Stolen from Digg: Obama’s Gift to British PM Ruined by DVD Zone Restrictions
It sure is something, when the most powerful person in the world gets screwed over by the outdated concept of intellectual property. Regional protection doesn’t protect anyone. It’s just a really good way to make your customers angry and an impediment to the free flow of information (the free flow of information is a cause that is very important to me).
I once tried to play a video game from Japan on my Gamecube console. Of course, it had regional protection, so my north american console wouldn’t read it. So, I inserted a disc in the console that tricks the Gamecube into shutting off its regional protection (or something like that), thus allowing me to play the video game. This just goes to show that if the media producers continue to stave off “piracy” like this, their customers will just innovate, they’ll just make the regional protection useless by getting around it. This anti-piracy measure is kind of like laws that restrict gun ownership: they only affect those who are willing to conform to the system.
I think folks in India could greatly benefit from being able to expose themselves to media from America. Perhaps people in South Africa could benefit from watching content from Colombia, or Maybe Iranians could benefit from exposure to Canadian media. Bring on the international exchange of information! Bring on media without borders!