The Electronic Software Association has openly declared their support for the Stop Online Piracy Act. It's a very bold move after both Sony and Nintendo dropped out of supporting the bill that would ultimately give the U.S. government power to shutdown or block any website suspected of copyright infringement.
According to Game Industry, the ESA feels the need to do something and that something includes supporting one of the most controversial bills proposed in the software and media entertainment industry. The ESA released a statement on the matter, saying...
"As an industry of innovators and creators, we understand the importance of both technological innovation and content protection, and do not believe the two are mutually exclusive,""Rogue websites - those singularly devoted to profiting from their blatant illegal piracy - restrict demand for legitimate video game products and services, thereby costing jobs.""Our industry needs effective remedies to address this specific problem, and we support the House and Senate proposals to achieve this objective. We are mindful of concerns raised about a negative impact on innovation. We look forward to working with the House and Senate, and all interested parties, to find the right balance and define useful remedies to combat wilful wrongdoers that do not impede lawful product and business model innovation."
What on Earth does "technological innovation" and "content protection" have to do with being mutually exclusive? That's like saying human safety and terrorism are not mutually exclusive. No duh. That statement alone shows just how ignorant the ESA is, considering that they're automatically lumping potential profit benefits with the shutting down of websites like Pirate Bay or Fenopy. In reality, cutting out pirates does not equate to a rise in consumer sales and it never will.
The one thing a lot of greedy arse-hats can't seem to get through their minds is that if someone goes through the length and trouble of purposefully pirating a game, whether it be for console or PC or a mobile device, 100% of the time they weren't planning on buying the game to begin with, otherwise they would have downloaded a demo, tried out a free trial, participated in the beta, etc., etc., etc.
Many bloggers and indie devs are already standing up in arms against the Electronic Software Association's pledge of support for SOPA, including Serious Sam's Nathan Fouts, and Destructoid's Jim Sterling.
The real question is what will Anonymous have to say about this and will they respond? Especially considering that they seemed oh-so-adamant about threatening Sony for supporting SOPA not too long ago. I'm not for hackers and all that but if they're supposed to represent the people one would assume they would have something to say about a large organization such as the ESA stepping in to support SOPA, right?
