Posts by Prophet

  • Europe will abolish geo-blocking and other copyright restrictions

    The European Commission adopted a new Digital Single Market Strategy today, which aims to improve consumer access to digital services and goods. Among other things, Europe vows to end geo-blocking and lift other unwarranted copyright restrictions.


    europe-flagDue to complicated licensing agreements Netflix is only available in a few dozen countries, all of which have a different content library.


    The same is true for many other media services such as BBC iPlayer, Amazon Instant Video, and even YouTube.


    These geo-blocking practices have been a thorn in the side of the European Commission, who now plan to abolish these restrictions altogether.


    Today the EU’s governing body adopted the new Digital Single Market Strategy. One of the main pillars of the new strategy is to provide consumers and businesses with better access to digital goods and services.


    Among other things the Commission plans “to end unjustified geo-blocking,” which it describes as “a discriminatory practice used for commercial reasons.”


    “I want to see every consumer getting the best deals and every business accessing the widest market – wherever they are in Europe,” Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says.


    Another key element on the new strategy is a modern and more European copyright law. The Commission notes that the legislative proposals to achieve this will follow before the end of the year.


    Under the revamped copyright law it should be easier for consumers to access and enjoy content online. This means that consumers will have the right to access content they purchased at home in other European countries.


    According to the Commission various industries need to adapt to the new realities of the digital age, indirectly hinting at the restrictive and conservative movie industry.


    “Europe has strengths to build on, but also homework to do, in particular to make sure its industries adapt, and its citizens make full use of the potential of new digital services and goods, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger says.


    “We have to prepare for a modern society and will table proposals balancing the interests of consumers and industry,” he adds.


    The new Digital Single Market Strategy doesn’t come as a surprise. Previously, several insiders called for the lifting of many unnecessary copyright restrictions. With the plans now being official it will be interesting to see what concrete proposals will follow and how the copyright industries respond.

  • Mega’s bid for stock exchange listing fails

    Mega.co.nz, the cloud storage company founded by Kim Dotcom, has failed in its bid to go public via a backdoor listing on the New Zealand stock exchange. While conceding that the news is a disappointment, CEO Graham Gaylard informs TorrentFreak that it is not viewed as a setback for Mega.


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    During the first quarter of 2014, cloud-storage service Mega.co.nz announced its intention to hit the New Zealand stock exchange.


    After being launched by Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom just a year earlier, the news was well received. However, in keeping with the complex life of the entrepreneur, the mission would not be straightforward.


    In a process that began last March, Mega said it would aim for a backdoor listing on the New Zealand stock exchange via a reverse takeover of an existing company, TRS Investments.


    In tandem, TRS said it had reached agreement to buy Mega Ltd through a share issue to Mega shareholders. Documents filed with the stock exchange put Mega’s value at NZ$210 million (US$155.7m).


    Once the acquisition had been completed TRS planned to change its name to Mega but after several delays in previous months it became evident this morning that the deal would not be going ahead.


    “As previously advised to the market, the proposed acquisition of Mega was conditional upon shareholder approval being obtained on or before 29 May 2015. It has become evident that this condition will not be satisfied within this time frame,” TRS said in a notice to the market.


    “TRS has been advised overnight by Mega that the shareholders of Mega will not agree to an extension of the conditional date. As a consequence it will be the case that on 29 May, the conditions to the acquisition will not be satisfied, the share sale deed entered into between TRS and the Mega shareholders will terminate, and the proposed acquisition of Mega will not proceed.”


    Speaking with TorrentFreak, Mega CEO Graham Gaylard acknowledged the development as a disappointment but insisted that the company had not been disadvantaged as a result.


    “It’s disappointing that we could not make it work, given the amount of time and effort that Mega put into the transaction, but it is not seen as a setback for Mega. The company continues on as a private company,” Gaylard said.


    The Mega CEO also confirmed that the company wouldn’t give up on its stock market aspirations.


    “An exchange listing is definitely still on the horizon, but plans for this have not been worked on,” he said.


    In the meantime Mega continues to grow. Gaylard informs TF that the company now has 18 million registered users, with an additional one million users signing up every month. The majority are on the company’s extremely generous free tier, so the challenge moving forward will be to upgrade as many as possible to premium subscription status.


    That has not been without difficulty, however. While feedback from Mega’s customers is generally positive, action taken against the site in the United States has proved somewhat of a hindrance.


    According to Mega, Senator Patrick Leahy put payment processors under pressure to stop providing services to certain file-hosting companies listed in a Netnames report published last year.


    Following Leahy’s intervention, Visa and MasterCard then pressured PayPal to cease providing payment processing services to Mega, ostensibly on the basis that since content on Mega is encrypted, no one can confirm whether it is legitimate or not.


    Following a period in which Mega could accept no payments, it is now able to do so through resellers. It’s a less than ideal situation but considering the levels of service offered by the company, it will be one that it hopes customers will take in their stride.

  • Who are you voting for ???

    With the UK general elections less than 48 hours away, who do you plan on voting for ??


    The main parties being...


    Labour
    Conservative
    UKIP
    Liberal Democrats
    Plaid Cymru
    Scottish National Party


    Cast your vote here and let's see who has popularity amongst us normal people :59:

  • Demonii tracker pauses after breaking torrent records

    Demonii, the most important public BitTorrent tracker on the Internet today, is dealing with unprecedented demand. Currently running in maintenance mode, the popular tracker recently smashed its own record by tracking in excess of 36 million simultaneous peers while managing 4.8 million torrents.


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    In order to operate at their peak the majority of public torrent indexes need the invaluable assistance of so-called tracker sites. Trackers use the IP addresses in their databases to direct users’ torrent clients to where content can be found.


    In recent years OpenBitTorrent, PublicBT and Istole.it became three of the most important trackers in the BitTorrent ecosystem but have largely remained offline since January. As reported last Wednesday, all had legal issues in Germany.


    Nevertheless, the BitTorrent system hasn’t collapsed. Aside from the wonders of DHT and PEX, a rising star in the tracking scene has been shouldering much of the load. Founded less than two years ago, Demonii has become the largest and most reliable tracker on the Internet today.


    In February the tracker broke records by smashing through the 30 million simultaneous peer barrier, a landmark achievement representing a staggering two billion connections every day. But the site wasn’t finished producing big numbers.


    As can be seen in the image below, during periods last month the site was serving more than 36 million peers, a new record for the increasingly popular tracker.


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    Given the increase in number of peers, it perhaps comes as no surprise that the number of torrents being tracked by Demonii has also increased. Back in February when the tracker broke the previous record, Demonii was tracking in excess of 4.2 million torrents, more than the top three trackers were serving in 2013, combined.


    As can be seen from the image below, 4.2 million torrents is now history, with Demonii already having reached the 4.8 million torrent milestone.


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    Today, however, Demonii is not running on all cylinders. Speaking with TorrentFreak the site’s operator confirms that the service is currently running in maintenance mode.


    “Nothing too dramatic is happening, we just turned some things off while we try to sort out internal issues/maintenance,” he reports.


    While the downtime could last another 12 to 24 hours (or more) the site is definitely coming back.


    “The downtime is always lame, but rest assured all is being done so that the Demonii tracker will be online for long term,” TF is informed.


    While that will be welcome news to the site’s supporters, breaking more records with the current setup probably won’t be possible until changes have been made. Noting that bandwidth costs are high “but worth every cent for the torrent community”, Demonii’s operator says growth is being limited by software.


    “The tracker software has been starting to reach its limits in terms of connections. We have been working with different groups of developers
    who have created their own implementation of a torrent tracker software. But we are not there just yet unfortunately,” he notes.


    Nevertheless, the records achieved recently were well received, particularly those connected to newer technology. Although tiny in comparison to IPv4, Demonii’s IPv6 stats have increased 100% in just six months.


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    “The growth I am most impressed with is the IPv6 stats. Doubling in less than half a year. Shows where the residential internet is headed. An IPv6 world will be a great world,” Demonii’s operator concludes.

  • SKY force Microsoft to change SKYPE name

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    An EU court has found that the Skype logo can be confused with Sky, in a ruling delivered earlier Tuesday, handing a victory to the pan-European pay TV broadcaster.


    The EU General Court was delivering its verdict following complaint brought by Skype, which was refused a trademark by the EU Trade Mark and designs registry OHIM.


    The issue has resulted in a long-running legal dispute between the two organisations.


    In its verdict, the Court said:


    "that the pronunciation of the vowel "y" is no shorter in the word "skype" than it is in the word "sky". In addition, the word "sky", part of the basic vocabulary of the English language, remains clearly identifiable in the word "skype." Also, the element "sky" in the word "skype" can perfectly well be identified by the relevant public, even if the remaining element "pe" has no specific meaning.


    The court also found that the actual logo that contains the word 'skype' is "surrounded by a jagged border in the shape of a cloud or a bubble, which would further increase the likelihood of the element "sky" being recognized within the word element 'skype', because clouds are to be found "in the sky" and thus may readily be associated with the word 'sky'."


    Skype, which is now owned by Microsoft can now appeal the ruling, or else find a new name for the internet video and voice calling service...


    Source : http://www.a516digital.com/201…be-confused-with-sky.html

  • Channel 5 to broadcast Football League Highlights

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    Football fans will be able to enjoy Saturday prime-time highlights from the Football League from the beginning of next season, following a deal between the Football League and Channel 5.


    The deal, which lasts for three years will see Match footage, including every single goal, from matches in all three divisions of the Sky Bet Football League will be broadcast in a new 90 minute show aired at 9.00pm every week. Currently, the Football League highlights are shown around midnight on BBC One and repeated on Sunday mornings.


    Channel 5 will also broadcast highlights of the Capital One Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy.


    Potentially, the major difference in coverage will be the lack of HD on free-to-air platforms. Currently Channel 5 HD is restricted to pay TV platforms, although it has in the past indicated that it was looking at making its HD channels available on Freeview in the future.


    The Football League's Chief Executive, Shaun Harvey, said:


    “This is an exceptional opportunity for The Football League to work with a broadcaster that will schedule our matches in a prime-time slot. It will take our games to a wider, younger audience by giving us the chance to be first in front of fans on a Saturday night.”


    David Lynn, President of Channel 5’s parent company, Viacom International Media Networks UK said:


    “We are extremely happy to be welcoming back top quality football to such a prominent slot on Channel 5. The Football League is one of the toughest and most attractive club competitions in world football and we’re convinced this highlights package will prove highly popular with a mainstream audience at the heart of our Saturday evening schedule.”


    Match footage will be filmed, edited and delivered by the League’s new production partner ITN Productions. As part of a multi-million pound three-year contract, ITN Productions will cover the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League 1, Sky Bet League 2, Capital One Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy matches - a total of 1,813 games per season across Football League and Premier League grounds.


    ITN Productions will also produce digital clips and highlights content of The Football League's competitions for use by domestic broadcasters (Sky Sports & Channel 5), international broadcasters (through Pitch International) and clubs (through their online Player service), as well as clips of Premier League matches for top flight clubs that are part of the League’s FLi network of club websites.

  • Big BT Sport expansion on the way

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    BT Sport is preparing for a much bigger offering from the next football season. Along with the high-profile Champions League football rights grab, it has obtained additional Ofcom licences for extra channels, plus an Ultra HD channel.


    Licences have been issued by Ofcom for BT Sport Extra 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (HD) alongside an Ultra HD BT Sport service.


    New licences do not always mean an immediate launch of new services, but provide the regulatory green light for new channels to be distributed on digital TV platforms.


    BT Sport is expected to announce details of its expanded football coverage for the 2015/16 season in the coming weeks. It has not yet publicly announced any 4K/UHD service launch date.


    Ultra HD (UHD) or 4K TV is seen as the next big thing among pay TV operators, who have previously failed to gather much interest in 3D TV. Satellite and internet platforms are seen as being the most suitable for UHD transmissions at the present time, and BT Sport's existing distribution focuses on these platforms, with the BT TV service available through BT internet connections and BT Sport on Sky using satellite transponder capacity, with tests recently observed thought to be connected with these additional BT Sport services.


    On Freeview, BT Sport has launched a placeholder for a Showcase channel, available on channel 59 in some locations, which is expected to provide free-to-air samples of BT's output from the next football season. It currently plans to end distribution of BT Sport 1 over the air, following migration of subscribers to internet streams of its sports channels. BT Sport 2 via terrestrial TV was axed earlier this year, with affected subscribers offered a free Chromecast to retain access to BT Sport in areas where broadband speeds are insufficient for the full BT TV service.


    BT Sport celebrates its second anniversary this summer. The pay TV operation has become the first long-term competitor to Sky Sports, securing Premier League football for another three years earlier this year, on top of its first three year deal that started in August 2013 - in stark contrast to the relatively short-lived competition provided by Setanta Sports and ESPN - the latter now part of BT Sport in the UK.

  • Internet will use all UK’s power supply by 2035

    The UK could be forced to introduce Internet rationing, following warnings it could consume the nation’s entire power supply within 20 years.
    Experts say the UK is close to “filling up” its network of optical fibres, with the demands of video-streaming websites like YouTube, iPlayer and Netflix putting an unprecedented strain on communications infrastructure.


    Industry figures will be meeting at London’s Royal Society later this month to discuss the impending “capacity crunch” facing Britain’s Internet companies, and experts said that with devices such as PCs and TVs included, Internet transmission already accounts for between 8 and 16 per cent of Britain’s power.


    Andrew Ellis, professor of optical communications at Aston University, said rationing Internet use or charging more so that more cables can be installed may need to be considered. Unless action is taken, optical fibres could reach their limit within eight years.
    “Since we had the first modem, the capacity people have been able to achieve has been growing exponentially, doubling every two years,” he said. “We can’t get much more capacity in one fibre, and there have been signs of slowing since 2010.


    Ellis said the major telcos alone account for national energy consumption equivalent to the output of three nuclear power stations, and rising Internet demand could consume the nation’s entire power supply by 2035.


    Source : http://advanced-television.com…uks-power-supply-by-2035/

  • Microsoft logs ip addresses to catch windows 7 pirates

    A presumed pirate with an unusually large appetite for activating Windows 7 has incurred the wrath of Microsoft. In a lawsuit filed at a Washington court, the Seattle-based company said that it logged hundreds of suspicious product activations from a Verizon IP address and is now seeking damages.


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    Due to the fact that one needs to be present on most computers in order for them to work at all, operating systems are among the most pirated types of software around.


    There can be little doubt that across its range in its 29 year history, Microsoft’s Windows operating systems have been pirated countless millions of times. It’s a practice that on some levels Microsoft has come to accept, with regular consumers largely avoiding the company’s aggression.


    However, as one or perhaps more pirates are about to find out, the same cannot be said of those pirating the company’s products on a commercial scale.


    In a lawsuit filed this week at a district court in Seattle, Microsoft targets individuals behind a single Verizon IP address – 74.111.202.30. Who he, she or they are is unknown at this point, but according to Microsoft they’re responsible for some serious Windows pirating.


    “As part of its cyberforensic methods, Microsoft analyzes product key activation data voluntarily provided by users when they activate Microsoft software, including the IP address from which a given product key is activated,” the lawsuit reads.


    Microsoft says that its forensic tools allow the company to analyze billions of activations of Microsoft software and identify patterns “that make it more likely than not” that an IP address associated with activations is one through which pirated software is being activated.


    “Microsoft’s cyberforensics have identified hundreds of product key activations
    originating from IP address 74.111.202.30…which is presently assigned to
    Verizon Online LLC. These activations have characteristics that on information and belief, establish that Defendants are using the IP address to activate pirated software.”


    Microsoft says that the defendant(s) have activated hundreds of copies of Windows 7 using product keys that have been “stolen” from the company’s supply chain or have never been issued with a valid license, or keys used more times than their license allows.


    In addition to immediate injunctive relief and the impounding of all infringing materials, the company demands profits attributable to the infringements, treble damages and attorney fees or, alternatively, statutory damages.


    This week’s lawsuit (pdf) follows similar action in December 2014 in which Microsoft targeted the user behind an AT&T account.

  • Hollywood urged cameron to keep dvd ripping illegal

    A few months ago the UK Government legalized copying of MP3s, CDs and DVDs for personal use, as that would be in the best interest of consumers. A common sense decision for many, but leaked emails now show that Hollywood fiercely protested the changes behind the scenes.


    To most consumers it’s common sense that they can make a backup copy of media they own, but in the UK this was illegal until late last year.


    After consulting various stakeholders the Government decided that it would be in the best interests of consumers to legalize copying for personal use.


    Perhaps unsurprisingly, not all copyright holders were in favor of the legal changes. In fact, emails published from the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack reveal that Hollywood wanted to stop the plans by urging UK Prime Minister David Cameron to keep Hollywood’s interests in mind.


    The first email mentioning the issue was sent January last year. Here, Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton was informed that MPAA boss Chris Dodd wanted him to give Cameron a call.


    “Essentially, Dodd thinks (and we agree) it would be helpful for you to call Prime Minister Cameron if you are willing in order to ensure our position is fully considered,” the email from Sony’s Keith Weaver reads.


    According to Weaver it was still uncertain whether Hollywood’s concerns would be properly heard in Parliament.


    “This is because prior interactions with the U.K. government over the last few months have left us with no certainty that our concerns will be addressed in the proposal that will be presented to Parliament for an up or down vote in February,” he explained.


    Hollywood’s stance is that copying for private use should remain illegal if there are legal options available.


    “A private copy exception must not apply in the event there are commercially available services that achieve the same need,” Weaver wrote.


    Examples such as UltraViolet show that there is no market failure in the UK, and that private copying exceptions aren’t needed, in Hollywood’s view.


    On the contrary, technical protections and restrictions are needed for legal services to flourish.


    “We need to rely upon a legal framework that respects the technical protections necessary launch new consumer-oriented commercial services – this is key to our ability to make investments in films and great new TV shows,” Weaver added.


    From the emails it’s not clear whether or not Sony’s CEO called Prime Minister Cameron at the time.


    However, a few months later in June 2014 Lynton and Cameron had a meeting where the issue was prominently listed on the agenda, along with other anti-piracy issues.


    Despite the lobbying efforts at the highest level, the protests of the MPAA and Sony Pictures were not successful. After a brief delay the private copying exceptions eventually became law in October.