Region Coding Consumer protection or Consumer Manipulation :: Video Games Region Coding Essays

Region Coding Consumer protection or Consumer Manipulation Introduction With the advent of digital media has come a better ability for the owner of a copyright to protect the copyrighted work. Some mediums such as DVD have multiple levels of copy protection: 1. CSS scrambling for the video data on the disc, 2 . Macrovision for analog signal protection from the player, and 3. Region coding of a DVD disc and DVD player to prevent disc from being played in other parts of the world. Macrovison and CSS protect the media from illegal reproduction. Region coding prevents legal media from being used regions other than the intended region for the media. I believe the Region Coding without user bypass is the most controversial. Prohibiting a legally bought copy of a DVD from playing on a legal DVD player is protection for the company with no regard for the consumer. I will explore if Region coding is legal in Australia and if it is ethical. Region Coding and Circumvention Devices DVD is not the originator of Region Coding. Video game systems have used region coding schemes since the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The original circumvention was a physical constraint such that the media for the Famicon (Japanese NES) would not physically fit into NES for other regions (and vice versa). These allowed Nintendo to control the release of software and make importing of Famicon software to other regions less desirable due to the need to circumvent the region protection. With the introduction of the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn (system) the media used was a standard CD. This meant region protection could no longer rely on physical constraints. A CD from one region has the same physical dimensions of a CD from other regions. The BIOS of the system contained the region code for the system. The system would then only allow access to media from the same region. The only way for the media to be played on a system for another region is a circumvention dev ice. The Australian Digital Agenda Act has given great protection to companies that employ region coding. This is by limiting circumvention devices such that â€Å"a circumvention device capable of circumventing, or facilitating the circumvention of, the technological protection measure† 1 would automatically be considered violation of copyright law.

Comparative Essay: Setting in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘Hedda Gabler’ Essay

Setting can often reflect the underlying ideas in a play. In the light of this statement, consider the importance and use of setting in ‘Hedda Gabler’ and ‘A Streetcar named Desire’ Setting, with all its different uses, is essential in revealing the imprisonment of protagonists and the values of a society in ‘Hedda Gabler’ by Henrik Ibsen and ‘A Streetcar named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams. Both playwrights employ the use of setting in their plays to help reveal underlying ideas, giving the audience an insight to their respective society and the playwright’s purpose of showing how societies are responsible for imprisoning their own people. Williams displays the fortes and the flaws in 1940s New Orleans with his selection of setting. The setting in ‘A Streetcar named Desire’ reveals New Orleans’ carefree and come-and-go attitude. However, the setting also surfaces the city’s lack of compassion. Ibsen uses the setting to display the entrapment enforced on the protagonist. The constant images of imprisonment such as the window are a constant but subtle reminder to the audience that Hedda Gabler is imprisoned by her 19th Norwegian, sexist and propriety orientated society; to which she can have no input to decide her future. The setting used by both playwrights is essential in revealing the imprisonment of their protagonists, the values of a society in their respective plays as the set reveals the context of the play. Tennessee Williams uses his set in A Streetcar Named Desire to show the incongruity of Blanche in 1940s New Orleans, ultimately displaying how she does not belong there. The scene preceding Blanche’s entrance includes Stanley in his ‘blue denim work clothes’ carrying a ‘red stained meat package’ from the butcher. This reflects the appearance of the setting; a poor area of New Orleans, ‘weathered grey’ buildings with ‘faded white stairs’ complemented by a ‘brown river’ flowing nearby. The entrance of Blanche is inconsistent with this set as she is dressed in a ‘white suit with a fluffy bodice’, a ‘pearl necklace’ and carrying a ‘valise’. She is literally incongruous with the setting’. Even her name; Blanche; which suggests purity and cleanliness, doesn’t match the setting. The audience has an instant response in this first scene; Blanche is obviously not appropriate to New Orleans in the 1940s as she is instantly contrasting with everything that is going on around her. Blanche’s first reactions give testament to he audience’s impressions as he is shocked by the house that her sister, Stella, lives in and has to ‘wearily refers to the slip of paper’ to make sure she’s at the right house. This shows that she is not used to this kind of setting at all. As soon as she steps onto the set, Blanche is imprisoned by it. The ‘New America’ presented by the set is a jail for Blanche as she has no idea how things work and how to interact with women and particularly men. It seems that it is a constant barrier for her and she has nowhere to take refuge but her own mind where she speaks ‘faintly to herself’. It is recipe for tragedy. Williams has used his set in scene one to introduce the incarceration that Blanche experiences from the care-free and the come-and-go attitudes in New Orleans which continue until the end of the play. However, Ibsen presents the entrapment of the protagonist; Hedda, in a different way; the proprietary orientated society and setting that she lives in. Hedda Gabler is set in a 19th Norwegian society that is proprietary orientated, in that it values money, social status and is very traditional. Most of all, women are subjugated. This setting is essential in revealing the Hedda’s captivity in her society as it puts what she says and interacts with in context, allowing the audience to understand the gravity of her tragic situation. As Hedda and John Brack are talking, Hedda becomes very bitter about her obviously dull life. Brack starts to frustrate her with his hopeful and wishful thinking about her future, to which she eventually replies while standing ‘over by the glass door’ and ‘looking out’; ‘I’ve only got a gift for one thing in the world†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. For boring myself to death. She realises that in her society she has only two purposes; to marry and to have children. It is clear that she realises this because she knows how boring her life is and she doesn’t do thing about it. It becomes clear to the audience that Hedda is trapped by her own society in that it won’t accept her as a man would be. She knows that there is fun and enjoyment to be had. One would say she can see it thought the ‘glass door’. But this, again, is a barrier for her that she can’t get past. This is what makes Hedda Gabler such a tragic tale; she knows what independence and enjoyment can be had outside the walls of her house (which she never leaves in the entirety of the play), but she cannot escape them. She knows her fate before she can do anything to change it. She is stuck with her boring life because her 19th century Norwegian society will not allow her to blossom. It can be seen that Ibsen uses his setting to allow the audience to put the tragedy of Hedda Gabler into context of what she says in the play, showing her bitter and inevitable imprisonment in her home from the outside world. Common to both plays is the lack of compassion found within their respective societies emphasising the protagonist’s confinement in their societies to the audience. Henrik Ibsen displays the deficiency of sympathy found within the 19th Norwegian society in the ultimate scene of the play. As the climax of the play is reached, Hedda grabs her pistols and tragically shoots herself in the head. The characters representing selective parts of their society would have been expected to show some sympathy for poor Hedda but none is shown. Three characters are present when the suicide takes place; Tesman, Brack and Mrs Elvsted representing the scholars, the law and servant respectively in their society. None of these characters show any sympathy whatsoever to the now lifeless Hedda. Despicably, Brack criticises her actions and exclaims ‘One doesn’t do that kind of thing’. This is a full representation of the lack of compassion in their society as before thinking about feeling sorry for poor Hedda Gabler, Brack exclaims that Hedda has done the wrong thing by the society’s values. From this, the audience can see that society’s values take priority over everything else. This ultimately shows that Hedda had no chance of branching out from her house from the start. It was always going to end this way. Tennessee Williams’ also shows the shortage of empathy towards the protagonist in the ultimate scene. When Blanche’s breakdown is manifested, the characters all around her, each and everyone representing the society and the setting they live in, show hardly any compassion. Of all people who should have been helping Blanche, her sister, decided to call upon a doctor and a matron to take her to a mental institution. This is very confronting for the audience because if an average woman in 1940s New Orleans can’t even show compassion towards her sister and only family left in the world, then who will. In Both plays, this lack of compassion could be the clincher that led to the fate of both protagonists. All Blanch and Hedda ever wanted was just to fit into their respective societies. But the setting didn’t allow them to do so. The setting is ultimately fundamental in revealing the entrapment enforced on both protagonists as the characters representing the setting are able to show the audience the behaviour of their societies; which have deficits in levels of compassion. The setting used by both playwrights is essential in revealing the imprisonment of their protagonists, the values of a society in their respective plays as the set reveals the context of the play. Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire are similar in a way as their respective settings reveal the lack of concern and empathy for their respective societies; this deficiency in sympathy towards the protagonists; Hedda and Blanche ultimately leads to their tragic fates. However, the plays are different in that Blanche’s imprisonment in 1940s New Orleans is presented by her incongruity to the setting and New Orleans’ care-free attitude. Whereas Hedda is imprisoned in 19th century Norway by the social ranked, sexist and proprietary orientated society.

Why Is The Supreme Being - 5039 Words

Step 2: Believing in a Supreme Being Please pause for a moment, and picture in your mind the washed away remnants of what used to be a small city; it is rather difficult to recognize from all the earthquake rubble and debris that there once was a town here. Bits and pieces of what used to be homes are now scattered from one end of the view to the other. A gloomy haze of dust, smoke and ash has recently enveloped over the entire countryside. Sounds of screaming, yelling and crying are bombarding one’s hearing senses; a smell of unbelievable human decaying stench is so over whelming, the odors stimulate the gag reflex and tear ducts to produce endless retching and a cleansing wash of foul air from one’s eyes. Hungry ownerless dogs are†¦show more content†¦You watch as Good-Samaritans carry dying victims to safety and see others walking aimlessly among dead corpses â€Å"wailing† in search of loved ones. A religiously minded person may stop and think; †Å"where is God in all of this?† Or, a person may have their atheistic belief strengthened that there is no such thing as a Supreme Being, for if there were a God, they would never allow this to happen to their Earthly children. Either way, your faith is about to be tested way beyond your capability to understand. At this point, the emotional destruction of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) is settling down in your soul; it is wreaking havoc upon what is left of your every emotional stability. Unless, you have an unshaking, unswerving belief and testimony in God, you will inevitably falter (terrybroadwater, 2013) See figure III. a b c (d) Figure III, a,b,c,and d are courtesy of the World Health Organization (Victims of the Haitian Earthquake and Tsunami) Experiencing these kinds of overwhelming disasters will tear anyone emotionally apart, especially if they are not psychologically ready to handle such sights, sounds and smells (Solomon, Berger, Ginzburg, 2007). These kinds of places leave no room for doubt; no suspicious reservation that God does not exist. One must believe there is a God given reason why all things happen, why death is just another important step in the eternal process of living, why death is simply