The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recently set it’s sights on YouTube and Google Video. YouTube seems to be getting the brunt of the attacks as RIAA is now going after people who lip synch to copywrited songs or merely dance to a clip in the background. YouTube apparently is taken steps to prevent any further legal troubles, but those steps may prove to be too much for it’s users.
The first major change with YouTube’s service is that registration now requires your SSN, street address, and phone number. The new information is verified upon sign up and is stored in case of legal issues. YouTube representatives are saying that this new step will help hold copywrite violators more accountable.
Another new change is that all YouTube videos will now begin with a 10-15 second clip that discusses the problems with piracy and copywrite violation. These clips look to be similar to the ads that are cropping up in movie theaters and DVDs that talk about illegally downloading movies.
The last modification of note is that uploading and viewing YouTube movies will require downloading and installing DRM (Digital Rights Management) software. This software will not only be required to play YouTube videos, it will also prevent downloaded MP3s and movies from working properly on the installed computer. DRM software probably became most widely known with Sony’s rootkit disaster.
As expected, YouTube users are in quite an uproar over the proposed changes. Probably the most controversial is the required DRM as many computer users are very strongly against software that restricts their capabilities to use even legally downloaded movies, music, and software.
YouTube reps say that the measures proposed are necessary if they wish to be able to continue to provide their service for free and that further legal troubles with the RIAA would most likely put the company out of business.
Tags: RIAA, YouTube, Google Video, copywrite, piracy
You have have noticed a lack of stories posted for a few days. The reason for this is two fold.
1: E3 is hitting us this week and everybody’s attention is most likely on that. I could go about posting “almost” true news about the games and hardware, but then new announcements would be released that’d make any news here posted obsolete.
2: I’ve just released a new site, Wii Play, which will eventually turn into an incredibly unique community driven website. However, for now it’s an updating Wii news and information site. I only had about a week to get it up and running before E3 so it’s still lacking a few things. Over the next few months I’ll release a new version of it that will hopefully put a fresh new spin on how sites are done.
I do plan on start posting frequently here again after E3 so don’t worry about me abandoning this site. It’s a fun outlet to write various humorous reports that are mostly fun satires.
Tags: Nintendo Wii, E3 expo
Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you this fine technology site. Here you’ll be finding some fabulous technology related news, from gaming and the web, to movies and science. But wait. This isn’t just your ordinary tech news, it’s news with a twist!
So what is this magnificent twist? Ahh, let me tell you. Every news post here… every single one… are you ready for this? It’s all fake! What a great build up huh? No? You don’t think so? Well fine then.
Anyway, like I just said, each news item is fabricated. Though based on some real facts and perhaps real predictions out there, everything you see here is to be viewed as entertainment and not necessarily informational. However, though the news is primarily fake, most of it is done so in a way that is a commentary on the subject being reported on. For instance, there will probably be a lot of Microsoft news posts, and though they will be fake, they will probably be done so in a fashion that comments on the company’s business practices or product stability.
Whew. Though I hope most of you read this entire openning post, I doubt many of you really did. So without further ado, let the let’s play pretend time begin!
