Month: June 2020

COVID vaccine execs hyped vague data to cash in $90M in stock, watchdog says

Executives allegedly “exploited widespread fears” of pandemic to make millions.

Moderna Inc. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Enlarge / Moderna Inc. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

An anti-corruption watchdog is pressing the US Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate executives of the biotech company Moderna after they cashed in about $90 million in company shares days after promoting “positive" but vague data from its early COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.

The watchdog group, Accountable.US, called the timing of the trades suspicious and questioned whether executives coordinated their stock sales prior to the data release.

In a letter to the SEC that was released to CBS Moneywatch, Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig wrote, "This misconduct was particularly egregious because it involved not only financial fraud and manipulation of the financial markets, but also because it exploited widespread fears surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.” In all, the executives' exploitation served to "boost the company's value, as well as their own bank accounts.

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Zoom defenders say there are legit reasons to not encrypt free calls

Critics say everyone deserves it. Others say safety should be factored in, too.

Zoom defenders say there are legit reasons to not encrypt free calls

Enlarge (credit: Zoom)

If you’ve waded into Twitter timelines for security and privacy advocates over the past five days, you’ve no doubt seen Zoom excoriated for its plans to enable end-to-end encrypted video conferencing solely for paying customers. Zoom’s millions of non-paying users won’t receive the protection so that the company can monitor meetings for child-abuse activity and other types of illegal and disturbing content, executives said.

“Oh, fuck off, @zoom_us. You don't care about anything except money,” one critic wrote on Twitter Tuesday, five days after Reuters reported the plans. “You certainly don't care about protecting people from the abusive overreach of police. After all, didn't you just say non-paying customers won't benefit from encryption b/c you want to work with law enforcement?”

The move is certainly a departure from some platforms that already offer end-to-end encryption. Signal, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp all offer the protection to all users, though few if any pay for the services. Few video conferencing services offer end-to-end encryption. Like Zoom, its competitors that do offer end-to-end crypto generally do so only for select users.

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Lenovo launches Chromebook 3 with 11.6 inch display for $230

Lenovo is selling a previously unannounced budget Chromebook with an 11.6 inch display, an Intel Celeron N4020 Gemini Lake processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The new Lenovo Chromebook 3 is now available from Lenovo for $230. While that’s …

Lenovo is selling a previously unannounced budget Chromebook with an 11.6 inch display, an Intel Celeron N4020 Gemini Lake processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The new Lenovo Chromebook 3 is now available from Lenovo for $230. While that’s a pretty decent price for an entry-level laptop, it’s worth keeping in mind that you’re […]

More Than Half of All Sports Fans Regularly Pirate Content

A new survey published by Synamedia shows that more than half of all sports fans access pirated content at least once a month. On average, these pirates are more engaged than other sports fans. At the same time, however, the findings show that there are many different types of pirates, all with their own preferences and habits.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Copyright holders are no fans of piracy. However, pirates tend to be the biggest fans of their content, whether that’s movies, games or music.

Research has consistently shown that illegal downloaders and streamers are more engaged consumers. They also tend to spend more money on subscriptions, merchandise, theater visits and concerts.

Thus far most surveys and studies have zoomed in on music and video entertainment. However, there is a massive market for sports piracy as well. With a new report, Synamedia tried to fill this gap with an extensive survey of over 6,000 respondents in ten countries.

The Survey Results

As expected, the study found that frequent pirates are among the most engaged consumers, with 42% watching sports fixtures on a daily basis. This is twice as much as regular sports fans.

What really stands out, however, is that piracy is not a niche activity for sports fans. On the contrary, more than half of all sports fans consume pirated content at least once a month.

It turns out that finding a sports fan who has never pirated anything is quite a challenge. Of all the people who were surveyed, only 16% said that they had never pirated sports content. This is also clear from the overview of the key results, listed below.

Synamedia sports piracy summary results

Not all sports pirates are equal, according to Synamedia. The company identifies three different groups, which each differ in their viewing preferences, content demands, and views on piracy.

Loyal Stalwarts, Fickle Superfans, and Casual Spectators

The first group are the “Loyal Stalwarts,” which are mostly older men who consume a broad variety of sports content. Most think illegal services are wrong and they plan to keep their legal subscriptions.

Loyal Starwarts

The second group covers the “Fickle Superfans.” They are younger and often have a strong focus on local and niche games and sports. These Superfans can be divided into ‘Content Plunderers’ who believe piracy is not wrong, and ‘Internet Buccaneers,’ who prefer legal content.

Fickle Superfans

“Casual Spectators” make up the last group. As the name suggests, they don’t consume pirated content very often. This covers both ‘Ocean Explorers’ who are fine with piracy but prefer legal content, as well as ‘Silver Islanders,’ who clearly believe piracy is wrong.

Casual Spectators

While all these different groups and subgroups are a bit confusing, it helps to convey the point that not all pirates are equal. Not by a long shot. This makes sports piracy a complicated enforcement area.

No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

For example, some groups are worried about fines, while others clearly aren’t. Similarly, some pirates are eager to pay, while others are more likely to keep pirating.

What is important, however, is that legal options are available. If people have no way to watch something legally, they often turn to unauthorized channels.

Synamedia hopes that their research will help copyright holders and content providers to understand pirates better, even though there’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution. In any case, sports pirates should not be universally written off as cheapskates.

“Consumers who most indulge in illicit viewing are also the most engaged sports fans and potentially most willing to pay for legitimate content,” Synamedia writes.

“The challenge for rights holders and platform operators is to combine enforcement activity to frustrate illegal viewing with products that address the underlying triggers for consumers to stray. Done right there is potential to generate incremental revenue,” the company adds.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Entspannungspolitik auf Christlich

Vor dem 500. Jahrestag der Exkommunikation Luthers gibt es Bestrebungen, diese päpstliche Maßnahme offiziell zurückzunehmen, wenn die Lutheraner dafür Luthers Einstufung des Papstes als Antichrist widerrufen

Vor dem 500. Jahrestag der Exkommunikation Luthers gibt es Bestrebungen, diese päpstliche Maßnahme offiziell zurückzunehmen, wenn die Lutheraner dafür Luthers Einstufung des Papstes als Antichrist widerrufen

“Culture of workplace fear” leads to COVID-19 spread at Amazon, suit says

The suit seeks a ruling forcing Amazon to do better instead of financial damages.

Amazon.com Inc. signage is displayed in front of a warehouse in the Staten Island borough of New York, US, on Tuesday, March 31, 2020.

Enlarge / Amazon.com Inc. signage is displayed in front of a warehouse in the Staten Island borough of New York, US, on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (credit: Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images)

A group of Amazon employees are suing the company, alleging it mandated unsafe working conditions in one of its fulfillment centers that led to the spread of COVID-19 and deaths resulting from the disease.

"This case is about Amazon's failures to comply with New York law and state and federal public health guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic at the JFK8 facility," the complaint (PDF) reads, alleging, "the company has relied on purposeful miscommunication with workers, sloppy contact tracing, and the culture of workplace fear it has instilled at JFK to ensure it can maintain productivity while reducing costs, even if that means workers come to work sick and cannot engage in proper hygiene, sanitizing, or social distancing while at work in order to stay healthy."

At least one worker at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island has died of COVID-19 so far, and several others have fallen ill. As recently as this past weekend, employees at the facility were receiving additional newly confirmed cases at the facility. One of the plaintiffs in the suit alleges that after she contracted the novel coronavirus at work in the warehouse, "she awoke to find her cousin with whom she lived dead in their bathroom" after he developed COVID-19 symptoms. She requested paid quarantine leave from the company under the terms of New York law, the suit says, but Amazon failed to pay her.

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4G rotary cellphone coming this fall (or build your own DIY 3G model now)

Earlier this year Justine Haupt showed off a Rotary Cellphone designed for making phone calls and not much else. With a retro-style 10-digit dialer, a few speed-dial buttons, LED lights, and a small ePaper display for showing missed calls or contact in…

Earlier this year Justine Haupt showed off a Rotary Cellphone designed for making phone calls and not much else. With a retro-style 10-digit dialer, a few speed-dial buttons, LED lights, and a small ePaper display for showing missed calls or contact info, the phone is a response to the do-everything approach of modern smartphones. Haupt […]