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If you’re a gamer who keeps track of gaming current events at all, you’ve most likely heard about a recent bill being debated in the US Congress – HR 3261, better known to the general public as the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. This bill, if it becomes law, would address the issue of piracy as it affects the content of the Internet, among other things. Because of its potential broad, sweeping impact, it has generated extreme controversy, especially in the game industry, as gaming has obviously become increasingly reliant upon the Internet. The three major console makers (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) no longer publicly support SOPA, although many major organizations in the game industry (such as the Entertainment Software Association) still support it.
I personally do not condone piracy. I genuinely believe it is bad for the game industry. However, I am also of the opinion that SOPA is harmful not just to the game industry, but to freedom of speech itself. There are far better ways to combat piracy than passing a bill as overtly restrictive of personal freedom as SOPA. This being a gaming website, however, I will focus on its impact on gaming in particular, and I most certainly believe gaming will be negatively impacted should SOPA become law. Here are five reasons why a law like SOPA would be detrimental to the game industry.
5. It’s Overkill: SOPA would make it legal to allow the US government to block American citizens from visiting websites that contain copyright-infringing content, dubbed as “rogue websites” by proponents of the bill. It sounds good in theory, as websites that specialize only in pirated content would obviously be targeted, but it has extreme potential to be rampantly abused. It’s a slippery slope – first these “rogue websites” would be targeted, but where would it end? What about video game forum posts by spammers that link to these websites – would that cause the forum in question to be locked down by SOPA? What about websites that host legitimate content as well as pirated content, such as YouTube – would they be targets as well? How would this bill safeguard against legitimate websites being targets under SOPA? As the bill stands now, it doesn’t – which is why it’s overkill, and just one reason why it’s so scary.
4. It’s Vague: Under SOPA, copyright-infringing content wouldn’t just be limited to pirated media. Anything that might have to do with the copyrighted content someone creates could be considered a threat under SOPA. And with the wide-sweeping power SOPA has to allow copyright holders to request a court order to ban a website with infringing content, just about anything could be targeted. Game mods, user-created levels, usage of gameplay footage in reviews, even fan fiction could potentially be targeted under SOPA. There’s no provision that draws the line between obviously pirated content and that content which simply derives from existing copyright. This would obviously make game development a far riskier venture, especially for independent game developers.
This featured top 5 list continues on the next page, please click Page 2 below to read more of the top 5 Reasons Why SOPA Would Be Bad for Gamers.
