Bill to make uploading/streaming video game footage illegal

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Plague_Injected

Supreme [H]ardness
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http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/ten_strikes?akid=700.450896.5hVZPC&r

It affects music and movies too but as related to games, under the bill it would become illegal to upload gaming videos to Youtube and other websites (without expressed permission, I assume), stream live game footage, etc. I'm not sure if the proposed ban is confined to doing it for money (via Youtube partnerships and channels like Machinima Respawn) or at all.

If the bill doesn't make it through congress then I bet such a clause will turn up in EULAs and publishers will pursue violators through the civil courts regardless.

Do you consider uploading game videos for everyone to see a breach of copyright infringement or EULAs to such an extent that prison time and criminal records should be punishments?
 
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I dont see how developers and publishers of games could possibly want this. Its free advertising for them. Even if it went through and became illegal I'd expect EULAs to have something like "you have permission to upload videos but we reserve the right to request you remove them".

I dunno, maybe publishers would want to get rid of some of the negative feedback videos about games or get rid of low quality videos... but for the most part it wouldn't make sense for them to want to have videos of their games removed.

One of the first things I do if I see a game I'm interested in is youtube some gameplay videos of it, so for people like me at least they're great advertising.
 
Shouldnt this be limited to commercial advantage or private financial gain?
text of the bill

They are amending this:
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 113 > § 2319
(b) Any person who commits an offense under section 506 (a)(1)(A) of title 17—

But 506 (a)(1)(A) reads:
TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 5 > § 506
(a) Criminal Infringement.—
(1) In general.— Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed—
(A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;

If there is no financial gain, 506(a)(1)(B) or (C) might apply but those already have their criminal penalties addressed in 2319 (c) and (d).
 
the bill also amends 506 (a)(1)(C), but that seems to be for unreleased content, i.e. movies that are in theaters but not on DVD/retail shelves, or computer programs/music that have not been commercially distributed.
 
black_b[ ]x;1037463540 said:
Shouldnt this be limited to commercial advantage or private financial gain?
text of the bill

They are amending this:
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 113 > § 2319
(b) Any person who commits an offense under section 506 (a)(1)(A) of title 17—

But 506 (a)(1)(A) reads:
TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 5 > § 506
(a) Criminal Infringement.—
(1) In general.— Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed—
(A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;

If there is no financial gain, 506(a)(1)(B) or (C) might apply but those already have their criminal penalties addressed in 2319 (c) and (d).
Click to expand...

that rules out posting them on any site like youtube or gametrailers ect because they get financial gain from our video uploads.
 
Tudz said:
I dont see how developers and publishers of games could possibly want this. Its free advertising for them.
Click to expand...

That's assuming the game is good. Lets face it the majority of games suck.

Although this bill is most likely being pushed by the RIAA and MPAA and their members.
 
meh unless you make killing streaming game content you don't really have to worry about it
 
It's a problem raised in the SC2 community. Some people do make a living off of casting games on steams or simply playing it. More importantly, it's a source of entertainment for the rest of us and would suck if it somehow gets negatively affected.
 
Yoshiyuki Blade said:
It's a problem raised in the SC2 community. Some people do make a living off of casting games on steams or simply playing it. More importantly, it's a source of entertainment for the rest of us and would suck if it somehow gets negatively affected.
Click to expand...

you just need permission from blizzard in that case and i'm sure they will be reasonable
 
This is just one of those bills where they want a wide scope. Essentially, they want everything to be illegal, but will only enforce what they see fit. That way they can pick and choose what they want to get taken down and not have to worry about if it qualifies because technically everything will qualify. Also, it's much cheaper for them to simply report it to the Government and let them take on the costs of dealing with it than to insert something into their EULA and have to deal with it in the civil courts themselves. Even though the vast majority of gaming videos and casts would likely be left alone, it's still a BS bill and shouldn't be ratified.
 
black_b[ ]x;1037463540 said:
Shouldnt this be limited to commercial advantage or private financial gain?
text of the bill

They are amending this:
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 113 > § 2319
(b) Any person who commits an offense under section 506 (a)(1)(A) of title 17—

But 506 (a)(1)(A) reads:
TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 5 > § 506
(a) Criminal Infringement.—
(1) In general.— Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed—
(A) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;

If there is no financial gain, 506(a)(1)(B) or (C) might apply but those already have their criminal penalties addressed in 2319 (c) and (d).
Click to expand...

I wonder how thats going to affect game review sites. I mean for some games I do gameplay footage showing different parts (I don't write the reviews). But they are showing features of the game and therefore are giant advertizements. Big sites make money off these reviews through advertizing revenues and even some make you pay for HD content. I don't see how this is any benifit to the industry :confused:

As for the lip syning videos/karaoke. I know when I want to hear a song I go straight to karaoke videos rather than the artists official youtube channel..:rolleyes:
 
Discussing the reasoning of this from a gaming view is really a moot point, since the bill seems like it would only include game streaming due to the broad language used. The bill itself is being pushed via lobbying from the MPAA (maybe RIAA as well?). So discussing the merits of game content producers pushing for this really serves no purpose.
 
Q-BZ said:
Like a lot of other things: Good luck enforcing it.
Click to expand...

I'm sure they wouldn't have any issue getting them removed from major video hosting sites like youtube if they even cared enough to do it. They wouldn't be able to stop torrents and things like megaupload... but do people actually torrent videos of other people playing games? lol
 
Tudz said:
I'm sure they wouldn't have any issue getting them removed from major video hosting sites like youtube if they even cared enough to do it. They wouldn't be able to stop torrents and things like megaupload... but do people actually torrent videos of other people playing games? lol
Click to expand...

That isn't the point, the bill isn't even aimed at video games at all. it is being pushed by the MPAA where streaming of its IP is an actual concern. When it is being discussed I doubt anyone will even know or care how it impacts gaming.
 
Aside from profiting on streaming video of a game I don't think there is much threat in said streaming as the appeal of a video game is to actually play it rather than watch it, like a movie or tv show.
 
I watch live game footage of League of Legends at www.own3d.tv

I do this so I can get better at playing LoL myself by watching some pros, plus it's pretty entertaining

if this bill passes, that's bad.
 
*sigh* I find it rather sad that in this 'economic' belt tightening, these 'law_l makers' find the need to waste my(our) hard earned tax dollars trying to go for low hanging fruit....
 
how is it that these sellout morons keep getting voted into office by US???

if it isn't clear to everyone that congress is too busy helping business instead of you i don't know what to say. further, isn't there more important shit to be worrying about instead of assisting a greedy/control hungry "entertainment" industry??? this is an absolute joke... and these corporations within the industry just don't understand that they will never be able to circumvent piracy or have absolute control when their ip leaves their hands and they are unwilling to adapt, and instead should just focus on making a good product... it is simply a fact and reality of their type of operation that they are unwilling to accept due to a loss of imaginary, "what-if" profits.

maybe congress will give them heaps of our tax dollars instead.
 
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I don't see how putting gameplay footage on YouTube is a problem. I never buy a game without first watching a gameplay video to see if its something I like. It's not like people are watching videos of games instead of buying them.

I don't think I'd have a problem if they made it illegal to upload a game cause I'm tired of these bastards pirating games causing me to have to put up with higher prices and Nazi-like DRM's, but I see no problem with game footage being put on video sites.
 
MacLeod said:
I don't see how putting gameplay footage on YouTube is a problem. I never buy a game without first watching a gameplay video to see if its something I like. It's not like people are watching videos of games instead of buying them.

I don't think I'd have a problem if they made it illegal to upload a game cause I'm tired of these bastards pirating games causing me to have to put up with higher prices and Nazi-like DRM's, but I see no problem with game footage being put on video sites.
Click to expand...

Again, this is a bill that was lobbied for by the MPAA, who are concerned about illegal streaming of their content.

Trying to analyze this from a gaming perspective serves no purpose. Gaming was not on the minds at all of people pushing this bill.
 
MacLeod said:
I don't see how putting gameplay footage on YouTube is a problem. I never buy a game without first watching a gameplay video to see if its something I like. It's not like people are watching videos of games instead of buying them.
Click to expand...

That might be exactly why. I mean, you wouldn't want people to place videos up of your product looking bad would you. If this idiocy goes ahead it will allow them the power to elliminate decent. With reveiwers having to ask permission to put up video, publishers will only give permission to positive reviewers. With "professional" reviews full of total shit, and most of the time written by idiots who are just beyond stupid or are paid off/on some personal crusade/etc. and game demos becoming rarer and rarer, people will have no way of gauging how good/bad a game is. Other than, I suppose piracy...which isn't illegal.
 
well guys, up next you will have to listen to your music only with headphones, watch movies and play games so no one else can see it in your house (not even your gf or wife). seriously, i want to have a word with this idiot that came up with this.

further, lobbies need to be banned from politics in general. they wine and dine the people who are supposedly our servants (everyone from FDA, USDA, and all the way to Congress and the Senate)... effectively making them their servants.
 
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