News of the Week; January 3, 2018

GAMES

1. Call of Duty argument leads to fatal swatting – Report: Police kill 28-year-old Kansas man in response to bogus 911 call placed over a $1.50 wager match
2. Alleged swatting hoax ends in the death of a father of two: The hoax was apparently sparked by a disagreement over a ‘Call of Duty’ game.
3. “They call it swatting,” says grieving Wichita mother after son killed by police: The man wasn’t a gamer, but he apparently became the victim of a deadly “prank.
4. After “swatting” death in Kansas, 25-year old arrested in Los Angeles: Arrest made after man dies in Kansas “swatting.”
5. Mother of “swatting” victim wants cop criminally charged for shooting: Call of Duty gamer allegedly made fake emergency call to Wichita cops.
6. Confused Judge Says Video Game Play Has No Copyright, Because The Work Is Not ‘Fixed’
7. It’s misleading to advertise with images from a different game, rules UK ad authority
8. The International in Vancouver? Valve may move huge ‘Dota 2’ esports event from Seattle to Canada
9. World Health Organization adds video game addiction to diagnostic manual
10. World Health Organisation recognises ‘gaming disorder’ as disease: First draft of upcoming compendium revision, if approved, warns of “significant impairment” in personal, family and social life
11. Is gaming addiction a “disorder” or a “junk diagnosis”?: WHO listing renews debate over where to draw the line for “hazardous gaming.”
12. ESA rebukes World Health Organization ‘gaming disorder’ classification
13. IGN fires editor-in-chief – Report: Gaming site says it made the move after investigation into alleged misconduct
14. Some mobile games now report TV viewing habits back to advertisers
15. ERA: UK games sales hit £3.35 billion in 2017 – GfK and IHS data show significant growth of almost 10% in digital and physical sales
16. Successful video game projects on Kickstarter flatline while tabletop spikes: In 2017, only one-in-eight successful game projects on the platform were video games
17. Nintendo forecasts 37m Switch sales by April 2019: Meanwhile console nears 3.3 units in Japan, breaking region’s first-year sales record
18. Report: Nintendo expects to sell 20M Switch consoles in the next fiscal year
19. Pokémon Go finally coming to China, courtesy of NetEase: Niantic signs partnership with Chinese publisher, location-based phenomenon to launch in second half of 2018
20. Enter the Gungeon sales have ‘surpassed all expectations’ on Switch
21. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ CEO plans to make game a “universal media franchise”: PUBG Corporation already receiving calls from Netflix and Hollywood
22. Battlegrounds surpasses 3M concurrent players on Steam
23. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds hits 3m concurrent Steam users: Leaving Early Access pushes Bluehole’s mega-hit to a new milestone
24. Here are the top grossing Steam games of 2017
25. PUBG, Rainbow Six, Rocket League, Warframe and Ark top 2017 global Steam rankings: Valve also reveals most popular VR games
26. LawBreakers publisher blames Battlegrounds for poor reception
27. Nexon blames PUBG for LawBreakers’ struggles: Boss Key’s underperformance also impacted publisher’s Q3 financials in North America
28. UK physical game sales are flat year-on-year – Call of Duty: WWII ends 2018 on a high
29. Here are the top grossing Steam games of 2017
30. Tabletop games soar on Kickstarter as video games stagnate
31. Microsoft has ended production of the Xbox One Kinect adapter
32. I Didn’t Think the Microsoft Kinect Could Be Deader, But Here We Are
33. RIP Kinect: 2010-2017(ish) – Discontinued USB adapter is the last nail in the coffin for influential tech.
34. Pressure Mounts for Xbox’s Missing VR Strategy as PSVR Rakes in $700M in Hardware Alone
35. Combatting asocial VR with asymmetrical multiplayer: Developer MunkyFun shares how the new League of War bridges the gap between virtual reality and couch players
36. CCP Studio Behind ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Acquired by Sumo Digital
37. Sumo Digital takes over CCP Newcastle studio: Eve Valkyrie team rescued by growing UK developer
38. Inside Microsoft HQ’s weird, wonderful swag store: Plus, the company’s Visitor Center shows us where all the Kinects went.
39. Lost Destiny symphonic album, complete with Paul McCartney, has totally leaked – Destiny: Music of the Spheres leak confirmed as legit by multiple ex-Bungie staffers.
40. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Brandon Sheffield’s all-time top 10 games hidden in other games
41. Can games retail survive 2018?: Nintendo Switch and Red Dead Redemption 2 will prove crucial in what may be a tough year for shops

DIGITAL

1. Revealed: Vietnam’s 10,000-Strong Internet Monitoring Force, Tasked With Stamping Out ‘Wrongful Views’
2. German Hate Speech Law Goes Into Effect, Turning Social Media Platforms Into Gov’t Revenue Generators
3. YouTube Deactivates Amazon Fire TV App Earlier Than Expected (Report)
4. Amazon shipped over 5 billion items with Prime in 2017
5. Amazon Can’t Target People Unable To Spell ‘Birkenstock’: Judge – The sandal maker fears Amazon might sell low-quality counterfeits.
6. Watchdog bans advert’s claim eHarmony is ‘scientifically proven’: ASA says claim is misleading because dating site cannot prove it provides a greater chance of finding lasting love
7. Academic researchers fire latest shots in adblocking arms race: Manipulating javascript can overcome publishers’ software.
8. Logan Paul Apologizes For Vlog Showing Suicide Victim Amid Outcry From YouTube Community
9. YouTuber Apologizes After Uploading Footage Of Apparent Suicide 
10. Logan Paul’s Apology Video Has Amassed Roughly 24 Million Views In 24 Hours
11. The Logan Paul Video Should Be A Reckoning For YouTube
12. YouTube is equally to blame for Logan Paul’s vide
13. After The Adpocalypse, JP Morgan Created Its Own YouTube Ad Safety Tool 
14. Vevo Revenue Up 30 Percent in 2017 As it Eyes Profitability: Report
15. Facebook Replaces Twitter As Exclusive Streaming Partner For Golden Globes Pre-Show
16. These Are 50 Of The Biggest Fake News Hits On Facebook In 2017: Viral fake news generated more engagement on Facebook in 2017 than last year, according to a BuzzFeed News analysis.
17. Vice Suspends President And Chief Digital Officer In Wake Of Sexual Harassment Claims
18. Child porn law goes nuts: 14-year-old girl charged for nude selfie: The ACLU of Minnesota calls the charges absurd and unconstitutional.
19. Is “Big Data” racist? Why policing by data isn’t necessarily objective: “Concerns with predictive big data technologies appear in most big data policing models.”
20. Elon Musk says AI could doom human civilization. Zuckerberg disagrees. Who’s right?
21. Soon We Won’t Be Able to Tell the Difference Between AI and a Human Voice
22. Health Care Is Hemorrhaging Data. AI Is Here To Help
23. I Believe In Intelligent Design … For Robots
24. Spotify, Valued Around $19 Billion, Looks Toward Wall Street As It Makes Confidential Filing For Going Public
25. Spotify faces $1.6 billion lawsuit from music publisher alleging copyright infringement
26. Spotify sued for $1.6 billion by publisher representing Tom Petty, The Doors, others: The company is accused of using music without a license or compensation
27. Digital Colonialism And Decentralisation (Andres Guadamuz)
28. If We Want Brain-Computer Interfaces, We Must First Decode the Brain
29. Dark Future: Here’s When We’ll Have the Black Mirror Tech That Lets Us Read Memories
30. 2017 Was A Terrible Year For Internet Freedom
31. Microsoft, DOJ set to go head to head at Supreme Court in 2018: Meanwhile, NSA spy suspect, KickassTorrents cases didn’t advance very much in 2017.
32. How Hotmail changed Microsoft (and email) forever: Acquired December 1997, Hotmail was the gift that kept on giving—for good or ill.
33. What’s behind the Intel design flaw forcing numerous patches?: There’s obviously a big problem, but we don’t know exactly what.
34. Apple’s response to battery controversy: Have a new one for $29: In attempt to make amends for iPhone slow down “misunderstanding.”
35. Your old iPhone battery can be replaced even if it passes Genius Bar test: iPhone 6 and later devices won’t be turned away by good Genius Bar test results. 
36. Apple buys app development service Buddybuild 
37. EU Copyright Law and the Cloud: VCAST and the intersection of private copying and communication to the public
38. Pirates receive Christmas gift from Arnold J
39. Hooters Investor Whispers ‘Blockchain’ and Its Parent Company’s Stock Soars 50 Percent
40. Blockchain announcement sends stock of Hooters franchisee soaring – Press release: “Eating a burger is now a way to mine for cryptocoins.”
41. Tiny company which owns some Hooter’s restaurants says it will use blockchain for rewards program, boosting stock by 50%
42. Truth and fiction in blockchain’s brave new world: Why has the mere mention of the technology sent stock prices soaring?
43. How the “Original Internet Godfather” walked away from his cyber crime past: Brett Johnson was dubbed the “Original Internet Godfather” by the US Secret Service.
44. Hacker Lexicon: What Is Sinkholing?
45. NewsMedia Council Dismisses Blacklock’s Complaint Against CANADALAND: Editor Tom Korski had alleged a “conflict of interest” in inviting professor Michael Geist to comment on Blacklock’s court battles.
46. Do it For the Culture! (Memes)
47. Looking Back at 2017: My Top Ten Posts (Michael Geist)
48. How FANG Stocks Left the Media Business Snakebitten: A 2017 Retrospective
49. License expired: The Ars Technica 2018 Deathwatch: Companies, tech, and trends least likely to succeed in 2018, as chosen by Ars editors.
50. Insights: Peerless Prognostications For A Perilously Fuzzy Future In Online Entertainment

CREATIVITY

1. Chinese Billionaire Got A US Court To Issue An Unconstitutional Gag Order On A Critic
2. Oh, the Places Copyright and Trademark Law Go!
3. The Federal Circuit Strikes Ban On Registering “Immoral” Or “Scandalous” Trademarks
4. Lynyrd Skynyrd Member Sanctioned For Failure To Preserve Third Party’s Text Messages
5. Appeals Court Dismisses Gang Designation Lawsuit Against The FBI Brought By Insane Clown Posse Fans
6. Indiana tries to stop NFL kneeling–and would fail
7. Knicks Center Enes Kantor To Be Tried In Absentia For Upsetting Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s Fickle Ego
8. Hopefully For The Last Time: The US Has Zero New Works Enter The Public Domain On January 1st
9. Happy Public Domain day! Here are the works entering the public domain in Canada and the EU, but not the USA, where the public domain is stagnant

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. No, The Death Of Net Neutrality Will Not Be Subtle
2. Ajit Pai’s FCC is still editing the net neutrality repeal order: Repeal undergoing final changes as FCC prepares for court battle.
3. Now That The FCC Is Doing Away With Title II For Broadband, Will Verizon Give Back The Taxpayer Subsidies It Got Under Title II?
4. New York State Eyes Its Own Net Neutrality Law
5. Comcast & The Cable Industry Greets The New Year With A Flurry Of Price Increases
6. After beating cable lobby, Colorado city moves ahead with muni broadband: Fort Collins plans universal broadband, net neutrality, and gigabit speeds.
7. Robocalls – and complaints about robocalls –  booming: 4.5 million complaints last year.
8. AT&T sued over layoffs – after promising more investment because of tax cut: AT&T explanation of layoffs undercuts claim that net neutrality hurt investment.
9. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation – 2017 Year in Review

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Hawaiian Supreme Court Says The First Amendment Protects Filming Law Enforcement
2. New powers for Canadian spy agency alarming: Bill C-59 could normalize state-sponsored hacking and disinformation campaigns, university organization warns.
3. A Critical Intel Flaw Breaks Basic Security For Most Computers
4. A Major Security Vulnerability Has Plagued ‘Nearly All’ Intel CPUs For Years
5. Report: All Intel Processors Made in the Last Decade Might Have a Massive Security Flaw [Updated]
6. “Meltdown” and “Spectre”: Every modern processor has unfixable security flaws: Immediate concern is for Intel chips, but everyone is at risk.
7. Ad targeters are pulling data from your browser’s password manager: New research shows an alarming new way to track web users
8. After Equifax breach, anger but no action in Congress: The aftermath of the data breach played out like a familiar script: White-hot bipartisan outrage, then hearings and proposals that went nowhere.
9. Six Cyber Threats to Really Worry About in 2018
10. A practical guide to microchip implants: An estimated 50 to 100k folks have implants; how do the benefits compare to the risks?
11. This AI, Developed at Stanford, Can Predict Who You’re Voting For: Researchers at Stanford have trained an AI to predict a person’s political leanings based on his or her neighborhood and choice of vehicle.

Jon