Month: September 2020

Flutter war ursprünglich für Mobilsysteme gedacht. Mit dem Windows-Support werden nun aber alle großen Desktop-Plattformen unterstützt. (Dart, Google)

Wer einen Apple TV besitzt, muss derzeit damit rechnen, dass möglicherweise nur Stereoton ausgegeben wird. Die Hintergründe sind unklar. (Apple TV, Apple)

Der Handelskrieg zwischen der US-Regierung und China belastet auch das Geschäft der Autokonzerne. Diese wehren sich nun vor Gericht. (Donald Trump, Technologie)

Fridays for Future - und was dazu nicht im Schulbuch steht - Teil 2

Europäische Polizeibehörden haben Encrochat gehackt und die Daten auch an deutsche Behörden weitergegeben. Das führte bereits zu ersten Verhaftungen. (Polizei, Verschlüsselung)

Cloud-Dienste sind aus dem IT-Alltag nicht mehr wegzudenken - umso wichtiger ist es für IT-Profis, dass sie sich damit auskennen. Die Golem Akademie bietet Seminare zu den wichtigsten Themen an. (Golem Akademie, Server-Applikationen)

Nach dem Upgrade auf iOS 14 haben einige iPhone-Nutzer offenbar Probleme mit der Risikoermittlung der Corona-Warn-App. (Coronavirus, Apple)

Fast 30 Rechner und Laptops will Lenovo künftig vorinstalliert mit Ubuntu ausliefern. Darunter auch die beliebten Thinkpad X1. (Lenovo, Ubuntu)

Over the past several years Italy’s Guardia di Finanza has been applying increasing pressure to various players in the piracy ecosystem.

In addition to targeting distributors of movies, TV shows and live sports via subscription services, the authorities have also homed in on suppliers of pirated newspapers and periodicals. A new law enforcement operation revealed Wednesday continues along those same lines.

Operation Evil Web

The new action is being spearheaded by the Economic-Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Gorizia. The unit reports that following an investigation it was able to secure a preventative seizure order to block access to 58 websites and 18 Telegram channels.

With combined annual traffic of around 80 million visits, the authorities claim that by blocking these platforms they have disrupted around 90% of the audiovisual and editorial piracy carried out in Italy. Given the availability of pirated content in the region, regardless of blocking, that figure sounds optimistic but the operation is clearly significant nonetheless.

Investigation Into IPTV Expanded Overseas

According to the GdF, the investigation began by targeting an IT expert operating under the online nickname of ‘Diabolik’. The authorities haven’t yet positively identified this developer but given the existence of a Kodi addon called Diabolik441 dedicated to Italian content with links to the Evil King branding (GdF’s operation is called ‘Evil Web’), it seems likely this was one of their targets. An Android application using the same name is also featured in a GdF video (see below).

After reportedly identifying Diabolik, the investigation broadened to several regions of Italy and then overseas, including Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. Three other IT experts also became part of the investigation, identified by GdF as ‘Doc’, ‘Spongebob’, and ‘Webflix’.

Again, GdF hasn’t identified these alleged IT experts using anything other than their nicknames but nevertheless describes them as “real oracles” when it comes to the illegal distribution of movies, pay TV, live sports, cartoons, newspapers, magazines, manuals, and even pornography. All four developers have been reported to the “competent judicial authorities” for prosecution.

Authorities Trying to Identify 1,000 IPTV Subscribers

In Italy, piracy-enabled set-top devices are called ‘pezzotto’ and in common with many regions, are used by huge numbers of end users hoping to gain free or cheap access to pirated movies, TV shows, and live sports. GdF says work is now underway to identify around 1,000 pezzotto/IPTV subscribers – some local, some overseas – so that they can be prosecuted for breaches of copyright law and receiving stolen goods.

According to the authorities, penalties can reach up to three years in prison and a fine of 25,000 euros. Similar penalties were mentioned back in Febraury when the Guardia di Finanza said it had reported 223 subscribers of pirate IPTV services to the judicial authorities.

Enhanced Site-Blocking Procedures

GdF reports that thanks to a new “procedural innovation”, it is now possible to more effectively block sites that facilitate access to previously blocked domains.

“This procedural innovation is allowing, day by day, the immediate inhibition of hundreds of new web domains illegally created in order to circumvent the original provision of the Judicial Authority,” its announcement reads.

“In addition, the procedures for international judicial cooperation have been activated – and are still in progress – in order to seize the servers from which multimedia contents are distributed in violation of copyright.”

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

Nvidia wartet auf AMD, denn der Konter zu Navi 21 liegt schon bereit - und diese Grafikkarte scheint schnell zu werden. (Nvidia Ampere, Grafikhardware)