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Following the success of his December 2023 release, ‘You Ready To Work?’ and January 2024’s ‘Everyday,’ Kid Caird is hitting the ground running as he gears up for the year ahead. With over 100K streams on Spotify alone, a busy touring schedule, and countless hours spent in the studio last year, he’s eager to make the most of every opportunity in 2024. His latest single is “Body Work,” a track born from a stroke of inspiration while Kid Caird was at his keyboard, diving into the digital crates of samples. As he sifted through the sounds, creative sparks flew, culminating in the realization of his vision. With each tinkering session, the pieces fell into place until the song burst to life. “Body Work” wastes no time in captivating listeners with its crisp tech house percussion, robust basslines, and a synth with brass-inspired tones that serve as the song’s anchor. Combined with chopped vocal samples, it’s the recipe for a night filled with unforgettable moments on the dancefloor. Listen below! This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Aussie artist Kid Caird Drops Simmering Tech-House Banger ‘Body Work’ View the full article

Blaze Orange and Kwal, driven by a string of label releases, club gigs, and late-night afterparties, are seizing every opportunity to ride the wave of momentum cultivated in 2023. Hailing from the vibrant Chicago-Milwaukee corridor, an area rich in artistic opportunities and home to a diverse array of talent and venues showcasing electronic music, the duo is thriving. With their trajectory on the upswing across various fronts, they’ve dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to their latest project. Their latest release, “Shake,” delivers a club-friendly, classic house vibe punctuated by well-placed vocal samples. The track effortlessly infuses a hypnotic groove, driven by a pulsating bassline, raw synths, and high energy arrangement. Signed to the rapidly expanding label Pharaoh Phonix, “Shake” proves to be another heater ready for dance floors around the world. We had the opportunity to speak with them about the single and their work together. Check out the interview below! For both artists: How has the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor influenced Blaze Orange and Kwal’s music and career trajectory? K: The two cities are so close in proximity that it’s almost impossible for spillover to not occur. Chicago has strong roots as the birthplace of house music.. Milwaukee shares that same passion for house music so finding artists with similar tastes is not a complicated task. There is so much talent between these two cities. B: Milwaukee has always seemed to look up to Chicago for being both the home of House Music and quality of events and artists. I have a great respect and admiration for those early artists that carved the way of House Music. I think you will hear that more and more out of my recent work some of the Chicago flavor I put into my songs. For both artists: Can you describe the process behind creating “Shake” and how you achieved its distinct sound without resorting to overcomplicated sound design? K: Blaze Orange had a fantastic groove laid down when he reached out about collaborating. Once I heard his original idea, I knew I would be able to add my own flavor to it without needing to recreate the wheel. It was one of the less stressful collaborations I’ve done in recent memory and I think that’s what made it so special. B: Late one night, I had an idea laid out, the SHAKE vocal response was something I tried in a previous song that didn’t get far. This time the track was done within a day and I was really digging it. After I sent it to Kwal for his thoughts, he opted to jump on and it was very easy for the collaboration. We both were able to add complimenting drums and synths to the sound to keep the energy and make it memorable. Blaze Orange, what inspired the transition to your current persona in late 2021, and how has it impacted your musical direction? B: I spent 15 years as a mostly open format DJ that quite frankly achieved most anything I ever wanted. I had the pleasure of playing shows with the likes of Green Velvet, Ardalan, Disco Fries, LA Riots, and many others. However I never took production seriously until then. Working hard through the summer, I was close to having tracks that could get signed. I opted to rebrand, stop all open format shows, and go all in on the new persona of Blaze Orange. Only wanting to do shows where I can play some of my own tracks and other house music tastes that I enjoy. It’s been fantastic so far. Lots of hard work in the studio, sending out demos, promoting the tracks and shows. I’ve accomplished a lot lately but always striving for those next goals and to improve my sound and brand. Kwal, working in artist relations at Spybar, how has interacting with renowned tech house artists influenced your music production and DJing style? K: Contrary to popular belief my biggest takeaway from working in AR is not what everyone thinks it is.. 99% of these artists are incredibly nice people and are humble. It keeps me in check and reminds me to just be myself. Hearing headliners play so often also reminds me that we producers tend to really over complicate our song creation process. Create a strong groove and keep it simple. For both artists: How do you balance the demands of label releases, club performances, and afterparties while maintaining your creative output? K: As I grow as an artist it is slowly becoming a bit hectic to stay on top of everything “required” to be a music producer in 2024. One thing that keeps me grounded is having a schedule. Set aside time to complete tasks and do your best not to get distracted. Lastly, don’t forget to take time to be with your family, significant other, pets, etc. B: I’ll come straight forward and say, it’s my experience and the fact that I am 8 years sober. I have put great value on weekend studio sessions in the morning being the most productive and creative. I do not drink at all, I go home and to bed after most every show so I can get back in my studio the next day. Striving to get music work done during the work week also can be challenging; however, discipline is everything. I do turn down some shows or just a fun night out so I can get some music work done. Blaze Orange, how has your musicians’ collective contributed to the growth of the community and supported emerging artists? B: I have worked with a number of groups over many years. There are always waves of both music sounds, genres and talent. Finding the middle ground to respect those that came before you and also help along the younger new talents. I have taken part in some sober events, fundraising and benefit shows to raise awareness for various causes. Also on the production side, I have started to tutor and help aspiring producers to learn there way around music production and the industry. Kwal, since starting your journey in the music industry in 2013, what significant changes have you observed in the electronic music scene, particularly in Chicago? K: Chicago is an extremely busy city when it comes to house music culture. One thing I can say for certain is that being able to make good music has never been enough to get you on stage. This city and its promoters/talent buyers really want your support which makes total sense. I neglected this for such a long time and it impacted my career early on. Get involved and shed love as much as you can. With that said, I’d say the biggest change has been in the amount of promoters in the city. For both artists: How do you approach the creative process when collaborating on tracks, and what roles do each of you play? K: For me I tend to only take on collabs from others if I truly feel I can add value to the song. My strong suits are writing basslines and drums. I also tend to find myself being picky and not wanting to rush to finish. B: For me, working in a compatible DAW like Ableton goes a LONG way. I can be picky about sounds being genuine to what I like. This one with Kwal came very easy and organically that fit both of our styles. I should also mention we met on a Discord server for the producer CASHEW and found out Kwal was pretty local to me. That was pretty cool, so thanks to CASHEW! For both artists: With a clear vision for the year ahead, what are some specific goals or projects you’re aiming to accomplish? K: My biggest goals for 2024 are to sign a contract with one of my top 5 labels and to commit to playing a local festival like Arc(even if it’s for 2025). B: Growing my fanbase, socials, music reach. Main targets for this year are signing a track to a much bigger label than previously. As well as a music festival for this year or next. Continuing to craft my sound, brand and workflow should help those things fall into place. This article was first published on Your EDM. Source: Blaze Orange & Kwal Collaborate For Electrifying House Single ‘Shake’ View the full article

Lawsuits filed in the United States targeting pirate sites usually focus on breaches of copyright law, typically direct and secondary infringement, or violations of the DMCA, depending on individual circumstances. Allegations of copyright infringement also featured in a complaint filed at an Arizona court in 2023, which hoped to quickly shut down a popular pirate site. Somewhat unusually, however, federal trademark infringement and cybersquatting allegations also played a key role, alongside other claims including unfair competition. Complaint Targets Kokoa TV Plaintiff Wavve Americas Inc. (wA) describes itself as a joint partnership between SK Telecom and the top three Korean Broadcast Networks –KBS, MBC, and SBS. According to the company’s website, wA’s mission is to use its open video streaming platform Kocowa (Korean Content Wave) to generate value for its content partners while providing an exceptional user experience. The company’s complaint filed last year targeted the unknown domain registrant of kokoatv.net, kokoa.tv, and vidground.com. All three domains were registered at Namecheap which requires registrants to consent to personal jurisdiction in Arizona when in dispute with a third party. The complaint alleged that Kokoa TV provided access to Korean-based TV shows and movies, including those exclusively licensed to wA for distribution in the United States. The site targeted both Korean and English-speaking audiences, the complaint added, with video content sourced from platforms including vidground.com. Trading Off Kocowa’s Goodwill (and its content) Kokoa TV’s choice of branding was called out for its similarity to the plaintiffs’ service Kocowa, for which they hold a trademark. The aim, the complaint added, was to trade off the goodwill of Kocowa while cybersquatting a deliberately similar domain, to confuse users into believing that the defendant’s platform had links to the official service. Once presented with official content without having to pay for any of it, users of the unlicensed service Kokoa would be deterred from using the official platform offered by the plaintiffs, the complaint added. Kocowa holds an exclusive license to distribute around 1,100 shows in the United States, content created by the three major Korean networks. The sites operated by the defendant offered that content for free, leading to allegations of copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement. All three domains had their ownership hidden by a WHOIS protection service so when Namecheap refused to disable the domains or hand over the identity of the domains’ operator, Wavve Americas Inc. filed its complaint. The company demanded a permanent injunction, an award sufficient to cover the costs of corrective advertising, an award of Kokoa’s profits, the transfer of its domain names, damages for both trademark and copyright infringement, plus attorneys’ fees and costs. Plaintiff Prevails Discovery directed at Namecheap revealed the same name behind all three domains – Tumi Max of Bangkok, Thailand – who was named in the plaintiff’s first amended complaint. The defendant was served September 22, 2023, but after failing to appear, the court’s entry of default was followed by a motion for default judgment. Judge Michael T. Liburdi handed down his order on February 6, 2024. Since the defendant had accepted Namecheap’s terms and conditions, the Judge found that personal jurisdiction had been established. Since the websites were accessible in the district and likely to cause confusion there, venue was considered proper. Since Tubi Max decided not to appear, he failed to produce rebuttal evidence related to the distribution of the plaintiff’s content. While the Judge found Kocowa a “conceptually strong mark” he noted that the complaint failed to demonstrate it was a “commercially strong” mark. However, after weighing several factors including the defendants’ absence, the broadcasters prevailed on their trademark, cybersquatting, and copyright infringement claims. A permanent injunction followed soon after, comprehensively restraining Tubi Max from unlawful use of the plaintiff’s trademarks (image below) and any unlicensed use of its copyrighted works. It appears that the focus of the complaint was to shut the site down since the injunction notes that “wA does not seek monetary damages.” As the above shows, Namecheap was instructed to hand over the domains to prevent any further infringement of the plaintiff’s rights. Visitors to those domains today will find themselves redirected to the plaintiff’s streaming platform where they will be able to compensate the rightful owners when consuming their copyrighted content. In theory, at least. The complaint and other filings cited above are available here From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

In recent years, website blocking has become one of the most widely-used anti-piracy enforcement mechanisms in the world. ISPs in several dozen countries prevent subscribers from accessing a variety of ‘pirate’ sites. New blocks are added every month and rightsholders are actively lobbying to expand the measure to the United States. While site blocking is by no means a panacea, copyright holders are convinced that it has a notable effect and have research to back this up. Piracy Blocking Research One of the earliest pieces of peer-reviewed academic research, based on UK data, showed that the local Pirate Bay blockade had little effect on legal consumption. Instead, pirates turned to alternative pirate sites, proxies, or VPNs to bypass the virtual restrictions. A follow-up study added more color and brought good news for rightsholders. The research found that once a large number of sites were blocked in the UK, overall pirate site traffic decreased. At the same time, the researchers observed an increase in traffic to legal services such as Netflix. The latter findings are frequently cited in policy discussions around site blocking. While the results are solid, they are limited too. They only apply to the UK situation, for example, and the long-term effects of site-blocking efforts on piracy and legal consumption are missing. New Findings: India A new non-peer-reviewed working paper published by Chapman University and Carnegie Mellon University researchers aims to fill the first gap. Using similar methodology to that seen in the earlier UK study, the researchers studied the effects of blocking in India and Brazil. The working paper In India, the researchers studied two separate blocking waves. The first took place in December 2019, when 380 piracy websites were blocked. The second wave was implemented in September 2020, when Indian ISPs blocked 173 additional piracy sites. The researchers checked browsing data to see if the blocks were effective and whether pirates switched to unblocked sites. Visits to legal video entertainment services, including Netflix and Hotstar, were monitored as well. The results of these studies largely replicate the UK findings. The first Indian blocking wave triggered an 8.1% increase in visits to legal sites, and the second wave led to a 3.1% increase. There was no statistically significant increase in visits to unblocked pirate sites. Overall, the Indian findings suggest that site blocking can increase legal consumption without driving traffic to other, unblocked pirate sites. New Findings: Brazil Next, the researchers turned their attention to Brazil, where 174 piracy sites were blocked in July 2021. Using a similar research design, they found that these pirate site blocks resulted in a 5.2% increase in visits to paid streaming websites. Unlike in India, there was a significant increase in traffic to unblocked pirate sites in Brazil. This is similar to the ‘dispersion’ effect that was previously found in response to UK blockades. [I]n Brazil we found that blocking 174 piracy sites caused a statistically significant increase in visits to unblocked piracy sites, in essence dispersing some piracy,” the researchers write. ‘Pirate Site Blocking Works’ These findings suggest that the positive effects of pirate site blocking are not limited to the UK. This will be music to the ears of rightsholders who wish to expand pirate site blocking globally, with the US as the ‘holy grail’. “[The research] provides evidence that website blocking in Brazil and India in 2019, 2020, and 2021 has a similar effect as it did in the UK in 2013 and 2014, despite the fact that during that intervening time the landscape of piracy and legal consumption has changed significantly. “In short, our results suggest that piracy website blocking remains an effective strategy for increasing legal consumption of copyrighted content,” the researchers add. While the latest study isn’t peer-reviewed separately, it indeed confirms the earlier findings. That said, piracy research is dynamic and never complete, so many questions remain unanswered. More (Lasting) Conclusions? One question that remains concerns the lasting effect on behavior. The studies above only measure consumption patterns in the span of a few months, and it’s possible that some pirates eventually relapse. Brett Danaher of Chapman University, the lead author of the paper, recognizes this shortcoming. Ideally, he would like to do more longitudinal research but obtaining that type of data is not easy. “The biggest challenge there is finding a panel company that tracks a consistent set of users for longer periods of time,” Danaher tells TorrentFreak. “With the companies we’ve been working with, the size of the panel shrinks exponentially as we ask for longer panels. It’s a real challenge.” The researcher mentions that there is a study that found that the effects of blocking measures are short-lived, but that only applies to a single site, Kino.to. This ‘relapse’ finding was later supported by an Italian study, that included over two dozen sites. Danaher further explained that the latest study wasn’t peer-reviewed because it’s a replication study. The research uses the same methodology as the previously published UK study, which was peer-reviewed and published in MIS Quarterly. “Our thought was that there was useful information in this study and the methodology itself has already undergone peer review, but the peer review process for this paper would have taken a lot of time with little probability of landing in a premier journal.” MPA Funding Finally, it should be noted that this new India/Brazil study, like previous ones, is carried out as part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics (IDEA). The initiative is partly funded by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) which is the driving force behind many global site blocking efforts. The MPA has sent unrestricted gifts to IDEA center since 2012, totaling several million dollars. In recent years, the gift amounted to $1 million annually. There is no evidence that the research findings are in any way influenced by this funding, of course. The connected researchers have repeatedly pointed out that they operate completely independently, which Danaher confirms. “To me, the top value of the center is that it allows me to sometimes access data to which I otherwise would not have access but protects me from outside influences,” Danaher notes, using the movie industry sales figures that were used in a Megaupload study as an example “In other words, once I get studio data through the IDEA Center for a particular project, I am guaranteed the ability to publish my results for that paper regardless of what they say,” he adds. — Danaher, Brett and Sivan, Liron and Smith, Michael D. and Telang, Rahul, The Impact of Online Piracy Website Blocking on Consumer Choices (February 12, 2024). Available at SSRN. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

There’s no shortage of reasonable arguments that support the existence of a comprehensive anti-piracy system in Italy, capable of returning revenue to broadcasters, local football clubs, and rightsholders in general. On the other side of the debate, consumers of pirate IPTV services argue that a virtual monopoly, in which competition isn’t allowed to exist, is the very reason pirate IPTV services became so popular in the first place. In the middle of this chasm of differences are those who warned that the supposed solution to piracy of live sports – the much heralded Piracy Shield system – could end up causing collateral damage without proper checks and balances. However, a soft launch in December passed without incident and following Piracy Shield’s full launch late January, no significant controversies marred the automated blocking system’s first two weeks on the frontlines. Rightsholders Open The Firehose After a sensibly tentative start, last weekend saw Piracy Shield put through its toughest test yet, DDAY.it reported Monday. After previously being asked to block just a handful of IP addresses, over 400 IP addresses were requested last Saturday. Why Piracy Shield crashed in response isn’t especially clear. DDAY.it, which appears to have an insider somewhere in the system, believes that thousands of simultaneous requests may have been too much for an underpowered server. That’s not impossible or even unlikely but for rightsholders who claim to be losing hundreds of millions of euros every year to piracy, failing to commit enough resources is completely avoidable. Of more concern was a claim that the IP address of an unnamed CDN company in the UK had been added to the blocklist. Since CDN IP addresses may be in use by more than one service at a time, the risk of overblocking is obviously a concern. In this case, however, the block reportedly did its job without any collateral damage. The same may not be true for new blocks reported this morning. Zenlayer CDN IP Addresses Reportedly Blocked One of the notable aspects of the first Piracy Shield actions reported by regulator AGCOM, was the targeting of web-based pirate services rather than the less visible IPTV platforms causing most disruption in Italy. After so many IP addresses were targeted last weekend, it seems likely that recent targets were indeed IPTV streams and related infrastructure. According to DDAY, however, blocks that targeted web-based movie streaming sites were also placed on the platform in recent days and that may not have gone exactly as planned. “About ten IP addresses belonging to the Zenlayer CDN thus ended up among the blocks and this caused the blocking of absolutely legitimate services and sites that were distributed by the CDN itself,” the publication notes. “Cloud4C, a cloud provider, is unreachable from Italy and the same goes for the control panel of the [Zenlayer] CDN itself, which is also blocked.” Establishing the existence of localized blocking from outside the affected territory isn’t always straightforward. However, an Italian user on Twitter soon confirmed that cloud4c.com could not be accessed from his connection. A TorrentFreak source also confirmed the domain was inaccessible from a connection supplied by Telecom Italia, Italy’s largest internet service provider. Checking local DNS server responses for the domain cloud4c.com produced inconsistent results during tests carried out earlier on Thursday. Italy Downgrades Transparency For years, AGCOM has published every rightsholder blocking request and then once a decision has been made, published the official response on its website for public scrutiny. It’s a transparent system that may ultimately help to hide entire websites but does so while opening up administrative aspects for public scrutiny. With the introduction of Piracy Shield, decisions are still published, but it seems fairly obvious that information made available to the public represents a mere fraction of action behind the scenes. The image below (translated) shows every blocking order published thus far. Each contains a single domain, so it’s clear that at a minimum, hundreds of IP addresses are going unreported, with last weekend a prime example. The biggest problem is that IP addresses make up the bulk of the blocking while also producing the most errors. These errors can be devastating for innocent parties that unwittingly end up as collateral damage. Yet with no open reporting, holding perpetrators to account – if only to improve the system – could prove all but impossible. Any argument in favor of secrecy necessarily fails, since IPTV providers know before anyone else that their IP addresses are being blocked. That means those privy to the details of IP address blocking include AGCOM, rightsholders, ISPs, and pirate IPTV providers. The only people kept in the dark are those who become collateral damage through no fault of their own. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Given the ongoing shift in the TV market away from terrestrial and satellite delivery in favor of IP-based services, cloud recording services are no longer the big deal they once were. When TVkaista launched in Finland way back in 2007, storing video in the cloud certainly wasn’t taken for granted as it is now. The service came with a program guide and allowed users to record and store TV shows from 15 local channels. TVkaista said video would be retained for a month, allowing users to watch their recordings at a time of their choosing. At the time, similar services were also being offered by several of Finland’s internet service providers but for the members of the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Center (CIAPC, also known as TTVK), this was a serious breach of copyright law. In letters sent to around 20 companies, TTVK warned that without proper licensing, these services were illegal and must be shut down. TVkaista Faces Legal Action In advance of TTVK’s letters being sent out, TVkaista’s CEO, technical director, and legal advisor, faced legal action for criminal copyright infringement and aggravated fraud. Claims that recording amounted to fair use were brushed aside, not least since the service actually recorded everything behind the scenes, contrary to customers’ belief that any recordings played back via the service were unique to them. TVkaista said that since its service was similar to a VCR or a DVR, that would be legal under Finnish law since private copying is permitted for personal use. The TV companies whose content was being recorded and fed back to subscribers of TVkaista disagreed, arguing that no permission was granted for this type of use. The broadcasters claimed that the TVkaista service effectively rebroadcast their content without a license. Copyright holders weren’t being paid for the use of their content and TVkaista wasn’t offering to share any revenue. Service Deemed Illegal The TV companies took TVkaista to court in 2012 and, in 2015, the Helsinki District Court deemed the service illegal, a decision confirmed by the Court of Appeal in 2017. The CEO of TVkaista was convicted of criminal copyright infringement and embezzlement, and together with the service’s technical director and the company itself, was found jointly and severally liable for damages suffered by rightsholders. Financial issues would soon complicate the case, however. In a statement issued by TTVK this week, the anti-piracy group says that after TVkaista was declared bankrupt in February 2014, the service actually continued, first through its Finnish .fi domain and later through a .com variant. The platform eventually shut down in 2015, but the bankruptcy estate had no funds available to pay the compensation owed. “The trustee made a request to the police for an investigation into the ambiguities related to the bankruptcy estate. The suspect was the CEO of TVkaista Oy, who, however, could not be reached for prosecution before November 2023,” TTVK reveals. Finally Held to Account After the matter returned to court, it was determined that since 2011, customer payments to TVkaista totaling 1.8 million euros, including 380,000 euros after bankruptcy proceedings began, had been “diverted past” TVkaista’s accounting. “The money had been transferred to the account of a company called Charm Noble Ltd in Hong Kong. However, since the contact person for all payment arrangements was the accused CEO, the court did not find credible his claim that the company’s business had actually been sold to a foreign person already in 2011,” TTVK reports. “In support of its argument, the defense presented a deed of sale dated 2011, which had not been presented in previous TVkaista trials; however, they claimed that the business was sold already in 2009.” On February 12, the district court of Länsi-Uusimaa found the former CEO guilty of all charges and sentenced him to serve three years in prison for gross accounting crime, gross dishonesty, and gross fraud as a debtor. He was also ordered to pay 409,600 euros (plus interest) to rights holders, plus 59,554 euros (plus interest) to other parties. “The verdict confirms that copyright piracy is a planned and ruthless economic crime, the sole purpose of which is to collect as much money as possible for its creators,” says Jaana Pihkala, executive director of TTVK. “Ever since the copyright infringement process started, the users of the TVkaista service paid large sums of money for the maintenance of content, while the authors, producers or legal intermediaries of which, have not been paid a single cent. This kind of activity weakens the opportunities to develop legal services and invest in new content, which is harmful not only to the rights holders but also to society as a whole.” From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

Tony Seltzer produced the New York rapper’s new singleView the full article

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment regularly announces site closures following enforcement action. Over the past seven years, hundreds of sites have fallen, but the supply of new threats currently seems inexhaustible. The level of detail ACE makes available to the public varies, but it appears to be affected by several variables. Details of settlements are rare, as one might expect. Names of site operators even more so. In many cases, even the domain names of shuttered platforms receive no specific mention, at least beyond recognizable branding. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of information that ACE doesn’t officially release is the scale of presumably successful enforcement actions that receive no mention at all. The reasons for that are open for speculation but, since the complexity of the piracy landscape has grown out of all proportion in the last few years, there’s no shortage of options. Yet Another New Batch Arrives If ACE maintained a single public list of domains directly taken over, redirected, or otherwise commandeered, tracking them would be straightforward. As things stand the whole process is fragmented and, at any one point, the full picture isn’t always available from DNS, WHOIS, or similar records. For example, a series of domains that recently began redirecting to the ACE portal don’t currently list the MPA as the domain owner. They include watchgameofthrones.co, watchfriendshd.com, watchhowimetyourmother.co, watchthesimpsons.co, and watchparksandrecreation.co. At the time of writing, none of these domains use the MPA’s DNS servers either, which may (or may not) change in the days and weeks ahead. Indeed, it’s not unheard of for sites to redirect themselves to ACE for no obvious reason. In any event, visitors to these domains are currently redirected to the ACE portal, with an interesting anti-piracy side effect observed elsewhere. People who visit Google hoping to ‘watch parks and recreation’ or ‘watch how I met your mother’ find themselves overwhelmed with former pirate links, all leading to ACE. In some cases, the links even outrank legal platforms like Amazon. Other domains provably taken over in the past few days include typhoonlabs.tv and typhoonlabs.net. Both list the MPA as owner and both use the movie industry group’s DNS servers. However, back in November, the MPA was listed as the new owner of the domains when they were still assigned to the former owner’s DNS servers. We can’t explain why that was the case and we don’t know why there hasn’t been an announcement regarding these seizures. One possibility is the existence of around 30 typhoonlabs and typhoonlabsiptv-branded domains still in rotation which may (or indeed may not) be connected to a similar service. Since announcing the demise of one platform risks driving traffic to another with a similar name. In some cases, making no announcement at all may be the best option. Situations like this can’t be uncommon when attempting to tackle piracy on a global scale and may explain why so many cases go unreported. MPA’s Domain Collection Thanks to record numbers of domains being handed over to the MPA, the Hollywood group’s domain portfolio is larger today than ever before. The prospect of the collection growing exponentially isn’t off the table either. While many pirate sites previously operated without issues from a single domain, today it’s not unusual for sites to have dozens, for reasons that include redundancy, obfuscation, and circumvention of measures such as ISP blocking and search engine downranking. In contrast, some of the most iconic domains under MPA control, such as isohunt.com and hotfile.com, stand out in their own right, each with their own place in history. Spotting them among the other 3,100+ domains, reported by a Whoxy reverse WHOIS search, is still relatively easy. It’s unlikely to remain that way for long. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

The Chattanooga rapper will release her first full-length for True Panther in AprilView the full article

Nearly a quarter-century after “Stan,” the Detroit rapper will have a hand in a new film about “the world of superfandom”View the full article

Listen to “Daydream Repeat” from the Parallel follow-upView the full article

The Leeds rock outfit is heading to the United States behind Where’s My Utopia?View the full article

Alex Ross Perry directed the visual for Chaos Angel’s lead singleView the full article

Starring bodybuilder Irene Andersen as a dubiously qualified medical practitionerView the full article

The singer reconnects with producer Jack Antonoff for her contribution to the New Look soundtrackView the full article

Apple is known to have a rigorous app-review policy that aims to keep piracy at bay. In the past, several BitTorrent apps have been rejected from the App Store, for example. Despite these efforts, problematic apps slip through the cracks occasionally. We’ve seen piracy apps disguised as other tools getting approval and a recent report from The Verge shows that this trick still works today. Apple was swift to patch this recent leak after it hit the newswire. The company booted the ‘vision testing’ app “Kimi” from the iOS store, disappointing many pirates in the process. Apple’s App Store Isn’t Piracy Free Yet Those determined to find a Kimi alternative still don’t have to look far. In less than a minute, we were able to spot another pirate streaming app that’s not concealed at all. The app in question uses popular piracy brands such as “Gomovies” and “123movies” in its name, and lives up to expectations. Users who manage to crawl through a web of advertisements eventually have access to a wide range of popular movies and TV-shows. This includes blockbuster movies, Disney shows, and Apple exclusives such as the hit series Silo, shown in action below. Pirate iOS App streaming Silo Apparently, Apple still has some work to do on the screening front. This includes fixing the link on its website through which people can report software piracy, as that currently goes to a 404-error page. The app we found has been around since May last year and has more than 1,600 reviews. We don’t know whether it always functioned as a pirate tool and Apple didn’t immediately return our request for comment. Apple generally has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to piracy. The company wants complete control over all installed apps and it previously noted that the ban on sideloading helps to prevent piracy as well. It’s clearly not perfect, however. Piracy Brands (Legally) in Apple’s App Store Our search also revealed that not all piracy ‘associations’ are off-limits at Apple. In fact, one could argue that piracy-related terms are actively used to promote some non-pirate apps in the official iOS store. Whether all users are happy with that is questionable. Let’s look at a few examples, searching the app store for well-known piracy brands such as 123movies, Fmovies, Cuevana, and ShowBox. All these terms return apps that offer access to a large library of movies and TV-shows, much like their pirate counterparts. Fmovies Results (doesn’t include the ‘piracy’ app) These brands and logos may look exciting to prospective pirates, but those who install the apps will soon realize that entertainment is limited to trailers. The lucky ones may get links to legal streaming platforms as well. No pirated movies here either In some cases, the apps allow users to keep track of what they’ve watched, which can be useful. However, most are riddled with ads. As such, it doesn’t take a genius to find out why their names, and in some cases logos, are similar to pirate streaming brands. Unlike the real piracy apps, many of these ‘mockoffs’ have been in the App Store for years. That makes sense, of course, as they are not breaking the law. That said, it can lead to disappointing reviews. Apple doesn’t seem to mind, or perhaps it isn’t privy to the problem. We assume that some anti-piracy groups are aware of these apps, but they should be fine with it. After all, it’s a great way to frustrate and annoy pirates. Needless to say, real pirate streaming apps are a completely different thing… Update February 15: The pirated app we spotted earlier is no longer available. Apple informs TorrentFreak that it was initially submitted as a movie trailer platform. After the initial approval, the app added pirated content. This is in violation of the App Store guidelines. Another app that used a similar tactic was removed as well. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

The group’s Fu##in’ Up is out in AprilView the full article

A Los Angeles woman claims that Simmons raped her at his home in the 1990s when she was an executive at Def Jam RecordingsView the full article

In recent months, rightsholders of all ilks have filed lawsuits against companies that develop AI models. The list includes record labels, individual authors, visual artists, and even the New York Times. These rightsholders all object to the presumed use of their work without proper compensation. Several of the lawsuits filed by book authors include a piracy component. The cases allege that tech companies, including Meta and OpenAI, used the controversial Books3 dataset to train their models. The Books3 dataset was created by AI researcher Shawn Presser in 2020, who scraped the library of ‘pirate’ site Bibliotik. The general vision was that the plaintext collection of more than 195,000 books, which is nearly 37GB in size, could help AI enthusiasts build better models. The vision wasn’t wrong; large text archives are great training material for Large Language Models, but many authors disapprove of their works being used in this manner, without permission or compensation. Authors Sue, OpenAI Responds In a lawsuit filed last June, authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad accused OpenAI of direct and vicarious copyright infringement, among other things. Soon after, writer/comedian Sarah Silverman teamed up with authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey in an identical suit. The complaints allege that the authors’ books were sourced from pirate sites. They specifically mention the controversial Books3 dataset, as well as data from other shadow libraries such as LibGen, Z-Library, and Sci-Hub. “The books aggregated by these websites have also been available in bulk via torrent systems. These flagrantly illegal shadow libraries have long been of interest to the AI-training community..,” the authors wrote. OpenAI didn’t deny these allegations directly but nevertheless disagreed that using books to train AI amounts to vicarious copyright infringement or violations of the DMCA. In a motion to dismiss, OpenAI asked the California federal court to ‘trim’ the scope of the case. The only claim that should be able to survive is direct copyright infringement, but OpenAI said it expects to defeat that at a later stage. Court Dismisses Copyright and DMCA Claims After reviewing input from both sides, California District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled on the matter. In her order, she largely sides with OpenAI. The vicarious copyright infringement claim fails because the court doesn’t agree that all output produced by OpenAI’s models can be seen as a derivative work. To survive, the infringement claim has to be more concrete. “Plaintiffs’ allegation that ‘every output of the OpenAI Language Models is an infringing derivative work’ is insufficient. Plaintiffs fail to explain what the outputs entail or allege that any particular output is substantially similar – or similar at all – to their books,” the order reads, In addition to copyright infringement, the authors accused OpenAI of violating the DMCA by intentionally altering the copyright management information (CMI). Details such as the title, the author, and the copyright owner, were allegedly stripped to “enable” or “conceal” infringement. Judge Martínez-Olguín sees no evidence for the intentional removal of this copyright information. And, even if these allegations are true, there’s no evidence that it was done for nefarious reasons. “Plaintiffs argue that OpenAI’s failure to state which internet books it uses to train ChatGPT shows that it knowingly enabled infringement, because ChatGPT users will not know if any output is infringing. “However, Plaintiffs do not point to any caselaw to suggest that failure to reveal such information has any bearing on whether the alleged removal of CMI in an internal database will knowingly enable infringement.” The authors further claimed that OpenAI distributed its works without CMI, which would also violate the DMCA. This argument fails too, the court ruled, as OpenAI didn’t distribute full copies of books. “Instead, [the authors] have alleged that ‘every output from the OpenAI Language Models is an infringing derivative work’ without providing any indication as to what such outputs entail – i.e., whether they are the copyrighted books or copies of the books,” the order reads. Direct Copyright Infringement Claim Remains In addition to the vicarious copyright infringement and the DMCA violations, Judge Martínez-Olguín also dismissed the California Unfair Competition Law (UCL) claims for ‘unlawful business practice’, ‘fraudulent conduct’, ‘negligence’, and ‘unjust enrichment’. The UCL claim for ‘unfair practices’ can proceed. This isn’t the end of the legal battle. The authors have the chance to file an amended complaint to correct any shortcomings, should they wish to proceed with the dismissed claims. Finally, it’s worth reiterating that the direct copyright infringement claim wasn’t covered by OpenAI’s motion to dismiss, so that will move forward as well. As will many of the other AI copyright lawsuits. — A copy of California District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín’s order on the motion to dismiss is available here (pdf). From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. View the full article

After moving out from beneath Stephen Colbert's desk, Jon Stewart is now back on The Daily Show each Monday to cover the upcoming 2024 election. In the 20-minute monologue above the host discusses what's happened so far, including the alleged issues candidates President Joe Biden and Donald Trump have been having with their memories and Biden's recent (confusing) decision to join TikTok ("How do you go on TikTok and end up looking older?" asks Stewart). "Look, the next nine months or so — and maybe more than that depending on the coup schedule – they're gonna suck," concludes Stewart. "You're gonna get inundated with robocalls, and push polls, and real polls, and people are gonna tell you to rock the vote, and be the vote, and vote the vote, and finger-bang the vote, and it's all going to make you feel like Tuesday, November 5 is the only day that matters. And that day does matter, but man, November 6 ain't nothing to sneeze at, or November 7. If your guy loses bad things might happen, but the country is not over, and if your guy wins, the country is in no way saved. "I've learned one thing over these last nine years, and I was glib at best and probably dismissive at worst about this: The work of making this world resemble one that you would prefer to live in is a lunch pail f***ing job, day in and day out, where thousands of committed, anonymous, smart and dedicated people bang on closed doors and pick up those that are fallen and grind away on issues until they get a positive result, and even then have to stay on to make sure that result holds." View the full article

Sunday night's Super Bowl has become the most watched TV program of this generation. Setting a record high, the big game — which saw the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime — brought in an audience of 123.4 million, according to figures from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. The number is close to the all-time-record held by the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, which had a whopping 125 to 150 million estimated viewers. Viewership was seven percent up from last year's game, when 115.1 million people watched Kansas City take home the victory. The record-breaking game was watched across a number of networks and streaming platforms: CBS, Paramount+ (despite that crash), Univision, CBS Sports, and NFL digital properties including NFL+. The majority of viewers — 112 million of them — tuned into CBS, accounting for the largest audience ever for a single network. SEE ALSO: Usher's Super Bowl halftime show: Every performer who hit the stage Nielsen also announced the number of people who viewed any portion of the game: 204 million, up 10 percent from last year. This year's Super Bowl may have gotten more attention than usual, for reasons ranging from Taylor Swift's relationship with Kansas Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to Beyoncé announcing an upcoming album to Usher's cameo-filled halftime show to the game itself going into overtime. View the full article

Amazon quietly stopped offering Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support on its ad-supported Prime Video tier. The change, first noticed by German outlet 4KFilme, was confirmed by an Amazon spokesperson, who spoke with The Verge. "Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos capabilities are only available on the ad free option, on relevant titles," they told the publisher. SEE ALSO: Amazon is testing new driver safety features following shootings This may be an unpleasant surprise for some users. In September last year, Amazon started charging $2.99 extra for an ad-free streaming video experience. The company's press release that announced the change, however, made no mention of Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos. Dolby Vision is a set of standards for HDR (high dynamic range) video, while Dolby Atmos is a set of standards for surround sound. In the simplest of terms, the support for these standards mean better picture and better sound for users who have the hardware that can take advantage of them. Instead, ad-tier subscribers can now view content in HDR10+ and Dolby Digital 5.1 — not horrible by any means, but not as good as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Amazon's move in some ways reflects similar moves recently made by competitors. Netflix, for example, introduced an ad-supported tier in 2022, with less content available than on pricier, ad-free tiers. The streaming company axed its cheapest ad-free subscription plan earlier this year, making it ever pricier to see content without the intrusion of ads. Amazon's pricing is a little different than Netflix's, however. As a standalone service, Prime Video starts at $8.99 with ads (and without Dolby Vision and Atmos), with the ad-free tier costing an additional $2.99. Amazon Prime membership, which includes other perks besides video streaming, starts at $14.99 per month, and it also costs an extra $2.99 to get the ad-free tier. View the full article

There aren't any Martians around to watch eclipses on Mars. But there are robots. NASA's Mars Perseverance rover recently spotted the desert planet's misshapen moon, Phobos, traversing the sun. The space agency's car-sized robot used cameras atop its mast — which act like a crow's nest aboard a ship — to capture the image below on Feb. 8. It was the rover's 1,056th Martian day, or Sol, exploring the Red Planet. SEE ALSO: Before its demise, NASA's Mars helicopter captured a glorious aerial view You can spy the oddly-shaped satellite partially eclipsing our star as the moon moves between Mars and the sun. The background is a canvas of distant stars. On Feb. 8, 2024, NASA's Mars Perseverance rover captured this image of the moon Phobos eclipsing the sun. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU Here on Earth, we can witness a number of different solar eclipses, including the looming total solar eclipse, a rare celestial event happening on April 8, 2024. For those in the "path of totality," the moon will completely block out the sun for some three to over four minutes. Our moon is almost spherical, but Phobos isn't nearly. It's relatively small and not too massive, with its longest side measuring just 17 miles (27 kilometers) long. "Phobos is too light for gravity to make it spherical," the European Space Agency explains. What's more, it's been hit time and time again by potent space rocks. "Phobos was nearly shattered by a giant impact, and has gouges from thousands of meteorite impacts," NASA noted. The glaring impact site is Stickney crater, which is 5.6 miles (nine kilometers) wide. Phobos won't be a moon forever. Every year, it moves some six feet (1.8 meters) closer to the Red Planet. "At that rate, the moon will either crash into Mars in 50 million years or break up into a ring," NASA explained. When not stargazing, the space agency's Perseverance rover, which expertly landed on Mars in February 2021, uses its specialized cameras to explore a dried-up river delta in Mars' Jezero Crater. Some 3 billion years ago, NASA's planetary scientists suspect this area was filled with water. "This delta is one of the best locations on Mars for the rover to look for signs of past microscopic life," NASA said. View the full article

TL;DR: As of February 13, get three years of WP Buzz Managed WordPress Hosting for only $49.99 — a savings of 83%. Having your own website is commonplace these days. WordPress is a popular choice among bloggers, businesses, and online shops. The only catch is that you need a hosting platform to get these WordPress sites online. Though it's not hard to do, finding a reliable host can be a challenge if you're new to the game. WP Buzz offers managed WordPress Hosting that's reliable, affordable, and secure. And the best part is that it was built and optimized specifically for WordPress. For a limited time, you can get a three-year subscription to this service for just $49.99 (reg. $297). Because it was made for WordPress, it was designed to feature faster speed and offer better performance for your WordPress site. It also has security features to protect your site. The built-in web application firewall is there to protect against attacks, and plugins are monitored so they don't potentially disrupt your site. You can manage your WordPress site easily from your tablet, phone, or desktop laptop. This host has auto-scaling to keep your site online and up and running. And a user-friendly control panel makes brand management a breeze. WP Buzz WordPress hosting includes load balancing, edge caching, and other quality features to ensure a smooth operation. This three-year plan allows you to host one WordPress install with unlimited bandwidth and SSD space. You also get unlimited emails, and free migration and updates are included. Don't miss the chance to get this optimized WordPress host at a steep discount. Get a 3-year WP Buzz WordPress Hosting subscription for just $49.99 (reg. $297) and see how it can elevate your site. StackSocial prices subject to change. Opens in a new window Credit: WP Buzz 3-year WP Buzz WordPress Hosting subscription $49.99 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal View the full article

TL;DR: Through February 19, get two, five or 10TB of lifetime cloud storage from Internxt for over 60% off. If someone would've said 20 years ago that we'd be storing our files, pictures, and videos in an invisible place called the cloud, most of us would've considered it bonkers. However, in today's uber-digital landscape, storing things in the cloud isn't just commonplace; it's kind of a necessity. While there are different services out there, the people at Internxt have created a cloud storage service that has a ton of space that you can feel secure about — and you only have to pay for once. This offer gives you three options to choose from: 2TB, 5TB, or 10TB of lifetime cloud storage. Self-described as a private cloud service suite, Internxt has made privacy and security its priority. The comprehensive encryption divides the info into smaller pieces and encrypts them separately to secure your data. This zero-knowledge, open-source data storage is even compliant with GDPR, as well as audited and verified by Securitum. It's a decentralized storage solution for which only you have access to your files. Internxt was designed to give you speed without limits. You can also share, store, and send files, photos, and videos from the cloud on any device, including Apple and Android, Windows, iOS, Linux, and more. And it was all created to give you a user-friendly, intuitive interface. With this secure solution, you can keep your files and precious memories safe and collaborate easily and quickly with team members, friends, and family. However, this offer is only available to new users. Pick from the following options and save significantly on a lifetime subscription to Internxt Cloud Storage when you order by February 19 at 11:59 p.m. PT as part of this Presidents' Day sale: 2TB Internxt Cloud Storage, on sale for $149.97 5TB Internxt Cloud Storage on sale for $249.97 10TB Internxt Cloud Storage on sale for $389.97 StackSocial prices subject to change. Opens in a new window Credit: Internxt 10TB Internxt Cloud Storage $389.97 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Internxt 5TB Internxt Cloud Storage $249.97 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal Opens in a new window Credit: Internxt 2TB Internxt Cloud Storage $149.97 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal View the full article