Month: May 2023

Zwei Jahre soll der Rundfunkbeitrag eingefroren werden, die Zukunftskommission derweil Reformideen vorlegen, schlägt Sachsen-Anhalts Ministerpräsident vor. (Rundfunkbeitrag, ZDF)

System Shock gilt als wegweisendes Shooter-Rollenspiel. Jetzt ist Golem.de im Remake wieder gegen die Super-KI Shodan angetreten (Windows-PC). Von Peter Steinlechner (System Shock, Rollenspiel)

At the end of 2020, the operator of one of the largest YouTube rippers took the unprecedented step of taking the music industry to court.

Yout.com’s Johnathan Nader was fed up with a bombardment of DMCA takedown requests and alleged defamatory claims. In response, he sued the RIAA, asking the federal court in Connecticut to declare his service non-infringing.

The RIAA and other music groups had been actively trying to remove so-called YouTube rippers from Google’s search results. The industry group had also prevailed in legal action against some of the sites but in its battle with Yout.com, the RIAA filed a motion to dismiss.

Last fall, the district court decided to dismiss the matter, handing a win to the RIAA. Judge Stefan Underhill ultimately concluded that Yout had failed to show that it doesn’t circumvent YouTube’s technological protection measures. That rendered Yout’s defamation and business disparagement claims moot.

Yout.com Appeal

Yout’s operator did not give up on the case and opted to appeal in the belief that YouTube rippers do not violate the DMCA. The argument received backing from the EFF and GitHub in their supporting amicus briefs.

The RIAA filed a lengthy response concluding that Yout is an “illicit stream-ripping service” that effectively allows people to “bypass YouTube’s technological restrictions” that prevent downloading of works streamed through YouTube. As such, the service violates the DMCA, a position supported by the Copyright Alliance.

One of the key issues in this dispute is whether YouTube actually implemented technological measures designed to control access to copyrighted works. In Yout’s response to the RIAA filed this weekend, the focus returns to the same thorny topic.

Yout’s reply brief stresses that this case was dismissed prematurely, even before both parties were allowed to conduct discovery. That’s problematic, as the lawsuit deals with key questions relating to the DMCA, many of which remain unanswered.

The Elephant-Sized Hole

The stream-ripper points out that rightsholders haven’t implemented any copy protection measures themselves. The RIAA argues that YouTube has but according to Yout’s lawyer, it still isn’t clear whether YouTube’s technical hurdles were intended to act as copyright protection measures.

“[RIAA] attempts to argue not only that it is entitled to rely on technology that it claims to have been put in place by YouTube, but that it makes no difference at all whether YouTube intended for the technology to limit the access to or the ability to copy the videos that are freely available on YouTube to anyone with an internet connection and a browser.”

This leaves an elephant-sized hole in the room. While the case centers around YouTube’s alleged copyright protections, which are presumably vital to the music industry, YouTube itself is notably absent. It didn’t file an amicus brief to back up the RIAA’s position, for example.

” […] one might have assumed that YouTube itself would have appeared on Appellants behalf as an amicus. That it did not leaves an elephant sized hole in the room,” Yout argues.

Yout says the RIAA is attempting to cover this “enormous hole with fig leaves.” For example, the music group argues that the DMCA says nothing about the ‘intent’ of presumed protection measures, but Yout says that assertion is incorrect and defies common sense.

You’re So Vain…

Yout also points out that the RIAA mischaracterizes its service. The music group repeatedly stresses that the site’s only purpose is to infringe the copyrights of its members, which prompted an interesting response.

“To paraphrase one of the RIAA members’ recording artists: You’re so vain, I bet you think this software’s about you,” Yout’s lawyers write, inspired by the lyrics of Carly Simon.

In a footnote, the attorneys apologize for this reference, but their message is serious. Music only represents a small fraction of the content on YouTube, they note, adding that Yout itself is merely a dumb ‘recording’ tool.

“The service provided by Yout is content-neutral, providing nothing more than a recording device that utilizes the very information that is freely and publicly available to anyone who cares to look for it, without the need to circumvent any technological measures.

“To the extent that the RIAA thinks otherwise, it should have the opportunity to prove that theory… at a trial following discovery,” Yout’s lawyers write.

Dismissal Should be Reversed

The brief further argues that many of the legal findings cited in the RIAA’s answering brief come from cases that were properly litigated; not ones that were dismissed at an early stage.

The parties in these cases had the opportunity to build a proper record, with expert testimonies and witnesses. Considering the important issues at stake and the outstanding disputes, Yout believes it should be allowed to do the same.

Based on these and other arguments, Yout says the District Court’s decision to dismiss the case was premature and should be reversed.

—

A copy of Yout’s reply in response to RIAA’s answering brief, filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the second circuit, is available here (pdf)

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

Twitter lasse sexistischen, rassistischen Hass zu. Esken will dagegen vorgehen, dass Elon Musk das EU-Gesetz über digitale Dienste ignoriert. (Twitter, Internet)

Die Kombination aus Grace Hopper, Bluefield 3 und NVLink ergibt funktional eine riesige GPU mit der Rechenkapazität eines Supercomputers und 144 TByte Grafikspeicher. (Grafikchip, Prozessor)

Bei C++ liegt alles in der Hand der Entwickler - und das kann gut und schlecht sein. Richtig angewendet, ist die Sprache aber alles andere als unsicher. Eine Anleitung von Adam Jaskowiec (C++, Programmiersprachen)

Sie sind die Klassiker, auf denen das ganze Genre aufbaut: die großen Science-Fiction-Serien der 1960er. Neben Star Trek gab es hier noch viel mehr. Von Peter Osteried (Filme & Serien, Fernsehen)

ARM has unveiled new CPU and GPU designs that the company says will bring better performance to next-gen smartphones, tablets and laptops while. The new designs are also more energy efficient, which could lead to longer battery life… or at least better performance without taking a bigger toll on battery life. The ARM Total Compute […]

The post ARM’s new chip designs promise performance and efficiency improvements (Cortex-X4, Cortex-A720, Cortex-A520, and Immortalis-G720) appeared first on Liliputing.

A few years ago, the RIAA started targeting YouTube ripping sites by sending relatively rare takedown requests to Google.

Instead of the usual DMCA copyright notices, the music group asked the search engine to remove various URLs for alleged violations of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision.

The delisting requests are supposed to make it harder for people to find ‘YouTube MP3 download’ sites in search results. However, the targeted sites have no intention of disappearing and actively fighting back, rotating to new URL structures.

While the RIAA kicked off the great purge, the music group has since received help from the British music group BPI. And more recently, the small French indie label Because Music also joined in on the action.

To the broader public, the label is relatively unknown, but owners of YouTube download sites are quite familiar with the outfit, as its takedown volume now exceeds that of the RIAA and BPI combined.

Music Company Targets Wikipedia Entry

Most of these takedown requests do indeed target YouTube downloaders. While the legality of these sites is subject to legal debate, YouTube owner Google generally accepts them as valid DMCA notices and removes the URLs.

Not all notices are flawless though. In the past, we have seen imposters abusing the takedown process to delist sites of competitors, for example. In addition, some notices appear to be quite broad, targeting sites that simply link to YouTube downloaders.

This week we spotted a notice, reportedly sent by Because Music, that falls into the latter category. In addition to streamripper URLs it also targets them indirectly, by going after a Wikipedia entry, for example.

The highlighted URL in the above notice lists Wikipedia’s “Comparison of YouTube downloaders” page. This overview links to sites that the music industry deems to be infringing, and Because Music asked Google to remove them from the search results.

Should Google ‘Censor’ Wikipedia?

At first glance, this may seem like an overbroad request. That said, music groups could make a case that this type of content shouldn’t be on Wikipedia at all. In that case, it might make more sense to complain to Wikipedia directly.

The same notice also links some other URLs that are at least one step removed from any potential DMCA violations.

There’s a link to a Facebook post, a page from traffic analytics company Similarweb, a Trustpilot review, and an uptime status checker. None of these sites host problematic content, but they mention or link to YouTube downloaders so should be delisted, according to the music company.

The same applies to sites that host apps. The takedown notice also lists a Chrome and Firefox addon, as well as a Softonic page that provides a list of Android and Windows-based YouTube downloaders.

Ironically, Because Music’s DMCA notice also lists a Soundcloud page that mentions Yt1s.com, likely because someone used the YouTube downloader to rip tracks that were then posted to the site.

While most of these links remain in Google’s search results, the links to Similarweb and Updownradar are no longer indexed. Whether this was done automatically or after a deliberate review is unknown. The Wikipedia page remains online.

The Big Delisting Battle Continues

Whether Google should or shouldn’t take action, is ultimately something a court would have the final say on. However, the above shows that the big delisting battle is slowly edging towards indirect takedowns.

We have to say, though, that it’s often hard to see which takedowns are real and which ones were sent by imposters. The one we highlight here was presumably sent by a French label Because Music but, according to Google, it was sent from Burundi, which seems odd.

By now, YouTube downloaders should be familiar with these delisting efforts. TorrentFreak spoke to the operator of a large number of sites, who prefers to stay anonymous. He has noticed a clear uptick in suspicious and broad requests but tries to get around them to remain in search results.

“I have quite a few sites, hundreds to be specific. It is my strategy to fight Google core updates and delistings,” the site owner explains.

“Sometimes it actually helps, when your competition disappears from Google, if even for a few hours. But these days ‘delisters’ instantly see your site coming up through ranks and delist it too,” he adds.

This doesn’t mean that the takedown notices and delistings have no effect at all. Dealing with this problem is slowly starting to take its toll. At least on some of the people that run these sites.

“I am honestly considering a different way of making money.. they are winning,” the operator says, half-jokingly.

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

Forscher zeigen, dass die Hoffnungen in KI bei der Entwicklung von Medikamenten berechtigt sind. Ihre Entwicklung soll deutlich schneller werden. (Innovation & Forschung, KI)