Just another news site
Two Californian judges have thrown up a roadblock for Malibu Media, the adult media publisher that files thousands of copyright lawsuits each year. Both judges have refused to grant a subpoena to expose the personal details of alleged pirates, arguing that the geolocation tools that linked the wrongdoers to their district are not sufficient in these cases.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
While relatively underreported, many U.S. district courts are still swamped with lawsuits against alleged film pirates.
Malibu Media, the Los Angeles based company behind the ‘X-Art’ adult movies, is behind most of these cases. The company has filed thousands of lawsuits in recent years, targeting Internet subscribers whose accounts were allegedly used to share Malibu’s films via BitTorrent.
Like all copyright holders Malibu collects file-sharers’ IP-addresses as evidence. They then ask the courts to grant a subpoena, forcing Internet providers to hand over the personal details of the associated account holders.
In most cases the courts sign off on these requests, but two recent orders from the Southern District of California show that matters aren’t always as straightforward.
In a recent case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchell Dembin was not convinced that geolocation tools are good enough to prove that the alleged pirate resides in the Court’s district. As a result, he denied Malibu’s request for a subpoena.
“The allegation that the IP address at issue likely resolves to a physical address in this District is not supported in any of the declarations filed in connection with the instant motion,” Judge Dembin writes.
“In its Memorandum of Point and Authorities filed in support of this Motion, Plaintiff again asserts that it employed geolocation technology to trace the physical address of the offending IP address within this jurisdiction, and adds the name of the software employed, but again provides no evidentiary support for its assertions,” he adds (pdf).
Malibu had provided the court with a lengthy memorandum (pdf) explaining how it traced the IP-address to California. Among other things, the company pointed out that it uses a geolocation database from Maxmind, which it believes to be accurate 99% of the time.
Judge Dembin, however, concluded that Malibu fails to provide sufficient evidence, and he is not alone. Late last week Magistrate Judge Ruben Brooks issued a similar order against the adult media company.
“Plaintiff fails to offer any evidence to support its allegation that the infringing IP address was actually traced to a location within this judicial district,” Brooks writes (pdf).
“Nothing in the declarations Plaintiff submitted with its Ex Parte Motion explains what steps Plaintiff took to trace the IP address to a physical point of origin within this Court’s jurisdiction.”
In addition, Judge Brooks also raised questions about the accuracy of a geolocation tool to identify the ISP, concluding that the request for a subpoena should be denied based on a lack of evidence.
Geolocation tools are widely used in copyright lawsuits, so the reservations held by the judges could impact future litigation. Interestingly, when we compared the results of various geolocation tools for one of the IP-addresses involved, the results were different across several databases.
While the orders are good news for the defendants in these particular cases, copyright troll watcher SJD points out that several other local judges have granted similar requests.
That said, the recent decisions do offer hope to those who are targeted by Malibu cases in Southern California, as they now have some additional ammunition to fight back.
Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Apple hat mit dem iPhone SE ein neues Smartphone im 4-Zoll-Format vorgestellt, das genauso schnell sein soll wie das iPhone 6s. Eine 12-Megapixel-Hauptkamera ist ebenfalls eingebaut. Zwei Merkmale fehlen aber. (iPhone, Smartphone)
Apple hat mit dem iPhone SE ein neues Smartphone im 4-Zoll-Format vorgestellt, das genauso schnell sein soll wie das iPhone 6s. Eine 12-Megapixel-Hauptkamera ist ebenfalls eingebaut. Zwei Merkmale fehlen aber. (iPhone, Smartphone) 
Apple’s first iPad models had 9.7 inch displays, and the company says with 200 million units sold, that’s still the most popular size for iPads, even though the company now has 7.85 inch and 12.9 inch models. So when the company decided to add a new model to its iPad Pro lineup, Apple decided to […]
Apple launches 9.7 inch iPad Pro for $599 and up is a post from: Liliputing
Apple’s first iPad models had 9.7 inch displays, and the company says with 200 million units sold, that’s still the most popular size for iPads, even though the company now has 7.85 inch and 12.9 inch models. So when the company decided to add a new model to its iPad Pro lineup, Apple decided to […]
Apple launches 9.7 inch iPad Pro for $599 and up is a post from: Liliputing
Starting at $599 for 32GB, going up to 256GB for $899.
(credit: Andrew Cunningham)
CUPERTINO, CA—Apple's Monday press event fulfilled our expectations of a new iPad reveal, which came in the form of the iPad Pro—but not the same one as launched last year. Apple's Phil Schiller demonstrated the new 9.7-inch model, whose 32GB, WiFi-only model will launch for $599, while its storage will top out at 256GB for $899.
The new model borrows some of the best elements of the iPad Pro, including a four-speaker array and an updated screen that offers Apple Pencil support, all while sporting dimensions closer to those of the iPad Air 2, including a 9.7-inch, 2048x1536 resolution screen. (Surprisingly, Schiller didn't mention that its body somehow had the same thickness as the super-skinny iPad Air 2 at 0.24 inches). "It's the lowest reflectivity of any tablet," Schiller said about the "True Tone" display that actively measures brightness and ambient light temperature, which he said is also 25 percent brighter than the iPad Air 2.
We expected a processor on par with the last iPad Pro's A9X, and we're getting exactly that processor in this smaller Pro version. It has also seen a camera boost to a 12MP sensor capable of 4K video recording and a 5MP front-facing FaceTime camera with Retina-display flash.
Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Apple pushes out medium-sized updates to its major platforms.
(credit: Apple)
CUPERTINO, Calif.—As part of its big product event today, Apple is dropping a handful of significant updates to its platforms. The final versions of iOS 9.3, tvOS 9.2, and WatchOS 2.2 are all available to download for all supported devices. Apple began beta testing the updates back in January.
iOS 9.3 is the biggest update. It brings a new multi-user mode for iPads being used in schools, a more secure Notes app that lets you secure the app with its own password, an easy-on-the-eyes Night Shift screen mode, a few device-specific enhancements for the iPhone 6S and the iPad Pro, and other bug fixes and enhancements.
The tvOS update fixes a lot of the platform's most glaring omissions, including voice dictation for usernames and passwords and folder support for the home screen. Bluetooth keyboard support is also back. WatchOS 2.2 mainly adds a new version of the Maps app with support for searching for nearby locations. It also supports pairing multiple Apple Watches to a single iPhone if that happens to be something you feel the need to do (it might be popular among developers, at least).
Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Apple’s next big thing… is a smaller phone. The iPhone SE has many of the same features as the company’s 4.7 inch iPhone 6S, but it has a smaller 4 inch display, much like Apple’s older phones. Basically, Apple is positioning the iPhone SE as an upgrade for folks that have been using the […]
Apple unveils 4 inch iPhone SE with same CPU as iPhone 6S is a post from: Liliputing
Apple’s next big thing… is a smaller phone. The iPhone SE has many of the same features as the company’s 4.7 inch iPhone 6S, but it has a smaller 4 inch display, much like Apple’s older phones. Basically, Apple is positioning the iPhone SE as an upgrade for folks that have been using the […]
Apple unveils 4 inch iPhone SE with same CPU as iPhone 6S is a post from: Liliputing
Apple hat anlässlich seines Frühjahrsevents die Apple Watch im Preis massiv reduziert. Der Einstiegspreis liegt bei nur noch 299 US-Dollar. Neue Armbänder für die Apple Watch gibt es auch. (Apple Watch, Apple) 
Apple hat anlässlich seines Frühjahrsevents die Apple Watch im Preis massiv reduziert. Der Einstiegspreis liegt bei nur noch 299 US-Dollar. Neue Armbänder für die Apple Watch gibt es auch. (Apple Watch, Apple) 
It’s the first new, small iPhone since 2013. Pre-orders start 3/24, available on 3/31.
Andrew Cunningham
Behold, the iPhone SE.
8 more images in gallery
CUPERTINO, Calif.—It's a big day for small phones. Today, Apple announced its anticipated “iPhone SE,” Apple’s first new 4-inch phone since the iPhone 5C and 5S were released in the fall of 2013.
The phone is a throwback in a lot of ways. It's got the same 1136x640 resolution screen as the iPhone 5 family, and its general design borrows much more from those older phones than it does from the thinner, more rounded 6 and 6S. It looks like and is probably best described as “an iPhone 5S but faster.”
Apple VP Greg Joswiak introduced the device, noting that there was great demand for a smaller iPhone. "We sold 30 million 4-inch iPhones in 2015," he said.
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Text input and the home screen layout get most of the attention.
Andrew Cunningham
Long-click on a tile to make is start wobbling. One way to create a folder at this point is to press the play/pause button. You can also drag apps on top of one another, but it's less consistent.
14 more images in gallery
CUPERTINO, Calif.—The new Apple TV and tvOS are mostly superior to the hardware and software they replaced, and they began the work of building the Apple TV into a platform rather than just a streaming box. That platform mostly seems solid, and its biggest problems are mostly the same ones that every streaming box has—battles between content creators and content providers make it hard to get everything you want, when you want, in the way you want it.
At today's product event, Tim Cook announced a free update for tvOS. The tvOS 9.2 update goes a long way toward fixing the problems that are within Apple's ability to fix. These mostly fall into three categories: improving text input and the sign-in/setup experience, decluttering the home screen, and improving navigation. On all three accounts, things have markedly improved.
This was my single biggest complaint with the Apple TV as it shipped—the new software keyboard required a ton of laborious swiping back and forth on the Siri Remote, and it made signing in to apps and setting the box up a giant pain. Using an old Apple TV remote or universal remote could restore the old software keyboard grid, but it was barely better.
Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Apple hat ein neues iPad mit 9,7 Zoll großer Bildschirmdiagonale vorgestellt. Das kleine iPad Pro verfügt über einen Lichttemperatur-Sensor, lässt sich mit dem Apple Pencil bedienen, und und ein Tastaturanschluss sind ebenfalls vorhanden. (
You must be logged in to post a comment.