Month: December 2021

LaLiga Wins Dynamic Court Injunction to Block 40 Pirate IPTV Platforms

Spanish football league LaLiga and telecoms company Telefónica have obtained a court judgment allowing them to block more than 40 pirate IPTV and card sharing platforms. The country’s leading ISPs are required to implement the blocks while accepting weekly updates designed to frustrate services that attempt to circumvent the measures.

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

Following a legal process that began in 2019, Spanish broadcaster Telefónica Audiovisual Digital obtained a court injunction in February 2020 that required local ISPs to block pirate sites and services.

Targeting Vodafone, Orange, MásMóvil, Euskaltel, Lycamobile, and also Telefónica Audiovisual Digital’s own ISP, Telefónica, the order required the service providers to block 44 identified platforms to help prevent live matches from being streamed illegally to the public.

The injunction allowed for so-called “dynamic” blocking, meaning that when the broadcaster observed the pirate services taking evasive action, updated blocking instructions could be issued to the ISPs.

Telefónica and LaLiga Apply For New Injunction

In a recent application for additional site-blocking measures, Telefónica teamed up with subscription platform Movistar+ and local football league LaLiga. They requested ISP blocking measures against 41 pirate IPTV and card sharing services through which matches can be viewed in breach of the companies’ rights.

According to court documents reviewed by CincoDías, the piracy services are “endowed with great technical resources”, meaning that simple blocking would not be sufficient to curtail their activities. As such, a dynamic injunction was requested, one that would allow the broadcasters to regularly update their blocking instructions in response to pirate countermeasures.

Court Grants Injunction

In a joint statement, Telefónica and LaLiga now confirm that Commercial Court number 6 of Barcelona has approved their request to immediately block the piracy platforms.

Local internet service providers including Vodafone, Orange, MásMóvil (R, Telecable, Euskaltel) Digimóbil and Telefónica Spain must make best efforts to render the services inaccessible.

In common with last year’s order, the Barcelona court also authorized a “dynamic” injunction. This will allow the rightsholders to advise the ISPs of any new domains or IP addresses used by the pirate sites on a weekly basis, thereby reducing their ability to circumvent restrictions.

According to recent LaLiga estimates, football matches were viewed illegally 71 million times in 2020. While that represents a decrease versus the total viewed illegally in 2019 (87 million), the number of consumers who accessed football through unlicensed portals remained the same.

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

Elektroautos: Allego erhöht Ladepreise und führt neue Preisstufe ein

Elektroauto fahren wird wieder teurer. Allego erhöht die Preise an seinen Ladesäulen und führt einen neuen Tarif für schnelles Laden über 50 kW ein. (Elektroauto, Technologie)

Elektroauto fahren wird wieder teurer. Allego erhöht die Preise an seinen Ladesäulen und führt einen neuen Tarif für schnelles Laden über 50 kW ein. (Elektroauto, Technologie)

Ich bin Querdenker

Dissidenten und Querdenker genossen bisher einen guten Ruf. Wie sich das geändert hat und was das für eine kritische Öffentlichkeit bedeutet. Ein Zwischenruf

Dissidenten und Querdenker genossen bisher einen guten Ruf. Wie sich das geändert hat und was das für eine kritische Öffentlichkeit bedeutet. Ein Zwischenruf

Could we build a synthetic digestive system for Vision to make him more human?

Also: five Avengers serve as case studies to ponder aging trajectories for superheroes

The birth of Vision in <em>Avengers: Age of Ultron</em>. Scientists have proposed a possible artificial digestive system for the synthezoid, although new technologies must be developed to make it a reality.

Enlarge / The birth of Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Scientists have proposed a possible artificial digestive system for the synthezoid, although new technologies must be developed to make it a reality. (credit: Marvel Studios)

There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story that fell through the cracks in 2020, each day from December 25 through January 5. Today: How to build a synthetic digestive system for Marvel's Vision. Bonus: assessing the health status of five Avengers to determine how their health will fare as they age.

The folks at Marvel Studios aren't the only ones who like to imagine What If...? Inspired by Marvel's Vision, two scientists reviewed the current state of soft robotics to determine whether it would be possible to build an artificial digestive system for the synthezoid, describing their work a paper published earlier this year in the journal Superhero Science + Technology.  (It's an open access journal published by TU Delft "that considers new research in the fields of science, technology, engineering and ethics motivated and presented using the superhero genre.")

Hey, inquiring minds need to know! It's not just a fun exercise in a more positive form of nerd-gassing, either. The authors note that humanity in general would benefit from advances in such systems, with applications in organ replacement and clinical treatments for patients with chronic digestive issues. 

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Omicron smashes US case records as experts are still trying to understand it

The mildness of omicron and the use of rapid tests are still in question.

A healthcare worker conducts a test at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at the Dan Paul Plaza on December 29, 2021 in Miami, Florida. In response to the increasing demand for COVID-19 tests, Miami-Dade County opened two new testing sites and expanding hours at the Zoo Miami testing location.

Enlarge / A healthcare worker conducts a test at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at the Dan Paul Plaza on December 29, 2021 in Miami, Florida. In response to the increasing demand for COVID-19 tests, Miami-Dade County opened two new testing sites and expanding hours at the Zoo Miami testing location. (credit: Getty | Joe Raedle)

Average daily COVID-19 cases in the US reached over 267,000 Tuesday, a record high largely driven by an ultratransmissible coronavirus variant that experts are still scrambling to understand.

The current seven-day average of 267,305 daily cases has leapt above the previous record of around 250,000 cases, which was set in early January, 2021. And the current vertical rise in cases is expected to continue in to the coming weeks.

"The rapid increase in cases we are seeing across the country is in large part a reflection of the exceptionally transmissible omicron variant," Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a White House press briefing Wednesday.

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