THE iDOLM@STER > THE iDOLM@STER 2
The Stop Piracy Online Act and im@s requests/recording.
Setsuna:
For those who missed it (or haven't been paying attention) here's a partial summary by those much smarter than I (Some who I pay significant amounts of money to consult) and just have you read it.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/sopa-hollywood-finally-gets-chance-break-Internet
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/10/house-takes-senates-bad-internet-censorship-bill-makes-it-worse.ars
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/11/the-architecture-of-the-internet.html
Now, why would we care? I mean this is an im@s request forum and it's hardly like we're going to go on a piracy spree-
Wait a second...
For those who want to wrangle the legal, they're free to try, but I'll sum up what will (and I'm not kidding, despite how sarastic I can carry myself) happen if (or when, it seems) the law passes:
No im@s requests will be permitted to be filled. I'm an Australian citizen, but considering that uh, Obama was just here yesterday and the Australian PM was kissing his feet, do I feel lucky enough to not get wrapped up and posted to the US?
For those who don't know, there's a 5 year federal prison attachment for anyone streaming copyrighted material over the internet without permission. No, you read it right the first time. On the bright side, I live in Australia, so the extradition proceedings could take quite a while at least, or at least enough time for me to pack up and run. For anyone in the US, no such luck
No, I could probably ask really, REALLY nicely for copyright permission, and it'd still take me 12 months or more to even get considered for such a legal waver. No bets if I could get a yes, either.
Furthermore youtube will most likely have to pull down all the video that's been distributed so far.
Any attempt to circumvent it will involve credit card companies pulling the plug on the site and more scarily from the interpetations I've read, on SPECIFIC USERS if necessary. I like mastercard processing my import payments, thank you very much.
Now, why would this matter to a Japanese game, with japanese companies, if we shift it offshore?
Because there is a little note which says that they are to target users OUTSIDE THE US explicitly. If anyone complains to someone in the US, they can do it. Now, guess who has im@s rights in the US? It's... Sony.
Essentially? Being outside the United States does not protect you - they will delist the site you're on (before you think about hosting your own place to run videos) from all DNS servers (ICANN is compelled to remove your registery listing) and well, go after you, and the ISP economically.
As well, 5 years federal prison is a lot of fun. Well, if you like dates in prison anyway.
Oh, and before I forget, if the action is done in error, it doesn't matter as long as they can prove sufficent belief they're doing the right thing. Well, to be precise, belief that there is copyright infringement on hand. They're not liable for any damage going forward.
Essentially, even Nico Nico Douga isn't protected much, unless NBGI EXPLICTLY gives them a waver in writing, and more to the point, that Sony in the US don't accidently put in an instruction regardless. You've got uh, 5 days to mount a defense and counterfile. You'll need to be fast, and there's a significant legal risk in this (Cause you may not win, obviously for one) and it's not cheap.
There's more to it, but I'll just reiterate - this is too important to go 'Eh it's politics' and just let it slide. Get involved, and get angry. It's not there yet, but well, it's going to be voted on in a couple of months.
If you DON'T do anything about it, I can pack my ball and go home and get binocculars and watch. I'm not sure about most other people though.
I can't emphasise how screwed up it is (and that's speaking from a perspective who's been in the IP law game for quite a while) and that the scenario isn't exactly the worst case. (Yep, there's further vulnerablities in the law in question, and the scenarios above are NOT the worst things you can in theory execute with it.*)
You're free to disbelieve, but well, if you're not willing to defend the right to watch im@s, I'm not sure what will get anyone going.
*For a quick summary for some of the REALLY fun stuff you can do that you probably shouldn't be able to, try this on for size - 10 guys, hooning with loudspeakers, playing Celine Dion music from the Titanic. Go to any political rally of your choice that you don't like. Then file IP infringement against EVERYONE WHO RECORDS the group, particularly if they're providing a live feed of it. 5 years federal prison and killing off any financial support. **
** And most likely sanity when people hear Titanic over and over again, but on the bright side, losing your sanity over Celine Dion is probably perferable compared to dealing with IP law.
animagic4u:
But I'm pretty sure NGBI knows about uploads and M@DS.
Especially M@DS which are a main part of the whole culture and following of The iDOLM@STER franchise as a whole.
They even allowed the blue screen/green screen for M@D creators afterall.
So is there something different in Japan than here?
NND has a whole section devoted to videos on the idolm@ster afterall, NGBI has videos uploaded to NND. It would be impossible for them to ignore the existance of the videos.
If they shut down im@s on NND, a large amount of their fanbase (M@D viewers and creators) are going to be enraged and perhaps they might even lose fans.
edit: In terms of the matter as a whole, they wanted to make it so it would be illegal to embed a video that wasn't one's own material within a website.
Which is hilarious because that is my English assignment. Find television clips (that we don't own) and put embed them into our website. How many laws will we be breaking?
Setsuna:
--- Quote from: animagic4u on November 17, 2011, 05:37:09 pm ---But I'm pretty sure NGBI knows about uploads and M@DS.
Especially M@DS which are a main part of the whole culture and following of The iDOLM@STER franchise as a whole.
They even allowed the blue screen/green screen for M@D creators afterall.
So is there something different in Japan than here?
NND has a whole section devoted to videos on the idolm@ster afterall, NGBI has videos uploaded to NND. It would be impossible for them to ignore the existance of the videos.
If they shut down im@s on NND, a large amount of their fanbase (M@D viewers and creators) are going to be enraged and perhaps they might even lose fans.
edit: In terms of the matter as a whole, they wanted to make it so it would be illegal to embed a video that wasn't one's own material within a website.
Which is hilarious because that is my English assignment. Find television clips (that we don't own) and put embed them into our website. How many laws will we be breaking?
--- End quote ---
There's quite a bit, but that's not the point. There's a more or less informal agreement to leave nico (and Comiket) alone for most part, but there's nothing signed on paper.
What matters to the SPOA is that no one in the US complains.
You may very well find that Sony act on it anyway, and nico get their finances cut off ANYWAY, because there's no formal broadcast agreement.
That's one of the real risks, and this is one reason why I'd start caring. A lot.
**To clarify: The SOPA does NOT CARE WHAT INTERNATIONAL LAW SAYS.
It explitly was designed so that US law would apply and compel any actor that has a US base to act against them, regardless of what the national or international law says.
This is why it is so dangerous - It does not matter any longer what Japan formally or informally thinks. Only what the US does.
animagic4u:
Well, if nothing happens to Nico Nico Douga, I don't see how they could narrow down and prove a user wasn't Japanese.
Even if Sony of Japan decides to go against them, in the end, isn't it up to the game developers themselves?
Even if the m@d community were to go down, there would still be underground m@ds...(Or NGBI could be trolls and re-upload m@ds)
I think even America there will still be lots of illegal stuff.
That's just the internet for you.
They can try to get to all of it, but the illegal passing on is just going to keep on going.
Setsuna:
--- Quote from: animagic4u on November 17, 2011, 11:53:44 pm ---Well, if nothing happens to Nico Nico Douga, I don't see how they could narrow down and prove a user wasn't Japanese.
Even if Sony of Japan decides to go against them, in the end, isn't it up to the game developers themselves?
Even if the m@d community were to go down, there would still be underground m@ds...(Or NGBI could be trolls and re-upload m@ds)
I think even America there will still be lots of illegal stuff.
That's just the internet for you.
They can try to get to all of it, but the illegal passing on is just going to keep on going.
--- End quote ---
I'll emphasise the last note I made - It no longer matters because it is written explictly to make US law surpreme via economic stranglulation. In short? It does not matter if the site is targetted for non US audiences only - they would have to be made dark under the leglislation.
NBGI can relupoad it themselves (but they're only one company, and uh, there's a lot of im@s stuff out there) and they can't assign rights to redistribute without causing very real IP problems for them later on.
Granted, we'll have to underground it, but it means nico cannot carry it. What does that leave us? I'm not entirely sure.
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