Tuesday article links

Most Broadband Subscribers Happy With Service [MediaPost Publications]

No surprises here. A telephone survey of broadband subscribers reveals that 70% are satisfied with their Internet service. Compare that to the 45% of dial-up users who report satisfaction. Here's one of the numbers in the survey that stood out to me. Remember my post a few days ago that compared broadband deployment to telephone and electrical service? When the same survey was conducted four years ago, only 20 percent of U.S. households subscribed to broadband Internet service? Today that number stands at 57%.

One other statistic stands out in the survey's crosstabs - cable broadband subscribers are more satisfied with their Internet service than those who receive broadband from Ma Bell. 72% of cable broadband subscribers rate their service with at least an 8 out of 10, on a 10 point scale. That compares to 62% of those receiving broadband service from a telephone company.

Gaming and copyright protections

Xbox 360 Gets Netflix Streaming [Broadband Reports]

Got an Xbox 360? Get ready to have the ability to watch live streaming content from Netflix. Microsoft announced yesterday at E3 that the gaming console gain the added functionality via a software update this fall. BBR reports that this partnership is likely a result of the competition from Sony's Playstation 3 video offerings.

World of Warcraft maker wins round in exploit 'bot lawsuit [CNET News]

And for more news in the gaming realm, Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the popular World of Warcraft (WoW) online multiplayer game, have won the first round in a lawsuit against the maker of a third-party utility that allows players to cheat. Apparently, more than a few players were using a program called WoWGlider that helped them progress faster through the game than they normally would be able.

A federal district judge has ruled that WoWGlider infringed on Blizzard Entertainment's copyright of WoW. According to this article, while Blizzard was successful in the action to enforce the game's license agreement, it was not successful in arguments that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act should apply to the infringement.

Google, Viacom Reach Deal Over YouTube Visitor Data [Wall Street Journal]

And in other copyright infringement news, Google (owners of popular video sharing site YouTube) and Viacom have reached a deal for Google to turn over YouTube user data in a case that involves the uploading of Viacom programming to YouTube. A federal judge had ordered Google to provide YouTube user data, raising the concerns of privacy advocates that the data would make users personally identifiable. The deal reached by Google and Viacom substitutes unique values for IP addresses and YouTube user names in turning over the data.