News of the Week; April 29, 2020

GAMES

1. Coronavirus-themed game pulled from Steam in China: Coronavirus Attack developed in protest against Chinese government
2. Fortnite’s Travis Scott concert attracts more than 12 million concurrent players
3. Travis Scott’s In-Game ‘Fortnite’ Concert Nabs 12.3 Million Concurrents, Shattering All-Time Record
4. Fortnite’s Travis Scott event reached 27.7m unique players: Updated figures show Epic’s playerbase took part in live concert 45.8 million times across the five events
5. Fortnite’s virtual Travis Scott gig attracted a record 12.3 million concurrent players
6. Fortnite’s “Party Royale” mode ditches the guns, asks players to “chill”
7. Epic relents, puts Fortnite on Google Play: Company says it took 18 months to realize Google puts apps from outside its own Android storefront at a disadvantage
8. Epic’s crusade against 30% takes a tumble | Opinion: Fortnite finally comes to the Google Play store, marking a significant setback for Epic Games’ quest to reduce the industry standard revenue share
9. Sensor Tower revises European mobile game spending projections: COVID-19 impacts lead to expectations of slightly lower games revenues by 2022 across App Store, Google Play
10. In F2P, chasing ‘whales’ is a mistake says Nexon CEO
11. Google Play has been spreading advanced Android malware for years
12. The Last of Us Part 2 leaked online: Major spoilers begin appearing online after gameplay and cutscenes leaked
13. The Last of Us Part 2 gets a new release date: Naughty Dog’s sequel now planned for June 19; Ghost of Tsushima to follow in July
14. Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Global Offensive source code leaked: Valve – “We have not found any reason for players to be alarmed or avoid the current builds”
15. Indivisible launches on Nintendo Switch without developer’s knowledge
16. 160K Nintendo accounts hacked due to Nintendo Network ID security breach
17. Nintendo closing ‘limited’ Wii U and 3DS eShops in the Caribbean and Latin America
18. Nintendo closing 3DS and Wii U eShops in Latin America and the Caribbean
19. Trials of Mana demo taken down after crackers use it to enable piracy
20. Lack of representation in games is “partly an issue of values, partly an issue of bravery”: Jesse Schell discusses the development of superhero dating sim Mission: It’s Complicated
21. Gaming should take cues from NASCAR’s response to Kyle Larson | Opinion: This week, NASCAR proved it’s possible to drop celebrities who make racist remarks — it’s about time gaming did the same
22. DayZ developer Bohemia Interactive shutters Bratislava studio 
23. How Bohemia’s “almost accidental” mod support became a staple of the studio: Karel Mořický talks about the benefits and challenges of the Arma and DayZ studio’s community development efforts
24. Bohemia Interactive shuts down DayZ studio: Bohemia says decision was a mutual one between company and studio leadership
25. Games getting us through COVID-19—blocks, roguelites, whatever Death Stranding is
26. As Xbox hardware sales fall, stay-at-home orders help drive up content & services revenue
27. Xbox’s Phil Spencer discusses “not exploiting” a global pandemic: Microsoft gaming boss assures business tactics have not changed as “big flood” of people come to Xbox for the first time
28. Microsoft’s gaming revenues flat in Q3 2020
29. Riot “looking into long-term solutions” to fight toxicity in Valorant
30. Riot turns on ability to turn off kernel-level anti-cheat tool
31. Riot Games offering up to $100,000 for Valorant exploits and security concerns: League of Legends publisher increases rewards in its Bug Bounty program, which has paid out $2 million to date
32. Riot Games to set up shop in Singapore with new studio addition
33. Riot Games to open new studio in Singapore: Company’s second Asia branch will also be headed up by Nathan Beemer
34. Final Fantasy VII Remake ships 3.5m in three days: Square Enix says digital sales for PS4 exclusive launched earlier this month have been “exceptional”
35. UK Charts: Physical game sales plunge 43%: Final Fantasy VII Remake tumbles to No.4
36. EGDF survey shows fear of closure among European studios: Around 17% anticipate closure within three months due to the impact of COVID-19, says the EGDF’s Jari-Pekka Kaleva
37. Epic Games Store now requires two-factor authentication to claim free games
38. Transcend Fund is investing $50m in early stage game businesses: First announced investment was in Nifty Games’s upcoming licensed NFL mobile title
39. Google abandons Stadia Base branding as it launches free tier: Free trials of Stadia Pro can essentially transition into free use of the service, now just called Stadia
40. Game creation platform Crayta coming to Google Stadia this summer
41. EA Partners With Google to Bring Games to Stadia Streaming Service
42. PUBG comes to Google Stadia
43. Stadia Connect brings PUBG to the cloud, details new ‘First on Stadia’ timed exclusives
44. Stadia’s latest woe: Its PUBG port is overrun with official, crappy bots
45. One million people have tried Google Stadia, mobile app estimates suggest
46. Two months free offer pushes Stadia past 1m installs: Start of April saw biggest week of sign-ups to Google’s streaming service since launch
47. Apple Arcade and App Store launching in 20 new countries: Brings the number of nations that can download iOS games to 175, with 500 million people using it every week
48. Gaming Videos Keep Leveling Up Views Through March Into April
49. UK games spending dipped to £5.35bn in 2019 ahead of next-gen consoles: Declines reported in both software and hardware revenues, but spending on games culture products is up almost 30%
50. German games market grows to €6.2bn: Spending on in-game purchases helps drive growth despite the approach of next-generation consoles
51. Blizzard co-founder Morhaime speculates on waning popularity of MMOs
52. How Blizzard, Ubisoft, and other studios went remote in the time of COVID-19
53. My.Games’ revenue and engagement spikes amid COVID-19 lockdown: Publisher fast-tracks digital storefront features to help players keep in touch during isolation
54. GameStop starts re-opening stores closed by COVID-19: Retailer has begun the process of re-opening locations in Italy, Germany, Austria, and the states of South Carolina and Georgia
55. Launching Streets of Rage 4 in the middle of a pandemic: Dotemu CEO Cyrille Imbert says production wasn’t hurt by COVID-19, but the long-term and psychological effects are still unknown
56. Helsinki studio Reworks raises €4m: Funding round led by EQT Ventures, developer launches first title Redecor
57. Stillfront Group acquires casual game maker Candywriter for $74.4 million
58. Stillfront Group acquires Candywriter for at least $74m: Miami-based mobile developer of BitLife picked up amid growing series of acquisitions
59. Scopely acquires Scrabble GO dev PierPlay
60. 1939 Games secures $1.9m in latest funding round: Developer’s Second World War-themed digital card game Kards now boasts over 100,000 weekly active user
61. Wolfenstein: The Board Game raises $480,000 on Kickstarter – Tabletop adaption of iconic board game franchise surpasses crowdfunding goal by over 1,000%
62. Animal Crossing: New Horizons returns to No.1 in the UK – Switch boxed game sales surge as stock arrives on virtual shelves
63. Animal Crossing New Horizons sold an estimated 5m digital units in March: Superdata – That’s a new record for the most digital units sold in a single month
64. Around 160,000 Nintendo accounts comprised in data beach: Nintendo confirms breach following investigation into reports of unaurthourised third-parties accessing user accounts
65. 160,000 Nintendo accounts were compromised—including one of ours
66. Switch shortage reportedly driven by reseller bots: Free open-source tools are buying Nintendo’s console as soon as it is restocked
67. Nintendo aims to boost Switch production: Company reportedly tells part suppliers to prepare for a 10% jump in output this year
68. Activist investor ValueAct believes Nintendo can rival Netflix, Disney+: San Francisco company has built up $1.1 billion stake in the platform holder over the last year
69. What’s fueling gaming content creator deals?: Peter Letz assesses the platform exclusivity trend and the surge in non-endemic brand interest in gaming personalities
70. Bohemia Interactive shuts down DayZ studio
71. Death Stranding PC delayed to July: Impact of working from home pushes Kojima Productions’ next release back by more than a month
72. WWE 2K21 officially cancelled: WWE say there will be no game this year, publisher 2K Games teases more news on series’ future next week
73. 2K names new WWE games boss ahead of series refresh: WWE 2K Battlegrounds to fill the void as simulation series takes a break
74. Revenue up 43% at Team17 in 2019
75. March US game sales jump 35% says NPD: Animal Crossing a stand-out success in a month of pandemic lockdowns and new releases
76. Epic Games’ Live Meetup App Houseparty Has Gained 50 Million Users In 1 Month
77. Tencent takes over China’s streaming market with $262m Huya stake: Company now dominates streaming space thanks to similar stake in Douyu, plus its own eGame platform
78. Twitch Streamers Creating 89% More Sponcon, Getting 23% More Engagement Than They Did Pre-Pandemic (Report)
79. New Facebook Gaming app to focus on streaming: Launch of the app brought forward as gaming surges during the global COVID-19 lockdown
80. UK games industry launches ‘Games for Carers’ initiative to thank NHS workers
81. Over 85,000 games made available for free to NHS workersz: Dozens of game companies partner with UKIE and Keymailer to support front line staff
82. Side Quest aims to get 100,000 young people to build their first game at home: New UK industry initiative offers free software, masterclasses, and community to new, learning developers
83. Facebook launches a dedicated gaming app to take on Twitch and YouTube
84. Facebook Debuts Dedicated—And Ad-Free—Gaming App Months Before Planned Release
85. Facebook Is Cool With Disguised Toast Revisiting Twitch—So Long As He’s Not Streaming Gaming Content
86. Focus Home Interactive catalog pushes sales up 13%: World War Z publisher brought in €142.8 million as digital accounted for 82% of all sales, up from 66% the previous year
87. Valve’s advice for making your game thrive after launch: Discovery on Steam is vital for indie developers — Valve’s Sophie Mackey offers six ways to improve your game’s visibility
88. Valve’s top tips for launching a game on Steam: The GamesIndustry.biz Academy delves into localisation, wishlists, game tags, and other tools to ensure the best possible launch on Steam
89. Gearbox is working on a Brothers in Arms TV series
90. Morhaime says WoW accessibility push hurt social experience
91. Call of Duty: Warzone off to strong start in China’s March streaming rankings
92. PUBG Global Series cancelled, digital competition to replace it: PUBG Continental Series to offer total prize pool of $2.4m
93. Call of Duty: Mobile esports tournament gets $1m prize pool – Competing teams will be drawn directly from the game’s community through four open qualifiers, starting April 30
94. NHL Jumps On The Esports Bandwagon With Players Tournament, NHL Channel Broadcast
95. Opera Event raises $5 million to help esports influencers join forces with advertisers
96. FaZe Clan Raises $40 Million In Series A From Slew Of Top Rappers, Athletes, Music Execs
97. FaZe Clan Forges Merch Deal With NFL In Honor Of League’s First Virtual Draft
98. FaZe Clan Establishes ‘FaZe Studios’ To Create, Acquire Premium Projects For Film And TV
99. Nintendo closing ‘limited’ Wii U and 3DS eShops in the Caribbean and Latin America
100. Jagex sold for $530m: Fukong Interactive also sells RuneScape developer’s parent company to Macarthur Fortune Holding
101. Scopely acquires Scrabble Go studio PierPlay: Strong early performance of Scrabble Go led to acquisition of the Los Angeles-based mobile developer
102. Magic Leap lays off people “at every level”: AR company says pandemic prompted need to manage costs, shift focus away from consumer products to enterprise market
103. Valve Ends SteamVR Support For macOS
104. SuperData trims $1.4B off 2020 XR revenue projections as COVID-19 impacts supply
105. Superdata downgrades XR projections for 2020 through 2023: COVID-19 manufacturing slowdown brings anticipated 2020 revenue down to $6.3 billion
106. Disruptor Beam rebrands as Beamable: Star Trek Timelines studio drops games development to focus on back-end tech for free-to-play games
107. Inkle turns to crowdsourcing for upcoming game Pendragon: Award-winning indie studio opens up for short stories submissions
108. Finnish studio Reworks nets $4.3 million to grow home design game Redecor
109. AuthorDigital nets $5.5 million to open new studio Adept Games
110. Hello Neighbor test pilot racks up 11m views in a week: “The ‘indie publishing’ business is dead. It’s a game of brands now,” says developer
111. Rovio slashes user acquisition spend to improve profits in Q1: Cost savings lead to 50% profit increase despite declining revenues
112. The German game market grew by 6 percent in 2019 thanks to in-game spending
113. Can virtual nature be a good substitute for the great outdoors? The science says yes.
114. Music theory meets game theory in 400+ episodes of a great game-music podcast
115. With Schools Shut Down, Educators Turn To Video Games To Help Educate Students
116. What impact is COVID-19 having on video game deals? | Opinion: Wiggin LLP’s Ciaran Hickey and Gerard Lee discuss the prospects for investments and acquisitions during a pandemic
117. Demand for Chinese, Italian localizations dipped last year: Translation firm LocalizeDirect says Thai, Polish, Turkish, and Vietnamese translations becoming more popular
118. The uncertain, unflinching future of games media: Upon his departure from Kotaku to Bloomberg News, Jason Schreier talks about his experiences as a reporter, and games journalism’s present and upcoming challenges
119. Dealing with delays, contracts and confidentiality during lockdown: Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov offers advice on how to adapt to the pandemic without causing legal problems
120. Techland’s shelved Hellraid project lives on as DLC in Dying Light
121. Ziggurat Interactive acquires catalog of 3DO titles from Prism Entertainment
122. How Manticore’s new Core platform aims to bring fresh blood into game dev
123. How deeply personal RPG The Wagadu Chronicles explores new realms of Afrofantasy
124. Don’t Miss: How Trinket found the right recipe while designing Battle Chef Brigade
125. Don’t Miss: Games that cleverly incorporate texting and web browsing
126. Don’t Miss: Behind the audio of Total War: Three Kingdoms
127. Don’t Miss: How Bloodborne’s design makes players the experience points
128. Don’t Miss: An in-depth look at the physics of trains in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
129. Blog: Black Mesa project lead Adam Engels on building the ambitious Half-Life mod
130. Blog: Tales from Discoverabilityland – A story of three graphs
131. Blog: Examining floating point combat systems
132. Blog: Recording statistics – An exercise in minimalism
133. Humble’s Conquer COVID-19 bundle raises $6.5 million for pandemic relief
134. Bethesda donates $1 million to COVID-19 relief efforts
135. Bethesda donates $1m to COVID-19 relief charities: Direct Relief, UNICEF, charities local to company’s studios to receive donations

DIGITAL

1. How Facebook Works for Trump: Donald Trump won the presidency by using the social network’s advertising machinery in exactly the way the company wanted. He’s poised to do it again.
2. Facebook Still Can’t Dismiss Sex Trafficking Victims’ Lawsuit in Texas State Court (Eric Goldman)
3. Public Colleges Are Violating The 1st Amendment In Using Facebook Filters
4. New York AG’s office questions Amazon over “inadequate” COVID-19 safety
5. Senator pushes DOJ to launch criminal antitrust probe of Amazon: The other eleventy zillion probes are all civil matters.
6. Amazon’s white-collar workers are starting to stand up for their blue-collar colleagues
7. Why Am I Paying $60 for That Bag of Rice on Amazon.com?
8. Amazon reportedly used merchant data, despite telling Congress it doesn’t
9. Many supposedly grassroots reopen sites are tied to one pro-gun lobbyist
10. Craigslist Denied Section 230 Immunity for Classified Ads from 2008–ML v. Craigslist (Eric Goldman)
11. Section 230 Protects Hyperlinks in #MeToo “Whisper Network”–Comyack v. Giannella (Eric Goldman)
12. Lime’s User Agreement Sends Another Case to Arbitration–Babcock v. Neutron (Eric Goldman)
13. WhatsApp’s new limit cuts virality of ‘highly forwarded’ messages by 70%
14. Snapchat’s Latest Ad Product Lets Marketers Purchase The ‘First Commercial’ Viewers See
15. TikTok Is Sharing Proprietary Ad Performance Metrics And Targeting Data With Its New Partner, Sprinklr
16. TikTok Will Let Parents Pair With Their Kids’ Accounts, Removes Direct Messaging For Those 16 And Under
17. This Record Label Is Changing The Titles Of Songs That Go Viral On TikTok
18. TikTok spikes persuade more labels to change track titles
19. TikTok Ad Agency ‘The Network Effect’ Drives Billions Of Views By Partnering With Passionate Creators
20. Charli D’Amelio Continues TikTok Reign As First Creator To Cross 50 Million Followers
21. A3 Artists Signs Popular Pomeranian Jiffpom, With 20 Million TikTok Followers
22. TikTok Hosting Weeklong Virtual Prom For Quarantined Teens With Patrick Starrr, Diplo, More
23. TikTok Tests Ecommerce Waters With Branded ‘Small Gestures’ Program
24. TikTok Added 12 Million Unique U.S. Visitors In March, As Watch-Time Surges In Quarantine
25. Quibi Says It’ll Let Users Cast To TVs Next Month, Reveals Top 5 Most-Watched Originals To Date
26. Wanted: New Tools To Tame the Wild West of the Internet
27. Nvidia promises no layoffs, accelerating raises to help staff during pandemic: Technology firm says it will put “tens of millions of dollars in the hands of our families in the coming months.”
28. Spotify launches curated podcast playlists in a bid to make the platform a podcast tastemaker: Localized playlists for six countries
29. Netflix adds a ‘screen lock’ feature to prevent accidental pauses: Save yourself frustration by locking your screen
30. Netflix Gained A Record-Setting 15.77 Million New Subscribers Last Quarter
31. Disney and the unequal reality of coronavirus America
32. Disney+ is giving us a peek behind the curtain of Mandalorian’s first season
33. Disney Says If You Tweet #MayThe4th At It, You’re Agreeing To A Disney Terms Of Use (You’re Not)
34. Tech giants set to lose billions in ad revenue in virus shutdown
35. Facebook’s Non-advertising Revenue ‘primarily driven by Oculus,’ up 80% to $297M
36. Facebook Comes For Zoom With New Videoconferencing Feature ‘Messenger Rooms’
37. Google Meet, Google’s Zoom competitor, is now free for everyone
38. Covid-19 has caused a major spike in anti-Chinese and anti-Semitic hate speech: Exclusive data shows that the pandemic has led to an extraordinary increase in hate speech, racism and incitements of violence online. 
39. Game Of (Internet) Life: How Social Media Reacts To Questionable News
40. Public Interest Groups Ask Social Media Platforms To Preserve Data Regarding COVID-19 Content Moderation For Future Study
41. HHS’ New Spokesman So Good At Communications Strategy That He Thinks He Can Delete Tweets From The Internet
42. Casey Neistat Joined Celebs In A Twitch-Streamed Poker Tournament That Raised $1.75 Million For Feeding America
43. Insights: Grading Video Streaming Services Six Weeks Into The Pandemic
44. First Oxford vaccine woman alive after FAKE death reports
45. The Very Real Threat of Trump’s Deepfake: The president’s first use of a manipulated video of his opponent is a test of the boundaries.
46. For the Love of God, Not Everything Is a Deepfake: Donald Trump retweeted a gif of Joe Biden with his tongue out. No, it’s not a deepfake—or the end of democracy.
47. Jay-Z Claims Copyright On Audio Deepfake Of Him Reciting Hamlet
48. Facebook’s name-and-shame coronavirus groups are hellish: Thousands of people have joined ‘name and shame’ groups on Facebook. But these digital vigilantes can wreak havoc on innocent people’s lives
49. Messenger Rooms are Facebook’s answer to Zoom and Houseparty for the pandemic
50. Snap Stock Surges On User, Revenue Growth; Calls Out ‘Nikita Unfilitered’ For 20 Million Views
51. Looking for Likes: Social Media Post Results in Unintended License to Share Photograph
52. Bing disables “trending” feature after wildly inappropriate results
53. Price Gouging Takedowns – The Online Platforms Have a Say
54. Vox Furloughs Roughly 100 Staffers As Pandemic Continues To Hit Digital Media Business
55. Show but don’t tell: why silent Zooms are golden for focusing the mind
56. Will It Still be “In” When It Gets Here? Online Fashion Retailer Agrees to Largest Ever Settlement for Slow Deliveries
57. Rainn Wilson’s SoulPancake Launches Instagram Series To Help Viewers Cope Through Coronavirus Crisis
58. Instagram’s New Charity Tool Lets Creators Raise Funds While Livestreaming
59. Sheriff Sued After Threatening To Arrest A High School Student Over Her Coronavirus-Related Instagram Posts
60. How covid-19 could bring about new social contracts around data: The crisis could lead to a lasting shift in how we think about data. If we get this right we’ll see radically more data sharing where there is a public interest
61. Crypto Company ‘Ripple’ Files Suit Against YouTube For Failing To Quell Giveaway Scams
62. MrBeast’s ‘Creator Games’ Is YouTube’s Most-Watched Live Original Ever, With 662K Concurrent Viewers
63. At 15, coronavirus is forcing YouTube to grow up faster
64. YouTube Combats COVID-19 Conspiracies With Fact-Checking Panels In Search Results
65. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Chats Site’s Evolving Policies, Viewership Trends Amid Coronavirus Crisis
66. YouTube Changes Partner Lineup For Its Three-Year-Old ‘Measurement Program’
67. YouTube Spaces Unveil Virtual Resources For Creators In Light Of Social Distancing
68. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 4/20/2020
69. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 4/27/2020
70. Bon Appétit’s ‘Test Kitchen’ Crew To Host YouTube Variety Show Benefiting Coronavirus Relief
71. YouTube Announces Slate Of COVID-19 Specials Starring MrBeast, Lele Pons, Luisito Comunica, More
72. 200,000 Live Viewers Tune Into Premiere Of James Charles’ YouTube Competition
73. YouTube Generated $4.04 Billion In Q1 Ad Revenue, But Brands Are Buying Less Inventory
74. RuPaul’s DragCon Shifts Exclusively To YouTube In Wake Of Coronavirus Cancellation
75. HBO Max Sets May 27 Launch, $14.99-Per-Month Price Tag
76. Despite Sign-Up And Income Surge For Creators, Patreon Lays Off 13% Of Workforce
77. Let there be light: the new must-have for celebrities in lockdown
78. As We’re All Living, Working, And Socializing Via The Internet… MIT Tech Review Says It Proves Silicon Valley Innovation Is A Myth
79. Walmart To Sell Video Rental And Streaming Service Vudu To NBCUniversal-Owned Fandango
80. Warner Bros.’ Digital Studio Stage 13 Asks Fans To Share Love For Local Asian Eateries Amid Pandemic
81. Insights: Old-School Stars Forced Online Will Help Change Hollywood Long After Pandemic
82. Decade-Old Digital Talent Firm Gleam Futures Launches ‘Entertainment’ Unit For Traditional Celebs
83. Cannes Lions Replaces Cancelled Festival With ‘Lions Live,’ A Monthlong Educational Event For Creatives
84. ‘It’s like a sexy story just for me’ – how lockdown has triggered a wave of sexting: From celebrities posting photographs to sharing erotic challenges with each other, getting risqué online has become a welcome distraction
85. Getting the next phase of remote learning right in higher education
86. A Cryptocurrency Technology Finds New Use Tackling Coronavirus: Blockchain could be an efficient way to source medical equipment or validate Covid-19 immunity, experts say
87. Balloons to Deliver Emergency Internet Across Kenya
88. 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230) (Eric Goldman)
89. Canadian Internet law update – 2019 (Bradley Freedman)
90. Domain Name Disputes: ICANN Public Comment Period – Open through May 4, 2020
91. Data Waste (Elettra Bietti & Roxana Vatanparast)

A.I.

1. Politics of Adversarial Machine Learning: Adversarial machine-learning attacks and defenses have political dimensions
2. Politics of Adversarial Machine Learning (Kendra Albert, Jonathon Penney, Bruce Schneier, Ram Shankar Siva Kumar)
3. USPTO: AI Cannot Be Named as Inventor on Patent
4. Covid-19: the rise of a global collective intelligence?
5. Israel is using AI to flag high-risk covid-19 patients
6. Doctors are using AI to triage covid-19 patients. The tools may be here to stay: Faced with staff shortages and patient loads, a growing number of hospitals are turning to automated tools to help them manage the pandemic.
7. Hospitals are using AI to predict the decline of Covid-19 patients — before knowing it works
8. Latin America Hopes Big Data Can Beat the Virus. But There Are Risks.
9. AI can’t solve this: The coronavirus could be highlighting just how overhyped the industry is
10. The Scramble for Delivery Robots Is On and Startups Can Barely Keep Up: Adoption of robots and drones carrying goods speeds up as a frightened world craves safe delivery of everything from medical supplies to food.
11. LAPD’s Failed Predictive Policing Program The Latest COVID-19 Victim
12. Companies bet on AI cameras to track social distancing, limit liability
13. The pandemic is bringing us closer to our robot takeout future
14. Blog: The story of AI-powered interactive drama Facade
15. Blog: Using machine learning to create AI opponents
16. Video: Better animation through machine learning
17. Does the US Tax Code Favor Automation? (Daron Acemoglu, Andrea Manera, Pascual Restrepo)
18. Bodies, Brains, and Machines: An Exploration of the Relationship between the Material and Affective States of Librarians and Information Systems (Stacy Allison-Cassin)

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Ajit Pai uses bad data to claim ISPs are deploying broadband to everyone
2. As Pandemic Exposes US Broadband Failures, FCC Report Declares Everything Is Fine
3. TV ‘Cord Cutters’ Will Be The Majority By 2022
4. Pandemic Builds Momentum for Broadband Infrastructure Upgrade: Coronavirus crisis shows need for widespread high-speed internet in U.S. homes
5. Corona in 5G: A lesson to be learnt from the current crisis is that Europe needs to avoid being dependent in sensitive areas of production
6. Media Roles in the Online News Domain: Authorities and Emergent Audience Brokers
7. NY AG Opens Inquiry After Charter Spectrum Bungles Its Coronavirus Response
8. FCC Issues Guidance on TV License Renewals and Announces New Ownership Question on Radio Renewals
9. FCC Clarifies Certain Political Record-Keeping Requirements
10. The FCC ratified Wi-Fi 6E this morning
11. Space X Starlink Beta Starts In 6 Months, Bringing A Glimmer Of Hope To Crappy US Broadband Market
12. AT&T CEO retiring as telco plans for three years of cost cuts and layoffs
13. AT&T Preps For Even More Cuts After $42 Billion+ In Trump Tax Cuts And Regulatory Favors
14. Comcast waives data cap until at least June 30 in response to pandemic
15. Fancy That: Comcast’s Network Holding Up Fine Without Usage Caps

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. Federal Court of Appeal Deals Access Copyright Huge Blow As It Overturns York University Copyright Decision (Michael Geist)
2. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 48: Sam Trosow and Lisa Macklem on Copyright and Fair Dealing During a Pandemic (Michael Geist)
3. Access Copyright v. York – The Next Chapter
4. Federal Court of Appeal Finds That Tariffs Certified by the Copyright Board Are Not Mandatory, and Fair Dealing Guidelines Are Not a Shield
5. Canadian Publishing Group Says France Has The Right Idea, Presses For Its Own Google Tax
6. Digital books and ownership rights in the information age
7. Too Late Blues for Guitar Maker’s Copyright Ownership Claims
8. Photographer Prods Actress Ellen Barkin With Copyright Infringement Suit
9. From Tiger King To Censorship King: Copyright Lobbyist Cheers On SLAPP Copyright Suit Featured In Tiger King
10. UNESCO Suggests COVID-19 Is A Reason To Create… Eternal Copyright
11. Fash-Shunned: Selena Gomez Sues Fashion App for $10 Million for Allegedly Using Her Name and Likeness Without Permission
12. Supreme Court Says Georgia’s ‘Official Code’ Is Public Domain — Including Annotations
13. Supreme Court rules Georgia can’t put the law behind a paywall
14. Supreme Court holds that Georgia cannot copyright the annotations to its laws
15. SCOTUS Rules No Copyright in Official Annotated State Code
16. Supreme Court says state laws aren’t copyrightable
17. Mr Worldwide’s Great American ‘Scream’ – Protection granted for Pitbull’s famous yell
18. Don’t POKE a trademark unless you have sufficient evidence to invalidate it
19. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s an infringement of a reputable mark!
20. Battle of the ‘McGregors’ – UFC Champion loses legal battle in the EUIPO ring
21. Hugo Boss versus Hugo Boss: Lessons from Lycett’s Antics
22. Cyprus corrects halloumi trade mark mishap
23. Supreme Court Decides Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil Group, Inc.
24. US Supreme Court Rejects Willfulness Requirement for Profit Awards in Trademark Infringement Cases
25. Supreme Court Confirms Profits Remedy in Trademark Cases is Not Conditioned on Proof of Willfulness
26. High Court Rules That ‘Willful’ Trademark Infringement No Longer Required for Award of Profits
27. Supreme Court Holds Disgorgement of Profits Available Absent Willfulness, for 1125(a) Infringement
28. U.S. Supreme Court Holds That Plaintiffs Need Not Prove “Willful” Conduct to Recover Profits in Trademark Infringement Suits
29. Supreme Court: Willfulness Unnecessary for Disgorgement of Infringer’s Profits Award in Trademark Cases
30. U.S. Supreme Court Rules Trademark Infringer’s Profits at Risk in All Cases
31. Comic-Con Canceled — But Comic-Con Trademark Survives
32. Open COVID Pledge and Free Licensing Opportunities: Issues to Consider Before Accepting
33. Conversant v Apple: old tech, new tricks
34. Lawyers question need for Patent Act amendments as companies share IP during COVID crisis
35. Canadian Federal Court’s Notice of Experimental Testing is Inapplicable to Testing Conducted Prior to Litigation
36. Federal Circuit Feels the Beating of a Heart: CardioNet v. InfoBionic
37. Federal Circuit Revives Cardiac Monitoring Patent, Not Directed to an Abstract Idea
38. Federal Circuit: A Patent That Performs Computation Is Not Abstract, Is Patentable
39. Claims Directed to Improved Cardiac Monitoring Technology Are Patent Eligible Under 35 U.S.C. § 101
40. US Patent Office: Supreme Court Made Us Reject More Patents, But We’ve Now Fixed That And Are Back To Approving Bad Patents
41. Library of Congress Launches Open-Source Hip-Hop Sampling Tool: Producers will have access to the library’s vast audio collection, which dates back more than a hundred years
42. Melody makers

PRIVACY

1. RCMP to boost social media mining for threats ranging from disease to shootings: The software would allow an RCMP officer to quickly mine data about a person’s internet activities
2. Federal Court Says Baltimore PD’s High-Powered Aerial Surveillance Program Doesn’t Violate The Constitution
3. China is installing surveillance cameras outside people’s front doors … and sometimes inside their homes
4. Reluctant To Block Embarrassing Coronavirus Material Held On GitHub, China Targets The People Who Put It There
5. Health vs. Privacy: How Other Countries Use Surveillance To Fight The Pandemic
6. Covid-19: the controversial role of big tech in digital surveillance: Big tech can trace the movement of not only viruses, but also people, whether in an emergency or not
7. From Aadhaar to Aarogya Setu: How surveillance technology is devaluing India’s democratic rights
8. Privacy in a pandemic: Coronavirus is the first trial of the EU’s unofficial religion
9. Europe’s Privacy Law Hasn’t Shown Its Teeth, Frustrating Advocates: Nearly two years in, there has been little enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation, once seen as ushering in a new era.
10. European Commission Wants Coronavirus Tracing Apps To Build In Strong Protections For Privacy — Unlike The French Government
11. Israel’s High Court Blocks Country’s Hastily-Erected Domestic Coronavirus Surveillance Program
12. How human-centered tech can beat COVID-19 through contact tracing
13. Coronavirus: Australians download COVIDSafe contact tracing app
14. Germany flips to Apple-Google approach on smartphone contact tracing
15. Apple and Google pledge to shut down coronavirus tracker when pandemic ends
16. Google to Require All Advertisers to be Verified
17. Infrared Cameras Could Be the New CCTV: Employers rush to thermal imaging to catch sick workers
18. Covid-19: the controversial role of big tech in digital surveillance: Big tech can trace the movement of not only viruses, but also people, whether in an emergency or not
19. CEO of Surveillance Firm Banjo Once Helped KKK Leader Shoot Up a Synagogue: Documents reveal Damien Patton, CEO of SoftBank-backed Banjo, admitted to being a Neo-Nazi skinhead in his youth
20. The CEO of Banjo, a SoftBank-backed neighborhood-watch app, has a hidden neo-Nazi past and once helped a gunman in a drive-by synagogue shooting
21. We’ve made new rules to protect our families. We must protect kids’ privacy too.
22. A Cryptocurrency Technology Finds New Use Tackling Coronavirus
23. Piracy Sees ‘Unprecedented’ Pandemic Bounce, But So Does All Media Consumption

CREATIVITY   

1. Entertainment Industry: Competition, Foreign Investment and Regulatory Issues in Canada
2. Sean Hannity Hires Charles Harder To Threaten The NY Times And Its Reporters, Because Of Course He Does
3. “But It’s a Photo of Me!”-Celebrities Face Legal Action for Unauthorized Use of Images on Social Media
4. Chinese state censorship of COVID-19 research represents a looming crisis for academic publishers
5. Art for a Time of Uncertainty
6. Filmmaking and Covid 19: Ethics, Craft and Safety
7. Creation in Confinement: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration
8. Chinese state censorship of COVID-19 research represents a looming crisis for academic publishers

Jon