I came in 35th in a professional (e-)race and you can, too

As e-sports at large grows, e-racing is quietly picking up speed, too.

The Forza versions of CJ Wilson Racing's Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsports.

Regular readers will know that racing games and motorsports are two of my favorite things. With the exception of some time in Elite: Dangerous, all of my gaming these days is done with pedals and a steering wheel. While I haven't been able to do the real thing as often as I'd like, my team and I had a relatively good showing during a snowy weekend at Mid Ohio with the World Racing League earlier this year. But when it comes to the burgeoning sport of e-racing, I—like much of the motorsports fraternity—may be guilty of neglect.

When the likes of NPR and ESPN are routinely dissecting the topic, there's no doubt that e-sports at large have officially become a thing. Today anyone can recognize the big names like League of Legends and Dota 2, with their huge prize purses and millions of online spectators. If you're only a casual observer, however, racing and e-sports don't seem to mesh in the same way.

All that's beginning to change. Today, there are highly competitive e-racing series for a number of different games, contested by individuals as well as professional teams. And for added credence, e-racing is increasingly becoming a legitimate entry route into real-life motorsports, injecting some new life into a sport that's popularity is on the wane.

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Mirai-IoT-Botnet: IP-Kamera nach 98 Sekunden mit Malware infiziert

Droht die Netzwerkapokalypse, sobald ein unsicheres IoT-Gerät im Heimnetzwerk angeschlossen wurde? Der Sicherheitsforscher Rob Graham hat es ausprobiert – und sich innerhalb von 98 Sekunden die erste Infektion abgeholt. (Mirai-Botnetz, Virus)

Droht die Netzwerkapokalypse, sobald ein unsicheres IoT-Gerät im Heimnetzwerk angeschlossen wurde? Der Sicherheitsforscher Rob Graham hat es ausprobiert - und sich innerhalb von 98 Sekunden die erste Infektion abgeholt. (Mirai-Botnetz, Virus)

Reverse Engineering: Wie ich Linux auf dem Oszilloskop installierte

Die Open-Source-Community liebt es, Linux selbst auf vermeintlich geschlossenen Systemen zu installieren. Ich habe Linux auf einem Digital-Oszilloskop zum Laufen gebracht. (Reverse Engineering, Technologie)

Die Open-Source-Community liebt es, Linux selbst auf vermeintlich geschlossenen Systemen zu installieren. Ich habe Linux auf einem Digital-Oszilloskop zum Laufen gebracht. (Reverse Engineering, Technologie)

Insider Build mit Powershell: Windows CMD.exe wird durch Open Source ersetzt

Im aktuellen Insider Build 14971 von Windows 10 wird die Kommandozeile CMD.exe durch die Powershell ersetzt. Die einfache Eingabeaufforderung verschwindet zwar noch nicht ganz, ein zentraler Bestandteil von Windows ist damit künftig aber Open Source. (Microsoft, .Net)

Im aktuellen Insider Build 14971 von Windows 10 wird die Kommandozeile CMD.exe durch die Powershell ersetzt. Die einfache Eingabeaufforderung verschwindet zwar noch nicht ganz, ein zentraler Bestandteil von Windows ist damit künftig aber Open Source. (Microsoft, .Net)

Urban Aeronautics: Drohne Cormorant fliegt eine autonome Platzrunde

Starten, landen, verschiedene Kurse zum Wind fliegen: Die Drohne Cormorant hat erfolgreich den ersten autonomen Flug absolviert. Sie soll als fliegende Ambulanz eingesetzt werden. (Drohne, Technologie)

Starten, landen, verschiedene Kurse zum Wind fliegen: Die Drohne Cormorant hat erfolgreich den ersten autonomen Flug absolviert. Sie soll als fliegende Ambulanz eingesetzt werden. (Drohne, Technologie)

KickassTorrents Defense: U.S. Indictment Remains Fatally Flawed

The legal defense team of alleged KickassTorrents owner Artem Vaulin has reiterated that the allegations put forward by the U.S. Government are fatally flawed. According to the defense, the Government’s indictment still includes several misleading claims, which have no foundation in criminal law.

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

kickasstorrents_500x500Last month the legal defense team of alleged KickassTorrents (KAT) owner Artem Vaulin asked the Illinois District Court to dismiss the criminal indictment, citing various flaws.

The U.S. responded not much later, arguing that the torrent site and its alleged operators are not as harmless as the defense portrayed them to be.

According to United States Attorney Zachary Fardon, KAT’s defense is downplaying the significance of “torrent” sites, which are more akin to flea markets for infringing movies, TV shows, games, music, and software.

In addition, the U.S. pointed out that Vaulin and his co-conspirators were also involved in separate direct-download and streaming sites including rolly.com, solarmovie.com,
and iwatchfilm.com.

In a new reply brief submitted late last week (pdf), the KAT defense team notes that the Government’s reply fails to address the fatal flaws they’ve pointed out in the indictment.

“The failure of the Response to address defendant’s showing of an improper indictment tacitly admits the impropriety,” they write, highlighting that many of the accusations are not criminal in nature or lacking vital details.

For example, KAT’s legal team notes that the Government fails to list any copyrighted works that were supposedly downloaded from “direct download” sites that were listed in the indictment.

In addition, the defense highlights that streaming is not a felony in the United States, and sharing a non-copyrighted torrent file is not a crime either. By suggesting otherwise, the Government is violating its own criminal guidelines.

“The general video streaming alleged in the indictment cannot be prosecuted as a felony. There is no crime of making available a torrent file. This prosecution violates guidelines set forth in a ‘Prosecuting IP Crimes Manual’ publically posted by the Department of Justice.”

“More fatal to the indictment – there are no facts alleged that such works were uploaded, stored, or downloaded from “direct download sites,” the defense teams adds.

The Government had countered KAT’s defense that secondary copyright infringement doesn’t exist under criminal law. However, according to the defense, many of the citations used are dated.

Instead, they point out that “aiding and abetting” was removed from criminal copyright law forty years ago. As such, torrent site operators should not be held liable for the potentially infringing actions of their users.

“In another attempt to criminalize torrent sites, the Response asserts a theory of ‘aiding and abetting,’ presenting various historical citations. But aiding and abetting was removed from the Copyright Act by Congress in 1976 thereby eliminating the crime.”

These and other errors should warrant a dismissal, KAT’s defense argues. In its current form, the indictment is bound to misinform the grand jury, and they hope that the court will see it the same way.

“In sum, the attempt to hold KAT’s overseas torrent sites as accessories to unspecified copyright crimes committed in unknown ways in the United States by unknown former KAT users is unprecedented and violates multiple constitutional prohibitions.

“The indictment is so permeated with improper legal theories and insufficient predicate facts to support the elements of felony criminal claims – from improperly conflating dot torrent files into direct criminal infringement to improperly alleging video streaming as a crime that it cannot be trusted that the grand jury was properly instructed with the correct law and legal principles to render a competent decision.”

It is now up to the Illinois District Court to decide how to move forward. The defense is hoping for an outright dismissal, while the U.S. wants to move forward.

Meanwhile, over in Poland alleged KAT operator Artem Vaulin has just had his detention extended. The court declined to release the Ukrainian on bail and ruled that he should remain in custody until mid-February.

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

Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 11/21/16

The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again. ‘Pete’s Dragon’ tops the chart this week, followed by ‘Jason Bourne’. ‘Snowden’ completes the top three.

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

petesdragonThis week we have two newcomers in our chart.

War Dogs is the most downloaded movie.

The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.

RSS feed for the weekly movie download chart.

Ranking (last week) Movie IMDb Rating / Trailer
torrentfreak.com
1 (…) Pete’s Dragon 7.1 / trailer
2 (2) Jason Bourne 7.7 / trailer
3 (…) Snowden 7.4 / trailer
4 (7) Suicide Squad 6.7 / trailer
5 (1) War Dogs 7.2 / trailer
6 (6) The BFG 6.6 / trailer
7 (3) Doctor Strange (Cam/TS) 8.0 / trailer
8 (4) Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children 7.0 / trailer
9 (5) Ouija: Origin of Evil 6.6 / trailer
10 (8) Mechanic Ressurection 5.7 / trailer

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

Snoopers Charter: Großbritannien bekommt Vorratsdatenspeicherung auf Steroiden

Browserverlauf ohne Richterbeschluss, Hacking von Smartphones und Computern und ein Jahr Vorratsdatenspeicherung mit unklaren Beschränkungen: Großbritannien hat ein Überwachungsgesetz beschlossen, das eher zu einer Diktatur passt, als zu einer europäischen Demokratie. (Überwachung, Vorratsdatenspeicherung)

Browserverlauf ohne Richterbeschluss, Hacking von Smartphones und Computern und ein Jahr Vorratsdatenspeicherung mit unklaren Beschränkungen: Großbritannien hat ein Überwachungsgesetz beschlossen, das eher zu einer Diktatur passt, als zu einer europäischen Demokratie. (Überwachung, Vorratsdatenspeicherung)

Japan Display: Doppel-Touchscreen macht das Tablet zum Buch

Ein Tablet wie ein Buch aufklappen. Dieses Ziel setzt sich Japan Display und hat einen aufklappbaren Doppel-Touchscreen vorgestellt. Im Sommer soll ein erstes Tablet erscheinen. Vor einigen Jahren gab es schon einmal ein sehr ähnliches Gerät. (Tablet, Mobil)

Ein Tablet wie ein Buch aufklappen. Dieses Ziel setzt sich Japan Display und hat einen aufklappbaren Doppel-Touchscreen vorgestellt. Im Sommer soll ein erstes Tablet erscheinen. Vor einigen Jahren gab es schon einmal ein sehr ähnliches Gerät. (Tablet, Mobil)

Raspberry Pi: Der mit dem 64-Bit-Kernel tanzt

Die Raspberry Pi Foundation sorgt dafür, dass auf der Version 3 ihres Minirechners ein 32-Bit-Linux startet – und das, obwohl der neue Raspberry Pi eine reinrassige 64-Bit-CPU hat. Echte Linux-Kern-Techniker lässt die angezogene Handbremse nicht ruhen. (Raspberry Pi, Linux-Kernel)

Die Raspberry Pi Foundation sorgt dafür, dass auf der Version 3 ihres Minirechners ein 32-Bit-Linux startet - und das, obwohl der neue Raspberry Pi eine reinrassige 64-Bit-CPU hat. Echte Linux-Kern-Techniker lässt die angezogene Handbremse nicht ruhen. (Raspberry Pi, Linux-Kernel)