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Die ukrainische Armee erobert den größten Teil der Region Charkiw zurück. Ob daraus ein überregionaler Sieg wird, zeigt sich in Kürze.
Despite broad public protests, Cloudflare initially declined to cut its ties with Kiwi Farms. When death threats came into play, the company quickly changed its position. The removal of Kiwi Farms will likely increase calls for voluntary curation of the web, and may reach way beyond Cloudflare. Domain registrars, registries, and ISPs may actually be better targets. What could possibly go wrong?
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Ten years ago millions of people from all over the world spoke out against a U.S. bill that would’ve allowed courts to take problematic domain names offline.
When that SOPA law failed to pass, many internet users celebrated a victory for free speech.
A decade later, Internet curation is still a hot topic. However, many people who rallied against SOPA are now calling for companies, individuals, and websites to be ‘canceled’ online. Apparently, viewpoints have changed quite a bit.
There is no denying that the web is full of despicable content that deserves to be taken offline. But by whom and on what basis are unanswered questions.
Last week, Cloudflare took a stand. The company said that in order to shield itself from escalating removal demands, including plain censorship, it would no longer terminate customers without a court order. This was already the company’s policy, a policy it had deviated from twice by kicking out Daily Stormer and 8Chan.
Cloudflare’s comments were triggered by increasing calls to terminate the account of the controversial Kiwi Farms site, which does indeed contain terrible content. Ironically, Cloudflare’s firm stance was defeated just days later, when it terminated the troublesome forum, citing death threats as the reason.
Other companies decided to take action as well. DDoS-Guard, for example, swiftly followed Cloudflare’s example after Kiwi Farms attempted to move there. In addition, Google appears to have intervened as it no longer shows Kiwi Farm’s domains in the top search results. Even the Internet Archive has purged its archives of the controversial site.
Mission accomplished!?
The people who called on Cloudflare to boot out Kiwi Farms will be pleased. Without any court intervention, they got their desired result. This is something some of the largest Hollywood companies and record labels failed to do with The Pirate Bay; a site that still uses Cloudflare to this day, despite its founders receiving criminal convictions in Sweden.
Kiwi Farms had plenty of deeply disturbing content but this is not an isolated incident. Cloudflare will receive more calls to kick out sites and this recent episode will be cited in court as well, where the company will have a harder time maintaining a content agnostic stance.
The challenges won’t stop at Cloudflare either. As noted earlier, Google appears to have demoted the domain already, although that’s not officially confirmed. But what about Bing and DuckDuckGo? What is their role? Should they voluntarily take action against problematic sites?
We haven’t even mentioned the elephants in the room, including domain registrars and domain registries. If these companies decide to suspend a domain name, Cloudflare and search engines are irrelevant. Perhaps these are even better targets to take sites down based on their own evaluations?
Alternatively, Internet providers could be held accountable as well. They help to pass on many despicable sites, services, and opinions. Profiting from hate and crimes? Surely, they can be motivated to intervene to block both domain names and IP addresses without a court order?
Interestingly, copyright holders have made these suggestions for many years already, often without results. But the tide appears to be changing in their favor now, and this isn’t a boat they’re going to miss.
Voluntary curation of the web isn’t new and can often be very useful. Many services already use it to stop malware, for example. Whether it’s a good idea to expand this further depends on how slippery the slope gets. Like many other things, that’s a matter of perspective.
What this perspective should be isn’t clear to everyone. TorrentFreak reached out to some activist groups that were leading the opposition against SOPA. However, these either haven’t responded or prefer not to comment on the issue at this time.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Seasonal activity is running 50 percent below normal levels.
Enlarge / The Atlantic hurricane season peaks on September 10. (credit: NOAA)
To state the obvious: This has been an unorthodox Atlantic hurricane season.
Everyone from the US agency devoted to studying weather, oceans, and the atmosphere—the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration—to the most highly regarded hurricane professionals predicted a season with above-normal to well above-normal activity.
For example, NOAA’s outlook for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, predicted a 65 percent chance of an above-normal season, a 25 percent chance of a near-normal season and a 10 percent chance of a below-normal season. The primary factor behind these predictions was an expectation that La Niña would persist in the Pacific Ocean, leading to atmospheric conditions in the tropical Atlantic more favorable to storm formation and intensification. La Niña has persisted, but the storms still have not come in bunches.
Kann Russland mit Drohnen aus Iran und Munition aus Nordkorea gegen die von der Türkei belieferte Ukraine bestehen?
Von den Septemberstreiks vor 53 Jahren bis zu den ostdeutschen Betriebskämpfen gibt es aktuell genügend historische Anknüpfungspunkte. Doch die Linke bleibt passiv. Wie die Rechten das Feld überlassen wird.
Dealmaster also includes the AirPods Max, Disney+, and HyperX gaming headsets.
Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)
It's time for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a limited-time promotion on HBO Max subscriptions. As of this writing, new and returning customers to the video streaming service can take 30 percent off a one-year subscription when they pay for the 12 months in advance. This brings the ad-free version of the service down from $150 to $105 (or just under $9 a month) and the ad-supported tier down from $100 to $70 (or just under $6 a month). The promotion technically went live a few weeks ago, but HBO Max says the deal will be available through October 30.
To put the offer into context, new HBO Max owner Warner Bros. Discovery recently started culling content from the service as part of a major cost-cutting drive, even going so far as to cancel high-profile features like Batgirl before their scheduled release. Last month, the company also announced plans to merge HBO Max with the Discovery+ streaming service by the summer of 2023, though it hasn't clarified what that service will cost or how the merger will affect existing subscribers. The promotion here, then, looks to be a way to stem subscriber losses and lock in more customers for the year ahead.
That said, this is still a fairly sizable discount. And even after shedding dozens of titles, HBO Max still has plenty of worthwhile binge fodder, including Ars-approved series like Hacks, His Dark Materials, and The White Lotus, newer well-reviewed titles like The Rehearsal and Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, and well-known fare like The Sopranos, Sex and the City, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. If you aren't fatigued by the glut of streaming services asking for your attention these days, or if you've been looking to give the service a try anyway, this is a decent deal. Just note that the offer can not be used to extend an existing membership.
Trotz Vor-Vorbestellung kam es bei vielen Interessenten an Apples neuen iPhone-14-Modellen zu Schwierigkeiten. (iPhone, Smartphone)
Trotz Vor-Vorbestellung kam es bei vielen Interessenten an Apples neuen iPhone-14-Modellen zu Schwierigkeiten. (iPhone, Smartphone) Glaubt man den offiziellen Ansagen, dann können große Teile der Gesellschaft ihren Lebensunterhalt angesichts der Inflation nicht mehr bestreiten. Sie sind also auf staatliche Nothilfe angewiesen.
Ein Entwickler hat den Spieleklassiker Lunar Lander in den Kopier-Dialog von Windows 10 eingebaut – die Wartezeit geht damit spielend vorbei. (Windows 10, Speichermedien)
Ein Entwickler hat den Spieleklassiker Lunar Lander in den Kopier-Dialog von Windows 10 eingebaut - die Wartezeit geht damit spielend vorbei. (Windows 10, Speichermedien) Wasserstoff gilt als klimaschonende Alternative für die Energieversorgung – doch die Importe müssen ins Hinterland gelangen. (Wasserstoff, Deutsche Bahn)
Wasserstoff gilt als klimaschonende Alternative für die Energieversorgung - doch die Importe müssen ins Hinterland gelangen. (Wasserstoff, Deutsche Bahn) 
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