Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley's defeat of Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in the 2018 midterm elections earlier this month was a big deal from almost any point of view. Missouri was a pivotal swing state in the battle for the Senate, and Hawley's victory helped Republicans expand their slim Senate majority.
But Hawley's victory is an ominous sign for one company in particular: Google. Hawley campaigned as an antagonist to big technology companies in general and Google in particular.
"We need to have a conversation in Missouri, and as a country, about the concentration of economic power," Hawley told Bloomberg back in March.
Peter Altmaier schämt sich so sehr für das deutsche LTE-Netz, das er keine Anrufe von ausländischen Ministern mehr auf Dienstfahrten annimmt. Die Verbindung breche immer wieder ab. Er müsse drei- bis viermal anrufen. (Mobilfunk, Handy)
Peter Altmaier schämt sich so sehr für das deutsche LTE-Netz, das er keine Anrufe von ausländischen Ministern mehr auf Dienstfahrten annimmt. Die Verbindung breche immer wieder ab. Er müsse drei- bis viermal anrufen. (Mobilfunk, Handy)
Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com.
It’s early during my first play as Calvin Wright, a tormented guardian willing to sacrifice body and soul for the residents of Arkham. Sitting in hushed silence, I hide on a bridge wedged between the Northside and the Merchant District. A bloated half-man/half-fish gives a guttural croak as he patrols the nearby cobblestones.
(credit: FFG)
I draw an encounter card, and a mogul in a top hat and suit struts up the middle of the bridge, flanked by a couple of ruffians. They’re hauling a human-shaped object bound in cloth—which they heave into the river. Top hat stops, finally recognizing me, and reaches into his pocket. “You never saw us here,” he remarks, pressing a wad of cash into my palm. I quietly grab the money and carry on, as that’s all a weary citizen can do.
Ein Bootprozess des Kernels ist bereits möglich: Huawei konnte Fuchsia OS bereits auf einem Kirin-970-Chip testen. Die Chinesen werden wohl zu den ersten OEMs gehören, die das von Android komplett unabhängige Google-Betriebssystem nutzen werden. (Huawe…
Ein Bootprozess des Kernels ist bereits möglich: Huawei konnte Fuchsia OS bereits auf einem Kirin-970-Chip testen. Die Chinesen werden wohl zu den ersten OEMs gehören, die das von Android komplett unabhängige Google-Betriebssystem nutzen werden. (Huawei, Smartphone)
Third-party add-ons for the popular Kodi platform are perhaps best well-known for their ability to provide free access to otherwise premium movies and TV shows. However, according to Denuvo-owner Irdeto, a Kodi add-on that provides access to legally paid-for subscription content is also copyright-infringing and must be taken down.
Long before the famous Kodi media player became synonymous with illegal streaming, the totally legal platform was used by millions of happy users to access content from a central point.
Kodi fans have long used the software to organize their private content libraries. Indeed, plenty of add-ons allow users to consume premium content that they’ve already paid for, utilizing Kodi as a media player rather than the default access point offered by the provider.
Over the years, this has led to the development of add-ons dedicated to providing access to Netflix, Spotify, and BBC iPlayer, not to mention services like YouTube and SoundCloud that can be accessed free of charge and entirely legally.
Now, however, an interesting situation has raised its head over a Kodi add-on that wasn’t designed to break any laws and never provided illegal access to premium content.
Showmax is an online video subscription service launched in South African back in 2015 as a competitor to Netflix and Amazon Video. Interestingly, it is owned by Naspers, the company that owns anti-piracy outfit Irdeto and by extension, Denuvo.
Like all similar services, Showmax can be accessed by systems provided by the company. However, for some time the company has been lobbied by customers to provide a Kodi add-on, something it was considering in the not-too-distant past, as this screenshot from Facebook suggests.
Discussions about Kodi seemed friendly enough
In the absence of Showmax delivering a Kodi add-on of its own, during August this year an independent developer did the work for them. New Zealand-based coder Matt Huisman released his Showmax Kodi Add-on, which he promoted on the official Kodi forum.
It’s important to note that the add-on does not allow users to access Showmax content for free and that a valid Showmax subscription is required, as the official release notes clearly state.
But now, according to anti-piracy Irdeto (acting on behalf of Showmax), Huisman’s add-on is illegal. The add-on has already been taken down from Huisman’s blog and Irdeto has filed a DMCA takedown notice with Github to have the software removed from its official repo.
“Showmax is an online subscription video on demand service,” the notice reads.
“The identified content provides an interface for these Applications to be used via the ‘KODI’ Application, which is not authorized by Naspers.”
As mentioned earlier, Naspers owns Showmax, Irdeto, and by extension, Denuvo.
The notice provides no additional information as to why the Kodi add-on is illegal under the DMCA. Indeed, this type of takedown is usually reserved for software that allows users to access content such as that belonging to Showmax, but without having to pay for it. That’s not the case here.
In common with all such takedowns, Huisman could file a counter-notice with Github to challenge the claims of Irdeto and Showmax. However, that could trigger a legal battle, one that would cost Huisman large sums of money to see through to its conclusion.
Speaking with TorrentFreak, Huisman says that’s not going to happen.
“I spent quite a bit of time developing the Showmax add-on. I don’t personally even use them, it was just a request from a few of their customers,” he explains.
“I guess it comes down to – can an API be copyrighted? They seem to think so, and I don’t have the time or money to fight it.”
All that said, perhaps the most interesting aspect of this takedown is how it could affect other third-party add-ons that provide similar access to legal services.
These are generally considered to be legal by the official Kodi team (they ban ‘illegal’ add-ons from their site) and other repositories that offer similar add-ons in the belief they’re staying on the right side of the law.
Without such add-ons, Kodi could be rendered much less useful, so this is an area to watch, should the trend continue.
Mit Humor und etwas Ironie hat der Youtubekanal Jerryrigeverything nun auch das Surface Pro 6 gefoltert – mit Messern, Feuer und roher Gewalt. Microsofts Detachable überrascht in einigen Punkten, in anderen nicht ganz. (Apple, Microsoft)
Mit Humor und etwas Ironie hat der Youtubekanal Jerryrigeverything nun auch das Surface Pro 6 gefoltert - mit Messern, Feuer und roher Gewalt. Microsofts Detachable überrascht in einigen Punkten, in anderen nicht ganz. (Apple, Microsoft)
Im September 2018 waren sich Medimax und Notebooksbilliger.de ihrer Sache noch sicher, doch die Fusion beider Unternehmen wird nicht erfolgen. Zu unterschiedlich seien die jeweiligen Unternehmensphilosophien; und Opfer wollte zumindest der Onlineshop w…
Im September 2018 waren sich Medimax und Notebooksbilliger.de ihrer Sache noch sicher, doch die Fusion beider Unternehmen wird nicht erfolgen. Zu unterschiedlich seien die jeweiligen Unternehmensphilosophien; und Opfer wollte zumindest der Onlineshop wohl nicht eingehen. (Onlineshop, Internet)
Das Retro Compact Keyboard erinnert an eine Steampunk-Schreibmaschine. Azios Tastatur wird aus verschiedenen Metallen, Leder und Holz gefertigt und nutzt mechanische Schalter. Außerdem kann sie drahtlos, kabelgebunden, mit Mac- oder Windows-Layout genu…
Das Retro Compact Keyboard erinnert an eine Steampunk-Schreibmaschine. Azios Tastatur wird aus verschiedenen Metallen, Leder und Holz gefertigt und nutzt mechanische Schalter. Außerdem kann sie drahtlos, kabelgebunden, mit Mac- oder Windows-Layout genutzt werden. (Tastatur, Eingabegerät)
Diese Woche lief’s nicht so flüssig: Auf dem Mars fließt nun doch kein Wasser, das Stream On der Telekom steht unter Druck und Fallout 76 bietet eine dröge Postapokalypse. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Business-Notebooks)
Diese Woche lief's nicht so flüssig: Auf dem Mars fließt nun doch kein Wasser, das Stream On der Telekom steht unter Druck und Fallout 76 bietet eine dröge Postapokalypse. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Business-Notebooks)
Hollywood’s copyright lobby says that it will actually help privacy more if the information for domain registrants, also known as WHOIS data, were to be forcibly made public.The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has b…
Hollywood's copyright lobby says that it will actually help privacy more if the information for domain registrants, also known as WHOIS data, were to be forcibly made public.
The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has been requesting public input on how consumer privacy, especially in the digital environment, can be improved.
In response to new privacy directives coming out of the EU, ICANN, the body that manages the domain name registration system, have already made changes that would ensure WHOIS data is, by default, private.
Domain registrants welcomed the change, as WHOIS data has been regularly abused for spam and fraud purposes in the past, and registrant's personal details, including their phone number and address, were previously visible to anyone with Internet access.
This, however, has made the MPAA and other anti-piracy bodies uneasy, as it would make it harder to for them to identify the owners of piracy websites.
But instead of saying this as the reason why they are against limiting access to WHOIS data, the MPAA instead pivots back to the privacy issue, by arguing that making WHOIS data public actually helps privacy.
The MPAA argues that with public WHOIS data, Internet users can more easily look up the domain ownership information for websites, and this extra piece of information will help them decide their privacy interaction with the website, such as what kind of personal data they would be comfortable sharing with the site.
"Continued access to WHOIS data will help consumers identify domain name registrants and web site operators when necessary, advancing the NTIA’s user-centric outcome of transparency," the MPAA's submission read.
The MPAA also dismissed the privacy concerns of website owners.
"The risk to registrants is also comparatively small, as they, too, have long operated with these types of obligations and the information they must provide is relatively mundane data used to contact them," the MPAA writes.
And once again, the MPAA invoked more serious crimes in their bid to make their anti-piracy efforts easier.
"This overbroad application of the GDPR is already hindering the ability of law enforcement agencies and others to investigate illicit behavior — including sex trafficking, unlawful sale of opioids, cyber-attacks, identity theft, and theft of intellectual property," warned the MPAA.
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