Posts by Prophet

  • Eir in talks for takeover of Setanta Sports

    Eir in talks for takeover of Setanta Sports - Partner BT said to be ‘comfortable’ with a deal for broadcaster


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    Ireland’s biggest telecoms group Eir is in talks to acquire Setanta Sports, the Dublin-based pay television broadcaster.


    The Irish Times has learned that talks are at an advanced stage with a deal likely to be completed in 2016, subject to regulatory approval and competition clearance.


    It is understood that Mickey O’Rourke, Setanta’s majority shareholder and co-founder, would remain with the business for a period after a deal is completed.


    Setanta operates two sports channels in Ireland and has hi-tech production facilities in Dublin’s city centre.


    Last week it signed a “multi-year” extension to its current deal with British telco BT, which was due to expire in 2016.


    This allows its customers to receive BT’s sports channels as part of their Setanta pack.


    It is understood that BT is aware of the discussions taking place with Eir and is comfortable with a deal being agreed.


    No comment was available from either Setanta, Mr O’Rourke or Eir, which was known until recently as Eircom.


    This is part of an ambitious move by Eir to acquire content for its Eir Vision TV platform and to bolster its competitive position against rival cable TV and
    broadband provider Virgin Media, which is owned by American businessman John Malone.


    In July, Mr Malone acquired TV3 for up to €87 million through his company Liberty Global, which also owns Virgin Media here.


    Mr Malone also controls a 9.9 per cent stake in Britain’s ITV, which itself is set to buy the TV assets of Belfast-based UTV.


    This deal will be seen as a move by Eir’s board to bolster its business offering in advance of either another attempt to list on the stock market or a possible trade sale.


    The company pulled a €3 billion flotation last year but is expected to look at this option again, possibly in 2016, as it seeks a liquidity event for its owners.


    For Setanta, a deal would secure its long-term future, although possibly under the Eir brand. It gives it added financial firepower to secure sports rights and to enhance the quality of its productions.


    It is not clear how much Eir would pay to acquire Setanta but industry sources said the company could be worth up to €20 million.


    The sale will yield a windfall for staff, who own 5 to 10 per cent between them.


    It will also benefit former shareholders Leonard Ryan, Mark O’Meara and music promoter Denis Desmond who sold their interests in the business to Mr O’Rourke in recent years via vendor loans.


    Setanta’s Irish company was days away from folding in 2009 following the collapse of its UK business, which had tried to compete with Sky for sports rights .
    It has been on a strong run since 2013, when it signed its BT deal, giving it access to live English Premier League and Uefa Champions League football, along with other sports.


    In an interview with The Irish Times in March, Mr O’Rourke said its annual revenues are about €30 million and it had “well over” 100,000 subscribers in Ireland, across various platforms.


    Setanta made a “small profit” in 2014 and would do the same this year in spite of a €4 million investment in the business, he added.


    Mr O’Rourke will retain ownership of Premier Sports in the UK and Setanta’s Eurasia channel, which broadcasts in Kazakhstan.


    He has other business interests via an investment vehicle called Danu Partners, which he runs with Mr Ryan and Mr O’Meara.

  • Popcorn time’s alive, full comeback in the works

    Last month the most used Popcorn Time fork shut down, with several key developers facing legal action in Canada. The MPAA claimed one of the biggest successes in recent history but the victory may only be temporary. There are already several fixes that make the app work again and one of the original developers is currently working on a full comeback.


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    The main Popcorn Time fork operating from the PopcornTime.io domain name shut down its servers late October citing internal problems.


    A few days later the MPAA took credit for the fall, announcing that it had filed a lawsuit against several of the developers in Canada. In response some developers backed out.


    Faced with an abrupt ending several Popcorn Time users were keen to revive the defunct application. The effort has been a success, with a fully working fix now circulating on Reddit.


    The fixed version uses new APIs so movies and TV-shows now show up again. Instead of using YTS as a movie provider the revived application uses TorrentsAPI, and the TV-show feed has been replaced by a custom API.


    The Reddit fix is only the start. Users of VPN.ht, the VPN service associated with Popcorn Time, were also alerted about a new update to the movie streaming application recently.


    “VPN.ht Movies API FIX installed,” the message read, prompting users to restart the application.


    It turns out that the VPN provider made several changes which allows users to access the Popcorn Time website and client without any issues


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    After the fix is applied Popcorn Time becomes fully operational again, filled with the latest movies as if nothing has happened.


    For now the general public can’t use their old Popcorn Time client without manually applying a fix, but this may change in the near future.


    Popcorn Time developer Wally, who also founded the VPN.ht service, informs TorrentFreak that he could revive Popcorn Time to its full glory.


    “I am still considering a full comeback, I just do not want to release a half working version,” Wally says.


    The developer, who controls both the official Twitter account and mailing list, first wants to make sure that all domain names are out of the MPAA’s reach. This is a concern, as the Canadian lawsuit is still ongoing.


    Wally is not listed as a defendant in the Canadian lawsuit but his name was mentioned in the complaint. In addition, the VPN.ht company was mentioned in both the claim and injunction.


    Instead of fighting Popcorn Time, Wally believes the MPAA should embrace its concept and technology.


    “The popularity of Popcorn Time should be an example for the MPAA to a build a future streaming platform that will be open to the entire world,” Wally says.


    Lawsuits or not, it’s clear that the technology is hard to stop. Even now that the original sources no longer work, people can still use the application as a basic torrent streaming client, manually loading torrents into it.


    The MPAA is not going to be pleased with the plans to relaunch the popular Popcorn Time fork. However, neutral spectators may want to get the popcorn out, as this saga is far from over.

  • Operator of music piracy sites jailed for 3 years

    The former operator of two large music sharing sites has been jailed in the United States. Rocky P. Ouprasith, 23, of Charlotte, N.C., ran RockDizMusic and RockDizFile before they were shut down by the U.S. Government in 2014. He now faces a 36-month prison term, two years of supervised release, and more than $95,000 in forfeits and restitution.


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    In 2010, U.S. authorities launched Operation in Our Sites, an anti-piracy campaign aimed at taking copyright-infringing sites offline.


    After targeting thousands of domains linked to counterfeit goods and making several arrests connected to file-sharing sites, renewed efforts last year saw the closure of two large music sites.


    During October 2014, RockDizFile.com and RockDizMusic.com were taken offline to be replaced by the ICE – Homeland Security Investigations seizure banner.


    Founded in 2011, RockDizMusic had acted as an index for popular new music while RockDizFile was a file-storage site serving as a storage facility for the former.


    During the period of quiet following their shutdown it transpired that their operator, Rocky P. Ouprasith of Charlotte, N.C., had been arrested following the execution of an HSI search warrant.


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    Papers filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia last August claimed that both sites had been operated for profit, with Ouprasith sourcing pirated content online, uploading it to RockDizFile, and offering it for download on RockDizMusic.


    According to the RIAA, in 2013 RockDizFile emerged “as the second largest online file-sharing site in the reproduction and distribution of infringing copies of copyrighted music in the United States.” Court documents placed the market value of the content pirated by the site at more than $6 million.


    In response, Ouprasith entered a guilty plea, admitting one count of criminal copyright infringement. In return he risked five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. Yesterday the 23-year-old was sentenced and it’s bad, but not as bad it could’ve been.


    According to the Department of Justice, Ouprasith was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern District of Virginia to serve a total of 36 months in prison.


    In addition, Ouprasith was sentenced to two years supervised release and was ordered to forfeit almost $51,000 and pay more than $45,000 in restitution. The latter will become payable 60 days after his release at the rate of $200.00 per month or 25% of net income, whichever is greater. No fines were imposed.


    The DoJ said that Ouprasith admitted obtaining copyrighted songs and albums, some pre-release, and uploading them to RockDizFile while encouraging affiliates to do the same. Ouprasith further admitted that he paid those affiliates based on the number of times their content was downloaded from his websites.


    Another apparently aggravating factor was how Ouprasith handled copyright complaints. Instead of taking down content as required, according to the DoJ he either ignored the requests or simply pretended to take remedial action.


    Ouprasith’s attorney, Bobby Howlett Jr. of Norfolk, told the Washington Post that while he’s never happy with a custodial sentence, in this instance he’s satisfied with the conclusion of the case.


    “I’m happy with the outcome — of course, I don’t want many of my clients to go jail and I hate that he’s a young kid with no criminal history facing this, but it could’ve been worse,” Howlett said.


    The RIAA welcomed the sentence and said that Ouprasith’s incarceration should serve as a warning to others thinking of embarking on a similar venture.


    “We congratulate the Department of Justice and Homeland Security Investigations and thank them for their diligence and hard work to bring to justice those who cause millions of dollars in damage to music creators,” said Brad Buckles, EVP of Anti-Piracy.


    “This sentence should send a message that operating a flagrantly illegal business that steals from others by engaging in criminal activity online has real consequences.”


    While three years is a long time inside for a young man, the Court did recommend that the Bureau of Prisons allow Ouprasith to “further his education towards obtaining his college degree” in a facility as “close as possible” to North Carolina.


    The 23-year-old will also get time to put his affairs in order and spend Christmas with family and friends. His sentence is set to begin on January 4, 2016.

  • Sky warns subscribers of more piracy threats incoming

    Sky Broadband is warning customers in the UK that they are likely to receive new correspondence from a porn company regarding alleged illegal downloads. The ISP has sent out letters to subscribers in the past few days advising that Golden Eye International is likely to contact them with demands for cash.


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    All around the world entertainment companies are augmenting their traditional sales with revenue generated from alleged copyright infringers.


    Known as copyright-trolling, the practice sees companies monitor file-sharing networks for people sharing their content. They then use IP addresses to track users down via their ISPs. What follows are threats of legal action and demands for cash to make it all go away.


    The UK has a long history of ‘trolls’ but in more recent times a company called Golden Eye International (GEIL) has been the most active. Run by the individuals behind the ‘Ben Dover’ porn brand, the company has targeted hundreds of people with allegations they downloaded and shared adult content without permission.


    Last week it became evident that GEIL is back again when Sky Broadband began sending out warning letters to its subscribers. A copy obtained by TorrentFreak sent to us by a concerned Sky customer details the situation.


    “We need to let you know about a court order made against Sky earlier this year that requires us to provide your name and address to another company,” the letter from Sky begins.


    “A company called Golden Eye International, which owns rights to several copyrighted films, has claimed that a number of Sky Broadband customers engaged in unlawful file sharing of some of its films.


    “In support of this claims Golden Eye International says it has gathered evidence of individual broadband accounts (identified online by unique numbers called IP addresses) from which it claims the file sharing took place.”


    Sky says that it was not involved in gathering any of the evidence and cannot comment on its accuracy. However, since the company was presented with a court order, it must hand the subscribers’ personal details to Golden Eye International.


    Of course, like everyone familiar with these kinds of matters, Sky Broadband is only too aware why Golden Eye is sending out these letters. The company wants hard cash from Sky’s customers.


    “It’s likely that Golden Eye International will contact you directly and may ask you to pay them compensation,” the ISP warns.


    As far as we’re aware, Golden Eye hasn’t yet contacted any Sky customers following this most recent warning from Sky but those letters probably won’t be too far off. However, the advance letter from Sky is already causing concern.


    In the latter part of last week and over the weekend, TorrentFreak spoke with more than half a dozen Sky subscribers in receipt of the letter. We’re giving each one anonymity but most were concerned about what lies ahead. However, a couple had been reassured by an earlier article on the topic.


    Michael Coyle, a Southampton-based solicitor with huge experience of these cases, says he’s also been receiving calls from worried Sky customers. Previously he’s handled such cases in return for a charitable donation but we understand that he’s now offering to help people for a fraction of the £400 to £600 usually demanded by GEIL.

  • Anonymous declares war on I.S.

    Paris attacks: Anonymous declares war on I.S.


    Hacker group Anonymous says in a video that it will "hunt" Islamic State after its terrorist attacks in Paris, France on Friday



    Anonymous has posted a video declaring war against Islamic State following a series of terror attacks in Paris that have left at least 129 people dead.
    The hacker group, known for its cyber attacks against controversial organisations and individuals, is believed to have uploaded the footage on Friday night.
    In the video, an announcer wearing an Anonynous Guy Fawkes mask and speaking French says: "You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go."


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    "We will launch the biggest operation ever against you.
    "Expect massive cyber attacks. War is declared. Get prepared.
    "The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger."
    It is unclear why the video does not appear on the hacktivist group's YouTube channel.
    The hacker collective, which consists of unrelated volunteers, coders and activists from around the world, launched its anti-Islamic State online campaign, called #OpISIS, after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last January.
    To date, according to an in-depth investigation by Foreign Policy, they have taken down 149 Islamic State-related websites and exposed 101,000 Twitter accounts and 5900 propaganda videos.
    On Twitter alone, the seige is coordinated by four accounts, the latter three of which are bots - @CtrlSec, @CtrlSec0, @CtrlSec1and @CtrlSec2. Through these, they have unmasked the identities of thousands of ISIS-linked Twitter handles over the last nine months.
    Although Anonymous was originally an apolitical hacking group, with no driving ideologies or agenda, it has recently become a defender of free speech on the internet.
    Other social causes it has taken up include exposing members of the white nationalist Ku Klux Klan, supporting democracy advocates in Hong Kong and the Arab world, and organising hacking attacks against American agrochemical corporation Monsanto.
    According to a March 2015 paper by the Brookings Institution titled "The ISIS Twitter Census," there are anywhere from 46,000 to 70,000 Twitter accounts used by ISIS supporters between September to December 2014.
    With ISIS, Twitter has been struggling to balance its support of free speech for all with clamping down on terrorist communications.
    But according to the paper, Twitter had started to suspend large numbers of ISIS accounts by September 2014. About 1000 accounts were suspended between September and December 2014, and 10,000 accounts on April 2 of this year alone.
    But this isn't necessarily a good thing. "While suspensions appear to have created obstacles to supporters joining ISIS’s social network, they also isolate ISIS supporters online," the authors write.
    "This could increase the speed and intensity of radicalization for those who do manage to enter the network."


    The original video in FRENCH


  • The Edward Snowden guide to practical privacy

    NSA whistleblower talks turkey about personal surveillance


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    If you want to limit how much governments and companies know about you and your private life, then use Tor, download specific apps and plug-ins, encrypt your hard drive, and use a password manager.


    Those are among the tips provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in an interview with "digital bodyguard" Micah Lee. The interview, published on The Intercept, is interesting in that it provides a practical guide for protecting your privacy from the very mass surveillance that Snowden revealed in his huge leak of US government documents.


    The guide covers everyone from the typical concerned citizen to someone who may be handling highly sensitive documents. Here are the highlights:


    If you're just an average user concerned about your privacy


    Use Tor when browsing. You don't have to use Tor all the time (it does slow things down considerably and some sites will also block Tor traffic). But if you are looking at or for something that you feel is sensitive, then either set up your browser to work with Tor or use the Tor browser.
    Use an ad-blocker. Says Snowden: "As long as service providers are serving ads with active content that require the use of Javascript to display, that have some kind of active content like Flash embedded in it, anything that can be a vector for attack in your web browser – you should be actively trying to block these."
    Use a password manager. It doesn't matter how many surveys and reports come out that tell people to use different passwords and complex passwords, a huge percentage of us maintain borderline idiotic approaches. The simple answer is: get a password manager. It will protect you.
    Use two-factor authentication. Many services such as Gmail, Twitter, Dropbox, Hotmail, and Facebook offer this now for no charge. So even if your password does get exposed, you still have a backup such as a text message to your phone to secure your information.
    Use apps that protect your information. Snowden suggests the smartphone app Signal, which encrypts both your phone calls and texts. It's free and easy to use. Although of course, following a high-profile argument with the FBI, it would appear that Apple's messaging service is also pretty secure (although Snowden would probably have doubts).
    Use the HTTPS Everywhere browser plug-in. This comes from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and will try to force all browser communication to be encrypted.
    Encrypt your hard drive. This is comparatively easy these days but you have to be careful to do two things: one, have a longish phrase to make it worthwhile; and two, make damn sure you remember that phrase. There will be a slowdown in performance but nothing too bad if you have a modern machine.
    Be smart with your security questions. Stop using your mother's maiden name for everything. Likewise your first school. The key is to mix things up as much as possible so if someone does get into one of your accounts, they can't use the same information to get in everywhere else.
    On this issue – the average Joe – there was a cautionary tale just today on why these things are necessary even if you're not a journalist working on confidential material or a whistleblower or someone protecting valuable secrets.


    Business journalist Jeff Bercovici lost nine years of Facebook data when he forgot about an old Hotmail email address, didn't use two-factor authentication, and presumably used a weak password. Someone in Turkey accessed that account and used it to take over his Facebook profile.


    By the time Jeff got back, the man had deleted all of his Facebook data. A huge pain and shame, but that information could just as easily have been used to access different accounts and even steal his identity. Jeff tweeted about the experience.


    If you are handling confidential information


    One of the more interesting takeaways from Snowden's reflections on private security is that you don't need to become a paranoid maniac across your entire life – you just have to learn to segment your activities into levels of risk and not unnecessarily share information that you don't need to.


    "You don’t need to hide everything from the adversary," he told Lee. "You don’t need to live a paranoid life, off the grid, in hiding, in the woods in Montana. What we do need to protect are the facts of our activities, our beliefs, and our lives that could be used against us in manners that are contrary to our interests.


    "So when we think about this for whistleblowers, for example, if you witnessed some kind of wrongdoing and you need to reveal this information, and you believe there are people that want to interfere with that, you need to think about how to compartmentalize that. Tell no one who doesn't need to know."


    If you are sending or receiving highly confidential documents, then what you need to protect is not the fact you went to the supermarket on Tuesday but the connection to the person you are receiving/providing the information to. By concealing that connection then, in Snowden's words, "whoever has been engaging in this wrongdoing cannot distract from the controversy by pointing to your physical identity. Instead they have to deal with the facts of the controversy rather than the actors that are involved in it."


    So what tools does he recommend for that kind of interaction?


    For providing documents he recommends SecureDrop – which is already used by a range of media organizations – and using it over the Tor network.


    He also suggests using a computer that can ideally be thrown away afterwards so no trace is left, and using an operating system that leaves no traces on the machine – he gives the example of Tails.


    If you want to pretend to be James Bond


    Let's be honest, very, very few of us will ever have material that is so valuable that the security services will pull out all the stops to get at it.


    Government representatives typically have their security looked after by others, such as being given clean laptops or phones/tablets when visiting countries like China or Russia. The very few journalists that embark on projects involving state secrets also tend to be brought up to speed by experienced hands.


    But if you want to do this yourself – and what self-respecting sysadmin doesn't love mucking about with this sort of stuff? – then there is some advice for hardcore privacy. And a big part of that is not in tools but in mindset.


    "It all comes down to personal evaluation of your personal threat model, right? That is the bottom line of what operational security is about," says Snowden. "You have to assess the risk of compromise. On the basis of that, determine how much effort needs to be invested into mitigating that risk."


    Never leave your machine unattended. Have a bootloader for your machine on an external device that you keep on your person. Use a virtual machine (Snowden likes Qubes). And think about whether you need your mobile phone on you revealing where you are and where you have been every moment of every day.


    Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2…ide_to_practical_privacy/
    Full Interview: https://theintercept.com/2015/…-to-reclaim-your-privacy/

  • Sky Ireland bag EPL 3pms rights from Setanta

    This is massive news, looks like BT have snagged the 5.30pm match too


    Here's the full article....




    Sky Sports to broadcast live 3pm Premier League games in Ireland



    For the first time ever Sky Sports will broadcast live coverage of 3pm Premier League kick-offs on Saturdays, beginning next season and available exclusively to Irish customers.


    The deal comes at the same time as BT Sport has announced that, from next season, they will show live coverage of 5.30pm Saturday evening kick-offs. These games will be available to Irish viewers through the Setanta Sports pack.


    The move is a significant one for Sky as blackout laws in the UK mean that no live football can be shown between 2.45 and 5.15 on Saturday afternoons. However, those laws do not apply to Ireland.


    As yet it is unknown how games will be broadcast in Ireland and not in the UK. A possibility is that a specific Sky Sports Ireland channel will be set up.
    From next season up to 159 live Premier League matches will be broadcast in Ireland. Also a first – Sky will now also broadcast matches live on Friday nights.
    Setanta currently show a number of live 3pm kick-offs during the season but will cease to do so at the end of this season as Sky take over. RTÉ have also shown 3pm games live in the past.


    Essentially, Sky and BT have swapped the 3pm and 5.30pm broadcast deals.


    The move comes as a boost for Sky Sports however, after losing a number of rights packages to BT over the last year or so.
    Last year BT shelled out to take the rights to the Champions League from Sky and now show every game live. They also own the rights to the Saturday lunchtime kick-offs in the Premier League.


    But from the beginning of next season Sky will now show live games on Friday nights, Saturday afternoons, Sunday afternoons and Monday nights.


    Commenting on the deal, Barney Francis – managing director of Sky Sports – said: “These rights mean that Sky Sports remains the home of sport in Ireland.


    From the 2016-17 season, our viewers in Ireland will be able to enjoy even more of the best Premier League matches across more days of the week than ever before. By securing rights to live matches on Friday evenings for the first time, Sky Sports will bring Premier League fans an entirely new way to start the weekend.”

  • Bein Sports North East England?

    You might pick up beIN 1-10 on 7.3w with a minimum of 2.4m in the North East


    They recently moved 11HD-14HD onto the MENA beam of 25.5e, which it totally unachievable in the UK regardless of dish size


    I honestly wouldn't bother