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XBox (Games)

Modded Xbox Bans Prompt EFF Warning About Terms of Service 254

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."

Comment Re:Holy Crap! Calm down (Score 1) 1092

I'm certainly more guarded my first day at a job as I don't know the people, personalities, etc. And how do you expect a 4 year old to learn Portuguese for a vacation...

All in all, I would say it's a massively stupid idea to leave a 4 year old unattended and outside of immediate assistance for more than a couple of minutes. Leaving one alone in an unlocked apartment is even dumber.

Comment Re:No swaggering... (Score 1) 500

It is NOT a random sample of the population, there are specific requirements for those serving on a jury: http://www.uscourts.gov/jury/qualifications.html

Specifically, felony offenses disqualify someone from serving on jury duty. So I would expect there to be 0 people convicted of felony drug offenses and 0 people convicted of felony murder offenses. Now my opinion on whether or not drug offenses should be federal or not are a complete different subject.

Comment Re:Apple (Score 1, Informative) 935

As others have mentioned, Antitrust is not about you being able to start a business of upgrading another manufacturers hardware. Secondly, on most current Mac, upgrading both RAM and HDD is very easy, can be done without voiding the warranty, and doesn't have to be done with product bought from Apple. I got my 4GB of Mac Certified Ram for $90, I don't think that was gouging.

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