Posted on January 13, 2012, Phil Hornshaw Gaming Community Joins SOPA Protests With Jan. 18 Blackouts
More and more game developers are joining the call to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act working its way through the U.S. House of Representatives. The latest to join the march is Red 5 Studios, the developer behind Firefall.
Large chunks of the Internet community are planning a day of protest on Jan. 18, including the Cheezburger network of websites and Reddit. As Massively reports, Red 5 joined the list of game developers against the bill (which includes Riot Games and Epic Games) when it announced today it’ll be shutting down the Firefall beta as part of protest actions.
The beta will be down for 24 hours, as will a big chunk of the Internet. Destructoid plans to shut down in protest, replacing its website with a static image detailing SOPA protest options, as do a number of other sites and YouTube channels. GOG.com has also thrown its support into the fight against SOPA, with a detailed post about where it stands.
Among other vocal opponents of SOPA like Al Gore — Markus “Notch Persson, the creator of Minecraft. He and his company, Mojang, oppose the bill, with Notch making a statement against it that basically called SOPA, and the powers of censorship it grants, insane.
“No sane person can be for SOPA,” he told PC Gamer. “I don’t know if we’re sane, but we are strongly, uncompromisingly against SOPA, and any similar laws. Sacrificing freedom of speech for the benefit of corporate profit is abominable and disgusting.”
With so much of the Internet blacking itself out on Jan. 18 in protest, there’s a great opportunity for American Internet users everywhere to do their parts. Educate yourself by reading the full bill here. Spend the day Thursday writing or calling your local congressional representatives and Senators and express your misgivings with SOPA and its Senate counterpart bill, the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
Visit AmericanCensorship.org for ways you can help stop SOPA and PIPA. You can also check out all our SOPA coverage up to now right here, and we’ll have (much) more next week.