ESA Refuses To Pull SOPA Support

[vansau]

ESA Refuses To Pull SOPA Support

Sorry, folks. The Entertainment Software Association still supports the enormously flawed Stop Online Piracy Act.

Last week's announcement that EA, Nintendo, and Sony <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115005-EA-Sony-and-Nintendo-Withdraw-SOPA-Support-Sort-Of>were pulling their support of SOPA was met with a mixed reaction. On one hand, the fact that such high-profile companies were no longer putting their names behind such a broken piece of legislation was definitely good news. On the other, the Entertainment Software Association (which counts the three amongst its members) is still supporting the bill.

Today, the ESA issued a statement to Joystiq about its support of the law:

"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."

The fact that the ESA is supporting SOPA is disheartening, but not incredibly surprising. The organization represents a lot of groups that are firmly entrenched in the anti-piracy camp and are desperately trying to stop people from illegally acquiring the content they provide. That said, this is a proposed law where the <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act#Arguments_against>any pros are severely outweighed by all the cons, to say nothing of the fact that it will "<a href=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/sopa-hollywood-finally-gets-chance-break-internet>break the internet." Personally, I find it baffling that an organization that spent so long defending the First Amendment rights of its industry is now backing a bill that would trample all over said rights for other groups.

It should be noted that Mommy's Best Games, the developer behind Serious Sam: Double D is <a href=http://www.mommysbest.blogspot.com/2012/01/convince-esa-to-drop-sopa-support.html>calling for ESA members to voice their disapproval of SOPA. Hopefully enough people will raise their voices to get the ESA to rethink its position.

Source: Joystiq

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[njsykora]

So when the ESA was fighting for the first amendment rights for videogames it called for us to help it. Now its turned against those who helped it during a critical time and basically flipped us all off and called us suckers.

 

[ResonanceSD]

The industry feels that this will solve their problems. If people didn't, the industry wouldn't be ruining the internet as we know it.

And if the people writing the bill actually knew what the hell they were doing, it wouldn't be this big a deal.

 

[Baresark]

All this will do is hurt the industry. It's fine, when videogames are gone, people will simply move to other means of entertainment. We all know that SOPA isn't the answer. Well, everyone but the people who make these decisions. The companies supporting what the ESA is doing should just start doing something else besides making videogames.

 

[Formica Archonis]

ESA Refuses To Pull SOPA Support

So in the same way Sony and EMI and the rest hide behind the name of the RIAA when they need dirty work done, or Fox and Disney and Sony (again) et al hide behind the name of the MPAA, so Nintendo and EA and Sony (fffffffffffuuuuuu...) etc hide behind the name of the ESA. Nice.

"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."

Wow. They win hackneyed talking point PR bingo. Bonus points for relegating everyone who's not a politician to Zoidberg status in the line "We look forward to working with the House and Senate, and all interested parties...."

So they support an unbalanced law and look forward to balancing it later? LAWS DON'T WORK LIKE THAT. Once passed, good luck getting them changed.

 

[Link Kadeshi]

News update:
"Link Kadeshi officially pulls support from the ESA, and all other interested parties."

Wow, just... Wow... I can't believe Link Kadeshi pulled support of them! It's almost like he's allergic to stupid, or something. This should be on the news article with an update tag.

 

[Sporky111]

I read that Mommy's Best Games article, so I'm going to spam some info around.

From http://www.mommysbest.blogspot.com/2012/01/convince-esa-to-drop-sopa-support.html

ESA contact page http://www.theesa.com/contact/index.asp

Generic email:
[email protected]


The current president of the ESA is Mike Gallagher, and while it's not listed, his email is likely
[email protected]
Please send him your email as well (I've sent one there and it's not bounced at least).

No more sitting around and hoping for the best.

 

[Akimoto]

ABBA had it right in their song 'Money Money Money (It's a Rich Man's World)'. I can bet you the jobs they want to protect are their own.

Any guesses how they will define 'rogue' web sites?

 

[Xanthious]

Gee I guess online copyright infringement isn't such a black and white issue after all eh Escapist? I find it painstakingly disingenuous for this site to cry foul time after time after time about piracy (Christ you can't even argue against the anti piracy zealots on this site w/o getting banned) and publish absolutely sensationalist anti piracy pieces for the sake of cheap hits only to turn around and do a total 180 when it's their asses and jobs on the line. True colors I guess . . . . .

That little gripe aside SOPA isn't anywhere close to being passed by Congress yet. It's still in the committee stages and even assuming it clears the committee stage, which is where most of these scary bills die quietly (yeah I'm looking at you COICA) it still has another stage to go before it would get a vote and be passed onto the senate and then even if it should pass both of those (not a chance in hell) it would still have survive a veto by the president.

Not to underplay how horrible this bill is, it's horrible but I think the tizzy everyone has got themselves worked into is waaaay premature.

 

[Aureliano]

I'm glad that, whether or not you think piracy is the greatest scourge the games industry has ever known, anybody who isn't either a congressman too lame know how the internet works or a member of a huge video game company thinks that SOPA is insane.

And since this is a democracy...oh, right. R.I.P. Internet.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Gee I guess online copyright infringement isn't such a black and white issue after all eh Escapist? I find it painstakingly disingenuous for this site to cry foul time after time after time about piracy (Christ you can't even argue against the anti piracy zealots on this site w/o getting banned) and publish absolutely sensationalist anti piracy pieces for the sake of cheap hits only to turn around and do a total 180 when it's their asses and jobs on the line. True colors I guess . . . . .

Umm... what? This isn't about piracy. No one is against this bill because it will hurt pirates(except pirates, I guess). We are against this bill because it will hurt everyone in the short run, and some of us are against it because it will particularly hurt the US in the long term.

 

[samsonguy920]

I fully expect the ESA to be anti-piracy, that's a no-brainer. However, what I do not expect is for this group that took part in the fight to make sure CA Law AB 1179 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Entertainment_Merchants_Association](aka Schwarzenegger V EMA) was struck down to support such a ludicrous and moronic bill as SOPA and Protect IP. It just boggles the mind.

ABBA had it right in their song 'Money Money Money (It's a Rich Man's World)'. I can bet you the jobs they want to protect are their own.

Any guesses how they will define 'rogue' web sites?

Someone is selling them a bill of goods and it depresses me that a group that is supposed to be smart on how something like this would work is flying blind into a brick wall. The only jobs protected will be those who hold shares in all the large corporations like EA, Sony, Viacom, and Vivendi. Everyone else that is not a lawyer is going to be left out in the cold if this bill passes and e-business turns into a wasteland.
The same is going to happen with the RIAA when the smaller labels catch the flak from this.

Gee I guess online copyright infringement isn't such a black and white issue after all eh Escapist? I find it painstakingly disingenuous for this site to cry foul time after time after time about piracy (Christ you can't even argue against the anti piracy zealots on this site w/o getting banned) and publish absolutely sensationalist anti piracy pieces for the sake of cheap hits only to turn around and do a total 180 when it's their asses and jobs on the line. True colors I guess . . . . .

That little gripe aside SOPA isn't anywhere close to being passed by Congress yet. It's still in the committee stages and even assuming it clears the committee stage, which is where most of these scary bills die quietly (yeah I'm looking at you COICA) it still has another stage to go before it would get a vote and be passed onto the senate and then even if it should pass both of those (not a chance in hell) it would still have survive a veto by the president.

Not to underplay how horrible this bill is, it's horrible but I think the tizzy everyone has got themselves worked into is waaaay premature.

It's not so much about anti-piracy as it is more what the bill actually represents. If SOPA passes, it will give all copyright holders carte blanche to shut down anything on the internet they feel is an infringement. It is basically the Patriot Act in its raw form for the entertainment industry. You could say goodbye to any independent development as all the likes of Sony would have to do is claim copyright infringement, have that developer's website and mirrors blocked, and those people could just throw up their hands and go home. Their only alternative would be to beg at any of the large companies' doorsteps to get their game developed at the loss of a huge percentage that goes to the bosses.
This kind of threat to freedom of imagination and creativity needs to be stopped now. Now is the time to be active about getting this legislation voted down, as it will show that nothing like this should be tried again. You know the old phrase, 'Nip this in the bud?' Well that applies here. Just because the bill is still in committee limbo isn't an excuse to just relax. Because the RIAA and MPAA lobbyists aren't relaxing. And the fact that the ESA is lobbying for this to pass is even more reason that we shouldn't do what we can to show our congressmen how ludicrous this bill is. Yes, it is comforting knowing that Obama promised to veto it. But how hard would it be to keep this bill in limbo until the election this year? And if by some miracle Obama actually gets voted out(seriously, I'd rather vote for a monkey flinging its own poo than any of the other contenders as it would be more sanitary), how hard to keep it in further limbo until next January?
Not hard at all with the current efforts to try to make the budget look less like a money pit to the voters. This is why we need to nip this in the bud and make sure those congressmen dealing with it in committee know to vote NO.

Addendum:

Umm... what? This isn't about piracy. No one is against this bill because it will hurt pirates(except pirates, I guess). We are against this bill because it will hurt everyone in the short run, and some of us are against it because it will particularly hurt the US in the long term.

The not-funny-but-laughable joke about this bill is that it won't stop piracy at all. Not even a little bit. The joke is going to be on the music labels and studios when they find their sales take a sudden plummet down when every third party website is blocked because of 'anything relating to copyright infringement.' Then when the likes of Facebook and Google Plus are blocked for the same reason, that will kill sales even more because that removes a strong avenue for word-of-mouth.
Seriously, ask yourself: How many movies have you gone to, how many mp3's have you purchased, and how many games have you bought and played because a friend online recommended it?

The answer: Enough to matter.

 

[kebab4you]

Same ESA that fought and made games a legit art form? ... This can't be? o_o

And on earth do you mean with protecting jobs? You will cause bigger unemployment with this then those few(very few) jobs you protect T.T"

 

[Snotnarok]

I'm really confused by their costing jobs thing, the industries that are pirated turn a profit even when they do poorly so there's no jobs lost because of that. They jut want more money ontop of the piles they make already. The greed is absolutely sickening.

What they're not saying is just how this will break the internet and make many SMALL businesses crumble as basically the internet would be so weighed down in corporate bullshit. The internet at this point would most likely be divided into services you'd have to subscribe to as google and verizion were recently caught meeting about. Not to mention the companies would be free to buy positions on search engines to get the top ranked results, again putting the small businesses in a hole.

It's amazing what they don't say to try and push their bullshit.

 

[Aeshi]

Well it's good to see that there are a few groups that haven't taken up hacker worship yet, if nothing else.

 

[Atmos Duality]

And if the people writing the bill actually knew what the hell they were doing, it wouldn't be this big a deal.

If you think those lawyers in DC are just a bunch of "clueless old fogies" that don't understand modern technology, then you don't know how DC works.

The fact that they put a block on oppositional testimony/advice for the bill suggests to me that they know perfectly well what they're doing in legal terms, and that they're doing it because they're just corporate yes-men for the bill's supporters.

"Clueless old fogies" would have at least heard opposition for the bill; especially given how strong the public response has been. If it were true ignorance, they would have stopped and realized that by now.

But SOPA is a total windfall for Copyright Holders in the US. It grants such incredible unchecked legal leverage over non-holders. For these Media Giants (who own most of the IP in question) it's far too important to them for public opinion to matter.

I've read numerous accounts of letters, and personal visits to DC and everywhere it's the same response: "Thank you for your input. *Insert Nebulous hand-waving response*."
They respond out of policy, not because any of them are actually listening.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Rogue websites - those singularly devoted to profiting from their blatant illegal piracy - restrict demand for legitimate video game products and services, thereby costing jobs. [http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111227/03300217199/us-house-representatives-is-rogue-site.shtml]

We look forward to working with the House and Senate.

Well, given the House is a rogue website...who is going to be arresting them?

If SOPA passes, it will give all copyright holders carte blanche to shut down anything on the internet they feel is an infringement.

It's worse than that. SOPA gives them the ability to shut down any website that infringes any copyright. Thus allowing them to shut down each others. Or shut down content that may infringe on others copyright. All without checking what the copyright is.

Let's say Fox News supports it: They would be able to shut down any organisational website that attacked Fox News or any part of News International - including, but not limited to - all their rivals.

At its most basic, SOPA allows companies to remove any quotes of them from the internet - along with the offending site.

If you honestly can't see what's wrong with that, the real life equivalent would be burning film, newspapers and books.

 

[jurnag12]

Too bad I don't live in America so I could prepare to vote every one of these jackasses out of office, but I'll have to take comfort in the fact that my entire continent politically opposes SOPA.

 

[Fasckira]

Meh, Ive given up caring. Its not going to impact my ability to play games, ice hockey, drive my car or indeed any of the things I like to do to pass time.

But props to them for getting House involved, I'm pretty sure he'll make sure the right outcome occurs (after spending at least an hour exploring all the wrong alternatives of course).

 

[CapitalistPig]

Haha. no one should want our congress legislating anything these days. If they knew what they were doing we wouldnt have the problems we have with our economy, healthcare, resource management, etc. But thats a different point.

I find it curious that online games like LOL and F2P MMo's and even those stupid browser games know how to make money but none of these big name companies can figure it out. I mean i know i dont know the answer either but i dont employ a massive legal, financial, and creative team. If they want to stop pirating they cant legislate against it they have to find a way to disable it. Or at least make it more trouble then its worth (and i dont mean anticracking cause thats like antibiotics to bacteria).