Author: Digital Digest | Latest News

From zombie madness to Xbox value, read the news roundup for the week ending 19 June 2016

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Cable channel AMC has sent out a controversial cease and desist letter that asks a "Walking Dead" spoilers Facebook page to hold off releasing information that could reveal a key plot point from the next season of the hit zombie show.

The cliffhanger at the end of the most recent season points to the brutal murder (by a barb wire wrapped baseball bat called Lucille) of a main character on the show, and fans will have to wait for the season 7 premier to find out who has been killed.

But Facebook group The Spoiling Dead Fans (TSDF) has apparently received information, information that they had planned to post on their page, that reveals who Lucille kills. The Facebook group uses aerial photos and public sightings of actors in shooting locations to deduce spoilers, including the likely victim of Lucille.

Unfortunately for The Spoiling Dead Fans, AMC caught wind of the potential leak and promptly sent a cease and desist letter, forcing TSDF to cancel plans to post the information.

AMC is citing copyright infringement grounds for their demand, specifically, "The release of plot summaries and particularly the types of crucial plot elements that you have stated you intend to release, have been found to constitute copyright infringement," wrote Dennis Wilson, who is representing AMC in the matter.

TSDF are aware that AMC probably doesn't have much of a case if all have to go on is what they have set out in their demand letter, and if they truly believe that TSDF expressing an opinion on who gets killed at the start of season 7 constitutes copyright infringement. But TSDF is still complying with the demand because they simply can't afford to fight this in the courts, if it gets there.

"Whether there are grounds for it or not is not the issue, it still costs money to defend," read a statement published by TSDF.

Season 7 of The Walking Dead airs later this year.

The results and analysis for DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray sales for the week ending June 4th 2016 are in. New release Gods of Egypt took top spot for the week, in another otherwise quiet week. Things will change for sure next week when Zootopia is released.

Read the rest of the stats and analysis to find out how DVD, Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray did.

Microsoft has beaten Sony to the punch and announced not one but two new Xbox One models, including the standard "Slim" second generation iteration, but also a new more powerful version of the console.

Borrowing from Apple's naming scheme, as well as the iterative upgrade cycle of devices like the iPhone, Microsoft's new "Slim" console will simply be known as the Xbox One S. Clad in a white colour scheme, it features a slim body design that's 40% smaller than the current "VCR-like" Xbox One, and will retail for $299 (a 2TB version retailing for $399 will be first available in August). The new console will also support 4K video streaming and Ultra HD Blu-ray support, as well as HDR output for games, and feature an internal power supply to further reduce the console's footprint.

While the announcement of the S was expected, what was more up in the air was whether Microsoft will use E3 to announce the still rumoured, but very likely real souped up version of the Xbox One, codenamed 'Scorpio'. With Sony confirming they won't be confirming the PS4 equivalent of 'Scorpio', the PS4 Neo, at E3, all eyes were on Microsoft to see if they would be the ones to let the cat out of the official bag.

And let the cat out they did. Microsoft, even confirming the 'Scorpio' name, says the new console will offer 4K resolution not just for video but for games too, VR support and it fully expects the Xbox One Scorpio to be the most powerful console on the market when it arrives in stores.

Emphasizing the "No-one gets left behind" philosophy behind he new hardware upgrade model, Microsoft boss Phil Spencer assured existing Xbox One owners that all future games and accessories will remain compatible with their first generation (and second generation, S) consoles.

Spencer also let loose another catch-phrase for the Xbox family, that the near future of Xbox would go "beyond generations". He was referring to the upcoming feature that would allow gamers to buy a game once and get both the Xbox One and PC version of the game, and the increased presence of the Xbox services on iOS and Android devices.

Xbox One Scorpio is set for a late 2017 release, with the retail price so far unconfirmed.

From dire copyright warnings to overly optimistic ones,read the news roundup for the week ending 12 June 2016

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Sony has finally confirmed one of the worst kept secrets on the Internet, that the PS4 will be getting a newer, more powerful model, dubbed the PS4 Neo.

Also known as the PS4.5, the upgraded PS4 will feature upgraded hardware to make the console capable of delivering improved graphics and 4K gaming.

Speaking to the Financial Times (subscription), Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Andrew House finally let the cat out of the bag, and also revealed some details previously unknown.

House confirmed that the new PS4 will indeed include a new Ultra HD Blu-ray drive, making the PS4 capable of playing the new 4K disc format. Sony has yet to bring a standalone Ultra HD Blu-ray player to market, and the PS4 Neo could in fact be the company's first Ultra HD Blu-ray player (the company has standalone players slated for a 2017 release).

House did not however confirm the price or release date for the PS4 Neo, only suggesting that the PS4 Neo would be more expensive than the standard PS4 (which might have dropping in price by the time the PS4 Neo is available, which may mean the PS4 Neo would still be sold at the current price of $350). Those looking for more details on the upgraded console at E3 next week will also be disappointed, as House confirmed Sony won't be unveiling the new PS4 at the gaming expo.

There's a new thing in the world of piracy warnings, as Sony Pictures Networks takes piracy prevention to the next, or previous, level.

Trying to get ahead of the massive piracy onslaught for Euro 2016, Sony Pictures Networks has already started sending piracy warnings to torrent sites. To be more accurate, these are pre-piracy notices, warning these torrent sites against putting up torrents of full match videos and highlights for Europe's premier International soccer competition.

The warning letters, which were also sent to streaming sites, warn of dire legal consequences for sites that put up such content. 

"Any manner of communicating and/or making available for viewing the UEFA EURO CUP 2016 matches on any platform shall therefore amount to violation of our Client’s exclusive rights in which our client has invested significant amount of money," the letter states.

Speaking to some of the operators of these sites, TorrentFreak learned that most have no intention of following Sony's demand. In fact, some have taken the notice as a confirmation of the popularity of Euro 2016 content and have been encouraged to do more to serve such content during June and July, when the competition takes place throughout France.

The Internet Archive has joined other notable Internet groups in warning against increasingly loud calls for a "take down, stay down" copyright regime.

Under the current DMCA laws, it is up to rights-holders to provide URLs to Internet service provider such as Google for removal. The same piece of content, such as a unique music track, often has multiple URLs, sometimes thousands of them, but under the current approach rights-holders have to submit each URL for service providers to remove.

Under the "take down, stay down", also known as the "notice and staydown" approach, rights-holders only have to identify the unique piece of work (Justin Bieber's 'Love Yourself', for example), and it's up to service providers to search and destroy all URLs, new and old, for the content.

But The Internet Archive, a non-profit group whose aim is to build an "Internet library" to preserve all web pages and online digital media, says this new approach would be a disaster for the Internet in general.

"We were very concerned to hear that the Copyright Office is strongly considering recommending changing the DMCA to mandate a ‘Notice and Staydown’ regime. This is the language that the Copyright Office uses to talk about censoring the web," the Archive writes on their official blog.

The Archive makes several key arguments in its opposition to the new regime, primarily on privacy and the First Amendment grounds, and on technical and legal issues that would make such a regime a nightmare to implement for sites like The Internet Archive.

The Archive says such a regime would mandate Internet sites and ISPs to continually monitor all user activity on the Internet, and take proactive action take down content "without any form of review, potentially violates free speech laws".

On the technical grounds, the Archive argues that technology hasn't advanced to the point where computers can tell the difference between real infringement and fair use.

"So far, no computer algorithm has been developed that can determine whether a particular upload is fair use. Notice and Staydown would force many cases of legitimate fair use off the web," says the Archive.

Take down, stay down would also force websites to make legal judgement on the copyright status of content, but without having the authority or the required information to make a correct judgement at all times.

"They (the websites) don't have all the facts about the works, such as whether they have been licensed. Most platforms are not in a good position to be making legal judgments, and they are motivated to avoid the potential for high statutory damages. All this means that platforms are likely to filter out legitimate uses of content," the Archive warns.

And in addition to all of these problems, websites like The Internet Archive will also have to bear the full cost of implementing such a regime.

"Nonprofits, libraries, and educational institutions who act as internet service providers would be forced to spend a huge amount of their already scarce resources policing copyright," the Archive argues.

The results and analysis for DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray sales for the week ending 28th May 2016 are in. Risen, which was also available on Ultra HD Blu-ray, was the week's best new release, but finished second overall behind 'Deadpool'.

Read the rest of the stats and analysis to find out how DVD, Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray did.

From Game of Thrones nude scenes to ... oh wait, what nude scenes? Read the news roundup for the week ending 5 June 2016

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