#region-locking

[openworldadventurer]

Region Locks and Digital Landlords

And why Adam Smith would be deeply disappointed

If you only read one article talking about fictional porter Sam Bridges and Scottish economist Adam Smith today, make it this one.

[johnheatz]

Nintendo Explains Stance On Region Locking

Nintendo Explains Stance On Region Locking

At the company’s recent investor meeting, Satoru Iwata, the company’s president, addressed the  company’s stance on region locking, but the future on the process for the company remains unclear.

(more…)

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[rr0adcrew]

[unjapanologist]

So, it seems that ebook users need to add a new word to their vocabulary: "undownloading" -- what happens when you leave the authorized zone in which you may read the ebooks you paid for, and cross into the digital badlands where they are taken away like illicit items at customs. If you are lucky, you will get them back when you return to your home patch -- by un-undownloading them. What makes this tale particularly noteworthy is the way it brings together a host of really bad ideas that the publishing and distribution industries insist on deploying. There's DRM that means you can't make backups; there's the country-specific usage that tries to impose physical geography on your digital ebooks; and there's the update that spies on you and your system before deciding unilaterally to take away functionality by "undownloading" your ebooks. And copyright maximalists wonder why people turn to unauthorized downloads....

Undownloading: Further Proof Those eBooks You Paid For Really Aren't Yours - Techdirt