Destructoid has published a call to gamers to write to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) asking the organization to cease its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that is steamrolling its way through Congress. It is the contention of the writer that SOPA is a threat to free speech rights.

From the SOPA Wikipedia:

Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws especially against foreign websites. They cite examples such as the DOJ's $900 million settlement with Google for its role in a scheme to target U.S. consumers with ads to buy illegal prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies.^[5] Opponents say that it infringes on First Amendment rights, is Internet censorship,^[6] will cripple the Internet,^[7] and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech.^[8]

Destructoid has published a pair of sample letters and a list of contact individuals and organizations for interested parties to email.

What is your opinion of SOPA? What about the ESA's support of the act? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of Venture Beat

So you post it here in News but lock any thread actually discussing same topic?

Locking the thread was not my call. Perhaps it had gotten out of hand? Either way, the discussion -here- is open. Fire away but keep it civil! :D

Where's the incentive to initiate or continue a discussion when the same topic has been locked numerous times? Who's to say the person who likes his lock button won't show up to close comments here?

Seems a useless endeavour based on history.

Personally, I plan on putting some effort into not purchasing anything from Sony, who is supporting SOPA. It may be hard to not purchase anything from anyone who supports SOPA, but I plan on putting some effort into doing that.

It will be a little hard to steer clear of most people who support it, dont buy from most who do. I'll do my part. Sony is an evil company anyway. :)

It's mind blowing that this even has a small possibility of passing.

Might as well end the internet.

If this passed my internet browsing would be destroyed.

Only thing I would have left is Netflix/hulu... 

imagine an internet thats controlled like the app store or xbox live.

I'd like a confirmation from MikeB, are we allowed to discuss SOPA in this thread?

Previously MikeB said very clearly that SOPA threads aren't allowed:

"The reason we can't allow the SOPA threads is simple. It would set a precedent that MMORPG.com can deem appropriate which political topics to allow, and so the same case could be made for many other political topics: "But you allowed the SOPA threads!"  

source: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/4645239

the thread in question was in no way bad, had no profanity and was filled will honest and deep commentary, so whomever it is you have locking your threads needs to be re-evalutated and please don't act like you don't know who it is since someone there definitely does have access to that information. The threads are OBVIOUSLY being locked because this site is one of many who possibly supports SOPA at the very least the people in charge definitely are even if the people replying to us commenting on it don't.

Well, discussing SOPA hurts so many people that it makes sense that we shouldn't be allowed to discuss it here.

I support SOPA idea, but doubt the execution.

It just seems like one of the laws that pursuit a fair goal but isn't technically feasible.

SOPA is a dangerous piece of legislation, and the piracy related aspect of it is largely irrelevant in the debate against it. The real danger is the power that it gives the US government and US corporations to suppress free speech and bypass due process not just against US web-sites, but against the entirity of the Internet. This is unfortunately possible as the top level domain server that the entire Internet uses for address resolution is operated by a US based company on US soil.

I am not an American citizen, I am Canadian. I am outraged by the fact that the US congress is toying with the idea of a bill that would not only supress free speech of it's own people, but to everyone single individual of this world who uses the Internet.

This bill will do unspeakable damage to free speech as well as stifle innovation for fear of being deemed guilty of copyright infringement until proven innocent that this bill would allow for. Even web-sites and advertising networks would liable due to guilt by association from users unwittingly violating copyrighted material. This would even be as simple as someone posting an excerpt of a news article on these forums, potentially causing the MMORPG.com to be shuttered and it's advertiser's fined for association to copyright infringement.

Read the bill, understand it's flaws. Being against it has nothing to do with piracy, and everything to do with the world-wide harm it will do to free speech for the entire Internet

Oh no, that means no more free music at YouTube.

The piechart looks kind of depressing.

To hell with SOPA, i thought we had freedom by law not censorship.

Not a fan, and have been supporting DemandProgress.org and keeping track of this bill for a while now. I'm amazed that it's only now that things are getting heated that people are taking notice, considering this is a battle that's been going on for a while now and this isn't even the first iteration of the bill. The first was defeated, so this is a rehash that shoves the exact same provision in as the first one, but buries them under other things they know the people involved would be in support of.

People need to start pulling their heads from their bum and realize the world going on around them, otherwise you get situations like this where it may be too late to make a real impact. Fortunately the bill has opposition, but it's largely backed by the entertainment industry which does indeed have the money and clout to make this happen if they push hard enough. Everyone else is going to have to push back, HARD, if they want it to stop.

Originally posted by Vrika

I'd like a confirmation from MikeB, are we allowed to discuss SOPA in this thread?

Previously MikeB said very clearly that SOPA threads aren't allowed:

"The reason we can't allow the SOPA threads is simple. It would set a precedent that MMORPG.com can deem appropriate which political topics to allow, and so the same case could be made for many other political topics: "But you allowed the SOPA threads!"  

source: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/4645239

 

WOW.  Can't have it both ways. So which is it, guys? Lock this article and discussion or apologize to the people who posted their thoughts in threads before and allow them to post.

This is mainly a news, or informatory post, based on a story that affects gamers.

In this thread only, we can discuss the article at hand.  But please keep it civil.  Regardless of the other thread getting locked, we figured you'd all want to know about something like this.  It's not an invitation to make MMORPG.com a haven for political threads.  But this article is worth drawing gamers' attention to, so we newsed it.

Originally posted by BillMurphy

This is mainly a news, or informatory post, based on a story that affects gamers.

In this thread only, we can discuss the article at hand.  But please keep it civil.  Regardless of the other thread getting locked, we figured you'd all want to know about something like this.  It's not an invitation to make MMORPG.com a haven for political threads.  But this article is worth drawing gamers' attention to, so we newsed it.

Informatory post? As were the links included in the threads that were locked. And you are right, seeing as its been repeatedly posted and locked, it is a fair assumption that members would probably want to know about it. Especially back in mid December when it looked to be nearing passage until the rest of the internet united and put the proponents back on their heels. Looking forward to seeing another article on the matter in the fall.

Fact is, while it may be "political" in some sense of the word, it goes far beyond that scope. It affects the internet and gamers at large. Its misguided weight would be abused and used to crush quite a few freedoms that we enjoy in the US and abroad. As demonstrated in articles and forum posts found on nearly every major news source - gaming or other, this bill as well as its companion bill could be weaponized by corporations at whim. Yeah, piracy needs to stop but this is more like a wolf in the guise of an antipiracy sheep suit.

Originally posted by Ceridith

SOPA is a dangerous piece of legislation, and the piracy related aspect of it is largely irrelevant in the debate against it. The real danger is the power that it gives the US government and US corporations to suppress free speech and bypass due process not just against US web-sites, but against the entirity of the Internet. This is unfortunately possible as the top level domain server that the entire Internet uses for address resolution is operated by a US based company on US soil.

I am not an American citizen, I am Canadian. I am outraged by the fact that the US congress is toying with the idea of a bill that would not only supress free speech of it's own people, but to everyone single individual of this world who uses the Internet.

This bill will do unspeakable damage to free speech as well as stifle innovation for fear of being deemed guilty of copyright infringement until proven innocent that this bill would allow for. Even web-sites and advertising networks would liable due to guilt by association from users unwittingly violating copyrighted material. This would even be as simple as someone posting an excerpt of a news article on these forums, potentially causing the MMORPG.com to be shuttered and it's advertiser's fined for association to copyright infringement.

Read the bill, understand it's flaws. Being against it has nothing to do with piracy, and everything to do with the world-wide harm it will do to free speech for the entire Internet

thank you I just hoped we had more people like you, too bad your are not american.

not only free speech will be damaged, all things who work today over the internet will be over, problem is not stop piracy (though to me its like to stop a bullet with your hands), problem its will attack anyone, will keep big companys big and prevent anyone smaller work his way and take a bit of the market.

but what I fear the most is if that thing pass there, I'm sure a moron in any other country or companys who support a things like this start to put presure for then have the same thing, most of companys who want this bill just want more for less, keep the market on they hands, by greed and/or power, we know pretty well big companys don't care about anything if not how much they can make and how to spend less to make things. just remember what sony did to that dude who just did a jail break on ps3 to it use another OS.

Originally posted by SBFord

Destructoid has published a call to gamers to write to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) asking the organization to cease its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that is steamrolling its way through Congress. It is the contention of the writer that SOPA is a threat to free speech rights.

From the SOPA Wikipedia:

Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws especially against foreign websites. They cite examples such as the DOJ's $900 million settlement with Google for its role in a scheme to target U.S. consumers with ads to buy illegal prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies.^[5] Opponents say that it infringes on First Amendment rights, is Internet censorship,^[6] will cripple the Internet,^[7] and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech.^[8]

Destructoid has published a pair of sample letters and a list of contact individuals and organizations for interested parties to email.

What is your opinion of SOPA? What about the ESA's support of the act? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of Venture Beat

What the shit is this?  You people lock and edit away any discussions about SOPA, but then run your own thread about it?

What is it like to not let people express their own opinions, does it feel good to count yourselves among the red chunk of that pie graph?