User blog:Trellar/Riot Takes a Stand Against SOPA

Hey all!

Allow me to take my staff hat off for a moment and speak as a member of the League of Legeneds community. In case you missed it, a post went up over on Riot's site with a call to action to stop SOPA/PIPA. While I'm not normally one to get involved with policits, it's important to call attention to this issue as if this passes it will not only take down the entire Wikia Network but will also greatly effect League of Legends. Here's a few highlights from their post:

What is SOPA?

Called the "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA) in the House of Representatives and the "PROTECT IP Act" (PIPA) in the Senate, these bills are a misguided attempt to curb the illegal piracy of copyrighted content (like movies, music and games). Preventing piracy of copyrighted content is a laudable goal, and Riot supports legitimate efforts to combat these activities and protect content creators (like us).

How would SOPA/PIPA impact League of Legends players?


 * Kills streaming. If any single streamer plays copyrighted music (or alt tabs into a movie or other owned content) on their stream, there is a significant risk of the entire streaming service being taken down. In some cases, it could even result in criminal penalties for the streamer.
 * Threatens independent content creation. Services we all use to create and share League of Legends related content, such as YouTube, Reddit, DeviantArt, streaming websites such as Own3d and Twitch, and more would be at risk of shutting down or greatly restricting the scope of legitimate content allowed on their sites.
 * Attacks our community. Aspects of our service such as the official forums and potentially even in-game chat, could be taken down or have their features reduced based on user behavior.
 * Other harmful effects. SOPA/PIPA undermine established intellectual property legislation like the DMCA, raise serious constitutional free speech issues, and could even compromise the basic security infrastructure of the internet.

In addition, their Attorney is doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) over at Reddit today on their stance on SOPA. Feel free to shoot him your questions!

What you can do!

Check out Stop American Censorship or write to your congressperson and voice your opposition.