Internet & Websites News - Page 19
Twitch streamer banned over sexually suggestive fighting game costume
Twitch streamer Quqco has announced that she has been banned from Twitch for violating the websites streaming guidelines, her offense comes under "sexually suggestive content or activities".
The ban happened when Quqco did a weekend stream in a cosplay outfit, and dressed up as the Street Fighter character Chun-Li. As both PCGamer and Kotaku note, most casual Street Fighter fans know that Chun-Li's outfit features a high thigh-cut slit. Quqco also was aware of this and even "brought [the skirt] one size up to ensure that the slit wasn't too high."
Quqco mentioned to Kotaku that this ban was a targeted attack by "a group of trolls" who have previously reported her in mass. She said "I am immediately reported because I've been branded a thot". From the ban, non-followers and followers of Quqco have taken to Twitter to express their concerns with Twitch's power to pick and choose what content has broken their Terms of Service and why.
Continue reading: Twitch streamer banned over sexually suggestive fighting game costume (full post)
Discord are removing their Nitro Games catalogue on October 15th
Discord's Nitro subscription service has been live for over a year now and subscribers have had access to some free games in its library. Those games will now be ejected out of the service.
Discord has taken to their blog to announce a new reinvigorated plan focussed around bringing better quality of service to Nitro subscribers. The post reads that Discord has noticed that most of the Nitro subscribers weren't actually playing the available games, so they have decided that they will remove them next month.
The blog post reads "We learned a lot from all of you over the last year. Through your valuable feedback, it became clear that while we and some of you love these games, the truth is the vast majority of Nitro subscribers didn't play them."
Continue reading: Discord are removing their Nitro Games catalogue on October 15th (full post)
TRIGGERED: Facebook testing the REMOVAL of Likes from the platform
Facebook is considering the removal of the Like counter from the News Feed, in something TechCrunch reports is to "protect users' from envy and dissuade them from self-censorship". Mmmhmm.
Jane Manchun Wong, a "reverse engineering master", noticed Facebook is prototyping the hidden Like counts within the Facebook app for Android. TechCrunch reached out to Facebook for clarification, with the site reporting that Facebook confirmed it is "considering testing removal of Like counts. However it's not live for users yet".
Instagram recently did this, and being Facebook-owned it makes sense that Facebook would follow suit. Instagram started the testing of hiding its Like counter in Canada, but spread quickly to Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Ireland, and Japan. I'm in Australia and can confirm the Like counter is hidden.
Continue reading: TRIGGERED: Facebook testing the REMOVAL of Likes from the platform (full post)
Here's why YouTube leaves up some 'controversial or offensive' videos
While YouTube is certainly no stranger to controversy, the CEO of the platform, Susan Wojcicki has explained why sometimes the company allows for video's to stay online that are inherently offensive or controversial.
In Wojcicki's quarterly letters, she explains that YouTube is in a continuous struggle with users' content being uploaded to the platform being labeled as 'controversial or even offensive'. She says that sometimes is good for the platform to leave some controversial content online, as it proves that YouTube is and open platform that wants to learn from a range of different perspectives.
Wojcicki says that YouTube's "commitment to openness is not easy" and that "hearing a broad range of perspectives ultimately makes us a stronger and more informed society." Despite the backlash on certain pieces of content being flagged for take down, Wojcicki says that these 'problematic' videos make up "a fraction of one percent" of the content uploaded to YouTube. Therefore, the vast majority of the content on the platform outweighs the potential harmful impact of these purportedly 'controversial' videos.
Continue reading: Here's why YouTube leaves up some 'controversial or offensive' videos (full post)
Australian PM to BAN domains that distribute 'terrorism-level' content
Australia has announced their fight against online platforms distributing 'extremism' content through blocking domains that are found to be holding and publishing explicit content.
Australia's Prime Minister, Scott Morison has announced that the country will be moving forward with their efforts to not allow for crises attacks to distributed on online platforms in their country. An example of this was the recent Christchurch massacre that occured in New Zealand, or the recent manifesto that was published on 8Chan.
The nations's eSafety Commissioner will be the one determining what content can be viewed and what cannot through and yet-to-be-established internet framework. These efforts for internet content blockage are to simply not allow for terrorists of any kind to glorify their conquests through social status, Australia is currently contemplating legislation that will force internet companies to improve their safety measures for users.
Continue reading: Australian PM to BAN domains that distribute 'terrorism-level' content (full post)
Official government emails linked to exposed hentai porn site data
Most people on the internet are ashamed of their porn searchers, and don't really want that information disclosed to the public. Well, Luscious users should be worried because their user data, searchers, email address and everything else that would be considered personal information was free to grab.
According to the team at vpnMentor, Luscious' account holders had their usernames, email address, activity logs, locational data and much more free for the taking for all 1.195 million users. vpnMentor does say that the data hasn't been stolen as of yet but it was completely accessible, here is what they said "Our team was able to access this database because it was completely unsecured and unencrypted".
vpnMentor also says that they were able to access user accounts 'uploads' section meaning that people could possibly connect their already exposed email addresses, usernames with whatever videos the account has uploaded. This could result in a connection between the account holders real-life name and the video seen on the website, throw into the mix location data and we have a worrisome combination.
Continue reading: Official government emails linked to exposed hentai porn site data (full post)
Instagram puts a price on the head of nefarious user-data abusing apps
Instagram has announced a new program called "Data Abuse Bounty" that will put a price on the head of third-party apps who are found to be abusing user data.
Instagram and their parent company, Facebook has issued out a new program that will encourage researchers to track down third-party apps who are found to be abusing user data. An Instagram security engineer, Dan Gurfinkel wrote in a blog post, saying "Our goal is to help protect the information people share on Instagram and encourage security researchers to report potential abuse to us so we can quickly take action."
Instagram hasn't set a flat payment for researchers who discover nefarious third-party apps abusing data, instead they said that will pay researchers based on the impact the violent has caused against their company. The head of Instagram's engineering department, Nam Nguyen has said that "Expanding and building on the Facebook bug bounty program is a key development in our ongoing security efforts, and we are grateful to the wider security community for all they do to help keep our platforms safe."
Continue reading: Instagram puts a price on the head of nefarious user-data abusing apps (full post)
Choosing a VPN for gaming: Here's what you need to know
Using a VPN is the best way for internet users to protect their privacy online. But did you know that a VPN also has benefits for gamers? Gamers might opt to use a VPN for several reasons. With a VPN, players can access games that aren't available in their area, conceal their IP address, and protect their data from vulnerabilities in gaming servers. That said, not all VPNs on the market are right for gamers. There are a few things you should pay special attention to when choosing a VPN for gaming, which we'll tell you all about in this article.
When it comes to selecting a gaming VPN, the number of options is overwhelming. To make this process simpler, we've listed some of the essential features to consider before deciding on a VPN. Here are the things to keep in mind when choosing a VPN for gaming.
A secure VPN will slow down your speeds to an extent. But some VPNs are faster than others, especially if they have lots of high-bandwidth servers. Since tons of data passes between your device and the gaming server each second, a fast connection is essential. You'll want to consider bandwidth and Mbps speeds when making your choice. Opt for a VPN with speeds that are as close as possible to the speed you get with your ISP.
Continue reading: Choosing a VPN for gaming: Here's what you need to know (full post)
Twitter to get direct-messages search option in 're-energizing' effort
Twitter is currently in the midst of testing a bunch of new features for users to enjoy, one of these features is a search option for direct-messages.
According to Engadget, Twitter is currently right in the middle of testing new features that will allow for a more utility across the app. One of these features is a search option for users' direct-messages, which will allow for Twitter users to simply search their direct-messages instead of tediously scrolling.
Other things that Twitter are reportedly working on are Live Photo support which is extremely similar to that of GIF's, and the ability to reorder photos from inside the app. According to Mashable's Karissa Bell, "Twitter says it is "re-energizing" investment in DMs". It is unclear when these features will roll out to widespread users, but when they do I'm sure that Twitter will have a full list of the newly added features and changes. If you didn't know, Twitter is also working on a snooze notification option, more on that here.
Continue reading: Twitter to get direct-messages search option in 're-energizing' effort (full post)
Google insider drops 950 pages and a laptop to DOJ over political bias
Google is in for a world of hurt tomorrow with Project Veritas set to put another crack into Pandora's Box with another exclusive -- a Google insider who has provided 950 pages of documents, and a laptop, to the Department of Justice's Antitrust division on Friday.
This proof highlights the fact Google "created algorithms to hide its political bias within artificial intelligence platforms - in effect targeting particular words, phrases and contexts to promote, alter, reference or manipulate perceptions of Internet content" reports Sara A. Carter.
Continue reading: Google insider drops 950 pages and a laptop to DOJ over political bias (full post)