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Internal docs: Tumblr staff compiled users' data in preparation for deals where Automattic would sell the data to OpenAI and Midjourney to train AI tools — Join the newsletter to get the latest updates. — Success — Great! Check your inbox and click the link. — Error
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The Verge, @jasonkoebler@mastodon.social, @scottandrew@xoxo.zone, @michellemanafy@journa.host, @wonkeythemonkey …, Dead Pasts, Dread Futures, @mitten@social.lol, @bedirthan@dice.camp, @proprietor@wandering.shop, @paulknightly@mstdn.social, @rahaeli.bsky.social, @rahaeli.bsky.social, @Thorin@mastodon.social, Morten Rand-Hendriksen on LinkedIn, Art L. on LinkedIn, DOODLEMANCY, @theomegabit@infosec.exchange, Gizmodo, @danilo@hachyderm.io, @reillypascal@hachyderm.io, @ipstenu@tech.lgbt, @404mediaco@mastodon.social, mutatis mutandis, Tumbling Like Alice, Cassandraic, PIXEL ART and just like a centipede!, more at Techmeme »

Filing: OpenAI asks a US federal judge to dismiss parts of NYT's copyright suit, alleging it “paid someone to hack OpenAI's products” and violated OpenAI's TOS — OpenAI has asked a federal judge to dismiss parts of the New York Times (NYT.N) copyright lawsuit against it …
Chris Roush / Talking Biz News:
Unionized editorial workers at LexisNexis-owned Law360 authorize a strike; the union says the vote is partly due to planned layoffs after record profits in 2023 — Unionized editorial workers at LexisNexis-owned Law360 voted to authorize a strike Monday. — The union says the strike …
Discussion:
@law360union and NewsGuild of New York

A look at some government contractors that are helping US intelligence agencies and others use targeted mobile ads to track down people — Meet the guy who taught US intelligence agencies how to make the most of the ad tech ecosystem, “the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man.”
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@simontsui@infosec.exchange, more at Techmeme »

Julia Angwin launches Proof, a nonprofit studio aimed at elevating journalism by using the scientific method as a guiding ethos; Angwin is founder, CEO, and EIC — Hello world! — Welcome to Proof News. Proof is meant to be an answer to the existential question that journalists are struggling with right now: What is our purpose?
Discussion:
@juliaangwin, TechCrunch and @juliaangwin, more at Techmeme »

Sources: WBD is no longer pursuing a merger with Paramount, Skydance is doing due diligence, and Comcast is exploring commercial partnerships with Paramount — - Warner Bros. Discovery is no longer pursuing a merger with Paramount Global as its shares trade near a 52-week low, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Digiday, NBC 7 San Diego, Quartz, Fast Company, IndieWire, Alex Sherman on LinkedIn, New York Post, The Streamable, The Desk, Forbes, The Hill, Reuters, @lucas_shaw, The Wrap, NewscastStudio and Cord Cutters News

The FT launches a venture arm to invest in media and tech startups, starting with $1M for Charter, a media and insights company focused on the workplace — - The company has made several strategic minority investments to date, including one in the Business of Fashion.
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Media Voices and Talking Biz News

Authentic says it has recouped its ~$90M SI purchase via licensing; sources: SI has 1M print subs, breaks even, and Minute Media is a potential new publisher — LAS VEGAS — “This is Sports Illustrated, the party!” the DJ yelled. “Tonight is going to be legendary.”

Among premium SVODs, US subscriber growth fell from 21.6% YoY in 2022 to 10.1% YoY in 2023; 140.5M cancelled their subscriptions in 2023 vs. 104.3M in 2022 — The headlines suggesting that the boom times are over for streaming video have been unavoidable.
Discussion:
Quartz, IndieWire, Media Play News, Reuters and MediaPost

Mexican President Obrador reading aloud an NYT reporter's cellphone number during his widely broadcast morning presser shows perils of reporting in the country — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's repeated claims that he has a “political right” …
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Times, Committee to Protect …, Fox News, The Hill, The Daily Beast and Fox News

TikTok removes all songs published by Universal Music Publishing Group, expanding a licensing spat; at first only songs owned or distributed by UMG were removed — The bruising battle over royalties between Universal Music Group and TikTok entered a new and more severe stage in the early hours …

A look at the underground floppy disk music scene; Discogs data shows 500+ floppy music releases in the 2020s, more than in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s combined — The first computery thing I do in the year 2024 is nudge a 3.5-inch floppy disk into a USB floppy drive that I bought …