Talk2Gaming: Kill the SOPA Save the World

With our first ever attempt on putting up a forum, we (rather I) failed miserably. So instead of going for another forum, we’ll just do a weekly discussion post where we, and you guys could voice out your concerns, thoughts, raves or rants on the topic presented, it doesn’t mean that this is just strictly game-related themes (as our first topic would attest to).

To start the ball rolling, we’d want to focus on the “big” thing in the internet right now, which is the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA to us who hate long names.

So before elaborating, I’d like to present what is SOPA?

[source: What is SOPA Bill 2012?? 7 Things to Know About Controversial Legislation]

SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act, introduced last month by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith. It’s a companion bill to the Protect IP Act, which targets Web companies hosting unauthorized content from movies, songs or software. It also dealt with the trade of counterfeit goods over the Internet.

Basically, the whole idea of SOPA is giving more power to big companies to intrude, bully and cut off any “offending” site. In the guise of “stopping” piracy in it’s tracks, the SOPA would instead not only harm “pirates” but rather everyone in the internet. Various websites, (with us included) have raised their opposition to the said act by shading out bits and pieces of whatever image or text they have on their own site, in form of a representation of what would happen to the internet if the SOPA gets passed.

Acts of opposition included wikipedia going offline for a whole day, flickr and wordpress “censoring” images on it’s homepage, while other blogs and sites had a “blackout” for a whole day as well. GoDaddy, a US based hosting and registrar company, experienced the brunt of the blacklash by losing more than 37,000 domains because of it’s initial support on the act.

How does this affect us in the Philippines?

On it’s surface, it would seem that this would it’s only the US will be affected, however upon closer inspection that as long as a  website contains any “offending” material there will be grounds for it to be closed down.

At a glance, it’s not just a US thing because the internet ignores any geopolitical laws and statures since it practically connects us all in a global scale. In Back2Gaming alone, most of our news, features and posts here are not just about the PH gaming scene. Most of our news comes from the US and if that the SOPA gets a passing mark, it could very well hinder us posting anything “offending” to any game or company.

Also, since the PH is an “ally” of the US, there is a big chance that extradition could take place, if said company would go to that extent. Of course I’m exaggerating with the example, but you would never know right?

Currently

As of this post, SOPA has been shelved not killed, contrary to what people would want to think. With discussions to be continued come February. However, PIPA is now on the table with discussions at the senate now ongoing.

So… What now?

We’d like to hear your thoughts, comments or reactions to the whole SOPA/PIPA debacle. How it may affect YOUR own little online world.

so without further ado, DISCUSS!