Month: November 2024

Der größte Kunde von Meyer Burger will keine Solarmodule mehr abnehmen. Schuld könnte die Energiepolitik von Donald Trump sein. (Energiewende, Ikea)

Viele haben schon bei unserer Umfrage mitgemacht - wir freuen uns, wenn es noch mehr werden. Unsere Frage: Wie geht den ITlern im deutschsprachigen Raum? (Arbeit, Studien)

Alle aktiven Jahresabos von Disney+ steigen im Preis. Für einige Abonnenten wird es besonders teuer. (Disney+, Disney)

Apple soll 2025 einen neuen Airtag veröffentlichen, der die Privatsphäre mithilfe einer Hardware-Verbesserung besser schützen soll. (Airtag, Apple)

Whenever fans read about football in mainstream European media, carefully crafted deterrent messaging woven into anti-piracy news is unlikely to be too far away.

Suing everyone is impossible, but as rightsholders in Spain warn that fines are on the way, in the context of a reverse lawsuit lottery that nobody wants to win, ‘y si toca aquí?’

A press release issued by Spain’s Ministry of the Interior on Friday is fairly dry by most standards, but by withholding most of the important details (Who, What, When, Where, Why), those reporting on the story are left to fill in the blanks. As a result, arguably more significant developments may have been overlooked.

Operation Blue Corsair

The statement reveals that members of the Technological Investigation Team (EDITE) of the Madrid Command (Guardia Civil), were able to deactivate/disable “the most important streaming channel in Spain” as part of Operación Corsario Azul (Operation Blue Corsair).

Investigators reportedly discovered that a Kodi add-on “created by a developer external to the platform” provided free access to live streams of matches played in the first (and second) Spanish divisions. No straightforward mention of LaLiga, but still.

“Initially, the researchers focused their activity on finding out where the football matches were being broadcast, following the steps of the source code of the extension or ‘add-on’. After various searches for information, they managed to obtain said location, one of the most used instant messaging platforms in Spain,” the statement adds.

Tracking the Culprit

The Ministry says that to determine who is responsible for the unnamed add-on, which streams matches illegally from an unnamed messaging platform, apparently to 78,000 users for free, investigators focused on pseudonyms present in the source code of the add-on.

These investigations led to the identification of an unnamed “user of the platform” as the person responsible, who appears to be in considerable trouble. The 37-year-old was investigated for “a crime related to the market and consumers” with related fraud valued at exactly €42,547,104.

The operation also achieved the “blocking and elimination” of the channels used on the instant messaging app” as well as the “elimination of the programming code used illegally.” One of these claims seems like a bit of a stretch. The other may be more important that it sounds.

Some Meat on the Bones

The Civil Guard separately confirmed that “two well-known companies in Spain” were the victims in the alleged €42,547,104 fraud. Why the names of those companies seem hard to mention is unclear, but they’ll come as no surprise.

The investigation was triggered by a joint complaint filed by top-tier football league LaLiga, and Telefonica-owned broadcasting partner Movistar.

The target was a Kodi add-on called Cristal Azul, as these screenshots from a police video seem to confirm.

The GitHub repo seen in the video still exists, but it contains only a very old version of Cristal Azul (v0.0.12) from four years ago; the latest versions are v3.0.10+.

While not four years old, the news announced on Friday wasn’t exactly fresh either. In fact, those behind the add-on made an announcement on October 7, 2024, which left very little doubt that their position had become untenable, “ugly” even.

News that the addon would be immediately shut down and wouldn’t be coming back, was only the beginning.

Too Hot to Continue

Before those behind Cristal Azul shut the add-on down early October, the software was available from the Luar repository hosted on GitHub. Presumably due to the unwanted attention, soon after Cristal Azul shut down, the Luar repository disappeared in similar fashion, leaving the message “See you soon” behind.

Most likely due to the disappearance of Cristal Azul, the Luar repository received a significant (but useless) traffic boost in October.

“See you soon” (translated from Spanish ‘hasta pronto’)

A slightly longer message on Telegram added: “It’s time to say goodbye. WE CLOSE DOORS. We hope that in these 4 years Luar helped you in some way. Thank you for being there. See you soon.”

Telegram Fears: More Addons Call it Quits

Since the demise of Luar, other add-on related platforms have taken action too. Whether these are true closures, relocations, rebrandings or any other strategy deployed by pirates, is unknown, but TVChopo and Kodivertido began limiting their exposure in the third week of October.

Not long after, Palantir also took steps to improve its security; in fact, all players mentioned above took exactly the same action.

The popular instant messaging app that the Ministry alluded to in its statement concerning Cristal Azul was Telegram; it appears some people are becoming quite nervous about having a piracy presence there.

After Telegram’s founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France in August, Telegram promised to address abuse on the platform, including being more responsive to piracy complaints. Telegram says it intends to stand by that promise.

IP Addresses and Phone Numbers

When Spanish tech site AVPasion asked Telegram about its change of policy and how that could affect channel operators accused of infringement, Telegram was fairly bullish on the consequences.

“We’ve updated our terms of service and privacy policy, ensuring they are consistent across the globe. We’ve made it clear that IP addresses and phone numbers of those who violate our rules may be disclosed to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests,” Telegram’s response reads.

For some who believed that Telegram was a safe haven, this may be an unexpected wake-up call. It really shouldn’t have been unexpected though and what comes next month or next year shouldn’t come as a surprise either.

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

Zusammen mit zwei Mitschülern hat er Passwörter ausgespäht und sich damit Zugang zu geschützten Daten von Lehrern und der Schulleitung verschafft. (Schulen, Datenschutz)

Die Technik könnte für die Erde und den Mars interessant sein. Doch zunächst muss das Gerät nach der Machbarkeitsstudie auf der Erde getestet werden. (Energie & Klima, Elon Musk)

Mit Windows 11 24H2 bekommen Windows-PCs viele KI-Features und Sudo. Wir müssen aber auch von Apps Abschied nehmen und auf andere warten. Von Oliver Nickel (Windows 11, Microsoft)

Die NIS2-Richtlinie der EU bringt erweiterte Anforderungen für Cybersicherheit in Unternehmen. Dieser Workshop zeigt, wie sich NIS2 effektiv in bestehende IT-Sicherheitskonzepte einbinden lässt, um Compliance-Anforderungen zu erfüllen. (Golem Karrierewelt, Unternehmenssoftware)

YouTube is the world’s most watched streaming platform. The endless library of videos, uploaded by both amateurs and professionals, is simply unrivaled.

This popularity translates into hard cash, with YouTube and its creators generating billions of dollars in yearly revenue. However, the revenue potential is also a magnet for people who try to profit from the work of others.

We’re not referring to the occasional use of copyrighted content in a broader creative context, but systematic copying in order to generate ‘viral’ content. This turns out to be a profitable business model for dubious ‘creators’ trying to ride the wave of YouTube’s algorithm.

These types of channels exist in various gradations. Some have found loopholes to upload Hollywood content, but those more astute typically stay away from well protected footage. Instead, they source videos that perform well on YouTube, often focused on a specific theme.

Running an operation like this requires expertise. It can be quite a challenge to evade YouTube’s copyright checks, including the Content ID system. Evading copyright strikes and related penalties is a top priority.

A Very Explicit Facade

In recent weeks, several of these dubious YouTube channels demonstrated a rather disturbing trend. After generating many millions of views, they suddenly swap their existing channel artwork and video thumbnails for images of hardcore porn.

This sounds bizarre, but we have documented several examples. The MrTech channel, for example, which had more than 170,000 subscribers, originally looked like this. With the post popular videos each generating millions of views, it was certainly doing well.

MrTech

Early November, however, the channel was suddenly filled with sexually explicit content. The videos were still the same, but the thumbnails, channel header, and the logo were clearly NSFW.

Mr…? (uncensored version NSFW!!!)

This type of footage is strictly forbidden on the streaming platform and within a few hours the channel was banned for violating community guidelines. That wasn’t unexpected at all, of course.

This explicit facade doesn’t appear to be an isolated incident. Others have started to notice similar channel overhauls recently. Internet Archive has a copy of the popular Luckiest People channel (NSFW!!) that shows a similar transformation, and there are many more.

So why do these types of channels display this behavior? Were they hacked? Or is there an ulterior motive behind getting themselves banned?

Porn Shield?

From what we are able to gather, these changes are intentional. We can’t rule anything out at this point, but it seems that the channel operators are deliberately trying to get their channels terminated for community guideline violations.

When channels are hit with several copyright strikes, they are on the brink of being terminated under YouTube’s copyright policy. However, by using porn as a shield, they’re able to preempt the copyright ban. This tactic usually works, as channels with blatant pornographic content are reported en masse and swiftly banned.

This tactic highlights a potential loophole or weakness in YouTube’s enforcement mechanism that malicious actors can exploit. But what do they get out of it?

YouTube channels can be terminated for both repeated copyright infringement and community guideline violations. In these cases, revenues are often withheld as well. It’s possible, however, that linked AdSense accounts are treated differently.

AdSense Nuance

AdSense policies can be confusing, but based on additional information provided by Google’s AI, YouTube copyright bans are most likely to result in AdSense terminations too.

“Google may suspend or permanently terminate the AdSense account linked to the terminated YouTube channel. This is because AdSense policies prohibit users from profiting from content that infringes on others’ copyrights.”

For community guideline violations, triggered by explicit content, Google AI notes that the response is ‘more nuanced’. Associated AdSense accounts are therefore less likely to be terminated.

“Unlike with copyright strikes, a channel terminated for community guideline violations might not automatically lead to AdSense termination. This is because the focus is on the content itself, not necessarily on profiting from illegal activity.”

Apparently, in some instances, revenues that were initially withheld may even be released after an investigation. That would be another major advantage.

This difference in penalties would explain the sudden appearance of explicit material on these channels. While that doesn’t save the existing channel in any way, it may leave the associated AdSense account intact.

An approved AdSense account is valuable, and keeping it intact means that it can then be used by other channels to start the process all over again. Indeed, there are clear signs that the people or groups behind “porn shield” continue their work elsewhere.

For example, we have seen plenty of new channels showing pretty much identical content to that uploaded by MrTech. Without pointing fingers directly, this Google search for one of its video titles is quite revealing.

TorrentFreak reached out to YouTube which couldn’t directly answer our questions. Instead, it provided a general statement, noting that MrTech triggered its Nudity & Sexual Content Policy, and that there’s a separate program for dealing with copyright infringement.

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