18 Jan, 2012
While the House Judiciary Committee has said that SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, has been temporarily shelved, gamers and those within the industry are outraged over the house bill. In its current state, SOPA allows for the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to shut down websites that either facilitate or engage in copyright infringement.
In this day and age, that would probably be every single website out there, if a couple of lawyers really had that much time on their hands. While proponents of the bill claim that it would help end piracy, opponents are swift to point out that the bill blatantly violates Freedom of Speech. Websites like Youtube would have most of its content removed, and someone would probably make a case to shut down Wikipedia, of all things.
That simply won’t do, and has left a bitter taste in many people’s mouths. Super star studios have spoken out against the bill, and the list doesn’t begin or end with just Epic games and Riot Games. Minecraft studio Mojang and Firefall‘s devs Red 5 Studios each have made it quite clear that they don’t like SOPA, and have said that they will take down their websites (and beta, in Red 5′s case) on January 18th to protest the bill. While Red 5 will be back up within 24 hours, Mojang head boss Markus Persson has said that Mojang.com and Minecraft.net doesn’t have a time frame as to when they will go live again.
Now, the date of January 18th has become a huge benchmark in the protests against SOPA. On the eve of a massive media blackout to protest the bill and its sister bill Protect IP (or PIPA), Red 5 has announced the formation of the League For Gamers (LFG), an organization that Red 5 Studio says will have a lifelong mission of promoting games in a positive light. Founded just three days ago, the organization has already begun to reach out to the industry.
“The VGVN (Video Game Voter’s Network) and the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) claim to represent gamers and developers, but they have turned their backs on them by supporting and funding legislation such as SOPA and PIPA,” said Red 5 head Mark Kern. “Developers such as Red 5 Studios and other game makers no longer have an organization to represent their true position on this kind of destructive legislation. LFG’s first action will be to petition the ESA to withdraw their support from PIPA, which still looms large in the Senate.”
Well, if you wanted a lesson in backstabbing, there you have it. The ESA has spent close to $200,000 USD in support of the SOPA and Protect IP legislations.
For more information on the LFG, visit the League for Gamers website.
For an explanation of both SOPA and PIPA, read this article by the BBC.
SOPA has not been shelved, at least not for long. Markup on the bill resumes in February.