Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - February 3rd, ’24

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February 3rd, 2024




Universal Music Group Pulls Songs From TikTok

The music giant, home to stars like Taylor Swift and Drake, had threatened to withdraw licenses for its tracks to the social media juggernaut if they failed to come to a new agreement.
Ben Sisario

Videos on TikTok began to go silent early Thursday, after combative licensing negotiations broke down this week between the popular social media platform and Universal Music Group, the giant company that releases music by artists like Taylor Swift, Drake, U2 and Ariana Grande.

On Tuesday, a day before its licensing contract with TikTok was set to expire, Universal — the largest of the three major record companies — published a fiery open letter accusing TikTok of offering unsatisfactory payment for music, and of allowing its platform to be “flooded with A.I.-generated recordings” that diluted the royalty pool for real, human musicians.

TikTok confirmed early Thursday that it had removed music from Universal, and videos on the app began to show the effects of the broken partnership. Recordings by Universal artists were deleted from TikTok’s library, and existing videos that used music from Universal’s artists had their audio muted entirely. Universal songs were also unavailable for users to add to new videos.

A video posted by Kylie Jenner in September, for example, using a song by Lana Del Rey, who is signed to a Universal label — commenters to the video had remarked on the music — was silent, with a note saying, “This sound isn’t available.” Other videos carried similar statements, including “Sound removed due to copyright restrictions.”

When users went to the official profiles for Universal artists like Swift and Grande — who is scheduled to release a new album next month — the tabs that would normally display dozens of tracks that users could add to their own clips were either entirely bare or reduced to a handful of brief snippets.

The extent of the fallout was unclear on Thursday, and a spokeswoman did not provide an estimate for how many videos would be affected by the change. On Thursday morning, some videos using Universal recordings appeared to be unaffected.

TikTok, where users load short video clips, often with music in the background, is a vital promotional arena for the music industry. A music-driven viral meme on TikTok can make a song a hit or revitalize a decades-old classic, as happened in 2020 with Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 track “Dreams.” Universal’s clash with the platform is the latest manifestation of a media conflict that has played out repeatedly for the last two decades between tech companies’ innovations and the music industry’s demands for control and compensation.

In response to Universal, TikTok on Tuesday accused the music company in a statement of putting “their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters,” and said that Universal had “chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent.”

Representatives of Universal and TikTok declined on Thursday to make any new statements about their negotiations or the withdrawal of music from the platform.

Universal’s withdrawal was interpreted in the music industry as all but a declaration of war against one of the world’s most influential online outlets, although one over which labels have limited control.

Contentious contract talks, and even public barbs, are part of the standard terrain when it comes to major music companies and tech platforms negotiating over the all-important content licenses that allow those platforms to host music. But it is rare for a music company to make good on threats to remove its content. That happened in 2008, when Warner Music pulled thousands of music videos from YouTube; the standoff lasted nine months, and Warner returned its videos once YouTube agreed to share advertising revenue with the label.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/a...tok-music.html





Independent Record Labels Push Back on Apple’s Pay Plans

Groups behind Adele and Phoebe Bridgers among those against songs recorded in higher-quality audio receiving more money
Anna Nicolaou

Independent record labels behind artists including Phoebe Bridgers and Vampire Weekend are pushing back on Apple’s plans to pay more money for songs recorded in higher-quality audio — a move they say funnels cash towards megastars and away from other musicians.

The friction surrounds Apple’s preference for songs produced using Dolby Atmos, a “spatial audio” technology that surrounds listeners with sound from all directions. Higher-end audio is a crucial edge for Apple Music over rival Spotify, but it costs more money to produce.

Apple last week told music companies that it would pay up to 10 per cent more in royalties for songs produced in spatial audio. But the tech group is not paying more money in total: rather, that extra 10 per cent will come out of a fixed pot of money. As a result, songs that are not “spatial” will receive less money.

Some of the most influential independent record groups — Beggars Group, the company behind Vampire Weekend and Adele; Secretly, which houses acts including Phoebe Bridgers and Bon Iver; and Partisan Records, the label behind Ezra Collective — have expressed concerns about Apple’s policy in recent days, according to people familiar with the conversations.

“It’s literally going to take the money out of independent labels and their artists, to benefit the biggest companies in the marketplace,” said a senior executive at a large independent record company.

“It’s going to benefit the biggest player, Universal, because they’re the ones with the resources to invest in that. Whereas the independent sector . . . we’ve found it hard to justify the expense of creating spatial masters . . . we’re not in the business of chucking money just because Apple is saying you should be spending money on this.”

Another independent label said: “The new deal will badly impact our revenues.”

The fracture pits independent artists against Apple, the trillion-dollar tech giant that has long positioned itself as a friendly partner to creative industries.

Producing music in spatial audio costs an extra $1,000 per song, or roughly $10,000 per album, executives say. Going back and reproducing an older song with spatial audio can double the costs. For a company such as London-based Beggars Group, which has some 3,000 albums in its back catalogue, reproducing its repertoire would cost more than $30mn.

The indie labels, even the largest ones such as Beggars, do not have the leverage to pull their music from Apple’s platform, according to several executives who did not want to be named. They hope to work with Apple to make changes to the new policy. If those negotiations fail, they would explore legal or regulatory options, said people familiar with the matter.

Apple had helped pay for some of the costs of reproducing music for spatial audio, but it had not been enough, according to executives at several labels.

“Apple is probably most people’s number-two digital partner globally in terms of revenue. If [this policy] takes between 5 and 10 per cent off of your global revenues, and not even because the songs aren’t performing but because you lose that money and it goes to Universal, the biggest player in the market, we’re definitely concerned,” said a record executive. “It’s hard enough to make money off of streaming.”

Apple declined to comment.

Apple introduced spatial audio to its music streaming service in 2021, at no additional cost to subscribers. Amazon’s music service also offers spatial audio. Spotify has long teased its own higher-end audio product, but has yet to offer it.

Some record executives also pushed back on the artistic value of spatial audio. “Forcing a spatial mix is the equivalent of hanging a digital 3D version of the ‘Mona Lisa’ and expecting Louvre patrons to prefer it,” said one music executive.
https://www.ft.com/content/dc5a6ef2-...a-84baad7c3db0





Box Office: Jason Statham’s ‘The Beekeeper’ and ‘Mean Girls’ Battle for No. 1 in Slow Weekend
Rebecca Rubin

Have The Plastics met their match?

It’s too soon to tell, but Paramount’s “Mean Girls” musical is virtually tied with Amazon MGM’s “The Beekeeper” for first place in this unusually close box office battle.

Amazon MGM is reporting that “The Beekeeper” claimed the top spot with $7.4 million from 3,337 theaters in its third weekend of release. Meanwhile, Paramount is reporting that the “Mean Girls” musical has earned $7.3 million from 3,544 venues and could win the weekend for the third time… once final numbers are tabulated on Monday. (Sunday’s football schedule could keep the male-dominated audience for “The Beekeeper” at home and in front of the TV.)

Either way, it’s a dreary time at the box office. It’s the second weekend in a row sans a new major studio release, which means that January is concluding with a whimper. Spy comedy “Argylle” (from Apple and Universal) opens on Feb. 2, while the comic book adaptation “Madame Web” (from Sony) and biographical musical “Bob Marley: One Love” (from Paramount) debut on Feb. 14. But moviegoing isn’t expected to pick up in earnest until Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” lands in March.

“[Attendance in] 2024 is going to be uneven during the first half,” predicts David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “The actors’ strike ended 11 weeks ago. The industry cannot snap its fingers and deliver giant movies on a dime. They will return over time, and the release schedule will fill out.”

Whichever way the final numbers shake out, Paramount’s decision to put “Mean Girls” on the big screen rather than directly on Paramount+ has proven to be financially wise. The movie-turned-Broadway-musical-turned-movie has generated $60.8 million in North America and $84.3 million globally to date, a decent result given the film’s modest $36 million budget.

David Ayer’s action thriller “The Beekeeper” has grossed $41.6 million in North America and $100 million worldwide so far. The movie, starring Jason Statham as a former operative who exacts revenge on behalf of his friend, was produced and financed by Miramax. Amazon MGM (which acquired North American rights) is only on the hook for the cost of booking the movie in domestic theaters.

Given the lull, domestic box office charts look nearly identical to last weekend, with Timothee Chalamet’s “Wonka” in third place, Universal and Illumination’s animated “Migration” at No. 4 and Sony’s rom-com “Anyone But You” rounding out the top five.

“Wonka” has remained in the top three for seven consecutive weekends. It’s an ode to the musical comedy’s impressive staying power, as well as a sign of the complete lack of competition. “Wonka” added $5.9 million from 3,014 venues, boosting its domestic tally to $195 million. The family-friendly film, which cost $100 million, has grossed more than $552 million worldwide.

“Migration” crossed the $100 million mark after bringing in $5 million from 2,962 theaters this weekend. Overseas, the animated comedy has generated $104 million for a worldwide tally of $206 million. The film, about a family of ducks who head south for the winter, started slow at the holiday box office but managed to stick around long enough to justify its $70 million price tag.

The R-rated “Anyone But You,” in which Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell pretend to be the perfect couple while at a wedding, has also been a mainstay since Christmas. In its sixth weekend of release, the movie collected $4.8 million from 2,885 theaters. It has grossed $71.1 million domestically and $126.6 million worldwide on its $25 million budget. Score one for (true) love!

Elsewhere, Oscar nominations gave a slight box office boost to contenders like “Poor Things,” “American Fiction” and “The Zone of Interest.”

Searchlight’s off-beat comedy “Poor Things,” from director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone, brought in $2.8 million from 2,300 venues after scoring 11 Academy Award nods. Those ticket sales mark a 32% jump from the weekend prior. So far, the film has collected $24.5 million domestically and $51 million globally, making it one of the more successful arthouse movies in these post-pandemic times.

Jonathan Glazer’s haunting Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” earned $1.08 million on just 317 screens over the weekend. The A24 film has grossed $3 million to date.

Another best picture nominee, Cord Jefferson’s literary satire “American Fiction” posted $2.8 million from 1,702 theaters, a 65% boost from last weekend. The film, starring Jeffrey Wright as a frustrated novelist, has amassed $11.8 million in North America.
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/b...ce-1235889808/





The Beekeeper Passes $100 Million At The Box Office, Becomes 2024's First Big Hit
Ryan Scott

It has been nothing shy of an abysmal start at the box office this year. The first chunk of 2024 has been left largely devoid of big new releases (in no small part thanks to the strikes last year) and, as a result, ticket sales are down significantly. But director David Ayer and professional ass-kicker Jason Statham have stepped up to do their part as "The Beekeeper" has become the year's first true breakout hit. To that end, the action flicked passed the $100 million mark over the weekend, becoming the first new release of the year to do so.

"The Beekeeper" ended up topping the charts over the weekend with a $7.4 million haul, per Box Office Mojo. That is more of a commentary on the state of things as there were no new releases to entice audiences. So, we're left with a movie in its third weekend taking the top spot with a sub-$10 million total. That said, it's good news for Ayer's latest as it actually climbed over "Mean Girls" to take the number one spot, signaling solid word of mouth for the film. You can read /Film's 6.5 out of 10 review of the film here. To date, the action pic has earned $42.2 million domestically to go with $61.9 million internationally for a grand total of $104.1 million.

The film, which is being distributed by MGM, centers on a man's quest for vengeance. While he initially seems like your average beekeeper, he is actually a former special operative of a powerful organization known as "Beekeepers." The cast also includes Emmy Raver-Lampman ("The Umbrella Academy"), Josh Hutcherson ("Five Nights at Freddy's"), Bobby Naderi ("Bright"), Minnie Driver ("Good Will Hunting"), Phylicia Rashad ("Creed"), and Jeremy Irons ("House of Gucci").

It still has yet to be revealed what the studio spent on the film which, as always, is a huge factor in determining success. That said, it's firmly in the mid-budget realm, and safe to assume it was somewhere in the $40 million range. That puts it well on track to turn a profit in its theatrical run, given that the film still seems to have gas in the tank. Amazon now owns MGM, so, in many cases, these movies don't have the pressure of delivering profit in theaters as the endgame is to release them on Prime Video. But profit is always the name of the game. Whether or not it's enough to warrant a sequel? We shall see.

If nothing else, it's a blessing that Amazon put this movie in theaters instead of releasing it directly to Prime Video. Without it, the state of the box office would be insanely bleak — especially since the new "Mean Girls" movie was also supposed to go directly to Paramount+ before the studio decided to pivot. Even with those films, ticket sales in 2024 are pacing 10% behind this same point in 2023, with very little help on the horizon. Unless "Argylle" or "Madame Web" breakout much bigger than expected, we don't have a surefire, blockbuster hit on the way until "Dune: Part Two" on March 1. For now, we can take solace in the fact that Ayer and Statham are doing their parts.

It has been nothing shy of an abysmal start at the box office this year. The first chunk of 2024 has been left largely devoid of big new releases (in no small part thanks to the strikes last year) and, as a result, ticket sales are down significantly. But director David Ayer and professional ass-kicker Jason Statham have stepped up to do their part as "The Beekeeper" has become the year's first true breakout hit. To that end, the action flicked passed the $100 million mark over the weekend, becoming the first new release of the year to do so.

"The Beekeeper" ended up topping the charts over the weekend with a $7.4 million haul, per Box Office Mojo. That is more of a commentary on the state of things as there were no new releases to entice audiences. So, we're left with a movie in its third weekend taking the top spot with a sub-$10 million total. That said, it's good news for Ayer's latest as it actually climbed over "Mean Girls" to take the number one spot, signaling solid word of mouth for the film. You can read /Film's 6.5 out of 10 review of the film here. To date, the action pic has earned $42.2 million domestically to go with $61.9 million internationally for a grand total of $104.1 million.

The film, which is being distributed by MGM, centers on a man's quest for vengeance. While he initially seems like your average beekeeper, he is actually a former special operative of a powerful organization known as "Beekeepers." The cast also includes Emmy Raver-Lampman ("The Umbrella Academy"), Josh Hutcherson ("Five Nights at Freddy's"), Bobby Naderi ("Bright"), Minnie Driver ("Good Will Hunting"), Phylicia Rashad ("Creed"), and Jeremy Irons ("House of Gucci").
David Ayer and Jason Statham making hits

It still has yet to be revealed what the studio spent on the film which, as always, is a huge factor in determining success. That said, it's firmly in the mid-budget realm, and safe to assume it was somewhere in the $40 million range. That puts it well on track to turn a profit in its theatrical run, given that the film still seems to have gas in the tank. Amazon now owns MGM, so, in many cases, these movies don't have the pressure of delivering profit in theaters as the endgame is to release them on Prime Video. But profit is always the name of the game. Whether or not it's enough to warrant a sequel? We shall see.

If nothing else, it's a blessing that Amazon put this movie in theaters instead of releasing it directly to Prime Video. Without it, the state of the box office would be insanely bleak — especially since the new "Mean Girls" movie was also supposed to go directly to Paramount+ before the studio decided to pivot. Even with those films, ticket sales in 2024 are pacing 10% behind this same point in 2023, with very little help on the horizon. Unless "Argylle" or "Madame Web" breakout much bigger than expected, we don't have a surefire, blockbuster hit on the way until "Dune: Part Two" on March 1. For now, we can take solace in the fact that Ayer and Statham are doing their parts.

"The Beekeeper" is in theaters now.
https://www.slashfilm.com/1504137/th...first-big-hit/





George Carlin Estate Sues Over Fake Comedy Special Purportedly Generated by AI
Andrew Dalton

The estate of George Carlin is suing the media company behind a fake hourlong comedy special that purportedly uses artificial intelligence to recreate the late standup comic’s style and material.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday asks that a judge order the podcast outlet Dudesy to immediately take down the audio special, “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead,” in which a synthesis of Carlin delivers commentary on current events. Carlin died in 2008.

Carlin’s daughter, Kelly Carlin, said in a statement that the work is “a poorly-executed facsimile cobbled together by unscrupulous individuals to capitalize on the extraordinary goodwill my father established with his adoring fanbase.”

The Carlin estate and its executor, Jerold Hamza, are named as plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges violations of Carlin’s right of publicity and copyright. The named defendants are and podcast hosts Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen.
https://apnews.com/article/george-ca...25d3f4789acadd





Car Industry Seeks to Crush AM Radio; Congress May Rescue It
Julie Bykowicz

A motley crew of AM radio advocates, including conservative talk show hosts like Hugh Hewitt and federal emergency officials, are lobbying Congress to stop carmakers from dropping the old medium from new vehicles.

Tesla, Volvo, and BMW are among the companies that have already stopped providing AM tuners in some models. Last year Ford said it would join them—until CEO Jim Farley reversed course “after speaking with policy leaders.”

Lawmakers say most car companies are noncommittal about the future of AM tuners in vehicles, so they want to require them by law to keep making cars with free AM radio. Supporters argue it is a critical piece of the emergency communication network, while the automakers say Americans have plenty of other ways, including their phones, to receive alerts and information.

The legislation has united lawmakers who ordinarily want nothing to do with one another. Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Ed Markey (D., Mass.) are leading the Senate effort, and on the House side, Speaker Mike Johnson—himself a former conservative talk radio host in Louisiana—and progressive “squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are among about 200 co-sponsors.

“I would challenge anyone to find any issue where Bernie Sanders and heavy hitters on the right are co-sponsors. It doesn’t exist,” said Curtis LeGeyt, president of the National Association of Broadcasters.

On Monday, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D, N.J.), who introduced the House bill, plans to ask the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require automakers to include a safety warning on price stickers of vehicles that don’t have AM radio.

“Every time a dealership sells a vehicle without AM radio, customers need to be warned that they’re missing a key safety feature for emergencies,” he said.

Industry group rallies listeners

There are more than 4,500 AM radio stations across the country, LeGeyt said, including 600 that broadcast in a language other than English. The industry group has produced ads and briefed radio personalities about the issue, and more than 400,000 listeners have emailed, called or sent social-media messages to their lawmakers, LeGeyt said.

Hewitt, a radio host since 1990, said he talks about the bill on the air and mentions it at every event he attends, often shocking people who had no idea in-vehicle AM radio is fading away.

“There’s a diversity of thought and fun in radio that you can’t get from podcasts,” he said. He also makes an argument that resonates with Cruz and other conservatives: “Their last chance of getting a fair interview is going away.”

The prospect of losing AM in vehicles has also caused alarm in Latino media, said Sylvia Banderas Coffinet, chief executive of Latino Media Network, which owns more than a dozen radio stations nationwide. AM radio DJs have served as “trusted voices in the community,” Banderas Coffinet said, and a bulwark against misinformation, including for recently arrived Spanish-speaking listeners. “There is an emotional connection to the radio.”

AM radio’s decline

A spring 2023 Nielsen survey, the most recent one available, showed that AM radio reaches about 78 million Americans every month. That is down from nearly 107 million in the spring of 2016, one of the earliest periods for which Nielsen has data.

The medium has long been in decline. FM radio audiences surpassed those on AM in the late 1970s, and consumers now have even more choices with satellite radio and internet podcasts.

Tiffany Moore, senior vice president of political and industry affairs for the Consumer Technology Association, said automakers and tech advocacy groups have told lawmakers that an AM radio requirement would be “inconsistent with the principles of a free market.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), as he blocked passage of the Senate bill in December, noted the irony of Republicans like Cruz arguing for government mandates on private business.

Both the Senate and House bills keep picking up new supporters, and advocates say they are optimistic.

Moore said the bills’ opponents are at a disadvantage because “every member of Congress knows their local broadcaster. Those relationships are strong.”

A 100-year-old technology

Moore noted that her association started about 100 years ago to represent radio manufacturers. “We’ve innovated with the companies we represent. It’s all about adapting to a new environment. It’s strange that Congress is focused on a 100-year-old technology.”

Automakers say the rise of electric vehicles is driving the shift away from AM, because onboard electronics create interference with AM radio signals—a phenomenon that “makes the already fuzzy analog AM radio frequency basically unlistenable,” according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a car-industry trade group. Shielding cables and components to reduce interference would cost carmakers $3.8 billion over seven years, the group estimates.

Markey and other lawmakers say they want to preserve AM radio because of its role in emergency communications.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says that more than 75 radio stations, most of which operate on the AM band and cover at least 90% of the U.S. population, are equipped with backup communications equipment and generators that allow them to continue broadcasting information to the public during and after an emergency.

Seven former FEMA administrators urged Congress in a letter last year to seek assurances from automakers that they would keep broadcast radio available. The companies’ noncommittal response spurred legislation, lawmakers said.

Building moneymaking paywalls

Automakers increasingly want to put radio and other car features “behind a paywall,” Markey said in an interview.

“They see this as another profit center for them when the American driving public has seen it as a safety resource for them and their families.”

Carmakers counter that FEMA’s own alert systems are designed to break in with safety alerts across multiple platforms—including AM, FM, satellite radio and via smartphone alerts—negating the need to rely on AM for emergency communications. Most Americans received the Oct. 4 nationwide test of the emergency alert system on their phones, while a tiny fraction, about 1% of the population, heard it on AM radio, according to a study by the Consumer Technology Association.

Auto executives have said that what they call the “software-defined vehicle” provides opportunities to sell new subscriptions to drivers for everything from heated seats to entertainment services.

On a call with investors in October, General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra said the company had added tech executives from companies like Apple and Google to its software strategy team, who were “positioning the company to drive significant revenue growth from subscriptions in the future.”

Markey said the industry’s assertion that AM radio is passé rings hollow. Driving home from work in the evenings, Markey said he can tune in Boston’s WBZ NewsRadio 1030 to keep tabs on everything from traffic to snowfall totals in his state.

He compared the auto industry’s resistance to the bill to previous opposition to government mandates like seat belts and air bags.

“Leaving safety decisions to the auto industry is very dangerous,” Markey said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...it/ar-BB1hnsaQ





T-Mobile Says It May Slow Home Internet Speeds of Some Users in Times of 'Congestion'

If you are a heavy T-Mobile Home Internet user and live in a busy area you may find some times when your speeds are dropping, but this isn't a full-on "data cap." Here's what's happening.
Eli Blumenthal

T-Mobile has tweaked its terms of service for its home broadband users to add a new clause: If you are a heavy internet user that passes 1.2TB of data in a monthly billing cycle, you may have your speeds slowed in "times of congestion" or when there is a lot of pressure on the network.

As spotted by The Mobile Report, the change went into effect on Jan. 18. In its updated terms, the carrier says that these users "will be prioritized last on the network" in congestion situations, which could mean painfully slow speeds for however long the congestion persists. T-Mobile does note that since its Home Internet service is available only in "limited areas" and intended to be used in a "stationary" setting, as opposed to a phone that could be in a busy place like a packed stadium, "these customers should be less likely to notice congestion in general."

So what exactly is going on? Here is what you need to know.

Is T-Mobile adding a data cap?

While it may seem similar to a data cap that other broadband providers have used -- where your data fully stops after you've reached a maximum amount unless you pay more -- this isn't that. Instead, it's a potential limitation that T-Mobile is adding so that in areas where its network is being taxed by too much demand, heavy home internet users could see their data slowed down while things are busy (or as wireless carriers like to describe it, "congested").

Presumably, once that busy period subsides and the network has its normal room available, your home internet speeds and experience should return to normal. Still, for heavy home internet users, it's not hard to imagine that this change could lead to some problems.

Will T-Mobile be throttling speeds for heavy data users?

The carrier tells CNET that it isn't throttling speeds for users who pass 1.2TB of data in a month, except in these "congestion" situations. "Heavy data users may not notice a change, unless they're in a congested area," the company says, noting that today that a "single digit percentage" of its home internet customers would be classified as heavy home internet users.

The carrier says it will notify users when they pass this 1.2TB threshold.

As for what speeds will be like for these users when they find themselves in this situation, we don't really know, and T-Mobile isn't providing specific guidance beyond saying that they will be deprioritized relative to other T-Mobile users.

It should be noted that this applies only to consumer home internet accounts, not those who have the business version of the service.

Can I buy more high-speed data?

The carrier isn't letting users buy more high-speed data and reiterates that those who pass 1.2TB in a month can still get fast speeds once the congestion is alleviated, just that in these specific instances they would be slower than other users while the network in their area is busier than normal.

Why is T-Mobile doing this?

In a statement, the carrier explained the decision as a way to protect the network for all of its users.

"Our mainstream broadband Home Internet product services millions of customers who use hundreds of gigabytes of data," a carrier spokesperson told CNET. "To ensure all of our customers get a great network experience into the future, our terms of service have been updated to say that those who need more than 1.2TB (per) month, a single digit percent of users, would be prioritized after other Home Internet customers only during times of congestion."

What is network prioritization?

As the name implies, network prioritization is a way carriers determine who gets priority when accessing their network. For most day-to-day tasks, when there is plenty of capacity and room on the network for everyone, this doesn't really matter. But in busy times of "congestion," like at a packed football stadium or during an event where there are a lot of people taxing the network, those with a higher priority may find themselves with better service than those lower down.

Top priority is given to T-Mobile's wireless users who are within their monthly high-speed data limits on its normal plans (as well as those on pricier options like Go5G Next, Go5G Plus and Magenta Max which don't have limits for how much high-speed data they can use), followed by lower tier plans like Essentials, Metro by T-Mobile and Assurance Wireless and then connected devices like hotspots and tablets.

At the bottom of this list, alongside "heavy data" wireless users who exceeded their monthly data limits, are home internet users. So in these instances of congestion, these heavy home internet users would be dropped even further and beyond regular home internet users.
https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/t...of-congestion/





Starlink's Laser System Is Beaming 42 Million GB of Data Per Day

A SpaceX engineer details how the company is using a fleet of 9,000 lasers over the Starlink constellation to deliver high-speed internet across the globe.
Michael Kan

SpaceX's laser system for Starlink is delivering over 42 petabytes of data for customers per day, an engineer revealed today. That translates into 42 million gigabytes.

“We're passing over terabits per second [of data] every day across 9,000 lasers,” SpaceX engineer Travis Brashears said today at SPIE Photonics West, an event in San Francisco focused on the latest advancements in optics and light. "We actually serve over lasers all of our users on Starlink at a given time in like a two-hour window.”

Although Starlink uses radio waves to beam high-speed internet to customers, SpaceX has also been outfitting the company’s satellites with a “laser link” system to help drive down latency and improve the system's global coverage. The lasers, which can sustain a 100Gbps connection per link, are especially crucial to helping the satellites fetch data when no SpaceX ground station is near, like over the ocean or Antarctic. Instead, the satellite can transmit the data to and from another Starlink satellite in Earth’s orbit, forming a mesh network in space.

Tuesday’s talk from Brashears revealed the laser system is quite robust, even as the equipment is flying onboard thousands of Starlink satellites constantly circling the Earth. Despite the technical challenges, the company has achieved a laser “link uptime” at over 99%.

The satellites are constantly forming laser links, resulting in about 266,141 “laser acquisitions” per day, according to Brashears' presentation. But in some cases, the links can also be maintained for weeks at a time, and even reach transmission rates at up to 200Gbps.

Brashears also said Starlink’s laser system was able to connect two satellites over 5,400 kilometers (3,355 miles) apart. The link was so long “it cut down through the atmosphere, all the way down to 30 kilometers above the surface of the Earth,” he said, before the connection broke.

“Another really fun fact is that we held a link all the way down to 122 kilometers while we were de-orbiting a satellite,” he said. “And we were able to downstream the video.”

During his presentation, Brashears also showed a slide depicting how the laser system can deliver data to a Starlink dish in Antarctica through about seven different paths. “We can dynamically change those routes within milliseconds. So as long as we have some path to the ground [station], you’re going to have 99.99% uptime. That’s why it’s important to get as many nodes up there as possible,” he added.

Most Starlink satellites currently in orbit use a “Gen 3” laser link design. But recently the company upgraded the technology with a new “Gen 4” model. SpaceX can manufacture about 200 units per week, but to drive down costs, the company uses off-the-shelf components, including sensors and actuators. SpaceX also had to make sure all the components are “demisable” and will leave no trace behind for when a Starlink satellite retires and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.

For the future, SpaceX plans on expanding its laser system so that it can be ported and installed on third-party satellites. The company has also explored beaming the satellite lasers directly to terminals on the Earth’s surface to deliver data. But Brashears said a “deeper study” is necessary to enable the technology.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlinks...f-data-per-day





After 32 Years, One of the ’Net’s Oldest Software Archives is Shutting Down

Hobbes OS/2 Archive: "As of April 15th, 2024, this site will no longer exist."
Benj Edwards

In a move that marks the end of an era, New Mexico State University (NMSU) recently announced the impending closure of its Hobbes OS/2 Archive on April 15, 2024. For over three decades, the archive has been a key resource for users of the IBM OS/2 operating system and its successors, which once competed fiercely with Microsoft Windows.

In a statement made to The Register, a representative of NMSU wrote, "We have made the difficult decision to no longer host these files on hobbes.nmsu.edu. Although I am unable to go into specifics, we had to evaluate our priorities and had to make the difficult decision to discontinue the service."

Hobbes is hosted by the Department of Information & Communication Technologies at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. In the official announcement, the site reads, "After many years of service, hobbes.nmsu.edu will be decommissioned and will no longer be available. As of April 15th, 2024, this site will no longer exist."

We reached out to New Mexico State University to inquire about the history of the Hobbes archive but did not receive a response. The earliest record we've found of the Hobbes archive online is this 1992 Walnut Creek CD-ROM collection that gathered up the contents of the archive for offline distribution. At around 32 years old, minimum, that makes Hobbes one of the oldest software archives on the Internet, akin to the University of Michigan's archives and ibiblio at UNC.

Archivists such as Jason Scott of the Internet Archive have stepped up to say that the files hosted on Hobbes are safe and already mirrored elsewhere. "Nobody should worry about Hobbes, I've got Hobbes handled," wrote Scott on Mastodon in early January. OS/2 World.com also published a statement about making a mirror. But it's still notable whenever such an old and important piece of Internet history bites the dust.

Like many archives, Hobbes started as an FTP site. "The primary distribution of files on the Internet were via FTP servers," Scott tells Ars Technica. "And as FTP servers went down, they would also be mirrored as subdirectories in other FTP servers. Companies like CDROM.COM / Walnut Creek became ways to just get a CD-ROM of the items, but they would often make the data available at http://ftp.cdrom.com to download."

The Hobbes site is a priceless digital time capsule. You can still find the Top 50 Downloads page, which includes sound and image editors, and OS/2 builds of the Thunderbird email client. The archive contains thousands of OS/2 games, applications, utilities, software development tools, documentation, and server software dating back to the launch of OS/2 in 1987. There's a certain charm in running across OS/2 wallpapers from 1990, and even the archive's Update Policy is a historical gem—last updated on March 12, 1999.

The legacy of OS/2

OS/2 began as a joint venture between IBM and Microsoft, undertaken as a planned replacement for IBM PC DOS (also called "MS-DOS" in the form sold by Microsoft for PC clones). Despite advanced capabilities like 32-bit processing and multitasking, OS/2 later competed with and struggled to gain traction against Windows. The partnership between IBM and Microsoft dissolved after the success of Windows 3.0, leading to divergent paths in OS strategies for the two companies.

Through iterations like the Warp series, OS/2 established a key presence in niche markets that required high stability, such as ATMs and the New York subway system. Today, its legacy continues in specialized applications and in newer versions (like eComStation) maintained by third-party vendors—despite being overshadowed in the broader market by Linux and Windows.

A footprint like that is worth preserving, and a loss of one of OS/2's primary archives, even if mirrored elsewhere, is a cultural blow. Apparently, Hobbes has reportedly almost disappeared before but received a stay of execution. In the comments section for an article on The Register, someone named "TrevorH" wrote, "This is not the first time that Hobbes has announced it's going away. Last time it was rescued after a lot of complaints and a number of students or faculty came forward to continue to maintain it."

As the final shutdown approaches in April, the legacy of Hobbes is a reminder of the importance of preserving the digital heritage of software for future generations—so that decades from now, historians can look back and see how things got to where they are today.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024...shutting-down/





Pirating Videos Was On the Decline; it Isn’t Anymore

Hollywood’s fight against illegal streaming sites enters its latest chapter.
Ben Berkley

Here’s your list of top streaming services that didn’t increase prices in the last year:

•

… Then let’s add in password-sharing crackdowns, upcharges to dodge ads, and subscription fatigue from the sheer number of services available.

The cost of watching one’s stories has never felt higher. As a result, people are heading back to illegal streaming sites, per Bloomberg.

Piracy never went away

Ferreting out free content is as foundational to the internet as cat videos. But entering this decade, illegal video streaming sites faced significant headwinds:

• Many consumers ditched shady, pop-up-riddled sites for the ease and relative affordability of legitimate streaming services.
• US laws changed: 2020 legislation turned running a streaming operation from a misdemeanor into a felony.
• Hollywood bit back: Since 2018, the Motion Picture Association has taken 1.2k+ illegal streamers offline in North America alone.

In 2020, global visits to video piracy sites had dropped to 104B; by 2023, that number rose back to ~141B.

What now?

Just as the cost of getting quality, above-board content has risen, the illegal streaming industry has grown more sophisticated — and more enticing for consumers looking to save a buck.

• In 2022, piracy increased 39% for films and 9% for TV shows globally.

Some illegitimate streaming operations are making ~$2B annually through ads and subscriptions while growing harder to shut down (think: accepting subscription payments in untraceable cryptocurrency).

The MPA will keep fighting

The Hollywood trade group’s leader, Charlie Rivkin, spared no punches on piracy, telling Bloomberg: “This is organized crime.”

• The MPA’s special anti-piracy unit is led by a Marine Corps and Interpol veteran who previously fought drug trafficking.

This may help them get more law enforcement support: A US Chamber of Commerce estimate says the American economy loses $30B in annual revenue, and ~250k jobs, to illegal streaming.

Though, to be fair, Hollywood is pretty good at slashing jobs — it cut 44k between May and October 2023 — all on its own.
https://thehustle.co/pirating-videos...isn-t-anymore/





The Man Who Owes Nintendo $14m: Gary Bowser and Gaming’s Most Infamous Piracy Case

The hacker whose involvement with anti-piracy software ended in a jail sentence has emerged from prison struggling to make rent as he starts paying his fine. ‘It could be worse,’ he says
Patricia Hernandez

In April 2023, a 54-year-old programmer named Gary Bowser was released from prison having served 14 months of a 40-month sentence. Good behaviour reduced his time behind bars, but now his options are limited. For a while he was crashing on a friend’s couch in Toronto. The weekly physical therapy sessions, which he needs to ease chronic pain, were costing hundreds of dollars every week, and he didn’t have a job. And soon, he would need to start sending cheques to Nintendo. Bowser owes the makers of Super Mario $14.5m (£11.5m), and he’s probably going to spend the rest of his life paying it back.

Since he was a child, Bowser’s life has revolved around tinkering with electronics. His dad was a mechanical engineer, and he learned from him how to wire up model trains and mod calculators. As a teenager he already had a computer business: his mother died when he was 15, his father had retired and Bowser supported him.

Bowser would go on to run an internet cafe, where patrons played Counter-Strike and Dance Dance Revolution, and repair hardware for a living. He got briefly caught up with the law during a stint fixing games consoles at flea markets, which nearly implicated him alongside vendors who sold pirated movies. Eventually he moved to the Dominican Republic in 2010. He spoke no Spanish for years, but he loved the place anyway: you could drive from one end to the other in just 12 hours, he recalls. It was here that Bowser – who, in a case of nominative determinism that feels almost too trite to acknowledge, shares a name with Super Mario’s in-game antagonist – started becoming the face of Nintendo piracy.

In the late 00s he made contact with Team Xecuter, a group that produces dongles used to bypass anti-piracy measures on Nintendo Switch and other consoles, letting them illegally download, modify and play games. While he says he was only paid a few hundred dollars a month to update their websites, Bowser says the people he worked with weren’t very social and he helped “testers” troubleshoot devices.

“I started becoming a middleman in between the people doing the development work, and the people actually owning the mod chips, playing the games,” he says. “I would get feedback from the testers, and then I would send it to the developers … I can handle people, and that’s why I ended up getting more involved.”

In September 2020, he was arrested in a sting so unusual that the US Department of Justice released a press release boasting about the indictment, in which acting assistant attorney general Brian C Rabbitt called Bowser and his co-defendants “leaders of a notorious international criminal group that reaped illegal profits for years by pirating video game technology of US companies”.

“The day that it happened, I was sleeping in my bed, it was four in the morning, I’d been drinking all night,” Bowser says. “And suddenly I wake up and see three people surrounding my bed with rifles aimed at my head … they dragged me out of the place, put me in the back of a pickup truck and drove me to the Interpol office.”

Bowser was arrested at the height of the pandemic, which complicated everything. He was imprisoned in a series of jails, and each transfer had Covid safety precautions that required him to spend time in isolation. Despite this, Bowser still caught the coronavirus and spent two weeks so sick that, he says, a priest would come over once a day to read him a prayer.

Bowser was charged with fraud over his connection to Team Xecuter. While in custody, he was also hit with a civil suit from Nintendo. Between the civil and criminal cases, he was ordered to pay $14.5m.

In transcripts from the court, Nintendo’s lawyer Ajay Singh outlined the company’s case against piracy. “It’s the purchase of video games that sustains Nintendo, and it is the games that make the people smile … It’s for that reason that we do all we can to prevent games on Nintendo systems from being stolen,” he told the judge.

Pirates are usually fined in court, but Bowser’s case was meant to draw attention. “The sentence was like a message to other people that [are] still out there, that if they get caught … [they’ll] serve hard time,” he says. As he tells it, Bowser didn’t make or develop the products that sent him to prison; he “just” updated the websites that told people what they could buy, and kept them informed about what was coming next.

Bowser maintains that he could have fought the allegations, and that other members of the hacking group remain at large. But fighting against 13 charges would have cost time and money. It was easier, he claims, to plead guilty and only deal with a couple of the charges. As a part of that agreement, Bowser now has to send Nintendo 20-30% of any money left over after he pays for necessities such as rent.

“I’ll pay them what I can, which won’t be very much money, that’s for sure,” he says. Despite his predicament, Bowser counts his blessings. “It could be a lot worse,” he says. Bowser has now managed to secure housing, and he thinks that after rent, he has a couple of hundred dollars leftover for food and other necessities. He assumes he’ll be turning to food support services.

While the months after his release have been bumpy and uncertain, he has still experienced worse. It’s better than the time he spent homeless in his early 20s, he says. “I have experienced many things over the years, bad situations and good.” He carried an optimistic outlook even while imprisoned; at one point he was paid to counsel other prisoners on suicide watch. “A lot of other people were going crazy, banging their cell doors, screaming, yelling, harming themselves,” he says. Bowser was paid a dollar an hour to help them, and his four-hour shifts allowed him to start chipping away at his pending bill. “When I was in jail, I was paying Nintendo $25 a month,” he recalls.

While inside, Bowser couldn’t always get the medical attention he needed, he claims, and even when he did, the realities of prison still exacerbated his health issues – he has elephantiasis in his left leg. At times, due to Covid, Bowser could only leave his cell a few times a week and only for about 10 minutes. The rest of the time, he spent sitting.

“For a while I couldn’t even get a shoe on my left foot, so I was walking around barefoot,” he recalls.

At least there was a wheelchair to help him get around. Nowadays, Bowser only has a cane – but his leg hasn’t let-up. Bowser goes to physical therapy three times a week, but it’s expensive. He is estranged from his family. Instead, it’s his friends who are helping him buy food and clothes. He pays for medical care from a GoFundMe page dedicated to helping him restart his life, which received a few dozen donations. He is hoping that he can get disability payments soon. Since he got out, he’s often gone without access to a refrigerator or a stove due to trouble paying his electricity bills.

In the meantime, and after months of inconsistent access to the internet, Bowser is looking for jobs. On his website, he lists all the services he can provide and while he has found a few coding gigs, he’s been having a hard time securing anything long-term. Any prospective employer who does a background check will of course see his legal history with Nintendo, but that may not work against him. A cybersecurity company might welcome his tech expertise, regardless of how he got it. For now, he is getting back into his first love, retro hardware, tinkering away with old-school Texas Instruments calculators. Legally, he’s not allowed to mess around with modern gaming hardware.

If there is one thing he is sure about, it’s his talent. Before everything went down the drain, Bowser had started several businesses that were successful enough to have employees. “I should be the executive in charge of the company, not someone working as a junior,” he says. In that regard, he doesn’t just share his surname with Mario’s reptilian foe; he also, improbably, shares it with Nintendo of America’s current president, Doug Bowser. Gary is certain that the executive can be found somewhere in his family tree, perhaps in a distant branch.

“I must be the first Bowser that’s ever been arrested,” he says, with a resigned laugh.
https://www.theguardian.com/games/20...us-piracy-case





German Police Seize $2.1 Billion in Bitcoin From File Sharers
Karin Matussek

German prosecutors provisionally seized nearly 50,000 Bitcoin worth about $2.1 billion as part of an investigation into what they see as an illegal file-sharing platform.

It’s the largest amount of Bitcoin ever secured by law enforcement in Germany, Saxony prosecutors said Tuesday. Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation supported the investigation.

The two suspects in the probe allegedly acquired the Bitcoin with the profits of a German file-sharing portal that operated until 2013. One of them transferred the token to a wallet owned by Germany’s federal police, prosecutors said.

The largest digital asset is on course to advance for a fifth straight month in what would be Bitcoin’s longest such winning streak since a pandemic-era rally oiled by easy money.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...m-file-sharers
















Until next week,

- js.



















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