Capcom has issued an official statement confirming their support for the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, the controversial anti-piracy bill currently being debated by the US Congress.
As one of the Entertainment Software Association's 34 members, Capcom's position on SOPA had remained unclear. While the ESA has signed onto a list of official supporters — provided here by the House Judiciary Committee — the organization's diverse nature makes it hard to gauge the opinions of individual members. Microsoft, for instance, has opposed SOPA in spite of their involvement with the ESA, and it's reasonable to assume that they're not the only ones.
As we now know, however, that batch of silent dissenters doesn't include Capcom. In response to an inquiry from Digital Trends, a spokeswoman for the company has made it unequivocally clear that they back the ESA's stance on the issue. "The ESA represents us on these matters," her statement read.
SOPA has garnered widespread opposition from Internet users, who fear that many of the bill's proposed anti-piracy measures, which include the mandatory censorship of search results and the removal of any sites that distribute copyrighted content, are too far-reaching. In effect, websites would be held legally accountable for the content their users submit, making the operation of media services like YouTube, file sharing sites like MegaUpload, and even social networks like Reddit a serious liability. Moreover, many in the opposition feel that SOPA would be subject to rampant abuse from copyright holders, as it offers little due process to those subject to false claims.
It's disheartening to see Capcom come out in support of SOPA, especially given their status as a prominent game publisher and developer. Frankly, it's absurd to think the company would support such a brutish, inexact piece of legislation when they reap the benefits of toothless copyright infringement every day.
The hundreds of news sites and forums that repost trailers and screenshots of Capcom games for their readers to see? That's free advertising, but it's also copyright infringement. Competitive gaming events that broadcast over streaming sites like Twitch.tv? Those are most certainly infringing on copyrights, but they're also one of the primary reasons the Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom games have managed to become staples of the competitive scene.
You might argue that Capcom has no plans to take action against these types of infringement, but given the extraordinarily broad nature of SOPA, that's of little to no consequence. If enough companies do choose to utilize the law in the spirit it was written, sites that provide access user-generated content would quickly become a thing of the past, and companies like Capcom would suffer all the same.
If you're unfamiliar with SOPA or confused as to how it might affect you, our own Ian Miles Cheong wrote up an insightful look into what the bill means for gamers.
