Internet censorship could spell the end of fangaming.

[Strife]

http://www.1up.com/news/esa-supports-sopa

So apparently, Congress is trying to push the Stop Online Piracy Act into law. While it's meant as a safeguard against piracy, the bill itself is so vaguely worded that any company could use it to block any website that imposes on their copyrights. Major websites such as Youtube, Facebook, DeviantART, etc, would be forced to crack down on anyone who uploads stuff with copyrighted content, or else risk getting the entire site blocked by the US government. It would be like the Great Firewall of China, except ten times worse since the vast majority of internet traffic comes from the US.

This is pretty scary stuff, especially because it's been backed by such high-profile companies as Nintendo, Sony, Sega of America, and pretty much anyone who's part of the ESA. SOPA presents a very real danger not only to the Sonic Fangames HQ, but to fangaming in general. A lot of great artists, authors, game developers, etc, started off with fanworks using copyrighted material, and SOPA-based shutdowns would undoubtedly demotivate them from moving on to greater things.

Luckily, a lot of familiar companies are highly opposed to SOPA such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla and AOL, and many of them are talking about blacking out their services on January 23rd in protest. It's our duty to back these guys up and get Congress to revise SOPA to be far less open-ended than it is now. The future of websites like this could very well depend on it.

[luksamuk]

Oh, my...

Oh, dude. That would probably throw Fangaming in the darkness again. But these companies shouldn't have bothered. We'll never make games by ourselves as they do. Even I would prefer to play Sonic 2006 than any fangame.

(Ok, I know that argument was crappy, but still... we never represented any threat to them!)

[thesuperinvader]

Yeah sopa is a fucking stupid bill and even though I'm a Canadian citizen i recognize that this is a problem for just about every country and is the great firewall of china for every other country pretty much. its in blatant contradiction to both the 1st amendment and Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. so rant over.

[Goshi68]

Such a stupid little fuck this bill is.

Besides, if the bill does pass, Obama won't be pres next year. Why? He used the interwebs for his campaigning, and this will ruin his chances in this year's election.

Also, it's a violation of our 1st Amendment. We have the right to post such things. Besides, if companies didn't want their shit plastered all over YT and Facebook, then they should take care of it themselves.

And besides, when the local congressman goes home to check his Facebook only to realize that the site is blocked, he'll realize just how fucked up the bill was.

It's a simple case of veto. Done and done.

[GSF]

SOPA is the stupidest thing they could ever come up with. Recently, Spain was pretty much forced to implement its "SOPA equivalent" Sinde because the US would add it to some blacklist for trade and whatnot if they didn't comply. It's fucking ridiculous.

In short, SOPA goes against every single principle the US is supposedly to be defending. It's coming short of being the People's Republic of US.

Defenders say "a girl singing in Youtube" won't be an infringement, but that's bullshit. I suppose you guys are familiar with the Mega Song story? Universal basically went apeshit with its rights and got way out of hand. If SOPA really passes... it will be chaotic as shit.

Other countries say they don't care but eh... Even if its effects reach late (or in a reduced manner) over other places, the issue remains in the important role US plays in the internet. Most popular sites are hosted there, so it'd spell doom for anyone, no matter where.

So it would not just spell the end of fangaming - it would spell the end of the internet as we know it, and creativity in general.

And on the other side of the spectrum, Belarus blocks any kind of foreign site. So even the local google is screwed, since it's hosted in the US. Must be pretty fun over there.

EDIT: Oh, and about the ESA thing... it's kinda messy. Sony for example, the music divisions are in favor, while the games ones are not. Nintendo stays gray or so. But ESA-wise, it supports it. Microsoft is even worse: As a member of ESA, it supports SOPA. But as a member of the BSA, it's against. Yay.

It's ridiculously messed up, but if you want names, here's a list kotaku made.

[TailsSena]

Whelp. Won't stop me. I don't have to publish my fangames. And even if I wanted to, I could probably find another way.

But I DEFINITELY say "NO!" to this bill.

EDIT: Part of it actually means that the government who obviously ins't tech savvy at all, will be tinkering with the internet to do this, and consequently breaking it, and making it far less safe than it is at present.

And, after knowing everything about it, I'm going to make SURE that at least one character from every company I know ends up in my fangame. Just because I can... Whether the government likes it or not.

[duckythemutant]

wait people still fangame?

[DJ espeed]

I'm pretty scared for this bill. Particularly not because of what it imposes for SFGHQ, but what it also imposes on aspiring musicians.

Folks who get famous for singing covers of songs or who just plain sing covers songs for the joy of it will be fined and imprisoned for doing so. And sites like Soundcloud and Tindeck could be viewed as portals of piracy.

I'm convinced that this bill stifles creativity and innovation across the board, not just for music and fan gaming.

I read up on the news that apparently, SOPA was such a big deal that the US ambassador to Spain basically forced the current ruling power (in Spain) to pass a similar bill.

[GSF]

I read up on the news that apparently, SOPA was such a big deal that the US ambassador to Spain basically forced the current ruling power (in Spain) to pass a similar bill.

Indeed, as I mentioned above - you can read about it at TorrentFreak.

He wrote:

“I encourage the Government of Spain to implement the Sinde Law immediately to safeguard the reputation of Spain as an innovative country that does what it says it will, and as a country that breeds confidence”

innovative

Yeah right, because these laws completely encourage and support creativity.

So what happened? BOOM - Sinde law, ten days later.

[TailsSena]

innovative

Yeah right, because these laws completely encourage and support creativity.

So what happened? BOOM - Sinde law, ten days later.

Really? Almost sounds worse than over here in America.

[DimensionWarped]

I'm pretty sure all SEGA has to do if they want to stop us from making a fan game right now is to send us an email asking us to do so.

Actually, even if this site did get black listed, you could still access it directly simply by using the IP.

[TailsSena]

I'm pretty sure all SEGA has to do if they want to stop us from making a fan game right now is to send us an email asking us to do so.

Actually, even if this site did get black listed, you could still access it directly simply by using the IP.

Exactly what I said on the S3HD thread.

...And by the way... What IS the IP for this site? (Or how do I check?)

[TailsSena]

DP, but i just realized something REALLY tragic! This would mean no more TSR!! How are we going to grab any sprites now?!

So help me god if this passes, heads will roll.

[DimensionWarped]

Check your DNS cache or...

open up the terminal of your choice and:

> ping sonicfangameshq.com

Pinging sonicfangameshq.com [75.119.213.142] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 75.119.213.142: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=46

Same command even if you use Linux or MacOS.

I've got to acknowledge that you need more than just the IP for a hosted site like this though. But for sites hosted by individuals, you can do that unless their webserver is deliberately set up to prevent that. In any event, I'm sure we'd be able to figure out something. I think you can cache the ip address in your DNS table manually or something in order to get it to resolve properly while still sending the right http request in order to get it to work with SFGHQ.

[TailsSena]

Well, let's get cracking, we've only got 3 weeks.

[Chaos-Fusion]

Seriously though,

True, piracy is a problem but seriously, this bill is a huge danger to the internet. Punishing the user will damage the industry more than what piracy did.

@TailsSena,

And, after knowing everything about it, I'm going to make SURE that at least one character from every company I know ends up in my fangame. Just because I can... Whether the government likes it or not.

DP, but i just realized something REALLY tragic! This would mean no more TSR!! How are we going to grab any sprites now?!

So help me god if this passes, heads will roll.

1. Thats the spirit.

2. I really do hope this bill doesn't make it. TSR provided me with sprites back when I made Sonic fangame that didn't even work.

[Smidge204]

Actually, even if this site did get black listed, you could still access it directly simply by using the IP.

Shared host, so... no.

For what it's worth, Dreamhost (the company that SFGHQ is hosted with) is against SOPA. Most online companies are against it.

SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, is what happens when people who don't use the Internet attempt to regulate it.

It's a well-intentioned piece of legislation that has been written so poorly that, should the bill pass, nearly anything online could be considered 'piracy' in some form or another.

SOPA would place ANY website that houses any form of user-generated content at immediate risk of shutdown and would effectively stifle innovation among web entrepreneurs.

If someone posted a link to copyrighted material in, say, the comments of your WordPress blog about cats and their sweater choices, we would have to shut down your ENTIRE domain as soon as we received a complaint about it - whether that complaint was valid or not! There would be no pre-shutdown courtesy letter, no friendly 'please remove this from your site'. Just BOOM! The end. Obliterated. Everything gone.

What has two thumbs, 1.2 million domains, and would ultimately get stuck enforcing SOPA? You guessed it. This guy. (Imagine DreamHost pointing its thumbs to its chest here and the joke works.)

We were not fans of SOPA from the very beginning. We opposed it in November:

DreamHost Blog: Don't Drop The Soap: Drop SOPA!

We also press-released about it in late December. (It was the trendy thing to do at the time... and reporters tend not to read blogs, strangely enough!)

Press Release: DreamHost Denounces SOPA and Sticks To It

SOPA could fundamentally change the way that American citizens would be permitted to use the Internet and the way that web hosts and registrars would need to operate to accommodate these changes.

SOPA comes up for a vote on Tuesday, January 24th. If you're in the United States and want to feel like you've done everything you can to help add your voice to the rising chorus of SOPA opposition, please make contact with your senator (not the physical kind) and let them know your thoughts!

AmericanCensorship.org is a great resource for doing just that!

http://americancensorship.org/

=Smidge=

[Sslaxx]

I think it doesn't take much to realise the bill isn't about piracy really, but about establishing/expanding corporate control over the Internet. People like Rupert Murdoch, companies like Disney and organisations like ASCAP (who want to make Creative Commons illegal!) want to control and censor what people can say/do on the Internet (especially about them), never mind the guff about piracy, and are using their paid-for congress and senate (via PIPA) to attempt to do so. As has been pointed out, this isn't so much unconstitutional as anticonstitutional.

[ila]

So have you guys tried calling your representatives and senators lately? Might be a good place to start. I know I did last month.

[TailsSena]

So have you guys tried calling your representatives and senators lately? Might be a good place to start. I know I did last month.

Guess who's not 18.

[DJ espeed]

I'm fairly certain there's no age requirement to get in contact with your congressman/woman.

[Strife]

I think it doesn't take much to realise the bill isn't about piracy really, but about establishing/expanding corporate control over the Internet. People like Rupert Murdoch, companies like Disney and organisations like ASCAP (who want to make Creative Commons illegal!) want to control and censor what people can say/do on the Internet (especially about them), never mind the guff about piracy, and are using their paid-for congress and senate (via PIPA) to attempt to do so. As has been pointed out, this isn't so much unconstitutional as anticonstitutional.

This line of thinking reminds me of a documentary I recently watched called Star Suckers, which basically outlines the theory that corporations are manipulating world governments to ensure that they only act in the corportations' best interests - namely, giving ordinary people the illusion that they could one day become as rich and successful as the big-wigs if they just spend their money on their products and services. It's a pretty good watch, if you're interested in those kinds of conspiracy theories.

I just... don't see how any immediate good could come from SOPA. Best case scenario, the bill takes a massive chunk out of piracy and people who once downloaded illegal content will have no choice but to actually pay money for it like normal people - leading, of course, to the corporations raking in even larger profits. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of high-profile web sites would get blacklisted by the government, and while the bigger ones like Google, YouTube, etc, may be able to buy themselves out of it, the restrictions they would have to place on uploaded content would mean they'd never be the same.

My father's been in law enforcement for decades and he's good friends with some of the local politicians in my hometown, so even though I don't live there anymore, I'll talk to him and see if I can get him to spread the word.

[ila]

Guess who's not 18.

Didn't realize you were still at an age where you had to ask your parent's permission to use a phone. I'm not going to accuse anybody of anything, but if you're sitting in here complaining without doing something then you are no better than those lazy bums who occupy places with no rhyme or reason.

[Serephim]

Fuck anyone who tries to pass this bill, and fuck anyone who complains about it but doesn't put anything forward to try and stop it.

.....and meanwhile im going to download the fuck out of everything i take for granted because of Youtube. This bill is so fucked up that i honestly can't see it passing, but I know just how indifferent people are when it comes to things like this, until it's entirely too late to do anything about it.

I'd like to say the internet brought this on itself, but no, fuck that, because this just goes entirely too far.

[GSF]

I've been following the americancensorship.org site, and at least in my case, I signed the "Not in the US" email petition.

Anyone outside of the US should do so - As I mentioned before, those who are outside and think will be okay will be quite surprised when they see the US having a major influence in foreign internet policies. Case in point, Spain and the Sinde law.

So get to it. It's a regular email subscription thing, since it's out of the US there's no need to put in any zip codes or anything. Easy.

Lots of people can quickly start talking about dumb internet memes or outstanding revolutionary events if they spread far enough. Remember the Egypt protests? The huge amounts of traffic and commentary over all popular social networks/microblogging services/etc were generated by pretty much the whole world.

Use this to your advantage - spreading the word is the way to go.

Educate yourself, and your peers while you're at it - get people to talk about how SOPA is dumb as shit.

For spanish speakers, here's a pretty nice Mafalda "remixed" image to check out.