Month: December 2018

Regelmäßig kostenlose Spiele, bessere Bedingungen für Entwickler und Publisher und Fortnite als Verkaufsschlager: Der Games Store von Epic könnte zur ernsthaften Konkurrenz für Steam werden. Dafür muss das Angebot aber noch deutlich ausgebaut werden. (Epic Games, Steam)

Während es in Deutschland nicht möglich sein soll, wird im Zentrum von Warschau ein 5G-Netz gestartet und die Telekom-Tochter T-Mobile Polska verspricht "5G-Netzabdeckung für das ganze Land". (5G, Telekom)

In der neuen Version der freien Kollaborationsplattform Nextcloud können Nutzer direkt in den Twitter-Konkurrenten Mastodon posten und Admins Zwei-Faktor-Authentifizierung erzwingen. Außerdem wurde das gemeinsame Bearbeiten von Dokumenten mit Videochat angereichert. (Nextloud, Applikationen)

In einer bisher nicht gekannten Einheit wenden sich die Chefs der Konzernbetriebsräte der Mobilfunkbetreiber an die Regierungsparteien. Doch statt um Arbeitsrechte geht es um Konzerninteressen. (5G, Handy)

Heute Cobol zu lernen, kommt jungen Informatikstudenten etwa so zeitgemäß vor, wie an Zuses C3 zu arbeiten. Die Programmierer der Sprache aus den späten 50ern gehen reihenweise in den Ruhestand. Doch sie werden immer noch gebraucht. Von Maja Hoock (IT-Jobs, Programmiersprache)

In a plenary vote in September, the European Parliament backed the controversial Article 13 proposal, which is part of the EU’s copyright reform plans.

Since then, the proposal has been tweaked in an attempt to gain broader support, but thus far the critics have yet to be silenced. That includes rightsholders as well.

Most opposition is generated by anti upload filter activists though. They rallied support from the public through various online campaigns, including a prominent petition hosted on Change.org.

Yesterday the “Stop the censorship-machinery! Save the Internet!” petition passed four million signatures, making it one of the largest to be hosted on the platform. With these impressive numbers activists behind the SaveTheInternet campaign hope to make a change.

Tomorrow the SafeTheInternet team will hand over the signatures to copyright rapporteur Axel Voss at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The activists tried to do the same in July when the petition had roughly one million signees. At the time Voss wasn’t willing to accept them, but he has agreed to do so tomorrow.

The timing of the handover is not a mere coincidence. It’s scheduled a day ahead of the final trilogue meeting, during which lawmakers will try to reach agreement on the final test of Article 13 and other copyright reform proposals.

With the petition, the activists call on Members of the European Parliament to decide against directives such as Article 13 which may hamper freedom of information.

“This form of censorship could very soon destroy the cultural normatives of the internet as we know it. The blocking of uploads, in combination with faulty algorithms, will result in so called overblocking lead by the platforms, so that they can avoid legal violations,” the campaign website warns.

The latest Article 13 proposal, published by Politico this week, shows that the proposed language has been tweaked further still. Any references to upload filters were long gone, and it’s now clarified that Article 13 does not impose any monitoring obligation.

In addition, it suggests that platforms will be held liable if they fail to remove content following reports from copyright holders. Optionally, platforms may also be required to “make best efforts” to prevent these files from being uploaded. A so-called takedown and staydown policy.

From the latest proposal

In what appears to be a response to concerns from the public, the proposal also clarifies that enforcement measures should not prevent the availability of legitimate content. This includes fair use uploads for the purpose of criticism, review or parody.

While that sounds like good news, not everyone is convinced that this will work.

“This is the ‘nerd harder’ approach to regulating. It is magic wand regulating: make the bad stuff go away, and magically don’t have any collateral damage,” Techdirt’s Masnick comments.

That’s a fair point since large platforms simply can’t identify fair use content through algorithms. There is bound to be some collateral damage, which is already quite common as things stand today.

Responding to concerns from rightsholders in the audiovisual sector, the legislators clarified that they shouldn’t be worse off under Article 13 than they currently are.

It’s clear that the lawmakers are trying to appease both rightsholders and the public at large. The question remains, however, whether anyone will be truly pleased with the outcome of the negotiations.

The SafeTheInternet team remains on course though. They hope that the four million signatures will help to convince Members of Parliament to remain vigilant and ensure that their views are heard.

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

Haben Asteroiden Wasser und organisches Material auf die Erde gebracht? Das gehört zu den Fragen, die die Mission Osiris Rex der US-Raumfahrtbehörde Nasa beantworten soll. Schon jetzt ist klar: Der Asteroid ist mit Wasser in Kontakt gewesen. (Raumfahrt, Nasa)

Der aktuelle Insider Build von Windows 10 ändert einige Details am Texteditor Notepad. Er unterstützt jetzt UTF-8 ohne Byte Order Mark und bekommt ein paar sinnvolle Tastenkürzel. Außerdem wird die Touch-Tastatur angepasst, was ein präziseres Tippen auf dem Bildschirm ermöglichen soll. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Rund 25 Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung von Doom stellt John Romero - einer der damaligen Leveldesigner - eine Art inoffizielle Fortsetzung vor. Die Megawad soll kostenlos erscheinen, für Fans gibt es Spezialeditionen zu kaufen. (Doom, id Software)

Volkswagen will einen Konkurrenten zum Model X von Tesla auf den Markt bringen und mit dem ID Lounge ein Elektrofahrzeug in Touareg-Größe präsentieren. Auch ein Strandbuggy mit Elektroantrieb wird in Erwägung gezogen. (Elektroauto, Technologie)