Kotaku
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bioware
Dragon Age To Be SecuROM-Free
BioWare's spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series, Dragon Age: Origins, will ship without the unpopular SecuROM digital rights management and copy protection software that has been attached to previous Electronic Arts games. More »
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Comment by Rctdaemon: Funny, I seem to remember a similar comment about Mass Effect and 'lo and behold, it came back to bite... 16 Responses | Other threads
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mass effect
EA Releases Tool To Bypass SecuROM Limitations
Publisher Electronic Arts has released a De-Authorization Management Tool for PC gamers afflicted with one of its many catalog titles packaged with SecuROM for digital rights management. This is for you, disgruntled Mass Effect owner. More »
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Comment by Matt0505: So now this means I can sell my Mirror's Edge game to someone else? What a novel fucking idea. 8 Responses | Other threads
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stardock
Stardock's Answer To DRM: Goo
With Steamworks' new CEG technology preparing to make DRM obsolete, Stardock has unveiled their own three-letter acronym answer to digital rights management: Goo. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by BillyTheRatKing: I don't know if that sounds GOOd. If someone stole your account they could sell your games! The downloaded ones... 6 Responses | Other threads
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ea
No DRM For The Sims 3
Rather than anger their fanbase with intrusive digital rights management technology, EA has opted to stick with tried and true Serial Code protection for The Sims 3. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by Frequen-Z: Looks like we'll have a successor to The Sims 2's record of Most Pirated Game. 11 Responses | Other threads
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valve
New Steamworks Feature "Makes DRM Obsolete"
Shortly after Microsoft revealed new features for their Games for Windows Live service, Valve counters with new Steamworks features, including in-game downloadable content, robust matchmaking, and new technology they claim "makes DRM obsolete." More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by eddienoteddy: steam continues its quest for total world domination. +1 25 Responses | Other threads
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piracy
Creative Assembly: Fighting Piracy Is Pointless
What's the point of fighting PC game piracy? According to Stormrise developer Creative Assembly Australia's communications manager Vispi Bhopti, there isn't one. More » -
news
Federal Trade Commission Weighs In On DRM – Gamers, Speak Up
Now’s your chance to tell the FTC how you feel about Digital Rights Management technologies – the Commission has opened up a comment form to the public. More » -
prince of persia
Prince Of Persia PC To Be DRM-Free
Not content with making Prince of Persia too easy for players, Ubisoft have decided to make it too easy for pirates as well! More »
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Comment by That mop mutant from NES.: Ubisoft going DRM-less??. This is like putting milk in a bowl of rice. Am I suppose to applaud the effort... 15 Responses | Other threads
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esa
Peering Inside Game Piracy: Measures and Countermeasures
I sometimes feel like discussions on game piracy ought to be shelved alongside scintillating 1960s publications from the Rand Corporation like Counterinsurgency in Manchuria, except the piracy discussions are considerably more engaging. More »
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Comment by mhlaxp: I'm fine with putting locks on doors and cars, but what they've done is set up 137 hidden cameras in... 17 Responses | Other threads
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pc
Red Alert 3 Patch Adds Map Builder, In-Game DRM Deauthorization
Never thought "in-game DRM deauthorization" would be touted as a huge feature in a patch, but it's one of two options PC users now can take advantage of in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. More »
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By Owen GoodComment by NTC-Brendan: Posted this on another forum: That DRM removal tool is all well and good if we can do a CONTROLLED UNINSTALL.... 11 Responses | Other threads
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drm
Newell To Fan - DRM Strategies Are Dumb
Valve's Gabe Newell has joined the growing roster of games industry names who are publicly unimpressed with Digital Rights Management. More »
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Comment by Nâ—Gage Croal: Steam is a form of DRM, but one that actually works pretty well. You can install a game on as... 21 Responses | Other threads
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rockstar
GTA IV On PC TO Use SecuROM
I'll say this for Rockstar - they do like a controversy. Usually, though, they go in for cool controversies like sexy mini games or the sensationalised depiction of car crime and bullying. More » -
legal
EA Hit with Two New Anti-DRM Class Action Suits
Two people filed suit in federal court against Electronic Arts back in October, alleging the SecuROM digital rights management installed on their machines by a trial version of Spore Creature Creator, and a full version of the Sims, constitutes unlawful and deceptive business practices. More »
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By Owen GoodComment by Antisniper's Antisniper who Anti-Snipes Snipers: Like I said, time and time again, there is no definitive proof that Securom causes those problems by itself. You... 12 Responses | Other threads
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sacred 2: fallen angel
Sacred 2 DRM Encourages Sharing, Caring
With game publishers getting blasted over strict digital rights management solutions in their PC titles left and right these days, Ascaron and cdv Software Entertainment USA are taking a rather different approach. Rather than limit the number of times you can install the game on various machines, you'll be able to install Sacred 2: Fallen Angel on as many systems as you'd like as a sort of "Try Before You Buy" feature. Purchasers of retail or digital copies of the game can pass it around to friends, which lets them play the full version of the game for one calendar day before requiring they buy the title. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by jonomcleish: Yeah it's a good idea, a step in the right direction.But how many times can you install it in full... 3 Responses | Other threads
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nba 2k9
NBA 2K9 Shipping Without Activation Codes
Oh dear. This is pretty much the exact opposite of a slam dunk. More »
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Comment by jlarimore: I wouldn't lose much sleep over cracking a game in that situation. Any copy protection that prevents you from playing... 9 Responses | Other threads
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will wright
What Will Wright Thinks About Spore's DRM
Will Wright attended the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards ceremony at the Hearst Tower in New York City last night where he saw Spore pick up an award for Setting Benchmarks in Design, Creativity and Engineering. I caught up with him afterward for a bit to find out his take on the whole DRM situation. EA's John Riccitiello said a few days prior that he isn't a fan of DRM, but something had to be done to stop those pirates. I asked Wright how involved he was in the decision process to include DRM for Spore or if it was mostly EA's doing. More »
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By Jim ReillyComment by Quilt: What Valve and Blizzard have going on with Steam and Battle.net seems like a pretty good answer to me. ... 8 Responses | Other threads
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diablo iii
Blizzard: DRM For Diablo III? No, Thanks, We Have Battle.net
Rob Pardo, executive vice president of game design at Blizzard says that the company has "no particular plans" to institute software verification checks for Diablo III to prevent piracy. Pardo tells Wired's Game|Life blog that its solution is "more similar to Steam than EA," good news for Diablo fans who don't want a steaming pile of anti-piracy debacle a la Mass Effect on their hands. More » -
stardock
Stardock Amends Bill Of Rights
When Stardock unveiled the PC Gamer's Bill of Rights back in August, it seemed like a cute little publicity stunt, albeit one that made a few dead-on points about the state of PC gaming. Once the press releases had been sent out it seemed as though we would all nod sagely and then everyone would get back to business as usual. More » -
ea
EA Boss: Nobody Cares About DRM (But I Totally Hate It)
For a while there, the whole SecuROM thing overshadowed the actual release of Spore. Which when you consider how high-profile a release Spore was is kind of a big deal. As a result, your thoughts on DRM are clear. But what about EA's thoughts? Well, according to EA boss John Riccitiello, the number of people who even noticed it, let alone cared about it, was minuscule. More » -
law
A (Virtual) Player Bill of Rights?
There's an interesting article over at The Escapist on the rights of players in virtual worlds — covering a myriad of issues (recourse for theft, ownership of items, DRM, etc) on a global scale, Erin Hoffman has a nice look at some of the issues that have been rearing their ugly heads and what players, companies, and even governments are doing about it. Whatever the resolution ends up being, 'virtual' rights are an increasing problem for parties on all sides of the issue(s) at stake: More »
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Comment by orentholjames: I just don't get the point of DRM. It doesn't deter pirates. At all. -at all- None. Zero. Zip. NONE. All it seems to... 5 Responses | Other threads
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fallout 3
No DRM Issues For Fallout 3
With all of the furor whipped up in the wake of Spore's restrictive digital rights management system, DRM is a hot-button issue with PC gamers the world over. In an interview with Shacknews, Bethesda spokesman Pete Hines reveals that Fallout 3 - one of the year's most anticipated games for the PC - won't come with any sort of DRM at all. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by Acklan: Oh look. A developer that actually realises the problems with DRM... Is the sky falling? 8 Responses | Other threads
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drm
On DRM: Not Every Inconvenience is "the Plight of Sisyphus."
Chris Remo, in an op-ed on Penny Arcade, takes on the righteous indignation heaped on publishers — notably EA — over the use of DRM. The anger over DRM might be principled bitching, but the point is it's still bitching. Writes Remo: More »
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By Owen GoodComment by mva5580: A. Freaking. Men. That's really all I have to say. But now of course, the flood gates will... 15 Responses | Other threads
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ea
EA Responds To Spore Forum Banning Concerns
When Spore owners were silenced by forum moderation staff for posting one too many SecuROM/DRM complaints on the game's official message boards, the internet-going masses were worked up into a lather. "Censorship!" they cried. "Business practices to which I don't agree with!" they shouted. A vague warning about your Spore user account being banned in conjunction with your forum account likely didn't help matters, giving the impression that loose talk about copy protection could render your game useless. More »
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Comment by Maldron: Nicely written. I like how you spend half the article writing up EA's forum moderation as monstrous, two sentences rescinding... 10 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Class Action Lawsuit Arises Over Spore DRM
Whenever you find large numbers of unhappy people, you're bound to find a lawyer. In this case it's Alan Himmelfarb with KamberEdelson of Vernon, California, who has filed a class-action suit against EA over the DRM in EA's Spore. The suit, filed Monday with the Northern California District Court on behalf of plaintiff Melissa Thomas and "all consumers globally who have purchased the Spore computer game", addresses complaints that consumers are not fully aware of what exactly SecuROM does on their system, and also cites a separate program that installs on the control center of the computer and can disrupt system functions. More »
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By Mike FaheyComment by Silenced: go mr. lawyer go! and for the record... i'm a lawyer myself :) 13 Responses | Other threads
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video
Sony Video Store DRM To Allow Just One Download
If you download a movie from the PlayStation video store, make sure you don't delete it. More »
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Comment by lazlo_chatter: @EVERYONE Who here actually knows where the term "Draconian" came from? I've never hears such widespread use of the word until... 18 Responses | Other threads
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spore
EA Respond To DRM Complaints
Electronic Arts have sent us a statement regarding their roundly-criticized Spore DRM policy.
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Comment by ZombiePuppy: I understand the concern with piracy. I just don't see how limiting the way people who paid for the game... 14 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Spore Loosens Up, Allows Multiple Account Registrations
And EA's DRM back-tracking continues! First it was the number of times you could install Spore, now they've announced that they're loosening the ridiculous restrictions on the number of Spore accounts you could have on a single PC. Initially this was restricted to a single account, meaning families/friends/loved ones would have to share the same account. This has now been changed. While each installation can still only have one online account, each of those now has five "screen name accounts", which you can log in to every time you boot the game up. One for you, one for the missus, one for little Susie, etc etc. More »
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Comment by mva5580: Shame on EA for giving in to pissy little bitches who can't handle rules. It's amazing how I have... 7 Responses | Other threads
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drm
Steam DRM Vs Spore DRM
Spore's digital rights management and copy protection has gotten a lot of people up in arms. The reaction has been so strong, with nega-reviews flooding Amazon and DRM creatures flooding the Sporepedia, that Electronic Arts said they're planning on implementing a patch to loosen up their current installation guidelines.
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Comment by mva5580: This is all so idiotic. How many people actually gave a shit about this stuff before it was announced that it... 6 Responses | Other threads
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spore
EA To Loosen Spore Install Restrictions, Reveals Sampling of Spore Activations
To many PC gamers, Spore's most gruesome creation has been its digital rights management and copy protection implementation. EA's attempts to thwart piracy by limiting the number of concurrent installations hasn't sat well with users, a complaint they've expressed rather publicly. According to information obtained by MTV Multiplayer, that will be changing. More »
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Comment by Firemane: Pirates will still pirate it, now they have no lame excuses except that there pirates. 4 Responses | Other threads
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spore
DRM Haters Take Spore Protests To The Home Front
We know that Amazon users do not take kindly to Spore's DRM measures. Seems Spore users don't either. GameCulture have dug up a number of anti-SecuROM creatures/vehicles people have seeded in the game's creation galleries, which range from the absurd to the surprisingly clever. Our pick's probably the Veroflraptor, a hideous creature that "is known to spray excessive DRM and overhype on its attackers". More »
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Comment by Strangelove: Instead of wasting my time protesting something that's been in at least a half-dozen other games I've owned, I'm actually... 4 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Spore Only Allows One Account, Even If You're Playing With Family
And the Spore/DRM issues just. Get. Worse. Despite the game's manual shipping with the promise that you can set up multiple Spore accounts on the one PC, turns out that in fact the game won't let you do this. Got more than one Spore player in the house? A friend or loved one? Sorry, they'll have to either play as you in your account, or get their own damn copy. The anti-piracy stuff, as awful as it is, is at least defensible in theory. This, though, this is just mean. More »
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Comment by Antihippy: Oh come the fuck on people. It's the same with every online game. Do you hear that? It's been done plenty of... 15 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Forbes: Spore Downloaded 35K Times Weds-Thurs
I'm not sure if this qualifies as a Streisand Effect, but in the case of Spore, the stimulus and the response are palpable. The anti-DRM backlash against Spore is at least partly responsible for the more than 35,000 illegal downloads of the game reported between Wednesday and Thursday, a figure revealed by Forbes in a look at the game's "piracy problem." The quotes from hackers, crackers and others in download forums seems to suggest they were provoked by what they see as a needless insertion of DRM restrictions on the game. More »
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By Owen GoodComment by Gingerbread0Man: I'm glad we have the DRM. The hackers think they can jus take things that don't belong to them. I... 24 Responses | Other threads
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spore
Amazon Deletes All Spore Customer Reviews, Blames Site Glitch
Despite receiving generally favorable reviews from game critics everywhere, the Amazon shopping populace didn't take so kindly to EA's PC release of Spore. Slapped with a one-star rating out of five, the majority of complaints weren't directed at the game's quality — though some did take issue with the core gameplay mechanics, venting how underwhelming the game felt after years of hype. No, it was Electronic Arts' implementation of digital rights management via Sony's SecuROM copy protection scheme that angered the masses.
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Comment by BallPtPenTheif: I still don't understand how the consumer is "getting punished". 13 Responses | Other threads
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drm
Threatening Emails vs. Ken Levine's Spidey Sense
The PC version of BioShock featured some nasty, nasty SecuROM copy protection. Almost a year later, all BioShock PC DRM was finally gone — hey, what's a year, right? A fart in the space time continuum! BioShock designer Ken Levine tells magazine PC Zone: More »
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Comment by Thassodar: Hey didn't the box for Bioshock say PC and Xbox 360 Exclusive? What ever happened to that, hmmm? 7 Responses | Other threads
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red alert 3
EA Sticking With SecuROM (Though Red Alert 3's Will Go A Little Easier On You)
Because it includes Draconian DRM program SecuROM, Spore's taking a bit of a pounding at the moment. Same thing happened to Mass Effect, same thing happened to BioShock. The message is fairly clear: people know what SecuROM does, and they do not want. EA's response to this? To let you eat cake. They're sticking with the software, whether you like it or not, and upcoming RTS title Red Alert 3 will be coming bundled with it. This time, though, they're going a little easier on you, allowing you five installs (and a few other minor tweaks). More »
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Comment by ShirtGuyDom: Draconian? Are you fucking kidding me? Okay, just to point it out, I'm no fan of this SecuROM business. ... 16 Responses | Other threads
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piracy
Indie Dev Asks 'Why?' and Pirates Reply
Independent developer Cliff Harris, of Positech Games, asked pirates why they choose to pirate his games, promising them immunity and anonymity in exchange for their honest rationales, which he would aggregate and post on his blog. They reciprocated, and of about six reasons, a righteous indignation at DRM seemed to lead the list. Harris is actually responding to the gripes in both the pricing and de-DRMing of titles in the future, with his own reasoning why it's a good idea. More »
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By Owen GoodComment by DukeOfPwn: Pirates are the scum of the earth. Don't like that games cost money? Tough. 1 Responses | Other threads
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Good Old Games
CD Projekt To Sell "Good Old Games" DRM-Free
It seems that European publisher-distributor CD Projekt (The Witcher) have come up with a new site where you can buy DRM-free games from the '80s, '90s and early millennium. You know, old games. The site promises good ones, though - it's called Good Old Games, the header image lists the Fallout series, the Freespace series and MDK, among others. More »
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Comment by Lyrai: I am slightly weary about this, but if they can follow through on total DRM-freedom, I have about $100 with... 1 Responses | Other threads
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digital rights management
Xbox 360 License Transfer Tool Now Available
Digital rights management got you down? Pfft. Not if you're an Xbox 360 owner, as Microsoft has released the Content License Transfer Tool, which lets you move games or movies that were purchased via Xbox Live Marketplace from one console to another console. Handy! More »
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Comment by who cares: Can someone explain again why being able to play the games your paid for, on any particular console, whether they... more » | Other threads
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bioshock
BioShock PC's DRM: Gone
Yup. You asked for it (last year), and now, it's gone! 2K's Elizabeth Tobey has announced on the game's official boards that, as of right now, "all activation restrictions, including install limits, have been removed from BioShock PC". And not only gone, but gone automatically on 2K's end, meaning you won't need to install anything, uninstall anything or even check a box. SecuROM fanboy, you have our sympathies More »
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Comment by CZroe: The fact that it asked me to activate just this morning is a testament to why things are still broken...... more » | Other threads
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drm
Spore To Use Online Authentication
Despite some hand-wringing by fans, EA today announced that their hugely anticipated Will Wright game Spore will not make use of SecuROM's 10-day periodic re-authetication and instead use a modified version to require online authentication.
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Comment by zhevox: you'll either choose to be burdened by an extremely invasive copy protected games with no pirates, or enjoy a relieving... more » | Other threads
drm
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Fri Jul 3
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