December 2017 – Page 22 – news.buyenne.com

Dienste, Programme und Unternehmen: Was 2017 eingestellt und geschlossen wurde

München verliert das Limux-Projekt, Berlin seine Fluglinie und die USA verlieren ihre Netzneutralität. 2017 sind viele Unternehmen und Produkte gescheitert – manche erwartungsgemäß, andere überraschend. Von Oliver Nickel (Wirtschaft, Google)

München verliert das Limux-Projekt, Berlin seine Fluglinie und die USA verlieren ihre Netzneutralität. 2017 sind viele Unternehmen und Produkte gescheitert - manche erwartungsgemäß, andere überraschend. Von Oliver Nickel (Wirtschaft, Google)

Verwaltungsrat: Alphabet-Chef Eric Schmidt gibt den Posten auf

Nach 17 Jahren in der Konzernführung gibt Eric Schmidt seinen Job als Verwaltungsratsvorsitzender von Alphabet auf. Er war zehn Jahre lang Google-Chef und “erwachsene Aufsichtsperson” für Page und Brin. (Google, Onlinewerbung)

Nach 17 Jahren in der Konzernführung gibt Eric Schmidt seinen Job als Verwaltungsratsvorsitzender von Alphabet auf. Er war zehn Jahre lang Google-Chef und "erwachsene Aufsichtsperson" für Page und Brin. (Google, Onlinewerbung)

Reminder: Donate to win swag in our annual Charity Drive sweepstakes

There’s still time to give to a good cause for a chance to win.

Here in the season of giving, hundreds of Ars readers have already given nearly $12,000 to the EFF and/or Child's Play in this year's Ars Technica Charity Drive Sweepstakes.

That's a long way from the more than $38,000 we raised last year, but there's still time for our readers to dig deep and set a new giving record for the site. That also means you still have time to get an entry in for a chance to win a piece of our massive pile o' swag, which we can't keep anyway (no purchase necessary for entry).

If you haven't had a chance to give yet, follow the instructions below to get your donation counted and your entry logged for the sweepstakes. If you have given already, our deepest thanks from everyone here at Ars.

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Security: Blizzard installiert selbstsigniertes Zertifikat mit Root

Ein Zertifikat, dass vom Localhost signiert wird: Blizzard installiert ein Zertifikat mit Root-Rechten auf den Rechern seiner Nutzer – ohne Begründung oder Information. Auf Reddit erhitzten sich die Gemüter, sodass Blizzard sich doch noch erklären muss…

Ein Zertifikat, dass vom Localhost signiert wird: Blizzard installiert ein Zertifikat mit Root-Rechten auf den Rechern seiner Nutzer - ohne Begründung oder Information. Auf Reddit erhitzten sich die Gemüter, sodass Blizzard sich doch noch erklären musste. (Battle.net, Browser)

Washington State: Comcast was “even more deceptive” than we thought

“Additional consumers…rejected the SPP, but Comcast signed them up anyway.”

Enlarge (credit: Comcast)

The Attorney General of Washington has filed a new amended complaint in an ongoing lawsuit against Comcast, claiming that "new evidence" reveals "even more deceptive conduct than previously alleged."

The lawsuit, which was initially submitted in August 2016, alleged that hundreds of thousands of Washington residents were "deceived" into paying "at least $73 million in subscription fees over the last five years for a near-worthless ‘protection plan.’"

According to the amended complaint, which was filed in King County Superior Court on Thursday, newly obtained recorded calls between Comcast and its Washington customers who subscribed to its "Service Protection Plan" show "that Comcast may have signed up more than half of all SPP subscribers without their consent. Comcast deceived consumers even when mentioning the SPP, telling them the SPP plan was ‘free’ when they signed up, when in fact, Comcast would automatically charge them every month after the first month."

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Soziales Netzwerk: Facebook ersetzt Kennzeichnung für Falschnachrichten

Statt wie bisher als falsch entlarvte Nachrichten mit einem roten Zeichen zu versehen, setzt Facebook künftig auf Aufklärung: Weiterführende Artikel sollen den Nutzern zeigen, dass der Ursprungsartikel falsch ist. Facebook zufolge soll so der Lerneffek…

Infrastruktur: China nimmt Solarstraße in Betrieb

Strom für Elektroautos: In China wird dieser Tage ein Straßenteilstück in Betrieb genommen, das mit Solarpaneelen ausgelegt ist. Künftig sollen Elektroautos dort drahtlos ihren Akku laden. (Solarenergie, Technologie)

VPN Provider Jailed For Five Years After Helping Thousands Breach China’s Firewall

A man in China has been jailed a staggering five-and-a-half years for selling a VPN service without an appropriate license from the government. The man, from the Guangxi autonomous region, was also fined the equivalent of US$76,000 for supplying software and equipment to evade China’s Great Firewall.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN discounts, offers and coupons

The Chinese government’s grip on power is matched by its determination to control access to information. To that end, it seeks to control what people in China can see on the Internet, thereby limiting the effect of outside influences on society.

The government tries to reach these goals by use of the so-called Great Firewall, a complex system that grants access to some foreign resources while denying access to others. However, technologically advanced citizens are able to bypass this state censorship by using circumvention techniques including Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

While large numbers of people use such services, in January 2017 the government gave its clearest indication yet that it would begin to crack down on people offering Great Firewall-evading tools.

Operating such a service without a corresponding telecommunications business license constitutes an offense, the government said. Now we have a taste of how serious the government is on this matter.

According to an announcement from China’s Procuratorate Daily, Wu Xiangyang, a resident of the Guangxi autonomous region, has just been jailed for five-and-a-half years and fined 500,000 yuan ($75,920) for building and selling access to VPNs without an appropriate license.

It’s alleged that between 2013 and June 2017, Wu Xiangyang sold VPN server access to the public via his own website, FangouVPN / Where Dog VPN, and Taobao, a Chinese online shopping site similar to eBay and Amazon.

The member accounts provided by the man allowed customers to browse foreign websites, without being trapped behind China’s Great Firewall. He also sold custom hardware routers that came read-configured to use the VPN service, granting access to the wider Internet, contrary to the wishes of Chinese authorities.

Prosecutors say that the illegal VPN business had revenues of 792,638 yuan (US$120,377) and profits of around 500,000 yuan ($75,935). SCMP reports that the company previously boasted on Twitter at having 8,000 foreigners and 5,000 businesses using its services to browse blocked websites.

This is at least the second big sentence handed down to a Chinese citizen for providing access to VPNs. Back in September, it was revealed that Deng Jiewei, a 26-year-old from the city of Dongguan in the Guangdong province, had been jailed for nine months after offering a similar service to the public for around a year.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN discounts, offers and coupons

Zotac Amp Box (Mini): TB3-Gehäuse eignen sich für eGPUs oder SSDs

Der Grafikkartenhersteller Zotac hat zwei eGPU-Gehäuse vorgestellt: Die Amp Box und die Amp Box Mini werden per TB3-Schnittstelle angebunden und unterstützen unterschiedliche Hardware. (eGPU, Speichermedien)

T-Mobile Austria: Telekom kauft Kabelnetzbetreiber

Alle Mobilfunkbetreiber brauchen für 5G ein Festnetz. Daher kauft T-Mobile Austria den Kabelnetzbetreiber UPC Austria für 1,9 Milliarden Euro. (5G, Telekom)