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Chrome and Firefox are actively blocking direct access to the popular torrent site KickassTorrents. According to the browsers, Kat.cr is a “deceptive site” or “web forgery,” that may steal user information. The site’s operators are looking into the issue, and hope to resolve it soon.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
There’s a slight panic breaking out among KickassTorrents users, who are having a hard time accessing the site.
Over the past few hours Chrome and Firefox have both started to block access to Kat.cr due to reported security issues.
Instead of a page filled with the latest torrents, visitors are presented with an ominous red warning banner.
“Deceptive site ahead: Attackers on kat.cr may trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or revealing your personal information,” the Chrome warning reads.
Firefox users encounter a similar banner, branding Kat.cr as a “web forgery” which may trick users into sharing personal information. This may lead to identity theft or other fraud.
“Web forgeries are designed to trick you into revealing personal or financial information by imitating sources you may trust. Entering any information on this web page may result in identity theft or other fraud,” the browser warns.
Interestingly, Google’s safebrowsing page for Kat.cr currently lists no issues with the site.
The KAT team informs TorrentFreak that they are looking into the issue and hope to have the blocks removed soon.
This is not the first time the two browsers have flagged KickassTorrents. Last year site was flagged on several occasions after it was linked to a malicious advertiser.
At the time the KAT team said they addressed the issue in a matter of hours, but it nonetheless took more than two days before the site was unblocked on both Firefox and Chrome.
Impatient or adventurous users who want to bypass the warning can do so by disabling their browser’s security warnings altogether in the settings, at their own risk of course.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Der Facebook Messenger erhält unter iOS und Android zwei praktische neue Funktionen: Ab sofort lassen sich Inhalte, die auf Dropbox gespeichert sind, direkt verschicken. Außerdem können multitaskingfähige Nutzer nun bei Videotelefonaten chatten. (Facebook, Soziales Netz)
Ab Gegner Nummer 15 wird es anspruchsvoll – in vielfacher Hinsicht: Das Rollenspiel Dark Souls 3 lockt mit knackigem Schwierigkeitsgrad, aber auch mit einer wunderbar düsteren Welt und einer Handlung zum Selbstentdecken. (Dark Souls, Spieletest)
Sollten Innenstädte mit Diesel-Lkw nicht mehr angefahren werden können, muss Ersatz her, um Waren zu transportieren. Der Sechstonner Fuso Canter E-Cell von Daimler ist ein Elektro-Lkw, der jetzt von Hermes erprobt wird. (Elektroauto, GreenIT)
Eine neue Aufsteckplatine für Bastelrechner bietet nicht nur eine ganze Reihe zusätzlicher Anschlüsse wie M.2-SATA, sondern auch einen weiteren Ethernet-Port und WLAN-Funktion. (Raspberry Pi, WLAN)
The head of a pro copyright lobby group has likened protesters of DMCA abuse to zombies in the popular TV show The Walking Dead, and says their protest lacks “effort and brainpower”.With the US Copyright Office currently seeking public consultation on …
The head of a pro copyright lobby group has likened protesters of DMCA abuse to zombies in the popular TV show The Walking Dead, and says their protest lacks "effort and brainpower".
With the US Copyright Office currently seeking public consultation on changes to the DMCA laws, there has been an increased focus on the problems associated with the process, with many pointing out the high number of invalid DMCA takedown requests, while others have called for new penalties to be introduced for this type of DMCA abuse.
Joining the chorus of disapproval were non profit Internet activist group Fight for the Future (FFTF) and popular YouTube channel ChannelAwesome, who joined forces to launch an anti DMCA abuse campaign. The campaign and its website allowed users to send messages of protest to the US Copyright Office, and users took up the opportunity to express their anger, with a surge of 90,000 messages flooding and eventually crashing the US Copyright Office's servers.
But Keith Kupferschmid, head of the Copyright Alliance, says the mass protest means very little because not much effort was needed by the protesters to make their voices heard. In fact, Kupferschmid compares the protest movement to hordes of zombies from the hit TV show (and target of mass piracy) The Walking Dead.
"Well, in case you were unconscious and left for dead in a hospital last week, the copyright community experienced its own zombie apocalypse", writes Kupferschmid. "These 90,000 comments are all identical submissions generated merely by clicking on the 'I’m in' button at takedownabuse.org. Like the zombies in The Walking Dead, there was not a lot of effort or brainpower that went into the 90,000 plus submissions."
Kupferschmid derided these "zombie comments", adding "as we've learned from The Walking Dead, those zombies are rather easily disposed of."
Interestingly, the Copyright Alliance frequently runs similar "pre-written" campaigns. And it's worth pointing out that the TakedownAbuse campaign does allow users to add their own comments (and many users choose to do so), while many of Copyright Alliance's campaigns do not allow user editing.
Those interested in becoming the newest member of the "walker" horde can still take part as the TakedownAbuse campaign still has 36 days to run.
But LA residents will likely have to reduce energy use this summer no matter what.
SoCal Gas and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) are at odds over how quickly the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility will be reopened after a devastating leak that released tens of thousands of tons of methane into the atmosphere this past winter.
SoCal Gas, which operates the 115-well Aliso Canyon field, says the field can be up and running again, minus the broken well that had leaked for months, by late summer. But in a Friday meeting of energy officials and residents of the impacted Porter Ranch community, CPUC President Michael Picker said, "I assume we won't have Aliso Canyon back on-line this year,” according to local public radio station KPCC.
Ars contacted CPUC for clarification, but we have not yet received a response.
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