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Moderne KI-Agenten kombinieren Sprachmodelle mit Tool-Nutzung, Gedächtnis und API-Zugriff. Dieser Workshop zeigt, wie eigene Agentenprototypen über Cloud und lokal aufgesetzt und in Workflows integriert werden. (Golem Karrierewelt, Programmiersprachen)

Moderne KI-Agenten kombinieren Sprachmodelle mit Tool-Nutzung, Gedächtnis und API-Zugriff. Dieser Workshop zeigt, wie eigene Agentenprototypen über Cloud und lokal aufgesetzt und in Workflows integriert werden. (Golem Karrierewelt, Programmiersprachen)

All 17 fired vaccine advisors unite to blast RFK Jr.’s “destabilizing decisions”

The experts say RFK Jr.’s actions show “troubling disregard for scientific integrity.”

All 17 experts ousted from the federal vaccine advisory committee have spoken out about the drastic changes that anti-vaccine advocate and current US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made since taking office. Those changes include unilaterally restricting access to COVID-19 vaccines and summarily firing the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which had guided federal vaccine policies for more than 60 years.

"We are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of US immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put US families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses," the fired experts write in an editorial published in JAMA.

Kennedy dismissed the entire committee on June 9, accusing the former members of lacking public trust and being "plagued with persistent conflicts of interest," despite the committee's transparent disclosure and conflict of interest policies.

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Napster and Sonos Sued for Millions in Unpaid Music Royalties

Napster, the brand synonymous with the music piracy boom of the early 2000s, has a new copyright challenge. Together with audio giant Sonos, Napster faces a lawsuit demanding over $3.4 million in alleged unpaid copyright royalties. Filed by SoundExchange, the complaint centers on missed payments related to the “Sonos Radio” service, which until 2023 was powered by Napster’s music catalog.

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

In the late ’90s, with P2P file-sharing yet to really take off, music industry insiders had already toyed with the idea of a ‘celestial jukebox’ that could access all music in the world.

While the idea sounded appealing, the economics were not straightforward, and it took an external intervention to spur record labels into action.

When Napster launched in 1999, it sparked a music revolution that changed the industry forever. The file-sharing software itself had a short lifespan and was shut down swiftly through legal action, but the seed had nevertheless been planted.

The P2P file-sharing piracy boom eventually forced the music industry to embrace digital music online, first through iTunes and other online stores, followed by streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer.

Napster’s Streaming Service

Today, the original Napster is long gone, but the brand remains in use. After changing owners multiple times over the years, Napster is now a legal music streaming service after the rebranding of Rhapsody. In a way, Napster has come full circle.

The Napster streaming service currently operates in 33 countries, reportedly serving millions of customers, who pay to access a vast music library.

Napster.com today

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While it’s wholesome to think that Napster paved the way for its own future, the company isn’t completely free of copyright challenges. On the contrary, this week Napster finds itself at the center of a copyright lawsuit filed by collective rights management organization SoundExchange.

SoundExchange Sues Napster and Sonos

In a complaint filed at a California federal court, SoundExchange is seeking over $3.4 million in alleged underpaid statutory copyright royalties from Sonos and Napster. The lawsuit centers on the “Sonos Radio” service that was initially powered by Napster’s extensive music catalog.

Sonos Radio launched in April 2020 with Napster as the authorized agent, submitting the required royalty reports and royalties to SoundExchange. While all went well initially, payments stopped around May 2022.

At the time, Napster had been acquired by venture capital firms Hivemind and Algorand, with a focus on “web3” technologies, including cryptocurrencies and blockchain. According to the complaint, the takeover resulted in a “complete breakdown of reporting and payment for the Sonos Radio service.”

The alleged payment problems eventually came to light during an audit initiated by SoundExchange in 2023, which concluded that Sonos and Napster owed millions in unpaid royalties.

SoundExchange Seeks Millions in Damages

Sonos and Napster are no longer partners in the radio service, as the audio equipment manufacturer switched to Deezer around April 2023. That appears to have solved the royalty issues, but SoundExchange still believes it is owed more than $3 million.

“In total, Sonos, and its agent Napster, have failed to pay at least $3,423,844.41 comprising royalties owed for the period October 2022 to April 2023, interest, late fees, and auditor fee-shifting costs, and subtracting Sonos and Napster’s payments made to date.

“Late fees and interest continue to grow,” SoundExchange adds, while requesting compensation in full.

…at least $3,423,844.41

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The complaint lists one count of “underpayment” of statutory royalties, and one count of “non-payment” of royalties, as determined by the audit. For both Copyright Act violations, SoundExchange requests damages of at least $3.4 million.

Neither Sonos nor Napster has publicly responded to the lawsuit. In March of this year, Napster was sold, once again, to Infinite Reality, which plans to use the brand to pave “a path to a brighter future for artists, fans, and the music industry at large.”

A copy of the complaint filed on June 16 in the United States District Court, Central District of California, is available here (pdf)

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

Cybersecurity takes a big hit in new Trump executive order

Provisions on secure software, quantum–resistant crypto, and more are scrapped.

Cybersecurity practitioners are voicing concerns over a recent executive order issued by the White House that guts requirements for: securing software the government uses, punishing people who compromise sensitive networks, preparing new encryption schemes that will withstand attacks from quantum computers, and other existing controls.

The executive order (EO), issued on June 6, reverses several key cybersecurity orders put in place by President Joe Biden, some as recently as a few days before his term ended in January. A statement that accompanied Donald Trump's EO said the Biden directives "attempted to sneak problematic and distracting issues into cybersecurity policy" and amounted to "political football."

Pro-business, anti-regulation

Specific orders Trump dropped or relaxed included ones mandating (1) federal agencies and contractors adopt products with quantum-safe encryption as they become available in the marketplace, (2) a stringent Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) for software and services used by federal agencies and contractors, (3) the adoption of phishing-resistant regimens such as the WebAuthn standard for logging into networks used by contractors and agencies, (4) the implementation new tools for securing Internet routing through the Border Gateway Protocol, and (5) the encouragement of digital forms of identity.

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X sues to block copycat NY content moderation law after California win

Lawsuit comes after New York lawmakers accused X of failing to fact-check Musk.

Last year, X won its fight to block a California law requiring social media companies to report on efforts to remove hate speech and other kinds of content the state deemed harmful.

Now, X has sued to stop New York from enforcing a law that it claims is a "carbon copy" of California's—which resulted in a settlement blocking the California law after a court ruled it likely violated the First Amendment.

In a complaint filed Tuesday, X revealed that the New York lawsuit came after New York lawmakers rejected X's attempts to reconcile its social media law with the California ruling. Not only did lawmakers refuse to acknowledge free speech issues that X seemingly views as settled, but in a letter declining to meet with X, they also called out X owner Elon Musk's controversial personal history of posting as a reason to refuse to engage with X.

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Trump’s EPA to “reconsider” ban on cancer-causing asbestos

Trump has supported use of asbestos and blamed the mob for its bad reputation.

Despite touting ambitious goals of making America healthier, the Trump administration on Monday revealed in court documents that it is backpedaling on a ban on cancer-causing asbestos.

Last year, under the Biden administration, the Environmental Protection Agency took a long-awaited step to ban the last type of asbestos still used in the US—chrysotile asbestos, aka "white asbestos." While use of chrysotile asbestos was on the decline, the dangerous mineral has lingered in various gaskets, brake blocks, aftermarket automotive brakes and linings, other vehicle friction products, and some diaphragms used to make sodium hydroxide and chlorine.

With the ban, the US joined over 50 other countries around the world that had already banned its use due to health risks. Generally, asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer. Asbestos exposure is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the US alone each year, the EPA noted at the time.

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Prepare to bid farewell to The Sandman with S2 trailer

“Everyone loves a good story. But all stories come to an end.”

The second and final season of The Sandman comes to Netflix next month.

Netflix's The Sandman, an exquisite and largely faithful adaptation of Neil Gaiman's beloved graphic novel series, proved to be a hit for the streaming giant, racking up nearly 400 million viewing hours between its release on August 5 and September 18, 2022. Yet there was initially some question about whether even those numbers were strong enough to justify a second season of the critically acclaimed series, which cost a bundle to make. Fortunately, Netflix made the right call and renewed The Sandman for a second and final season. And judging by the official trailer, it should be every bit as lavish and riveting as its predecessor.

(Spoilers for S1 below.)

The first half of S1 covered Morpheus/Dream's (Tom Sturridge) capture and long imprisonment by British aristocrat Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance) and later his son Alex (Laurie Kynaston). Once he escaped, Dream found that his realm, the Dreaming, had fallen into decay, and he had to retrieve his scattered totems (his helm, a pouch of sand, and a ruby) in order to rebuild it. In the second half, Dream tracked an escaped nightmare called The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook), now a prolific serial killer. Everything converged on a young woman named Rose Walker (Kyo Ra), an unwitting Vortex—someone who can attract and manipulate dreams, with dire consequences.

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