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Die Stadtwerke Neumünster wollen exklusives Vectoring durch die Telekom verhindern und bieten deswegen eine Verpflichtung für den Glasfaserausbau in Schleswig-Holstein. Doch während die Telekom Ende 2018 fertig sein will, braucht FTTH bis 2022. (Vectoring, DSL)

Die Polizei in Niedersachsen hat einen Erpresser-Trojaner entdeckt, der die Daten erst ver- und dann wieder entschlüsselt. Zumindest behaupten das die Erpresser. Die Entschlüsselung soll allerdings in aller Öffentlichkeit geschehen. Private Fotos könnten damit in falsche Hände geraten. (Trojaner, Virus)

In July, Portugal’s Ministry of Culture announced the signing of a memorandum between its own General Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC), ISP group APRITEL, rightsholders, the body responsible for administering Portugal’s .PT domain and representatives from the advertising industry.

The memorandum laid out the framework for a voluntary site-blocking mechanism which would see sites with more than 500 infringing links and those whose indexes contain more than 66% infringing content quickly subjected to a nationwide ISP blockade.

After The Pirate Bay was blocked back in March via court order, the new process paved the way for rapid site blocking and it didn’t take long for the first batch to be processed.

Last month the country blocked more than 50 sites including KickassTorrents (Kat.cr), ExtraTorrent, Isohunt, YTS and RARBG, no court order required. And, just as predicted, the country is now preparing its second wave of blockades.

Almost 40 sites are included and unsurprisingly torrent sites feature prominently. BitSnoop, YourBitorrent, SeedPeer, Torlock, Torrentfunk, TopTorrent and Torrents.net head up the list, with ‘release blog’ favorites RLSlog and Sceper making an appearance.

Streaming sites will also be blocked as part of the current action, including ProjectFreeTv and TubePlus on the video front and MP3Skull in audio. The full list, courtesy of Tek, can be found below.

While blocking sites is hardly a new activity, the way it’s being carried out in Portugal is raising concern.

Since the process is voluntary there’s no unwieldy court process to navigate, which is certainly a plus for local anti-piracy outfit MAPINET. However, there are those who feel that the system is too streamlined and that judicial oversight is an absolute must if there is to be no abuse. Questions are also being raised over the legality of the scheme itself.

The other issue of concern is the sheer number of sites that could end up on Portugal’s blocklist. Currently, rightsholders can only file two complaints with the government each month but each complaint can carry up to fifty domains.

That means that if all sites are accepted as infringing and MAPINET works to capacity, more than 1200 allegedly infringing sites could be blocked by this time next year.

That would make Portugal the world leader in ‘pirate’ site blocking and a shining example of what entertainment companies could aim for if bypassing the courts became an option elsewhere.

The full list for November 2015

tugahd.com
serieshared.blogspot.pt
tudodownloadpt- pt2.blogspot.pt
amofilmes.net
avxhome. is
bitsnoop.com
dramatize.com
ilovefilmesonline.com
megafilmeshd.tv
megafilmesonline.net
projectfreetv.so
rapidmoviez.com
sanet.me
sceper.ws
series-cravings.me
topdezfilmes.org
toptorrent.org
watch-series-tv.to
armagedomfilmes.biz
baixartorrent.net
clubedodownload.info
cucirca.
ddlvalley.rocks
filmesdetv.com
megafilmesonlinehd.com
onlinemovies-pro.com
rlslog.net
seedpeer.eu
supercineonline.com
telona.org
torlock.com
torrentfunk.com
torrents.net
tubeplus.is
tuga-filmes.com
yourbittorrent.com
mp3skull
gigatuga.io
megapirata.net

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

Microsoft hat den Windows Store für Unternehmen offiziell vorgestellt. Es handelt sich dabei um einen App-Store der vor allem für Unternehmensanwendungen gedacht ist. Die Anmeldung ist bereits freigeschaltet worden, braucht allerdings einen speziellen Zugang. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes has expressed a desire to delay releasing content to SVOD platforms such as Netflix, or even forgoing them completely.

Bewkes says that SVOD monetization simply isn't good enough compared to pay-TV and other platforms, especially considering most SVOD platforms provide content in ad-free form.

"It’s pretty clear that SVOD offers less monetization support in general for the quality an diversity of programing that we’ve all gotten used to seeing on the dial," says Bewkes.

Major Time Warner properties include Warner Bros. and HBO, with the latter having recently launched their own SVOD platform in the form of HBO Now.

But despite this move, and Time Warner's recent link-ups with major SVOD players Netflix (streaming the first season of the TV show "Gotham") and Amazon (which has access to HBO's catalog titles), Bewkes says the company may reconsider any future commitments to SVOD. 

"We are evaluating whether to retain our rights for a longer period of time, and forgo or delay certain content licensing," Bewkes said. "This would effectively push the SVOD window for content on our networks to a multi-year period, more consistent with traditional syndication."

This could prove to be bad news for the likes of Netflix and Hulu, who have relied on content providers like Time Warner to furnish their vast catalog of movies and TV shows. It may also be bad news for consumers, faced with a further fragmented SVOD landscape.

Geht es nach Valve, revolutioniert der Steam Controller ab dem 10. November 2015 das Daddeln von PC-Spielen auf der Couch. Wir haben mit ihm im Test rundenbasiert taktiert, Kopfschüsse verteilt und Karten gelegt. (Valve, Eingabegerät)

Mittelklasse-Smartphones von heute mit Prozessoren von gestern haben wir in dieser Woche getestet. Die VG Media hat sich konspirativ verhalten und das Kabinett einen Beschluss zu elektronischen Stromzählern gefasst. Sieben Tage und viele Meldungen im Überblick. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Steam)

Google is finally going to give Android users a way to buy apps and media as gifts for other users. The company hasn’t officially announced the feature yet, but that’s one of the takeaways from a teardown of the latest version of the Google Play Store done by the folks at Android Police. Oh yeah, […]

Gift giving, family sharing coming to the Google Play Store (probably) is a post from: Liliputing

Noteslate recently started taking pre-orders for a $199 writing slate with a 6.8 inch E Ink display and support for stylus input. But if you’re holding out for something bigger, the company plans to launch a 13 inch model called the Noteslate Hero eventually. There’s no word on the price or launch date for the […]

Noteslate and Onyx each unveil 13 inch E Ink devices is a post from: Liliputing

Within days of its October 10 launch, music discovery tool Aurous was in big legal trouble. Aurous Group and developer Andrew Sampson are now being sued by the RIAA and pretty this definitely ain’t.

Last month, plaintiffs Atlantic Records, Warner Bros, UMG, Sony and Capital Records obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) from a Florida district court, forbidding Sampson and everyone else associated with the project from infringing their copyrights.

Shortly after, Sampson published the ‘back-end’ Aurous source code to Github, enraging the RIAA who accused him of breaching the TRO. Aurous’ legal team had previously offered to settle and throw in the towel, but the alleged breach appeared to scupper those plans.

Instead, the RIAA asked for Sampson and Aurous Group to be held in contempt of court and punished via monetary sanctions, all while plowing ahead in pursuit of a preliminary injunction. Aurous made two attempts at convincing the court that a preliminary injunction should not be issued and earlier this week the RIAA issued its response. It makes for train-wreck reading.

“Defendants continue to ignore critical evidence of their liability for copyright infringement and the irreparable harm they are causing, while misciting the law and misstating the facts,” the RIAA begins.

“Defendants make a fundamental error in asserting that ‘[t]he motion for a preliminary
injunction is an attempt to hold Aurous responsible for the actions of its users.’ To the contrary, this motion is about Defendants’ conduct in creating a service through
which Defendants cause and facilitate copyright infringement..”

There’s a good reason why legal advice often begins with “say nothing” and in this respect the RIAA is making hay while the sun shines.

“It is too late for Defendants to pretend that they ‘had no knowledge of the infringement of either the consumers, or the websites in which the consumers were directed towards’,” the RIAA states.

“Defendants’ belated profession of innocence rings with hypocrisy, particularly in light of Defendant Sampson’s own earlier statements (some of which he has tried to delete) reflecting his own sophisticated knowledge of copyright infringement and his commitment to aiding infringers while thwarting copyright owners.”

Noting that Sampson marked as ‘favorite’ a Twitter message declaring “dead [A]pple [M]usic, dead Spotify, as soon as Aurous launches its [sic] all over”, the RIAA references comments made by Sampson in a Billboard article which detailed his attitude towards takedown efforts.

“If you were to receive a cease-and-desist, what would your reaction be?” the publication asked.

“Ignore it,” Sampson responded.

Things only get worse when the RIAA recalls what happened when one of their representatives sent Sampson a DMCA notice asking for content to be removed from his ‘Strike‘ search engine.

“Sampson responded by telling the representative to ‘f*ck off’,” the RIAA explains.

The RIAA continues by picking apart almost every defense put forward by Aurous, including that pulling music from YouTube and SoundCloud without a license is permissible under law.

“Plaintiffs have not authorized the streaming or downloading (copying) of their recorded music from websites except pursuant to agreements that control the terms on which such works are made available,” the RIAA notes.

“Defendants can only cause such downloads to occur by circumventing the protections such sites have against such downloading and violating the sites’ terms of service that expressly prohibit such conduct.”

Even efforts by Aurous to claim a “safe harbor” defense under the DMCA appear to have fallen on stony ground, with the RIAA noting that the music service failed at the first hurdle.

“Defendants cannot satisfy the basic threshold requirements for eligibility because they do not have a designated agent for receipt of infringement notifications registered with the U.S. Copyright Office,” the labels explain, adding that the service also failed to display an agent’s details on its website.

Pressing on, the RIAA says that safe harbor protection also requires that a service adopts and reasonably implements “a policy to terminate repeat infringers”. Aurous has no such policy but the RIAA suggests that point is moot since DMCA safe harbor immunity is “granted only to ‘innocent’ service providers.”

To support the latter point the RIAA digs out case history from isoHunt versus the MPAA, which noted that no safe harbor is available when “the record is replete with instances of [the defendants] actively encouraging infringement.”

Wrapping up, the RIAA criticizes the earlier release of the Aurous source code while demanding a preliminary injunction.

“It is particularly telling that Defendants no longer deny that Defendant Sampson violated the TRO by making the current Aurous source code available to the public for more than five hours on Sunday, October 25. Instead, they now shamelessly suggest that ‘[i]f this is the case, then the cat is out of the bag’,” the RIAA writes.

“It is precisely this type of blatant disregard for Plaintiffs’ rights and this Court’s Orders that requires entry of a preliminary injunction.”

But despite the aggression from the RIAA, there are now signs of peace on the horizon. At the start of an evidentiary hearing yesterday, both sides requested time for a discussion. Out of that discussion came an agreement to put the preliminary injunction hearing on hold and work towards “a global resolution of the case within the next ten days.”

Considering the background to the case, this apparent offer to enter into settlement negotiations is excellent news for Andrew Sampson and Aurous Group. On the downside, any conclusion is also guaranteed to involve the total closure of the Aurous service and anything similar Sampson may have up his sleeve.

Considering what the RIAA could’ve inflicted upon him, that is probably a very small price to pay.

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