Stop SOPA 2013

I've decided to rewrite my last blog entry. What you're about to see was copied from my Tumblr blog.

As you all should know, the original SOPA was stopped thanks to the collective efforts of Internet users everywhere. However, a part of it has been revived again. This time, they are trying to make it legal to call it a crime to create any content that uses any copyrighted material and upload it to any video/picture sharing sites such as Youtube or DeviantArt. Not only that, but streaming your live gameplay could also be called a crime and land you in jail.

Do you like to watch “Let’s Play” videos? Do you like to watch James Rolfe’s Angry Video Game Nerd videos? Well, if SOPA 2013 succeeds, James and any other gamers on the Internet will be labeled a criminal and thrown in jail, which is totally unfair!

Look. I get it. There’s nothing wrong with protecting copyrighted content. If someone makes an original work, they’re gonna want to make money off it. Yes, I get it. We all do. But they’re going about this the wrong way, “they” being the government. SOPA is not going to protect the game companies, the singers, the writers, and what have you. The way this thing was made, it will do little more than criminalize totally harmless activities that people do on a regular basis.

Gamers who upload their game sessions are not criminals. Independent game reviewers are not criminals. People who put songs in a person’s birthday video are not criminals. Even people who simply upload video game music to Youtube aren’t criminals. If anything, these people actually act as free advertising for the companies who create these products. For example, if it weren’t for Itionobo2 and his “Top Ten Games I Played In 2012” video, I would never have known about Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure, which is a darn good game.

SOPA will also lessen people’s interest in buying products. For what reason? A little emotion called “enjoyment”. Enjoyment is something we humans experience when something happy happens. Although it is possible to be happy when alone, most people enjoy other people’s company. In our modern world, the Internet acts as a bridge between different countries to let people have fun together. For example, a typical game reviewer’s Youtube channel will have commenters not only from America, but also from other countries such as England, Japan, and France. Despite being from different countries and having different cultures, these people are here for a common reason: they enjoy the reviewer’s work, whether it’s a positive review, a negative review, or maybe even a follow-up video for an existing review.

These reviews, among other things, also make people want to try these products for themselves. This is because if people enjoy watching something that they can try out themselves, they get more inclined to get a hold of it and that usually means that they will either go out to a place like Gamestop or Target and buy it from there or buy it online from stores such as Amazon and Steam. Simple human psychology.

Streaming gameplay, putting music on personal videos, creating memes, and other activities are not criminal activities. They’re not even harmful. When has streaming gameplay ever destroyed a game company? When has a video of someone’s vacation with music in the background ever destroyed the music industry? And when have any memes ever destroyed companies like Nintendo, NIS America, and Sega? They haven’t. It’s not the gamer’s fault that they can beat a game in a short amount of time. It’s not the vacation-goer’s fault if people don’t like songs that the vacation-goer does like. It’s not the meme creator’s fault if people don’t like certain actors hired for certain movie roles.

SOPA is all about blaming the fans for anything bad that may happen to certain industries, even if what the fans do with products don’t cause any real harm or threat. This gruesome bill was clearly created without any thought being put into it and it really doesn’t fit with modern living.

You all enjoy freedom of the Internet, right? Funny videos, memes, people who play musical instruments or perform covers of their favorite songs, you all enjoy these sorts of things, right? Then let’s all work together to stop SOPA 2013 just like we did the original SOPA. The Internet is in danger and it’s up to us to save it.

Petitions against SOPA 2013 linked below.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-sopa-2013/LMzMVrQF

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-government-don-t-let-sopa-2013-pass

Thanks for reading. See you in the next entry.