Itch.io, an internet site that hosts indie video games, was taken down by its area registrar early Monday morning after Funko submitted a phishing report towards it utilizing third-party software program.”They use some trash ‘AI Powered’ Model Safety Software program known as BrandShield,” Itch.io mentioned round 2 a.m. ET Monday morning, including that its area registrar “ignored our response and simply disabled the area.” BrandShield’s web site confirms its anti-phishing service points automated takedown notices to “remediate on-line model abuse,” however Itch.io says the phishing report was “bogus.”Itch.io suspects its registrar, Iwantmyname, additionally used automation to ship its web site offline with out human oversight. “For transparency, we did take the disputed web page down as quickly as we bought the discover as a result of it isn’t price preventing stuff like that,” Itch.io wrote, with out saying which web page had been flagged. “Regardless, our registrar’s automated system seemingly kicked to disable the area since nobody learn our affirmation of elimination.”
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AI-powered instruments may cause false positives or hallucinations. It is unclear whether or not the Itch.io net web page that was reported used Funko branding or was completely unrelated to the vinyl toy model. PCMag has contacted Funko, Itch.io, and BrandShield for remark.
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Iwantmyname posted a discover on its web site that reads: “We’re conscious of the difficulty relating to itch.io. This can be a authorized matter which we’re presently investigating.”The Verge notes that the indie recreation web site was down for about 5 hours earlier than it was restored. Final month, Itch.io started permitting customers who had spent a minimum of $10 on the location to make use of their deal with and area on Bluesky as effectively.
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About Kate Irwin
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I’m a reporter for PCMag protecting tech information early within the morning. Previous to becoming a member of PCMag, I used to be a producer and reporter at Decrypt and launched its gaming vertical, GG. I’ve beforehand written for Enter, Sport Rant, Dot Esports, and different locations, protecting a variety of gaming, tech, crypto, and leisure information.
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