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The Media

Comcast Seeking Control of Both Pipes and Content? 241

Posted by timothy from the some-of-each-perhaps dept.
techmuse writes "Reuters reports that Comcast may be attempting to use its huge cash reserves to purchase a large media content provider, such as Disney, Viacom, or Time Warner. This would result in Comcast controlling both the delivery mechanism for content, and the content itself. Potentially, it could limit access to content it owns to subscribers to its own services, thus shutting out competing services (where they still exist at all)."
Businesses

Financial Issues May Force Changes On Games Industry 246

Posted by Soulskill from the go-go-gadget-indies dept.
krou writes "According to comments made at the Edinburgh Interactive conference, operating costs of making games are spiraling upwards, and there has been 'significant disruption' to the games industry's business model. Games are getting much bigger and taking longer to develop, the console market is fragmented, and the cost of licensing intellectual property has gone up. All of this, says Edward Williams from BMO Capital Markets, means that 'For Western publishers, profitability hasn't grown at all in the past few years and that's before we take 2009 into account.' Recent figures suggest game sales have fallen 29% over the last 12 months. While westerners still relied on putting games on DVDs and selling them through retail channels, 'Chinese developers focused primarily on the PC market and used direct download, rather than retail stores, to get games to consumers,' and the lack of console users 'meant developers there did not have to pay royalties to console makers.' Peter Moore of EA Sports said that significant changes will come in the future, particularly in electronic purchasing of games."
Government

DoJ Defends $1.92 Million RIAA Verdict 386

Posted by Soulskill from the yes-it's-totally-reasonable dept.
Death Metal points out a CNet report saying that the Justice Department has come out in favor of the $1.92 million verdict awarded to the RIAA in the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case. Their support came in the form of a legal brief filed on Friday, which notes, "Congress took into account the need to deter the millions of users of new media from infringing copyrights in an environment where many violators believe that they will go unnoticed." It also says, "The Copyright Act's statutory damages provision serves both to compensate and deter. Congress established a scheme to allow copyright holders to elect to receive statutory damages for copyright infringement instead of actual damages and profits because of the difficulty of calculating and proving actual damages."
The Internet

Australian ISPs Soon To Become Copyright Cops 183

Posted by timothy from the classic-multitasking dept.
srjh writes "In the Australian Federal Government's latest assault on the internet, draft legislation has been released that allows network operators to intercept communications to ensure that their networks are being 'appropriately used.' Such legislation is particularly important given the interference of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy in a recent copyright lawsuit against iiNet, one of the largest ISPs in the country. Conroy called prominent filtering opponent iiNet's inaction over copyright infringement 'stunning,' whereas iiNet claimed that it would be illegal under current Australian law to intercept its users' downloads. While this latest legislation appears to be a concession of that point, the government is said to be watching the case closely and along with attempts to introduce a three-strikes law in Australia, it appears the law will be changed if the government dislikes the outcome of the case. The internet villain of the year just continues to earn his title."

Comment Re:Got my vote - maybe (Score 0, Troll) 363

by cliffski (#29050423) Attached to: Why the UK Needs the Pirate Party

No it isn't. I work in the free market. Nobody prevents me making games, selling them, promoting them, advertising them, changing my business model or charging any amount in any currency.
Explain to em why the free market I work in and sue every day of my life is somehow a 'fiction'?

There are places where the free market doesn't work and is abused. music, Movies and games are not one of them, although the anti-copyright zealots like to kid themselves that it is, so they can justify theft.

Comment Re:Got my vote - maybe (Score 0, Troll) 363

by cliffski (#29050049) Attached to: Why the UK Needs the Pirate Party

oh really?
So where do I stand? I am a 'person' but I also own my own company. So am I evil or not?

This bullshit that COMPANIES ARE EVIL and that they are some foreign entity that are not owned by, employ and benefit people is just silliness beyond words.

Maybe the poster should have said 'the people who own, work for and are employed by companies will stop producing'. Would that be clearer?

Too much of this pirate-party crap is schoolboy teenage 'sticking it to the man' philosophy that implies everyone older than 20 who has got a job has sold out. I'm sure it seems romantic to fight against capitalism and show the rich jerks who run the country how it should be done when you are 18 years old.

later when you need to buy a house and pay bills, and earn money, you will find that companies are not 'evil', they are just a vehicle by which means people participate in the free market.

Comment Re:A big undertaking (Score 1) 363

by cliffski (#29050013) Attached to: Why the UK Needs the Pirate Party

"hint: you can't sing "Happy Birthday" in the UK without paying a license fee)"

Total and utter BULLSHIT.

But I guess it helps to have such bullshit stories floating around if its the only way a political party can anyone to listen to their whacked-out views...
Censorship

Why the UK Needs the Pirate Party 363

Posted by samzenpus from the representative-piracy dept.
Barence writes "The UK Pirate Party wants to reform copyright and patent laws, abolish the surveillance state and increase our freedom of speech, and it's just been recognized as a political party. In this interview with PC Pro, UK Pirate Party leader Andrew Robinson explains how he's planning to shake up the political landscape. 'What we really want to do is raise awareness, so that the other parties say "bloody hell, they've got seven million votes this time out," or one million votes, or enough votes to make them care and seriously think about these issues.'"
The Internet

CRIA, MPAA Demand Expanded DMCA For Canada 224

Posted by timothy from the professional-envy dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Canadian Recording Industry Association and the MPAA's Canadian subsidiary are demanding that Canada adopt copyright laws that go beyond even the DMCA. The groups demand anti-circumvention law, three strikes and you're out legislation, and increased secondary liability for websites. The demands come as part of the national copyright consultation in which hundreds of Canadians have spoken out against such reforms."
Education

What's In an Educational Game? 160

Posted by Soulskill from the zombies-and-zombie-removal-tools dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I work at a non-profit whose mandate is to increase science literacy and awareness. One of the methods that we've started exploring is in making free, online educational games. Our target demographic for the games is kids aged 8-12, but there is no reason the games could not also appeal to a broader age range. What would you look for in an educational game? Does length and depth of gameplay matter to you, or would you rather play a trivial game with subconscious educational value?"
Hardware Hacking

California Student Arrested For Console Hacking 1016

Posted by Soulskill from the enjoy-your-stay-at-pelican-bay dept.
jhoger writes "Matthew Crippen was arrested yesterday for hacking game consoles (for profit) in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. He was released on a $5,000 bond, but faces up to 10 years in prison. This is terribly disturbing to me; a man could lose 10 years of his freedom for providing the service of altering hardware. He could well lose much of his freedom for providing a modicum of it to others. There is no piracy going on, necessarily — the games a modified console could run may simply not be signed by the vendor. It's much like jailbreaking an iPhone. But it seems because he is disabling a 'circumvention device' it is a criminal issue. Guess it's time to kick a few dollars over to the EFF."

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