http://torrentfreak.com/utorrent-makes-ads-optional-following-user-revolt-120815/
Archive for 2012/08/15
Hulu in court over 1988 video privacy law
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reportsThe company is charged with violating privacy by sharing with advertisers what users watched
More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57493709-93/hulu-in-court-over-1988-video-privacy-law/
Convicted Surfthechannel Operator Publishes The Real Story Behind His Conviction
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Online advertising, Organized Crime, Public Policy, Stats / reportsMy name is Anton Vickerman and I am the proud owner of the now dead video search engine SurfTheChannel.com (STC). By the time you read this I will be starting my new life behind bars after receiving what is expected to be a “loony sentence” from Judge John Evans of Newcastle Crown Court for running my site from 2007 to 2012.
I was convicted of “Conspiracy to defraud the movie industry through the facilitation of copyright infringement” on June 24 2012 after an eight week trial. A trial that was brought not by the UK state prosecutor, the Crown Prosecution Service, but by a private prosecutor, the Federation Against Copyright Theft Limited. For those that are unaware FACT Ltd is the UK regional office of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the same organization that is behind the attempted extradition of Richard O´Dwyer who based his own website TVShack on STC. As will become clear as you read this piece I consider FACT Ltd and the MPAA to be dangerous vigilante organizations that have no place in prosecuting UK citizens never mind conducting up to fifteen illegal surveillance operations every month on those same citizens. FACT Ltd are a private limited company staffed almost entirely by former police and trading standards officers most of which FACT Ltd have identified as willing to go “that extra mile” in their fight against “copyright thieves.” In other words there is a reason that FACT Ltd employs the individuals they do (be that investigators, lawyers or executive officers) – because they are willing to cheat, lie and break the law for their employer. Essentially FACT Ltd is the MPAA´s private police force operating within the UK. But more of that later.
Much more:
http://surfthechannel.com/
See also:
“If what he was doing was legal, why did he go to such lengths to hide his identity and location? Why not just operate as a legitimate business in the UK? Why did he set the site up anonymously, and make it so hard to find him?” – Surfthechannel
http://vrritti.com/2012/08/19/if-what-he-was-doing-was-legal-why-did-he-go-to-such-lengths-to-hide-his-identity-and-location-why-not-just-operate-as-a-legitimate-business-in-the-uk-why-did-he-set-the-site-up-anonymously-and/
Previously:
http://vrritti.com/?s=surfthechannel&submit=Search
Movie Studios Compiled Scary Private Life Dossier On SurfTheChannel Owner
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Public Policy, Stats / reportsThe Hollywood-backed Federation Against Copyright Theft was the driving force behind the four-year jail sentence handed down to former SurfTheChannel owner Anton Vickerman yesterday. The organization conducts its own investigations and then hands its findings to police and other authorities, but just how much can they discover about targets such as Vickerman? Internal FACT documents obtained by TorrentFreak show the anti-piracy group go to scary lengths to delve deep into people’s private lives.
The depth of the investigation and the amount of information obtained by FACT on the Vickermans is quite remarkable. The data and correspondence collated runs to dozens of pages but perhaps what is most noticeable is the manner in which everything is presented. The whole thing looks like a police operation yet it was not – it was an investigation being carried out by a UK company on behalf of other companies in the United States.
Previously:
http://vrritti.com/?s=surfthechannel&submit=Search
YouTube is becoming a cable network for people who don’t have cable
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, Google, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionYouTube doesn’t want you to watch videos anymore — not in the singular sense, at least. It wants you to stick around and see what comes next. It wants you to start watching on your phone as you head home from work, pick up again on your TV as you relax in the evening, and then nod off to its content while you’re lying in bed, as it streams from your tablet.
And mostly, YouTube is becoming a backdoor to let Google into your living room, no matter whose set-top box sits on your Ikea MAVA. And so how will YouTube pull this off? Channels.
More:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/500-million-youtube-channels/
The Norwegian Data Protecting Authority has given Google a notice of decision involving violation charge in the amount of NOK 250,000
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Google, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reportsGoogle must also delete all relevant “payload data” gathered by their Street View cars in Norway
More:
http://www.datatilsynet.no/English/Publications/Google-is-ordered-to-pay-violation-charge/
RIPE NCC will go to court in the Netherlands on 29 November 2012 to seek clarification on the procedure taken by the Dutch police on 8 November 2011 when it presented the RIPE NCC with a police order to “lock” registrations in the RIPE Database
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Litigation, Public Policy, Stats / reportsReuters faces fresh hacker attack – News agency hacked for the third time in a fortnight
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reportsThe Reuters news agency has fallen victim to computer hackers for the third time in a fortnight, with the latest incident involving an article that falsely claimed Saudi Arabia‘s foreign minister had died.
Reuters said unknown hackers illegally gained access to one of its journalist’s blogs on Wednesday. The hackers then published a hoax story claiming the death of Saudi prince Saud al-Faisal.
It is the third time that Reuters’s publishing systems have been compromised in a fortnight.
Hackers first targeted Reuters on 3 August, when they published a false interview with a Syrian rebel leader. Two days later the Reuters Technology Twitter account was hijacked by hackers who began to publish pro-Syrian government messages.
Reuters, one of the world’s most trusted news agencies, is now facing mounting questions about the security of its publishing platform following the latest incident on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for Reuters confirmed the security breach and said the company would release more information when available.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/15/reuters-hacker-attack
Social Security Administration To Purchase 174 Thousand Rounds Of Hollow Point Bullets
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reportsFirst it was the Department of Homeland Security, then it was the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and now the Social Security Administration is set to purchase 174,000 rounds of hollow point bullets that will be delivered to 41 locations across the country.
See also:
• Over one million rounds of hollow-point .223 rifle ammo
• Over half a million rounds of non-hollow-point .223 rifle ammo
• 220,000 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun #7 ammo (target ammo)
• Over 200,000 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun #00 buckshot ammo (tactical anti-personnel ammo)
• 66,000 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun slugs (tactical anti-personnel, anti-vehicle rounds)
• Over two million rounds of hollow-point .357 Sig JPH (hollow-point) pistol ammo (anti-personnel)
• Over four million rounds of .40 S&W JPH (hollow-point) pistol ammo (anti-personnel)
• Over 60,000 rounds of .308 match grade anti-personnel sniper rounds (BTHP)
• Plus, hundreds of thousands of additional rounds of .38 special, .45 auto, 9mm, 7.62×39 (AK rifle) ammo, and others.
This is on top of the massive 450 million .40 S&W hollow point rounds the DHS has already requisitioned
YouTube is teens’ No. 1 pick for music listening
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, Google, Stats / reportsNetflix service expands across Europe
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionWhy Apple doesn’t just sue Google and get it over with
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, Google, Litigation, Stats / reportsSteve Jobs’ house robber caught by turning on stolen computers
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionThe thief who broke into the home of Steve Jobs is probably now wishing he had picked a different house.
The Palo Alto home was robbed on July 17 of more than $60,000 in computers and other items, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office. Kariem McFarlin, a 35-year-old man, was arrested and charged with the crime.
And apparently it wasn’t hard for police to catch him.
‘IP Address Sharing’ As Argument AGAINST Site Blocking. Let’s Hope Spammers, Malware Distributors, Phishing Gangs And Botnet Operators Don’t Engage In IP Address Sharing Of Their Malicious Domains
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Blocking, Copyright, Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Filtering, Illegal File Sharing, Network Security, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionWe cannot confiscate or retrieve the funds of the criminal because he has a shared bank account
Even ISPReview has to admit: It should be said that some ISP filtering systems have the ability to identify whether a requested IP address is attached to a specific website (i.e. the site intended to be blocked), which prevents the wrong site being blocked.
CSMG Study into Websites Sharing Internet Protocol Addresses (PDF)
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/internet/websites-sharing.pdf
More Details About Surfthechannel.com Court Case Emerge. Operator And Former British Telecom Employee Anton Vickerman Obsessed With His Website, Uploaded Pirated Content To 3rd Party Sites Himself
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Organized Crime, Public Policy, Stats / reportsVickerman ran surfthechannel through a limited company, Scopelight, which generated income of over £300,000 a year. Profits were channelled to a bank account in Latvia, operated by an offshore company based in the Caribbean island of Dominica.
Over two years the site, run via the former DJ and BT employee’s firm Scopelight, turned over £1m and made £250,000 profit.
Judge Evans said Vickerman’s obsession with the website had contributed to his marriage failing.
The conspiracy charges covered the period February 2007 to November 2009 and ended with a seven-week trial.
Within 24 hours of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s release in cinemas in May 2008, it was available on Vickerman’s website, the court heard.
And the Chronicle of Narnia, which was in cinemas in June 2008, could be downloaded a month before.
Judge Evans branded the defendant the most arrogant he had encountered in his career, said Vickerman knew full well what he was doing was unlawful, despite his protestations of innocence. (See also: Suspect 2.0 Not Easily Intimidated: MegaUpload’s Kim Dotcom To Launch Megabox Service , You must appreciate the 90s depiction of the hacker, when the stereotype was a cunning scofflaw with a Marlboro hanging from his lips and Judges Facing New Types Of Crimes, New Types (And Levels) Of Damage, New Types Of Suspects? (MegaUpload) )
Even after he was arrested, he continued to run the site, obtaining a computer within hours of his arrest. The judge said this carried on up to the eve of the trial.
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/9873221.Internet_download_pirate_jailed_for_four_years/
It was only this week that Google decided it would relegate the results of pirate sites. Had Google done that a decade ago, it might not have been worthwhile for Vickerman to set up his site at all
http://hereisthecity.com/2012/08/14/pirate-website-owner-gets-four-years-but-what-about-google/
Vickerman employed programmers around the world to source pirated material elsewhere on the web. They then found the codes needed, to gain access to what had already been illegally copied.
http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2012-08-14/internet-pirate-jailed-for-four-years/
The private investigator posed as a prospective house buyer and filmed computer equipment in Vickerman’s home. Other private eyes had already obtained detailed information about his bank accounts, cars and telephone records, the court was told. His wife, Kelly Vickerman, was also arrested and cleared in June of charges of conspiracy to defraud.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/aug/14/anton-vickerman-surfthechannel-sentenced
Vickerman “targeted pirated films including those not yet released at the cinema” (impressive work, that) and – more to the point – “anonymously uploaded” them to third-party sites
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/aug/14/pirate-website-owner-four-years
ECB-to-Greek-Banks-to-The-Bank-Of Greece-to-ECB circle-jerk is “in a sense, a kind of Ponzi scheme”
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Stats / reportsSantelli’s response that “it really is a rigged game” and that our reflexive response to the signaling of bond yields is remarkable given the manipulation; Grant agrees adding that “the real money guys are either out of Europe, getting out of Europe, or have cut back as much as they can” since simple math shows you that at some point Europe will have it’s ‘moment’.
New Internet Video Standard to Allow Twice-as-Fast Movie Downloads
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionRejoice, because there’s a new MPEG video standard coming. It’s called High Efficiency Video Coding and it will be twice as efficient as current standards. This means downloading movies twice as fast. Or doubling their quality. HEVC will arrive next year.
More:
http://gizmodo.com/5934744/new-internet-video-standard-to-allow-twice+as+fast-movie-downloads
Kyle Wagner Is At It Again. Says That People Were Basically Invited To Pirate Avatar
Posted: 2012/08/15 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Illegal File Sharing, Stats / reportsHas he been refused a job at a movie studio by any chance?
http://gizmodo.com/5934611/this-is-why-people-pirate
See also:
Kyle Wagner: How to Pirate Movies, Music, TV Shows, and Books Without Getting Caught
http://vrritti.com/2012/07/23/kyle-wagner-how-to-pirate-movies-music-tv-shows-and-books-without-getting-caught/
