Month: August 2017

Enlarge / Police officers wearing tactical gear form a barrier with riot shields to prevent the movement of protestors after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017 in Washington D.C. Hundreds of thousands of people combined to celebrate and protest. (credit: Mark Makela/Getty Images)

The US Department of Justice is backing down on its request to Web hosting service DreamHost to divulge the 1.3 million IP addresses that visited a Trump resistance site. The request was part of the government's investigation into Inauguration Day rioting, which has already resulted in the indictment of 200 people. More are likely.

"The government has no interest in records relating to the 1.3 million IP addresses that are mentioned in DreamHost's numerous press releases and Opposition brief," federal prosecutors said in a new court filing concerning its investigation of the disruptj20.org site.

The government, in the court document, said it did not realize that its original warrant, (PDF) which is part of a federal grand jury investigation into Inauguration Day rioting, was so grand in scope.

Nice box art. (credit: id Software)

Bethesda had previously announced that it would release not one, not two, but three VR versions of its biggest franchises by the end of this year. Rather than disappoint headset hopefuls with a last-minute delay, the company has gone ahead and announced firm release dates for all three.

Mark your calendars, real or virtual: Doom VFR will land on both the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR on December 1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR will launch exclusively on PlayStation VR on November 17. And Fallout 4 VR will round out the company's 2017 VR schedule by launching exclusively on the HTC Vive on December 12.

Bethesda has not announced plans for any of those games to appear outside of their announced platforms. While it's likely that at least one of the three games will flutter out to another platform, we at Ars Technica would bet cacodemons to cacodonuts that Bethesda has no intention of releasing a game on an Oculus-branded platform anytime soon. Or ever.

Enlarge / Shallow depth of field image taken of yellow law enforcement line with police car and lights in the background. (credit: carlballou/Getty Images)

A Baltimore Police Department officer has "self-reported" a staged body cam vide. This brings the number of fabricated body cam videos rocking the agency to at least three. In this most recent instance alone, 43 cases are being dropped or not prosecuted, the state's top prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, said.

In all, more than 100 cases have been dropped or will be. Dozens of additional cases are being investigated because of three body cam videos fabricated by the Baltimore Police Department. The first video was disclosed a month ago. Dozens of closed cases are also being re-examined, state prosecutors said. They said they are examining hundreds of cases involving officers connected to the videos.

"The body-worn camera program was established to fight crime, better protect officers, and foster public trust," said State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby. "Whether planting evidence, re-enacting the seizure of evidence or prematurely turning off the department-issued body-worn camera, those actions misrepresent the truth and undermine public trust."

Enlarge (credit: eightfivezero)

The mastermind of a years-long fraudulent trademark scam that federal authorities dubbed as "one of the more sophisticated, elaborate, and premeditated operations" they had ever seen has been sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud.

In addition, on Monday, a federal judge in Los Angeles also sentenced Artashes Darbinyan to pay over $1.5 million in restitution. US District Judge Stephen V. Wilson additionally ordered that Darbinyan’s two co-conspirators serve 18 and 24 months in prison, with restitution orders ranging from $1.04 to $1.2 million each.

Darbinyan’s scheme involved setting up a company that he called the “Trademark Compliance Office” and another called “Trademark Compliance Center.” Beginning in September 2013, he sent out unsolicited, official-looking (but fake) invoices to over 100,000 unsuspecting businesses. The letter, complete with a return envelope, would ask for a $385 “processing fee” promising trademark registration and monitoring services that did not exist. The return address was one of a few cities in and around Washington, DC. This gave the letter the veneer of legitimacy.