News of the Week; December 28, 2016

GAMES

1. Nintendo Opens Up New Front In War On Fans: ROM Mods
2. Denuvo Spins Doom Dropping Its DRM Into A Victory Dance
3. Super Mario Run’s inevitable backlash: Consumers bemoan the $10 price point, other consumers rage against them in turn; Nintendo’s attempt to upend the dominance of F2P is as contentious as we expected
4. After Blizzard shutdown, legacy World of Warcraft server returns this month: Nostalrius team no longer waiting for Blizzard, helps launch spiritual successor.
5. Clash of Clans banned in Iran after suggestions game causes ‘tribal conflict’
6. Brianna Wu, Boston game developer and critic of GamerGate, to run for Congress
7. Owlboy dev on piracy: ‘We’re very happy people get the chance to play the game’
8. Crytek Shuts Down Five Studios Amid Financial Difficulties: Only two Crytek studios to remain open.
9. Recently shuttered Crytek studio reborn as Black Sea Games
10. Star Citizen dev drops CryEngine in favor of Lumberyard
11. The Growth Opportunities In Video Game Live Streaming
12. YouTube VR now supports PlayStation VR
13. These 5 Women May be Changing the Landscape of Virtual Reality
14. Not Just For Gaming: Virtual Reality Meditation Helps Women Through Labor Pains
15. Fifa: the video game that changed football – Fifa belongs to a select group of titles familiar to people who have no interest in gaming – or even real football. What’s the secret of its success?
16. In 2017 publishers will need indies more than indies need publishers
17. Three years later, the console wars are more confusing than ever: We walk you through the changes upending the console market in 2016 and beyond.
18. The Gamasutra crew dissects the top games of 2016
19. Ars Technica’s best video games of 2016: Unique shooters, compelling indies, and even one VR title make the cut.

DIGITAL

1. Amazon workers sleep in tents near firm’s Scottish depot to avoid travel costs: Undercover probe finds series of “intolerable conditions” at mega-warehouse.
2. Stop blaming Facebook for Trump’s election win
3. The blame-game in a post-Trump world
4. Publishing Lobbyists Suck Up To Trump With Lies About Copyright, Ask Him To Kill DMCA Safe Harbors
5. Universal Studios Misses A Chance To Be Awesome And Instead Tries To DMCA Leak Of Unfinished ‘Mummy’ Trailer
6. A free press is all of us now
7. First Amendment Victorious: Protects Anonymous Critics On PubPeer
8. Blacklock’s Must Pay $65,000 for Litigation that “should never have been commenced let alone carried to trial” (Howard Knopf)
9. Merry Christmas: Kamala Harris Files Brand New Criminal Charges Against Backpage Execs After Last Ones Were Tossed Out
10. Lawsuit dropped: Jawbone can sell devices in the US (if it can sell devices at all) – Several other lawsuits still divide the two wearable companies.
11. Smartphone patent wars redux: Nokia sues Apple, big time: Apple has accused Nokia of working with patent trolls to spawn lawsuits.
12. Company Bricks User’s Software After He Posts A Negative Review
13. Microsoft Finally Admits Its Malware-Style Windows 10 Upgrade Sales Pitch Went Too Far
14. Uber is losing money hand-over-fist: The ride-sharing company is disrupting the notion of profit.
15. South Korea slaps Qualcomm with record-setting $850M fine: Largest-ever penalty said to be warranted by Qualcomm’s unfair patent licensing.
16. Watch Tesla’s Autopilot Avoid a Major Accident With Just Seconds to Spare
17. The Secret History Of American Robot Law: New Paper Is A Primer In Future’s Past
18. These three 2016 cases gave new life to software patents: It’s harder, but not impossible, for owners of software patents to win cases.
19. More Evidence Why Keyword Advertising Litigation Is Waning (Eric Goldman)

CREATIVITY

1. MOB receives early Xmas present: 2d Circuit affirms LV’s loss (Rebecca Tushnet)
2. Judge rules parody Louis Vuitton bags don’t infringe designer’s copyright
3. Pawn to E4: Chess Website Kept in Check over Digital Rights to Publish Players’ Moves
4. Why Does The USTR Still Think Any Website That Might Upset Hollywood Is Illegal?
5. I Thought Piracy Was Killing Entertainment? New Record In Scripted Shows In 2016
6. Anish Kapoor Is Now Banned From Buying the World’s Most Glittery Glitter
7. With Streaming, Musicians and Fans Find Room to Experiment and Explore
8. Winery Loses Trademark Suit Against Other Winery Over The Term ‘Signature’
9. Butterball Sues Australian Wine Company Over Its ‘Butterball’ Chardonnay
10. Sufferin’ Trademarks: The Trademark Dispute Over The Word Succotash
11. 2016 Quick Links, Part 1: Special Election Edition (Eric Goldman)
12. 2016 Quick Links, Part 2: Copyright & Open Access (Eric Goldman)
13. A Kat’s 2016 Copyright Awards
14. 2016 The Copyright Year

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. CRTC Sets New World-Leading Broadband Basic Telecommunications Service Objective
2. Canada sets universal broadband goal of 50Mbps and unlimited data for all: $750 million fund created to connect rural and remote areas.
3. Historic or Immaterial?: Making Sense of the CRTC Ruling on Broadband Access as a Basic Service (Michael Geist)
4. FCC and CRTC Sign Memorandum of Understanding on Robocalls and Spoofing

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Facebook already has a Muslim registry—and it should be deleted: Facebook stands alone in the breadth and depth of personal data it collects.
2. Yahoo’s email scanning part of push to change Fourth Amendment rights
3. Police Request Amazon Echo Recordings For Homicide Investigation
4. Police ask: “Alexa, did you witness a murder?”: Drowning in hot tub was followed by 140-gallon hose-down recorded by utility.
5. Amazon Refuses To Comply With Police Request For Amazon Echo Recordings In Murder Case
6. Court Says Government Needs Better Excuses If It Wants To Keep Hiding DEA Surveillance Docs
7. DHS Now Asking Visa Applicants For Their Social Media Account Info
8. Obama Pulls Cybercommand Control From NSA; Changes To Take Effect Whenever
9. The Surveillance Oversight Board Is Dead And It’s Unlikely President Trump Will Revive It
10. Obama administration is close to announcing measures to punish Russia for election interference
11. FDIC Latest Agency To Claim It Was Hacked By A Foreign Government
12. Congressional Encryption Working Group says encryption backdoors are near unworkable
13. Top US Surveillance Lawyer Argues That New Technology Makes The 4th Amendment Outdated
14. Recent Rule 41 Changes: A Catch-22 for Journalists
15. Googler sues his employer after he’s scolded for press leaks – Leakers are implored: “For the love of all that’s Googley, please reconsider!”
16. I Know What You Downloaded on BitTorrent….: Most people know that BitTorrent is far from anonymous, but seeing all your recent downloads listed on a public website is still quite a shock.
17. Uber said it protects you from spying. Security sources say otherwise
18. City Passes Ordinance Mandating CCTV Surveillance By Businesses, Including Doctors And Lawyers Offices
19. How The Citizen Lab polices the world’s digital spies: University of Toronto professor Ron Deibert launched The Citizen Lab in 2001 to become the ‘CSI of the internet.’ Since then, it has become one of the leading watchdogs for digital censorship and online suppression. 
20. An update on all the legal cases we thought would be huge in 2016: Beyond Apple’s clash with DOJ, these surveillance cases got our attention in 2016.
21. If 2015 was historic for privacy, then 2016 was pivotal
22. The Best of Privacy for 2016
23. The Surprisingly Weak Reasoning of Mohamud (Orin Kerr)
24. When Do Data Breaches Cause Harm? (Daniel Solove)
25. Top 5 Threats to Transparency: 2016 in Review (EFF)

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