|
Ladies and gentlemen of TL and the internet, we have a crisis on our hands. Currently bill S.978 is working its way through the US senate. If passed, streaming content of various forms of media such as video games will become a criminal offense. This could mean the death of many streams we know and love. The bill states that any stream where a video game is being showcased for a profit will require an official license in order to stream content. This means that players like Destiny (who does make over $2500 in stream revenue) will need to apply for the license, or any popular video game stream for that matter.
I direct you to an article written by David “UltraDavid” Graham to further enlighten you on the subject that will undoubtedly plague the streaming scene we know and love.
http://shoryuken.com/2011/06/29/trolling-the-stream-by-ultradavid/
Here is but a taste of the article:
According to the bill as it’s currently written, if you engage in “public performances by electronic means” 10 or more times over a 180 day period, and if either the total economic value of those performances exceeds $2500 or the cost of getting the copyright holder’s permission to perform exceeds $5000, then you can potentially get fined and put in jail for 5 years. Jail. FIVE YEARS. Just to hit you over the head with this, that means that if you stream a game like Street Fighter 4 or Starcraft 2 (or a movie or a song etc) only 10 or more times in a full half year, and if you make a bit of money doing it, you either need to have a license from Capcom or Blizzard etc or you risk going to jail.
God help us all. Especially Destiny.
Edit: The least we could do is sign this petition. TL is a pretty big community, maybe we could get our voice heard
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/ten_strikes?akid=700.450896.5hVZPC&rd=1&t=1
Edit #2:
Here is a another "Ultradavid" article for your perusal. He answers many of the common questions about bill S.978.
http://shoryuken.com/2011/06/30/tolling-the-stream-follow-up-ultradavid-responds/
|
Crap, close the thread. Another thread beat me to it : / However, I don't think the other threads paint this crisis in a better light than my thread >.>
I know the other thread was closed, but isn't destiny making a profit off of Starcraft 2? Therefore, this law applies to streamers like Destiny, and this bill deserves to be discussed.
I came out of retirement to close this.
(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
|
lol well i will say i like the op better!
|
|
blizz will just give permission.
|
On June 30 2011 17:45 Wesso wrote: blizz will just give permission. Indeed, updating OP with accurate information
|
blizz would have to give permission to many streamers, sounds harder to do than giving permission to gomtv and other tournament events
|
GSL has the rigth from Blizzard, not going to be shut down by a US law anytime soon since it's based in... South Korea.
Blizzard will almost certainly give somekind of permission to every streamer.
|
You can still stream, you just can't make money doing it any more. Which will mean no more douche bags typing /commercial after every game.
But still I hope this bill is stricken down, it will snowball into more censorship.
|
On June 30 2011 17:51 Glacies wrote: blizz would have to give permission to many streamers, sounds harder to do than giving permission to gomtv and other tournament events
Blizzard can simply make a public statement of policy on the matter.
The same doesn't apply to the music people stream while playing, however...
|
Wouldn't put it pass people like blizz to charge a licensing fee to streamers anything that puts another dollar in their pocket
|
Um....this isn't bad...I mean...unless you make money from streaming....
And even if you do profit.....you just go....and get a license right?
Why is this so terrible?
|
On June 30 2011 17:55 Irrelevant wrote: Wouldn't put it pass people like blizz to charge a licensing fee to streamers anything that puts another dollar in their pocket I would pay out of pocket for the streamers to pay the fee
|
On June 30 2011 17:54 Umpteen wrote:Show nested quote +On June 30 2011 17:51 Glacies wrote: blizz would have to give permission to many streamers, sounds harder to do than giving permission to gomtv and other tournament events Blizzard can simply make a public statement of policy on the matter. The same doesn't apply to the music people stream while playing, however... Hell, any greedy record company can call lawsuit now for even a small clip of a song being played over the internet. This bill is not good for the internet as a whole.
|
Permission means Money. Just like Tournaments and the successful casters on youtube. have to pay or give "credit" to blizzard if they're making off of it.
But mainly it punishes streamers, people who dont pay dividends to blizzard. Ultimately it probably just changes JTV's Busineness model.
Youtube had the same problem until Google bought it. now copyright videos are taken down and musicians have their "Vevo" in its place.
Pay to stream content or Govt shuts down your livestream.
you can probably still stream but you cant make money off it.
Random Assumption Example: Destiny or JTV pays blizzard whatever they want to allow Jtv site or Famous Stream to continue to earn money streaming sc2 or any other game that has a restrictive company.
Regulation - read enforce corporate nickel and dime.
|
On June 30 2011 17:57 Zergneedsfood wrote: Um....this isn't bad...I mean...unless you make money from streaming....
And even if you do profit.....you just go....and get a license right?
Why is this so terrible? Doesn't just have to be SC2. If any copyrighted music is streamed it could mean jail time Moreover, we don't know the technicalities to obtain this license. It could cost thousands of dollars for all we know. And most streamers make over 2500 dollars over the course of 180 days. All SC2 streamers with ad revenue will be effected.
|
On June 30 2011 18:00 EnderCraft wrote:Show nested quote +On June 30 2011 17:57 Zergneedsfood wrote: Um....this isn't bad...I mean...unless you make money from streaming....
And even if you do profit.....you just go....and get a license right?
Why is this so terrible? Doesn't just have to be SC2. If any copyrighted music is streamed it could mean jail time Moreover, we don't know the technicalities to obtain this license. It could cost thousands of dollars for all we know. And most streamers make over 2500 dollars over the course of 180 days. All SC2 streamers will be effected.
Aaahhh, I see.
But I mean....technically....streaming copyrighted music....sorta makes sense why it's illegal, especially if you make money...
And it doesn't make sense for a license to cost more than how much streamers are already making. But since it's the US government we're talking about....who knows.
I'm not against or for the bill because I haven't read too much into it....but it doesn't sound like it's going to kill streaming. :/
|
On June 30 2011 18:02 Zergneedsfood wrote:Show nested quote +On June 30 2011 18:00 EnderCraft wrote:On June 30 2011 17:57 Zergneedsfood wrote: Um....this isn't bad...I mean...unless you make money from streaming....
And even if you do profit.....you just go....and get a license right?
Why is this so terrible? Doesn't just have to be SC2. If any copyrighted music is streamed it could mean jail time Moreover, we don't know the technicalities to obtain this license. It could cost thousands of dollars for all we know. And most streamers make over 2500 dollars over the course of 180 days. All SC2 streamers will be effected. Aaahhh, I see. But I mean....technically....streaming copyrighted music....sorta makes sense why it's illegal, especially if you make money... And it doesn't make sense for a license to cost more than how much streamers are already making. But since it's the US government we're talking about....who knows. I'm not against or for the bill because I haven't read too much into it....but it doesn't sound like it's going to kill streaming. :/ Not GSL or MLG of course (I updated my OP to not include major tourney streams). However, it could kill many of the progamer streams that are often used to supplement their already small income.
|
If the corporations are allowed to decide on this matter, it will mean that they will control who is streaming. It is likely that they will only hand out licences to a few popular streamers or will just screw up.
edit: But I'm not sure, if I should care, any way. If they need to copyright their great story-line (lol), they should just do that.
|
when is this being voted on by the senate? I know that it is the next step just dont know when anyone got any info on the dates?
|
|
|
|