Month: September 2018

Durch die Digitalisierung der Wirtschaft werden rund 1,1 Millionen IT-Experten benötigt, wenn der öffentliche Dienst einbezogen wird. McKinsey empfiehlt mehr Weiterbildung der Belegschaften und die Anwerbung von Experten aus dem Ausland. (IT-Jobs, Digitalisierung)

Terrarium TV was one of the most impressive ‘pirate’ apps in recent years. Utilizing video content hosted on file-hosting platforms, it grew to become a serious competitor to apps like Showbox and Popcorn Time.

Last week, however, developer NitroXenon announced that the project would be shutting down

“It has always been a great pleasure to work on this project. However, it is time to say goodbye. I am going to shut down Terrarium TV, forever,” he wrote.

“I know this day will come eventually. I know it would be hard to let go. But it is really time for me to move on to other projects.”

As always, people wanted to know why the project was really being shut down. TorrentFreak spoke with NitroXenon who told us….very little. When questioned he refused to speak about his motivation, which of course led to speculation, some of it reasonable, some of it less so.

The big possibility, of course, is legal threats. Given that NitroXenon refused to answer, we might deduce that he’s under pressure not to speak. However, no substantial facts were available to definitively back that up so we had to take his statement at face value.

And then this weekend, out of the blue, NitroXenon scared thousands of Terrarium TV fans with a surprise announcement.

Former users of Terrarium TV, who didn’t immediately uninstall the app as NitroXenon had previously advised, suddenly started receiving notifications on their devices.

“Uninstall immediately!” one warned. “Your IP address and location are being tracked!”

“We can’t guarantee that details won’t be shared upon request,” advised another.

These kinds of notifications are not what the average user expects and of course, panic ensued. Was this some kind of scare tactic to ensure the last few people uninstalled the app or were the notifications sent out of genuine concern for users?

On Sunday, TorrentFreak was able to reach NitroXenon and ask him what on earth is going on. He had nothing reassuring to say.

“I’m just telling the truth,” he told TF. “Almost every app tracks user’s IP [addresses]. And if I must [hand] the info to authorities then I’ll do it.”

Other than this statement, NitroXenon had nothing to add. However, on behalf of people getting the scary notifications, we asked the obvious question. Why would NitroXenon retain logs after the application had been shut down and why, if he hasn’t been asked to retain them already, didn’t he simply purge them?

We received no response but if we have to analyze this situation, we’d say that something doesn’t feel right here.

Presuming for a moment that NitroXenon has come under pressure to a) shut down the app and b) not speak about the fact that he’s been threatened, that would fit the current pattern of developers who have found themselves in a similar situation over the past few months.

That being said, if IP address and location details are indeed being logged (the app had permissions for location), then why publicly warn users that is the case? The data has already been logged and deleting Terrarium now probably isn’t going to make much difference. Also, if the aim is to collect details of pirates, why sabotage that by giving out a warning while, potentially, undermining a non-disclosure agreement?

That leads us to the possibility that these are scare tactics but, put very simply, we have no proof either way. There might be a threat and there might not but we’ve never heard of a case where people who have simply streamed content (rather than uploaded) have been pursued by content companies.

There are several other possibilities too, including that NitroXenon got sick of the whole project and decided to burn the thing to the ground (unlikely, given how friendly he was in the past) or maybe he’s having his strings pulled by parties keen to send a message to movie and TV show pirates.

To our knowledge, this is an unprecedented development for ‘pirate’ applications, no matter what is going on behind the scenes. Whether users choose to uninstall the app moving forward is their prerogative but it seems unlikely that IP address evidence would prove of much use in this case, given that Terrarium never hosted the infringing content itself.

There are no guarantees, of course, so the rumors and speculation will continue, including that a hostile third-party, not content companies, have taken over both the app and NitroXenon’s Reddit account…..

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

This week we have four newcomers in our chart.

Skyscraper 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 articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.

This week’s most downloaded movies are:

Movie Rank	Rank last week	Movie name	IMDb Rating / Trailer
Most downloaded movies via torrents
1	(1)	Skyscraper	6.1 / trailer
2	(…)	Solo: A Star Wars Story	7.1 / trailer
3	(…)	Sicario: Day of the Soldado	7.3 / trailer
4	(2)	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom	6.5 / trailer
5	(3)	Ocean’s Eight	6.3 / trailer
6	(…)	Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Subbed HDRip)	8.1 / trailer
7	(4)	Deadpool 2	8.0 / trailer
8	(7)	Avengers: Infinity War	8.7 / trailer
9	(…)	Next Gen	6.7 / trailer
10	(6)	Destination Wedding	6.3 / trailer

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

Obwohl nach Inkrafttreten der DSGVO eine Abmahnwelle ausgeblieben ist, will Justizministerin Barley nun gesetzlich gegen missbräuchliche Abmahnungen vorgehen. Damit soll auch der "fliegende Gerichtsstand" im Wettbewerbsrecht abgeschafft werden. Von Friedhelm Greis (Abmahnung, Urheberrecht)

Fly Free will Elektromotorrädern in den USA zum Durchbruch verhelfen, indem altes Design und neue Technik kombiniert werden. Bei der Formensprache bedient sich das Unternehmen am Scrambler-Stil der 1950er und 60er Jahre. (Elektromobilität, Technologie)

BMW hat mit dem Vision iNext seine Vorstellung eines zukünftigen Elektroautos präsentiert. Vom typischen BMW-Design bleibt nicht viel übrig. Das 2021 auf den Markt kommende SUV hat im Inneren riesige Bildschirme, aber keine Knöpfe. (BMW, Technologie)

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While most people use Facebook to share relatively harmless content, some share things they are not supposed to. A pirated copy of Deadpool, for example.

This is what now 22-year-old Trevon Franklin from Fresno, California, did early 2016. Just a week after the first installment of the box-office hit premiered in theaters, he shared a pirated copy of the movie on the social network.

To be clear, Franklin wasn’t the person who originally made the copy available. He simply downloaded it from the file-sharing site Putlocker.is and then proceeded to upload it to his Facebook account, using the screen name ‘Tre-Von M. King.’

This post went viral with more than six million viewers ‘tuning in.’ While many people dream of this kind of attention, in this case, it meant that copyright holder Twentieth Century Fox and the feds were alerted.

The FBI launched a full-fledged investigation which eventually led to an indictment and the arrest of Franklin last summer.

Earlier this year, Franklin signed a plea agreement with the Government where he admitted to sharing the pirated film on Facebook. In return, the authorities recommended a sentence reduction.

This week the Government submitted its sentencing recommendation. Franklin pleaded guilty to a Class A misdemeanor which carries a maximum prison term of a year. While the Government doesn’t go that far, it believes a significant sentence is required.

“[T]he government recommends the high-end sentence of six months’ imprisonment, to be followed by a one-year term of supervised release, and a mandatory special assessment of $100,” the sentencing position reads.

The Government argues that a prison sentence is warranted given the “brazen and public” manner in which Franklin broke the law and “appeared not to care” that this would affect the makers of the movie.

This is also illustrated in dozens of pages of Facebook comments which were presented as evidence. Among other things, these show that many Facebook users warned Franklin that uploading a pirated copy of Deadpool was a crime.

A few of the comments

Instead of taking these comments as a warning, Franklin found them irritating. “If it’s a crime, why my shit ain’t got reported??? That part, Just stfu already,” he responded to one user.

In addition, he also went on to create a new Facebook group titled “Bootleg Movies,” indicating that more movies would be shared in the future.

“Defendant even created a Facebook group for the purpose of illegally sharing movies with others, posting ‘EVERYBODY JOIN’ in relation to the Facebook group he created called ‘BOOTLEG MOVIES’,” the Government writes, pointing out the screenshot below.

Bootleg

All in all, the Government argues that a six-month prison sentence is needed to send a strong message to Facebook users and the public at large, to show that there are real consequences for such a crime.

The defense, for its part, points out that Franklin has endured many personal problems in the past.

He has no criminal record but regrets the mistakes that were made and hopes to turn things around. As such, his attorney believes that a sentence of one year probation is sufficient.

“Such a sentence would be sufficient, but not greater than necessary, in light of Mr. Franklin’s tumultuous personal history, remorse for the offense, and his continued desire to redirect his life,” the defense attorney writes.

The matter is now with the court which will decide what sentence is appropriate in this case.

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

Nach Beschwerden wegen Unfällen mit E-Bikes wurde ein Gewerkschaftler von Lieferando gekündigt. Offiziell sei seine Performance nicht ausreichend gewesen. (E-Commerce, Wirtschaft)

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