comment:_SOPA_and_a_strike"]has proposed[/url] an article page blackout as a way to put "maximum pressure on the U.S. government" in response to SOPA.

The Tumblr microblogging site [url="/8301-13506_3-57327681-17/tumblr-users-fight-sopa-with-87834-calls-to-congress/"]generated[/url] 87,834 calls to Congress over SOPA. Over at [url="http://godaddyboycott.org/"]GoDaddyBoycott.org[/url], a move-your-domain-name protest is scheduled to begin today over the registrar's previous--and still not repudiated--[url="/8301-31921_3-57348511-281/godaddy-accused-of-interfering-with-anti-sopa-exodus/"]enthusiasm for SOPA[/url]. Popular image hosting site Imgur [url="https://twitter.com/#!/imgur/status/151966977655701504"]said yesterday[/url] it would join the exodus too.

Technically speaking, it wouldn't be difficult to pull off. Web companies already target advertisements based on city or ZIP code.

And it would be effective. A note popping up on the screens of people living in the mostly rural Texas district of SOPA author Lamar Smith, [url="/8301-31921_3-57343367-281/meet-sopa-author-lamar-smith-hollywoods-favorite-republican/"]Hollywood's favorite Republican[/url], asking them to call or write and voice their displeasure, would be noticed. If Tumblr could generate nearly 90,000 calls on its own, think of what companies with hundreds of millions of users could do.

If these Web companies believe what their executives say ([url="http://www.net-coalition.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Opposition_Dec16.pdf"]PDF[/url]) about SOPA and Protect IP, they'll let their users know what their elected representatives are contemplating. A Senate floor debate [url="/8301-31921_3-57345187-281/senate-will-vote-next-month-on-protect-ip-copyright-bill/"]scheduled for[/url] January 24, 2012 would be an obvious starting point.

"The reason it hasn't happened is because of the sensitivity," says Erickson, "even when it's a policy issue that benefits their users." He adds: It may happen."

Or it may not. It would change politics if it did.
[/quote]

[BG45]

Stop Online [b]PIRACY [/b]Act. Sorry, Freudian slip there.

[Lil Red]

I don't understand why Hollywood is backing this?

[Clare~Therese]

[quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1325267104' post='2360025']
I don't understand why Hollywood is backing this?
[/quote]

This.

[Lil Red]

[quote]Protect IP and SOPA, of course, represent the latest effort from the Motion Picture Association of America, the RIAA, and their allies to counter what they view as rampant piracy on the Internet, especially offshore sites such as ThePirateBay.org. It would allow the Justice Department to obtain an order to be served on search engines, Internet providers, and other companies forcing them to make a suspected piratical Web site effectively vanish, a kind of Internet death penalty.[/quote]
sorry...must learn to read.

[Tony]

[quote name='cnet']
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Protect IP and SOPA, of course, represent the latest effort from the Motion Picture Association of America, the RIAA, and their allies to counter what they view as rampant piracy on the Internet, especially offshore sites such as ThePirateBay.org. It would allow the Justice Department to obtain an order to be served on search engines, Internet providers, and other companies forcing them to make a suspected piratical Web site effectively vanish, a kind of Internet death penalty.[/size][/font][/color]
[/quote]

translation: Hollywood is afraid of innovation/competition so they want a loophole to shut it down. piracy sites all though not condoned, are pawns to what Hollywood really wants.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Tony

[Ice_nine]

this bill smells of elderberries and the RIAA is the devil

true story

[Mercy me]

I just heard some discussion of this and it seems that it may be worse than that.

They are saying that if someone posts pirated material to a website, that website can be shutdown without real notice even to the owner of the website it his personal data is not public.

[BG45]

Sorry folks, forgot I posted this But everyone seems to have covered why Hollywood is upset.

[url="http://www.extremetech.com/computing/111543-google-amazon-facebook-and-twitter-considering-nuclear-option-to-protest-sopa"]Extreme Tech[/url] has posted an article about the possibility of a "nuclear option" as well. Also it appears GoDaddy is illegally trying to block the transfer of over 37,000 domain names to a rival company following an exodus from it as a provider over its support of SOPA.

Participating companies now include:
AOL
eBay
Etsy
Facebook
Foursquare
Google
IAC
LinkedIn
Mozilla
OpenDNS
PayPal
Twitter
Wikimedia Foundation
Yahoo!
Zynga Game Network

Senator Reid keeps saying throughout the Congressional recess that this bill is bipartisan and should have no reason to not pass. Take a look at the corporations on that list. SOPA would essentially force them to abandon their US based operations and would lead to REAL tens of thousands of jobs lost, not the thousands the RIAA and MPAA is claiming could be lost due to piracy if the bill doesn't pass.

[BG45]

[url="http://torrentfreak.com/us-threatened-to-blacklist-spain-for-not-implementing-site-blocking-law-120105/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torrentfreak+%28Torrentfreak%29"]A leaked letter to Spain's outgoing President [/url]from the US Ambassador has warned the Spanish government that the United States may place it on a Trade Blacklist and impose sanctions if it refuses to censor the internet with a SOPA like bill.

[Lil Red]

i hear that ESA is supporting the SOPA bill?

[BG45]

Unfortunately that seems to be the case. [url="http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/05/why-the-esa-is-wrong-to-support-sopa/"]Forbes [/url]makes a good point that they're utter fools for doing so though...under the legislation, if you take it to its logical conclusion like Forbes does, it would be awful for gaming companies. Let's say someone posts a video of them playing a Nintendo game to a website like YouTube. Nintendo could claim it violated their copyright and ask for the US State Department to declare YouTube a rogue website. The national firewall that will be instituted via SOPA would therefore block all Americans from accessing YouTube. The Nintendo realizes that video was linked to on another site, say Phatmass. They could then ask the State Department to either demand the removal of the offending content, or could block Phatmass from all Americans as a rogue website for violating content.

The ESA is insane for backing this legislation. In the modern era, a huge number of gamers determine whether they want non-blockbuster titles from watching YouTube videos or looking at discussions and leaked screenshots on forums and sites around the world. ESA is essentially placing a gun to the head of its industry by supporting SOPA.

[url="http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/06/sopa-list-esa/"]Joystiq[/url], a major gaming site, asked individual members about their support for SOPA, since ESA as a whole supports it. They didn't get many responses out of the dozens of publishers, developers, and other companies involved in ESA. But here's what some had to say.

[quote]
[size="2"](Joystiq does not support SOPA, [/size][url="http://boingboing.net/2011/11/16/internet-giants-place-full-pag.html"][size="2"]nor does our parent company[/size][/url][size="2"].)[/size][list]
[*]38 Studios - [b]AGAINST[/b] - "Based on the SOPA bill's current structure, 38 Studios believes that the bill requires further restructuring and review to ensure it both preserves rights and protects intellectual properties."
[*]345 Games - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b](no response)
[*]505 Games- [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Capcom USA, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (<a href="http://www.capcom-unity.com/ask_capcom/go/thread/view/7371/28807991/Why_Capcom_usa_support_Sopa_and_Ip_protection_&post_num=86#514635787">dodging) - "At Capcom, we're game makers, not legislators. We do not have an internal stance on this particular issue and are not planning to. We'll get back to making games. Thanks."
[*]Deep Silver - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. -[b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Eidos Interactive - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Electronic Arts - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] ([url="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/30/nintendo-ea-and-sony-also-rescind-sopa-support/"]dodging[/url]) - "EA never expressed a position for or against SOPA."
[*]Epic Games - [b]AGAINST[/b] - "We [url="http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/05/esa-member-epic-games-speaks-out-against-sopa/"]do not support[/url] the current version of SOPA,"
[*]Her Interactive, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Ignition Entertainment - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Konami Digital Entertainment - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]LEVEL-5 Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Microsoft Corporation - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] - But also against as a member of the [url="http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/23/business-software-alliance-speaks-out-against-sopa/"]Business Software Alliance[/url].
[*]Namco Bandai Games America Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Natsume Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Nexon America, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Nintendo of America Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Nival - [b]AGAINST[/b] - "Nival does not support SOPA, despite a deep understanding of the struggle against piracy in the games industry. Unfortunately, SOPA could do more harm to Internet freedom than good to fight piracy. We recognize the issues our partners in the online press have with this legislation. We will continue to be anti-piracy but are also anti-SOPA." The company also stated it shared its position with the ESA.
[*]NVIDIA - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]O-Games, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Perfect World Entertainment - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]SEGA of America, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (currently working on response)
[*]Slang - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] - "As an ESA member we are represented by the ESA in these matters."
[*]Sony Computer Entertainment America - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Sony Online Entertainment, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Square Enix, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Tecmo Koei America Corporation - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]THQ, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] - "We don't have an individual statement on this, but encourage you to seek statement from the ESA on the matter."
[*]Trion Worlds, Inc. - [b]AGAINST[/b] - "We definitely [url="http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-general-discussions/off-topic/289248-trion-worlds-supports-sopa-3.html#post3497408"]do not support[/url] SOPA."
[*]Ubisoft Entertainment, Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Inc. - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[*]XSEED Games - [b][color="#c00081"]FOR [/color][/b] (no response)
[/list]
[/quote]

Many of those companies in ESA that support SOPA are the larger ones in the industry, the ones who claim to have issues with piracy the most. It's ironic they do have those issues and are so large; my old roommate is doing his doctoral dissertation on neutralization techniques and online piracy. So far his preliminary data shows the number one reason people pirate games is because of the draconian digital rights management the major companies . For instance, I own a copy of Red Alert 3 at home. It's on my parents' desktop. I can't use it on my laptop, because it only allows one license per copy, not per home. If I ever want the expansion pack, it's downloadable only from EA's website, and uses the same digital rights management. The majority of piracy occurrs because of this sort of thing exactly; some of the common themes in the more qualitative component of his dissertation tends along the lines of "why should I pay $60 for a game that I can't play anywhere else when I can have it without all of that croutons for free. I'd pay if they didn't try to put their malware on my machine".

On non-ESA related news:
[url="http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/o9gq7/reddit_successfully_pressures_rep_paul_ryan_rwi/"]Reddit [/url]has managed to convince [url="http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/203079-rep-paul-ryan-rips-piracy-bill"]Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), [/url]the House Budget Chair, to reverse his support of SOPA.
[quote]
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee and a leading conservative lawmaker, on Monday slammed a controversial Internet piracy bill.

“The Internet is one of the most magnificent expressions of freedom and free enterprise in history,” Ryan said in a news release. “It should stay that way.

“While H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, attempts to address a legitimate problem, I believe it creates the precedent and possibility for undue regulation, censorship and legal abuse.”

Ryan said he would vote against the legislation should it come before the House.
[/quote]

[Lil Red]

wow...cannot believe how many game makers are in support of SOPA.

[BG45]

Me either...heh. I seriously don't get it. The ramifications of this bill are huge, with the companies who threaten the blackout (and may be forced to shut down US operations costing thousands of jobs), the censorship period, and the gaming companies essentially shooting themselves in the head by possibly blocking all the free advertising they've been mainly coasting on for a decade...

[Jesus_lol]

especially since it seems their entire core market for games(ie, anyone with an internet connection and a pulse) is against the bill... big time shooting themselves in the foot