Topic: How will SOPA affect video game review/forum sites?

Also for everybody who doesn't know the Backloggery will be down for 24 hours starting tonight to protest the bill. Joy both Wikipeida and the Backloggery.

which is exactly how americans are feeling.

But I'm not American. I live in Australia, and the only times I have been to America is for holidays. I understand what these bills are wanting to do (more SOPA), and I support them. Musicians only real income comes from their tours. If they flop, then they have to rely on sponsorships, as they don't receive a large amount from album/single sales, largely due to the fact... _{you know why}.

I pay for music, films, games. There are many more productive ways of issuing their stance on the issue, rather than doing something which will affect the world. I understand that the most wide-spread black-out is coming from Wikipedia, to not only oppose SOPA, and PIPA, but to stop such movements around the world. In Australia, there are no current plans to introduce these laws, and frankly, I would rather cross that bridge when I have to. These world-wide movements for something that may not happen in my country, frankly I think it's stupid.

The main reason this pisses me off and millions of others, isn't because we won't be able to download music illegally or anything to do with a lack of being a pirate. (Not that I am or ever will be.) It's because SOPA is stripping us of the first amendment. Which every American is entitled to and has been entitled to for hundreds of years.

Even though i'm (obviously?) in the US, i completely agree with you on this point.

if you're that desperate for Wikipedia, you could always pull up a foreign-language version and Google Translate it (since Google isn't blacking out). you could also try pulling up a cached version of whatever you're trying to look up on Wikipedia via Google.

mobile wikioediq is still working. only the desktop version is gone.

the backloggery is down. zezzy is sad.

I knew Sony would be on that list.

Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo jumped off the bandwagon. _{IIRC correctly.}

So... how can we make this SOPA BS go away? Or is it too late? _{I'm a little worried.}

Short answers --
There hasn't been any vote for the law to be passed yet.
It's not likely it will pass in its present form.
If it somehow does pass, it very likely may be veoted out of existence.
If it does pass, and is not vetoed, it is highly unlikely to withstand any legal challenges, as it is overbroad and not sufficiently clear in its current form, which are both huge faults.

Shorter answer — Don't be as worried as some groups with their own vested interests would like you to be.

You can still kinda view the English Wikipedia! Just be quick with your screenshot button before the screen fades to the blackout!

scrolls article at lightning speed, printscreening like crazy

In a less bizarre way to get wiki-info, the translator from the toolbar pop-up works pretty darn well. No hassle and take just a click.
(If you have it, i'm using Google Chrome)

Isn't this bill already dead? Obama isn't supporting it and congress has pretty much shelved it.

Keep in mind that vetoing a law does not effectively end it. It can still pass through Congress again.

SOPA and PIPA are an attack on free speech as a whole,It won't effect just piracy, it'll effect everyone.

Here's one good article on it: http://www.thegriffonnews.com/2012/01/headline-sopa/

Like THAT hasn't happened before in this country's history. If you look at the history, free speech is more of a privilege that you can easily lose.

this is the 21 century. do you really believe that you live in a vacuum because you are in australia? is the lack of wiki for 24 hours going to ruin your life somehow? perhaps, if a law such as this is not passed in the states you will never have to cross that bridge as it will serve as an example to other so-called democracies. it is much, much easier to give up freedoms than to get them back. the erosions of freedoms often begins with a nibble here, a nibble there; soon they are gone.

you have the right to think it is stupid for a company to stand up for what it believes. i find it admirable.

Okay, Im not pro-Sopa, but would someone please explain me how the law would affect Wikipedia or Backloggery if it would pass? Or this website? If it passes, does it really mean companies demand them to be taken down because...? Everywhere I go I hear "Oh this is gonna affect this and that website, oh this is gonna block us", but why? Does it really mean companies can (and want?) flick off the sites whenever the heck they want, without anyone doing much of research like its a Youtube's flagging option?

Speaking of Youtube, I can see the law affecting that site pretty hard. I would hate it to see it go, but it is a hive of copyright infringement and the site should take a better responsibility of it. But then why is not Youtube doing one of these blackouts, rather than a site like Backloggery?

Oh Im gonna get so much heat for this, but at least I got it off my chest.

Wikipedia is full of copyrighted materiel and can be edited by the public. Backloggery is based on video games. Which are copyrighted. And NL would be affected in more ways than one. _{I'm not the one to tell you details. Use the Contact Us tab and ask them yourself.}

what some are afraid of is that only sites considered 'positive' will be allowed 'copywrite infringement' passes; any site with a negative view on a product that names names/uses logos for id'ing a product etc can be nailed with copywrite infringement. the bill is written in such a vague way as to allow this to happen.

what you need to remember is that corporations have deep, deep pockets and they are filled with lawyers hands. some exec has a bad day and this law will allow them to make an example of someone who will much much shallower pockets.

some are perhaps overreacting to SOPA; but i'd rather see that than the complacency shown by others.