Modded Xbox Bans Prompt EFF Warning About Terms of Service 254

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 04, 2009 @01:19AM from the by-reading-this-you-bequeath-me-all-your-possessions dept.

Last month we discussed news that Microsoft had banned hundreds of thousands of Xbox users for using modified consoles. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has now pointed to this round of bans as a prime example of the power given to providers of online services through 'Terms of Service' and other usage agreements. "No matter how much we rely on them to get on with our everyday lives, access to online services — like email, social networking sites, and (wait for it) online gaming — can never be guaranteed. ... he who writes the TOS makes the rules, and when it comes to enforcing them, the service provider often behaves as though it is also the judge, jury and executioner. ... While the mass ban provides a useful illustration of their danger, these terms can be found in nearly all TOS agreements for all kinds of services. There have been virtually no legal challenges to these kinds of arbitrary termination clauses, but we imagine this will be a growth area for lawyers."

Archiving Digital Artwork For Museum Purchase? 266

Posted by timothy on Tuesday September 29, 2009 @01:09PM from the just-put-something-on-youtube dept.

An anonymous reader writes "I am an artist working with 3d software to create animations and digital prints. For now my work just gets put on screening DVDs and BluRays and the original .mov and 3d files get backed up. But museums and big art collectors do want to purchase these animations. However as we all know archival DVDs are not really archival. So I want to ask the Slashdot readers, what can I give to the museum when they acquire my digital work for their collection so that it can last and be seen long after I am dead? No other artist or institution I know of have come up with any real solution to this issue yet, so I thought Slashdot readers may have an idea. These editions can be sold for a large amount of money, so it doesn't have to be a cheap solution."

Comment Versacad (Score 1) 126

by optical guy on Saturday October 15, 2005 @02:42AM (#13796119) Attached to: Will MacIntel Hardware Open The Door for Mac OS X CAD?

Versacad was available on the Apple II, and followed Apple to the Mac and was available as early as the Mac Plus, I think. I used it many years on a Mac II and later machines. Then it disappeared for awhile, but is now back. Its available from a company run (owned?) by the original designer/programmer, at www.archwaysystems.com. I transitioned to something else, and no longer use it, but its good for 2D for sure.

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