Poll: Regarding Protect IP/S.O.P.A

[ajh93]

I know how crippling these policies would be if they were to be enacted, considering it shoots Fair Use out of the water, but I was just wondering if game developers would actually use the policy to take down anyone who used footage/images of their game. Movie and TV companies would go absolutely ape-shit I'm sure,but what about the game developers? Mojang developed Minecraft almost exclusively with the use of the internet, so they wouldn't take down every video that had footage of the game. Even the big developers I can't see taking down reviews or lets play's of their games, I mean it's basically free advertising right?

Do you think game developers (big or small) would take advantage of these catastrophically stupid "anti-piracy" laws? It will probably get shot down again but if it does come to pass, I'm optimistic, but won't be surprised if I'm wrong.

 

[Lilani]

I don't know about game developers, but I'm pretty sure Viacom (owner of MTV, BET, Paramount, among other things) would. Viacom got pretty anal about their stuff on YouTube for a while, especially Spongebob Squarepants clips. They actually threatened to individually criminally prosecute users. Imagine--going after some little kid for posting a clip of Spongebob they found particularly amusing. Needless to say, this got them quite a bad rep, and I believe they've backed off a few steps.

As you said, though, I'm actually not sure if it requires the companies to take advantage. There are a lot of heavy-hitters against it, though, and congress is very aware of the backlash they'll get if they touch YouTube or Facebook. We should still actively oppose it, of course, but I wouldn't be building a bomb shelter just yet. Quit giving the writers of this law the credit they don't deserve. Stand up straight, look them in the eye, and tell them just how stupid they are.

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

The threat isn't whether they would, but that they could. Many developers wouldn't be so stupid as to cut themselves off from the free advertising many internet venues provide them, but others would (Nintendo of all people is one of the companies backing these acts, bear in mind), despite the fact that what little threat, if any, posed is nullified and then some by the benefits. Again, free publicity is never a bad thing; this act is about nothing more than control, not about protecting rights, or it would be more specific.