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Earlier this year, the group launched the lawsuit alleging breach of contractView the full article

New Mountain Capital and Broadcast Music Inc. say they expect the deal to close by the end of 2024’s first quarterView the full article

Zack de la Rocha, Lucy Dacus, Brian Eno, Sleater-Kinney, Arooj Aftab, and Blonde Redhead signed the letter from the group Musicians for PalestineView the full article

Popular Internet infrastructure service Cloudflare serves millions of customers and provides a variety of connectivity and privacy features to the general public. People can freely use the company’s open DNS resolver 1.1.1.1, for example, or use its IPFS and Ethereum gateways to access content on these decentralized web services. One of Cloudflare’s main aims is to make the Internet more secure while respecting the privacy of its users. This laudable goal is broadly respected but in common with other internet services, abuse of Cloudflare’s services can lead to conflicting situations. The California-based company previously terminated service to controversial sites including the Daily Stormer and Kiwi Farms. These actions were taken voluntarily, with Cloudflare citing an immediate threat to human life as the reason for the Kiwi Farms intervention. Domain Blocking In addition to these rare events, the Internet infrastructure company is also subject to court orders from around the globe. In some cases, these orders require the company to block access to piracy-related domain names. Cloudflare mentions these blocking orders in its latest transparency report which covers the second half of 2022. The report doesn’t mention the number of court orders or blocked domains, but it confirms that Cloudflare complies with legitimate legal rulings. “If we determine that the order is valid and requires Cloudflare action, we may limit blocking of access to the content to those areas where it violates local law, a practice known as ‘geo-blocking’,” Cloudflare writes. DNS Blocking DNS blocking orders apply locally and shouldn’t affect people in other countries. However, things got more complicated recently when an Italian court required Cloudflare to restrict access to three torrent sites through its public DNS resolver 1.1.1.1. Cloudflare fiercely objected to the order but ultimately lost the legal battle. That left the company with no other option than to take action. But, instead of blocking content through its global DNS resolver, it geo-blocked the domains for Italians. “To the extent that those websites used Cloudflare services, Cloudflare took steps following the issuance of the order to disable access to those websites for users in Italy or from Cloudflare equipment in Italy. “Cloudflare took action to geoblock all three domains that were addressed by the court’s order and were using our service at the time the orders were issued via Cloudflare’s pass-through CDN and security services,” the company added. IPFS and Ethereum Restrictions In its most recent transparency report, Cloudflare further notes that it has implemented access restrictions on its public Ethereum gateway. The company doesn’t store any content on the Ethereum network, nor can it remove any. However, it can block access through its service. If Cloudflare receives valid abuse reports or copyright infringement complaints, it will take appropriate action. The same applies to the gateway for the decentralized IPFS network. In its previous transparency report, Cloudflare already mentioned more than 1,000 IPFS actions a figure that increased slightly in the second half of last year. At the same time, Cloudflare also restricted access to 99 ‘items’ on the Ethereum network. Since these are ‘gateway’ related restrictions there’s no impact on the content hosted on IPFS or Ethereum. Instead, it will only make it impossible to access content through Cloudflare’s service. It’s not clear how many of these restrictions are abuse or copyright-related, as not much context is provided. The Ethereum actions are, at least in part, a response to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s sanctions against the cryptocurrency tumbler Tornado Cash. “Those sanctions raise significant legal questions about the extent to which particular computer software, rather than individuals or entities that use that software, can be subject to sanctions,” Cloudflare writes. “Nonetheless, to comply with legal requirements, Cloudflare has taken steps to disable access through the Cloudflare-operated Ethereum Gateway to the digital currency addresses identified in the designation.” DMCA Notices and Subpoenas There are more obvious copyright responses as well. While Cloudflare generally doesn’t block content in response to DMCA notices for customers that use its CDN services, it does remove infringing content permanently hosted on its servers. These hosting services have expanded over the years and the same is true for the volume of valid DMCA notices received, up from 18 to 972 in the span of a year, as shown below. That’s still a fairly modest number for a company with millions of customers. Finally, Cloudflare reports that the number of civil subpoenas, including those issued under the DMCA, has decreased. Rightsholders including the Motion Picture Association (MPA) typically use these requests to obtain identifying information about Cloudflare customers. In the second half of last year, the company received 20 civil subpoenas which targeted 57 domain names. That’s the lowest number since Cloudflare first disclosed this statistic five years ago, signaling a downward trend. — A copy of Cloudflare’s latest Transparency Report is available here (pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

The company confirmed previous reports that it would eliminate payments for songs with less than 1,000 streamsView the full article

Their set at the Warehouse Project in Manchester features a guest appearance by For Those I LoveView the full article

The speculative sci-fi anthology is set to returnView the full article

Rocky, who has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault, faces up to 24 years in prison, prosecutors saidView the full article

According to data published by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, UK residents made 15.6 million visits to Spain in 2022, with holidays the most popular reason. Whether Brits are on a two-week vacation or embedded within the ex-pat community, there’s a tendency to appreciate things less available at home, sunshine in particular. For many, however, a longing for British things has created opportunities for those prepared to meet the demand. By offering BBC and ITV channels, for example, pirate IPTV services have become very popular indeed but since the packages offer much more, they’re almost a must for bars and restaurants in tourist areas. Social Media Sales Attract Attention According to information released by Spain’s National Police on Monday, a broadcaster’s representative filed a complaint after spotting a profile on social media platforms offering pirate IPTV subscriptions. Those packages granted access to sporting events to which the broadcaster holds the rights. Officers assigned to the Technological Crimes Group of the Provincial Judicial Police Brigade of Alicante launched an investigation to identify the person behind those accounts. Investigation: Key Findings Benidorm is a seaside resort on Spain’s east coast. It’s a popular destination for tourists from the UK, including those who enjoy watching live football at local bars, often courtesy of IPTV packages. Police investigators say they located several ads offering the subscriptions for sale. In one of the ads it was claimed that the person offering them had been “supplying IPTV to bars and restaurants in Benidorm for ten years, with support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” Police say the subscriptions were on sale for as little as £7 up to a maximum of £50, presumably based on subscription length and the content on offer. At least one package provided access to 594 channels, including those belonging to the broadcaster behind the original complaint. Other findings led investigators to conclude that the person offering the subscriptions was from the UK and his target audience likely consisted of English speakers in Spain. “During the investigation, police officers verified that the payments made were destined for a bank account in the United Kingdom and, in addition to sporting events, offered access to English, Scottish and Irish channels. For this reason, the audience to which the television offer was directed was of British or English-speaking origin,” police reveal. “After various police efforts, the agents verified that the person who seemed to be behind the scheme was a British citizen who was linked to various bank accounts and who had his own Internet server to offer the services. The man had a home address in Benidorm and made continuous trips from the United Kingdom to the Alicante town.” Policía Nacional Arrest Brit in Benidorm After obtaining permission from a local court, police raided the man’s home in Benidorm. During the search, officers found two IPTV devices, a mobile phone, and a laptop. It’s alleged that an application open on the laptop allowed the man to control the IPTV services he offered on social media and at the time of the police intervention, he was offering several dozen, including some in Spain. An inspection of the suspect’s mobile phone revealed various apps for accessing “banking entities” in the UK. Officers were only able to access one of those apps but found that the suspect had made transactions worth over £9,500. Many additional transactions were found by other means. “[A]fter the officers of the Technological Crimes Group analyzed a payment platform through which the detainee charged for subscriptions, they verified that the person involved had allegedly received nearly 5,500 payments for the subscriptions, the majority in pounds sterling and about 200 payments in euros. The amount exceeded 185,000 pounds sterling and about 6,500 euros,” police note. “Market and Consumer” Offenses Police say a 62-year-old British man stands accused of intellectual property offenses, specifically those related to the market and consumers. That terminology suggests an eye on events back in 2019 that didn’t go exactly to plan. Following complaints by top-tier football league, LaLiga, more than 50 people in the Alicante area appeared in court for showing LaLiga matches in bars and restaurants either via illegal IPTV packages, or official subscriptions designed for residential use. After some of those individuals were found guilty, a criminal court in Alicante found that showing the matches in public wasn’t an intellectual property crime. That led to acquittals and the reversal of earlier guilty verdicts on the basis that “football does not have the character of a literary, scientific or artistic work” so copyright did not apply. Cases against several bars in Valencia also failed to convince the court of intellectual property crimes. Instead, the court found that a minor crime related to the market and consumers had been committed. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Hot on the heels of HEART, RAVENSCOON has now revealed the next pivotal chapter of his debut album, PERIPHERY, titled MIND. The 18-track opus, PERIPHERY, uniquely fragments into four thematic EPs: BODY, HEART, MIND, and SOUL, each resonating deeply with RAVENSCOON’s multifaceted musical ethos. MIND EP offers a potent concoction of cerebral soundscapes and impeccable sonic detailing. Included in this release are tracks such as “Soundboy”, “Vantablack” in collaboration with Deadcrow, and the energizing “ACID” produced alongside Emurse and featuring Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. Cinematic visualizers, a result of RAVENSCOON’s collaboration with renowned cinematographer Magela Crosignani, accompanies the tracks in a incredible fashion, adding even more depth to this stunning collection. As the “PERIPHERY” era unravels, RAVENSCOON remains resolute in broadening his musical horizons, captivating the steadfast WAKAAN fan base and making inroads with trap enthusiasts and ambient music connoisseurs. Check it out for yourself below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: RAVENSCOON Reveals Third Ep Installment: Mind View the full article

PIERCE has unleashed an exhilarating remix of Hucci and Stooki Sound’s iconic track, “Ball So Hard”. This reimagined version delivers an experimental blend of wonky beats and dynamic soundscapes, setting the stage for a new way to listen to the iconic – “Ball So Hard.” Renowned for his visionary production style and seamless fusion of diverse musical influences, PIERCE has once again raised the bar with his take on “Ball So Hard”. Infusing the original track with his signature flair, PIERCE has transformed the well-loved classic into an exhilarating modern replica. Check it out below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: PIERCE Unveils Electrifying Remix of Hucci and Stooki Sound’s “Ball So Hard” View the full article

When it comes to bass music, few provide as much speaker shattering tracks like Sadhu & IMAN. Being the Inspiration for many Successful Dubstep Artists, Sadhu has been in the Game for a long time. His first release dates back to 2011 and he has sold out every major City in Europe, America and Australia. Taking a Break in 2015 to Focus on Other Musical Projects such as a Blues Band and a Metal Band, he took the Scene by Storm in January when he announced his Comeback. Since then he has played in Venues all over Europe again, such as the Bootshaus in Cologne or Le Bikini in Toulouse. IMAN is a 26 year old dubstep producer who has demolished dancefloors‘ around The USA such as Exchange LA, SoundNightclub, Area 15, Skyway Theater, The Green Elephant, Academy, EOS Lounge, Aura, The Circle and more. Hear it for yourself below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Sadhu & IMAN team up for explosive single “Sadman” View the full article

Florida is known for having an avid electronic music market and for decades now promoters have worked hard at curating new experiences to continue to keep the scene alive and well in the area. Well, there’s a new club in town, Fort Lauderdale to be exact, headed by Angel Candelaria (former owner of Cash Only nightclub), Danny Colica (a trailblazer in SoFlo’s rave scene and founder of Hypnotic Productions) and Pepe Vargas (nightlife host and founder of Forbidden Kingdom Music Festival) – per Sun Sentinel. Kemistry will bring a new Audio Visual experience and a venue which will host some of the largest National acts in Electronic Music, host some historical reunions events, and create a venue, experience, and space for EDM culture to thrive in South Florida. They will focus on the experience with top notch production, hospitality, drinks, and even a full restaurant where people can order food during the event. They have an exciting upcoming slate, featuring ATLIENS, Camo & Krooked, and more! Head to their website to check it out. This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Kemistry Nightclub Brings New Audio Visual Experience in Downtown Fort Lauderdale View the full article

As one of the leading niche blog platforms, Tumblr receives thousands of DMCA takedown requests every year. Many of these point to copyright-infringing material, but not all. Tumblr’s parent company Automattic is known to inspect all takedown notices carefully and has a track record of defending its users, whether abuse is intentional or not. To set an example, the company occasionally highlights the worst offenders in its “Hall of Shame.” This overview of the worst offenders welcomed a new entry last week; triggered by the unlikely confusion between a Star Trek fandom blog and an adult entertainment actress. La Sirena The recent Hall of Fame entry centers around “La Sirena,” which is Spanish for The Mermaid. Aside from being a dictionary term, Star Trek fans will know La Sirena as the Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter featured in the Picard series. This starship is more than just another prop for die-hard Trekkies. The person behind the Tumblr blog “Mapping La Sirena” has spent countless hours and dedicated dozens of posts to the iconic Speed Freighter. The term “La Sirena” isn’t exclusive to the starship, however. Others have adopted it too, including Venezuelan adult actress Antonella Alonso who picked La Sirena 69 as her stage name. In theory, such diverse uses of “La Sirena” should never cross paths. According to Tumblr’s parent company Automattic, third-party takedown service ‘DMCA Piracy Prevention Inc’ has trouble distinguishing between the two, earning it a spot in the company’s ‘Hall of Shame’. Hall of Shame DMCA Piracy Prevention began sending takedown notices to Tumblr at the beginning of the year and has since submitted over 300 complaints. While Tumblr users occasionally post copyrighted content without permission, in this case many of the reported blogs were not infringing at all. Instead, DMCA Piracy Prevention appears to confuse the ‘La Sirena’ fandom blog with their client ‘La Sirena 69’ based on little else than the similarity between the names. This resulted in a flurry of inaccurate takedown requests. “In one recent copyright claim, the monitoring service targeted over 90 Tumblr posts that matched a keyword search of “la sirena,” Automattic’s Emily Fowler writes. “But instead of alerting our team to La Sirena 69’s allegedly infringed content, the company reported a wide array of mappinglasirena.tumblr.com’s original posts—like a short essay about a new La Sirena booklet, an article analysis of the starship’s design, and even the blog owner’s thoughts on the fourth trailer for Picard season two.” None of the reported links from the fandom blog contained anything that would even remotely violate the rights of the adult performer. As such, Tumblr’s takedown team rejected the notices and kept all the posts online, adding DMCA Piracy Protection to its “Hall of Shame” instead. Prevent DMCA Abuse The Trust and Safety team at Automattic hopes that by calling out these overbroad takedown campaigns, companies will review their processes and do better going forward. In this instance, there is plenty of room for improvement. “Copyright monitoring services should not flippantly report content entirely irrelevant to their clients’ content; that is an abuse of the DMCA. These companies have a responsibility to verify that the content targeted in their takedown notices is actually owned by their client.” Automattic’s team reviews DMCA notices meticulously and spotted that “La Sirena 69” is not “La Sirena” but that’s a difference takedown companies should notice, before sending their takedown requests. If not, independent creators such as “Mapping La Sirena” are at risk of being needlessly censored. “Whether it’s an improved algorithm or more human eyes on every notice that they’re submitting, guardrails must be implemented to prevent DMCA abuse—otherwise, these monitoring services risk unnecessarily burdening innocent content creators, or removing innocuous content,” Emily continues. “Tumblr is a special place—not only for Trekkies, but for anyone who writes prose, creates artwork, constructs moodboards, or expresses themselves in their own unique way. This mission is why we do what we do, and we will never stop fighting for users to champion this right in our little pocket of cyberspace.” From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

During the summer the UK government announced a new inquiry to investigate what needs to be done to “maintain and enhance” the UK’s position as a global destination for film and television production. Conducted by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, the inquiry invited submissions from stakeholders on numerous topics, including the identification of barriers to maintaining and increasing overseas investment. The UK currently encourages production in the UK through the provision of a generous tax relief framework which has paid out billions to companies ultimately owned by overseas entities. The Committee sought input on what more could be done to further incentivize production in the UK. In their submissions, companies and their industry groups appear very keen for these financial incentives to continue, but many other areas are highlighted as either problematic or in need of attention. For the major Hollywood studios of the MPA, IP protection and piracy remain key issues. Motion Picture Association The MPA’s submission notes that the UK’s film and television sector has enjoyed record levels of investment. However, if the country’s position as a “creative and economic powerhouse” in audiovisual content is to be sustained, the government and entertainment industries must work closely together. The UK receives praise for its intellectual property framework, with the MPA describing it as a “gold standard internationally.” For balance, the MPA notes that the government should avoid steps that might undermine IP protections, in response to the challenges presented by AI, for example. “The good reputation of the UK’s treatment of copyright exceptions was threatened in 2022, when the Government proposed, as part of its national AI strategy, to introduce the new exception to copyright to include the training of AI models for ‘any purpose’,” the MPA writes. “Companies and organizations, across the creative sector, joined by Parliamentarians, were united in their concerns about these proposals. Thankfully, the Government listened, and decided in February 2023 not to ‘proceed with the original proposals’.” Well Done, Please Do More Submissions by the MPA and member studios Warner and Paramount individually, praise the UK for its work fighting online piracy. For example, the availability of no-fault injunctions under section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act has allowed Paramount to mitigate the threats presented by pirate sites. Once again, the term ‘gold standard’ is used. The studios also appreciate the work undertaken by the Police Intellectual Property Unit (PIPCU) in tackling pirate sites and services. Warner highlights the Intellectual Property Office’s work in bringing together the creative industries and digital platforms to better understand online infringement, and then take action. For example, the IPO helped broker a Voluntary Code of Practice that saw links to infringing content removed from the first page of search results. It also facilitated roundtables leading to preventative measures, including the removal of piracy tutorials from YouTube. Inevitably, however, more can always be done. MPA: Enforcement “Increasingly Difficult” in UK While the same problems exist all around the world, the MPA’s submission to the Committee could be mistaken for highlighting problems specific to the UK. “The MPA’s experience (and that of other rightholders) of dealing with online infringement in the UK has shown that the growing complexity of investigating and tracing sources of illegal and infringing activity online is making the enforcement of IP rights increasingly difficult,” the MPA reports. “While there are a range of industry and law enforcement-led initiatives to tackle digital piracy, one of the greatest challenges remains the absence of reliable information on those commercial-scale pirates who are freely using legitimate business infrastructures – such as online hosting, advertising, payment processing and e-commerce platforms – to deliver illegal film and TV services.” The problem is highlighted by the MPA, and separately by members Warner and Paramount. The former’s summary appears below: Despite extensive use of the tools already available in UK law to try to trace the operators of illegal services, experience shows these efforts are being thwarted by the ability of criminals to provide commercial services online under a cloak of anonymity, from anywhere in the world. Often online intermediaries (who provide the infrastructure that enables the illicit services) cannot supply any information that leads to the verification of the illegal service provider. That, or the information they can provide has clearly been stolen, falsified, is incomplete or otherwise misleading. The ease with which bad actors can remain anonymous in their business transactions facilitates digital piracy and potentially other crimes perpetrated online, including acts of digital fraud. The submissions are united in identifying the same solution to this problem: the UK must implement a ‘Know Your Business Customer’ regime to compel commercial entities (including online intermediaries) to establish the true identity of their business customers as a precondition for selling, and receiving payment for, digital services. In-Theater ‘Camming’ is a Threat to UK Exhibition Sector When people record movies directly from cinema screens and then distribute copies online, the damage that does to the exhibition sector’s period of exclusivity has been reported for decades. As Warner’s submission explains; “Films continue to be recorded in cinemas, both in the UK and other territories, and those illegal copies are distributed online for free via pirate sites and services during the films’ theatrical window. This illegal competition harms the ability of exhibitors to generate revenues, as well as harming the distributors and producers of those films. It is important that this threat is addressed via robust and effective enforcement actions,” the company notes. The statement doesn’t break any obviously new ground but seems to skew the UK’s position towards the negative, which given recent performance isn’t entirely fair. By noting that films are still illegally pirated in cinemas “in the UK and other territories” that discounts the achievements reported just last month by the UK’s Film Content Protection Agency, a group that both Warner and Paramount help to finance. “90% of films pirated worldwide are sourced from cinemas, yet the UK and Ireland has not had a cammed film (a film illegally recorded in a cinema) traced back to its shores for over a year,” the FCPA reported. Source submissions:Warner Bros. Discovery (link), MPA (link), Paramount (link) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

In the unlikely event people haven’t noticed, the internet isn’t what it used to be. In so many ways it has already surpassed our wildest dreams but in common with the physical world, threats to personal safety are inevitable and significant. Online security is the headline theme of the StreamSafely anti-piracy campaign and this week the U.S. Government’s Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPRCenter) and Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association (MPA) revealed two new PSAs to boost the campaign’s visibility. “There are piracy sites that appear legitimate and safe, but most are operated by global crime syndicates,” said Jan van Voorn, MPA’s Chief of Global Content Protection and head of ACE. While that’s a fairly dramatic claim, at the highest level it appears to be true; it’s also entirely in keeping with the current drive to convince pirate site users there are much safer options elsewhere. That’s the foundation on which StreamSafely is built to ensure it meets its overarching goals. So what are those goals? Through the prism and messaging of StreamSafely, the chief concern is to protect the financial welfare of consuming pirates and their families. Put much more bluntly, entertainment companies want to make sure that the people ‘stealing’ their content are kept safe and don’t have their private information unnecessarily exposed. The most cynical might conclude that a) the campaign isn’t really concerned about pirates having their bank accounts emptied because b) its key aim is to demonize piracy through scare tactics and then c) wait for the signups to legal subscription services. StreamSafely may have a straightforward message but the oversimplification above, convenient as it is, undersells the complexity of a campaign that is so much more. StreamSafely: How it All Began The people who came up with the StreamSafely campaign and still run it today are collectively known as Ctam Cable Marketing Association Inc., or CTAM for short. As the current member list shows, cable marketing has considerable scope. Around 2018/19, CTAM approached IE Network, a company that describes itself as “part intelligence agency, part newsroom.” IE Network says that by compiling the best data, insights and information, it’s able to “transform research and strategy into precise messaging with the right voice and tone, driving powerful storytelling that inspires, educates and persuades.” Under the heading The Cable Industry v. Content Piracy the story CTAM wanted to tell is detailed on IE Network’s website. CTAM wanted to combat an escalating content piracy industry that was robbing legitimate content creators of their intellectual property and risking the privacy and safety of content users. The members of CTAM turned to i.e. network to educate themselves about the bad actors in content piracy—and its end-users—to determine how best to educate the public about the implications of unauthorized entertainment content and to discourage people from consuming it. “What followed was StreamSafely.com, a website sponsored by CTAM with content developed by IEN. Launching in late 2019, StreamSafely.com has already achieved its primary goal: to help visitors get smart about piracy and how to avoid illegal content consumption,” the website reads. CTAM Stream Safely Video from the i.e. network on Vimeo StreamSafely: Four Years Later In November 2023, the same story is still being told. Piracy volumes remain massive and as highlighted earlier, risks are increasing. These threats disproportionately affect casual pirates who are less likely to know that adblocking software like uBlock doesn’t just block unwanted advertising. When correctly configured, uBlock restricts the ability of the most cynical sites to offload malicious code onto the machines of unwitting site users. As a result, their ability to make money is massively undermined and if that’s taken to its logical conclusion, time spent running a site for profit is better spent elsewhere. Before we explore what else uBlock is good for, CTAM’s tax filings (designated as a 501(c)6 nonprofit) for 2021 make for a fairly interesting read: $4.93 million in revenue vs. $4.56 million expenses, $1.1 million in compensation for the top three executives alone, and then a key mission revealing action to mitigate piracy and password sharing. That leads us to CTAM’s business priorities for 2023, including: “Protect revenue by neutralizing content piracy through consumer education site StreamSafely.com” (pdf). Can’t Study Pirates Properly Without Data The CTAM website as a whole is an intriguing read but somewhat unfortunately, sections marked ‘Audience Intelligence Reports’ relating to the audience of StreamSafely.com are unavailable to the public. Nevertheless, it’s safe to conclude that visitors to the StreamSafely site are a useful source of data. According to CTAM’s most recently published tax filing, in the last reporting period the marketing group spent $432,000 with IEN, the company it worked with to conceive StreamSafely back in 2019. The nature of the work carried out is unclear but since the company was previously asked to provide information on “bad actors” and their “end-users”, refreshed information may still be coming through. That theory might make more sense if the MPA wasn’t involved in StreamSafely, and by default, anti-piracy coalition ACE, which has access to the best intelligence, globally. Since CTAM also mentions an alignment of tactics with Digital Citizens Alliance, whose reporting is aligned with the MPA’s, not to mention many of CTAM’s own members, the entire project is surrounded by pools of piracy data, although the extent of any sharing is impossible to say. Campaign Data, Measuring Success or Otherwise That leads to the question of how CTAM is able to measure the performance of the StreamSafely campaign, i.e whether visitors to the StreamSafely website (mostly consumers of pirated content, if the targeting is right) find value and that leads to positive changes in behavior. From the very first visit to StreamSafely.com it’s clear that a number of technologies deployed on the site can provide the campaign with significant insight, providing those visitors aren’t running uBlock, which blocks most if not all of them. With help from tools offered by The Markup, which describes itself as a “nonprofit newsroom that investigates how powerful institutions are using technology to change our society”, the nature and abilities of those technologies can be presented in no-nonsense terms. The Blacklight Privacy Inspector had a look at StreamSafely.com and reported back with its findings. StreamSafely has ‘only’ five ad trackers, less than the average seven found on popular sites. But while popular sites usually get by with three third-party cookies on average, Blacklight’s Privacy Inspector found almost four times that on StreamSafely. “These are commonly used by advertising tracking companies to profile you based on your internet usage. Blacklight detected 11 third-party cookies on this site. Blacklight detected cookies for Alphabet, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation,” Blacklight’s report reads. Other technologies on the anti-piracy campaign site include behavior analytics system, Hotjar. By recording website visitors’ keystrokes, clicks, mouse and trackpad movements, Hotjar allows website operators to view visitors’ journeys through their websites using heatmaps and videos. Combined with Google Analytics, Hotjar is a very powerful tool and sensitive too, especially when considering StreamSafely’s target audience. The target audience of the StreamSafely campaign consists of people who visit pirate sites, who are unaware of the potential dangers. The aim of the site is to inform those people of the risks and make them aware of legal alternatives. At some point, success can be measured by the transformation of at-risk free-loading pirates into consumers of safe, legal alternatives. That may be why StreamSafely uses tools provided by TK Interactive because, after all, stopping pirates from consuming pirated content is only the first step in their rehabilitation journey. And now that the risk of their bank accounts being emptied has been eliminated, they can put some of that hard-earned cash to good use. Welcome aboard and stay safe. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Website blocking has become the go-to anti-piracy measure for the entertainment industries when tackling pirate sites on the internet. The practice has been around for well over 15 years and has gradually expanded to more than forty countries around the world. Thus far, pirate site blocking is notably absent in the United States. However, American-funded forces are active elsewhere in the world to forge new blocking initiatives, through voluntary agreements or the courts. Philippine Blocking Measures The resulting blocking measures are immediately noticeable to the public at large but there’s also quite a bit of information sharing and discussion taking place behind closed doors. In this regard, a recent letter from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is particularly noteworthy. IPOPHL is the main facilitator of a new site-blocking regime established under a memorandum of understanding (MOU). As part of the agreement, set to come into effect later this month, Internet providers agreed to voluntarily block access to known pirate sites. The Philippine Government is determined to tackle online piracy, a goal reiterated in a recent IPOPHL letter to the U.S. Trade Representative which contained additional background information. MPA and ACE Guide Blocking Efforts It transpires that the blocking measures were made possible thanks to assistance from the Motion Picture Association and ACE, its affiliated anti-piracy arm. Among other things, the movie industry group provided technical expertise. “This [site blocking] mechanism was realized with the support of the Motion Picture Association through the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) who worked with IPOPHL in providing information on similar mechanisms and best practices in other jurisdictions,” the letter reads. “ACE also conducted a training on site-blocking to equip the IPOPHL’s IEO personnel with technical knowledge on site-blocking mechanisms.” It’s no secret that the MPA is heavily involved in rolling out site-blocking initiatives around the world. What we hadn’t heard until recently is that the industry group also brings stakeholders together in an ‘Annual Global Site Blocking Strategy Conference’. MPA Recognizes ‘Innovations’ at Site Blocking Conference The conference, which took place last month, came up in IPOPHL’s letter mentioning the MPA’s recognition of the Philippines’ site-blocking progress. “At the [MPA’s] Annual Global Site Blocking Strategy (GSS) Conference held in Amsterdam on October 3, 2023, the Philippines (through IPOPHL) was a recipient of one of the awards this year, for pushing for site blocking legislation and for the coordination and roll out of the voluntary site blocking MoU. “Every year, the MPA hands out a few awards to those countries or counsels which have excelled in the field of site blocking,” the letter adds. The conference and the accolades were not reported publicly, but the MPA confirmed to us that the Asian country was indeed praised for its achievements. Aiming to avoid confusion with the annual MPA awards, the group stressed that the award isn’t official. An MPA EMEA spokesperson notes that the Philippines agreement shows that voluntary collaboration between the MPA, governments, and Internet providers can have the desired effect. “The voluntary siteblocking MOU, made possible thanks to the leadership and support of the Philippines Intellectual Property Office is yet another example of the MPA, authorities and ISPs working together in the fight against piracy. “Siteblocking has proven to be an effective tool against large scale content theft and we applaud the Philippines for taking action to support creativity,” MPA’s spokesperson adds. In addition to the Philippines, countries including France and Italy were also ‘recognized’ for their innovations in site blocking, but more specific details are not available. Overall, it’s clear that MPA is determined to help countries around the world roll out effective site-blocking measures. Whether it will be able to use this wealth of knowledge in the United States anytime soon is unknown. But that’s nothing new. — A copy of the letter sent by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) to the U.S. Trade Representative is available here (pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Seasoned DJ and producer Martial Simon is one of the best when it comes to dance pop music. With an astonishing 1.5 million plus streams accrued so far this year, this number stands as a monumental testament to Simon’s resonance with a global audience. Now, he’s back with his final track of the year titled “Turn Down The Lights”. It’s an upbeat, anthemic single reminiscent of the 2010 era with a modern touch. It feels like the type of song you’d imagine you and all of your friends singing together at midnight in the club. Yet again, Martial Simon delivers a bumping club tune that we are going to be listening to all weekend long. Check it out below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Martial Simon Caps Off The Year With Infectious Single “Turn Down The Lights” View the full article

As Russia tightens its grip on encrypted communications and tools with the ability to bypass government censorship, it was recently confirmed that 167 VPN services are actively blocked after failing to comply with state requirements. With that total expected to grow in the months ahead, a leaked document originating from Russia’s Ministry of Transport reveals details of what telecoms watchdog Roscomnadzor has planned for the near-term. Threat to the “stability, security and integrity” of Russian Telecoms The document, dated November 10, 2023, was sent by the Ministry of Transport to organizations in the transport sector. After an unofficial appearance on the ‘ZaTelecom’ Telegram channel, local news outlet Kommersant sought comment from both the Ministry and Roscomnadzor. Neither responded. The first page of the letter (original/left and Yandex OCR-translated/right), seeks input from organizations currently using any of the VPN services or protocols listed on the second page. The text strongly implies that the services and protocols listed are viewed as potential threats to the “stability, security and integrity” of Russian internet/information systems and telecommunications in general. A more pragmatic reading might conclude that the services and protocols present zero technical threat, but do limit the government’s ability to control the narrative. That narrative includes claims that encrypted communications represent a threat to the stability of the internet, which of course they do not. Dozens of VPNs, Famous Protocol The letter’s second page is a 49-item list containing the names of well-known and lesser known VPN services. In the order they appear, some of the most notable inclusions are Private Internet Access (PIA), Ivacy Private VPN, PrivadoVPN, and PureVPN. When a VPN appears on list like this it usually indicates a refusal to cooperate with Russian authorities, such as granting permission to inspect user data, communications or whatever else is on the government’s mind at any given time. In that sense an appearance might not be as damaging to a VPN’s image as some might expect, quite the opposite in fact. That being said, item 49 on the list above shows that Russia intends to crack down on Shadowsocks, a protocol that in itself cannot be forced or coerced into compliance. Shadowsocks Shadowsocks is an open source encryption protocol created over a decade ago by a Chinese developer known as “clowwindy” and is perhaps best known for its anti-Great Firewall capabilities. On a basic level, Shadowsocks clients offer a way to connect to SOCKS5 proxies securely using an encrypted tunnel. As standard it isn’t a VPN and more importantly doesn’t look like one to those hoping to shut VPNs down. People behind these projects are more easily identified, however. Developers like clowwindy can find themselves under extreme pressure to behave in a particular way. The original Shadowsocks repo on GitHub reveals that even the most robust protocols can be ‘Removed according to regulations’. Fortunately, the Shadowsocks genie is never going back in the bottle; perhaps Russia forgot to ask China about that one, or simply believes it can do better. The theory is that Russia plans to draw up a whitelist of organizations that use the services above in a government approved way, so they don’t find themselves inadvertently blocked. That may suggest the government has something aggressive in mind or perhaps faces limitations when it comes to pinpoint blocking. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

When it comes to tech house, one of the brightest breakthrough acts is Sherm. Hailing from Chicago, he’s brought a irresistible energy to the house music scene in a way that’s caught on with fans all over the world. Fresh off of hosting his first panel at ADE along with a massive showcase performance with Hood Politics & Bring The Kingdom, Sherm is back, this time teaming up with close friends BLUPRNT for their single ‘Real Life’. Laced with a groovy bass line, dark melodic undertones, hypnotic vocals and thumping drums, Sherm & BLUEPRNT create an irresistible song that is destined for a bright future. Listen below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Sherm & BLUPRNT Team Up For Energy Fueled Tech House Single, ‘Real Life’ via Hood Politics View the full article

Lost Prince is a visionary artist reshaping electronic music with a theatrical flair. His mesmerizing sounds have caught the attention of Swedish House Mafia’s Axwell, leading to numerous releases on the Axtone Records label. Axwell even co-wrote the Lost Prince hit, ‘Always On My Mind’. Lost Prince’s style, a mix of hypnotic melodies and influences from the jackin’ house scene of Chicago and New York has garnered an official remix on Anjunadeep and support from top-tier artists. Now, Lost Prince is back, gifting us with a beautiful new single ‘Ipnosia’ off his forthcoming EP ‘Exile’. It’s a mesmerizing sonic experience, led by hypnotic drum grooves, driving synth melodies, and a suspenseful aura that envelopes you immediately. Anticipation is brimming for his upcoming EP but for now, enjoy ‘Ipnosia’ below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Lost Prince Drops Thumping Melodic House Single ‘Ipnosia’ From Upcoming EP View the full article

Sporting his iconic mask, F.O.O.L. is the perfect representation of the future, inviting us into his own neon fueled cyberpunk-esque world, where a fusion of bass and cinematic soundscapes reign supreme. We recently shared the single ‘Encounter‘ from our favorite cyberpunk hero F.O.O.L., and now we’re thrilled to share that he’s unleashed his debut album ‘Machine’ via Monstercat Uncaged. This album from start to finish is a testament to just how talented he is no matter the genre he finds himself in. Songs like The Law” with PYLOT, features a crossover of opera samples paired seamlessly with a mesmerizing retrowave backing, while “Motor” with THIRST, comes thundering through with his electrifying take on phonk. “Duality” offers hard hitting drums amidst a sonic battle of good vs evil, while “Valhalla” whisks the listener away into the cinematic real reminiscent of movies such as Drive, concluding with an epic drum and bass drop of epic proportions. F.O.O.L closes out the album with a brilliant song titled “Origin”, merging his roots with intoxicating rhythms, blissful synth chords, electric guitar, ethereal vocal echoes. F.O.O.L has accumulated a substantial following in the gaming community. He has had multiple placements on Rocket League, such as “INERTIA” and his remix of “Horsepower” with TOKYO ROSE. MACHINE will be one of Rocket League’s biggest features yet, with “Duality” being the lead theme of Season 9 and five songs landing on the brand-new Season 13. Additionally, “Valhalla”, “The Law”, and “Tension” can be heard on past seasons. Listen below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: F.O.O.L. Unleashes Impressive Debut Album ‘MACHINE’ via Monstercat Uncaged View the full article

In recent years copyright holders have tried many things to dissuade the public from visiting pirate websites. Simply stating that piracy is illegal doesn’t appear to work very well, so this type of messaging often tries to appeal to other emotions. For example, anti-piracy campaigns frequently stress that piracy hurts normal workers as it costs the entertainment industry thousands of jobs. Another strategy is to scare the public directly, by pointing out the ills people may encounter on pirate sites. ‘Holiday’ Piracy PSAs This latter strategy continues to gain traction and it’s also the main focus of a new public service announcement (PSA) campaign launched by the U.S. Government’s Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) and Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association (MPA). There are two videos, both set to appear in a short and longer version. The shorter 15-second clips are intended for social media, where they will be circulated in the coming weeks. The gist of the PSAs is that people who use pirate sites and services to watch online entertainment risk running into malware, identity theft, and credit card fraud. This is illustrated quite dramatically, by burglars who raid the home of a happy couple enjoying an unreleased film from a pirate source. Burglars Rob a Pirate .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Interestingly, the video specifically (yet indirectly) suggests that a VPN service can’t do much to protect against these risks. Here’s the relevant dialog. Man: Check this out. (starts film) Woman: I didn’t even know this was out yet. Man: It’s not, but I have my ways. Woman: Are you sure that’s safe? Man: I have a VPN, we’re good. The VPN doesn’t stop people from physically entering your home, as the PSA depicts. And if we follow this analogy, it’s also true that VPNs can’t stop identity theft or malware, although some offer separate protection tools against the latter. The second PSA is a message from IPR Center director Jim Mancuso, who issues a straightforward warning, again focusing on malware and fraud. “If you watch pirated films or TV shows you could be exposing yourself to credit card fraud, malware or worse. Why deal with that when you could be watching your favorite series and films on legitimate platforms? Don’t let anyone ruin your screen time,” Mancuso says. Stream Safely .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Both PSAs point people to the Stream Safely campaign site which guides people to legal sources. In addition, the site provides additional information on piracy and file-sharing technologies. Torrenting Isn’t Illegal The Stream Safely site points out the potential risks of piracy but it doesn’t condemn file-sharing outright. For example, it acknowledges that downloading torrents isn’t by definition illegal, it depends on what people share. Legal torrenting can be a good way to get large legitimate files, the website reads, adding that “generally speaking, sharing files across an internet connection is legal, so long as the files being shared aren’t themselves illegal and/or copyright law isn’t being violated.” This language is paired with obligatory malware warnings and highlighted legal risks, including “copyright trolls” who sue people for allegedly downloading pirated films. “[L]egal trouble is becoming more common for those who are torrenting illegal content, as internet service providers (ISPs) and copyright trolls get more and more aggressive in tracking down and prosecuting illegal torrents,” the website warns. Beware of Trolls! In summary, the campaign aims to point out that piracy isn’t risk-free. It appears to be aimed at casual pirates, who may not be as tech-savvy and therefore more at risk of running into trouble. “Many consumers remain unaware of the risks involved in streaming or downloading pirated films. There are piracy sites that appear legitimate and safe, but most are operated by global crime syndicates,” says Jan van Voorn, MPA’s Chief of Global Content Protection and head of ACE. Nuance The main message of the PSAs is that “watching pirated content is never safe”. This is a conclusion we have seen in many industry reports over the years and while it’s certainly true there are elevated risks, there have been more nuanced voices too. For example, we previously heard from anti-virus experts, who pointed out that email is likely a higher risk factor than pirate streaming sites. In addition, research from the EU Intellectual Property Office previously concluded that not all pirate sites are malware-ridden. “At present, suspected copyright-infringing websites and streaming services are not normally considered to be dominant sources of malware or otherwise unwanted software distribution,” the research found. That research may be dated by now, of course, and there are thousands of pirate sites, all with a unique risk profile. However, this nuance, understandably, didn’t make it into the Holiday anti-piracy PSAs. In summary, there is at least one conclusion we can safely draw. Those who use legal streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and HBO are less likely to run into trouble than those who use pirate sites and services. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

In 2021, the US Department of Justice launched a criminal proceeding against two men suspected of running a massive YouTube Content ID scam. YouTube’s flagship anti-piracy system is supposed to protect rightsholders but, in this case, it was used to exploit them. Multi-Million Dollar Scam The scammers’ company, MediaMuv LLC., wasn’t a direct member of the Content ID program. Instead, it operated through a trusted third-party company, which had access to the platform. By falsely claiming to own the rights to more than 50,000 copyrighted songs, the scammers generated more than $23 million in revenue. In 2022, the first defendant confessed to his part in the copyright swindle by pleading guilty. Webster Fernandez admitted it was a simple scheme: find Latin music that wasn’t yet monetized on YouTube and claim the content as their own. In February of this year, the second defendant pleaded guilty. Jose Teran signed a plea agreement admitting that he was part of the conspiracy, engaging in wire fraud and money laundering. Prison Sentences The guilty pleas may have helped to reduce their sentences but the defendants didn’t get off easily. This summer, a federal court in Arizona handed a 70 month prison term to Mr. Teran, to be followed by three years of probation. A few weeks later, the same court sentenced Mr. Fernandez to 46 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In addition to the jail time, both convicts had to forfeit multiple possessions related to their crimes, including bank accounts, several pieces of real estate, and cars. $3.3 Million Restitution At the time of the sentencing, the authorities requested victims of the YouTube Content ID scam to come forward, as they are entitled to restitution. The MediaMuv operation mostly targeted Spanish language artists, who were not monetizing their content on YouTube yet. Over the past several weeks, hundreds of these artists submitted their claims, ranging from a few dozen dollars, to well over $100,000. Some of these artists were represented by lawyers or their label and the RIAA submitted a claim on behalf of artists as well. All told, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and defense attorneys agreed to a total restitution amount of more than $3.3 million, which is due immediately. “The United States, counsel for Webster Batista, and counsel for Jose Teran, respectfully stipulate to the restitution amount of $3,365,352.85,” the stipulation reads. “Along with the other standard conditions concerning the repayment of restitution, the parties agree that Webster Batista and Jose Teran will be jointly and severally liable for the restitution, restitution is due immediately, and Batista and Teran be ordered to make minimum monthly payments..” A quick tally shows that roughly 800 affected artists came forward. One of the largest claims comes from Cecilia Ramirez, widow of the Mexican singer-songwriter Agustín Ramírez, who was the frontman of the band Los Caminantes. Ramírez passed away last year. The RIAA’s claim totals $1,247,719.76 and is based on falsely claimed music of hundreds of artists, as detailed in this 57-page exhibit. Both convicted defendants are jointly and severally liable for the restitution payments. How long it will take to repay the affected artists will depend on their income and available funds. A copy of the joint stipulation on the restitution amount is available here (pdf). The amount was agreed upon by all parties and granted by the Arizona federal court earlier this week. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

By now, everyone in both the D&B and bass worlds knows that when Billain is about to drop a new release, it’s going to be a game-changer. Now with his last releases being in February, the scene is more than ready for a new joint from the Bosnia-based mega-producer. Or so they think. Different Eyes, the upcoming EP due out this Friday, November 17 on Vision, is once again going to lock Billain into the pinnacle of creativity in bass music. Having already teased the title track two weeks ago, fans might assume Different Eyes will be another atmospheric concept EP, similar to 2022’s Lands Unbreached or 2019’s Nomad’s Revenge. Being that Billain has been so focused on film production with his multi-award winning short Fugitive and scoring said film as well as new A/V projects, it wouldn’t be too farfetched of an assumption. It would, however, be wrong. The fast, aggressive, yet painfully emotive D&B styles that caused both industry and fans to become infatuated with the dizzying levels of production this artist can attain is on Different Eyes in full force. While almost every track on this EP can easily unalive any dancefloor, it’s important to note that Different Eyes is still a concept album and a journey, and it should be listened to as such at least once. It starts with the atmospheric, largely beatless wonder of an intro track, “It’s First Dream.” This lullaby brings the listener back into a world that only Billain fully knows: one of heavy atmos, cyberpunk dreamscapes and endless lands made of sound and code. It’s actually kind of him to lull the listener into this state, because the next tracks hit so damned hard, we nee a buffer. What follows in the next five tracks is a sequence of ever faster and crunchier bass hurricanes, reflecting chaos and anger and tightly-reigned skill all at once. Our YEDM premiere is the second track, “Baka,” which presumably taken from the anime slang for “crazy” or “foolish,” and it certainly has the wild chaos of an anime fight scene. Easily the heaviest and most chaotic track on the EP, “Baka” drops the listener into the narrative of Different Eyes like a 3-meter vert ramp and doesn’t let go until it’s damn well ready. As intense and chaotic as it sounds, “Baka” was likely the most tightly produced track on the album, simply by virtue of how chaotic it is. It’s always the maddest syncopation that takes the most programming, and it might also be a little nod to jazz fusion. Only the best DJs will be able to mix this track, and it’s likely that’s the way Billain wanted it. Going through the journey of the rest of the EP with “Kinetic,” “Uncanny Valley,” “FUCK Y00” and “Void Me,” the intensity and speed of the work only increases, but unlike “Baka,” they all have a trackable drum & bass beat. The EP ends up feeling like exploring a wild new planet in some futuristic inner space hellscape, from the prep of “Different Eyes” to the bumpy, aggressive culture shock of “Baka” to finding one’s stride in the “Uncanny Valley” to being over it already with “FUCK Y00” to the last ride of the ego-destroying ride of “Void Me.” “Different Eyes” is the victory lap, a reward for beating the game and making it through this fever dream of an EP. As a psycho-thriller in sonic form, Different Eyes is a reflection of doing hard inner work. It’s chaos and anger and confusion and a hurricane of emotions, but the title track is the goal: meant to be the new perspective once one has let all that beautiful pain go. Whether you are working on something personally or just unthinkingly follow the arc of this EP, you will come to the end of this masterpiece seeing the world with “Different Eyes.” Different Eyes drops tomorrow, November 17 on Vision. Click here to pre-order or pre-save. – This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Your EDM Premiere: Billain Offers a Different Perspective With ‘Different Eyes’ [Vision] View the full article