TikTok Deal Finalized, Complaints About New TOS & Posts Being Censored

 

For fans of TikTok in America who have been somewhat worried about the lingering threat of a potential ban in the United States, they no longer have to worry about that as a deal was made with American investors that satisfied the demands of the current administration. But, it may have come with a price that some users are not willing to bear.

More on the story in Extra. 

 

(finally up, sorry about the delay). 

Steam Gaming Service Removes A Number Of Adult Games Following Pressure By Credit Card Companies, Paypal Blocks Steam In Much Of The World

 

If you're a fan of game with mature themes, there's been a development on Steam that will likely leave you worried and/or upset. It seems following pressure from credit card companies, Steam has taken a number of adult-rated games off it's list for sale. 

 

In a PC Gamer article, Value, which owns Steam, was reported as saying, "We were recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks. As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store."

 

Earlier, Steam had enacted a new, and vague, rule about banning "Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers."

 

An article in The Guardian stated the pressure by the credit card companies was due to pressure on them by "Collective Shout," a group seeking to ban adult content from Australian Internet access, saying the corporations were "facilitating and profiting from rape, incest and child sexual abuse game sales."

 

The result has been a backlash. On change.org, a petition was started protesting the censorship of the games, "not because they're illegal, but because they offend the personal values of executives or activist groups," going on to say, "These same payment processors allowed platforms like OnlyFans to operate with minimal oversight, despite multiple credible reports and lawsuits alleging the presence of real sexual abuse content involving real-life minors. That is a criminal failure of responsibility. Yet, when it comes to entirely fictional depictions, these same companies act swiftly — shutting down creators, restricting access, and acting as global censors." 

 

So far, the petition has gotten over a quarter million signatures. One who left a comment identified himself as a member of the LGBTQ community, "Banning sexual content never stops there, it always include non-sexual things. As such the fight to protect people’s right to sexual expression is vital for protecting my right to exist." 

 

Mastercard eventually responded, but denied making any pressure on Steam, "Mastercard has not evaluated any game or required restrictions of any activity on game creator sites and platforms, contrary to media reports and allegations."

 

To add to Steam's troubles, Paypal became unusable in most of the world as an option to pay for Steam purchases. It was reported in The Gamer only users in the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, and countries which use the Euro can still do so. At first, Valve offered no reason as to why, but later would explain, "In this case, one of PayPal’s acquiring banks decided to stop processing any Steam transactions, which cut off PayPal on Steam for a number of currencies"

 

As of now, it is unclear when the delisted games will be restored, or when Paypal will be fully useable again. 

 

Sources: PC Gamer, The Guardian, The Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun 

 

Bixyl Shutan 

 

Minecraft Classified as an Adult Game in South Korea

 *

The highly-popular Minecraft game is known for being a number of things. Among them it's kid-friendly graphics. But according to an article written by PC Gamer's Mollie Taylor, it's been labeled as an adults-only game in South Korea. 

Why designate the child-friendly game as for those 18 and over only? The Republic of Korea has a law banning minors 16 and under from playing games between Midnight and 6AM local time. Instead of going through the expense and hassle of developing an installing a method to keep those gamers in the country from playing their games those hours, Microsoft opted to just limit playing the game there to adults 19 years and older. 

At first the law didn't affect gameplay as Mojang accounts don't need age verification. But that changed in December 2020 as gamers there would need an Xbox Live account to access the game, and in March came a warning that anyone in the country wishing to get the game would need to be 18 or older. The result has been the game having a split age-rating in the country, officially labeled as 12 and up but thanks to Xbox is de-facto limited to those 18 and over. Naturally, the situation has gotten many in South Korea upset, "Korea will become [the only game market] where even Minecraft is reduced to an adult game."

When contacted by PC Gamer, Microsoft responded, "We’re working on a longer term solution for existing and new players under the age of 19 in South Korea and will have more to share on this later this year."

Source: PC Gamer
 

"A Dark Day For Internet Freedom" : EU Passes Vauge Copyright Bill

On Tuesday March 27, the European Parliament voted in favor of the "Copyright Directive," a controversial bill that advocates of Internet freedom charge is vague and threatens public rights of expression online. The vote was 348 to 274.

While not an immediate blow to those wishing to express themselves online, there are still a number of steps before the bill becomes law in Europe, the bill is still a threat. Particularly worrisome are Article 11, the "link tax," which could make it impossible for websites such as Wikipedia to function in countries affected, and Article 13 (which has been changed to Article 17) which would require websites and platforms that allow for content to be loaded to install "upload filters" as a preventive measure to stop copyrighted content.

The law is vague and subject to interpretation, but the potential consequences to Second Life are very bad. Linden Lab could be given a stark choice: the instillation of expensive and clumsy upload filters that would certainly anger it's users due to content creation becoming far more difficult if it involves bringing textures and other things into the virtual world and the fees jacked up greatly to make up for Linden Lab's expenses, or block the IP addresses of the affected countries.

The next step for the bill is when it goes to the European Council. While it previously looked like it would pass there easily, "one of two countries responsible for the final wording of Article 13 (/ 17) ... Germany is having something of a change of heart, with their Minister of Justice publicly opposing the idea of upload filters. ... five other member states – the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, Italy, and Finland – have voiced public opposition to the Directive the vote. So should Germany, a key nation behind the legislation and of the EU, change its mind between now and April 9th, it would prevent a Council majority being reached." This would mean the bill would need to be renegotiated, and activists would have a chance to vote a number of legislators supporting it out of office.

As Inara Pey of Modem World put it, "while a significant battle against the EU Copyright Directive has been lost," the war's not over yet, but "it is going to be significantly harder to win."

Sources: The Verge, Modem World, BBC, CNet,

Image credit: Nydia Tungsten 

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: "Save Your Internet"

From Snowbuns (Skylark Lefavre). Looking up what this Chibi Noodle Dragon's tag meant, she cane across (https://saveyourinternet.eu/act/). Last September, I had written about the proposed European Union legislation that would mean crippling censorship for the Internet in the countries that passed it, and possibly those countries being blocked from Second Life. Seems the vote is today.

European Union Copyright Directive Threatens Virtual Worlds, Internet, With Mass-Censorship

By Bixyl Shuftan

Lately it seems the Internet has been under assault. With the end of Net Neutrality in the United States, some companies have already started throttling traffic. In August, Verizon was caught throttling the Internet connection of California firefighters while dealing with a huge wildfire. One digital rights spokesman spoke of the incident, “If Verizon was willing to do this to a fire department during the state’s largest wildfire, when public safety should have been paramount, it’s easy to imagine what they are willing to do to everyday consumers.”

But unfortunately, the worst seems yet to come, and not from the United States. The European Union recently approved  legislation that has been described as threatening to "break the Internet," As Cory Doctorow explained in "New World Notes" and an "Electronic Frontier Foundation" article. Two parts of the bill, Article 11 and Article 13, have gotten the most attention. Article 11 is the "link tax," which requires platforms such as Facebook and Google to "to pay news outlets for the privilege of linking or quoting articles." Wikipedia, which would be badly hurt by the legislation, called it a threat to "freedom of expression ... online." Gizmodo commented the legislation would, "make it all but impossible for Wikipedia and other non-profit educational sources to do their work because of their reliance on links, quotes, and citation."

Article 13 would mean bad news for Second Life and other virtual worlds that allow users to create content. They would require any platform or website "that allow users to post text, sounds, code, still or moving images," etc. will have to create "upload filters" to compare all uploaded content to a database of copyrighted works, "that will be compiled by allowing anyone to claim copyright on anything, uploading thousands of works at a time. Anything that appears to match the 'copyright database' is blocked on sight, and you have to beg the platform's human moderators to review your case to get your work reinstated."

That the owners of Second Life and other platforms that fall under this bill are headquartered outside the EU won't necessarily protect them, "The EU has treaties with most of the world that allow for civil judgments to be collected in some circumstances; it's likely that future trade-deals with the EU (like the recently completed EU-Canada trade deal) would require that trading partners allow EU companies to sue and collect judgments under the EU Copyright Directive. That means that even non-EU companies could be forced to comply with these rules." And if they got in trouble with the EU over copyright issues, "those companies would not be able to establish sales/support offices in the EU, their executives would face civil and possibly criminal sanctions if they visited the EU, and they would be at risk of losing their ability to receive payments from EU customers."

Developing such a content filter in the first place wouldn't be cheap. "Google spent $60 million developing the ContentID filter system that is only capable of analyzing audio-tracks of video." Something that would analyze everything from pictures to meshes to avatars would be considerably more expensive. It would certainly be beyond the ability of smaller virtual worlds such as the OpenSim grids to pay.

And how good would it be? Most likely it would err on the side of caution, and much content that resembled copyrighted material instead of matching it would also be blocked. A content creator who found his goods blocked would have to appeal to a human moderator, and if that failed, the only recourse might be a lawsuit. Complicating the issue further are "copyright trolls" As Doctorow explained, ""[T]his is a boon for griefers. Since the rule has no penalties for abuse, griefers could claim copyright over public domain works, works that others had created, etc, and block other players from using them -- you could upload every military insignia, the logo of a rival clan, etc."

The bill doesn't go into effect right away. It will go into closed-door meetings between EU and national government representatives, then next spring the language gets voted on, then the 28 member states' governments debate on their own versions of the bill, and there are court challenges. But companies like Second Life's Linden Lab face a stark choice, either pay huge sums of money for filters that will anger their users, or block IP addresses from European countries with such bills. As Second Life has thousands of European residents, this would be a very sad, and costly, move for the Lab.

Sources: The Guardian,SaveYourInternet, New World Notes, Gizmodo, Wikimedia, Electronic Freedom Foundation   

Bixyl Shuftan

Perri Prinz Talks About Her Livejournal Troubles, Facebook Suspension

Times have not been easy lately for Perri Prinz, one of the members of the Sunweaver community where the Newser makes it's home. She is best known as a writer, and one of the things a writer fears is having access to one's audience cut off. First Livejournal, the hosting service of her Spectral Shadows serialized science-fiction novel, demanded a huge amount of money from her to keep the illustrations on. Her response was to put her fiction writing on hold, and instead use her pen to non-fiction, writing commentaries about the Furry Fandom and society at large. But a few people didn't like what she had to say, and one day she found Facebook, where most of her audience was getting her stories, had shut down her account. The Newser recently met up with Perri, to talk about this de-facto censorship, and she had a few things to say about it. As it turns out, she may be writing soon again.

Read the story in People.

Marusame Arai Interviewed in Kotaku

Among those in the Sunweaver Estates, where the Second Life Newser's office makes it's home, is Marusame Arai. Between there and a few hangouts such as Luskwood, Marusame, or simply Maru to her friends, she's gotten a little attention through her cutsie mannerisms and her pinkish appearance, selling a few wares on Marketplace and appearing in an occasional cartoon.

More recently, Maru's made news by being interviewed by Kotaku, a video game newsblog. Besides her Second Life activities, she's a self-described "angry video game nerd" whom has a number of games on Steam. Among the things that makes her angry is the censorship of some video games, such as certain Japanese ones before being put on the US market. So she created a group on Steam: the "Cut-Content Police," which currently has over 970 members.

"I felt that knowing whether a game has been altered for censorship or is lacking features and or content should be transparent and it often isn’t." Maru told Kotaku, "Cut-Content to me is defined as content that was snipped out to appease something or someone AND is still being actively sold in its original form, that’s KEY." One can read the article, "The Steam Players Who Fight Against 'Censorship' " in full in Kotaku.

Most of her time Maru's appeared as a black Lusk "Wah," or red panda, dressed in pink with pink wings,  though more recently has gone about in a pinkish Kemono avatar. She's occasionally been called "The Pink Wonder." She also has her own "pink and fluffy" webpage at www.marusame.info.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Confederate Flag's Place in Real Life and Second Life

In recent days, the Confederate flag from the American Civil War has been in the news. In the wake of people demanding it be taken down from South Carolina's state capitol building, people have been calling for it's removal elsewhere, and it has been removed from sale in some stores. As it turns out, Confederate-themed items are available in Second Life, including for sale in Marketplace. Following a call by someone in SL media for Linden Lab to ban these items, I contacted someone in the Civil War Roleplay sim in Dakota to talk about the matter. She had a few things to say about it.

Read more in Extra.

"The Poultry Report" Second Life Blog Moving Due to New Blogspot Policy

Bay City residents are familiar with Uccello Poultry, or "Uccie" as she's commonly called. Besides being involved in local activities, such as her recent winning of the title "Miss Bay City," she also runs a blog about various things and doings, mostly about Second Life, "The Poultry Report." Adult content is part of her postings, such as the weekly "Topless Tuesday" posts. Unfortunately, such content is affected by a new policy of Blogspot, or Blogger, on which her blog runs. Starting March 23, all blogs that run under Blogspot that contain sexual content such as nude pictures or videos with bare breasts and sex organs or sexual activity will be listed as "private." This means they can been seen only by the blog's owner, or those with whom he or she has actively shared it with. This means that "The Poultry Report" would suddenly have a much smaller audience.

Rather than take down the "Topless Tuesday" and other nude pictures, Uccello made the decision to move her activity to a new location. Following her entry on Wednesday February 25, "The Poultry Report's" new posts will be at https://poultryreport.wordpress.com/.

Perhaps it is easier to objectify bare chests on women than it is on men and likely this will always be so. It is an erogenous zone, after all. And as much as I decry the inequality between men and women on this issue ... I can understand some of the reasoning behind Blogger's policy change. I can't help wonder, though, if Google/Blogger will crack down on violent images. Which is more harmful ... a picture of a woman's breast being caressed or one being carved at with a knife? Frequent exposure to anything will desensitize a person to the stimulus it provides. ...  Frankly, I'd rather see more breasts  ... Since my efforts with The Poultry Report have to been focus on Second Life I'll abstain from delving into the nanny state concept behind all of this. Perhaps I'll tackle it in the future if I can find an SL tie-in.

The Second Life Newser also uses blogspot as a platform, but as the publication has a "workplace safe" policy, Blogger's move will have no effect on who can view it. 

Hopefully, Uccie's blog will do well at it's new location.

Bixyl Shuftan

SOPA Proposal to Declare Unauthorized Streaming a Felony is Back

Some bad news for Second Life radio. About two years since originally being shot down with SOPA, a proposal to make a felony the streaming of copyrighted works without the expressed permission of those holding the copyright is back. According to the Huffington Post, last week the Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force revived the proposal (pdf link). "Such a provision" the Post stated, "if interpreted broadly could apply to people who upload covers of themselves performing songs to YouTube without permission."

The proposal was originally part of the proposed SOPA legislation two years ago, but the bill was soon shelved after much public protest.

Source: Huffington Post

Proposal for UN Agency to Control the Internet

It was almost a year ago in which the proposed SOPA bill threatened do away with the Internet as we know it, including places such as Youtube, Facebook, and Second Life. Today, there's something else that's gotten the attention of Internet advocates: a proposal turn control of the Internet to an agency of the UN.

The ITU, or International Telecommunication Union, is an agency of the United Nations dealing with information and communication technologies. At this time, there is an international meeting of delegates in the Persian Gulf Emirate of Dubai to discuss a plan that would hand the ITU control over the Internet. Currently the entity in charge of the Internet is ICANN which does so through an agreement with the US Government with "a mandate requiring that it operate in a bottom up, consensus driven, democratic manner). A leaked document suggested the delegates of some nations were pushing for a global Internet tax. While worrisome in itself, what got Internet freedom activists more worried was that the plan would allow nations full control of how the Internet operates within their country. For repressive nations, this would mean full power of censorship over online communications. Undemocratic countries such as Iran and China, which already censor websites their rulers don't like, would this time have the blessing of international law.

Vint Cerf, the Vice-President of Google, spoke out against the proposed regulations, "only governments have a vote. Some proposals coulees allow governments to justify the censorship of legitimate speech, or even cut off Internet access." Openness, he argued, was a founding principle of the Internet, "Our protocols were designed to make the networks of the Internet non-propietary and interoperable. … allowed for contributions from many sources. This openness is why the Interned creates so much value today."


Google has also launched a petition against the ITU proposals, "A free and open world depends on a free and open Internet." As of December 3rd, about one million had already signed, the results shown on an interactive map.  Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, has also acted against the ITU plan with a commentary calling for it's rejection, "Why is ITU Governance of the Internet a Bad Idea," and providing "a kit of tools and resources to support people in making their voices heard at the ITU."

The European Parliament has already rejected the plan for the UN agency to take control of the Internet.

To sign Google's petition, Click Here. 

For Mozilla's tool kit Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted: Say No to ACTA by Polish Gothic

I am writing to you due to the current signing ACTA document. I will try to explain it the best that I can with my English skills, I hope you will understand.

ACTA with it actual rules can be highly dangerous for freedom of citizens and for small companies all around the world. As it states, there won't be possibility to produce substitute parts for electronic supplies and planting seeds which are branded just imagine how big disaster can it bring for people and how many will loose their jobs.

As for censoring internet - this way of fighting with piracy is highly wrong. Researchers say that most of people actually buying artistic products as music, movies and so on are the ones who downloaded it from the net before. If they won't have the way to download files automatically sales will fall since we will not now what to buy. You should realize most of such things are over expensive for common citizens, so they will buy only things they like, if they don't know if they like, they won't buy.

If you want to fight with piracy make a way to lower the prices of software, music and all the staff which is downloaded from the net now - as there is carrot and whip method of controlling - you should first try to use the carrot, not the whip. using the whip right now will only cause bigger uproar.

Before voting for ACTA, consider a word from citizens and their rights.

Our residents from Polish Gothic made a protest against ACTA at 23-01-2012, you can watch movie from this protest on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmQk-6VhFP4




You can find more information on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=citzRjwk-sQ

and http://www.stopacta.info/

You can vote on ANTI-ACTA petition here: https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/just-say-no-to-acta

Thank you for hearing out a voice from ordinary citizen. Also I want to tell you from private, if there won't be net on the way it is now, I would not be able to write this message to you because most of my English skills along with knowledge comes from using tool called Internet.

Best regards,

Pandemonium Anton

Podex Exchange Plans ACTA Internet Censorship Protest

By now, most readers have heard about the SOPA and PITA bills in the US Congress. Their sponsors claiming the intent was to stop Internet piracy, the bills were badly written, and would have left the Internet subject to severe censorship. Fortunately what began as scattered protests online soon grew and became too much for the politicians to ignore. So the bills were shelved, at least for now.

Unfortunately, there is more trouble on the horizon, and not just for the United States. A number of countries, including the US, Canada, the European Community, Japan, and others. Described as a response "to the increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works," the agreement also takes aim at at the Internet. Although the entertainment and software industries were in on the negotiations, “citizens and public interest groups have been largely left out.” The agreement targets "legal safeguards that protect Internet Service Providers from liability for the actions of their subscribers," and the result would be severe compromises on Internet freedom, very much like what the SOPA and PIPA bills threaten to do with the United States.

Jacek Shuftan of the Podex Exchange decided to do something about ACTA by joining the protests against it, “I want to announce that Podex joins the international protest movement about government attepts to censor freedom of speech on the Internet.” Today, Monday January 23rd, several pages on the Podex site, plus his new secondmovie.com and second-bay.pl would go dark, replaced with a page denouncing the censorship, “Keep the Internet free!” After 24 hours, the pages would return to normal.

For more information, one can look up the Wikipedia entry on ACTA, as well as what the Electronic Freedom Foundation and Canada’s CIPPIC have too say. Plus there’s also youtubes on the issue, such as the one below, and another from “Anonymous.”



Sources: Wikipedia, Podex

Bixyl Shuftan

SOPA Down But Not Dead, PIPA Still Up in Senate, Internet Companies Protest

With the White House coming down against SOPA a few days ago, it was no surprise that the bill was finally shelved. While some have declared victory, “Ding-dong, SOPA’s dead,” others are more hesitant. As it turns out, SOPA’s co-founder Lamar Alexander plans to bring it back in February, "due to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks.” So the bill is still out there.

And it isn’t just SOPA people on the Internet are worried about. Like many other bills in the House, a similar bill was sent to the Senate, the “Protect IP Act” or PIPA. Considered just as big a threat to the Internet and Second Life, it is due for a vote in the Senate this January. Sponsored by Patrick Leahy, the bill is described as having bipartisan support among 40 Senators. Senator Ron Wyden has spoken out against the bill, as has the “Tea Party Patriots” organization.

For these reasons, a number of Internet companies, groups and individuals are protesting in a number of ways. Many, including Wikipedia, blacked out their websites in protest today. Others, including Google , blacked out their logo. Facebook remains up, but a number of people are replacing their profile picture and sometimes gallery images with images symbolizing censorship.

For US readers wanting to contact your legislators to oppose SOPA & PIPA, Click here.

Sources: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Wikipedia, Techdirt, Forbes, Dailytech

Bixyl Shuftan

SOPA on the Defensive, Opponents Plan Blackout Protests Jan 18th.

There’s been still more developments on the SOPA bill. More and more people have been speaking out on the issue. Some of the people haven’t really been known for computer issues before, such as the comic critic “That Guy With the Glasses.” Others are, such as the social media website Reddit by blacking out their site for 12 hours on Wednesday January 18th, some of the people having opinions on the matter short and to the point (image not safe for work). The games Firefall and Minecraft are also planning protests by shutting down their websites that day. Wikipedia “appears to be very close to announcing a blackout or something like it.” Google is supposedly planning some kind of protest other than a blackout.

As the protests mount, the backers of SOPA find themselves on uneasy ground. Senator Lamar Smith, the co-author of the bill, was found to be in violation of SOPA himself. An image on his website failed to give credit to it’s creator, “maybe I could petition the court to take action against texansforlamarsmith.com.” So perhaps it’’s no surprise the other co-author, Patrick Leahy, was willing to remove one segment of the bill.

Also, the White House seems to be finally tilting to the side of the SOPA opponents, at least on the surface. Whitehouse.gov made a lengthy statement, which stated “we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” However, it encouraged all sides involved to work together to pass “sound legislation.” Whether or not this “sound legislation” acceptable would be SOPA with just a piece or two removed or changed is unclear.

So what can Residents do? Click Here for information on how to contact you senators and Congressman on the matter.

Bixyl Shuftan

More on SOPA

Although no one bothered to leave a comment on my article on the SOPA bill in Congress earlier, people had chatted with me about it inworld. One thing that was brought up a few times was "why isn't this on TV/mainstream media?" Finally last night , I saw news briefs on it on CNN, as well as an article on their website when I checked. From what I heard on the TV brief, unlike most other issues in Congress, this isn't a partisan one. Support for the bill was described as roughly 50/50 Democrat and Republican, with at least two candidates for the Presidency (Ron Paul and Michael Bachman) coming out against it).

Time keeps me from writing a larger article, at least for the next few days. Feel free to read this post from Forbes, and this post from New World Notes, the latter concerning the conclusion from the Electronic Frontier Foundation this bill would "jeopardize" Second Life.

Bixyl Shuftan

Opinion: Will SOPA Wash Away the Internet (and Second Life)?

A youtube of a chubby bearded character has been going around a number of friends of mine. Despite his similar looks to left of center figure Michael Moore, this man’s cause is more Libertarian: the SOPA Bill in Congress.

The SOPA Bill in Congress, he charges, threatens to shut down the Internet as well know it by making people liable to a multimillion dollar lawsuit just for *linking* to a song or other material. Ironically enough, some of the top SOPA supporters he charges were distributors of some of the software tools used by downloaders, CBS/VIACOM, ABC/Disney, Microsoft, and others. The purpose: entrapment. He charges the distributors of conspiring to put a chokehold on the Internet in order to control entertainment markets by “taking down Youtube, Twitter, and all other websites and networks you use.”

He certainly sounds over the top and easy to dismiss. That he was previously noted only for his “Epic Fail Toys Funny Videos” doesn’t exactly help his cause. But the more I looked into SOPA, the less I liked.

SOPA is short for “Stop Online Piracy Act.” Checking Wikipedia, the bill would allow copyright holders to sue websites they accuse of “enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.” Actions they could take include Payment sites like Paypal from doing business with targeted websites, baring search engines from linking to them, and requiring Internet Service Providers to take them down. It also would make “unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime” punishable by five years in prison. Debate in the House will continue when Congress returns from winter recess.

Fortunately the “Epic Fail Toys” man isn’t the only one talking about SOPA. There was another video sent to me, made by “The Cynical Brit.” There was also an article on the Forbes website, “How SOPA Could Ruin My Life” by Paul Tassi, a writer, and a small business owner operating from his website, “a movie/tv/video game site that I started with a partner about three years ago.” SOPA, he feels, will cause him and others to close down. The bill, he fears, “reeks of Chinese and Iranian Internet policies that allow the government to simply censor the Internet the way they see fit ... their definition of what piracy is ends up including most of the Internet, including my own site, and the punishments for even minor infringements could be catastrophic and run me out of business completely.”

Also opposing it is David Ulevitvh, the head of the Internet business Open DNS. "The legislation has the potential to create the great firewall of America," he told a CNET reporter. The bill “is written so broadly that it will invite abuses,” and would be bad for businesses like his, which would have to reincorporate as offshore companies.

So why is this bill making any headway in Congress at all? Tassi claimed many of the Representatives who went over it in committee “admitted to not knowing how to use the internet. The consensus among them was merely ‘ piracy sounds bad, therefore we should pass this anti-piracy bill ‘ without any further investigation into its deeper implications. Implications that would in effect, destroy the entire idea behind the Internet.”

Ulevith himself went to Washington to talk with Congressmen. What he saw was not good news, "Everything they were hearing from people who came to their door every day is fervent support (for SOPA) ... There was nobody sitting on the other side of the table opposing it ...The amount of perspective and influence we have in DC is essentially non-existent. it's not serving us well anymore."

Amendments to the bill have been rejected, and Congress is set to debate it sometime “early next year.” How it will affect Second Life is unclear, though as the Grid has been targeted before for copyright infringement, some are predicting a chilling effect as radio streams and roleplay regions shut down out of fear of lawsuits. Among those expressing worry, Nydia Tungsten, whom worried she would have to give a certain announcement:

Because the US goverment has been bought by the recording industry, KVXN will be off the air until further notice. I am sorry to have to do this, but I don't want solders kicking in my doors because i am playing music for others to hear, so until we know how and where this is going....this is KVXN Signing off.....

“KVXN Shutting down forever is a REAL possibility, we need to let those fools in Washington know that WE know this is them lining their pockets again.”

Big Business can be beaten. This week, less than a day after Verizon Wireless announced a fee for paying their bills, a public outcry brought it down. Will this also be the case for SOPA, or will the United States join China in censoring the Internet? Tassi went on to write about a "VETO SOPA" Petition that got over 26,000 signatures in two days (as of when this article was written, it's over 44,000). He wasn't sure what the White House would say, but, "Until then, keep signing. It can’t hurt."

I can’t tell others what to do, but I have sent emails to my Congressman and Senators asking them to oppose this dirty SOPA.

Sources: Youtube, Wikipedia, Forbes, CNET

Bixyl Shuftan