“It’s Game Over for This Abusive Practice”- EU-Parliament Backs Stop Killing Games

https://feddit.org/post/31053330

“It’s Game Over for This Abusive Practice”- EU-Parliament Backs Stop Killing Games - feddit.org

geteilt von: https://feddit.org/post/31053244 [https://feddit.org/post/31053244] > > ## A cross-party group of MEPs has issued a call for legislation in support of the European Citizens’ Initiative Stop Destroying Video Games. > > > >The ask of Stop Killing Games has repeatedly been misrepresented as a call for eternal server support, endless updates, mandatory private servers, or source-code releases. That was never the demand. > > > >The actual demand is simple: when consumers pay for a game, publishers should not be allowed to deliberately make it unusable after support ends without providing reasonable means for continued operation. > > > >For months, we have explained this to institutions, lawyers, developers, consumer advocates, and elected representatives. Now it is time to move from clarification to solutions. > > > >Tiemo Wölken, the MEP leading the call for us, said: > > > >> “When nearly 1.3 million EU citizens are calling on the European Union to take action, it is our obligation to listen and to act. We cannot ignore this overwhelming call to action. The plenary debate a few weeks ago sent a clear signal: This Citizen Initiative has broad cross-party support in the European Parliament. When consumers pay for a game, they invest more than just money. They spend their time on it, make memories, develop passions and make real friends for life along the way. It is indefensible that publishers should have the right to simply pull the plug on these games at any time, and destroy cultural heritage in the process. With this letter, we reiterate our position: It’s Game Over for this abusive practice.” > > > >This is the route we have been working toward for months. The Commission has heard the explanations. Parliament has heard the explanations. The public has now seen why those explanations were necessary. > > > >The next step is not another round of pretending the demand is unclear. The next step is working on solutions. > > > >That means legislation that protects consumers from having paid-for games deliberately disabled after support ends, while making clear that publishers are not being asked to provide perpetual services. It means serious discussion of reasonable end-of-life options where feasible. And it means using the upcoming Digital Fairness Act as the vehicle to turn this principle into law. > > > >Nearly 1.3 million citizens asked the EU to act. On the 16th of this month, the Commission will officially answer the European Citizens’ Initiative. > > > >That answer will show how seriously the Commission takes its citizens. Parliament, at least, is standing ready to act on their behalf and without it. > > > >(Side note on the UK situation: we see it, and we are monitoring it closely. It is not yet fully clear whether this requires us to step in, but we are following developments.) > > [https://feddit.org/pictrs/image/ec8030de-f418-4e03-9be1-c4fb80a0fa00.webp] > > [https://feddit.org/pictrs/image/e79152ae-affc-49d1-9f87-38afe3582197.webp] > > Source: Update from the SKG Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/StopKillingGames/comments/1u11voc/its_game_over_for_this_abusive_practiceparliament/]

Home alone: Europeans are ready to defend themselves

https://programming.dev/post/51772981

Home alone: Europeans are ready to defend themselves - programming.dev

Lemmy

This is required reading👇 Absolutely terrible. Here you see what kind of human outlook and culture, which #Russia and their allies and supporters (including the current US admin), are trying to impose on #Europe with military force. #Ukraine is the heroes of our time. Putin is Hitler's heir.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4byw3o4wczjvjkkciczq6ndz/post/3mnwd5cdvis2e

Charities in England and Wales ‘donate millions to illegal Israeli settlements’

https://lemmy.ml/post/48541836

Charities in England and Wales ‘donate millions to illegal Israeli settlements’ - Lemmy

Thirty-two charities in England and Wales have donated at least £28m to Israeli settlements that are illegal under international law, an MP has said. Labour’s Melanie Ward said that if gift aid were claimed against the donations in the usual way, it would mean taxpayers had subsidised illegal settlements to the tune of £5.6m, a situation she described as deplorable. The foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced on Tuesday that the Charity Commission has been tasked with investigating UK charities’ links to settlements. Ward, formerly the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians, set out the details of their recent activities in a letter to the commission in which she urges the regulator to take action by investigating them and removing them from the charity register. She writes: “The existence and growth of Israeli settlements in the state of Palestine is globally recognised as one of the major impediments to peace. Any activity which supports the maintenance and the expansion of Israeli settlements – such as that funded by these 32 ‘charities’ – is extremist and not of benefit to the UK public. Further, it risks being materially and financially used in pursuance of breaches of international law.”

EU targets Russia's Patriarch Kirill in new sanctions proposal

https://lemmy.world/post/47986921

EU targets Russia's Patriarch Kirill in new sanctions proposal - Lemmy.World

Lemmy

Poles among EU’s hardest workers but productivity lags

https://lemmy.world/post/47986917

Poles among EU’s hardest workers but productivity lags - Lemmy.World

Lemmy

Night of Violence Grips Belfast After Stabbing Attack

Cars and a bus were set on fire and families were driven from their homes as the stabbing attack caused tensions to spill onto the streets.

The New York Times
" #Europe’s intense spring #heatwave showed how quickly #climate #extremes had become “the new #normal”, scientists said, after the month of May broke a series of national #records and was the second warmest globally."
https://www.ft.com/content/a9d05461-8f4a-4389-bba1-750d806ec9cf?syn-25a6b1a6=1
Wild temperature swings are becoming the ‘new normal’, EU agency says

Global average for month of May recorded at 1.42C above pre-industrial levels

Financial Times

Video from russian social media wherein they've added pop music to footage of them hunting and murdering an innocent civilian in #Ukraine Kherson region.

This is russian culture. russian war criminals murder civilians every day in #Ukraine

#news #eu #europe #europeanunion #Ireland #usa