https://arab.news/y4w47
DUBAI: Ledger, a leading organization offering digital storage for cryptocurrencies, has partnered with Arts DAO, a NFT and Web3 community in the Middle East, to provide hardware wallet solutions for the latter’s UAE-based members.
Art DAO is a collector’s decentralized autonomous organization and Web3 business that focuses on two pillars: community and consulting.
Ledger was founded in 2014 in France by eight specialists with backgrounds in embedded security, cryptocurrency, and entrepreneurship, to develop secure solutions for blockchain applications.
The company has sold over 5 million devices around the world and is responsible for securing 20 percent of all crypto assets stored globally.
To celebrate the partnership, the two companies launched “100 Ledger NFTs,” marking Ledger’s first such collection. Arts DAO also provided community members with branded ledgers, allowing NFT owners to claim a physical Ledger hard wallet.
Cryptocurrencies have garnered a bad reputation due to the illegal activities of some exchanges, most notably FTX.
“Following the crash of FTX, more and more people realized that centralized exchanges are not flawless, and assets can easily be lost if you do not take custody of your crypto yourself,” Danosch Zahedi, co-founder of Arts DAO, told Arab News.
Similarly, Celsius Network, a crypto lender, landed in trouble earlier this month, after a US bankruptcy judge ruled that the company owns most of the cryptocurrency that customers deposited into its online platform, meaning most Celsius customers will be last in line for repayment.
“These two major news stories have reinforced the importance that, if you believe in decentralization and decentralized finance, then keeping your cryptocurrencies in self-custody through ‘cold storage’ or hardware wallets is the safest method,” Zahedi explained.
When someone buys a cryptocurrency, they receive a private key, which is a piece of data required to approve transactions on the blockchain. Anyone with access to the key can use the funds, which is why Arts DAO advises consumers to use a hardware solution such as one offered by Ledger.
When the private key is stored offline in a hardware wallet, it cannot be accessed online, which means that if, for example, an individual’s computer is hacked, the hacker won’t be able to access the private key, and therefore their crypto assets.
“As we say in crypto, ‘Not your keys, not your crypto,’ which refers to the lack of a private seed-phrase or key-phrase which grants you access to your cold storage,” Zahedi added.
Following illegal activities in the crypto space, regulatory authorities are working on solutions to secure the growing industry.
For example, the UAE’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has started to collect information about all crypto entities in the country, and requires the self-disclosure of all activities.
“This disclosure is one step in the process for regulatory bodies to better map out the various entities in the crypto and digital assets space, and it is the first step to better regulate and help support these companies to do business in a controlled environment where hopefully future scandals like the ones we’ve recently seen can be prevented,” said Zahedi.
Regulation is critical given the UAE’s investment in Web3, which Zahedi believes is here to stay.
“To say that NFTs or other Web 3 technologies are a fad is to renounce the technology as a whole, and the revolutionizing properties it brings,” he said.
“NFTs had a good run within the digital art space and are now a multibillion-dollar industry,” but the future, he said, lies in the tokenization of assets. “Almost any physical asset can be tokenized through an NFT, which enables the unlocking of liquidity in traditional assets that were previously considered illiquid,” he explained.
Still, the industry is in its nascent stages with a few early adopters, and there is some time to go until it reaches mass adoption. However, when it does, it will be as ubiquitous as smartphones today.
By the time the industry reaches mass adoption, Zahedi said, “the barrier to entry will be so low and seamless, that most people will not even notice that they own a NFT.”
LONDON: A ransomware attack undermined The Guardian’s systems last month exposing UK staff personal data but not subscribers’ information to theft, the Guardian Media Group has confirmed.
The news was revealed on Wednesday by the group’s chief executive, Anna Bateson, and the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, in an update emailed to staff.
The Guardian stressed it had no reason to believe the personal data of readers and subscribers had been accessed.
The incident was a “highly sophisticated cyberattack involving unauthorized third-party access to parts of our network,” The Guardian senior management wrote.
They highlighted the attack was most likely triggered by a phishing attempt in which a target was tricked into downloading malware.
But, according to the email message to staff, there was no evidence of data being exposed online, meaning the risk of fraud was potentially low.
Also, it was not believed that the personal data of Guardian US and Guardian Australia staff had been accessed either.
The Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data watchdog, has been informed of the attack, as well as the British police.
The attack was detected on Dec. 20 last year and targeted parts of the company’s technology infrastructure.
The Guardian has been using external experts to gauge the extent of the attack and to recover its systems.
According to a government report last year, two-in-five UK businesses had reported cybersecurity breaches or attacks in the previous 12 months.
ALULA: Free photography workshops being run for young people in AlUla will continue until Jan. 25, organizers announced on Thursday.
The sessions, offered under a collaboration agreement between global imaging company Canon and the Royal Commission for AlUla, are part of the RCU’s efforts to regenerate the region as a global cultural and natural heritage tourist destination.
The workshops are being run at the Madrasat Addeera center and involve students making site visits to capture images of AlUla in line with UN sustainable development goals.
Photography locations include the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Hegra, AlUla Old Town, AlUla oasis, the Maraya multi-purpose venue, and various community sites.
An exhibition of the students’ photographs is planned for February in AlUla’s arts district of Al-Jadidah during AlUla Arts Festival.
An RCU-Canon panel of judges selected 14 participants, aged between 14 and 18, from 100 applicants for the program.
The workshops are being led by experts from Canon with assistance from previous AlUla course students, and cameras are provided by the company.
The tutoring aims to inspire, educate, and empower the group to tell their stories, in addition to providing them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to tackle sustainability issues using creativity and critical thinking.
The workshops tie in with the RCU’s strategic objectives which include diversifying the economy of AlUla and creating new career paths for young people, expanding the region’s emerging creative ecosystem, and growing the commission’s roster of high-end collaborations, which already include Ferrandi Paris, Piaget, and the Louvre Museum.
Hamad Al-Homiedan, the RCU’s arts enrichment and academia manager, said: “Collaboration with Canon provides a new lens through which we see AlUla’s creative and rewarding future. It teaches precise, practical skills to young people as we diversify the economy and empower the community.
“It awakens creativity and further positions AlUla as a sanctuary for the arts. And it broadens our impressive base of global alliances.”
Adam Pensotti, head of the Canon young people program for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, said: “Building on the fantastic success of the 2022 Canon young people program in AlUla, it is a pleasure to be looking ahead to our 2023 program.
“The creative work produced by young people in AlUla in 2022 was amongst the best that I have seen across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and it is great to see Canon continue the successful partnership with the RCU into a second year,” he added.
Canon’s Middle East operation also collaborated with the commission in May last year at AlUla Arts Festival to train young people in visual storytelling.
LONDON: Media advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, has urged Iran’s government to stop its increasing prosecution and abuse of reporters covering the country’s human rights protests.
“Iranian authorities must drop all the dubious charges against journalists detained for covering protests in the country, and should free them immediately and unconditionally,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.
“By issuing heavy sentences against journalists, in some cases in excess of what the law allows, authorities are showing the lengths they are willing to go to silence the press.”
Since the beginning of the protests in mid-September that erupted across the country following the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, Iran’s authorities have arrested 88 journalists, according to the media group.
Sources said authorities accused journalists of “spreading propaganda against the ruling system” and “colluding and acting against national security.” The reporters were given heavy sentences including long prison terms, lashes with whips, bans on working or leaving the country, and mandatory community service.
Under the Iranian penal code, the sentence for disseminating propaganda carries a prison term of up to one year, and for collusion up to five years.
However, the CPJ reported that most members of the press have received sentences in excess of the legal maximum for these two offenses.
The media watchdog also confirmed that at least five people — freelance reporters Vida Rabbani and Mehrnoosh Tafian, and photojournalists Aria Jaffari, Yalda Moaiery and Ahmadreza Halabisaz — received harsher sentences but are free while their appeals are pending.
According to the CPJ, journalists imprisoned in Iran have been frequently denied legal representation and due process, and those fortunate enough to be released on bail are often forced to pay exorbitant sums.
LOS ANGELES: Golden Globes television ratings slumped to a new low of just 6.3 million viewers, even as the troubled award show tried to bounce back from its recent scandals, broadcaster NBC’s preliminary figures showed Wednesday.
The audience on Tuesday night fell from 6.9 million in 2021 — itself a massive drop suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic, when award shows were held remotely — and was down from more than 18 million in 2020.
The Globes were not televised at all last year, when NBC pulled the plug due to outrage over the lack of diversity and alleged ethical shortcomings of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organizes the awards.
Tuesday’s ratings — the lowest ever for a full Golden Globes gala on NBC, and marginally higher than the audience for a stripped-down press conference held to announce winners during the Hollywood writers’ strike in 2008 — will add to uncertainty over the Globes’ future.
The event has no television deal currently in place from next year. NBC tore up its longstanding multi-year Globes broadcast deal, and only agreed to bring back this year’s show on a one-off basis.
Still, the 80th Golden Globes on Tuesday night saw many A-list stars return to the event’s Beverly Hills gala, with Steven Spielberg winning best director, Colin Farrell collecting best actor in a comedy, and Eddie Murphy receiving a lifetime achievement award.
While the presence of so many stars suggested many in Hollywood are happy with the reforms the HFPA has recently enacted — including the admission of Black members, after a Los Angeles Times expose revealed the group had none — questions remain.
A plan by US billionaire Todd Boehly to spin off the awards show into a for-profit entity and pay salaries to members has raised eyebrows.
And several prominent winners did not attend on Tuesday, citing scheduling difficulties, including Cate Blanchett, who best actress in a drama for “Tar.”
In an email to AFP, an NBC spokesman pointed out that the “Globes historically airs on Sunday nights,” when ratings are usually higher, and in previous years benefited from following an NFL game on the channel.
The awards were moved to a Tuesday evening slot this year to avoid clashing with the wildly popular American football league.
Updated final figures including ratings from streaming platform Peacock, which also showed the Globes live on Tuesday, will be issued at a later date.
Live television ratings have slumped generally for awards show in recent years, as younger audiences in particular change the way they consume entertainment, gravitating more toward social media and streaming.
But the Oscars last March bounced back significantly from their pandemic slump, recording over 16 million US viewers, up from around 10 million a year earlier.
At Tuesday night’s Globes, Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” was named best drama and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Farrell, won best comedy.
DUBAI: Rotana Music Group and TikTok have signed a licensing agreement for the short-form video app to access Rotana’s catalog of Arab music. Its portfolio includes prominent artists such as Mohammed Abdo, Abdul Majeed Abdullah, Rabeh Saqer, Amr Diab, Elissa, Tamer Hosny and Najwa Karam.
“The creative culture in (the Middle East and North Africa) is so vibrant and diverse, and this agreement will enhance the exchange of music content while promoting and supporting local artists on a proven leading platform for short-form videos,” said Rotana CEO Salem Al-Hendi.
Hari Nair, head of music for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia at TikTok, said: “Rotana Music Group represents some of the greatest names in music, spanning multiple genres and countries, and we know our community will be inspired by this repertoire for their own video creations.”
TikTok is “committed to licensing and ensuring a broad, diverse range of sounds in our library for our global community to enjoy,” Nair added.
