If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Itch.io went down on Monday due to what those behind the indie games site say was a bogus phishing claim reported by Funko, a pop culture collectibles company. “Trash ‘AI-powered’ software” is how Itch.io describes BrandShield, which Funko uses, and which generated the false report submitted to the store’s registrar (iWantMyName), resulting in the domain takedown. BrandShield markets itself as an “AI-powered” service that protects brands from phishing, fraud, counterfeit products, trademark infringements, and other threats. The problem with Itch.io availability was fixed the same day, but it remained unclear where exactly in the chain of events things went wrong; the indie games store said that the registrar “ignored” their response to what they consider a fake report, and instead disabled the domain. A lot of “automation” seems to be involved, both on the side of the “brand protection” firm and the registrar, showcasing once again how error-prone such systems can be, costing sites time and money. As the phishing report originated from BrandShield, it would seem the problem started with the company, however, it claims that it asked for just one allegedly infringing URL to be taken down, rather than the whole domain – and blamed “service providers” for that. BrandShield CEO Yoav Keren reacted to the incident by saying that the “AI-driven” platform is detecting and analyzing threats, while decisions on what to do with that information then depend on a team of “cybersecurity threat hunters” and IP lawyers. “We encourage platforms to implement stronger self-regulation systems that prevent such issues from occurring,” Keren is quoted as stating. Meanwhile, media reports used this as another opportunity to mention Bluesky, a social media platform that has recently been getting a lot of publicity. One of the consequences of the Itch.io domain disruption was that the games marketplace customers eligible to use their profile URL for their Bluesky account had to wait until the domain was up again for that functionality to be restored. It’s unclear what, if any connection there is between the fact that Itch.io only recently started offering this feature to everyone spending at least $10, and the domain trouble. But, Bluesky nevertheless got “a little mention” in some reports about the incident. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Funko’s Brand Tool Blamed as Itch.io Battles Bogus Report appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A network facilitating spy agencies’ intelligence-sharing between the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, known as Five Eyes, has its sights set on encryption, and proceeding from that, also online anonymity. Even more online censorship would also not be a bad idea – these are some of the highlights from the first public-facing paper the organizations behind this group have published. We obtained a copy of the paper for you here. And Five Eyes is not above promoting its ultimate and much more far-reaching goals by using the good old “think of the children” – the paper’s title is, Young People and Violent Extremism: A Call for Collective Action. Both it and an accompanying press release choose to consider online encryption as merely a tool used by criminals. At the same time, the paper is ignoring the fact that the entire internet ecosystem, from communications to banking and everything in between, requires strong encryption both for privacy, and security. But, Five Eyes focuses only on communications, which they vaguely refer to as online environments, and ones that can allow sex offenders access to children, they also mention extremists, and equally vaguely, “other” malign actors. Since encrypted platforms provide anonymity, the spies from the five countries (who refer to the state of affairs as, “a large degree of anonymity”) don’t like that either – and again link it to negative scenarios, such as “radicalization to violence.” The paper is not specific on the exact mechanisms that would ramp up online censorship, but mentions both governments and the tech industry; the first category should “strengthen legislative support for law enforcement,” while the other is urged to “take greater responsibility for the harm done on their platforms.” Gaming platforms Discord, Instagram, Roblox as well as TikTok are singled out as “seemingly innocuous” – but the way Five Eyes sees it, they make violent extremism content “more accessible.” The “whole-of-society response” is the proposed solution to the problem of radicalization of minors in these countries. And the documents vow the alliance will continue working with “government agencies, the education sector, mental health and social well-being services, communities and technology companies.” “It is important to work together early as once law enforcement and security agencies need to become involved, it is often too late,” the paper warns. And so, a network whose members are likely, in one capacity or another, behind many of the existing attacks on online encryption and anonymity – has now come out as the campaign’s supposedly “latest recruit.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Five Eyes Urges Broader Censorship Under “Protect the Children” Campaign appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

During the third quarter of the moon in October or November, strange things happen to the Palolo worm.

Frost doesn't rain down, so what gives?

'Tis the season to get angry, fa-la-la-la-lah, la SHUT UP DAD.

Asus China has released a new video demonstrating the power of passive CPU cooling. While showing off the new ProArt PC cases, Tony Yu, Asus China’s general manager showed that even when outputting 220W of heat, the PC's 16-core AMD Ryzen 9950X CPU stayed at around 95°C. This is an impressive feat from Asus, as most of the best CPU cooler designs on the market today feature fans or some sort of water cooling. It's all thanks to a massive Noctua NH-P1 cooler, a massive fanless heatsink that relies on case fans to expel the heat. Continue reading This Asus gaming PC somehow cools an AMD Ryzen 9950X with no CPU fan MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Ryzen 7 7800X3D review, Best gaming CPU, Radeon RX 7800 XT review

Greatness takes time, especially in videogames. After almost a decade, a couple of delays, and a publisher changeover, we finally know when upcoming open-world roguelike Hyper Light Breaker will be available to play, and it's very soon. Continue reading Highly anticipated roguelike Hyper Light Breaker finally gets release date MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best roguelike games, Best multiplayer games , Best RPG games

What is the best external SSD for gaming? Finding the best external SSD for gaming is an easy way to expand storage and speed up the loading times of the best PC games without the hassle of rummaging around the insides of your machine. Simply plug one into a free USB port on your gaming PC or gaming laptop, install your game, and play to your heart's content. Portable SSDs don't have to be bland, either. Adata leans into a distinct RGB-lit honeycomb effect and Sandisk makes a dust- and water-resistant NVMe drive that fits into the palm of your hand. You can even do it yourself if you own a spare internal NVMe thanks to an enclosure from Asus turning your existing drive into a portable storage device. Portable and external options do come with some caveats, of course, such as slower speeds. They're a marked improvement over hard drives, but you'll want to grab the best SSD for gaming if you're all about performance. Check out our guide on how to install an SSD to make sure it sits correctly. So why buy an external SSD? The advantage of a portable SSD is that you can swap it between devices without any fuss. With so many prices to choose from and read speeds ranging from 540MB/s up to 2,800MB/s, we've tried and tested drives for every usage and budget so you can choose the best external SSD for gaming in 2024. Continue reading Best external SSD for gaming in 2024: top portable drives MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card, Best gaming PC, Best SSD for gaming

The Carolina Corps achieved emancipation through military service, paving the way for future fighters in the British Empire to do the same

One of the fun things about Marvel Rivals compared to other hero shooters is that it’s a third-person game. This means that you can actually see your cool character skins in their entirety in-game, instead of only being able to see their arms.