Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission + - GitHub Warns Users Reposting YouTube-DL They Could Be Banned (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: On October 23, 2020, the RIAA decided on action to stunt the growth and potentially the entire future of popular YouTube-ripping tool YouTube-DL. The music industry group filed a copyright complaint with code repository Github, demanding that the project be taken down for breaching the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA. While this was never likely to be well received by the hoards of people who support the software, the response was unprecedented. [...] One of the responses was to repost the content to Github itself, where hundreds of YouTube-DL forks kept the flame alight. A copy even appeared in Github’s DMCA notice repository where surprisingly it remains to this day. Now, however, Github is warning of consequences for those who continue to use the platform for deliberate breaches of the DMCA.

As previously reported, Github is being unusually sympathetic to the plight of the YouTube-DL developers. Most platforms are very happy to simply follow the rules by removing content in response to a DMCA complaint and standing back while declaring “Nothing to do with us folks.” Github, on the other hand, has actively become involved to try and get the project reinstated. Unfortunately, however, there is only so far Github can go, something the company made clear in a statement posted to its DMCA repository this weekend.

“If you are looking to file or dispute a takedown notice by posting to this repository, please STOP because we do not accept Pull Requests or other contributions to this repository,” wrote Jesse Geraci, Github’s Corporate Counsel. “Please note that re-posting the exact same content that was the subject of a takedown notice without following the proper process is a violation of GitHub’s DMCA Policy and Terms of Service. If you commit or post content to this repository that violates our Terms of Service, we will delete that content and may suspend access to your account as well,” Geraci wrote. This statement caused an update to Github’s earlier DMCA notice advice.

Submission + - Internet Archive adds fact checks to explain web page takedowns (engadget.com) 3

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Fact checking is increasingly a mainstay of the modern internet, and that now includes ‘dead’ web pages. The Internet Archive has started adding fact checks and context to Wayback Machine pages to explain just why they were removed. If a page was part of a disinformation campaign or pulled due to a policy violation, a conspicuous yellow banner will explain as much. The checks come from a variety of well-established outlets, including FactCheck.org, Politifact, the AP and the Washington Post. The archivists saw the fact checks as striking a balance between historical preservation and acknowledging the problems with resurfacing false info. It hoped users would “better understand what they are reading” in the archives. It’s also striving for neutrality — one banner for context explained that including a page in the Wayback Machine “should not be seen” as endorsing the content.

Submission + - SpaceX Will 'Make Its Own Laws on Mars' (independent.co.uk) 3

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: ‘No Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities,’ SpaceX claims

“Accordingly, disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.”

Submission + - 5 Million Shoppers' Images Collected At Malls Across Canada (ctvnews.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Without customers’ knowledge, more than five million images of Canadian shoppers’ were collected through facial recognition software used by Cadillac Fairview, a parent company of malls across the country, according to an investigation by privacy officials. The federal privacy commissioner reported Thursday that Cadillac Fairview contravened federal and provincial privacy laws by embedding cameras inside digital information kiosks at 12 shopping malls across Canada, and captured users’ images without their consent.

The facial recognition software installed in Cadillac Fairview’s “wayfinding” directories was called “Anonymous Video Analytics (AVA) and through cameras installed behind protective glass, was used in Canadian malls for a brief testing period in 2017 and then was in-use between May and July of 2018. The software took temporary digital images of the faces of any individual within the field of view of the camera inside the directory and converted the images into biometric numerical representations of each face and used that information to compile demographic information about mall visitors. According to a statement from Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien, the company said the goal of its cameras was to “analyze the age and gender of shoppers and not to identify individuals.” The corporation said that it did not collect personal information because the images were briefly looked at and then deleted, however the information generated from the images was being stored by a third-party contractor called Mappedin, which Cadillac Fairview said it was unaware of.

Submission + - Europe now accounts for 46% of global coronavirus cases (go.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: And nearly a third of total related deaths.

Fearing both the economic price of national lockdowns and the political backlash from citizens increasingly wearied of the restrictions on their livelihoods, government officials around Europe have been reluctant to shutter businesses to the extent that they did in the spring.

"But October also marks the beginning of the flu season in the northern hemisphere," the report read. "If both viruses surge simultaneously, even the best resourced health-care systems would be hard pressed to cope."

Still, a silver lining appears to be that the rate of deaths in Europe is not as high as it was during the first wave of the pandemic. Earlier this month, Hans Kluge of the World Health Organization said that while the situation in Europe is of "great concern," the morbidity rate has had a less dramatic curve than earlier in the spring.

Submission + - Glenn Greenwald has resigned from the Intercept (substack.com)

Submitted by imAck
imAck writes: Glenn Greenwald announced via Twitter recently that he has resigned from The Intercept (and First Look Media), the former being a media outlet that he co-founded. Purportedly, a recent attempt to constrain his editorial freedom was the incident that pushed him to make the decision.

Submission + - iOS 14's Upcoming Anti-Tracking Prompt Sparks Antitrust Complaint in France (macrumors.com)

Submitted by tsa
tsa writes: Starting early next year, iOS 14 will require apps to get opt-in permission from users to collect their random advertising identifier, which advertisers use to deliver personalized ads and track how effective their campaigns were. Ahead of this change, The Wall Street Journal reports that advertising companies and publishers have filed a complaint against Apple with France's competition authority, arguing that the enhanced privacy measures would be anticompetitive.

Submission + - asking Microsoft to resign from RIAA over youtube-dl takedown demand (sfconservancy.org)

Submitted by DuroSoft
DuroSoft writes: The folks over at the Software Freedom Conservancy have posted a public letter to Microsoft urging them to cease their membership in the RIAA over the recent spurious DMCA takedown of youtube-dl on GitHub, highlighting the many legitimate uses of youtube-dl as e.g. a tool for journalists and archivists which notably does not include any infringing material in its source code.

For the past few days the takedown story has rocked the open source world, dominating the front pages of Hacker News and Tech Dirt, alongside news of recent massive DMCA takedowns of millions of potentially fair use video clips on Twitch.tv without the ability for streamers to appeal.

Will Microsoft embrace their new role as conservator of GitHub and huge swathes of the open source community, or is their relationship with the RIAA more important than "microsoft 3 devs"?

Slashdot Top Deals

Drilling for oil is boring.

Close
OSZAR »