By Tali Arbel, AP Technology Writer
Locast, a service that streamed local TV for free in about three dozen U.S. cities, is suspending operations after losses in court against the broadcast industry.
The owners of the country's major broadcast TV networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — had sued Locast in 2019, saying Locast violated their copyrights, and asked for the service to be shut down.
Locast has held that because it is a nonprofit, it found a legal loophole in copyright law — it can stream the networks of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox without paying them. The companies that own the networks make billions annually in fees from cable companies who pay to include them in TV packages.
But a federal judge in New York ruled on Tuesday that Locast isn't protected by that exemption from copyright law. He said Locast is effectively charging users and using that money to expand its service, which he said isn't allowed under the law.
While Locast is free, users who didn't pay $5 a month would get an ad every 15 minutes asking for a donation.
The digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has defended Locast in court, said the judge "interpreted the law in an artificially narrow way" and that Locast was fulfilling Congress' mission to make sure that Americans had access to their local broadcast stations.
Locast has been around for years but flew under the radar as new streaming services emerged that grabbed people's attention. It had more than 3 million users, EFF said.
"As a nonprofit, Locast was designed from the very beginning to operate in accordance with the strict letter of the law, but in response to the court's recent rulings, with which we respectfully disagree, we are hereby suspending operations, effective immediately, " a press release Thursday from the company said.
The legal case will continue, including an appeal, to resolve the remaining issues, said EFF attorney Mitch Stoltz. He did not specify what those issues are.
The major broadcast networks are also available free in other ways, like with a TV antenna, which you can buy for under $10.
An attorney for the TV networks did not immediately respond.
Disney owns ABC, ViacomCBS owns CBS, Comcast's NBCUniversal owns NBC and Fox Corp. owns Fox.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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