Archive for: cancer
- November 13, 2010 2:50 pm
While other platforms have started to dip their feet into the mobile Netflix sphere, Android in particular has been left out. We knew it was only going to be a matter of time before Netflix trickled down, though we weren’t sure exactly how it was going to go with all the different hardware devices on the market. The reason this matters is because Netflix relies on some pretty hefty DRM *puke* to keep the major content owners happy. And it is that same DRM (unsurprisingly) that is ruining Netflix for Android…
At first, the title “100% legal to circumnavigate DRM for legal purposes” may seem a bit cryptic. As we’ve seen countless times throughout various governments, “legal uses” is a highly ambiguous and misleading term. But in the case of Brazil and their digital rights laws, it’s a far prettier picture as far as consumer protections are concerned.
Here in the United States, it’s technically illegal to circumnavigate DRM (the digital cancer that pollutes more and more of our digital goods each and every day). Usually, consumers will witness the utter useless of this “technology” when copying a DVD or CD of theirs to their computer or digital device. But, the simple act of doing so technically makes them a criminal — a provision in the law that big media giants just love. Sadly, big media runs this country, not the citizens.
But Brazil is at a shining beacon of light, showing that not every government has bent over for the media industry, and actually stood their ground for consumers’ rights. Under Brazilian law, it is completely legal to break through DRM so long as you aren’t doing so to upload to file sharing sites, pirate, etc., etc. But the best part about Brazil’s digital media laws is this: Any copyright holder who laces their content with DRM and goes against current federal laws for consumers’ rights and “fair use/fair dealings” actually faces a fine for hindering consumers’ rights! +1 Brazel!
§1º. The same sanction applies, without prejudice to other sanctions set forth by law, to whom, through whatever means:
a) hinders or prevents the uses allowed by arts. 46, 47 and 48 of this Act [which addresses limitations to copyright including fair dealing]; or
b) hinders or prevents the free use of works, broadcast transmissions and phonograms which have fallen into the public domain.
How’s Brazil this time of year…anyone feel like a permanent vacation?
So true…so very true. Larger than life version right inside…
It’s always nice to here someone from the gaming industry speak out over the current course of DRM proliferation. We all have clearly seen the direction Ubisoft wants to go (read: fucking legitimate customers over time and time again). But that doesn’t mean all game developers are bad, stupid, or all of the above. No sir. There still is some hope left. Just Cause 2 developer and Avalanche Studio co-founder, Christofer Sundberg, has come out against the several new forms of “ridiculous DRM”, with obvious hints at Ubi being a company not to follow.
But he doesn’t stop with Ubi…
Another day, another game ruined by DRM. Or is it? A new development on the PS3 front is disappointing to put it mildly. Gamers across the blue marble we live on are noticing that trying to launch Final Fight: Double Impact when logged out of the PSN or in a location with network access are being prompted each and every time to log in. This would signal that Sony is testing a similar approach that Ubisoft is rolling out — always-on network connections to play games. But is it Sony?
DRM. Ya, we all hate it as it serves absolutely no purpose at all other than to piss of end users. We all know the claim by now. Somehow this digital cancer helps fight piracy. What the companies who employ it don’t really know however is that it actually pushed more people to piracy. It’s not rocket science people.
A couple of weeks ago when Ubisoft’s genius (sarcasm) idea to require all future games to require “always on” internet connections for every aspect of the game came to light, no one was happy. The first two games in particular to get graced with the poison were Settlers 7 and Assassins Creed II. From the start, Settlers 7 early adopters were having problems with pretty much every aspect of game play from lost game saves to the inability to even get the game to load.
So where do we stand two weeks later? Not much better off. According to Ubisoft:
Settlers 7 players have encountered difficulties playing the game over the [Easter] holiday weekend due to issues with servers that do matchmaking in multiplayer mode and that keep track of profiles, campaign progression and stats in both solo and multi modes
The whole thing didn’t need to happen at all. Requiring an internet connection for single player mode is the dumbest and most unnecessary requirement I’ve ever seen. I really can’t see how these morons that run Ubisoft think this (and the truckload of bad PR) is helping their company and helping fighting piracy.
As for those who pirated the game from the start, I hear they’re having a grand ‘ol time with their uncrippled game. If you want to do it ethically and play this game without the bullshit DRM, go buy the game (and feel good about yourself) then pirate it and enjoy the game the way it should have been.
Bit-Tech
Well wouldn’t this be a little drama — Has Steam publicly denounced Ubisoft’s draconian DRM behind the scenes by removing Ubi’s most current titles (Assassins Creed and Silent Hunter V in parctiular) for download? Within the last day, Steam users who have tried to purchase and download both AC 2 and SH V are being greated with “Sorry! An error was encountered while processing your request: This item is currently unavailable in you rregion”.
There could be a very legitimate reason for the removal of these two games that has absolutely nothign to do with Ubi, their DRM, or common sense at all. But given the fact that Ubi has been receiving so much flack for their new craptastic DRM on these two games in particular, it’s certainly not too far fetched to say Steam is protecting their own backsides by more or less “rejecting” Ubi’s poor handling of the situation.
As an outspoken opponent of Ubi’s new DRM, if Steam is in fact removing these infected games fromt their storefront because of the aforementioned DRM, all I can do is sit back and applaud. Because no matter how much someone counters with “speak with your wallet, just don’t buy it”, we all know that “solution” will never work. But perhaps with someone as large as Steam, we’ll have a chance?
Stay tuned, we’ll be following this one…
Overclock.net Forums > ComputerandVideoGames.com
[Image Source]
Like DRM? Of course not. No one does. Yet somehow it supposedly makes the world a better place. The last couple of years, especially the last year in particular, game developers have been downright nazi-like in their determination and affinity for this digital cancer that plagues so many digitized services and devices. EA’s SecuROM DRM in particular is a pretty big PITA as it it requires a net connection to “validate” your game each and every time you fire it up. No net connection = no gameplay for you. It’s not quite as bad as Ubisoft’s always-on-don’t-ever-interrupt-me-or-I’ll-cut-you-off DRM. Still, the fact of the matter is, DRM is bad for everyone.
So it’s with great jubilee that I share with you all the good news of the death of SecurROM from Battlefield: BC 2. That disk checking BS has gone the way of the dodos after the latest update/patch which besides killing the cancer, more likely than not tosses in a few bug fixes and other minor housekeeping things to boot. I certainly won’t complain. Anyone else feeling a bit more liberated tonight?
CrunchGear
Simply put: DRM sucks. It’s bad for consumers and it’s bad for CS at the companies that decide to use it. The only people who are harmed are the very people the companies claim to protect. This time, it wasn’t another Ubisoft snafu (they had their stint over the weekend). Instead, just as Ubisoft begins to rub the weekend hangover junk out of their eyes, EA figures it’s time to have a miniature catastrophe of their own. Yes, EA’s DRM servers crashed too…
One of the more popular and newest games affected by this outage is none other than Bad Company 2. A perfect way to install confidence and entice gamers isn’t it? Joke’s and criticism aside, at least EA was lighter on their feet and got their ducks back up and running in just over an hour or two — leaps and bounds better than Ubisoft’s multi-day outage.
We could nitpick about the various companies’ use of DRM and how they implement it, but it’s all the same. DRM needs to die. The more DRM becomes a factor, the more people will pirate, the more money will be lost (for companies employing DRM), and the more consumers will resent said companies. I certainly know I can sleep at night…
CrunchGear
