The number of leaked pirate screeners has dropped to an all-time low. Thus far, only three screeners of Oscar contenders have been released, which slashes the previous low in half. While it may be tempting to conclude that Hollywood finally has the screener problem under control, shortening release windows and online streaming premieres appear to be the main driver.
Source: Pirated Screener Leaks Drop to New Low as Release Windows Shorten * TorrentFreak
Source: Google signs news content deals with Italian publishers
Iconic Music Group (IMG) formally announced the high-profile catalog acquisition this morning. Neither party specified the financial terms of the deal, but the transaction encompasses all the masters that the Tucson, Arizona, native Linda Ronstadt owns from across her approximately four decades in music, as well as her share of royalties from masters that she does not possess.
Source: Linda Ronstadt Sells Entire Catalog to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Music Group
Like the stoic protagonists in an Oscar-winning film, the NFL and traditional TV networks just can’t quit each other. But the league took its first big step toward moving on to a new love this past week, pocketing $10 billion over 10 years from Amazon as the league formally renewed rights on nearly all its TV packages through the early 2030s.
Source: What the New NFL Rights Deals Say About the Future of Sports on ‘TV’
City of London police are warning students not to use Sci-Hub because it’s illegal and potentially dangerous. At the same time, universities are encouraged to block the site. The warning stands in sharp contrast to the academic reality, where even the publishers who rally against Sci-Hub, reference Sci-Hub ‘publications’ on their sites. Apparently, researchers are so used to the site that they happily cite it.
Source: UK Police Warn Students Not to Use Sci-Hub But Publishers ‘Promote’ It * TorrentFreak
Copyright management company Pex asks the Copyright Office for a DMCA anti-circumvention exemption to scrape online sevices such as YouTube. “Crawlers that collect data and content present on UGC platforms and allow rights holders to know where and when their works are being used illegally, a practice colloquially referred to as ‘web scraping,’ are regularly blocked by platforms,” Pex informs the copyright office.
Source: Pex Asks Copyright Office for a DMCA Exemption to Find Pirated Content * TorrentFreak
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is working on a public awareness campaign to combat online piracy and counterfeiting. This plan is welcomed by copyright holders, who offer several suggestions for its implementation. According to the Copyright Alliance, online services should play a key role in educating and warning users about the costs and risks of piracy.
Source: US Government Works on Consumer Awareness Campaign to Combat Piracy * TorrentFreak
Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) present a host of exciting opportunities for GLAMs (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) in the digital world. These range from the development of models or algorithms perfected through data processing, to mining, analyzing and enriching datasets with new metadata. While these opportunities are likely to propel GLAMs forward through their digital transformation, they also raise questions in the area of copyright.
A community of Roblox users are losing a battle against moderation as the platform cracks down on music piracy, due to the platform’s newly public status bringing with it a new level of responsibility. Commercial music is now disappearing from the platform and users are not happy about it. In recent weeks Roblox has been blocking users, muting unauthorised audio playback and removing results when searching for artist music on its developer platform.
In an effort to make the process of uploading a video and receiving ad revenue easier, YouTube is rolling out a new tool called “Checks” that tells a creator ahead of time if their video contains copyrighted material and complies with advertising guidelines. The new feature screens uploads for copyrighted content, which could lead to takedowns or copyright holders claiming ad revenue, and whether the video runs afoul of advertising guideline issues.
Source: YouTube can now warn creators about copyright issues before videos are posted