Nintendo, EA, Sony sponsor Internet censorship bill [update]

That's the problem. The bill as it is is far too vague. It essentially gives IP holders free reign to cry foul on any website. If this bill is to pass, the best we can hope for is that it's narrowed down by extreme margins, otherwise one should hope it not pass at all.

@A Sandwich I expect it's going to be a lot like this.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/warner-admits-it-issues-takedowns-for-files-it-hasnt-looked-at.ars

Just wait until Bethesda's lawyers start taking down religious sites because they used the terms Dead Sea Scrolls.

@A Sandwich
The copyright holder says so. Literally.

According to the bill there is no (read: ZERO) oversight or due process.

@A Sandwich
To be frank, anything and anyone they feel infringes on any company they receive kickbacks and supplement payments from. Think of it as an extension on the obscenely intrusive and broadly defined Patriot Act.

@A Sandwich

this bill as is, is no different then internet in china. believe it or not the Internet is the last place with free speech (depending, naturally) but the bill gives the right for US companies to block internet pages that deem "infringing", yet there no clear definition to what that is. Is it a movie? a game? a logo? or is it just words that sound infringing?

@PR0F3TA I'd go as far as to say this bill makes China's political censorship look almost liberal.

@A Sandwich

It also ignores everything we have learned statistically about piracy, internet usage and online retail over the last ten years.

@A Sandwich

It's death penalty for the internet if it passes. I love that Joystiq put a link to opencongress.org though; it allows you to contact your congress member WAY easier than previously. I just sent a letter to my Michigan leaders and I hope my vote means something to them, because as much as I am for limiting the most egregious forms of piracy, this vague bill just says, "hey [company], you don't like this site? You can have it taken down pretty easily."

Due process is a part of our rights, this infringes on that and should be proved unconstitutional!

@TerryMasters *downvote, even

@TerryMasters

I'll happily downvote both of your dumb posts, but it's worth noting that Apple and Microsoft both oppose this bill, because they have a lot more to lose from trashing the whole internet in order to slightly (if at all) reduce warez trafficking.

@TerryMasters lets not forget the Apple bastards.

@TerryMasters

i'll just downvote cause you made no sense.

@TerryMasters

Actually...http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/18/apple-microsoft-sopa-support/

@TerryMasters

Mainly because Microsft has a bigger stake in the internet(Internet Explorer), which, as a matter of fact, despite being free, is more profitable then Microsoft Studios(gaming department if I'm not mistaken)

@TerryMasters
Well Microsoft has more too lose than win if this gets pass. So hardly surprising.

Sony has nothing to lose in terms of the courts (Just public opinion and loyalty).

Still disappointed.

@jph89 Um, no. You are quite mistaken unless you can link an article to the contrary.

@(Unverified)

That article is extremely misleading. It says that Microsoft and Apple are members of the Business Software Alliance, which supports SOPA. Therefore, they must support SOPA.

By that logic, Google would be a supporter of SOPA. Google is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce, which in turn supports the bill. In fact, Google is the leading US corporate voice opposing the bill.

@copa

Businesses use "Alliances" so that their name isn't directly tied to supporting unpopular legislation like this. They're giving funds to this alliance so that the alliance can fund support for bills such as this.

@(Unverified)

As of 2008, the Client section(its a broad section, but IE is under this one), made $16 mill. Entertainment(also broad, Xbox is in this part) made $8 mill. Its not hard facts, but its not really insane to think that the Internet is a bigger portion of profit then Xbox is.

http://www.tannerhelland.com/882/where-does-microsoft-make-its-money/

@jph89

Its funny, though, because their online services(Bing and such) are actually in the red........

Soooo, I have no idea what to think now.

@Cronos12

Yes and no. You're correct about how the Alliance works, but nowhere have we explicitly seen that MS or Apple have contributed towards or against this cause.

@(Unverified)

Is there even a source for that article? I can't find it...

@chargen

Here is the sponsor list. How nice that the 112th congress can find bipartisan support on at least one important issue.

Sponsor:
Rep. Lamar Smith R-TX

Co-sponsors:
Rep. Mark Amodei [R, NV-2]
Rep. John Barrow [D, GA-12]
Rep. Karen Bass [D, CA-33]
Rep. Howard Berman [D, CA-28]
Rep. Marsha Blackburn [R, TN-7]
Rep. Mary Bono Mack [R, CA-45]
Rep. John Carter [R, TX-31]
Rep. Steven Chabot [R, OH-1]
Rep. John Conyers [D, MI-14]
Rep. Ted Deutch [D, FL-19]
Rep. Elton Gallegly [R, CA-24]
Rep. Robert Goodlatte [R, VA-6]
Rep. Tim Griffin [R, AR-2]
Rep. Peter King [R, NY-3]
Rep. Ben Luján [D, NM-3]
Rep. Thomas Marino [R, PA-10]
Rep. Alan Nunnelee [R, MS-1]
Rep. William Owens [D, NY-23]
Rep. Dennis Ross [R, FL-12]
Rep. Steve Scalise [R, LA-1]
Rep. Adam Schiff [D, CA-29]
Rep. Lee Terry [R, NE-2]
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D, FL-20]
Rep. Melvin Watt [D, NC-12]

@chargen

Damn, none of those people are people I will be able to vote against in the next election, they don't represent me.

@chargen

Dear Rep. Thomas Marino,

Eat a D!

signed,
PA citizen

@jph89
I second this notion

-Another PA citizen

@Grimbear13
Thirded. Just wanted to post here to remind myself next time to vote against Marino.

@chargen Goodlatte is my Congressman. Nothing but a big business boot-licker.

@chargen The main sponsor is from here?! Dammit Texas, I am disappoint! But doesn't he know he's in Texas? He apparently doesn't, if he did he'd remember what dangerous people we are when angry...

@Faceless Troll More proof Nintendo doesn't "get" the Internet... or, hopefully, just doesn't get how legislation in the US works. Probably the former, but I'm preying on the latter.

@Faceless Troll Absolutely Nintendo.

They've been hard on piracy, from emulation to flash carts. It's not quite as bad as Sony's Lik-Sang fiasco, but they've been pretty strict about protecting their IP.

@Faceless Troll

What makes Nintendo any different from Sony or EA?

@Faceless Troll Coca-Cola is doing it too, I don't see why Nintendo wouldn't in the first place.

@Oddgirl Yeah, but for the most part they've been pretty lenient on fair use. This bill seems to pretty much trample all over fair use.

@Faceless Troll

Didn't Nintendo have a very big fansite site pull down Pokemon Black&White info/photos cause the game wasn't released in America yet?

Nintendo is SUPER against piracy or anything relating to their ips without their permission, granted they are probably the biggest victim of it of the bunch.

@Oddgirl
Nintendo had sued Lik-Sang for selling mod chips in the past.

@mrantimatter I'm pretty sure mod-chips don't fall under fair use.

@mrantimatter They didn't put them out of business for selling international consoles though.

@MowDownJoe they used to sell rom rippers in gamepro to "back up" super nes games to your PC.

I can understand why Nintendo is on board with this.
we just had posts on Joystiq alone promoting Zelda Skyward Sword in HD running on a PC.
Unlocking your Wii to play region free games :/ guess what else you can do when you unlock a Wii?

I played GBA on a PC before the system even debuted in North America playing Japanese roms.

There's Emulators on the Android marketplace.
Last time i looked Nintendo didn't sell any games on that.

@(Unverified)

Nintendo doesn't want it's contents on those devices.

So by supporting this bill, it can shut down emulation sites, sites that sell flash carts, sites that teach others of modding their consoles.

@Faceless Troll They're not even American companies who why should they care?

@DigitalImpulse
Because business practices extend to the United States.

@Faceless Troll

This is the Nintendo of old poking it's nose back up out of the water. Have you not heard of the draconian way they used to run their business? You couldn't put games out unless a certain period had passed (possibly to combat "shovelware" like ET). They had complete, dominating control back in those days. Nintendo has always been about absolute control, they just make friendly, happy games so that they look friendly themselves.

They're a business, nothing more and nothing less. While they have done good things (like letting the Mother 3 translation go on), they've also been complete jerks. It's funny that most of the Wii games were Shovelware with stupid gimmicks to get you to use the Wii Remote/Nunchuk. Personally, this for me is the nail in the coffin. I'll be skipping the 3DS, and likely whatever abomination they come out with to replace the Wii.

They'll never get it. If a Pirate wants it, they will get it. You can't destroy it no matter what you do, all you can do is keep stripping your good customers of their rights until they finally say they had enough. It's just like Ubisoft's "always on" DRM. It never stopped anyone. Look at China. Thievery, bootlegs, hacks and cracks, it's gigantic over there. This is just another fun way to completely destroy the freedom of America.

They say Osama Bin Laden hated our freedom? Not as much as the companies signing this bill, apparently. He had a few planes flewn into some buildings. These guys are going to destroy our very culture and way of life just for a few extra dollars.

@Cranky Penguin I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft were on-board with this too.

You'll just have to boycott every piece of media ever. Good luck!