DMCA Archives - Stuff South Africa

Twitch makes nice with music publishers, promising new opportunities for artists and streamers

Max Milella — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 09:30:30 +0000

Twitch has had a long and tumultuous history with the music industry, causing frustration for both streamers and publishers alike. Publishers are concerned with the streaming platform allowing streamers to stream their music without proper licensing, resulting in many content creators receiving Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) strikes and having their content taken down.

Similarly, some content creators feel that they have been wrongfully DMCA struck for music they feel they should have been allowed to use. Some DMCA strikes have been particularly bizarre, such as when Dragonforce guitarist Herman Li had his account suspended for performing his own music on stream last year.

Twitch and the NMPA make music together

Things appear to be looking up for publishers and creators alike though. Twitch has now made a vague announcement that it and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) have agreed to work together in future. The pair have promised to “build productive partnerships between the service and music publishers,” according to The Verge.

Again, things are still a little vague here, but one big item is that Twitch is implementing a new reporting process for publishers to utilise when pointing out unlicensed music being used by a streamer. The aim of this system is to better deal with streamers accidentally using music they shouldn’t be in their streams, so that they aren’t penalised as severely as those who may be knowingly using unlicensed tracks. However, it’s important to note that this isn’t an amendment to the standard DMCA strike process, rather, it’s an additional one. So the DMCApocalypse might not be over yet.

Additionally, the agreement points towards collaboration events in future, such as “virtual shows” and “studio sessions”. The former sounds similar to Spotify’s own virtual events. That said, Twitch hasn’t mentioned anything about purchasing more licenses so that its content creators are less likely to be unwittingly DMCA struck. How much this new agreement really impacts them in any meaningful way remains to be seen.

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Microsoft attempts to fix leaky pipes, issues takedown notices for leaked Windows 11 build

Duncan Pike — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 10:09:25 +0000

Last week we reported that an early build of Microsoft’s next operating system, Windows 11, had leaked onto the web. With this leak, as with any such leaks and ‘insider scoops’ of this nature, there is much caution needed and many pinches of salt to be taken here. The key word is ‘early’ — there’s no knowing how far back in development the liberated OS originated.

This week, it appears this newly leaked build is now the subject of a copyright takedown request issued by Microsoft Japan. The takedown notice, issued to Google, is meant to expedite the removal of links to pages where the ISO file of the leaked Windows is hosted.

Microsoft asks nicely

In the takedown request, Microsoft specifically mentions “a leaked copy of the unreleased Windows 11”. So that pretty much confirms the name then. It also confirms that this is “the next generation of Windows” the company is set to debut on 24 June.

With all this being said, it would still be wise to err on the side of caution. The now confirmed Windows 11 early build is still just that — an early build. The chances are very high that it will receive changes, for better or for worse, before it is officially released to the world.

Source: TechRadar

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Light Start: Nyan Cat sells super high, AI helps crickets dry, AR glasses worn by some guy and Metallica asks Twitch, “Why?”

Brad Lang — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 08:37:48 +0000

Leaked concept videos show Samsung’s idea for AR glasses

The idea of augmented reality glasses is one that feels like it belongs in the far-flung future and yet more and more companies are beginning to pursue the idea. In a series of leaked videos, posted by notable leaker WalkingCat, Samsung is seemingly developing something called The Glasses Lite, AR glasses that will allow users to watch videos, chat with friends and even get work down all by sitting some lenses on the bride of their nose. One of the videos was just dedicated to showing off everything The Glasses Lite can do, even highlighting a tint mode that turns them into sunglasses, while the other video went more in-depth on the work front.

Titled “The Next Wearable Computer”, the video discusses how work can be conducted using AR glasses. The highlights include a virtual workspace, holographic calls and even 3D simulations like something you’ve no doubt seen in Tony Stark’s workshop. It’s all a little too far fetched for us right now and while these videos do genuinely seem authentic, one has to believe such a product is a long way off. Still, the video of the man using The Glasses Lite in his own home (presumably) is ridiculous. Can you imagine just hanging out in your lounge wearing sunglasses? Ridiculous.

Source: Engadget

Metallica sure sounded weird at BlizzConline this weekend…

Ah, the dreaded DCMA strike. Something so often misunderstood and abused on the internet that Twitch would rather make itself look like a fool than risk being struck down by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Over the weekend, Metallica graced the virtual stage of BlizzConline to wrap up the evening’s presentation but certain viewers were left very confused. While the band’s beloved “For Whom The Bell Tolls” was played on the official Blizzard stream and Blizzard’s YouTube channel, viewers on Twitch Gaming were graced with the sounds of… well, not Metallica. In fact, it wasn’t even metal. It sounded more like the ambient forest music you’d expect to hear in a cheap fantasy game.

Thus is the state of Twitch as the streaming platform chose to replace Metallica’s music with stock audio to avoid a potential DCMA. Twitch has been notorious for not monitoring or maintaining consistent rules for the DCMA process. As for Metallica, it’s more than a little ironic as the lawsuit the band filed against music-sharing website Napster over a decade ago is considered to be one of the starting points of the DCMA legislature. Twitch is obviously embarrassed about the dub as the VOD of BlizzConline has been removed from the site but you can still see it in all it’s glorious hilarity here.

Source: The Verge

Keen on eating crickets? AI can now farm the crunchy morsels

Scientists have said numerous times that the way to solve world hunger is to simply eat things we don’t want; these include worms, tomatoes and crickets. Crickets are probably the best option as the protein within them almost equals that of traditional meats and their environmental footprint is remarkably low. The process of scoffing down a plate of crickets might become much easier as a team of engineers lead by Aspire Food Group is in the process of developing the first automated manufacturing for cricket farming. Yum!

It’s a fairly robust development project too as the process will include automation, robotics and full-on AI to control the process. The AI, developed by DarwinAI, will be doing a load of heavy lifting, including monitoring such minute details as videos of the crickets just going about their day to day lives while also constantly optimising the environment for optimal cricket growth and reproduction. “One example is fluctuating the environment based on input signals to maximize cricket yield. Operators can leverage the insights from our system to adjust critical variables, like humidity control,” said DarwinAI CEO Sheldon Fernandez.

The manufacturing plant will open in 2022 and aims to produce around 20,000 metric tons of cricket-based products every year.

Source: TNW

Remastered “nyan cat” art sold for roughly $605K

The world of fine art auctions is a strange place but you know how you make it even weirder? Introduce cryptocurrency and rainbow cats. Auction company Christie’s is hosting its first-ever auction of digital-only artwork with the help of NFT (non-refundable tokens) and while the actual event has kicked off yet, there’s already been a tremendous sale. A remastered version of the famous and beloved Nyan Cat animation by Chris Torres has sold for the equivalent of $605, 382.

We say equivalent because the NFT process allows buyers of products to more accurately verify the original owner or creator of a digital item, which is obviously essential for digital artwork. The buyer of the Nyan Cat animation spent 300 Ether, a cryptocurrency that uses Ethereum blockchain, to own the spruced-up version of the meme. “…thanks for believing in Nyan Cat all these years. I hope this inspires future artists to get into #NFT universe so they can get proper recognition for their work!”, tweeted out Chris Torres after the sale was concluded.

Source: Engadget

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Netflix dishes out copyright claims to tweets criticising a trailer

Brad Lang — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 10:46:43 +0000

Netflix is rather upset about everyone criticising Cuties, a film that’s seen its fair share of controversy across the world for some themes that many have seen as inappropriate. Netflix is reportedly issuing DMCA takedown notices to anyone who bad-mouths the film on social media which is pretty shady no matter what your views on the subject matter at hand.

Cuties is a French film that tells the story of a young girl rebelling against her parent’s conservative, traditional culture. In doing so, she begins to dance provocatively and become active on social media to express aspects of her identity that she hasn’t properly grappled with or understands entirely. The film has received a great deal of public backlash due to its depiction of children, most especially in the United States where the film’s marketing as hailed as perverse and inappropriate. Thus, people flocked to social media to complain about Netflix supporting Cuties.

The issues grew to such an extent that Netflix was indicted by a Texan judge and forced to speak on the matter to which the streaming service commented by saying, “Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children,” and that “(The) charge is without merit and we stand by the film.”

It seems they may be standing by the film a little too closely as social media users have reported that they’ve begun having their posts about Cuties taken down due to a copyright violation. Now, some tweets have shown clips of the movie so some kind of strike seems passable there. Yet many tweets have simply included a video of the movie’s trailer, a piece of media that’s open to being shared by the public, and they too have been blocked by Netflix.

Within the last month, according to TorrentFreak, Netflix has sent out roughly 300 DMCA claims to Twitter alone and more than half were targeting people that tweeted negative feelings towards Cuties. It’s a strange situation indeed and focused enough that Netflix clearly knows exactly what it’s doing.

Speaking to TorrentFreak, one Twitter user who shared the trailer in their post said, “Someone posted the trailer and I retweeted it and stated how I felt about the movie. I believe people have the right to be upset about the movie. If people share the trailer and say ‘go watch it,’ it’s not a problem, but if someone disagrees with it, it’s a problem.”

Netflix has yet to comment on the matter. 2020 has been a wild year, folks.

(Source: Ars Technica)

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