Software piracy is a big issue, there is no questioning that. What is there to be questioned is exactly what needs to be done to combat it. One of the measures being proposed currently in the U.S. Congress is the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it appears to have garnered the support of some of the bigger companies in our beloved gaming industry.
According to a document hosted by the Global Intellectual IP Center, which has since been taken down, Nintendo, Sony, and Electronic Arts sponsored a measure recommended to Congress similar to eh current SOPA movement. For those a little lost in the details, the SOPA bill would allow the United States government to set up a government firewall for all Internet access within the U.S. to block out sites that were deemed “unwanted”. Basically, they could cut off any and all access to the any site that feel infringes on a U.S. copyright.
It is a little scary to think that such censorship would be freely available to our government despite the severity of the piracy situation. Do we really want Big Brother controlling what sites you can or cannot access? We’re not sure how we feel about that, and even more confused as to why someone like Nintendo or Sony would support such a movement.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
