266739
submission
akahige writes:
In hunting down the trailer for Clive Owen's new movie Shoot 'Em Up, I landed on the official website. There's a section of material that is unavailable to minors, however, instead of the usual remedial JS applet to calculate age based on an inputted birthdate, the studio is using a "fraud prevention" service with a Patriot Act-compliant database to crossreference your name and birthdate to the zip code on record with your government issued ID. So if you don't live in the US, or you're over 17 and don't have a driver's license or government issued ID, or maybe you just don't want to be tracked... you're SOL. Just because you wanted to watch a movie trailer. The movie looks like it could be really cool, but this kind of fascist corporate decision is enough to make me avoid anything with New Line's name on it. Anyone else seeing this sort of insidious behavior creeping into our everyday lives?
202037
submission
akahige writes:
Monsters & Critics (and other sites) are reporting that hackers used milw0rm exploits to penetrate Bloomsbury Publishing and obtain a digital copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a month before it is scheduled to hit bookstores. A hacker known as gabriel posted supposed spoilers to the Full Disclosure list. While the veracity of spoilers (or the breach itself) have not been acknowledged by the publishers, fans have expressed great disgust with the reports. Naturally, this raises serious concerns about network security and the fallibility of those both designing and using it — even moreso when the climax of a multi-billion dollar franchise is on the line.
147153
submission
akahige writes:
Variety reports that former MPAA chief Jack Valenti has died at the age of 85 after being discharged from Johns Hopkins yesterday following a stroke. Being one of the official trade publications of the entertainment industry, it's interesting to see how Valenti's achievements and lobbying are presented as "Jack vs. movie pirates, the internet, and China, on behalf of the poor defenseless studios" — as opposed to the myriad of stories that have been covered on /. over the years which portray him as a shill for big business with a complete lack of understanding of the technology involved. Perhaps now that he's gone, the MPAA can begin to edge out from under his shadow.
3106
submission
akahige writes:
Microsoft has ordered YouTube to remove a pair of faux training videos produced by, and starring, Ricky Gervais, the creator and star of The Office. Appearing at the British offices of Microsoft as Office boss, David Brent (now acting as a consultant), Gervais offers such pearls as "I don't think Bill Gates made his fortune by spending time in meetings with idiots. I bet no one watching this has ever spoken to him. It would be easier to talk to Osama bin Laden." and "Don't stick up for him just because he's the boss." According to the article: "Gervais and Stephen Merchant... agreed to make the films in 2003... on the condition that they were never made public. ... The idea was to show 'how not to do it'." Google Video has them here and here, and you can download them by plugging the links in here.
