Apple bietet eine kostenlose Reparatur für Displayschäden an der Apple Watch an. Die gilt für bestimmte Schäden bei den Modellen Series 2 und Series 3 von Apples Smartwatch. (Apple Watch, Apple)
Apple bietet eine kostenlose Reparatur für Displayschäden an der Apple Watch an. Die gilt für bestimmte Schäden bei den Modellen Series 2 und Series 3 von Apples Smartwatch. (Apple Watch, Apple)
Verboten ist die Medienplattform Linksunten.indymedia.org immer noch, doch die Rechtsanwältin Angela Furmaniak klagt dagegen. Im Interview mit Golem.de erklärt sie, wie der Verfassungsschutz in das Verbot verstrickt ist und welche Auswirkungen es für d…
Verboten ist die Medienplattform Linksunten.indymedia.org immer noch, doch die Rechtsanwältin Angela Furmaniak klagt dagegen. Im Interview mit Golem.de erklärt sie, wie der Verfassungsschutz in das Verbot verstrickt ist und welche Auswirkungen es für die Pressefreiheit hat. Ein Interview von Moritz Tremmel (Interview, Datenschutz)
An alleged minor, accused of promoting and selling “Fortnite” cheats, recently asked a court to dismiss his case, as he’s “just a kid.” Fortnite publisher Epic Games clearly disagrees. In a response to the motion, the company points out that contracts with minors can be enforceable, noting that the defendant’s cheating activity continued despite the lawsuit.
Game publisher Epic Games has taken a tough stance against Fortnite cheaters.
Aside from banning people from the game, it has also filed lawsuits against several people who promoted or sold cheats online.
One of the most recent lawsuits targets a popular YouTuber called CBV, who was sued by Epic Games in June. The games company is pursuing the minor (referred to as C.B. in the complaint) with several claims, including copyright infringement and breaches of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision.
While plenty of kids would be terrified facing a lawsuit like this, CBV didn’t appear to be impressed. In a YouTube video where he explained the situation last month, the 14-year-old said that he wouldn’t make Fortnite videos anymore. However, he was far from apologetic.
“Fuck epic games. I mean, at least they can’t come after my channel anymore. I’m never gonna make another video. But if they really want to come at my neck for 100 Mil then they can just fuck their brand on their own,” CBV said.
The alleged cheater lawyered up and responded by filing a motion to dismiss at a North Carolina federal court Among other things, his attorneys pointed out that the Court doesn’t have jurisdiction over this client and that requiring a minor to defend himself in another state would be unreasonable.
This week Epic responded to this motion, arguing that the case should continue.
Among other things, the game publisher points out that CBV didn’t halt his cheating activities after the lawsuit was filed. On the contrary, Epic claims that the defendant made another cheating video on a separate channel and registered a new domain to sell cheats.
“Defendant continues to develop and sell cheat software specifically targeted at Epic and Fortnite. Indeed, Defendant has created a new website located at <NexusCheats.us>, a domain name Defendant registered on August 1, 2019,” Epic writes.
Epic, which doesn’t mention the name of the new channel, tells the Court that the defendant used it to promote his cheats. He published a video titled “Fortnite AIMBOT/WALLHACKS/**LIVE**(nexuscheats),” while taking questions and mentioning that he has a very good lawyer.
“Defendant did not stop his infringing behavior after being served with Epic’s Complaint and retaining legal counsel,” Epic writes. “In this 87-minute long video, Defendant announced it was his ‘first time streaming since I’ve been sued . . . .’ He then live-streamed himself logging into Fortnite and demonstrating his hacks as he played the game.”
The video has now been removed after Epic sent a DMCA notice. However, according to the game publisher, this shows that the teaching activities are not over.
Epic’s response
While Epic’s reply focuses on the continued cheating, the main issue is whether there is a reason to dismiss the case. The defense argued that the EULA and the TOS, which prohibit cheating activities, are not enforceable because CBV is a minor. But Epic disagrees.
“His arguments that he is immune from those consequences, including his claim that this Court does not have jurisdiction over him because ‘he’s a kid,’ are without merit,” Epic tells the Court.
According to Epic, not all contracts with minors are automatically void. There are exceptions, which it believes apply here. In addition, this “infancy defense” doesn’t apply, because the alleged cheater also reaped the benefits of these agreements.
According to Epic’s response brief, the defendant was well aware of the potentially illegal nature of his activities – after being sued, banned and targeted with repeated DMCA notices – but he continued nonetheless.
“Not only did he continue to use his access to Fortnite to cheat at the game after being served with the Complaint, he continued to publish videos promoting and supporting his cheat software in violation of both Epic’s rights under the Copyright Act—which are the subject of this lawsuit—and the terms of the agreements that give Defendant access to Fortnite in the first place.”
Based on these and other arguments Epic says the motion to dismiss should be denied. The company also believes that specific jurisdiction exists to continue the case in Noth Carolina, even though the defendant is from Illinois.
If the Court decides that there is not enough ground to establish jurisdiction, Epic asks for limited discovery, so it can find more evidence. In the alternative, the game publisher asks to transfer the case to the Central District of Illinois, where the alleged cheater resides.
Enlarge/ Hurricane Dorian's satellite appearance on Sunday morning. (credit: NOAA)
5pm ET Sunday Update: Hurricane Dorian continues to pound the northern Bahamas, and has strengthened a little bit further on Sunday. As of 5pm CT (21:00 UTC), Dorian has a central pressure of 910 millibars, and maximum winds of 185mph.
Such a maximum sustained wind speed places Dorian in very rare company when it comes to historical hurricane record in the Atlantic. Only Hurricane Allen, in 1980, recorded stronger winds in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, or Gulf of Mexico. Three other hurricanes have recorded winds as strong as Dorian—the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Gilbert (1988), and Wilma (2005).
The overall forecast remains more or less the same. In a couple of days Dorian will approach the Florida peninsula. The most likely scenario is that Dorian remains offshore as it traces an arc up the Southeastern United States coast, but all scenarios remain on the table, including a Florida landfall.
The dog days of summer are (mostly) over now, and soon a crisp wave only recognizable as "fall" will enter the air. While you may not be taking as many vacations over the next few months as you did during summer, you might still be able to find extra reading time during your commute, lunch breaks, and weekends.
There's no shortage of new releases to get hyped about (check out our most-anticipated reads for the second half of 2019 to see even more), but below are some books coming out over the next few months that may pique your interest. All of these books have come across my desk recently, and I think many Ars readers will enjoy family drama-filled space operas, quirky AI one-liners, and intricate details about the biology of platypuses and other odd creatures just as much as I do. Happy reading!
Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—As guards were going so far as to check inside NFL fans' wallets as part of routine security measures before a recent preseason game at Levi's Stadium, a different form of surveillance was taking place on the inside of the San Francisco 49ers' one-year-old, $1.3 billion home here in Silicon Valley.
We're not talking about facial recognition devices, police body cams, or other security measures likely zeroing in on fans. Instead, employees from San Jose-based Zebra Technologies had recently finished scanning the NFL uniforms of the 49ers and of their opponents—the Dallas Cowboys. All of a sudden, an on-the-field de facto surveillance society was instantly created when Zebra techies activated nickel-sized Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) chips that were fastened inside players' shoulder pads. Every movement of every player now could be monitored within an accuracy level of all but a few inches.
A Minnesota-based gene-editing company is left red in the face after it took on bull genetics—and got slammed.
The company, Recombinetics, set out years ago to genetically engineer Holstein dairy cattle to come without their troublesome horns, which farmers typically remove to keep themselves and other cows safe. In 2015, the company seemed to have succeeded, unveiling two hornless bulls, Spotigy and Buri. Recombinetics touted them as a bona fide, 100%-bovine success story.
Auf der ersten Mission zur Rückseite des Mondes hat der chinesische Rover Yutu 2 eine Substanz von ungewöhnlicher Konsistenz und Farbe entdeckt. Die Wissenschaftler auf der Erde rätseln, worum es sich handelt. (Mond, Raumfahrt)
Auf der ersten Mission zur Rückseite des Mondes hat der chinesische Rover Yutu 2 eine Substanz von ungewöhnlicher Konsistenz und Farbe entdeckt. Die Wissenschaftler auf der Erde rätseln, worum es sich handelt. (Mond, Raumfahrt)
#SaveTheOA understands the stakes of the streaming wars.
Enlarge/ In The OA S2, Prairie finds herself in a mysterious hallway straight out of science fiction. (credit: YouTube/Netflix)
There's something ironic about #SaveTheOA. For those who need a primer, the hashtag—and the movement around it—sprung up a few weeks ago when Netflix announced it was canceling the beloved but little-watched sci-fi drama The OA. It's not strange that fans would rally online to save a show; such methods have saved everything from Community to Veronica Mars. What's peculiar is that the most impactful results of #SaveTheOA have manifested IRL, somewhere far from the Netflix queues and web forums where the show found its home.
The latest manifestation happened in New York City's Times Square earlier this week. As flash mobs descended, a massive billboard—paid for by a GoFundMe—projected #SaveTheOA throughout the main hub of Midtown. The flash mobs performed the show's "movements," odd-looking dances meant to transcend time and space and also foster community. The billboard, which raised more than $5,000 in 24 hours, was made using fan art and was animated by a team that spanned the globe. Last week, on the other side of the country, fans picketed outside Netflix's Los Angeles headquarters with signs reading "Algorithms don't tell stories. Human hearts do." One fan even went on a hunger strike to bring back the show. There may be a hashtag, but the efforts to bring back The OA go far beyond the usual internet slacktivism.
To be clear, there is also a Change.org petition. Nearly 80,000 people have signed it since Netflix canceled the show on August 5. But at a time when Twitter can save a show like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which got scooped up by NBC almost as soon as Fox dropped it, The OA's fans are going to far greater lengths than most do to save their favorite programs. This shows a deep understanding of how TV works now. The OA devout, as evidenced by their promotional campaigns and protest signage, know that a company like Netflix is primarily driven by viewership numbers. They believe the streaming giant didn't do enough to promote their show, so they're doing it themselves.
A developer who implemented Minecraft in Javascript to bring the “game onto the web” has been served with a takedown notice by Microsoft. While citing breaches of the DMCA, the notice adds that the variant of the popular world-building game also breaches other rights belonging to the company, including trademarks.
Minecraft is one of the most recognizable and popular videogames of the last decade.
Created by Swedish developer Markus Persson (Notch) and released by developer Mojang in 2011, Minecraft was subsequently acquired in 2014 by Microsoft as part of a $2.5 billion deal.
Over the years, Minecraft has been made available on many platforms and along the way has gathered millions of fans. Minecraft Classic is even available to play in a web browser by simply visiting Classic.Minecraft.net. However, a developer who had a similar idea recently received some unwanted correspondence from Microsoft.
Taiwan-based student and self-taught programmer Ian Huang has been working on MC.JS, a project which he also hoped would bring Minecraft to the web using Javascript.
“MC.JS brings the best-selling PC game Minecraft into the web with the power of Javascript,” Huang wrote in a now-deleted Github page.
“Having to open an additional app to play a game is sometimes too tiring. Therefore, I thought it’d be interesting to somehow implement Minecraft with Javascript, essentially bringing the whole Minecraft game onto the web,” he continued.
“This not only takes away the tedious process of installing the game, it also brings the entire game to players within a couple [of] clicks.”
While there many people out there who might appreciate such a project, the folks at Microsoft are not among them. Despite MC.JS being “a work in progress” with “still a lot of features waiting to be implemented”, the company took action to have it taken down.
In a DMCA notice sent to Github, where the project was hosted, brand protection and anti-piracy outfit AppDetex advised the development platform that MC.JS infringes several aspects of Microsoft’s intellectual property rights.
“The software being distributed on the reported site..[..]..violates these rights by providing users with an application that purports to act as a copy of Minecraft using javascript, encouraging users to provide their official Microsoft logins and circumvent Minecraft’s servers and logins for official gameplay,” the notice reads.
“On top of that, the download is being advertised with copyrighted Minecraft imagery and textures, acting as the backdrop to the site, without Microsoft’s consent or authorization. This is not an action protected by any fair use doctrine,” it continues.
The notice of infringement was sent under the DMCA (17 U.S.C. § 512) but also notes that Minecraft trademarks have been infringed. As a result, Github took down the project, which may or may not bring the effort to an end.
TorrentFreak contacted the developer of MC.JS for additional comment but at the time of publication, we were yet to receive a response.
Apple bietet eine kostenlose Reparatur für Displayschäden an der Apple Watch an. Die gilt für bestimmte Schäden bei den Modellen Series 2 und Series 3 von Apples Smartwatch. (Apple Watch, Apple) 
Verboten ist die Medienplattform Linksunten.indymedia.org immer noch, doch die Rechtsanwältin Angela Furmaniak klagt dagegen. Im Interview mit Golem.de erklärt sie, wie der Verfassungsschutz in das Verbot verstrickt ist und welche Auswirkungen es für die Pressefreiheit hat. Ein Interview von Moritz Tremmel (
Auf der ersten Mission zur Rückseite des Mondes hat der chinesische Rover Yutu 2 eine Substanz von ungewöhnlicher Konsistenz und Farbe entdeckt. Die Wissenschaftler auf der Erde rätseln, worum es sich handelt. (
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