In today’s CMU Daily: Diddy’s third attempt to get bail has failed, despite him offering to pay a $50 million bond. The judge said there is a serious risk of witness tampering if Diddy is allowed to await trial on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking under house arrest rather than in jail 

Also today: HYBE division Ador is working hard to placate its artist NewJeans, who are big supporters of the label’s ex-CEO Min Hee-jin. As part of those efforts it has urged another HYBE label, Belift Lab, to apologise to member Hanni for comments allegedly made by one of its executives earlier this year

Plus: Earlier this year French broadcaster Canal+ secured a web-blocking order forcing three DNS resolvers to block access to sports piracy websites. On the back of that win it has secured yet more web-blocks, despite the tech companies insisting that forcing web-blocking on DNS resolvers is a bad idea 

Approved: Cosmic Crooner

Diddy’s latest bail attempt denied by judge because of “serious risk of witness tampering” - despite $50 million bond

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been denied bail yet again - the third attempt by his legal team to see him released from prison to await trial on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking - despite his lawyers proposing a $50 million bond and a plethora of restrictions that they said their client would adhere to. 

Judge Arun Subramanian said that there is “clear and convincing evidence” that there is “a serious risk of witness tampering” and that “no combination of conditions” would prevent that risk, even with $50 million at stake to guarantee Combs’ compliance with a bail order.

As an example of Combs’ past witness tampering, the judge cited the musician’s communications earlier this year, before his arrest in September, with a witness who was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury that was tasked with deciding whether criminal charges should be brought against the musician. 

Combs “initiated and had unexplained communications” with that witness before and after he testified before the grand jury. Lawyers representing Combs had “offered an explanation for some of these communications”, the judge said, but not all of them. Nor could they explain why Combs had deleted text message conversations he had with the witness. 

Those communications are all the more problematic because Combs’ lawyers told the court in September that their client “did not reach out to grand jury witnesses ... he didn’t do it and he wouldn’t do it”. 

There is also credible evidence, Subramanian added, “that Combs violated Bureau Of Prisons regulations during his pretrial detention to obscure his communications with third parties”.

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Ador tells fellow HYBE label to apologise to NewJeans’ Hanni over “ignore her” remark

Yet more highschool levels of drama in the world of K-pop as Ador issues a statement urging Belift Lab to publicly apologise to NewJeans member Hanni, following the allegation that a Belift Lab executive told members of fellow K-pop group Illit to ignore her when they crossed paths at HYBE’s HQ. 

Both Ador and Belift Lab are owned by K-pop giant HYBE, which is desperate to downplay the many recent Ador-related dramas to employees, shareholders and investors. Last month HYBE CEO Lee Jae-sang tried to reassure employees that things were getting back on track saying that the “knot would gradually untangle”, as HYBE’s fluctuating share price spooked investors in the company’s bonds.

The latest statement comes as Ador works hard to fix its relationship with NewJeans, who are strong supporters of the label’s ex-CEO Min Hee-jin, who was pushed out of the top job in August and formally resigned as a director of the label she co-founded last week. That resignation was not the end of Min’s very public feuding with HYBE though, and earlier this week she filed a criminal complaint against two communication executives who work for the K-pop powerhouse. 

Even before Min’s formal resignation, members of NewJeans submitted a list of grievances to Ador’s current management, with rumours that the group might terminate their contract with the label if the issues they raised weren’t dealt with. Today was reportedly the deadline for addressing those issues. 

Possibly anticipating that deadline, Ador issued a public statement yesterday addressing Hanni’s previous allegation against Belift Lab. 

In that statement Ador says that it has “maintained a cautious stance” since Belift Lab issued its own statement rubbishing Hanni’s claims. This - perhaps somewhat optimistically, given the proclivity for soap opera drama in the K-pop industry - was to “avoid unnecessary controversy involving our artists”. That bird may have flown though, and so Ador has now issued its statement in hope of “clarifying its position” in the continuing controversy.

More anti-piracy web-blocks issued in France against Cloudflare and Google DNS resolvers 

A flurry of additional web-blocking orders have been issued on copyright grounds in the French courts against DNS resolvers operated by Cloudflare and Google, despite both companies insisting that instigating such orders in a bid to tackle online piracy is “disproportionate” and “ineffective”.  

With web-blocking, copyright owners secure injunctions through the courts that order internet companies to block their customers from accessing specific piracy websites. 

Now available in many countries, web-blocking injunctions are most commonly secured against internet service providers, but can also be secured against other kinds of internet companies, an occurrence which is becoming increasingly common. 

These latest web-blocking orders were issued at the request of French broadcaster Canal+ and target websites that provide unlicensed streams of sporting events. 

However, the rulings are potentially useful for the music industry, which has long favoured web-blocking as an anti-piracy tactic, and which has been increasingly calling on DNS resolvers - which help direct traffic around the internet, routing URLs and domain-names to the underlying web services that serve content - to play their part in blocking piracy sites. 

Canal+ initially wanted web-blocking injunctions to force French internet service providers to block their customers from accessing over 100 pirate sport sites. 

Obtaining web-blocking orders that target ISPs is now pretty routine in multiple countries, as part of anti-piracy efforts. However, once an ISP puts a web-block in place, it is easy for customers to circumvent the block simply by switching to a third party DNS resolver, rather than using the built-in DNS resolution offered by their ISP.

🎧 Approved: Cosmic Crooner

Cosmic Crooner’s allure lies in his ability to straddle eras without losing his footing. The elusive European artist evokes a bygone sophistication while sidestepping nostalgia, creating something that feels timeless yet entirely present. With a smooth baritone and a flair for vivid storytelling, he’s carving out his own space in the lounge-pop lineage.

His latest single, ‘Mosquito In The Photo Booth’, draws heavily from bossa nova’s golden age, channeling influences like Jorge Ben Jor and Chico Buarque. The track dances with layered percussion, highlighted by the playful rhythm of the cuica, while subtle nods to Serge Gainsbourg and Leonard Cohen also leave their mark. 

“For this song I asked myself the question ‘What’s the use of an Egg Chair without a home?’” he explains. “I guess I used my passion for furniture to make some rich metaphors”. 

It’s this knack for marrying the slightly absurd with the intimate that allows Cosmic Crooner to transport listeners into vivid, luxurious soundscapes, guided by his raconteur’s wit.

🎧 Watch the video for ‘Mosquito In The Photo Booth’ here