Tag: Piracy

It’s a tired joke, but there’s a real risk that mass adoption of 3D printing and 3D modeling will equate digital piracy with physical theft. Now it turns out you don’t have to swipe a 3D file to copy a printed object. 

The Mac App Store – Apple’s desktop version of the iOS App Store – won’t be open until January 6, 2011, but the infamous Hackulous community claims that they have already cracked the virtual store’s security.

Japanese IT company NEC claims they have developed “a video content identification technology that detects illegal copies of video content uploaded to the Internet in a matter of seconds.” I’m not entirely sure how this works, so bear with me on this one.

EA.com editor-in-chief Jeff Green recently tweeted about his difficulties with his own company’s DRM: “Booted twice — and progress lost — on my single-player C&C4 game because my DSL connection blinked. DRM fail. We need new solutions.” Similar to Ubisoft’s new DRM, Command & Conquer 4 requires gamers to be constantly connected to the Internet even in single player mode, a requirement as absurd as it is faulty.

Let the outrage begin. The ninjas of Ubisoft have revealed their latest arsenal against PC pirates: the ancient art practiced by Steam. As with Valve’s popular platform, Ubisoft games will soon require users to authenticate their copy by connecting to their user accounts online.

Last year, a law was passed in France that, simply put, allows the government to screen the Internet usage of its citizens (supposedly) to watch out for copyright infringement. Using a three strikes rule, French citizens who are accused of online piracy for a third time will be sent to court, where a judge can give them a fine, or even disconnect them from the Internet.

2009 has definitely been a bad year for the… uh, head pirates. Pirates-in-chief? Anyway, Judge Stephen Wilson of the US District Court, Central District of California has ruled in favor of Columbia Pictures’ “motion for summary judgment on liability as to inducing infringement” against Gary Fung, owner of several torrent sites, including the infamous IsoHunt.

Joystiq asked Eric Lempel, Director of PlayStation Network Operations, if Sony would ever bring Trophies – the equivalent of Xbox 360’s Achievements – to the PSP. Upon hearing the question, Lempel fell on his knees and screamed, “Daaaamn youuu Salazaaaaaar!” No.

Word on the internet streets is that a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has been leaked and the downloads are flying. The game, the first in the franchise for the Nintendo DS, is scheduled for release next week.