- SimCity players still reporting long server queues, some as long as 30 minutes—That's always-on DRM punishes legitimate customers even those who "start up a private region and play by yourself." It's gotten so bad Amazon pulled the game out of its virtual shelves.
- EA: No Digital Refunds for SimCity Players
- SimCity: The Backlash
- A Tale of SimCity: Users Struggle Against Onerous DRM
- SimCity Meltdown: What Always-Online Says About Game Ownership In The Digital Age
- EA Apologizes For SimCity Disaster, Says It Was "Dumb" And Offers Free Game To Players
- EA Employee Chastises Company Over SimCity in Public Letter
- Maxis: SimCity offline mode is 'just not possible'
- EA: SimCity server response time has improved 40-fold since launch—"Studio pledges to 'look into' offline mode as part of 'earning back your trust.'" With the money already plunked in, I'd be surprised if they did.
- Just Cause 2 Developer On Why It Won't Utilize DRM: 'It Treats Our Fans Like Criminals'
- White House says it should be legal to unlock cellphones
- F.C.C. Backs Consumers in Unlocking of Cellphones NYT
- US lawmakers scramble to legalise phone unlocking
- Copyright reformers pan weak legislation on cell phone unlocking—"Consumer advocates say Congress should focus on reforming the DMCA."
- AT&T's Response to the Cell Phone Unlocking Controversy Insults Users—"Apologies in advance for the rant, but AT&T's response to the controversy over cell phone unlocking really gets under my skin."
- Tim Berners-Lee: The Web needs to stay open, and Gopher's still not cool.
- EFF: Hey Google, Can We Have Data About FISA Court Orders Too?
- Harvard Searched E-Mails for Source of Media Leaks—"The administration searched staff e-mails to try to root out the source of leaks to the news media in a cheating scandal, and the staff members were not told until months later." NYT
- How Facebook could get you arrested—"Smart technology and the sort of big data available to social networking sites are helping police target crime before it happens. But is this ethical?"
- Iran blocks use of tool to get around Internet filter
- US Trade Rep orders Canada to comply with the dead-and-buried ACTA treaty, Canada rolls over and wets itself
- NDP Calls It: Bill C-56 is "ACTA Through the Backdoor"
- Microsoft restores transfer rights for retail Office 2013 copies—"As part of its shift to a subscription model, Microsoft introduced a controversial 'no transfer' restriction with Office 2013. Now, after an intense outcry from customers, the company has reversed course and agreed to allow users to transfer retail Office licenses between devices."
- Oops: DKNY Admits Using Blogger’s Photos Without Permission—"A popular street-style photographer says the brand offered to buy his pictures for its store windows, but he refused. Then it used them anyway."
- Apple Patents a System for Second-Hand iTunes Sales
- Researchers: movie studios sold more after Megaupload was shut down—Was the study funded by the MPAA?
- U.S. Government Wins Appeal in Kim Dotcom Extradition Battle
- Dotcom wins right to sue
- Mainstream media meltdown!—"Newspapers will never be the same. But what happens to democracy if the Web business model can't fund journalism?" Salon
- Newspapers go all-in for copyright fight against clipping service
- Is This Canadian Newspaper Breaking Copyright Law?—"If someone wants to post a quote from anything written by the National Post, they are now presented with pop-up box seeking a licence that starts at $150 for the Internet posting of 100 words with an extra fee of 50 cents for each additional word (the price is cut in half for non-profits). None of this requires a licence or payment. If there was a fair dealing analysis, there is no doubt that copying a hundred words out of an article would easily meet the fair dealing standard. In fact, the Supreme Court of Canada has indicated that copying full articles in some circumstances may be permitted."
- Angry judge calls porn troll's bluff, orders entire firm to court—Which they're refusing to do.
- Porn trolling mastermind is the world's most evasive witness
- Enraged by abusive lawsuits, anonymous troll slayers fight back—"Growing community of online activists is making life difficult for porn trolls."
