Bill S.978 will make lets plays illegal

[ian1]

This doesn't look very good. I sincerely hope this bill doesn't pass, at least in its current form.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib7-vSrp6y8&feature=channel_video_title

 

[Vegeta897]

>No more LPs

I wouldn't mind.

 

[ian1]

>No more LPs

I wouldn't mind.

Videos of your friends singing karaoke would be a felony as well because the music is copyrighted.

 

[Vegeta897]

Videos of your friends singing karaoke

Hahahaha.

 

[lord_raken]

I saw Notch mention this on his blog a few days ago. I am of two minds about this. On one hand I am a huge advocate of intellectual property rights, if you creating something you own it and should be able to defend that ownership. On the other hand it seems like this is trying to bulldoze the fair use doctrine and criminalize ernest fans and free advertisement.

I search for new music on youtube. When I find a band I like I go and buy their album. I often decide if I want to buy a game based off of fan videos and walkthroughs (thats how I decided on Amnesia... with your guy's help as well).

And aren't there already systems in place to allow holders of copyrights to remove material from the internet (futile though it may be)? If a user posts a video of an exclusive game trailer or demo that was supposed to be a secret, that is infringement, but a video recorded from a users game play session is not owned by the game developer. Pirating is a game is illegal, I get that, but sharing clips and videos? That's crazy.

 

[unozero]

Obama this is not the change I wanted.

 

[Cpt Tenacious]

Do people really care that they won't be able to watch people play video games over the internet anyone? More than 5 people did this?

 

[unozero]

not sure if serious....it's the principle of the matter.

 

[Xevrex]

The bill states that the uploader/streamer must make a profit off of his videos/streams or else there is no problem. The bill doesn't outlaw all videos and streams, only those that make money. So LPs and videogame streams are safe as long as no-one makes a profit off of others' intellectual property.

 

[Viperidae]

Angry Video Game Nerd.

 

[lord_raken]

The bill states that the uploader/streamer must make a profit off of his videos/streams or else there is no problem. The bill doesn't outlaw all videos and streams, only those that make money. So LPs and videogame streams are safe as long as no-one makes a profit off of others' intellectual property.

This seems redundant then. As I understand it, it is already illegal for people to make money off of someone else's intellectual property without their permission. Does this mean that people who make money from youtube views will become criminals?

I've also seen several developers (Notch being one) say that they will simply place clauses in their user agreements allowing them to make fan videos.

 

[Raziaar]

Obama this is not the change I wanted.

Do you realize the stupid stuff you say?



And oh my god... this is infuriating. What the **** people? Copyright shit is getting way out of ****ing hand.

 

[unozero]

Do you realize the stupid stuff you say?



And oh my god... this is infuriating. What the **** people? Copyright shit is getting way out of ****ing hand.

I said it in jest, BUT more than anything don't you think it's ironic that the same generation that got him elected is now the one being alienated by the laws that are being tossed around during his term?
Obviously they won't all pass,but still the point remains. same thing regarding weed he won't even take it seriously when someone asks him about legalization.Sorry I should have spelled it out the first time...

 

[Raziaar]

I said it in jest, BUT more than anything don't you think it's ironic that the same generation that got him elected is now the one being alienated by the laws that are being tossed around during his term?
Obviously they won't all pass,but still the point remains. same thing regarding weed he won't even take it seriously when someone asks him about legalization.Sorry I should have spelled it out the first time...

We weren't alienated by laws proposed by members of congress during other president terms? Nothing has changed... it has nothing to do with Obama.

I am concerned with how dedicated the democrats are turning out to be regarding laws that cater to copyright holders though. I'm not talking about simple stuff, I'm talking about bending over backwards for them. I always thought that was more of a republican domain.

 

[unozero]

Well of course Bush alienated "us" but we didn't get him elected though, old people did

Oh and here I'm thinking this might be why Politicans are sucking so much Hollywood/RIAA/ESA dick
http://www.mpaa.org/about/ceo

and this is also semi related I think.Just shows that everyone has a price...how this is legal is beyond me.
http://consumerist.com/2011/05/comc...fcc-commissioner-turned-kabletown-flunky.html

Comcast is apparently very unhappy with the fact that it was eliminated in the Final Four of this year's Worst Company in America contest. First, it goes and makes the ethically questionable move of hiring a still-active FCC commissioner, and now comes a report that the Kabletown Krew have pulled $18,000 in funding to a non-profit organization all because of a Tweet about that commissioner's hiring.

 

[Raziaar]

Speaking of copyright bullshit, check this shit out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righthaven_LLC

Righthaven LLC is a copyright holding company founded in early 2010, which acquires newspaper content from its partner newspapers after finding that the content has been copied to online sites without permission, in order to engage in litigation against the site owners for copyright infringement. The lawsuits have been heavily criticized by commentators, who describe the activity as copyright trolling[1][2] and the company as a "lawsuit factory".[3] Righthaven LLC's CEO, Steven Gibson, is a partner in the Las Vegas office of American law firm Dickinson Wright and regularly speaks to the media about Righthaven.[4][5]

I would punch those people in the nose.

 

[Mr Stabby]

I work on IP for an engineering company. Copyright laws are ridiculous compared to patent law.

A patent lasts only 20 years, and is only enforced by a lawsuit. Copyright infringement is a criminal offence, and lasts for atleast 70 years.

Copyright infringment should not be a criminal offence and copyright should only last 10 years.

Typically you aslong as its not for commerical purposes nobody cares if you copy their patents.

 

[Bad^Hat]

I am concerned with how dedicated the democrats are turning out to be regarding laws that cater to copyright holders though. I'm not talking about simple stuff, I'm talking about bending over backwards for them. I always thought that was more of a republican domain.

It's a "people who like money" domain.

 

[ríomhaire]

I work on IP for an engineering company. Copyright laws are ridiculous compared to patent law.

A patent lasts only 20 years, and is only enforced by a lawsuit. Copyright infringement is a criminal offence, and lasts for atleast 70 years.

Copyright infringment should not be a criminal offence and copyright should only last 10 years.

Typically you aslong as its not for commerical purposes nobody cares if you copy their patents.

I totally agree about it not being a criminal offence but ten years is a very short amount of time. Consider that if that was the case the copyright for Half-Life would have expired around the time the Orange Box came out. Perhaps something like forty years or until the copyright holder dies?

I read somewhere else that this law only actually applies if you're making money from the infringement, so things like Let's Plays won't be affected. Can anyone confirm/deny.

 

[Mr Stabby]

Maybe US law is different, but in Europe anyform of copyright infringment (including Let's plays) is a criminal offence. Obviuosly with interent anonymity, it isn't enforced too well, but it looks like that is going to change.

With patents, you have to either sell or profit from someone elses invention for them to sue you. Even then they may not bother, if you're insignificant enough.

 

[Krynn72]

As long as I can keep my video of me owning Vegeta in Frozen Synapse, I'm ok with this.

 

[Yuri]

would that apply to watching Starcraft streams, which many, many, many people do, including many on this forum?

cuz that would sort of suck a lot of dick.

 

[dfc05]

Umm, I watch Let's Plays.

Although mostly I watch them at night. For some reason, they tend to help me fall asleep. There are actually a couple of genuinely decent ones, but by and large -- good sleeping material.

Anyhow, silly to make that illegal. Obviously, watching a Let's Play doesn't replicate the experience of playing a game yourself. If you're watching it, you probably are just checking a little bit of it out to see if you want to get it, or never intended to get it at all. Or maybe using it as a walkthrough reference. Or... have problems falling asleep until you put on sounds of droning voices. Reminds me of that iPhone device blocking recording of live concert videos. So dumb.