Month: September 2019

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Die Sicherheitsbehörden wollen ihr Tetra-Netz, das seit rund zehn Jahren Spitzenwerte von 28,8 KBit/s liefert, plötzlich ausbauen. Doch auch die Stadtwerke wollen die frei werdenden Frequenzen im 450-MHz-Spektrum haben. (Polizei, Handy)

Last week, chaos was widespread in the ‘pirate’ IPTV market after authorities in Italy took unprecedented action against the operators of Xtream Codes.

Undoubtedly prompted into action by entertainment and media industry groups, the same authorities are now tackling another perceived threat to revenues – piracy of daily newspapers.

In common with the IPTV crackdown, the latest effort is somewhat unusual in that it tackles fairly unconventional methods and techniques for distribution. Rather than above-ground and obvious websites, Italian authorities are chasing down suppliers to and users of various chat groups.

Authorities reportedly have three key individuals on their radar who are suspected of providing digital copies of daily newspapers to WhatsApp and Telegram groups with many thousands of subscribers.

Italy’s Postal and Communications Police recently provided the prosecutor of Cagliari a report with the details of the three men. According to La Repubblica, they include a man from Sardinia born in 1974 and another from Milan born in 1964.

The newspaper titles they reportedly distributed to the groups were available officially via monthly subscriptions costing a few euros. However, one of the suspects, an unemployed computer technician from Turin, somehow managed to crack or ‘steal’ the passwords used to access the newspapers.

After the discovery of this unlawful access and distribution, the publishers of newspaper L’Unione Sarda filed a complaint. Then, in collaboration with the Postal Police, the company placed ‘markers’ in downloaded copies of their paper which allowed them to see where the copies were being distributed.

After identifying two channels distributing their content, the investigators found a third, more important channel. However, when Telegram was approached for assistance, the company failed to respond, so the investigators carried out their own work, “cross-checking financial transactions” of paying channel users to uncover the identity of the channel operator/uploader.

Once identified, the alleged operator received a visit at his home in Turin and was reportedly caught in the act of uploading pirated copies of newspapers, accessed with ‘stolen’ passwords, to the channels being investigated.

But despite this apparent success, the problem of ‘pirate’ newspapers continues.

According to the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers (FIEG), Telegram is refusing to respond to its complaints about “repeat and massive infringement, meaning that there are at least eight additional groups still in existence, servicing an alleged 500,000 ‘pirate’ users.

In a follow-up and subscription-only interview with La Repubblica, Giuseppe Zafarana, general commander of Italy’s Guardia di Finanza (the force behind last week’s IPTV raids), wondered how many pirates would be reading his words without paying for them.

Estimating “several dozen thousand” illegal readers, Zafarana said that they will now be getting the message that they “will know no rest” and these types of anti-piracy actions are only the beginning of a drive to protect cinema, TV, sports and journalistic content.

“We will identify and we will seize the servers, wherever they are, that are used for piracy and we will hit and confiscate the assets of those who enrich themselves by violating copyright,” he said.

Finally, in addition to tackling those who supply pirate content, authorities are also threatening to go after those who consume it too. It was mentioned last week that customers of IPTV providers could be tracked down and given fines and it seems they feel the same way about consumers of ‘pirated’ newspapers too.

Whether that’s bluster will remain to be seen but prosecuting millions of consumers through an already under-pressure legal system is unlikely to be a simple prospect. Perhaps a handful of ‘show trials’ will be the more likely outcome.

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

Über die nächste Playstation ist bislang wenig Offizielles bekannt, nun kündigt Sony an: Im Ruhemodus soll das Gerät sparsamer als die PS4 werden. Das klingt nach einer guten Nachricht im Kampf gegen die Klimakrise - dabei wäre schon jetzt mehr möglich. (Playstation 4, Sony)

Die Ingolstädter Firma E-Trofit rüstet alte Stadtbusse mit einem neuen Elektroantrieb aus. Dazu mussten die Entwickler die komplette Fahrzeugsteuerung hacken. Ein Bericht von Friedhelm Greis (Elektromobilität, Technologie)

Google will den Google Assistant so überarbeiten, dass der Datenschutz der Nutzer besser geschützt wird. Zudem soll es weniger ungewollte Aktivierungen des digitalen Assistenten geben. (Google Assistant, Google)

While some phone makers have been opting for pop-up cameras in order to release phones with virtually no bezels (or notches), Nubia’s taking a different approach with its next flagship. The Nubia Z20 is a smartphone that’s nearly all screen on the front, and which has no moving parts… or front-facing camera, as it turns out. Instead, […]

The post Nubia Z20 dual-screen smartphone launches globally October 14th appeared first on Liliputing.

Internetverbindungen fallen bei vielen Nutzern wochenlang aus. Viele sind gezwungen, den Anbieter immer wieder zu kontaktieren bis das Problem vom Provider endlich behoben wird. (Festnetz, Verbraucherschutz)

Der Youtuber und ehemalige Microsoft-Entwickler Jerry Berg erklärt aus seiner Sicht, warum Patches in Windows 10 aktuell oft fehlerbehaftet sind. Er sieht das Sammeln von Telemetriedaten und die Automatisierung des Bugtestings als Probleme an. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Two weeks ago, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the game download portal RomUniverse.

The website, which also allows users to download movies and books, stands accused of massive copyright infringement, including that relating to many Nintendo titles.

“The Website is among the most visited and notorious online hubs for pirated Nintendo video games. Through the Website, Defendants reproduce, distribute, monetize, and offer for download thousands of unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games,” the Japanese gaming giant wrote.

In the complaint filed at a federal court in California, Nintendo further stated that the site, which reportedly has 375,000 members, offers downloads for nearly every video game system it has ever produced.

According to the game company, “hundreds of thousands of copies” have been illegally downloaded through RomUniverse. The site, meanwhile, profits from this by offering premium memberships that allow users to download as many games as they want.

The alleged operator of RomUniverse is California resident Matthew Storman. He was served shortly after the action was filed but has yet to file a response to the allegations. Going up against a major company such as Nintendo is no easy feat and to foot the legal bills, Storman is now asking the public for help.

The operator has added a donation option to the RomUniverse homepage and also launched a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe, setting a goal of $100,000 to assist with the defense.

“RomUniverse.com was founded in 2009 under the notion that users like you should have easy access to the content that you purchased and the ability to relive those childhood moments.  It is because of this, that I am asking for your help,” Storman writes.

A representative of RomUniverse previously informed TorrentFreak that the site responds to takedown notices, but that it didn’t receive any from Nintendo recently. While it’s not hard to see that pirated games are indeed shared on the site, Storman is determined to put up a fight.

“Now I know what you’re thinking, this one person is going to take on one of the largest console/gaming manufacturers in the world?  And the short answer is YES,” he notes.

“I believe that I have a solid defense, and considering that other romsites have folded and settled, this has never been done before,” Storman adds.

The RomUniverse operator likely refers to the now-defunct ROM sites LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co. These were sued by Nintendo last year and the owners, a married couple, agreed to resolve the matter in exchange for a $12 million consent judgment.

The ‘admin’ of the official discord channel shared the link to the GoFundMe campaign with us, so the crowdfunding campaign is indeed linked to the ROM site. We subsequently requested more information on the forthcoming defense but, at the time of publication, we have yet to hear back.

On the GoFundMe page, Storman notes that he’s not “greedy” or a scammer. He merely wants to defend his rights and those of others in this “unknown” landscape. In the meantime, the site remains online.

While some people may have donated to the site directly, thus far, the crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe hasn’t gained any traction. After two days, the donation counter is still at $0.

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