Dutch open ‘Big Brother’ prison

Holland has a high-tech prison opening this week where inmates wear electronic wristbands that track their movements and guards monitor cells using emotion-recognition software.

Authorities are convinced the jail in Lelystad — quickly dubbed “the Big Brother Prison” by the local press — represents the future of correctional facilities: cheap and efficient, without coddling criminals or violating their fundamental rights.

Detainees will be kept in six-man dormitory cells. They will do their own cooking, washing and organize their own daytime schedules via a touch-screen monitor.

Prisoners have limited choices for their activities — electives include drug education classes and exercise — and they are locked in their cells at night.

Unlike the “Big Brother” television program, camera surveillance is limited to public spaces — not on bunk beds or in bathrooms.

Cells are equipped with microphones that relay information to the prison’s control center, where software analyzes sound volume and rhythm to alert guards when a violent confrontation between inmates may be taking place.

Students blame file-sharing operator

Students sued by the recording industry for using the now-defunct i2hub online file-sharing network are demanding that its operator pay to settle music copyright-infringement claims.

Attorneys with the Student Legal Services Office, a student-funded legal group, claimed i2hub placed ads on the University of Massachusetts- Amherst’s campus to deceive students into believing the software was approved by the university.

At least 42 students have been named as defendants. The recording industry trade group has offered to settle each case for $3,750, lawyers for the students said.

Magazine shuns ads for in-game trades

PC Gamer, the country’s largest magazine of its kind, will stop taking ads from companies involved in the trade of virtual objects and characters from online role-playing games.

In the February issue, editor Greg Vederman said the magazine was responding to readers unhappy with “gold farmers,” who play to accumulate items such as gold coins for resale.

The “farmers” sell the virtual goods to other players for real money at such sites as IGE and Power Leveling. Such sites also broker the sales of high-powered game characters for players who don’t want to spend time building up their own characters.

“Gold farming” is a contentious issue among gamers. While many players deplore it, the trade is thought to top $100 million a year.