News of the Week; October 21, 2015

GAMES

  1. 2K Games takes heat for using game journalist’s likeness in ‘WWE 2K16’ video
  2. 12 arrested in eSports match fixing scandal – Report
  3. Egyptian TV News Uses Video Game Footage As Proof Of Russian Precision Strikes Against ISIL
  4. Konami Ingeniously Fuses Two Things Everybody Hates: Insurance And In-Game Microtransactions
  5. Payday 2 players in revolt over micro-transactions
  6. Payday 2 rolls back microtransactions after fan outrage
  7. Square Enix Tries Being Cool And Embraces Fan-Conversion Of Original Deus Ex
  8. Ending the Cycle of Abuse in Publisher-Developer Relationships
  9. For Brianna Wu, VR offers a chance to broaden gaming and escape Internet hate
  10. The Natural: The Trouble Portraying Blackness in Video Games
  11. Why Did Hideo Kojima Leave Konami?
  12. It’s OK everyone, Kojima hasn’t left Konami—he’s just “on vacation”
  13. Vivendi buys stakes in Ubisoft, Gameloft
  14. Ubisoft: “We’re going to fight to preserve our independence” – CEO Yves Guillemot reassures staff about “unwelcome” Vivendi share purchase
  15. Nexon sells shares in NCSoft, ending takeover bid
  16. EA not interested in remakes – Moore
  17. Star Citizen hits 1 million backers, entire game unlocked for all
  18. China now leads the world in game revenues – Newzoo
  19. 82% of Brazilians 18-59 play games – NPD
  20. 5 Reasons Why The TPP Is Scary And Gross For Games  

DIGITAL

  1. Guy Who Won Original Right To Be Forgotten Case Loses His Attempt To Have New Story About His Past Forgotten
  2. Tim Berners-Lee: ‘Just Say No’ To Facebook’s Plan To Bastardize The Internet
  3. Appeals court rules that Google book scanning is fair use: After nearly a decade of litigation, a landmark win.
  4. Google’s audacious project that scanned millions of books has been declared legal
  5. Appeals Court Gives Google A Clear And Total Fair Use Win On Book Scanning
  6. Factor four: the most interesting part of the Google Books decision (Rebecca Tushnet)
  7. Authors Guild v. Google, Inc. (United States Court Of Appeals For The Second Circuit) October 16, 2015
  8. Commenting on Viral Video Is Fair Use–Equals Three v. Jukin Media
  9. By-passing paywall and circumventing TPM sinks fair dealing defense: Blacklock’s Reporter v CVA (Barry Sookman)
  10. Another Censorious Copyright Case Results In a Big Fee Shift–Inglewood v. Teixeira (Eric Goldman)
  11. ACLU Supports Apple in Case Raising Key Legal Question For Age of Encryption
  12. Apple Tells Judge FBI’s Phone Unlocking Demands ‘Burdensome’ At Present, ‘Impossible’ In The Future
  13. Apple CEO Tim Cook blasts encryption backdoors: “It’s in everyone’s best interest that everybody is blocked out,” Cook said.
  14. Sony Pictures settles employee class action lawsuit over The Interview hack: Company could pay up to $8 million (£5.1 million) to employees affected by the breach.
  15. Microsoft wants US government to obey EU privacy laws: Company’s chief legal officer says “privacy is a fundamental human right.”
  16. German parliament passes new, comprehensive data retention law: Requires that all telecoms & Internet metadata be held on air-gapped servers in Germany.
  17. Fallout from EU-US Safe Harbor ruling will be dramatic and far-reaching: Clever ruling by the Court of Justice will be almost impossible to circumvent.
  18. Data Transfers from EU to US “unlawful”; EU Signals Enforcement Actions Possible After January, 2016
  19. TPP IP chapter summary released – are more IP changes coming?
  20. USTR Fishing For Academics To Astroturf In Favor Of TPP
  21. Why Internet Users Should be Very Angry about the TPP
  22. Amazon sues 1,114 reviewers, some selling their opinions for $5
  23. False reviews equal real fine – Bell Canada agrees to pay $1.25 million penalty for misleading online 
  24. Canada’s Biggest Net Neutrality Offender Rogers Has Change Of Heart After Having Its Traffic Discriminated Against
  25. Amazon AppStore and Google Play Defeat Lawsuit Over Infringing App Name
  26. The Rise and Fall of the Conservatives’ Digital Policy
  27. The Cable Industry Thinks Cord Cutting’s A Fad That Will End Once Millennials Procreate
  28. ‘I thought the tech world would be full of new voices and people. It hasn’t happened. The number of women in the sector is tiny. It’s such a waste’
  29. African governments are stepping up surveillance of their own people
  30. AdBlock Plus tried to expand its empire by buying adblocking app Purify
  31. Viacom Once Sued YouTube For A Billion Dollars; Now It’s Just Released Over 100 Movies For Free On YouTube
  32. Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer Delivers Keynote Address at the Future of Video Competition and Regulation Conference Hosted by Duke Law School
  33. UK High Court rules Uber’s app is legal in London
  34. Microsoft Researchers Are Working on Multi-Person Virtual Reality
  35. Why It’s OK to Block Ads
  36. Women In The Developing World Are 50% Less Likely To Access The Internet As Men
  37. How Social Media Fuels China’s Growing Love of Cosmetic Surgery
  38. How Can We Achieve Age Diversity in Silicon Valley?
  39. The first rule of zero-days is no one talks about zero-days (so we’ll explain): Just as defenders find their feet, lawmakers move to outlaw security research entirely.

CREATIVITY

  1. American Publishers Take a Stand Against Censorship in China
  2. The Timothy McVeigh case and its impact on media law
  3. How The Fast Times Of The Paparazzi Came To A Screeching Halt: In the end, the paparazzi machine that came to dominate the early 2000s was no match for the Great Recession, celebrity revolt, and the rise of social media.
  4. Barney Fife comparison does not equal defamation
  5. ROBOJOURNALISM: I just wrote 7 blog posts in less than 3 seconds. Here’s the secret.
  6. Tracing the long, strange history of ‘Tom’s Diner’: A 30-year journey from café curio to 2015 chart-topper
  7. Drawing a Line in the Floor—Courts Are Struggling With the Overlap Between Design Patent and Copyright
  8. In fashion, cultural appropriation is either very wrong or very right

jon