Giant Bomb and SOPA [Penny Arcade and friends to boycott E3]

If SOPA passes, wouldn't a lot of sites just switch to international webhosts to avoid lawsuits, just like a certain torrent site has done for years?

@JacDG said:

If SOPA passes, wouldn't a lot of sites just switch to international webhosts to avoid lawsuits, just like a certain torrent site has done for years?

No, because one of the clauses in SOPA/PIPA allows for US-based corporations to have foreign sites they claim to be infringing on their copyrights removed from search engines, potentially blocked from being visited in the US and could also affect any advertising money those sites take in.

@Panpipe said:

But if they boycotted E3, they'd have to remove it from the "Coming Up" section - that's gotta be the hardest decision they'll ever make.

Coming Soon: Giant Bomb Boycotts E3 - Livestream

@iAmJohn said:

@JacDG said:

If SOPA passes, wouldn't a lot of sites just switch to international webhosts to avoid lawsuits, just like a certain torrent site has done for years?

No, because one of the clauses in SOPA/PIPA allows for US-based corporations to have foreign sites they claim to be infringing on their copyrights removed from search engines, potentially blocked from being visited in the US and could also affect any advertising money those sites take in.

Well that's stupid, America is awesome in a lot of ways, but I'm glad to not live in a country where the political system is this fucked up, if the congress was this serious about solving a lot of the financial and social problems instead...

@iAmJohn said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@TimesHero said:

@Bourbon_Warrior: Its not about the money, its about YOUR rights. Jeff's Rights. Brad's rights. Ryan's rights. Vinny's rights. Get off your spoiled ass and lose your "MAAAMM THEY'RE GONNA TAEK AWAY MY VIDYA GAEM COVERAGE" attitude and look at this from EVERYONE'S SHOES.

If SOPA passes, you will loose ALL E3 COVERAGE that you are bitching and complaining about this ONE time, for the REST OF TIME.

Yeah cause video game sites going down will change the white houses mind...

I think you just missed the point. Like, completely.

No, write to your local representitives, congress or the president. Protest outside the white house. Missing info from giant bomb on GTA5 really isnt going to do anything, they are a small site, sites like Youtube, Facebook and Wikipedia would make an impact, not games site number 45325.

@JeanLuc said:

I won't pressure Giant Bomb into not covering E3, but if they do decide to not cover it I'll support them.

That's a very good moderate stance! Hear hear!

ICANN registry is way worse then the DNS issues. Verification of all registrant identitys would cuase the lose of annonimity on creation of websites.

The dude in front of the green screen has the weirdest voice. Almost as if the audio was recorded afterwards?

I think it would be a very noble gesture if they did boycott it. SOPA/PIPA ceases to become a political issue when it actually effects the employment of people such as the giant bomb crew. Its better to fight back then to just sit back and passively loose our rights to benefit corporate gain.

@MariachiMacabre: @MariachiMacabre said:

@JeanLuc said:

I won't pressure Giant Bomb into not covering E3, but if they do decide to not cover it I'll support them.

This is my stance as well.

@Mustachio said:

I wouldn't lose any respect for GB if they covered E3, since it's a really important event for journalists to cover. However, I'm stating it here right now that I think them boycotting it is so unlikely (but very ballsy if they did) that if they did boycott it I'd sign up as a paid member without second thought.

@TimesHero said:

@Bourbon_Warrior: Its not about the money, its about YOUR rights. Jeff's Rights. Brad's rights. Ryan's rights. Vinny's rights. Get off your spoiled ass and lose your "MAAAMM THEY'RE GONNA TAEK AWAY MY VIDYA GAEM COVERAGE" attitude and look at this from EVERYONE'S SHOES.

If SOPA passes, you will loose ALL E3 COVERAGE that you are bitching and complaining about this ONE time, for the REST OF TIME.

You don't seem to understand this bill at all. Its more to do with endurance run\quick looks than coverage from trade shows and trailers that game publishers want you to see.

@JeanLuc said:

I won't pressure Giant Bomb into not covering E3, but if they do decide to not cover it I'll support them.

This. I also like the subscription idea.

That would be pretty annoying if they didn't cover E3. I'd have to go to other sites for information. I dislike most other sites.

i hope this is not passed , if it does get passed -then good bye freedom ,

The media should not boycott. As much as I cannot stand Kotaku, Totilo nailed on the head. It is the media's responsibility to tell the news, not make the news.

If game publishers and developers with the boycott, that if fine.

@JeanLuc said:

I won't pressure Giant Bomb into not covering E3, but if they do decide to not cover it I'll support them.

I don't think game journos not doing their job is an effective way to deal with this situation. Xav de Matos said it pretty well on twitter today, he's rather go to E3 and bring the issue straight to the pubs and devs to get their take on it. If the Bomb crew sit at home I don't see how they're doing any good.

@Branthog: followed because you are one of the few people ive seen in threads like this who can actually articulate a proper opinion. (all while openly stating that i cannot.)

i would appreciate it if GB opposed SOPA

Red Five is so gross. I can't believe they name dropped their game.

I'd think it'd be a no brainer for Giant Bomb to be anti-SOPA, and participate in boycotting E3. GB is a warehouse of information filled with copyrighted images and video, making it a target for zealous IP owners.

Who care about Penny Arcade not covering E3? Just means way less traffic for them that week and maybe the random person who isn't aware just thinks it's the worst video game site ever seen they seem to not know that E3 is going on.

For Giant Bomb... well GB is kinda in it's own weird isolated world where nothing is normal. Maybe they wouldn't care about the loss of traffic and in GB land, it might actually get them more subscribers because they don't cover the biggest week of gaming news and don't make their best podcasts of the year.

Me, I'd be upset at the loss of the podcasts. Plus, I think it'd be fake. If they really want to make a stance, boycott the games made by any person or company that supports it. Only doing it for E3 would seem like a publicity stunt since obviously they aren't actually behind it if they cover the content every other week of the year regardless of what side of the issue companies were on.

We don't need everyone to pull support; just enough so that everyone knows about it. As soon as dissent is public knowledge, the ESA will have to listen.

As much as I may opposite the SOPA/PIPA stuff I think that asking a major video game website to just stop releasing content during what's one of the most important events in the industry is a little unreasonable to suggests.

Wouldn't the better idea be to not cover the companies that have supported SOPA/PIPA rather than just doing damage to everyone involved regardless of their stance? I'm sure there's plenty of local venders and businesses that depend on the increased business during the Expo, not to mention the developers that have already come out against it.

Would I support Giant Bomb if they did this? Absolutely.

However, who the fuck were all those people in the video? I don't know a single one of them. Also, the guys that make Firefall saying they won't be at a trade show? I'm sure that everyone who dealt with their big, loud and annoying booth last year at any event are cheering in joy right now.

I believe they should pledge their support to boycott E3. And not because it likely won't happen, but because it would seem hypocritical of Whiskey Media to stand idly by while the internet is threatened when their livelihood is entirely thanks to an open and free internet. Besides, some kind of "Big Live Live Show Live" style protest week would be way more interesting to me personally than yet another year of sequel announcements and teasers. The ESA and its members need to be reminded their whole industry is based on the money of individual people and this is a means of providing that service for them.

But I like the content GB puts out during E3, and would like to continue seeing it, and you're asking them to not do their job, i'm all for them opposing SOPA, but they can do that in their spare time. Them covering E3 isn't part of the problem.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@iAmJohn said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@TimesHero said:

@Bourbon_Warrior: Its not about the money, its about YOUR rights. Jeff's Rights. Brad's rights. Ryan's rights. Vinny's rights. Get off your spoiled ass and lose your "MAAAMM THEY'RE GONNA TAEK AWAY MY VIDYA GAEM COVERAGE" attitude and look at this from EVERYONE'S SHOES.

If SOPA passes, you will loose ALL E3 COVERAGE that you are bitching and complaining about this ONE time, for the REST OF TIME.

Yeah cause video game sites going down will change the white houses mind...

I think you just missed the point. Like, completely.

No, write to your local representitives, congress or the president. Protest outside the white house. Missing info from giant bomb on GTA5 really isnt going to do anything, they are a small site, sites like Youtube, Facebook and Wikipedia would make an impact, not games site number 45325.

In Tunisia in 2010 a street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest against the regime at the time. This begins a snowball effect that slowly leads to the eventual downfall of the entire Tunisian government to be replaced with a democratic one. This leads to other Arab countries to see that they do not have to be under the rule of other Dictators and has so far seen the downfall of both the Egyptian and Libyan Dictatorships, has seen most other countries in the region make various reforms towards democracy and had a hand in the creation of the Occupy Wall Street movement. You may see this as an insignificant move but once a snowball gets going it becomes increasingly hard to stop.

So the people behind PAX dont want people going to E3. That'd be a weird thing if those two conventions catered to similar crowds, huh? Wait...

I support people boycotting E3 if they dislike the ESA. I understand why the ESA supports SOPA, though, and can't fault them for supporting it. The only companies currently supporting SOPA who actively disappoint me are Fender, Gibson, and Taylor Guitars, who do not understand how the distribution of online covers allows their brands to grow. Even adidas and Burberry make sense, as they have alliances with advertising companies that use major music labels for their advertisements.

I do not think it would be smart business for Giant Bomb not to cover E3, and would not support that decision. Giant Bomb is still growing, and it does not make any business sense to boycott the largest convention of the year as they are finally truly growing. E3 is one of the major Giant Bomb events, and it's an easy way to prove to folks that Giant Bomb matters. I plan to enjoy the shit out of E3 this year, either here or elsewhere. I would not quit Giant Bomb over not covering E3 or anything, but I would think it is a poor decision.

SOPA seems like an attempt for insecure overweight politicians to subscribe an ideology installed in them by lobbyist from multi-national corporations which influence actions during the legislative progress. It's a pain to see good sites be threatened. What's next? If your online independent business does better than Macy's® will your business be "shut down" as well? Just a question I believe we all should think about.

@moffattron9000 said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@iAmJohn said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@TimesHero said:

@Bourbon_Warrior: Its not about the money, its about YOUR rights. Jeff's Rights. Brad's rights. Ryan's rights. Vinny's rights. Get off your spoiled ass and lose your "MAAAMM THEY'RE GONNA TAEK AWAY MY VIDYA GAEM COVERAGE" attitude and look at this from EVERYONE'S SHOES.

If SOPA passes, you will loose ALL E3 COVERAGE that you are bitching and complaining about this ONE time, for the REST OF TIME.

Yeah cause video game sites going down will change the white houses mind...

I think you just missed the point. Like, completely.

No, write to your local representitives, congress or the president. Protest outside the white house. Missing info from giant bomb on GTA5 really isnt going to do anything, they are a small site, sites like Youtube, Facebook and Wikipedia would make an impact, not games site number 45325.

In Tunisia in 2010 a street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest against the regime at the time. This begins a snowball effect that slowly leads to the eventual downfall of the entire Tunisian government to be replaced with a democratic one. This leads to other Arab countries to see that they do not have to be under the rule of other Dictators and has so far seen the downfall of both the Egyptian and Libyan Dictatorships, has seen most other countries in the region make various reforms towards democracy and had a hand in the creation of the Occupy Wall Street movement. You may see this as an insignificant move but once a snowball gets going it becomes increasingly hard to stop.

Man your a self righteous asshole, to compare posting on forums and missing a site for a day to a legitimate protestor protesting against the mass murder of it civilians, your really brave and remember to get up before you get stuck in your chair from all your protesting lol.