Month: August 2024

Der Philips Fidelio X2HR/00 gilt als einer der besten Kopfhörer seiner Preisklasse. Bei Amazon ist er derzeit 60 Euro günstiger zu haben. (Kopfhörer, Amazon)

Dem beliebten Fahrdienst wird vorgeworfen, mehr als zwei Jahre lang sensible Fahrerdaten bei unzureichendem Schutz in die USA übermittelt zu haben. (DSGVO, Datenschutz)

Schränkt die US-Regierung Chinas Halbleiter- und KI-Branche weiter ein? Chinesische Firmen kaufen lieber schon einmal auf Vorrat. (Politik, RAM)

Das Doppelpack besteht aus zwei Ambiance Play Lightbars und der Hue Bridge. Dadurch lassen sich immersive Kinoabende zuhause gestalten. (Technik/Hardware, Philips)

Provider sperren in Deutschland einige Seiten, die Filme und Serien illegal anbieten. Ein 17-Jähriger veröffentlicht mehr als 200 Domains. (Urheberrecht, Server)

Nach der Alien-Invasion müssen die Überlebenden in einer sadistischen Game-Show mitmachen. (Science-Fiction, Aliens)

Onyx' neuer E-Book-Reader ist seinem Vorgängermodell ähnlich, aber günstiger. Das Gerät bietet vollen Zugriff auf Googles Play Store. (E-Book-Reader, E-Book)

Die Linux-Malware Sedexp wird nach jedem Systemstart aktiv, bietet eine Reverse-Shell und ist nur schwer aufzufinden. Genutzt wird sie mindestens seit 2022. (Malware, Virus)

Those who follow mainstream tabloid media in the UK and Ireland should be familiar with online streaming piracy by now; whether they like it or not.

The harms and threats of illicit streaming devices or using the preferred term in Ireland, dodgy boxes, have been discussed at length in hundreds of news articles. Additional reports on prison sentences for resellers of these services, make clear that these are serious offenses.

Intriguingly, despite all the attention, millions of people continue to use these ‘cheap’ pirate options. This logically means that there are plenty of active sellers who are still willing to take the risk.

Report Streaming Piracy Campaign

To address the ongoing problem, anti-piracy group FACT has teamed up with the Crimestoppers charity to launch a new social media campaign. Instead of simply warning the public, it’s now calling on people to “speak up” and report piracy peddlers 100% anonymously.

“Running over six weeks on Facebook and Instagram, the campaign aims to gather intelligence on individuals or groups involved in advertising or selling illegal streaming subscriptions, modified firesticks or so called ‘dodgy boxes’,” the groups announce in a press release.

“Digital piracy is a serious crime, often run by organized criminal groups. Information provided anonymously to Crimestoppers will be thoroughly investigated by FACT and could lead to further actions, including prosecution,” they add.

Example of a social media ad

These types of ‘report piracy’ initiatives aren’t new. Crimestoppers has worked on similar campaigns with FACT in the past, with Crimestoppers’ accounts revealing that Sky paid the bills. Together with rightsholders and the UK Government, all three are involved in the BeStreamWise campaign as well, which also asks the public to ‘report a pirate.’

In other industries ‘piracy snitching’ is common too. Best known are the Software Alliance (BSA) initiatives, where people were offered hard cash in return for useful piracy intelligence. That could be handy to pay off credit card debt or to book ski trip, social media ads suggested.

No Bounty

The BSA’s bounty program was very successful according to an insider, who previously said that hundreds of people shared information. This reportedly helped to lower piracy rates at the corporate level.

The new piracy streaming campaign run by FACT and Crimestoppers doesn’t offer any hard cash. Instead, the groups are appealing for people to “do the right thing.” Pirate streaming operations are run by criminals, they suggest, and therefore pose a security threat to the public.

“This campaign is an important step in our ongoing efforts to combat illegal streaming in Ireland. By working with Crimestoppers, we aim to empower communities to act against digital piracy and protect themselves from the associated risks,” FACT CEO Kieron Sharp notes.

The potential harm to rightsholders’ profits remains largely unmentioned. Instead, a Crimestoppers spokesperson mostly focuses on the risk to consumers.

“The dangers to the family home are real for those who take the risk of using these criminal services. We should all pay our way fairly. Speak up if you know about the criminals involved. You’ll be helping to protect people from putting themselves in danger.”

Matter of perspective

Since the campaign exists to serve business interests, it makes sense that the focus is on consumer risks rather than corporate losses. Whether the public will be compelled to serve as informants has yet to be seen.

Most people are likely to agree that crime should be stopped but those who know about pirate streaming services may have a different perspective, as they are part of the problem.

Speak up!

This isn’t merely an informed guess. It’s one of the conclusions of a survey conducted by the UK Intellectual Property Office last year. It found that people were reluctant to report piracy for three main reasons.

A. They would not personally benefit from reporting someone.

B. It would seem hypocritical if they used unofficial sources themselves, or there could be a danger of vindictive behavior against them.

C. The police have higher priorities to be dealing with than IP crime.

Of course, these reasons don’t apply to all people and the campaign may ultimately pay off. After all, this isn’t the first time that the public has been asked to help and, if other attempts yielded no results, it would be pointless to try again.

Those who do plan to share information are assured that they can do so 100% anonymously. Their IP-addresses and locations won’t be recorded so they won’t have to fear retribution from angry pirates or their customers.

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

Eine Soundbar von Ultimea mit Subwoofer, Surround-Lautsprechern und Dolby Atmos ist bei Amazon aktuell deutlich reduziert. (Soundbar, Dolby Atmos)