ban
Latest
US bars Ciber from testing e-voting terminals due to negligence
Call us crazy, but we had a sneaking suspicion all along that all these e-voting woes were due to a lack in quality control testing somewhere along the approval line, and now it seems the US government has found its scapegoat. Ciber, Inc., the Colorado-based company responsible for testing a majority of the nation's electronic voting terminals, "has been temporarily barred from approving new machines after federal officials found that it was not following its QC procedures, and moreover, could not document that it was conducting all the required tests." Aside from wondering where the oh-so-critical auditors were during this entire debacle (read: federal scrutiny of the testing began just recently), this brings into question the legitimacy of the votes that were actually placed and counted through the potentially faulty machines, but alas, what's done is (presumably) done. Eager to keep that expectedly gigantic government contract money pouring in, Ciber seems to be on top of the issues at hand, and a spokesperson for the outfit even stated that "the company believed that it had addressed all the problems, and that it expected to receive its initial federal accreditation later this month." We just hope that undercover chess functionality somehow goes unnoticed.[Via Slashdot]
Crack down on Crackdown, Germany refuses to issue rating
The German ratings board has refused to issue a rating for Crackdown, marking the third instance in which an Xbox 360 title will be ostensibly blacklisted in the country. This peculiar circumstance does not make Crackdown illegal, but its sale to minors is. In addition, the game cannot be displayed or advertised by retailers, and all purchases of Crackdown must be made in person. The ratings board was likely turned off by the game's violence, which has yet to draw attention from other critics. See also: Dead Rising banned in Germany Germany says NEIN to Gears of War German states mull violent game ban
NYC mulling pay-per-use phone lockers for students
In our formative years we were kept on the straight and narrow with wireless leashes, and we got in touch with our folks the old-fashioned way -- two cans and a string -- and that's the way we liked it. Modern high school students, though, have a decidedly different take on the best way to drop a line, ditching pay phones (or, heaven forbid, the principal's office) in favor of trusty cellphones. Yipes, seems we've got a little hiccup: New York City's public schools have recently started clamping down on its longstanding ban on wireless goodies on school grounds, leaving a healthy percentage of tech-savvy pupils in the lurch. Parents aren't too happy, either, noting that it's the most effective way to keep tabs on lil' Johnny and Susie from afar in the event of an emergency. School officials are responding with the standard arguments, distraction and the threat of cheating, and are coming to the table with a proposal to install lockers outside schools for the sole purpose of housing phones during the school day. Sounds to good to be true, right? A rare case of taxpayer dollars being put to exactly the right use at exactly the right time, you say? Well, there's a catch: thanks to the crushing cost of said lockers, students would likely pay 25-50 cents a day for the privilege of being separated from their technology for a few hours. Needless to say a legal fight seems inevitable, though parents, teachers, and the school board will try to iron things out on the 18th of this month with a little face-to-face time. Of course, they could just give in and make texting a school subject, but we're not really seeing that happen.
German states mull violent game ban
The Financial Times reports that the German states of Bavaria and Lower Saxony have drafted legislation the would lead to fines and jail time for developers, distributors and even players of games that involve "cruel violence on humans or human-looking characters." The proposed laws, which would affect nearly 19 million Germans, come in response to a recent school shooting by a masked, 18-year-old German Counter-Strike fan that has turned public sentiment in the country against violent games. Bavarian Interior Minister Gunther Beckstein is leading the effort to pass the legislation, arguing "it is absolutely beyond any doubt that such killer games desensitise [sic] unstable characters and can have a stimulating effect." Despite complaints by German gamers, 59 percent of Germans at large support such a ban, according to a poll cited by the Financial Times. Germany has a long history of tough restrictions on violent games from Doom to Gears of War, and an outright ban would likely affect high-profile PS3 launch games like Resistance: Fall of Man and Call of Duty 3.
11,500 Final Fantasy XI accounts banned
Square Enix has again taken action against Final Fantasy XI cheaters, banning more than 11,500 accounts, in turn, removing roughly 5 billion Gil from in-game circulation. The mass crackdown has affected users on all platforms (PC, PS2 & Xbox 360), as administrators targeted a range of illegal activities: Use of 3rd-party tools to enhance character movement (approx. 1,100 accounts banned) Use of 3rd-party tools to bypass game mechanics (e.g., timing of ability use) (approx. 6,400 accounts banned) Engaging in Real Money Trading (RMT) (approx. 4,000 accounts banned) See also:FFXI cheaters hit with ban stickFFXI customers axed for using third party tools
ETRI's Body Area Network prototype: prints through your body
Besides working on non-exploding batteries and Flexible OLEDs, Korea's ETRI is hard at work on the underlying technology of their Body Area Network (BAN). Yes, that would be the human body area network, like the Bluetooth PAN only much more personal. Really though, it's just another variation of Microsoft's (and someday even Sony's) patented technology which uses the human body as the electrical conduit between devices. So assuming you wanted to print a document from ETRI's prototype wearable above, you just start the job on the device, touch the Touch-And-Play (TAP) enabled printer and voila, out pops your hard copy. Sweet... and creepy, but still pretty sweet. Assuming of course, that ETRI has met their data transfer goals of 1MB/s by now -- otherwise, you'll look pretty silly poking the printer as you strain under the weight of that modest 2.4Kbps data rate achieved last year. Just remember, never confuse the work of Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute with the that of the Korea's Advanced Institute of Science and Technology -- no one likes a splitter. Now kick back, grab a sack of wolf nipple chips and check the pics after the break.
Bans coming in for Linux players
Cedega is a handy piece of software that many use to run World of Warcraft on their Linux machines. And it's apparently been working well for everyone -- until yesterday, when numerous Cedega users began to report being banned from World of Warcraft with the following generic message in their mailbox:This account has been found to have employed third party software designed to automate many aspects of the World of Warcraft game play experience. Such software runs contrary to the essence of World of Warcraft and provides an advantage over other players. In addition, use of this software can lead to exploitation and destabilization of the World of Warcraft server economy. As such, this account has been closed and will not be reopened under any circumstances.While ominous, it sounds to be a case of a problem with Blizzard's automated anti-hacking scans. TransGaming (makers of Cedega) is currently working with Blizzard's engineering team to resolve the issue -- and has been told that it wasn't Blizzard's intention to ban Cedega players. If you're a Cedega player who has suddenly been banned, Transgaming is offering to help reinstate your account -- let them know you've been banned and give them your account name, either via this support thread or e-mail to their support team.[Thanks to Pat and Druid dude. Cedega links via Slashdot.]
MS banning firmware modders?
Xboxic has a detailed post on Microsoft's response to Xbox 360 firmware modders that I won't attempt to explain in full. Supposedly, MS is now banning users with the easily detected hack. No surprise there, unless you don't happen to have hacked firmware and get the axe anyway.
California to go hands-free in the car
Banning phone use while driving is all the rage these days -- despite evidence suggesting it doesn't help -- and now California's the latest to join the bandwagon. The law, which goes into effect January 1, 2008, requires the use of a hands-free device when chatting behind the wheel, lest some Erik Estrada type pulls you over and slaps you with a $20 fine. Repeat offenders get their fine upped to $50, but apparently has no adverse effect on the driver's insurance premium; we suspect a sizable number of Californians are going to view an occasional $50 chat with a CHiP as more of a price of doing business than a deterrent (but then again, maybe that's the idea). And no, being parked in LA traffic won't count as an exemption.[Via Autoblog]
Dead Rising not banned, facing unique 'unrated' status in Germany
Over on his blog, Xbox Live Germany's Boris Schneider-Johne breaks down the peculiar circumstances surrounding Dead Rising's status in Germany. Earlier this week, reports suggested that Germany's software rating organization, USK, had outright banned the title. Schneider-Johne explains that it's more complicated than that.In Germany, a game can't be banned until it's released. And it's not USK that bans the game, it's Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien (a.k.a. Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) -- or 'BPjM' for short. But BPjM can't ban a game that's rated, so, in order for a game to be banned, USK must decide not to rate it. In other words, only 'unrated' games can be banned. But again, banning can't be applied until a game is released, and BPjM will only consider banning a title after a youth organization has applied for the ban. However, even if a game is banned, retailers can still sell it legally to adults, they just can't advertise the game. The catch is, Microsoft will not permit 'unrated' games to be published because it undermines the Xbox 360's built-in parental control system. So ... Schneider-Johne concludes, "Dead Rising could be legally sold in Germany, but won't be published." Confused yet?
Major Nelson banned from XBL
No, he wasn't yelling about chocolate milk.[Thanks Nick]
Canada to outlaw iPods in the car for youngsters?
Grant Robertson at The Digital Music Weblog (a sister blog) has dug up details on a move from the Canadian Automobile Association to pressure provincial governments in Canada to ban younger drivers from using electronic devices, such as mobile phones and MP3 players, in the car, eh. While some think they have their song switching skillz down pat while juggling a Big Gulp™ and steering with their knee, Grant also cites a study released in April 2006 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that states "the many forms of distractions are collectively responsible for as many as eight out of every ten crashes" (do y'all even have 711's and 'Big Gulps' in Canada? If not, consider yourselves lucky).Check out Grant's post on the issue covering more on this sudden iPod-hating from Canada (we kid). But if the thought of not being able to cart your tunes with you is too much to bear, you might also need to start checking up on those fancy iPod-integration kits that let you control your iPod from your steering wheel.
Lawrence wants to ban phones completely from roads
We're not usually the crazy protester types who'd brave the cold and firehoses for something silly like woman's suffrage, (Just kidding! We love you ladies!) but we're all ready to get out tempera paint and signage for what seems like a pretty steep rights issue in Lawrence, Kansas. Seems they're trying to best all those current cellphone laws on the books -- most of which require a handsfree device to use your phone in the car -- and want to ban phones use while driving altogether. "If you pass a ban that just prohibits the hand-held devices, you're sending a message that the hands-free devices are safe, and that is false," said Paul Atchley of Kansas University, an proponent of the bill. Seems a little bit of shaky reasoning to us, but we're no professor. T-Mobile has spoken out against the ban, stating: "We think there are distractions just as great. I suppose if you also want to ban McDonald's coffee and kids in the back seat, then we wouldn't oppose it." We say amen to that, and just dare the Mayor of Lawrence to take our phone away from our cold dead fingers -- after we roll our SUV during a particularly heated conversation, of course.
Banned cheaters grovel before Bungie
Bungie recently publicized a series of emails sent by banned cheaters desperate to get back onto Halo 2's multiplayer servers. Here's a snippet from our personal favorite:"Please! I'll destroy my mods. i'll snich on some people that r getting away with mods on matchmaking! Just PLEASE appeal my ban. i want to play matchmaking again. i want to be clean for the arrival of Halo 3! c'mon! i didn't know what i was getting into when i got mods from my friend and from [website censored]! you have to believe me!!!"[Thanks, Sense; via 8-bit Ninja]
Professors banning in-class laptop use
In yet another sign that Luddism is alive and well in academia (remember Lakehead University's silly WiFi ban?), the Associated Press has picked up on a disturbing "trend" of professors banning laptops in their classrooms. Unlike the WiFi brouhaha, which revolved around fears that the wireless signals might be dangerous, keeping laptops out of the lecture hall is seen as a way of forcing students to pay attention. The AP article cites several law school professors who have enacted the ban, including one whose inspiration came while serving as an expert witness in a trial, when he realized the court stenographer wasn't absorbing any of the content that he/she was transcribing. If you ask us, not only does this policy fail to address the root of a problem -- hey Prof, try making your classes more interesting if you want people to pay attention -- but considering what students are paying for a higher education these days, they should be allowed to lug a mainframe and three monitors to class if that's how they like to get their learnin' done.
Verizon and Cingular go censor crazy with mobile content
You might want to look elsewhere if you were hoping that snazzy new 3G handset of yours with a large screen was going to be conveying any spicy content, or really much of anything some suit might label "controversial." Turns out Verizon and Cingular are really putting the FCC to shame in their clampdown of vulgarities and what not in mobile content. Cingular, for example, has banned the words "lesbian," "condom," "pee pee," (that was getting out of hand, but what about "Wii Wii"?), and all Mature and Adult gaming content. Teen-rated content doesn't even get a free pass, so developers will have to really watch it if they want to be promoted to the largest mobile subscriber base in the country. Verizon is similarly conservative, even though they have taken to some risque advertising methods, featuring the sexy Joanna Dark (pictured at right, censors courtesy of our friends at Joystiq). But they'll have none of it from content providers. Along with the standard sex and vulgarity bans, they don't allow the "glorification or promotion of tobacco, alcohol or drug use," and ban derogatory references to Verizon, Verizon Wireless, or Vodafone. We'd better stop talking about this before we get banned as well.[Via Joystiq]
Misleading TV ads face UK ban
Game ads have been showing pre-rendered CGI images, rather than in-game footage, for a while -- but the UK advertising industry has only just caught on. After complaints that Call of Duty 2's graphics didn't match up to the advertising, games ads have been hastily slapping a disclaimer on and hoping the advertising authorities will look the other way.The Broadcast Advertising Clearing Centre and Advertising Standards Authority are investigating, but something seems fishy, with the BACC claiming that advertisers aren't revealing the CGI nature of the footage. It's a well-entrenched advertising trick, but now that the authorities are aware of it, they might try and stop it. Actual in-game footage would give commercials a credible touch, but since TV advertising is only one of many channels used to promote games, advertisers don't seem too worried about the potential ban of CGI yet.
