Off-Topic: New SOPA?

So, this could be a thing.

Some excerpts (edited for grammar):

 "Recently it was brought to my attention TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) just passed."

 "We are being targeted by a new law that will be introduced. This new law states 'Any reproduction, remastering, modification, alteration, reselling, and/or manipulation of an original copyrighted item will not be infringed on, or will be punishable by jail time, and/or a fine of up to a $100,000, and/or be sued by the copyright holder.' "


 "[This new law] basically [states] if you cosplay, make fan art, fan story’s, doujins, or make props from any show or movie you are infringing on this new copyright law and could be arrested, fined , and sued. He also stated that only a few selected individuals will be allowed to cosplay but will have to be given a license to cosplay only with permission from the copyright holder."

 "What this means for cosplayers is that you will no longer be allowed to cosplay in public settings unless you have a license from the copyright holder. This license would cost anywhere between a hundred to a couple grand, depending on the greediness of the company that is holding the copyright."

 "[The] conventions we all love will be hit harder by these new laws. In a convention setting only licensed individuals, licensed companies and the copyright holders will be allowed to sell merchandise."

 "This also will stop reselling items on ebay and other sites because you are reselling a copyrighted item and are infringing on the new copyright laws."

 "[This law] will also make it impossible to review an item without the written consent of the copyright holder."

 "[Even] with the consent of the copyright holder if the review is in a negative light of the product being reviewed, the copyright holder can remove the story from your site without warning and sue you for bad publicity. If you were to review a product without the written consent; the copyright holder could seize your website and url without warning until an arrangement could be made to remove the reviewed item from your blog/page."

 "If this law passes Twitch and YouTube users will no longer be allowed to stream or post videos of them playing a game."

"Right now our copyright laws state a 'fair use act' which does not criminalize us from making fan art, cosplay, fan story’s, and props from some of our favorite shows, movies and animes."

 "Brunei, Chile, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the United States, and Vietnam are [all members] of the TPP."


 It's a bit alarmist, but if it's true, we could have a multi-national, pan-media SOPA on our hands. Nobody wants that, right?



 I'm sorry for the lack of passion about this. My weekend was long, and I'm worn out.

 See you next week.


 God bless.