benengr - Slashdot User

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."

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

by benengr on Tuesday June 02, 2009 @11:28AM (#28183001) Attached to: Making a Child Locating System

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

by benengr on Wednesday March 04, 2009 @03:00PM (#27067649) Attached to: A Short Summary Following the Pirate Bay Trial

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:No swaggering... (Score 1) 500

by benengr on Wednesday March 04, 2009 @02:19PM (#27067155) Attached to: A Short Summary Following the Pirate Bay Trial

and in most murder trials, nobody on the jury has ever killed anyone...

Why Japan Hates the iPhone 884

Posted by kdawson on Friday February 27, 2009 @10:22AM from the one-man's-cool-is-another-man's-lame dept.

Ponca City, We love you writes "With a high level of technical sophistication, critical customers, and high innovation rate, Japan is the toughest cell phone market in the world. So it's not surprising that although Apple is the third-largest mobile supplier in the world, selling 10 million units in 2008, in Japan the iPhone is selling so poorly it's being offered for free. The country is famous for being ahead of its time when it comes to technology, and the iPhone just doesn't cut it. For example, Japanese handset users are into video and photos — and the iPhone has neither a video camera, multimedia text messaging, nor a TV tuner. Pricing plans in Japan are also very competitive, and the iPhone's $60-and-up monthly plan is too high compared to competitors; a survey lat year showed that among Japanese consumers, 91% didn't want to buy an iPhone. The cellular weapon of choice in Japan would be the Panasonic P905i, a fancy cellphone that doubles as a 3-inch TV and features 3-G, GPS, a 5.1-megapixel camera, and motion sensors for Wii-style games. 'When I show this to visitors from the US, they're amazed,' according to journalist Nobi Hayashi, who adds, 'Carrying around an iPhone in Japan would make you look pretty lame.'"

Comment Re:Apple (Score 1, Informative) 935

by benengr on Monday June 30, 2008 @02:06PM (#24004297) Attached to: Apple Laptop Upgrades Costing 200% More Than Dells

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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