So the main leaked info is email addresses? All the other information mentioned is public in Sweden, as far as I know. Well, apart from the fact that the victims use municipal trash services, I guess.

Yeah I don't know if that's worth 1.5 Bitcoin, extortionists.

I often wonder in such cases if the extortionists weren't scammed themselves. Buying access to exploits, tools, collection and laundering infrastructure etc. and being told it's a surefire way to get rich quick.

Swedish criminal gangs have been gaining especial notoriety lately, because they've started recruiting kids around 14 for assassination jobs on each other.

People, including the kids, think it's because the court system can't convict kids that young, so they get off with less punishment.

But it's not. The actual reason is that kids are easy to manipulate. Even a little older, you'd struggle to find even one 18 year old who could be convinced becoming a gang assassin was a cool idea.

And that's the mechanism at work here too. Hey kids, wanna work for Peter Thiel's totalitarian fever dream? It'll be cool and all, like, cyberpunk and stuff! Except you'll be on the winning side!

Really? You can't?

If your scheme was implemented, there would be a fantastic incentive to find ways to listen to your own music, even worse than today. Because not only would you make a ton of money on it, but you have to be quick about it because the service would be bankrupt by next month. Terminal looting phase.

You seem to think such things are easy to detect and filter out if you set your mind to it. Meanwhile, the whole web is practically breaking down - because it isn't easy.

Obviously, in that scheme Spotify would have to charge per streamed song too, and that would cause monthly payments to drop straight into the toilet. Neither Spotify or the record companies are that stupid.

Spotify's incentive is to keep people subscribed, and keep the record companies on board. For a decade, they were actually the best at fighting spam/fraud by a mile. (Then they fired the guy who did most of the spam-fighting for them. Worth noting here that the record companies actually own a huge chunk of Spotify).

For keeping people subscribed, Spotify's incentives are actually quite aligned with rights owners: they want the subscription model which collects most revenue. If a $1000 monthly subscription would make them more money, they would do that. If a $1 subscription would make them more money, they would do that (and indeed, that's closer to what the subscription costs in some parts of the world). If a pay-per listen model would bring in more revenue (lol) they'd do that too.

But for keeping record companies aboard, Spotify has a huge problem. Because no matter what Spotify does, the rights owners incentives are to cry bloody murder and fling shit, all the while pulling shit like this (you notice the beneficiary is a superstar who's also an industry bigwig? Somehow, he's not the one getting sued, funny that).

Spotify didn't set it up that way, the record companies did. Now some record companies are finding out maybe it would have been better to let the money follow the user (so that your listens don't affect where anyone else's subscription fees go), but now Spotify has adapted - likely with sweetheart deals with heavily playlisted background music providers - and resists change.

The scandal was that Tidal did not use bots. They likely used an SQL INSERT statement instead, bypassing the need for that. And the beneficiaries were the owners of the service - or rather, a few of them. They screwed over everyone else on the platform with their little stunt, including their celebrity friends.

poor people have more babies than wealthy people (Elon excluded)

Make that "Elon's fertility doctor". Or maybe "the guy carrying the sperm sample". There's no honor among eugenicists, why would there be?

"You wholeheartedly disagree" with the facts. If your theory was right, that it was that we suddenly decided to culturally devalue motherhood (never mind the question of why we would suddenly do that, I guess it's some sort of conspiracy), then why is it a global phenomenon, as OP points out? Why did Koreans, Finns and Chileans suddenly decide to devalue motherhood and stop letting little girls play with dolls at the same time?

"Represent our culture" eh? What is our culture then, in your opinion? I don't see many people with this attitude join Morris dancing groups, to put it like that. Or string quartets. If you do any culture at all it's usually some bizarre caricature version of the past with viking metal music etc.
And that's the best case. Worst case, it seems like you think "our Western culture" is about breeding and dominating, and complaining that you can't recruit enough women to your breeding and dominating project. In that case, why would you care if only some very distant cousins of you do the breeding and dominating after you're gone? Your culture will go on.

Unless the complaining is an essential part of it?

One word: rent.

Your username is Pr0nbot. Dissing on "childish" pop culture, but maybe your "adult" culture is part of the problem too?

Stating the obvious, but people who think winning is more important democracy, are by definition antidemocratic themselves.

Capitalism is fine with government picking winners and losers, as long as capital picks the government.

Taking and equity stake is a bit more than picking winners and losers though. That's getting dangerously close to "seizing the means of production". Right now they're getting compensated, sure, but what do you think Trump is going to do when HIS quantum company underdelivers?

Demanding equity instead of giving out subsidies is one of the more sensible things he's done, actually. Probably because he imagines himself as king forever. Otherwise he'd just done as politicians before him, buy shares privately before pumping government money into it (though I wouldn't be at all surprised if he does that too, certainly his doge goons do).

Wouldn't it be ironic, Trump being the one bringing the means of production under state control.

Your content has been removed because you look too much like Mr. Beast. If you think this removal is in error, we recommend plastic surgery to remedy the issue. Or you can file an appeal, but honestly, with the effort needed to succeed with that route, plastic surgery is probably less painful.