Facebook fails to stop users from sharing pirated movies
San Francisco, July 16 : Several Facebook groups are sharing pirated Hollywood movies to hundred of thousands of users and the social media giant's automated software are unable to stop copyright infringements, the media reported.
According to the Business Insider, these Facebook groups make no attempt to conceal catalogs brimming with the latest blockbusters like "Ant Man and the Wasp" and "A Quiet Place."
"These groups, some of which are years old, exist despite Facebook's army of human content moderators and automated software meant to detect copyright-infringing content, raising questions about the effectiveness of Facebook's content-policing systems," the report said on Sunday.
Some of the group's titles are "Full HD English Movie" which has more than 134,000 members and "Free full movies 2018" that has 171,000 members.
A Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying that "it wasn't the company's responsibility to take down such content unless asked to by the content's rights holders".
In its battle against pirated content, Facebook last year acquired a US-based startup Source3 to help it weed out pirated videos and other content that users share without permission.
"We're excited to work with the Source3 team and learn from the expertise they've built in intellectual property, trademarks and copyright. As always, we are focused on ensuring we serve our partners well," a Facebook spokesperson said at the time of the acquisition.
Facebook has been struggling to crack down on pirated content for a long time.
The company had in past announced "Rights Manager" technology to detect and remove video clips shared by people who do not have rights to the video.
According to the recent Facebook transparency report, it took down 2.8 million pieces of content based on approximately 370,000 user copyright reports in the second half of 2017.
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Two courts in Karnataka receive bomb threats, police launch probe
Dharwad/Mandya (Karnataka) (PTI): A bomb threat email was sent to the Karnataka High Court's Dharwad Bench and the district court in Mandya, prompting authorities to conduct extensive search operations on Monday, police said.
As a precautionary measure, lawyers and staff were evacuated from the court buildings in Dharwad and Mandya districts, they said.
Security personnel cordoned off the premises and carried out thorough checks, police said.
In Dharwad, Superintendent of Police Gunjan Arya visited the spot and inspected the High Court premises following the threat. Police launched a comprehensive search operation, and as a precautionary measure, everyone was evacuated from the building.
According to police, personnel from the bomb squad also reached the scene and continued the inspection.
Speaking to reporters in Dharwad, Arya said, "We are conducting a full inspection. Only our personnel are inside. The email message says the explosion would occur at 1:15 pm. We are gathering more information about the remaining details. The message also contains references to different states, so we cannot share further information at this moment."
In Mandya too, court proceedings were suspended following the bomb threat email. Judges, lawyers and litigants were evacuated from the premises.
The Bomb Disposal Squad, along with police, is carrying out a thorough search operation, officials said, adding that further investigation is underway.
