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LEGAL NOTICE
If you were a Time Warner Cable subscriber at any time
between January 1994 and December 1998, you may be
eligible to get free cable services or money from a
class action settlement.
This is a revised notice from the one first published
in December 2005.
The settlement has been revised. Qualified Class Members
now have the option of receiving $5 as an alternative to
receiving free cable services. If you previously submitted
a claim form and do not want the $5 alternative, you do
not have to do anything. If you previously submitted a
claim form and would like the $5 alternative, you must
submit a new claim form by the deadline.
Please read this Notice. Your legal rights may be affected.
A settlement has been proposed in a
class action lawsuit alleging that Time
Warner Cable sold its subscribers' personal
information to other companies for
marketing purposes. If approved- the
settlement will provide free Time Warner
Cable services or $5 to anyone who
subscribed to Time Warner Cable at any
time between January 1, 1994 and
December 31. 1998, and was on a list of
subscribers whose information may have
been available for sale.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of New York authorized this notice.
Before any benefit is given, the Court will
have a hearing to decide whether to approve
the settlement
Who’s Included?
You are a Class Member if you were a
Time Warner Cable subscriber any time
between January l, 1994 and December 31,
1998. Excluded from the Class are Time
Warner Cable employees, officers,
directors, or counsel. Only subscribers who
were on a list of subscribers whose persona!
information may have been available for
sale are qualified Class Members and may
get free services or money.
The lawsuit claims that Time Warner
Cable sold personal information about its
subscribers to other companies, without
first making the required disclosures of its
practices to subscribers. As a result, the
lawsuit asserts violations of applicable law
relating to Time Warner Cable's privacy
notice and disclosure practices from 1994 -
1998. Time Warner Cable denies it did
anything wrong and does not admit any
.wrongdoing by this settlement. The Court
has not decided which side is right.
However, both sides have agreed to the
settlement to resolve the case
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Current Subscribers: If you arc a Time
w«nwr Cable ih>». and your
name is on a list of subscribers whose
information may have been available for
sale, you can pick: (1) one free month of
any additional Time Warner Cable service
that you don't already have, or (2) two free
Movies On Demand, provided in both cases
that you live in an area and at a location
which can be serviced by Time Warner
Cable when the benefit is distributed,
or (3) $5.
Former Subscribers: If you are not a
Time Warner Cable subscriber now, and
your name is on a list of subscribers whose
information may have been available for
sale, you can choose: (1) one free month of
any Time Warner Cable service with free
installation, or (2) two free Movies On
1-800-291-3831
www.twcsettlement.com
Demand provided in either case that you
live in an area and at a location which can
be serviced by Time Warner Cable when
the benefit is distributed, or (3) to give your
settlement benefit to someone else who
lives in an area and at a location which can
be serviced by Time Warner Cable,
or (4) S 5.
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The detailed notice and claim form
package have everything you need. Just
call or visit the wetwitc below to get them.
To qualify for a free Time Warner Cable
service or $5. you must send in a claim
form. (If you previously submitted a
claim form and d a Hat *BPt the $5
alternative, you do not have to submit a
new claim form.) Claim forms must be
postmarked by March 10. 2009. Once
this settlement is final and becomes
effective, you will be contacted regarding
your $5 check or claim for free service and
you will be able to make your free service
selection at that lime.
WhU Arc My Otter Options?
If you do NOT want to be legally bound
by the settlement, you must exclude
yourself by November 10, 2008. or you
won't be able to sue Tune Warner Cable
about the legal claims in this case. If you
exclude yourself, you won't get any free
services or money from this case. If you
stay in the settlement, you may object to it
by November 24, 2008. The detailed
notice explains how to exclude yourself
or object.
The Court will hold a hearing in this
Ciise ( Parker v. Time Warner Em. Co .. Case
No. CV 98-4265). on December 9,2008 at
11:00 aan. before the Honorable I. Leo
Giasser at the U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of New York. 225 Cadman
Plaza East. Brooklyn. New York.
Courtroom 88-S. to decide whether to
approve the settlement. Time Warner Cable
also has agreed to pay the four law firms
representing all Class Members SS.(XX),(XX)
in attorneys' lees and costs, for
investigating the facts, litigating the case
since 1998 (including an appeal), and
negotiating and revising the settlement.
The Court will consider whether to approve
this payment at the hearing. You inay
appear at the hearing, or have an attorney
appear on your behalf at your own expense.
To obtain the detailed notice, call 1 -800-
291-3831. or visit www.twcsettlemcnt.com.
Please do not contact the Court
Toll free 1-800-291-3831
Gaming
Spielberg's
latest isn't '
in theaters
Boom Blox, his new Wii game, feels like
an animated movie and arcade game. 1
BY JEFFREY RESSNER
IT’S AN INSTINCT that appeals to the kid
in all of us—building stuff up just to knock
it down.
Now there’s a video game for the Nintendo
Wii from Steven Spielberg that takes the
playful primal urge and creates a whole new
world around it Boom Blox (Electronic Arts,
$49.99), an off-kilter puzzle game in which
players knock down towers of building blocks,
racking up points, often feels like a combina
tion of a Dream Works animated movie and an
arcade machine. All using the motion-sensing
Wii controller, of course. Leave it to the direc
tor of Ind iana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Shull to recycle a game concept and
reinvent the genre at the same time.
Boom Blox may rely on a very basic prem
ise, but it offers a range of tower-toppling *
weapons to pick from (grenades, bowl- §|'
ing balls) and dozens of characters. What’s I
more, it’s a video game the entire family §V
can play together. And that’s say
ing a lot. "‘■■"lE
Between the E-rated franchise Poke- §
mon and the M-rated series Metal J 9
Gear Solid, there is a limited selec
tion of age-neutral games '^3
that aren’t sports-oriented.
It was Spielberg’s own
frustrations that led him
to develop Boom Blox. An
avid gamer, the 61-year-old
Oscar-winning director was
18
USA WEEKEND - July 11-13,2008
tired of coming home to find his kids immersed
in games he couldn’t relate to, so in 2006 he
approached EA with his block-knocking idea.
Spielberg, who has a development deal to cre
ate two more original titles, joins a growing
list of Hollywood directors, such as Peter Jack
son and John Singleton, who are working on
video games.
Boom Blox clearly benefited from Spiel
berg’s flair for creating indelible worlds. In
the game’s “explore” mode, you control an in
visible hand and chuck baseballs at a tower of
blocks, earning points for each block you dis
lodge (think Jenga). A posse of pussycats and
other critters in the background gleefully
cheers you on. But turn the game into “create
mode” and you can develop a Spielberg-worthy
story in which three kitties are lost in a
.. graveyard, and you’re charged with
m -I] helping them escape from a creepy
ILn Grim Reaper figure. Hun
fcß dreds of other scenarios
Gamers can play up
to 31 characters in
Boom Blox, including
Booga, who does an
arm-waving dance.
Wanted: Video games i
that are appropriate
for the living room •
yet challenging
for everyone.
can be summoned.
“The idea was to make the
game a cool bonding experience for
families,” says EA producer Amir
Rahimi. “The puzzle-solving aspect
* makes kids think, but they don’t
consider it an educational game.
And there are plenty of opportuni
ties for parents to build up and
blow apart things with their kids.”
The best part is there’s nothing
m to clean up afterward, ca