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Old 16-09-21, 09:59 PM   #1
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Default Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - September 18th, ’21

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September 18th, 2021




Music Streaming Subscriptions Surpass 80 Million Amid Streaming Boom, RIAA Reports
Kimberlee Speakman

Industry trade group the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported music retail revenues in the U.S. grew 27% in the first half of 2021 to $7.1 billion, up from $5.6 billion last year.

A majority of music revenue over the past year came from streaming (84%), followed by physical CD and vinyl sales (10%), digital downloads (5%) and music copyright licenses (2%).

Paid subscriptions to platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, which pay music rights holders a percentage based off number of streams, led revenue growth, comprising nearly two-thirds of total revenue ($4.6 billion) with more than 80 million paid subscriptions recorded for the first time.

With live concerts, tours and events cancelled, rescheduled or set at a limited capacity throughout 2020-2021, artists have increasingly needed to rely on streaming apps like Spotify or popular social media apps like TikTok for revenue.

CD and vinyl sales grew from $393 billion last year to $690 billion, with vinyl sales leading the surge in revenue, almost doubling from $241 million to $467 million and beating out CD sales for the second year in a row.

RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier also noted that new platforms like “short form video, fitness apps and chat and social apps” that license music are picking up, and record labels are working to “make sure these growing services pay for the music they depend on.”

Key Background

The RIAA said the coronavirus has continued to affect music industry revenues with tour cancellations and retail closures throughout the pandemic. The music industry is slowly bouncing back from lower revenue numbers last year, which saw a decline in advertising revenue growth across platforms like YouTube and Spotify by about 14%. CD and vinyl sales also took a hit in early 2020 due to forced retail closures at the beginning of the pandemic, with revenue totaling $1.1 billion, slightly lower than previous years. Digital download revenue decreased by 18% in 2020 compared to the year before, continuing a downward trend year by year. Apple Music recently revealed in a letter obtained by the Wall Street Journal, it pays music rights holders one-third to one-half penny per stream, while Insider found Spotify pays between $.003 and $.005 per stream. With other revenue streams taking a hit from the pandemic, and streaming growing in popularity, The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers called for music streaming services to pay out more per streaming for music rights holders.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberl...-riaa-reports/





FCC Wants Landlords to Stop Screwing Up Your Internet

U.S. landlords often strike cozy arrangements with big ISPs blocking broadband competition. The FCC says it’s taking a fresh look at an old problem.
Karl Bode

The FCC has announced it’s investigating deals the broadband industry strikes with landlords that block broadband competition in apartment complexes, condos, and developments. While the FCC passed rules in 2008 attempting to prevent such deals, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have exploited massive loopholes in the restrictions for more than a decade.

“With more than one-third of the U.S. population living in condos and apartment buildings, it’s time to take a fresh look at how exclusive agreements between carriers and building owners could lock out broadband competition and consumer choice,” interim FCC boss Jessica Rosenworcel said of the announcement. “I look forward to reviewing the record.”

The inquiry comes after President Biden signed an executive order in July urging regulators to take a closer look at competition and monopoly issues in several sectors. The order also mandated the creation of a competition council, which urged the FCC to take a closer look at the anticompetitive nature of these arrangements.

The FCC’s existing rules technically bar landlords and ISPs from colluding to restrict broadband competition. But in a 2016 piece in Wired, Harvard Law Professor Susan Crawford outlined the various ways big telecom wiggles around the restrictions—often by simply calling what they’re doing—something else.

“Sure, a landlord can’t enter into an exclusive agreement granting just one ISP the right to provide Internet access service...but a landlord can refuse to sign agreements with anyone other than Big Company X, in exchange for payments labeled in any one of a zillion ways,” Crawford wrote. “Exclusivity by any other name still feels just as abusive.”

For example, to get around FCC rules expanding access to an ISP’s in-building wiring, companies like Comcast or Charter will often deed ownership of these wires to a landlord, then turn around and pay that landlord to ensure that nobody else can have access. Because the landlord now technically owns the wires, the FCC rules no longer apply.

ISPs also pay landlords to sign agreements that ban any other competing ISPs from advertising in the building. If you’re a landlord that violates such arrangements, you can then expect a nastygram from a company like Comcast for violating your deal.

In addition, many landlords will charge “door fees” to any company that needs access to a building to install new wiring, creating an additional layer of difficulty and expense for smaller broadband competitors trying to compete with dominant ISPs.

Collectively such restrictions serve the same function as blocking broadband competition outright. Much as it does on the national level, this lack of block by block competition directly contributes to higher prices, slower speeds, and comically-terrible customer service.

In response, a growing number of towns and cities are building their own broadband networks from scratch. But even these new entrants may find access to consumers prohibited by annoying, building-by-building restrictions erected by major ISPs.

The broadband and cable industry unsuccessfully sued to stop the rules shortly after they were created, and unsurprisingly isn’t a fan of the FCC’s plan to update them now. In a filing this week, cable industry lobbyists say they met with the FCC to downplay the scope of the problem.

“NCTA explained that the record in this proceeding confirms that deployment, competition, and consumer choice in multiple tenant environments are strong,” adding that exclusive, in-building wiring deals were “pro-competitive” because they “help ensure that state-of-the-art wiring will be deployed in MTEs (multi-tenant environments) to the benefit of consumers.”

But consumer groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge have long argued, backed with ample evidence, that such deals are little more than glorified kickbacks to apartment owners in exchange for keeping competition at bay.

Granted just because the FCC is now fielding public input on the problem, doesn’t mean it will actually get fixed. A 2017 Notice of Inquiry into the problem by the Trump FCC went nowhere. And until the Biden administration gets around to appointing a permanent FCC boss, the agency lacks the voting majority needed to pass this (or any other) meaningful reform.

Still, the FCC’s public notice urges consumers who’ve run into these kinds of anticompetitive building restrictions to tell the FCC about it within the next thirty days. Those looking to comment should read the FCC instructions for commenting, note the docket number (17-142), then submit a comment by mail, email, or via the FCC website.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8q...-your-internet





Google Finishes Laying a Giant Undersea Internet Cable Stretching 3,900 Miles from New York to the UK and Spain
Isobel Asher Hamilton

• Google finished laying its Grace Hopper subsea internet cable in the UK on Tuesday.
• The 3,900-mile Grace Hopper cable starts in New York and has landing points in the UK and Spain.
• The cable is due to ferry up to 350 terabytes of data per second when it comes online, Google said.

Google has finished laying its giant Grace Hopper subsea internet cable, which stretches from New York to the UK and Spain.

The Grace Hopper cable was landed in Bude, Cornwall, on the UK's western coast on Tuesday. A Google spokesperson told Insider that the landing was originally scheduled for July. Another end of the cable landed in Bilbao, Spain, earlier in September.

Google first announced its Grace Hopper cable project, which now spans more than 3,900 miles across the Atlantic, in July 2020.

Google said at that time that the cable was set to transport between 340 and 350 terabytes of data per second, or roughly equivalent to 17.5 million people simultaneously streaming

The company also said the cable would use a new technique called "fibre switching," which should make web traffic more reliable even with outages.

A Google spokesperson said the cable is due to come online in 2022.

Grace Hopper isn't the only Google cable linking the US with Europe. In February, the company announced that its "Dunant" cable connecting the US with France was ready for service.

Google is invested in undersea cable projects around the world. The company said in August it had partnered with Facebook to build a new cable called "Apricot," which is planned to link six countries in Asia using 7,456 miles of cable.

Apricot is due to come online in 2024.

In June, Google announced plans to lay a new cable called "Firmina" running from the US West Coast down to Argentina. The company already has a cable called "Curie," which connects the US West Coast with Panama and Chile. Curie came online in 2019.
https://www.businessinsider.com/goog...-london-2021-9





Alphabet’s Project Taara Laser Tech Beamed 700TB of Data Across Nearly 5km

The 20Gbps Free Space Optical Communications tech for Project Taara was originally part of Project Loon
Richard Lawler

In January, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, shut down Project Loon, an initiative exploring using stratospheric helium balloons to distribute wireless internet (an attempt to use solar-powered drones folded in 2017). However, some technology developed as a part of the Loon project remained in development, specifically the Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC) links that were originally meant to connect the high flying balloons — and now that technology is actively in use providing a high-speed broadband link for people in Africa.

Sort of like fiber optic cables without the cable, FSOC can create a 20Gbps+ broadband link from two points that have a clear line of sight, and Alphabet’s moonshot lab X has built up Project Taara to give it a shot. They started by setting up links in India a few years ago as well as a few pilots in Kenya, and today X revealed what it has achieved by using its wireless optical link to connect service across the Congo River from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 20 days, Project Taara lead Baris Erkmen says the link transmitted nearly 700TB of data, augmenting fiber connections used by local telecom partner Econet and its subsidiaries. The reason for testing the technology in this location is not only the climate, which the team admits is better suited to wireless optical communications than a foggy city like San Francisco but the obstacle created by the deep and fast-flowing river. The cities are only a few miles apart as the crow flies, but Taara says a fiber link to Kinshasa has to run nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers), making it five times as expensive to get online.

Despite sending its communications without the protection of a physical fiber, Taara says that during the test period, its link had 99.9 percent availability. The team tells The Verge that end users don’t know when their communications are using FSOC instead of fiber and that it aims to provide an indistinguishable experience. They also said that they hadn’t experienced any weather conditions in the Congo that affected the connection on this link so far. They credit its resilience in the face of haze, light rain, birds, and other obstacles to the ability to adjust laser power on the fly, as well as improved pointing and tracking.

Project Taara links are placed high up, naturally, since they need to be able to see each other, and as you can see in the GIF above, they’re capable of automatically adjusting their mirrors to connect “a light beam the width of a chopstick accurately enough to hit a 5-centimeter target that’s 10 kilometers away.” The system can adjust itself within +/-5 degree cone, and the team says that if that fails for some reason, they can attempt to remote control them into a connection before sending technicians out.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/16/2...sa-congo-fiber





ExpressVPN Knew 'Key Facts' of Executive Who Worked for UAE Spy Unit

Daniel Gericke, an executive of the company, previously helped build the UAE's Karma hacking system, according to court records.
Joseph Cox

ExpressVPN, a popular VPN company, said it was aware of the "key facts" of its chief information officer Daniel Gericke's previous employment before hiring him. On Wednesday, the Department of Justice disclosed in court records that Gericke worked on Project Raven, a surveillance operation for the United Arab Emirates government that involved hacking of Americans, activists, and heads of state.

"We’ve known the key facts relating to Daniel’s employment history since before we hired him, as he disclosed them proactively and transparently with us from the start. In fact, it was his history and expertise that made him an invaluable hire for our mission to protect users’ privacy and security," ExpressVPN told Motherboard in a statement.

"Daniel has a deep understanding of the tools and techniques used by the adversaries we aim to protect users against, and as such is a uniquely qualified expert to advise on defense against such threats. Our product and infrastructure have already benefited from that understanding in better securing user data," the statement continued.

On Tuesday, unsealed court filings described how Gericke as well as Marc Baier and Ryan Adams faced charges for their part in working on Project Raven. The court records say that the three violated the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and conspired to commit access device fraud and computer hacking offenses.

The court records say that the three took a zero-click exploit, which allows takeover of a device without any user interaction, and implemented that into Karma, the hacking system used by the UAE's Project Raven. Project Raven involved the hiring of former U.S. intelligence hackers who then worked on behalf of the UAE government, Reuters reported in 2019.

The court records also describe other uses and purchases of exploits by the group.

The court filings detailed that prosecutors will drop the charges if the three men cooperate with U.S. authorities, pay a financial penalty, and agree to a list of unspecified restrictions on their employment

"We were confident at the time and continue to be confident now in Daniel’s desire and ability to contribute to our mission of enabling users to better protect their privacy and security. He has demonstrated nothing but professionalism and commitment to advancing our ability to keep user data safe and private. Our trust in Daniel remains strong," ExpressVPN's statement continued.

"Of course, we do not rely on trust in our employees alone to protect our users. We have robust systems and security controls in place in all our systems or products. We also engage and provide significant access to many independent third parties to conduct audits, security assessments, and penetration tests on our systems and products," it added.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/3aq9...daniel-gericke





Kape Technologies Agrees to Buy ExpressVPN for $936 Million
Amy Thomson

• Deal will be a combination of cash and shares, Kape says
• Combination will more than double Kape’s customer base

Kape Technologies Plc agreed to buy ExpressVPN in a $936 million deal that will more than double the cybersecurity company’s customer base and expand its tools for private web surfing.

Kape will pay $354 million in cash when the deal closes and the equivalent of $237 million in shares, which can be sold after a 24-month lockup, the company said in a statement on Monday. Another $345 million in cash will be paid in two installments, 12 months and 24 months after the close. The deal still needs approval from regulators.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...or-936-million





File-Sharing Crackdowns from Lawyers and Police
BBC

Internet users who allegedly illegally shared or downloaded the film Ava are being threatened with legal action.

Internet providers were forced to reveal customer names and addresses following a court order issued on behalf of Voltage.

It is the first time in years that rights holders have used these methods to seek redress for piracy.

It comes as UK police arrested three people accused of running an illegal streaming network.

The practice of sending letters to those identified as having downloaded illegal content is not without controversy, because the threats of legal action are rarely taken to court.

That is because any case would rely on an IP address, which often cannot be used as a reliable means of identifying an individual - at least not without an admission of guilt or an inspection of computers or hard drives owned by the suspect.

Virgin Media, one of the ISPs that has been forced to identify customers, told the BBC: "We take the privacy and security of our customers' data very seriously and will only ever disclose customer information to third parties if required by law to do so through a valid court order.

"Any customers who receive a letter should note that the court has not yet made any findings of copyright infringement against them. This would be a matter to be determined by the court in any subsequent claim."

The film in question, Ava, was released in 2020, and starred Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell.

The letter, sent by law firm Lewis Silkin LLP on behalf of rights holder Voltage and seen by news website Torrent Freak, offered the person the opportunity to "admit or deny that your broadband account was used via BitTorrent in relation to Ava".

It goes on to say that the onus would be on Voltage to prove these allegations in court and suggests users instead "pay a reasonable sum by way of compensation".

Serious crime

Separately, police in the West Midlands have arrested three people suspected of running a huge illegal streaming network.

A 40-year-old woman and two men aged 53 and 35 are suspected of providing illegal content to more than 100 separate pirate TV services, believed to serve hundreds of thousands of customers.

The network, which was shut down, included a large catalogue of live TV and video content from around the world, including sports, for use on smart TVs, phones and tablets, police said.

Fact (Federation Against Copyright Theft) issued a warning to people running such networks and those watching them: "Users and subscribers of illegal services should be aware that not only are they committing an offence themselves, but they're also exposing themselves to risks including identity theft, malware and viruses."
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58583601





Locast’s Free TV Service Ordered to Shut Down Permanently after Copyright Loss

Locast must decide whether to appeal as ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC win copyright case.
Jon Brodkin

Locast was ordered to shut down its online TV service forever in a permanent injunction issued yesterday by a federal judge. The order came two weeks after the judge gave major broadcast networks a big victory in their copyright case against Locast, a nonprofit organization that provided online access to broadcast TV stations.

Locast will have to win on appeal in order to stream broadcast channels again. Locast already suspended operations after the September 1 ruling that said it does not qualify for a copyright-law exemption available to nonprofits, so the permanent injunction doesn't change the status quo.

US District Judge Louis Stanton cited a December 2019 agreement between Locast and the networks that limited the scope of the litigation and said a permanent injunction should be entered if the court determines that Locast does not qualify for the copyright-law exemption. The deal did not prohibit Locast "from applying for a stay of the permanent injunction pending appeal, nor to bar the broadcasters from opposing any such stay," the agreement said.

ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC motioned for a permanent injunction after the September 1 ruling. The judge's order yesterday said the defendants "are permanently restrained and enjoined from operating Locast" but that "entry of an injunction will provide opportunity for appeal contemplated by the agreement."

The case is in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, and Locast could appeal to a federal appeals court. We asked Locast today whether it plans to appeal and will update this article if we get a response. Locast attorney R. David Hosp previously said the company "remains committed to its mission of delivering free, local broadcast TV service to all Americans," so an appeal seems likely.

Locast lost because it used revenue to expand

The broadcast networks sued Locast in July 2019, alleging that the nonprofit "must have a license to retransmit copyrighted television programming" even though the TV channels are available over the air for free. Locast argued that its service is legal because US copyright law allows secondary transmissions by nonprofit organizations if they receive no "commercial advantage" and do not charge users anything more than what's "necessary to defray the actual and reasonable costs of maintaining and operating the secondary transmission service."

Stanton ruled that Locast doesn't qualify for that exemption because it uses payments from viewers to fund its expansion into new geographic markets. "[u]nder the statute, income made from charges to recipients can only be used to defray the actual and reasonable costs of maintaining and operating the service, not of expanding it into new markets," Stanton found.

The free version of Locast's service interrupted programming every 15 minutes with requests for donations; users could disable the ads by paying $5 a month. Users who couldn't easily pay that fee could request that the service stop displaying donation requests based on their financial circumstances.

Locast also got donations from pay-TV providers such as AT&T, but direct payments from users accounted for $4.37 million of Locast's $4.52 million in revenue in 2020, the judge's ruling said. "On those undisputed facts, in 2020 Locast made far more money from user charges than was necessary to defray its costs of maintaining and operating its service," Stanton wrote.

Ruling enabled “callous profiteering”

Before suspending operations, Locast said it was streaming broadcast stations in 36 geographic markets containing 55 percent of the US population. Those markets included New York City, Los Angeles, the District of Columbia, Miami, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle, and San Francisco.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which is representing Locast in court, previously said the ruling on the copyright-law exemption "demonstrates once again how giant entertainment companies use copyright to control when, where, and how people can receive their local TV broadcasts and drive people to buy expensive pay-TV services to get their local news and sports. We are disappointed that the court is enabling this callous profiteering that tramples on Congress's intent to ensure local communities have access to news that's important to people regardless of their ability to pay."
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...opyright-loss/

















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