Is it just me, or is the Internet increasingly becoming a bordered world?

From iTunes store accounts linked to credit cards, to GeoIP technology, it seems that services are relying more and more on being focused on one, geo-politically defined audience.

The most annoying instance of this is the BBC iPlayer. The absurd situation of BBC Worldwide, the commercial division of the BBC which sells programmes and formats outside the UK, as well as bandwidth concerns, has led to geographic restrictions being placed on where the iPlayer can be accessed from. Unfortunately, the implementation isn’t linked to having paid for a TV licence (and therefore accessible from anywhere), but rather based on GeoIP technology: checking AS numbers, reverse DNS lookups and other such things against known geographic locations. There are workarounds, but blech to that.

This seems poor to me. The geographic restrictions are some of the main reasons the iPlayer is reliant on DRM and proprietary technologies, things the BBC, as a public broadcaster, should not be involved with.

The same sort of thing is going on with Hulu, NBC.com, and the like. But those are commercial companies, not publicly-funded broadcasters with a public service mission.

It’s unfortunate not only for that reason, but also because end-to-end openness and non-discrimination is one of the best things about the Internet. It’s a positive benefit to me that a I get exactly the same connectivity regardless of location. Things might happen slower, but a lack of discrimination and intermediate futzing is definitely a good thing.

We don’t want to get to a situation where there’s a British Internet *shudder*, German Internet, Australian internet, and so on. So let’s just nip this in the bud, folks. If it’s out there, it’s out there.

</rant>

Dr. Leo Spaceman

Dr. Leo Spaceman quotes, e.g.:

Tracy Jordan: Dr. Spacemen, when they check my DNA, will it tell me what diseases I might get, or help me to remember my ATM PIN code?
Dr. Leo Spaceman: Absolutely. Science is whatever we want it to be.

For those who aren’t aware, Trisha Goddard (on the right) is the self-appointed saviour of humanity, casting aspersions on all and sundry who venture into her daytime TV fiefdom.

Captured 14th December 2006

OK, it’s not up there with Takeshi’s Castle or Pythagoras Switch, but there are several reasons why this short clip is so awesome:

• A guy puts candles out with a frickin’ Lambrini cork from fifteen feet away.
• Being Japanese TV, there are pop-up arrows, fluorescent captions and action replays galore
• Apparently Japanese women are desperately impressed by men with uncorking abilities like this guy, judging by the ‘ooohs’ on the soundtrack. Tommy – take note.
• Yes, the Freudian angle was too obvious to miss.
• There’s a polarised shot of a woman’s face just before he does his thing, just to raise the tension.
• The voice-over guy is just so darned impressed, bless him.

Guy Puts Out Candles With Campagne Cork:

This is how you impress the ladies at a party. With your cork skillz. And yes I spelled that with a ‘z’. On TV. In Japan.

(Via TV in Japan).

At the time Fox denied the cancellation but it seems still to be up in the air. David Cross, who plays the obliviously homosexual and aloof former psychiatrist and ‘nevernude’ Tobias Fünke in the show, recently remarked sarcastically on a TV talk show with his idea of what Fox might replace AD with.

Though to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Fox have put ‘America’s Cutest Retards’ into pre-production.

Here, TVSquad publishes a tongue-in-cheek campaign to have the show axed.

Cancel Arrested Development!!:

“You’ve heard the rumors. Emmy for Best Comedy, Golden Globe for Best Actor, WGA Award for Best Episodic Comedy – all of that be damned, low ratings deserve to be punished. And so Fox is probably on the cusp of cancelling Arrested Development. After all, as David Cross helpfully pointed out on The Jimmy Kimmel Show last month, Rupert Murdoch could make a lot more money off of a hip reality show like America’s Cutest Retards. Here at TV Squad, we have just one thing to say about that:

“Good Riddance!”

Yeah, that’s right. You heard me – we don’t want shows like Arrested Development sullying our beloved network. Face it, FOX – nobody wants to watch a character-driven comedy. We want traditional sitcoms that take place in living rooms. With couches. And lazy husbands and hot wives and mean-spirited children. Either that, or procedural dramas. Lots of them. Anything with forensics, you just keep coming. Reality is good too – let’s have more of those shows where attractive people eat bugs and poor people fight for prizes. In fact, just put those two shows together – make some hot bug-eating chicks fight over an unemployed factory worker, and then give the winning couple a makeover and a dream house. Then give us a shocking twist. Give us anything, as long as you take away Arrested Development.”

(Via Engadget.)