California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed AB 2426a new law requiring digital marketplaces to make it clear to customers when they are only purchasing a license to access media. The law will not apply to cases of permanent offline downloads, only to the very common situation of purchasing digital copies of video games, music, movies, television shows or e-books from an online store. spotted the development, which could see markets face fines for false advertising in the state if they don't use clear language to explain the limitations of what access entails. In other words, he won't see terms like “buy” or “acquire” once the law goes into effect in 2025.
The move to digital stores has raised parallel new concerns about media ownership and preservation in the modern era. Ubisoft's decision after shutting down the game's servers is one of the most recent examples of how customers can suddenly lose access to media they felt they owned. California's new law won't stop situations like The crewthe disappearance from happening, and it will not prevent those losses from continuing to be painful. But it does make it clearer that ownership is something quite rare and intangible for digital media.
Governor Newsom is having a busy week. He also signed the state's “” bill yesterday and last week he signed two bills with protections against living and deceased persons.
