Senate Bill S.978 may be the end of LBP videos

[JKthree]

Sorry to post this in the news section but this sounds really serious if you think about it, it could mean the end of Creator Spotlights, Sackanima and even myself (and I was nearing a major milestone with my channel too )

But I got this news from joystiq I bolded the big stuff

Hold on to your butts, Internet, because this party is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better. According to Game Informer, a Senate Bill has been introduced which, if passed, would make streaming unauthorized copyrighted material a felony, resulting in up to 5-years of jail time.

Bill S.978 states that "10 or more public performances by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of 1 or more copyrighted works" will result in "not more than 5 years" of imprisonment, so long as the performance in question is valued at at-least $2,500 USD, or if the value of a license to legally "perform" the content is valued at $5,000 or more.

These are, in essence, the same criteria that allow for DMCA take-down notices to be issued by copyright holders, however jail time and felony status are not currently associated with this particular flavor of copyright infringement.

Should this bill jump through all the right hoops, its broadly worded contents could potentially cover everything from homemade gameplay clips (commonly referred to "Let's Play" videos), to fan-made music videos, webcam cover songs, and anything else that involves copyrighted music or video. S.978 could also potentially cover cell-phone videos of concerts and press events, making 13-year-old Beliebers and jaded gaming journalists alike equally in danger of losing their right to vote.

If accepted into law, these addenda will be attached to existing copyright laws and will not only apply to YouTube users, but to the sites that embed YouTube content as well. Internet activism group Demand Progress has set up a web-form for those who disagree with the legislation and wish to communicate their displeasure to their local representatives. We would be concerned about the bill's implications as well, but fear not dear reader: the legislation doesn't cover puppet shows as far as we can tell, so Joystiq Playhouse's shadow-kabuki production of Battle Arena Toshinden should still be on track.

This sounds really serious

[Frinklebumper]

I wonder how this would be enforced?

After all, "copyrighted" material is like 95% of YouTube...

[Silver39]

Inmate: I killed 30 people while I robbed a gas station, what are you in here for?
Me: I recorded myself playing a videogame and uploaded it to youtube.

[ConverseFox]

Inmate: I killed 30 people while I robbed a gas station, what are you in here for?
Me: I recorded myself playing a videogame and uploaded it to youtube.

Inmate: Man, that's hard core. You're makin what I did look like child's play.

[a_mailbox]

you just know that if this is passed than there will be MASSIVE protestes. Or even worse.

Good thing i'm canadian :3

[Silverleon]

Ah, here it is, been waiting for this to pop up, seeing how people keep over-exaggerating it. xD

Look long story short NO THIS IS NOT GOING TO SERIOUSLY AFFECT ANYONE, KILL YOUTUBE, REVIEWERS, lETS PLAY-ERS and what not, everything's going to be fine and the same whether this happens or not.

Its not gonna kill the internet, there's not going to be an uber rebellion or nothing, RELAX.

Look, this bill doesn't make all that stuff Illegal, it can't, why?
BECAUSE IT ALREADY IS ILLEGAL.

Whether this happens or not, the game companies can throw all those people in jail IF they wanted to, youtubers, LPers, and all those people uploading videos of whatever they don't have permission to upload are already have the possibility of being thrown in jail if the companies really wanted to, and the real reason no one should care for this is that companies just don't give a hoot, its not like as soon as this bill is passed, everyone's going to suddenly contact the FBI to track every single one of the uploaders, its too much effort and money, and besides, this is mostly aimed at those people streaming movies, and tv shows Illegally, games are just caught in the crossfire of "copyrighted material" so there's a possibility of it still being modified to exclude it.

But the main point is this, if you weren't worried about breaking the law even tho you were already, why bother now?
A - The bill will most likely not pass.
B - The game companies for the most part won't care, as games are not like moves (for the most part.) and the majority preffer to see it as advertisment rather.
(Not all.)
C - Even if they do care, they would waste too many resources in finding all, too much effort.
D - People don't realize the laws already exist, this just increases the punishment.
My last point as well is this; say even if it does kill the internet, even if they do stop everyone from doing so unless they get speciall license and managed to stop it all somehow.
They're within they're right to do so, its their games and their material, they're all 100% within their right to do so and people have 0 right to complain about it, people are right now saying "NO OMG BILL FAIL DON'T PASS" in which case they're supporting piracy, so you know what, I say pass they bill, I want them to do it, maybe it'll scare most of the fools away.

So yeah tl;dr: quit yer whining, nothing's gonna happen, and if it does, you got no right to complain either way.

[Night Angel]

@Silverleon: 'Nuff Said!

Well, back to downloading that movie that just came out

[thor]

Uploading a video of LBP on youtube is NOT illegal. It comes under the "fair use" clause of the DMCA. I don't know if this changes with the new bill, but using a copyrighted work for purposes of criticism, original content, satire etc. is fine so long as it is non-commercial. Now if Mm release a copyrighted trailer and you simply post that on your channel, THAT is not allowed under the DMCA. But if you record your own gameplay that's fine. And of course Mm would have to actually persue a legal challenge.

[OmegaSlayer]

Anyway, I think that the copyright owner must ask for the removal/bill/jail, like it already happens now, and I don't think MM/Sony will ask to remove user's levels from youtube, maybe the story levels, though I highly doubt that.

[MuddledMuppet]

Ah,
people are right now saying "NO OMG BILL FAIL DON'T PASS" in which case they're supporting piracy,

You were doing SO well until that part

I'm certainly no expert on copyright law, but I'm fairly certain that there is room within the existing laws already for fan art etc, whatever medium is used, music, pictures, movies, or lbp games. If not, there morally should be (in my opinion) That aside. I fail to see how someone wishing an extension to already powerful copyright law to fall, equates with supporting piracy. You really think you can't have one without the other?

[ShadowTyphoon]

Im sure if the bill does pass, which i dont think this exact bill will, that it will only pertain to streaming of movies.

Piracy is defined as making an illegal "copy" of copyrighted material or distributing it. Thats how downloading movies is illegal.
As for streaming it is not illegal because no copy is being made. Some argue that when you stream a movie, your computer makes a temporary copy of the movie, which is true but no one has been prosecuted for streaming a movie because they are aware of the major gray area.

I believe this bill is an attempt to get rid of the gray area of streaming movies, i dont think it intends to wipe out streaming of any copyrighted entertainment. Someone making a video of their lbp lvl or a fan made movie trailer, if anything, helps advertising.

[Captain_Dinosaur]

Should the bill pass, there could be a slight technicality that allows LBP to slip through (if needed). The game isn't so much of a game as it is a software, which from what I read wasn't there. Under these ground people could continue to do what they please with it.

[Mr_Fusion•]

Wouldn't it be up to the copyright holder to complain?

Sooooo... if you were uploading LBP gameplay clips and Mm/SONY didn't want free publicity and they thought that your efforts are worth $2500+ USD aaaand you had uploaded HEAPS of likewise performances of you jumping over pits that were also making you more than $2500.

Not to add that I don't think there is any licensing fee to upload gameplay clips of a game. I'm sure you could contact the game's PR company to confirm that they weren't charging $5000 for each performance because why would they?

[MMLgamer]

You were doing SO well until that part

I'm certainly no expert on copyright law, but I'm fairly certain that there is room within the existing laws already for fan art etc, whatever medium is used, music, pictures, movies, or lbp games. If not, there morally should be (in my opinion) That aside. I fail to see how someone wishing an extension to already powerful copyright law to fall, equates with supporting piracy. You really think you can't have one without the other?

Why would you want the extension to a copyright law to fall if you didn't support piracy? You say the current law is "already powerful", but then why would you care about this version of the law if you were not supporting piracy? "Why" is the key question here, and the answer is that if you are opposed to strengthening the enforcement of the current law, you must have something to lose such as piracy or the option to engage in piracy. Even if you were in some kind of gray area about piracy (i.e. you don't participate in it but you aren't for or against it), wouldn't you then also be in a gray area with supporting/opposing the extension of copyright law? I suppose not, since you would then have to think that piracy is not good or evil and so to treat it as evil is in itself evil, except we all know piracy is evil which is why we believe opposing this law is to support piracy.

Edit: rewrite

[Leather-Monkey]

As we (Sackinima) "work" for machinima, we get to see how they're responding to it. Despite being the biggest uploader of video game content on YouTube, they don't seem that [publicly] bothered by it. I think everyone is pretty confident that this isn't going to happen and if it does, very few people out there are going to conform (I'm feeling fairly rebellious today, too).

Besides, the LBP community has the privilege of being right beside Mm at all times. They'd give us permission to do what we do here on the internet. It's part of the fabric of their game (puns ftw). and there's no way they would support this. Activision suing over Blops videos? I'm not too bothered by that...

It reminds me of the April Fools joke Moley pulled this year on Sackinima's twitter. He said Sony were suing us for posting so many LBP videos. It didn't take long for Mm to go crazy over reading that and we had to tell them it was a joke! So yep, even if the law does go through (which it won't), we're all safe here my friends. We're all safe here. *Looks up and strokes beard*

[SLS10]

A debate about piracy springing from the misunderstandings of both arguing parties, eh?

It's like I'm really on a certain website whose name shall not be mentioned in present company. :B

[Aya042]

BECAUSE IT ALREADY IS ILLEGAL.

Not quite. There's some ambiguity in the current legislation which is the reason for this new bill.

If you upload copyvio content to, say, YouTube, both you and YouTube are potentially liable, but the current legislation is unclear as to whether those who choose to watch the video are also liable. This bill merely clarifies that they are.

However, none of that really matters, since, as thor points out...

Uploading a video of LBP on youtube is NOT illegal. It comes under the "fair use" clause of the DMCA.

So, I'd suggest you ignore this bill, and just read up on fair use to see what's permitted and what isn't.

In practise, you probably don't even need to worry about that. Only YouTube needs to worry, since they're the only party with any significant amount of cash, and thus make a practical target for a lawsuit.

[jump_button]

Looks like a lot of hot air to me I think it more to do with movies and tv shows to stop them being put up online, And it really down to the copyright holders if they want to do anything about it

[Rabid-Coot]

Isn't this more about live sport being streamed on stuff like justin tv?

[Silverleon]

I know not ALL is Illegal, some is, some fall under fair use, whatever, THAT IS NOT THE POINT.
The point it stop worrying and panicking and whining and running like chickens with their heads cut off, nothing significant's gonna happen wether this passes or not.

Jeez, you people sure like to miss the main point of things around here...
(Specially aya whenever he sees a chance to try to look smart in front of everyone. xD)

"Aya : Forget the main point I wanna prove a minor issue that really doesn't matter, wrong!"