Thursday, April 24, 2008
 So a pirated copy of the PAL (Australia, New Zealand, and the EU) version of Grand Theft Auto IV - in part, the subject of the cover story of this week's Phoenix - hit the internet last night. Presumably, someone leaked an advance review copy (don't look at us, we haven't even gotten it yet.) But here's the thing: the people who are playing it illegally - some of them, at least - are not too smart. Why? Because in addition to posting a series of videos to GameTrailers.com, they're playing it while signed in to Xbox Live, meaning that Microsoft, if they so chose, could quite easily find out their names and billing information. And, from the sounds of what Xbox Live honcho Major Nelson told Kotaku, they're planning on doing exactly that. So way to go guys, you're about to usher in a new era of paranoia from game publishers. What's next, watermarks?
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Hot on the heels of the news that TV Links UK was shut down over the weekend comes word that OiNK, the torrent site on which hundreds of thousands of people were downloading albums ranging from the classics to stuff that won't even be released for about another six months, was shut down by English and Dutch police forces, who also arrested the site's 24-year-old proprietor. OiNK was an invite-only site with almost draconian rules and regulations regarding what could be uploaded (no transcodes, bitrates of 192 or better, etc.) and who could download (only those who maintained certain upload-to-download ratios.) The result worked out pretty well for the site's estimated 180,000 users. But all those people's info - or, at least, those who actually played by the rules and didn't get banned - is now more than likely in the hands of the authorities. The reaction has been a little "woe is me," which is probably not surprising. We suspect the internet will move swiftly to the next stop, though. And what else even needs to leak this year? Also, the trifecta is in play: who will get busted next? ( We see OTD beat us to the punch on this)
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