News of the Week; May 31, 2017

GAMES

1. Uzbekistan bans video games that ‘threaten stability’: Games barred from sale include Grand Theft Auto and The Sims
2. World Of Tanks Developer Gets Negative Review Video Taken Down Under Threat Of Copyright Claim, Backlash Ensues
3. Hackers jailbreak permanent mods onto Super Mario World save files: Incredible hack perpetually alters game through nothing but controller input.
4. Instead of Banning Cheaters, Pokémon Go Trolls Them Hard
5. More than half of young online gamers are being bullied: Anti-bullying charity calls for better human moderation from publishers and developers
6. The Canadian Nintendo Circumvention Decision – Should it be given “high precedential value”?
7. Sony’s new discovery idea: Curating the curators –
8. Discovery remains the most intractable problem facing the industry in the digital era – Sony’s The Creators system deserves a closer look
9. ‘Rich kid’ Lance Stroll continues to infuriate by blaming Monaco crash on PlayStation game
10. PlayStation’s E3 press conference will be screened in US cinema: Free goodies for those that attend
11. Earnings report roundup: Game industry winners and losers in Q1 2017
12. Far Cry 5 takes series to deadliest land of all: Disenfranchised America – 2018 battle against armed Montana cult is inspired by… the subprime mortgage crisis?
13. Bandai Namco helps form new HTML5 game company: BXD
14. Twitch and Bandai Namco partner up to create Tekken 7eSports league
15. Namco, Twitch tag team Tekken tournament
16. Streaming service continues push into eSports with multi-year deal to manage and broadcast Tekken 7 league
17. League of Legends’ biggest eSports earner highlights gulf with Dota 2: Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is the first LoL pro to hit $1m in career winnings – Dota 2 players can rival that in a single tournament victory
18. Player bans in eSports “lack any kind of justice”: eSports Integrity Commission warns publishers over strict rulings based on little evidence
19. Staffordshire University launches UK’s first esports degree: Three-year course is dedicated to the business of esports
20. Nintendo stocks jump to eight-year high following Monster Hunter XX Switch reveal
21. Nintendo Switch helps Best Buy fight off decline:v New console propelled US retailer to record shares high, best entertainment performance since 2014
22. GameStop is very excited about Switch outselling Wii in its first 60 days
23. GameStop’s sales rise on the back of Nintendo’s Switch, even as profits slip
24. Report: Nintendo significantly ramps up Switch production – Company now expects to manufacture 18m consoles this financial year
25. Nintendo fighting over Switch components: Increased production targets pit Mario maker against Apple, other tech giants for limited supplies of memory chips, vibration motors
26. Take-Two acquires Kerbal Space Program: Mexico City based developer Squad will continue supporting and making content for the popular space sim
27. How Google’s Latest VR Moves Are a Major Blow to Oculus’ Mobile Strategy
28. Roam free: A history of open-world gaming – You know the violence, but there were text-adventures, skiing, space, and ants(!) too.
29. Brenda Romero’s plea for unity among game developers: From Phil Fish and Peter Molyneux to the rift between core and casual, Brenda Romero spoke out against the divisions between us
30. Creativity vs. control: How Cuba’s indie devs are finding their voice
31. Top 100 Games Of All Time

DIGITAL

1. Putin Hints at U.S. Election Meddling by ‘Patriotically Minded’ Russians
2. How Twitter Is Being Gamed to Feed Misinformation
3. Nearly Half Of Trump’s Twitter Followers Seem To Be Phony: Fake followers are flocking to Trump, far more than Obama, Clinton, and Pence
4. Twitter Fails E.U. Standard on Removing Hate Speech Online
5. The Internet Defines ‘COVFEFE’
6. Trump has an iPhone with one app: Twitter – Trump retired his trademark Samsung device in March after taunting Schwarzenegger.
7. Twitter and the BBC partner for the first time on live video
8. Ukraine Just Tweeted a Simpsons GIF at Russia Because 2017 Is Weird As Hell
9. Pornhub To Russia: Here’s Your Premium Access For Unblocking Us: A Russian regulator reportedly received a show of thanks, said he would donate free porn accounts to “charity”
10. E-mails phished from Russian critic were “tainted” before being leaked: Campaign targeting more than 200 people also spread disinformation, report says.
11. Florida GOP consultant admits he worked with Guccifer 2.0, analyzing hacked data: Voting models and other leaked data were “worth millions,” consultant told Guccifer 2.0.
12. Facebook Wades Into Another Election
13. Facebook Will Reportedly Pay Up To $250,000 Per Episode For Long-Form Content
14. Facebook’s Not Designed to Create a “Global Community”
15. Music Industry’s Canadian Copyright Reform Goal: “End Tech Companies’ Safe Harbours” (Michael Geist)
16. Cloudflare gets another $50,000 to fight “new breed of patent troll”: Company also seeks state laws to limit attorney-owned patents.
17. Cloudflare Ups The Ante In Search Of Prior Art To Invalidate ALL Patents From Patent Troll Blackbird Tech
18. Creator of SecurID sues Apple, Visa over digital payment patents: A company that couldn’t strike a deal with Visa now seeks patent royalties.
19. A legal tiptoe through the hot world of influencer advertising
20. PayPal Sues Pandora Over Yawn-Inducing Logos And Tweets About People Opening The Wrong App
21. Helping Platforms Protect Speech By Avoiding Bogus Subpoenas
22. Uber Fired Its Robocar Guru, But Its Legal Fight With Google Goes On
23. Google To Tell Advertisers How Often Their YouTube Spots Lead To Store Visits
24. Inside Google’s Global Campaign to Shut Down Phishing
25. Top 100 Most Subscribed YouTube Channels Worldwide • April 2017
26. Text Mining, Non-Expressive Use and the Technological Advantage of Fair Use  (Matthew Sag)
27. Are Copyright and Patent Overlapping or Mutually Exclusive in Protecting Software Innovations? (Pamela Samuelson)
28. Analyzing Accessibility of Wikipedia Projects Around the World
29. Wikipedians Join Push For Fair Use In Australia After Six Government Reports Recommend It
30. Ars tests out Amazon’s first pick-up grocery store in the world: Easy and painless, so long as you like Amazon’s selection (and Prime-exclusive rules).
31. Why Some Digital Companies Should Delay Profitability for as Long as They Can
32. Mark Zuckerberg Should Really Listen to Himself
33. Some starting questions around pervasive autonomous systems
34. Normalisation of sexting: Kaspersky’s ad is criticised by the ASA and the NSPCC
35. This Couple Just Got Hitched In A Surreal Virtual Reality Wedding: Avatars gathered to witness the first couple to legally say “I do” in their headsets. It got a little awkward
36. Internet Trends 2017 – CODE Conference (Mary Meeker)

CREATIVITY

1. Ariana Grande to hold benefit concert for Manchester victims: US pop singer whose show ended with a terrorist attack that killed 22 people says she plans to hold fundraiser in city
2. Primavera De Filippi: “As an artist, I try to challenge the current state of the world…”
3. Spinal Tap vs. Hollywood
4. Everyone Wins When Politicians Body Slam Reporters
5. ‘Citizens United,’ media corporations and other corporations
6. LGBTQ Representation in Hollywood Is Still Scandalously Low
7. Piracy Killing Hollywood So Bad That Disney Made More Money In 2016 Than Any Studio Ever
8. Professional Cheerleader Case Presents Independent Contractor and Joint Employer Lessons 
9. TV Networks Step Away From Pricey Originals Amid Saturation Of Shows 
10. CNIB calls for federal accessible book production strategy
11. Say goodbye to the video store, hello to the non-profit foundation: How one of the last video stores turned non-profit with an eye on preservation.
12. The Force Will Be With Us. Always.: Star Wars And The Quest For The Forever Franchise
13. The Life and Death of the Freestyle Mixtape: The freestyle mixtape wasn’t just a service to the fans, it was a representation of hip-hop’s core. Now it’s dead.
14. How Intellectual Property Rights Shape Neuropsychological Demand for Orange Flavors 
15. Unevenly Cooked: Raw Materials and Fair Use (Christopher Buccafusco)
16. Raw Materials and the Creative Process (Andrew Gilden)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Can Cancon Compete?: A Response to the WGC on The Future of Canadian TV Production (Michael Geist)
2. Victims Of Anti-Net Neutrality Identity Theft Demand Answers: An unknown party has been using names of real people to spam the FCC with fake comments against internet freedom
3. People who were impersonated by anti-net neutrality spammers blast FCC: FCC should investigate and throw out fake comments, impersonation victims say.
4. Congress Busted Using Cable Lobbyist Talking Points In Attacks On Net Neutrality
5. Update – FCC Concludes that the Colbert Broadcast Did Not Violate FCC Indecency Rules 
6. Republicans claim 1st Amendment right to send you robo-voicemails: GOP asks FCC to exempt direct-to-voicemail messages from robocall rules.
7. Despite Claiming It’s Now On Par With Apple, Comcast’s Already Bad Satisfaction Ratings Are Actually Getting Worse
8. Comcast customer satisfaction drops 6% after TV price hikes, ACSI says: Customers unhappy with Comcast TV and Charter’s Time Warner Cable Internet.
9. Some Of The Best Net Neutrality Reporting Is… Coming From Sites Owned By Verizon?

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. UK Government Using Manchester Attacks As An Excuse To Kill Encryption
2. Why the NSA Makes Us More Vulnerable to Cyberattacks: The Lessons of WannaCry
3. Is “I forget” a valid defense when court orders demand a smartphone password? 
4. Samsung’s ‘Airtight’ Iris Scanning Technology For The S8 Defeated With A Camera, Printer, And Contact Lens
5. Radio-controlled pacemakers aren’t as hard to hack as you (may) think: The four major makers aren’t properly securing critical cardiac devices, report says.
6. Facial Recognition Cameras Are Now Watching Your Emotions: Systems originally developed to identify people from photos can now detect gender, emotions, and much more
7. Google To Tell Advertisers How Often Their YouTube Spots Lead To Store Visits
8. Cyber breach costs Target more than $220 million! 

Jon