UPDATE: The ESA, of which Nintendo is a member, still supports the controversial online anti-piracy bill.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/28832
UPDATE: Although Nintendo's name no longer appears on the list of the bill's supporters, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is still listed. Nintendo, along with both Sony's game divisions and EA, is a member of the industry-wide lobbying group, and the ESA still appears to visibly support the SOPA legislation on behalf of its members.
An update to the list of supporters for SOPA (which stands for Stop Online Piracy Act) has revealed that Nintendo dropped their support of the controversial bill that censors and blocks websites involved in pirating copyrighted content.
Last November a list of organizations supporting the SOPA legislation confirmed that Nintendo, alongside the game division of competitor Sony and third-party developer EA, were fully supporting the bill, but since then each of the companies have quietly disappeared from an updated version of the same list. The companies involved did not reveal the reasons behind their sudden decision, but a public outcry against the bill, which included a massive boycott of internet web hosting company GoDaddy.com, could be a factor.
Another possibility is that SOPA would also harm the companies it would supposedly protect, possibly censoring their own official content and websites due to broadly-defined conditions and consequences that the bill describes.
The bill would not hurt Nintendo itself, I think they want to avoid the wrath of criminal groups like Anonymous since they oppose it and attack anybody who disagrees with them. SOPA is not as bad as some people online are making it out to be. I am not saying it's flawless though, and Nintendo supporting or not supporting it won't really impact the chances of it being passed. It's a good bill, and not one that any company has to worry about unless they are hosting illegal content.
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I would be happy to see Nintendo attacked over their association with SOPA via the ESA. Hell, I would do it myself if I had the technical know how. I would gladly suffer the inconvenice of the service outage if it meant Nintendo would never consider such absurdity ever again. But then attacking the ESA would be a much better first target.
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The bill would not hurt Nintendo itself, I think they want to avoid the wrath of criminal groups like Anonymous since they oppose it and attack anybody who disagrees with them. SOPA is not as bad as some people online are making it out to be. I am not saying it's flawless though, and Nintendo supporting or not supporting it won't really impact the chances of it being passed. It's a good bill, and not one that any company has to worry about unless they are hosting illegal content.
*Facepalm* Please stop embarrassing yourself TJ you pot plant.
Go watch this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc). The conflict of interests and hyprocsy is astounding.
SOPA would allow the companies with the largest arsenals of copyrighted content and legal departments to declare open war on the internet using the government as a weapon. It is anti-competitive, anti-innovation, designed to oppresse free speech and businesses smaller than the biggest conglomerates. No due process, almost no bar to cross when it comes to the quantity or quality of evidence means sites can be shut down based on the word of the accuser before a rebuttal can even be formed. Even the discussion of the implications of piracy can be construed to be promoting it under SOPA, something the NWR forums has discussed before. NWR "owns" all the posts here and should a company dislike NWR from a bad review, they can use those posts or any number of other "justifications" to close NWR.
Video reviews? gone. Lets Plays? gone. Home videos? Not on this net if it contains a recognisable product. Reviews? Don't give a low one displeasing the company. Modding your console to play games from other regions? Gone. Home brew and jail breaking? HA! Whistle blowing websites? "Copyrighted". Want to set up a competing web company? Hell NO. The act of linking would become a crime (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/british-student-fights-extradition-to-us-over-tvshack-link-site.ars).
SOPA would make the current and ongoing patent war a side show. SOPA is a barefaced power play to control the internet which only the most authoritative governments have tried. The USA would join the likes of North Korea, China, Iran, Syria. It's not even under the guises of a law there to protect you under public security, but on the behest of corporations to protect their profits currently running at record highs.
SOPA is not about piracy, not about justice, law, or common sense. It's about power and control. One of Humanity's greatest invention faces destruction from psychopathic level of greed and a government that contains the worse of humanity basking in willful ignorance.
... Illogical trains of thought ...
I don't know if SOPA will be as bad as people think, bills are ALWAYS over blown
Now I do think piracy needs to be fought and fought hard.
It parallels the War on Terror
I don't know if SOPA will be as bad as people think, bills are ALWAYS over blown. Heath Care Reform is not socialism.
Well, regardless of whether you think Obamacare is socialism, it is unconstitutional
and multiple court rulings (including from a conservative udge appointed by Reagan) have ruled it Constitutional.
Health care reform is a good thing [...]
"As an industry of innovators and creators, we understand the importance of both technological innovation and content protection, and do not believe the two are mutually exclusive. Rogue websites – those singularly devoted to profiting from their blatant illegal piracy – restrict demand for legitimate video game products and services, thereby costing jobs. Our industry needs effective remedies to address this specific problem, and we support the House and Senate proposals to achieve this objective. We are mindful of concerns raised about a negative impact on innovation. We look forward to working with the House and Senate, and all interested parties, to find the right balance and define useful remedies to combat willful wrongdoers that do not impede lawful product and business model innovation."Source (http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/esa-stands-behind-proposed-sopa-legislation-issues-statement/).
If the internet remains free, IP is worthless. Music, movies, TV shows, books, videogames - all of that ceases to have any value from a business perspective.
An open letter to the House of Representatives:
We write to express our concerns about H.R. 3261, the so-called Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Avery similar bill is pending in the Senate under the name PROTECT-IP Act. In July, more than 100 law professors focused on intellectual property law wrote to express our concerns with that Act; we attach a copy of that letter below.
While there are some differences between SOPA and PROTECT-IP, nothing in SOPA makes any effort to address the serious constitutional, innovation, and foreign policy concerns that we expressed in that letter. Indeed, in many respects SOPA is even worse than PROTECT-IP. Among other infirmities, it would:
Redefine the standard for copyright infringement on the Internet, changing the definition of inducement in a way that would not only conflict with Supreme Court precedent but would make YouTube, Google, and numerous other web sites liable for copyright infringement.
Allow the government to block Internet access trademark infringement a term that the Department of Justice currently interprets to require nothing more than having a link on a web page to another site that turns out to be infringing.
Allow any private copyright or trademark owner to interfere with the ability of web sites to host advertising or charge purchases to credit cards, putting enormous obstacles in the path of electronic commerce.
Most significantly, it would do all of the above while violating our core tenets of due process. By failing to guarantee the challenged web sites notice or an opportunity to be heard in court before their sites are shutdown, SOPA represents the most ill-advised and destructive intellectual property legislation in recent memory.
In sum, SOPA is a dangerous bill. It threatens the most vibrant sector of our economy Internet commerce. It is directly at odds with repressive regimes will seize upon to justify their censorship of the Internet. And it violates the First Amendment.
We hope you will review the attached letter, signed by many of the most prominent law professorsin the country, and register your concerns about SOPA.
Very truly yours,
Professor Mark A. Lemley Stanford Law SchoolProfessor David S. Levine Elon University School of Law Professor David Post Temple University School of Law
Hi folks,
Some people have asked how Epic feels about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). This post is meant to provide answers.
Epic Games supports efforts that would stop overseas websites profiting from pirating our games, but we have to do that in a way that's compatible with freedom of speech and due process of law.
Thus, we do not support the current version of SOPA.
We are members of the Entertainment Software Association (http://www.theesa.com/) (ESA), a trade organization that is working with legislators to refine the bill.
Best regards,
Dana Cowley
Senior PR Manager
Epic Games, Inc.
If the internet remains free, IP is worthless. Music, movies, TV shows, books, videogames - all of that ceases to have any value from a business perspective.
At least that's what the old dinosaurs trying to push things like SOPA and PIPA through think. In reality, IP becomes more important than ever. IP becomes the product. Whereas right now you are sold a DVD or a book, in a digital economy you are sold access to the content itself. Making that access simply and ubiquitous is what will make or break most services. Unfortunately, making sure that such an economy fails is beneficial to institutions like Hollywood and the Record Industry. They make their money off of being middlemen. That may have worked when distribution was a major hurdle, both physically and financially. That's not the case in this brave new world, and that's what scares them. There's still room for corporations to make content and profit off of it, there's just no way to translate over the current system from meatspace... the one that has made entire industries lazy.
You also have lawyers who support stuff like racism.
I'm of the idea that product only has financial value if it has scarcity.
I'm of the idea that product only has financial value if it has scarcity.
