News of the Week; July 19, 2017

By Jon Festinger on July 19, 2017

GAMES

  1. Tackling mobile’s “game cloning” issue: Riot Games is trying to prevent League of Legends being ripped off by a cloning outfit, but is there more that store operators could do to protect creators?
  2. Moonton Responds To Copyright Infringement Suit From Riot Games By Threatening The Press With Lawsuits
  3. Pixelmon Minecraft mod shut down: The Pokémon Company’s intervention signals the end for the popular mod
  4. Copyright dispute sees River City Ransom: Underground temporarily pulled from Steam – Composer Alex Mauer claims Conatus Creative used her music without permission, Conatus say Mauer claims are false
  5. RCR: Underground changes soundtrack to avoid “false” DMCA takedown – “Being legally right is only half the story,” developer says of “wrongful claim.”
  6. Capcom Manually DMCAs English Translation Of Ace Attorney Game Not Available In English
  7. Zynga apologizes for random DLC pricing experiment: Publisher charged players between $5 and $35 for Fast and the Furious tie-in car in CSR Racing 2
  8. Struck by scammers, Itch.io eyes stronger safeguards for devs
  9. Itch.io changes policy in wake of pirated games scam: Open marketplace adapts after users report ersatz indie games being sold in store
  10. Oculus and Marvel Announce New Rift Co-op Title ‘Powers United VR’
  11. Oculus moving on from investing in smaller VR projects: VR market can now support small and mid-sized teams, Oculus now prefers multi-million dollar investments
  12. Disney targets virtual and augmented reality with Marvel, Star Wars games: Entertainment behemoth partners with Lenovo to create its own headset
  13. Rift Sale Eases Buyer’s #1 Concern, But All-in Cost Still Hinders Mainstream Traction
  14. VR criticism “a little unfair” – Fargo
  15. Mel Slater’s Theory of VR Presence vs an Elemental Theory of Presence
  16. Swery: There’s no guarantee any game will sell in Japan
  17. Mario Kart becomes the first Nintendo property to come to VR: …but you’ll have to go to a Japanese arcade to play it for now.
  18. Splatoon 2 redeems the most clever online shooter series in years: We have a lot to say about Nintendo finally getting an online game (mostly) right.
  19. Crash Bandicoot remaster cut corners on the freaking jump button: Frank admission from developer seems to imply that it won’t be fixed.
  20. Overwatch League faces uphill battle to profitability – Pachter: Wedbush analyst cites spectator unfriendliness, reliance on Twitch among factors that could hamper Activision Blizzard’s esports efforts
  21. Patriots, Mets and NetEase among first Overwatch League team owners: Five of the seven teams will be in the US, as well as one in Seoul and one in Shanghai
  22. Esports College Course Offered Since ‘People Learn Best When At Play’
  23. Games software/hardware over $150B in 2017, $200B by 2021, record $2.8B invested
  24. Games business worth $200 billion by 2021 – Digi-Capital: Firm says this year will see hardware and software drive $150 billion in revenues, but it’s become a “two speed market”
  25. Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds tops GTA V on concurrent Steam users: PUBG is now fourth on the list of highest concurrent player numbers, right behind Fallout 4
  26. Battlegrounds Streamer’s Suspension Provokes Candid Explanation From PlayerUnknown
  27. ESPN Makes Street Fighter Player Change Character’s Thong Due to ‘Broadcast Standards’
  28. Playdemic’s Golf Clash generates $1.1m in a single day: Studio aims to reap revenues of over $100m by the end of the year
  29. Ubisoft’s sales are more than 80% digital: No new major releases in Q1, but overall sales still climbed 45% for the French publisher
  30. Ubisoft thanks player engagement for growth during an otherwise quiet Q1
  31. Highmark raises $2m for games that battle brain disease: Canadian start-up’s oversubscribed seed round attracts investors, studio also names new CFO
  32. The state of Mac gaming: WWDC 2017 gave onlookers new hope (Metal 2!), but Mac gaming still lags despite growth.
  33. Ataribox retro mini-console plays current and classic games: Atari follows in footsteps of Nintendo’s NES Mini and SNES Mini—but with a twist.
  34. Ataribox will be similar to NES Classic: There will be a focus on delivering classic Atari content, but unlike Nintendo, new content will be offered as well
  35. New Atari Console Will Bring “Current Gaming Content” As Well As Classic Titles: “Our objective is to create a new product that stays true to our heritage while appealing to both old and new fans of Atari.”
  36. As UK retailer GAME struggles, Sports Direct snaps up 26% stake
  37. Sports Direct buys large stake in struggling GAME: Retail billionaire Mike Ashley takes almost 26% in the retailer
  38. Why does Sports Direct want GAME?: The retail giant now owns almost 26% of the UK High Street chain
  39. Early game dev Carol Shaw donates dev docs to Women in Games exhibit
  40. Highmark Interactive nets $2M to create games that fight brain disease
  41. Netflix’s Castlevania Is The Future Of Videogame Adaptations
  42. How an indie game became the star of a Nine Inch Nails music video
  43. Doom’s cover art had one secret – and John Romero just spilled it: Co-creator John Romero’s random trivia reveal spoils a Bethesda season-pass giveaway.
  44. “Games are the largest provider of critical thinking education in the world”: Improbable’s Oliver Lewis and Nick Button-Brown want to unlock the potential of games as an antidote for “fake news, bias and extremism”
  45. Rez’s Mizuguchi: Now ‘it’s possible, genuinely, to movepeople’ with games – “A long time ago there were no colors, just dots on a screen, bleep sounds. Now, we can express so much more, combining so many elements, and it’s possible, genuinely, to move people.”

DIGITAL

  1. NAFTA Intellectual Property Talks Should Be Wary of Big Data Impacts: Expanding intellectual property protection may stifle innovation and harm the public interest (Teresa Scassa)
  2. My NAFTA Consultation Comments: Promoting Canadian Interests in the IP and E-commerce Chapters (Michael Geist)
  3. Russian man who helped create notorious malware sentenced to 5 years: –  DOJ: Citadel led to $500 million in losses for banks.
  4. Vladimir Putin Cut From Two Upcoming Hollywood Movies
  5. When Do Review Websites Commit Extortion?–Icon Health v. ConsumerAffairs (Eric Goldman)
  6. Creators Who Lost Revenue During “Adpocalypse” Seek Class Action Lawsuit Against YouTube
  7. Jake Paul’s Neighbors Hate Him And Are Considering A Class Action Lawsuit
  8. American YouTuber ‘My Mate Nate’ In Legal Trouble For Thailand Railroad Stunt
  9. Lilly Singh Named First UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador From The Digital Space
  10. Daenerys Targaryen Is The Most Popular ‘Game Of Thrones’ Character…On YouTube
  11. Google responds to academic funding controversy – with a GIF
  12. Correction to an article on Google’s academic influence
  13. The Ethics of Funded Research & the Ethics of Whistleblowing
  14. How (Not) to Buy an Academic
  15. All Out Of Ideas, Legacy News Providers Ask US Gov’t For The Right To Collude Against Google & Facebook
  16. Google Glass is Back, Glass ‘Enterprise Edition’ Unveiled
  17. Google Glass 2.0 Is A Startling Second Act
  18. Google’s New Feeds Show You The Internet You Want To See
  19. Korean defectors show locations of mass graves using Google Earth: NGO creates maps to guide future investigation of crimes against humanity.
  20. Defense of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop offers case study on how to sell snake oil: While trying to hammer a medical blogger, Goop nails the best ways to sell BS.
  21. 70-Year-Old ‘Grandma’ Is Making Serious Waves Within South Korea’s YouTube Scene
  22. Insights: In An Escher-esque Turn Of Events, Newspapers Need Antitrust Exemption To Deal With Google’s Antitrust Power
  23. The Biggest Dark Web Takedown Yet Sends Black Markets Reeling
  24. Two judges smack down notorious patent holder “Shipping and Transit” in one week: More than 300 lawsuits, more than 800 payouts, but not one decision on the merits.
  25. EFF has appealed the W3C’s decision to make DRM for the web without protections
  26. Germany Obliges Social Media Companies to Delete Hate Speech
  27. Nearly 90,000 Sex Bots Invaded Twitter in ‘One of the Largest Malicious Campaigns Ever Recorded on a Social Network’
  28. Twitter’s Never Going To Ban Donald Trump
  29. Trump’s Policies Are Sending Precious Startup Jobs To Canada
  30. As a Guru, Ayn Rand May Have Limits. Ask Travis Kalanick.
  31. VC Firms Promise To Stamp Out Sexual Harassment. Sounds Familiar
  32. 22,000 People Agree to Clean Toilets for WiFi Because They Didn’t Read the Terms
  33. Even Teenagers Are Creeped Out by Snapchat’s New Map Feature
  34. Snapchat Teams Up With Formula 1 for Grand Prix Stories
  35. Formula 1 Shares ‘Great Moment’ With Snap Inc. To Attract Millennials 
  36. Watch a Woman Destroy $200,000 Worth of Art While Taking a Selfie
    Asia’s Online Video Market to Hit $46 Billion by 2022, Dwarfing Theatrical 
  37. Netflix surges to record high as company adds non-US subscribers: There are now more people streaming Netflix outside the US than domestically.
  38. Netflix Blasts Past Expectations By Adding 5.2 Million New Subscribers In Second Quarter Of 2017
  39. Netflix Content Assets Valued at $11 Billion — More Than Time Warner, Viacom, Discovery, AMC
  40. Safeguarding Safe Harbors
  41. Focus: Social media evidence plays important role in litigation
  42. The First Alexa Phone Gets Amazon Even Closer To Total Domination
  43. Amazon Bursts Blue Apron’s Bubble, As The Market Checks Tech’s Hype
  44. At This Point, Amazon Can Crush a Company Just By Filing for a Trademark
  45. Pressure mounting for US government to examine Amazon-Whole Foods accord: On campaign trail, Donald Trump said Amazon had “a huge antitrust problem.”
  46. Chatbot lawyer, which contested £7.2M in parking tickets, now offers legal help for 1,000+ topics: DoNotPay has expanded to cover the UK and all 50 US states. Free legal help for everyone!
  47. A Son’s Race To Give His Dying Father Artificial Immortality
  48. Elon Musk’s Freak-Out Over Killer Robots Distracts From Our Real AI Problems
  49. Pocket brains: Neuromorphic hardware arrives for our brain-inspired algorithms – IBM’s TrueNorth helps usher in design that could again get around Moore’s Law limits.
  50. Blockchain for the humanitarian sector 
  51. The Curious Comeback Of The Dreaded QR Code
  52. Scrap dealer finds Apollo-era NASA computers in dead engineer’s basement: Plus hundreds of mystery tapes from Pioneer and Helios probe missions.
  53. #engage it’s time for judges to tweet, like, & share

CREATIVITY

  1. Federal Court finds University’s Fair Dealing Guidelines Are Not So Fair. When is Fair Foul, and Foul Fair?
  2. Access Copyright v. York U – And All Eyes Over to York U for What’s Next
  3. Ignoring the Supreme Court: Federal Court Judge Hands Access Copyright Fair Dealing Victory (Michael Geist)
  4. Donald Graham’s Copyright Infringement Suit against Richard Prince Allowed to Go Forward 
  5. Canadian Rapper Sends Rap Video Cease & Desist Letter To Coca Cola For ‘Jacking’ His Catchphrase
  6. Copyright Madness: Blurred Lines Mess Means Artists Now Afraid To Name Their Inspirations
  7. Latest EU Parliament Votes On Copyright: Give Big Corporations More Copyright
  8. Animal rights? Monkey selfie case may undo evolution of the Internet – Analysis: PETA’s quest for animals to own property is no laughing matter.
  9. Monkey selfie photographer says he’s broke: ‘I’m thinking of dog walking’ – David Slater has been fighting for years over who has the copyright to photos taken by monkeys using his camera, and says he’s struggling as a result
  10. George Romero, Zombies… And The Public Domain
  11. How the Guy Who Played Jar Jar Binks Survived the Fandom Menace
  12. No One Looks Good in the Ugly Drama Surrounding Kermit the Frog’s Firing 
  13. Freedom of panorama in Italy: does it exist? (Eleonora Rosati)
  14. 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 1 – Trademarks, Keyword Ads (Eric Goldman)
  15. 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 4 – Copyright, Patent, More (Eric Goldman) 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Government to name industry veteran Ian Scott as new head of the CRTC: The government will name Ian Scott as chairman and Caroline Simard as vice-chair of broadcasting
  2. White House gives thumbs up to overturning net neutrality rules: Congress should replace the FCC’s Title II rules, Trump spokesperson says.
  3. FCC refuses to release text of more than 40,000 net neutrality complaints: Ajit Pai says there’s no net neutrality problem—but keeps complaints under wraps.
  4. Ajit Pai not concerned about number of pro-net neutrality comments: Two million new pro-net neutrality comments claimed by “Day of Action” organizers.
  5. Senator Wyden To FCC Chair Pai: Hey, Stop Lying About What I Said To Undermine Net Neutrality
  6. Our Net Neutrality Comments To The FCC: We Changed Our Mind, You Can Too
  7. Comcast says net neutrality supporters “create hysteria”: Comcast, Verizon, and CenturyLink counter pro-net neutrality “Day of Action.”
  8. Comcast accuses net neutrality advocates of not “living in the real world”: Anyone who denies harm from Title II rules is denying reality, Comcast says.
  9. Comcast: We Must Kill Net Neutrality To Help The Sick And Disabled
  10. A Comcast billing nightmare affects woman caring for her sick father: “People with sick or dying family members should never have to go through this.”
  11. Comcast/NBC Caught Intentionally Misspelling Show Names To Help Hide Sagging Nielsen Ratings
  12. Charter Spectrum ‘Competes’ With New $20 Streaming TV Service Featuring $6 In Entirely Bogus Fees
  13. Openreach faces regulatory action if BT split fails to spur broadband market: Decent speeds and right service to meet consumer needs are on Ofcom’s list of demands.
  14. Sixth Circuit Blocks ‘Junk Fax’ Class Action Under Telephone Consumer Protection Act
  15. Any Changes to Radio Station Ownership Cap Rule Likely to Come from Courts, Not Congress
  16. EFF Highlights How ISPs Are Lying To Californians To Try And Kill New Broadband Privacy Protections

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Appeals court OKs secrecy of FBI national security data requests: Targets of NSLs can’t challenge them because ISPs can’t tell the target about them.
  2. Appeals Court Agrees Government Can Tell NSL Recipients To STFU Indefinitely
  3. Ashley Madison Parent Company to Pay $11.2 Million to Data Breach ‘Victims’
  4. Lawyers score big in settlement for Ashley Madison cheating site data breach: Members who paid $19 for their data to be deleted (it wasn’t) might get a refund.
  5. French court refers ‘right to be forgotten’ dispute to top EU court
  6. Facebook Persistent Tracking Lawsuit Crashes Again
  7. Security experts from Google, Facebook, Crowdstrike want to save US elections: “Defending Digital Democracy” will “generate innovative ideas” to safeguard democracy.
  8. Hack Brief: A Myspace Security Flaw Let Anyone Take Over Any Account, No Biggie
  9. Private Data Of 6 Million Verizon Users Left Openly Accessible On The Internet
  10. Indian ISPs Continue Futile Effort To Prevent Subscribers From Using Decent Encryption
  11. Privacy International Sues US Government Over Denied Access To Five Eyes Surveillance Agreements
  12. Government Lawyers Hoping To Keep Leaker’s Lawyers From Talking About Leaked Documents
  13. US border agents: We won’t search data “located solely on remote servers” – What does that mean in practice? CBP isn’t saying for now.
  14. White House voter commission publishes names, numbers of worried citizens: Vice president’s spokesman dismisses concerns: “These are public comments.”
  15. Trump’s Pick For FBI Head Sounds A Lot Like The Guy He Fired When It Comes To Encryption
  16. Prime Minister Says the Laws of Australia Can Beat the Laws of Math
  17. Biometrics catches violent fugitive 25 years on the run: Like it or not, facial-recognition tech has become an everyday part of society.
  18. DHS Goes Biometric, Says Travelers Can Opt Out Of Face Scans By Not Traveling
  19. DHS Confirms There Will Be More And Greater Intrusiveness During Border Searches
  20. New Zealand Airports Customs Officials Performing ‘Digital Strip Searches’ Of Travelers’ Electronics
  21. Not for the first time, Microsoft’s fonts have caught out forgers: If you’re going to pretend a document is from 2006, you should use Times New Roman.
  22. From Sans Serif To Sans Sharif: #Fontgate Leads To Calls For Pakistan’s Prime Minister To Resign
  23. Congresswoman’s iPhone contained nude images, and an aide put them online: Staffer allegedly accessed images while taking lawmaker’s phone in for repair.
  24. California Vote on Internet Privacy Could Have Big Impact on Other States: State law would limit how internet service providers can use customers’ data
  25. Apple’s Privacy Pledge Complicates Its AI Push
  26. An Amazon Echo Can’t Call The Police—But Maybe It Should
  27. IBM’s Plan To Encrypt Unthinkable Amounts Of Sensitive Data
  28. Reputation Matters: Court of Appeal prohibits Reuters from publishing commercially confidential information – The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Reuters against an injunction granted by the High Court to hedge fund Brevan Howard, which prohibited Reuters from publishing certain commercially confidential information.
  29. 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 2 – Privacy, Security (Eric Goldman)
  30. Averting Robot Eyes (Margot E. Kaminski, Matthew Rueben, William Smart, Cindy Grimm)

Jon

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