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“Gut gemeint” erweist sich oft als Gegenteil von “gut”, wenn Verantwortung individualisiert und moralisiert wird. Kommentar und Hintergrund
Um den Ausbau von Solaranlagen zu beschleunigen, soll die Bundesregierung mehr fördern. (Solarenergie, GreenIT)
Um den Ausbau von Solaranlagen zu beschleunigen, soll die Bundesregierung mehr fördern. (Solarenergie, GreenIT) Der Agrarunternehmer Pawel Grudinin wurde offiziell wegen Unklarheiten über Vermögen im Ausland von der Duma-Wahl ausgeschlossen. Der KPRF scheint das nicht zu schaden
Mit großem Aufwand versucht Tesla den Autopiloten praxistauglicher zu machen, baut Supercomputer und hat noch eine kleine Überraschung. Von Frank Wunderlich-Pfeiffer (KI, Roboter)
Die Berliner Krankenhausbewegung will einen besseren Personalschlüssel durchsetzen und kann dabei auf breite Solidarität bauen. Ihr Ultimatum ist um Mitternacht abgelaufen
Regulators are reportedly working to finish approval Friday, but timeline could slip.
Enlarge / Vials with COVID-19 Vaccine labels showing logos of pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech. (credit: Getty | Photonews)
The Food and Drug Administration is aiming to issue full regulatory approval of Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine as early as Monday, according to a report by the New York Times.
The regulatory agency had previously set an unofficial internal goal for issuing the approval by early September. Officials who spoke with the Times said that FDA officials were working to finish the approval Friday, but they were still going through paperwork and negotiations with the companies. The timeline could still slip past Monday if the process takes longer than expected, but the agency is on track to grant approval as early as next week, Politico reported.
Currently the Pfizer/BioNTech two-dose mRNA vaccine is being offered in the US based on an Emergency Use Authorization. So far, 200 million doses have been administered in the US alone. Though the vaccine has proven highly effective and safe, the full approval may convince some vaccine holdouts that the shot is, indeed, safe and effective. Previous polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 31 percent of unvaccinated people would be more likely to get their shots if a vaccine earned full approval.
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US just hit 200M people with at least one vaccine dose.
Enlarge / A nurse administers a COVID-19 shot at a vaccination site in Florida on August 18, 2021. (credit: Getty | Sopa images)
The US reached a milestone of having 200 million people vaccinated with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. And for two days in a row now, over one million people rolled up their sleeves for a shot. Those are daily highs not seen in nearly seven weeks.
Of those one million vaccinations each day, approximately 562,000 and 534,000 shots went to people receiving their first dose, according to White House COVID-19 Data Director, Cyrus Shahpar. Earlier this week, the seven-day average of new first doses nationwide has been hovering around 400,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The boost in vaccinations comes amid a devastating wave of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths driven by the hypertransmissible delta variant, which now accounts for nearly all cases in the US. The surge stands to rival the country's worst wave of the pandemic, which peaked in January 2021 with average daily new cases around 200,000. The country is now averaging over 130,000 cases a day, and that figure is still climbing.
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Während die Taliban Afghanistan überrannten und die Vorbereitungen auf ein Post-Konflikt-Szenario liefen, herrschte in Brüssel Realitätsverweigerung und Angst vor einer Fluchtwelle vor
Der amtierende US-Präsident nutze das Abkommen seines Vorgängers Trump mit den Taliban aus. Damit machte er es den Islamisten leicht
A federal court in Texas has ordered a former employee of a local phone store to pay $6,250 in piracy damages. The woman, who was fired, promoted the piracy app Popcorn Time to customers and also downloaded pirated content herself. The damages award is substantially lower than the $162,500 that was claimed by several movie studios.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Millions of people around the world use pirate apps on their mobile devices to stream TV-shows and movies.
This is a problem for copyright holders, which have tried to tackle the problem in recent years, both in and outside of court.
Hawaiian attorney Kerry Culpepper has been particularly active on the legal front. Representing a variety of movie companies, he has gone after users, site operators, and developers connected to Popcorn Time, Showbox, and other apps.
These legal efforts have also spilled over to more indirect targets such as Internet providers and VPN services. Even offline targets aren’t safe it seems. Last December, a former employee of a VICTRA store was sue for promoting the piracy app Popcorn Time to customers.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the makers of the film ‘Hunter Killer’, which was later joined by four other movie companies. The filmmakers accused Ms. Boylan of downloading several films. More unusually, the rightsholders also accused her of promoting Popcorn Time to customers at the VICTRA store
“Defendant promoted the movie piracy applications to her customers to entice them to purchase particular products and thereby increase her own compensation,” the amended complaint read.
The claim was backed up by testimony from a VICTRA customer who stated that Ms. Boylan recommended and helped him to install Popcorn Time to watch free movies. This customer was sued in an earlier lawsuit and likely provided the information as part of a settlement.
After the customer pointed out Ms. Boylan the filmmakers did some further research which showed that the IP-address connected to her Verizon subscription had been repeatedly used to download pirated movies.
When VICTRA found out about the allegations, Ms. Boylan was terminated as an employee. However, the movie studios were not done yet and also demanded a large sum in piracy damages.
After Ms. Boylan failed to respond in court, the filmmakers requested a default judgment asking for $150,000 in copyright infringement damages and another $12,550 for violations of the DMCA.
In a recent order, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo agrees that the copyright holders are entitled to damages. However, the demands are too high and the final verdict is substantially lower.
“Several factors suggest a somewhat lower award of statutory damages,” Judge Montalvo writes, adding that “the facts do not establish Defendant’s direct infringement extended beyond personal consumption.”
Ms. Boylan’s downloads for personal use are not the biggest issue, according to the court. What weighs stronger is that the defendant promoted Popcorn Time in a sales pitch, for her own benefit.
All in all, however, the court doesn’t believe that the movie companies were substantially harmed by any of these activities.
“Defendant’s contributory infringement is somewhat more serious as it likely caused more lost revenue than her direct infringement and was done for her own profit. Even so, the total harm to Plaintiffs is unlikely to be substantial,” the order reads.
Instead of the requested $162,500 in damages, the court rules that $6,250 is sufficient in this matter. An additional award of $10,680 in attorney’s fees and costs brings the total due to $16,930.
The significantly reduced damages amount saves the defendant from potential lifelong debt. However, Judge Montalvo stresses that the amount is probably high enough for her to learn a lesson.
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A copy of the order issued by U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo is available here (pdf)
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Mit großem Aufwand versucht Tesla den Autopiloten praxistauglicher zu machen, baut Supercomputer und hat noch eine kleine Überraschung. Von Frank Wunderlich-Pfeiffer (
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