Will S.O.P.A. (Stop Online Piracy Act) affect RAthena?

[Mirage]

I don't know where you would technically say where RAthena is based but, here in the US, there is a bill in play known as S.O.P.A.

Pretty much stopping infringement and other things that are "wrong" in nature according to various entertainment venues - Recently learned

that gaming is in the entertainment category and not its own. But, will RAthena be affect by this bill IF it passes? For those who know about it.

PS:

I don't know if is ok to post this in the general area, it just is a big deal to RAthena and other private open-source emulators.

If it should be in off topic, my apologies.

[Mirage]

So essentially in order to void this fully shutting us down. We would have to pretty much make our own game, ie: .exe's, maps, sprites,, story and all of the above. Correct? IF this bill passes.

[rayn]

No.

If Governments (capital G) really cared to shut down eAthena/rAthena/3CeAM/ReAM/other acronyms, they would have already done so on the grounds of violating the Berne Convention.

S.O.P.A, in practice, will make no difference.

[Aurora]

This topic has been debated since before I can remember, and I really just have one thing to say:

Ragnarok emulators have already been tracked and hunted down by Gravity. Gravity proceeded with suing, and lost due to fraudulent evidence against the providers of the emulators. Their case was that their content was stolen. Losing this case means that it cannot be brought to court again thanks to Double Jeopardy. Essentially, this means the same thing for any anti-piracy bill thrown into motion. All this bill provides is an even more stable ground for those with copyrighted content to pursue others who've stolen it. As Gravity has already been unable to prevent the growth of emulators, this bill will then inadvertently have no affect on eAthena, rAthena or any private servers running them.

[Olrox]

This topic has been debated since before I can remember, and I really just have one thing to say:

Ragnarok emulators have already been tracked and hunted down by Gravity. Gravity proceeded with suing, and lost due to fraudulent evidence against the providers of the emulators. Their case was that their content was stolen. Losing this case means that it cannot be brought to court again thanks to Double Jeopardy. Essentially, this means the same thing for any anti-piracy bill thrown into motion. All this bill provides is an even more stable ground for those with copyrighted content to pursue others who've stolen it. As Gravity has already been unable to prevent the growth of emulators, this bill will then inadvertently have no affect on eAthena, rAthena or any private servers running them.

PERIOD!

[Mirage]

This is good to know.. Thanks guys for letting me know.

Tis very importante ~

[sketchyphoenix]

That's not how double jeopardy works~

[Z3R0]

Actually COULD they go after us?

If you think about it, they went after eAthena and lost, our code is a direct relation to eAthena (and thus, should still fall under eAthena)

[Mirage]

o: Does it matter though?

[gfxmrmark]

i believe private servers will never die that's all

[Wolfeh]

i believe private servers will never die that's all

Yes. Even if I have my server illegally, I'm still gonna have it, just like I have my "shareware". <3 It amazes me how they're trying to do all sorts of stuff this year though. Kill the wolves, stop dog breeding (though not necessarily, the laws being passed so far are reasonable, such as 50 breeding dogs is more than enough, space and adequate food and water is a no brainer, but they've been pushing it in certain areas to make it nearly impossible, unfortunately I can't remember what exactly it was that was totally ridiculous, but I know it was, I liked that they wanted to ban tail cropping and removing of dew claws at home (quite frankly it needs to be period), but they had other ridiculous stuff hidden with it, and I also know in some Oregon counties they want them to be outside 24/7, if I remember correctly, and I will NOT let my puppies freeze to death in the desert thank you very much, though I do plan to have a puppy building outside with heating and cooling, but that will take time, the law does not give you it, and again if I remember correctly, it seemed to me that the shelter that would fit under the law would not at all be adequate for puppies), have horse slaughter in the US legal, etc. etc. They're crawling on their bellies through the barb wire, but that is a whole 'nother story. But I think there are too many people backing piracy that such a bill wouldn't pass, but then again there were a lot of people against the other bills they passed, but I think piracy still has more. Who knows.

Edited December 16, 2011 by Wolfeh