You made your stupid patent bed, now you must slumber stupidly in it.

Oh I'm not disagreeing that publishers will engage in this. They absolutely will. But just like today, it's up to the consumer to find out if the game they're looking to buy used has this crap in it, and vote with their wallet.

So? The PC "allows" always-online DRM because it "allows" publishers to do whatever they want. The PS4 is no different in that regard. I'd rather have an open platform and simple vote with my wallet not to buy games that have that crap.

I can't speak to the optical digital audio issue, because I use analog RCA stereo audio and have no issues with that. As to needing to power-cycle the unit, maybe there's a newer firmware that my unit was loaded with, but I have never had this issue myself. I actually run all my consoles through a component AV switch that goes into the PVR and into a single component input on the TV, so I can record any console by changing the switch. The unit is on all the time (just not recording) and if it crapped out regularly, I would lose my signal while playing normally. This doesn't happen though.

I second the Hauppauge HD PVR as pretty awesome as a PVR. I use it to record gameplay videos, and it also works under Linux, although not officially supported. The Mythbuntu FAQ I believe has a good entry on using it. It worked with no extra steps just plugging it in under my Ubuntu install.

Also, let's not forget the "non-ARM systems" part. The fact that they're locking down anything sours me on the whole secure boot BS.

Correction: The number of good games (series) using the Kinect is one. The Dance Central series is hands down the best use of the Kinect as a peripheral to create a game that literally could not be done any other way. The problem is the same as most games on the Wii. Most developers use motion controls as a substitution for pushing buttons instead of starting with the concept that you can do things based on movement and designing a game solely working off that basis.

But you have to wonder how much good will, especially in the Internet age, said paper would receive if they then publicized the fact that the local car dealers were trying to strongarm them. That right there might give them a nice boost in readership, which means the other companies advertising in their paper get more eyeballs. I think community and (digital) word of mouth are the new advertising currency.

Very true. So basically this again.

Sure, until Coca-Cola is more powerful and influential than the DoD. Which might not be as far off as you think.

Well then we just have to get the word out that if this starts happening, you don't settle. You're far more likely to have the amount reduced to a reasonable level. I know I for one will be hounding the ministries responsible for this bill about intervening if this shit starts going down.

"Slimeballs" like Kim Dotcom are the only ones who can drag these people into the limelight. Like it or not, your rights are defined by the precedent set in cases involving duplicitous people. It's easy to say "Oh well he's obviously guilty, so in this case it's okay to violate his rights to get the correct result." Problem is, that is one slippery-ass slope you're heading down.

Also, the copyright bill recently passed, though it has terrible digital lock provisions, does actually differentiate between commercial and non-commercial infringement and caps the latter at $5000 for all infringement up to the point the lawsuit was filed. Also also, that section of the bill contains explicit instructions to judges for considering statutory damage amounts to take into account the nature of the infringement and how widely it was used, and they can drop it as low as $100. That's not even worth the costs of filing the suit. This severely limits the likelihood that people will cop to settlements for thousands of dollars to avoid a trial. There are some silver linings.

Wrong. It's $5000 for all infringement up to the point the lawsuit is filed. At the very least, there won't be any Canadian Joel Tenenbaums. It will be far less worthwhile to actually pursue these cases here.

It's important to note that the cap of $5000 is for all infringement up to the point the lawsuit is filed. Not $5000 per infringement. And even then, the new bill C-11 contains instructions to judges on determining statutory damages to consider the personal nature of the infringement and how much it actually damaged the plaintiff. That $5000 judgment could go all the way down to $100. You won't be seeing any "$2 million for downloading two dozen songs" bullshit, so that's something.