Google Wipes Record Breaking Half Billion Pirate Links in 2016

Copyright holders asked Google to remove more than 500,000,000 allegedly infringing links from its search engine in 2016 thus far. This nearly equals the number of takedown notices it received for the whole of 2015. Rightsholders see the surge as evidence of a failing system, but Google clearly disagrees.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

google-bayCopyright holders continue to overload Google with DMCA takedown requests, targeting “pirate links” in the company’s search results.

In recent years the number of notices has exploded, breaking record after record.

Data analyzed by TorrentFreak reveals that Google recently received its 500 millionth takedown request of 2016.

The counter currently displays more than 523,000,000, which is yet another record. For comparison, last year it took almost the entire year to reach the same milestone.

If the numbers continue to go up at the same rate throughout the year, Google will process a billion allegedly infringing links during the whole of 2016, a staggering number.

According to Google roughly 98% of the reported URLs are indeed removed. This means that half a billion links were stripped from search results this year alone. However, according to copyright holders, this is still not enough.

googlenotices500m

Entertainment industry groups such as the RIAA, BPI and MPAA have pointed out repeatedly that many files simply reappear under new URLs.

“It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’ for takedowns,” RIAA CEO Cary Sherman said previously.

This week Google addressed the issue in its updated “How Google Fights Piracy” report. In it, the company provides an overview of all the efforts it makes to combat piracy while countering some of the entertainment industry complaints.

According to Google, the increase shows that the system is working and the company notes that it takes less than six hours to remove content.

“The growing number of notices sent to Google by an increasing volume of different copyright owners and enforcement agents demonstrates the effectiveness and success of the notice-and-take-
down system.”

“As the internet continues to grow rapidly, and as new technologies make it cheaper and faster for copyright owners and enforcement agents to detect infringements online, we can expect these numbers to continue to increase,” Google adds.

Still, rightsholders are not impressed and continue to demand a tougher stance from Google when it comes to piracy. Shortly after Google released its report this week, BPI CEO Geoff Taylor already dismissed it.

“This report looks a lot like ‘greenwash’. Although we welcome the measures Google has taken so far, it is still one of the key enablers of piracy on the planet,” Taylor said.

By now it has become clear that the entertainment industry groups and Google are not going to reach an agreement anytime soon. The issue has been going on for years now and both sides continue to make the same arguments.

Various industry are now hoping that the Government will intervene at some point. Whether that will happen has yet to be seen but in the meantime, rightsholders will continue to report millions of pirate links per day.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Amazon Video: Prime-Inhalte lassen sich auf SD-Karte herunterladen

Die Android-App von Amazon Video hat ein Update erhalten, um Offline-Inhalte aus dem Prime-Sortiment auch auf einer Speicherkarte ablegen zu können. Diese Funktion war bisher nur den Amazon-eigenen Tablets vorbehalten. (Amazon-Video, Amazon)

Die Android-App von Amazon Video hat ein Update erhalten, um Offline-Inhalte aus dem Prime-Sortiment auch auf einer Speicherkarte ablegen zu können. Diese Funktion war bisher nur den Amazon-eigenen Tablets vorbehalten. (Amazon-Video, Amazon)

Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse)

Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse)

Acer’s Liquid Jade Primo is a Windows 10 smartphone with support for Continuum software, allowing you to connect it to an external display and run some apps in desktop mode.

The smartphone made its debut at CES in January, but the phone didn’t start shipping until April… and that was a European launch.

Now the Liquid Jade Primo is available in the United States. The Microsoft Store is selling a carrier unlocked model for $649 — and that price includes a desktop dock, keyboard, and mouse.

Continue reading Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse) at Liliputing.

Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse)

Acer’s Liquid Jade Primo is a Windows 10 smartphone with support for Continuum software, allowing you to connect it to an external display and run some apps in desktop mode.

The smartphone made its debut at CES in January, but the phone didn’t start shipping until April… and that was a European launch.

Now the Liquid Jade Primo is available in the United States. The Microsoft Store is selling a carrier unlocked model for $649 — and that price includes a desktop dock, keyboard, and mouse.

Continue reading Acer Liquid Jade Primo Windows 10 phone now available for S649 (including dock, keyboard, and mouse) at Liliputing.

Microsoft: Aus einer Milliarde Windows-10-Systeme bis 2018 wird nichts

Das hatte sich Redmond anders vorgestellt: Die Prognose, dass bis 2018 auf über einer Milliarde Geräte Windows 10 installiert sei, ist nicht haltbar. Als Grund nennt Microsoft seine Smartphone-Sparte. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Das hatte sich Redmond anders vorgestellt: Die Prognose, dass bis 2018 auf über einer Milliarde Geräte Windows 10 installiert sei, ist nicht haltbar. Als Grund nennt Microsoft seine Smartphone-Sparte. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Photographers Take “Pirating” News Outlets to Court

Major news outlets don’t always stick to the rules when it comes to licensing photos for their articles. Photographers often see their work featured by prominent publishers, without credit or compensation. Increasingly, they are standing up for their rights in court. In recent weeks several independent photographers have launched cases targeting Yahoo.com, Verizon.com, MSN.com, MTV.com, Gawker.com and others.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

photoWhen it comes to online piracy most attention usually goes out to music, TV-shows and movies. However, photos are arguably the most-infringed works online.

While most photographers spend little time battling piracy, a few are willing to take the matter to federal court.

Recently we’ve seen a trend emerge on this front. A handful of independent photographers have teamed up with attorney Richard Liebowitz in order to demand damages from a variety of publishers, mostly prominent news outlets.

One of the photographers taking a stand is Christopher Sadowski, who noticed his work being featured on Gizmodo.com and Gawker.com. Sadowski sued Gawker media for using his photo of an UBER car in two articles. In neither case he was rewarded or recognized for his work, the complaint alleges.

“Gawker did not license the Photograph from Plaintiff for its articles, nor did Gawker have Plaintiff’s permission or consent to publish the Photograph on its Websites. Upon information and belief, Gawker removed Sadowski’s gutter credit and did not attribute the Photograph to anyone.”

It’s unclear how the photo ended up on Gawker but the complaint states that it was properly licensed to The New York Post earlier. Gawker has yet to respond to the claims and at the time of writing the photo is still online.

The allegedly infringing image on Gizmodo

gizpirate

Sadowski is not alone as several lawsuits have also been filed on behalf of other photographers in recent weeks. For example, photographer John Mantel sued a variety of news publishers including tech companies Verizon, AOL and Microsoft, for using his work without permission in news articles.

Similarly, Steve Sands launched lawsuits against IGN.com (Ziff Davis) and MTV.com, Steven Hirsch sued Heavy.com, Allesandro Masi took Yahoo.com to court and Angel Chevrestt went after CBS. And that’s just a small selection of the ongoing cases.

Sands vs. Ziff Davis

ziff

In all cases, the publishers are accused of copyright infringement and the common theme is that the news outlets use photos in their articles without properly licensing them. Most of the time the photographers in question are not even credited.

None of the accused news outlets have been found liable yet, but it’s very likely that at least some of them are breaking the law. According to the defense attorney, these news outlets are clearly profiting from the work of his clients.

“Copyright infringement is an ongoing issue. Companies are using other people’s hard work and profiting off of it. It is important for photographers and the creative community to unite and stand up for their rights and protect their work,” Liebowitz tells TorrentFreak.

In the complaints the photographers all seek compensation, which could go up to $150,000 in statutory damages per work. It is expected, however, that most will be settled for a lower amount at some stage to avoid expensive litigation.

The costs involved with these cases is also one of the main reasons why photographers typically don’t file lawsuits. Starting a federal case with proper representation is quite costly, while the outcome is rather uncertain.

However, this may change soon. This week, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries introduced a new bill that will give rightsholders a cheaper option to pursue these cases.

The CASE Act, short for Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement, proposes a small claims court to resolve copyright disputes outside the federal courts. This means that legal costs will be significantly reduced.

This is not the first time that a small claims court for copyright issues has been proposed but this time the plan has significant backing from Professional Photographers of America, a trade organization with roughly 30,000 members

For now, however, Liebowitz and his client will have to take their cases to federal court. Considering the stream of new complaints being filed, this strategy may still pay off.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Gravity doesn’t care about quantum spin

New measurements fail to show connection between gravity and quantum mechanics.

An atomic clock based on a fountain of atoms. (credit: National Science Foundation)

Physics, as you may have read before, is based around two wildly successful theories. On the grand scale, galaxies, planets, and all the other big stuff dance to the tune of gravity. But, like your teenage daughter, all the little stuff stares in bewildered embarrassment at gravity's dancing. Quantum mechanics is the only beat the little stuff is willing get down to. Unlike teenage rebellion, though, no one claims to understand what keeps relativity and quantum mechanics from getting along.

Because we refuse to believe that these two theories are separate, physicists are constantly trying to find a way to fit them together. Part-in-parcel with creating a unifying model is finding evidence of a connection between the gravity and quantum mechanics. For example, showing that the gravitational force experienced by a particle depended on the particle's internal quantum state would be a great sign of a deeper connection between the two theories. The latest attempt to show this uses a new way to look for coupling between gravity and the quantum property called spin.

I'm free, free fallin'

One of the cornerstones of general relativity is that objects move in straight lines through a curved spacetime. So, if two objects have identical masses and are in free fall, they should follow identical trajectories. And this is what we have observed since the time of Galileo (although I seem to recall that Galileo's public experiment came to an embarrassing end due to differences in air resistance).

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Raspberry Pi: Raspberry Pi 3 erscheint in der Industrie-Variante

Die bislang eher unpopuläre, steckbare Variante des Raspberry Pi erhält ein Prozessor-Upgrade und wird damit so leistungsfähig wie der Raspberry Pi 3. Allerdings muss der Nutzer auf ein wichtiges Feature verzichten. (Raspberry Pi, Broadcom)

Die bislang eher unpopuläre, steckbare Variante des Raspberry Pi erhält ein Prozessor-Upgrade und wird damit so leistungsfähig wie der Raspberry Pi 3. Allerdings muss der Nutzer auf ein wichtiges Feature verzichten. (Raspberry Pi, Broadcom)

Dissonant tones sound fine to people not raised on Western music

Musical perception is, surprisingly, not shared by all humans.

(credit: Josh McDermott)

Bobby McFerrin demonstrates how Western music lives in our brains.

The notes used in Western music—or, more accurately, the relationships between the notes used in Western music—have a strange power. Bobby McFerrin demonstrated this dramatically by showing that an audience somehow knows what notes to sing when he jumps around the stage. He remarked that “what’s interesting to me about that is, regardless of where I am, anywhere, every audience gets that.”

He’s suggesting that something about the relationships between pitches is culturally universal. All people seem to experience them the same way, regardless of where they're from or whether they have musical training. The question of universals in music perception is important because it can help us determine how much of our perception is shaped by culture and how much by biology. A paper in this week’s Nature reports on the surprising finding that a form of musical perception long thought to be common across all humans might not be so universal after all.

In music, relationships between notes can be used in two different ways. If pitches are played in sequence, the relationships between them are melodic, like the difference between each successive note in "Mary had a Little Lamb." When notes are played simultaneously, like a single strum of all the strings on a guitar or a choir singing, the relationships are harmonic. Different musical traditions have different rules about which melodic and harmonic relationships are permissible.

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How to set up your own VoIP system at home

An exhaustive guide to setting up all manner of at-home phone trickery.

(credit: Philippe Put)

The landline phone may seem an anachronism to many, but if like me you work from home it can still be an essential business tool. Even if you're not a regular home worker, many people still like to have a phone that's separate to their mobile. In a family house or shared house, it can sometimes also be useful for different people to have their own number too.

In the past, your choices were fairly stark—either multiple analogue phone lines, which is what I had when I first moved into my flat, or ISDN. While the latter was very popular in parts of Europe, it never really took off in the UK or US. BT's pricing was part of the problem, together with a lack of equipment. Nevertheless, for many years, I used a small German ISDN PBX at home. It made it simple to separate business and work calls, and thanks to the 10 number blocks BT issued as standard with ISDN2 lines, my lodger could have a number too.

Pricing was the killer for ISDN in the home, unless you could claim it as a business expense. Now, however, VoIP services make it much easier to provide the same sort of functionality at a fraction of the cost, and it's much easier than you might have thought, too. Here's how I did it.

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