December 2015 – Page 32 – news.buyenne.com

Error 451: There’s Now an HTTP Code for Internet Censorship

Increasingly, Internet providers are being instructed by courts to block access to websites. This measure is often applied against copyright infringing sites, but not always with a proper explanation. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) just approved a special HTTP status code for these type of legal demands, Error 451.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

451 Domain name blocking has become one of the entertainment industries’ go-to methods for reducing online copyright infringement.

Blocking requests from both the music and movie sector are widespread around Europe, with The Pirate Bay has being one of the main targets.

At the moment all ISPs use different notifications to show that a website is blocked. In the UK for example, Virgin, BT and Sky all have a custom message, some being more descriptive than others.

This issue prompted Tim Bray to suggest a special HTTP status code for legal blockades. He noticed that some ISPs were using the “403 Forbidden” code for a Pirate Bay block, which is not what it was intended for.

After a long review process the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has now approved this new HTTP status code.

There is no obligation for ISPs or other parties to use the new status. The 451 Unavailable project suggests that ideally it should be used to provide the public with additional details including a copy of the court order.

“A really good Error 451 message would tell their customers how to challenge a block, how long the block’s expected to last, where the relevant legal documents are and which legal authority imposed the blocking order,” they write.

The 451 Unavailable group says it will encourage ISPs to show 451 errors for legal blockades and it eventually hopes to reduce the scope of widespread blocking.

Interestingly, the most recent 451 draft already gives people some suggestions how to bypass court ordered blockades on their own, mentioning VPNs and Tor as possible workarounds.

“Note that in many cases clients can still access the denied resource by using technical countermeasures such as a VPN or the Tor network.”

While some HTTP errors numbers were arbitrarily chosen, 451 refers to Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 which is about censorship and suppression of information.

In general, more openness about court ordered blockades is welcome, especially because the process is too often shrouded in secrecy. That said, the day that the web gets a special HTTP status code for censorship is hardly something to celebrate.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Talko: Microsoft kauft Firma von Ex-Entwicklungs-Chef Ray Ozzie

Neue Funktionen für Microsofts Skype soll die Übernahme von Talko bringen, die Gründung des legendären Ray Ozzie. Das Startup bietet eine App für Telefonkonferenzen. (Ray Ozzie, Skype)

Space X: Falcon, warum hast du so viele Triebwerke?

Neun Triebwerke hat die Falcon-9-Rakete, deren erste Stufe heute aufrecht wieder gelandet ist. Damit verfolgt Space X einen Ansatz, der nicht nur die Landung ermöglicht, sondern die Rakete wirtschaftlicher und zuverlässiger machen soll. (SpaceX, Nasa)

Virtual Reality: Oculus Rift ist fertig

Die finale Hardware von Oculus Rift steht, allerdings können bislang nur ausgewählte Entwickler das VR-Headset bestellen. Beim Konkurrenzmodell HTC Vive meldet der Hersteller hingegen einen mysteriösen “technischen Durchbruch” kurz vor Fertigstellung. (Oculus Rift, Games)

Die finale Hardware von Oculus Rift steht, allerdings können bislang nur ausgewählte Entwickler das VR-Headset bestellen. Beim Konkurrenzmodell HTC Vive meldet der Hersteller hingegen einen mysteriösen "technischen Durchbruch" kurz vor Fertigstellung. (Oculus Rift, Games)

Google and Ford reportedly team up to build self-driving cars

A joint venture focused on ride sharing will apparently be announced at CES.

Apart from the sensor bar on the roof, this Ford Fusion Hybrid looks just like a normal car. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

Google just found a major partner for its self-driving car program. A report from Yahoo Autos claims that, during CES, Ford will announce a joint venture between it and Google to build self-driving cars. The report describes the partnership as a step toward "a new business of automated ride sharing."

Auto makers have long been wary of the liability problems with self-driving cars, but Ford and Google apparently plan to solve this by creating a joint venture that is "legally separate" from both parent companies. This way if something horrible happens and lawsuits are filed, the parent companies hope to be free of any legal issues. The report notes that the deal for Google's technology is "understood to be non-exclusive," allowing Google to make similar partnerships with other car manufacturers.

Google has been a pioneer in the self-driving car space, with over 1.3 million autonomous miles under its belt. The question for Google was always what its go-to-market plan looked like, and it looks like it has found an answer in Ford. Building cars is an expensive proposition, and was something Google always said it wasn't interested in doing. Despite that, the company has been building its own self-driving prototypes, which can be configured without a steering wheel and pedals.

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Falcon 9: Space X gelingt die stehende Raketenlandung

Nach dem missglückten Start im Juni hat es SpaceX geschafft: Erstmals ist eine Trägerrakete zur Erde zurückgekehrt und aufrecht gelandet. Damit könnten Flüge in den Orbit deutlich günstiger werden. (SpaceX, Nasa)

Raumsonden und Teleskope: Sieht der Weltraum wirklich so aus wie auf Fotos?

Tolle Bilder aus dem Weltall: 2015 haben Raumsonden und Teleskope beeindruckende Ansichten ferner Planeten, Nebel und Galaxien gezeigt. Aber sehen die auch wirklich so aus? (Weltraumteleskop, Raumfahrt)

Pirate Bay Founder Builds ‘$10 Million Damages per Day’ Piracy Machine

Former Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde has built a piracy machine that promises to copy $10 million worth of pirated content per day, in an attempt to show how ludicrous and arbitrary it is to count copying as a form of piracy.

The machine, dubbed the "Kopimashin", generates 100 copies of Gnarls Barkely track "Crazy" every second, which means more than 8 million copies per day. As the music industry prices each act of copying at $1.25 per copy, this means the Kopimashin can generate $10 million worth of damages in a single day.

The machine does make digital copies of that single track, but it sends all copies to /dev/null, a location on Unix/Linux systems that instantly discards all input to it (as an easy way to discard unneeded output).

The Kopimashin is part of an art project that aims to show the true value, or the lack of it, of digital copies.

"I want to show the absurdity on the process of putting a value to a copy. The machine is made to be very blunt and open about the fact that it’s not a danger to any industry at all," Sunde told torrent news website TorrentFreak.

Sunde is planning to deploy at least 13 Kopimachins for exhibits, and for private sale, all endlessly copying "Crazy".

"The one running at my home is up to 120 million copies as we speak. That equals $150 million in losses to the recording industry – following their logic," says Peter, who has also applied for a Guinness Book of Records listing for the Kopimachin, as the world's most prolific piracy machine.

With a historic landing, SpaceX launches new age of spaceflight

With first stage return company takes a key step toward low-cost access to space.

Behold: The launch, and landing, of an orbital rocket. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX did it. On Monday night the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket soared into space, separated from the second stage, and then made a guided flight back to a landing site in Florida. The historic flight marked the beginning of the orbital economy by promising a future of dramatically lower launch costs.

The company had twice tried to land on an autonomous drone ship. The first time the rocket hit too hard and exploded on impact. The second attempt again landed slightly too hard, breaking two of its legs and tipping over. The third attempt, at a newly designated landing site less than a mile from SpaceX's processing facilities in Florida, looked almost too easy on terra firma.

"I wasn't at all confident that we would succeed, but I'm really glad of it," Musk said in a teleconference Monday night, in response to a question from Ars. "It's been 13 years since SpaceX was started. We've had a lot of close calls. I think people here are overjoyed."

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LG introduces webOS 3.0 for smart TVs

WebOS may not be shipping on smartphones or tablets anymore, but LG has been using a version of the software for its smart TVs for the past few years… and the company plans to unveil a new version of webOS at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Among other things, webOS 3.0 includes new features […]

LG introduces webOS 3.0 for smart TVs is a post from: Liliputing