iWorld
Appeals Court allows Netflix to proceed with lawsuit challenging Fox’s employment contracts
MUMBAI: A California court has finally paved the way for Netflix to take on 20th Century Fox. Cancelling an appeal from Fox, a three-judge panel has allowed the streaming giant to take forward a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate Fox’s fixed-term employment agreements.
The conflict between the two giants in the global entertainment industry started back in 2016. Two executives of the company including Tara Flynn, a former development executive at Fox 21 TV Studios and Marcos Waltenberg, a former Fox film marketing executive left the company in that year.
Fox, infuriated by the incidents, sued Netflix blaming the latter for illegally poaching two of its executives and encouraging to break employment contracts.
Following the suit, Netflix responded with a counter-suit alleging those deals were unenforceable. It also argued that Fox was compelling employees to stay in the company against their will.
Fox sought to throw out the Netflix countersuit with an anti-SLAAP motion arguing that it concerned protected speech. However, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected the motion. Again, the appeal court judges upheld the ruling. After the decision, the initial suit and the counter-suit will now proceed at the trial court level.
“The acts that supply the elements of Netflix’s claims are Fox’s alleged business practices of utilizing fixed-term agreements with allegedly unlawful and restrictive clauses and selectively determining which employees will be allowed to terminate those contracts early,” the judges found as per media reports.
iWorld
What SMS letters G, T, S and P mean and how they help spot scams
Small alphabet tags on messages reveal whether texts are government or ads.
MUMBAI: Sometimes the smallest letter in a message can be the biggest clue. In an age where smartphone users receive dozens of alerts every day, the tiny alphabet appearing at the end of many SMS messages can reveal whether a text is official, transactional, service related or simply promotional. Understanding these tags can help users quickly identify legitimate messages and stay alert to potential scams.
Under telecom regulations in India, SMS senders are required to categorise messages based on their purpose. As a result, many texts end with a single letter that indicates the type of communication being sent.
If an SMS ends with the letter G, it typically means the message has been sent by a government authority. These alerts may include information about public services, government schemes, safety advisories or emergency notifications such as natural disaster warnings.
A message ending with the letter T signals a transactional SMS. These are usually sent by banks, financial institutions or digital services to confirm activities such as payments, account updates or one time passwords (OTPs).
The letter S represents a service related message. These notifications commonly come from companies and online platforms providing updates about services or orders. For instance, e commerce platforms like Amazon or Flipkart often send delivery updates and order confirmations that end with the letter S.
Meanwhile, SMS messages ending with the letter P are promotional in nature. These texts are typically marketing communications sent by businesses advertising products, offers or services such as education programmes, fashion sales or loan schemes.
Understanding these simple tags can also help users stay cautious about fraudulent messages. Cybersecurity experts note that scam messages often do not follow these regulated formats and may arrive without any category letter at the end.
While the absence of a tag does not automatically mean a message is fraudulent, it can serve as an early warning sign encouraging users to verify the source before clicking links or sharing personal information.
For those who wish to reduce marketing texts altogether, telecom operators also provide Do Not Disturb (DND) options.
Users of Jio can activate DND through the MyJio app by navigating to the menu, selecting settings and enabling the DND option with preferred filters.
Similarly, subscribers of Airtel and Vi can enable the same feature through their respective mobile apps to block promotional messages.
In a digital world flooded with alerts and notifications, recognising what a single letter means could make the difference between a harmless update and a potential scam.
