Proposed Bill Upgrades Unauthorized Streaming to a Felony

It was reported by SRK last week that a new bill put forth by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Cornyn (R-TX) that would upgrade unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content to a felony. Specifically, the technical term is "public performance" which streaming would fall under. Previously, this was not considered a felony. The bill is gaining support from both sides of the aisle.

I actually wasn't going to comment on this, as I am far from fully understanding this, but one of my readers suggested I do. Ask, and thou shall receive!

What does this mean for the fighting game scene? Streaming has become a huge part of the community. There's always a stream you can watch out there, be it featuring top level pros or a humble local tournament somewhere. This bill will not affect the major stream runners like Team Sp00ky and LevelUp. These streams will easily obtain licenses in order to keep things on the straight and narrow. But what of the local streamer? Before you say that nothing will happen, think again. Over the last couple of years, YouTube has infracted and all-out closed accounts of "Let's Players"-- users who record themselves playing through video games, because technically they are recording copyrighted  intellectual property and sharing it. While no legal action has ever been taken as far as I know in this regard, I wouldn't underestimate the capability of our government to inhibit this sort of content.

I imagine these smaller streams will fall into an ambiguous gray area that will be difficult to enforce due to the wording of the bill as it is right now. Remember, fighting game companies are very involved with the community and are more than aware that this goes on. It would be up to the companies to enforce the law on their own behalf and I can't imagine them cracking down on the humble tournament streamer.

The thing I mostly take from this is that this is just another instance of how Capitol Hill still has no idea what they get themselves into when it comes to online content. What seems like a good natured bill in their heads, looks extremely dubious in ours. It'll be interested to see how it all plays out if and when the bill is passed and becomes law.