Poll: The death of internet freedom; AKA bill S.978

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Tourmeta

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Apr 25, 2011
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I'm not American, but that's pretty harsh, this is not the way to go forward in this age where uploading content is so normal.
 

let's rock

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Jun 15, 2011
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You know, this isn't the first time america has tried to controll something it has no real ability to controll. Last time it was imposing democracy on the middle east, which is Ironic because America's democracy isn't working too good as it is. Now it's the internet. Next time they do something like this, it won't be much different. The american goverment will do something, claim it's helping, fuck it up, the citizens will still suport, and the 20-30 americans with a functioning brain (myself included) will wonder why the hell they keep doing this. The rest of the world is going to just have to get used to it, because congress has no intent of stopping now. Man I really need to move.
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
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Suffice to say, I have to sign up, period. My current job as an Examiner in gaming requires that I make use of streamed gaming content one way or another, either in embedded videos or at least the viewing of play-throughs so that I have a full understanding and actual presentation for the review. The more interesting my review page is, as well, the more watchers I will have, because Jack did something interesting.

Aside from me, more notable reviewers make use of streamed gaming content to get the look in on a game, LIKE UHHHH...YAHTZEE! Yes, you may recall in his interview that Yahtzee explained that since he does ZP weekly, he doesn't always have time to go through the whole game to get a grip on it personally, so that he would actually USE Let's Play videos and such in order to fill in the gaps! This bill would actually take a chunk out of the industry, in that he's probably not the only pro reviewer doing so!
 

Calcium

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Dec 30, 2010
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If I was American I'd sign it. I'm not though, and I dont believe I should be getting involved in the legal system of other nations, unlike American politicans who believe everyone is accountable to them.

Also I can't imagine this petition doing much good. Idealistically it's good and at least you can say 'I tried' but I really doubt the goverment will pay the petition much notice.
 

MisterShine

Him Diamond
Mar 9, 2010
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let said:
~Snipped~
This was almost physically painful to read. Comparing invading other countries for nebulous reasons, resulting in 100's of thousands of deaths, with preventing people from streaming OTHER PEOPLE'S WORKS online?

normalguycap said:
You are an idiot that doesn't really understand the implications this has. Please rethink your stance or look up more info.
You should really specify who you're speaking to, and backing up what you say with at least some kind of reasoning other than "you are an idiot", it just makes you look like a twerp.

On Topic: I don't 100% support this bill, but then I rarely do for anything but overall I'm fine with this. You can't just use other people's shit without their permission.
 

daydreamerdeluxe

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Jun 26, 2009
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Regarding the whole "I'm not American, so it doesn't affect me" stance:
"First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me." - Pastor Martin Niemöller

There have also been various other takes on it since, but what that boils down to is pretty obvious. Saying "I'm not a [insert adjective here], so I'll do nothing" only works for so long...
 

cerebus23

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May 16, 2010
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Yea how many times has EA and other publishers already told people to stop if they did not like something. It would just make it a felony that law enforcement would pursue rather than the legal dept of EA or whoever.

This bill needs rewritten to account for fan, tributes, and parodies, without those exceptions and limits spelled out to the letter you will get an overreaching bill that will turn ordinary people into felons.

Course this is coming from the same government that gave us the patriot act and swore that it would have defined limited powers to do things, but in reality the bill pretty much said that the scope of the act was wth ever the government wanted to use it for.
 

MightyMole

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Mar 5, 2011
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Sober Thal said:
normalguycap said:
You are an idiot that doesn't really understand the implications this has. Please rethink your stance or look up more info.
You need to quote me BEFORE you start calling me names, or else how am I to know you are talking about me : P
And I thought I was getting a lot of flak for saying people need to chill out...

I watched that one video by that guy who did the "Fair Duke Nukem" review (DSP Gaming something or other) and he actually said something along the lines of "We'll be sent to the dark ages before Youtube where we wont know anything about video games and its going to run major corporations out of business like Machinama!" and one of the video responses is of some little kid who doesn't know what he's talking about saying how people are going to riot because of this... It's honestly completely ridiculous... I'm not saying the bill isn't something to be aware of, but there's a difference in people saying "Keep an eye out for this bill" and "This is teh end of the internetz!!!1!"

Here's that video if anyone is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hytigOSjJxc
 

viranimus

Thread killer
Nov 20, 2009
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Really? Its not the death of internet freedom, but its another log on the pyre.

Make no mistake about it, We are fastly approaching a day when corporate greed strangles the life out of the internet all together.

I would sign a petition if I thought for a minute that the words of the populous would have any sway against the money of paid lobbyists and lawyers.

If you want to fix the problem youve got to go back and fix a hell of a lot of other stuff first.
 

orangeban

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Nov 27, 2009
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Sober Thal said:
orangeban said:
Sober Thal said:
Didn't sign, don't plan to. Copyright holders should have the right to decide if they want people to stream their products.

Here is your video anyways:


What people need to realize, is that if a company wants to allow you to make your 'Lets Play' and what not, they can easily give permission to stream their content. They don't have to do so on an individual bases like this video implies.
You watched the video, so what do you thing about that thing where in, say, a kareoke party occurs where your friends sang, and you thought it was funny and put it on Youtube, suddenly putting that video up is a federal offence. How is that fair?
I don't care about people being able to lip synch and post a video on youtube.

I realize most people don't care about copyright, this should open your eyes. The blood sweat and tears people put into a product should be respected. If the creator wants people to use their work for free, they can allow it.

THAT is fair.
Yeah, but we're talking about videogames here, watching someone else play a game isn't using the creator's work for free, in fact, it's beneficial to the company as it'll probably encourage you to buy it.
 

DannibalG36

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Mar 29, 2010
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I'm already a member of DemandProgress, so I've been badgering my representatives about this bill non-stop.
 

orangeban

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Nov 27, 2009
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daydreamerdeluxe said:
Regarding the whole "I'm not American, so it doesn't affect me" stance:
"First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me." - Pastor Martin Niemöller

There have also been various other takes on it since, but what that boils down to is pretty obvious. Saying "I'm not a [insert adjective here], so I'll do nothing" only works for so long...
Also, consider how much content on the internet is a product of people living in America, because that stuff would go, that is how it directly affects you.

(Nice quote there Daydreamer, but make sure we don't make it appear as though we're some oppressed minority here, the thing with this bill (that may or may not pass, we don't know yet) is it's mainly the amibiguous wording that has caused all the trouble, there not directly out to get videogamers, or Americans in general for that matter)
 

neurohazzard

New member
Nov 24, 2007
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Jail time for copyright infringement? Jail time?!?! Yeah, because that's what the U.S. needs, MORE people in jail, I guess the highest per capita prison population in the world wasn't enough
 

orangeban

New member
Nov 27, 2009
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Sober Thal said:
orangeban said:
Sober Thal said:
I don't care about people being able to lip synch and post a video on youtube.

I realize most people don't care about copyright, this should open your eyes. The blood sweat and tears people put into a product should be respected. If the creator wants people to use their work for free, they can allow it.

THAT is fair.
Yeah, but we're talking about videogames here, watching someone else play a game isn't using the creator's work for free, in fact, it's beneficial to the company as it'll probably encourage you to buy it.
Then, if the company deems it as a plus, they will allow you to use their product to stream it.

It should be their choice tho.
Well, okay what about reviews? Suddenly video reviews can only be made of films/games/anything copyrighted if they put up the disclaimer saying you can. Surely people deserve to be informed about such stuff?
 

The Floating Nose

Senior Member
Dec 5, 2010
329
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WOOOW ! WOOOOOOOOW !! HEY !! Calm the fuck down government ! God damn it means gone is the AVGN, Irate Gamer, Spoony and other video game reviewer. Well, that fuckin' sucks im making video games reviews myself and you know that's crap. I don't want to go to jailor pay a fine. I don't see anything illegal about posting footage of games. i mean, i am not distributing hacked copies or anything i am just showing my experience with a game as a gamer...there's nothing wrong with that !