Month: August 2020

Campus Networks: Wenn das 5G-Netz nicht jeden reinlässt

Über private 4G- und 5G-Netze gibt es meist nur Buzzwords. Wir wollten von einer Telekom-Expertin wissen, was die Campusnetze wirklich können und was noch nicht. Von Achim Sawall (5G, Server)

Über private 4G- und 5G-Netze gibt es meist nur Buzzwords. Wir wollten von einer Telekom-Expertin wissen, was die Campusnetze wirklich können und was noch nicht. Von Achim Sawall (5G, Server)

Der Mahnruf des missachteten Gewissens

Vor 75 Jahren warfen US-Soldaten erstmals in der Menschheitsgeschichte eine Atombombe auf bewohntes Gebiet ab. Am 6.August 1945 starben in Hiroshima 140.000 Menschen und kurz danach in Nagasaki 73.000

Vor 75 Jahren warfen US-Soldaten erstmals in der Menschheitsgeschichte eine Atombombe auf bewohntes Gebiet ab. Am 6.August 1945 starben in Hiroshima 140.000 Menschen und kurz danach in Nagasaki 73.000

French Anti-Piracy Agency Generated €87,000 in Fines From €82m in Public Funding

French anti-piracy agency Hadopi has published its latest annual report, revealing data on its fight against pirates using P2P systems such as BitTorrent. Since its inception 11 years ago, the agency has sent 12.7 million warnings to pirates generating 87,000 euros in fines. Over the same period, the agency itself has cost French tax payers 82 million euros.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

HadopiJust over a decade ago, France stepped forward with a grand project to tackle the millions of individuals downloading content via peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent.

In 2010, via newly-formed government agency Hadopi (High Authority for the Distribution and Protection of Intellectual Property on the Internet), the country introduced the so-called “graduated response” system, with the aim of sending file-sharers escalating warnings carrying the threat of fines and even Internet disconnections.

Hadopi publishes regular updates on its progress in highly-detailed reports, which tend to emphasize the importance of the project, its successes, and justifications for continuing in the face of the online piracy threat. The latest edition continues that trend but some of the statistics raise the question of whether a system designed to tackle the problems of a decade ago remains fit for purpose.

Referrals By Copyright Holders Down

Hadopi’s sprawling 128-page report for last year (pdf) has just been published, revealing that in 2019, rightsholders – who track alleged pirates on BitTorrent-like systems – referred nine million cases to the authority for investigation, a significant decrease on the 14 million referrals made in 2018.

However, as highlighted by Next INpact, a referral does not automatically result in a corresponding warning sent to an alleged pirate. In fact, since October 2010, Hadopi has sent out just 12.7 million warnings, a fraction of the number of referrals received from rightsholders.

Lowest Number of Notices Sent

Approximately 830,000 warning notices were sent out to alleged pirates in 2019, the lowest number to date. This figure contains 619,687 ‘first strike’ and 208,104 ‘second strike’ notices which, according to Hadopi, is an indicator of success since only a third of first-time offenders go on to re-offend. Overall, just 4,210 notices were issued at the ‘third strike’ stage.

At the top end, 1,750 cases representing the most serious matters (in Hadopi’s opinion) were subsequently referred to the public prosecutor for potential further action, including maximum fines of €1,500.

Hadopi attributes this downwards trend mainly to “…changes in consumption of cultural works on the Internet and the unprecedented increase in legal offers.” While this assessment is entirely credible, it does warrant further explanation.

Changes in Consumption Habits and Mechanisms

Since the creation of the Hadopi agency, its mission to crack down on peer-to-peer pirates has undoubtedly been affected by shifts in consumer behavior. In terms of the positives for copyright holders, legitimate services are more accessible and numerous than ever, something that has begun to encourage people to buy more content, even if they still pirate some as well.

Nevertheless, there’s still no shortage of people sharing content on easily-monitored networks such as BitTorrent but, with the rise of no-logging VPNs and more secure torrenting methods (such as cloud services and seedboxes), many of the remaining users are harder to trace.

Perhaps more importantly, however, the massive shift towards streaming sites, file-hosting platforms, and pirate IPTV services in the past decade cannot be underestimated. Not only are the users frequenting these services exponentially harder to track, but they fall outside the warning notification system operated by Hadopi. With no ability to send these users even a first strike, they can never receive a second or a third.

Is the Huge Cost of Running Hadopi Worth it in 2020?

Finally, this brings us to the cost of keeping Hadopi running. As calculated by Next INpact, in the 10 years since it was founded, the anti-piracy agency has cost the French taxpayer 82 million euros to maintain.

While the agency argues that its main aim is to educate people away from piracy and towards behaving legally, those millions from the public purse dwarf the amount that persistent pirates have been fined in the last decade – a somewhat paltry 87,000 euros.

The full report can be obtained here (pdf, French)

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

The 2020 Hyundai Veloster Turbo—save your cash and buy the manual

An interesting hot hatch is let down by its dual clutch transmission.

  • The Hyundai Veloster is a quirky little car with dramatic styling that reminds me of a baby Audi RS7 from the front. [credit: Jonathan Gitlin ]

It's rare, but occasionally a car comes along that blows the socks off everyone who drives it. Often, that won't be too surprising—you hope that the latest midengined Ferrari or Porsche 911 GT3 is capable of removing foot coverings, considering how much they cost. Sometimes though, the automotive journalism world gets caught by surprise. A good recent example of that is the Hyundai Veloster N, a Nürburgring-tuned hot hatch that's garnered plenty of praise for its smile-to-dollar ratio. Unfortunately, that's not the Veloster were reviewing today. Instead, I just spent a week with that car's cheaper, less powerful stablemate—the 2020 Hyundai Veloster Turbo.

Well, I say cheaper. In fact, although the Veloster Turbo starts at $23,350 for the R-Spec, our test car was actually the Veloster Turbo Ultimate, a fully loaded $28,350 model that actually costs a few hundred dollars more than the Veloster N. But enough about the car I'm not reviewing—let's talk Veloster Turbo.

Like all Velosters, it's a quirky little car. I mean, how many other hatchbacks do you know with one door on the driver's side but two doors on the passenger side? Yes, it is asymmetrical, which must make things complicated at the Hyundai factory when it comes to making left- and right-hand-drive versions for different countries. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but to this particular eye, the Veloster beholds quite well. When viewed from low down—the automotive photographer's favorite angle—and painted in our test car's combo of Racing Red with glossy black trim, it's more than a little reminiscent of super-Audis like the RS6 and RS7—cars that cost $90,000 more.

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Google: Hülle des Pixel 4a zu 70 Prozent aus recyceltem Plastik

Die drei neuen Hüllen für das Pixel 4a sehen aus wie bisherige Stoffhüllen von Google – das Gewebe besteht allerdings zu einem großen Teil aus wiederverwertetem Kunststoff. (Google, Smartphone)

Die drei neuen Hüllen für das Pixel 4a sehen aus wie bisherige Stoffhüllen von Google - das Gewebe besteht allerdings zu einem großen Teil aus wiederverwertetem Kunststoff. (Google, Smartphone)