MS to stop access to content from other territories

Scruff

From eurogamer.net

Having turned a blind eye for some time now, Microsoft is finally moving to clamp down on people who set up foreign Xbox Live accounts in order to download content they can't access locally.
In a statement released overnight, Microsoft said that the territory controls would be strengthened by next week's "Spring Update" for the Xbox 360 dashboard, due out 7th May, which also introduces Live Messenger support among other things.

While this will have very little effect on Xbox Live users whose account details match up to their point of origin, it means, for example, that anybody in the UK who has set up a US account in order to access downloadable films and TV shows made available to US customers will see that access cut off from next week. The practice is also popular with gamers who want to try out Japanese and US game demos.
The statement, posted on the Microsoft-run Gamerscoreblog, explained that it was Microsoft's responsibility to comply with government regulations and licensing agreements that determine where content is to be made available.


"As a general policy we try to get global rights to content, but in some cases, it's not possible because of legal restrictions," the statement added. "In other instances, we have to get legal rights on a country-by-country basis, which unfortunately results with us having content on the service that has to be filtered based on geographical location."
Microsoft said it hoped users would understand "our responsibility, and the necessary security requirements that need to be in place in order to comply with applicable laws and [to] honour our agreements with content providers," and concluded by advising any US Xbox Live users who experience problems accessing content following the release of the Spring Update to call 1-800-4MY-XBOX to receive assistance.

probably effect some people here. I prefer not to use the 360 for downloading videos etc, there are *cough* cheaper ways to get it on a pc.

anto1208

true great way to stop illegal downloads , block legal ones :rolleyes:

Screw the europeens again

mcgovern

The problem is, that they weren't legal.

Mitch Connor

anto1208 wrote:

true great way to stop illegal downloads , block legal ones :rolleyes:

Screw the europeens again

what are you talking about? The downloads are only legal to residents of the coutries in question (ie. Japan and America) If you live in Ireland and are downloading these products through XBOX Live to your Irish 360 via a non-Irish account, it is illegal.

lee_baby_simms

What happens if you have an american account but you havent downloaded any american only content?

kensutz

Might be ok but don't be surprised if they ban the account because your IP address is Irish and using a US account.

lee_baby_simms

kensutz wrote:

Might be ok but don't be surprised if they ban the account because your IP address is Irish and using a US account.

its american by accident, i rang them loads of times to try and change it but no joy. I presume i lose all my achievements if the account is banned?

Timmy

lee_baby_simms wrote:

its american by accident, i rang them loads of times to try and change it but no joy. I presume i lose all my achievements if the account is banned?

Sorry to say but highly likely. They will probably look at the account type and then the originating IP and do a blanket ban (I currntly do it for a webshop I manage). Would try to get in touch to move it ASAP as once its blocked it will be (nearly) impossible to get the achievements back

koneko

They're not banning accounts but only stopping you downloading content not meant for your region. Changing the country on your account seems to be impossible to do, I've seen people complaining about that on the Xbox forums and my bf's account is stuck on USA aswell and they wouldn't change it for him. If you have any luck with that though, let everyone know.

robinph

Tauren wrote:

what are you talking about? The downloads are only legal to residents of the coutries in question (ie. Japan and America) If you live in Ireland and are downloading these products through XBOX Live to your Irish 360 via a non-Irish account, it is illegal.

Does that mean that it is illegal to buy region 1 DVD's then because I'm living in Ireland?

It's not illegal to get content from the other regions, it just goes against the movie studios wishes for charging more in different regions and controlling the release dates. The only content that could possibly be actually against the law would be things like WWII shooter demos containing nazi symbols being available for download in Germany.

Ciaran500

robinph wrote:

It's not illegal to get content from the other regions, it just goes against the movie studios wishes for charging more in different regions and controlling the release dates. The only content that could possibly be actually against the law would be things like WWII shooter demos containing nazi symbols being available for download in Germany.

Stuff on the Video marketplace would only be licensed for viewing in the US, which would make it illegal to watch over here.

lee_baby_simms

I'm not interested in most of the american videos anyway. I'd rather HBO than HD episodes of Hogan Knows Best.

robinph

Ciaran500 wrote:

Stuff on the Video marketplace would only be licensed for viewing in the US, which would make it illegal to watch over here.

That would mean that it is illegal to buy movies from Amazon.com and watch them here though which is clearly not the case.

Fingleberries

If you change your MS Passport / Windows Live ID from an American Address to an Irish one, does that show up correctly?

Also - what if you are an American who legitmately owns an XBox 360 in the States, but are living over here for a while and have been using a 360 over here?

Not that I am an American, just throwing the hypothetical situation out there :-)

lee_baby_simms

robinph wrote:

That would mean that it is illegal to buy movies from Amazon.com and watch them here though which is clearly not the case.

No it doesn't. Microsoft don't have permission to distribute the movies and tv shows available on the video marketplace outside of the US and Canada. Its that simple.

Retr0gamer

Ciaran500 wrote:

Stuff on the Video marketplace would only be licensed for viewing in the US, which would make it illegal to watch over here.

And what a terrible crime that would be. Paying to illegally watch videos. What next, murder simulators?

lee_baby_simms

Retr0gamer wrote:

And what a terrible crime that would be. Paying to illegally watch videos. What next, murder simulators?

Well if you're "paying to illegally watch videos" then you've deliberately set up a fake account so its at your own risk.

robinph

lee_baby_simms wrote:

No it doesn't. Microsoft don't have permission to distribute the movies and tv shows available on the video marketplace outside of the US and Canada. Its that simple.

I know why they are doing it, and can almost even agree with them (MS) on it, but to say that it is illegal and breaking the law is over stating it a bit. It is just between MS and the movie studios and when they want content to be made available in different regions, it's not breaking any laws and nothing has been stolen or pirated, it is just upsetting the studios release schedules.

The only slightly illegal thing that is happening is when people clicked the YES button to say that they were living in the US on siging up for that Live account was being a bit untruthful.

lee_baby_simms

robinph wrote:

but to say that it is illegal and breaking the law is over stating it a bit.

What other way is there to say it? It is illegal. Over stating it would be threatening to prosecute and given Microsoft nature i wouldn't put it past the bastards!

robinph wrote:

a bit untruthful

Well unfortunately its either true or false and if you read microsofts msn passport contract they declare the right to delete your account if you submit personal information that turns out to be false.

I think the real crime here is charging 3 euro for a 20 minute episode of the daily show that is available for free on regular US tv and for download from countless torrent sites.

robinph

lee_baby_simms wrote:

What other way is there to say it? It is illegal. Over stating it would be threatening to prosecute and given Microsoft nature i wouldn't put it past the bastards!

MS have no problem with people running accounts in different regions as they get money from it either way, they just now have to follow the rules that the content providers make up as to where each item is allowed to be released more closely or they won't be allowed to have any more content to put up.

The items have all been paied for and nothing has been stolen. The only crime is that some people happen to not be in the US. It is the same as if you were to pick up a couple of DVD's on your way back from a trip to the states and then watch them on your region free player back in Ireland. No crime has been commited, just some movie studios are getting pissed off that we are getting stuff cheaper than they would usually charge us.