Restrictions

[Pete]

Ok, I'm home alone, bored and my girlfriend's mobile's ran out of battery, so I'm going to rant about one of the Internet Phenomenons I hate the most;

Territory restrictions.

Picture the scene, I'm on one of my daily surf rides across the WWW, browsing some big game review site when suddenly this massive advertisement hits my face: WATCH THE NEWEST EPISODE OF [insert favourite TV series here] FOR FREE BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE, and, for once, I click the link and is taken to the official website. I roll out a chair, make a cup of nice hot chocolate and prepare for watching, but to my extreme frustration I'm met by a small text saying: Sorry, this video isn't available for your region.

Now, I would have been perfectly happy with just watching this TV series on TV (although 3 weeks later), but the fact that they just HAD to piss me off by first slapping that enormous banner in my face really pissed me off. I mean, it's not like they don't already know from where I am, seeing how other ads suggests me to start webcam chatting with one of 30 hookers supposedly living in my home village which has got barely 900 inhabitants.

And everywhere on the web I'm met by the same text; if I want to buy a song I really like on an online music store instead of illegally downloading it like I normally would, I can't because it's restricted to certain territories. If I want to watch a music video on a band's official YouTube channel I can't, because the video isn't available at your current location.

Not to talk about regional coding on DVD's and games. In Europe, we get less titles later for more money. Fabulous.

I'm done. Let me hear your opinions.

[minmay]

Agreed.

That is all.

[dale_fan3]

Agreed.

That is all.

^ This

[joe_042293]

I have a program called Hotspot Shield which allows me to run connections through a proxy server on a temporary basis, essentially tricking the receiving website into thinking I'm living in the USA. It's free, and I can vouch for its authenticity and spyware-less-ness.

I recommend you download it if you want to watch region-locked content. Only works for the USA, but I tend to find that most locked content is only locked for those outside the USA anyway.

Also, it's not illegal, in case you were worried about that.

[blueflare]

That's pretty lame.

Do that joe thing.

[video game]

I never understood the reasoning behind region coding (other than making more money :P). It seems so pointless.
Also: if you want to play wii games from other regions, Homebrew Channel + http://www.play-asia.com/ = win!

[UltimateAgent]

I've never understood the principal of region locking. It's supposed to be a security feature, but people just get ticked off and hack something to make it work, which opens the way to more hacking to do other stuff.

Homebrew Channel + http://www.play-asia.com/ = win!

Homebrew Channel + Most any homebrew system = Epic Win

Especially Wii Physics.

[LostOverThere]

Homebrew Channel + Most any homebrew system = Epic Win

When you're playing in Homebrew you're playing in Communism!!!

I've never understood the principal of region locking. It's supposed to be a security feature, but people just get ticked off and hack something to make it work, which opens the way to more hacking to do other stuff.

But yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. I'm going to tread into gaming technologies by saying the biggest thing that pisses me off about living in Australia is the ridiculous prices we pay for games. That's why I used to love Steam, recently they've started region locking things too, in Australia, via Steam (and stores) in many cases we are charged double, read - double, for the same game.

Call of Duty 4 used to cost $49USD via Steam, thankfully down here, we were charged the same price - 49USD. It was a great buy, many stores charged lots more and then Steam decided to enforce Price Discrimination (the word 'Discrimination' is Latin for 'a distinction' which is a neutral term, but I intend to use this in the most horrific way possible). Over night, Call of Duty in Australia rose to 89USD, almost doubling in price!

My rant here is done.

[UltimateAgent]

Don't forget. Australia has to pay the "Having the Nicest Beaches" tax on video games.

[Garion]

I never understood the reasoning behind region coding (other than making more money :P). It seems so pointless.

The reason behind it (for online TV anyway) is licensing. For instance in Australia network ten own the rights to broadcast a great deal of US shows (lets take the Simpson's for instance)

They are the only people allowed to broadcast it in Australia (aside from PayTV). This means they can rake in all of the advertising money. Now it makes sense that they show this in the 'ratings period', which is between February and November each year. This is in contrast to say the US, who's ratings period is now. Network ten thinks it would be stupid to broadcast their show now because no one is home to watch it and that equals less money.

Now imagine how much money they would lose because innocent people (ie, ones that don't download off bittorrent) could go to the internet and legally watch their fix of the simpsons sometimes days after it has aired in the US. How much money would they lose now?

So, media companies lock it up into the US only so network CEO's can buy more houses.
Thats all.

Over night, Call of Duty in Australia rose to 89USD, almost doubling in price!

Now I don't know why this maybe, but I do know that Australia has a tax on imported goods from the US = why we always pay more. However, I can't confirm if this extends to intellectual goods as well.

The main reason for a price rise = more money.

[LostOverThere]

Now I don't know why this maybe, but I do know that Australia has a tax on imported goods from the US = why we always pay more. However, I can't confirm if this extends to intellectual goods as well.

I always assumed it was because we were willing to pay more.