Month: March 2018

Schiffe der US-Marine sollen kleine Boote und Drohnen künftig mit Laser beschießen. Der US-Konzern Lockheed Martin entwickelt ein optisches Waffensystem, das in wenigen Jahren einsatzbereit sein soll. (Lockheed Martin, Technologie)

Mit Song Maker hat Google einen einfachen Musiksequenzer vorgestellt, der es jedem ermöglichen soll, kleine Songs zu produzieren. Das Programm läuft komplett im Browser, eine Anmeldung oder ein Download sind nicht nötig. Das fertige Werk kann per Link geteilt werden. (Google, Browser)

Bis in China die Produktion von Flash-Speicher in großen Mengen anläuft, wird Intel die Tsinghua Unigroup mit NAND-Wafern versorgen. Die chinesische Yangtze Memory Technologies Company (YMTC) fertigt bisher nur veraltete Flash-Technik. In Südkorea rüstet Samsung derweil stark auf. (Flash-Speicher, Intel)

Achte statt siebte Generation: Toshiba verbaut Intel-Prozessoren mit vier Kernen in seine neuen Portégé-Notebooks. Außerdem werden der Arbeitsspeicher und der SSD-Speicher verdoppelt. Das Gehäuse bleibt gleich - inklusive Trackpoint. (Business-Notebooks, Intel)

Zwei große US-Chipkonzerne, Microchip Technology und Microsemi, haben eine Milliardenübernahme angekündigt. Insgesamt werden mehr als zehn Milliarden US-Dollar gezahlt. (Wirtschaft, Atmel)

Als Reaktion auf das Massaker an einer Schule in Florida kündigt US-Präsident Donald Trump für die nächsten Tage ein Treffen mit Vertretern der Spielebranche an. Die weiß davon allerdings nichts. (Donald Trump, Jugendschutz)

Over the past several years, Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN has been engaged in continuous legal action against local ISPs Ziggo and XS4All. BREIN felt they should block The Pirate Bay to reduce copyright infringement but the ISPs felt blocking was disproportionate.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court and then to the EU Court of Justice for clarification. Last June, the ECJ ruled that as a platform effectively communicating copyright works to the public, The Pirate Bay can indeed be blocked by ISPs.

The case will go back to the Supreme Court which is likely to give permanent blocking the go ahead. However, BREIN wanted a blocking decision more quickly and got one last September when The Hague Court of Appeal told Ziggo and XS4All to block The Pirate Bay pending a Supreme Court decision.

With The Pirate Bay blocked by the ISPs from September last year, BREIN has been monitoring the effect of the blockade on traffic to the site. In a statement, the anti-piracy outfit suggests that blocking is doing its job.

“Monitoring by ComScore shows that the number of unique visitors to thepiratebay.org from the Netherlands has dropped by more than 40% between September 2017 and December 2017 after internet providers Ziggo and XS4ALL were ordered by the court to demand access to the site on the basis of BREIN’s claim,” BREIN writes.

Ziggo is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands and XS4All one of the longest standing, so it comes as no surprise to learn that traffic to The Pirate Bay’s main domain has been hit. However, since the site can be accessed in numerous different indirect ways, including via proxies, mirrors and VPNs, to name a few, does BREIN’s claim that “blocking works” still hold water?

According to BREIN director Tim Kuik, yes it does.

“We also are blocking many proxies and mirrors. There is a whole list of them which also changes. New ones are added and others may be deleted,” Kuik informs TF.

“The monitoring compares like with like and shows a trend that correlates with other sources. I think this trend holds true for all blocked sites.”

So, to be clear, the 40% does not represent a drop in Dutch traffic to The Pirate Bay’s site and/or content overall, it only represents traffic which goes directly to the specific thepiratebay.org domain. Anyone circumventing the blockade isn’t counted.

Of course, that’s not to say that the overall traffic numbers from the Netherlands aren’t down as well, but there are no public figures to prove that one way or another. The precise impact of proxies and mirrors is also unclear but Kuik thinks that the blockades themselves send a message.

“Bypassing a blockade requires users to take action to illegally download and it is now clear that they are committing a criminal offense and most people do not want that,” he says.

VPNs are undoubtedly an effective unblocking solution for some but Kuik doesn’t believe they represent a big threat, currently at least.

“We think VPN use is not common under the average user, that is more something for the hardcore and not all of those will use it for access to illegal sources,” he informs TF.

While BREIN is fairly relaxed about VPNs for now, the group suggests it could take action if they begin to pose a risk to the site-blocking regime they’ve fought so hard for.

“If it becomes problematic, blocking could in principle also be demanded from VPN services,” Kuik warns.

Given the 40% figure and the caveats above, it is likely that the direct traffic figure to The Pirate Bay’s domain will fall again in the months to come. Mid-January a Dutch court ruled that local Internet providers KPN, Tele2, T-Mobile, Zeelandnet and CAIW must follow Ziggo and XS4All by also blocking The Pirate Bay.

There’s no doubt that blocking has at least some effect on direct traffic to pirate sites and it’s clear that entertainment industry groups feel it’s essential as part of a bigger anti-piracy toolkit.

Thus far, however, pirates have proven to be extremely resilient so the Netherlands will probably need further action against a much broader range of sites if blocking is to have any meaningful effect.

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

Amazon hat vor Gericht verloren: Der Einkaufsknopf Dash verstößt nach Ansicht des Landgerichts München gegen geltende Gesetze. Die klagenden Verbraucherschützer haben damit Recht bekommen. Amazon will in Berufung gehen. (Amazon Dash, Onlineshop)

Die Mobile-Umsetzung von Playerunknown's Battlegrounds ist fast so komplex wie für PC oder Konsolen und macht mindestens genauso viel Spaß. Nur die in China stehenden Server bereiten ab und zu Probleme - aber Rubberbanding kennen wir ja. Ein Test von Marc Sauter (Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, Smartphone)

Der Akku eines Elektroautos ist das schwerste Bauteil an Bord, weshalb andere Komponenten zwar stabil, aber möglichst leicht sein sollten. Williams Advanced Engineering hat mit dem FW-EVX deshalb ein Chassis aus Kohlefaser vorgestellt, das den Akku integriert. (Auto, Technologie)