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☆ To Boost Profits, Disney Cracks Down on Password Sharing
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Emily Schmall | More About Emily Schmall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Fans of “The Bear” won’t be able to use a friend’s Hulu account to watch Season 3. The Walt Disney Company, which owns Hulu, joined Netflix this week in banning password sharing in an effort to boost the company’s subscriber numbers and make its streaming services business profitable. In an email to its subscribers on Wednesday, Hulu said it would start “adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household,” beginning March 14. The company added that it would analyze account use, and that it could suspend or terminate accounts that shared login details beyond their households. On Jan. 25, Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, all services owned by Disney, updated their terms of service agreements to prohibit viewers from “using another person’s username, password or other account information” to access their content.

Persons: won’t, Hulu Organizations: Walt Disney Company, Hulu, Netflix, Disney, ESPN Locations: ”, Hulu

☆ Washington Man Pleads Guilty to Making Numerous ‘Swatting’ Calls
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Emily Schmall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A man in Washington State has pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from several hoax calls he made to law enforcement agencies in which he falsely reported bombs, shootings and other threats that sometimes led police officers to enter victims’ homes with their weapons drawn, prosecutors said. The man, Ashton Connor Garcia, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives, federal prosecutors said on Thursday. From June 2022 through March 2023, Mr. Garcia made 20 “swatting” calls to police in several states and Canada, according to court records. Mr. Garcia, who described himself as a “cyberterrorist,” would often broadcast these calls on the social platform Discord to “encourage others to watch and participate,” according to the plea agreement.

Persons: Ashton Connor Garcia, Garcia, ” Locations: Washington State, Canada

The genetic testing company 23andMe is being accused in a class-action lawsuit of failing to protect the privacy of customers whose personal information was exposed last year in a data breach that affected nearly seven million profiles. The lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in federal court in San Francisco, also accused the company of failing to notify customers with Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage that they appeared to have been specifically targeted, or that their personal genetic information had been compiled into “specially curated lists” that were shared and sold on the dark web. The suit was filed after 23andMe submitted a notification to the California Attorney General’s Office that showed the company was hacked over the course of five months, from late April 2023 through September 2023, before it became aware of the breach. According to the filing, which was reported by TechCrunch, the company learned about the breach on Oct. 1, when a hacker posted on an unofficial 23andMe subreddit claiming to have customer data and sharing a sample as proof. The company first disclosed the breach in a blog post on Oct. 6 in which it said that a “threat actor” had gained access to “certain accounts” by using “recycled login credentials” — old passwords that 23andMe customers had used on other sites that had been compromised.

Persons: 23andMe, ” Organizations: California Attorney General’s, TechCrunch Locations: San Francisco, California

☆ Electric Car Owners Confront a Harsh Foe: Cold Weather
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Emily Schmall | Jenny Gross | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

With Chicago temperatures sinking below zero, electric vehicle charging stations have become scenes of desperation: depleted batteries, confrontational drivers and lines stretching out onto the street. Mr. Spencer, 27, said he set out on Sunday for a charging station with 30 miles left on his battery. Within minutes, the battery was dead. “When I finally plugged it in, it wasn’t getting any charge,” he said. Recharging the battery, which usually takes Mr. Spencer an hour, took five hours.

Persons: ”, Javed Spencer, Uber, Bolt, Spencer Locations: Chicago

Residents in Billings, Mont., woke up to a temperature of minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit. In Des Moines, homeowners were digging out snow from a blizzard and facing wind gusts of 45 miles per hour. Towns and cities along the East Coast were bracing for possible flooding from yet more rain. And communities near the Gulf Coast are preparing for a deep freeze. MidwestAs of Saturday morning, blizzard warnings were in effect for most of Iowa, as well as for North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Organizations: National Weather Service Locations: Billings, Mont, Des Moines, Towns, East, United States, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska

☆ Chicago’s Latest Attraction? A Rat-Shaped Hole.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Emily Schmall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Winslow Dumaine was heading to a store on Chicago’s North Side when he saw it: a hole in the sidewalk on Roscoe Street with an uncanny resemblance to a rodent. Mr. Dumaine, who is an artist and comedian, said the hole represented two themes often present in his work: morbidity and whimsy. “Had to make a pilgrimage to the Chicago Rat Hole,” he wrote in a social media post this month, including a close-up photo of the concrete cutout. The post, which has since been viewed five million times, inspired an untold number of Chicagoans to make their own excursions to a quiet residential area of Roscoe Village, a neighborhood known for its cozy taverns, independent boutiques and old-fashioned bakeries.

Persons: Winslow Dumaine, Dumaine, “, ” Locations: Roscoe

One adjective was invoked more than any other to describe Sandra Day O’Connor immediately after her death at 93 on Friday: “trailblazing.”Justice O’Connor, the first woman on the United States Supreme Court, paved the way for generations of women in politics and law. Raised on a remote Arizona ranch, Justice O’Connor was remembered as much for being first as for her rugged independence on the court. Shortly after her death was announced by the Supreme Court, public figures from across the political spectrum praised Justice O’Connor on social media for her fearlessness, both in crashing through the judiciary’s glass ceiling and in casting swing votes on some of the nation’s most polarizing cultural issues, including abortion and affirmative action. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., a fellow conservative whose voting record on the court often echoes Justice O’Connor’s, praised her on Friday as a “fiercely independent defender of the rule of law.”

Persons: Sandra Day O’Connor, “, O’Connor, John G, Roberts, Justice O’Connor’s, ” Organizations: United States Supreme, Supreme Locations: Arizona

There are moments in life that stick in memory as a fulcrum between before and after. Rohit, Arti’s new husband, was with her, his presence a tangible sign of his support. But even as Arti awaited the starting gun, the crowd of candidates beside her made painfully clear how much competition she faced. So many candidates had traveled to the exam site, on a remote campus in Uttar Pradesh State, that there was nowhere to house them all. Arti, Rohit and Meena had slept in a local gurudwara, a Sikh place of worship, packed in with the other hopefuls and their chaperones.

Persons: Arti Kumari’s, Meena, Rohit, Arti’s, Arti Organizations: Uttar Pradesh State Locations: Uttar Pradesh

For Nasreen, getting to New Delhi after she ran away from her family and the betrothal they had arranged for her was a daring feat. In the winter, the air pollution was among the worst in the world, clinging to skin and choking lungs. In her family’s flat, she cooked on a stove that added to the heat and smoke. When she could get outside, she had to walk a gantlet of leering men who lined the sidewalks. Delhi inspired her to dream of a bigger life and connected her to people who could help her reach for it.

Persons: Nasreen, Bindu Locations: New Delhi, Delhi

For Indian families, a modest wedding is an oxymoron. It was no different for Arti Kumari’s parents, despite their limited means as an NGO worker and a subsistence farmer. As the wedding day grew closer, Arti was still waiting for notice of the date of her athletic test for the federal security force job she hoped to win. She would be marrying without a job — not the future she and her mother had worked so hard for. Nevertheless, her wedding would be an ornate, multiday affair.

Persons: Arti Kumari’s, Meena, Anil, Arti Locations: India’s

Arti Kumari, 22, crouched on a dusty dirt track in a runner’s lunge, waiting to spring forward as soon as her mother started the clock. Although Arti had risen before dawn to train, the oppressive heat bore down on her. It was May, and northern India was experiencing its worst heat wave in 45 years. She, like millions of other young people in India, dreamed of getting a job with India’s central government. Arti had already beaten the odds and passed the written exams for India’s Central Industrial Security Force, or C.I.S.F., a paramilitary corps responsible for guarding critical infrastructure.

Persons: Arti Kumari, Arti Organizations: Central Industrial Security Force Locations: India

As Nasreen Parveen ran, her mind focused on nothing but putting one foot in front of the other. Occasionally, for the briefest flash, she remembered the high window ledge and her decision not to jump. Finally, after more than four miles of running on torn, blistered feet, Nasreen reached the bus station. From there, a bus brought her to a train station in the nearest city. Staring at the ticket counter, Nasreen could think of only one place to go: New Delhi, India’s capital, where she had lived with her family.

Persons: Nasreen Parveen, Nasreen Locations: New Delhi

☆ What I Read and Watch to Decompress
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“India’s Daughters,” the special newsletter series that I created with my colleagues Emily Schmall and Shalini Venugopal Bhagat, premiered last week. There will be a new chapter on Friday, and you can catch up with the first installment here if you missed it. Longtime readers will probably guess that “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen, is at the top of my decompress-and-disconnect list. As someone who isn’t a particularly fervent fan of even real tennis matches, I find fictional ones pleasantly untaxing. I want to hear about things you have read (or watched or listened to) that you recommend to the Interpreter community.

Persons: “, ”, Emily Schmall, Venugopal Bhagat, I’ve, Jane Austen, that’s, Lydia Bennet, Witch, Melinda Taub, Amal El, Mohtar, “ Beckham, ” Netflix’s, David Beckham, Will, Kirsten Dunst, Paul Bettany, Nora Ephron, Margot Miller, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr Organizations: The Times, Times, Wimbledon Locations: Israel, Gaza, Geneva, ”, “ Beckham, Easton , Md

Nasreen Parveen decided to run for her life at the same moment she decided not to end it. But as she prepared to jump, she looked out and received a stunning, seemingly impossible glimpse into the future. The young woman plummeted to the ground, hit hard on her back and then lay in the dirt, grievously injured. Nasreen decided that the step into thin air, the drop and the dirt were not for her. But she was equally certain that she could not live the life that her family was trying to bind her to.

Persons: Nasreen Parveen, Nasreen

☆ From Rap Star to Engineer to Young Mayor Demolishing Swaths of Kathmandu
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Emily Schmall | Bhadra Sharma | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Before he aspired to Kathmandu’s highest office, Balendra Shah appeared on the city’s rooftops, a singer facing off in rap battles or filming music videos. His songs, which focused on poverty, underdevelopment and the rot he saw at the root of Nepal’s entrenched political culture, drew an avid following among the country’s youth. One song, “Balidan,” meaning “sacrifice” in Nepali, has drawn seven million views on YouTube. People supposed to protect the country are idiotsLeaders are all thieves looting the country“There’s a diss culture in hip-hop music,” he said in a recent interview. Balen, as he is known in Nepal, made an unlikely bid for mayor of Kathmandu, the Himalayan country’s capital, last May.

☆ Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crimes in El Paso Massacre That Killed 23
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Emily Schmall | More About Emily Schmall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Texas man who fatally shot 23 people and injured dozens more at a Walmart store in El Paso in 2019 pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal hate crimes and weapons charges in connection with the deadliest anti-Latino attack in modern United States history. Lawyers for the gunman, Patrick Crusius, said last month that he would change his plea to guilty days after federal prosecutors notified the court that they would not seek the death penalty. He has agreed to accept a sentence of 90 consecutive life terms, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. Mr. Crusius, 24, still faces trial on state capital murder charges, for which he could receive the death penalty. He appeared in U.S. District Court in El Paso on Wednesday afternoon, where he pleaded guilty to all 90 federal charges that he faced, including 45 hate crimes.

Persons: Patrick Crusius, Crusius Organizations: Walmart, Attorney’s, Western, Western District of, Mr Locations: Texas, El Paso, United States, Western District, Western District of Texas, U.S

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