Intern's Log: Week 14.2

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/10/r4-devices-are-now-illegal-in-france/

Usually when people talk about governments tackling piracy, we think of convulted legislature that punishes methods that could be used for piracy rather than items specifically used in piracy.  Understandably to an extent, as it is usually regarding software and electronic mediums which are difficult to track via part numbers and such.

However, portables have been able to be jailbroken and otherwise hacked to play downloaded games for free.  The methods with which to do so can be tracked and are less likely to snag people that were using it for legitimate reasons.  The targeted way that France is cracking down on is a particular kind of flash memory compatible with Nintendo portables.  Since there have been less security vulnerable options available, it is easier for both France and Nintendo to crack down on just this one method while leaving the use of other flash memory units perfectly fine.

Given that it has full support of Nintendo and that it focuses on something that it can track (and does, according to several raids of storage areas), I think that this method of cracking down on piracy may be a better step in the right direction over focusing on digital methods for now.

--Zack