Lamar Smith & MPAA Brush Off Wikipedia Blackout As Just A Publicity Stunt

UK PC Gaming Site Rock, Paper, Shotgun To Join SOPA Protest By Going Dark Tomorrow

from the not-just-US-'piracy-apologists'-anymore dept

Tue, Jan 17th 2012 3:19pm — Tim Cushing

Venerated PC gaming site Rock, Paper, Shotgun has announced that it will be joining the anti-SOPA blackout tomorrow, taking its site down at 9:00 am GMT.

From 9am tomorrow morning, Rock, Paper, Shotgun will be blacked out in protest against SOPA and PIPA. The site will be gone, but for a single black page explaining why we're doing this. And then Thursday morning we'll be back.

Of particular note is the fact that RPS is a UK-based site, but one that recognizes that the threat SOPA and PIPA pose to the internet as we know it expands past national boundaries, much like the internet itself, a fact that seems lost on the legislators behind it.

At RPS we genuinely believe in the astonishing wonder of the internet. An unpredictable, utterly remarkable endeavour of humanity, it has radically changed the world in the 16 or so years that it’s been a part of the average person’s life, and the many years before that when it was going unnoticed. It has challenged everything, shaken entire industries, and created hundreds of thousands of new ones...

SOPA and PIPA seek to destroy all of this, rendering the internet a system controlled by the State and large corporations. The incredible freedom will be taken away, replaced with a system controlled by those with the most money. After a year when the internet has been the foundation of radical changes throughout the world, from those able to network themselves to overthrow their oppressive regimes, to those who have made a mockery of super-injunctions, the incredible means of supporting previously unknown projects through Kickstarter and the like, to the many wonderful pieces of art that have flourished, after that year, and after the year before it, and the one before that, how can anyone sit back and not fight for this precious, precious thing...

No, neither Congress nor the Senate will care that RPS is down, but the hundreds of thousands of people who visit RPS every day will. And they can pass that message on. This matters.

A tremendous statement from Rock, Paper, Shotgun, boiling down these bills to the underlying motive behind them: protecting favored industries. To see our representatives willing to throw in with their corporate benefactors despite worldwide protest is to see the hollow, hypocritical facade of a corrupted system disintegrate before your eyes.

RPS should also be commended for its outstanding coverage on SOPA/PIPA. A constantly updated page displaying for/against statements from ESA members (Entertainment Software Association) concerning SOPA has gathered some remarkable information, especially considering the ESA has chosen (much like the BSA did before distancing itself from the legislation) to put its support behind SOPA without consulting its members. Due to RPS's persistance, NVIDIA, Good Old Games, Red 5 (Firefall), Frozenbyte (Trine), Runic Games (Torchlight) and Notch (Minecraft) have all issued statements expressing their opposition to SOPA. Red 5 has gone one further by joining in the protest blackout:

Red 5 Studios is joining Reddit in protest of SOPA by going dark on January 18. We will be taking down our website, community site and Firefall beta for 24 hours on the 18th. We are extremely disappointed in this misguided legislation. We are also ashamed of the ESA for supporting a bill which is clearly not in the best interests of gamers or the game industry. This bill, and it’s sister bill, Protect IP, will shut down live streaming, shout casting, user generated content and have a chilling effect on game innovation and social media.

Most of all, it hurts the smaller game companies, who will not have the legal resources or lobbying presence to protect themselves from unwarranted shutdown. We issue a call to all our industry peers, including developers, publishers and game press, to join us in letting the ESA know they do not represent our views on this issue, and strongly oppose SOPA and PIPA.

Notch and his fellow Minecrafters are also mulling their options and planning on joining the blackout, with updates delivered via Notch's Twitter feed.

As RPS points out, the beneficiaries of this legislation and their representatives (who often seem to forget are supposed to be our representatives) won't care. But it should, at the very least, make it clear that opposition to this bill is not limited to a few hundred noisy pirates and a handful of apologists. If this legislation continues to be pushed through, it will be crystal clear who our "representatives" actually represent and no amount of spin will be able to turn that around.

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Filed Under: blackout, free speech, pipa, protect ip, protest, sopa, uk, video games

31 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:22pm

Just wondering what rogue sites outside the US are planning to do. Maybe they will show solidarity by simply shutting down for good, thus obviating some of the perceived need for the pending bills.
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- blaktron (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:26pm
  
  Re:
  What the hell is a 'rogue' site? Please explain.
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  - Chris Brand, 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:30pm
    
    Re: Re:
    One the RIAA or MPAA doesn't like, of course.
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  - rubberpants, 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:51pm
    
    Re: Re:
    A website run by terrorist pedophiles.
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    - Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:57pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      A website run by terrorist pedophiles.
      
      Correction: A foreign website run by terrorist pedophiles who are stealing jobs away from decent, hard-working American terrorist pedophiles.
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      - Alexie, 17 Jan 2012 @ 7:45pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        A rogue site is any site which offers free downloads for music, video games, or movies which greedy rich companies make you pay money for.
        
        An Example of one we all love is called YouTube. Another is BtTorrent. People on eBay also sell stolen copyrighted material.
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      - Hephaestus (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 7:16am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        By inference you are saying the the MPAA and RIAA supports terrorist pedophiles. That explains a lot.
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    - Alexie, 17 Jan 2012 @ 7:43pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      "terrorist pedophiles" That is wrong idiot. A rogue site is any site which offers free downloads for music, video games, or movies which greedy rich companies make you pay money for.
      
      An Example of one we all love is called YouTube. Another is BtTorrent. People on eBay also sell stolen copyrighted material.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 5:26pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Probably one like waffles, what.cd, or demonoid, who are all devoted to illegal copyright infringement.
    
    But you knew that already, didn't you?
    
    I hope Masnick has the berries to post unedited video of his debate. That no doubt was a hoot.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 5:43pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Don't worry, I'm sure playing whack-a-mole will work *this* time, and then you can go back to selling plastic discs.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:40pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        iTunes sells mp3s.
        
        And plenty of people that aren't lawbreaking douchebags enjoy purchasing CDs. Like me.
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- sincerelyhis (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 3:55am
  
  Re:
  Damn... My friend gave me the full leaked list of sites participating in this blackout and the next blackout and I was pretty shocked... Even Facebook's on there!
  
  If you guys want to check out the list of blackout sites and the dates they're blacking out, here's the site I checked:
  
  http://sopaprotest.com.nu
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Almost Anonymous (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:52pm

A small bit of faith
For a long time I've been in a very cynical mindset, but I've got to admit that seeing these amazing acts of selflessness on the parts of the participating websites has truly restored a small bit of my lost faith in humanity.

Oh, and screw you AC1, there is no perceived need, PIPA/SOPA and all the rest are blatant power grabs, nothing else. We all know it, so why don't you just stop pretending?
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johnny canada, 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:52pm

Have you noticed one thing

Occupy Wall Street

Anti SOPA

have one thing in common

WE THE PEOPLE.
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John Doe, 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:53pm

What is Reddit?
Am I the only one in the internet world who doesn't know what Reddit is? Apparently since the large internet companies are joining forces with Reddit, it might be time to get myself educated.
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- Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 3:58pm
  
  Re: What is Reddit?
  Be careful. Depending on what's on the front page, it can be very hard to find the exit. Expect productivity loss.
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- Loki, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:39pm
  
  Re: What is Reddit?
  Don't feel bad, I'd heard of Reddit, but never really paid much attention to it until recently. After about a week or two I'd say it feels kind of like the middle ground between Slashdot and Digg.
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cc (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 4:07pm

In case you haven't heard yet, Google will also join the protest by (wait for it) putting a link on their website.

Ok it's not much at all, but I doubt they could shut down for a day.
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- Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 4:16pm
  
  Re:
  Oh, I think Google could shut down (at least parts) of its website, but then, many many people would not be able to find stuff about the tragedy that SOPA/PIPA are.
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- Loki, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:49pm
  
  Re:
  It is important that Google takes some middle ground here. I'd say it's a good thing Google is joining the cause and not leading the charge, and showing support without going all nuclear. Don't forget, Lamar and his kind are arguing this is just Google doing the complaining, so Google bringing the full weight to bare in protest will just give those supporters lots of talking points they can use to ignore the rest of the protests (remember, these are the same people who claim the White House said exactly the opposite of what the White House actually said).
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  - Lauriel (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 9:45pm
    
    Re: Re:
    I agree Loki. Google could actually do more damage by giving strong opposition. And even just a link will likely do more to promote and educate those who don't any sort of internet or tech news closely.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 4:45pm

POOP
With all the sites protesting I know what Lamar Smiths next bill will be named.

Prevent Online Organizations from Protesting (POOP)
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- Lauriel (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 9:46pm
  
  Re: POOP
  Not to mention it's companion legislation aimed at those who 'induce' protests - the Stop Helping Internet Terrorists act.
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zipperation, 17 Jan 2012 @ 5:21pm

is funny world where simple software projects are harmed irreparably by law. already games and books are dangerous to own to such an extent that its too much to handle.

example fines laws and other possibly illegal harassment like ridiculous demands in the mail. all for normal use even before your college dorm buddies copy your stuff and spread it about for fun or prank.

why would any parent allow their kids on the internet with such liability involved.

legislators should do things like preserving personal freedom and not legislatively converting household goods to something with the liability of toxic radioactive waste. little things like that.

1) if u must use protection of IP make it short duration like 15yrs or so so at least you can pass it on to your kids as knowledge. this is critical to maintain family and heritage. Its called culture when you pass down your knowledge and style to your kids

2) even one, yes one, normal use (did not say legitimate) should render any law unconstitutional. cant remember when this was actually used though despite all the bad legislation being written.

3)
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:50pm

I wonder how many legitimate music sites will go dark tomorrow in protest of SOPA.

My money is on zero.
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:58pm
  
  Re:
  "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Jan 2012 @ 6:59pm

First thieves refuse to steal CDs, then they have the gall to suspend Andrew Crossley, and now this? The UK is turning into a haven for Wild West Internet.

I hope Lamar Smith SOPAs your asses off, you wholesale pirate freetard raporists, you. >:(

(obligatory am-I-doing-it-right here)
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- Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 5:36am
  
  Re:
  The emoticon sealed the deal.
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Swedish Turnip (profile), 17 Jan 2012 @ 11:08pm

SMBC is blacked out today as well. This will be a very productive day at word xD
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emmet (profile), 18 Jan 2012 @ 8:40am

A tremendous statement indeed, and this demonstrates perfectly why I visit rockpapershotgun every day.
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The Luke Witnesser, 20 Jan 2012 @ 5:00am

Here lies the truth about SOPA/PIPA that even TechDirt has yet to report: what MPAA, RIAA, and Hollywood execs do not want you to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS5rSvZXe8

The truth behind why these big companies responsible for SOPA and PIPA are also responsible for piracy itself is far more insidious than even their outmoded business model.

Hint: can you say, do as I say so I can crush you under heel?
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