Month: July 2024

Piracy Portal ‘Hikari-no-Akari’ Shuts Down Following Legal Pressure

Hikari-no-Akari, a long-established pirate site that specialized in Japanese music, has closed its doors voluntarily. The drastic decision comes shortly after Sony Music Entertainment Japan obtained a subpoena, requiring Cloudflare to share the personal details of the operator. Despite the shutdown, the Recording Industry Association of Japan still plans to hold the site’s operator accountable.

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

hikariFounded in 2010, Hikari-no-Akari (HnA) positioned itself as the go-to site for fans of Japanese music.

With anime booming across the globe, HnA’s audience didn’t stop at the border. And with over a million visits per month, rightsholders started to take notice.

HnA Targeted in Subpoena

Hoping to stop the infringing activities, the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) and IFPI repeatedly reached out to HnA’s operator, without result. Similar inquiries, sent to the cyberlocker where the pirated music was stored, didn’t help either.

Faced with the status quo, the music industry groups, though Sony Music Japan, went to a U.S. federal court. There, they obtained a DMCA subpoena, requiring Cloudflare to share all information they have on the customer associated with hikarinoakari.com.

Additionally, the subpoena targeted the associated cyberlocker; hnadownloads.co. The latter domain received the bulk of its traffic from HnA and, according to music industry insiders, is operated by the same people.

Sony works listed in the subpoena exhibits

exhibit

Through the subpoena, the music company hoped to obtain additional information on the people behind these sites, including their names, IP addresses, and payment details. Any information obtained could then be used for follow-up copyright enforcement actions.

HnA Shuts Down

Cloudflare typically requires some time to respond to subpoenas, and it hasn’t done so yet. However, the HnA operators decided not to wait for any follow-up action, and reportedly shut down the site of their own accord.

Indeed, at the time of writing, hikarinoakari.com is not resolving, and the hnadownloads.co domain is listed as suspended.

According to a press release from RIAJ, there is no agreement or settlement. In fact, the music group still doesn’t know who’s behind the site. If they find out more, they will take appropriate steps.

“[T]he operator voluntarily closed the website immediately after the disclosure order. Based on the information to be disclosed by ‘Cloudflare’ in the future, our association plans to continue to hold the operator accountable and take legal action against similar illegal sites,” RIAJ writes.

Sharing Culture?

RIAJ estimates that HnA had more than 15 million visitors in 2024, of which roughly 75% were from outside of Japan. According to data from SimilarWeb, the U.S. was the runner-up in terms of traffic, followed by Chile.

HnA, a few days ago

hikari

While HnA and its users might have been under the impression that they were sharing culture, the music group sees things differently. The unauthorized sharing practices resulted in lower revenues for rightsholders, which is counterproductive, RIAJ explains.

“Going forward, our association will continue to work on ongoing anti-illegal measures to eradicate pirate sites in order to contribute to the development of music culture,” the group adds.

No concrete follow-up action is mentioned but, as an extra warning to the public at large, RIAJ notes that knowingly downloading pirated music is a criminal offense in Japan, even if it’s for personal use.

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

Time Bandits bei Apple TV+: Zehn Folgen absurde Komik und Abenteuer

Am 24. Juli startet die zehnteilige Serie Time Bandits, ein Reboot des Terry-Gilliam-Films – der zeigt, dass auch Neuseeländer britischen Humor können. Eine Rezension von Peter Osteried (Filme & Serien, Film)

Am 24. Juli startet die zehnteilige Serie Time Bandits, ein Reboot des Terry-Gilliam-Films - der zeigt, dass auch Neuseeländer britischen Humor können. Eine Rezension von Peter Osteried (Filme & Serien, Film)

Quartalszahlen: Teslas Gewinn geht stark zurück

Tesla hat seinen Geschäftsbericht für das zweite Quartal 2024 veröffentlicht, der neben einem leichten Umsatzplus einen großen Gewinnrückgang beinhaltet. (Tesla, Elektroauto)

Tesla hat seinen Geschäftsbericht für das zweite Quartal 2024 veröffentlicht, der neben einem leichten Umsatzplus einen großen Gewinnrückgang beinhaltet. (Tesla, Elektroauto)

Starship und Co.: Mondlandungen könnten das Wasser auf dem Mond verunreinigen

Mit Artemis III will SpaceX in der Südpolregion des Mondes landen. Das dabei ausgestoßene Wasser könnte sich mit dem natürlichen Mondwasser vermischen. (Mondlandung, Raumfahrt)

Mit Artemis III will SpaceX in der Südpolregion des Mondes landen. Das dabei ausgestoßene Wasser könnte sich mit dem natürlichen Mondwasser vermischen. (Mondlandung, Raumfahrt)

Anzeige: T.I.S.P. – das Gütesiegel für IT-Sicherheitsfachleute

Das T.I.S.P.-Zertifikat (TeleTrusT Information Security Professional) ist ein Beleg für tiefgehende IT-Sicherheitskenntnisse. Dieser ausführliche, fünftägige Online-Workshop dient der intensiven Prüfungsvorbereitung. Mit Prüfungsvoucher. (Golem Karrier…

Das T.I.S.P.-Zertifikat (TeleTrusT Information Security Professional) ist ein Beleg für tiefgehende IT-Sicherheitskenntnisse. Dieser ausführliche, fünftägige Online-Workshop dient der intensiven Prüfungsvorbereitung. Mit Prüfungsvoucher. (Golem Karrierewelt, Server-Applikationen)

Want to cook like a Neanderthal? Archaeologists are learning the secrets

There were distinct patterns of cut marks, bone breakage in cooked vs. uncooked birds.

A scientist sits cross legged and defeathers one of the birds.

Enlarge / A scientist defeathers one of the birds used in hands-on experiments to replicate Neanderthal butchering and cooking methods. (credit: Mariana Nabais)

Archaeologists seeking to learn more about how Neanderthals prepared and cooked their food conducted a series of hands-on experiments with small fowl using flint flakes for butchering. They found that the flint flakes were surprisingly effective for butchering the birds, according to their new paper published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology. They also concluded that roasting the birds damages the bones to such an extent that it's unlikely they would be preserved in the archaeological record.

According to the authors, Neanderthals were able to thrive for over 200,000 years across a broad range of geographical regions so naturally archaeologists are interested in how they sustained themselves. There has been research into their killing and hunting of large game. Neanderthals were expert hunters known to kill bears and other carnivores. A pair of lion fibula from the Middle Paleolithic found in eastern Iberia with cut marks indicates the lion was butchered, while other lion bones found in Southwestern France from the same period had cut marks indicative of skinning.

And as we reported just last year, researchers found evidence of what might be the earliest example of lion hunting yet known, based on on a close forensic analysis of a cave lion skeleton showing evidence of injury by a wooden spear some 48,000 years ago.

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Lilbits: A WiFi 7 router for under $100, sideloading apps on Samsung phones, and Apple’s foldable iPhone is coming (in a two years… maybe)

The Wi-Fi Alliance finalized the WiFi 7 standard earlier this year, paving the way for faster wireless speeds, lower latency, and improved performance when connecting to multiple devices. But it’s a pretty new standard. And that means upgrading …

The Wi-Fi Alliance finalized the WiFi 7 standard earlier this year, paving the way for faster wireless speeds, lower latency, and improved performance when connecting to multiple devices. But it’s a pretty new standard. And that means upgrading your networking gear can be expensive. Most of the WiFi 7 routers available so far sell for […]

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