Just another news site
From the movie industry’s unfounded worries about piracy to the music industry’s unfounded worries about Spotify, read the news roundup for the week ending 17 January 2016
Continue reading …
From the movie industry's unfounded worries about piracy to the music industry's unfounded worries about Spotify, read the news roundup for the week ending 17 January 2016
Drone service delivered drugs, porn and tobacco inside a maximum-security prison.
Drone-delivery defendant Thaddeus Shortz. (credit: Allegany County Sheriff's Office )
Thaddeus Shortz, 25, of Knoxville, was arrested in August outside the Western Correctional Institution in Maryland, where he was released in April. The authorities said they found a drone, and six packages of illicit contraband in his truck—worth about $35,000 in prison. An officer testified that the defendant, who faces decades in prison when sentenced later this month, admitted to using a drone to smuggle contraband into the prison about a half-dozen times before. A Maryland State police officer testified that the defendant got $4,000 a pop for each of his successful drops, and was "almost boastful about it."
A 12-member jury deliberated a little more than two hours before convicting Shortz after a two-day trial. The defendant did not put on a defense.
Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
This week Netflix announced that it would ramp up its crackdown on VPN and proxy pirates. The decision is a response to increased demands from major Hollywood players, but is this fear of VPN pirates justified?
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
With the launch of legal streaming services such as Netflix, movie and TV fans have less reason to turn to pirate sites. At the same time, however, these legal options present new copyright-related problems and threats.
Traditionally the movie industry has relied on geographical licensing deals through which movie and TV-show rights are sold to separate parties in various countries.
Ten years ago this model wasn’t causing any issues. But now that the Internet has made entertainment more instant and global, the public is beginning to complain.
Why do Netflix users in Andorra, Bolivia and the Cook Islands have access to Better Call Saul, while Americans don’t? Similarly, why can Danish people watch American Sniper while it’s pretty much unavailable in the rest of the world?
Most Netflix users don’t understand.
This frustration is driving people to circumvent geographical restrictions by using VPNs and proxy services. With help from handy tools such as the “unofficial Netflix online Global Search” every Netflix subscriber can easily access these hidden treasures.
There are even specialized applications that do the same, giving people a browsable library of all Netflix titles with built-in proxies.
Netflix’s announcement to ramp up its crackdown on VPN and proxy pirates comes a week after Netflix expanded its reach by more than 130 countries. This obviously isn’t a coincidence, as the two are directly linked.
While Netflix has always been contractually obliged to take measures against unblocking efforts, its near worldwide expansion makes it a higher priority.
Targeting VPN and proxy “pirates” has been high on the Hollywood agenda for several years already. For example, in 2014 Sony Pictures conducted research to identify the IP-ranges of various VPNs and proxies.
It turned out that most were not, and these results were shared with Netflix and other streaming services so they could take action and expand their blocklists where needed.
The question is, however, whether this repressive approach will be effective.
In fact, the announced measures may cause some people to give up their subscriptions and return to their old piracy habits, which should worry both Netflix and the movie studios. The true solution lies somewhere else.
While it’s easier said than done the film industry should move away from its complicated licensing schemes and windowed releases, much like the music industry has. This is a change Netflix backs according to recent statements.
According to Netflix the ‘VPN pirates’ are willing to pay, they just can’t get what they want through their local Netflix.
Speaking out on the controversial VPN use, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that the problem can be fixed if the industry starts to offer the same content globally, without artificial barriers.
“The basic solution is for Netflix to get global and have its content be the same all around the world so there’s no incentive to [use a VPN]. Then we can work on the more important part which is piracy,” Hastings said.
For now Netflix can do little else than comply with the pressure from Hollywood, but as soon as they roll out broad VPN blockades it’s going to cause problems.
Many people use VPN services to protect their privacy, not to fool Netflix, and when they are locked out of their accounts there’s bound to be some uproar. At the same time it will trigger a new cat-and-mouse game where “unblocking” services will try to bypass Netflix’s blocks against them, and so on.
It’s hard to see any winners in this game, except perhaps from the Hollywood insiders who lack a long-term vision.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
KickassTorrents has been hard to reach over the past hours due to a DDoS attack. The site’s operators are working on the problem and hope to have the site running smoothly again soon.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
People all around the world are unable to access the most visited torrent site since a few hours.
The site is suffering from a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack and has been hard to reach.
As a result, all official KAT proxies are suffering downtime as well.
The KAT team confirmed to TorrentFreak that attack is targeted at the site’s DNS servers and they are doing their best to solve the issue.
The DDoS attack is not new and also caused a brief outage yesterday and earlier in the week. The site has managed to come back a few times, but it appears that the problems still persist.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Company that used to provide lodging and snacks cries “trademark!”
(credit: Flickr user: rmanoske)
The National Park Service announced a bunch of name changes at Yosemite National Park this week. Landmarks such as the Ahwahnee suddenly became The Majestic Yosemite Hotel, and the Curry Village transformed into Half Dome Village. But after some newly-named locations held their previous identities for centuries, this wasn't merely some 21st century re-branding effort.
Instead, DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, Inc. (DNCY), a subsidiary of the Delaware North Companies, brought to light potential trademark issues with the park after a different concessioner was selected for the park's next contract back in 2014. According to NPS, DNCY "or its predecessor" previously trademarked or service-marked several properties in the park without NPS agreement. And after the concessioner switch, DNCY claimed ownership on the trademarks and IP valued at more than $50 million according to the company. Rather than fight on, the park service and Yosemite opted for new monikers this week "to eliminate potential trademark infringement issues with the current concessioner."
“While it is unfortunate that we must take this action, changing the names of these facilities will help us provide seamless service to the American public during the transition to the new concessioner," Yosemite National Park Superintendent Don Neubacher said in a press release. "Yosemite National Park belongs to the American people. This action will not affect the historic status of the facilities, as they are still important cultural icons to the National Park Service and the public. Our stewardship of these properties is unwavering.”
Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
But only if clear notice is given that private use of company resources is forbidden.
(credit: Phil Whitehouse)
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that companies are allowed to monitor employees' Internet activities, including online chats, provided they have been warned beforehand that the private use of company resources is forbidden. Because this decision has been handed down by the ECHR, the highest human rights court in Europe, the ruling can affect almost every state in Europe (everywhere except Belarus and Kosovo).
This is the result of a case brought by a Romanian engineer, Bogdan Bărbulescu, who was fired for using a company's Yahoo Messenger account to chat with his fiancée and brother.
Bărbulescu had brought his case to the ECHR because he claimed that his dismissal was unfair, alleging "his employer’s decision to terminate his contract had been based on a breach of his right to respect for his private life and correspondence and that the domestic [Romanian] courts had failed to protect his right."
Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Die über Werbung finanzierten Radiosender von iTunes werden bald eingestellt. Nur ein kostenloser Radiosender von Apple bleibt bestehen, der nicht jeden Geschmack trifft. Andere Apple-Sender sind nur mit einem Abonnement von Apple Music erreichbar. Auch die iAd-Plattform verschwindet größtenteils. (iTunes Match, Apple) 
Die über Werbung finanzierten Radiosender von iTunes werden bald eingestellt. Nur ein kostenloser Radiosender von Apple bleibt bestehen, der nicht jeden Geschmack trifft. Andere Apple-Sender sind nur mit einem Abonnement von Apple Music erreichbar. Auch die iAd-Plattform verschwindet größtenteils. (iTunes Match, Apple) 
Secret-info game succeeds by forcing players to make revelatory actions.
You didn't know that fascists in pre-war Germany were actually lizard people? Well... now you know.
5 more images in gallery
I’m generally not a big fan of the board game subgenre known as “bluffing games.” The particulars vary, but these games are all about trying to suss out which players have been randomly assigned a secret “bad guy” role (or, if you’re a “bad guy,” trying to convince everyone else that you’re actually not a “bad guy”).
On paper, these games are a great excuse to start conversations, get friendly accusations flying, and generate the social glue that makes a great, memorable game. In practice, though, most of the bluffing games I play usually go something like this:
Other player: I think Kyle is the “bad guy.”
Me (regardless of whether or not I’m the bad guy): No, I’m not.
Other player: He’s totally lying! I totally know it!
Me: No, I’m not.
*repeat over and over and with various other combinations of players*
Read 19 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Immer mehr Flugzeuge sind mit WLAN ausgestattet. Hier tut sich vor allem die Lufthansa mit ihrer Langstreckenflotte hervor, wie aus einer Statistik von Routehappy hervorgeht. Aber auch Aeroflot, Garuda Indonesia und United bieten häufig WLAN. Kurze Flüge mit WLAN an Bord sind aber selten. (Internet im Flugzeug, WLAN) 
Immer mehr Flugzeuge sind mit WLAN ausgestattet. Hier tut sich vor allem die Lufthansa mit ihrer Langstreckenflotte hervor, wie aus einer Statistik von Routehappy hervorgeht. Aber auch Aeroflot, Garuda Indonesia und United bieten häufig WLAN. Kurze Flüge mit WLAN an Bord sind aber selten. (Internet im Flugzeug, WLAN) 
Microsoft hat eine Einschränkung für Nutzer von Windows 7 und Windows 8.1 angekündigt. Der Support für die Betriebssysteme wird für Intels Core-i-Prozessoren der 6. Generation und neuer nicht mehr lange aufrechterhalten. Anwender sollen auf Windows 10 aktualisieren. (Windows 10, Microsoft) 
Microsoft hat eine Einschränkung für Nutzer von Windows 7 und Windows 8.1 angekündigt. Der Support für die Betriebssysteme wird für Intels Core-i-Prozessoren der 6. Generation und neuer nicht mehr lange aufrechterhalten. Anwender sollen auf Windows 10 aktualisieren. (Windows 10, Microsoft) 
You must be logged in to post a comment.