Month: August 2020

Von der "Schönheit" des "Cite and Release"-Vorgehens gegen Demonstranten

Eine geleakte Aufzeichnung der Unterweisung der im Rahmen der Trumpschen “Operation Legend” eingesetzten Sicherheitskräfte des Bundes von Anwälten des Heimatschutzministeriums zeigt, wie Demonstranten dargestellt und welche Taktiken propagiert werden

Eine geleakte Aufzeichnung der Unterweisung der im Rahmen der Trumpschen "Operation Legend" eingesetzten Sicherheitskräfte des Bundes von Anwälten des Heimatschutzministeriums zeigt, wie Demonstranten dargestellt und welche Taktiken propagiert werden

Lilbits: Raspberry Pi and PinePhone projects and making a game of conference calls

A lot of us are spending more time than ever on video conference calls these days… and one developer has found a way to alleviate the boredom. The B-REEL Meeting Intruders Chrome extension turns a Google Meet session into a game of Space Invader…

A lot of us are spending more time than ever on video conference calls these days… and one developer has found a way to alleviate the boredom. The B-REEL Meeting Intruders Chrome extension turns a Google Meet session into a game of Space Invaders, where you can zap each chat window… and if you do […]

The post Lilbits: Raspberry Pi and PinePhone projects and making a game of conference calls appeared first on Liliputing.

Google invests $450 million in ADT, gets exclusive hardware deal

ADT will use Google hardware, and Google gets an army of ADT installers.

  • ADT and Google, together forever. [credit: Google ]

Google and ADT have announced, "a long-term, strategic partnership" that will see Google invest $450 million in ADT and the two companies combine their smart home and home security lineup. Google says the two companies will work together to "create the next generation of the helpful home," while ADT says the deal "will combine Nest's award-winning hardware and services, powered by Google's machine-learning technology, with ADT's installation, service and professional monitoring." A site detailing the collaboration is up at adt.com/google.

Google and ADT have both been working toward smart home security solutions over the years. Google is coming from the position of an Internet company moving into smart homes, while ADT is starting from an old-school home-security company that doesn't want to get run over by these smart home upstarts. By now, both have covered the same areas and have a ton of overlap. There are Google and ADT smartphone apps, smart displays, security cameras, smoke detectors, and, of course, home-security systems, with motion detectors, entryway sensors, keychain presence sensors, security keypads, and monthly subscriptions. (Google's security solution is the not-very-well-known Nest Secure).

Google doesn't have an in-house solution for professional remote monitoring, but Nest Secure worked with Brinks Home Security monitoring. ADT doesn't have an in-house solution for smart home automation like voice commands and smart speakers, but ADT devices worked with Z-Wave, Google Assistant, or Amazon Alexa devices.

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ProtonMail founder: Apple uses monopoly to “hold all of us hostage”

ProtonMail CEO argues Apple fails to meet “minimum moral responsibility.”

Closeup photograph of a hand holding a smartphone up to a half-eaten apple.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

The developer behind secure email service ProtonMail today came out swinging against the way Apple allegedly uses its App Store to control access to iOS users and cut out competitors. The company is all but begging regulators to take stronger action.

"Apple has become a monopoly, crushing potential competitors with exploitative fees and conducting censorship on behalf of dictators," ProtonMail founder and CEO Andy Yen wrote in a company blog post. "We know this because we have quietly tolerated this exploitation for years."

Apple, Yen claimed, is using its market power "to hold all of us [developers] hostage." Referring to the 30 percent cut Apple takes of any sales through its App Store as a "tax," he added that traditional analogies to retail space break down when it comes to software:

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Hollywood Targets ‘Iran’s YouTube’ and Israeli Newspaper in Pirate Site Blocking Push

A group of major Hollywood studios, Netflix, and other movie companies have filed a new pirate site blocking application in Australia. The companies request local ISPs to block a wide range of torrent sites and streaming portals. Interestingly, Iran’s largest video platform Aparat is also targeted, as well as Israel’s widely-read newspaper Kul al-Arab.

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

australiaPirate site blockades are the preferred anti-piracy tool for many copyright holders around the world. This is also the case in Australia, where blocking injunctions were made possible five years ago following amendments to copyright law.

Over the past years, many of the world’s largest torrent and streaming sites have already been blocked, but new threats continue to surface. This requires rightsholders to stay alert and file new blocking requests if needed, such as a new one they submitted late last month.

New Pirate Site Blocking Application

In a new application, filed at the Federal Court of Australia, several key movie industry players including Disney, Netflix, Village Roadshow, and Warner Bros. request ISPs to block over a hundred new domains. According to the filing, these sites are piracy havens.

“The primary purpose or effect of the Target Online Locations is to infringe or facilitate the infringement of copyright,” the movie companies inform the court.

The operators of these sites are apparently fully aware of their alleged wrongdoing and show a “disregard for copyright,” the court filing reads.

“The owners or operators of the Target Online Locations demonstrate a disregard for copyright generally, in that they provide easy access to the copyright works of others,” the application states.

The request is similar to the ones we have reported on in the past. It covers a wide range of pirate sites, totaling well over a hundred domain names. This includes the likes of 0gomovies.org, 1377x.to, best-series.me, pirateproxy.wtf, warez-bb.org, kissasian.sh, and bs.to.

‘Iran’s YouTube’ to be Blocked?

Many of the targets can indeed be classified as pirate sites. However, there are also some clear outliers, which are more controversial.

blocking application

The popular video platform Aparat, which is often referred to as Iran’s YouTube, provides one such example. Aparat is one of the most-visited sites in the world and the second most-visited site in Iran, where it’s only beaten by Google.com.

Aparat’s owners are not in hiding either. The site is owned by the company Saba Idea, which is a prominent startup that has been regularly featured in mainstream media such as The Guardian and the Wall Street Journal.

Like YouTube and other video services, Aparat relies on user-uploaded content. This means that copyrighted content may be added occasionally. However, the site also has premium publishers and paid videos from copyright holders, so it’s certainly not a typical pirate site.

Proposed Blocklist Includes Israeli Newspaper

Another odd entry in the new blocking application is the Israeli newspaper Kul al-Arab. The influential Arabic publication has all the earmarks of a regular news publication, but the movie companies believe that it should be classified as a pirate site.

While we haven’t seen a newspaper being targeted before, it may not be totally unwarranted, as the site has a VOD section where many Hollywood and Netflix titles are freely available.

Al Arab

Site blocking is generally used as a tool of last resort, and that’s also the case here, the movie companies suggest.

“No other remedy under the Copyright Act is reasonably practicable or reasonably likely to be effective for these infringements,” the blocking application reads.

If the blocking request is granted, the affected sites will be made inaccessible in Australia for three years. While the site operators are not being sued directly, they do have the opportunity to object to the request.

TorrentFreak reached out to Aparat for a comment on the inclusion of its video platform but we have yet to hear back. The attorney for the movie companies didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment either.

—

Below is a list of all sites and domains featured in the latest blocking application (pdf).

1. 0gomovies.org
2. 123putlocker.to
3. 1337xtorrent.net
4. 1337x.am
5. 1377x.to / 1337xto.to / 1377x.is / 1377x.to
6. 91mjw.com
7. alarab.com
8. aparat.com
9. azm.to
10. best-series.me
11. cmovies.ws
12. europix.pro / europix.biz
13. europixhd.io / europixhd.net / europixhd.pro
14. fsharetv.co
15. 123moviesoknow.co / all123movies.com
16. iyingshi6.tv
17. limetorrents.buzz / limetorrents2020.xyz
18. mlcboard.com
19. movieindoxxi.me
20. movies123.ag / movies123.sc
21. movies123.design
22. movies123.email
23. movies123.pics
24. movies123.sh
25. movies123.work
26. imybinoo.org / qooqootv.app
27. myflixer.com
28. noxx.to
29. ololo.to
30. piratebayproxylist.net / piratebayproxylist.se
31. pirateproxy.wtf
32. poku.tv /bowan.su
33. projectfreetv.fun
34. putlockers.bz
35. putlockers.date / putlockerss.vip
36. rezka.ag
37. soap2day.com / soap2day.im / soap2day.is / soap2day.se / soap2day.to / soapgate.org
38. sockshare.ag
39. tamilrockers.ws / tamilrockers.com / tamilrockers.ws
40. tinyzone.tv / tinyzonetv.to
41. torrentgalaxy.to
42. tvhay.org
43. unblockit.bid / unblockit.biz / unblockit.one / unblockit.red
44. vidcloud9.com
45. warez-bb.org
46. mywatchseries.stream
47. moviesonline.com.pk / movieswatch.com.pk
48. watchseries.net
49. watchserieshd.co
50. watch-serieshd.cc
51. watchserieshd.tv
52. world4ufree.work / world4ufree.blue / world4ufree.casa / world4ufree.host / world4ufree.icu / world4ufree.life / world4ufree.press / world4ufree.store / world4ufree.surf
53. x1337x.eu
54. Y2mate.com
55. Y80s.com
56. yifytorrent.pro
57. bs.to
58. s.to
59. animekisa.tv
60. anime4you.one
61. animeram.cc
62. 123anime.cc
63. Animeflix.io
64. 4anime.to
65. app.darkanime.stream
66. animepill.com
67. animesimple.com
68. animesim.com
69. animixplay.com
70. 14tv.com
71. bestdrama.net
72. dramanice.movie / dramanice.site
73. haitum.com
74. have8.tv
75. hktvdrama.com
76. kissasian.sh / kissassian.ch / kissasian.si / kissasian.es
77. loldytt.com
78. newasiantv.tv

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

Ajit Pai calls for “vigorous debate” on Trump’s social media crackdown

“Tell the FCC to reject this,” Democrat says as agency seeks public comment.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai at a meeting, sitting in front of the FCC seal.

Enlarge / FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

The Federal Communications Commission today asked the public for responses to the Trump administration's attempt to punish social media websites for alleged anti-conservative bias.

"Longstanding rules require the agency to put such petitions out for public comment 'promptly,' and we will follow that requirement here," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said.

Trump issued an executive order in May, instructing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to petition the FCC for a new interpretation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that would limit social media platforms' legal protections for hosting third-party content when the platforms take down content they consider objectionable.

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Lompscher-Rücktritt

Berlins Bausenatorin stolpert über eigene überhöhte Moralvorstellungen

Berlins Bausenatorin stolpert über eigene überhöhte Moralvorstellungen

In wake of Apple acquisition, Dark Sky ends Android support

The Web version got an extension, but we don’t know for how long.

  • Android users launching the app will see this message. [credit: Ron Amadeo ]

As promised, popular weather app Dark Sky ended support for Android and Wear OS over the weekend. Android Dark Sky users report that the app is no longer working and that it presents the user with a message saying that the "app has shut down."

The impending shutdown was first announced when Apple acquired the company in March of this year. Despite the end of support for the world's most popular mobile operating system, Dark Sky's developers wrote in a blog post announcing the acquisition that joining Apple means they could "reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone."

The Dark Sky Android app is not the only popular service on the chopping block as a result of the acquisition. Several app developers on both iOS and Android have used Dark Sky's API for weather data for a while now, but like Android support, that's going away. There's a little more time in that case, though: developers have until the end of next year to find and implement alternative data sources.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

In wake of Apple acquisition, Dark Sky ends Android support

The Web version got an extension, but we don’t know for how long.

  • Android users launching the app will see this message. [credit: Ron Amadeo ]

As promised, popular weather app Dark Sky ended support for Android and Wear OS over the weekend. Android Dark Sky users report that the app is no longer working and that it presents the user with a message saying that the "app has shut down."

The impending shutdown was first announced when Apple acquired the company in March of this year. Despite the end of support for the world's most popular mobile operating system, Dark Sky's developers wrote in a blog post announcing the acquisition that joining Apple means they could "reach far more people, with far more impact, than we ever could alone."

The Dark Sky Android app is not the only popular service on the chopping block as a result of the acquisition. Several app developers on both iOS and Android have used Dark Sky's API for weather data for a while now, but like Android support, that's going away. There's a little more time in that case, though: developers have until the end of next year to find and implement alternative data sources.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Running Windows on Chromebooks is going to get easier (for some users and devices)

Chromebooks are, by definition, laptops that run Google’s Chrome OS operating system. But that doesn’t mean you’re limited to running web apps on a Chromebook. In recent years Google has added support for running Android apps and Lin…

Chromebooks are, by definition, laptops that run Google’s Chrome OS operating system. But that doesn’t mean you’re limited to running web apps on a Chromebook. In recent years Google has added support for running Android apps and Linux apps. And soon you may be able to run Windows software as well. Heck, you’ll be able […]

The post Running Windows on Chromebooks is going to get easier (for some users and devices) appeared first on Liliputing.