I was wondering if anyone had heard of this bill and the possible consequences of it passing in its current form. The bill can be found here.
This is what I see when reading the bill, combined with what I have heard about it. The base idea for this bill seems to be a decent one, preventing movies, tv shows, music, and such from being uploaded(or streamed) online without permission. While such a thing is technically illegal already, this bill would make it the federal governments job to press charges instead of the owner of the material. This would however include everything with copyrighted material, lets plays of games, video of a talent contest where someone sings a song or performs an act from something they didn't write. Currently for something like a lets play the company that made the game could request that the video be taken down, but they don't because such videos are free advertising. This bill seems to point to that ability being given to the federal government instead of the game company. I don't know about you, but such a thing seems a horrible idea to me. Well thats my rant on this bill.
As I said earlier, I was wondering what others think of this bill. Maybe someone has more legal experience than I do(not hard, all I do is try to read laws to understand their limits).
I don't understand their reasoning behind this. It should be up to each individual if they want to pursue something being taken off, because, if they have no problem with it, then it shouldn't be a problem.
This would however include everything with copyrighted material, lets plays of games, video of a talent contest where someone sings a song or performs an act from something they didn't write.
Have you ever encountered YouTube's over-zealous copyrighting when it comes to uploading material containing derivatives of work previously copyrighted?
Yeah let's just say I wouldn't want that process to carry any oomph behind it, otherwise we'd go from "you can't make money directly from anything you submit to youtube containing copyrighted material" (fair enough), to "you can't submit stuff to YouTube" and it would be a very empty place, the only things remaining on it being home amateur videos of people getting hurt.
Did the bill pass yet or is it still on the floor?
I don't understand their reasoning behind this. It should be up to each individual if they want to pursue something being taken off, because, if they have no problem with it, then it shouldn't be a problem.
Basically companies like Vevo and Warner brothers are going to be the oligarchic of YouTube.
What upsets me about this is that there is an entire community of gamers on youtube, upwards of 2.5 million that watch videos with copyrighted video games in them, me being one of the producers and watchers of these videos.
Companies like Machinima and IGN, companies that have built their ENTIRE organization of content over stuff like video games may be put out of business for allowing videos to go up over their network. Not only that, the directors that are a part of their program basically have an empty YouTube partnership because they can't post videos of video games anymore, something that their entire subscriber base is filled up with.
Pisses me off a LOT this bill does. Just another way to censor the internet and weed out any smaller companies or channels that are making money off of something, the videos are free advertising for christ's sake.
This bill is a disaster. As Kirb and others have stated, this is just a way for the government to cater to certain businesses as well as boost their own government programs. I haven't looked into the bill but I have a feeling I know which organization will be in charge (the name of it has slipped my mind).
Strop hit the nail on the head on this one.
Is the Ms.Klobucher the same as this Amy Klobuchar? I feel it's important we mention names so we know who to hate, and the off chance we see these people in front of us at the market, we can politely tell them to GTFO OUR INTERNET, sincerely, the human race.
I understand most things being copyrighted and i don't think the likes of big movies and music having this unforced is crazy. Although i will miss watching American TV online.
Copyrighting the likes of kids in plays etc, is crazy though.
I hear you could get arrested for doing this. This bill is a disaster. MILLIONS will get arrested for doing this! If this thing does happen, goodbye to Machinima, IGN, G4, E3, and Any game reviewing site.
Game Trailers are gonna have to be motionless.
Whoever made this bill, should just stop, and let us do what we want.
Well, I though congress was trying to aid the economy? Perhaps I'm wrong, but wouldn't bringing traffic to sites such Youtube and IGN amongst others, to a grinding halt and by extension severely crippling said companies have a negative effect on the job market? Unless of course the cure to a depression is the destruction of jobs.
If that's not bad enough, the sheer idiocy of this bill is leaving me somewhat stunned. While I understand the sentiment, laying down a blanket statement like this is going to do nothing but irritate nearly ever single person who has ever used the internet.
I hear you could get arrested for doing this. This bill is a disaster. MILLIONS will get arrested for doing this! If this thing does happen, goodbye to Machinima, IGN, G4, E3, and Any game reviewing site.
Actually, everything you mentioned will continue to exist. Machinima would probably be effected financially, but I'm not sure. There are fair use laws that IGN abides by, so they won't be effected either except for say, possibly their video reviews. G4, too big to comment. E3, well, the people who reveal the games are the companies themselves.
The bill is just ridiculous because it can potentially allow the government to censor the internet in even worse ways in the future. Not only that, but there's almost no harm being done.
I bet you anything Viacom has their dirty hands in this.
I assume G4 is also protected by said fair use laws?
Maplight has an article on the bill and it's supporters:
"including organizations such as the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, AT&T, NBC Universal, CBS Corporation, Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Together, interest groups supporting the bill have given more than $85 million in campaign contributions to current Senators over the last six years."
Nice find! I'm surprised Viacom isn't on the list, guess I was wrong.
G4 should be protected, unless there's been a major change lately. I don't keep up with G4 anymore.
I wouldn't doubt that these big businesses are losing money because of people sharing stuff on the internet, but it's bills like these that allow these businesses to survive as corporate monopolies.
