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Bravely Default outfits, ages altered in Western release
North American 3DS owners won't be graced with the presence of Bravely Default until February 7, but someone with a European copy of the game has noticed changes to outfits and ages of certain characters. The above image was posted by an IGN forum member and showcases the same outfit in different versions of the game, with the Western release's outfits being on the left side. The Final Fantasy Wiki also notes a boost of three years' age for the protagonists, making Bravely Default's youngest stars like the above Edea 18 years old instead of 15. Of course, tweaking content during a game's journey to Western audiences is nothing new. The sprite for Siren was covered up in the US release of Final Fantasy 6, for instance. The age bump might also be an effort to avoid problems like those experienced by Dead or Alive: Dimensions, which was not released in parts of Europe due to some of its cast being underage while appearing in risque situations.
Twitter Transparency Report shows DMCA and government actions: US is biggest busybody
Twitter dispatched its first biannual Transparency Report -- revealing government requests for user info and content holdback along with DMCA takedown notices -- which spotlights the US as the most active by far. The company claimed it was aroused to action by Google, which has been doing it for the last two years and recently added copyright takedowns to its own reports. So far, Twitter says that while most nations requested user data 10 times or fewer, the US government made 679 such appeals, more than the entire rest of the world combined. It also showed how often it obeyed -- 75 percent of the time in the US; much less elsewhere -- and said that affected users are always notified unless the company is prohibited from doing so. As we also noted with Google's reports, DMCA takedowns were by far the most numerous requests, with 3,378 total affecting 5,874 users, and 599 offending items actually pulled (38 percent). Those appeals aren't broken down by company like Mountain View's, but if you think that Usher photo mashup you're using as an avatar might be a problem, check the source to see all the data.
Google reveals government censorship requests are on the rise
Google's updated its transparency report to show how many times governments worldwide sought to censor search results, drop YouTube videos or look at user data in the second half of last year. Each request is logged and detailed, with the most filings coming from the US, UK and India. The requests varied from censoring a video where a Canadian citizen creatively destroyed his passport (not complied with) through to blogs promoting hate speech and violence (complied with). Mountain View's list makes for interesting reading, but it's not all bad news: where videos were merely critical or satirical of the local authorities, the search giant refused to pull 'em, respecting private citizens right to free speech in a great majority of cases.
Google says Android should 'flourish' in China, effectively concedes a point
Whether for real or for show, Google tried to make the world believe it would use Android OS as a bargaining chip during the company's terse, slow negotiations with China. Now, the company has seemingly abandoned that option. During an educational webcast about the future of Google's mobile business, CFO Patrick Pichette told viewers that he expected the company's Android platform to do well in China despite all the recent threats and ultimatums in the country. "The Android platform is available to everybody," said Pichette, "and China is obviously another great market in which Android should flourish." Good to hear that Google and China are finally in accordance, right? Thing is, with China circumventing Android's default search engine, Google's stance against Chinese censorship of search depended on taking Android handsets hostage. But if the OS is indeed available to everybody, that's not going to happen. The mobile market might one day be dominated by Android, but if Google doesn't step up, mobile search will go to competitors more willing to play wallball with the Great Firewall of China.
Google to stop censoring Chinese search results 'soon,' China warns of consequences
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is making headway with its plans to stop filtering search results in China. Quoting Eric Schmidt as saying that "something will happen soon," the latest report is that Google is engaged in negotiations with multiple government agencies in China, and the likeliest scenario at this point is that the search giant will remain in the People's Republic, though it may be in a slightly altered state. "There will be a way for Google to not pull out 100%," says a source familiar with the ongoing discussions, who expects that El Goog will find a patchwork arrangement by which it'll be able to maintain some parts of its business running while no longer adhering to China's censorship fiat. For its part, China is keeping up its tough posturing, with the latest statement from its IT ministry describing Google's plans as "unfriendly and irresponsible" and warning that the company will have to bear the consequences of its actions. What appears certain at this point, however, is that there'll be no going back to censored Google search results, which is a win in our books whatever the final outcome.
