The Chinese government is requiring game houses to modify MMOG’s to restrict under 18 users to three hours productive
gameplay per day. This anti-addiction
software must be in place within four months, with games not compliant by 15 July liable to be shut down in China. Net9, Shanda and NetEase will be moving to comply with the government regulations. Users will have to register with their real names and Chinese identity card numbers to be allowed access to the games
Microsoft says that it’s dropping DRM from some of the catalog in the Zune store. This is the other shoe-drop we’ve all been waiting for since Apple announced last week that it would sell the entire EMI catalog (albeit at a 30% higher price) without DRM through the iTunes Music Store. Interestingly, Microsoft seems to be implying that it’s going to sell DRM-free tracks from labels other than EMI
At least one legal expert is shocked that Hells Angels motorcycle club members may have had as much as 11 days notice about police raids on their clubhouse and homes. An Internet weblog revealed the confidential court documents that gave authorities the power to seize the Hells Angels clubhouse on Eastern Avenue, the Toronto Star reported. The blogger reportedly posted a digital copy of the secret court order on 25 March. That order transferred control of the clubhouse, a home in east Toronto and another in Barrie from the motorcycle club to the federal government
The military-appointed government of Thailand has blocked access to YouTube and several other Internet sites in a crackdown on material seen as denigrating the country’s monarch. We have blocked YouTube because it contains a video insulting to our king,
Winai Yoosabai, head of the censorship unit at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, said
A ban on smoking in enclosed public places has begun across Wales. Pubs, restaurants, offices and public transport are all covered by the ban, which came into force at 0600 BST. Those found smoking can face on-the-spot fines of £50, while those in charge of premises could also be fined for allowing smoking. A similar ban is already in force in Scotland. Northern Ireland will follow suit on 30 April, and England will follow on 1 July
EMI’s entire digital music catalogue will be available in premium DRM-free form via iTunes in May, the music label said Monday at a press conference in London. Beatles tunes under EMI’s control, however, are not part of the plan. Major music label EMI Group plans to sell a premium level of digital downloads through Apple’s iTunes Store. For $1.29 per song, consumers will be able to buy higher-quality digital music lacking digital rights management. Higher-quality music files, which will play on any computer and any digital-audio player, will not replace the copy-protected EMI music currently sold through iTunes. Rather, they will complement the standard 99-cent iTunes downloads and will be sold at a premium: $1.29 per song. Consumers who have already purchased EMI tracks containing Apple’s FairPlay copy protection will be able to upgrade them to the premium version for 30 cents, EMI said. Full albums in DRM-free form can be bought at the same price as standard iTunes albums
The European parliament’s Commitee for Legal Affairs approved an amendment presented by EMP Nicola Zingaretti, that makes piracy a felony — but only if a monetary profit is made
A California judge handed a victory to Kaleidescape, which manufactures home media servers, ruling that the company’s products do not violate the DVD industry’s CSS license. The company was sued by the DVD Copy Control Association, which said that Kaleidescape’s media servers violate its standard licensing contract
A student has been suspended from school in America for coming to class dressed as a pirate. But the disciplinary action has provoked controversy — because the student says that the ban violates his rights, as the pirate costume is part of his religion. Bryan Killian says that he follows the Pastafarian religion, and that as a crucial part of his faith, he must wear full pirate regalia
as prescribed in the holy texts of Pastafarianism — via WWdN: In Exile
e360 Insight, the spammer that sued Spamhaus, is accused of using a botnet and compromised headers to get their advertising
into the mailboxes of the claimant. These are also the folks that tried to get the Illinois courts to suspend SpamHaus’s domain registration when they wouldn’t play by e360’s rules
Activist groups sued the parent company of Comedy Central on Thursday, claiming the cable network improperly asked the video-sharing site YouTube to remove a parody of the network’s The Colbert Report
Four Amway distributors have been ordered to pay Proctor and Gamble over $19 million in compensation. The four had spread rumours that the company was involved in Satanism, and the case has dragged on for over a decade. The judge had earlier decided that Amway itself could not be held responsible for the actions of its self-employed distributors — via The Pagan Prattle
Deutsche Telekom’s Musicload, one of the largest online music stores in Europe, has come out strongly against DRM on account of its effects on the marketplace and its customers. Musicload said in a letter distributed last week that customers are having consistent problems with DRM, so much so that 3 out of 4 customer service calls are ultimately the result of the frustrations that come with DRM
The government is heading back to the drawing board after a senate committee found its proposed new smartcard was likely to become an identity card. The Access Card was intended to replace the Medicare card and other benefits cards, streamlining access to a wide range of government health and welfare services. The government had explicitly ruled out its use as a national ID card amid widespread concerns that was what it would become. But in its report released last night, the standing committee on finance and public administration said the card was likely to become in effect an identity card, despite measures aimed at limiting its use
A human rights legal group says Australia is breaching its international obligations by sending a group of asylum seekers to Nauru for processing. The Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, today announced the transfer of more than 80 Sri Lankan men currently being held on Christmas Island. Mr Andrews says the move will deter people smugglers and potential asylum seekers from trying to reach Australia. The spokeswoman from the group Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, Eve Lester, says the Government’s policy is contrary to the United Nations convention on refugees
Whether YouTube suffers the same fate as Napster may depend on the wording of a nearly antique law written long before video-sharing web sites were envisioned
Mayan priests will purify a sacred Guatemalan archaeological site to eliminate bad spirits
after President Bush visits next week — via The Pagan Prattle
Sweden’s government has presented a bill to give its defence intelligence agency powers to monitor any e-mail or phone call into or out of the country. The National Defence Radio Establishment currently listens in on military communications and needs a court order for any other surveillance. The government says conversations within Sweden would remain untouched
Most people just grumble and hit delete, but when Gordon Dick received a spam message advertising Internet services, he fought back. The 30-year-old Web marketing specialist from Edinburgh sued the sender, Transcom Internet Services, in small-claims court. The court ordered the company to pay $1,445 in damages and $1,190 in court costs. If someone was throwing stones through your window, would you just ignore it?
Dick said. It’s anti-social behaviour and they shouldn’t be doing it in the first place
The sale of imitation samurai swords could be banned by the end of the year in the UK. Importing or hiring the weapons could also be made illegal following a string of samurai sword attacks in recent years. Breaching the ban, which is targeted at cheap imitation samurai swords rather than the more expensive genuine collectors’ items made by licensed swordsmiths in Japan, would result in up to six months in jail and a £5,000 fine
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