Unrelated to the whiskey.
That the meeting happened at all shows just how powerful the #BlackLivesMatter movement has become—as well as, the social media platforms that spawned it.
The post Clinton and #BlackLivesMatter Leaders Meet to Talk Race appeared first on WIRED.
Source: Wired.com Top Stories
To figure out how “cheat mode” alters fuel economy and performance, Consumer Reports hacked its way into a 2015 Jetta TDI and 2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDI.
The post How VW’s Cheat Mode Hurts Performance and Fuel Economy appeared first on WIRED.
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There are a lot of things in this trailer you need to see, but here’s the one on which you absolutely have to set your gaze: Sailor Channing.
The post The New Coen Brothers Movie Trailer: Hail, Caesar! appeared first on WIRED.
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Laura Hudson joins Chris Kohler and Matt Peckham to wrestle with The Stanley Parable creator’s latest game.
The post Game|Life Podcast: We Can’t Stop Thinking About Beginner’s Guide appeared first on WIRED.
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Starting a few hours ago Chrome and Firefox users are unable to access KickassTorrents (KAT) directly.
Instead of a page filled with the latest torrents, visitors now see an ominous red warning banner when they visit Kat.cr.
“The site ahead contains harmful programs,” Google Chrome informs its users.
“Attackers on kat.cr might attempt to trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience (for example, by changing your homepage or showing extra ads on sites you visit),” the warning adds.
Mozilla’s Firefox browser displays a similar message
The warning messages are triggered by Google’s “Unwanted Software” scanner which flags websites that pose a potential danger to visitors. Chrome and Firefox both use the service to prevent users from running into malicious software.
The policy applies to all websites but torrent sites are common targets of ‘unwanted software’ distributors, according to Google.
The company further stresses that the warnings will automatically disappear when the flagged sites no longer violate Google’s policy.
Kat.cr’s Safe Browsing diagnostics page
This is not the first time that the red warning banner has shown up at Kat.cr. The same happened a few months ago and at the time several other large torrent sites were also affected.
Coincidentally, KAT’s operators just issued a warning to avoid malicious copycat sites, which only adds to the confusion. This warning is unrelated to the alert triggered by Google.
Previously, the Chrome and Firefox warnings did indeed disappear after the affected websites disabled certain advertisements, so it’s likely that the current issue will also be resolved in due time.
Impatient or adventurous users who want to bypass the warning can do so by clicking the details link, or disable their browser’s malware warnings altogether, at their own risk.
Update: The KAT team informs us that the bad advertiser has been removed, so the warning should disappear after Google reviews it.
Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Source: TorrentFreak
With millions of visitors per day KickassTorrents (KAT) is arguably the most visited torrent site on the Internet, outranking even the notorious Pirate Bay.
After several domain hops KAT has been operating from the KAT.cr domain name. However, infrequent visitors have experienced trouble locating the site, as it disappeared from Google’s top search results.
Instead, entering the search terms “KickassTorrents” or “Kickass Torrents” lists several unofficial sites on top. While some of these sites are harmless proxies, others are outright scams.
This week the KAT team warned its users to avoid visiting non-official sites as they are exploiting the Kickass brand for malicious purposes.
“We wanted to share our concerns with you,” KAT’s staff says, noting that the site has a great community which has become very popular over time.
“But here is the dark side of this popularity. While we are doing our best in order to keep our site nice and cozy there are bunch of lazy bastards who have simply decided to copycat us.”
The scam sites are trying to confuse unsuspected users by “stealing” the site’s design in order to scam people. According to the KAT team this includes password stealing and selling expensive subscriptions.
“Some of them are selling ridiculously expensive VPNs on our behalf, some are throwing malicious ads, some are trying to sell various subscriptions, others simply gathering user passwords and so on. All of them are trying to cheat people in various ways,” they note.
KAT doesn’t mention any sites in particular but the kickasstorrents.eu domain must be one of them. This site has risen to the top of Google’s search results and prompts people to download shady software or buy a VPN subscription.
The site’s operators say they are working on a solution to ban the impersonators and copycats, for example, by preventing malicious proxy sites from mirroring KAT’s contents.
For now, however, they advise users to remain vigilant and make sure to use the official Kat.cr address or one of the official proxies. Finally – and quite amusingly – users are also encouraged to report scammy sites to their hosting providers.
“You can even report those questionable sites to their hosting service providers,” the KAT team says.
This is not the first time that proxy sites and copycats have caused trouble. In recent years various anti-piracy measures have made it harder to access the original sites, creating opportunities for malicious actors and scamvertisers.
Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Source: TorrentFreak
This week the United States government continued its three-year-long effort to have Kim Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, Finn Batato and Bram van der Kolk extradited to face multiple charges including copyright infringement, conspiracy, money laundering and racketeering.
For the past several days the main extradition hearing has been hold to allow Judge Nevin Dawson to hear applications from the men detailing why the full hearing should be delayed or even stayed indefinitely.
For someone who has often been associated with great wealth, it’s ironic that much of the argument this week has centered around Dotcom’s poor financial situation.
Dotcom took the stand for the first time yesterday, explaining how in 2013 he’d sold his shares in Megaupload follow-up Mega for around $13m in order to fund his defense and then-fledgling Internet Party. After various grabs by Hollywood on his funds and other living expenses, little now remains.
However, simple lack of funds is not the only obstacle faced by Dotcom. Thanks to an ongoing U.S.-ordered freeze on the Megaupload defendants’ funds, any money freed to retain experts in the U.S. would be immediately seized. This means that appropriate experts cannot be hired and as a result the men are being denied a fair extradition hearing.
According to Dotcom’s lead lawyer, U.S.-based Ira Rothken, around $500,000 is needed to recruit U.S. experts in mass data storage and related technologies. However, even if that money was released it would take up to six months to prepare the experts to give evidence. Additional funds and time are needed, he argued.
But this morning in the North Shore District Court, Crown prosecutor Christine Gordon QC said that the Megaupload defendants actually need neither. Arguing on behalf of the United States, Gordon said that no amount of time and technical expertise could undo the incriminating Skype and email correspondence presented earlier in the hearing.
One such discussion, between Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, had the latter claiming that Megaupload’s growth was “mainly based on infringement anyway.”
The former operators of Megaupload believe that engaging a cloud storage expert would help their case but Gordon said that after paying known copyright infringers to upload illegal content, any testimony would be useless.
“No evidence about what other storage sites do destroys the evidence of what these individuals did and what they acknowledged to each other,” she said.
“[A stay is] only justified in the clearest of cases, and this is not such a case.”
The hearing is set to continue next week. If a stay is not granted and Dotcom and colleagues are extradited and subsequently found guilty in the U.S., they face the possibility of decades in prison.
Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.
Source: TorrentFreak
Amazon is going after the mass market for singular handmade goods. Now, crafters just have to decide which platform has more soul.
The post Amazon Takes On Etsy to See Who’s More #Authentic appeared first on WIRED.
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Without Cookie, this show is a song with no hook. Last night, she proved it. Again.
The post Cookie Is Empire’s Real O.G. appeared first on WIRED.
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Speaking at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit on Wednesday, Apple design guru Jony Ive responded to a question about cinematic representations of Steve Jobs, his former friend and colleague, about how you might expect. He’s not a fan. While Ive says he hasn’t yet seen Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs yet, he knows plenty of people […]
The post Jony Ive Doesn’t Care About Your Steve Jobs Biopic appeared first on WIRED.
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