Just another news site
Nicht nur am Mittelmeer und in Mitteleuropa ist das Wetter derzeit aus dem Takt, sondern auch rings um den Nordpol
Die Top Ten unter den Sachbüchern nebst einer persönlichen Empfehlung
The Intel NUC 11 Extreme just began shipping, with a modular design and support for bringing your support for bringing your own discrete graphics card. But details are already starting to leak about Intel’s next-gen NUC systems. According to a l…
The Intel NUC 11 Extreme just began shipping, with a modular design and support for bringing your support for bringing your own discrete graphics card. But details are already starting to leak about Intel’s next-gen NUC systems. According to a leaked slide published to Chinese social media site Weibo, the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast will […]
The post Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast mini PC will have Alder Lake CPU and discrete graphics appeared first on Liliputing.
Razer is primarily known for its gaming hardware, but from time to time the company branches out into other areas like fitness trackers, watches, or smart eyewear. Next up? A wearable air purifier. After showing off a concept for a high-tech face mask…
Razer is primarily known for its gaming hardware, but from time to time the company branches out into other areas like fitness trackers, watches, or smart eyewear. Next up? A wearable air purifier. After showing off a concept for a high-tech face mask during CES in January, Razer announced in March that it would bring […]
The post Razer’s high-tech face mask, now called Razer Zephyr, is coming in Q4, 2021 appeared first on Liliputing.
Google has already confirmed that it will launch Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones this fall, and they’ll be the company’s first phones to feature a new Google Tensor system-on-a-chip rather than a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. But they…
Google has already confirmed that it will launch Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones this fall, and they’ll be the company’s first phones to feature a new Google Tensor system-on-a-chip rather than a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. But they’ll also be expensive phones designed to compete with other flagships. The company isn’t giving up on the […]
The post Lilbits: Pixel 5a, Kindle vulnerability patched, and Super Duper Secure Mode for Microsoft Edge appeared first on Liliputing.
FTC says Facebook privacy settlement doesn’t require blocking researchers.
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | GreyParrot)
When Facebook disabled the accounts of New York University researchers who were investigating misinformation and political ads on the platform, the social-media giant claimed it did so to comply with a consent decree that it previously agreed to with the Federal Trade Commission. "We took these actions to stop unauthorized scraping and protect people's privacy in line with our privacy program under the FTC Order," Facebook wrote in its explanation of the account suspensions. Facebook said it "disabled the accounts, apps, Pages and platform access associated with NYU's Ad Observatory Project and its operators."
But Facebook's claim that the FTC order forced it to suspend the researchers is false, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Acting Director Samuel Levine wrote in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday. The FTC order did require Facebook to create a privacy program, but there was no requirement that would have forced Facebook to shut down the NYU research project. Despite that, Facebook's statement that it suspended the accounts "in line with our privacy program under the FTC Order" conveys the false message that Facebook had no choice in the matter.
Levine's three-paragraph letter to Zuckerberg said:
Read 15 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Promo is back for every “first Friday” of 2021—one of many reasons to use the service.
Enlarge / For the rest of 2021, Bandcamp Friday is back on the first Friday of every month (including today). That's one of many reasons I recommend checking out Bandcamp as a solid digital music storefront. (credit: Bandcamp)
The digital music universe has come a long way since the Napster era, and these days, that means a good number of paid subscription services are angling to serve all the music you could imagine in a legally acceptable package. But getting music-subscription dollars into your favorite musicians' hands remains a sticking point.
As far as musicians are concerned, Apple Music is still one of the better payout services, with the company officially estimating as much as one penny paid per streamed song, while Spotify maxes out at less than half a penny per stream—and those payouts can drop based on whatever wacky spreadsheet-calculus each service runs in the background. Either way, that math checks out; your $10 or $15 per month can only be divided so far between hundreds of song streams.
If you're willing to open your wallet a little wider for downloaded music, today's return of the Bandcamp Fridays promotion is a massive counterbalance to underpaying subscription services. And it's a good excuse to point to Bandcamp as a feature-rich, mobile-friendly option for buying music online.
Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
HP is selling an Envy x360 13 inch convertible laptop with an OLED display and Intel Tiger Lake processor options for $700 and up. That’s $170 off the list price, but it’s also one of the lowest prices I’ve seen to date for any noteb…
HP is selling an Envy x360 13 inch convertible laptop with an OLED display and Intel Tiger Lake processor options for $700 and up. That’s $170 off the list price, but it’s also one of the lowest prices I’ve seen to date for any notebook with an OLED screen. Meanwhile Best Buy is selling a Lenovo […]
The post Daily Deals (8-06-2021) appeared first on Liliputing.
The world governing body for kung fu is using copyright law to identify a user who allegedly made defamatory remarks about the organization on YouTube. The action by the International Wushu Federation is taking place in Australia’s Federal Court where a judge has ordered Google to hand over subscriber information. The action appears connected to a kung fu controversy in Turkey.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
People who post copyrighted videos to sites like YouTube need to ensure they have the necessary rights to do so.
This can include uploads with appropriate licensing or content posted within the guidelines of ‘fair use’, including criticism or parody, for example. However, posting content within these parameters is no guarantee against legal action, as a case in Australia now shows.
According to a judgment published by the Federal Court of Australia this week, the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) – the world governing body for kung fu – is attempting to identify the person who posted allegedly copyright-infringing videos to YouTube.
Citing the infamous Dallas Buyers Club v iiNet case of 2015, among others, the IWUF asked the Court to compel YouTube owner Google to hand over all the information it holds that would enable the martial arts organization to identify the operator of the YouTube channel ‘Wushuleaks’.
The judgment notes that IWUF “is considering commencing proceedings” against the Wushuleaks operator but at present is unable to identify them. On June 4, 2021, Justice Beach made orders that granted IWUF permission to serve the application on Google in the United States. Google has chosen not to appear in the proceeding but says it will comply with the Court’s orders on a voluntary basis.
Affidavits include those submitted to the Court by Walter Patrick Missingham, the current Vice President of IWUF and Paul Francis Horvath, IWUF’s solicitor. According to the latter, IWUF is the “ultimate copyright holder” of all material related to IWUF competitions and demonstrations, which includes footage of competitions.
Missingham told the Court that in late 2019 he became aware of around 24 videos posted to the Wushuleaks channel that he identified as IWUF copyright works. These videos were not only unlicensed but allegedly contained defamatory statements about IWUF.
“Mr Missingham sets out transcripts of material from the videos posted on the Wushuleaks Channel,” Justice Rofe’s judgment reads.
“IWUF contends that the videos contain commentary that carries imputations that IWUF is a corrupt organization, that it manipulated competition results and that it corruptly accepts payments for favors and is involved in match fixing. Each of these are submitted to be imputations which would tend to lower the IWUF’s reputation in the eyes of reasonable members of the community.”
The transcripts of the videos were not published by the Court this week but the fact that commentary exists in the videos suggests that at least some steps towards fair use/fair dealing took place before they were published.
However, whether any use is considered ‘fair’ is a matter to be decided in court and even success in that respect wouldn’t necessarily carry weight in avoiding a claim for defamation. This brings us to the content of those videos and why IWUF is prepared to go to court to find out who is behind Wushuleaks.
Aside from the summary comments from the Judge based on Missingham’s transcripts, there are also some clues in the YouTube video URLs published in the judgment. All have been taken down by YouTube, either displaying a message that they were removed due to a copyright claim or due to the account being terminated.
However, at least one of the URLs is directly cited in a news report that was published by Turkish daily news outlet Birgun.net late January 2021.
According to this report and others (1,2) published in Turkish media, Wushuleaks’ videos reportedly analyzed IWUF competition and came to the conclusion that one of the competitors also acted as a referee in the same competition.
Additional articles published on other local platforms report the type of allegations cited in IWUF’s affidavit filed with the Federal Court, i.e the manipulation of competition results and the acceptance of payment for favors. No concrete evidence is provided in the publications to back up these statements but it seems possible, given the Judge’s summary of the allegations in the Australian matter, that similar claims were made on the Wushuleaks channel.
“IWUF contends that it may have a right to obtain relief against a prospective respondent for infringement of copyright in certain copyright works of which IWUF is the copyright owner, and for defamation,” Justice Rofe’s judgment reads.
“IWUF submits that the proceedings contemplated by it against the operator of the Wushuleaks Channel for breach of copyright and defamation have prospects of success and are not merely speculative.
“IWUF does not need to establish the existence of a prima facie case against a prospective respondent. It is enough if IWUF can show that it may have a right to obtain relief. This threshold has been described as ‘not onerous’,” the Judge adds.
Why this matter is being pursued in the Australian courts is unclear. However, the Judge writes that since it is reasonable to infer that the videos could have been viewed or downloaded by people in Australian territories, the action can go ahead at this stage. If a full lawsuit for infringement and/or defamation does go ahead, the Court would need to see evidence to show that was the case. However, with words like “contemplating” and “considering” being used to indicate whether a lawsuit will be filed, questions remain.
In any event, Google is now required to hand over the personal details of the Wushuleaks channel operator, including their name, email address and date of birth. Quite what IWUF intends to do with that information moving forward is unclear.
The Federal Court’s judgment can be found here
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Xiaomi takes over for the declining Huawei as Samsung starts an internal review.
Xiaomi's Redmi K40 Pro, which has flagship specs (a Snapdragon 888 and 120 Hz display) for around $600. [credit: Xiaomi ]
Hot off its climb to the No. 2 spot for Q2 2021, Xiaomi is the world's biggest smartphone vendor for the first time. That's according to July's numbers from Counterpoint Research, which has Xiaomi in first with 17.1 percent of the global market, Samsung in second with 15.7 percent, and Apple in third with 14.3 percent.
Counterpoint says Xiaomi's market share grew 26 percent month over month. Counterpoint Research Director Tarun Pathak explains why, saying, “Ever since the decline of Huawei commenced, Xiaomi has been making consistent and aggressive efforts to fill the gap created by this decline. The OEM has been expanding in Huawei’s and HONOR’s legacy markets like China, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. In June, Xiaomi was further helped by China, Europe, and India’s recovery and Samsung’s decline due to supply constraints.”
Huawei has been plummeting in the market share charts as the effects of the multi-year US export ban caught up with the company. Huawei keeps making paper announcements, but with the main brand lacking chips and software, plus the sale of sub-brand Honor, there's not much left of Huawei in the current smartphone market.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.