Month: February 2019

Echtzeit-Auktionen für Internetwerbung arbeiten mit teilweise sehr sensiblen Nutzeretikettierungen. Drei europäische Datenschutzaufsichtsbehörden müssen nun entscheiden, ob diese Praxis von Google und anderen Anbietern zulässig ist. Von Christiane Schulzki-Haddouti (Tracking, Datenschutz)

Die aktuell im Darknet angebotenen E-Mail-Adressen und Passwörter sollen von 16 Webseiten stammen - von manchen war bisher nicht bekannt, dass sie gehackt wurden. (Passwort, Internet)

AMD hat für die Radeon VII eine vBIOS mit UEFI-Unterstützung veröffentlicht. Dank Graphics Output Protocol (GOP) booten Systeme mit der Grafikkarte so schneller als per Compatibility Support Module. (AMD Vega, Grafikhardware)

Über seine deutsche Tochter Koch Media (Deep Silver) kauft der skandinavische Publisher THQ Nordic das Entwicklerstudio hinter dem Rollenspiel Kingdom Come Deliverance. Der Preis liegt bei rund 33,2 Millionen Euro, die Gründer Daniel Vávra und Martin Klíma bleiben. (Kingdom Come Deliverance, Spieletest)

Die Desktop-Entwickler von Canonical testen offenbar die Verwendung des Dateisystems ZFS für Endnutzer in der Linux-Distribution Ubuntu. Dazu soll wohl auch der Installer angepasst werden. Die Lizenzprobleme von ZFS sind aber weiterhin nicht geklärt. (ZFS, Ubuntu)

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Authorities in Russia maintain a huge database of banned sites, from platforms that promote terrorism to those that engage in unlicensed gambling and copyright infringement.

ISPs are required to prevent their users from accessing these sites by interfacing their systems with the so-called FGIS (Unified Register of Prohibited Information) database. More recently, however, legislation was tweaked so that search engines must also prevent banned sites from appearing in their search results.

Late 2018, this caused problems for Google. While local providers including Yandex and Mail.ru connected to the blacklist as required, Google did not. This prompted local telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor into action.

In the first instance, the telecoms watchdog contacted Google with a demand that it should immediately connect to the FGIS blacklist. But, despite a meeting with the authorities, Google still refused to comply, something which placed the company in breach of federal law.

As a result, Google was hit with a fine of 500,000 rubles (US$7,595), the lowest amount that can be handed down under existing laws.

Ever since, Roscomnadzor has been encouraging Google to connect to the FGIS but the US-based company has declined. However, it now appears that Google is effectively carrying out the search result delistings the Russians have requested, even though the mechanics appear slightly different.

According to an Interfax source, Google has received a list containing 120,000 ‘banned’ URLs and has been removing them from its search results. Thus far, Google is reported to have deleted around 73% of the illegal content present in the FGIS database from its results using this method.

While checking all of the links is certainly beyond the scope of this article, TorrentFreak checked the results for RuTracker, Russia’s most popular torrent site and one that is permanently blocked in the country.

Last year, RuTracker.org and .net featured prominently in Google.ru’s results but when searched for using a Russian IP address, they are no longer present.

Interestingly, when searching for RuTracker.org using Google.ru but via a foreign (non-Russian IP address), the results are what one might expect, with RuTracker.org and RuTracker.net as the top results. Nevertheless, Roscomnadzor seem happy with Google’s efforts.

“Constructive dialogue and cooperation have been established between Roscomnadzor and Google. At the moment, we are satisfied with the results of this cooperation,” Roscomnadzor spokesperson Vadim Ampelonsky told Interfax.

The cooperation appears to have calmed relations between Google and Roscomnadzor on the issue of filtering. Less than a month ago, the telecoms watchdog threatened to fine Google again for non-compliance, warning that Google itself could find itself blocked in Russia.

That threat seems to have been headed off, at least for now.

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

Alle reden von der Energiewende, Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein sind schon deutlich weiter: Die beiden Bundesländer zeigen, wie die Gewinnung von Strom etwa aus Windkraft und die Speicherung in verschiedenen Medien aussehen kann. Ein Feature von Monika Rößiger (Wissenschaft, Technologie)

Es gibt neue Schätzungen dazu, wie viel Google an Apple dafür zahlt, dass die Suchmaschine als Standardsuche im iPhone-Browser voreingestellt ist. Bisher wurden für vergangenes Jahr 9 Milliarden US-Dollar erwartet, es sollen am Ende sogar 9,5 Milliarden US-Dollar gewesen sein. (Apple, Google)

The results and analysis for DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray sales for the week ending February 2, 2019, are in. A movie perfectly timed for the holidays and released by Disney failed to capture a wider audience, is now on Blu-ray and this week's top seller. Find out which movie it was in our weekly DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray sales stats and analysis feature.