The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It’s bad. It says:

Originally posted by Cory Doctorow

Boingboing.com
November 4, 2009

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It’s bad. It says:

* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn’t infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.

* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet — and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living — if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.

* That the whole world must adopt US-style “notice-and-takedown” rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused — again, without evidence or trial — of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.

* Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)

More details: The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together

Footage from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 leaked onto the Internet yesterday, and if you thought the lack of dedicated PC servers were the big controversy in regards to this game, you're in for a huge surprise. The leaked gameplay footage reveals that you'll be able to play part of the game as a terrorist.

Heavy spoilers ahead, obviously. The footage has since been pulled from YouTube, and has been pulled from CNN's iReport site as well. In the level (reportedly the beginning of the game), the player is with a group of men who murder innocent civilians in an airport. The level seems to consist primarily of capping innocent people, including the clearly injured who are trying in vain to hobble away as you shoot them in the back. This is where CNN's video ends. Based on other internet reports, after the airport killing spree, the group then exit to the tarmac where they pass a pile of dead bodies, and shoot some cops. Eventually, the main terrorist, Makarov, murders the player with a shot to the head. It's strong stuff.

When asked if the footage would be in the game, Activision released a statement to the press, saying:

“Yes it is. The scene establishes the depth of evil and the cold bloodedness of a rogue Russian villain and his unit. By establishing that evil, it adds to the urgency of the player’s mission to stop them.

“Players have the option of skipping over the scene. At the beginning of the game, there are two ‘checkpoints’ where the player is advised that some people may find an upcoming segment disturbing. These checkpoints can’t be disabled.

“Modern Warfare 2 is a fantasy action game designed for intense, realistic game play that mirrors real life conflicts, much like epic, action movies. It is appropriately rated 18 for violent scenes, which means it is intended for those who are 18 and older.”

I predict an uproar from certain members of the excitable media. I predict semi-accurate headlines will proclaim: "New Game Has Players Take The Role of Terrorists!" while ignoring the fact that this is, essentially, a cut-scene where you control a character, and the scene itself doesn't glamorize terrorism: After all, you are betrayed by your own leader, who is so evil, he shoots his own men.

We don't really know the context of the level either: Perhaps the player is infiltrating the terrorist group and has to participate or blow his cover. Maybe the main character is under the influence of mind-altering drugs. Maybe it's a dream sequence. But no matter what utility it might serve in Modern Warfare 2's plot, it's a disturbing thing to watch; I can't imagine how disturbing it would be to play. While I'm all for artistic freedom in games, even I gotta shake my head a little at how far this goes.

Modern Warfare 2 is scheduled for a November 10th release. Please Boycott this game until the PC version is repaired (dedicated servers and mod tools re-added)

GeoCities' time has expired, Yahoo closing the site today

We always imagined how this might end: GeoCities would finally take down all of the animated "under construction" signs, and we'd hear one last Midi file to the tune of horns playing taps.

Instead, GeoCities will probably go down with a whimper today.

Time is up for Yahoo Inc.'s scheduled closing of perhaps the most significant virtual museum in recent history. Years ago a central meeting place for a massive chunk of American Web surfers, GeoCities will lock its doors and take millions of pages offline.

GeoCities allowed anyone to build a custom Web page for free and reserved a small amount of virtual storage to keep pictures and documents. It was perhaps the first mainstream example of an open, participatory and personal Internet.

At the turn of the century, GeoCities was nearly ubiquitous. Fathers created websites about their families; kids created sites about Pokemon; teenage girls created sites about the Backstreet Boys. Practically every facet of culture was documented and thanks to search engines, easily accessible.

All of those documents are about to disappear.

GeoCities stopped accepting new registrations earlier this year. Existing users could continue to update their pages and save sites to a personal hard drive in advance of the impending closure. Yahoo is encouraging the relatively few remaining users to transition their accounts to the company's $5-per-month Web hosting service.

The decision to shut down GeoCities rather than keep it around for historical reference and, say, slap ads all over it is curious. Especially when you consider that the network is still among the top 200 most-trafficked sites on the Internet, according to metrics tracker Alexa.

"Yahoo continuously evaluates and prioritizes our products and services in alignment with business goals and our continued commitment to deliver the best consumer and advertiser experiences," according to a company spokeswoman. GeoCities' closing is "part of our ongoing effort to prioritize our portfolio of products and services in order to deliver the best products to consumers."

The company downsized in a different way on Friday when billionaire financer Carl Icahn announced he was resigning as a director.

Yahoo boasts that it has closed nearly 20 services in less than a year, which includes a sort of competitor to GeoCities called Yahoo 360 as well as My Web, which was similar to Delicious, another Yahoo property.

Read more »

OK feel free to copy/pasta this everywhere. It makes a good statement without going over the top like whats been happening all over the web. This was originally posted by GrantD at the IW forums.

Thanks.

The open letter follows:

Dear Infinity Ward and Activision,

The recent response to the general outcry against the new system is less than satisfactory for the community for several reasons. The response does not address any of the communities grievances, it does not show any regard for our concerns, and it insults us and tries to discredit the consumer, as if we are the ones who are wrong.

There have been several well thought out petitions going around which suggest that the lack of dedicated servers will have a harmful impact on the community as a whole. The main points are the lack of user created content (mods and map variants) the lack of community and clan viability, and the degraded playing conditions afforded by non-dedicated servers.

The lack of user created content is thought to be greed on the part of IW, as it would force the players to buy and play maps created by IW, when the PC community already does this for free. There are also tactical mods which change gameplay which several communities use for increased realism which will be impossible under the new system. There is no remedy to this whatsoever offered by IW's response,they continue to champion the system with no regard for what they are taking from the PC community.

Next, they offer no remedy for the clans and international communities. The groups who pay extra every month to enjoy the game and who give people like me a place to play on their public servers, all of us get the shaft. Why? so we can join a game with less performance, with fewer people, and we get to wait while it finds that game. They are destroying the communities that develop by these servers as well, I have never been in a clan but I play the same 2-3 servers because I know the people on them and I have gotten up to their skill level. They play the maps I like, they have the rules I like, and if I didn't like them there's 10000 other servers I could try until I found the ones that DID appeal to me. The other great utility I had in finding these servers was the internet, and since I am already on a computer I could search for the servers that hosted games that I wanted to be a part of. It gave me what I actually wanted instead of what matchmaking thinks I want.

Infinity Ward also completely sidesteps the lower performance of non-dedicated servers. This means the host of the game will determine the quality of the game. I don't know about you but I do not have a 25mb down 15mb up connection with an uninterruptable power supply placed at an internet hub. We will be looking at games with far fewer people, with far more lag, and with the chance of the host quitting, and then we have to go find another game with the same problems so on and so on. This is the stuff we avoid consoles because of and they are passing it off as a great new thing? I think not.

OK, that was the list of grievances now here come the possible fixes.

First, the reason for this list is that we are PC players, we want the system to stay the way it's been or we would be on a console. Why would you try to change what we love about our platform? I like PC games because of the community content, the communities that develop and friendships that follow, and the consistent, high performance gameplay. YOU ARE TAKING AWAY THE THREE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE PC GAMING GREAT!!

Yes there will be easier access for those of us who just play once every 2 weeks for an hour, but what about those of us who play every other day for 2-3 hours on the same server with the same friends? You are taking away what we like about the game.

If you want you can do a half and half approach, put out a patch day one that adds an extra menu option for reaching a dedicated server, people can also go do the matchmaking if they can't find the server they like yet but if they are part of a clan they will be able to play with their friends on their dedicated server. As for user created content, why not? Afraid we are going to not buy your expansion map pack? We probably will even though we have our own custom maps.

Finally, and I hope this really gets through, do not insult us. We are your consumers, we are the ones in line day 1 to get the game and we are the ones still playing 2 to 3 years after release. Chances are if you look at the "masses" complaining about not finding a good game to play they are just lazy and wont put in the time before they just pop in the next game. The ones complaining would probably also be the pirates since the fans are the ones BUYING and PRE-ORDERING your game. The community is the group with the pocket book, and you laugh at us, in fact they call us nerds, say "We're just prioritizing the player experience above the modders and the tuners," and then "West and Zampella hammer the point that hardcore PC players lose very little to this change relative to the returns that casual to moderate fans will see." I think this essay has shown what we are losing, compare that to not finding a good game the first time you click a random server, then tell us we are losing very little.

Please, you can still fix this,

Sincerely,
Concerned Community Members Everywhere

Les Paul, whose innovations with the electric guitar and studio technology made him one of the most important figures in recorded music, has died, according to a statement from his publicists. Paul was 94.

Paul died in White Plains, New York, from complications of severe pneumonia, according to the statement.

Les Paul (born Lester William Polsfuss on June 9, 1915) was an American jazz guitarist and inventor.

Paul was a guitar and electronics mastermind whose creations -- such as multitrack recording, tape delay and the solid-body guitar that bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul -- helped give rise to modern popular music, including rock 'n' roll. No slouch on the guitar himself, he continued playing at clubs into his 90s despite being hampered by arthritis. Les Paul, whose innovations helped give rise to modern pop music, played guitar into his 90s.

"If you only have two fingers [to work with], you have to think, how will you play that chord?" he told CNN.com in a 2002 phone interview. "So you think of how to replace that chord with several notes, and it gives the illusion of sounding like a chord." iReport.com: Do you play a Les Paul guitar?

Guitarists mourned the loss Thursday.

"Les Paul was truly a 'one of a kind.' We owe many of his inventions that made the rock 'n roll sound of today to him, and he was the founding father of modern music," B.B. King said in a statement. "This is a huge loss to the music community and the world. I am honored to have known him."

Joe Satriani said in a statement: "Les Paul set a standard for musicianship and innovation that remains unsurpassed. He was the original guitar hero and the kindest of souls. Last October I joined him onstage at the Iridium club in [New York], and he was still shredding. He was and still is an inspiration to us all."

Slash said, "Les Paul was a shining example of how full one's life can be; he was so vibrant and full of positive energy."

Lester William Polfuss was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on June 9, 1915. Even as a child he showed an aptitude for tinkering, taking apart electric appliances to see what made them tick.

"The world has lost a truly innovative and exceptional human being today. I cannot imagine life without Les Paul," said Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, in a statement. "He would walk into a room and put a smile on anyone's face. His musical charm was extraordinary and his techniques unmatched anywhere in the world."