In the next week, the US congress will return to Washington for a bit of work. The first item on the agenda is to debate and pass the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. SOPA is intended to give media owners the tools to act against those who infringe their copyright in all forms of media, be it audio, video or text. Be it the movie industry, the music industry, the publishing industry, and yes, the games industry.

But the legislation is awful, and it affects gamers worldwide. Under SOPA, e-sports is under threat. Game streaming is under threat. In-game voice chat is under threat. In-game text chat could be turned off. Gaming forums are under threat. And the gaming media (us!) will no longer be able to exist in its current form.

The powers SOPA will grant if it passes are broad and troubling and spell doom for certain sections of gaming. Copyright holders will be allowed to seek court orders against infringing websites, and in its current form, against companies that provide services for them. That means that under a SOPA order, a copyright holder could demand restrictions from not just the site itself, but partner companies and clients such as the hosting domain, the advertising networks that provide ads, payment facilitators and search engines.

Read on and fight

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/01/12/editorial-if-sopa-passes-in-its-current-form-it-will-be-a-disaster-for-gamers-and-the-games-media-worldwide

The problem with this bill is despite the efforts of the internet community... the people deciding on this do not realize it's impact.

If it passes, it will DESTROY jobs... not create them.

Most of the Senators and Representatives prob can't use a computer at all and have their aids and interns do all their work on the internet.

This is the insanity of our representatives bring so disconnected from their people. This should never even had the chance to pass. All we can do is fight.

We have as big a stake as anyone. It's not far fetched for larger sites to get approval while smaller sites don't. This will end up drowning all but the deepest pockets.

Also it would kill ingenuity and set technology back.