Es ist vielleicht der letzte Versuch, noch ein Lebenszeichen vom Landefahrzeug Philae auf dem Kometen 67P/Tschurjumow-Gerassimenko zu bekommen: Experten vom DLR wollen den Lander wachrütteln - im Wortsinn. (Rosetta, Raumfahrt) 
Month: January 2016
BREIN Takes 343 ‘Pirate’ Sites Offline, Warns Uploaders
Anti-piracy outfit BREIN has produced a detailed overview of its achievements in 2015. In addition to taking almost 350 sites offline after threatening their hosts, the Netherlands-based group targeted key individuals in the file-sharing space, including release group members and the moderator of major torrent site.
Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Anti-piracy outfit BREIN has been one of the leading pro-copyright groups for many years.
Focusing on piracy in the Internet space, Netherlands-based BREIN has a track record of targeting torrent and other similar sites operating within its jurisdiction.
In recent years BREIN has began producing annual reports detailing its activities of the preceding 12 months. The group has just published its 2015 edition and its clear the outfit has been busy.
Site takedowns
One of BREIN’s main strategies is to take piracy sites offline, something it regularly achieves by threatening their hosting providers. BREIN’s reputation is well-known in the Netherlands so in many cases minimum coercion is required. That results in big headline numbers.
According to BREIN’s report, 343 pirate sites were taken down in 2015. The vast majority (150) are described as “link farms”, forums and similar platforms where links to files on third-party hosting sites are shared.
Streaming sites came in second place with 96 takedowns, with torrent sites in third with 63. Seven of the sites related to Popcorn Time.
BREIN says that pirate sites often try to hide their true locations behind Cloudflare’s services but that doesn’t appear to hinder the group when attempting to shut them down and trace their owners. When they can be tracked to The Netherlands, some are given the opportunity to enter into a settlement.
“A signed withdrawal statement with a penalties for future infringement plus a contribution towards costs and damages must be paid. How high that is depends on the circumstances of the case,” BREIN explains.
Targeting uploaders and other community members
While there has been some activity in the past, during 2015 BREIN made a number of announcements relating to its pursuit of individual file-sharers. Targeting those at the more serious end of the scale, BREIN cherry-picked a few individuals responsible for uploading lots of content.
Among them were three members of release group DRT. They were subjected to a court order and agreed to settle with BREIN. According to the anti-piracy group, they also did some snitching on other members of their group.
In separate action, BREIN targeted the brains behind release group DMT. He reportedly settled for thousands of euros and put up a warning on torrent indexes including KickassTorrents.
Together with another busted colleague the pair subsequently tried to pay their ‘fines’ via a crowdfunding operation. That was eventually discontinued after reported threats from BREIN. The anti-piracy group now confirms that it considered the fundraiser as generating income from illegal activities.
Earlier in the year, BREIN said it also obtained an injunction against “an important moderator” on one of the “largest illegal BitTorrent sites”. In line with BREIN policy, the site itself was not named.
In 2016, BREIN says its pursuit of important pirates will increase and that it has deployed “special software” to help with the task.
“The system is registered with the Dutch data protection authority (CBP) which has issued a certified statement after examination the legality for the processing of personal data in this system by BREIN,” the anti-piracy group reports.
In future, those caught by BREIN will be required to sign a cease and desist agreement and pay a contribution towards costs and damages, which currently amount to around 12,500 euros.
Targeting Google
In 2015, BREIN says it sent more than 5.7 million infringing content reports to Google. That brings its grand total to more than 12.5 million notices since it began its takedown program in 2012.
BREIN’s report is available here (Dutch)
Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Die Woche im Video: Die Highlights von der CES
Die Elektronikmesse CES ist fast vorbei – und wir haben viel gesehen und ausprobiert. Eine Messe und viele Meldungen im Überblick. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Internet) 
Die Elektronikmesse CES ist fast vorbei - und wir haben viel gesehen und ausprobiert. Eine Messe und viele Meldungen im Überblick. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Internet) 
Game Piracy Group’s Warning: Game Cracking Impossible in Two Years’ Time
The founder of a Chinese cracking forum has warned that game cracking may become an impossible task, thanks to anti-tampering technology Denuvo.Denuvo is unlike traditional copy protection solutions in that it’s an anti-tampering system that is us…
The founder of a Chinese cracking forum has warned that game cracking may become an impossible task, thanks to anti-tampering technology Denuvo.
Denuvo is unlike traditional copy protection solutions in that it's an anti-tampering system that is used to protect existing DRM solutions. How it works exactly is still a closely guarded secret by the Austrian company behind the technology, but what it most likely does is to employ code obfuscation to make it hard for crackers to examine and make changes to the code.
With an ever increasing level of encryption, the founder of the Chinese cracking forum, Bird Sister, fears that within two years' time it will become far too difficult to break the copy protection on games, at least in a timely fashion.
Even now, games are proving far too difficult to break to make it worthwhile for pirated game downloaders. Whereas games used to be cracked within a day of release, recent games such as the soccer game FIFA 16 has yet to be cracked despite being released in September. The first month of a game's release is extremely important for game publishers, as this when most of the sales occur. If Denuvo can successfully delay the pirated version's timely release, even if the game will be eventually cracked, then this will give game publishers exactly what they want.
If Bird Sister's prediction proves true, it would seem that Denuvo would be the perfect solution for game publishers, but its use is still not widespread due to several reasons. For one, it's a relatively high cost solution to implement, and there have been unsubstantiated reports of performance problems associated with the use of Denuvo.
US Attorneys General say Volkswagen has refused to turn over internal documents
The automaker is citing German privacy laws as justification for not cooperating.
According to reports from the New York Times and Reuters, the Volkswagen Group is refusing to turn over e-mails and correspondence from its top executives to US Attorneys General (AG), citing German privacy laws.
AGs from Connecticut and New York told the two news outlets that they were outraged with Volkswagen’s reluctance to comply fully with their investigations. The two AGs are part of a larger group of 48 top state lawyers, which has launched a probe into Volkswagen’s defeat device scandal. (The two AGs who are not participating in the civil investigation represent California and Texas and are “conducting their own inquiries,” according to the New York Times.)
The scandal broke open in September when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation accusing Volkswagen of selling 580,000 diesel vehicles with illegal software installed on them to goose results on federally mandated emissions tests.
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Federal hacking conviction follows pro baseball scouting scandal
Guesswork, not computer skills, used to access rival team’s confidential data.
Busch Stadium, home to the St. Louis Cardinals. (credit: Nekonomist)
Theft in professional baseball used to be about stealing bases and signs. But not any more—not in the era of big data.
The St. Louis Cardinals' former scouting chief pleaded guilty Friday in a Texas federal courtroom to five hacking counts (PDF) in connection to unlawfully accessing a highly confidential database of another Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Houston Astros.
Court documents said Christopher Correa guessed the password to the Astros' database called "Ground Control." Court documents describe the data as including scouting reports, statistics and other information "to improve the team's scouting, communication, and decision-making for every baseball-related decision." (PDF) The record said that Correa, who faces years in prison when sentenced later this year, used a "variation" of the password that a departed Cardinals employee used before leaving to work for the Astros.
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A walk through the CES Global Technology Marketplace
The 2016 Consumer Electronics Show wraps up on Saturday, and we’ve seen a lot of announcements from well-known companies including Lenovo, Samsung, Dell, HP, and Acer. But while CES is a big event for tech reporters, it’s an even bigger deal for small companies looking to connect with one another (or with bigger companies). A […]
A walk through the CES Global Technology Marketplace is a post from: Liliputing
The 2016 Consumer Electronics Show wraps up on Saturday, and we’ve seen a lot of announcements from well-known companies including Lenovo, Samsung, Dell, HP, and Acer. But while CES is a big event for tech reporters, it’s an even bigger deal for small companies looking to connect with one another (or with bigger companies). A […]
A walk through the CES Global Technology Marketplace is a post from: Liliputing
Next week, five states’ IDs will stop working in federal facilities
TSA will start requiring “Real ID” for air travelers in 2018.
Lead Transportation Security Officer (TSO) Katrina Callin reviews the identification of a passenger at one of the checkpoints at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). (credit: Transportation Security Administration)
Starting next week, certain state ID cards will no longer be accepted at federal facilities. Five states, along with the territory of American Samoa, aren't compliant with the 2005 "Real ID" law and haven't received an extension from the Department of Homeland Security. On Sunday, January 10, a "grace period" will end and enforcement of the Real ID rules will begin, DHS officials told reporters on a press call today.
The bigger concern for many citizens is whether ID cards from non-compliant states will be accepted for air travel. On that point, there's some breathing room. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement today that the law will be enforced with regard to air travel beginning on January 18, 2018. At that time, travelers with ID cards from states that don't meet the law's requirements "must present an alternative form of identification acceptable to the Transportation Security Administration in order to board a commercial domestic flight."
Johnson's statement also says that on October 1, 2020, every air traveler will need a Real ID-compliant license or another acceptable form of ID, such as a passport. (That's essentially the same rule as the 2018 deadline, but there's no talk of states still having "extensions" in 2020.)
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UK tightens drinking guidelines—no more than 6 beers a week
New recommendations suggest any amount of alcohol can be harmful.
The lads from the film World's End know when to start drinking. (credit: Universal Pictures)
After 20 years, UK health experts have updated their recommendations for alcohol consumption—and it’s likely the new rules won’t sit well with many Britons.
The tougher guidelines, released this week, advise men and women to drink no more than 14 alcohol units a week, which equates to six pints of beer, seven glasses of wine, or about half a bottle of whisky. While that doesn’t change anything for women, past recommendations had set limits for men at about nine glasses of wine or beer a week. In releasing the change, health officials there warned that Britons should reduce their drinking and that any amount of alcohol could be harmful to health, including increasing risks of cancer.
The recommendations say that even moderate drinking is linked to “increased risk of breast cancer, violence, drowning, and injuries from falls and motor vehicle crashes.”
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Video startup quits T-Mobile’s Binge On over net neutrality concern
John Legere’s fight with EFF isn’t winning him many new fans.
(credit: T-Mobile)
T-Mobile USA today continued to face criticism of its online video zero-rating and throttling program with one small video company saying it would quit Binge On.
Slidefuse, maker of 4Stream.TV, was spurred to action in part by T-Mobile CEO John Legere insulting the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
"In light of recent events and of comments made by your CEO, John Legere, we have decided to halt our participation in Binge On and disable our traffic shaping rules for the time being," Slidefuse told T-Mobile.
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