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

[Gindil]

Okay, I honestly don't think this bill will go anywhere. This bill will probably be dropped because they constantly drop these kinds and in it's current state, probably couldn't get too far.

It's already come out of the Senate Judiciary Committee 19-0.

Not too mention this will only effect the U.S so it probably won't even irritate you in the slightest, if you live outside the country. Also, after reading it a few times, it doesn't look like it'll mess up too many people.

That doesn't make it a good law. There's also the fact that this, combined with PIPA increases the liability of people just by using the internet for entertainment in general.

However, even if this is dropped, another bill may arrive to replace it. (and pointlessly freak people out) Why else do you think this bill was proposed right after they finished with that whole "violent video games and children nonsense?" Now, I've signed the petition not because it may do anything (they usually never do) but...well for the hell of it actually.

False. Looking at the bill, it's been around since 2006, through lobbynomics.

I honestly suggest we just ignore it and sit back, until they actually come to a decision. Let's see where this goes. If things are relatively fine, we can all laugh and just roll with it. If it perhaps changes things for the slightly unpleasant...tear shit up for all I care. So yeah, that's my take on it all. Oh and nice poll! Totally respectable and mature of you. Completely unbiased as well. *sarcasm self-test complete* In reality, I don't really care.

That's the exact reason why the DMCA was codified into law. It's good that more people look at this and understand the implications. I think Soberthal is wrong in his assessment, but making it difficult for people to express themselves online is going to make this a sticky point in the near future.

 

[Anytus2007]

Couple of things. First, you're right this probably won't get passed but why take the chance? Senators usually don't read bills until they gt to the floor for a vote (especially if they aren't on that committee) so if you send the senator enough e-mails it can actually bias their perception of the bill. Give it enough negative comments and if they do read it they will be more likely to view it negatively. It's just like telling your friend how much a restaurant sucks or how much you hate person X. They are more like to disapprove of that person/thing.

Second, I am surprised how many people agree it is the copyright holders right to limit things like Let's plays. It absolutely is not. Video games are a unique medium because they require input from the player. As soon as a player plays a game it ceases to be a work solely copyrighted by a company and becomes a derivative work. Unless when you buy a game you sign a license specifically handing over power over derivative works to the creator/publisher then you have a right to your Let's Plays. You put your own creative energy and time into the game and that means that it is at least in part also your intellectual property.

Finally, copyright law in the US is VERY complex. I read the bill. I read all the sections that they bill links to and references. I have a college degree (admittedly not in law, English, or communication) and I still don't really understand it. There may be protections for fair use buried int here somewhere. I can't say. Even if there are, any amendments to copyright law need to have very specific wording and be narrowly tailored to avoid overreach. It seems like the terms in this bill are not at all well defined or narrowly tailored.

People get paid to lobby for and against bills like this and others every day. It may be early but we can't forget that somewhere MPAA and RIAA lobbyists are pushing for a bill like this. Overreach or not.

 

[The Electro Gypsy]

I can't see this bill actually being pushed through. (Although I doubt it'd affect me being British unless I used an American company's stuff. I dunno, have't read the bill) It's just another attempt to stop leaked footage, but I can only see the companies being against it, cos alot of the uploaded videos and other footage is basically free advertising. I personally have bought two games at a much higher price than I would have thanks to Let's Plays (Darksiders and Bulletstorm, both awesome games).

With that first video on in the background, I now notice the bloke has said the same thing as me

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

At the moment the bill seems to be very hamfisted and heavy handed although also as far as I know it is in its first stages. Now I may not be an American but if USA works like any other democracy this Bill will be or should be reworked so many times as to be nearly indistinguishable from the original wording so it fits its purpose without affecting people. Given the shit storm this has seemed to have kicked up I believe this will be the case.

 

[Farther than stars]

I'll see if I vote in a minute, but having watched the entire video, I'm not immidiately alarmed. After all, as it explains, this is not intended to stand apposed to the intent of tutorial creators, let's play makers and reviewers and I highly doubt and public prosecutor would try to enforce this law (should this bill become so) upon those groups when there are plenty of juicy movie and music copyright thieves out there walking around as targets.
In fact, copyright theft court cases usually do revolve solely around how much money has been made because of the copyright theft and that means that for most people video game related, we're looking at a 0 dollar profit.
(In other law This is one of the main reasons that underage smoking and drinking is not illigal, whereas selling tobacco and alcohol to underage people is. A reason that it's unenforceabe is because regulation is simply not possible in a democratic (read: free) society.
That brings me seamlessly back to internet content. Most of you will be aware that even owning child pornography is, in most countries, a criminal offence punishable with prison, as indeed it should be. Nevertheless, I have read statistics saying that there are still about 100.000 child pornography sites out there and there's a simple reason for this. Between billions of sites, these are the felons hiding in the sewers after a mass jail break. You simply cannot get them all and therefore it's still going to exist, because of a lack of regulation.
Now, with matters considerably less harmful to human beings, such as copyright material, I can imagine the enforceability will suffer even more, as these kind of matters lie more on the backburner.
Also, there's an international aspect to understand. This law only directly applies to citizens of the U.S. That means that if you are abroad and disregard this law (again should it become so), then the great lack of infrastructure in international law will prove as too much for the U.S. prosecution to bother with when it concerns, for instance, Yahtzee's animated webcomics. Since after all, that would involve quite a few diplomatic negotiations (although I'm pretty sure in Yahztee's case the Australian government would sell him out in a heartbeat if it would come to that >.>).
So yeah, even if the bill is passed, we don't have a lot to worry about as gamers and as the video explains, the bill is far from done yet. Personally I have no doubt it will be nipped in the bud as quick as lightning strikes.

 

[Slick Samurai]

This is the very definition of overreaction. You don't even know if the bill is going to be passed and you're acting like it's the end of the world. Your little petition isn't going to sway anyone and it just a bunch of wasted time and effort.

I don't care what happens with the bill because the companies have the freedom to do whatever they wish with their properties. What you're proposing is that companies have their freedom taken away from them because you somehow got it into your head that the public is the only one who should get freedom.

 

[babinro]

Nothing like an unabiased poll. Won't sign as I'm not opposed to what its trying to accomplish.

 

[The Cheezy One]

I'm not going to sign, purely because I took offence at the poll options. They are aggressiely one-sided. Call me petty if you will

 

[Farther than stars]

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.

I find it imperitive that I correct you on this. The point of the bill is to give U.S. law enforcement the opportunity to act on its own, without consent of or suing by the copyright holders themselves.
Although a rather noble effort on the part of the government in order to police copyrights and letting private companies rest easy in the knowledge they have their back, it does take away from those companies the right to exempt specific footage containing their copyright.
And make no mistake, it creates a whole load of legal work for them to exempt everyone in "this and that" situation. So in the end most companies probably won't bother with it.
There are ways to amend the bill to make exemptions in these cases and we can only hope this will be done if it is passed.
I've created a post in which I explain why not to worry about this sort of thing in such early stages of the bill, but exemption - private or general - has not been made a part of this bill yet and that could potentially be a reason for worry.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm Canadian, so my voice as far as the US government is concerned is meaningless. But aren't there already laws in place to protect that kinda stuff?
In any case this gives me another great opportunity (EDIT) to point at the USA and cry HYPOCRITES!!

 

[NOHC]

Guys, I'd love to tell you about this video game I just played, but I'm not going to, out of fear I'd go to jail.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

Stop being so melodramatic. It only applies to the U.S. and nobody else in the world cares.

 

[Gamble1221]

It hilarious that people are actually are taking this serious... First: I mean not all gamers live in the U.S. Second: It won't get passed (like the kidz aren't allowed to play violet games). Three: It will still take a while before they even make an decision. Forth: They might be lying, now then i come to think about it who told you this?

 

[Tony2077]

I'm Canadian so i can't do anything anyway

 

[Farther than stars]

Watched the video already. It's just wrong.

I don't claim to be an expert, but this news alarmed me and I thought more people should have access to the information so that they can make up their own opinions about it. The fact that this post has already gotten 5 people to sign the message who might not have otherwise, more than sanctifies me.

OK, you seem to be genuinely concerned and that's fair enough. But I should point out that you might want to rewatch the last minute or so of this video in which it is being stated that the creator in no way wishes to be an alarmist about this sort of thing and that seeing the early stages the bill is in, it will have probably taken a radically different form by the time it's finished, to incorporate all kinds of different aspects of society.

Incidentally, I think you should change your "no"-option, since for someone who obviously values freedom so much, it's not very democratic. It actually contains a slander technique that you might not be consciously aware of; by making the negative option less appealing to choose, you're basically spiking the yes vote.
Now, I can understand that this is good for furthering your cause, but this takes the voting voice away from people who have positive opinions about this bill, after all, it wasn't created so the "evil government people" could take rights away from gamers, but because there are people who genuinely feel this could really help to improve financially-run industries.
Also, through that option you're indirectly calling them tossers, while that's really uncalled for and in keeping with the Escapist's rules regarding mutual respect to further intellectual debate, it's simply not allowed on these forums.
I understand through your relatively small amount of posts that you're pretty new to the Escapist, but trust me, make the "no"-option more user friendly.

On a final note, I've written another post on further up this page, which is a long one, but it does fully explain my opinions about the situation and seen your interest in it, you might learn something useful.

 

[Gindil]

DSP talks about S978.

You all should look at what he has to say as well. He's pretty well spoken.

 

[Gindil]

-snip-

I believe you might be merging Protect IP act with the S978. Both are similar but the authorization of copyright holders is PIPA.

 

[xXAsherahXx]

I don't see why things have to change? Fighting piracy is one thing, but forcing ridiculous rules on people about content is just unnecessary. Walkthroughs, how to's, and streaming various videos don't really effect companies unless they are illegally downloaded. In which case, make the option unavailable like NBC does on their website.

 

[Rad Party God]

I wouldn't sign it. I myself made a couple of quasi "Let's Play" videos and I've even been thinking on doing some as I'm a big fan of those. Also, same with any video, even if you made it yourself, if it includes a background song or anything, it would suck to go to jail because of it.

So, yeah, I'm against this bill and yes, I support the copyright bullshit, but not like this.