Cody Taylor

Barence writes “BT and other mobile broadband providers are blocking access to The Pirate Bay, as part of a “self-regulation” scheme with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). BT Mobile Broadband users who attempt to access the notorious BitTorrent tracker site are met with a “content blocked” message. The warning page states the page has been blocked in “compliance with a new UK voluntary code”. “This uses a barring and filtering mechanism to restrict access to all WAP and internet sites that are considered to have ‘over 18’ status,” the warning states. It goes on to list a series of categories that are blocked, including adult/sexually explicit content, “criminal skills” and hacking. It’s not stated which category The Pirate Bay breaches, although the site does host links to porn movies.”

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On Monday Bethesda announced a new title in the popular Fallout series called New Vegas, set for release sometime in 2010. It’s planned for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. They said it wasn’t a sequel to the highly-acclaimed Fallout 3, but rather a brand new game set in the same universe, though they confirmed that it will be similar in style to Fallout 3. The new game will be developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a studio containing members of the original Fallout team, which Bethesda’s Pete Hines discussed in an interview with Shacknews. The Fallout series also made headlines earlier this week when Bethesda trademarked the name for TV and film.

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Adobe has announced an HD-optimized version of Flash that will be available on TVs, Blu-ray players, and other set-top boxes. With a number of industry partners already on board, the Flash-capable products could be available for your YouTube-watching pleasure by the second half of 2009.

Narcissus writes to tell us that the European Parliament is planning a vote in the Industry, Transport, Energy (ITRE) committee that could reintroduce amendment 138 (currently amendment 46) which deals with safeguards to user rights on the internet and graduated response schemes. There are several online campaigns trying to drive awareness and action already but there is limited time to act. “The Council may propose a compromise version of amendment 138/46 that is completely neutralized, or that may even become the opposite of the original by allowing the ‘three strikes’ scheme instead of preventing it. According to the latest negotiations, am.138/46 wouldn’t anymore be an article (that must be transposed by Member States in their law) but a mere recital that has just indicative value. It is urgent to contact the members of the ITRE committee to advise them to reject compromise with the Council that failed to respect the intent of the original amendment. The best would be once again to approve the amendment.”

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