News of the Week; February 13, 2019

GAMES

1. Judge orders $150,000 in damages in GTA Online cheating case
2. Federal court orders Grand Theft Auto V cheat creator to pay $150,000 
3. Gaming disorder diagnosis puts industry at risk – ESA: Acting president Stanley Pierre-Louis discusses World Health Organization’s gaming addiction concern, loot boxes, unions, and more
4. Konami ends sale of in-game currency for PES 2019 in Belgium
5. Konami halts sales of PES 2019 currency in Belgium over loot box ruling: “We fully respect the BGC’s interpretation of relevant laws,” says publisher 
6. Activision offers to refund some Guitar Hero Live players following GHTV shutdown
7. Following lawsuit, Activision starts refund program for Guitar Hero Live
8. Report: Activision Blizzard to make significant layoffs this week 8
9. Activision Blizzard share price slumps to two-year low: Reports of layoffs and expected earnings decline lead to further pessimism over publisher’s fortunes 
10. Activision-Blizzard Employees Brace For Massive Layoffs
11. Activision Blizzard sees “record year,” plans to lay off hundreds: Company prepares for “transition year” as it refocuses on development of core franchises, cuts back on admin and under-performing initiatives
12. Activision Blizzard reports historic financial gains amid major layoffs
13. Significant layoffs hit Activision Blizzard
14. Amid layoffs, Blizzard won’t release a “major” new game in 2019
15. Activision Blizzard reportedly shutters King’s Seattle studio: King communication manager confirms that Seattle and San Francisco studios have closed
16. Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy has sold over 10m units: Remake of classics reaches milestone less than two years after launch
17. Activision-Blizzard lays off 775 people after “record results in 2018”
18. Activision Blizzard Lays Off 800 Employees, Expects Revenue Drop And Few New Games In 2019
19. Activision Blizzard staff cuts largely hurt support teams, IT, QA, and publishing: Blizzard especially affected as company restructures gearing toward more new game releases over less time
20. The Fallout Of Activision Blizzard’s Massive Layoffs
21. Game Workers Unite sparks campaign to fire Activision Blizzard CEO following mass layoffs: “We, the workers of Activision and their friends, have had enough. Join us in saying that it’s time to #FireBobbyKotick,” says advocacy group
22. Activision split with Bungie because Destiny “was not meeting financial expectations”: COO Coddy Johnson reiterates that decision to part was mutual, is “right for both parties” 
23. For Activision, giving up Destiny 2 was the result of ‘missed financial expectations’
24. Following Activision Blizzard layoffs, King shuts down mobile studio Z2Live
25. King’s San Francisco studio closed in wake of Activision Blizzard layoffs
26. Swedish Tax Agency targets King with $389m fine: Skatteverket claims Candy Crush firm has disposed immaterial rights out of its home nation 
27. King signs Tech Talent Charter to drive diversity: Candy Crush Saga developer is first UK games company to pledge to the initiative
28. Blog: Being gay in the games industry – Research from the field
29. American Sign Language emotes added to Star Citizen
30. Don’t Miss: How devs design the Lego games to appeal to all ages
31. Video: How Overwatch’s gameplay architecture creates variety
32. Mobile games continue to drive App Store spending in the U.S.
33. Hardsuit shutting down Blacklight: Retribution to focus on new projects 
34. Putting Red Dead Redemption 2’s 23 million shipments in context
35. Shares slump for big four publishers after latest financials: Take-Two and Electronic Arts suffer the most but analyst maintains games industry still “in rude health” 
36. Fortnite alone can’t explain tumbling game stocks: The industry’s biggest firms have lost around 13% of their value in the past week, and many are down a third in recent months
37. Fortnite iOS revenue estimated at $500 million: Sensor Tower’s data shows Epic’s game reaching that milestone faster than Clash Royale and Honor of Kings
38. Fortnite Sparks a Battle Royale Over the Right to Use Dance Moves 
39. Epic claims it’s not really copying rapper 2 Milly’s dance in Fortnite
40. Epic critical of Fortnite dance lawsuit, urges court to dismiss case
41. Epic Games files for dismissal of 2 Milly’s Fortnite dance lawsuit: Developer insists dance routines are an “unprotectable idea” and claims rapper’s complain is “at odds with free speech” 
42. PUBG takes home Steam Awards 2018 Game of the Year
43. Zynga’s mobile games generated a record $228 million revenue last quarter  
44. Zynga CEO: It’s “too early to tell” if more will follow Epic’s anti-App Store stance – Frank Gibeau says casual games firm has a “great partnership” with both Apple and Google 
45. Zynga “turnaround now complete” as dev posts record mobile performance for 2018: Company reports second profitable year in a row after a lengthy period of recovery 
46. Zynga’s turnaround: How once-beleaguered game company plans for 2019 growth 
47. WWE Hall of Famer sues Activision for character copyright infringement: Booker T Huffman claims Black Ops 4 character too similar to his own comic book hero
48. EEDAR: Nintendo Switch attracting more women, wider age ranges over time – System on track to follow certain demographic trends of Nintendo predecessors rather than those of console competition
49. Switch missed hardware target because Nintendo didn’t ‘convey appeal’ of the system
50. Mario Maker 2 and a Link’s Awakening remake drive today’s Nintendo Direct
51. Nintendo plans to “boost” Switch Online after surge in short subscription plans: Proportion of single month subs is rising, Nintendo president expresses “critical” need to increase value of the service
52. Quality over quantity is Nintendo’s first-party focus as the Switch nears year 3
53. Nintendo: 3DS sales falling “faster than anticipated”
54. 3DS sales have slowed, but Nintendo still sees a market for its long-running handheld
55. Gaming business bolsters Bandai Namco’s Q3 profits: Soulcalibur publisher increases full-year guidance following solid holiday sales in network entertainment segment 
56. THQ Nordic net sales rose 713% to $447.6m in 2018: Publisher now has 77 games in development, including 48 unannounced projects 
57. THQ Nordic to acquire Kingdom Come: Deliverance dev for $37.5 million  
58. Australian publishing partner 18Point2 acquired by THQ Nordic
59. THQ Nordic acquires Warhorse Studios in a €33.2m cash deal: Kingdom Come Deliverance has sold 2m units one year on from its release
60. Apex Legends Review
61. Apex Legends: Critical Consensus – Respawn’s surprise release praised for its polish and innovative mechanics, hailed as the future of battle royale
62. Apex Legends crossed 1 million concurrent players in under 72 hours
63. Apex Legends reaches 25m players, 2m concurrent: Respawn’s battle royale reaches milestone in first week, after reaching 1m concurrent in first 72 hours
64. Respawn played with muted mics to get Apex Legends’ smart comms system just right
65. Video Game Deep Cuts: The Apex Of Legends, Observing The Sunless Skies
66. After glitch grants access, Bethesda says locked Fallout 76vault will open
67. EA pays respects to Emiliano Sala, removes him from FIFA: FC Nantes player also pulled from Ultimate Team packs, card prices fixed
68. EA CEO claims poor marketing, delays, and battle royale woes hurt Battlefield V
69. Bigben acquires publishing rights for two Cyanide titles: Following last year’s acquisition, publisher adds Tour de France and Pro Cycling Manager to portfolio 
70. Behind The AI of Horizon Zero Dawn (Part 1)
71. Behind The AI of Horizon Zero Dawn (Part 2)
72. Global esports revenues to top $1 billion in 2019: report
73. Newzoo: Global esports market will exceed $1 billion in 2019 – North America, China to continue to represent majority of esports revenue, though global awareness remains on the rise
74. Esports now officially a profession in China: ‘Esports operator’ and ‘esports professional’ formally recognized by Chinese government
75. Riot, Sega, four more join ESA: League of Legends studio, Intellivision, and Wizards of the Coast sign up as Sonic publisher, Natsume, and THQ Nordic return to the US trade group’s ranks
76. Russ Pitts steps down from Take This, on leave from Escapist: Charity co-founder, site editor-in-chief takes hiatus after “diminishing” experience of Gamergate abuse survivor in Twitter fight
77. Riot Games: “Before we take on football, we have to be humble”: League of Legends European Championship makes less revenue than a German second division football team, Riot’s Alban Dechelotte said at Esports BAR Cannes yesterday 
78. AppLovin: Mobile users play games 3-4 times per week on average, but are reluctant to identify as gamers – US, UK mobile users most commonly play games to pass the time, relax, and relieve stress
79. Bill imposing new excise tax on video games with “mature” or “adults-only” ratings introduced in Pennsylvania Legislature
80. Nexon celebrates record year for revenue and income: 2018 full-year financials show highest full-year PC and mobile results so far
81. New releases can’t stop sales and profits falling at Square Enix  
82. Supercell revenue down second year in a row as titles reach revenue milestones: CEO Ilkka Paananen remains optimistic, outlines plan for studio to become carbon-neutral in 2019
83. Starbreeze sells back publishing rights to System Shock 3
84. Starbreeze sells System Shock 3 publishing rights: Troubled publisher and OtherSide Entertainment “mutally agreed” rights should return to the latter
85. Report: Unity is looking to go public in 2020
86. Unity reportedly considering IPO for 2020: But engine provider will only float if market conditions are favourable, sources claim
87. Sony ‘open for business’ on cross-play, but Wargroove dev claims otherwise
88. Devs refute Sony claims that it’s “open for business” with cross-platform play: “We were told in no uncertain terms that it was not going to happen,” says Chucklefish CEO
89. Layden recalls PS3 ‘Icarus moment,’ looks ahead to expanding PlayStation’s audience
90. PS3 was “a stark moment of hubris” – Layden: Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios chairman reflects on last generation’s missteps and how the company changed course for PS4
91. Sony’s Shawn Layden on making fewer PlayStation games: ‘We’re spending more energy on them’  
92. E3 has lost its impact in a changing industry, says Sony’s Shawn Layden
93. Monster Hunter: World nears 12 million sales – Sales stood at 11.9m at the end of December, 60% more than any game in Capcom’s history
94. 20th Century Fox announces indie games fund: Etherborn becomes first title to take advantage of fund aimed at developers “taking creative risks”
95. Marvel Strike Force dev FoxNext Games opens up indie dev fund  
96. League of Geeks: “We are a response to what was before” – Blake Mizzi and Trent Kusters on using the mistakes of Australia’s past to build a better studio, and moving on from its hit digital board game Armello
97. Tearing down the lone developer myth: Iconoclasts creator Joakim Sandberg says developers should learn from his mistakes rather than follow his example
98. New conference hopes to improve UK games skills crisis: The Games Education Summit 2019 will unite educators and developers under one roof this April 
99. Ubisoft aims to help machine learning find a place in every stage of game dev 
100. Ubisoft partners with Mozilla on AI coding assistant Clever-Commit
101. Ubisoft partners with Mozilla on AI coding assistant: Clever-Commit promises to quickly identify and fix bugs from code changes
102. Mozilla to use machine learning to find code bugs before they ship
103. Learn how machine learning can help you make better games at GDC 2019
104. “They’re more attractive than real boyfriends.” Inside the weird world of Chinese romance video games: In China, love and romance designed by women for women could be the next video game trend
105. Steam Responds To Epic’s Competition By Weaponizing The Steam Community
106. Turning painting into a game mechanic in the gorgeousEastshade 2
107. Valve has some new thoughts on what’s “humanly possible” in SteamVR
108. Microsoft teases next-gen HoloLens ahead of February 24 reveal
109. Video: Designing games to better support player expression
110. Video: To make 1997’s Blade Runner, Westwood first had to create the universe
111. Video: How to invite player creativity through game mechanics
112. Amy Hennig sees a social future for storytelling games
113. Video: Injecting originality into the music of Fallout
114. Blog: Getting your big break as a game composer
115. Blog: How does the future of the streamer-developer relationship look?
116. Obituary: Renowned Atari ST programmer Steve Bak has passed away

DIGITAL

1. Just when an end seemed near, two 3D-printed gun-file legal battles get new life
2. Change how Facebook uses our data: Scandals underscore the need to regulate use of customers’ information
3. Our Thoughts on Facebook’s Oversight Board for Content Decisions
4. How Facebook Screwed Us All: It’s not just spreading phony stories everywhere – it’s killing real news.
5. I Was A Facebook Fact-Checker. It Was Like Playing A Doomed Game Of Whack-A-Mole.
6. Facebook Wants You To Know Jay Shetty Made $1 Million In Ad Revenue As It Tries To Appeal To More Creators
7. Facebook Orders Stephen Curry Docu-Series, Sets BuzzFeed News’ Live Trivia Game Launch
8. Court upholds conviction of girl who urged suicide with texts and calls
9. Lessons from Estonia on digital government: What Canada can learn from a tiny country that devised a coordinated, efficient system to serve its citizens using what’s called platform government
10. ESPN+ Debuts ‘The Boardroom’ Talk Show From NBA Star Kevin Durant
11. I Cut the ‘Big Five’ Tech Giants From My Life. It Was Hell
12. Canada needs to commercialize AI, not just do research, industry leaders say – Fewer than half of 100 machine-learning patents developed in Canada remain here: CIGI study
13. A Bill of Rights for the Age of Artificial Intelligence: We should be concerned about the rights of all sentients as an unprecedented diversity of minds emerges 
14. When Are Advertisers Responsible For Unsupported Claims Made By Consumers on Third Party Sites? NAD Weighs In. 
15. Reddit Raises $300 Million at $3 Billion Valuation 
16. Lack Of Internet Access Threatens 2020 Census Success And The Future Latino Voting Power
17. As Trump Prepares Ban On Huawei, Few Notice The Major Holes In The Underlying Logic 
18. Tech Genius Donald Trump to Sign Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence Today
19. White House Touts Artificial Intelligence (as FTC’s Chopra Flags AI Concerns) 
20. Microsoft Is Worried Its AI Will Go Rogue And Hurt Its Reputation
21. Windows 7 Extended Security Updates will double in price each year
22. Microsoft: Yeah, we make Office 2019 and Internet Explorer, but don’t use ‘em
23. Hackers keep trying to get malicious Windows file onto MacOS
24. Messy office owners, rejoice: Skype now blurs the background to your video
25. A Human Debater Just Roasted IBM’s “Intelligent Debate” AI Onstage: Project Debater can formulate arguments, but can’t quite refute opponents.
26. Artificial Intelligence: The New Driving Force Behind Sports Performance and Entertainment
27. Mysterious Site Uses AI to Create Realistic Yet Horrifying Faces
28. R.I.P., Opportunity Rover: The Hardest-Working Robot In The Solar System
29. Tesla Driver Claims Autopilot Wouldn’t Let Him Prevent Crash
30. Driverless delivery startup Nuro raises almost $1 billion
31. Sex robots are here, but laws aren’t keeping up with the ethical and privacy issues they raise
32. Will Tech Workers Rise Up Around Automation, Too? 
33. Bots and Sockpuppets and Scammers, Oh My!
34. Bot or Not: California Mandates Disclosure of Online Accounts Used by Bots
35. Fake news threatens our businesses, not just our politics
36. Dirty Data, Bad Predictions: How Civil Rights Violations Impact Police Data, Predictive Policing Systems, and Justice (Kate Crawford, Rashida Richardson, Jason Schultz)
37. Insights: In The Battle Of Data Versus Privacy, Whose Team Are You On?
38. Copyright Holders Still Don’t Support EU’s Already Awful Upload Filter Proposal; Demand It Be Made Worse
39. EU countries agree on copyright reforms, deal in sight next week
40. The text of Article 13 and the EU Copyright Directive has just been finalised
41. Article 13 Was Purposefully Designed To Be Awful For The Internet; EU Moves Forward With It Anyway
42. EU’s New ‘Open By Default’ Rules For Data Generated By Public Funding Subverted At The Last Minute 
43. Bandersnatch, the case for Trade Mark Infringement: Whose right was it to let you choose your own adventure?
44. Netflix records all of your Bandersnatch choices, GDPR request reveals: Frosties or Sugar Puffs? Netflix knows your preference 
45. AR Will Spark The Next Big Tech Platform – Call It Mirrorworld
46. Expert: AR Will Let Hackers Steal “Deep Psychological Data”
47. Most Online ‘Terms of Service’ Are Incomprehensible to Adults, Study Finds: Reading the terms and conditions of online consumer contracts requires, on average, more than 14 years of education.
48. Augmented Reality, Advertising, and Practical Legal Considerations
49. Apple to developers: disclose screen recording or get booted from App Store
50. Apple worked on biometric unlock for cars: One day you could unlock your car just by looking at it.
51. Apple Patented Facial Recognition to Unlock Your Car
52. The logic behind Apple’s give-us-half-your-revenue pitch to news publishers
53. The Cost of Apple News
54. Apple in talks to create “Netflix for news” subscription service
55. Apple pushes fix for “FacePalm,” possibly its creepiest vulnerability ever
56. Apple Is Compensating the Kid Who Figured Out Its Sketchy Eavesdropping FaceTime Bug
57. Apple, Google Both Hosting Saudi Government App That Lets Men Track Women, Restrict Their Travel
58. Google, Apple Called Out For Hosting Saudi Government App That Allows Men To Track Their Spouses’ Movements
59. Apple’s insider-trading policy enforcer accused of insider trading
60. Google Caves On Russian Censorship
61. NYPD Demands That Google Stop Flagging DWI Checkpoints on Waze
62. Google Chrome Extension That Optimized YouTube Videos Pulled After Spamming Millions Of Users
63. Google wants a VP of Wearables, might finally take smartwatches seriously
64. Augmented Reality Google Maps is coming, starts testing in private
65. Former Algorithm Engineer Guillaume Chaslot Calls YouTube’s Decision To Stop Recommending Conspiracy Videos “A Historic Victory”
66. Here’s How A Scammer Abused YouTube’s Copyright Infringement System In An Attempt To Extort Money From Users
67. NFL Star Quarterback Cam Newton Launches YouTube Channel
68. The Taxonomy Of YouTube Videos (And How You Can Develop Original Content That Works)
69. Ariana Grande Becomes Most-Subscribed Female Artist On All Of YouTube
70. The dodgy, vulnerable fame of YouTube’s child ASMR stars: Right now, children are filming themselves chewing, whispering and tapping to give their adult audience an ASMR buzz. The Chinese government banned them, and PayPal blocked their payments, yet some
71. YouTube Reverses Course, Deletes Austin Jones’ YouTube Channel
72. Kids’ Content Upstart Moonbug Acquires 2 More YouTube Heavyweights
73. Influencers under fyre: celebrities commit to be more transparent regarding product endorsements
74. Influencers Tagged in Fyre Festival Subpoena
75. ‘Roblox’ Bans PewDiePie For “Continued Inappropriate Behavior”
76. Chuck E. Cheese’s Refutes Shane Dawson Conspiracy That It Recycles Uneaten Pizza
77. Jake Paul To Discontinue ‘Uncut’ Docuseries Because It “Became Too Real” 
78. Gigi Hadid Photo Provokes Copyright Lawsuit
79. Movie Torrents Shown To Actually Boost Box Office Sales For Post-Release Movies 
80. Philip DeFranco Launches Hair Care Line ‘Beautiful Bastard,’ Is On Track To Sell Out Today
81. How TikTok Gets Rich While Paying Artists Pennies: The company behind lip-sync app TikTok is reportedly worth three times as much as Spotify, but the artists whose music powers the platform are seeing very little of that money.
82. Does The Spotify Gimlet Purchase Signal The End Of The Open World Of Podcasting?
83. Jeff Bezos goes public with alleged AMI blackmail over nudes
84. Report: Bezos-hired sleuth suspects sexts stolen by “government entity”
85. Woody Allen Sues Amazon for Cancelling Multi-Film Contract 
86. Woody Allen Files $68 Million Lawsuit Against Amazon Studios For Backing Out Of Four Film Deals
87. Why an Amazon Router Freaks Me Out
88. Amazon Calls for Regulation of Its Own Facial Recognition Tech: The company may be hoping to pen some of the government’s ethical standards.
89. Amazon is Right: Thresholds and Legislation Matter, So Does Truth
90. Amazon and Hulu’s algorithms are recommending conspiracy theory films, and the consequences could be more serious than you might think
91. Amazon acquires Eero, maker of mesh Wi-Fi routers
92. ChooseCo Inks Lucrative Deal With Amazon, Possibly Thanks To Netflix’s ‘Bandersnatch’
93. Instagram Integrates IGTV Previews Into Main Feed To Bolster Fledgling Video Hub
94. Instagram Tries to Boost IGTV Views With Previews in Users’ Feeds
95. Instagram Looking Into Issue That Caused Users’ Follower Counts To Drop
96. Instagram Bug Causes Katy Perry And Kylie Jenner To Lose Millions Of Followers Temporarily
97. 4-Year-Old Instagram Phenoms Mila And Emma Stauffer To Launch Clothing Line At Target
98. Bhad Bhabie’s Original Snapchat Series Banks 10 Million Viewers In 24 Hours
99. Snapchat Posts Better-Than-Expected Revenues, As Q4 User Growth Remains Flat
100. Twitter keeps losing monthly users, so it’s going to stop sharing how many
101. UK Cop Calls Up 74-Year-Old Woman To Ask Her To Stop Tweeting Mean Things
102. Disney+ will be a true Netflix competitor, with non-Disney shows streaming, too 
103. After Netflix Breakup, Disney Courts Hulu With 4-Show Marvel Deal, Potential For Hulu To Revive Cancelled Netflix Series
104. ‘Howard the Duck’ Among Four Marvel Animated Shows Ordered at Hulu
105. BuzzFeed Employees Vote to Unionize After Major Layoffs
106. The business of Patreon: Building a new economy for creators requires a focused business strategy
107. The Internet Civil War
108. Tech’s Long Hours Are Discriminatory and Counterproductive
109. Revolt of the gig workers: How delivery rage reached a tipping point
110. Can Big Tech be fixed? Center for Democracy and Technology CEO Nuala O’Connor is “long-term optimistic.”
111. The Secret History of Women in Coding: Computer programming once had much better gender balance than it does today. What went wrong?
112. Tech debate hits bencher election
113. Password to $200m digital currency account lost on death
114. Google Play caught hosting an app that steals users’ cryptocurrency
115. Cryptocurrencies – A quandary for Quadriga 
116. Virtual Currency Regulation in Canada: A Changing Landscape Comes Into Focus
117. IRS Makes Cryptocurrency a Compliance Priority 
118. Emoji 12.0 brings us waffles, more diversity, suggestive “finger pinch” glyph
119. What’s New With Emoji Law? An Interview (Eric Goldman)
120. Captain Marvel’s Official Website Is Basically a Geocities Fansite

CREATIVITY

1. Infowars’ Alex Jones ordered to undergo sworn deposition in case involving Sandy Hook parents
2. Gender-swapped and race-flipped remakes aren’t living up to their potential: Films like What Men Want and 2016’s Ghostbusters could be doing so much more with their rebooted premises
3. How Hollywood Lets Real Fascists Off The Hook: Far from helping us fight fascism, Nazis on film may do the opposite.
4. Obsolete Hot News Doctrine Back In The News As Bloomberg Is Sued For Reporting Too Quickly
5. Japanese brand Loft pulls down Valentines Day ad after sexism controversy
6. How TV Pirates Accidentally Pushed a 25-Year-Old Indie Song to the Top of the Charts in Japan
7. Reporter Maria Ressa Arrested Over Bogus Charges For Her Critical Reporting
8. Danish haunted-house studies seek to reveal the seductive appeal of horror
9. U.S. Music Modernization Act: Copyright law changes its tune 
10. A Storm Is Coming to the Global Music Industry – and More than $100 Billion Is at Stake: Up to half of Universal Music Group is for sale – and all indications are it’s going to bank an astronomical sum of money. This could spell amazing news for the other
11. Journalism Isn’t Dying. It’s Returning To Its Roots
12. Inside an indie: Making a film from scratch without a Hollywood budget
13. More on Models’ Lanham Act claims
14. Can you sell an Oscar?
15. Monster Energy Loses Appeal On Monsta Pizza Trademark Ruling
16. Owner Of Harry Caray’s Restaurants Finds You Can’t Just Trademark A Widely Used Hashtag

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Flawed Arguments and Inappropriate Analogies: Why Netflix Taxes and Cancon Requirements Should be Rejected (Michael Geist)
2. Blacklock’s, Spam, CRTC, and ATIP
3. CRTC on OpenMedia’s Site Blocking Campaign: “Contributed to a Better Understanding of the Issues” (Michael Geist)
4. Selling 911 location data is illegal – US carriers reportedly did it anyway: AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint sale of GPS data called “unquestionably illegal.”
5. Wireless Carriers Busted Sharing User 911 Location Data
6. Texas lawmaker wants to ban mobile throttling in disaster areas
7. Study Details How Phone Companies Prey on Families of Inmates in Local Jails
8. Cable lobby asks for net neutrality law allowing paid prioritization
9. Zero Rating Actually Costs Broadband Customers More, EU Study Finds
10. SpaceX seeks FCC OK for 1 million satellite broadband Earth stations 
11. FEC Seeks Comment on Proposal for Change in TV Political Disclosures 
12. AT&T sued by Sprint, must defend decision to tell users that 4G is “5G E”
13. Sprint Sues AT&T Over Its Fake 5G, Says AT&T’s Tricking Consumers
14. A Deeper Look At Verizon’s Early 5G ‘Launch’ Finds It’s Barely Available
15. Charter raises sneaky “broadcast TV” fee for second time in four months
16. Lawsuit: Verizon tempted customers with free Amazon Echos, failed to deliver
17. Google Fiber’s biggest failure: ISP will turn service off in Louisville
18. Google Fiber Leaves Louisville As Alphabet Retreats From Telecom
19. SS7 Cellular Network Flaw Nobody Wants To Fix Now Being Exploited To Drain Bank Accounts

 SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. SB-327: Why Your Next Refrigerator Might Have a Password Longer than Your Email’s
2. Why Humanitarians Are Worried About Palantir’s New Partnership With the U.N.: The infamous data-analytics firm is now working with one of the planet’s largest aid organizations. What could go wrong?
3. “Catastrophic” hack on email provider destroys almost two decades of data
4. Indecent disclosure: Gay dating app left “private” images, data exposed to Web (Updated)
5. Cisco, like Apple and other tech giants, now wants new federal privacy law
6. Ex-director of FBI, CIA takes on a phone scammer – and wins: Scammer took hundreds of thousands of dollars from more than 30 victims.
7. MalwareTech loses bid to suppress damning statements made after days of partying
8. Australian Government Agencies Already Flexing Their New Encryption-Breaking Powers
9. NYPD Sends Letter To Google Demanding It Remove Cop Checkpoint Notifications From Google Maps
10. Minnesota Judges Spent Only Minutes Approving Warrants Sweeping Up Thousands Of Cellphone Users
11. German Data Protection Authority Says GDPR Requires Email To Use At Least Transport Layer Encryption

Jon