Listen up people, we got a situation here. Those silly people in congress are proposing yet another law that could cripple the gaming scene as we know it today. If you aren’t sure as to what I am referring to, I am referring to the proposed Bill S.978.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s112-978
“S.978 – A bill to amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes. Makes unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty of up to 5 years in prison. Illegal streaming of copyrighted content is defined in the bill as an offense that “consists of 10 or more public performances by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copyrighted works” and has a total economic value, either to the copyright holder or the infringer, of at least $5,000.”
In a nutshell, let’s say you recorded a combo video and uploaded it to Youtube and say you added some copyrighted music to it. If that video gets viewed 10 times, you’re done. You get fined and you face up to 5 years in prison. Even worse, let’s say you didn’t put music on it, but the owner of that game decides they want their share of the money…. IE, you could still goto prision and be fined.
This bill is bad news for everyone, well everyone except the 43 companies and organizations that are licking their chops waiting for this bill to pass so they can rake in the dough. What companies and organizations you ask? Let’s take a look and see:
- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
- Directors Guild of America
- International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States
- Screen Actors Guild
- Motion Picture Association of America
- Recording Industry Association of America
- Independent Film and Television Alliance
- National Association of Theatre Owners
- Ultimate Fighting Championship
- American Federation of Musicians
- American Intellectual Property Law Association
- NBC Universal
- Viacom
- Sony Pictures Entertainment
- American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
- Association of American Publishers
- Association of Independent Music Publishers
- American Photographic Artists
- AT&T
- Broadcast Music, Inc.
- Business Software Alliance
- CBS Corporation
- Church Music Publishers Association
- Entertainment Software Association
- Graphic Artists Guild
- National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
- National Association of Broadcasters
- National Collegiate Athletic Association
- National Music Publishers’ Association
- National Basketball Association
- News America Holdings
- Newspaper Association of America
- Picture Archive Council of America
- Professional Photographers of America
- Professional School Photographers Association
- Reed Elsevier
- PPL & VPL
- SESAC
- Software & Information Industry Association
- Time Warner
- Universal Music Group
- Magazine Publishers of America
- The Walt Disney Company
- Writers Guild of America, West
- U. S. Chamber of Commerce
- International Brotherhood of Teamsters
- Entertainment Merchants Association
- Global Intellectual Property Center
That’s a lot of ….. money. And so far only 3 organizations are oposing this billing.
- U.S.W.G.O.
- Demand Progress
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
I don’t know about all of you, but I feel like my freedoms are yet being threatened and I don’t like that. So with that, I urge everyone to voice their opinion by heading over to Demand Progress and telling congress that you oppose this bill;
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/ten_strikes/
We got to fight this people or things are going to change and get really ugly for all of us. Like Youtube? Well if this passes, sites like Youtube will more than likely die. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg that sank the Titanic. Do you want be the next Titanic?