News of the Week; April 8, 2015

GAMES

1. YouTube gaming stars blindsided by Nintendo’s ad revenue grab: Game companies may not have legal right to claim a cut, lawyer says

+ YouTuber Angry Joe Swears Off Nintendo Videos After The Company Claimed His Mario Party 10 Take

2. Report: Gamers in Crimea lose access to Blizzard games due to U.S. sanctions

3. Videogame Publishers: No Preserving Abandoned Games, Even for Museums and Archives, Because All “Hacking” is Illegal

4. Report: Firmware update sets Chinese Xbox Ones region free

5. Microsoft Hits Halo Online Modders With Copyright Complaint

+ Github complies with Microsoft DMCA takedown of Halo Online mod repo: Gameplay footage of new game has also been removed from YouTube.

+ Modders want to remove Halo Online’s microtransactions, georestrictions: Leakers say they have multiple backups to avoid Microsoft’s DMCA requests.

6. Project Cars Hit With Its Third Delay

7. Publishers must stop marketing adult games to kids

8. ‘GGautoblocker’ creator and ‘Online Abuse Prevention Initiative’ founder targeted by swatting attempt

9. Copyrighting player-generated content in video games

10. Rovio awarded $2.7 million in copyright case

11. Does Paula Deen’s new mobile game infringe on an artist’s copyright?

12. Iranian cleric urges Western countries to ban ‘Islamophobic’ games and movies

13. Dollar’s buying power plummets in first day of “official” WoW gold trading: $20 game time “tokens” have already lost 27 percent of initial gold value.

14. Sony announces shutdown of ‘Destiny of Spirits’

15. FTC approves Sony PS Vita settlement

16. GameStop halts online pre-orders for newest Nintendo amiibo figures

17. Amazon licensing deal may have saved Crytek – report

18. Nexon acquiring Boolean Games

19. AR/VR to hit $150 billion by 2020 – Report

20. Minneapolis man steals 8-year-old’s video games, gets caught on camera

21. What Really Happened To Arcades

22. Nobuo Uematsu: the video game composer shaking up classical music

23. An all-too-accurate parody of YouTube gamers 

DIGITAL

24. DDoS attacks that crippled GitHub linked to Great Firewall of China: Whitehat hacker’s traceroute wizzardry pinpoints origin of denial-of-service code.

25. The Kremlin’s comment trolls are real — as is the media’s amnesia about them

26. The Surveillance Engine: How The NSA Built Its Own Secret Google

27. Facebook faces lawsuit over facial recognition software

28. How Facebook knows who all your friends are, even better than you do

29. Microsoft drops Do Not Track default from Internet Explorer: New language in W3C standard twisted its arm

30. Hulu beats lawsuit claiming it illegally shared user data with Facebook: The “Like” button collects data, but there’s no master list of videos watched.

31. The Battle Is For The Customer Interface: Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.

32. Chrome extension collects browsing data, uses it for marketing: Downloaded 1.2M times, “Webpage Screenshot” no longer available in Chrome Store

33. Privacy Commissioner of Canada Rules Bell’s Targeted Ad Program Violates Canadian Law (Michael Geist)

+ Privacy watchdog not yet satisfied with Bell’s about-face on ad tracking

34. AT&T enters into largest data breach settlement with FCC to date

35. Commissioner cautions children’s websites to tread carefully when it comes to privacy: Privacy Commissioner launches tips on protecting children’s privacy after website investigation highlights lessons such as the need for better, age-appropriate information and involvement of adults in privacy decisions

36. Leaked TPP Investment Chapter Reveals Serious Threat to User Safeguards

37. The Internet of Kafkaesque Things (Jay Stanley)

38. How the DMCA’s Online Copyright Safe Harbor Failed (Eric Goldman)

39. Court Declines To Dismiss Hashtag Infringement Claim

40. Two Court Rulings Completely Disagree With Each Other Over Whether Websites Need To Comply With Americans With Disabilities Act

41. FCC Moves To Give Internet Video Startups The Same Protections As Cable Companies

42. Dallas Buyers Club ruling: iiNet must hand over names of downloaders

43. A New Kind of Internet Pirate: What’s stopping people from using apps like Periscope and Meerkat to livestream video they don’t own? Not much.

+ Periscope, Meerkat, and sports: Can fans, media live stream from the game?

44. Microsoft, Getty Images settle dispute over online photo tool

45. Microsoft halts Kinect for Windows production

46. Teen rakes in $6,000 on “Uploader for Instagram” app, told to shut down:  The 17-year-old has removed his app after receiving demand letters from Instagram.

47. Barrett Brown suddenly stripped of prison e-mail after talking to press: Activist writes arbitrary punishment is part of “pattern of state retaliation.”

48. USPTO Demands EFF Censor Its Comments On Patentable Subject Matter

49. Net neutrality rules differ widely across developed nations

50. Police granted extra 12 months to try to crack suspect’s computer encryption

51. Taking Down Bigots With Their Own Weapons Is Sweet, Satisfying — And Very, Very Wrong: Actually, it’s about ethics in doxxing.

52. If you’re worried about Facebook hosting news content…you’re already dead.

53. The Rise of ‘Studyblrs’: Teens take to social media to show off their…study habits?

54. Would telepathy help?: Will the next generation of telepathy machines make us closer, or are there unforeseen dangers in the melding of minds?

55. The Internet Ruined April Fool’s Day: The holiday’s jokes are unfunny and misleading. They’re also, often, redundant.

56. The Meme as Meme: Why do things go viral, and should we care?

57. The Definitive Oral History Of 1980s Digital Icon Max Headroom

CREATIVITY

58. The cost of silence: mass surveillance & self-censorship

59. Warner Bros. And Rightscorp Argue That Copyright Trolling Is Protected By The First Amendment

60. Prince Gives Away Someone Else’s Artistic Efforts, Gets Sued

61. Consent to the use of copyrighted material not required to be in writing

62. Three’s fair use too: play is transformative work (Rebecca Tushnet)

63. Let’s talk TV – CRTC roadmap to “maximize viewer choice”

64. Comparison of Canadian content, production services, co-ventures and treaty co-productions

65. Rolling Stone’s investigation: ‘A failure that was avoidable’

+ Rolling Stone’s ‘A Rape on Campus.’ Notes and comment on Columbia J-school’s investigation.

+ Rolling Stone and the Temptations of Narrative Journalism

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