Nintendo, Sony back off of SOPA support

[chemistryfreak]

Nintendo, Sony back off of SOPA support

updated 12:10 pm EST, Fri December 30, 2011


Nintendo and Sony rethink unpopular SOPA bill


A quiet update to the list of Stop Online Piract Act supporters (PDF) has shown that Nintendo and Sony have backed away from the proposed bill. Both were originally endorsing the bill as of November but quietly removed themselves from the list sometime in the past month. Neither has acknowledged the change in attitude.
Game developer EA has also dropped its SOPA support.

All three have an interest in curbing piracy of their games. They may have withdrawn support after seeing the full consequences of the bill, which could see site taken down or blocked if even just a small portion of its content was deemed illegal. As drafted, it would also compromise Internet security by taking apart the DNSSEC initiative the US government has wanted to prevent domain name poisoning attacks.

They may have also reacted to public perception. Much of their more technically aware audience opposes SOPA and was key to GoDaddy reversing its position to stem mass defections. [via Silicon Alley Insider]

By Electronista Staff
Read more: http://www.electroni.../#ixzz1i3atEn6O

 

[324atk]

Whew, it's a relief to see some of the bigger industries backing off of this bill. I'm glad that some of the higher ups know it's a bad thing and it's not just the people.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Well that's cool I supposed. Haven't followed the SOPA bill at all. If Sony and Nintendo start backing off I assume some other companies will follow suite.

 

[Saddamsdevil]

And so it starts. People will see the consequences and realise it's not a clever thing to support.

This is just the first few people to jump off the SOPA wagon.

 

[Hop2089]

I don't blame them, this bill is more dangerous than Tokyo's Bill 156, it could cause detrimental consequences for major companies if it's passed and abused.

 

[prowler]

they probably don't want to be godaddy'd.

i would think they'd still support it without supporting it(?)

 

[Deleted_171835]

Whew, it's a relief to see some of the bigger industries backing off of this bill. I'm glad that some of the higher ups know it's a bad thing and it's not just the people.

It's just for public image. If no one was against the bill, they would still be supporting it.

 

[Ziggy Zigzagoon]

At this point, no one (or at least no one "important" or "influential") will support the bill.

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

The "full consequence" of the bill that made them back the fuck off was the threat of boycott from so many of us.
GoDaddy caught the brunt of that threat, and will likely never recover from it.
This is precisely how businesses should listen to their fanbase.
This is precisely how governments should listen to their people.
Together we're a power to be feared. But only so long as we can communicate freely.
Never let them take that away from us.

 

[the_randomizer]

This is precisely how governments should listen to their people.

When have governments ever listened to the people?

 

[DinohScene]

This is precisely how governments should listen to their people.

When have governments ever listened to the people?

They never did.
They never did back in the Middle ages.
They never did now and wont do so in the future.

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

When have governments ever listened to the people?

Precisely what makes the word "Should" operative.

I absolutely agree with your statement. But that's not how it should be.

 

[Deleted_171835]

http://www.destructoid.com/ea-nintendo-sony-reduce-sopa-support-by-50--218742.phtml

So yeah, it's a PR move. Light the pitchforks, guys.

 

[alphamule]

This is as bad as that "no more rights unless we like you" bill passed (illegally) by congress. Of course, if the suspect under trial is also the judge... bah, this is how we get laws that are clearly evil being OKed by the people appointed by the same people who wrote them.

 

[alidsl]

-snip-
http://www.destructo...0--218742.phtml

So yeah, it's a PR move. Light the pitchforks, guys.

You got a fuckload of Karma cause of this :jealous:

It's cause Anonymous threatened to hack PSN if they didn't drop support (and we don't want another hack like last time)

 

[Guild McCommunist]

It's cause Anonymous threatened to hack PSN if they didn't drop support (and we don't want another hack like last time)

Anonymous probably can't even hack the PSN. They weren't the ones who did the major hack that brought down the PSN for a month. Hell that group is still unnamed, they basically just did it for personal gain (aka for stealing credit cards and harvesting personal info) instead of the personal glory that Anonymous wants. If anything you'll just have the same petty "protest" that Sony got last time from Anonymous: they try to DDoS their site but fail, send Jack Tretton pizzas, and try to organize a sit-in that also fails. HOW FORMIDABLE.

This is probably just, as everyone said, a PR move. It seems that most gamers aren't in favor of the bill so protest or resistance might come from public support of the bill. Of course Sony and Nintendo support it since it would tackle any piracy on their systems, but doing it publicly could lead to some backlash from consumers. Last thing they want is to lose more sales to protest than from piracy.

EDIT: And don't say "OH PIRACY DOESN'T MAKE ANYONE LOSE SALES" because that's a load of bullshit. I know plenty of games I would've bought but didn't because I could just pirate them. I haven't bought DS games for like years and the last Wii game I bought was Goldeneye because it was on sale for $10, before that it was NMH2. I haven't even bought a PSP game. Like ever. On the other hand I still buy Xbox 360 games and even PS2 games when I can since I don't pirate on those systems. While it's not theft it certainly voids sales. I'm sure if you couldn't pirate on a console you'd end up buying more games for it.

 

[Jamstruth]

While piracy DOES affect sales not every pirated game constitutes a lost sale. I have pirated lots of games that I would never have bought anyway. I haven't bought a Wii game in ages by have Pirated a couple of Wii games but wouldnt have bought (e.g. Disney Sing it Family or Michael Jackson) but companies will have counted that download as a lost sale.

 

[DSGamer64]

This is as bad as that "no more rights unless we like you" bill passed (illegally) by congress. Of course, if the suspect under trial is also the judge... bah, this is how we get laws that are clearly evil being OKed by the people appointed by the same people who wrote them.

No, this is what happens when you have organizations like the MPAA who are nothing more then a bunch of pro extreme right wing fascists dragging the right wing fascists that are the Republicans along trying to force their ideas through as law because the Democrats wouldn't all go for it. The unfortunate reality is that if SOPA passes, you can guarantee that many digital freedoms other countries have will be gone quickly. The Canadian government is trying to pass Bill C-32 again, the copyright reform law which treats digital piracy worse then paedophiles and drug smugglers. And they are doing it because they are right wingers, liberals don't believe in that sort of crap and wouldn't allow organizations like the MPAA to push them around and force them into passing retarded laws.

 

[BORTZ]

This SOPA is scary shit. I sincerely hope that Sony and N are actually backing off...

 

[Bladexdsl]

the dropped it after they found out congress was downloading porn