Tracker's Name: rainbownationsharing.net Genre: other Sign-up Link: http://rainbownationsharing.net/index.php Closing date: 8th nov Additional information: is a private tracker about ebook, audiobook

Members and supporters of the newly-established Coalition Against Piracy gathered at the annual CASBAA Convention in Macau on November 7th to mark the initiation of joint work in southeast Asia against Illicit Streaming Devices (ISDs) and the app networks that underpin them. In toasting the launch, Birathon Kasemsri, Chief Commercial Officer, True Visions Group, described piracy as “an international issue that cannot be dealt with by a single entity or country alone. It cannot be dealt with by a single platform alone. It must be a coordinated, integrated effort. We need to create an environment where we can grow and prosper. I invite you to put all your efforts together to make CAP the new initiative in the region a huge success – because we can only prosper from CAP’s success,” he added. The Coalition, which brings together a wide range of content providers and major pay-TV platform operators, was established by multichannel video Association CASBAA to provide a vehicle for cooperation in copyright and anti-fraud enforcement against the small streaming devices which media publications have described as ‘the little black box(es) which took over piracy’. The illicit TV boxes have become a major drag on both traditional pay-TV and ‘new media’ OTT markets in Asia; a recent market survey reported that 14 per cent of consumers in Singapore, for example, admit to regularly using an ISD. And those numbers are believed to be growing. “The driving force behind establishment of CAP is the need for united, collective action by all branches of the video industry,” said CASBAA Chief Policy Officer John Medeiros. “Sports, films, TV series, international as well as local content – everyone trying to deliver quality content to the public is threatened by the inundation of ISD boxes and apps from commercial piracy syndicates. CAP aims to bring all these stakeholders together, and work in parallel with other similar coalitions around the world.” In outlining CAP’s key priorities, Neil Gane, CAP General Manager, said that two immediate priorities would be the disruption of the ISD ecosystem at its source and enhanced intermediary engagement with both eCommerce platforms and financial processors to disrupt transactions at the point of sale. “Disrupting illicit commercial transactions is a key component of any anti-piracy strategy,” he added. source: http://advanced-television.com/2017/11/07/southeast-asia-coalition-against-piracy-unveiled/

Web-blocking, a preferred anti-piracy tactic of the music and movie industries in numerous countries, might be about to become a thing in the US following a landmark ruling in a copyright dispute with Sci-Hub, the website sometimes dubbed the “Pirate Bay of science”. As previously reported, it’s the American Chemical Society that sued Sci-Hub for distributing academic papers it had published without licence. As often happens with piracy cases, the pirates chose not to defend themselves, so in September the ACS requested a default judgement in its favour. Last month, a magistrate judge in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia recommended that that default judgement be issued. In that recommendation, in addition to awarding the ACS $5 million in statutory damages that it will probably never see, judge John Anderson recommended that “internet search engines, web hosting and internet service providers” should be ordered to “cease facilitating” access to Sci-Hub. Web-blocking, where ISPs are ordered to block users from accessing copyright infringing websites, has become a frequently employed anti-piracy tactic in numerous countries, not least the UK. It has proven most useful when copyright owners are taking on piracy sites based in jurisdictions where it is hard to enforce intellectual property rights. However, back in 2012, when US Congress was considering proposals to introduce a specific law that allowed web-blocking, there was a big hoo haa in Washington orchestrated by the tech sector. So much so, Congress abandoned its web-blocking proposals. After Anderson proposed a web-block injunction as part of the judgement in the Sci-Hub case, the Computer And Communications Industry Association submitted a paper to the court which stated that: “[The] plaintiff is seeking – and the magistrate judge has recommended – a permanent injunction that would sweep in various neutral service providers, despite their having violated no laws and having no connection to this case”. This, the CCIA argued, went against the wishes of Congress. It wrote: “What ACS seeks, in the posture of a permanent injunction against non-parties, goes beyond what Congress was willing to permit … [the] request must be rejected”. But the more senior judge who had to review Anderson’s recommendations, Leonie Brinkema, has not rejected the request. Instead, she has issued an injunction that orders “any person or entity in active concert or participation with defendant Sci-Hub and with notice of the injunction, including any internet search engines, web hosting and internet service providers, domain name registrars, and domain name registries” to “cease facilitating access to any or all domain names and websites through which Sci-Hub engages in unlawful access to, use, reproduction, and distribution of ACS’s trademarks or copyrighted works”. Or, to paraphrase, web-block that fucker. It remains to be seen how American internet service providers now respond when ACS seeks to enforce its injunction and demands they start web-blocking Sci-Hub. They’ll presumably object. Though, it has to be said, in most countries, while ISPs initially fight web-blocking, most then fall in line and adhere to any web-block injunctions that come their way. Some even overtly support web-blocking. Interestingly, the injunction also orders internet search engines to cease facilitating access to Sci-Hub, which suggests Google could be forced to delist the scientific piracy site. That’s even more interesting, of course, because just as Brinkema was issuing this injunction, another American court was telling Google that a Canadian injunction ordering it to delist the website of an IP infringing tech company worldwide couldn’t apply in the US. That court agreed with the web giant that the court order from Canada probably conflicted with American internet and free speech law. So that’s fun. Sci-Hub, of course, will likely stay out of this debate, and simply ignore the ACS ruling. But it remains to be seen how the American tech sector now responds. source: http://www.completemusicupdate.com/article/scientific-copyright-case-brings-web-blocking-to-the-usa/

Call of Duty: WWII has been out for a little under a week and, as far as multiplayer launches go, it hasn’t been off to the best start. Launch day saw players unable to login to online services within the game for the first two hours that it was live, and other players have been experiencing interruptions and queue times since. Today, Sledgehammer Games announced the game’s first update which seeks to address what has been on most players minds. They begin by discussing the changes that were made directly after the game launched that allowed them to increase server loads. The team claims that connectivity issues stemmed from the extremely high volume of players that were attempting to log in in such a short period of time. They mention how they made Headquarters a solo experience and deactivated the leaderboard updates in order to further increase “live connectivity.” The team promises, however, that Headquarters will revert back to they multiplayer nature as soon as things smooth out. So don’t worry, you’ll be able to blast unsolicited music at strangers again soon. Additionally, players may have noticed that they lost a few of their multiplayer levels, but the issue has since been fixed– even if those levels are gone for good (the team reports that the majority of those affected only lost five or fewer levels). Players who were affected should reach out to @ATVIAssist on Twitter for help and recompense. source: https://www.dualshockers.com/call-duty-wwii-update-connection-interruptions/

The cyptocurrency mining on The Pirate Bay and Politifact is less a question of hacking or exploitation, and more a catalyst for decreasing ad revenue and increasing volunteer computing. CRYPTOCURRENCY MINING AND ADS In September The Pirate Bay (TPB) ran an experiment on its site: could it replace its advertising revenue by using 20-30% of users unused CPU to mine bitcoins? The trial has reportedly ended with no further communication from the torrent service, and in the silence lies an under-discussed and underdeveloped idea which could shift the modus operandi of the internet. The experiment was followed by a series of recent hacks, of which Politifact was the most prominent, in which a surreptitiously-placed JavaScript tag was inserted into the footer of certain websites in order to take control of userss CPUs to mine cryptocurrencies. Politifact quickly removed the code and started looking in to how it got there, across the websites which fell victim 500 million computers were said to have been affected. Though hacking might – at the very least – provoke a firm “tut”, the prospect of not opening up websites to be unceremoniously greeted by interstitial advertisements or auto-play videos is one I find too sumptuous to disregard so quickly. VOLUNTEER COMPUTING To return to TPB as an example, the idea that users would prefer to donate a portion of their CPUs than be bombarded with ads (which also use up CPU and can contain malware) must be worth exploring. A 2014 report by McAfee claimed to have found this form of mining almost impossible, in part due to the attrition rate of affected machines. But 500 million computers doesn’t immediately strike one as the kind of number beset by a high attrition rate and, if the mining was consensual, the attrition rate would presumably drop dramatically. In any case, further exploration of the idea should not be inhibited by current sub-par performance. Technology takes time to develop as innovative minds set to work on incremental, iterative improvements. My first computer had a 2GB hardrive, less than 9% of my current computer’s hard drive which also happens to be less than 9% the size of my first: in 2001 the idea of fitting 237GB in a machine which could fit in a manilla envelope was unthinkable, and now the idea of operating a machine with a 2GB hard drive seems absurd. To the same extent, some point in the future might come a time when opening up a website full of adverts dancing around the core content seems absurd. The appeal is not simply to an uninterrupted online user experience – though that does currently seem like some form of utopia – an ability to donate CPU has further applications. The Australian DreamLab app allows the Garvan Institute access to users phone’s unused processing power each night as their phone lies charging. The ability to crowd source computing power has allowed 90,000 Australians to help crunch 17.5 million calculations in contribution to mapping genetic cancer markers, for free. A computer’s processing power is fluid, and can be assigned to the user when it’s required, but when it isn’t it as redundant as it would be gratefully received by many scientific institutions. Earlier this year IBM’s World Community Grid was able to announce its ability to help researchers to complete thousands of years’ worth of research in the space of just a few years thanks to open-sourcing surplus computer power. Having analysed millions of compounds and chemicals the scientific community is now a significant step closer to identifying effective compounds for use in solar panels and a cure for childhood neuroblastoma. The consideration of the world’s excess computing power as something which, given user consent, can be used to fund startups quickly or be applied as a new form of charitable donation, will surely reap exponentially increasing dividends as processors become smaller, more powerful and cheaper. If you’d like to contribute you can download UoC Berkeley’s BOINC program which will allow your choice from a range of projects access to your computer’s unused potential. source: https://sociable.co/technology/cryptocurrency-mining-ad-revenue-volunteer-computing/

Tracker's Name: Deathlord Genre: General Sign-up Link: http://deathlord.eu/signup_rules.php Closing date: N/A Additional information: is a private tracker about general stuff

Tracker's Name: Libranet Genre: e-learning Sign-up Link: http://libranet.org/signup.php Closing date: 31/12/2017 Additional information: is a private tracker about e-learning stuff

After blocking dozens of torrent and streaming sites, rightsholders in Australia have switched towards premium IPTV. For a monthly fee, HD Subs delivers at least 600 live premium channels plus hundreds of top movies on demand, via set-top boxes and its own app. Village Roadshow and several major studios want to put an end to the practice. Website blocking has become one of the leading anti-piracy mechanisms in recent years and is particularly prevalent across Europe, where thousands of sites are now off-limits by regular means. More recently the practice spread to Australia, where movie and music industry bodies have filed several applications at the Federal Court. This has rendered dozens of major torrent and streaming inaccessible in the region, after local ISPs complied with orders compelling them to prevent subscriber access. While such blocking is now commonplace, Village Roadshow and a coalition of movie studios have now switched tack, targeting an operation offering subscription-based IPTV services. The action targets HDSubs+, a fairly well-known service that provides hundreds of otherwise premium live channels, movies, and sports for a relatively small monthly fee, at least versus the real deal. A small selection of channels in the HDSubs+ package ComputerWorld reports that the application for the injunction was filed last month. In common with earlier requests, it targets Australia’s largest ISPs including Telstra, Optus, TPG, and Vocus, plus the subsidiaries. Access to HDSubs.com appears to be limited, possibly by the platform’s operators, so that visitors from desktop machines are redirected back to Google. However, access to the platform is available by other means and that reveals a fairly pricey IPTV offering. As seen in the image below, the top package (HD Subs+), which includes all the TV anyone could need plus movies and TV shows on demand, weighs in at US$239.99 per year, around double the price of similar packages available elsewhere. Broad selection of channels but quite pricey If the court chooses to grant the injunction, ISPs will not only have to block the service’s main domain (HDSubs.com) but also a range of others which provide the infrastructure for the platform. Unlike torrent and streaming sites which tend to be in one place (if we discount proxies and mirrors), IPTV services like HD Subs often rely on a number of domains to provide a sales platform, EPG (electronic program guide), software (such as an Android app), updates, and sundry other services. As per CW, in the HD Subs case they are: ois001wfr.update-apk.com, ois005yfs.update-apk.com, ois003slp.update-apk.com, update002zmt.hiddeniptv.com, apk.hiddeniptv.com, crossepg003uix.hiddeniptv.com, crossepg002gwj.hiddeniptv.com, mpbs001utb.hiddeniptv.com, soft001rqv.update-apk.com and hdsubs.com. This switch in tactics by Village Roadshow and the other studios involved is subtle but significant. While torrent and streaming sites provide a largely free but fragmented experience, premium IPTV services are direct commercial competitors, often providing a more comprehensive range of channels and services than the broadcasters themselves. While quality may not always be comparable with their licensed counterparts, presentation is often first class, giving the impression of an official product which is comfortably accessed via a living room TV. This is clearly a concern to commercial broadcasters. As reported last week, global IPTV traffic is both huge and growing, so expect more of these requests Down Under. Previous efforts to block IPTV services include those in the UK, where the Premier League takes targeted action against providers who provide live soccer. These measures only target live streams when matches are underway and as far as we’re aware, there are no broader measures in place against any provider. This could mean that the action in Australia, to permanently block a provider in its entirety, is the first of its kind anywhere. source: torrentfreak

Intel has just recently announced its long speculated new ‘Core’ processor that combines high performance CPU with a discrete GPU from AMD for an incredible graphics and compute performance package. Coupled with HBM memory, the main advantage of this approach is incredible power savings as well as increased performance over the traditional integrated GPUs (which used technology licensed from NVIDIA.) We will cover the official press release first, then move on to the benchmarks and leaks. Intel announces new Core-H processor that includes a discrete Radeon GPU coupled with 4GB HBM memory New Intel Design and Packaging Innovations Reduce Silicon Footprint by More Than 50%, Enable Real-Time Power Sharing Across CPU and GPU for Optimal Performance The new product, which will be part of our 8th Gen Intel Core family, brings together our high-performing Intel Core H-series processor, second generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2) and a custom-to-Intel third-party discrete graphics chip from AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group* – all in a single processor package. “Our collaboration with Intel expands the installed base for AMD Radeon GPUs and brings to market a differentiated solution for high-performance graphics,” said Scott Herkelman, vice president and general manager, AMD Radeon Technologies Group. “Together, we are offering gamers and content creators the opportunity to have a thinner-and-lighter PC capable of delivering discrete performance-tier graphics experiences in AAA games and content creation applications. This new semi-custom GPU puts the performance and capabilities of Radeon graphics into the hands of an expanded set of enthusiasts who want the best visual experience possible.” Intel recently confirmed at their Technology and Manufacturing Day that they’ll be moving towards a more robust and heterogeneous architecture. The new architectural layout will allow Intel to mix and match various CPU components and dies based on different process nodes and interlinking them on a single chip. This would allow Intel to do away with the cost and efficiency of a single monolithic design and utilize smarter and more efficient designs for their future processors. The new processors will utilize an embedded, multi-die interconnect bridge allowing for high density and high bandwidth, die-to-die interconnects. Intel ‘Kaby Lake’ Core i7 8705G and Core i7 8809G Processors with Integrated Radeon Graphics Leaked Benchmarks and Further Details While Intel has chosen to remain tight lipped about details surrounding their upcoming lineup, the rumor mill has already had a boatload of leaks on the series. Dubbed the Kaby Lake G series lineup, it will have a dedicated Radeon GPU. According to the leaked specifications, here is what we know about the chip so far: · The dGPU will have 24 compute units for a total of 1536 stream processors · The clock rates that we have seen are around 1000-1100 MHz for a maximum performance of 3.3 TFLOPs · The family of Radeon GPUs used has the following board names: 694C:C0 and 694E:C0 · The 4GB HBM memory of the 694C variants has been clocked at 800 MHz with the 694E variants clocked at 700 MHz · The entire Kaby Lake G family has 4 cores and 8 threads · The known SKUs at this time are the Intel Core i7-8705G and the Intel Core i7-8809G · The base clock is being read as 3.1 GHz with boost clocks going up to 4.1 GHz Intel Core i7 8809G Engineering Sample GFXBench Benchmark The first benchmark we have comes straight from GFXBench. As we have mentioned in the past this isn’t really a good benchmark since it tends to be heavily influenced by driver condition and therefore is not really indicative of the final performance one can expect from these devices. Still it forms a valuable data point for future reference. The 694C:C0 device (aka Kaby Lake G with Integrated Radeon Graphics) scores around 6393 in the Car Chase scene, 7367 in Manhattan 3.1 and 31088 in the T-Rex scenario. Intel Core i7 8809G Engineering Sample Geekbench Benchmark The second benchmark is from the famous Geekbench. This entry also helped us nail down the clock speed as well as some other oddities of the lineup and results in an OpenCL score of 76607. Intel Core i7 8705G Engineering Sample Ashes of the Singularity Benchmark Finally we have a real gaming benchmark which comes from TUM APISAK and showcases the performance of the chip with a real game. The core clock of the processor is also revealed as well as its performance. The High 1080p preset was used to run the benchmark and shows close to expected performance for the specifications revealed. Intel Core i7 8809G and 8705G Eng Sample 3DMark 11 Performance benchmark Finally we have the 3DMark performance benchmark which should be a fairly decent metric to compare the power of the chip with other integrated solutions. As far as I know this remains the most powerful on-chip graphics solution that the world has ever seen. Cliche statements aside this is honestly one of the more interesting developments of this year and I cannot wait to see it in action. Keep in mind however that AMD’s offerings currently ship with Vega graphics and it remains to be seen how these compare to them. In any case, it looks like NVIDIA is the only loser in this equation. source: wccftech

A new update has been released today for The Evil Within 2, the second entry in the series developed by Tango Softworks. The new update, update 1.02, is only available on consoles as of now and it introduces Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro support. Specifically, the update adds the ability to play the game at a higher resolution and unlocked frame rate on either console. The Evil Within 2 is a very good game with a lot of tension, despite not being as scary as the best survival horror games ever released. As a horror game, I’m not sure The Evil Within 2 could stand up on its own. With the occasional jump scare and some good direction you might get the right tone once in a while, but for the most part the game fails to deliver on the overall sense of horror. Behind that, though, is a great game with interesting enemies, a story that makes no sense but doesn’t need to and some really good piece of imaginative art design. It’s probably better that it’s less scary, the game will hopefully find a home for people looking for something on the borders of scary rather than just those few hardcore horror fans. The Evil Within 2 is now available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Leaked documents concerning the Copyright Directive show that France, Spain and Portugal have joined forces in the Council of the European Union to attack the cornerstones of internet freedom in Europe. The documents show that the three countries propose elevating fighting copyright violations to a special status – above combating terrorism, child abuse and serious online crime. This would put our fundamental rights on the line, and create legal chaos for service providers in Europe. No more hosting services Under existing rules, internet hosting companies are not liable for unauthorised content uploaded by their users, unless they fail to act quickly to remove that content, once they are informed about it. The proposal is to leave that law in place, but redefine the services provided by hosting providers so that pretty much nobody is covered by that legislation (the e-Commerce Directive). How is this done? Firstly, the leaked document says that any company that allows users to upload content that could be copyrighted or subject to any property right (“other subject matter” such as, choreography, for example) is performing an act of “communication to the public”. This means that the service provider is performing an activity that requires authorisation by rightsholders – unless at all times the provider can be sure that nothing that is, or could conceivably be, subject to a property right is being uploaded. Specifically, the proposal is that companies “that store works or other subject-matter uploaded by their users and are actively involved in providing access to the public to such contents” should no longer be considered hosting companies, even if this is pretty much the definition of hosting. This means that hosting services (that optimise the content they store in any way) would need to carry out constant monitoring of everything that is uploaded to their services – and delete anything that might create a risk – as they will be directly liable for anything their users do. Mandatory surveillance of all uploads Having already made it virtually impossible to provide a hosting service without being licensed by all relevant collective rights management groups (film, audio, image, etc), the three countries go further: They demand that larger providers (those that store an undefined “significant” amount of material) should not only have to monitor everything that is being uploaded, but should also be required to “prevent the availability” of content that is identified by rightsholders (by using content identification and upload filtering). This would be flanked with an additional obligation to inform the multitude of rightsholders “on the functioning” of those measures. Redress mechanisms? A patently inadequate and complicated complaints mechanism is proposed in order to make the proposal seem balanced. Under this mechanism: a user could complain to the provider who filtered out the content, who would process the complaint and; pass it on to the rightsholder (who asked for the filtering to happen) who would process the complaint within a “reasonable” period of time and; inform the provider, who would inform the user who may or may not be happy with the outcome, but has no more redress. The rightsholders would have no liability for false claims of ownership. It seems irrelevant to the French, Spanish and Portuguese that the European Court has ruled that it is unacceptable to impose a filtering obligation on providers if that filtering: is of all electronic communications passing via its services; (as in this case) applies indiscriminately to all its customers; (as proposed in this case) is done as a preventive measure; (as proposed in this case) is done exclusively at the provider’s expense; (as proposed in this case ) and is done for an unlimited period; (as proposed in this case) The Court also ruled against filtering by social media in the Netlog/Sabam case. Another related leak from the Estonian Presidency reveals that it is letting the three countries set their agenda without interference. It seems that the Estonian Presidency is, again, choosing political expediency over the rights of European citizens and the free and open internet – and the Estonian ethos of a well-regulated, digital-friendly society. We have prepared a document to show how carefully the Estonian Presidency is following the three countries that are proposing these extreme measures. Duty of care But France, Spain and Portugal’s approach to the Copyright Directive also risks creating chaos for another reason – clarity. The legal basis of the Directive in this case is to harmonise the EU single market. Once adopted, it has to be “transposed” into national law, leaving Member States considerable flexibility about how this is done. Directives need to be very clear to avoid divergent implementations in different Member States. Directives consist of articles and explanatory “recitals”. The recitals proposed by the three countries are remarkable by any stretch of the imagination. The three countries propose enhancing this harmonisation by suggesting to the 27 Member States (and their 27 judicial systems) that they can “expect” companies under their jurisdiction to enact an undefined “duty of care”. This would cover internet companies that are – and are not – communicating to the public and internet companies that are – or are not – covered by Article 14 (hosting services) of the E-Commerce Directive. The 27 Member States and their court systems, when implementing the Directive, would create and interpret the “expectation” of this “duty” that would encourage companies to implement undefined “appropriate and proportionate tools” to protect “works or other subject matter” when their services are “impacting” on the exploitation of copyrighted works. These missing definitions and vague language (“significant”, “expect”, “duty”, “prevent”, “impacting”) would result in 27 different national laws (interpreted by 27 national court systems) in the EU on how this “duty of care” would be implemented. The only point of consistency would be that this would apply only to copyrighted content (and, of course, “other subject matter”). As a reminder: Content that is considered less important by the EU Council, like terrorism (nothing similar was approved in the terrorism Directive adopted earlier in 2017) or child exploitation (nothing similar was approved in the child exploitation Directive adopted in 2011) would not be subject to this unclear “duty” and existing rules would continue to apply. This proposal is great news – but only for a few! It is great news for service providers outside the EU that can take over the EU hosting market once EU companies are driven out; and it is great news for repressive regimes that are already pointing to EU policy and practices to justify their internet crackdowns. Yet, it is less good news for fundamental rights, privacy, freedom of expression, European companies, victims of repressive regimes, or the rule of law. source: https://edri.org/leak-three-eu-countries-join-forces-to-stamp-out-free-speech-online/

Ubisoft has released Assassin’s Creed Origins Patch 1.04 which improves the game’s performance and stability. Update 1.0.3, which added Xbox One X support and new photomode features alongside numerous improvements, was released last week. Release notes for the latest 1.04 update are minimal, but mention further performance and stability improvements. Origins was officially announced during this year’s E3 event. Development on the title began following the completion of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag back in 2014. The game includes a new game mode called Discovery Tour which allows players to explore the diverse landscapes of Ancient Egypt and learn about its rich history from audio guided tours. This new mode will be a free update for all Assassin’s Creed Origins owners available in early 2018. “From the beginning the Assassin’s Creed franchise has always explored pivotal moments in history, from the Third Crusade to the Italian Renaissance, and this year Ancient Egypt.” said Jean Guesdon, Creative Director of Assassin’s Creed Origins. “It’s a dream come true for us to offer Discovery Tour by Assassin’s Creed: Ancient Egypt, an educational mode built specifically for people to learn more about the incredible history of Ancient Egypt through the interactive experience made possible via a video game.” Assassin’s Creed Origins is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Sci-Hub, often referred to as the "Pirate Bay of Science," has suffered another blow in a US federal court. The American Chemical Society has won a default judgment of $4.8 million for alleged copyright infringement against the site. In addition, the publisher was granted an unprecedented injunction which requires search engines and ISPs to block the platform. Earlier this year the American Chemical Society (ACS), a leading source of academic publications in the field of chemistry, filed a lawsuit against Sci-Hub and its operator Alexandra Elbakyan. The non-profit organization publishes tens of thousands of articles a year in its peer-reviewed journals. Because many of these are available for free on Sci-Hub, ACS wants to be compensated. Sci-Hub was made aware of the legal proceedings but did not appear in court. As a result, a default was entered against the site. In addition to millions of dollars in damages, ACS also requested third-party Internet intermediaries to take action against the site. The broad request was later adopted in a recommendation from Magistrate Judge John Anderson. This triggered a protest from the tech industry trade group CCIA, which represents global tech firms including Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, that warned against the broad implications. However, this amicus brief was denied. Just before the weekend, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a final decision which is a clear win for ACS. The publisher was awarded the maximum statutory damages of $4.8 million for 32 infringing works, as well as a permanent injunction. The injunction is not limited to domain name registrars and hosting companies, but expands to search engines, ISPs and hosting companies too, who can be ordered to stop linking to or offering services to Sci-Hub. “Ordered that any person or entity in active concert or participation with Defendant Sci-Hub and with notice of the injunction, including any Internet search engines, web hosting and Internet service providers, domain name registrars, and domain name registries, cease facilitating access to any or all domain names and websites through which Sci-Hub engages in unlawful access to, use, reproduction, and distribution of ACS’s trademarks or copyrighted works,” the injunction reads. There is a small difference with the recommendation from the Magistrate Judge. Instead of applying the injunction to all persons “in privity” with Sci-Hub, it now applies to those who are “in active concert or participation” with the pirate site. The injunction means that Internet providers, such as Comcast, can be requested to block users from accessing Sci-Hub. That’s a big deal since pirate site blockades are not common in the United States. The same is true for search engine blocking of copyright-infringing sites. It’s clear that the affected Internet services will not be happy with the outcome. While the CCIA’s attempt to be heard in the case failed, it’s likely that they will protest the injunction when ACS tries to enforce it. Previously, Cloudflare objected to a similar injunction where the RIAA argued that it was “in active concert or participation” with the pirate site MP3Skull. Here, Cloudflare countered that the DMCA protects the company from liability for the copyright infringements of its customers, limiting the scope of anti-piracy injunctions. However, a Florida federal court ruled that the DMCA doesn’t apply in these cases. It’s likely that ISPs and search engines will lodge similar protests if ACS tries to enforce the injunction against them. While this case is crucial for copyright holders and Internet services, Sci-Hub itself doesn’t seem too bothered by the blocking prospect or the millions in damages it must pay on paper. It already owes Elsevier $15 million, which it can’t pay, and a few million more or less doesn’t change anything. Also, the site has a Tor version which can’t be blocked by Internet providers, so determined scientists will still be able to access the site if they want. source: torrentfreak

Tracker's Name: animelatino Genre: anime Sign-up Link: http://www.animelatino.org/tracker/signup.php Closing date: N/A Additional information: is a private tracker about anime from latinoamerica

Been meaning to try out StarCraft II for the past seven years? Well, you’re finally out of excuses, as Blizzard has announced their venerable real-time strategy game will be going free-to-play later this month. Here’s what players will be able to get for free: The original Wings of Liberty campaign – Experience the original epic campaign that kicked off the StarCraft II saga! If you already own Wings of Liberty, you’ll receive the second installment in StarCraft II’s campaign, the Zerg-focused Heart of the Swarm, for free. Ranked multiplayer ladder – Compete with other players to become the best of the best, complete with all of the multiplayer units from Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void. All you have to do to unlock it permanently is earn 10 First Wins of the Day in Unranked or Versus A.I. play. This is our way to preserve the quality and integrity of the ranked experience. Current and upcoming Co-op Commanders up to level five – You’ll be able to tackle these extra challenging missions with your friends right away. The Co-op Commanders Raynor, Kerrigan, and Artanis will remain completely free, meaning that you can keep leveling them to your heart’s content. You’ll still have to pay for the StarCraft II expansions Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, and Nova Covert Ops ($15 dollars each, of $40 for all three), but that’s still a lot of free content! The entire first single-player campaign and all the multiplayer modes for zero dollars is a pretty good deal. Blizzard also revealed a new StarCraft II co-op commander, which is actually two commanders in one. The team consists of Mira Han and Matt Horner, and should provide a good balance of power and precision. Starcraft II goes free-to-play on November 14.

A new study carried out on behalf of an anti-piracy group in Finland has found that the existence of piracy settlement letters has an effect on the behavior of pirates. According to the study, 13% of people who admit to using unauthorized services quit their behavior after becoming aware of the letters, with 14% stating they had chosen to cut down in response. Figuring out what to do about the online piracy problem is an ongoing puzzle for rightsholders everywhere. What they’re all agreed upon, however, is the need to educate the public. Various approaches have been deployed, from ISP-based ‘education’ notices through to the current practice of painting pirate sites as havens for viruses and malware. The other approach, of course, has been to threaten to sue pirates in an effort to make them change their ways. These threats have traditionally been deployed by so-called copyright trolls – companies and groups who have the sole intention of extracting cash payments from pirates in order to generate an additional revenue stream. At the same time, many insist that their programs are also designed to reduce piracy via word of mouth. While that might be true in some cases, there’s little proof that the approach works. However, a new study carried out on behalf of the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Center (CIAPC) in Finland suggests that they may have had some effect. The survey was carried out between 11 September 2017 and 10 October 2017 among people aged 15 to 79-years-old. In total, 1001 people were interviewed, 77% of whom said they’d never used pirate services. Of all people interviewed, 43% said they’d heard about copyright holders sending settlement letters to Internet users, although awareness rates were higher (between 51% and 55%) among people aged between 25 and 49-years-old. Predictably, awareness jumped to 70% among users of pirate services and it’s these individuals that produced some of the study’s most interesting findings. Of the pirates who said they were aware of settlement letters being sent out, 13% reported that they’d terminated their use of pirate services as a result. A slightly higher figure, 14%, said they’d reduced their use of unauthorized content. Perhaps surprisingly (given that they aren’t likely to receive a letter), the study also found that 17% of people who listen to or play content on illegal online services (implication: streaming) stopped doing so, with 13% cutting down on the practice. “According to the Economic Research Survey, these two groups of respondents are partly overlapping, but it can still be said that the settlement letters have had a decisive impact on the use of pirated services,” CIAPC reports. The study also found support for copyright holders looking to unmask alleged Internet pirates by compelling their ISPs to do so in court. “The survey found that 65 percent of the population is fully or partly in favor of rightsholders being allowed to find out who has infringed their rights anonymously on the Internet,” the group adds. Overall, just 17% of respondents said that rightsholders shouldn’t be able to find out people’s identities. Unsurprisingly, young pirates objected more than the others, with 35% of 25 to 49-year-old pirates coming out against disclosure. That being said, this figure suggests that 65% of pirates in this group are in favor of pirates being unmasked. That appears counter-intuitive, to say the least. Speaking with TorrentFreak, Pirate Party vice council member of Espoo City Janne Paalijärvi says that study seems to have omitted to consider the effects of legal alternatives on pirate consumption. “The analysis seemingly forgets to fully take into account the prevalence of legal streaming services such as Netflix,” Paalijärvi says. “Legitimate, reasonably-priced and easy-to-use delivery platforms are the number one weapon against piracy. Not bullying your audience with copyright extortion letters. The latter approach creates unwanted hostility between artists and customers. It also increases the demand for political parties wanting to balance copyright legislation.” Overall, however, Finland doesn’t appear to have a serious problem with piracy, at least as far as public perceptions go. According to the study, only 5% of citizens believe that unauthorized file-sharing is acceptable. The figure for 2016 was 7%. source: torrentfreak

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