Month: November 2021

Autism affects the microbiome, not the other way around

Microbiome composition is associated with dietary choices, not a diagnosis of autism.

Image of reddish rod shaped bacteria on a rough blue background.

Enlarge / False color image of bacteria on a human tongue. (credit: STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/ Getty Images)

An altered microbiome has been associated with—and thereby either implicitly or explicitly implicated as a partial cause of—a wide range of human maladies. These include immune disorders like celiac disease, asthma, and diabetes; obesity; cancers; psychiatric disorders like depression and Alzheimer’s disease; and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). It’s been tied to so many things that Jonathan Eisen felt compelled to start the “Overselling the Microbiome Awards.” He had to compile the list for years, even though he’s an evolutionary biologist who truly acknowledges and understands the vital role our microbiome plays in our health.

The notion that an altered microbiome can be a causative factor in ASD comes from studies with mice, in which transferring gut flora from humans with ASD into mice generated social deficits and behavioral abnormalities in the animals. But evidence in humans had issues, so a group of Australian scientists who shared Eisen’s wariness, led by Jacob Gratten, decided to perform a rigorous test of the idea. 

A failure to replicate

The Australian team knew that ASD is often associated with GI symptoms and realized that it is tempting to look for and even assume an intestinal component to the disorder. But they note that the human studies linking an altered microbiome to ASD are pretty weak: they are small, they are biased and fail to consider confounding variables, and they are poorly designed and analyzed. Moreover, the researchers write, “a meta-analysis of human microbiota-associated animal studies has raised concerns that the sheer extent of positive findings is implausible.” 

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MPA Obtains New Pirate Streaming Blocks, ACE Seizes More IPTV Domains

The Motion Picture Association has obtained permission to block dozens more pirate streaming and torrent domains in the UK. In parallel, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, of which the MPA is a key player, has quietly seized several domains that appear to have been connected to pirate IPTV operations.

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

mpaWhen local courts first grant copyright holders permission to block a pirate site, it is almost guaranteed that will be the first of many similar requests.

In the UK, copyright holders have been blocking pirate sites for more than a decade and every month additional sites are added to the ever-growing list. Actioned under Section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, blocking injunctions are executed by the major ISPs, who together control the vast majority of the market.

A site or domain blocked on one ISP will be blocked by all of the others, meaning that domains either become permanently inaccessible or users are forced to turn to circumvention tools such as VPNs. These types of workarounds don’t deter Hollywood studios, however, which continue to add domains to the UK’s unofficial blacklist.

New Additions to the Pirate Site Blocklist

Following many similar requests over the years, the Motion Picture Association has now been granted permission to block yet more domains. Published by ISP TalkTalk, the latest additions are mostly pirate streaming platforms, with the direct domains/URLs detailed as follows:

flixtor.gy, flixtor.nu, putlockernew.site, couchtuner.rocks, couchtuner.show, couchtuner.cloud, ww1.123moviesfree.net, 123movies-one.com, www5.bflix.to, ww1.fmoviefree.net, myflixerhd.ru, myflixer.it, myflixer.pw, myflixer.to, soap2day.cx,, europixhd.net, europixhd.pro, europixhd.io, 123movies.online, 123moviesto.ch, 123moviesfun.ch, 123moviess.online, ww1.123movies.online, watch123movies.ch/home.html, levidia.ch, www.levidia.ch, www1.levidia.ch, levidia-ch.303.si, tinyzonetv.to, tinyzone.tv, tinyzonetv.cc, watchserieshd.tv, www1.watchserieshd.tv, www2.watchserieshd.tv, www3.watchserieshd.tv, www4.watchserieshd.tv, watchserieshd.io, and watchserieshd.co

MPA Also Targets ‘Workaround’ Domains

When pirate domains are blocked by way of injunction in the UK and elsewhere, services often configure themselves to reenable access to those domains. Some simply act as mirror sites but proxy services are also popular. In many cases, these facilitate access to major players such as torrent sites RARBG and EZTV or release blogs such as SCNSRC. This batch continues the trend and reads as follows:

eztv.unblockit.kim, pw.unblockit.kim, solarmovie.unblockit.kim, solarmovies.movie, www1.solarmovies.movie,, icefilms.unblockit.kim, scnsrc.unblockit.kim, losmovies.top, rarbg.unblockninja.com, rarbg.torrentbay.to

Blocking domains at the ISP level is just one of the tools available to groups like the MPA. Much more permanent is the seizure (or technically a takeover) of ‘pirate’ domains, which are often handed over as part of a settlement agreement.

ACE ‘Seizes’ Yet More Pirate IPTV Domains

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, the global anti-piracy coalition of which the MPA is a member, has been particularly successful in recent years. The group has taken control of more than 200 domains and every month adds yet more to its growing list.

Precisely when action against particular services takes place is hard to pinpoint but sometime after ACE contacts a service, provider or supplier, there is a period where the platform either ignores the anti-piracy group’s demands and carries on regardless, or agrees to shut down and hand over their domains.

Over the past couple of weeks, ACE/MPA have added more to their collection.

Smart 5G TV (smart5gtv.com) recently announced that it was expanding its server capacity to decrease buffering in the United States. However, as this post on Reddit reveals, subscribing to the service didn’t always go to plan. One user reports that after paying money, the service went down – no surprises for guessing what happened.

Using similar graphics and domains, efiretv.net and efiretvglobal.com appear to have been connected.

“Cut the cord with the best service on the market, eFire. With the new SOPlayer app, you will get the best viewing experience on the market. Sign up today!” the platform recently urged on its homepage.

That offer now appears to have been discontinued as both domains now show the familiar ACE seizure banner before redirecting to the ACE anti-piracy portal.

new ace seize banner

Similar circumstances can be applied to Dynasty TV, which according to a Troypoint report went down in September. It’s now confirmed that the IPTV service, which operated from dynasty-tv.com and dynastytvrepair.com, received an approach from ACE and subsequently handed its domains over to the anti-piracy group.

Finally, streaming site cinemaqualidade.li, which seems to have specialized in Portuguese-dubbed content, has also fallen to ACE. It doesn’t appear to have generated lots of traffic but taking the site down adds to the momentum of the anti-piracy coalition, which shows little sign of slowing.

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

Locked out of “God mode,” runners are hacking their treadmills

NordicTrack customers were watching Netflix—until the company blocked their access.

NordicTrack owners aren’t giving up the fight just yet.

Enlarge / NordicTrack owners aren’t giving up the fight just yet. (credit: Sam Whitney | Getty Images)

JD Howard just wanted to watch cloud security tutorials. Howard, a construction industry worker on sabbatical, spent $4,000 on a NordicTrack X32i treadmill, lured in by its 32-inch HD screen and the opportunity to exercise body and mind. His plan was to spend his time away from work exercising while watching technical videos from learning platforms such as Pluralsight and Udemy. But his treadmill had other ideas.

Despite having a huge display strapped to it, NordicTrack’s hardware pushes people to subscribe to exercise software operated by iFit, its parent company, and doesn’t let you watch videos from other apps or external sources. iFit’s content includes exercise classes and running routes, which automatically change the incline of the treadmill depending on the terrain on the screen. But Howard, and many other NordicTrack owners, weren’t drawn to the hardware by iFit’s videos. They were drawn in by how easy the fitness machines were to hack.

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DuckDuckGo wants to stop apps tracking you on Android

The latest update promises to block invasive data collection across your whole phone.

Gabriel Weinberg, creator of DuckDuckGo.

Enlarge / Gabriel Weinberg, creator of DuckDuckGo. (credit: Washington Post | Getty Images)

At the end of April, Apple’s introduction of App Tracking Transparency tools shook the advertising industry to its core. iPhone and iPad owners could now stop apps from tracking their behavior and using their data for personalized advertising. Since the new privacy controls launched, almost $10 billion has been wiped from the revenues of Snap, Meta Platform’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Now, a similar tool is coming to Google’s Android operating system—although not from Google itself. Privacy-focused tech company DuckDuckGo, which started life as a private search engine, is adding the ability to block hidden trackers to its Android app. The feature, dubbed “App Tracking Protection for Android,” is rolling out in beta from today and aims to mimic Apple’s iOS controls. “The idea is we block this data collection from happening from the apps the trackers don’t own,” says Peter Dolanjski, a director of product at DuckDuckGo. “You should see far fewer creepy ads following you around online.”

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