SOPA. Yesterday, you might not have cared about what these letters stand for. Today however, things might have changed.
Pretty soon these links to Reddit and US gaming giant Destructoid won't work, and we're sure that you'll find other popular websites that don't either.
The servers for MMORPG Firefall will go offline, as will access to Mojang's Minecraft.
This week's planned 24-hour blackouts are in protest to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which is set to be debated by the US Congress in Washington imminently. Strongly backed by entertainment bigwigs, SOPA is a US bill that aims to give content owners an incredible degree of control over who uses their stuff.
SOPA is built on restrictions that have been in place for years. Because of the fact that the domain names are local, websites that end in .com or .net can be seized with a court order by the US government.
As they've recently found with websites such as The Pirate Bay, their sphere of influence doesn't spread much further, much to the dismay of anti-piracy campaigners.
The premise of SOPA is fairly simple: Rather than seizing control of the website, you simply trick the internet into telling you it isn't there. Behind each website is an IP address, which has to be looked up by the Domain Name System. Delete a website from your country's DNS, and the website simply can't be found.
The main problem with DNS filtering is that it doesn't stop piracy - anyone committed enough will quickly realise that you can still access these sites providing you know the IP address. Casual pirates might get bamboozled into hanging up their eyepatches, but the cost of SOPA really isn't worth it.
The breadth of SOPA's power sounds like pure science fiction: Any website seen to be breaking copyright laws can be blacklisted without any form of legal process, regardless of whether or not they're actively hosting the actual content.
In addition to this, SOPA will also grant the government the ability to control other aspects surrounding a website; forcing advertisers to cut support, or forcing a service provider to simply shut down the domain.
"For the world of gaming, it's an absolute disaster. Piracy certainly needs to be dealt with, but many are concerned that SOPA isn't the answer."These powers even stretch to websites seen linking to the content - which is why companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter are terrified.
Developers like Epic Games have spoken out loudly against the new bill, with the ESA being held accountable for the outcome.
If SOPA does end up being pushed through, we'll likely see developers boycotting aspects of the ESA in protest - which could well result in E3 2012 feeling like a ghost town. Acronyms might not be a barrel of laughs, but this one is something requires your attention.
Three aspects of gaming will be in serious trouble: E-sports, community videos, and gaming sites such as ours.
Stream live gameplay footage online, and you're effectively breaching a publisher's copyright. Whack a homemade walkthrough video on Youtube, and you're on equally flaky legal ground. Almost everything we put on CVG is under the same sense of scrutiny - any videos and screenshots taken from games could be seen as breaking copyright laws if it turns out that the company who owns the game doesn't like what they see.
Comments
69 comments so far...
flyfletch on 16 Jan '12 said:
This is not good....awful for everyone in fact. It needs to be stopped
gmcb007 on 16 Jan '12 said:
It's going to go through. These record and entertainment companies will make sure of that. They already ruined the intergity of Youtube so they're after the rest of the web now.
sakaspuds on 16 Jan '12 said:
where's Anonymous when we need them most?
laslowoodbine on 16 Jan '12 said:
So who exactly is involved in this US Congress? I mean can they really decide for the rest of the world or is there representatives from all Nations involved? If not I don't see how anything of such possible impact can be decided solely by one Nation as it would effect everyone.
slick loose on 16 Jan '12 said:
Wait hasn't it just been announced that SOPA has been shelved for the time being?
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/politi ... 034765.php
Dapz on 16 Jan '12 said:
'For the time being' being the key words. I can see reasons as to both why it probably will and probably won't happen, but I sure hope it's the latter. And that's all I can really think of to say...
RichPerry on 16 Jan '12 said:
Christ, if they push this through then the backlash will be global. I don't want to think what certain people or organisations might do if this gets through - considering how adversely this could affect some campies and even industries (game journalism, online video sites like youtube) the economic impact of this bill could be disatrous, with companies forced to dramatically scale back or shut down altogether.
Villanous on 16 Jan '12 said:
This don't have to affect gaming sites, If a publisher starts to get heavy handed with their interpretation of the law the website could just refuse to publish articles (such as reviews and previews) of their product thus reducing the likely revenue for from the game. If the majority of gaming sites joined forces then the publishers would have to seriously consider whether this act would be worthwhile.
It would also be worth publishing a list of which publishers and associated developers have signed up to this so any concerned gamers could choose to boycott (or at the least buy second-hand) their product, again forcing them to think about the only thing that matters to them, their profits.
Sad though, how the American government seem to be a corparate body now, long live democracy.
Augustus_aka_AG on 16 Jan '12 said:
Maybe I'm mistaken, but CVG seem to have only touched the tip of the iceberg with this one. Surely SOPA will affect ALL entertainment media that can be distributed in a digital form. Not only adversely affecting the Video Games industry, but also Music, Films, Porn, etc. Could this be the beginning of the 2012 Armageddon that the Mayans predicted?
Villanous on 16 Jan '12 said:
Wouldn't this also fall foul of the first amendment, i can't think of many more blatant ways to prevent freedom of speech than this idea.
nb_nmare2 on 16 Jan '12 said:
What's funny is that it's already been shown that a number of Pro-SOPA businesses and individuals own websites are in violation of the bill (one US politician took a photograph from another site without crediting the photographer, for example).
So the silver lining is that if the bill does get passed, a decent sized percentage of those in favour of it are going to end up without an online presence themselves.
DragonGod on 16 Jan '12 said:
Any company that goes with this bill is retarted, if they end up taking down sites like this one or PC Gamer, then how would they market their games besides on tv. Its really stupid to pull the plug on those who give your games good reviews (if the game deserves it). I mean really wtf is going through their minds thinking this is a good idea. none of this is going to stop pirating anyways so why bother with it. you take down one site and 20 more pop up. so there is no point to any of this garbage, and if it does pass then these companies that believe that this will stop pirating will feel really stupid when it doesnt. all it will do is make them lose more by shuting down sites that give game reveiws.....
they are DUMMIES the whole lot of them.
slick loose on 16 Jan '12 said:
Here is a full list of everyone that supports SOPA...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_or ... Piracy_Act
Serebii on 16 Jan '12 said:
Yeah, but it could still come back in time
corkscru74 on 16 Jan '12 said:
Banks bring world to the brink of collapse - there's talk of maybe, possibly monitoring them to try to avoid it again.
A (relatively) small number of people download content illegally (without really making a dent on the industry) - the Internet gets shut down.
Sounds fair!
WHERESMYMONKEY on 16 Jan '12 said:
If you want to lobby the US government here's the link. Please sign this petition if you don't want the course of human society to be pushed back by decades.
http://americancensorship.org/
sunrise_phil on 16 Jan '12 said:
DNS filtering! Is that their best effort.Seriously that can be bypassed very easily.If this bill goes through the hardcore pirates will bypass it easily and the magazines like cvg will suffer.
StonecoldMC on 16 Jan '12 said:
Frighteningly, I agree with you.
Ive been following this Bill for quite sometime now and its pretty much a stick on to get passed.
This is going to be a sad day for the Tinterweb as a whole.
Damn you Pirates. Damn you Publishers. Damn you Media Companies and most importantly, DAMN YOU AMERICA!
DDraiman1990 on 16 Jan '12 said:
i feel obligated to quote this phrase from a movie that reminds me this situation - V For Vendetta:
" I thought we could mark this November the fifth, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.
There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?
Cruelty and injustice...intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told...if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror."
we need to put an end to this SOPA nonsense. yes, piracy is a big issue... but the end doesn't justify the means.
martinawatson on 16 Jan '12 said:
Bit of a thorny one though isn't it folks, I can appreciate how people would like to protect their copyright, i wonder if there are any thoughts on alternatives which would be more intelligent solutions to this issue.
dangermou5e on 16 Jan '12 said:
If you stop me from watching porn SOPA me and my right hand are gonna be very very annoyed!
skeemag on 16 Jan '12 said:
youtube,google and facebook are based in the us so i suppose that means were f****d no matter what
superfruit on 16 Jan '12 said:
AMERICA - LAND OF THE FREE!!! or so they believe.
Imaduck on 16 Jan '12 said:
Can't say I'm surprised. It's the yank way to come up with something daft yet mindblowing, make it work, then abuse it, then ruin it for everyone, then deny it to everyone in time.
Something this stupid is bound to get through in a country where pizza is classified as a vegetable. It is hard to conceive how anyone with even 2 brain cells to bash together thought this was a good idea given recent events. Did they do ANY research?! And I mean research of the industry not research of shares.
Anonymous are the last thing we need involved. In honesty, they've become an untouchable bully squad of their own. Their actions over the last year have probably solidified the calls for this act more than anything else, and who the f**k have they helped?! The guys are inspired by V for Vendetta, the dumbest film I've ever seen (quoting it = ignored), their goals are as misguided as whoever tried to make that film and f**ked it up so badly. It's not their motives that are wrong just their method and lack of a plan.
I hope, as much as I possibly can, that this won't go through. Can't say which it'll be at the moment but I got to admit, it seems painfully possible that it could pass. Of course, after doing catastrophic damage to anyone and everything connected in any way through the internet (basically everything) they'll realise that it was dumb as f**k and try to fix it with a poorly thought out too-little-too-late strategy. Gah, why is this world so f**king predictable?!
ginsin on 16 Jan '12 said:
America - always f**king it up for the rest of the world.
TOKEN on 16 Jan '12 said:
Welcome to the world of control and minipulation,i aint gonna spell it out but there are people with their knowledge of who class them selves as god like men who need to tighten the grip of control on all.
dj plonker on 16 Jan '12 said:
Sony and nintendo backed this Pos but why didnt microsoft?
I know epic and bungie are totally against it but there is no other developers standing up to it as far as i know, but EA did and they have at least 10 developers under their wing so as it stands more developers are for it than against.
damn americans........
AnonSoldier on 16 Jan '12 said:
WE ARE HERE !
only_777 on 16 Jan '12 said:
Shut down the internet?
That would cause a global riot in almost every country, surely people penning this bill know this. I mean it would be chaos.
Or everyone moves their servers to England (David Cameron already said that he didn't agree) so only America loses out and the rest of the world can continue to use the internet.
only_777 on 16 Jan '12 said:
Don't worry...Anonymous are watching.........
http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/16/sopa-opera-anonymous-targets-media-execs-moguls-take-aim-at-google/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUD2EiK1_NU
kingjose on 16 Jan '12 said:
If it stops all the cheaters who play online im all for it. Also to the people asking wheres anonymous at? Their not stupid. If they f**k with the government all of them will go down if the government wants u theyy will find u
damoxuk on 16 Jan '12 said:
Sopa has been shelved now so this story is a non-event
Gogo internet.
dandare69 on 16 Jan '12 said:
Shelved or not it just shows how far big business can take things - and it's more than a bit scary.
While i don't agree with piracy, i do think the people making these decisions just simply don't understand it or why people do it, but even more importantly, in my eyes at least, the internet is the one thing that nobody should be able to police in this way.
hi0marc on 16 Jan '12 said:
If America is so intent on seperating itself from civilisation like this, why do they still think they own the world?
flyfletch on 16 Jan '12 said:
On that note, what would stop these companies re-locating to another country? Think about it, if the likes of Facebook Google and Youtube to name a few, are going to be damaged beyond recognition, why would they continue to base their business in the USA? They could easily move and lets face it, probably would if it threatened their business.
This would go a good way towards crippling the american economy, i have a feeling someone will see sense before it gets that far. (lets hope)
PevMaster on 16 Jan '12 said:
No, they are very much against this bill as well. They released a warning on YouTube for Sony to pull out of supporting the SOPA bill, find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjOPXpd9 ... ideo_title
But you're right though. Anonymous seem like the only hope for us people at this time. If this SOPA bill starts f*cking sh*t up, we all know who to turn to when we need a Rebel Alliance.
jm3811 on 16 Jan '12 said:
I used to have a motorsport site. It was going quite well despite the usual morons. The thing is that people are mostly interested in formula one and FOM are a bunch of sharks who block all the videos on YouTube and elsewhere. Besides the pics cost a fortune. Now that f1 is gone to Sky subscription I don't even feel the need to revive the site which I'd put on stand-by for a while.
Example: I had a 52 seconds of Chandhok. Seriously, who cares about this guy. And it was removed from my account. So they can go f**k themselves. Personally I prefer GT5 by a hundred miles anyway, plus I'm the one who drives.
alan666 on 16 Jan '12 said:
the USA is now basically a police state & the so called politicians who are no better than money grabbing power crazy fools who are now trying to rule the world by force.
everyone should stand up against them !
jm3811 on 16 Jan '12 said:
There are quite a few sources on this. Example:
list-of-major-companies-supporting-sopa
Anon is gonna be busy.
Windowlicker79 on 16 Jan '12 said:
I really hope they manage to stop this.
Here's the Facebook page that everyone should join.
Against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
STE MO on 16 Jan '12 said:
I can see whe they are coming from, in trying to pass this bill. When you think about the amount of pirate sites there are and how many people use them, and what is downloaded from them it's quite scary. I mean how many people will hold their hands up on here and say "yeah alright guv I downloaded an album off the pirate bay" ? Come on now own up! I would probably say 7-9 out of 10 of us. That's what this bill is really about. The music and video bigwigs want us to stop illegally downloading albums and films. Which is fair enough when you think about how many billions these company's are loosing out on, and it is into the billions. I know people that won't even contemplate going into a shop to buy a film because the Chinese dude comes round with his near perfect copies of films that have been released into the cinemas that week. Unfortunately our love affair will be scripted into this bill, although I really wouldn't see to many of the games dev's or publishers adhering to it as it would get our backs up, and who buys the games and keeps them in business?
Stay strong for the path of the holy man is a righteous one.
peace out.
Channel4 on 17 Jan '12 said:
Isn't gaming now the biggest entertainment industry though? And Facebook, Google and other online giants now dwarf a lot of the companies in support of SOPA. So the music, film and TV industries shouldn't carry anywhere near as much weight as they appear to with regards to SOPA. I think in terms of the government this bill has largely been conceived and supported by people hugely out of touch with the modern world, who have no idea whats actually important to people.
veato on 17 Jan '12 said:
As usual with anti-piracy methods it's the innocents who are affected and the pirates who carry on their merry way
panantukan on 17 Jan '12 said:
And to think this whole piracy lark was started by the pc gaming fraternity...
slick loose on 17 Jan '12 said:
Yeah but it is already illegal to download films and music and yet a LOT of people still do it. What are they going to do, make it more illegal?
I download 2 American TV shows a week (Supernatural & The Walking Dead) because in the case of Supernatural, it takes about a year to get over here. Once they are available on DVD I then buy them, in fact I have The Walking Dead on Blu Ray and I'll get season 2 on Blu Ray too.
Is what I'm doing THAT wrong?
rhyfel on 17 Jan '12 said:
R.I.P internet this will be the beginning of the end.
a3HeadedMonkey on 17 Jan '12 said:
What people need to understand is this isn't about online piracy at all, it's about internet censorship. The piracy blurb is just a front for what is really happening & that is taking away your freedom on the internet & shutting down sites more easily that the US government disagree with.
Shelved does not mean canned. They will just wait for it to blow over & we lose interest, then they'll pass the bill under another name.
What would be the point in relocating your business when the majority of your customers (Americans) would be blocked from visiting your site?
sevvybgoode on 17 Jan '12 said:
As mentioned above me it's on hold for now and until theres unanimous support for it in congress it won't be brought back.
Doesn't any of the cvg team have a reddit account? Why wait until it's shelved to make a fuss of something that's been talked about for ages...
slick loose on 17 Jan '12 said:
Yeah and let's not forget PIPA, which isn't being mentioned at all...
sonic_uk on 17 Jan '12 said:
This has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with stopping piracy and absolutely everything to do with censorship. How does watching a gameplay video on youtube have anything to do with piracy? Pirate torrent sites are illegal anyway, all this bill does is punish the legitimate majory for no good reason while the pirates will just upload another site faster than they can be closed down. Either that or revert to other methods, like the government seem to have forgot - such as copying the actual disc and then selling the copies from car boot sales etc like in the 90's. As I said, this is censorship in its purest form, actively promotes piracy and is an infrigement upon every human beings rights which is something that is often abused in the defence of criminals, but for this one, single time should actually be used for what it was intended for - our rights of liberty.
jm3811 on 17 Jan '12 said:
lost my link:
http://theoriesofconspiracy.com/2011/11/list-of-major-companies-supporting-sopa.htm
TerrorK on 17 Jan '12 said:
Also, I thought this was the World Wide Web.
It's good to see the rest of the world suffering because the American government thinks they should be able to call the shots beyond their borders on aspects that don't just effect them again.
MD1500 on 17 Jan '12 said:
So will CVG be blacking out?
Windowlicker79 on 17 Jan '12 said:
I doubt it. They'd lose too much money from not getting paid by the advertisers.
Noobsaibot on 18 Jan '12 said:
Prove it!
Prove that me listening to a few tunes on youtube or watching a film online (which I otherwise would not see, hear or possibly even know about) is hurting the industry.
Prove to me that the likes of Lady Gaga and Leo Di Caprio are significantly worse off due to my actions.
Prove to me that this is not simply the record companies and movie studios panicking because they can no longer rip off consumers with their outdated business models.
There is a simple solution which would be hard to implement but would resolve the issue for ALL parties. Simply have everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) released worldwide simultaneously on selected VOD services for €20 per month and have the odd advert (kind of like 4OD). I'd certainly pay for that instead of having to trawl through torrents & streaming sites looking for good quality streams/rips (which do exist and can be found with a little bit of work). It will be many years before ALL rights holders can iron out their differences (see: greedy interests) but really this is the ONLY way piracy can ever be truly mitigated. As proved by Apple, a one stop shop can work.
Music and movies will always fall foul of the analog hole so these labels and studios will have to face up to this fact some day.
jm3811 on 18 Jan '12 said:
Reminds me of Adele because she was p**sed off when she was taxed 50% on the eight million quid that she made from her album.
Reminds me of all the corporate business who evade taxes in opening their headquarters in Switzerland, not to mention their bank accounts in the Bahamas or the Cayman.
Reminds me of all the money that's wasted in stupid conflicts when barely one percent of the world population has a decent access to healthcare.
I read that on the internet, no thanks to Sony, Disney or all the entertainment s**te - this despite my Wikipedia being down for 24 hours.
slick loose on 18 Jan '12 said:
I can prove it. I have the entire seasons of Lost 1-8 on my PC and I have no real intention of purchasing them. Let's assume I am not the only person who has done this, that is money 'Lost'...
Seriously though, if I was unable to download it, I would be more inclined to buy the DVD's as it's one of my favourite shows ever. I also have Eminems complete discography, again I love his music and if it was made impossible to download, I would of most likely bought his music. I doubt I am the only person in the World who does this. The difference is, I do feel guilty and once I do get the money (which, btw, maybe never) I would like to purchase them.
It bothers me when people say pirating doesn't hurt the industry at all. It clearly does, I doubt it's billions but it's still enough to make a difference. If I was in the industry and I could see thousands of people, maybe hundreds of thousands of people downloading my hard work for free, I would be p**sed too.
I'm not saying downloading is completely wrong, I download Supernatural each week because it takes about 6 months to a year to reach British screens. I always buy the DVD's when they come out, so deep down I feel like I'm not doing anything wrong.
slick loose on 18 Jan '12 said:
Oh and SOPA is back and it hasn't been shelved...
They want a War, we'll give them a War!
billysastard on 18 Jan '12 said:
sopa is still there, and so is pipa (24th jan) and another called "open" all bought and paid for by the criminal cartels representing the entertainment industries (mpaa, riaa, esa) so this battle is very far from over.
Balladeer on 18 Jan '12 said:
They can't be criminal - they have far too much money.
Imaduck on 19 Jan '12 said:
According to the BBC news frontpage, 8 "Lawmakers" have withdrawn their support. By the sounds of it, after seeing the pure seething fury of the internet and seeing that the people against it will make a hell of a stand and are in the right
flash501 on 19 Jan '12 said:
What f**king arrogance!!!
Imaduck on 19 Jan '12 said:
Dude, this is coming from yanks, arrogance is built into their society
ileatyoualive on 19 Jan '12 said:
This made me lol so hard.
Awesome.
Imaduck on 19 Jan '12 said:
Updato kids, MegaUpload just got hammered, badly, as in it's dead gone and buried, and the yanks are currently getting everyone else in the world to round up the ringleaders and ship them to the US. Sites like that asked for it, badly, I'm surprised they got so far, but this really stinks of Team America now
slick loose on 19 Jan '12 said:
Damn, they didn't even wait for SOPA to pass, they just said f**k IT LETS GET STARTED!
Imaduck on 19 Jan '12 said:
Exactly, they scrapped SOPA - therefore skipping any and all legal requirements and simply going in America style
flash501 on 20 Jan '12 said:
U-S-A!
U-S-A!
U-S-A!
Mmmmgrolsch on 20 Jan '12 said:
I hate the USA with a passion, bunch of C**ts! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeEcoi8k ... plpp_video For those that don't know what the SOPA will mean.