Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - March 14th, ’20

[JackSpratts]

Since 2002


































"My parents taught me how to find 'safe' pirating sites when I was a child so I wouldn't wreck the family computer by downloading a virus." – Hana, 18






































March 14th, 2020




Gen Z Is Leading a New Wave of Internet Piracy

Between Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+, it seemed like streaming giants might have finally won. Gen Z is proving that piracy will never die.
Sarah Hagi

I’ll never forget the first time I realized downloading movies was a thing that was possible. Having grown up around my extended family whose living rooms were surrounded by bootleg DVDs and illegal satellite television, my cousin told me he was downloading a movie off the internet, and I couldn’t believe it. Up until then, the internet was just for Neopets, flash games, Ebaumsworld, and MSN Messenger. Could we really just watch movies that have not been released on video without going to Blockbuster?

It was 2003, and downloading music was already the norm by then, if not the only way anyone I knew listened to music. My cousin told me he downloaded movies all the time and said it would be a full day until Dicky Roberts: Former Child Star would be ready to watch. I remember the quality of both the film itself and the download being abysmal, but still—it felt like the future.

By the time I reached my teens, technology had advanced to the point where it took far less than a day to download movies and television, and streaming on media hosting websites like Megavideo meant I could watch whatever I wanted. As a teen, nobody really knew the actual laws around piracy in Canada, but it was common knowledge that it was fine to leech as long as you weren’t the one distributing the content. In any case, I never got caught or felt remotely guilty even if it was technically stealing.

A lot has changed since then. Netflix became a thing, and Blockbuster closed. Websites I had once used were shut down, and I didn’t learn what the new ones were. As new services continued to enter the market, all jockeying for my attention by offering various exclusives, my monthly spending on streaming skyrocketed to the point where I considered just getting cable.

In recent years, I’ve started sometimes streaming and pirating, though it’s now much trickier—for example, you should use a VPN. I noticed other millennials my age also seemed to have forgotten how to pirate and stream without subscriptions, with many lamenting the creation of new streaming platforms that offer above-board service, but with a monthly bill attached.

I wondered: Have Gen Z, who've grown up with in the age of Netflix long removed from piracy's heyday, given up on piracy, too? Surprisingly, 20 Gen Zs I spoke to pirate and stream using shady websites quite a lot—and have told me their peers do too, even with access to services like Netflix and Hulu.

*

Attitudes towards streaming without a subscription seem to have changed dramatically. When Disney Plus announced its line-up on Twitter, I tweeted about how people forgot “illegal” streaming exists with many responding to me that I was a thief and stealing from artists—a response that just ten years ago I couldn’t have imagined.

Both Netflix and Amazon paid little to no federal income taxes in 2018, and Disney owns everything. If I watch something without paying sometimes, I’m not going to lose sleep over it. Consumers shouldn’t be held to a higher standard than companies worth hundreds of billions dollars. I would never pirate or stream a truly independent project that needs the money, and I still pay upwards of 40 dollars a month on streaming services. Still, I’m not going to buy a new service just to stream a few episodes of a show I want to start watching.

I’m not the only one who seems to be finding non-subscription based ways to stream and download, in 2018 the Global Internet Report by Sandvine suggested that many are now going back to piracy, blaming the rise of Netflix competitors. It seems like Gen Z is leading a new wave of piracy, or it's at least joining and continuing an intergenerational piracy wave.

Hana, an 18-year-old from Germany told me her parents were the ones to help her learn how to pirate (making me feel extremely old).

“My parents taught me how to find 'safe' pirating sites when I was a child so I wouldn't wreck the family computer by downloading a virus,” She told me over Twitter DMs. For Hana and many others in her age group, a lot of it has to do with accessibility. “I happen to enjoy a lot of fringe media that’s very hard to access legally, so I feel no shame about pirating that as the alternative,” she said.

She's also not afraid of getting caught. “I don’t torrent as that’s easily tracked, and online streaming while morally questionable isn’t illegal as long as the content remains on the host site and isn’t downloaded," she said.

Most of the certified Gen Zs (people born between 1995-2012) I talked to spoke of pirating in the same way.

Sasha, a 23-year-old in Canada told me that she turns to pirating and streaming with no subscriptions because many of the rare or older films she wants to watch aren’t available on the streaming platforms she pays for. Plenty of the teens mentioned they were curious about films that don’t seem to appear on streaming platforms (and Netflix has fewer movies on its platform than it ever has, due to a focus on television). She also doesn’t feel guilty,

“Renting stuff is expensive! And I still go see movies in theatres and stuff like that,” she told me over DMs.

Some of the teens said they learned how to stream and torrent through older siblings, or the older siblings of friends. Most commonly, most began streaming before they were old enough to get credit cards or pay for legitimate services on their own, or simply couldn’t afford it.

One 20-year-old in Ireland told me, “Once I had decided that illegally streaming was something I didn't feel bad doing, it was never going to make any sense paying for something I knew how to get for free.”

It would be easy to equate not feeling guilty to not caring about supporting artists, but like me, plenty of the people I spoke with have their own set of rules when it comes to piracy and supporting artists.

“I feel like I support shows and movies I care about in other ways, and I find it hard to convince myself that I’m supporting art by paying more money to Apple,” One twenty year old told me.

Based on my conversations, the younger generation is disillusioned by feeling guilt towards “stealing” from huge media giants. They can’t afford multiple streaming services, even if people my age can. But beyond that, why should access to streaming platforms and having the money to pay for them determine who should consume art?

Remembering what I streamed and sought out the most when I was younger, it was international cinema I couldn’t find anywhere. It was through an illegal download I first watched Bong Joon-Ho’s The Host in 2009, a movie I still consider to be one of my favourites of all time. I couldn’t find it anywhere, and it introduced me to so much more Korean cinema.

Gen Z is screwed—they at least deserve the same rush of seeing a movie and really feeling something.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8...disney-netflix





This ‘Pirate Radio’ Pays For Netflix, HBO, and Disney+ So You Don’t Have to
Mix

Digging The Mandalorian? Cool, get ready to shell out $7.99 a month for Disney+. Dying to check out the new season of Westworld? You better budget another $16 to $25 for HBO Max. But what about all the true crime documentaries the internet is buzzing about? Of course, you have to pay another $12.99 for Netflix.

You get the picture. The streaming wars are getting nasty — and you’re the one who’s paying for it. Unless… you refuse to pay. This is what Allthestreams.fm wants to help you do.

The self-styled “pirate radio for streaming” basically pays for subscriptions to a bunch of streaming services, and then randomly chooses one show to play for you — free of charge.

You can’t browse catalogs like you could with a normal subscription, but that was never the point.

“We’re going to play anything and everything we feel like,” Allthestreams.fm’s manifesto reads. “We’re going to make a frankensteinian playlist of media that none of these streaming platforms could ever recommend to you because it would cost them the profits of their exclusively-owned content.”

“Like all pirate media offerings, we’re doing this for you,” it continues.

MSCHF, the brazen creative agency behind Allthestreams.fm, is after your attention — no matter how short-lived. So far, its plan is working out: There are over 200,000 viewers on Allthestreams.fm at the time of writing.

How is this legal, you might wonder. Well, it doesn’t seem to be entirely compliant with the law, and MSCHF is fully aware. “We know we are gonna get shut down fast,” the agency told TNW in an email. It’s all about the enjoying the giggles while it lasts.

(Update 11:52AM UTC: “We have a standard lawyer check with these types of things,” MSCHF told TNW. “Doesn’t mean it’s legal per se, but it means the risk profile is acceptable to us.”)

This isn’t the first time MSCHF has made waves with its unusual campaigns.

The agency has previously built a Chrome extension that camouflages Netflix in a conference call, a tool that turns Wikipedia entries into “legit” academic papers, and the infamous $3,000 “Walk on Water” Jesus shoes.

Allthestreams.fm is yet another viral sensation to add to the list. It’s also a clever take on the current state of affairs in the streaming economy.

Researchers have already noted one of the inevitable outcomes of streaming exclusives is a bump in piracy. MSCHF is simply pushing this trend to its limits. Godspeed, MSCHF, may Allthestreams.fm live forever (or until the powers that be hit you with a cease-and-desist, ya know).
https://thenextweb.com/apps/2020/03/...ix-amazon-hbo/





UK Man Jailed for Pirating & Selling Hit Hollywood Movies

A man from Halifax has received a prison sentence for pirating hit Hollywood movies from his bedroom before selling them.
Dhiren Manga

Malik Luqman Farooq, aged 31, of Halifax, was jailed for 27 months for pirating and selling blockbuster films.

Southwark Crown Court heard that he committed piracy from his bedroom and sold the films before they officially released.

An investigation revealed that he had been making the films available to download online.

The piracy first came to light in 2012 when the Motion Picture Association of America discovered that their films were being illegally distributed.

Undercover investigators eventually came across an online profile called ‘Dark999’ who was selling pirated versions of Hollywood films.

This included Fast & Furious 7 and Horrible Bosses 2, which he planned to illegally distribute.

Investigators identified the IP address to show it was Farooq who had accessed an unreleased version of Fast & Furious 7 from a private site.

A search of his computer and hard drive revealed logins for the ‘Dark999’ profile, as well as proof that Farooq owned the PayPal account he had used for the transaction with the undercover investigators.

Farooq had bespoke software which was made for the production company’s clients to access films ahead of their release.

His hard drive contained 15 copies of unreleased films.

It was heard that Farooq had a shortcut on his computer to Fast & Furious 7 which had the same file name as the one accessed from the private platform and sold to online investigators.

Farooq was paid $5,019 for Fast & Furious 7 and $1,200 for Horrible Bosses 2.

Following his arrest, Farooq claimed he was only involved so he could report main offenders to the authorities. However, Farooq had not reported anyone and was actually a leading figure in the piracy network.

On October 24, 2019, Farooq pleaded guilty to defrauding copyright owners and proprietors of trademarks between September 2014 and April 2015.

Jonathan Kelleher, of the CPS, said:

“Farooq insisted that he was only trying to help authorities by catching key players in the piracy network, but he was actually the offender responsible for pirating numerous blockbuster films.

“The technology, that Farooq was so fascinated by, ultimately led to his downfall, giving an audit trail of him accessing unofficial files and releasing them for his own gain.

“CPS Specialist Fraud Division has worked closely with colleagues from City of London Police and the US authorities in order to secure this result.”

Police said that the Motion Picture Association of America estimated that they could have lost $287 million from just Fast & Furious 7 if it had been put online before the official release date.

Detective Constable Abdun Noor said: “Fast & Furious 7 was the second highest-grossing movie in 2015.

“Industry estimates show the potential loss suffered, had the film been released before the official cinema date, would have been substantial.

“Our investigation ensured Farooq was arrested before he was able to release this particular film to the public.”

“Digital piracy causes significant damage to the companies involved in producing films, not only in terms of profits but also in terms of putting jobs at risk.

“Anyone who is thinking of committing digital piracy, like Farooq, should see this case as a warning.

“Piracy is not a victimless crime and we will ensure these criminals are brought to justice.”

Wiltshire Times reported that on March 6, 2020, Farooq was jailed for 27 months.
https://www.desiblitz.com/content/uk...llywood-movies





Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets

The European Union is seeking to help consumers fix or upgrade devices, rather than replace them, as part of a 30-year push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Elian Peltier

Hoping to replace that two-year-old smartphone in a few months? The European Union wants you to think twice about doing that.

The bloc announced an ambitious plan on Wednesday that would require manufacturers of electronic products, from smartphones to tumble driers, to offer more repairs, upgrades and ways to reuse existing goods, instead of encouraging consumers to buy new ones.

The “right to repair,” part of a wide-ranging policy package known as the Green Deal that was introduced this month, is the latest example of the European Union’s ambitions to promote more sustainable economic growth and to prevent waste. It extends standards brought in last year that put “right to repair” obligations on the manufacturers of some large appliances.

“The linear growth model of ‘take-make-use-discard’ has reached its limits,” Virginijus Sinkevicius, the union’s environment commissioner, told reporters in Brussels as he presented the “Circular Economy Action Plan,” which includes the “right to repair” initiative.

“We want to make sure that products placed on E.U. market are designed to last longer, to be easier to repair and upgrade, easier to recycle and easier to reuse,” he added.

The plans are being put forward by the bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission. To become law, they would need to win the approval of the European Union’s Parliament and the governments of its 27 member states, a process experts say would take at least four years.

But Mr. Sinckevicius said the proposal reflected a growing demand from consumers. According to the commissioner, surveys have found that two-thirds of European citizens want their electronic devices to serve them longer. They have also indicated support for clearer indications on a product’s life span, easier repairs or more readily available replacement parts.

Manufacturers like Apple take old iPhones back when consumers buy a new one, but the E.U. plan wants them to go one step further: If implemented, it would encourage consumers to buy less and to keep a product in use as long as possible, and encourage industries to consider recycling only when a device is no longer usable.

Environmental groups said the plan represented a shift from the European Union’s current policy, which is mostly based on recycling. A law passed in 2012 required countries to collect 65 tons of electronic waste for every 100 tons of goods put on sale by 2019, but members have not met such targets. Less than 40 percent of European electronic waste is recycled, according to E.U. estimates.

With the “right to repair,” upgrading a phone’s software, replacing the battery of a tablet, or buying a new display for a laptop instead of changing the whole device would become easier, said Jean-Pierre Schweitzer, from the European Environmental Bureau, a network of environmental citizens’ groups.

“We know people are ready for it,” said Mr. Schweitzer, who focuses on circular economy and product policy at the network. “The measures that the commission wants to take on products and repair are very, very good.”

The plan also includes measures to introduce a common charger for smartphones — an effort that the European Union has long tried to implement, with little success — targets to reduce packaging, and a new framework to recycle batteries and textiles, among other measures.

Mr. Sinkevicius, the European commissioner, said the measures were essential if Europe was to meet its aim under the Green Deal: becoming a net zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050. “What we are trying to reach is a little bit different perception of the economic model,” he said this week.

But just as climate activists criticized the Green Deal as too vague, and for not setting a 2030 target, advocates like Mr. Schweitzer also faulted the European Commission for not setting broader, compulsory targets to reduce resource consumption.

“It’s not all negative,” Mr. Schweitzer said. “But where do we want the economy to be in the next couple of years? How much do we want to reduce our material or water footprint? We’re missing the big picture.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/w...artphones.html





Coronavirus Sparks 'Dramatic Rise' In Illegal File Sharing Of This Movie

Viral Thriller 'Contagion' Spreads Across America and Tops U.S. Box Office
Sarah Guy

COVID-19, the new novel coronavirus, has been dominating countless conversations around the globe in recent months due to the ongoing outbreak. Following the emergence of the virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, it appears many have also searched for TV shows and movies that revolve around the idea of a virus and its containment.

Now, a nine-year-old thriller has reached the Top 10 of the iTunes movie rental charts due to its specific plot.

According to MassLive, 2011's "Contagion," which stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, and Jude Law, has gained newfound popularity in light of recent events. As stated by IMDb, the movie revolves around "healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people" who find themselves "in the midst of a worldwide epidemic as the CDC works to find a cure."

At press time, "Contagion" was No. 8 on iTunes' list. Previously, the Steven Soderbergh-directed film had not placed in the Top 100 within the last year.

Due to the drama not being available on Netflix in the U.S. (Hulu subscribers can stream it if they also subscribe to Cinemax), this renewed interest has reportedly also led to "a dramatic rise in illegal file sharing."

As stated by the publication and initially reported by Forbes, MUSO, an anti-piracy firm, has noticed quite a jump in recent months. In July 2019, the firm found 29 visits to piracy sites globally with people looking for the movie. By January, that number jumped to 30,418 visits on just that day.

This is not the only TV show or movie that has been widely discussed amid the ongoing spread of COVID-19. Netflix's "Pandemic," a docuseries which revolves around "efforts to stop the next global outbreak," has also been a topic of conversation as news about the virus unfolds.

Additionally, COVID-19 has also been discussed in other ways as well, including the influence it has seemingly had over Queen Elizabeth II's behavior and the unexpected interruption at an Italian council meeting that was caused by Lady Gaga's new single, "Stupid Love."
https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-...-movie-2936675





AT&T Suspends Broadband Data Caps During Coronavirus Crisis

As AT&T moves to lift usage caps, lawmakers begin pressuring ISPs to do more.
Karl Bode

AT&T is the first major ISP to confirm that it will be suspending all broadband usage caps as millions of Americans bunker down in a bid to slow the rate of COVID-19 expansion. Consumer groups and a coalition of Senators are now pressuring other ISPs to follow suit.

Telecom experts told Motherboard this morning that broadband caps and overage fees don’t serve any real technical purpose, and are little more than a glorified price hike on uncompetitive markets. We in turn reached out to ten of the nation’s biggest ISPs, only one of which (Mediacom) was willing to go on the record.

In the wake of that report, AT&T has confirmed to Motherboard that the company will be suspending all usage caps until further notice.

“Many of our AT&T Internet customers already have unlimited home internet access, and we are waiving internet data overage for the remaining customers,” a company spokesperson said.

AT&T’s website indicates that while some of its users see no usage caps, others see usage caps ranging from as little as 150 GB to 1 terabyte per month. Users that bypass those limits face penalties upwards of $10 per each additional 50 gigabytes consumed.

As millions of US citizens are forced to work, videoconference, and learn at home, such restrictions could easily increase the financial burden on consumers that are likely to see some significant financial hardships in the wake of a shaken economy. US consumers already pay some of the highest prices for broadband in the developed world.

Both industry executives and leaked Comcast memos have shown that such limits don’t actually help modern ISPs manage congestion. Instead, they largely exist as a way for ISPs to jack up the monthly cost of service well beyond the advertised rate.

In the wake of Motherboard’s reporting, a coalition of 17 Senators including Virginia Senator Mark Warner issued a letter to the nation’s biggest ISPs, demanding they stop engaging in a practice critics have long said is little more than glorified price gouging of captive customers.

“As organizations around the country formulate their responses to the recent outbreak and spread of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, we write to discuss the steps that your company is taking to accommodate the unprecedented reliance we will likely see on telepresence services, including telework, online education, telehealth, and remote support services,” the Senators wrote.

“Specifically, we ask that you temporarily suspend broadband caps and associated fees or throttling for all communities affected by COVID-19 and work with public school districts, colleges, and universities to provide free, or at-cost, broadband options for students whose schools close due to COVID-19 who don’t have access at home,” they added.

Consumer groups like Free Press were also quick to issue statements urging ISPs to cease the practice of spurious and unnecessary surcharges in the face of the looming pandemic.

“We may all soon be subject to various degrees of social distancing, which will likely involve a heavier reliance on digital communications and a greater demand for data,” the group said in a statement. “Internet providers must ensure that students are still able to learn, employers are still able to conduct business, and we’re all able to communicate with each other without having our connections capped or cut off.”
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/v...navirus-crisis





Coronavirus Could Force ISPs to Abandon Data Caps Forever
Devin Coldewey

Pressure from the global pandemic has broadband companies loosening the arbitrary restrictions on the connections users pay for — and this may be the beginning of the end for the data caps we’ve lived in fear of for decades. Here’s why.

The coronavirus threat and official policies of “social distancing” are leading millions to stay home, doing meetings via video chat and probably watching Netflix and YouTube the rest of the time. That means a big uptick in bytes going through the tubes, both simultaneously and cumulatively.

ISPs, leery of repeating Verizon’s memorable gaffe of cutting off service during an emergency, are proposing a variety of user-friendly changes to their policies. Comcast is boosting the bandwidth of its low-income Internet Essentials customers to levels that actually qualify as broadband under FCC rules. AT&T is suspending data caps for all its customers until further notice. Verizon has added $500 million to its 5G rollout plans. Wait, how does that help? Unclear, but the company “stands ready” for increases in traffic. (Disclosure: Verizon Media owns TechCrunch but this does not affect our editorial coverage.)

Elsewhere in the world ISPs are taking similar actions, either voluntarily or at the request of the state. In India, for instance, ACT Fibernet has bumped everyone up to 300 Mbps for no cost.

There are two simple truths at play here.

The first is that any company that sends its subscriber a $150 overage fee because they had to work from home for a month and ran over their data cap is going to be radioactive. The optics on that are so bad that my guess is most companies are quietly setting forgiveness policies in place to prevent it from happening — though of course it probably will anyway.

The second is that these caps are completely unnecessary, existing only as a way to squeeze more money from subscribers. Data caps just don’t matter any more. As I pointed out during the whole zero-rating debacle, the very fact that the limits can be lifted at will or certain high-traffic categories (such as a broadband company’s own streaming TV channels) can be exempted fundamentally beggars the concept of these caps.

Think about it: If the internet provider can even temporarily lift the data caps, then there is definitively enough capacity for the network to be used without those caps. If there’s enough capacity, then why did the caps exist in the first place?

Answer: Because they make money.

As with other nonsensical and aggravating fees and practices, ISPs get away with this because they amount to regional monopolies or duopolies and are all running the same basic set of grifts for extra cash on top of your subscription fee.

That may be changing with the coronavirus, because after this very public exception to them it will be obvious to everyone that there is no reason for the caps to exist — including the FCC.

For years ISPs have made excuses that certain “bad actors” and superusers would abuse the system and suck up all the internet, causing congestion and slowdowns for everyone else. Unsurprisingly, this never actually happened, or if it did, it happened many, many years ago when broadband was in its infancy and it was possible to hog the line in your neighborhood.

Now, with 100-megabit and gigabit connections becoming more common by the month (to those on the right side of the digital divide, anyway), you’d be hard pressed to max out your own connection, let alone everyone else’s. In fact, the only person who would notice you’d eaten up 50 times more data than your neighbor would be your ISP.

Yet, strangely, if you were to use this high-speed connection steadily, you’d be punished on extraordinarily short notice. Comcast’s gigabit data plans, for instance, come with a 1-terabye cap. At top speed, you’d hit it in less than three hours. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?

These facts will be material if, in a couple months, the ISPs attempt to re-establish data caps. If the entire country was using the hell out of their connection for months with no ill effects — and no ISP will admit that their superior network couldn’t handle it — why should there be limits at all?

Of course, this is only speculation for now. But once someone like Commissioner Rosenworcel starts talking publicly about this sort of thing, it tends to only go forward, absent serious opposition by the opposing party or industry groups. When it comes to data caps, it’s hard for anyone to justify their continued existence, and the coronavirus situation will only make this more clear.

Crucially, once it becomes clear that data caps are on the outs, it will suddenly become the cool new idea that simultaneously occurs to every ISP that a few months ago was happy to collect overages. I can picture the ad copy now: “What data caps? Binge care-free with the new Freedom Plus plan from AT&T.” “Unlimited data — yes, we mean it.”

Well, they can call it whatever they want, as long as it’s free and the limits are lifted — the way it should have been all this time.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/12/co...-caps-forever/





Housebound Italian Kids Strain Network With Fortnite Marathon
Daniele Lepido and Niclas Rolander

• It’s not just home-working adults who are hogging bandwidth
• International network operator sees big increase in traffic

Italy’s school shutdown is driving a surge in internet traffic as kids turn to online video games to stave off boredom.

With schools, shops and restaurants closed in an attempt to limit Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak, the amount of data passing through Telecom Italia SpA’s national network has surged by more than two-thirds in the past two weeks, the company said.

A lot of that extra activity is due to online games such as ‘Fortnite’ and ‘Call of Duty,’ which can involve multiple players and take up more bandwidth than the business programs and conference call apps used by adults working from home.

Gaming traffic can spike even higher when the games are refreshed and millions of kids download the latest 25-gigabyte update at once.

“We reported an increase of more than 70% of Internet traffic over our landline network, with a big contribution from online gaming such as Fortnite,” Telecom Italia Chief Executive Officer Luigi Gubitosi said Wednesday on a call with analysts.

Italy’s national lockdown has shuttered all but essential services this week. On Wednesday, there was a surge in reports of lost internet connections by Telecom Italia customers. The number of complaints subsided later in the day.

“Telecom Italia’s network is working perfectly and with higher volumes compared with previous days,” the company wrote in an e-mailed statement. “The issues reported affected just some applications and the internet due to a failure of the international network.”

In the U.K., a spokesman for Vodafone Group Plc’s local unit said the company has been adding to network capacity in case the government introduces stricter social distancing measures.

Operators of infrastructure linking the world’s major economic centers are also having to adapt as travel restrictions and other virus-containment measures lead to sharp increases in internet use.

Streaming on Netflix and other video platforms may also be growing as people avoid crowded places and stay home.

Sweden’s Telia Carrier, which operates one of the world’s biggest intercontinental fiber networks, said its traffic grew 2.7% in February and it sees an even bigger increase in March.

“All the big players in the video conferencing market have asked for bandwidth upgrades in the last 10 days and some are asking for a fivefold increase,” said Telia Carrier Vice President Mattias Fridstroem. “If no one is able to fly, they will need a huge amount of additional bandwidth.”

— With assistance by Thomas Seal

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...tnite-marathon

















Until next week,

- js.



















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