Geheimer Streit über geheime Streitereien
Historikerkommission des Bundesnachrichtendienstes fällt auseinander
Just another news site
Historikerkommission des Bundesnachrichtendienstes fällt auseinander
Die Corona-Krise sollte helfen, unser Geldsystems besser zu verstehen: Es gibt so gut wie keine Grenzen der Finanzierbarkeit
The movie industry can look forward to a stellar year if we go by recent comments from producer Anne Hurd, who’s known for The Walking Dead and the Terminator trilogy. Hurd expects that the new felony streaming bill, which was approved late last year, will generate a revenue boost of up to 10%, returning “billions of dollars in stolen revenues.” We’re skeptical.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
At the end of 2020, U.S. Congress passed the spending bill.
The legislation package includes various copyright-related changes, including a new plan to criminalize streaming piracy services.
The Protecting Lawful Streaming Act (PLSA), as it’s called, was only introduced a few days prior and was approved without any notable debate. This stands in sharp contrast with earlier ‘felony streaming’ plans, which in part triggered the SOPA and PIPA protests.
Copyright holders, however, never gave up on the idea. They continuously stressed that streaming piracy should be brought on par with downloading infringing material and with the new law, their wish is granted.
The new proposal amends US copyright law by adding a section that allows commercial streaming piracy services to be targeted while leaving individual streamers out of the crosshairs.
Specifically, the bill makes it unlawful to provide a service that’s primarily designed to show copyright-infringing content, has no significant commercial purpose other than piracy, or is intentionally marketed to promote streaming piracy.
Tailoring the bill to commercial services is an important distinction that makes it more balanced than earlier versions that were proposed in the past. This means that average YouTube and Twitch streamers have little to worry about.
Needless to say, Hollywood is happy with the new law which should make it easier to shut down streaming sites. This includes veteran producer Gale Anne Hurd, who’s known for The Walking Dead and the Terminator trilogy.
In an op-ed published by Deadline this week, Hurd notes that the law comes just in time as piracy has “become more popular than ever” during the COVID pandemic, referring to statistics released by MUSO last year. Although she doesn’t mention that the numbers subsequently dropped to new lows, the sentiment is clear. Piracy has to stop.
This is where the new felony streaming law can do wonders. According to Hurd, it allows US law enforcement to swoop in and start shutting down pirate streaming services.
“But now, with the passage of the PLSA, U.S. law enforcement can finally start to shut down these for-profit criminal enterprises,” Hurd writes, adding that this will result in a spectacular boost in revenues.
“With its passage, we can anticipate that legal digital sales and rentals will increase by as much as 10%, which will inject billions of dollars in stolen revenues back into the struggling legal economy, helping to bring back jobs for creatives who have been hit hard by the pandemic.”
While we don’t want to ruin Hollywood’s party, we seriously doubt that they can count on billions of dollars in extra revenue. Nor do we think that the law will trigger a 10% decrease in piracy.
If history has shown anything it’s that the piracy ecosystem is extremely flexible. When one site shuts down, people simply move on to the next. Over the years the U.S. Government has already launched several criminal prosecutions against alleged pirate sites, including KickassTorrents and Megaupload, but that hardly made a dent.
In her article Hurd also mentions the Megaupload case, acknowledging that this didn’t stop piracy. The producer argues that it helped to slow things down, which may have been a temporary effect, but the academic literature is divided on this topic.
Hurd also notes that the new law may dissuade some people from starting a pirate streaming site or service. This seems more likely indeed, but even then, there are always people who are willing to enter the criminal realm as long as they can make enough money.
If we look back at the past two decades, we see that thousands of torrent sites and download portals were launched, even though the operators were at risk of being criminally prosecuted. Why would that be different with streaming?
But for a minute let’s assume that piracy will indeed plunge this year. Would that really result in billions of extra revenue? Where would all that money come from?
Research has shown repeatedly that pirates are already the most prolific media consumers. They often turn to unauthorized channels to complement the demand they can’t afford or are not willing to spend.
Will these people shift their spending habits when they can’t pirate – which means they can’t do other things with that money – or will they simply consume less? Admittedly, some people may trade in their pirate IPTV subscriptions for legal alternatives, but will that generate billions in revenue?
All in all, we agree with Hurd that the felony streaming bill will benefit the movie industry. It may deter some people from starting a pirate service. However, Hollywood shouldn’t be disappointed when those billions of dollars don’t come pouring in immediately.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
A study on speed and crashes has me pining for lightweight cars.
Enlarge / A Volvo XC90 SUV following a crash test in Sweden. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)
At the end of January, safety researchers at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety published a study showing that small increases in speed have big consequences during a crash. After crashing three identical cars at increasing speed, the study showed that a car that aces the test across the board at 40mph (64km/h), with just a 15 percent change of serious injury may get a failing grade overall, with a 59 percent chance of serious injury at 50mph (80km/h). At 56mph (90km/h), the result was even worse; the 50th percentile male crash test dummy only had a 21 percent chance of escaping serious injury or worse.
No doubt, the fact that vehicles are designed to pass a 45mph (73km/h) crash test and not something at highway speed has something to do with the results of the study. But it's also a reminder of basic physics: a vehicle's kinetic energy is equal to half its mass multiplied by the square of its speed. So, the average US light-duty vehicle—which weighs about 4,000lbs (1,814kg)—has 11.2kJ when it's traveling at 25mph (40km/h) but 22kJ at 35mph (56km/h), a fact that people can use next time someone complains that city speed limits are too slow.
But speed is, literally, only part of the equation. Local authorities can set limits on how fast we can drive, but no one's going to stop you buying a 5,000lb (2,268kg) car instead of a 4,000lb one. And big cars are attractive to the general public. Ironically, much of this trend is fueled by the fact that safety sells, and the biggest, heaviest cars are the safest—for their occupants, at least. Pedestrians or people in older or smaller cars? Not so much.
When it comes to quantum mechanics, confinement is not necessarily bad.
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)
One of the quietest revolutions of our current century has been the entry of quantum mechanics into our everyday technology. It used to be that quantum effects were confined to physics laboratories and delicate experiments. But modern technology increasingly relies on quantum mechanics for its basic operation, and the importance of quantum effects will only grow in the decades to come. As such, physicist Miguel F. Morales has taken on the herculean task of explaining quantum mechanics to laypeople in this seven-part series (no math, we promise). Below is the fifth story in the series, but you can always find the starting story plus a landing page for the entire series thus far on site.
Sung to the abbess’s lines in "Maria" from The Sound of Music:
"How do you catch a wave like Maria? How do you grab a cloud and pin it down? Oh, how do you solve a particle like Maria? How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?"
Ein Versuch zur Veranschaulichung des Unanschaulichen
Bis auf den Mond gelangen Spieler in Endwalker, der nächsten großen Erweiterung für Final Fantasy 14, das ab April 2021 auch auf PS5 läuft. (Final Fantasy, MMORPG)
US broadcaster DISH Networks has won a $2.7m judgment against a pirate IPTV provider and a hosting company through which it operated. In addition, DISH has permission to seize all of the companies’ domains and order the disabling of any future domains, should they be used to infringe the broadcaster’s copyrights.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
In July 2019, US broadcaster DISH Networks filed a lawsuit in a Delaware federal court targeting US-based Serverlogy Corporation and several John Does, together doing business as East IPTV.
Serverlogy Corporation was described as a CDN/hosting company providing services to pirate IPTV supplier EastIPTV. According to DISH, EastIPTV is guilty of direct copyright infringement due to channels licensed to DISH being illegally broadcasted via the service.
The original complaint stated that DISH had been sending infringement notices concerning East IPTV to content delivery networks (CDNs) for some time, with at least two CDNs removing DISH’s content in March and June 2018. For its part, Serverlogy reportedly refused to stop EastIPTV from infringing DISH’s rights.
DISH demanded damages from EastIPTV for direct copyright infringement and from Serverlogy for contributory and vicarious infringement, seeking statutory damages of $150,000 for each registered work. The case wasn’t to be settled quickly, however.
In an amended complaint filed in February 2020, DISH named Ahmad Al Shahman as the operator of EastIPTV, claiming that his infringing conduct continued for more than two months after the original complaint was filed.
The broadcaster further noted that Serverlogy was ineligible for safe harbor protections under the DMCA because it failed to respond to takedown demands, had no repeat infringer policy, and didn’t have an appointed DMCA agent. Since then, EastIPTV and Serverlogy Corporation have played little to no part in the legal proceedings.
In a default judgment handed down this week, Judge Richard G. Andrews found that Shahman profited from the EastIPTV service by selling IPTV devices that illegally transmitted DISH channels, infringing the company’s copyrights.
“In doing so, Shahman directly infringed DISH’s exclusive rights to distribute and publicly perform the works that air on the Protected Channels,” the judgment reads.
The judgment further reaches the conclusion that Serverlogy was operated by Shahman himself and in keeping with DISH’s assertion that the company failed to live up to its obligations under the DMCA, finds Serverlogy liable for EastIPTV’s infringements.
“Serverlogy is ineligible for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘DMCA’) safe harbor because it failed to appoint an agent for receiving copyright infringement notices, failed to respond expeditiously to remove or disable access to the Protected Channels, and failed to adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides the termination of subscribers who are repeat infringers,” the decision reads.
Finding EastIPTV liable for direct copyright infringement and Serverlogy liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement, the Judge turns to the matter of damages.
“DISH Network L.L.C. shall have judgment against Ahmad Al Shahrnan in the total amount of $2,100,000, and judgment against Serverlogy Corporation in the amount of $600,000,” the Judge writes. But of course, the matter doesn’t end there.
All defendants are permanently enjoined from transmitting, streaming or otherwise distributing DISH content in the future and may not offer for sale or market any product that infringes the broadcaster’s rights. Furthermore, both EastIPTV and Serverlogy will forfeit their domains under instruction from the Court.
VeriSign, Inc. and any other registries and registrars of the domain names Eastiptv.com, Serverlogy.com, Globalflarenetwork.com and Iptvupdate.com, within 48 hours of receiving this Order, shall (i) make the websites and any other content located at the domain names inaccessible to the public; (ii) transfer the domain names to DISH, including changing the registrar of record to the registrar selected by DISH at DISH’s reasonable expense; and (iii) after the transfer, reenable the domain names so that DISH may fully control and use the domain names.
In addition, registries and registrars are also instructed to disable all future domain names used by the defendants if they are used to infringe DISH’s copyrights. DISH is required to identify these domains and report them to the domain companies, which must then render them inaccessible within 48 hours.
The default judgment and permanent injunction can be found here (pdf)
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Porsche investiert 15 Milliarden Euro in Elektroautos und will langfristig nur noch den 911 mit reinem Verbrennerantrieb ausstatten. (Porsche, Technologie)
Lo-fi hip-hop channels have created a community for minimalist escape.
Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto | Getty Images)
Dion Lewis was trying to make the best out of a difficult situation. Last August, when a storm left his Chicago neighborhood without electricity for a week, he improvised. Lewis had recently created a YouTube page for tutorials about the various aspects of computer programming called Code Pioneers, and that first night, unable to record, he decided to gather his wife and daughter for some quality time. Together in their living room surrounded by flickering candles, the three of them sat listening to songs Lewis “previously downloaded to use as background music” in his video tutorials. They included tracks like RalphReal’s “Mix It Up” and “Wallflowers” by the Portland experimentalist musician Bad Snacks.
The next morning, moved by what he’d heard, Lewis grabbed his DJ controller, headphones, and used “the last amount of power” in his laptop to make “Late Night Coding in Chicago”—a 32-minute stream of soothing lo-fi hip-hop songs and, to date, one of the most-watched videos on his YouTube page.
You must be logged in to post a comment.