Safeguarding Your Phone Against Spying Apps That prevention is better than cure is a maxim that holds true in everything. If you want to protect your phone against spy apps, you have to engage your protective gear and do what you should to keep off the spying. But how do you protect your phone from an illegal phone tracker intended to spy on your movements and activities? You can find all the answers to this question in the remaining sections of this post. Don’t Trust Strangers With Your Phone Unless you downloaded a spy program accidentally, another way of malicious people installing spyware on your smartphone is physical contact. If you want to safeguard your phone, don’t allow people you don’t trust to hang around with your device or else you will be caught off guard. Be Careful With Your Download Sources If you want to keep your phone safe from spyware, be extra cautious where you download your apps from. The reason is that if you download software from insecure sources or uncertified developers, you risk exposing your phone to spyware. To keep safe, you should ensure that the apps are available from reputable marketplaces such as Play Store or Apple’s App Store. The reason is that these platforms have strict security measures in place that ensure users download secure apps that do not compromise their privacy or security. Use Strong Passwords To keep your phone safe from an illegal phone tracker, you ought to use strong passwords to safeguard your screen login. The reason is that if someone wants to download a spy program on your phone, they need access. By using a password, you make it difficult for them to do so. In addition, you should keep your passwords secret and only reveal them to a person you trust, for example, your spouse. Lastly, it is necessary to use complex passwords that someone cannot hack easily. For instance, it is prudent to mix lower and upper case letters in your password as well as digits to make it safer. Set Download Passwords To keep your phone safer, you should also set passwords for downloading applications. This measure will ensure that anyone who accesses your phone with your permission cannot go further and install any application without your permission. The reason is that most of the spy apps people have on their smartphones were installed by people who were using their phones without ever suspecting that they could go this far. So, if you allow someone to use your phone, this extra layer of caution will protect you. Use Anti-malware Another way of keeping your smartphone safe is installing an anti–spyware. You can go for paid versions on App Store or Google Play to get maximum protection. The reason why paid versions are better is that they offer features that developers intentionally exclude in their free versions. In addition, you ought to keep updating the software and use it to scan your phone daily. Be Careful With Bluetooth and WIFI Connections If you want to keep your phone safe from an illegal phone tracker, be careful how you access WIFI and Bluetooth connections. You have to maintain your Bluetooth and WIFI connections to a secure mode and never access or accept connections to the network you are not sure of. Be Careful With App Agreements Another measure that will keep your phone safe from spyware is being careful with the terms and conditions of every app you install on your smartphone. For instance, you have to read the terms and conditions, privacy policies, and legal disclaimers behind every application you download. You will have to read through every detail of the agreement since some of the agreements indicate that the developer has authority to track your whereabouts. Know How to Read the Signs The quest for safety also has a preventive angle to it. You need to be on the alert against any symptoms of an infection in the phone. For example, if you notice the phone is restarting itself quite often, its battery level is decreasing abnormally, the brightness is decreasing, or the performance of the phone has deteriorated, take action. All these are signs of a spy app working in the background. Keep Your Confidential Information Safe To keep your phone safe from the infiltration of an illegal phone tracker, you have to keep your confidential information safe. You should avoid giving your confidential details to any third–party application or website you do not trust. If you get an app that requests for personal information, it is better to keep off. Install Original Apps Only Another easy way that could expose your phone to spyware is downloading pirated versions of applications. When downloading apps, be careful of such “free” apps outside developers’ official websites since some of them are laced with malware, including spy ones. The people who peddle these apps usually take original paid versions, corrupt them, and then offer them out as free downloads. If you want any free app, it is better to go for the developer’s trial or free version until you are ready to purchase the paid version. The threat of someone installing an illegal phone tracker on your phone is real, and you need to be careful so that you do not fall prey to these schemes. You have to take preventive measures to safeguard your phone against threats that result from physical contact with your phone and when downloading apps from uncertified sources. For instance, you can protect your phone by downloading your apps from credible developers and sources like mspy. In addition, you can use secure passwords for your login and app download permission. Lastly, you can protect your smartphone by paying attention to the terms and conditions behind every app you download. By abiding by these insights we have share, we believe you will take your safety to the next level and keep your smartphone free from illegal and snoopy tracking.

Kodi and The Pirate Bay fans have been put on alert after being warned they could face prosecution from authorities as the piracy crackdown continues. The Kodi surge continues without any sign of stopping, as users continue to ditch paid TV services for the online player. Research has suggested Kodi - which offers access to thousands of channels - is being used in more than five million British homes. Kodi software is not illegal, but developers can produce third-party add-ons that provides free access to pirated and illegal content. It's these illegal add-ons that are being targeted by ISPs, government agencies, broadcasters and rights holders. While torrent websites have long been targets of anti-piracy efforts. Popular torrent websites like Kickass Torrents, ExtraTorrent and Torrentz.eu have all shut down this year as piracy penalties have become more severe. But a new study has looked into the effects that issuing fines can have on internet pirates, and the results make for interesting reading. The study looked at the impact of piracy settlement letters on the behaviour of online pirates. It found that 13 per cent of people who admitted to using unauthorised services quit after being sent piracy settlement letters. Some 14 per cent said they had chosen to cut down their use of online piracy devices, TorrentFreak revealed. The research was carried Finland’s Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC), with around 1,000 people surveyed. Express.co.uk asked the UK's leading anti-piracy body FACT whether such fines in the UK. Speaking to Express.co.uk, a FACT spokesperson said: “Our priority for tackling online piracy is to target those most critical to the supply chain. “Whether it’s a streaming website, an illicit streaming device seller or someone behind an infringing app or add-on, we focus on those who sell, host or distribute content illegally. “Whilst end users are not a target, they could get swept up in one of our operations and become part of the whole criminal investigation, which could lead to prosecution alongside the suppliers, retailers and importers.” The penalties for online piracy have become more severe this year thanks to the Digital Economy Act becoming law. The new law raised the maximum possible sentence for online copyright infringement offences from two to 10 years. The maximum sentence will only apply to people who commit serious copyright crimes, such as distributing content. The FACT spokesperson added: “Recent comments from Judges have confirmed that both selling illicit streaming devices and using one to watch or stream copyrighted content are illegal. “We feel it is important to focus efforts on educating consumers on the legality surrounding these devices and making them aware of the risk and harm they cause not only to industry and the economy, but potentially to themselves and their family.” The news comes after a shocking stat claimed 70 per cent of people who have Kodi use it to watch content online illegally. According to a report from Torrentfreak, a recent meeting by the Motion Picture Association of America, revealed that around 70 per cent of all Kodi users still stream content illegally. The statement was made by MPAA Senior Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Neil Fried, who explained that there are around 38 million Kodi customers across the world. If the MPAA calculations are correct it would mean around 26 million people are still streaming content without permission - whilst only 11 million are playing by the rules. This shocking statistic may prove that users have not been put off by the recent crackdown or new threats of legal action. Kieron Sharp, the chief executive of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), said those who use illegal Kodi add-ons “are committing criminal offences”. Speaking to The Independent earlier this year, he said: “What we’ve been looking at in conjunction with many of our clients and members are the different levels of crime being committed. “There’s the manufacture and importation of devices, and then the distribution and selling of those. We’re also looking at the people who are providing the apps and add-ons, the developers. “And then we’ll also be looking at, at some point, the end user. The reason for end users to come into this is that they are committing criminal offences.” source: http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/878120/Kodi-add-ons-Pirate-Bay-torrent-warning-online-piracy

Sky has claimed it is winning its battle with illegal streamers of Premier League football games. As many as a third of football fans watch the sport illegally, with many streaming games via illicit websites or through prohibited add-ons to so-called Kodi boxes. Broadcasters such as Sky and BT have sought to crack down on illegal streaming to stem the millions each firm loses in dodged subscription fees each year. One Sky employee has said Premier League bosses have been successfully shutting down more illegal streams this season thanks to a High Court 'blocking order'. Matthew Hibbert, head of litigation at Sky UK, said more streams are being shut down at the source thanks to the ruling. He said: 'In terms of the impact on piracy, server blocking has been huge.' Mr Hibbert, who was speaking at the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia in Macau this week, added that 'live streams of the Premier League can no longer be easily found in the UK'. Granted in March, the court order gives Premier League bosses greater powers to go after servers for the entire 2017/18 season, which began in August. The disruptions affect people using both illegal streaming websites and so-called Kodi boxes to watch games for free. Sky has given few hints as to how it helps League officials track down copyright abusers, but has hinted it is heavily invested in the crackdown as a result of court costs and legal fees. 'It will allow us to quickly and effectively block and disrupt the illegal broadcast of Premier League football via any means, including so called "pre-loaded Kodi boxes",' Premier League Director of Legal Services, Kevin Plumb told BBC News in July. 'The protection of our copyright, and the investment made by our broadcast partners, is hugely important to the Premier League and the future health of English football.' In the 2016-17 season the Premier League obtained a similar order for the last two months of the season. The court order allowed Premier League bosses to blanket block internet servers. Around 5,000 server IP addresses were blocked as a result. The league previously only had the power to block individual streams, which were easy for hosts to re-establish using a different link. Sky and BT Sport paid more than £5bn ($6.6bn) for rights to show Premier League matches for three seasons from 2016/17. source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5070091/Sky-boss-claims-firm-winning-war-against-online-piracy.html

Police in Spain say they have arrested seven people following a crackdown on illegal sports streaming. Raids took place in several locations around the country, targeting an operation that's said to generate around 1.4 million euros. Seven websites have been blocked and three bank accounts frozen. Police say that further arrests are not being ruled out. While most large broadcasters around the world now offer comprehensive sports packages to their customers, subscriptions are often quite expensive. This has led to the proliferation of pirate services, each dedicated to bringing live sports to the masses at massively reduced prices or even completely free. As a result, it’s now possible to watch almost any sport from a pirate source, whether that’s via a website, an augmented Kodi setup, or a premium IPTV provider. Today, however, there’s one less pirate service available after a series of raids in Spain. According to the National Police, raids took place in Madrid, Alicante, Albacete, Gandía, and the Valencian cities of Xátiva and Antequera this week. In total, seven people were arrested for illegally broadcasting football matches. Unusually in such cases, the suspects are alleged to have offered matches via a number of mechanisms, including direct download, streaming, subscription streaming, and peer-to-peer distribution. This, the police say, allowed them to have the broadest possible access to the market. The group’s servers were scattered around the world; some located in Spain, others in France, with the remainder in the United States and Canada. The investigation began in 2016 following a complaint from La Liga, the top professional association in Spanish football. The group alleged that a total of 13 websites were illegally offering lists of links which enabled visitors to access content to which it holds the exclusive rights. Police say the operation was well organized, with matches presented to Internet users with schedules ordered by championships. Revenue was generated via advertising which appeared on the various pages viewed by visitors. It’s claimed that the sites’ operators also attempted to make their scattered servers harder to find by utilizing intermediary companies, including those that offer server location anonymization services. Across the country, eight house searches reportedly yielded a trove of evidence, both digital and physical, detailing the pirate operation and the profit obtained from it. At this early stage, police estimate the “economic benefit” to the defendants from subscriptions and advertising to be in the region of 1.4 million euros, although it’s unclear whether those are actual historic or projected gains. Following the raids, seven websites were ordered to be blocked and three bank accounts, said to be linked to the pirate operation, were frozen. Police say that the investigation continues so further arrests and website blockades can’t be ruled out. source: torrentfreak

Tracker's Name: speedtorrent-tracker Genre: Applications/Software Sign-up Link: http://speedtorrent-tracker.mine.nu/signup.php

News of over $300 million in ETH going frozen thanks to a flaw took the industry by a storm earlier this week. A user named Devops199 had claimed responsibility for triggering a critical security vulnerability in a Parity multi-sig wallet paralyzing all wallets that were created after July 20th. While Devops199 had said that they had triggered this bug accidentally, at least one company has suggested that it was no accident. Yet another ETH drama – what exactly happened The problem stems from another bug that was discovered in July and during its fix a new flaw was left in the code. “Following the fix for the original multi-sig issue that had been exploited on 19th of July (function visibility), a new version of the Parity Wallet library contract was deployed on 20th of July,” Parity wrote in its advisory. “However that code still contained another issue – it was possible to turn the Parity Wallet library contract into a regular multi-sig wallet and become an owner of it by calling the initWallet function.” Around 584 wallets have been affected, however, their total amount is unknown. Private researchers have put the affected amount in ETH anywhere from $150 million to over $300 million, but Parity has called this figure speculative. It is expected that most of the affected wallets belong to companies as multi signature wallets are predominantly used in the corporate world as they add extra security of only confirming transactions after multiple verifications. After the news broke, Devops199 came forward suggesting that they accidentally triggered the bug. Following the reports, the user was even worried on GitHub if there would be any involvement of law enforcement. Devops199’s involvement – deliberate or an accident? Cappasity – a platform for 3D/AR/VR content production and exchange – says that Devops199’s actions may not be accidental. The company’s wallet was one of the affected as it was frozen due to the multi-sig vulnerability. “Our internal investigation has demonstrated that the actions on the part of devops199 were deliberate,” the company writes, mentioning the number of calls executed by the user. “When you are tracking all their transactions, you realize that they were deliberate,” the statement says. “Therefore, we tend to think that it was not an accident.” It is too early to suggest if these actions were indeed deliberate since Parity is yet to comment on this development. However, Cappasity added that contacting law enforcement agencies will be the right next step “if the situation is not successfully resolved in the nearest future”. Devops199’s account has since been deleted.

News of over $300 million in ETH going frozen thanks to a flaw took the industry by a storm earlier this week. A user named Devops199 had claimed responsibility for triggering a critical security vulnerability in a Parity multi-sig wallet paralyzing all wallets that were created after July 20th. While Devops199 had said that they had triggered this bug accidentally, at least one company has suggested that it was no accident. Yet another ETH drama – what exactly happened The problem stems from another bug that was discovered in July and during its fix a new flaw was left in the code. “Following the fix for the original multi-sig issue that had been exploited on 19th of July (function visibility), a new version of the Parity Wallet library contract was deployed on 20th of July,” Parity wrote in its advisory. “However that code still contained another issue – it was possible to turn the Parity Wallet library contract into a regular multi-sig wallet and become an owner of it by calling the initWallet function.” Around 584 wallets have been affected, however, their total amount is unknown. Private researchers have put the affected amount in ETH anywhere from $150 million to over $300 million, but Parity has called this figure speculative. It is expected that most of the affected wallets belong to companies as multi signature wallets are predominantly used in the corporate world as they add extra security of only confirming transactions after multiple verifications. After the news broke, Devops199 came forward suggesting that they accidentally triggered the bug. Following the reports, the user was even worried on GitHub if there would be any involvement of law enforcement. Devops199’s involvement – deliberate or an accident? Cappasity – a platform for 3D/AR/VR content production and exchange – says that Devops199’s actions may not be accidental. The company’s wallet was one of the affected as it was frozen due to the multi-sig vulnerability. “Our internal investigation has demonstrated that the actions on the part of devops199 were deliberate,” the company writes, mentioning the number of calls executed by the user. “When you are tracking all their transactions, you realize that they were deliberate,” the statement says. “Therefore, we tend to think that it was not an accident.” It is too early to suggest if these actions were indeed deliberate since Parity is yet to comment on this development. However, Cappasity added that contacting law enforcement agencies will be the right next step “if the situation is not successfully resolved in the nearest future”. Devops199’s account has since been deleted.

Tracker's Name: iltorrents.me Genre: General Sign-up Link: http://iltorrents.me/signup.php

The GeForce website now offers a take on the performance you can expect from their graphics cards to run Star Wars Battlefront II, the upcoming Star Wars action sequel. They also point the way to this post about the recent beta that offers general system specifications. NVIDIA recommends a GTX 1060 to run the game at 1920x1080, a GTX 1070 for 2560x1440, and a GTX 1080 Ti for 3840x2160. And here are the system specs: SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (PC) Minimum Requirements OS: 64-bit Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 Processor (AMD): AMD FX-6350 Processor (Intel): Intel Core i5 6600K Memory: 8GB RAM Graphics card (AMD): AMD Radeon™ HD 7850 2GB Graphics card (NVIDIA): NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 660 2GB DirectX: 11.0 Compatible video card or equivalent Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection Hard-drive space: 25GB Recommended Requirements OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or later Processor (AMD): AMD FX 8350 Wraith Processor (Intel): Intel Core i7 6700 or equivalent Memory: 16GB RAM Graphics card (AMD): AMD Radeon™ RX 480 4GB Graphics card (NVIDIA): NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1060 3GB DirectX: 11.1 Compatible video card or equivalent Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection Hard-drive space: 25GB

Tracker Name: CiNEFiLHD Genre: Movies Sign-up Link: http://www.cinefilhd.org/signup.php Closing date: After Weekend

Tracker's Name: Casa-Torrent Genre: General Sign-up Link: https://casa-torrent.be/account-signup.php Closing date: N/A Additional information: Casa-Torrent is a French Private Torrent Tracker for Movies / TV / General Releases.

Tracker's Name: The Falling Angels Genre: General Sign-up Link: https://tfa.tf/registry.php Additional information: German Private Tracker, with the same design as guardian-angel

Samsung has just announced that their GDDR6 memory has received the CES 2018 innovation award. The new memory design would be incorporated in GPUs that will be launching next year including NVIDIA’s Volta based consumer cards. Samsung GDDR6 Memory Honored With CES 2018 Innovation Award – Aiming For 16 Gbps Transfer Speeds Samsung has officially stated that they will be producing the fastest and lowest-power DRAM for next generation products. They have currently listed a 16Gb GDDR6 DRAM in their portfolio but that can be expanded upon in the future when production hits full swing. With a transfer rate of 16Gbps, the DRAM will be able to pump out 64 GB/s bandwidth (per chip). The memory operates at just 1.35V. Compared to current generation GDDR5 DRAM, we are looking at both, increased bandwidth and transfer speeds (8Gbps vs 16 Gbps) at lower power consumption (1.5V vs 1.35V). The specifications can easily be compared to current DRAM standards. We know that GDDR5 can reach up to 9 Gbps as NVIDIA launched their GTX 1060 in faster memory variants. That’s the practical limit of where the memory architecture can go. Then we have GDDR5X, a refined implementation of GDDR5 that is better in every aspect. The GDDR5X memory operates at much faster speeds and has practically hit 16 Gbps as confirmed by Micron themselves. While GDDR5X can hit same speeds as GDDR6, the latter comes with better optimizations and higher densities. We are looking at speeds of 12-14 Gbps becoming standard in the graphics industry while 16 Gbps will ship out in the high performance sector. There’s also up to 32 Gb density support while GDDR5/X max out at 16 Gb. How Will Next Generation GPUs With GDDR6 DRAM Look In Terms of Memory Specifications So coming to the specifications, GDDR6 will come in 8Gb and 16Gb densities while the standard followed by JEDEC allows for up to 32Gb dies. The 8Gb DRAM dies will allow for up to 8 GB VRAM on a 256-bit wide card and 12 GB VRAM along a 384-bit wide card. The 16Gb dies will essentially double the VRAM since each chip will feature 2 GB VRAM. A 384-bit bus card could feature up to 24 GB while dies with 32Gb density will deliver 48 GB VRAM along the same interface. Looking at the speeds, we are seeing an incredible jump from 12 Gbps (GDDR5X) to 16 Gbps (GDDR6). For comparison, a Volta GPU with a 256-bit wide memory interface using GDDR6 clocked at 16 Gbps transfer speed would result in 512 GB/s bandwidth. A 384-bit Volta chip with similar rated memory chips will feature 768 GB/s bandwidth. Not only would the 256-bit solution be faster, cheaper and easier to produce than first generation HBM based solutions, but the 384-bit solution would be able to topple even HBM2 cards such as those based on the Pascal GP100 GPU that has 720 GB/s bandwidth and also the Radeon RX Vega 64 which packs HBM2 memory, delivering 512 GB/s bandwidth. For the folks wondering about efficiency, well the good thing about GDDR6 is that it brings a 10% power saving over current gen GDDR5 memory chips. Who Could Be The Potential Customers of GDDR6 Memory? When talking about potential customers, the most obvious one is NVIDIA. It was already confirmed that NVIDIA Volta consumer GPUs will be utilizing the GDDR6 memory interface as pointed by the production and release plans of consumer Volta graphics cards which falls in 1H of 2018. It’s worth noting that Micron and Samsung have been key partners in providing NVIDIA with their respective DRAM offerings. NVIDIA was and remains to be the first and only customer who utilized their G5X memory standard and will continue their collaboration with Volta and GDDR6. Similarly, Samsung’s HBM2 technology has been a key enabler for Volta based Tesla V100 GPUs which started shipping to customers in the previous quarter. AMD on the other hand may still carry on with HBM2 on their Vega cards while a potential entry or budget tier Vega chip may utilize the cheaper and upgraded memory interface, possibly explaining the delay of Vega 11. SK Hynix, a key partner of AMD in development of HBM DRAM is also going to offer GDDR6 memory and AMD could utilize that. A third entrant in the GPU industry, Intel, who recently hired AMD’s ex-graphics technology head, Raja Koduri, plans on developing their own discrete GPUs. While they are years away from producing a competitive, high-end discrete graphics, GDDR6 is here to stay for several years and Intel could tap on the new technology to provide consumers a range of competitive GPU based solutions. source: wccftech

The Federal Bureau of Investigation infiltrated computers in more than a hundred countries in 2015, with targets including Iran, China and Russia. The operation wasn’t about sabotaging the governments or spying on them but to take down a child porn ring. However, that might not be enough for the Bureau to justify going on an international mass hacking spree with suspects in countries hostile to the United States. One warrant that allowed FBI to hack over 8,000 computers During FBI’s Operation Pacifier in 2015 that involved taking down the notorious child pornography site called Playpen, the agency broke into a number of targets without first learning about the location of their suspects (which isn’t always possible). During this investigation, the US agency “broke into thousands of computers around the world to investigate child pornography,” The Daily Beast reports. However, experts warn that accessing computers in countries that aren’t allies could lead to geopolitical issues. These hacks are “essentially opening the door for other countries to unilaterally hack devices located in the U.S. in the law-enforcement context,” Scarlet Kim of Privacy International told TDB. This revelation isn’t new as previous reports had suggested that the agency had broken into over 8,000 computers in over 120 countries. What is different now, however, is that the previous reports of the investigation hadn’t disclosed if the agency also targeted people in countries that the United States isn’t really “happy” with, including Russia and Iran. “Those risks are especially potent in the hacking context because the identity of the attacker and the purpose of the hack may not be immediately clear,” Kim added. This means that those countries without ever receiving a notification from the FBI could consider such a hack as a criminal attack. But those in the Department of Justice continue to suggest that there is no way out of this. “We’ve gone to the Russian prosecutors and said can you help us with this investigation, and years later the individual becomes a source for the Russian government,” Megan Stifel of Atlantic Council and a former attorney in the DoJ’s national security division said. The 2015 Playpen investigation has so far raised several concerns, not only internationally but locally, as well. We reported last year that the agency was able to go on this mass hacking spree based on a single warrant issued by a magistrate judge of the Eastern District of Virginia, who did not have the authority to allow searches outside of their own district. While the investigation was looking into crimes that are some of the most vile acts, the agency’s routine bypassing of the due legal process ends up raising more questions about its surveillance powers. The operation led to hundreds of arrests according to the agency itself, however, lawyers of defendants pushed back against the evidence questioning the legality of the search. Some had even suggested that the Bureau deliberately carried out this investigation in a way that the evidence would be useless but will help it push the government to legitimize such an investigation without any oversight. [Which, by the way, it managed to achieve as the government introduced new changes to Rule 41 last November that basically enable one judge with one warrant to authorize hacking of millions of devices.] Last year when the first numbers of the investigation were publicly disclosed, this unprecedented hacking case raised concerns among the privacy community for laying the foundation for future expansion of similar uncontrolled hacking operations. However, targeting suspects in countries with hostile relationships could legitimize or even welcome similar efforts from those countries and the United States may not like that. source: wccftech

(Beijing) — The family of a famous Chinese writer is suing the country’s biggest academic research database for allegedly failing to pay posthumous royalties. The daughter of Wang Zengqi, a novelist and poet who died in 1997, has accused the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) — an online library for academic works that is widely used by scholars, policymakers and think tanks — of violating her father’s intellectual property rights. It’s the country’s first-ever lawsuit that seeks to enforce a posthumous copyright. According to China’s Copyright Law, authors are entitled to royalties during their lifetimes and 50 years after their deaths. But the CNKI, a database administered by Tsinghua University and supported by the ministries of education and science and the Communist Party’s Publicity Department, had allegedly offered access to Wang’s short story “Ordained into Monkhood” for over a decade without prior permission from the Wang family or paying royalties, court documents showed. “The CNKI habitually ignores copyrights. My father’s work is just one among many illegally exploited creations,” the daughter, Wang Zhao, told Caixin. “If we win the lawsuit, I think it will serve as a warning to others.” Wang Zengqi, a famous contemporary Chinese author from Jiangsu province, is known for his poetic novels, dramas and folk tales, including “Collection at Four-o'clock,” “Passing River” and “Collection of Wancui.” The China Written Works Copyright Society, a state-backed nonprofit with over 500 novelists, lyricists and screenwriters, has filed the lawsuit on behalf of Wang Zhao at the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing. The organization is seeking 50,000 yuan ($7,530) in damages and 10,000 yuan to cover legal fees for the unauthorized distribution of Wang Zengqi’s most celebrated work, which explores the relationship between Buddhist monks and their followers in rural China. “Wang’s case is just the first step. We are preparing another lawsuit that will be filed before year-end,” Copyright Society CEO Zhang Hongbo said. “According to complaints from our members, almost 25,000 works, written by more than 100 people, are illegally published on the CNKI without prior permission or remuneration.” China has been tightening rules to protect intellectual property rights since 2011, but enforcement remains lax. The total number of civil lawsuits involving copyright violations grew nearly 25% to 136,500 cases in 2016 compared with the previous year, government data showed. Recent high-profile cases include Walt Disney Co. successfully suing a studio in Fujian province that ripped off characters from its famous “Cars” franchise, and the Motion Picture Association of America taking a major Chinese video-sharing site to court for hosting pirated content. Wang’s case represents a rare case when a major government-backed project is taken to court for intellectual property rights violations. The CNKI’s collection, similar to JSTOR (short for “Journal Storage”) in the U.S., is also used by some foreign universities, including those in North America, Japan and North Korea, according to its official website. During the trial on Sept. 10, a lawyer representing China Academic Journals Electronic Publishing House Co. Ltd., a company linked to the CNKI, said the defendant had attempted to find the copyright owner to pay royalties, but had failed because there was no national system to track those who inherit intellectual property after creators are deceased. “The China Copyright Protection Center doesn’t provide a service to transfer royalties to creators or rights holders. We have no way to pay.” Although the hearing is over, the judge hasn’t set a date to announce a ruling in Wang’s case. A ruling in favor of the deceased writer’s family could affect China’s academic community as it forces online research databases to remove licensed works published without prior permission or royalties to content creators. The case has triggered a heated debate on whether an online database had to seek permission or pay royalties to republish content that was already published on a journal, newspaper or other public platform. Legal experts are divided on the issue. In November 2000, the Supreme People’s Court issued a set of regulations that said online media platforms are able to republish works from others that have already been published on newspapers or magazines after paying royalties unless the author has clearly forbidden any republication. However, the regulation didn’t clarify whether the payment should be made to the original content creator or the third-party magazine or journal that had first published the work. Because of its vagueness, the regulation was abolished in 2006. This had allowed online platforms to republish content after getting permission from publication companies without contacting the copyright owner. The lawyer for the CNKI, who wished to remain anonymous, told the court that the online library had paid royalties to Peking Literature, a journal that had published Wang’s short story and has uploaded the work onto its database before the rules were changed. But the CNKI failed to produce any evidence during the trial that they had paid royalties to Peking Literature. The organization’s lawyer also declined to comment on why the online research library failed to comply with new rules issued in 2006 that said authorization was required from copyright owners to republish the works. In April, 2015, China’s National Copyright Administration tightened the rules, saying “when online media platforms republish works from other publications, copyright owners must give permission and must be paid,” it said. “Magazines and newspapers are exempt from this requirement.” Yang Ming, a professor at Peking University Law School, said, “It is a huge problem (in terms of economic losses) if the online platform is unwilling to pay copyright owners. Under the Copyright Law, newspapers or magazines can cite works openly published by other publications. But online libraries like the CNKI are not exempt from getting permission and paying royalties.” But other experts say it is impractical to enforce such strict copyright laws in a digital age given the short publication deadlines. Lai Xiaopeng, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law, is calling for more flexibility. He proposes creating a collective-copyright management system that allows online platforms to deal with one central organization instead of having to hunt down individual IP owners. “It’s useful to encourage a third-party organization like the Copyright Society to manage copyrights collectively,” Lai said. “The collective copyright management center can sign contracts with online publications to protect the rights of its members. This would allow cut down the time wasted on seeking permission from individuals.” source: https://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-11-10/debate-on-royalties-for-dead-is-alive-and-well-in-china-101168867.html

After raids which took place in 13 German states on Wednesday and Thursday in an investigation into an illegal download portal, authorities have blocked usenetrevolution.info - a platform that is believed to have caused millions of euros in losses. During the raids which took place across the country, the apartments of 42 suspects were searched and the servers in the suspects’ homes were shut down, the attorney general's office in Frankfurt said on Friday. Pirated copies of films, music, computer games, software and e-books which were distributed via the German-language portal were also blocked in the crackdown. Authorities moreover confiscated numerous computers, data carriers and network technologies. Usenetrevolution.info went offline on Wednesday. Investigators believe a 49-year-old man from Hesse is one of the prime operators of the platform. According to authorities, he was supported by his 39-year-old wife and three middle-aged men from Hesse - four other people who are suspected of moderating the site. The rest of the suspects are between the ages of 23 and 72, according to a police report. A total of 27,000 members had recently downloaded illegal content from usenetrevolution.info. As a result, the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt report that copyright owners are expected to have incurred losses of at least €2.9 million. Current investigations are being conducted on the grounds of the unauthorized commercial exploitation of copyrighted material. A few of the portal’s servers were reportedly located outside of Germany as well. With the help of the state criminal police office in Hesse, two servers - one located in the Netherlands and another in France - were also shut down. source: https://www.thelocal.de/20171110/illegal-download-portal-shut-down-after-authorities-conduct-nationwide-raids

On the past year and a half, around 80% of illegal operators have gone offline, according to Dutch operators association NL Connect.Since the beginning of 2016, the legal Dutch television platform providers have been working closely together to detect and combat illegal TV offers more effectively. They are satisfied with the results achieved, but they see a shift from illegal activities to illegal IPTV streams and apps. However, the removal of apps with illegal TV offerings prove to be difficult. The operators exchange public information about illegal suppliers, point out to them the illegal nature of their commercial practices and report it to the police. “Since the start of our working group, a large decrease in the number of illegal suppliers has been achieved, partly as a result of our activities. That is to some satisfaction, but we remain vigilant. Illegal providers mislead consumers by giving them the impression that their offerings give access to legal content. Pirates have increasingly professional websites and marketing, which is misleading consumers more and more sophisticatedly. We continue to fight against that,” said Mathieu Andriessen, director of NLConnect. In May of this year, the European Court ruled that the sale of media players with pre-installed add-ons is no longer allowed. Many illegal suppliers have stopped following this ruling. There have also been raids at providers of control word sharing. Andriessen: “he remaining providers are now looking for new illegal roads, such as online IPTV streams and apps in the app stores and beyond. The pirates’ field of activity is moving. However, it turns out to be difficult to have apps with illegal TV offerings removed from Google’s Android app store, for example.” The legal offer of IPTV and other forms of digital television is well developed in the Neterlands. Legal providers invest in user-friendly platforms and offer access to a very wide range of general and premium TV channels, often including Video on Demand and easy viewing of missed broadcasts. They are also working on providing information about and finding the legal offer, such as via film. nl. The fight against illegal TV watching is a joint initiative of NLConnect (the association of telecom and cable companies with Delta, among others), an KPN, M7, VodafoneZiggo, and Fox Networks Group. source: https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2017/11/10/dutch-claim-success-in-battling-piracy/

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Intel and AMD sent shock-waves throughout the tech sphere last Monday when they announced a brand new, first of its kind, product featuring Intel’s Kaby Lake CPU microarchitecture and a discrete Radeon Vega graphics chip from AMD. The new product is expected to debut sometime in the first half of next year, with Intel teasing more details in the first quarter of 2018. The new multi-chip module will go into high performance, light and thin mobile designs. Very few specifications of the new product have been announced to date. One detail that Intel has confirmed is that the GPU will feature 4GB of second generation High Bandwidth Memory. Intel Kaby Lake-G & Mysterious AMD Radeon GPU Pictured A photo of the new custom Intel-AMD chip has been spotted by the folks over at Bits & Chips. The package includes four dies. You can see the first of the three on the left, that’s the Kaby Lake CPU die. On the right we see a package within a package, those two dies are AMD’s Vega graphics chip and the 4GB of second gen High Bandwidth Memory. The AMD graphics chip is clearly significantly larger than the Kaby Lake die, and that’s for good reason. While AMD hasn’t announced the specifications of this GPU yet, we’ve managed to figure that part ourselves thanks to some sleuthing and stitching info together. The GPU has been leaked more than a few times on a number of benchmarking databases, including 3DMark. It features, at least in one configuration, 24 Vega compute units with a total of 1536 stream processors. We’re currently unaware if this is the highest end configuration of the die or whether a higher core count version exists, so stay tuned for that. Depending on the entry spotted in 3DMark the GPU engine operates at anywhere between 1+ and 1.2GHz. The exact figure is still unknown because the chip is still in its post-silicon engineering stage and the clock speeds of the final product will invariably be different. There’s also some variance in the HBM2 clock speeds depending on which engineering sample we’re talking about. Some have HBM2 clocked at 700MHz and others at 800MHz. Again, none of these figures are final and we won’t know for sure until the product is officially out the door next year. What these figures do tell us is that this is going to be one hell of a chip – ~3.3 TFLOPS ~ with performance rivaling that of the PlayStation 4 pro, making it the most powerful non-console APU we’ve seen to date. AMD’s Vega 11 In The Flesh ? If you’ve been following the GPU leak scene for a good while you’re likely asking yourself whether what we’re looking at is a customized version of the fabled Vega 11 GPU and there’s a good chance the answer to that question is yes. We’ve heard way back that AMD was working on a second Vega GPU die designed specifically for mobile devices that would fall under its Vega 10 flagship. Based on the numerous leaks we also know that Vega 11 will feature a single stack of 4GB HBM2 and arrive sometime in late 2017. Additionally, reports emerged back in September that Vega 11 was entering production, which happens to be just in time for Intel’s product launch early next year.

Black Friday is just around the corner, and many retailers have already begun announcing the deals they'll offer this year on the popular shopping day. Now Best Buy has given consumers a taste of some of the sales it has in store this Black Friday on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch games. The electronics retailer shared its Black Friday ad today, and it features many enticing deals, particularly on games. You can pick up a 500 GB Xbox One S for $190, or you can get the console bundled with a copy of Madden NFL 18 for $230. Meanwhile, a 1 TB PS4 will be on sale for $200. Some of this year's major releases will also be on sale for $30, including Destiny 2, Madden NFL 18, NBA 2K18, and Middle-earth Shadow of War. Other notable game sales include: 1-2-Switch -- $25 Assassin's Creed Origins -- $35 Call of Duty: WWII -- $40 Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy -- $25 Disgaea 5 Complete (Switch) -- $20 Dishonored: Death of the Outsider -- $15 Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (Switch) -- $20 The Evil Within 2 -- $25 Horizon: Zero Dawn -- $20 Injustice 2 -- $20 Mass Effect: Andromeda -- $15 Need for Speed Payback -- $35 Nier Automata -- $25 Sonic Forces (Switch) -- $25 Super Bomberman R -- $25 Tekken 7 -- $25 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus -- $25 You don't necessarily need to wait until Black Friday to take advantage of some sales. Best Buy is offering discounts on many items and electronics right now. That includes a handful of titles like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and MLB The Show 17, both of which are $20 online. Best Buy's Black Friday deals will begin on Thanksgiving Day. Stores will open at 5 PM local time in states where they're allowed and close at 1 AM, then reopen at 8 AM on Black Friday proper.

Google is onto making some big changes in the way Chrome works as recently the tech and search engine giant has announced that the popular web browser will finally start blocking irritating website redirects. This means Chrome users won’t have to face those annoying, unwanted and surprise redirects to spammy sites. In their blog post, Product Manager for Google Mr. Ryan Schoen wrote that the company receives feedback from Chrome users which it takes seriously to improve to improve their experience. “1 out of every 5 feedback reports from Chrome users on desktop mention encountering some type of unwanted content,” wrote Schoen. Google says web pages are often redirected to unwanted ads and sites due to third-party content embedded in the page which is not intended by the page author. In Chrome 64 Google will solve the issue by displaying an infobar instead of redirecting the page. While Chrome 64 will solve website redirect issue, Chrome 65 will introduce a new feature aimed at preventing the main tab from being redirected. This means Google is tackling the problem where sometimes when a user clicks on a link it opens in a new tab while the original webpage is redirected to other page displaying unwanted ads and popups. Moreover, Google will also block third-party redirections caused by links disguised as play buttons or other site controls, or transparent overlays on websites which once clicked, take users onto website loading tons of unwanted popup ads. Remember, in September this year; Google also announced that from January 2018, Chrome would be blocking auto playback feature for all those ads that have sound. That’s not it; Google has been working to secure Chrome from cyber attacks as well. Therefore, its security team is also planning to block embedded cryptocurrency mining with the new feature. In December 2017, Google Chrome will also warn users of ‘man in the middle’ attack in which an attacker intercepts communication between two systems.

Microsoft loves to tout their long list of Xbox One X enhanced games, but are the improvements really that impressive? Or would most Xbox One X enhanced games still look better on a high-end PC? Now that the Xbox One X is finally out in the wild, we’re free to compare, and it turns out the Xbox One X ( Amazon, $499.00) is surprisingly competitive. For instance, YouTuber Dee Batch has posted a 4K video comparison of Star Wars Battlefront II (which is available to EA Origin/Access subscribers starting today) running on Xbox One X and with ultra settings on a high-end PC. See if you can spot a difference one way or the other. While I’ll admit I’m not the biggest tech head, there appears to be no significant difference in visual quality between the Xbox One X and PC. Perhaps the shadows on the PC are a bit higher quality, but, on the flip side, the Xbox One X version actually appears to run a bit better – the fiery forest scene starting at around 5:30 seems to suffer from a bit of stutter on the PC. For the record, here’s the fairly beastly rig Dee Batch was running the game on: CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor Memory: 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory Video Card: XFX Radeon RX VEGA 64 8GB Video Card Operating System: Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ResetEra poster Digitalrelic did a rough breakdown of Dee Batch’s machine, and figured it cost at least $1400 to put together. So, in other words, the $500 Xbox One X is able to compete quite respectably with a $1400 top-of-the-line PC. I’m sure folks with sharper eyes than mine will find some minor advantages on the PC, but are they worth shelling out an extra $900 for? I suppose that’s up to you. Star Wars Battlefront II storms onto PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on November 17. You can pick up an Xbox One X right now.

Authorities in Germany are reporting a huge operation targeting two popular 'pirate' forums. Raids were carried out on homes and commercial premises connected to 26 suspects, while data centers in Germany, Spain, Netherlands, San Marino, Switzerland and Canada were searched. Germany has already filed a request with Spain to extradite an assumed ringleader. Once upon a time, large-scale raids on pirate operations were a regular occurrence, with news of such events making the headlines every few months. These days things have calmed down somewhat but reports coming out of Germany suggests that the war isn’t over yet. According to a statement from German authorities, the Attorney General in Dresden and various cybercrime agencies teamed up this week to take down sites dedicated to sharing copyright protected material via the Usenet (newsgroups) system. Huge amounts of infringing items were said to have been made available on a pair of indexing sites – 400,000 on Town.ag and 1,200,000 on Usenet-Town.com. “Www.town.ag and www.usenet-town.com were two of the largest online portals that provided access to films, series, music, software, e-books, audiobooks, books, newspapers and magazines through systematic and unlawful copyright infringement,” the statement reads. Visitors to these URLs are no longer greeted by the usual warez-fest, but by a seizure banner placed there by German authorities. Seizure banner on Town.ag and Usenet-Town.com (translated) Following an investigation carried out after complaints from rightsholders, 182 officers of various agencies raided homes and businesses Wednesday, each connected to a reported 26 suspects. In addition to searches of data centers located in Germany, servers in Spain, Netherlands, San Marino, Switzerland, and Canada were also targeted. According to police the sites generated income from ‘sponsors’, netting their operators millions of euros in revenue. One of those appears to be Usenet reseller SSL-News, which displays the same seizure banner. Rightsholders claim that the Usenet portals have cost them many millions of euros in lost sales. Arrest warrants were issued in Spain and Saxony against two German nationals, 39 and 31-years-old respectively. The man arrested in Spain is believed to be a ringleader and authorities there have been asked to extradite him to Germany. At least 1,000 gigabytes of data were seized, with police scooping up numerous computers and other hardware for evidence. The true scale of material indexed is likely to be much larger, however. Online chatter suggests that several other Usenet-related sites have also disappeared during the past day but whether that’s a direct result of the raids or down to precautionary measures taken by their operators isn’t yet clear. source: torrentfreak

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