Are SA Steam users breaking the law?

D.B.Cooper said:
Well, there's going to be little problem with that since Steam is required for activation of physical copies of games sold in the stores here. Doing that would be boneheaded, to put it mildly.
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You Just described most of your government...
 
FatBoySlim said:
Best they be careful, they may just go and lay a charge with the police against Steam, like Malema's wanted to do same with Twitter
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Don't think much would happen there, as the cop taking down the charge's head would explode as he tries to figure out what the result of a boiling kettle has to do with digital media.... :D

B
 
Fire everybody at the Film and Publications Board and just adopt international ratings. Viola, money saved and a more efficient system.
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Job creation and protection of "decent jobs". Barriers to entry have always been the south african way of protecting monopolies, the competition commission should look into this:D. This is why broadband costs are still so high..the competition commission should look into this:D. also, there is the tax revenue issue ,the competition commission should look into this:D.
 
I wonder when government is going to realise that we don't live in a bubble anymore and the internet makes us one global community... there is no such thing as customs on the internet.
 
The interviewer didn't seem to catch onto this glaring problem either, or just did a crap job by not clearing it up. Then again many people commenting are doing something similar, since it's media is illegal without a rating what makes them think they won't just make our ISPs block steam servers alltogether since they have no way to rate and allow single games on that service. What was that about customs intercepting downloads? Bet they won't be cracking jokes when their steam collection stops working.
 
Hahaha - it's quite clear from this article just how out of touch the FPB is with modern (digital) distribution. Having customs 'seize' my downloaded content is magnificently laughable. The FPB is a dinosaur in its own right and a handbrake to progress. Screw 'em.

LOL - moving pictures. Bwahahahaha!

James - how did you keep a straight face writing this article???

Juice
 
Browser said:
The interviewer didn't seem to catch onto this glaring problem either, or just did a crap job by not clearing it up. Then again many people commenting are doing something similar, since it's media is illegal without a rating what makes them think they won't just make our ISPs block steam servers alltogether since they have no way to rate and allow single games on that service. What was that about customs intercepting downloads? Bet they won't be cracking jokes when their steam collection stops working.
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'blocking' the internet is a censors wet-dream and virtually impossible - just ask the Australian government...

Juice
 
Maddmatt said:
Why do we even need a local classifications board when the games have already been classified by more competent overseas organisations? You see up to three different age restrictions when you buy a packaged game in SA.
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Because the FPB charges a distro a fee per title per platform. It's a great money-spinner for government. Just another tax on the population.

Juice
 
e.cachucho said:
Wow, this is a really bad article, the role of any reporter is to delve below the surface on questioning. The fact that they didn't bring up the issue of it being impossible for customs to confiscate digital media is just plain stupid.
Bad reporting.
Bad article.
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I imagine it was a bunch of questions sent to the FPB for answer and this was the reply. To be honest, I think it's far more entertaining this way than if it was cleaned up by the journalist...

Juice
 
Sgt.Romeo9 said:
However another thing that I found strange was when he spoke of how the fpb ratings are more focused on our society and cultures and how ESRB & PEGI don't mean squat here.
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Someone's smelling a rat....

Sgt.Romeo9 said:
I personally think this entire fpb thing is a hocks a way to create more jobs that tax payers probably end up paying for. Cause let's face it these guys aren't actually skilled at there jobs... steam game at customs please. :wtf:
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Nail + Head ;)


why the hell do we need so much rating systems?

Do they rate flash games I play on the web? no, impossible...therefore its impossible for steam users as well.
 
wishblade said:
Is it just me, or does the interviewee not understand the the term "digital distribution"? Or maybe its my understanding thats slightly warped...
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Perhaps you forgot about the little men who scan all the bits and bytes as they come in. I believe they sit at the telkom offices somewhere :p
 
Phumelele Faba said:
The FPB will shortly commence a gaming classification pilot project which will involve gamers playing the games for the classification committee in real time.
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This could turn into a bit of a problem for the FPB... if they don't use under-age gamers, they will probably never get to all the hidden and hard-to-find content. ;) And if they do use under-age gamers, they will possibly have exposed children to adult content. Quite the conumdrum they have there. :p

killadoob said:
Very bad, shocking actually. It is fairly obvious the person being interviewed does not know what is going on yet no attempt is made to help the person along. It seems fairly obvious the person being questioned is talking about physical objects. You should go back and explain that you are talking about online digital content distribution and ensure the person understands what steam, xbox etc offer. Also make sure they know we are downloading everything as in logging onto our computers, purchasing said goods and downloading them.
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AcidRaZor said:
IMO it's not the reporter's duty to educate a person in charge of these things. They should already be aware of the different forms of possible distribution and actively rating it where appropriate. But they need a new BMW, why pay for a 3 day course in education when they can go "vroooom" with their "compatriots" on the M1 without consequence...
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In all probability this was a set of questions that was emailed, and then responded to. (Sounds like that to me, anyway). Reporters often get their information in that manner. (Wouldn't you?) And perhaps the reporter was thinking of all the Steam users when he decided not to inform the FPB that they are being circumvented like this. ;)
 
If it was a face-to-face session I think the interviewer should have brought it to the attention of the person being interviewed that it isn't physical content that can be stopped at customs. But it's still sad....
 
walterl said:
If it was a face-to-face session I think the interviewer should have brought it to the attention of the person being interviewed that it isn't physical content that can be stopped at customs. But it's still sad....
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I agree, it was pretty cruel of the interviewer not to point it out, unless they were intentionally taking the piss or were themselves ignorant....
 
Serious_Python said:
I agree, it was pretty cruel of the interviewer not to point it out, unless they were intentionally taking the piss or were themselves ignorant....
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If it makes a difference, this was an email interview, not a face-to-face one.
 
Jan said:
If it makes a difference, this was an email interview, not a face-to-face one.
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It would have prolly been best to leave the customs and excise bit out of the transcript but hey... it provided entertainment value :)
 
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