Yup. Region encoding on DVDs is one of the foremost causes of piracy of movies. You'd think that would be apparent to the industry by now, but... I guess none are so blind as those who will not see.
I feel a longer rant coming on, but I don't have time right now. Just as well, it would probably end with someone having to invoke Godwin's Law anyway.

And about as effective as leaving a pile of money on the side of the road with a big sign saying "please do not steal me"
The only reason its still there I suspect is the monolithic thinking of large businesses, they pick something and then stick with it through thick and thin, regardless of actual benefit or detriment simply because they've always done it that way.
That said I don't pirate stuff for that reason, I pirate it because without a job I simply don't have the money for everything, though my giant dr who collection (largely imported thanks to arbitrary and asinine artificial delays on distribution) might imply otherwise. Ahh but when I get this laptop deployment job, I'm going to be ordering so many DVDs from amazon that I'll probably attract business import tax

When you've finished hating Steam, you all go and hate GFWL. How original.

I actually rather like GFWL. In fact the only real problem I have with steam is its compulsory nature for games I don't buy on there and the complete lack of compatibility assurance

Well i like the ideas behind GFWL and Steam. Buth them both have some major issues, at least for me.
first and really big is with GFWL, they dont support my country for online content, but i think that there syill is online activation ;/
(real world exaggerated example: company exports a car to ur country, and this cars advantage against other companys cars it runs on special, biofriendly and cheap fuel, and only on this one!!!, But unfortunetly due to some legal stuff they can not sell this fuel to your country. So u are left with a usles car, unless u accommodate it to use normal fuel and say goodbye to all benefits u should get buing this car, no savings on using it adn no service for it)
Steam is available in my country, but due to its pricing policy (my country dont use euro) new games cost 3 to 4 times more than boxed versions on release (sometimes even weekend sales are more expensive)
second one for steam is obligatory instalation of steam client, that one doesnt bother me right now, but i understand why some people dislike it that much, my only problem with it is problem with modding some non valve games, and patching problems.
Both GFWL and Steam have big communities around them, so there is still chance to see improvements if they only start listening their present and potential customers.
As for YouTube if its gonna get more restrictive, bloking more countries to content, its gonna fail it first purpouse, global video sharing community.

So who's up for contributing servers to the undernet?

Nah the ubernet is the place to be, you have to be a decent person and there's lots of attractive ladies wandering about in lingerie.
Or at least there will be if any reply to my advert

Can we call it "Web 1.0"?

Web 1 <--- So much better.

w?
_

oh my i'w just got this info on youtube, the video was in recommended for you tab, so now they recommend half censored videos
"This video contains an audio track that has not been authorised by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled. More about copyright"
its just getting more and more ridiculous every day

Let me preface this by saying that I have always been sensitive to environmental issues to a certain degree, and even moreso now. Why would you think I was on GOG, and was extremely passionate about what this means to gaming?
GOG, to me, represents not being able to have so much of an impact on the environment. There's no physical copies to buy, and the energy that's saved by using services like GOG and Steam is something that everyone can (and probably should) get behind at some point in the not-too-distant future.
That being said, what the Australian government has done recently regarding anti-whaling operations in their territorial waters is appalling, and they should be very much ashamed of themselves.
BJ