So ungewöhnlich es klingt, die neue Rakete von SpaceX soll aus Stahl gebaut werden. Dabei ist das in der Raumfahrt nichts Neues. Tests der Triebwerke und eines Raumschiffprototypen sind schon in den nächsten Monaten geplant. (SpaceX, Raumfahrt)
So ungewöhnlich es klingt, die neue Rakete von SpaceX soll aus Stahl gebaut werden. Dabei ist das in der Raumfahrt nichts Neues. Tests der Triebwerke und eines Raumschiffprototypen sind schon in den nächsten Monaten geplant. (SpaceX, Raumfahrt)
Leise Lieferfahrzeuge für die Städte an der Westküste der USA: Daimler hat den ersten elektrisch betriebenen Lkw der US-Marke Freightliner ausgeliefert. Die ersten Sattelschlepper sollen in absehbarer Zeit folgen. (Mercedes Benz, Technologie)
Leise Lieferfahrzeuge für die Städte an der Westküste der USA: Daimler hat den ersten elektrisch betriebenen Lkw der US-Marke Freightliner ausgeliefert. Die ersten Sattelschlepper sollen in absehbarer Zeit folgen. (Mercedes Benz, Technologie)
Earlier this month a federal grand jury indicted five men for allegedly offering pre-release copies of hundreds of movies and TV shows via the Internet. While the men have yet to have their say in court, the claims in the indictment underline an important point for would-be pirates: If you’re going to sell to anyone – let alone undercover investigators – using your own bank and PayPal accounts is insane.
On December 12, the US Department of Justice revealed that a federal grand jury had indicted five men in four countries on charges that they distributed or offered for sale hundreds of movies and TV shows in advance of their official release.
While none of the men has yet to be proven guilty in a court of law, the details revealed thus far indicate that this could be one of the biggest piracy prosecutions in recent memory.
The background to the case can be found here, but it’s alleged that the five men illegally accessed servers belonging to movie production and distribution companies, grabbed movies and TV shows, and then sold and/or distributed them online.
No one needs to have it pointed out to them that this is a seriously risky business. Given that much of the content was also pre-release material, the sweat levels should have been rising at a ridiculous rate. However, if the allegations are to be believed, many crazy errors of judgment led to the men’s demise.
First of all, it’s alleged that the men used a number of aliases. This is common in the online space but it appears at least two were seriously short of ideas. One of the men, named by the DoJ as Sam Nhance, reportedly used the alias ‘Sam NhaNc3’. Another, Jitesh Jadhav, used the alias ‘Jadhav’.
While these aliases could’ve done with a bit more thought, it’s the financial aspects of the indictment that provide the most eyebrow-raises.
It’s alleged that at least some of the defendants – Aditya Raj, Sam Nhance, Ghobhirajah Selvarajah, Jitesh Jadhav, and Malik Luqman Farooq – used a PayPal account registered in Selvarajah’s name. This account was allegedly used to accept payments when the defendants sold pirated movies and to pay for the server where the content was hosted.
While this is a big enough error in itself (PayPal is an easily accessible US company), the indictment weaves many threads together when it reveals how other defendants were allegedly prepared to link their own finances in.
For example, on July 31, 2013, its claimed that Farooq transferred his own money into the PayPal account to pay for a server. During August, he allegedly sold a ‘cammed’ copy of The Smurfs 2, not to Joe Public, but to an undercover investigator hired by the MPAA.
It’s further alleged that a year later, Farooq transferred part of the funds from the sale of “The Amazing SpiderMan 2” from the shared PayPal account mentioned above to his very own PayPal account.
Not long later, Jadhav allegedly got paid his share of the money following the sale of “X-Men: Days of Future Past” from the same shared PayPal account. Only adding to the mounting evidence, Farooq allegedly responded to complaints that he hadn’t been contributing to payments for the group’s server by sending money to the shared account from his own PayPal account.
There are numerous other examples of super-risky PayPal transactions, with some involving Farooq’s own account following the sale of pirated movies to the investigator. At least one of the defendants was happy to transfer money from the main PayPal account into his own bank account.
Rounding things off in a manner that seems fitting given the above disasters, it’s further alleged that the group’s server was rented from OVH in defendant Raj’s own name.
As pointed out earlier, the men are yet to be tried on the basis of the claims in the indictment. Indeed, to date only Farooq has been arrested (in the UK) and the others are all supposedly at large in India, UAE, and Malaysia.
Maybe this physical distance from the United States proved a factor in the attitudes of the men. It’s certainly possible that these kinds of alleged offenses are considered less important in these parts of the world than they are in Europe and the US. That being said, Farooq – a UK resident – should have been aware of the current climate.
The moral of the story though (if there is one) is that selling copies of copyrighted works in the manner alleged in the indictment is likely to end not only in disaster, but also in a beautifully convenient paper trail that ties everything together in a nice little package.
Mit dem Commodore Dynamic Total Vision sollte die Multimedia-Zukunft ins Wohnzimmer einziehen. Stattdessen beschleunigte die ambitionierte Konsole den Niedergang des Unternehmens Anfang der 90er Jahre. Wir haben uns gefragt: War das CDTV wirklich so s…
Mit dem Commodore Dynamic Total Vision sollte die Multimedia-Zukunft ins Wohnzimmer einziehen. Stattdessen beschleunigte die ambitionierte Konsole den Niedergang des Unternehmens Anfang der 90er Jahre. Wir haben uns gefragt: War das CDTV wirklich so schlecht? (golem retro_, IBM)
Makers looking to build a project with a low-cost dev board have tons of options. Thanks to a new Kickstarter project, one of those options now features an Intel Cherry Trail Atom processor. The Atomic Pi is a new dev board that is powered by an Atom x…
Makers looking to build a project with a low-cost dev board have tons of options. Thanks to a new Kickstarter project, one of those options now features an Intel Cherry Trail Atom processor. The Atomic Pi is a new dev board that is powered by an Atom x5-Z8350 quad core with a top speed of […]
YouTube users are becoming increasingly frustrated with the platform’s handling of copyright complaints. Legitimate videos are being claimed or removed based on false claims, either by automated mistakes or intentional abuse. Perhaps it’s time for YouTube to hold ‘abusive’ copyright holders responsible for their actions?
YouTube’s copyright enforcement is a growing source of frustration, with many creators complaining about overbroad takedown efforts.
The protests have become more vocal in recent months, even though the issues themselves are far from new.
We first signaled problems with YouTube’s Content-ID system more than seven years ago. Since then, many examples have followed.
Most of these are the result of overbroad flagging, where YouTube finds a copyright match where it shouldn’t. The filters have previously flagged randomly generated audio, for example, or bird chatter.
This week we stumbled upon a video with 50 hours of rain sounds which has been flagged by no less than five separate rightsholders. Admittedly, the rain in the video sounds very familiar, as does most rain, but it clearly is unique.
While some mistakes are expected to happen, things only seem to be getting worse. Over the past several days alone, dozens of new examples of YouTube copyright problems have appeared. Many of these were brought to the forefront by creators themselves.
Last week the popular musician TheFatRat found out that ‘someone’ had claimed his own song as theirs, effectively diverting the ad-revenue to someone else. For a song with millions of views, that’s not a trivial issue.
Kidding?
YouTube does allow users to file a “dispute,” which TheFatRat did. However, the claimant rejected it. The musician could appeal the claim but YouTube warned that he would then risk a strike. If that fails, there’s another appeal option at which point it enters DMCA territory.
If a Content-ID claim is appealed the claimant will have to file a regular takedown request. This will result in a strike. The YouTube account holder can then file a counter-notice and if the claimant doesn’t file a lawsuit within two weeks, the video is eventually restored.
That’s quite a hassle, to say the least.
What doesn’t help is that YouTube keeps referring to false claimants as the “copyright owners”. This also happened to Dan Bull, who was hit with a similar false claim last week.
I’m right.
It’s not always clear where the problem lies. In TheFatrat’s case, his song was reportedly infringing a track from Andres Galvis, who apparently doesn’t know Power Records LLC or Ramjets, which YouTube lists as the claimant.
This may sound bizarre, but things can get even worse. In November YouTuber Drew Gooden was hit by a copyright claim from… Drew Gooden.
?
It doesn’t seem unimaginable that some people are abusing YouTube’s copyright policy to generate revenue by claiming videos of others. At the very minimum, these examples show that YouTube’s claiming process is a mess, which can seriously hurt legitimate users.
This frustration was nicely illustrated by YouTuber Gus Johnson, who provides even more examples.
Johnson shows that not all false claims are made through automatic recognition, there are plenty of inaccurate ‘manual’ claims as well. It appears that just mentioning the title of an artist or song can result in a claim, even though the audio itself isn’t used in the video.
Out of control..
As Techdirt points out, this mess doesn’t bode well for the EU’s Article 13, which may result in even more filters. That said, at YouTube things are already spiraling out of control.
We can easily continue to point out mistakes and false claims day after day after, but perhaps it’s time for a change?
During a hearing on Canada’s copyright reform plans, Liberal MP David Graham rightfully noted that YouTube currently operates a “guilty until proven innocent” system. YouTube’s representative didn’t dispute this assertion but gave no indication that this could be reversed.
While “innocent until proven guilty” sounds better for creators, copyright holders are not going to like that one bit.
TorrentFreak spoke to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) who have been critical of YouTube’s system for years. According to EFF’s Legal Director Corynne McSherry, the copyright strikes are particularly problematic.
Through these “strikes”, channel owners risk losing their livelihoods after three complaints. These strikes are only applied after direct copyright takedown requests, not through Content-ID flags, but it’s a major concern.
What might help is if copyright holders who repeatedly abuse the Content-ID system are penalized as well.
“YouTube could improve its handling of copyright complaints by actively identifying and excluding from Content ID rightsholders that abuse it,” McSherry says.
In addition, YouTube could also protect channels which are known to be good actors.
For search takedown requests Google already appears to work with a whitelist of non-infringing domain names. YouTube could do the same with its channels, protecting these from broad takedown requests.
It’s clear that YouTube is in a difficult spot with major rightsholders asking for tougher measures and YouTubers complaining about the same. At the very least, the company could take a good look at its policies and systems to see if clear abuse can be addressed and prevented.
Earlier this month, Team YouTube said that it was looking into the issues, but thus far not much has changed.
For TheFatRat the recent trouble was the final straw. Yesterday he launched a petition urging YouTube to fix the copyright protection system which 22,000 people have signed already,
YouTube users are becoming increasingly frustrated with the platform’s handling of copyright complaints. Legitimate videos are being claimed or removed based on false claims, either by automated mistakes or intentional abuse. Perhaps it’s time for YouTube to hold ‘abusive’ copyright holders responsible for their actions?
YouTube’s copyright enforcement is a growing source of frustration, with many creators complaining about overbroad takedown efforts.
The protests have become more vocal in recent months, even though the issues themselves are far from new.
We first signaled problems with YouTube’s Content-ID system more than seven years ago. Since then, many examples have followed.
Most of these are the result of overbroad flagging, where YouTube finds a copyright match where it shouldn’t. The filters have previously flagged randomly generated audio, for example, or bird chatter.
This week we stumbled upon a video with 50 hours of rain sounds which has been flagged by no less than five separate rightsholders. Admittedly, the rain in the video sounds very familiar, as does most rain, but it clearly is unique.
While some mistakes are expected to happen, things only seem to be getting worse. Over the past several days alone, dozens of new examples of YouTube copyright problems have appeared. Many of these were brought to the forefront by creators themselves.
Last week the popular musician TheFatRat found out that ‘someone’ had claimed his own song as theirs, effectively diverting the ad-revenue to someone else. For a song with millions of views, that’s not a trivial issue.
Kidding?
YouTube does allow users to file a “dispute,” which TheFatRat did. However, the claimant rejected it. The musician could appeal the claim but YouTube warned that he would then risk a strike. If that fails, there’s another appeal option at which point it enters DMCA territory.
If a Content-ID claim is appealed the claimant will have to file a regular takedown request. This will result in a strike. The YouTube account holder can then file a counter-notice and if the claimant doesn’t file a lawsuit within two weeks, the video is eventually restored.
That’s quite a hassle, to say the least.
What doesn’t help is that YouTube keeps referring to false claimants as the “copyright owners”. This also happened to Dan Bull, who was hit with a similar false claim last week.
I’m right.
It’s not always clear where the problem lies. In TheFatrat’s case, his song was reportedly infringing a track from Andres Galvis, who apparently doesn’t know Power Records LLC or Ramjets, which YouTube lists as the claimant.
This may sound bizarre, but things can get even worse. In November YouTuber Drew Gooden was hit by a copyright claim from… Drew Gooden.
?
It doesn’t seem unimaginable that some people are abusing YouTube’s copyright policy to generate revenue by claiming videos of others. At the very minimum, these examples show that YouTube’s claiming process is a mess, which can seriously hurt legitimate users.
This frustration was nicely illustrated by YouTuber Gus Johnson, who provides even more examples.
Johnson shows that not all false claims are made through automatic recognition, there are plenty of inaccurate ‘manual’ claims as well. It appears that just mentioning the title of an artist or song can result in a claim, even though the audio itself isn’t used in the video.
Out of control..
As Techdirt points out, this mess doesn’t bode well for the EU’s Article 13, which may result in even more filters. That said, at YouTube things are already spiraling out of control.
We can easily continue to point out mistakes and false claims day after day after, but perhaps it’s time for a change?
During a hearing on Canada’s copyright reform plans, Liberal MP David Graham rightfully noted that YouTube currently operates a “guilty until proven innocent” system. YouTube’s representative didn’t dispute this assertion but gave no indication that this could be reversed.
While “innocent until proven guilty” sounds better for creators, copyright holders are not going to like that one bit.
TorrentFreak spoke to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) who have been critical of YouTube’s system for years. According to EFF’s Legal Director Corynne McSherry, the copyright strikes are particularly problematic.
Through these “strikes”, channel owners risk losing their livelihoods after three complaints. These strikes are only applied after direct copyright takedown requests, not through Content-ID flags, but it’s a major concern.
What might help is if copyright holders who repeatedly abuse the Content-ID system are penalized as well.
“YouTube could improve its handling of copyright complaints by actively identifying and excluding from Content ID rightsholders that abuse it,” McSherry says.
In addition, YouTube could also protect channels which are known to be good actors.
For search takedown requests Google already appears to work with a whitelist of non-infringing domain names. YouTube could do the same with its channels, protecting these from broad takedown requests.
It’s clear that YouTube is in a difficult spot with major rightsholders asking for tougher measures and YouTubers complaining about the same. At the very least, the company could take a good look at its policies and systems to see if clear abuse can be addressed and prevented.
Earlier this month, Team YouTube said that it was looking into the issues, but thus far not much has changed.
For TheFatRat the recent trouble was the final straw. Yesterday he launched a petition urging YouTube to fix the copyright protection system which 22,000 people have signed already,
Who needs Sirius Cybernetics when we have Google and Amazon?
I remember the first time I read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It was back in junior high, around 1982, before I knew about the radio series. I got to the part where the automatic door talks to Arthur Dent, and I remember very clearly thinking: “This is ridiculous. Why would an automatic door need a personality? Why would it talk to people passing through it?”
Never mind that Zaphod Beeblebrox had a third arm and a second head surgically implanted beside his original head (for vanity reasons). Or that the spaceship Heart of Gold ran on something called an Infinite Improbability Drive. Or that a live fish stuck in your ear could translate any language into one you could understand.
The thing that seemed most improbable to me was that inanimate objects would be infused with personalities… just for the hell of it.
Huawei meint, kein chinesisches Gesetz könne den Netzwerkausrüster zwingen, seine Kunden auszuspionieren. Mit dem deutschen BSI will man Security-Standards für 5G und die gesamten Branche erarbeiten. Daran sollen alle Ausrüster teilnehmen. (5G, Huawei)…
Huawei meint, kein chinesisches Gesetz könne den Netzwerkausrüster zwingen, seine Kunden auszuspionieren. Mit dem deutschen BSI will man Security-Standards für 5G und die gesamten Branche erarbeiten. Daran sollen alle Ausrüster teilnehmen. (5G, Huawei)
Near Sacramento, Calif., there’s a totally amazing free museum—make time for it.
Enlarge/ An early 1910-era magneto telephone. (credit: Cyrus Farivar)
ROSEVILLE, Calif.—I don’t know about you, but I marvel that, with a tiny device in my pocket, I can instantly hear the voice of any of my loved ones, any time, essentially for free.
Of course, this wasn’t always the case. I’m old enough (nearly 37!) to remember when the phone would ring from overseas relatives and my parents would remind us to hurry to the phone: IT’S LONG DISTANCE! And yes, my parents used to pick up the phone and disrupt my dial-up Internet escapades.
But our contemporary landscape, replete with theoretically smart handputers, has an amazing past that extends well beyond my lifetime.
So ungewöhnlich es klingt, die neue Rakete von SpaceX soll aus Stahl gebaut werden. Dabei ist das in der Raumfahrt nichts Neues. Tests der Triebwerke und eines Raumschiffprototypen sind schon in den nächsten Monaten geplant. (SpaceX, Raumfahrt) 
Leise Lieferfahrzeuge für die Städte an der Westküste der USA: Daimler hat den ersten elektrisch betriebenen Lkw der US-Marke Freightliner ausgeliefert. Die ersten Sattelschlepper sollen in absehbarer Zeit folgen. (
Mit dem Commodore Dynamic Total Vision sollte die Multimedia-Zukunft ins Wohnzimmer einziehen. Stattdessen beschleunigte die ambitionierte Konsole den Niedergang des Unternehmens Anfang der 90er Jahre. Wir haben uns gefragt: War das CDTV wirklich so schlecht? (
YouTube’s copyright enforcement is a growing source of frustration, with many creators complaining about overbroad takedown efforts. 
Huawei meint, kein chinesisches Gesetz könne den Netzwerkausrüster zwingen, seine Kunden auszuspionieren. Mit dem deutschen BSI will man Security-Standards für 5G und die gesamten Branche erarbeiten. Daran sollen alle Ausrüster teilnehmen. (
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