Sony, Nintendo and EA no longer support SOPA

PSX-Sense writes "Shortly after the threats made by anonymous the news comes out that Sony backed down from SOPA. They are not the only company that have themselves removed from the list, also Nintendo and Electronic Arts no longer support the act."

[Optical_Matrix]

As if we needed even more fuel for 4Chan's/Anonymous' ever growing E-Peens.

[JD_Shadow]

So...you want to sacrifice internet freedom just because you want to play the age old game of "I'm against anything they're for"?

Nice!

[Christopher]

@darkpower: At no point in Optical_Matrix' comment did he show any support for SOPA. None whatsoever.

If I say I hate rapists, does that mean I like thieves? No. I can hate two groups and think they are both wrong.

[Eamon]

Well anonymous isn't wrong for being anti-SOPA.

If you care about your freedoms, then you HAVE to be against it. To disable websites without a court order.

Next thing you know, people will become detained without going through due process.. oh wait, isn't that already starting in US?

[D3mons0ul]

I also hate 4chan and SOPA equally.

Each board that I have browsed has got to contain THE WORST possible community for it...on the internet and I will swear by that statement.

The video game board is actually more like the ANTI-video game board just as the anime board is pretty much the ANTI-anime board. 4chan is basically the anti-everything still good in this god damned world if I had to sum it up.

At least on those two boards. I won't comment on the others; I shouldn't even be talking about that hive of scum and well, villainy would be a term of endearment so I'm not gonna use that. I'll just call it a hive of scum. Like brownish green shit dripping off the walls and the smell of ass throughout every corridor. Hell, maybe a Wino threw up in there and nobody bothered to clean it up too.

[NYC_Gamer]

i am happy they no longer support this bull shit ass bill

[Cosmit]

I'm glad they stopped supporting this crap bill!

[DonaldBeck]

oh happy day

[SilentNegotiator]

SOPA would have given them major power over deciding what is "theirs" and get sites shutdown and people jailed. I'm glad this corporation-humping bill is losing major support as the new year approaches. Hopefully a new year really will mean turning over a new leaf.

[MasterCornholio]

Jeez its been a while since we heard from those freaks who love copying V.

[Commander_TK]

U mean Guy Fawkes.

[Bundi]

Wait wait wait, Anonymous threatened them and they actually backed off? Loooool!!
Do people still think they have no power?? Wonder if the people that were supporting SOPA (just because SONY were) still feel the same way.
Watch as the entire N4G rallies against SOPA now that SONY are no longer for it. You cannot spell hypocrisy without N4G. . .wait that doesn't make sense.

[Christopher]

If I fire a gun into the air and a murderer ten thousand miles away turns himself in, he must have done it because of what I did.

[KingSlayer]

Did you hear the whooshing sound over Bundi's head? I did.

[Bundi]

Yeah, it must be a coincidence right?? No way SONY are afraid of the people that may have led to them being offline for close to a month, no you're right. It's just a coincidence that those 3 companies backed off without explanation after Anonymous threatened them.
What was I thinking? Putting 2 and 2 together like that??

[Christopher]

Hey, Bundi.

First, Anon didn't threaten all of them.

Second, you know what else has been happening for the last two weeks that would be more effective in getting them to change their mind? Consumer opinion and threats to not buy their items.

It's a leap of logic to assume that this change came about because of an Anon video when there have been weeks of customer upheaval on the topic as a whole, let alone in response to any previous stance each company may have had on the topic.

What you're doing isn't adding 1+1, but adding A + Q and thinking that equals Z without realizing the many other letters of the alphabet that may or may not have an effect on the equation.

[JD_Shadow]

You have to see, though, that there's a sense that people support things just because a certain entity that they admire does, and will follow whatever that certain entity does and will change their thoughts according to what that entity does.

He isn't talking about if Anon made people do it or not. He's talking about how the people of N4G will do that epidemic I just described. People were supportive of SOPA because an entity they liked was also for it, without doing any digging or research into what exactly SOPA even was, or why Sony would even want it (and before anyone rages that I'm picking on Sony, I'm only saying Sony because someone else brought them up). And he's predicting that now that Sony changed their stance, so will others on this site, again without any other rhyme, reason, or knowledge as to why they are or would be.

In other words, they just support things without knowing what they actually support. Not sure if there's a smart-ass, dictionary-esque term for that, but I've seen it exist on this site.

You're a N4G mod. I bet you've seen it happen a lot of times about things like this this year!

[Christopher]

@darkpower: I have no clue how you are reading his comment, but please reread his first two sentences (pasted below for ya):

"Wait wait wait, Anonymous threatened them and they actually backed off? Loooool!!
Do people still think they have no power?? "

His follow up statements were secondary and unnecessary since no one here has blindly shown support of SOPA solely because Sony supported them.

[Eamon]

They removed their names of the list of supporters because it's become bad PR. Especially since Sony's reputation became tarnished after the hacking scandal, Sony doesn't need or want any more bad PR stunts.

[NYC_Gamer]

i have never supported that bull shit ass bill.and was upset that certain companies pledged their support to that piece of garbage.can't speak for the rest of the n4g members though.

[Godmars290]

Think it has more to do with the general public reaction to SOPA, then Sony's stance being made public.

Not that such stopped them from taking the security measures they did with the PSV.

[Hufandpuf]

Nobody was for the SOPA bill to begin with.

[D3mons0ul]

I guess you didn't read that it wasn't even SCE or any of their divisions that handle gaming.

It was their music side.

SONY =/= SCE automatically

Not everything Sony is gaming related and you are just making shit up with your last statement. That's preposterous. Nobody supports the bill in the first place.

[NeloAnjelo]

Do you even know what the bill is about Bundi? Oh I didn't think so.

[Lord_Sloth]

Of course. This has absolutely nothing to do with the fanbase that keeps them in business being against the SOPA.

[3GenGames]

Whoever does support this bill needs punched many times in the face until they become more educated about how this whole "internet" thing works. The internet is a free tool for sharing data, copyrighted or not. You try to change that and you make it useless for everybody.

[Megaton]

There are many reasons why these companies may have backed off. GoDaddy has been receiving a very public backlash over their support.

[Slyfamous]

I hate google translate, can someone please explain to me what the hell I was reading?

[nightmarex121]

Good thing

[Intentions]

Anonymous - "since they aren't supporting SOPA anymore might as well hack them anyway, since we already said that we were"

We are retards.
We are no life's.
We live in our mums basements.
We ruin peoples lives.

Me: "LEAVE THEM ALONE YOU F***TARDS, GO TAKE YOUR POTENTIAL TO A BETTER PLACE, maybe like a JOB?"

note; this is all made up.

[tachy0n]

u forgot to add this.

[user858621]

HAHA nice, anonymous ftw!

[radphil]

Um...Anon has nothing to do with this move.

If they did, then explain why Nintendo and EA backed off, NOR for the fact that Anon ONLY threatened Sony?

They backed out because of how horribly vague the bill is, and the fact that even they can be victims to it.

[Pikajew]

When I go on thepiratebay.com it says we shouldn't support SOPA :)

[SnakeCQC]

wow is this a digital revolution? and are the 1% listening?

[Ddouble]

Why didn't Anon threaten EA and Nintendo as well?

[GraveLord]

Maybe they're Nintendo fanboys?

[JAMurida]

PR stunt?

[refocusedman]

Sony backed off because of their bottom line. Last time I checked godaddy is still hemmoraging money because they supported this bill.

[Snakester95]

Good but bad article. Entertainment Software Association(ESA) which all three are part of still supports SOPA. Also, music parts of Sony still support SOPA.

[Dante112]

@ Snake

Microsoft is part of the ESA as well (though their stance isn't clear). Should they be hacked by just association alone as well?

[Snakester95]

Didn't say anyone deserves to be hacked. I'm stating the currently stance of the companies, not stating anything having to do with anonymous.

[FlareDReborn]

Doesn't say anything about Microsoft not supporting it. Ok Anon attack them.. Hmpt always attacking sony. Just speaking my mine im prepared for multiple dislikes but ._."

[Lord_Sloth]

Anon isn't in the right when it comes to attacking a business which employs people! If they want to attack something they should attack terrorist sites like they've done before, and NOT a legal corporation because Anon disagrees with something somebody said on a blog somewhere.

[urwifeminder]

Microsoft never supported the bill from day one so it was never a target i still think they will hit sony just cause they can.

[PirateThom]

Microsoft are a member of the Business Software Alliance which did support the bill.

BSA, if you don't know, is a group representing some of the biggest software manufacturers in the world and includes the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Intel, Symantec and McAfee... the only company that left over support of the bill was Kaspersky Lab.

So, even if they were never actively supporting it as a company, a group they are pretty prolific in were. Keeps them out of the crosshairs, doesn't mean they didn't support it.

[ZippyZapper]

Looks like Anon scared the crap out of em

[Kthalas]

I need to find this bill and try to read it for myself before I leap to any conclusions about what is or isn't hinted at. I've only seen small bits that are tossed about and bandied as if it was the only aspect to the whole of the bill.

Sony, Microsoft, EA, Nintendo etc should have the right to support things that protect their interests, but not if it violates actual freedom of speech. Contrary to the belief of the hacking community that does not include hacked games, movies or anything else they want to get for free instead of paying for it.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for that. /shrug/ Regardless, I need to look up that bill sometime soon and see what it actually says. The unfortunate part to that is I could read it one way and those in power could read (and argue) it the other way, in the process shafting a lot of innocent people that don't support piracy.

Anyway I wish Anon would go away. I don't need them trying to claim they speak for me, or anyone else for that matter. I don't need them protecting me by committing cyber terrorism either. That's like hiring rabid jihadists to watch my home.

[FragMnTagM]

It is pretty simple really. It is like the Patriot Act for the internet. Free speech is completely tossed out. If you even link to sites that has copyrighted material your site can get banned. If you post a family reunion video on Youtube, with music playing in the background, you can get sued.

The bill is so broad that virtually everyone is a target. Basically, give us money or we will sue or ban you.

It is one of the worst things that could ever happen to the internet besides shutting it down.

[r21]

im pretty sure even with this news out, they're gonna straight away continue the attack on sony, strangely to them, the only game company that used to support SOPA.
im all against SOPA but why dont Anonymous just attack the people who started SOPA in the first place?

[SteveSmith]

It's good for all parties involved. No SOPA crap to restrict the freedom of people on the internet, and no PSN outage to prevent me to play my PS3 online. Everyone wins!

[StayStatic]

"Shortly after the threats made by anonymous the news comes out that Sony backed down from SOPA."

For the greater good , that bill is bullshit.

[NeloAnjelo]

Screw anything Anonymous related. They probably still will attack Sony...

Didn't they make all these threats, and when it happened claimed it wasn't them? Then claimed that it was? That's some credibility right there for the nameless and faceless group who only has our interest at heart, no? But what about the developers and people who earn a living in the industry that pirates crap all over? I guess they don't matter.

Anyways... as for the bill itself there were a lot of things wrong to begin with. That part of the news I don't mind reading.

[tiffac008]

I have no doubt they would, seeing that Anon needs some good PR stunt of their own after being unsuccessful with their AntiSec ops they need some media attention and Sony seems to be the prime target for them.

As for Sony, Ninty, EA, Microsoft, Apple and the rest. Even if they pull their names off SOPA they are still part of other associations like the BSA (Business Software Alliance) and/or ESA (Entertainment Software Association). So essentially they really haven't backed off their full support on the bill.

In my opinion SOPA isn't a solution, it may cause more harm than good because its too broad of a bill, anything can happen. People are not naive not to understand where these companies are coming from but honest people, especially the ones who support the respective industries should not be the ones to suffer because of this bill.

[wolfofashes]

SOPA=Worst fu**ing thing ever. You all can be pretty sure that all big record labels,and copyright owners and such support SOPA even if their names are not on the list.
Nintendo hates indies according to Reggie himself,so let's be realistic here and do the math if they support SOPA or not.
PS:Sopa in brazilian portuguese means soup =D

[danielle007]

Technically, they still support it. They are part of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), and the ESA currently supports SOPA.

They were just also supporting it independently. Now they only support it along with the group they're a part of.

Evil stuff.