March 2019 – Page 26 – news.buyenne.com

$35 billion in research funding “now at stake” after Trump executive order

Vague order wants research funding agencies to look into First Amendment issues.

Over the past several years, college campuses have experienced a number of incidents related to free speech. These have included cases of disruptive protests, controversial speakers being "disinvited," and in rare cases, physical altercations. The speakers who have been the focus of these controversies are often identified with conservative causes. Notably, in early March, a conservative activist was assaulted on the UC Berkeley campus.

These high-profile incidents apparently inspired President Trump to issue a rather dramatic threat in early March: campuses that don't protect free speech could see their research funding cut. On Friday, he ostensibly followed through on this, issuing an executive order targeting "free inquiry" at colleges and universities. But the language of the order is vague enough that its consequences for research funding are completely opaque.

Uncertain threats

The order itself actually lumps together two unrelated issues. The first is the cost of education relative to its likely payoff in terms of gainful employment; the order seeks to ensure better disclosure of this by colleges. That has been joined to what the order refers to as "free inquiry" issues, which the order defines as related to First Amendment compliance—meaning free speech on campuses.

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Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) hack: bootloader unlock, root, and recovery tools

It’s been a busy few months for Amazon Fire tablet hackers. After discovering a vulnerability affecting a group of MediaTek processors, independent developers figured out how to unlock the bootloader and root the latest Amazon Fire HD 8 and Fire …

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Youtube: Google will keine teuren Serien mehr produzieren

Mit seinen Eigenproduktionen hat Google versucht, mit Netflix und Amazon zu konkurrieren – diese Strategie ist wohl gescheitert: Insidern zufolge will das Unternehmen keine teuren Serien mehr produzieren. Wie es mit den bisherigen Youtube Originals wei…

Mit seinen Eigenproduktionen hat Google versucht, mit Netflix und Amazon zu konkurrieren - diese Strategie ist wohl gescheitert: Insidern zufolge will das Unternehmen keine teuren Serien mehr produzieren. Wie es mit den bisherigen Youtube Originals weitergehen soll, ist noch unbekannt. (Youtube, Video-Community)

Ethiopian Airlines flight’s stall prevention software was active at crash, CEO says

Says Boeing failed to be “transparent” about MCAS software’s nature.

BISHOFTU, ETHIOPIA - MARCH 11: Parts of an engine and landing gear lie in a pile after being gathered by workers during the continuing recovery efforts at the crash site of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302.

The chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published today that he had reason to believe that software intended to prevent Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from stalling in flight had been activated aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 shortly before its crash. CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said that “to the best of our knowledge,” the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) for stall prevention was active at the time of the crash.

This is the first time anyone connected to the Flight 302 investigation has specifically referenced the flight software as being involved. Ethiopian and French investigators had noted similarities in flight data to that of the ill-fated Lion Air Flight 610, a crash that was determined to be at least partially caused by the MCAS software’s malfunction due to a faulty sensor input. Investigators also cited the Flight 302 crew’s lack of training on how to shut the MCAS system down in the critical moments before the crash.

Gebremariam did not share what details he had received that led to his conclusion. But he did say that it would be difficult for Boeing to restore trust in the 737 MAX aircraft’s safety, and he was critical of Boeing’s failure to do more to inform airlines of the changes in operation related to MCAS when it was introduced. “In retrospect I would have expected them to have been more transparent on the MCAS, the technicalities of the MCAS, what it does and what it doesn’t do,” he told The Wall Street Journal. And after the first 737 MAX crash in Indonesia, the CEO said, “more should have been done from the Boeing side in terms of disclosure, in terms of coming up with strong procedures, stronger than what they gave us.”

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Massive Ebola outbreak continues to rage; case count surpasses 1,000

Responders have vaccinated thousands, but disease spread continues.

Health workers are seen inside the 'red zone' of an Ebola treatment centre, which was attacked in the early hours of the morning on March 9, 2019 in Butembo.

The tally of deadly Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ticked above 1,000 this weekend as health responders continue to struggle to thwart the disease amid violent conflict.

The outbreak has been raging since August in the country’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which sit on the eastern side of the country, bordering South Sudan, Uganda, and Rwanda. The World Health Organization reported 1,009 cases (944 confirmed, 65 probable), including 629 deaths (564 confirmed, 65 probable) on Saturday, March 23.

The outbreak is the second largest of all time, surpassed only by the 2014 West African outbreak, which involved more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths.

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Music Companies Sue ISP Bright House for Failing to Disconnect Pirates

A group of major music companies including Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros, has sued Internet provider Bright House Networks for failing to disconnect repeat infringers. The ISP, which was acquired by Charter three years ago, knowingly profited from the massive volumes of copyright infringement committed by its users, the companies state. With thousands of tracks as evidence, the potential damages exceed a billion dollars.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

For roughly two decades, copyright holders have been sending takedown notices to ISPs to alert them that their subscribers are sharing copyrighted material.

Under US law, providers must terminate the accounts of repeat infringers “in appropriate circumstances” and increasingly they are being held to this standard.

Several major music industry companies including Artista Records, Capitol Records, Polygram Publishing, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music, and Warner Bros Records, have filed lawsuits against a variety of Internet providers.

With help from the RIAA, the companies targeted Cox Communications and Grande Communications, hoping to recoup damages for their role in the pirating activities of their subscribers.

The overall theme of these lawsuits is the same. The music companies accuse the ISPs of turning a blind eye to pirating subscribers. This is also made clear in a new complaint that was just filed against Bright House Networks at a federal court in Florida.

A few years ago Bright House was the sixth largest ISP in the US. In 2016, the company was acquired by Charter, and its customers were subsequently moved to the Spectrum brand. However, that hasn’t stopped the music companies from suing the company over its past practices.

In the complaint, the music companies argue that the ISP knowingly contributed to and profited from the copyright infringing actions of its subscribers. As such, the company should be held liable for this activity, they state.

“Indeed, for years, Bright House deliberately refused to take reasonable measures to curb customers from using its Internet services to infringe on others’ copyrights, including Plaintiffs’ copyrights—even after Bright House became aware of particular customers engaging in specific, repeated acts of infringement.

“Rather than working with Plaintiffs to curb this massive infringement, Bright House did nothing, choosing to prioritize its own profits over its legal obligations,” the complaint adds.

The lawsuit covers Bright House’s activities between 2013 and 2016, before the Charter acquisition. The music companies write that, despite sending more than a hundred thousand infringement notices, the ISP knowingly allowed specifically identified repeat infringers to keep using its service.

“In reality, Bright House operated its service as an attractive tool and safe haven for infringement,” the complaint reads.

The more than 60 music publisher plaintiffs list several examples of Bright House customers who were allowed to continue despite dozens, sometimes even hundreds of copyright infringement notices.

“During an 827-day period, Bright House subscriber with IP address 75.114.183.231 was identified in 340 infringement notices, sent on at least 232 separate days,” the complaint reads.

“These examples and countless others amply illustrate that, rather than terminating repeat infringers—and losing subscription revenues—Bright House simply looked the other way.”

The allegations are very similar to the other “repeat infringer” lawsuits we have seen in the past. As in the other cases, the ISP is accused of both contributory and vicarious copyright infringement.

The music companies claim substantial losses for which they want to be compensated. They request actual damages or statutory damages of $150,000 per work. With more than 7,000 tracks as evidence, a list that may grow even longer, the potential damages are over $1 billion.

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A copy of the complaint, filed at The United States District Court Middle District of Florida in Tampa is available here (pdf).

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

Daily Deals (3-25-2019)

The Microsoft Store is running a PC sale with deep discounts on a bunch of laptops, tablets, and convertibles, which means you can pick up a Dell XPS 13 laptop with an 8th-gen Intel Core i5 processor for as little as $799, or a dirt cheap HP laptop wit…

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Google: Maps-Nutzer können öffentliche Veranstaltungen erstellen

Google ist dabei, eine neue Funktion für seinen Kartendienst Maps zu verteilen: Nutzer können damit öffentliche Veranstaltungen erstellen. Dabei lässt sich neben dem Namen und einer Beschreibung auch der Ort und der Veranstaltungszeitpunkt angeben. (Go…

Xiaomi cranks its fast charger up to 100W, charges a 4,000 mAh battery in 17 minutes

It’s hard to make smartphone batteries much bigger without adding size and weight to the phone. And phone makers have largely abandoned removable batteries. So over the past few years we’ve seen a focus on making it easier and faster to cha…

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Urheberrecht: Aus dem “Irrsinn” der CDU einen Kompromiss machen

Anstatt sich ernsthaft mit den Argumenten der Kritiker zur EU-Urheberrechtsreform auseinanderzusetzen, bezeichnet die CDU sie als Bots oder gekaufte Demonstranten. Sie sollte den “Irrsinn” beenden und die Europawahlen nicht fürchten. Ein IMHO von Fried…

Anstatt sich ernsthaft mit den Argumenten der Kritiker zur EU-Urheberrechtsreform auseinanderzusetzen, bezeichnet die CDU sie als Bots oder gekaufte Demonstranten. Sie sollte den "Irrsinn" beenden und die Europawahlen nicht fürchten. Ein IMHO von Friedhelm Greis (Leistungsschutzrecht, Urheberrecht)