News of the Week; September 2, 2015

GAMES

1. Square Enix, SNK settle legal dispute

2. Convicted Murderer Says Video Games Made Killings Easier

3. Brad Bushman compares Virginia shooter’s horrific video to a ‘first-person shooter game’

4. Pokemon Company Hates Fun. Sues To End PAX Party

+ Pokémon’s copyright lawyers wipe out themed PAX pre-party: Prohibited party poster promoted Pikachu, protected Pokémon personality.

+ Pokémon party organizer: we’ve got no money and were sued without warning: “I just think it’s something that got blown super out of proportion.”

5. FTC slaps Machinima for deceptive Xbox One ad campaign

6. Online games site RockyFroggy reprimanded by ASA

7. Super Mario Maker pulls the curtain back on game design’s promise and peril

+ ‘Super Mario Maker’ YouTube Videos Being Hit WIth Copyright Claims – From Playboy

+ Someone Built A Troll Level In Mario Maker, And Nintendo Actually Promoted It

8. Amazon Underground turns free-to-play into “actually free”

9. Americans spending more time than ever on smartphones, but gaming time is falling

10. Mortal Kombat X for Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 Canceled: Warner Bros. is “very sorry” for not being able to launch the last-generation edition.

11. Chinese mobile market will rise 66 per cent in 2015

12. 46% of US social casino gamers spend money – Newzoo

13. The Full Counter-Argument To Game Studios Claiming A Need For DRM: The Witcher 3

14. Play it straight and they’re still irate: reporting on a hostile controversy

15. Shady government dealings alleged to have led to 38 Studios deal

16. Why the new Apple TV will kill your Xbox or Playstation

17. 881 E.T. cartridges buried in New Mexico desert sell for $107,930.15

18. Hearthstone exhibited as modern art at the V&A Museum in London

19. Compasso – Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology: Special Issue – Video games and insightful gameplay

DIGITAL

1. U.S. court hands win to NSA over metadata collection

+ Appeals court overturns judge who would have stopped NSA data collection: Bulk spying? That’s a thing? DC Circuit judges are America’s last skeptics.

2. Iranian Phishing (Bruce Schneier)

3. Hashtags Are Not Trademarks—Eksouzian v. Albanese 

4. Gmail Terms of Service Apply to reCAPTCHA During Account Formation–Rojas-Lozano v. Google

5. Google Books Defeats Copyright Lawsuit Using 512(c)–Avdeef v. Google

6. Federal Court Conditionally Certifies Privacy Breach Class Action

7. Sony Pictures, Which Hyped Up ‘Harm’ Of Hack, Now Tells Court No Harm Done To Employees

8. Popcorn Time lawsuits continue as 16 are sued for watching Survivor

9. Apple v. Samsung is headed towards an incredible fourth jury trial: Damages on disputed features like “pinch to zoom” will be re-calculated. Again.

10. Machinima Agrees To 20-Year FTC Oversight In Settlement Over Deceptive Practices

11. No bail for pair accused of threat at Boston Pokemon tournament: “This wasn’t just kid talk on the computer,” Judge says.

12. Universal Music Has No Sense Of Humor, Takes Down Hilarious Twitter Profile Pun Parody Of Nirvana Song

13. Users of Lizard Squad’s DDoS attack tool arrested in UK

+ Six UK teens arrested for being “customers” of Lizard Squad’s DDoS service: Amazon, Microsoft, and Sony were targets; service is almost ready to re-open for business.

14. Facebook must obey local censorship laws, says Germany’s justice minister: How can multiple sets of local requirements by satisfied by global Internet services?

15. Facebook introduces new tools to crack down on video copyright violations

16. As India Goes After Google, A Simple Question: Do You Really Want Governments Deciding Search Results?

17. Associated Press sues FBI over fake news story

+ AP Sues FBI Over Impersonating An AP Reporter With A Fake AP Story

18. Fake EFF site serving espionage malware was likely active for 3+ weeks: No, electronicfrontierfoundation.org is not the EFF site you’re looking for.

19. Jury convicts man who tried to buy ricin on Darknet marketplace: FBI created a shady seller account on Evolution, then arrested a customer.

20. Ashley Madison abusing DMCA “to put genie back in the bottle,” EFF says

+ CEO of Ashley Madison parent company quits

21. Microsoft accused of adding Windows 10’s spy features to Windows 7 and 8

22. Wikipedia blocks hundreds of linked accounts for suspect editing: Accounts were engaged in undisclosed paid advocacy in violation of use terms.

23. Websites, apps often fail to protect children’s privacy, probe finds

24. The right to be forgotten: Privacy or censorship?

25. T-Mobile promises to “eliminate” customers who abuse unlimited data

26. Researchers built a robot that can paint as well as Vincent Van Gogh

27. How Social Media Is Ruining Politics: It is turning out to be more encompassing and controlling, more totalizing, than earlier media ever was.

28. Nielsen is scanning 1,000 Netflix shows to break the streaming “black box”

29. European publishers’ key aim: Limit Google’s power as an advertising platform 

30. Steve Ballmer Shrugs Off $60 Million TV Offer For Clippers Games, Considers Streaming Instead

31. Is a Cambrian Explosion Coming for Robotics? 

CREATIVITY

1. Canadian Music Industry Hit With Competition Complaint Over Public Domain Recordings (Michael Geist)

2. Canadian Scientist Muzzled For Writing And Performing Song About Canadian Government Muzzling Scientists

3. Official Portrait For Pope’s US Visit… Being Investigated For Copyright Infringement

4. NYPD Asks Disney, Marvel To Abuse IP Law To Help Rid Times Square Of Spiderman, Mickey Mouse

jon