Not All ESA Members Believe In SOPA

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

NVIDIA-FOR???? Uhh, maybe my next gpu will be ati, even though I've used NVidia for the 3 PCs I've had.

Yeah, first they release all those video cards they knew were faulty and ignored the users for two years, now they want to break the internet. nVidia must really hate people and technology.

 

[Baldr]

Fascinating. Especially Epic, as they're a BIG company.

Although, it's a canny move in the current climate...stand firm with the public, while your people vote for the private. Either way, they win.

Actually Epic is one of the smaller companies on that list. They only have around 120 employees.

 

[snow]

I don't mean to sound ignorant, but say SOPA gets through. Will it effect Internet only in America or world wide. Because if it is the later, I will punch everyone responsible, in the soul.

I'm not sure if anyone responded to you yet, so if so. Sorry for grabbing your attention when it wasn't needed. Yes it effects the world. It's giving them the power to shut down websites that could infringe on copyright laws. The entire website... Youtube, google, other big name sites that I can't seem to think of off the top of my head (too sleepy) can just be shut down.

I have read some where that some of these websites have mentioned shutting down for a day with a big stamp on the page saying "This is what it will look if SOPA passes." And I honestly wish they would do that... Media coverage on "official" news venues have been slim to none, and they're trying to pass this under the table...

 

[Evil Smurf]

I don't mean to sound ignorant, but say SOPA gets through. Will it effect Internet only in America or world wide. Because if it is the later, I will punch everyone responsible, in the soul.

I'm not sure if anyone responded to you yet, so if so. Sorry for grabbing your attention when it wasn't needed. Yes it effects the world. It's giving them the power to shut down websites that could infringe on copyright laws. The entire website... Youtube, google, other big name sites that I can't seem to think of off the top of my head (too sleepy) can just be shut down.

I have read some where that some of these websites have mentioned shutting down for a day with a big stamp on the page saying "This is what it will look if SOPA passes." And I honestly wish they would do that... Media coverage on "official" news venues have been slim to none, and they're trying to pass this under the table...

*puts on soul punching gloves*

this thing is world wide, why can't The rest of the world voice its opinion! Damn you corporate pigs!

 

[snow]

-snip-

Here is a video from TotalBiscuit. If you haven't heard of him, he's a gamer who does a lot of first impressions on indie (and other) games, big in the starcraft 2 community and an entertainer. He explains in depth to what this is.

Spoiler

Seems some of the stuff he touched on later on about dates and what not have been jumped around a bit.. i honestly have no clue when all of this is going to finally take place.

 

[Avatar Roku]

I love how all the companies that are against SOPA actually gave a clear and well thought out response and 98% of the companies that are For SOPA chose to not respond at all and the other 2% (Capcom) are total nit wits about it.

You do realize 'for' in this case meant 'didn't respond' and was just supposition on Joystiq's part, right? At least for the most part, there were a few that were actually for it.

I didn't realize abstaining meant you for something.

Christ, it's like the Iraq war logic all over again, but I guess it's ok if you aren't a Republican and you do it, eh?

"You don't have an opinion? I GUESS THAT MAKES YOU A FREEDOM HATING HIPPY TERRORIST!"

It's different because these companies voluntarily chose to be represented by the ESA. In other words, it's assumed that, unless they say otherwise, the ESA's opinion is theirs as well.

I love how everyone that 'supports' SOPA either doesn't explain why or hides behind the ESA for their support.

I must ask... HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE ACTUALLY READ AND UNDERSTOOD THIS BILL?

Actually on that list only one hide behind the ESA for support. Three others said they have no opinion on the matter and all of the others who are said to be supporting SOPA just never answered. It really shows how biased that the writer was when going into the article. He went out to make these companies look bad.

I direct your attention the the above part of my post. ESA membership + no stated opinion = opinion shared with the ESA.

 

[RvLeshrac]

NVIDIA-FOR???? Uhh, maybe my next gpu will be ati, even though I've used NVidia for the 3 PCs I've had.

enjoy your catalyst drivers. Oh wait, they're terrible.

It's nice to see that most companies are for it. Where's valve?

Also love that the ones that are against put out a press release stating why they're against it. The others, rightly so, have realised that they aren't really answerable to Joystiq, or anyone other than their shareholders on their motivations.

Are you just saying this to be 'different'? You do realize you can be anti-piracy AND anti-SOPA. There's four companies on this list that are.

Oh yes, I'm not in full support of SOPA, however I think it's an excellent example of how far the industry is ready and willing to go in order to defend it's full profits. Pirates and gamers around the world seem to think that they're bluffing. For some weird reason. SOPA in it's current form isn't viable. However, take away some of the more ridiculous proposals in it and it's a great idea. From all the naysayers, Epic Games' official release in it's full form is the one I agree with most. However, if those companies were truly against SOPA, why aren't they leaving the ESA? I doubt that they'll be able to convince the major players on that list to change their positions, so why are they sticking around? To get brownie points with gamers?


Oh yes, I also love that "NOT ALL ESA MEMBERS BELIEVE IN SOPA" turns out to be, four.

If you support SOPA in *ANY* capacity, period, you're a moron. There is no mincing of words here. There is no "alternative opinion" that is worthy of anyone's time. There is no polish you can put on this turd. This legislation, and the companion PIPA, are miserable piles of shit being flung at the very infrastructure of the internet.

The fact is that under both SOPA and PIPA, most any website can be shut down at any time, for any or no valid reason, with no appeals or notification process necessary. They are the equivalent of giving police the power to arrest you at any time, for no stated reason, with no hope of trial, indefinitely.

Both of these bills would make it impossible to run a critical review website from outside the US - any publisher could have your site shut down simply for using screenshots or the name of their game in a review, if they didn't like that review.

 

[RvLeshrac]

I love how everyone that 'supports' SOPA either doesn't explain why or hides behind the ESA for their support.

I must ask... HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE ACTUALLY READ AND UNDERSTOOD THIS BILL?

Actually on that list only one hide behind the ESA for support. Three others said they have no opinion on the matter and all of the others who are said to be supporting SOPA just never answered. It really shows how biased that the writer was when going into the article. He went out to make these companies look bad.

If you're a paying member of an organisation, you support every single opinion that organisation has on anything, or you stop paying your dues and withdraw. There is no middle-ground here. This isn't a political party where you might disagree slightly with someone else's stance on an issue, this is a private organisation where you provide money in support of the organisation's activities.

 

[RvLeshrac]

AFAIK SOPA will only affect the US... That doesn't mean that other countries won't bring in their own SOPA-style laws if this passes. I just hope that Australia doesn't!

The only country SOPA won't affect is the US. Because the current text of the law applies solely to foreign entities. It will make websites inaccessible from the US by removing them from DNS root. Guess where the rest of the world polls for root updates?

 

[ResonanceSD]

NVIDIA-FOR???? Uhh, maybe my next gpu will be ati, even though I've used NVidia for the 3 PCs I've had.

enjoy your catalyst drivers. Oh wait, they're terrible.

It's nice to see that most companies are for it. Where's valve?

Also love that the ones that are against put out a press release stating why they're against it. The others, rightly so, have realised that they aren't really answerable to Joystiq, or anyone other than their shareholders on their motivations.

Are you just saying this to be 'different'? You do realize you can be anti-piracy AND anti-SOPA. There's four companies on this list that are.

Oh yes, I'm not in full support of SOPA, however I think it's an excellent example of how far the industry is ready and willing to go in order to defend it's full profits. Pirates and gamers around the world seem to think that they're bluffing. For some weird reason. SOPA in it's current form isn't viable. However, take away some of the more ridiculous proposals in it and it's a great idea. From all the naysayers, Epic Games' official release in it's full form is the one I agree with most. However, if those companies were truly against SOPA, why aren't they leaving the ESA? I doubt that they'll be able to convince the major players on that list to change their positions, so why are they sticking around? To get brownie points with gamers?


Oh yes, I also love that "NOT ALL ESA MEMBERS BELIEVE IN SOPA" turns out to be, four.

If you support SOPA in *ANY* capacity, period, you're a moron. There is no mincing of words here. There is no "alternative opinion" that is worthy of anyone's time. There is no polish you can put on this turd. This legislation, and the companion PIPA, are miserable piles of shit being flung at the very infrastructure of the internet.

The fact is that under both SOPA and PIPA, most any website can be shut down at any time, for any or no valid reason, with no appeals or notification process necessary. They are the equivalent of giving police the power to arrest you at any time, for no stated reason, with no hope of trial, indefinitely.

Both of these bills would make it impossible to run a critical review website from outside the US - any publisher could have your site shut down simply for using screenshots or the name of their game in a review, if they didn't like that review.

Lol as I've said several times in this and other threads, I think the bill needs reworking, but the idea behind it is sound. Also, try to relax.

 

[Freaky Lou]

I love how all the companies that are against SOPA actually gave a clear and well thought out response and 98% of the companies that are For SOPA chose to not respond at all and the other 2% (Capcom) are total nit wits about it.

What a joke. It's like the companies that support SOPA know how much hate they would get if they were actually honest with their customers about this.

All of the non-responders may or may not be in favour. Joystiq just decided to label everyone who didn't respond (even companies who were working on a response) as "FOR".

 

[Freaky Lou]

The fact is that under both SOPA and PIPA, most any website can be shut down at any time, for any or no valid reason, with no appeals or notification process necessary. They are the equivalent of giving police the power to arrest you at any time, for no stated reason, with no hope of trial, indefinitely.

Were you aware that as of very recently, the US passed a bill allowing just that? But no outrage sprung up over it, people were too busy raging about SOPA. Meanwhile a much more horrific law passed quietly.

 

[AnarchistFish]

While many emails weren't responded to (which Joystiq took to mean as an admission by omission)

I don't see how that makes sense, especially with Capcom when they're pretty clearly said they had no opinion.

 

[-|-]

If you're a paying member of an organisation, you support every single opinion that organisation has on anything, or you stop paying your dues and withdraw. There is no middle-ground here. This isn't a political party where you might disagree slightly with someone else's stance on an issue, this is a private organisation where you provide money in support of the organisation's activities.

Not true.

If a company has no opinion on the matter then why should it withdraw? They presumably benefit from the other lobbying and PR activities that the ESA engages in. And even those companies that are against it might still decide to remain within the organization because those other benefits outweigh the costs or they think that they can change the policy from within.

 

[RvLeshrac]

The fact is that under both SOPA and PIPA, most any website can be shut down at any time, for any or no valid reason, with no appeals or notification process necessary. They are the equivalent of giving police the power to arrest you at any time, for no stated reason, with no hope of trial, indefinitely.

Were you aware that as of very recently, the US passed a bill allowing just that? But no outrage sprung up over it, people were too busy raging about SOPA. Meanwhile a much more horrific law passed quietly.

There's plenty of outrage. I was outraged. But, since it passed and was signed into law, there's quite literally *nothing anyone can do about it* unless a representative submits a bill to repeal that section of the NDAA, which will then fail immediately because there aren't enough votes to support it given that such a bill must start in the House and the GOP controls the House.

There was a big push to influence the NDAA, but there's little anyone can do once a bill leaves committee. Hence the big push to prevent SOPA from leaving Justice.

 

[RvLeshrac]

If you're a paying member of an organisation, you support every single opinion that organisation has on anything, or you stop paying your dues and withdraw. There is no middle-ground here. This isn't a political party where you might disagree slightly with someone else's stance on an issue, this is a private organisation where you provide money in support of the organisation's activities.

Not true.

If a company has no opinion on the matter then why should it withdraw? They presumably benefit from the other lobbying and PR activities that the ESA engages in. And even those companies that are against it might still decide to remain within the organization because those other benefits outweigh the costs or they think that they can change the policy from within.

Because SOPA fundamentally destroys the way business is done on the internet, they either support it or leave the ESA. There is no logical or business reason for any of these companies to remain members of the ESA in the face of the ESA's support for SOPA, unless they believe that SOPA should pass and the provisions of SOPA be exercised.

 

[-|-]

Because SOPA fundamentally destroys the way business is done on the internet,

In your opinion - not everyone agrees. I do agree with you stance, but I accept that other people do not for whatever reason they have.

..they either support it or leave the ESA. There is no logical or business reason for any of these companies to remain members of the ESA in the face of the ESA's support for SOPA, unless they believe that SOPA should pass and the provisions of SOPA be exercised.

Or they just don't have an opinion on it. This is not a "if you're not with us you must be against us" issue. Especially for corporations which are amoral (note - not immoral) and will just work within whatever legislative framework exists.