News of the Week

GAMES

1. Epic is suing another tester for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2 content
2. Another tester is being sued by Epic Games for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2: Keywords Studio employee was fired day after leak, now faces claim for over $85,000 in damages
3. Activision and EA insiders have been profiting from selling stock during buybacks: CEOs Bobby Kotick and Andrew Wilson have made millions, but companies insist there is no improper practice
4. China details new play time and spending restrictions for minors playing online games
5. US and China agree to roll back tariffs that were set to affect console and mobile
6. Blizzard Confirms It Won’t Rescind Blitzchung’s Suspension
7. US congressman calls out Blizzard for allowing racist groups in WoW: “Racism isn’t a game,” rep. Lou Correa said after being made aware of far-right user guild, The Enclave
8. Overwatch director thinks Blitzchung ban “should be reduced more or eliminated”: Jeff Kaplan says the process for a suspension or ban in OWL “takes about four to five days”
9. Activision Blizzard sees slumping sales, sliding engagement: Revenues and monthly active users down across the board for Activision, King, and Blizzard divisions
10. CoD and WoW push Activision Blizzard to better-than-expected Q3
11. Blizzard plans to merge Overwatch 1 and 2 clients down the line
12. Has Blizzard solved the sequel dilemma? | Opinion: Launching a sequel to a service-based game can easily lose player goodwill — but Overwatch 2 may have found a clever way to thread the needle
13. Blizzard: Overwatch and Overwatch 2 clients will merge eventually – Jeff Kaplan says that all benefits of the paid sequel will be available to players of the first game
14. Why the Hearthstone devs wanted to make an auto battler
15. Player spending in Grand Theft Auto Online jumped 23% following casino update
16. Ignore the critics — Tax Relief is vital to the UK games industry | Opinion: Criticising Rockstar, Rocksteady and Creative Assembly for benefiting from VGTR misses the point, says legal expert Tim Davies
17. Take-Two raises guidance as microtransaction spending grows 32%
18. Net revenue up 74% at Take-Two thanks to Borderlands 3, NBA, GTA, and others
19. Live games propel Take-Two toward quiet holiday as GTA V reaches 115m units sold – CEO Strauss Zelnick: “There’s no rulebook around how you create transitions or new products in a world of live services”
20. Key resellers claim legitimacy — the courts say otherwise | Opinion: Beiten Burkhardt’s Andreas Lober probes the legal basis for key resellers, and finds those marketplaces on shaky ground
21. Indie storefront Itch.io now boasts 200,000 games
22. Valve appears to be working on a “Steam Cloud Gaming” service
23. Steam game sales for ‘the other 50%’
24. Steam search suggestions & premium positioning
25. Death Stranding will launch simultaneously on Steam and the Epic Games Store
26. UK Charts: Death Stranding is the second biggest PS4 launch of 2019 – Hideo Kojima’s game debuts at No.2 behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
27. Roblox survey reveals disconnect between parents and teens over online bullying: Majority of parents believe their children will discuss online behaviour with them, but more than half of teens disagree
28. U.S. VA evaluating how more accessible games help veterans heal
29. NPD: U.S. games spending up 1% in Q3 as live-services offset consoles
30. Revenue down at Nexon as Dungeon&Fighter works to win back players
31. Nexon sales slip in Q3: MapleStory publisher shows modest revenue growth, but can’t offset double-digit percentage declines everywhere else
32. PUBG Mobile generated $154 million during October 2019
33. Call of Duty: Mobile racks up almost $60 million in launch month
34. Call of Duty holds off Luigi’s Mansion 3 in the EMEAA chart: Activision’s shooter remained top of every chart despite competition from Nintendo’s latest exclusive
35. Call of Duty Mobile beats Mario Kart Tour’s first month downloads: Sensor Tower estimates 148m downloads, behind only Pokémon Go in the all-time list
36. Pokémon Sword and Shield review: A big adventure with a small Pokédex
37. Just Dance 2020 is the last Ubisoft title on the Wii: Nintendo won’t say if it’s the last Wii game ever
38. Nintendo: While nostalgia has appeal, remakes need to offer new game experiences
39. Nintendo’s 3DS support will continue into 2020
40. Don’t Miss: How Game Freak designs the iconic monsters of Pokemon
41. Pokémon fans rally around Game Freak amid Sword and Shield unrest: The new Nintendo Switch games are due out this week
42. Nintendo expects “remarkable results” from Mario Kart Tour: President Shuntaro Furukawa told investors that “earnings are off to a good start” following strong launch
43. Bandai Namco revealed as a development partner for Mario Kart Tour
44. Playtonic dismisses Microsoft buyout rumours: The Yooka-Laylee studio also confirmed it’s not working on a new Banjo-Kazooie game
45. Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller review: For $180, it better be this good
46. Microsoft using Xbox Adaptive Controller to rehabilitate US veterans: Company is working with Veteran Affairs to roll out device to medical centres
47. Minecraft nearing 300 million registered users in China
48. Minecraft closes in on 300m registered accounts in China: Mojang’s game now has 112m monthly active users worldwide
49. Net sales and profits up at Square Enix despite HD game struggles
50. Square Enix profits up 32% in first half of fiscal year: Publisher’s success driven by MMOs and mobile games as HD games sales slip year-on-year
51. Flavourworks raises $3.8 million to make interactive games with live-action video
52. Erica dev Flavourworks nets $3.85 million to make more interactive games
53. Flavourworks raises £3m to expand Touch Video platform: Series A round was led by Hiro Capital, making its first investment after launching earlier this year
54. TabTale changes its name to Crazy Labs with focus on hyper-casual mobile games
55. Stillfront reaps rewards of Kixeye acquisition in Q3: Revenue from Core games division rises almost 200% following $90m deal
56. Indie publisher Kiss launches Intelligent Finance ISA: Company tells GamesIndustry.biz it will fund future games by promising investors 6.8% profit per year through tech bond
57. Playtika considering IPO as Chinese acquisition plans collapse: Mobile games firm seeks listing in unspecified market, according to the company that failed to buy it
58. Epic Games acquires photogrammetry asset library and toolset maker Quixel
59. Epic acquires Megascans creator Quixel: All Megascans assets to become free for Unreal Engine users
60. Epic Games acquires photogrammetry startup Quixel to make games more realistic
61. Atlas Empires dev Cerberus acquires marketplace platform Tastebud
62. Cerberus Interactive acquires Tastebud: Texas studio wants to incentivise real-world purchases in its location-based title Atlas Empires
63. Sony opening Malaysian art studio to boost first-party development
64. PlayStation to open development studio in Malaysia: The new office will provide animation services to developers building exclusive PlayStation 5 games
65. Sony’s Jim Ryan: We had to make changes to deliver our PlayStation 5 dream – PlayStation’s CEO on the globalisation of Sony Interactive Entertainment
66. Sony has a PlayStation Now problem
67. Abbey Games will terminate all employee contracts next month: Dutch indie “forced to scope down significantly” after Early Access version failed to live up to expectations
68. Susan Wojcicki Talks Self Certification, Monetization, And Video Game Violence At YouTube’s First Gaming Creator Summit
69. Starbreeze proposes plan to pay debts in full: Administrator signs off on reconstruction schedule that would see Payday outfit meet obligations to creditors within five years
70. Homescapes has grossed $1b in lifetime revenue
71. Tencent’s online game revenue surpasses $4 billion in Q3
72. The Tencent zombie game trying to advance the battle royale formula – We speak to Next Studios about how Synced: Off-Planet recreates the tension of Fortnite or DayZ without copying the structure
73. Report: Tencent wants to develop console games with help from Nintendo
74. Tencent reportedly looking to use Nintendo IP as it expands internationally
75. Tencent wants to make console games with Nintendo IP to boost US and Europe presence: It follows the two companies’ partnership to bring Switch to China
76. PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile help drive Tencent gaming revenues: Chinese publisher cites increased contributions from overseas titles as driving growth in mobile gaming business, offsetting declines from PC
77. Zynga: “Not every DAU is created equal”: President of publishing Bernard Kim talks about long-running live ops games and the decision to sunset or reinvest in them
78. Gaming Industry Associations Agree on Universal Esports Principles
79. Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag to be honoured at Esports Bar Cannes: 100 Thieves founder will be named Shaker of the Year at annual awards
80. Hitmarker raises £200k for esports recruitment platform: Startup eclipsed £80k equity crowdfunding target in less than a week
81. Twitch Studio, the company’s streaming software for new users, is now in open beta: The streaming site’s first software product is now available to everyone
82. Q&A: Designing the foreboding Apple Arcade Soulslike Bleak Sword
83. Apple reportedly making a VR/AR headset with a focus on gaming: Combined headset planned for 2021 or 2022, with lightweight AR glasses following in 2023
84. Two years later, Apple’s AR/VR headset plans reportedly pushed back two years
85. John Carmack wins Lifetime Achievement prize at VR Awards 2019: Oculus Quest crowned best hardware, while A Fisherman’s Tale is declared best game
86. Virtual reality: Infringement in cyberspace
87. Pistol Whip review: The year’s freshest VR game—and oh-so close to greatness
88. Oculus and Unity team up for free course on VR game development
89. Google brings DIY virtual reality to the masses by open-sourcing Cardboard SDK
90. Only 12 games will be available on Google Stadia in time for Nov. 19 launch
91. Stadia launch includes familiar lineup, one exclusive
92. Google Stadia’s launch lineup includes 12 games: Only one title is an exclusive; three of them are Tomb Raider games
93. Google unveils Stadia’s full 12-game launch day line-up: Plus 14 more titles for 2019.
94. Stadia launch dev: Game makers are worried “Google is just going to cancel it”
95. Kine creator: “The biggest concern with Stadia is that it might not exist” – DLC. At PAX West, developers Lucy Morris, Ken Hall, and Gwen Frey discuss diversity, community, and Stadia’s long-term potential
96. Google plans to roll out Stadia features weekly after a barebones Nov. 19 launch
97. Q&A: Respawn’s Mohammad Alavi works for greater diversity in game dev
98. Diablo 4 impressions: Soaking in dark atmosphere and feel-good combat
99. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands impressions: Leveling alts is about to get a lot more fun
100. Activision Blizzard hits Q3 earnings targets with strong World of Warcraft Classic results
101. Voodoo opens Canadian studio to expand beyond hypercasual market
102. Voodoo opens Montreal studio as it expands beyond hypercasual games: New branch will be led by former Gameloft producer Mehdi El Moussali
103. Human Head shuts down, staff to join Bethesda’s new studio: Co-founder Chris Rhinehart becomes creative director at Roundhouse Studios
104. Prey dev Human Head Studios closes, is immediately revived by Bethesda
105. What games are people talking about on Twitter?: Platform’s head of gaming content Rishi Chadha discusses what sparks conversation and how it differs from region to region
106. Goldeneye 007’s lost remaster emerges again via massive, polished video leak
107. Turning love into a cooperative game mechanic in The Game Bakers’ Haven
108. Soul Reaver: Audacious, pulpy, intelligent, trashy, uncompromising
109. “Expectations for full-price games is very high. You need a large budget to have a chance”: CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński on the struggles of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 and how upcoming sequel Contracts will rectify this
110. Video: A chat with Mac Walters on the unsolved mysteries of the Mass Effect universe
111. Video: Insights from the GDC 2019 Narrative Innovation Showcase
112. Video: How Techland built Dying Light’s remarkable parkour system
113. Blog: A battle royale analysis from Q3
114. Blog: Analysing the success of Free Fire, the other king of battle royale
115. Blog: When theme and mechanics collide
116. Blog: Making a successful indie game using the GemuKai framework
117. Don’t Miss: The Binding of Isaac postmortem
118. Don’t Miss: Devs recount their near-catastrophic run-ins with the sunk cost fallacy
119. Don’t Miss: How moving from 2D to 3D shaped the design of Risk of Rain 2
120. Don’t Miss: Designing decisions that matter in Orwell
121. “I believe I am preserving digital art in a physical form”: Special Reserve Games CEO Jeff Smith talks about the business of selling physical copies of indie hits, from speculators to customers buying games “almost blindly”
122. New Noclip vid offers devs an inside look at how the ESRB works
123. Video: An indie game dev’s guide to contracting
124. Video Gaming / E-Gaming Law Update: Does Your Gaming Stream Violate the Copyright Act?
125. Galaga and Pole Position composer Nobuyuki Ohnogi has passed away

DIGITAL

1. India Is Stifling Kashmir Journalists And Twitter Is Helping Get The Job Done
2. Insider Threats: DOJ Says Twitter Employees Spied On User Accounts For Saudi Arabia
3. Hong Kong Court Hands Down Protest-Targeting Order Banning Online Content That ‘Incites Violence’
4. Did a UK Judge Just “Break the Internet”? Stay Tuned re the TuneIn Decision
5. UK Premier League scores big in battle against illegal streaming devices
6. Is it time to look at monetisation as a new exclusive right of the author? (Andres Guadamuz)
7. Court Deems Screenshot Fair Game for Fair Use Defense in Copyright Action
8. Section 230 Helps Salesforce Defeat Sex Trafficking Lawsuit–Doe v. Salesforce (Eric Goldman)
9. Biden Spreads False Info By Saying That Taking Away Section 230 Will Make Facebook Liable For Spreading False Info
10. John Oliver Takes On SLAPP Suits And Anti-SLAPP Laws With A Grand Musical Number
11. Massive Facebook document leak gives ammunition to investigators
12. ECJ rules on Facebook “Like” button
13. NY regulators investigating Apple Card after viral complaint of sexism: Customer service reportedly blamed “the algorithm” for discrepancies.
14. Copyright Troll Lawyer Serves Up BS ‘Dead Grandfather’ Excuse For Missing Court; Now Facing Sanctions And Arrest
15. Techdirt Podcast Episode 232: Copying Is Not Theft
16. New Class Action Targets Discriminatory Ad Practices
17. Members of violent white supremacist website exposed in massive data dump
18. Netflix CEO defends censoring anti-government video in Saudi Arabia
19. Netflix: We’re Not In The Truth To Power Business, We’re In The Entertainment Business
20. Netflix Unveils Multi-Year Pact With Nickelodeon One Day After Disney+ Launch
21. Too Many Streaming Exclusives Is Already Starting To Tick Users Off
22. One Day In, Disney+ Already Has More Than 10 Million Subscribers
23. High demand causes login problems on Disney+ launch day
24. Defamation by Hyperlink
25. Uber CEO: Time To Forgive The Saudis For Murdering That Journalist
26. Uber CEO Defends Saudis After Jamal Khashoggi Murder: ‘Doesn’t Mean They Can Never Be Forgiven’ (Video)
27. Softbank is getting exactly what it deserves, and it’s thanks to something way bigger than WeWork: Softbank took a $6.5 billion loss on investments in Uber and WeWork this quarter, and it deserves to lose more.
28. Uber CEO says he was wrong to call slaying of Saudi Arabia journalist Jamal Khashoggi ‘a mistake’
29. Uber CEO downplays Khashoggi murder, then walks back his comments
30. Uber CEO downplays murder of Jamal Khashoggi as ‘mistake,’ then backtracks
31. How terrible software design decisions led to Uber’s deadly 2018 crash
32. Report Suggests Rampant Negligence In Uber Self Driving Car Fatality
33. Amazon gains unfair edge by making sellers use its shipping, complaint says
34. Amazon fails to unseat pro-tax city council members in Seattle
35. Heineken challenged for targeting under 18s on Instagram
36. Instagram is testing a new video editing tool called Reels that copies TikTok’s best features
37. Twitter And Instagram Both Begin Experiments In Decreasing The More Socially Questionable Incentives Of Their Platforms
38. TikTok Facing CFIUS Scrutiny
39. US committee warned of China’s bulk data collection
40. Google enlists outside help to clean up Android’s malware mess
41. Google has access to detailed health records on tens of millions of Americans
42. Google: You can trust us with the medical data you didn’t know we already had – Google has 50M people’s medical records but won’t merge them with other Google data.
43. Google fires staffer, suspends two others, amid rising workplace tensions
44. Google will offer checking accounts, says it won’t sell the data
45. YouTube Insists It Isn’t Changing “Right To Monetize” After Terms Of Service Update Sparks Backlash
46. YouTube To Host Charity Tribute Concert In Nashville To Fete Its Johnny Cash Doc
47. YouTube Overhauls Homepage With Bigger Thumbnails, New Queue Button, More
48. Federal and State Authorities Increase Scrutiny and Enforcement of Children’s Privacy; Google, YouTube Agree to Pay a Record $170 Million Fine
49. Operation Full Disclosure, Continued: FTC Releases Disclosure Guides for Influencers
50. FTC Releases New User-Friendly Disclosure Guidelines for Influencers
51. FTC offers guidance for social media influencer disclosures
52. FTC Releases Guidance for Influencers
53. FTC Guidance for Social Media Influencers and Endorsements Continues to Evolve
54. FTC Releases New Disclosures Guidance for Influencer #Ads
55. Avoiding both irresponsible and misleading influencer marketing
56. ASA ruling on “celebrity” status – ThisMamaLife
57. ASA ruling on weight loss post – Jemmy Lucy
58. ASA ruling on audience composition – Tanya Burr
59. Tis the Season: Act in Time, or Your Nonprofit Will Say Goodbye to Any DMCA Safe Harbor Protection from Copyright Infringement Liability
60. Liza Koshy Named Co-Chair Of Michelle Obama-Founded Nonprofit ‘When We All Vote’
61. With 25 Million Views On Season 1, Kian And JC Are Readying Another ‘Reality House’
62. Logan Paul vs. KSI 2 Turned Into A Legit Boxing Event
63. Ahead Of Logan Paul Rematch, KSI Drops “Down Like That” Rap Track With Rick Ross, Lil Baby
64. Spotify taps Viacom for content marketing globally
65. Spotify’s Magic Leap app will change playlists as you change rooms: With an interface that appears in your real-world environment
66. On Podcasting
67. How Ipsy And Warby Parker Are Harnessing The Engagement Power Of Micro Influencers For Social Video
68. Deloitte Ranks BroadbandTV One of The Fastest Growing Companies in North America
69. How Canadian media-tech giant BroadbandTV is giving content owners a boost
70. Microsoft’s Project Silica offers robust thousand-year storage
71. Why more than 168,000 Valentine’s day text messages arrived in November
72. The perils of messaging apps
73. How Airbnb’s fight to overturn a New Jersey law imploded
74. Will the Music Industry Continue To Win Its Copyright Battle Against ISPs?
75. CISAC Labels Canada a “Digital Champion” for Digital Music Royalty Growth (Michael Geist)
76. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 31: Is Canadian Media in a Financial Crisis? – Marc Edge With a Different Take on What the Data Says
77. Cloudflare Explains What It Takes To Slay A Patent Troll
78. What is cyber insurance and how popular is it becoming?
79. Safeguarding User Freedoms in Implementing Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive: Recommendations from European Academics
80. Spotlight on Digital Competition Issues – A Digital Legacy

A.I.

1.  Twitter wants your feedback on its proposed deepfakes policy
2. Intellectual property in open innovation and co-innovation in the field of artificial intelligence
3. This system from Garmin can land a private plane when your pilot can’t 
4. When AI systems cause harm: the application of civil and criminal liability
5. Task force on artificial intelligence hearing: AI and the evolution of cloud computing – key testimony on the risks, challenges and opportunities
6. Uber still using Waymo-derived self-driving technology, expert says
7. Meet MLPerf, a benchmark for measuring machine-learning performance 
8. Robot delivery services: the latest in anthropomorphic marketing? 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Comcast is trying to “dismantle” Civil Rights Act of 1866, MLK’s daughter says
2. How the FCC solves consumer problems—well, it doesn’t, really
3. Third Circuit Asked to Rehear Decision Overturning FCC Ownership Rule Changes – Where Do We Go from Here?
4. FCC To Consider All-Digital AM at its November Meeting – What Questions are Being Asked?
5. AT&T switches customers to more expensive plans without asking them first
6. A Decade Later, AT&T Pays A Pittance For Lying About Its Unlimited Data Plans
7. States Are Being Conned By Lobbyists Into Backing Off The T-Mobile Merger Lawsuit
8. The Color Magenta, Or How T-Mobile Thinks It Owns A General Color
9. ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans With Very Obvious Limits Are Only Getting More Confusing 
10. DirectTV Forgot To Stop Charging Customers For Channels That Were Blacked Out 
11. Mozilla: ISPs Are Lying About Encrypted DNS, Should Have Privacy Practices Investigated
12. Defense Department and FCC to Collaborate on 5G Testbeds
13. 2020 Political Broadcasting Rules
14. 2019 – 2020 Political Issue Advertising The Blessing and the Curse!
15. How does Plume get all these ISP partnerships? Open source software 

PRIVACY

1. US violated Constitution by searching phones for no good reason, judge rules
2. FBI Asks Congress To Permanently Reauthorize The Phone Record Collection The NSA Voluntarily Shut Down
3. Breach affecting 1 million was caught only after hacker maxed out target’s storage
4. Ring Spends The Week Collecting Data On Trick-Or-Treating Kids And Being An Attack Vector For Home WiFi Networks
5. Ring-a-ding: IoT doorbell exposed customer Wi-Fi passwords to eavesdroppers
6. Search warrant overrides 1M users’ choice not to share DNA with cops
7. One of the world’s most advanced hacking groups debuts new Titanium backdoor
8. The Battle Over Encryption
9. Microsoft Says It’s Cool With California’s New Privacy Law
10. IoT Security: NIST Spotlight

CREATIVITY

1. Copyright & Colourable Imitation – Inside Out or Upside Down?
2. Religion and belief discrimination: dismissing employee who refused to sign a copyright agreement was not discriminatory
3. Indirect religion and belief discrimination: Did an employee suffer indirect discrimination because of her beliefs about copyright?
4. Artists’ moral rights in the frame
5. Vallejo v. Narcos Productions LLC
6. Everybody must get (Sharon) Stoned
7. Federal Court Says Man Arrested For ‘Criminally Defaming’ Cops Can Continue Suing To Block The Law From Being Enforced
8. ASA ruling on gender stereotyping Philadelphia
9. ASA ruling on gender stereotyping – Volkswagen
10. Sandra Bullock & Ellen DeGeneres Lawsuit Takes on “Celebrity Endorsement Theft Industry”
11. ASA ruling on alcohol and social responsibility – Macallan
12. Public Backlash Leads To Backcountry.com Backing Down From Trademark Bullying
13. Just Sue It: Nike Takes Skechers to Court For Copying Design Patents
14. The best science and math moments in Sesame Street’s first 50 years
15. A snapshot of the global patent landscape in eight charts

Jon

GAMES

1. Blizzard president gives vague apology for Hong Kong protest response
2. Blizzard president J. Allen Brack apologizes for bungled Hearthstone punishment
3. Hong Kong protesters shine, but don’t quite spark at BlizzCon
4. Blizzard’s substance-less BlizzCon statement speaks volumes | Opinion: Allen Brack’s speech rings hollow as company changes no policies, stands by Hearthstone pro’s ban for supporting Hong Kong protesters
5. Allen Brack apologizes for Blizzard’s “tough Hearthstone esports moment”: At BlizzCon, company president alludes to ban of Hearthstone player Blitzchung for pro-Hong Kong support, welcomes protests
6. Brack confirms Blizzard won’t repeal Blitzchung ban: The sanction against the casters won’t be withdrawn either, Blizzard’s president said
7. Blizzard won’t reverse Hearthstone pro’s Hong Kong protest suspension: Blizzard boss shifts some blame for initial decisions to Chinese publishing partner.
8. Blizzcon: Blizzard Apologizes For Banning Blitzchung, Keeps Him Banned, More Fallout Ensues
9. Hearthstone developers think Blizzard was “too harsh” with Blitzchung: But creative director Ben Thompson said that taking control of a platform that is “very much not your own” is not free speech
10. Xiaomeng ‘Liooon’ Li is the first woman to win Hearthstone GrandMasters: Li is also the first woman to win a major competition across all Blizzard games at Blizzcon
11. China fears young people are addicted to video games. Now it’s imposing a curfew
12. China gaming regulator publishes new rules for minors targeting playtime, spending: Age-rating system still in the works as restrictions are tightened, expanded to mobile games
13. “If we’re going to be drug dealers, let’s not literally mine for addicts”: At Reboot Develop, indie publisher Mike Wilson used the game addiction debate to call for devs to “be intentional” about what they create
14. Video: Addiction science and advice for devs on promoting healthy play
15. ‘Fortnite’ Pro FaZe Jarvis Banned From Game For Life After YouTube Videos Showed Him Cheating
16. Aimbot video leads to lifetime ban for popular Fortnite pro
17. General Court says that relevant public’s attention is ‘average at best’ when assessing likelihood of confusion relating to games and computer games (“Dungeons” is confusingly similar to “Dungeons & Dragons”)
18. Reselling Digital Video Games Now entering the age of the digital yard sale?
19. ZeniMax ordered to issue refunds for Fallout 76 in Australia: Well, this can’t be good.
20. ZeniMax to offer refunds for faulty Fallout 76 in Australia: ZeniMax admits it likely misled consumers over their digital rights
21. ZeniMax to grant Fallout 76 refunds under pressure from Australian commission
22. Less than half of US gamers purchased in-game content last month – SuperData: Additional content spending stagnating on PC and console as players gravitate toward fewer titles overall
23. Fabulous investigating after Devolver Digital accuses its app of ripping off Gris
24. Self-help app “investigating” after accusations of stealing art, animation from Gris: Devolver Digital shares side-by-side comparison of Fabulous video, Gris gameplay and cutscenes
25. Brendan Greene: “I [only] have one woman on my team, and I hate that” – At the View Conference, PUBG’s creator discussed hiring for diversity, and why education will be the best long-term solution
26. Amazon blocks sales of all unauthorised Nintendo products: Third-party sellers now need platform holder’s approval before selling second-hand games or hardware
27. Amazon reverses sudden restriction of third-party “Nintendo product“ sales
28. Report: Amazon cracking down on third-party sales of Nintendo products
29. Switch Lite sells strong at launch, as total Switch sales near 42M
30. Nintendo: Switch Lite is expanding the Switch market, especially with women
31. The Nintendo Switch has sold over 10 million units in Japan 
32. The Nintendo Switch has sold 10m units in Japan: Japanese sales make up nearly one-fourth of total console sales (including the Lite)
33. UK Charts: Luigi’s Mansion 3 is the biggest Switch launch of 2019 (so far) – At least until Pokémon comes along
34. Nintendo Profits Lifted by Switch Lite Sales
35. Nintendo has nearly doubled its first-party game sales in 2019 
36. So far, game spending is over $27 billion for 2019 in the US 
37. US gamers have spent $27.9bn in 2019 so far: Spending is only up 1% over 2018 year-to-date, with hardware sales down 23%
38. How Arcade1Up found a sweet spot for scaled-down home game cabinets
39. Abbey Games ‘scoping down’ and terminating all employee contracts by 2020
40. Call of Duty was the UK’s best-selling game in October
41. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare dominates the EMEAA charts – Meanwhile, FIFA fends off new releases The Outer Worlds, MediEvil and WWE 2K20
42. Supercell scraps upcoming title Rush Wars after failing to find the fun
43. Supercell shuts down Rush Wars after three months of beta: PvP strategy title cancelled due to “repetitive” nature, concerns about longevity
44. Profits down 48.1% for Rovio Entertainment in Q3: Angry Birds dev in discussions to potentially lay off staff as The Angry Birds Movie 2 falls short of expectations
45. PS4 slows as the transition nears | Opinion: Sony’s next year will be vital; as PS4 sales decline faster than expected, can the company balance support for its older console with building excitement for the new?
46. Retrospective: As Sony Clearly Wins This Generation’s Console Wars, Let’s Recall How It All Began
47. Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine and Gods & Monsters heading to PS5, Project Scarlett: Delayed Ubisoft titles will be joined by two unannounced AAA games in the next fiscal year
48. Industry veterans form ‘diverse and inclusive’ studio Brass Lion Entertainment
49. Brass Lion Entertainment aims to diversify the industry: New studio from AAA vets will focus on original games “that center on Black and Brown characters, cultures, and stories”
50. Epic Games Store update brings new navigation and in-game store options
51. Epic adds free Infinity Blade content to Unreal Engine Marketplace
52. Does French streaming platform Shadow have its head in the clouds?: Co-founder Emmanuel Freund on opening up games to more people, the tech side of things and Google’s entry into the space
53. F1 extends licencing deal with Codemasters until 2025: Codemasters has extended its deal for exclusive video game rights for the Formula 1 World Championship until 2025, with an option for a further two years.
54. Modern Warfare dev compares game’s “awareness building” to Schoolhouse Rock: Narrative director responds to criticism about ‘Highway of Death’ mission: “This is not some kind of propaganda”
55. Modern Warfare. Modern Warfare never changes.: 10 Years Ago This Month: No Russian turns the mass shooting into mass market entertainment and Nokia buries the N-Gage for good
56. Which platforms are publishers and investors really interested in?: Xsolla shares lessons from its funding club and offers advice on how to impress potential investors
57. Death Stranding is Kojima unleashed, and it’s as weird as you’d expect
58. Death Stranding: Critical Consensus – A haunting experience that succeeds in spite of its own clumsy excess, Death Stranding arrives to frequently mitigated praise
59. Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions to start making movies
60. Hideo Kojima to venture into film production: “Games, films and dramas will have to compete in the same space,” Death Stranding director said
61. Blizzard announces Overwatch sequel at BlizzCon
62. Overwatch 2 announced, will be cross-compatible with original game: Overwatch surpasses 50 million players, all of whom will be able to PvP match with, transfer cosmetics to Overwatch 2
63. Jeff Kaplan: Leaks impact developer morale more than anything else
64. Hearthstone Battlegrounds is Blizzard’s card-based take on auto chess
65. Blizzard confirms Diablo IV is coming to consoles and PC
66. Diablo IV is revealed, sure looks like a supercharged Diablo II
67. Designing the gameplay and aesthetic of Diablo IV
68. Don’t Miss: David Brevik’s tale of designing the original Diablo
69. Blizzard is adding ethnically diverse character skins with World of Warcraft: Shadowlands: Fifteen years after launch, players will be able to customise their character to match their ethnicity
70. Wargaming partners with Gearbox for its first full retail release: World of Warships: Legends will get a retail version in Firepower Deluxe Edition
71. Vainglory dev Super Evil Megacorp raises $10.5 million as it refocuses on next project
72. Super Evil Megacorp closes $10.5m financing round as it prepares to launch new project: Vainglory developer hands off publishing responsibilities for its cross-platform MOBA to Rogue Games
73. Improbable and Tencent Cloud team up to help devs bring games to China
74. Improbable partners with Tencent Cloud for game development program: New Improbable/Tencent Cloud Developer Program to support creators making games in SpatialOS for the Chinese market with cloud services
75. Unity acquires 3D application streaming platform creator Obvioos
76. Unity acquires cloud application streaming service creator Obvioos: French studio begins aligning Furioos’ 3D application streaming tech closely with development platform
77. Video: Inside BioWare’s embedded QA process
78. Video: Advice for game devs on creating believable heroes
79. Zordix secures $1.4 million in funding, acquires Dimfrost Studio
80. Chad Wild Clay And Vy Qwaint’s ‘Spy Ninja’ Mobile Game Surpasses 3 Million Downloads
81. Games industry international trade bodies unite on universal esports principles: Set of four principles for engagement agreed upon by representatives of the ESA, ESAC, UKIE, ISFE, and IGEA
82. Yoshinori Ono on Street Fighter’s road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics: The Capcom producer discusses the Intel World Open, a tournament that aims to break the barriers to entry for esports
83. Esports tournament platform Mainline closes $6.8m funding round: Funding led by Work America Capital will help expand software platform
84. Report: Embattled real estate startup WeWork mulling esports investment
85. Esports Org 100 Thieves Signs Rapidly-Ascending Twitch Star ‘Brooke AB’
86. Another major streamer leaves Twitch, this time for YouTube
87. YouTube Steals CouRage From Twitch As The Celebrity Streamer Gold Rush Heats Up
88. CouRage Becomes Latest Streamer To Ditch Twitch — In Exclusive Deal With YouTube Gaming
89. 100 Thieves’ Jack “CouRage” Dunlop signs YouTube exclusivity deal: Dunlop asks over 2m Twitch subscribers to follow him as exodus of major streamers from Twitch to other platforms continues
90. Twitch Teams With Analytics Provider Moat To Measure Its Unblockable ‘SureStream’ Ads
91. Longtime NASCAR Exec Lou Garate Switches Lanes, Becoming Twitch’s First Global Head Of Sponsorship Sales
92. Twitch CEO Emmett Shear On How Moderation Creates Communities: Twitch is bigger than it’s ever been, and here’s how it’s going to change
93. Mixer Price-Matches Twitch, Dropping Monthly Creator Subscription From $5.99 To $4.99
94. New Oculus Social Tools Will Help VR Feel More Like a Place, Less Like a Game
95. Facebook CEO: ‘VR is Taking Longer Than Expected, but We’ll See It to Mass Adoption’
96. Reality Gaming Group expanding to China: Chengdu government will help promote the studio and its flagship game Reality Clash, as well as AR and blockchain tech
97. Rumor: Apple Reportedly Partners With Valve to Develop AR Headset
98. Toys R Us partners with Snapchat to create AR shopping experience: The augmented reality experience aims to help users with their holiday shopping
99. Niantic opens Niantic Creator Program to fund and support AR-minded devs
100. Niantic opens up Pokemon Go sponsored location program for smaller businesses
101. Niantic announces Creator Program to support AR development: Pokemon Go developer also offering funding opportunities, AR development kit
102. Braid and the beauty of not wasting time – Why I Love: A Duel Hand Disaster dev Jaycee Salinas takes inspiration from the indie time manipulation platformer
103. Video: Advice for game devs on creating believable heroes
104. Video: Game preservation lessons learned on EA’s biggest sports games
105. Blog: Kickstarter lessons learned from a 300 percent funded solo project
106. Net sales down at Starbreeze as company readies for Payday-centric future
107. Starbreeze losses were $30.8 million for the first nine months of 2019: But company is confident reconstruction efforts and new publishing deal Payday 3 will save the studio
108. Bake ‘n’ Switch wins big at the Reboot Develop Indie Awards: Streamline Studios’ original IP picked up GOTY, while Myst creator Rand Miller received the Hero award
109. Don’t Miss: Designing the stealth, economy, and encounters of Horizon Zero Dawn
110. Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC: More frames, more volumetric beauty, no Steam
111. Don’t Miss: Composing the music of Red Dead Redemption
112. SingStar servers slated for January 2020 shutdown
113. Sony will close down SingStar servers in January 2020: Online sales, support and shared content will be pulled, 15 years after the series debuted
114. Just Dance launches campaign to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK: Ubisoft will donate £1 for every dance memory shared on social media
115. U.S. Patent no. 10,252,163: Music video game with user directed sound generation

DIGITAL

1. Twitter will ban political ads, Jack Dorsey announces
2. Man Sues Twitter For $1 Billion Claiming His Account’s Suspension Violated His Right To Worship President Trump As A Demigod
3. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Announces New Ban On Political Ads, Takes Shot At Facebook
4. Twitter Bans Political Ads – Doing What Broadcasters are Forbidden to Do
5. Twitter is rolling out Topics, a way to follow subjects automatically in the timeline: Starting with more than 300 subjects across sports, gaming, and entertainment
6. Former Twitter employees charged with spying on users for Saudis
7. Twitter’s Decision To Ban Political Ads Is A Moderation Choice Itself That Likely Will Backfire In Its Own Way
8. 8chan gets back online—and is promptly forced off again
9. Breaking the law: How 8chan (or “8kun”) got (briefly) back online
10. Devin Nunes Demands Satirical Internet Cow Stop Making Fun Of Him… Or Else
11. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Apologizes And Unblocks Critic Who Sued Her
12. Why America needs a hate speech law
13. Former Journalist Decides There’s Too Much Free Speech These Days
14. After 10 failed logins, Giuliani had Apple Store wipe his iPhone: Report – The 2017 incident occurred shortly after Trump named Rudy cybersecurity advisor.
15. Exclusive: U.S. opens national security investigation into TikTok – sources
16. The U.S. Government Is Investigating TikTok Parent Bytedance As A Potential National Security Threat (Report)
17. TikTok Integrates Third-Party Editing, Posting Tools Amid Developers Program Launch
18. TikTok’s parent company facing national security review, report says
19. Antitrust 101: Why everyone is probing Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google
20. Competition Bureau Cracks Down on Misleading Advertising in the Digital Economy
21. Deadspin Is Being Burnt To The Ground By Its New Management As Staff Quits Or Revolts
22. A Thumbs-Up Emoji Doesn’t Mean That Dad Disavowed His Child–Bardales v. Lamothe
23. Strike 3’s Copyright Litigation Campaign Completely Strikes Out (Eric Goldman)
24. Copyright Lawyer Asks that Judge Recuse Himself for Referring to Lawyer as “Troll”
25. No Copyright Case Too Small: Content Creators Rejoice or Casual Infringers Beware?
26. The Fine Print of Terms of Use
27. Ninth Circuit Preserves LinkedIn Competitor’s Data-Scraping Rights
28. Just Another Day In Academic Publishing: Professor Posts His Own Article On His Own Website, Gets Takedown Notice Alleging Copyright Infringement
29. Content Moderation At Scale Remains Impossible: Vaccines Edition
30. NY Times At It Again: Has To Run Massive Correction For All The Errors In Aaron Sorkin’s Facts Optional Rant About Why Facebook Should Fact Check
31. Facebook’s Sues Israeli Malware Marketer With A Lawsuit That Aims To Make An Easily-Abused Law Even More Abusable
32. Courts in the EU Can Order Facebook to Remove Defamatory Content Globally and Monitor Republications
33. Facebook changes product branding to FACEBOOK
34. Microsoft Japan’s four-day week trial boosts productivity by 40%: Company also noted paper and electricity consumption dropped significantly
35. Google to Buy Fitbit for $2.1 Billion: The deal represents an aggressive attempt by Google to bolster its lineup of hardware products.
36. Google Buys Fitbit for $2.1B
37. Google buys Fitbit for $2.1 billion
38. What is Google going to do with your Fitbit data? Anything it likes: Fitbit’s teams could soon be working on future Pixel watches. But more importantly, what can Google do with all the health and fitness data?
39. Hungary: Google is set to triumph over the Hungarian advertisement tax
40. Google workers call on company to adopt aggressive climate plan: Letter signed by more than 1,000 employees calls for zero emissions by 2030 in latest wave of industry climate activism
41. FTC Brings First Case against Developers of “Stalking” Applications
42. Is A YouTube COPPAcalypse Coming? FTC Rules Could Start Demonetizing Creators In 2020
43. Will the FTC Crack Down on Online Influencers?
44. FTC to Influencers: Don’t Lie. Be Transparent. Keep It Simple.
45. FTC Releases New Guide for Influencers
46. The FTC Releases New Guidelines (And Its First Creator-Friendly Brochure) For Influencers Who Post Sponsored Content
47. FTC Issues Guidance on Proper Disclosures for Social Media Influencers
48. Key Takeaways from FTC’s “Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers”
49. Keeping It Real: FTC Settles Cases Over Fake Social Media Indicators, Reviews
50. FTC Imposed a $2.5 Million Fine on a CEO for Selling Fake Likes and Followers on Social Media
51. “Good Genes?”: Maybe Not. FTC Takes Action Against Sunday Riley and Sunday Riley Modern Skincare, LLC For Employees False Reviews
52. Actively exploited bug in fully updated Firefox is sending users into a tizzy
53. Xiaomi’s Apple Watch clone removes everything good about the Apple Watch
54. YouTube Ads Contain More Male Characters, But Those Starring Females Nab More Views (Study)
55. State Court Rejects Prager University’s Lawsuit Against YouTube
56. Prager University Loses Another Of Its Silly Lawsuits Against YouTube Over Non-Existent ‘Bias’
57. Warner Music UK Ltd. & Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd v. TuneIn Inc. [2019] EWHC 2923 (Ch)
58. Susan Wojcicki Joins #TeamTrees With $200,000 Personal Contribution
59. YouTube Might Have Banned Former Trump Adviser, Sebastian Gorka, For Copyright Violations
60. YouTube Rolls Out Latest Creator Monetization Tool In The Form Of ‘Super Stickers’
61. YouTube rolls out Super Stickers, a new way for creators to make money
62. These Are The YouTube Music Videos With The Highest Halloween Viewership
63. Halloween Social Videos Amass Over 6.6 Billion Views in October Alone
64. YouTube Testing New App Layout With Three Featured Comments Directly Under Videos
65. RIP OG Pixel: Google ends support after just three years
66. Google Brings ‘Shopping Ads’ Format To YouTube Ahead Of Holiday Frenzy
67. Shopping ads come to YouTube’s home feed and search results
68. Coldplay To Premiere New Album In Two-Part YouTube Stream From Jordan
69. After Boxing Defeat, FouseyTube Launches New ‘YouTube Cribs’ Series With Logan Paul
70. Shane Dawson And Jeffree Star’s ‘Conspiracy’ Launch Hits Hourslong Snag Amid Shopify Crash
71. After Selling 1 Million Palettes In 30 Minutes, Jeffree Star And Shane Dawson Announce ‘Conspiracy Collection’ Restock
72. David Dobrik Swipes Right On Branded Courtship With Dating App ‘Bumble’
73. Man City: controlling brand and reputation in the age of agencies, ads and #influencers
74. Spotify Saved the Music Industry. Now What?: Profits are hard to come by—and Apple and Amazon aren’t going away.
75. Netflix Sinks Its Teeth Into Scripted Podcasting With Post-Apocalyptic Miniseries ‘The Only Podcast Left’
76. Apple TV+ launches with eight TV shows and one movie
77. Insights: Beyond Reflex, React, and Repost Journalism, NewsMatch Boosts Nonprofit Newsrooms
78. With Vice Deal Done, Refinery29 Founders Moving Out of Management Roles
79. Intel hits 10nm goals and signals a shift away from traditional CPUs
80. Just Browsing: District Court Finds Browsewrap Agreement Enforceable
81. Texas court upholds “do it on a computer” check-cashing patent
82. Bipartisan social media data portability bill introduced in U.S. Senate
83. Because Internet makes a linguist’s case for l33t speak, other online-text fads

A.I.

1. The Global Forum on AI for Humanity: A Global Forum That Excluded the Globe (Michael Geist)
2. Can An Algorithm Be An Author? (And Other AI Questions The PTO Is Now Asking)
3. When both drivers are in error, people blame the human one more
4. Deepfakes: is seeing still believing?

COMMUNICATIONS

1. When does hyperlinking infringe copyright? UK High Court addresses linking to internet radio stations
2. Warner Music UK Ltd. & Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd v. TuneIn Inc. [2019] EWHC 2923 (Ch)
3. DirecTV kept charging regional sports fee while channel was blacked out
4. FCC Freaks Out About Huawei, But Ignores The Internet Of Broken Things
5. Researchers unearth malware that siphoned SMS texts out of telco’s network 
6. Shocker: ISPs Cut Back 2020 Investment Despite Tax Breaks, Death Of Net Neutrality 
7. Cops Now Using Warrants To Gain Access To DNA Services’ Entire Databases
8. AT&T Will Pay $60 Million to Settle FTC Charges of Unfair Practices
9. AT&T Enters Into $60 Million Settlement With FTC Over “Unlimited” Claims 
10. AT&T Loses Another 1.36 Million Pay TV Subscribers Thanks To Relentless Price Hikes
11. AT&T’s priciest “unlimited” plan now allows 100GB+ of un-throttled data
12. AT&T users whose “unlimited data” was throttled get $60 million in refunds
13. AT&T makes customers work to get refunds they should get automatically
14. 5G Is Not A ‘Race,’ And We’re Incapable Of Determining Winners Even If It Was
15. California Wildfire Cellular Outages Could Have Been Easily Avoided
16. Changes to the Electronic Communications Code 

PRIVACY

1. New Suit Against Spyware-Maker Demonstrates One Company’s Offensive Strategy Against Cyber Attacks
2. ACLU Sues DOJ Over Facial Recognition Documents
3. ACLU sues feds to get information about facial-recognition programs
4. ISPs lied to Congress to spread confusion about encrypted DNS, Mozilla says
5. FBI’s Top Lawyer From The Apple Encryption Fight Says Law Enforcement Needs To Suck It Up And Embrace Encryption
6. Tipped off by an NSA breach, researchers discover new APT hacking group
7. Researchers hack Siri, Alexa, and Google Home by shining lasers at them
8. New bill would create Digital Privacy Agency to enforce privacy rights
9. DoD’s new cybersecurity compliance program . . . What you need to know
10. Facebook Groups API flaw exposed data to 100 developers, company says
11. Australia’s Idiotic War On Porn Returns, This Time Using Facial Recognition
12. Children’s Privacy Law Updates: Tricks or Treats?
13. GDPR fines were meant to rock the data privacy world. They haven’t: GDPR hasn’t heralded the swarm of huge fines that was predicted. But that doesn’t mean the fines so far haven’t been influential
14. Privacy Shield Third Annual Review
15. Ransomware Hits Hard During 2019
16. FBI Warns of E-Skimming Threats

CREATIVITY

1. Jean Carroll suing Trump for defamation: The 28-page lawsuit filed on Monday outlines Trump’s alleged rape of Carroll 23 years ago.
2. Jean Carroll, Who Accused Trump of Rape, Sues Him for Defamation: The writer says the president hurt her career when he said she had lied about him attacking her in a dressing room in the 1990s.
3. DOJ, Apparently Unaware Of 1st Amendment, Threaten Anonymous White House Official About To Release A Book
4. 9th Circuit Revives Ridiculous ‘Shake It Off’ Copyright Lawsuit, Because The 9th Circuit Loves To Mess Up Copyright Law
5. Bob Murray, Who Sued John Oliver For Mocking His Support Of Trump’s Plan To Bring Back Coal Jobs… Files For Bankruptcy
6. US Government Threatening To Kill Free Trade With South Africa After Hollywood Complained It Was Adopting American Fair Use Principles
7. The bell tolls for alleged copyright claim to skyline photo
8. The copyright woes of Meghan Markle
9. Believe it or not – claim based on belief in copyright fails
10. Prince’s Foundation struck by £100 million art fraud scandal
11. Estoppel based on patent prosecution history in Canada: The Pandora’s box is opened
12. Hall v. Swift
13. G-Star clothing designs not covered by copyright protection
14. Of Passion, Prejudice and Punitive Damages
15. Ex-Wrestlers Argue WWE Hid Risks of Head Injuries in Concussion Lawsuit
16. Employer Pays Millions in Compensation for Employee’s Invention
17. California Man Gets Sued After Trying To Trademark Bully A Theme Park
18. Black Friday – Not Just Shopping Madness, Beware the Trademark Trap
19. Splatter master Jackson Pollock avoided “coiling” when creating his paintings
20. Spooky IP
21. Patent Tips for Halloween

Jon

GAMES

1. Valve disables container key sales and trades in CS:GO due to rampant fraud
2. ‘Nearly All’ Counter-Strike Microtransactions Are Being Used for Money Laundering: N”early all key purchases that end up being traded or sold on the marketplace are believed to be fraud-sourced” Valve says.
3. Money laundering prompts Valve to halt CS:GO in-game key sales: “At this point, nearly all key purchases that end up being traded or sold on the marketplace are believed to be fraud-sourced”
4. According to a French court, the principle of exhaustion applies to video games acquired via a download platform
5. Epic is suing a Fortnite user experience tester over Chapter 2 leaks
6. Epic sues tester who leaked Fortnite Chapter 2 details: Developer says defendant Ronald Sykes waited just three days to breach his NDA
7. Ubisoft is suing Rainbox Six Siege cheat provider MizuSoft
8. Ubisoft sues Rainbow Six Siege cheat provider MizuSoft: One of the defendants had recently appeared in a BBC report about cheats
9. Rainbow Six cheat maker faces Ubisoft lawsuit after BBC appearance
10. Ubisoft severely cuts 2019-20 targets in wake of delays and underperforming games
11. Yves Guillemot: “We have no pay-to-win elements in our games”: Ubisoft CEO addresses investor concerns that players will reject games that are too microtransaction-heavy
12. Net bookings decline, but still beat expectations as Ubisoft closes out Q2
13. Ubisoft delays Watch Dogs Legion, Gods & Monsters, Rainbow Six Quarantine: Shares fall by 16% following delays, profit warning and announced overhaul of development process
14. Bethesda’s ‘Fallout 1st’ Paid Server Launch Has Become a Disaster
15. Fallout 1st Is Creating A Class Divide Among Fallout 76 Players
16. Video Game Class War Has ‘Fallout’ Players Targeting Premium Subscribers: “At least 5-7 people in teddy bear costumes kept punching me,” one member complained.
17. As the Fallout 1st disaster hits mainstream headlines, Fallout 76 players head in-game to protest: Everyone disliked that.
18. Fallout 76: The ‘Fallout First’ Web Domain Has Been Taken Over By a Hilarious, Angry Fan
19. Bethesda Has Brought Idiocy To A New Level & Betrayed Their Remaining Fans
20. Bethesda pledges to fix early “Fallout 1st” bugs and complaints
21. Bethesda looks to bolster its mobile game offerings with Alpha Dog Games acquisition
22. Bethesda acquires Alpha Dog: Fallout outfit picks up Nova Scotia-based mobile studio behind MonstroCity: Rampage and Atari’s Ninja Golf remake
23. New budget ends IDM tax credit for video game studios in Alberta, Canada
24. Alberta eliminates game dev tax credit after just one year: Beamdog’s Trent Oster feels “betrayed” after new government budget cancels Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit
25. New Zealand government commits $10m to growth of local games industry: City of Dunedin will become hub for aspirations to grow games industry to $1 billion sector
26. Call of Duty Modern Warfare decried as ‘American propaganda’ over Highway of Death mission: Activision’s latest shooter has been panned by critics and players, claiming game attempts to rewrite history
27. UK Charts: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launch sales beat Black Ops 4
28. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare saw $600 million in revenue in three days
29. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare grosses $600m in opening weekend – Latest game from Infinity Ward is fastest-selling entry in the franchise this generation
30. EA to ‘double down on live services’ as FIFA and The Sims 4 help outperform goals 
31. EA “doubling down on live services” as digital net revenue share grows in Q2: Apex Legends reaches 70 million players, seven months after launch
32. EA shows its hand for next fiscal year: Beginning March 2020, EA plans focus on Apex, new EA sports title on annual slate, two third-party IP, “exciting remasters”
33. EA Dice’s Star Wars Battlefront I and II have sold 33m copies combined: Battlefront II originally missed 2017 launch sales expectations by around 1m units
34. Tales from the making of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
35. The Sims franchise surpasses $5b in lifetime sales: EA asserts franchise’s position as part of plans for its increased focus on supporting live services
36. EA will not ship an NBA Live game this fiscal year: NBA Live 20 either cancelled or reworked as franchise prepares for an “innovative new direction”
37. EA Access heading to Steam after U.S. publisher reconnects with Valve
38. EA returns to Steam: SVP Mike Blank talks about the need to reduce fragmentation as EA pledges to bring Jedi Fallen Order, EA Access to Valve’s storefront
39. So long, Origin? EA comes back to Steam with new games
40. Remnant: From the Ashes sells 1 million copies in just over 2 months
41. Watch Afterparty director Adam Hines break down the game’s drink-fueled design
42. Overwatch 2 reportedly to be revealed at BlizzCon: New Hero and PvE mode
43. The Last of Us Part II delayed to May 29: Sony pushes post-apocalyptic sequel back three months to polish the game to Naughty Dog’s standards
44. Sony issuing refunds for faulty WWE 2K20: Latest entry into 2K Games’ annual wrestling franchise mired with bugs and glitches
45. Jaguar designed an electric sportscar just for Gran Turismo
46. Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville was the No.1 game download across EMEAA last week – The Witcher 3 and Ring Fit Adventure perform strongly at physical retail. FIFA 20 is No.1 combined
47. Starbreeze resumes Payday 2 development, new paid DLC on the horizon
48. Starbreeze restarts Payday 2 content production ten months after pulling the plug: Beleaguered game company turns to reliable territory in recovery attempts
49. Google sets up first Stadia game studio in Montreal
50. Google is making a “spectrum of bets” on Stadia content: As Google unveils new Montreal development studio, Stadia Games & Entertainment boss Jade Raymond discusses the platform strategy
51. Google Stadia’s stealth launch does not inspire confidence | Opinion: After its bombastic announcement, Stadia’s low-key and poorly communicated launch will fuel suspicion that it’s another of Google’s passing fads
52. Google: Stadia exclusives to have features “not possible” on home hardware
53. European gamers wary of digital-only games consoles: Just 11% of players claim they would likely buy a games machine that doesn’t include a disc-drive
54. Apple Arcade isn’t the only subscription: GameClub revives old iOS games
55. GameClub’s “greatest hits anthology” of mobile games launches today: VP of business development Eli Hodapp shares his goals for the subscription service and how it differs from Apple Arcade
56. Gameloft partners with TIM Italy for new mobile subscription service: TIM I love games costs €2/week for access to over 700 games sans in-app purchases or ads
57. My.Games sees Q3 revenue driven by free-to-play mobile: Company aims to have 80% of its revenue from from international markets by 2022
58. Wizards of the Coast acquires Tuque Games: Dungeons & Dragons owner picks up Montreal studio that created Livelock and has been working on a D&D game
59. Scopely announces $200m in Series D funding: Financing will be used to accelerate mergers, acquisitions, and investment strategies
60. Welcome Back, Koster: Why an MMORPG vet is back building a new virtual world
61. The French games industry had over 1200 titles in production in 2019: 63% of those games were new IP
62. Video games in China: beyond the great firewall
63. Empires and Puzzles surpasses $500m lifetime revenue: Match-three puzzler is most profitable in Zynga’s portfolio
64. Zynga reports record Q3 revenues and weaker-than-expected profits
65. GreedFall beat expectations, led Q2 revenue for publisher Focus Home Interactive
66. Greedfall success drives H1 growth for Focus Home Interactive: Publisher says it remains on target to build yearly revenue from €44m to €150m over three years
67. Microsoft relaunches Xbox All Access financing program with next-gen upgrade option
68. Microsoft beat expectations with strong Windows revenue, but Xbox had a rough quarter
69. Xbox services flat as gaming revenue dips to $2.5B in Microsoft’s Q1
70. Xbox All-Access expands to UK and Australia with Project Scarlett upgrade option: The smartphone-style contract will include a console and Ultimate Game Pass
71. Xbox has paid out $1.2 billion to independent developers this generation: ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla says program offers great commercial and artist opportunities
72. Suda51 and Swery collaborating on new game, Devolver unaware it’s the publisher: Acclaimed developers say indie publisher offered $1 million for the project, which Devolver said is “news to us”
73. DragonVale dev Backflip Studios is closing down
74. Backflip Studios shutting down: Hasbro pulling plug on DragonVale and Transformers: Earth Wars developer after a decade in business
75. One company’s cast-off can be Deca Games’ treasure: Founder of indie publisher talks about the perks and pressures of acquiring existing games after original owners stop investing in them
76. Blizzard Loses First Sponsor Due To Stance On Hong Kong Speech
77. Sponsor abandoned Blizzard esports league after Blitzchung controversy: Mitsubishi pulled support for Asia Pacific Hearthstone tournament two days after player was punished for supporting Hong Kong protest
78. League of Legends: Understanding the success of an esport that doesn’t turn a profit: LEC head of business development and sponsorship Alban Dechelotte discusses finding the balance with esport partnerships
79. Modern Times Group considering US IPO as esports business grows: Swedish investment firm begins strategic review, which could also lead to joint venture partnership in video games space
80. WeWork parent considering gaming business: Play By We trademark application says it would run competitions, offer space for conferences or offices
81. No Pixel Podiums: Lack of governance in esports excludes them from the Olympic Games
82. Update Required for Youth Esports – Children’s Privacy Takes Center Stage at Upcoming FTC Workshop
83. Another top Twitch streamer has switched over to Mixer
84. Shroud Pulls A Ninja, Exiting Twitch For Exclusive Livestreaming Deal With Mixer
85. Mixer signs exclusive deal with Shroud: Michael Grzesiek leaves Twitch channel with 7 million followers behind for Microsoft’s livestreaming platform
86. Third Streamer, King Gothalion, Departs Twitch In Exclusive Deal With Mixer
87. Gothalion is the latest big Twitch streamer to switch to Mixer
88. Mixer lowers its subscription price to better compete with Twitch
89. Sony files trademarks for PlayStation 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10: Platform holder’s trademark security process teases decades worth of new console
90. The PS4 has become the second best-selling home console of all time
91. Sony financials: PS4 hardware and software sales ‘lower-than-expected’
92. PlayStation revenues down 17% but Sony’s financials hold steady: PS4 now second best-selling home console of all time, despite slowing sales as generation nears its end
93. PlayStation Vue is shutting down in 2020
94. Report: Sony looking to sell PlayStation Vue as service continues to lose money
95. Sony is trying to sell off PlayStation Vue, but it might have a hard time of it
96. Sony considering sale of PlayStation Vue: Live TV streaming service has reportedly failed to turn a profit since launching in 2015
97. Sony to shut down PlayStation Vue in January: Four years after launch, TV subscription to close due to “slow-to-change” industry
98. An end in Vue: Sony will shutter its streaming video service
99. Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding will come to PC months after PS4 launch
100. Death Stranding no longer a PlayStation exclusive as 505 Games prepares PC version: Publisher will bring Hideo Kojima’s upcoming title to desktops in Summer 2020
101. Enterprise revenue expected to jump 69% this year as VR takes hold in business: PlayStation VR continues as market leading headset, breaching 4.7 million units sold
102. VR Web Browser ‘Supermedium’ No Longer in Active Development
103. UKIE partners with Space Ape and Playmob on environmentally conscious game jam: Bi-annual student game jam will see teams competing for £2,000 scholarship
104. Full motion, full emotion: Bandersnatch’s Emmys as a (literal) game changer: Acclaimed FMV game makers dish in the wake of Black Mirror’s Emmys.
105. Mario Kart Tour’s first-month downloads zoom past 123m: Revenue of $37.4m is the second-best first-month revenue for a Nintendo mobile game
106. Shigeru Miyamoto named ‘Person of Cultural Merit’ by the Japanese government
107. Shigeru Miyamoto recognised with Japanese cultural award: Super Mario creator will be awarded for elevating the Japanese games industry around the world
108. Star Trek Fleet Command publisher Scopely nets $200 million for future acquisitions 
109. Luigi’s Mansion 3 review: The most “Nintendo” game from Nintendo in years
110. Luigi’s Mansion 3: Critical Consensus – Reviewers welcome plumber brother’s latest adventure on Switch as a charming frightfest
111. First Switch game ok’d for launch in China, though the console remains in limbo
112. Switch China launch draws nearer as Tencent approved to publish Mario Bros U DX: Chinese publisher also approved to bring Monster Hunter: World back to shelves
113. Profit up at Capcom thanks to strong Monster Hunter World: Iceborne sales
114. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne drives profit for Capcom in latest financials: DLC has shipped 2.8 million units since September, while base game surpasses 14 million lifetime sales
115. Pokémon Go surpasses $3bn lifetime revenue: Niantic’s augmented reality mobile game on track to break 2016 revenue record
116. Revenue up at Rovio, though high user acquisition costs impact operating profit
117. The Climate Trail: A bleak look at what awaits us if we fail to address climate change
118. Star Theory’s shot beyond the Mun with Kerbal Space Program 2: Creative director Nate Simpson on the challenges of grounding the interstellar sequel in reality while adding accessibility
119. Designing interesting and informative conversations in Heaven’s Vault
120. Ninja Theory launches mental health R&D effort: Hellblade studio’s The Insight Project aiming to “help mental health treatment to go mainstream”
121. Shattering Muslim stereotypes with Islamic Relief’s mobile game: Ultimatum Games’ Shahid Ahmad explains why an idle clicker was perfect for the charity
122. Don’t Miss: How Red Faction: Guerrilla uses player freedom to drive open-world design
123. Blog: Examining the design and UX of Miniclip’s 8 Ball Pool
124. Blog: The client-to-cloud revolution — A 3D view of how we got here
125. Blog: Understanding permadeath as a mechanic in survival horror
126. Meet the new best Android TV device: The 2019 Nvidia Shield TV
127. Cloud gaming service Shadow raises $33m: Start-up has now raised $100 million to date
128. Why I hate fun | Opinion: ArenaNet’s John Hopson has spent a career applying “fun scores” to games — here’s why the practice needs to change
129. Don’t Play the Goose Game: Untitled Goose Game is fun. The problem is, all games are also work. (Ian Bogost)

DIGITAL

1. G/O Media Is Fighting Its Staff Over ‘Objectively Bad’ Autoplay Ads: Deadspin, Gizmodo, and Jezebel have been inundated with sound-on ads that the rest of the internet killed a decade ago.
2. What happened when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came face to face with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg
3. Zuckerberg faces heat in Congress: “It’s almost like you think this is a joke” – Hearing on Libra cryptocurrency went off the rails, running down the CEO.
4. Facebook’s new political-ad policy already showing cracks, loopholes
5. No, you apparently can’t run for office just to put false ads on Facebook
6. Facebook launches a news section — and will pay publishers
7. Facebook will begin paying some outlets for their content as it introduces its News tab: Breitbart News is among the 200 outlets participating in the program.
8. Facebook Launches ‘News’ Tab, Will Pay (Some) Partner Outlets For Their Content
9. ‘Facebook Spaces’ Has Been Shut Down But Its Lessons Shouldn’t Be Forgotten
10. Viacom Digital Studios International Inks Multi-Territory Content Deal With Facebook Watch
11. Facebook deletes the accounts of NSO Group workers
12. Russia’s Fancy Bear hackers conduct “significant cyberattacks” on anti-doping agencies
13. Indian nuclear power plant’s network was hacked, officials confirm
14. Indian nuke plant’s network reportedly hit by malware tied to N. Korea
15. India Looking To Be The Next China, Sends Out Call For Bids On Massive Facial Recognition Program
16. India: Delhi High Court orders removal of all posts defamatory to Ramdev ‘Globally’
17. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 29: Partisan Posts, Social Media, and Misinformation – Taylor Owen on What Actually Happened Online in the 2019 Election (Michael Geist)
18. Internet Access Provider May Be Vicariously Liable for Subscribers’ BitTorrent Downloads–Warner Bros. v. Charter (Eric Goldman)
19. Instagram expands ban on suicide content to cover cartoons and memes
20. How memes got weaponized: A short history
21. Youth and Cyberbullying
22. Congress concerned teenagers’ favorite app is national security threat
23. TikTok, Under Scrutiny, Distances Itself From China: Three senators have called for an investigation into the social media app, which is owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance.
24. Indian Court Orders Global Takedown Of ‘Defamatory’ Video From YouTube, Twitter, Facebook
25. Trump to Tell Federal Agencies to Cut New York Times, Washington Post Subscriptions
26. Twitter blocking all political ads globally starting in November
27. Twitter says it now removes half of all abusive tweets before users report them
28. Twitter shares plunge almost 20% after revenue hit by weaker advertising, low demand
29. India uses opaque legal process to suppress Kashmiri journalism, commentary on Twitter
30. No, Internet Companies Do Not Get A ‘Free Pass’ Thanks To CDA 230
31. Insights: As Social Media Sites Fiddle Over Cannabis Creator Bans, Public Health Suffers
32. Lego’s Mostly Obnoxious IP Bullying Of The 3D Printing Community Doesn’t Make Any Sense
33. Your Periodic Reminder that Blogging About Litigation Can Generate More Litigation–Wexler v. Dorsey & Whitney (Eric Goldman)
34. FTC Reaches Settlement with Developer of Tracking Apps
35. Social Media Bot Company Devumi LLC Reaches $2.5 Million Settlement with FTC for Sale of Misleading Social Media “Influence Indicators”
36. FTC Sues Over Phony Business Practices Online
37. FTC Enforcement Action Against Deceptive Online Reviews
38. The FTC fosters fake reviews, its own commissioners say
39. Customer Review Fraud Top of FTC’s Priority List
40. NAAG Asks Online Retailers to Prevent Illegal Alcohol Sales
41. Skin Care Company, Sunday Riley, Somehow Gets No Consequences In Fake Reviews FTC Settlement
42. Website and Its Operator Settle FTC Charges They Sold Fake Indicators of Social Media Influence
43. Tax Treatment of Cryptocurrency Mining
44. See on Apple TV+: Less Game of Thrones, more unintentionally funny SyFy
45. Apple earnings Q4 2019: Tim Cook says health will be what Apple is remembered for
46. Creatives, Including Judd Apatow, Balk At Netflix Playback Speed Tests: “Don’t F-ck With Our Timing”
47. Spotify Testing Sponsored Version of ‘Brand New Music for You’ Recommendation Feature
48. Spotify launches a dedicated Kids app with curated playlists and playful art
49. Snapchat now lets you 3D Paint faces and pretty much anything else
50. Amazon Can’t Force Arbitration of Minors’ Privacy Claims Based on Alexa Recordings–BF v. Amazon
51. Court Partially Enforces Amazon’s Non-Compete Against Employee Who Joined Google–Amazon v. Moyer
52. Amazon Will Make Amazon Fresh Free, Moving To Strengthen Its Lead In The Online Grocery Market
53. Amid Missed Alphabet Earnings, Analyst Suggests YouTube Spin-Off Could Boast $300 Billion Market Cap
54. YouTube Music Brings 10,000 Fans Together To Create New Queen Music Videos
55. Jesse Ridgway Spent 13 Years Making Content On YouTube. Here’s Why He’s Leaving — And Building Its Competitor.
56. MrBeast Is Going To Plant 20 Million Trees — With A Little Help From The YouTube Community
57. Creators Discovered YouTube’s Publicly Available Code Displayed Channels’ P-Scores, Video Ratings, And More
58. Target Hones YouTube Presence In Massively-Viewed Collabs With Michelle Phan, Emma Chamberlain
59. Ryan ToysReview Changes Clunky Channel Name, Launches Spanish-Language Hub
60. Group Nine Announces New Executive Leadership Structure Following PopSugar Acquisition
61. NBA’s Top Offseason Video Topics, Plus Lebron, Zion, And More Very Engaging Stars For The 2019-20 Season
62. Microsoft finally built a repairable Surface Laptop
63. Red quits the smartphone business after a single, terrible phone
64. Here’s what the people who claimed Google’s quantum supremacy have to say about it
65. Google And Facebook Didn’t Kill Newspapers: The Internet Did
66. Google’s parent company reportedly wants to buy Fitbit
67. An Army “hacker con” goes big: The return of AvengerCon
68. A Turning Point for Tech – Global survey on digital regulation: Technological developments and tech-based business models have become a focus for global regulation across borders and industries in recent years.
69. Global Media Technology and Communications Quarterly: Autumn 2019 Edition
70. Internet Broadcasting and Section 31D of Copyright Act 1957
71. Models for Platform Governance
72. Elon Musk Contributes $1 Million To MrBeast’s #TeamTrees, Pushing Total To $8.2 Million In 5 Days
73. Our FOIA Lawsuit Gets Results: ICE Admits It Didn’t Really Seize A Million ‘Copyright Infringing’ Domains
74. E-retailer takeovers rise as high street decline increases pressure to grow online sales
75. Does reselling online content infringe copyright in the EU?
76. 50 years ago today, the Internet was born. Sort of
77. The Internet At 50: It Has Enabled Many Wonderful Things, But We Have To Fight To Keep It That Way

A.I.

1. DeepMind AI achieves Grandmaster status at Starcraft 2
2. Level up: DeepMind’s AlphaStar achieves Grandmaster level in StarCraft II
3. FACEIT and Google-designed ‘Admin AI’ bans 20,000 toxic CS:GO players in six weeks
4. A health care algorithm offered less care to black patients
5. Skynet, But For Welfare: Automating Social Services Is Killing People
6. Solving Rubik’s Cube with a Robot Hand
7. Six cars aced new pedestrian detection tests 
8. New community management AI from FaceIt bans 20,000 players in trail run: Esports tournament platform reduces number of toxic messages in Counter-Strike games by 20%
9. Patenting Artificial Intelligence Inventions in Canada 
10. The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Patent Infringement Claims 
11. Jones Day Talks:®When AI Invents: Two Applications Test U.S. Patent Law
12. AI technology – the pitfalls of protecting inventions
13. Introducing AI Blindspot: A Call for Tech to Think Holistically and Spot Risks
14. Distracted by Data: What we risk by hyper-focusing on “data” as a problem to solve 
15. Data Voids: Where Missing Data Can Easily Be Exploited
16. When Binary Code Won’t Accommodate Nonbinary People: The next frontier in gender rights is inside databases.

COMMUNICATIONS

1. The Retailers Strike Back with a Motion to Strike in the Allarco Litigation (Howard Knopf) 
2. Motion to Strike in Allarco
3. Wireless Worsens: Report Finds Canadian Wireless Pricing Now Less Competitive Compared to Other Developed Economies (Michael Geist) 
4. Canadian Wireless Carrier Rogers ‘Surprised’ That People Like Unlimited Data Plans
5. AT&T loses another 1.3 million TV customers as DirecTV freefall continues
6. AT&T will slash $3 billion off its capital investments next year
7. AT&T Jacks Up TV Prices Post Merger After Repeatedly Claiming That Wouldn’t Happen
8. Man sues AT&T after fraudulent SIM swap led to $1.8M cryptocurrency theft 
9. AT&T Will Invest $4 Billion In HBO Max Over Next 3 Years, Doesn’t Expect Profit Until 2024 
10. This Idaho Town Lets You Switch Between Cheap Fiber ISPs In A Matter Of Seconds
11. HBO Max will bring up the streaming-video rear in May 2020 for $15/mo
12. FCC plans Huawei/ZTE ban, may require ripping out existing network gear
13. FCC Seeks Comment on Adequacy of US Broadband Deployment
14. FCC Requires 911 Fee Parity Between VoIP Services and Traditional Phone Service
15. TV Network Declares IPTV Tool Copyright Infringing, Even Though It’s Just A Tool
16. Comcast’s ‘Free’ Streaming Box Is Actually $13 After Stupid Fees
17. Comcast fights Google’s encrypted-DNS plan but promises not to spy on users
18. Comcast Insists It’s An Innocent Little Daisy On Consumer Privacy
19. Like The Rest Of Its 5G Footprint, Verizon 5G Sports Venue Availability Is Being Overhyped
20. Eagles fly to Iran, rack up huge roaming charges

PRIVACY

1. Report: Devin Nunes’ Aide Going Around Leaking Ukraine Call Whistleblower’s Name
2. Australia wants to use face recognition for porn age verification
3. New York AG Sues Dunkin’ Over Cybersecurity
4. Georgia Supreme Court Says Cops Need Warrants To Search Vehicle Crash Data Recorders
5. Magistrate Judge Rejects Govt’s Attempt To Use A Stored Records Law To Seek Future Cell Site Location Info
6. Interesting developments in the law of confidential information
7. Steak With A Side Of Surveillance: Outback Restaurants Adding Employee-Tracking Analytics To Its Cameras
8. Whirlpool Left Appliance Data, User Emails Exposed Online
9. Man planted keyloggers in companies’ networks and stole their data
10. WhatsApp suit says Israeli spyware maker exploited its app to target 1,400 users
11. Johannesburg’s network shut down after second attack in 3 months
12. The Stakes for Complying With DoD Cybersecurity Requirements Are Higher Than Ever
13. New Mass Shooting Prevention Bill Will Use ‘Anti-Terrorism’ Methods To Ramp Up Surveillance Of Students
14. IP Insight: Remember the “Right to be Forgotten?”
15. Right to Privacy: Can the Employer conduct Surveillance?
16. The count of managed service providers getting hit with ransomware mounts
17. Five months after returning rental car, man still has remote control
18. The Countdown Begins on California’s “Internet of Things” Law
19. Hacked, cracked or breached: What’s in a name when it comes to privacy?

CREATIVITY

1. General Court confirms cancellation of EU trade mark consisting of the shape of famous Rubik’s Cube (Eleonora Rosati)
2. Aussie Censorship In Action: National Enquirer Editor Threats Get Bookstores To Block Sale Of Ronan Farrow Book
3. Communication Breakdown: Canadian Quirks in Madrid International Trademark Filing System Can Trip Up Foreign Practitioners
4. Strengthening Trade Secret Protection in Canada
5. Federal Court Opens Door to use of Foreign Patent Prosecution Histories in Canadian Litigation
6. UK Supreme Court hands employee-inventor a dramatic £2 million victory
7. Shanks v Unilever: What does this mean for employers’ intellectual property rights?
8. IP Brief – Shanks v Unilever
9. UK Supreme Court awards Professor Shanks £2m compensation for invention of ‘outstanding benefit’ after 13 year court battle
10. Compensation and ownership – Two thorny issues in employee invention cases
11. Supreme Court rules no employer is “too big to pay” employees for inventions of outstanding benefit
12. Reproduction of Works and Kraft-works
13. Louis Vuitton ‘chessboard’ dispute in Poland: the court overturned the Patent Office’s decision
14. Halloween Edition: Copyright for Banana Costume is upheld on A-Peel
15. Olympic Advertising Rules Scaled Back Prior to 2020 Games
16. Is ‘Liverpool’ bigger than Liverpool Football Club?
17. Artistic value and copyright protection for industrial designs
18. Who Owns Truth Hurts?
19. Supreme Court Ruling on When Copyright Infringement Lawsuits May Be Filed Brings Heightened Interest in Preregistration
20. Fair and Balanced Reporting Pays Off: Newspapers Avoid Defamation Suits by Sticking to the Truth
21. Dorsey & Whitney Beats Defamation Claim Over TCPA Blog: Court Finds “Major Spousal Scheme” Headline Was Inactionable Opinion, Not Fact
22. James Woods Avoids Defamation Liability for a Tweet
23. MLB Umpire Joe West Sues Ex-Player Paul Lo Duca for Defamation Over Bribery Claims
24. New NCAA Marketing Rules for Athletes Proposed
25. Federal Labeling Laws vs. State False Advertising Laws: The Ongoing Preemption Battle
26. Cimabue Masterpiece found in French kitchen sells for £20 million

Jon

GAMES

1. In These Partisan Times, The Only Thing That Gets Bi-Partisan Agreement Is That Blizzard Sucks
2. Legislators condemn action against Hearthstone pro in letter to Activision Blizzard CEO
3. Lawmakers express “deep concern” over Blizzard’s Hong Kong protest response
4. US legislators: Blitzchung ban could have “chilling effect” on free speech – Bipartisan letter urges Blizzard to reverse decision to ban player for pro-Hong Kong statements
5. Blizzard belatedly punishes college Hearthstone team for Hong Kong protest: Team member welcomes “expected” punishment, says he’s quitting Hearthstone anyway.
6. Blizzard Digs Its Heels In And Issues 6 Month Ban To College ‘Hearthstone’ Team Over Hong Kong Message
7. Adam Silver Reveals The Chinese Government Asked Him To Fire Daryl Morey
8. Weaponizing The GDPR: Gamers Want To Use It To Flood Blizzard With Requests As Protest Over China Appeasement
9. Magic: The Gathering pro uses win to show Hong Kong protest support
10. Nicecactus.gg raises €5m, launches €1m esports player fund: Fund will be used to help support amateur and semi-pro players and teams through travel, training
11. Onmyoji server shut down in Vietnam for violating local sovereignty laws: Update to in-game map shows disputed South China Sea territory as Chinese against Vietnamese law
12. Children’s Commissioner for England wants urgent action to combat loot boxes
13. Children’s Commissioner calls for ban on all non-cosmetic in-game purchases: UK body also urges government to regulate loot boxes as gambling
14. Oxford researchers say clinical ‘gaming disorder’ lacks sufficient evidence
15. Study casts doubt on value of WHO’s “gaming disorder” diagnoses
16. Academic research finds no evidence of gaming as a clinical disorder: Previous studies failed to examine wider context of young peoples’ lives, says professor Andrew Przybylski
17. So long, supply drops: Call of Duty gets rid of randomized loot boxes
18. Call of Duty tosses loot boxes along with Season Pass, DLC map packs: Modern Warfare adopts Battle Pass system, won’t be available at launch
19. Call of Duty drops loot boxes in favor of battle passes in Modern Warfare
20. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare won’t be sold on PS Store in Russia – Game will still be sold digitally on Battle.net, Xbox console store
21. Andrew Yang: “Games are intrinsic to the human experience” – Democratic presidential candidate shares views on loot boxes, Blitzchung situation, gaming addiction
22. Yodo1’s AI-driven whale hunt is a bad look for the games industry | Opinion: Transformers players spending $150k grabbed headlines, but Yodo1’s GCAP talk raised tough questions about responsible monetisation in mobile
23. Big spending whales aren’t the problem with free-to-play games | Opinion : A player spending $150k on a mobile game isn’t a problem — but we should still be conscious of players that struggle with compulsion
24. Games Blamed For Moral Decline And Addiction Throughout History
25. Riot’s automated filters accidentally censor Muslim minority: But League of Legends developer has now fixed the error and is reviewing all disallowed words and phrases
26. How Riot Games’ Legends of Runeterra will bring “true free-to-play” to the CCG space: League of Legends developer ditches random packs for rewards scaled to play time and wild cards that let you buy anything
27. Diversity isn’t only skin deep: Accommodating autistic and neurodiverse people: Austistica Play ambassador Dominic Shaw explains how to consider talent that is often overlooked and underused
28. “All I understood was the company wanted me to work, so I worked, worked, worked”: At Game Connect Asia Pacific, Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae described the shifting attitudes towards crunch in Japan
29. Autonauts: Motivating players without conflict – Former Grand Theft Auto creative director Gary Penn discusses changing relationship with violence and conflict with his new game
30. National Literacy Trust and Penguin Random House researching link between games and literacy: Partnership with UKIE will survey secondary school children to explore whether gaming improves literacy skills
31. FIFA 20 supporting Premier League’s No Room For Racism campaign: Branding will appear on in-game stadium dressing, LED boards and FIFA Ultimate Team player kits in the coming months
32. FIFA 20 tops EMEAA chart for a third consecutive week: Codemasters Grid charts at No.5, new Yooka-Laylee scrapes the top 50
33. NBA 2K20 slam dunks with best US launch month sales of any sports game ever: NBA 2K is now the sixth-best-selling gaming franchise in US history, beating out Guitar Hero
34. Mario Kart Tour was the third most-downloaded mobile game in Q3 2019 – Sensor Tower: Nintendo’s racer doesn’t make it to top 100 grossing despite record-breaking downloads to start
35. Ring Fit Adventure: Critical Consensus – Reviewers felt the burn of Nintendo’s RPG-minded Wii Fit successor, recommending staying hydrated, stretching, and doing more reps
36. Downscaling, upscaling, same-scaling: Porting to Switch and under-powered consoles
37. Nintendo has sold over 15 million Switch systems in North America
38. Nintendo Switch has sold over 15m units in North America: Switch sales in NA are up over 20% year-to-date as of the end of September
39. Eleven Engineering v. Nintendo
40. UK Charts: Switch dominates as Ring Fit Adventure leads slew of new releases – But Mario Kart is the best-selling Switch game of the week, now past 1m units. Oh, and FIFA is still No.1
41. Should Nintendo go third-party? GamesIndustry.biz answers gamers’ questions at EGX 2019
42. Stadia’s wireless controller needs a cord to play on everything but TV at launch
43. Google Stadia’s controller is wireless, but only on TV at launch: PC, laptop, and mobile will need the USB-C cable to connect for now
44. Google can’t fulfill all Stadia preorders for Nov. 19 launch
45. Study Says Broadband Caps Are A Big Problem For Google’s Game Streaming Ambitions
46. Project Xcloud preview serves as a passable, portable Xbox One
47. Xbox Game Pass users are playing 40% more games — including outside Game Pass
48. Xbox software and services revenue remains flat as hardware continues to slow
49. Microsoft kicks off FY20 with flat gaming revenues: Company no longer reporting Xbox Live MAUs as it prepares for next console generation
50. Steam launches beta for Remote Play Together, taking couch co-op online
51. Capcom plans to ‘revive dormant IP’ as Resident Evil, Monster Hunter take off
52. Fallout 76 is offering premium features through a paid monthly membership
53. Bethesda rolls out $100/year subscription for Fallout 76 with private servers
54. Bethesda introduces Fallout 1st subscription to Fallout 76: $13/month nets players a private world for them and friends, other in-game conveniences
55. Don’t Miss: 20 years of Fallout: Lessons learned shipping games in the wasteland
56. Ubisoft’s VR Escape Rooms Have Quietly Reached 200+ Locations Across the Globe
57. The Louvre is Bringing The Mona Lisa to Life Soon in a New VR Experience
58. Sandbox VR raises $11 million thanks to celebrity contributions
59. What Tilt Five learned from the funding, focus stumbles of CastAR: Tilt Five CEO Jeri Ellsworth shares lessons on VC backing and strategic focus from AR tabletop outfit’s VR/AR predecessor
60. Microsoft’s DreamWalker VR turns your daily commute into a totally different one
61. Epic’s HoloLens 2 Demo ‘Apollo 11: Mission AR’ Showcases Impressive PC-quality Graphics
62. Youtubers Life has brought in more than $12 million in revenue
63. YouTubers Life passes $12m lifetime revenue: U-Play Online’s streamer simulation game has sold one million units
64. How Crows Crows Crows launches games multiple times for max marketing impact
65. Unit 2 Games secures $5m investment from Makers Fund: Studio will use finance to build development platform Crayta, launching spring 2020
66. Saber Interactive acquires Bigmoon Entertainment: World War Z developer also announces its zombie-fighting shooter has sold 3m copies
67. THQ Nordic expands into Japan with new distribution office 
68. THQ Nordic expands to Japan: Growing publisher has established second international distribution outlet to handle releases in Japanese market
69. Syberia publisher Anuman Interactive has rebranded as Microids
70. Anuman Interactive becomes Microids, opens Japan office: French publisher’s Japanese branch to focus on distribution, connections with Japanese developers
71. Dash Valley dev MadBox raises $16.5 million
72. MadBox raises $16.5m to broaden mobile portfolio: Startup also plans to open second office in Barcelona
73. Tilting Point acquires monetization firm Gondola: User acquisition and marketing outfit picks up in-game offer and ad optimization company
74. A look at the studio-building process at Avalanche Malmo
75. Deca acquires four games from Gree: Indie publisher grabs midcore titles Knights and Dragons, Crime City, Modern War, and Kingdom Age from Japanese mobile outfit
76. Bigmoon Entertainment acquired by World War Z dev Saber Interactive
77. Tencent now owns 51.2% of Supercell-controlling consortium
78. Tencent takes majority control over Supercell: World’s largest game company increases stake in consortium which owns Finnish mobile developer
79. Jagex denies reports it has been sold (again): Rumours re-emerge but RuneScape developer says sale “remains one of various possible outcomes”
80. Unity is raising Pro and Plus prices for new subscriptions in 2020
81. Unity to raise subscription prices: Beginning in January, Pro subs will go up 20% to $150 a month, while Plus plans rise 14% to $40 a month
82. Blog: A UI development diagram for Unity
83. Blog: How commercial games are designed to develop players’ skills
84. Video: Tuning the Halo plasma rifle’s muzzle velocity on Legendary difficulty
85. Video: How changing Halo 3’s sniper rifle fire rate by 0.2 seconds changed the game
86. Video: How to lead a healthier, more effective game dev team
87. Video: Curating the Victoria & Albert Museum’s video game exhibition
88. Don’t Miss: My Friend Pedro’s journey from Flash cult hit to indie success
89. Don’t Miss: 7 influential immersive sims that all devs should play
90. Video Game Deep Cuts: Fortnite’s End In Jedi’s Order
91. Fortnite tumbles down digital spending charts: Superdata says September saw Epic’s shooter post 43% month-over-month sales decline as worldwide digital game spending slipped
92. ‘Fortnite’ Sees Social Video Viewership Resurgence Amid Launch Of ‘Chapter 2’
93. Fortnite’s black hole event broke Twitch and Twitter viewing records: More than 7 million people watched across social platforms
94. Fortnite’s “The End” event set Twitch record for concurrent viewers of a single game: 1.7m people were watching a black hole on Twitch at the same time last week
95. Explaining how fighting games use delay-based and rollback netcode
96. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order hands-on: Tried, true, and tough
97. Can Need For Speed turn up the heat after 25 years?
98. New law means EA could revive NCAA sports games: CEO Andrew Wilson says he “would jump for the opportunity” to publish titles around $14 billion industry
99. Haven is about “cooking, chatting, drinking, kissing — that’s very French”: The Game Bakers’ Audrey Leprince on finding the recipe for a quintessentially French game
100. Starborne studio sees a universe of potential: Solid Clouds originally stemmed from CCP, but it’s aspirations are shaped more by Paradox
101. YouTube Settles Lawsuit Against Man Who Attempted To Extort ‘Minecraft’ Creators With Copyright Flags
102. Minecraft becomes a board game, and the results are faithful, fantastic
103. Three million square miles of wilderness: How Silk advances a lost genre – Chris Bateman and Rob Hewson on the ’80s-style exploration game’s vast world and the choices that drive players through it
104. Obituary: Former Eidos president Keith Boesky has passed away
105. Former Eidos president Keith Boesky dies: Boesky’s law firm worked closely with game developers bringing IP across platforms
106. U.S. Patent No. 8,992,321: Apparatus and method for displaying player character showing special movement state in network game

DIGITAL

1. Privacy bill would give FTC actual authority, land lying executives in jail: CEOs won’t consider privacy until they face “personal consequences,” Wyden said.
2. FTC Announces Settlement Over Fake Followers
3. Fake Reviews and Fake Followers: FTC Cracks Down on Deceptive Online Posting
4. Mark Zuckerberg Still Doesn’t Get It
5. Zuckerberg doubles down on free speech—the Facebook way
6. Sacha Baron Cohen Makes Nazi Analogy to Slam Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Policy
7. Facebook, Under Fire For Political Ad Policies, Lays Out Election Protection Plan
8. Facebook promises to beef up “election integrity” efforts heading into 2020
9. Facebook Criticized for Not Censoring Candidate Ads – Even Though Congress Requires No Censorship from Broadcasters
10. Facebook takedowns show new Russian activity targeted Biden, praised Trump: The company disabled accounts that posed at times as locals in swing states to post on divisive political issues and the upcoming election.
11. Facebook Announces Additional Measures to Protect the Upcoming U.S. Elections
12. Facebook’s new Oversight Board is a step forward – but it can’t help Kashmiris: If Facebook decides incorrectly that local laws in India require it to silence Kashmiri calls for self-determination, the Board will not be able to review.
13. Facebook must face $35B facial-recognition lawsuit following court ruling
14. Facebook’s Failure To Stop TikTok Shows, Once Again, That Big Companies Often Can’t Just ‘Copy’ Disruptive Upstarts
15. The Libra Digital Currency Project: The (Long) Path Forward
16. Cryptocurrency 2.0: Is Libra the Tipping Point?
17. Instagram is banning plastic-surgery effect filters
18. Instagram test helps you choose people to unfollow: Groups would help you cut users you rarely see in your feed.
19. Bringing Free Speech Back: Trump Promises To Sue CNN Over Its Biased Coverage Based On Dumbest Legal Theory Ever
20. IGTV Rolls Out Tools Enabling Creators To Publish Videos As An Episodic Series
21. Cautionary Notes on Disinformation and the Origins of Distrust (Yochai Benkler)
22. The New Copyright Directive: Are OCSSPs Now Required to Carry Certain Content?
23. The ASA ruling on identifying ads – Brooks Brothers and Matthew Zorpas
24. China’s Surveillance State Has Tens of Millions of New Targets: So-called key individuals, from drug addicts to religious believers, are singled out in police databases.
25. The Ultimate Aim Of China’s 2016 Cybersecurity Law Is Now Clear: Nothing Digital Can Be Secret From The Authorities
26. Insights: Doing Business In China Vexes Companies That Depend On Creators — And Creators Themselves
27. Report On Global Social Media Censorship Shows Russia, India, And Turkey Are Still Leading The Censor Pack
28. Stealthy Russian Hacker Group Resurfaces With Clever New Tricks: Largely out of the spotlight since 2016, Cozy Bear hackers have been caught perpetrating a years-long campaign.
29. Hacking the hackers: Russian group hijacked Iranian spying operation, officials say
30. Republicans storm ultra-secure “SCIF,” some with cell phones blazing
31. White House kicks infosec team to curb in IT office shakeup
32. Blocked: Twitter, Trump, and the Public Forum Doctrine
33. A cacophony of self-pity drowns out r/The_Donald’s message as Reddit extends quarantine
34. Rounding Up Two Online Contract Formation Cases (Eric Goldman)
35. Roundup of the House Commerce Committee Hearing on Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
36. Marc Benioff Calls For Section 230 To Be Abolished At The Same Time His Company Is Relying On 230 To Get Out Of A Lawsuit
37. Senators propose near-total ban on worker noncompete agreements
38. Congressional Reps Targeting Homegrown Terrorism Are Pushing A Bill That Would Allow Congress To Subpoena Citizens’ Communications
39. Should all connected cars have a physical network kill switch?
40. How meme culture changed the PSAT
41. Cookies: A Coming-of-Age Story
42. Accessibility, the future, and why Domino’s matters
43. Supreme Court’s Avoidance of Web Accessibility Bodes Increase in ADA Demands and Lawsuits
44. Navigating ADA Compliance Issues in an Online World
45. Supreme Court Denies Review of ADA Website Accessibility Case, Leaving Businesses Subject to Ninth Circuit’s Guidelines
46. The Good And The Bad Of The ACCESS Act To Force Open APIs On Big Social Media
47. The latest Google shutdowns: Daydream VR, Google Clips
48. Report: Home builders ditch Nest products after Google takeover
49. Chrome rolls out new protections preventing password and data theft
50. Penn State Study Posits YouTube’s Algorithm Isn’t To Blame For Far-Right Radicalization
51. Guy Who Tried To Extort YouTubers With Bogus DMCA Takedowns Agrees To Settlement
52. Tati Westbrook Launches Makeup Brand, As YouTuber Palette Season Kicks Into High Gear
53. YouTube’s first interactive original is a heist show starring gaming personality Markiplier
54. YouTube Founder Chad Hurley Raises $8.5 Million For Fan-Centric Sports Game Startup ‘GreenPark’
55. Jeffree Star Cosmetics Forecasts Shane Dawson Collab Will Generate $35 Million In Morphe, Online Sales
56. Netflix offers $2 billion in debt to fund more original content
57. Netflix hit with interrogator’s libel suit
58. Netflix releases first teaser trailer for Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045
59. Ed Norton Calls Out Steven Spielberg & Hollywood For Demonizing Netflix
60. Amazon Launches Ad-Supported ‘News’ Video App With CBS, HuffPost, Cheddar
61. New ‘Watch Parties’ feature lets streamers watch Amazon Prime with their viewers on Twitch: You do, however, need to have Amazon Prime to watch those streams
62. Amazon hits back at AAFA notorious markets submission with rare public rebuttal
63. Amazon Launches Ad-Supported ‘News’ Video App With CBS, HuffPost, Cheddar
64. Whistle To Launch First-Ever OTT Channel, WhistleTV, With Original Shows, Influencers, More
65. T-Mobile To Serve As Exclusive Telecom Launch Partner For Katzenberg’s Quibi
66. The 2019 iPad races to the bottom (price-wise), but it’s not so bad down there
67. Patreon Founder Jack Conte Launches ‘Super Patron’ Endowment That Will Give Creators A Yearly Salary
68. BroadbandTV Content Partners Nominated for The 9th Annual Streamy Awards Which Honor Excellence in Online Video
69. Online Sports Gambling
70. Adobe Announces Plan To Essentially Steal Money From Venezuelans Because It ‘Has To’ Due To US Sanctions
71. TikTok Makes Some Users Ad Stars—Without Asking
72. TikTok Collaborates With 12 Creators For New ‘You’re In Control’ Online Safety Videos
73. Music Video Upstart ‘Triller’ Says It’s Taking On TikTok Amid $28 Million Series B
74. Feds bust massive child porn sharing site—hundreds of users arrested
75. After Four Years Of Failing To Bring Its Plan To Completion, UK Government Pulls Out Of Porn Blockade Effort
76. Snapchat Beats Third-Quarter Expectations But Provides Weaker Guidance
77. Snapchat Adds 7 Million Daily Active Users In Q3, Looks Ahead To Wearable AR Tech
78. Snapchat goes after retailers and DTC brands with new Dynamic Ads
79. BuzzFeed Launches Inaugural Creator Program For Its Travel Brand ‘Bring Me!’
80. Hulu ramps up its personalization efforts, starting with launch of Like / Dislike buttons
81. Yahoo is deleting all content ever posted to Yahoo Groups
82. “You’re going to flip”: Motorola teases the new Razr in November event invitation
83. What is Bitcoin good for?
84. Blockchain helps busts bad guys in darkweb shutdown
85. When MS Paint ruled the fandom world: An innovative webcomic, 10 years later
86. Air Force finally retires 8-inch floppies from missile launch control system
87. Expect that Our Romance with Tech Companies Might Be Over

A.I.

1. AI and Copyright: Who’s That Author Behind the Computer?
2. One in three councils using algorithms to make welfare decisions: Machine-learning tools being deployed despite evidence they are unreliable
3. AI and IoT Legislative Developments: Third Quarter 2019

COMMUNICATIONS

1. What Comes Next for Canadian Digital Policy Under a Liberal Minority Government? (Michael Geist) 
2. No more free rides for large online digital media services
3. Canadian Broadcasting Company Hits Conservative Party With Questionable Copyright Infringement Lawsuit 
4. The CBC Lawsuit, Fair Dealing and Future Reform: The Unexpected Arrival of Copyright in Election 2019 (Michael Geist) 
5. The Conservative Party of Canada Moves to Dismiss the Controversial CBC Litigation and CBC’s Apparent Inaction on Removing Barton & Tasker (Howard Knopf)
6. CBC lawsuit against CPC raises questions about use of copyrighted media content in partisan election advertisements
7. CBC “Fresh as Amended” Lawsuit Against the Conservative Party of Canada (Howard Knopf)
8. After court loss, Ajit Pai complains about states regulating broadband
9. Ajit Pai Whines About The Numerous State-Level Net Neutrality Laws He Just Helped Create
10. FCC Approved T-Mobile Sprint Merger Without Even Seeing The Full Details
11. FCC Issues “Clarifications” of Political Broadcasting Public File Disclosure Requirements – Significantly More Disclosures to Be Required on Issue Ads
12. States Rush To Protect Net Neutrality On Heels Of Court Ruling
13. AT&T hits online TV customers with second big price increase this year 
14. AT&T Jacks Up Broadband Rates With Misleading ‘Property Tax’ Fee
15. Frontier gets away with “paltry” settlement after breaking 35 laws and rules
16. Comcast’s “free” streaming box requires you to rent $13-per-month router
17. Verizon’s 5G network can’t cover an entire basketball arena, either
18. Google Fi will soon connect you to two LTE networks at once
19. General Services Administration issues consolidated schedule solicitation and mass modification which contain prohibitions against the People’s Republic of China
20. Germany Chooses China Over the West: Berlin’s refusal to shut Huawei out of its 5G networks weakens Europe’s prospects of standing up to Beijing.
21. Calling time on hands-free? Government considers blank ban on mobile phone use while driving

PRIVACY

1. Canadian Supreme Court To Cops: You Can’t Arrest Someone Just Because You Think Something Illegal Might Happen In The Future
2. Ed Snowden: Governments Can’t Make The Public ‘Safer’ By Undermining The Encryption Essential To The Public’s Security
3. DOJ’s Latest Child Porn Site Takedown Shows Encryption Isn’t Really Stopping The Feds From Fighting Child Porn
4. Alexa and Google Home abused to eavesdrop and phish passwords
5. ICE in New York has a spy tool to hunt undocumented immigrants via their cell phones: ICE is spying on cell phones and acquiring call records to hunt down undocumented immigrants
6. California Governor Signs Bill Banning Facial Recognition Tech Use By State’s Law Enforcement Agencies
7. Warrantless Retrieval of Electronic Automobile Data Held to Be Unreasonable Search – Ruling Points to Private Nature of Digital Data Collected in Today’s World
8. Civil Rights Groups Ask Legislators To Block Ring’s Surveillance Partnerships With Law Enforcement
9. Anyone can fingerprint unlock a Galaxy S10—just grab a clear phone case
10. The Pixel 4’s face unlock works on sleeping, unconscious people
11. Google says a fix for Pixel 4 face unlock is “months” away
12. Hackers steal secret crypto keys for NordVPN. Here’s what we know so far
13. NSA Warns of Hackers Attacking VPN Service Applications
14. CBP And Local Law Enforcement Are Mixing And Matching Surveillance Gear To Skirt Already-Minimal Constitutional Protections
15. Colleges Held for Ransom: Responding to a Ransomware Attack
16. UK Hospital Somehow Manages To Turn A Patient’s Private Message Into Its Voicemail Greeting
17. Planet49: CJEU rules out opt-out consent for cookies
18. Europe – European Court of Justice rules on the scope of the ‘right to be forgotten’ for search engines
19. The Third Annual Review on the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield Notes the U.S. Is Doing Well, Are You?
20. Reevaluating the COPPA Rule
21. COPPA Workshop Explores Rule Changes
22. Microsoft’s new Secured-core PC initiative short circuits firmware attacks

CREATIVITY

1. The 30th (or 83rd?) Anniversary of Canada’s Copyright Board: Waiting for Version 3.0 (Howard Knopf)
2. FTC Targets False Celebrity Endorsements, Deceptive Claims
3. Phillie Phanatic Creators Fire Back with New Filing
4. Chuck Yeager Sues Airbus for Right-of-Publicity Violations
5. Banksy’s online ‘shop’ vets potential buyers with one simple question
6. Copyright is for losers, trade marks are for Banksy — the Banksy trade mark case explained
7. Controversial copyright bill inches closer to becoming law as House approves
8. Congress Looks To Rush Through Unconstitutional Pro-Copyright Trolls Bill, Despite Promising To Explore Alternatives
9. House Overwhelmingly Votes To Empower Copyright Trolls And To Bankrupt Americans For Sharing Photos
10. Bad Laws And The Best Of Intentions: Law Designed To ‘Protect’ Gig Workers May Destroy Journalism Freelancers
11. Cop’s Bogus Defamation Lawsuit Nearly Puts A Small Iowa Newspaper Out Of Business
12. France Rejects Poland’s Bad Faith Efforts to Extradite Art Dealer Alexander Khochinsky
13. New Federal Circuit Guidance on Design Patents: Key Takeaways for Companies Seeking Protection
14. Foreign prosecution history evidence permitted under Section 53.1 of Patent Act
15. CBS Rejects Commercial Depicting Menstruating Men
16. Art Law in New York
17. McDonald’s Bullies Local Canadian Burger Joint Over ‘Filet O’ Fish’ Trademark
18. Society Of Professional Journalists Makes Itself Look Foolish In Strange Attempt To Trademark ‘Fake News’

Jon

GAMES

1. US Hearthstone players banned for Hong Kong protest: Team that held up a “Free Hong Kong, Boycott Blizz” sign punished “for engaging in behavior disruptive to” tournament broadcast
2. College Hearthstone team hit with 6-month ban after showing ‘Free Hong Kong’ sign
3. Nintendo NYC Overwatch launch event cancelled by Blizzard
4. Blizzard cancels Overwatch live event at Nintendo World in New York: Launch event for Overwatch on Nintendo Switch cancelled amid hostility over Chinese censorship furore
5. Blizzard employees organise walkout following Hong Kong controversy: Popular caster Brian Kibler also withdrew his participation to the Hearthstone Grandmasters final
6. Thanks Blizzard: Riot Games Forced To Let Everyone Know They’re Allowed To Use Hong Kong’s LoL Team’s Name
7. Blizzard’s Face Plant Creates Marketing Opportunity For Companies With A Spine
8. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Can Blizzard recover from Blitzchung?: We discuss the wider impact of the backlash against the World of Warcraft publisher
9. Blizzard reinstates Hong Kong protestor’s prize, says “China had no influence”
10. Blizzard reduces ban for Hearthstone player, but stands by its initial reasoning
11. Blizzard: Chinese interests “had no influence” on Blitzchung ban – Hearthstone developer reduces punishments for pro player’s support of Hong Kong protesters
12. Publishers risk being trapped between the US and China | Opinion: Publishers are on the frontline of a battle that goes beyond trade — and will far outlast the Trump administration
13. Blitzchung says he will “be more careful” following Blizzard statement: The Hearthstone pro player says he has “no idea” if he’ll still want to compete after his six months ban
14. More Fallout From The Hong Kong Protests Hitting eSports
15. Riot calls for esports casters, players to avoid ‘sensitive topics’ during its broadcasts
16. Riot Games: “We aren’t telling anyone to avoid saying ‘Hong Kong'” – League of Legends firm clarifies confusion as rumours spread it is censoring esports team name Hong Kong Attitude
17. Riot Games directs casters and players not to discuss politics on air: Global head of League of Legends esports says it wants “to keep broadcasts focused on the game”
18. After a decade of League of Legends, Riot to expand with new games
19. Riot Games files trademark lawsuit against esports organisation Riot Squad: The League of Legends developer says the copyright infringement has caused “irreparable damage”
20. Paradox takes Stellaris: Galaxy Command offline over stolen Halo 4 artwork
21. Two Hat: Stop tweaking your game and start fixing your community – Security expert Two Hat teams up with Image Analyzer to tackle harmful online content and toxic communities
22. A case for ethical game design from BioWare’s Åsa Roos
23. A guide for devs to battle (and convert) their online haters
24. German regulator begins process to ban Coin Master game: Review board considers blacklisting game with gambling-like elements as harmful to minors, decision could set precedent for other titles
25. FTC Takes a Peek at Loot Box Regulation
26. Ustwo Games accused of union busting: Independent Workers Union of Great Britain has taken legal action against Monument Valley developer
27. Gay World of Warcraft guild forced to change name because of user complaints
28. Blizzard forces name change for gay guild: Publisher renames “Gay Boys” as “Guild ZFXPK” in response to player reports, changes it back but says it can’t stop it happening again
29. Video games help people with disabilities find friends and transcend real-world limitations
30. Rocksteady and Creative Assembly under fire over Video Game Tax Relief: TaxWatch UK highlights ways multinational companies are using scheme to shift profits
31. Changing mental health depictions in games: Developers say the industry is getting better at incorporating real conditions into their stories, but more progress is needed
32. New charity Safe In Our World focuses on mental health in the games industry: Organisation aims to raise awareness of mental health issues among both gamers and developers
33. G2A: “There’s no place in a business like ours for shadiness or fraud” – Communications boss Maciej Kuc addresses the biggest complaints against the divisive marketplace
34. Steam will soon let users play local-multiplayer games over the internet
35. Steam to add ability to play local co-op games with friends online: Support will be added automatically week of October 21 for all applicable games
36. Steam’s next big feature will make any “local multiplayer” game work online
37. Case study: Steam’s ‘Deal Of The Day’ and DLC attach rates4
38. Untitled Goose Game passed 100,000 sales in first two weeks
39. “Troll Factory” turns disinformation campaigns into teaching game
40. PlayStation 5 to Launch Holiday 2020, Including New Controller with Improved Haptics
41. After All That, Sony Unceremoniously Rolls Out PS4 Remote Play To All Android Devices
42. World of Warcraft sees Q3 streaming rise – StreamElements: WoW Classic interest persists as Fortnite continues to dip
43. Sony Reveals AR Headset Prototype in New Ghostbusters Location-based Attraction
44. DIY thumbsticks and clay creations: How Google designed its Stadia gamepad
45. Google Stadia finally has a concrete launch date
46. Google Stadia launching at 9am PST, November 19 for pre-orderers
47. Google backs away from Daydream VR due to a general lack of interest
48. Google ending Daydream: Company will stop selling View VR headset holder, citing decreasing usage and lack of adoption by developers and consumers
49. Nintendo Switch sales in Europe pass 10m: Since launch, 36 million Nintendo-published games have been shifted
50. Blizzard calls off public event to promote Switch Overwatch launch
51. Video: How (and why) Blizzard finally ported Overwatch to Switch
52. “The Switcher” is real: Witcher 3 on Switch is a blurry, tolerable compromise
53. Apple now sells Xbox controllers on its official store
54. Apple is selling Xbox controllers: Microsoft’s GamePad available through mobile giant’s online store following Apple Arcade launch
55. Mixer’s other co-founder also leaves Microsoft
56. Mixer co-founder Matt Salsamendi departs Microsoft
57. Microsoft introduces swear filters for Xbox: Platform holder will roll out four levels of filtration later this year to all Xbox devices and apps
58. Both Co-Founders Of Microsoft’s Twitch Competitor Mixer Are Departing The Business
59. The public preview for Xbox’s streaming service Project xCloud is now live
60. Analogue shows off Pocket retro portable: $199 handheld hardware set for 2020, will play original carts from Game Boy family, Game Gear, Lynx, and Neo Geo Pocket Color
61. $199 Analogue Pocket promises FPGA accuracy for portable retro gaming
62. The Analogue Pocket offers a modern way to play and make Game Boy games
63. Snapchat partnered with Adidas to launch its first shoppable mobile game
64. Hitman dev IO Interactive partners with Warner Bros. on ‘new game experience’
65. Warner Bros partners with IO Interactive for new game: Hitman partnership transformed into multi-IP deal with both IO studios involved in development
66. Niantic wants players to help expand location-games with new ‘Wayfarer’ tool
67. Niantic announces Wayfarer program to improve in-game play locations: Program currently in beta for Ingress players, coming to Pokemon Go players later
68. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery reaches $150m in revenue – Jam City’s title has been downloaded 54.6 million times across iOS and Android
69. FIFA 20 tops EMEAA charts for second week since launch: Just Cause 3 makes surprise appearance in top ten, climbing from No. 123 last week
70. Busy September charts see FIFA 20 take No.1: A strong slate of new releases battle for top five, with Borderlands 3 in second place
71. FIFA 20 retains No.1 as Grid reaches Top Five: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair debuts at No.31
72. Daybreak Games lays off multiple employees in company ‘realignment’
73. Daybreak Game Company suffers more layoffs: Company “realignment” leads to third round of redundancies in 18 months
74. Report: 50 workers laid off at Bendy and the Ink Machine developer Kindly Beast
75. Bendy and the Ink Machine studio Kindly Beast lays off just under 50 – CEO Mike Mood: “All current projects will continue as planned”
76. PUBG Mobile is highest-grossing smartphone game in Q3: Sensor Tower report shows growth across all metrics in the mobile game sector
77. Fortnite’s latest narrative turn has taken the entire game offline
78. Fortnite “shuts down” ahead of battle royale’s Chapter 2: Latest live event sees iconic island devoured by black hole in livestream, game currently unavailable
79. Fortnite is back after suddenly going dark for days to hype a big content update
80. Don’t Miss: The unconventional launch of Fortnite
81. Esports-focused mobile dev Meta Games nets $2 million in funding
82. Nerd Street Gamers raises $12m for building esports facilities: Will start by constructing 3,000 square foot spaces for Five Below stores
83. Esports’ ongoing data competition: PCU v. ACU v. AMA – Newzoo’s new head of esports Remer Rietkerk on the challenges of finding good data for the right occasion
84. Millennial Esports acquires YouTube channel LetsGoRacing: The channel, created by Grand Central Entertainment, focuses on motorsports and, recently, esports racing
85. Hiro Capital is “determined to fill the post-seed gap” with new €100m fund: Industry veterans will invest in around 20 promising games, esports and digital sports companies by 2021
86. What we can learn from… successful game teams: Crunch and financial rewards don’t work, says Department of Play’s Will Luton, but there are strategies that can lead to more effective teams and projects
87. Curve Digital owner Catalis Group acquired by NorthEdge Capital for $113 million
88. NorthEdge Capital acquires Curve Digital parent Catalis: Company invests £46.6m in games group, deal values Catalis at £90m
89. Summerfall Studios breaks new ground with Chorus: An Adventure Musical – Australian startup has assembled David Gaider, Austin Wintory, Troy Baker and Laura Bailey for its “interactive musical”
90. The enduring appeal of simulation games: Simulation games find their audience among maturing gamers and wild-eyed influencers alike
91. Divinity: Fallen Heroes placed on indefinite hold by developer Larian Studios
92. How Ubisoft designed and refined its Assassin’s Creed VR escape rooms
93. Owlchemy’s audio wizard offers tips on making the most of music in VR
94. Using body language to create more compelling VR game characters 
95. Fine-tuning for the ‘action hero’ feel in PlayStation’s VR game Blood & Truth
96. How to get your game on the front page of Imgur: A practical guide
97. Don’t Miss: An in-depth look at the physics of trains in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
98. Don’t Miss: 10 video game production lessons learned the hard way
99. Don’t Miss: How the Surviving Mars devs built a city-builder on a barren planet
100. Blog: Making games is easy – selling them, not so much
101. Blog: The problem with the indie game pedestal9
102. Blog: A look at scavenger hunts in two modern adventure games
103. Blog: Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, and procedurally generated storytelling
104. Blog: The simple difficulty of bringing Frostpunk to consoles
105. Blog: Accessibility and difficulty as barriers to art
106. Blog: An exploration of map region-based narrative
107. Video: The math behind predictable projectiles in games
108. How Raw Data dev Survios succeeds by recycling its own tech
109. Adi Shankar working on another video game TV series, this time for Far Cry 3 – Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Vibe to be a part of a greater Ubisoft multiverse of shows
110. Ubisoft is making animated shows based on Rayman, Watch Dogs, and more
111. Ukie releasing advice pack to help UK games industry prepare for no-deal Brexit
112. UKIE prepares no-deal Brexit advice: Trade body to release free written, audio, and visual content as Britain prepares to leave EU
113. Thousands of DOS games have been added to the Internet Archive
114. U.S. Patent no. 9,180,378: Conditional access to areas in a video game

DIGITAL

1. Livestream of Germany shooting removed from Twitch: Streaming site is still investigating, will permanently suspend any accounts reposting footage
2. Self-Regulation Of Social Media Platforms Failing To Curb Disinformation, Says New Report
3. Political ads can lie if they want, Facebook confirms
4. Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s private meetings with conservative pundits
5. Warren escalates Facebook fight with ad targeting Zuckerberg
6. #DeleteFacebook trends after report Zuckerberg secretly dined with conservatives
7. Facebook can be forced to remove content on a global scale after landmark CJEU ruling
8. Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and eBay all quit Facebook’s Libra in one day
9. Facebook launches Libra Association—and says 180 companies could join
10. Third Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Sprawling Anti-Competitive Conduct Complaint Against Facebook
11. Facebook’s new Portal has a refined design but familiar limitations: It’s a better Portal, but it’s still a Portal
12. Grace Helbig To Sit Down With Powerful Women In Studio71 Facebook Series
13. Instagram’s latest security feature lets you better manage third-party app permissions: See who has your data at a glance
14. How Pinterest Built One of Silicon Valley’s Most Successful Algorithms
15. Rent-a-troll: Researchers pit disinformation farmers against each other
16. In flip-flop, Apple bans app used by Hong Kong protestors
17. Apple Signs Overall TV Deal With Oscar-Winning Auteur Alfonso Cuarón
18. 10 Risks Associated with Inaccessible Websites and Mobile Apps
19. Feds hit GirlsDoPorn owners with criminal sex trafficking charges
20. Top Myths About Content Moderation (Eric Goldman)
21. UK porn blacklist is dead after government abandons age verification
22. Elizabeth Warren’s Feud With Facebook Over ‘False’ Ads Just Highlights The Impossibility Of Content Moderation At Scale
23. Section 230 Helps Tumblr Defeat Nonconsensual Pornography Suit–Poole v. Tumblr (Eric Goldman)
24. The PLAN Act Proposes to Amend Section 230 to “Protect”…Landlords and Hotel Chains? (Eric Goldman)
25. New Paper Explains Why Technologists Should Rally Behind Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
26. ASA rules Casumo ad was targeted irresponsibly
27. Attorney Who Sued Grindr Responds Extremely Poorly To The Supreme Court’s Rejection Of Her Section 230 Lawsuit
28. Why International Human Rights Law Cannot Replace Content Moderation
29. How Photos of Your Kids Are Powering Surveillance Technology
30. Avatar Alert! ASA uses child avatars to tackle irresponsible ads targeted at children
31. The do’s and don’ts of sharing about your children online
32. The Ellen Show Issues Copyright Takedown On Transformative Video Commenting On Her Friendship With President Bush
33. Techdirt Podcast Episode 229: Pirate Shaming Lists Don’t Work
34. ‘The Irishman’ Ban Once Again Shows Hollywood’s Disdain For Netflix is Stupid & Counterproductive
35. Infamous Police Interrogation Firm Sues Netflix For Defamation Over Criticism Of Its Interrogation Technique
36. How to protect your brand on social media — seven top tips
37. Disney Bans Netflix Advertising on Most of Its Networks
38. James Murdoch reportedly bought a stake in Vice, as his new company begins to make media investments
39. OECD Publishes Digital Tax Draft Proposal
40. Government Tells Supreme Court Not to Review Copyright Fair Use Decision In Long-Running Oracle-Google Dispute over Software Copyrights
41. Supreme Court Passes on Challenge to Extension of Title III to Websites and Mobile Apps
42. Supreme Court Denies Review in Website Accessibility Case Against Domino’s Pizza
43. US Supreme Court denies review of Robles v. Domino’s Pizza, opening door to more lawsuits on website and mobile app accessibility claims
44. Supreme Court Passes On Domino’s ADA Website Case
45. The Supreme Court Deals a Blow to Businesses Regarding Accessibility of Their Websites and Mobile Applications
46. Wild West of Website Accessibility Lawsuits Continues
47. Mobile App Sweepstakes and the Law
48. Gathering social media as evidence in e-discovery
49. Comments on Social Media about an Employee’s National Origin Could Lead to Allegations of Discrimination
50. Electronic signatures – no new law required, says Law Commission
51. Twitter releases new Catalyst app for macOS Catalina
52. Whoops, Twitter The Latest To Use Two Factor Authentication Phone Numbers For Marketing
53. Influencer Advertising: How Brands Can Successfully Navigate Using Influencers or Dealing With Employees Posting About Work on Social Media
54. David Dobrik, Joey Graceffa, Brandon Rogers Lead This Year’s Streamy Awards Nominations
55. HBO Max Taps YouTubers LaurDIY, Michelle Khare To Host Kids’ Competition Series
56. Pocket.watch Greenlights Shows With The Onyx Family, Eh Bee Family, Expands Hulu Pact
57. Viral Video Upstart ‘Doing Things Media’ Appoints Former Group Nine Exec President, Taps Starry Advisers
58. YouTube Continues Crackdown On ‘Pick-Up Artist’ Vloggers Globally
59. YouTube Drops Trailer For Original Series ‘BookTube,’ Featuring All-Star Authors Chatting With Creators
60. ‘Bon Appétit’ Magazine Is Making Cover Stars Out Of Its Beloved YouTube Crew
61. YouTube Star Jordyn Jones Drops Self-Titled EP, Will Embark On ‘Eyes On Me’ Tour
62. YouTube Pacts With Michelle Obama On Third Series To Spotlight Global Girls’ Education Initiatives
63. YouTube Pacts With MerchBar To Help ‘Official Artist Channels’ Drive Merch, Vinyl Sales
64. YouTube Drops Trailer For Latest Learning-Focused Original, Starring VSauce3’s Jake Roper
65. Man agrees to pay $25,000 for abusing YouTube’s takedown system
66. Guns N’ Roses Lays Claim To Only Music Videos From The ’90s — And Now The ’80s — With 1 Billion Views
67. Sardonic Twitter Account ‘Dril’ Nabs Weekly Web Series On Adult Swim
68. Jenna Marbles Celebrates 20 Million Subscribers By Taking A Well-Deserved Nap
69. After Near-Death Experience, ‘Threadbanger’ Star Says Merch Sales Helped Pay Off Hospital Bills
70. Shane Dawson Launches Online Store With Jeffree Star’s Killer Merch, All Items Promptly Sell Out
71. Gigi Gorgeous To Launch Eponymous Makeup Brand In Collaboration With Ipsy
72. Rooster Teeth’s Podcast Network, The Roost, Unveils Slate Of 3 Scripted Series
73. Trump Signs Up For Twitch, Will Livestream Campaign Rallies
74. Amazon Pacts With Howard University On College Program To Diversify Entertainment Pipeline
75. Amazon’s massive investment in food delivery startup Deliveroo faces further delays thanks to a formal antitrust probe
76. EU orders Broadcom to halt exclusivity deals while investigation deepens
77. Hulu Finally Adds Download Feature, But Only For $11.99-Per-Month Subscribers
78. Adobe backtracks, will refund customers after canceling their accounts
79. LinkedIn Data Scraping Case—9th Circuit’s Trigger for CFAA Liability
80. Alert: IRS Issues New Guidance and FAQs on Virtual Currencies
81. U.S. Internal Revenue Service Takes on “Hard Fork” and “Airdrop” as Part of New Guidance on Virtual Currency
82. Cryptocurrency Industry and Investors Receive New Guidance on Key Tax Issues: Hard Forks, Airdrops and Other Virtual Currency Transactions Addressed by IRS
83. The legal challenges of Blockchain and smart contracts according to a recent EU Flagship report
84. Why it’s time to start talking about blockchain ethics: Blockchain technology is changing the nature of money and organizations. We should probably start pondering the potential consequences.
85. Patent Attacks Against Open Source Intensify!
86. Riot will use League of Legends as springboard for deluge of new games
87. After a decade of League of Legends, Riot to expand with new games
88. Legal Research Services Are Struggling With Emojis and Emoticons (Eric Goldman)
89. The Lines of Code That Changed Everything: Apollo 11, the JPEG, the first pop-up ad, and 33 other bits of software that have transformed our world.
90. The biggest lie tech people tell themselves — and the rest of us: They see facial recognition, smart diapers, and surveillance devices as inevitable evolutions. They’re not.
91. Ethical Open Source: Is the world ready? – Open source status quo is challenged by developers unsatisfied with current state of ethics, writes Lisa Lifshitz

A.I.

1. Digital dystopia: how algorithms punish the poor
2. Is a popular machine learning text tool trained using copyrighted material? (Andres Guadamuz)
3. Is A.I. The Next Step For Influencer Marketing? Meet Lil Miquela. 
4. The Next Word: Where will predictive text take us?
5. Microsoft wants to use AI to bleep out bad words in Xbox Live party chat
6. Video: Using data-informed design to make more accessible games
7. Ethics and Governance of AI at Berkman Klein: Report on Impact, 2017-2019

COMMUNICATIONS

1. CBC Sues the Conservative Party of Canada for Copyright Infringement Citing Campaign Video, Posting Debate Excerpts on Twitter (Michael Geist) 
2. What Was the CBC Thinking?: A Closer Look at the Video Clips in its Copyright Lawsuit Against the Conservative Party (Michael Geist)
3. CBC vs. CPC: Why the CBC’s Attempt to Use Copyright to Stifle Expression Backfired Badly (Michael Geist)
4. Platforms or People?: The Liberals and Conservatives Outline Competing Visions of Internet Responsibility (Michael Geist) 
5. CNN Rejects Trump Campaign Commercials
6. Washington State keeps enforcing net neutrality as it hails FCC court loss
7. T-Mobile and Sprint get FCC approval to merge in 3-2 party-line vote
8. AT&T raises prices 7% by making its customers pay AT&T’s property taxes
9. AT&T charged customers for a corporate tax that it doesn’t have to pay
10. AT&T and other carriers want to hide detailed 5G maps from FCC and public 
11. Wireless Industry Is Trying To Hide Where 5G Is Actually Available
12. A Brief Overview of the EU Electronic Communications Code 

PRIVACY

1. Why Political Parties + Mass Data Collection + Religious Targeting + No Privacy Laws = Trouble (Michael Geist)
2. US claims cyber strike on Iran after attack on Saudi oil facility
3. Federal Trade Commission Hosts Workshop to Review the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule
4. Court of Justice of the European Union rules on Cookie Consent
5. The Cookie Consent Form Crumbles as EU Now Requires Users to Opt In to Website Tracking
6. EU’s Highest Court Crumbles Cookie Consent Via Pre-Checked Box
7. Forum cracks the vintage passwords of Ken Thompson and other Unix pioneers
8. Activists’ phones targeted by one of the world’s most advanced spyware apps
9. Low Cost Phones Are Turning Privacy Into A Luxury Option
10. Data for a whopping 26 million stolen payment cards leaked in hack of fraud bazaar
11. New French Mandate Will Use Facial Recognition App To Create ‘Secure Digital IDs’
12. Planting tiny spy chips in hardware can cost as little as $200
13. After Jack Hack, Government Starts Taking Wireless ‘SIM Hijacking’ Seriously
14. The European Court of Justice Issues Two Important Decisions Clarifying the Scope of the Right to Be Forgotten and ISPs’ Liability
15. How A Right To Be Forgotten Stifles A Free Press And Free Expression
16. New Draft ePrivacy Regulation Released
17. Cyber and data breaches: the questions that always arise
18. New Bill Would Force Hardware Makers To Disclose Hidden Mics, Cameras
19. The Long Arm of UK Law Enforcement Reaches a Handshake Deal with U.S. DOJ on UK-U.S. Electronic Data
20. The City Of Baltimore Blew Off A $76,000 Ransomware Demand Only To Find Out A Bunch Of Its Data Had Never Been Backed Up

CREATIVITY

1. Can You Copyright a Powder? Charlotte Tilbury Wins Over look-a-like Contender from Aldi
2. Banksy’s Fake Store Is An Attempt To Abuse Trademark Law To Avoid Copyright Law
3. Harry and Meghan take on the press – what is the likely outcome?
4. Copyright fit for a princess
5. New guidance on works of joint authorship under the Copyright Act
6. CJEU and German Courts Rule on the Copyrightability of Non-Fictional Literature
7. The Latest: Hollywood Writers Guild and Talent Agencies Entangled in Labor/Antitrust Lawsuits and Countersuits
8. Anti-Safe Space Crusader Bret Stephens Apparently Needs A Safe Space: Backs Out Of Bedbug Debate
9. True North and Rebel News seek judicial review on press accreditation denial for debates
10. How A Key Story About The 1919 Black Sox Scandal Was Completely Made Up… Due To A Confused Understanding Of Copyright
11. Portland Police Review Board Says It’s OK For Officers To Lie To Get Someone To Stop Filming Them
12. Tax Preparation Patent Directed to an Abstract Idea
13. GMR Sues Entravision for Royalty Payments – Looking at the Issues Raised By This New Development in the Music Royalty Wars

Jon

GAMES

1. Epic failed to inform players of Fortnite addiction risks, argues law firm
2. Epic Games Settles With Cheating Minor To End Lawsuit
3. Epic, minor accused of cheating in Fortnite settle copyright suit: Confidential settlement concludes summer dispute between Fortnite YouTuber and game maker
4. ‘Fortnite’ company may face class-action lawsuit over claims game as addictive as cocaine
5. Amid Blizzard’s Hong Kong controversy, Epic says it wouldn’t censor players
6. Epic won’t take action against Fortnite players who speak up about Hong Kong: “Epic supports everyone’s right to express their views on politics and human rights”
7. Blizzard backlash escalates following Hong Kong supporter ban: US senators, Blizzard employees and Hearthstone communities decry developer’s attempt to avoid controversy with China
8. Gamers propose punishing Blizzard for its anti-Hong Kong partisanship by flooding it with GDPR requests
9. Blizzard bans pro Hearthstone gamer for statement supporting Hong Kong
10. Blizzard dismisses Hearthstone player for supporting Hong Kong protests: “I’m not [regretful] of what I said,” says Chung ‘blitzchung’ Ng Wai
11. Blizzard bans Hearthstone esports pro over ‘liberate Hong Kong’ interview
12. “League of Legends” Maker Riot Sues Riot Squad Esports Over Name
13. Randy Pitchford and ex-Gearbox general counsel agree to settle legal dispute
14. Gearbox and its former lawyer agree to drop lawsuits: Suits dismissed after parties resolve “misunderstandings,” say evidence exonerated Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford
15. SAG-AFTRA dismisses Gearbox’s stance in Borderlands 3 union row: Actors union says Gearbox was unwilling to apply SAG-AFTRA standards to all Borderlands 3 actors
16. According to a French court, the principle of exhaustion applies to video games acquired via a game download platforms
17. Man breaks into Valve, steals $40,000 of equipment, games: Same suspect has been previously arrested for burglary, stealing a FedEx truck
18. EA leaks personal information of ‘approximately 1600’ FIFA 20 players
19. EA leaks FIFA Global Series player data: Up to 1,600 players signing up for tournament series had their personal information exposed to other registrants
20. FIFA 20 remains leagues ahead in UK charts: Electronic Arts’ annual football release remains on top by a wide margin, despite 66% sales decline from last week
21. FIFA 20 arrives atop EMEAA charts: EA’s annual football franchise leads a trio of newcomers to the charts as Code Vein and Dragon Quest XI S also make top 5 debuts
22. Monument Valley developer Ustwo threatened with legal action over union busting
23. Ustwo Games accused of union busting: “The union will not stand idly by in the face of this unlawful and vicious act,” says Game Workers Unite
24. Sauropod Studio responds to concerns surrounding layoffs, sexism, studio’s status: Management says studio remains open to support existing games despite termination of most of its staff
25. GWU Australia survey shows 19% of direct employees aren’t making minimum wage: Only 27% of respondents felt their employment was secure in both long and short-term
26. Co-founder Rick Fox files multi-million dollar lawsuit against Echo Fox partners
27. Rick Fox sues Echo Fox partners for fraud: Ongoing dispute between organization owners sees Fox ousted as he accuses partners of “financially ruining” the company
28. Stardew Valley creator distances from under-fire publisher Chucklefish
29. Stardew Valley creator clarifies relationship with Chucklefish following exploitation accusations
30. UK Video Games Tax Relief comes under fire for mostly going to triple-A companies
31. Rocket League swaps loot boxes for transparent Blueprints system: Psyonix will implement a new system that shows users exactly what they receive for a set price
32. Immersive and addictive technologies report published
33. Immersive and addictive technologies Fifteenth Report of Session 2017–19 (House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee)
34. The UK games industry is at a regulatory crossroads | Opinion: Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov breaks down the potential impact of various government initiatives and investigations
35. NHS targets gaming addiction with new specialist clinic:
36. “Compulsive gaming and social media and internet addiction is a problem that is not going to go away when they play such a key part in modern life”
37. Atari VCS architect Rob Wyatt leaves project, calls out Atari for missed pay
38. Atari VCS architect quits, citing six months of missed payments – Rob Wyatt: “As a small company, we have been lucky to survive this long.”
39. Microsoft expands Windows/Xbox family settings to Android: More control for parents for the cross-play generation
40. Sony indicates PlayStation cross-play has now left beta: Interview with SIE’s Jim Ryan reports that the in-demand feature is now widely available
41. PS4 Remote Play is now supported on Android 5.0 phones and tablets
42. PlayStation 5 set for holiday 2020: Sony confirms official name, rumble feature replacement, and varying resistance triggers for next-gen console
43. Sony confirms the PlayStation 5 is coming in 2020, reveals new hardware details
44. Sony confirms PlayStation 5 release window, teases new gamepad tech
45. What’s going on with PlayStation? | Opinion: A look at why Sony has so far taken an understated approach to heralding the arrival of the next generation
46. Report: Sony Interactive Entertainment lays off dozens in UK and US
47. Sony Interactive Entertainment EU reportedly lays off “dozens” amid restructuring: US-based creative services also affected, employee notice given on same day as PS5 details announcement
48. Sony temporarily removes Facebook integration from PS4: Users will no longer be able to search for Facebook friends or post clips and screenshots to the social network
49. Catalina brings Apple Arcade to MacOS but kills support for 32-bit games
50. Apple Arcade is a short-term fix with far reaching consequences | Opinion: Is Apple Arcade the ultimate solution to selling premium mobile games, or a walled oasis offering a reprieve from a larger problem?
51. Monster Hunter: World shipments and digital sales cross 14 million units
52. Former CEO of Bungie founds new multi-studio AAA game company
53. Harold Ryan sets up ProbablyMonsters: Former Bungie CEO’s developer of developers lands $18.8 million in funding, reveals Cauldron Studios and Firewalk Studios
54. Call of Duty: Mobile passes 35 million downloads within days of launch
55. Call of Duty: Mobile surpasses 35m downloads in just three days – Mobile spin-off becomes No. 1 app in over 100 countries on App Store
56. Call of Duty Mobile sees best first-week downloads of any mobile game
57. Oxenfree has been downloaded 3 million times through Xbox Game Pass
58. Oxenfree reaches 3m downloads: Within that, Night School Studio’s indie hit has sold one million copies
59. NPD Group: 73% of Americans play video games – Survey finds “notable increase” in both engagement and spending among younger audience
60. Mario Kart Tour racks up 90m downloads in its first week: New mobile title downloaded six times more than any other Nintendo mobile game
61. Mario Kart Tour’s Gold Pass has potential – if done right | Opinion: GameRefinery’s Joel Julkenen analyses how Nintendo is experimenting with the increasingly popular Battle Pass model
62. It’s Amazing All The Cool Stuff We Could Have If Nintendo Didn’t Insist On Nintendo-Ing
63. Video: Working up a sweat with Ring Fit Adventure
64. Obituary: Former Nintendo lawyer John Kirby
65. Former Nintendo lawyer and Kirby namesake John Kirby dies: Legal expert saved Donkey Kong in case against Universal
66. World of Warcraft celebrates 15 years with a $100 Firelord statue
67. John Wick Hex game review: Become the bloody Baba Yaga of legend
68. Rovio warns brand licensing restructure could result in layoffs
69. Redundancies expected as Rovio reshuffles its licensing division: Up to 20 employees could be made redundant as the mobile developer refocuses its brand licensing division on key products
70. Doom Eternal delayed to March: id Software pushes back game launch into packed Q1 “to live up to our standards of speed and polish”; Switch version postponed further
71. Doom Eternal joins this year’s game-delay club, will launch March 2020
72. Acquisition and conversion costs threaten a mobile bust | Opinion: Acquisition and retention costs for mobile games show no signs of plateauing — for many firms, this segment is becoming unsustainable
73. Discord makes layoffs due to ‘active shift in talent needs’
74. Discord confirms layoffs: Chat platform says it “made an active shift in the talent needs of our marketing department”
75. Egypt used Google Play in spy campaign targeting its own citizens, researchers say
76. Report: Google plans ‘Game Certified Device’ standard for Android
77. Google Stadia could sidestep latency issues by predicting button presses
78. Croteam co-founder Alen Ladavac departs studio to join Google’s Stadia team
79. Red Dead Redemption 2 arrives on PC next month: Wild wild news.
80. Red Dead Redemption 2 officially announced for PC and Stadia
81. Epic clarifies Fortnite matchmaking update amid cross-play balance concerns
82. Overwatch League Snags 16% More Viewership This Season, Is Only Major Sports League To See Boost In Young Viewers
83. Mixer viewership down in Q3 despite Ninja’s exclusivity deal: Report from Streamlabs and Newzoo paints mixed picture for Microsoft’s streaming platform
84. Bringing non-endemic brands to esports… and keeping them: At Esports BAR Miami, Christopher ‘Monte Cristo’ Mykles shared how brands can make their way into esports
85. Miami will get esports racing arena in early 2020
86. Fortnite Professional Players Association formed: Group of 16 players aim to “provide a professional platform” for discussing the future of battle royale’s competitive scene
87. Overwatch League’s Grand Finals Grows 16% in Average Viewers From Last Year
88. NBA star invests to become co-owner of RektGlobal: Rudy Gobert joins already star-studded ownership team of esports organisation
89. Can supporting esports communities deliver returns for publishers?: Hi-Rez Studios COO Todd Harris explains why the company invests in esports both within and beyond its own game communities
90. PUBG Mobile envisions esports for casuals
91. Update Required for Youth Esports
92. Five Vectors raises $1m in seed funding to make music for esports: Music startup to partner with publishers for team, league, and game anthems
93. Raph Koster’s new MMO studio Playable Worlds raises $2.7 million
94. Raph Koster launches new MMO studio with $2.7m in seed funding: Bitkraft Esports Ventures leads investment in Ultima Online designer’s Playable Worlds, building “an online world where players can find a home”
95. Playable Worlds has a ‘different mindset’ on engagement: CEO Raph Koster takes a look at the right lessons and wrong lessons the industry took from MMOs like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies
96. Ex-ArenaNet devs raise $3.3 million for new studio, Tenacious Entertainment
97. Magic: The Gathering Reveals My Little Pony Crossover Set for Charity
98. Unity acquires live game management platform ChilliConnect
99. Unity acquires ChilliConnect: Live game management platform to join deltaDNA to improve Unity’s live ops offerings
100. ArenaNet co-founder leaves to start new studio: Mike O’Brien departs Guild Wars developer to “make small games again”
101. How one game studio is trying to tackle the loneliness epidemic: BetaDwarf sees opportunity in crisis as it builds a game to foster friendship among lonely people
102. Five misconceptions about the Chinese games market: Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo on the myths around console sales, PC gaming, rampant piracy, and more
103. Independent film producer looks to adapt ten game IPs: UK-based Goldfinch is searching for games built on Unreal to adapt into film, TV, podcasts or graphic novels
104. Video: Go behind the scenes of Forza Horizon 3’s mesmerizing skies
105. Video: A game dev’s guide to better representing and supporting disabilities
106. Deep Dive: Telling Lies – Making a mechanic out of scrubbing video
107. Don’t Miss: Producing Silent Hill and the challenge of making portable games scary
108. Don’t Miss: The aesthetics of frustration in Getting Over It
109. Don’t Miss: Punishing difficulty conveys a personal story in The End is Nigh
110. Don’t Miss: Building game mechanics to elevate narrative in Oxenfree
111. Blog: A guide to lucid storytelling in games
112. A closer look at Control’s reality-bending VFX
113. Behind the HONK: An Untitled Goose Game Q&A
114. An untitled Untitled Goose Game analysis
115. Neo Cab is the dystopian gig-economy Crazy Taxi we’ve always wanted
116. Wendy’s has released a tabletop RPG where you have to fight McDonalds
117. Charting the darker periods of history in Humankind: Amplitude’s Jeff Spock on creating a historical strategy game that doesn’t shy away from religion, slavery and colonisation
118. When “easy mode” isn’t enough: An analysis of unclear lessons in video games
119. WGA removes video game writing category from 2020 awards
120. WGA drops video game award category: Writers Guild Awards suspends game honor saying there aren’t enough eligible titles for “a meaningful award selection process”
121. U.S. Patent No. 9,186,575: Online game with animal-breeding mechanic
122. In Major Blow To Sony’s Upcoming PlayStation 5, Microsoft Announces PlayStation 6 (Onion Gamers Network)

DIGITAL

1. China-Based TikTok Actively Banning The Gay Away When Not Helping Authoritarians Be More Authoritarian
2. Will Smith Is Now On TikTok
3. Google’s Looking To Take On TikTok With Acquisition Of Competitor Firework (Report)
4. UK Court of Appeal Permits Activist to Proceed with Claim for Damages Against Google
5. Data Security and Cybercrime in China
6. Commerce Adds 28 Chinese Organizations to the Entity List for Associations with Human Rights Violations and Abuses
7. Turkish Gov’t Demands US Embassy Apologize For ‘Liking’ A Tweet The Turkish Gov’t Didn’t Like
8. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter Refuse To Remove Trump Campaign Ad That Pushes Biden/Ukraine Conspiracy Theory
9. Facebook to Pay $40 Million to Settle Claims It Inflated Video Viewing Data
10. Twitter and Facebook could be facing billions in fines after Ireland investigations: Ireland Data Protection has concluded investigations. Companies can be fined up to 4% of global annual revenues for breaching data privacy.
11. Twitter used phone numbers provided for security to target ads: ‘We’re very sorry this happened’
12. EU nations can force Facebook to remove content worldwide, court rules
13. EU Continues To Muck Up The Internet: Approves Broad Filtering/Censorship Requirements
14. Facebook Can Be Forced to Delete Content Worldwide, E.U.’s Top Court Rules: The decision that individual countries can order Facebook to take down posts globally sets a benchmark for the reach of European laws.
15. Facebook Responsible for Worldwide Removal of Defamatory Comments
16. EU Court of Justice: Orders to remove defamatory content issued by member state courts can be applied worldwide
17. PayPal becomes first member to exit Facebook’s Libra Association
18. The Ties That Bind Facebook’s Libra: Facebook says its cryptocurrency will be managed by an independent group, but an analysis finds more than half of the members have links back to the social media giant.
19. US wants Facebook to backdoor WhatsApp and halt encryption plans
20. DOJ Boss Joins UK, Australian Gov’t In Asking Facebook To Ditch Its End-To-End Encryption Plan
21. Deputy Attorney General Rosen: Companies Like Facebook Are Making Everyone Less Safe By Offering Encryption
22. DOJ Using The FOSTA Playbook To Attack Encryption
23. CJEU rules that an intermediary can be ordered to remove content identical and equivalent to that found illegal, also worldwide (Eleonora Rosati)
24. Microsoft says Iranian hackers tried to hack a US presidential campaign
25. Kaspersky finds Uzbekistan hacking op… because group used Kaspersky AV
26. Twitter nixes Trump Nickelback meme after dubious takedown request
27. Twitter Removes Nickelback Meme Trump Tweets, But Leaves All The Others Up
28. Even Trump Can’t Turn Down a Nickelback Joke (but Twitter Did): The site removed a video posted by President Trump that showed a meme of the rock band’s lead singer, edited as an attack on Joe Biden.
29. The broken record: Why Barr’s call against end-to-end encryption is nuts
30. New York launches online whistleblower submission system
31. Moscow man suing Apple because his iPhone turned him gay
32. Kickstarter controversially sends unionization to a vote after staff firings
33. Trudeau’s Blackface: The Chilling Effects of Disinformation on Political Engagement – During election season, journalists should be ready for even more sophisticated attempts to plant false narratives
34. Music Piracy Continues To Drop Dramatically, But The Industry Hates To Admit That Because It Ruins The Narrative
35. NY Times Opinion Section Gets CDA 230 Wrong AGAIN!
36. Senator Mark Warner Repeats Senator Ted Cruz’s Mythical, Made Up, Incorrect Claims About Section 230
37. Thumbs up to taking down defamatory content online
38. The ‘right to be forgotten’ within the European Union
39. The CJEU confines the scope of the ‘right to be forgotten’ to the EU
40. Section 230 Helps Search Engine Defeat “Right to Be Forgotten” Lawsuit–Mosha v. Yandex (Eric Goldman)
41. Partial Screenshot Qualifies as Fair Use (on a Motion to Dismiss)–Yang v. Mic (Eric Goldman)
42. EUIPO publishes ‘IPR Enforcement Case-Law Collection’ on the liability and obligations of ISPs
43. Supreme Court Declines to Review Ninth Circuit Decision in Robles v. Domino’s, Exposing Businesses to More Website Accessibility Lawsuits
44. Domino Effect: Will SCOTUS Refusal to Hear ADA Website Case Yield Flood of Litigation?
45. The Domino’s Effect—What to Expect as a Result of SCOTUS’s Denial of Cert
46. U.S. Supreme Court Clears the way for Visually-Impaired to Sue Over Allegedly Inaccessible Websites and Apps
47. Supreme Court Leaves in Place Ruling Requiring Websites and Apps to Comply with ADA
48. Supreme Court Passes On a Case That Likely Would Have Clarified the Scope of the ADA Regarding Access to Private Businesses’ Virtual Platforms
49. Adobe cancels all user accounts in Venezuela to comply with Trump order
50. Here’s The No. 1 Reason People Cancel Their Streaming Service Subscriptions (Survey)
51. Disney And Amazon Are Arguing About Ad Inventory, Which Could Delay Disney+ Arriving On Fire TV (Report)
52. Crypt TV And Facebook Watch Scare Up Trailer For Horror Series The Birch
53. Major League Baseball’s Playoff Teams Didn’t Necessarily Top Social Video Standings
54. Company Behind YouTube DIY Channel Blossom Pulls Down Videos Showing False, Dangerous Hacks
55. YouTube Millionaires: Adi Fishman Is A Trend-Tracking Master Who’s Amassed A Million-Strong Audience In 1 Year
56. Aussie Children’s YouTube Channel ‘CKN Toys’ Inks Global Deal With Nickelodeon
57. YouTube Fined US $170 Million. Could You Use A Safe Harbor From The Coming Storm?
58. YouTube Originals Continues Push Into Music-Themed Docs With Mark Ronson Feature
59. YouTube Terminates 2 Channels Linked To U.K.-Based ‘Pick-Up Artist’ Convicted Of Harassing Women
60. American Teens Call YouTube, Not Netflix, Their Top Daily Streaming Destination (Survey)
61. Kids’ Content Upstart Moonbug Launches ‘Little Baby Bum’ Merch At Amazon, Walmart
62. Talent Firm Rare Global Forms Incubator Division For ‘Mid-Tier’ Influencers Like Genelle Seldon, Brittany Sky
63. Group Nine Acquires PopSugar In All-Stock Deal That Will Boost Its Reach To Half The U.S. Population
64. Italian Government Reportedly Investigating Netflix For Tax Evasion
65. Hulu finally launches support for downloads, initially to ad-free viewers
66. Hulu finally catches up with Netflix and Amazon, offers video downloads
67. Whistle Acquires Elisabeth Murdoch-Founded, Snap-Backed Content Studio ‘Vertical Networks’
68. Insta-Mural Infringement: Public Art in Instagram Ad Leads to Copyright Claim
69. Instagram launches Threads, a Close Friends chat app with auto-status: Can it steal messaging from Snapchat?
70. Instagram introduces Threads, a new messaging app for your close friends
71. Instagram launches Create mode with On This Day throwbacks
72. Instagram Rolls Out Long-Awaited ‘Dark Mode’ on Latest Versions Of iOS, Android
73. Instagram makes its bully-blocking feature available to everyone
74. Twitch And Music Startup Endel Partner On ‘Insomnia’ — A Channel That Uses AI To Put Viewers To Sleep
75. Spotify and Twitch finally debut Apple TV apps
76. Insights: How Smaller VOD Services Can Attract Subscribers Amid Epic Competition
77. The gig economy’s deepest problem isn’t about tech at all
78. Augmented Reality is making industrial work more productive

A.I.

1. Blog: Simple and effective character pose prediction in Cascadeur 
2. Video: A game programmer’s guide to the math of deep learning
3. Utopos raises $1 million to gamify machine learning with debut title Raivo
4. Utopos Games raises $1m for machine learning game: Seed funding will support Raivo, a game where players and machine learning train AI robots to battle
5. AI inventions and sufficiency of disclosure – when enough is enough 
6. Beware of Automated Hiring: It won’t end employment discrimination. In fact, it could make it worse.
7. How AI is shaking up legal practice: Displacement of junior lawyers at large firms could be a boon to smaller firms
8. The USPTO seeks AI expertise to change the rules of the game internally and externally 
9. “AI will drastically change the way in which we search trademarks”
10. Next Level E-commerce with Responsible AI
11. Protection of inventions in AI and digitalisation
12. A Strategy for Protecting Artificial Intelligence Inventions in Europe
13. AI, the Internet of Things, and the health care industry 
14. Canadian and Other Privacy and Data Protection Authorities Address Anticipated Challenges Related to Artificial Intelligence 
15. Why Navigation Apps, Working Properly, Can Make Traffic Flows Worse — And What To Do About It 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Why Do Canada’s Political Parties Have a Hard Time Saying No to New Internet and Wireless Taxes? (Michael Geist)
2. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 26: There Is No Crisis – Dwayne Winseck on the State of Canadian Communications, Media and Cultural Policy (Michael Geist)
3. The War on Piracy and the Attacks on Privacy in Canada: Copyright and Collateral Damage
4. Election 2019: The “Netflix Tax” May Be Hiding in Plain Sight
5. Former FCC Boss Wheeler Says New Court Ruling Won’t Stop Net Neutrality
6. Comcast incorrectly charged 2,000 customers for exceeding data cap
7. AT&T, facing $158 billion debt, to sell Puerto Rico network for $2 billion
8. The Cable Industry Makes $28 Billion Annually In B.S. Fees
9. Surprise! Buzzfeed Links Bogus Net Neutrality Comments Directly To Broadband Industry
10. Cable companies use hidden fees to raise prices 24% a month
11. The FCC’s “Restoration of Internet Freedom Order” Largely Survives on Appeal; But Net Neutrality is Not Dead Yet
12. WarnerMedia ratchets up layoffs across HBO, Turner, Warner Bros. 

PRIVACY

1. Senator proposes mandatory labeling for products with mics, cameras
2. Hospitals that are turning away patients reportedly pay ransomware attackers
3. FISA Court Finds The FBI Is Still Violating The Fourth Amendment With Its Abuse Of NSA Collections
4. Trump Administration Demands An End To Strong Encryption While Being Exhibit A For Why We Need It
5. Twitter transgression proves why its flawed 2FA system is such a privacy trap
6. FBI warns of major ransomware attacks as criminals go “big-game hunting”
7. Attackers exploit 0-day vulnerability that gives full control of Android phones
8. Yet Another Study Shows The Internet Of Things Is A Privacy S—show
9. FBI Director Deploys Straw Men While Calling For The End Of Straw Men Arguments In The Encryption War
10. The DOJ Is Conflating The Content Moderation Debate With The Encryption Debate: Don’t Let Them
11. Inexpensive, unpatched phones put billions of users’ privacy at risk
12. California Police Department Wants Five Days Notice And The Personal Info Of Requesters Before Turning Over Misconduct Records
13. GDPR Updates: Two Judgements on Google’s Search Engine, Proposed E-Privacy Regulation and a New GDPR Code of Conduct
14. Data privacy: Collective legal action against Google to proceed
15. Google Sued Under Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act
16. If You Think Google Is Too Dominant And Needs More Competition… You Should Actually Support Its Petition Concerning API Copyrights
17. Cookies and Consent – An update on developments in the EU’s Draft e-Privacy Regulation
18. Pre-checked box does not give consent to cookies under EU privacy directive and GDPR
19. New European Judgment on Cookies
20. New CJEU Decision on Use of Cookies
21. Cookie consent clarity: ‘active consent’ is required
22. Final verdict of CJEU in the cookie checkbox riddle
23. Check the box: CJEU rules that pre-ticked checkboxes do not constitute consent to store cookies
24. “Pre-Ticked” Boxes to Obtain Cookie Use Consent Fail Under EU Law
25. More Teenagers Mistakenly Think “Private” Chat Conversations Will Remain Private–People v. JP (Eric Goldman)
26. U.S. Draft Human Rights Guidance for Exporters of Surveillance Technology
27. Guide to Doing Business in Canada: Privacy law – October 2019
28. FTC’s COPPA Rule Workshop: A Summary of Priorities from Advocates and Industry, and the FTC’s Poker Face
29. GDPR One Year On: What is the CNIL Position on Joint Controllership?

CREATIVITY

1. Thin-Skinned Chinese Government Busy Making American Sports Orgs Look Silly On Free Speech Issues
2. Ridiculous: Judge Says Devin Nunes’ SLAPP Suit Against An Internet Cow And Others Can Continue
3. Banksy opens homeware store after card company legal dispute: The graffiti artist said the card company is contesting the trademark he holds to his art.
4. Banksy: Card firm rejects ‘custody’ claim
5. Banksy’s Parliament painting sells for record-breaking £9.9 million
6. Peloton Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Expanded to $300 Million, Includes Over 2,000 Songs
7. E*Trade Defeats Copyright Claim Over Dancing Old Man in Commercial–Vacchi v. E*Trade (Eric Goldman)
8. Crowning Copyright – When Copyright Works are Deemed to Belong to the Government
9. Copyright Troll Loses Jury Trial… Which Might Lead To Him Paying Legal Fees In Multiple Lawsuits
10. Jerry Seinfeld Wins BS ‘Comedians In Cars’ Copyright Suit That Was Filed Way, Way Too Late
11. Report: Musk’s $50,000 “pedo guy” investigator is a convicted felon
12. Boldly going where no palate has gone before: A Star Trek wine tasting
13. CBP Official Refuses To Give Journalist His Passport Until He ‘Admits’ He Writes ‘Propaganda’
14. Walking Alone: Liverpool FC Fails to Obtain Namesake Trademark
15. ‘Clash’ tennisrackets tegen het zere been van punkband The Clash
16. Street art switches sweep Oxford
17. In Cases Involving Publicity Rights and the Intellectual Property Exclusion, Facts, Not Labels of Causes of Action, Are Relevant to Coverage Analysis

Jon

GAMES

1. Abdin v. CBS Broadcasting: Court grants motion to dismiss claims that Star Trek Discovery tv series infringes video game concept involving fictionalized space-traveling creature, finding lack of substantial similarity.
2. Zynga advises users to change passwords following data breach: Words With Friends and Draw Something players may have had usernames, passwords, other information stolen
3. Duke Nukem 3D’s composer is suing Gearbox, CEO Pitchford, and Valve
4. Duke Nukem 3D composer sues Gearbox, Pitchford, and Valve: Gearbox allegedly failed to pay royalties to Bobby Prince with Duke Nukem re-release
5. Walgreens suing AtGames for breach of contract: Retailer alleges plug-and-play gaming company owes it nearly $1.62 million for unsold products it returned
6. Frogwares says publisher Focus Home is wrongfully delisting games
7. Frogwares games pulled after split with Focus Home Interactive: Sherlock Holmes studio says publisher has refused to transfer store listings to it, leaving some games permanently unavailable
8. Google Play apps laden with ad malware were downloaded by millions of users
9. Video Gaming: Is My Loot Box Legal?
10. Rocket League is binning loot boxes in exchange for ‘blueprints’
11. Counter-Strike: GO lets players in France reveal loot box contents ahead of purchase
12. The rights to Ms. Pac-Man are caught up in a messy legal battle
13. Joy-Con drift class action lawsuit expands to include Switch Lite issues
14. Switch Lite added to Joy-Con drift class action lawsuit
15. Nintendo is already working on new Switch Lite model amid Joy-Con drift concerns
16. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: A tale of two Nintendos
17. Nintendo nails the Switch Lite but leaves people scratching their heads with Mario Kart Tour
18. Virtuos: Switch ports, co-development, and next-gen – Virtuos on its journey from small contract studio to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible on Nintendo Switch
19. Nintendo is bringing Brain Training to the Switch: Almost 15 years after its debut, the 33m-selling series will appear on Nintendo’s latest console
20. Switch Lite takes aim at a broader demographic | Opinion
21. Nintendo Switch: A discoverability followup
22. Mario Kart Tour downloaded over 10m times globally in its first day: Newest Sensor Tower numbers put first-day downloads at over 20m, player spending over $1m
23. Report: Mario & Luigi developer AlphaDream has filed for bankruptcy
24. Mario & Luigi RPG series developer enters bankruptcy: AlphaDream’s future in question due to sagging revenues and rising development costs
25. Super Mario Maker 2 catches up with 1998, lets you play online with friends
26. Hands- and legs-on with Nintendo’s mildly diverting Ring Fit Adventure
27. Link awakens at the top of the EMEAA charts this week: Hero in green conquers on debut week despite exclusivity, only physical sales reported
28. FIFA 20 and Xbox One dominate UK charts: FIFA boxed sales drop 7% year-on-year
29. FIFA 20: Critical Consensus – A largely beautiful game is dominated by Ultimate Team, which still relies on monetisation that seems uglier by the day
30. Cuphead has sold 5 million copies in two years
31. Cuphead hits 5m sales in two years: Studio MDHR is celebrating the game’s second birthday with discounts and giveaways on all platforms
32. Talking Tom dev Outfit7’s game library surpasses 10 billion downloads
33. Why did Borderlands 3 re-cast Troy Baker’s role?: Voice actor says developer Gearbox “wouldn’t go union”; studio says it tries to meet or exceed union standards for pay, working conditions
34. Excessive crunch is bad for business | Opinion: Crunch is a health issue for thousands of employees, says Unionen’s Henrik Ehrenberg, and it’s a counterproductive way to run a business
35. Global game companies have claimed millions through Video Game Tax Relief in UK: TIGA defends scheme, saying it would be “very limiting” if large international companies could not benefit
36. On average, it costs $35.42 to get a mobile gamer to make first in-app purchase – Liftoff: Costs to acquire and register users continue to increase, conversion rates dipped YOY
37. Naughty Dog drops online mode from The Last of Us Part II to focus on single-player
38. Can game makers rise to meet the challenge of climate change?: Activists and experts talk about the UN Playing for the Planet Alliance, and what more needs to be done
39. Atari partners with Antstream, responds to VCS concerns: Throwback VCS console status update includes retro game-streaming app, statement that designer’s work on project is “largely concluded”
40. EA is offering a free month of Origin Access to encourage 2FA use
41. Astroneer’s Wanderer update is a tribute to late System Era co-founder Paul Pepera
42. Ubisoft opens new mobile and instant game studio in Vietnam
43. Blizzard’s President On Making Sure Nothing Changes
44. Destiny maker Bungie wants to release a new IP before 2025
45. Bungie plans to launch more franchises, build up publishing group by 2025
46. Bungie: “Our vision is to become a multi-franchise entertainment company” – CEO Pete Parsons says company’s plans through 2025 include more than just the Destiny franchise
47. Ubisoft opens new Vietnam studio: Da Nang location will expand Ubisoft’s mobile development business
48. Ubisoft announces free coding game Rabbids Coding: Educational PC title launches October 8 targeting reading-age children and up
49. Logitech acquires streaming software maker Streamlabs for $89 million
50. Logitech acquires Streamlabs for at least $89m: PC and gaming hardware manufacturer picks up livestreaming software company following multi-year partnership
51. Valve shares tips for designing touch screen controls for PC games
52. Improbable acquires online game dev company The Multiplayer Guys
53. PlayStation Now cuts price in half, adds time limited “marquee games”: Titles like GTA V and God of War will be available for limited periods at new $9.99 a month price
54. Sony lowers price of PS Now streaming service and adds ‘marquee’ titles
55. Sony slashes PlayStation Now streaming prices ahead of Google Stadia launch
56. PlayStation starts selling console hardware direct to consumers: Customers in the US can now buy PS4 and PSVR hardware, games and accessories from the PlayStation website
57. Enthusiast Gaming completes complex merger with Luminosity: Newly formed entity will be the publicly traded Enthusiast Gaming Holdings
58. Pokémon Masters generates $33m revenue in first month: DeNA’s Pokémon offering becomes second highest grossing Pokémon mobile game
59. One year in, Dragalia Lost revenue surpassed by Pocket Camp again: Nintendo and CyGames’ new mobile IP has made $106m since launch
60. PlayStation quietly brings PS4 cross-play out of beta
61. PUBG cross-play between Xbox One and PS4 has launched
62. Limited cross-play enabled in PUBG: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds becomes latest game to find flexibility in Sony’s still rigid stance
63. Fortnite US July revenues down 52% year-over-year: Edison Trends looks at consumer spending trends for Epic’s hit as well as Black Ops 4, Apex Legends, and PUBG
64. Free-to-play PUBG arrives in Europe next week: PUBG Lite is designed for low-spec PCs, open beta launches in Europe and Russia on October 10
65. Why tens of millions more Android gamers are playing PUBG Mobile than Fortnite
66. FaZe Clan Scores Content Creation, Merch Partnership With Soccer Club Manchester City
67. ESL, Dreamhack partner with Nielsen for esports data: MTG’s esports leagues will help tracking firm with sponsor valuation, brand impact, and consumer analytics efforts
68. Esports BAR returns to Miami this week: Conference’s third year brings brands, publishers, and investors back to Florida for keynotes, mentorship, and roundtables
69. Ninja Calls ‘The Masked Singer’ Stint “The Scariest Thing I Have Ever Done”
70. Twitch Rebrands With New Logo, New Slogan: “You’re Already One Of Us”
71. Twitch is rebranding for the first time, and it has a logo for everyone
72. At TwitchCon, CEO Addresses Controversial Policy Enforcement, Reveals Sweeping Ad System Overhaul
73. Twitch, In Bid To Lock Down Top Talent, Inks Exclusive Streaming Deal With ‘NickMercs’
74. Gaming Talent Management Firm ‘Loaded’ Signs Jordan Fisher, Its First Traditional Star
75. Video: Crowdfunding your video game in 2019
76. The mysterious origins of an uncrackable video game: With the digital shovels, archaeologists are digging into the code of early video games to uncover long forgotten secrets that could have relevance today.
77. Minecraft Earth “couldn’t have been made two years ago”: Torfi Olafsson and Jessica Zahn discuss the technical, social, and geographical challenges of bringing Minecraft into the real world
78. More like Microsoft than Apple: Carmack wants Oculus to keep older VR games alive
79. Oculus to be “more Microsoft than Apple” on VR software preservation: Oculus CTO John Carmack lamented that “every program I ever wrote for iOS is lost to the ages now”
80. Oculus CTO Explains Why “Gear VR’s days are numbered”
81. Oculus’ John Carmack calls Gear VR “a missed opportunity”: CTO offered a “eulogy” for the mobile VR headset, saying its “days are numbered”
82. Carmack: Lessons from the Gear VR paved the way for Oculus’ current mobile VR
83. Oculus CTO: ‘Rift S Still Worthwhile Even After Quest Gets PC-tether Feature’
84. We put Oculus Quest’s two craziest new VR features through their paces
85. The new MS Flight Simulator taught me how to fly an actual plane: Ahead of closed alpha, Microsoft takes the wraps off its ambitious return to the skies.
86. Video: How vehicles replicate and collide in Watch Dogs 2 multiplayer
87. Knights And Bikes: Turning aesthetic mood into gameplay
88. Video: Ubisoft’s Alex Karpazis rates your Rainbow Six: Siege loadouts
89. Rockstar wants to capture the appeal of RDR 2’s single player in Online
90. Lab Zero Games: From killer girls to inner worlds
91. Don’t Miss: Creating the inviting mini-world of Animal Crossing
92. Dontnod: “If we didn’t talk about politics, that would be a political message” – Life is Strange game director Michel Koch on why the series doesn’t shy away from tough, divisive subjects
93. Don’t Miss: Accommodating player failure and recovery
94. Blog: Which are the most commonly used game engines?
95. Blog: Steam has a lack of data scientists
96. Blog: The science behind a fun and successful casual game
97. Blog: Towards a language of video games – Part 1
98. Video: Practical tips for designing memorable characters
99. The former Witcher developers making a mobile game about travel and humanity
100. Playing ‘Untitled Goose Game’ is the new punching a wall
101. US reportedly considering restrictions on investments in China: Latest discussions in ongoing trade war still said to be in early stages
102. Tencent becomes largest shareholder in Conan Exiles dev Funcom
103. Tencent acquires minority stake in Funcom: Chinese gaming giant becomes largest single shareholder of Conan Exiles dev
104. National Film and Sound Archive of Australia to begin preserving video games
105. National Film and Sound Archive of Australia to start preserving video games: Initial eight additions include Shadow Run, LA Noire, Hollow Knight and Florence
106. Watch Adam Saltsman explain how Overland was ‘tuned for drama’
107. Gummy Drop dev Big Fish Games donates $250,000 to National Breast Cancer Foundation
108. The Strong Museum receives grant to fund exhibit on the cultural impact of video games
109. Strong Museum awarded $700k for exhibit on gaming’s cultural impact
110. Welsh universities, government partner to form Games Talent Wales: Grassroots talent development program created to support budding, local, indie studios
111. U.S. Patent No. 8,814,675: Method of operating an online game using terraformed game spaces
112. DIGRA ’19 – Proceedings Of The 2019 Digra International Conference: Game, Play And The Emerging Ludo-Mix – 49 Articles Or Papers

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Telcos And Rupert Murdoch Pushing Nonsense Story That Google Helping Keep Your Internet Activity More Private Is An Antitrust Violation
2. Comcast Apparently Feels Qualified To Give Google Lectures On Monopoly Power
3. Hidden Fees Mean US Cable & Broadband Bills Can Be 45% Higher Than Advertised
4. Sprint Busted For Allegedly Defrauding The FCC Lifeline Program
5. US federal appeals court rules states can pass net neutrality rules
6. Court Says FCC Can’t Stop States From Protecting Net Neutrality
7. D.C. Circuit Vacates FCC Order Preempting State Net Neutrality Regulation and Remands
8. Appeals Court Largely Upholds FCC’s Broadband Internet Reclassification Order, But Vacates and Remands in Part
9. Court upholds net neutrality repeal, but lets states pass their own: Mozilla’s case against the FCC largely fails, though DC appeals court says pre-emption of state and local laws goes too far
10. Why Ajit Pai’s “unhinged” net neutrality repeal was upheld by judges
11. Massive Study Proves Once And For All That No, Net Neutrality Did Not Hurt Broadband Investment
12. Nonprofit fights TV networks in court to keep free TV service alive
13. Nonprofit TV Service Locast Accuses Big Four Broadcasters Of Collusion
14. AT&T Proclaims It Cannot Be Sued For Selling Your Location Data To Random Nitwits
15. AT&T vows to keep DirecTV despite losing millions of subscribers
16. FCC Bans Text Message, International Spoofing
17. The US is gifting 5G patent leadership to others
18. GSA Implements Restrictions on Certain Chinese-Made Telecommunications Services and Equipment
19. Sports & Antitrust – Commercialisation of sports broadcasting rights under the spotlight
20. From Innovation to Regulation: Why the Liberals Have Lost Their Way on Digital Policy (Michael Geist) 

DIGITAL

1. Microsoft: Customers are entitled to know about federal data requests
2. DOJ reportedly launches its own Facebook probe at AG Barr’s urging
3. Why You Can’t Really Consent to Facebook’s Facial Recognition: While the social media platform’s latest approach to facial recognition appears to respect user’s choices, the offer is so tainted we can’t truly agree to it (Evan Selinger & Woodrow Hartzog)
4. Zuckerberg blasts Elizabeth Warren’s plan to break up Facebook and says it’s an ‘existential’ threat
5. Elizabeth Warren Wants Congress To Be Smarter About Tech… While Grossly Overstating Google & Facebook’s Market Power
6. Facebook tried to fight $5B FTC fine, is ready to fight antitrust probes
7. Facebook, Like Instagram, To Test Hiding ‘Likes’, Reactions, And Video Viewcounts
8. Instagram wants people to make more longform IGTV content, but it still isn’t giving them a way to monetize: The new @creators account encourages people to keep making content
9. Coolest Man on Instagram Gets Copyright Case Tossed
10. Top Oracle Lawyer Attempting To Gaslight Entire Software Community: Insists APIs Are Executable
11. All I Ever Wanted Was a One-Trick Pony: Our devices do way too much – and not always on our behalf. (Zeynep Tufekci)
12. How The U.S. Hacked ISIS
13. At Least 70 Countries Have Had Disinformation Campaigns, Study Finds
14. German police seize “bulletproof” hosting data center in former NATO  bunker
15. The Internet’s horrifying new method for installing Google apps on Huawei phones: Just make a Chinese website your device’s remote administrator. It’ll be fine!
16. Just As Everyone Predicted: EU Copyright Directive’s Link Tax Won’t Lead To Google Paying Publishers
17. New Study On Effects Of Manga Piracy Show Piracy’s Effects Are More Nuanced Than Good Or Bad
18. Why big ISPs aren’t happy about Google’s plans for encrypted DNS
19. Google adds password “checkup” into Web account password manager
20. Maria Ressa: “Facebook Broke Democracy in Many Countries around the World, Including in Mine”: Manila-journalist discusses how Silicon Valley has “forever changed” our societies
21. Launch of Facebook’s Libra could be delayed over regulatory concerns: executive
22. Facebook’s new VR chat app will throw paid staffers at “on-boarding” trolls
23. Facebook is rolling out a test to hide your likes
24. Facebook’s new VR chat app will feature paid in-game hosts to model community behaviour: Facebook Horizon Guides will act more like hosts in a physical space, than moderators in a digital one
25. Kazakh Government Takes Down 93k Websites To Site-Block A Single Massage Parlour
26. TikTok Says It No Longer Uses Guidelines That Could Censor Content Criticizing Chinese Government
27. How TikTok Holds Our Attention: On the popular short- app, young people are churning through images and sounds at warp speed, repurposing reality into ironic, bite-size content.
28. WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey on Diversity: ‘We’ve ot More Work to Do’
29. Unpatchable bug in millions of iOS devices exploited, developer claims
30. Developer of Checkm8 explains why iDevice jailbreak exploit is a game changer
31. Competitor Gets Pyrrhic Victory in False Advertising Suit Over Search Ads–Harbor Breeze v. Newport Fishing (Eric Goldman)
32. Product liability litigation for connected devices
33. Grindr and Armslist Cases Reaffirm Core Protections for User-Generated Content
34. 9th Circuit Takes Narrow View of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in LinkedIn Data Scraping Case
35. hiQ v. LinkedIn Redux? Ninth Circuit Decision Tested in New Case
36. Nerd City Calls On YouTube For More Demonetization Transparency Amid New Study About LGBTQ+ Video Titles
37. YouTube just made it way easier for creators to search and filter comments: Including the ability to search via subscriber count
38. YouTube Adds Ability To Auto-Delete Search And Viewing History
39. YouTube Music is launching three new personalized playlists
40. YouTube Music Will Now Come Pre-Installed On Android Devices, Replacing Google’s Play Music
41. Google beefs up user privacy controls for Assistant, YouTube: You can now tell Google Assistant to delete your activity history.
42. YouTube Just Implemented Creators’ Most Requested Feature To Date: Comment Filters
43. “Netflix has forgotten more about product and tech than new services have built”
44. Tesla Brings YouTube, Netflix, Hulu To New In-Car ‘Theater’ Feature
45. Musk broke the law with anti-union tweet, judge rules
46. YouTube’s First Exclusive MLB Live Streams Brought An Average Of 1.2 Million Views Apiece
47. Snapchat takes the fight to Netflix and Disney Plus with eight new Snap Originals
48. Vevo Looking To Supercharge OTT Distribution
49. Catie Turner’s Song “Prom Queen” Sees Nearly 1M New Spotify Streams After Starring In Shane Dawson Trailer
50. Spotify now lets you add podcasts to playlists
51. Meet Electrophone, the streaming service you’ve never heard of: Long before Spotify, music buffs signed up to hear live concerts by telephone
52. Victoria Beckham – Fashion Victim?
53. Popular Blogger Breached Advertising Code for Endorsing Sleep Medicine
54. eSignature and ePayment News and Trends
55. Caspar Lee-Founded Influencer Marketing Firm Closes $3.6 Million Funding Round
56. Influencer Sinead Burke Unveils Series With Just-Launched Podcast Network Lemonada
57. Vice To Acquire Refinery29, Will Form Combined Entity Vice Media Group
58. Vice Media Acquires Refinery29 in a $400 Million Deal
59. Watching You Watch: The Tracking Ecosystem of Over-the-Top TV Streaming Devices (Hooman Mohajeri Moghaddam, Gunes Acar, Ben Burgess, Arunesh Mathur, Danny Yuxing Huang, Nick Feamster, Edward W. Felten, Prateek Mittal, Arvind Narayanan)
60. Information Exposure From Consumer IoT Devices: A Multidimensional, Network-Informed Measurement Approach (Jingjing Ren, Daniel J. Dubois, David Choffnes, Anna Maria Mandalari,  Roman Kolcun, L Hamed Haddadi)
61. IoT Inspector: Crowdsourcing Labeled Network Traffic from Smart Home Devices at Scale (Danny Yuxing Huang, Noah Apthorpe, Gunes Acar, Frank Li, Nick Feamster)
62. Communication with locked-in patients in question after misconduct finding: The work claimed it was possible to interpret yes-or-no answers from brain waves.
63. iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max review: High quality for high prices
64. The Surface Phone is real! Microsoft surprises with a dual-screen Android phone
65. Dependencies: Both Technological And Human, On Display In The Story Of A Developer Who Deleted Code Being Used By ICE
66. Match.com’s Alleged Deceptive Marketing Practices Lead to Federal Action Under FTC Act/ROSCA
67. Response to Yelp Review Costs Small Dental Practice $10,000 and Two Years of Monitoring to Settle HIPAA Complaint
68. NLRB Memo Refines Position on Employer Social Media Policies
69. Another Month, Another (Unhelpful) NLRB Advice Memo on Social Media Rules
70. As Pushback Grows in Europe Against Facebook’s Libra, Walmart Considers its own Cryptocurrency
71. Crypto founder pledges to fight the SEC
72. The Failed Political Promise of Silicon Valley: Tech was meant to help us transcend our most intractable problems. What went wrong?
73. Electronic signatures and contracts
74. Men hack electronic billboard, play porn on it
75. Woman who sleeps in $500 EMF-blocking sack wants area-wide Wi-Fi limits

A.I.

1. Should there be copyright protection for artificial intelligence works? (Andres Guadamuz)
2. Can artificial intelligence be an inventor? 
3. Monkey see monkey do – Copyright whimsy in an AI world
4. This Picasso painting had never been seen before. Until a neural network painted it.: With help from a neural network, researchers reconstructed an image the artist created and painted over during his Blue Period.
5. Unpacking “Ethical AI”: A curated reading list
6. Tesla just bought an AI startup to improve Autopilot—here’s what it does
7. YouTube is experimenting with ways to make its algorithm even more addictive: Platform says it’s trying to do what it can to minimize extreme content. But it’s still looking for ways to keep users on the site.
8. If Software is Eating the World: What’s Alexa got to do with it?
9. D-Wave announces the next generation of its quantum annealer
10. What problems can you solve on a quantum annealer?
11. Celebrating Ian Kerr (Michael Geist) 

PRIVACY

1. How Long Will Unbreakable Commercial Encryption Last?
2. Privacy Harm Exceptionalism (Ryan Calo)
3. Vimeo collected detailed facial scans without consent, lawsuit alleges
4. Welcome To A World Of 500-Megapixel Cameras, And Surveillance Systems Able To Zoom In On Small Objects A Kilometer Away
5. Ring Considered Using 911 Calls To Trigger Automated Streaming Of Camera Footage To Local PDs
6. DoorDash hack spills loads of data for 4.9 million people
7. Hey Doordash: Why Are You Hiding Your ‘Security Notice’ From Google Just Days After You Revealed A Massive Security Breach?
8. Yahoo Hack Victims Line Up To Get $100 (Or Less) For Historic Hack
9. Former Yahoo engineer admits using his access to steal users’ sexual images
10. Plan for massive facial recognition database sparks privacy concerns: Identity fraud is justification for collecting photos from drivers’ licences and passports but critics say plan too invasive
11. CCPA Privacy FAQs: Does the CCPA require that a company obtain consent from a website user before placing cookies on their browser?
12. Cookies consent does not escape the GDPR: The CJEU issued its decision in the Planet49 case
13. ECJ Issues First Cookie Decision After GDPR
14. Balancing GDPR Rights And TM Owner Need For Domain Data
15. When the Fight Against Online Piracy meets the GDPR
16. Do we have a `right to be forgotten’ online?
17. “Right to be forgotten” EU privacy law can only be applied inside the EU
18. California’s New Privacy Law: Recent Amendments and Approaching Compliance Deadlines
19. Proposed Digital Charter Could Bring Sweeping Changes to Canadian Privacy Laws
20. No, The New Agreement To Share Data Between US And UK Law Enforcement Does Not Require Encryption Backdoors
21. Councilman “mind-boggled” by Baltimore City IT department ineptitude
22. Ransomware forces 3 hospitals to turn away all but the most critical patients
23. The Rise of Networked Vigilante Surveillance: What happens when the neighborhood watch gets automatic license plate readers?
24. If Signed by Governor, California Bill AB-602 Will Provide Private Right of Action for Victims of Sexually Explicit ‘Deepfakes’
25. Facebook, Reddit, and others need a deepfakes plan now, senators say
26. Documents Show The FBI Is Targeting Financial Institutions, Credit Reporting Agencies, And Universities With NSLs
27. Can We Really Forget?
28. Market Intelligence – Privacy & Cybersecurity – Canada
29. Market Intelligence – Privacy & Cybersecurity – The United States
30. Tech Companies Are Quietly Phasing Out a Major Privacy Safeguard: More and more companies are failing to issue transparency reports to tell consumers how much of their information governments have demanded.

CREATIVITY

1. “A Broad and Liberal Interpretation”: The Supreme Court of Canada Expands Copyright Users’ Rights (Michael Geist)
2. SCC dismisses appeal of Ontario land surveyors over breach of copyright
3. Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet Inc. (2019 SCC 43)
4. Supreme Court of Canada rules on Crown copyright
5. Render Unto Caesar: Supreme Court of Canada Issues First Decision Considering the Scope of Crown Copyright
6. When Copyright in a Work Transfers to the Crown: Keatley v. Teranet
7. Now We Know Who Owns the Copyright in a Registered Plan of Survey
8. Parker v. Winwood: Affirms summary judgment for defendants in copyright infringement case involving Spencer Davis Group song Gimme Some Lovin’, finding statements by band members hearsay.
9. #StrikeAPose #CopyrightInfringement
10. “Copyright Troll” Lawyer Gets Sanctioned (Again)–Sands v. Bauer Media (Eric Goldman)
11. Australian State’s Proposed Ag-Gag Law Threatens General Right To Protest, Critics Warn
12. New England Patriots Player Asks Judge to Throw Out ‘Trash Talk’ Lawsuit
13. Fear Not: New York Times v. Sullivan Heartily Embraced by the Court’s Newest Jurist, Justice Kavanaugh
14. Never Ever Getting Back Together: Taylor Swift Re-Records Back Catalogue
15. Canadian ISPs Continue Quest To Bankrupt TVAddons, Site That Hosted Tons Of Legal Kodi Addons
16. Being Designated A ‘Hate Group’ By The SPLC Isn’t Defamation, Says Federal Court
17. Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Lawyer’s Libel Suit against New York Post
18. McDonald’s ‘Mc’ mark partially revoked for lack of genuine use
19. Sony, Marvel bury the hatchet so Spider-Man can stay in the MCU
20. Devin Nunes Sues Again; He REALLY Doesn’t Want You To Read This Article About His Family’s Cow Farm In Iowa
21. What’s Australian For Streisand Effect? Perhaps It’s Fatty McF—head
22. Federal Court Blocks South Dakota’s Pro-Pipeline, Anti-First Amendment ‘Riot Boosting’ Law
23. A Tale of Two (or 33) Copyrights: Calculating Statutory Damages
24. Post-Creation Letter Exchange Doesn’t Constitute Work for Hire Agreement
25. That’s Bananas: Third Circuit Examines Copyright Protection Under Star Athletica
26. NAD Exonerates Perdue’s Art Department
27. IP and counterculture: Who owns a tattoo?
28. In Sweeping Ruling, Federal Appeals Court Invalidates Tennessee Billboard Law
29. US Courts Rep Ignores Everything About The Internet, Says PACER Access Can Never Be Free Because It Costs Money To Operate
30. EU’s Top Court Confirms Copyright for Design, but Looking Good Will Not Do the Trick
31. Liverpool FC Denied ‘Liverpool’ Trademark Due To Its Geographic Significance
32. MONOPOLY shown the boot
33. Canadian patent rules streamlined
34. Guide to Doing Business in Canada: Intellectual property
35. Old Master discovered in elderly woman’s kitchen worth £5.3 million

Jon

GAMES

1. Steam must allow digital games to be resold, rules French court
2. French court rules country’s Steam users can resell their games: Ruling contradicts EU law and would be “disastrous” for consumers and industry, says ISFE CEO
3. French Court Declares That Steam Gamers Actually Do Own What They Bought
4. Bandai Namco is suing AtGames over Ms. Pac-Man copyright infringement
5. Ubisoft is taking legal action against Rainbow Six Siege DDoS attackers
6. Suspect arrested in conjunction with World of Warcraft DDoS attack: Blizzard confirms individual believed to be behind wave of server outages this month is in custody
7. Games professor accuses Kingdom of Loathing designer of abuse: A.M. Darke shares her story of physical, emotional abuse at the hands of ex-husband Zack Johnson
8. UK Parliamentary Committee says ‘loot boxes’ should be considered gambling and regulated accordingly
9. Dynamic and Nonliteral Elements Win Protection in Blizzard Copyright Suit
10. RomUniverse To Attempt To Crowdfund Legal Defense, Which Isn’t Going Well At All
11. Blog: How the California AB5 Labor Bill might affect game companies
12. Ustwo: Apple Arcade “unshackles the finances” from mobile gaming – The developer of Monument Valley and Apple Arcade launch title Assemble With Care on the benefits of subscriptions
13. Apple Arcade’s debut heralds the launch of dozens of games on iOS (and Steam?)
14. Xbox’s Project xCloud launches in public preview this October
15. Microsoft launching public xCloud streaming test on Android in October
16. Google Stadia ‘Founder’s Edition’ pre-order bundle has sold out in Europe
17. Google announces Play Pass subscription service: Android’s answer to Apple Arcade includes over 350 premium apps and games at launch for $4.99/month
18. Play Pass and its library of 350 apps offers a different take on mobile subscriptions
19. Devs that sign on to Play Pass are paid by the time players spend in their games
20. Niko Partners: Cloud gaming revenue to reach $3bn in Asia by 2023 – Projections suggest there will be 500 million cloud gamers in Asia by 2028
21. Control’s Epic Games Store exclusivity initially cost Epic $10.45 million
22. Epic seems to have paid $10.5 million for Control’s PC exclusivity
23. Epic paid 505 Games parent over $10m for Control PC exclusivity: Digital Bros financial statements reveal exclusivity deal payout for Remedy’s latest release
24. Steam Labs rolls out new discoverability experiments
25. Steam Labs adds two more experiments: Deep Dive, Community Recommendations – Prior experiment Interactive Recommender gets promoted to Steam Store home page
26. TurboPlay’s grand ambition to be the Spotify of games: Co-founder Vince McMullin wants to take on other PC storefronts with different takes on algorithms, revenue sharing, and community
27. Nicalis delists Ittle Dew 2 from console storefronts: Developer says he was ghosted by publisher for six months after terminating publisher’s license
28. Do you need a publisher to ‘make your game sell’?
29. NBCUniversal is closing its game publishing division
30. NBCUniversal shuts down game publishing arm
31. Summer games drought slowed inflation in the UK: Office for National Statistics points to video games as prime contributor to lowest inflation rate since December 2016
32. Unity acquires game marketing and analytics specialist deltaDNA
33. Unity acquires deltaDNA: Engine maker says live ops analytics firm will continue to operate independently as engagement tools are integrated into Unity Engine
34. Borderlands 3 is the fastest selling game in 2K’s history: And 70% of all sales in the first five days were digital
35. Borderlands 3 has sold over 5 million copies in five days
36. New releases, led by Borderlands 3, shake up EMEAA charts: eFootball PES 2020 and Greedfall debut at No. 2 and 3, NHL 20 arrives at No. 5
37. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening topples Borderlands 3 in UK Charts – The most successful Zelda remake so far
38. Zelda: Link’s Awakening review: This beach adventure looks 2019, feels 1993
39. Link’s Awakening: Critical Consensus – Faithful modern-day remake of original Game Boy game charms reviewers despite underwhelming dungeon creator, frame rate issues
40. PUBG becomes first mobile battle royale to surpass $1bn revenue: Since Chinese re-launch, PUBG Mobile has seen 540% growth year-on-year
41. Pride Run developers: “We didn’t expect so much resistance” – The IV Productions team discuss the challenges they’ve faced in making a game that celebrates LGBTQ+ culture
42. Call of Duty Modern Warfare expected to be US best-selling title of 2019: NPD – NBA 2K20 predicted second, Pokemon Sword and Kingdom Hearts III also make top ten
43. Pokemon GO just saw its best month since 2016 – SuperData: Niantic’s deluge of summer events helped the game gross $176 million in August
44. Can Nintendo learn from its mistakes with Mario Kart Tour? | Opinion: All eyes are on Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo’s most important mobile release so far
45. Nintendo’s free-to-play mobile Mario Kart now offers a monthly subscription
46. Nintendo fought hard to lower the Switch Lite’s price to $200, say suppliers
47. Nintendo Switch Lite is the best portable system Nintendo has ever made
48. Nintendo Switch Lite: Critical Consensus – Few see any faults with Nintendo’s new hardware, and even its critics concede that it’s just about perfect for handheld gaming
49. Report: The Switch Lite has already sold over 170,000 units in Japan
50. How do you manage software and saves on a second Switch? It’s complicated
51. Dead Cells crosses 2.4M sales due to ‘ridiculous’ Switch performance
52. Twitch Acquires ‘Internet Games Database’ (IGDB) To Improve Search Functionality
53. Content Moderation At Scale Especially Doesn’t Work When You Hide All The Rules
54. Esports investment: Building resilience in a volatile space – New Wave Esports CEO Daniel Mitre on the glamour of teams versus the sustainability of platforms
55. UTA Adds To Burgeoning Esports Roster With Call Of Duty Star Seth ‘Scump’ Abner
56. Is it time to retire virtual currency? | Opinion: The industry doesn’t want to curb loot boxes, but it could address some concerns by giving up another consumer-unfriendly tactic
57. Take-Two: Next-gen won’t see dev costs spike – CEO Strauss Zelnick says the days of console transitions putting significantly increased burden on publishers are long gone
58. Revealed: The 2019 GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards winners
59. LVP raises $80 million to fund new game startups
60. Manticore Games raises $30m for accessible development platform: Core platform aims to enable players to quickly and easily make high-quality games
61. Removing Denuvo DRM doesn’t improve performance for Arkham Knight
62. Immutable raises $15m for blockchain card game Gods Unchained: Australian studio will also use investment to build out its Immutable Platform toolkit
63. 21 game companies join Playing for the Planet Alliance to combat climate change
64. PlayStation, Xbox, Stadia and more sign up to United Nations climate change initiative: Platform holders pledge to save the planet with carbon neutral Xbox units and low-power suspension mode for PlayStation 5
65. PlayStation teams with UN to reduce carbon footprint of game hardware
66. PlayStation 5 to increase energy efficiency—but only if users opt in
67. PlayStation cuts out the middleman, starts selling its own consoles and more online
68. 20% of the Oculus Store’s $100 million lifetime sales were Quest titles
69. Where Oculus’ VR games go from here: Facebook’s Jason Rubin and Mike Verdu talk Vader Immortal, Respawn, and the future
70. Oculus Quest’s secret trick: It can double as a wired PC VR headset
71. Oculus announces plans to build augmented reality glasses
72. Controller-free hand tracking comes to Oculus Quest in early 2020
73. Oculus adding hand-tracking to Quest
74. Oculus Rift games are coming to Quest via Oculus Link this November
75. Oculus will add new social features powered by Facebook: The brand integration gets tighter and tighter
76. Mobile AR game Dragon Quest Walk passes 5 million downloads in Japan
77. Respawn’s first VR game is Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond
78. Ex-Owlchemy devs land $4.4 million for new XR studio absurd:joy
79. Absurd: joy aims to “invent a genre of content no one has ever seen before” –  Ex-Owlchemy Labs devs Alex Schwartz and Cy Wise launching new VR/AR company making things that may or may not be games
80. MTG invests in emotional regulation app Mightier: Swedish outfit puts $250,000 toward app and subscription service intended to help children with ADHD, anger, or anxiety issues
81. Manticore Games raises $30 million for its social game platform Core
82. Unit 2 Games launches £100,000 fund indie development: Finance available to developers who want to make the first wave of games for multiplayer platform Crayta
83. Untitled Goose Game review: HONNNNNNK
84. Getting goosey with Debussy: Creating an adaptive score for Untitled Goose Game
85. Unheadlined Goose Game interview: House House’s Jacob Strasser and Michael McMaster on the studio’s surprising growth from gosling to gander
86. Video: Ars talks Civilization with the man himself: Sid Meier
87. Video: Living a long, full, and fulfilling life in game development
88. Making people understand and care about your game
89. How to grow as a designer: What to read, where to get ideas, and knowing thyself
90. Blog: Development stress, choices that matter, and language of games
91. Blog: Why you should invest more in community management
92. Blog: Strategies for growing player loyalty and retention rates
93. Raven Software devs look back at the making of Jedi Outcast
94. Video: How to be an effective, high-performance game producer
95. Don’t Miss: How Everything connects the arts of animation and game design
96. Don’t Miss: A 2007 look at the essential open-world games for game designers
97. Don’t Miss: How Naughty Dog designed The Last Of Us’ brutal melee system
98. Don’t Miss: A deep dive into the art that gives colors back to Dead Cells’ cryptic worlds
99. Using the language of film & theater to entice new players in FMV game Erica
100. Influencers and E3: Invasion of the tweens | Opinion – E3 as a festival for influencers and celebrities may horrify some, but is likely a good move – as long as we’re realistic about the age demographics it will reach
101. GDC YouTube Top 5: NYU Game Center’s Mitu Khandaker
102. U.S. Patent No. 9,308,458: Automatic movement of player character in network game

DIGITAL

1. Facebook Is Making Millions by Promoting Hate Groups’ Content: Despite a company policy banning hate speech, the social media giant has taken in nearly $1.6 million from hate groups since mid-2018.
2. Top Court Rules Google Doesn’t Have to Censor Around the World Because of European Privacy Laws
3. Other Big CJEU Case Says Google Must Put Certain Links At The Top Of Search Results
4. Paper leaks showing a quantum computer doing something a supercomputer can’t
5. AT&T tells court: Customers can’t sue over sale of phone location data
6. Missing Link: Tibetan Groups Targeted with 1-Click Mobile Exploits
7. Inside the campaign that tried to compromise Tibetans’ iOS and Android phones
8. Defense media tweet threatening Area 51 “raiders” pulled, DOD apologizes
9. Google takes hard line, refuses to pay French news sites despite new law
10. No, it wasn’t a virus; it was Chrome that stopped Macs from booting
11. Another Day, Another Major Disinformation Effort Facebook Thinks Is Ok
12. Snapchat reportedly has “Project Voldemort” dossier on Facebook’s bad behavior
13. Snap Detailed Facebook’s Aggressive Tactics in ‘Project Voldemort’ Dossier: Antitrust investigation gives competitors chance to air complaints about Facebook’s hardball tactics
14. Meet Facebook’s latest fake: An “Oversight Board” programmed by Facebook should not be confused with democratic oversight
15. Facebook and Google have ad trackers on your streaming TV, studies find
16. The Best People: White House Emailed Talking Points Meant For Surrogates To Dems, Tried To Recall Email Afterwards
17. Facebook confirms its “standards” don’t apply to politicians
18. Facebook is Building an AR Headset, Starting By Making a Digital Copy of the Real World
19. Facebook will be sticking ads with polls, games and AR into News Feed: The interactive advertising formats were already being tested in Instagram and other parts of the Facebook universe. Now they’ll be in your feed.
20. Facebook suspends tens of thousands of apps in ongoing privacy investigation
21. Facebook Watch And ESPN Team Up For New Slate Of Interactive Sports Shows
22. Coder deletes open source add-on for Chef in protest over ICE contract
23. NYAG Sends Cease & Desist Letters to Online Gun Marketers
24. Clickwrap Litigation Trends 2019
25. Jerks ‘Reporting’ Women Who Swipe Left On Them In Tinder, Once Again Highlighting How Content Moderation Gets Abused
26. Defamation and Social Media – the ordinary, reasonable tweeter
27. Deepfake Legislation: A Nationwide Survey – State and Federal Lawmakers Consider Legislation to Regulate Manipulated Media
28. SCC rules that class actions in lawsuits against tech giants can proceed
29. Source Hacking: Media Manipulation In Practice
30. Voltage v. Salna & ~55,000 – the “Reverse Class Action” (Howard Knopf)
31. Twitter rolls out ‘hide replies’ to let you tame toxic discussions: Trying to win back its reputation as a platform for healthy conversations
32. Twitter details new policies designed to crack down on financial scams
33. Romance Scams Harm Victims and Lead to Prosecutions
34. Cyber-dystopianism: The Internet seen through the lens of nightmares (Andres Guadamuz)
35. Jeff Bezos pledges that Amazon will swiftly combat climate change: Retail giant vows to meet climate goals ahead of schedule
36. Amazon orders 100,000 electric trucks to fight climate change
37. “Grassroots” anti-Amazon nonprofit turns out to be retailer astroturfing
38. People Freaking Out About Amazon Copying A Shoe Are Totally Missing The Point
39. Apple says it will make the new Mac Pro in Texas: Media reports had suggested Apple could shift Mac Pro work to China.
40. Apple Watch Series 5 review: A better, more independent timepiece
41. After a five-month delay, the $2,000 Galaxy Fold arrives in the US on Friday
42. Huawei’s new flagship smartphone ships without Google apps: Trump’s export ban means no Google apps for the Mate 30 Pro.
43. Xiaomi’s crazy new $2,800 phone has display on the front, sides, and back
44. YouTube Security Warning For 23 Million Creators As ‘Massive’ Hack Attack Confirmed
45. YouTube Exec Says Some Conspiracy Videos Aren’t “Causing Harm,” And Can Remain Uploaded
46. Susan Wojcicki Says YouTube Won’t Remove Politicians’ Content Because “It’s Important For Other People To See”
47. YouTube will remove politicians’ content if it breaks rules, but there are some exceptions: Context of videos is important, CEO says
48. YouTube creators may lose verified badges as company makes verification program even stricter
49. YouTube Apologizes, Reverses Course After Creators Balk At Verification Update
50. Creators Lash Out After YouTube Retroactively Strips Them Of Verification
51. YouTube Revamps Verification System With New Look And Eligibility Requirements
52. YouTube Launches New ‘Video Reach Campaign’ Ad Format, Brings ‘TrueView For Action’ To Home Feeds
53. Jellysmack’s New ‘Creator’s Program’ Invests Time, Money, And Tech In YouTubers
54. How Mattel Harnessed YouTube To Help Bring Its Iconic Barbie Character Down To Earth
55. Louis Vuitton Launches ‘LV TV’ YouTube Series With Emma Chamberlain, Dolan Twins, More
56. Journalists Seek Answers To YouTube Users’ Burning Questions In Upcoming Vox Original ‘Glad You Asked’
57. YouTube Music Spins Itself Up As Spotify Challenger With Weekly 49-Song ‘Discover Mix’
58. YouTube Backs 14 More Independent Artists Via Its Foundry Development Program
59. Spotify artists can now see how many listeners they have in real time: Thanks to the revamped Spotify for Artists app
60. Play It Again, Sam: Spotify’s Newest Playlists Are Based on Repeat Listens
61. Snap Sets Series With Nikita Dragun, Bhad Bhabie, Will Launch New ‘Shows’ Page To The Right Of ‘Discover’
62. Every Single Video MrBeast Has Made In The Past Year Got More Than 10 Million Views
63. Emma Chamberlain To Drop Sunglasses Collection With Eyewear Brand ‘Crap’
64. Issa Rae Takes Stake In Streamlytics, Which Lets People Monetize Their Own Streaming Data
65. SeatGeek Taps David Dobrik To Launch Its First Branded Series, ‘Postgame Press Conference’
66. Russian national confesses to biggest bank hack in US history
67. In India, you don’t need a Google phone to have a Google Assistant
68. How Google Changed the Secretive Market for the Most Dangerous Hacks in the World: Google has funded a team of hackers with the mission of finding bugs in software. Are they making the internet safer?
69. Nielsen Now Tracks Interactions With TV Stars’ Social Media Posts, Which Drive 60% Of Engagement For Shows
70. Nielsen Buys Minority Stake In OpenSlate, Which Measures Brand Safety In Online Video
71. Vimeo Debuts ‘For Hire’, A Marketplace For Video Professionals To Find Clients (And Vice Versa)
72. Insights: Apple And Comcast Giveaways May Net Tens Of Millions Of Subscribers And Send SVOD Super Derby Back To Where TV Started
73. Meet the Women Leading Netflix Into the Streaming Wars: Apple, Disney, and others are challenging its dominance like never before. Here’s the team behind the tech giant’s big bet on original content.
74. Facebook Watch And ESPN Team Up For New Slate Of Interactive Sports Shows
75. 21% Of U.S. Households Will Buy A Disney+ Subscription (Study)
76. Website Accessibility Claims on the Rise: A Higher Education Perspective
77. BuzzFeed Hires New York Times Vet In Bid To Better Monetize Its News Business
78. Levi’s CMO Jen Sey Talks Importance Of Taking A Social Stand
79. E-Sign of the Times: Law Commission report promotes confidence in e-signatures
80. Tristan Harris — Fighting Skynet and Firewalling Attention (#387)
81. The Mysterious Death Of The Hacker Who Turned In Chelsea Manning
82. How Peloton made sweat addictive enough to IPO: 13 reasons this bike has a cult
83. The rise and fall of Flash, the annoying plugin that shaped the modern web: The web was a static, dull place. But the accidental creation of Flash turned it into a cacophony of noise, colour, and controversy, presaging the modern web
84. The Unsolved Case of the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet: 12 years ago, a New Wave anthem appeared on the internet. Amateur detectives have spent thousands of hours since trying to figure out where it came from…

A.I.

1. Chinese Authorities Call For Internet Companies To Add Bias To AI Algorithms — In Order To ‘Promote Mainstream Values’
2. Google Says It’s Achieved Quantum Supremacy, a World-First: Report
3. ­­
4. How “information gerrymandering” influences voters: Study analyzes how networks can distort voters’ perceptions and change election results.
5. Harnessing machine learning to make managing your storage less of a chore 
6. Human vs. Algorithmic Recommendations
7. A facial recognition ban is coming to the US, says an AI policy advisor 
8. Pentagon seeks ‘ethicist’ to oversee military artificial intelligence: General says ‘We are thinking deeply about the ethical, safe and lawful use of AI’ as US seeks to catch up with China’s early lead
9. Teaching machines to autonomously write stories
10. For India’s Caste-Based Sewer Cleaners, an Uncertain Robot Rescue: Sewer robots and other new technology aim to end caste-based scavenging, which regularly costs lives. But are they enough?
11. No Rage Against the Machines: Threat of Automation Does Not Change Policy Preferences (Baobao Zhang) 
12. MegaBots calls it a day, puts fighting robot up for sale on eBay

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Can Price Caps or Virtual Competitors Solve Canada’s Wireless Pricing Problem? (Michael Geist)
2. Net Neutrality Proposals for Tech Platforms Raise First Amendment Concerns
3. FCC loses in court, judges say agency would fail “intro statistics class”
4. Courts Shoot Down Yet Another FCC Proposal For Being Factually Sketchy
5. Sprint took FCC cash for “serving” 885,000 people it wasn’t actually serving
6. Cable Giant Spectrum On Quest To Outlaw ‘Insane’ Streaming Password Sharing
7. Something Has Spooked AT&T Enough To Warrant Bringing Their Top Lobbyist Out Of Retirement
8. AT&T Ponders Dumping DirecTV After Investor Backlash, But It’s Not Likely To Help
9. Comcast promised not to raise prices—guess what happened next
10. ‘Subscription Fatigue’ Looms As Comcast Reveals Yet Another New Streaming TV Platform
11. Complexity Investing Applied to ViacomCBS
12. Significant Changes to Media, Communications, and Data Claims in the English Courts

PRIVACY

1. Busy North Korean hackers have new malware to target ATMs
2. Yahoo data-breach settlement: You’ll get $100, if you’re lucky
3. California Senate Passes Statewide Ban On Facial Recognition Tech Use By Law Enforcement
4. Ninth Circuit Allows Class Action Against Facebook under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act to Proceed in California
5. Ninth Circuit Declines to Shelve Lawsuit Alleging Facebook Violated Illinois Biometric Privacy Statute
6. Court Says Compelled Production Violates Fifth Amendment… Unless The Gov’t Takes Certain Steps First
7. Private Companies Gathering Plate Data Are Selling Access To People’s Movements For $20 A Search
8. CJEU Judgment C-40/17: what are the implications of the ‘like’ button in terms of data protection?
9. YouTube will Pay $170 Million Fine for Children’s Privacy Law Violations
10. Should The Media Voluntarily Embrace A ‘Right To Be Forgotten’?
11. European Court of Justice Rules on the Scope of the Right to be Forgotten for Search Engines
12. Google wins case as court rules “right to be forgotten” is EU-only
13. Google wins landmark right to be forgotten case
14. Google wins CJEU right to be forgotten case
15. Europe’s Supreme Court Places Limits on the Right To Be Forgotten
16. ‘Right to be forgotten’, but only in Europe?
17. The Right to be Forgotten Held to Apply Only to Europe in Landmark European Court of Justice Decision
18. Forget-me-not: Google v. CNIL defines territorial scope of the right to be forgotten
19. Google Search is not required to forget us outside the EU
20. Phew: EU Court Of Justice Says Right To Be Forgotten Is Not A Global Censorship Tool (Just An EU One)
21. Edward Snowden wants to come home: “I’m not asking for a pass. What I’m asking for is a fair trial”
22. The FBI Tried To Get A Secure Phone Company To Create A Backdoor In Its Encrypted Network
23. World’s most destructive botnet returns with stolen passwords and email in tow
24. IE zero-day under active attack gets emergency patch
25. Payment card thieves hack Click2Gov bill paying portals in 8 cities
26. A New Era of COPPA Enforcement?
27. CCPA Privacy FAQs: Does the CCPA require that a company allow consumers to opt-out (e.g., toggle off) analytics cookies?
28. CCPA Privacy FAQs: Are businesses required to display the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link during subsequent visits to the business’s homepage where the consumer does not “opt-out” during his/her first visit?
29. Meaningful Consent: An Evolving Standard under Canadian Privacy Law
30. Enhancing Understanding of Legal Trends Impacting Freedom of Expression and Privacy in the ICT Sector
31. Fake veteran hiring site downloads spyware instead of jobs
32. Milan Fashion Week and Fashion Law Trends – Is the retail and fashion sectors ready for the IoT revolution?
33. Forget erasure: why blockchain is really incompatible with the GDPR
34. Automatic License Plate Readers Are The Latest Neighborhood Perk

CREATIVITY

1. Pro-China groups to tear down pro-democracy graffiti in Hong Kong
2. Global Freedom Declines as Chinese, Russian Info Control Practices Spread, Says Study
3. During A Police Raid, Russian Activist Uses Drone To Whisk Sensitive Data To Safety
4. US Court Says Fair Use Nullifies French Rightholder’s Attempt To Extract $2.25 Million From A California Art Scholar
5. French Picasso Judgement is Abstract Expression to U.S. Law
6. The Controversial Use of Rap Lyrics as Evidence
7. Mercedes Drives Suits Against Artists Forward
8. Copyright clarification from Europe’s top court
9. Copyright dispute over ‘Stairway to Heaven’ continues to climb in the courts
10. The Differences Between Copyright And Possession: Gilda Radner Interview Copyright Lawsuit Dismissed For Lack Of Registration
11. Strange changes discovered in Banksy painting ahead of auction
12. Chuck Yeager Sues Airbus For Mentioning That Chuck Yeager Broke The Sound Barrier
13. Chuck Yeager sues Airbus for writing “Yeager broke the sound barrier”
14. Louisiana’s Terrible Criminal Defamation Law Again Being Used To Unconstitutionally Target A Critic Of Law Enforcement
15. How Canada should deal with obscene trademarks
16. LeBron’s “Taco Tuesday” Trademark Blocked
17. LeBron James Declares Victory In Losing Bid For ‘Taco Tuesday’ Trademark
18. The New Consumer Gatekeepers: Inside the Hidden Power Of The DJ Industry 2.0
19. IP/Internet/Antitrust Professor Amicus Brief in 1-800 Contacts v. FTC (Eric Goldman)
20. Duels, Dualities, and Destiny in Canadian Copyright – a Snapshot at Summer’s End 2019 (Howard Knopf)
21. Milan Fashion Week and Fashion Law Trends – Karl Lagerfeld’s heritage: who is going to award the rights on his image? Does the cat really take it all?

Jon

GAMES

1. Parliamentary committee recommends banning loot box sales to children: Report proposes industry tax to fund research into the harmful effects of gaming, slams “wilfully obtuse” industry representatives
2. UK Parliament: Ban all loot boxes until evidence proves they’re safe for kids
3. UK committee argues loot boxes should be covered by gambling regulations
4. Electronic Arts responds to DCMS committee calls for loot box regulation: Publisher “doesn’t agree with all conclusions” but will continue dialogue with UK government
5. TIGA: Government should “urgently” carry out research around loot boxes and gambling – CEO Dr Richard Wilson raises impartiality concerns over suggestion of taxing industry to fund research; PEGI also weighs in
6. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: A Turning Point For Loot Boxes? – Haydn and Brendan discuss the potential consequences of recommendations that the UK government introduces regulation
7. Nintendo’s ROM Site War Continues With Huge Lawsuit Against Site Despite Not Sending DMCA Notices
8. Anti-bullying advocates assess what’s wrong in games: There’s a cultural problem that isn’t going to fix itself overnight, but behaviours can and do change with the right support
9. Sea of Thieves adds microtransaction store in latest update
10. Former Donkey Kong champ threatens to sue Guinness over record removal
11. Steam’s latest discovery update tilts the algorithm away from popular games
12. Discord cuts games from paid subscription plan after Nitro Games fails to take off
13. Discord pulls free games from Nitro: Chat service pulls feature from subscription offering because “vast majority of Nitro subscribers didn’t play them”
14. Second person gets prison sentence in fatal swatting case: Call of Duty WWII player gets 15 months for asking third party to report emergency at online opponent’s address
15. Instigator of fatal Kansas swatting receives prison sentence
16. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare offering cross-platform play in all modes
17. Devs restore Modern Warfare’s mini-map after two days of beta backlash
18. Video: A cautionary tale in community crisis management
19. Newzoo: Android games will earn more revenue than iOS games in 2019 – Between Google Play and third-party stores, Android games will earn majority of revenue for the first time this year
20. Google Stadia Founder’s Edition is nearly sold out: Premium bundle is being replaced with similar bundle sans Buddy Pass with a different controller
21. Nintendo’s weird exercise ring is used to control a Switch RPG
22. Nintendo’s first Ring-Con game is a Switch fitness RPG: Ring Fit Adventure
23. Nintendo’s new fitness game is Ring Fit Adventure: Switch title uses new Ring-Con and leg strap peripherals to sense movement, launches October 18
24. How do people find your game on Switch?: A discoverability run-down
25. Sega Genesis Mini review: $80 delivers a ton of blast-processing fun
26. Report: The PS4 has sold-through 30 million units in the United States
27. PlayStation 4 has sold 30m units in the US, analyst reveals: Meanwhile, Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad also says Gears 5’s boxed sales in the UK are “tiny and no longer important” for Microsoft
28. Gears 5 saw 3 million players during launch week through Game Pass and retail
29. Rockstar Games now has its own game launcher on PC
30. Rockstar Games launches its own storefront: GTA V, Bully, others now available through latest publisher-driven game launcher
31. Rockstar Games Launcher: We install it on Windows so you don’t have to
32. Gears 5 tops 3 million players in first week: Microsoft says The Coalition sequel enjoyed “the biggest launch week of any Xbox Game Studios title this generation”
33. EMEAA charts: Slam dunk for NBA 2K20 in launch week – Strong digital sales push older games into the top ten, while Game Pass sees Gears 5 barely rank
34. Borderlands 3 has nearly doubled Borderlands 2’s peak concurrents record on PC
35. Borderlands 3 is the biggest UK boxed launch of 2019: But the lack of digital data makes all of this hard to compare
36. Borderlands 3 PC doubles 2’s peak concurrent users at launch: Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford reveals latest outing is breaking company records despite Epic backlash
37. Borderlands 3 is a lot more Borderlands, in ways both good and bad
38. Apple Arcade soft launches early, to surprise of some developers
39. Blog: The long slow death of an indie studio
40. Indie game pricing is in a familiar death spiral | Opinion: Data suggests a race to the bottom in PC indie game pricing, and Apple Arcade is a reminder of where this process leads
41. Swedish games industry generated €1.87bn in 2018, employs almost 8,000 people: Latest figures from Dataspelsbranschen also shows the number of companies is also on the rise
42. Blog: NetEase drives mobile games business in Japan, Tencent targets emerging markets
43. Scavengers dev Midwinter Entertainment acquired by Improbable
44. Keywords expands game audio services with TV+Synchron Berlin acquisition
45. JoJo Siwa’s Latest Business Venutre Is A Mobile Game Called ‘Live To Dance’
46. Ex-King, Z2 devs launch Starform: New Seattle-based studio aims to make online games for friends, attracts $1.25 million in funding
47. How to develop for a licence (successfully): Brand Licensing Europe’s Anna Knight speaks to developers and IP holders about pleasing both fans and gamers
48. Football Manager boss Miles Jacobson calls for an end to plastic packaging: Sports Interactive director tells us he expects savings of up to 20 tonnes of plastic as series switches to eco-friendly cases
49. How PES wants to level the playing field: European brand manager Lennart Bobzien discusses the eFootball rebrand and renewed efforts to put Konami’s football game on top
50. Vivendi, Riot veterans announce gaming broadcast network, VENN: Ben Kusin and Ariel Horn share their plans and goals for a space that unifies publishers, leagues and audiences under one network
51. One decade in, League of Legends still averages 8M peak concurrent players daily
52. League of Legends hits 8 million peak concurrent players a day: Riot shares August’s daily worldwide average figures, says it’s larger than the top 10 games on Steam combined
53. Valve launches revamped Steam Library in open beta
54. Twitch sexual content crackdown causing confusion: Streaming site has issued multiple suspensions against streamers wearing Chun-Li costumes, sports bras and more
55. Twitch acquires IGDB to bolster search and discoverability capabilities
56. Twitch acquires Internet Gaming Database: Acquisition will see Twitch feed database into discovery feature set
57. Esports: The next billion dollar industry
58. Video: Building explosive 8-bit Nintendo eSports the Tetris World Championship way
59. Dignitas CEO: Soccer, basketball, and esports will be the major sports of the future
60. Esports tournament platform XY Gaming raises $2.5 million
61. XY Gaming announces $2.5m funding round: Funds will go toward expanding esports tournament platform, adding games such as Fortnite
62. Subnation’s ‘LVL UP’ Highlights Explosion Of Premium Content For Esports
63. PlayVS lands another $50 million: High school esports platform details Series C funding round, brings total funding to $96 million in just over a year
64. Hulu dropped support for Google’s Daydream VR
65. HTC Vive Cosmos VR: We have the price, release date, and first hands-on
66. Image courtesy Daqri: Well-funded AR Headset Startup DAQRI is Shutting Down
67. Vive Cosmos arrives on October 3 for £699: New virtual reality headset from HTC will cost roughly the same as predecessor
68. 2K will donate up to $500,000 to blood cancer research in WWE marketing campaign: Publisher partners with Leukemia & Lymphona Society as survivor Roman Reigns stars on the cover of this year’s wrestling game
69. UKIE partners with Alzheimer’s Research UK for Journo/Dev Swap game jam: GamesIndustry.biz will be publishing the developers-turned-journalists coverage from September 27
70. Don’t Miss: Gwent and 6 other minigames that developers should study
71. The 57 years of unseen work that built Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City
72. Bioware, Beamdog devs unveil Summerfall Studios
73. Blog: Creating hit games in Dreams
74. Blog: The difference of accessibility vs. playability in game design
75. Blog: Historians play Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour
76. Blog: Why not just use thumbsticks?
77. Kojima details the subtly social gameplay of Death Stranding
78. Don’t Miss: How Sonic Mania’s devs made the old new (and good) again
79. Don’t Miss: Writing Firewatch, and capturing the beauty of being alone
80. Watch two of GreedFall’s developers discuss their new colonial RPG
81. Where do you go from Doom?: Doom Eternal’s Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin talk about their approach to following up the successful reboot of a seminal classic
82. Every game should copy Death Stranding’s “Very Easy Mode”
83. Knights and Bikes TV show in the works: Peaky Blinders production company Tiger Aspect options rights for animated series based on Foam Sword game
84. How a basement hacker transformed Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600
85. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate wins big at the Japan Game Awards
86. Proposed E3 revamp could turn expo into ‘fan, media, and influencer festival’
87. E3 2020 pitch shows move towards celebrities, consumers and influencers: ESA pitch also includes 10,000 additional consumer passes for the E3 showfloor
88. This new eco-friendly game packaging could save tonnes of plastic every year
89. Football Manager 2020 studio swaps to recyclable packaging, wants others to do the same
90. Billy Mitchell Threatens To Sue The Guinness World Record Folks For Removing His Records
91. Knights and Bikes is being turned into an animated TV show
92. U.S. Patent No. 9,364,746: System and method configured to unlock content within a videogame

DIGITAL

1. Examining The Expanding Web Of Chinese And Russian Information Controls
2. Ninth Circuit’s LinkedIn Decision Does Not Greenlight the Unauthorized Webscraping of Public Websites
3. The Ninth Circuit Takes On Web Scraping
4. Instagram Confirms Security Issue Exposed User Accounts And Phone Numbers
5. YouTube, Facebook, Instagram Are Epicenters For Steroid Sales — And So Are Their Recommendation Algorithms (Study)
6. Facebook plans launch of its own “Supreme Court” for handling takedown appeals
7. Audible fires back at book publishers, says captions are fair use: Audible Captions is not a book of any kind,” Audible writes in court filing.
8. Hotel Owner Files Libel Suit Against Reviewer For Calling Nazis Nazis, Gets Support From Austrian Court
9. Twitter Stands Up For Devin Nunes’ Parody Accounts: Won’t Reveal Who’s Behind Them
10. History Repeats Itself: Twitter Launches Illegal SF Street Stencil Campaign Just As IBM DId Decades Ago
11. Scraping the Web: Practical Implications From the hiQ v. LinkedIn Opinion
12. Facebook is launching a streaming device that watches you while you watch TV
13. House lawmakers ask Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google to turn over trove of records in antitrust probe
14. Congress wants Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon emails as probe heats up
15. WSJ: Amazon changed search results to boost profits despite internal dissent
16. Kickstarter accused of “union busting campaign” by former employees: Two former staff claim they were fired for their roles in unionising Kickstarter’s workforce
17. Ninth Circuit Upholds Amazon.com’s Cost-Sharing Valuation
18. The $24 Billion Online Casino Boom China Is Struggling to Halt: The Communist Party is hard-pressed to stop the spread of digital gambling in Asia.
19. Self-Help in Cyberspace: A Path Forward
20. Would the Internet Be Healthier Without ‘Like’ Counts?: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube have moved to hide or obscure measures of popularity, in the name of less toxic dialog. Users give a thumbs-down.
21. OONI Explorer team unlock the web’s untold censorship stories
22. Amazon Music Jumps Into the Hi-Res Audio Game: Amazon adds “high definition” and “ultra high definition” options to its music-streaming service, taking hi-fi music into the mass market
23. Alibaba Opens Online Marketplace to U.S.-Based Businesses
24. Content Moderation Is Impossible: Facebook Settles Legal Fight Over Famous Painting Of A Woman’s Genitals
25. Facebook launches its own Supreme Court
26. Facing Fines—The Mechanics of Facebook’s Reportedly Forthcoming FTC Settlement
27. Facebook Unveils Several Video Product Updates, Including ‘Live’ Rehearsals, Pre-Scheduled ‘Watch Parties’
28. Congress Is Investigating Apple’s Repair Monopoly: Part of the antitrust investigation centers on “Apple’s restrictions on third-party repairs.”
29. Apple Takes on EU’s Vestager in Record $14 Billion Tax Fight
30. Apple, services and moats
31. The U1 chip in the iPhone 11 is the beginning of an Ultra Wideband revolution
32. Apple’s Big YouTube Stream Was Just Part Of Its Swelling Social Video Impact
33. Disney CEO Bob Iger resigns from his Apple board seat
34. “We Could Say Anything To Each Other”: Bob Iger Remembers Steve Jobs, The Pixar Drama, And The Apple Merger That Wasn’t
35. Less Human Than Human: The Design Philosophy of Steve Jobs – To what degree do “good design,” or “taste,” depend on human values?
36. Ninth Circuit Reverses Course While Quoting Its Own Precedent Saying Otherwise; Says Section 230 Doesn’t Cover Anti-Competitive Moderation
37. Terrible Ninth Circuit 230(c)(2) Ruling Will Make the Internet More Dangerous–Enigma v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
38. Court Enforces Arbitration Clause in “Modified Clickwrap”–Chen v. Sierra Trading Post
39. That Time EFF Got A Copyright Takedown Demand Of Its Own Artwork
40. Forwarding email is a crime, Jerry Falwell Jr. says after leaks to media: A legal expert told the AP Falwell’s claims were “totally insane.”
41. Meet the three North Korean hacking groups funding the country’s weapons programs
42. NBCUniversal’s streaming service is called Peacock: Launching with a slate of original and beloved licensed series
43. NBCUniversal’s Streaming Service Peacock Will Reboot ‘Battlestar Galactica’ And Revive ‘Saved By The Bell’
44. NBC Peacock is Comcast’s dive into the crazy streaming-video fray
45. Oh, frak: There’s another Battlestar Galactica reboot coming
46. Bizarre Streaming Service Quibi Already Has a Better Lineup Than Apple TV+
47. Tinder Wraps First Scripted Series, A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Set In The Apocalypse
48. Insights: Music’s 360 Deals Come To The Hypercompetitive Video Streaming World
49. Whistle Inks Multi-Year Deal With U.K.-Based Soccer Content Company ‘OTRO’
50. Google’s ‘Smart City’ Project For Toronto
51. YouTube’s Abbreviated Subscriber Counts Are Here
52. Google launches YouTube Music Charts in India
53. YouTube Changes Music Chart 24-Hour Rankings to Exclude Paid Ad Views
54. YouTube Will No Longer Count Ads Toward Music Charts, 24-Hour Music Video Debuts
55. YouTube Is Bringing Its Most Prominent Ad Product, The Masthead, To Smart TV Screens
56. YouTube introduces a massive ad box to its TV app: A prominent feature on the standard site
57. YouTube To Shutter Its TV-Optimized ‘Leanback’ Feature On Oct. 2
58. YouTube Testing New ‘Profile Cards’ That Showcase Channel-Specific Comment History
59. Google Is Adding The Ability To Search For ‘Key Moments’ Within YouTube Videos
60. Google Launches Ability to Find Key Moments in YouTube Videos via Search
61. SoulPancake’s NewFronts Presentation: Control Over Its YouTube Ad Inventory, New Programming, And A PBS Partnership
62. Lilly Singh Posts Confident Late-Night Debut With Socially-Conscious Bits, YouTube-Esque Challenges
63. ‘Close Friends,’ for a Monthly Fee: Influencer culture has normalized charging money for all kinds of intimacy.
64. Instagram Partners With Jonah Hill On Anti-Bullying Docuseries For IGTV
65. Instagram Debuts Jonah Hill’s ‘Un-filtered’ Bullying Docu-Series
66. Instagram tightens rules on diet and cosmetic surgery posts: Platform responds to concerns about impact of content on mental health of young people
67. Instagram, Facebook, and the Perils of “Sharenting”
68. Fantasy Football Videos Gain Steam All Summer From Unexpected Sources
69. Whistle Inks Content Deal With U.K. Soccer Subscription App ‘OTRO’
70. Christine Sydelko Says She’s Quitting The Internet: “It’s Such A Trivial Job”
71. PewDiePie Retracts $50K Donation To Anti-Defamation League, Says It Doesn’t “Feel Genuine”
72. Rooster Teeth Lays Off 13% Of Staff, Is Beginning “A New Chapter,” CEO Says
73. DoubleVerify Becomes a Snapchat Measurement Partner: Its viewability and fraud verification technology will help brands maximize their campaigns
74. Snapchat Is Once Again Pivoting Back to News
75. #No Filter: Terminating an Employee for Social Media Posts – Part 2
76. Volkswagen’s bold plan to create a new car operating system
77. It’s real and it’s spectacular: Netflix buys exclusive rights to stream Seinfeld
78. Warner Media’s Rooster Teeth Lays Off 50 Employees: Cuts represent about 13% of the Austin-based digital production company’s employees
79. WarnerMedia Unveils J.J. Abrams, Bad Robot Mega-Deal
80. CBS, Viacom, and WarnerMedia ban e-cigarette advertisements amid vaping health crisis: Following a similar CNN ban last week
81. One Year After Acquiring Ecommerce Startup ‘Kit’, Patreon Sells It To Affiliate Link Company Geniuslink
82. England’s Law Commission reports on e-signatures – A missed opportunity?
83. Just How Far Does California’s New IoT Security Law Reach?
84. Rhode Island Expands Electronic Money Transfer Licensing Requirements to Certain Cryptocurrency Service Providers
85. Björk made music’s first “VR pop album”—she opens up about its heartbreak
86. Say hello to 802.11ax: Wi-Fi 6 device certification begins today
87. Does The Public Care About Tech Backlash? And Does That Matter?
88. Impact of digital disruption worldwide
89. I researched Uighur society in China for 8 years and watched how technology opened new opportunities – then became a trap

A.I.

1. Google is changing its search algorithm to prioritize original news reporting: Humans will train it, as usual
2. On “AI” replacing jobs and humans
3. Artificial Intelligence & the Intellectual Property Landscape
4. Who needs qubits? Factoring algorithm run on a probabilistic computer
5. Video: Deterministic vs. replicated AI: Building For Honor’s battlefield
6. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 24: A Tribute to Ian Kerr (Michael Geist) 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Counterpoint: Big telcos have no business howling over CRTC decision that encourages fair internet prices – Any unfairness pales in comparison to what Canadian consumers have had to put up with for years
2. 50% of US homes still won’t have fiber broadband by 2025, study says
3. AT&T to lose 1.1 million TV subscribers as DirecTV continues nosedive
4. Lawsuit: AT&T signed customers up for DirecTV Now without their knowledge
5. AT&T considers getting rid of DirecTV as TV business tanks, WSJ reports
6. AT&T’s Terrible New TV Branding Confuses Even AT&T
7. Some Investors Are Fed Up With AT&T’s Costly Obsession With Merger Mania
8. FCC Commissioner Investigating Payola in the Radio Industry 
9. Colorado Town Offers 1 Gbps For $60 After Years Of Battling Comcast
10. Comcast Sues Maine For Demanding It Sell TV Channels À La Carte
11. Verizon plans 5G Home Internet in every city where it deploys mobile 5G
12. At Qualcomm, 5G is headed everywhere and into virtually everything
13. Upcoming FCC Consumer Advisory Committee Meeting Will Consider Robocall Working Group Recommendation 
14. FCC Expands Anti-Spoofing Prohibitions to Foreign-Originated Calls, Text-Messaging Services
15. FCC’s consumer Advisory Committee adopts robocall blocking recommendation
16. Alarm Industry Communications Committee Seeks Reconsideration of Call Blocking Declaratory Ruling to Prevent Blocking of Alarm Calls
17. Fall TV Is the Crystallization of Broadcast’s Existential Crisis 

PRIVACY

1. Digital privacy evolves in class actions: With two recent failed digital privacy class-action certifications, litigators say certification is becoming a higher hurdle to pass
2. District court allows majority of privacy invasion class action claims to proceed against social media company
3. Millions of Americans’ Medical Images and Data Are Available on the Internet. Anyone Can Take a Peek.
4. Millions of Americans’ medical images and data are available on the Internet
5. University Of Alabama Is Using A Location-Tracking App To Punish Students For Leaving Football Games Early
6. The DMV Is Selling Your Data To Vast Array Of Third Parties
7. Hackers are exploiting a platform-agnostic flaw to track mobile phone locations
8. Advanced hackers are infecting IT providers in hopes of hitting their customers
9. You’d Think The FBI Would Be More Sensitive To Protecting Encrypted Communications Now That We Know The Russians Cracked The FBI’s Comms
10. Privacy Regulators Turning Up the Heat: Major Fines for Data Breaches and Privacy Violations This Summer
11. Los Angeles partnership launches platform to help people catch phishes
12. Encryption Working Group Releases Paper To ‘Move The Conversation Forward’
13. Denmark Releases 32 Prisoners Convicted Because Of Flawed Mobile Phone Tracking Data
14. Spouse of Ring exec among lawmakers trying to weaken Calif. privacy law
15. California’s Consumer Privacy Act Completes its 2019 Legislative Journey
16. California now has toughest law in U.S. for the collection of personal information
17. And At the End of the Day, the CCPA Remains Very Much the Same 
18. California Legislature Passes CCPA Amendments and Privacy Bills
19. Compliance Tips From the Largest COPPA Settlement Ever
20. CCPA’s Moving Target Comes into Focus
21. Nevada’s New Privacy Law Will Go Into Effect Next Month: Are You Ready?
22. A connected world will be a playground for hackers: Few companies making connected gadgets have much experience with cyber security
23. Feds seek to seize all profits from Snowden’s book over NDA violation
24. DOJ Decides To Help Publicize Snowden’s Memoir By Suing Him For Failing To Run His Book By The CIA And NSA First

CREATIVITY

1. Mercedes’s Claims Against Street Artists Survive Dismissal Motion 
2. When IP meets counterculture: Is graffiti protected by copyright?
3. After Being Sued, Mississippi Rewrites Its Unconstitutional Ban On The Use Of Meat Words By Vegan Food Producers
4. New Mexico City Starts Crowdfunding Effort To Pay For Its Stupid Defense Of Constitutional Violations
5. Lawsuit Settlement Over Detainment Of A Journalist Will Force Denver Police Department To Admit The First Amendment Exists 
6. Australian Aboriginal Flag Mess Is Getting Worse — All Thanks To Copyright 
7. USPTO Drops Its Demands For Applicants’ Green Cards
8. The Music Business Wants to Blow Up Copyright – and the Trump Administration Is On Board
9. She’s just not that ‘Into You’ – Ariana Grande seeks $10 million after snubbing Forever 21 
10. Charlotte Tilbury successful in copyright action against Aldi for “lookalike” makeup
11. All Over the Map: Publishers, Writers, Small Towns & Apartment Owners Weigh In On Consent Decree Debate 
12. Researchers analyzed more than 300,000 local news stories on Facebook. Here’s what they found.: “Aside from critical information needs, 31 percent of stories categorized covered sports and 9 percent were obituaries.” 
13. THE Ohio State University Loses Its Trademark Application For ‘THE’ 
14. Liverpool FC Fans Plan Protest Of Their Own Club Over Trademark Issue 
15. AB InBev Fails To Get ‘Patagonia’ Trademark Suit Dismissed
16. Monster Energy Opposes Teenager’s Trademark Application Over Logos Not At All Similar
17. Fluid Trademarks: Will Companies Go With the Flow?
18. Intellectual Property Is Neither Intellectual, Nor Property: Discuss
19. Elections Advertising—What You Need to Know About the Third-Party Advertising Rules
20. The amendment to the Patent Rules – Coming into Force October 30
21. The Cutthroat Battle for Controlling Le Monde
22. No-deal brexit and intellectual property
23. The MoviePass Mess Has Finally Come To An End
24. Ken Burns’ Soft-Focus Look at Country Music: The filmmaker’s latest documentary has more than three chords, not enough of the truth.
25. The Decline and Fall of the Modern Nerd: The sad saga of how fandom transformed from being about love into hate and intolerance
26. The Female Patrons Who Shaped Art History
27. No, James Murdoch Doesn’t Watch “Succession”: After leaving the family empire, Rupert Murdoch’s son is fighting threats to democracy that sound an awful lot like Fox News.
28. The 100 best TV shows of the 21st century
29. The 100 best films of the 21st century

Jon

GAMES

1. UK High Court orders ISPs to block Switch hacking sites: Judge sides with Nintendo in blacklisting a handful of sites advertising circumvention devices and software
2. Nintendo wins UK court case over Nintendo Switch piracy and modification
3. Nintendo gets UK ISPs to block Switch piracy sites
4. Nintendo launches infringement lawsuit against ROM site RomUniverse
5. Nintendo sues ROM site: Switch maker’s anti-piracy legal efforts continue with copyright and trademark infringement suit against RomUniverse
6. Capcom wins patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo
7. Chinese Giant Tencent Is Suing Bloggers Who Criticize The Company For ‘Reputational Damage’
8. Gears 5 review: An obvious gaming recommendation—if you already paid for it
9. Gears 5 launch delayed in China: Sales and pre-orders suspended due to unspecified issue
10. Niantic settles Pokemon Go public nuisance class action lawsuit
11. Niantic agrees to combat trespassing Pokémon Go players: Developer settles class action lawsuit after three years, committing to new preventative measures
12. Unionized Nexon staff rally for job security amid company-wide reorganization
13. Nexon Korea union holds demonstration one year after formation: South Korea’s first games industry union demands job security, protests restructuring
14. Steam rejects LilithSoft visual novel featuring rape scenes: Employee of Taimanin Asagi developer says Valve is “extremely strict with regards to characters that might be perceived as underage”
15. Is Valve still censoring adult games on Steam?: Taimanin Asagi removal puts question to Valve’s hands-off moderation policy.
16. Valve kept quiet on Epic exclusives following Metro Exodus backlash: Statement on “unfair” exclusivity was not intended to be a “lightning rod,” Valve said
17. Tales From The Platform Wars: Steam Dev Says Calling ‘Metro Exodus’ Epic Exclusive Unfair Wasn’t Intended To Incite
18. Epic Accuses Cheating Minor Of Continuing To Promote Cheat Software Even After Lawsuit
19. The (not) new Russian games store taking on Epic and Steam: My.Games on how a 70/30 split and lack of exclusives won’t prevent it from making “the best platform ever”
20. How Steam users see your game: An analysis of what players are looking for
21. A platter of experimental discovery features are heading to Steam
22. Valve updates experimental Steam Labs features: Micro Trailers coming to every game, plus new algorithms to help users explore Steam catalogue
23. Crunch not needed for live ops game dev, says Zynga producer
24. Why Ubisoft isn’t abandoning its open worlds: CEO Yves Guillemot explains why the growing audience for games means the publisher’s blockbuster model is sustainable
25. EA readying cloud gaming technical trials: PC players will test cloud versions of FIFA, Titanfall, Need For Speed and Unravel
26. EA is running a closed trial for its Project Atlas cloud gaming service this month
27. John Justice: “We are trying to implement cross-progression with every title on Stadia” – Google Stadia VP and head of product confirms service will include free trials, parental controls, mods, more features
28. Apple Arcade offers up 100+ exclusive(-ish) mobile games for $4.99 a month
29. Apple Arcade subscription offers 100+ games for $4.99/month on Sept. 19: Pac-Man, Frogger, Chu Chu Rocket, Rayman, and a new Square Enix RPG in the lineup.
30. MWM Immersive turns game publisher, debut title will beCreature in the Well
31. Team Rocket event pays off for Pokémon Go: Sensor Tower data puts $110m August haul in the game’s top five months since launch
32. Drivetime grabs $11 million in funding for voice-powered games for drivers
33. Drivetime raises $11m for games drivers can play on the road: Makers Fund leads Series A round with participation from Amazon and Google; Jeopardy offering launches today
34. Team17 draws up acquisition hit list as revenue jumps 97%: The UK publisher’s office move is set for November as staff count rises
35. The role of Double Fine’s publishing biz is still up in the air after joining Microsoft
36. Starbreeze applies for third extension on reconstruction period: If granted, troubled Swedish publisher would have had an entire year to avoid insolvency
37. Tim Schafer: “I don’t know if it makes sense to have a publisher within a publisher” – Double Fine founder says he isn’t certain about the future of publishing arm Double Fine Presents following Microsoft acquisition
38. Nintendo Direct shows off surprise sequels, new ports in aggressive year-end pitch
39. Nintendo teases Switch peripheral focused on physical exercise: New controller extends motion control functions of the Switch console
40. Wii Fit redux: Nintendo shows mysterious exercise ring for the Switch
41. Say goodbye to a “regular schedule” of emulated classics on Switch
42. What Sega’s Dreamcast launch keynote would have looked like, 20 years ago
43. Dreamcast 20th anniversary interview extravaganza
44. Dreamcast devs reflect on how the industry has changed since the console’s debut
45. Crash Team Racing was the UK’s best-selling game in August: But Nintendo dominates the month in terms of unit sales, revenues and top-selling titles
46. UK Charts: NBA 2K20 is No.1 in poor sales week
47. Marry everything: The satisfying sandbox of Fit for a King – Kitfox CEO Tanya Short on sandboxes and micro-publishing
48. Sony’s upcoming Xperia 5 phone supports the PS4’s DualShock controller
49. Celeste developers form new studio: Matt Makes Games team sheds its old name, emerges in new Vancouver offices as Extremely OK Games
50. Twitch kicks off partnership with the Raiders & Allegiant Stadium 
51. Report: Disney plans to sell Marvel Strike Force dev FoxNext Games
52. Up to 200 more GameStop stores set to close, with more to follow
53. 200 GameStop closures planned ahead of “a much larger tranche” coming
54. Sales continue to slide downhill as GameStop continues its reboot
55. The exciting uncertainty of esports’ future: Nielsen Esports’ Nicole Pike shares her patient views on the esports landscape ahead of her keynote at Esports BAR Miami 2019
56. BoomTV acquires American Video Game League in bid to expand collegiate esports: Deal is “huge step forward” for collegiate esports, says AVGL CEO
57. Why NASCAR raced into esports in 2019
58. Veloce Esports headed for series A investment after angel round: Initial investors include former Liberty Global exec Eric Tveter
59. Growing Pains: Issues Affecting eSports Stakeholders
60. DLA Piper’s Media, Sport and Entertainment sector, sports magazine: e-Sports update – “Loot boxes” in the crosshairs
61. RetroArch brings real-time translation to emulated games
62. Game-focused social video platform Medal.tv raises $9 million
63. Medal.tv raises $9 million in new funding: Horizons Ventures led the round, which takes social video platform to $12.5m lifetime funding
64. WoW Classic reminds us of all we’ve lost | Opinion: Nostalgia for an earlier version of Blizzard’s MMO is a stark reminder of how much of gaming’s creative history continues to be lost entirely
65. Blizzard’s World of Warcraft Classic hit with weekend DDoS attacks
66. Everspace 2: Rockfish’s not so difficult second album
67. Igniting a Chinese fighting game revolution: China isn’t known for its fighting game scene, but Next Studios wants to change that with Metal Revolution
68. Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games opens new studio in Australia
69. Sledgehammer Games is opening a studio in Australia: Call of Duty to expand its presence in Australia with new dev studio in Melbourne
70. VRChat raises $10 million to expand its virtual reality platform
71. VRChat secures $10m Series C funding: New investor Makers Fund joins HTC to help “open unique opportunities” in virtual reality space
72. VR firm MWM Immersive expands into games publishing: Rebrands as MWM Interactive, debut title is Creature In The Well
73. Here’s What 100 Hours of VR Drum Practice Gets You
74. Digital Frontier: Where Brain-computer Interfaces & AR/VR Could One Day Meet
75. The Coalition’s Gears 5 includes an expansive list of accessibility options
76. Gears 5: Critical Consensus – Reviewers agree The Coalition’s second tour of duty is vintage Gears with an assortment of twists, but split on how good that makes it
77. Blog: How I discovered the world of user acquisition and advertising
78. Blog: I am the cheapest bastard in indie games
79. Blog: Kickstarter tactics based on our campaign forUnbound: Worlds Apart
80. Blog: Unity Addressables – It’s never too big to fit
81. Blog: How music enhances virtual presence – Part 3
82. Don’t Miss: How Maxis avoided sequel-itis on The Sims 2
83. Watch John Pearl discuss the procedural design ofRemnant: From the Ashes
84. Video: Understanding Halo 5’s geometry caching optimizations
85. Video: Designing levels for a video game mixtape
86. Video: How to survive and thrive as a small studio without a big hit
87. Practical game writing insight from No Man’s Sky: Atlas Rises’ Greg Buchanan
88. U.S. Patent No. 9,174,128: Dynamic quests in game
89. U.S. Patent No. 9,545,571: Methods and apparatus for a video game magic system
90. Home Office confirms games roles will be added to UK occupation shortage list: Migration Advisory Committee’s industry-informed recommendations have been approved
91. UK regulatory roundup: Where we are and what lies ahead – Harbottle & Lewis on four imminent developments that will impact the games industry in the UK and Europe
92. Ars goes back to school: The video games that threatened our college GPA
93. BAFTA shuffles categories for 2020 Games Awards as submissions open

DIGITAL

1. 8chan owner testifies to Congress about extremism on the site
2. Months After Christchurch Shooting, The Australian Government Is Issuing Site-Blocking Orders Targeting Footage Of The Incident
3. Google And Facebook To Face Antitrust Probes Investigating Their Impact On The Digital Ad Market
4. Yes, News Sites Need To Get Out Of The Ad Surveillance Business — But Blame The Advertisers As Well
5. DOJ Wants Apple, Google To Hand Over Names And Phone Numbers Of 10,000 App Users
6. 50 states and territories launch massive joint probe into Google
7. Google Bans Ads for Experimental Medical Treatments
8. Amazon Probed by U.S. Antitrust Officials Over Marketplace: The FTC is interviewing merchants to determine whether the e-commerce giant is using its market power to hurt competition.
9. Watchdog Group Files FTC Complaint Against Ryan ToysReview For Improper Ad Disclosures
10. In Blockbuster Ruling, Ninth Circuit Affirms hiQ Injunction – CFAA Claim Likely Not Available for Scraping Publicly Available Website Data
11. Big News: Appeals Court Says CFAA Can’t Be Used To Stop Web Scraping
12. Web scraping doesn’t violate anti-hacking law, appeals court rules
13. HIQ LABS, INC. v. LINKEDIN CORPORATION (USCA 9^th Circuit, September 9, 2019)
14. China Issues New Cybersecurity Law to Protect Children
15. New Huawei rule: what it means for US companies
16. Chinese professor stole hard drive secrets for Huawei, US government charges
17. How China is Cashing in on Group Chats
18. 18 months after indictment, Iranian phishers are still targeting universities
19. YouTube Lets Indonesian Government Block Satirical Video That Criticizes The Indonesian Government
20. How an Élite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein: M.I.T. Media Lab aware of Epstein as a convicted sex offender & that Epstein contributions far exceeded what M.I.T. admitted.
21. Inside the bizarre world of internet trolls and propagandists
22. How online harassment threatens press freedom
23. Microsoft President Brad Smith: Tech sector needs to face up to responsibility and embrace regulation
24. Federal Gov’t Gives Customs Officers Permission To Break Social Media Platform Rules Forbidding Fake Accounts
25. A feel-good story about social media!
26. Facebook on the hook as states launch competition, privacy probe
27. The Technology 202: Facebook, Microsoft team up with academics in race to thwart deepfakes
28. Facebook tightens policies around self-harm and suicide
29. Facebook Dating launches in the United States today
30. Facebook dating is now available in the US. Here’s how it works
31. Facebook Watch Partners With International News Organizations To Produce New Slate
32. Section 230 Applies to Facebook’s Post Removals and Account Suspensions–King v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
33. The NY Times Got It Backwards: Section 230 Helps Limit The Spread Of Hate Speech Online
34. Ninth Circuit Says LinkedIn Wrongly Blocked HiQ’s Scraping Efforts
35. California Court Of Appeal’s Midvale Decision Opens The Floodgates For More Website Accessibility Lawsuits
36. FTC’s Latest Fine Of YouTube Over COPPA Violations Shows That COPPA And Section 230 Are On A Collision Course
37. FTC and Google reach $170 Million Settlement over children’s privacy on YouTube
38. FTC announces record $170 million COPPA settlement with Google and YouTube for children’s privacy violations
39. Google and YouTube Pay Record $170 Million Fine for Allegedly Violating Children’s Privacy Law in Settlement with the FTC and the New York Attorney General
40. Hotel Lobbyists Push Forward Their Plan To Kill The Internet Because They Hate Competing Against Airbnb
41. Canadian YouTube Giant WatchMojo Invests In Digital Video Festival ‘Buffer’
42. Video-sharing site reaches $170 million settlement with FTC and New York AG
43. Tom Brady Joins TikTok on Heels of NFL’s Deal With Video Platform
44. Insights: The Future Of The NFL Is TikTok, And Other Hail Mary Passes For Continued Relevance
45. A Quick Study in Doxing and Personal Jurisdiction: Vangheluwe v. GotNews
46. Execution in a Digital Age
47. What Happens To Your Digital Assets When You Die?
48. That Time Taylor Swift Threatened To Sue Microsoft Over Its Racist Chatbot
49. The Internet Remains Broken In The Ninth Circuit And, At Least For Now, The Third
50. ThinkProgress, a Top Progressive News Site, Has Shut Down: A search had been underway for a new publisher. But none was found.
51. YouTube launches a dedicated Fashion vertical
52. Bart Baker Says He’s Quitting YouTube, Moving To China To Pursue Social Superstardom
53. YouTube network Studio71 is expanding into streaming
54. YouTube Forges New ‘Red Diamond Creator Award’ For Channels With 100 Million Subscribers
55. YouTube Taps K-Pop Groups TVXQ! And Super Junior For Travel Docuseries
56. Tubular Labs Unveils New Metrics That Seek To Measure Social Video Like TV
57. How to Avoid a Complaint to the ASA as a #Socialinfluencer When Posting #Ads in the UK
58. New NLRB Advice Memo Clarifies Social Media Policy Rules
59. Viacom Digital Studios Readies Facebook Watch Slate With Grace Helbig, MatPat, Joey Graceffa
60. No, Netflix Is Not Ditching Binge-Watching. It’s Just “Trying Something New” With Competition Series ‘Rhythm + Flow.’
61. Apple Music launches its official web-app in beta
62. Apple TV Plus to Launch on Nov. 1, Cost $4.99 per Month
63. Apple TV+ subscription service soft-launches November 1 for $4.99/mo
64. Apple releases first trailer for new sci-fi series See, starring Jason Momoa
65. Apple continues health push with three new medical studies
66. Apple: The First Hope-Based Company
67. Apple, Foxconn caught breaking Chinese labor laws while making iPhones
68. Apple Wanted to Revolutionize the Way Streaming Pays. Here’s Why It Wasn’t Allowed: Spotify and Amazon are battling the Copyright Royalty Board over streaming royalty rates.
69. Spotify users can now share music and podcasts to Snapchat
70. Snapchat Prepares a Dedicated News Channel Ahead of 2020 Debates: Snapchat has made forays into the news business before
71. Howard Stern is Getting Ripped Off: Why podcasting may have minted its first billionaire, subscription podcasting is the next great business model, and how to join the revolution
72. Was Etsy too good to be true?
73. WarnerMedia’s Crunchyroll Invests In European Anime Firm Viz Media Group
74. WarnerMedia centralises distribution leadership for HBO, Turner
75. Patreon Eyeing Providing Loans, HR Support, Health Care To Creators, CEO Says
76. “Everything as a service” is coming—but we’re not there quite yet
77. US tech IPOs on track for record year in money raised, reaching $17.1bn in 2019 H1 – Linklaters reports
78. A Paranoid Tech Bro, a Homemade Nuclear Bunker, and a Shocking Death: In the tunnels beneath a placid suburban home, an angel investor turned into an angel of doom.
79. China is close to releasing a Libra-like digital currency
80. It’s just emojions misleading us over [laughing tears of joy face]?
81. Emojis Have Unsettled Grammar Rules (and Why Lawyers Should Care) (Eric Goldman)
82. Someone moved $1 billion in a single bitcoin transaction
83. The hacker, bitcoin, the Proceeds of Crime Act and the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act.

A.I.

1. CDA Section 230 Immunizes Platform From Liability for Friend and Content Suggestion Algorithms
2. An AI app that turns you into a movie star has risked the privacy of millions
3. Algorithms should have made courts more fair. What went wrong?
4. Texas Law Could Signal More State, Federal Deepfake Bans
5. Cops Digitally Erase Suspect’s Facial Tattoos To Make Him Look More Like The Robbery Suspect Caught On Camera
6. ‘Years ahead of the pack’: uOttawa’s renowned robot researcher Ian Kerr remembered as a leader in his field
7. How do intellectual property rights apply to AI?
8. Construction Robots Learn to Excavate by Mimicking Humans: Human movements can teach robots the skills they need to dig holes and – maybe someday – build the first colonies on Mars 
9. Leveraging Data Analytics and AI Through the M&A Life Cycle 
10. AI & Privacy: The Struggle is Real: meAnIngful consent and retAIning data
11. Ethical Implications of AI and Ubuntu as an Intervention
12. The Age of AI: How Will In-house Law Departments Run in 10 Years
13. Hunting for the Sharpest Tools in the AI Shed
14. Will AI Chatbots Replace Your Employee Handbook? 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Disruption drags on for some Telus email customers
2. Much Of The Assault On ‘Big Tech’ Is Being Driven By ‘Big Telecom’
3. Comcast sues Maine to stop law requiring sale of individual TV channels
4. T-Mobile Metro stores sell used phones as new, charge “fake taxes,” NYC says
5. New York City Sues T-Mobile For Ripping Off Its Prepaid Users
6. T-Mobile Employees Want Promises They Won’t Be Fired Post Merger
7. Charter Spectrum Once Again ‘Competes’ By… Raising Prices
8. Verizon’s 5G network isn’t good enough to cover an entire NFL stadium
9. Verizon Can’t Stop Over-hyping 5G; This Time In NFL Stadiums
10. Supreme Court Punts On Whether FCC’s Interpretation of the TCPA Binds Federal Courts

PRIVACY

1. White House Pushing Proposal That Would Subject Mentally Ill People To Increased Surveillance
2. DMVs Are Selling Your Data to Private Investigators: You gave them your data in exchange for a driver’s license. DMVs are making tens of millions of dollars selling it, documents obtained by Motherboard show.
3. Hyp3r-misappropriation of data gets Instagram’s attention, but is enough being done?
4. Senator pushes Amazon for details about Ring “partnerships” with police
5. Ring Let Cops Know How Often Their Requests For Camera Footage Were Ignored
6. Ring Has A ‘Head Of Face Recognition Tech,’ Says It’s Not Using Facial Recognition Tech. Yet.
7. Appeals Court Says An IP Address Is ‘Tantamount To A Computer’s Name’ While Handing The FBI Another NIT Win
8. FBI’s Operation reWired Targets International E-mail Scams
9. The CCPA and COPPA: Looking for the “Betwixt and Between”
10. Back to school: With latest attack, ransomware cancels classes in Flagstaff
11. 600,000 GPS trackers for people and pets are using 123456 as a password
12. Zero-day privilege escalation disclosed for Android
13. Exploit for wormable BlueKeep Windows bug released into the wild
14. CCPA Privacy FAQs: If a company collects personal information through a cookie, is it required to provide a consumer with a privacy policy?
15. Apple takes flak for disputing iOS security bombshell dropped by Google
16. MoviePass Left Tens Of Thousands Of Credit Card Numbers Exposed Online
17. Firefox is stepping up its blocking game
18. Riding in cars with hackers
19. How The Cyber Insurance Industry’s Bottom Line Is Fueling Ransomware
20. Cybersecurity Starts at the Top: Risks and Concerns for Directors and Officers
21. Nevada’s New Privacy Bill Requires Website Operators That Collect Information About Consumers to Update Privacy Policies by October 1, 2019
22. Equifax Victims Jump Through Hoops To Nab Settlement Money They Won’t Get Anyway

CREATIVITY

1. A Famous Argument Against Free Will Has Been Debunked: For decades, a landmark brain study fed speculation about whether we control our own actions. It seems to have made a classic mistake.
2. “Precious hours were wasted”: Trump’s doctored map affected hurricane forecasters
3. Devin Nunes Drops One Ridiculous Lawsuit, Only To File Another One
4. Court Tosses $100 Million Defamation Suit Brought By Former Trump Spokesman Over Reporting On Court Documents
5. Judge Orders White House To Restore Reporter’s Press Pass It Illegally Removed
6. Elections Canada’s third-party advertising controversy ignores regulatory discretion, says lawyer
7. Football, gambling and advertising: The opposite of a young man’s game
8. A New ‘Taco Tuesday’ Trademark Challenger Approaches: LeBron James
9. Ariana Grande Sues Forever 21, Asserting Right of Publicity, Lanham Act and Copyright Claims
10. Never ever getting back together: Taylor Swift Re-Records back Catalogue
11. Charlotte Tilbury – highlighting the pow(d)er of using copyright against copycats
12. Update on Canadian Copyright Mass Litigation – September Snapshot (Howard Knopf)
13. The music modernization act: A primer for copyright holders
14. That’s All He Wrote: Copyright Owners No Longer Enjoy Presumption of Irreparable Harm
15. Myth #4: The 30 Seconds/500 Copies/Two-Thirds/200 Words Rule
16. Using copyright to stop copycats – Islestarr Holdings Ltd v Aldi Stores Ltd
17. New NAD decision addresses incentivized reviews
18. Stouffer v. National Geographic Partners, LLC
19. U.S. Supreme Court Issues Decisions Resolving Two Major Copyright Law Issues
20. Queen Anne’s Revenge?
21. Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” Is Not the Capitalist Anthem You Think It Is
22. Heirs to stolen painting seek its return from Japanese museum

Jon

GAMES

1. Blizzard is suing Chinese studio Sina Games for ripping offWarcraft series
2. Report: Valve is pushing back against accusations it violated EU trade rules
3. Valve reportedly fighting EU antitrust charges: Focus Home, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Koch Media, and ZeniMax reportedly settling charges
4. Recent Valve VR update contains hidden Half-Life demo code
5. Night in the Woods devs cut ties with collaborator accused of assault: Others accused of harassment in the industry include Skyrim composer, Oculus co-founder.
6. Oculus VR faces two allegations of sexual assault and harassment: Facebook’s current head of VR/AR describes stories as “sickening”
7. Chucklefish responds to accusations it exploited Starboundvolunteers
8. Sony Is Feverishly Battling Vita Tinkerers Despite Vita Being Discontinued
9. Report: Annapurna Interactive parent company wipes $200 million in debt
10. Starbreeze seeking to extend reconstruction period for a third time
11. Facebook is using Minecraft to train an AI Assistant
12. Former colleagues accuse Alexis Kennedy of abuse, retaliation: Weather Factory co-founder denies accusations from Red Queens’ Meg Jayanth and Failbetter’s Olivia Wood
13. Voice actor shares a second warning about Skyrim composer: Aeralie Brighton accuses Jeremy Soule of sexual misconduct; he says, “I don’t agree with her point of view”
14. Ken Wong apologises following accounts of abuse from former employee: Florence designer admits to his “failure as a leader” but assures he is working hard to “take better care of my team”
15. Night in the Woods team cancels game amid Alec Holowka allegations: Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry cut ties with Holowka, will handle the property alone from now on
16. Ukie launches diversity census to analyse shape of the UK games industry
17. UKIE launches UK diversity census: New study aims to deliver detailed analysis on the British games industry
18. NBA 2K20 trailer sells the thrill of gambling | Opinion: The lurid online casino is wilfully short-sighted at a precarious time for the industry
19. Ninja Becomes Adidas’ First Pro Gamer Partner In Multiyear Deal
20. Niko Partners: Mobile esport games grossed $15.3bn worldwide last year – Mobile esport titles poised to overtake PC competitors which grossed $16.1 billion in 2018
21. ‘This is a sport.’ Playing video games for $7,000 in scholarship money at Durham College
22. ESL and Dreamhack merging CS GO tourneys to form ESL Pro Tour – IEM Katowice and ESL One Cologne Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitions will serve as two Masters events for 2020
23. Twitch Signs Top YouTube Streamer Nick Eh 30: Twitch’s deal with the ‘Fortnite’ player comes just weeks after the platform’s biggest star, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, moved to Microsoft’s Mixer.
24. Gearbox launches Homeworld 3 crowdfunding campaign with $1 goal
25. Microsoft partners with SK Telecom for 5G game-streaming in Korea
26. Chris Charla: “Discoverability may be harder to solve than investment” – ID@Xbox head on the importance of sustainability, and how Microsoft is trying to ensure “every game has a chance”
27. Yu-Gi-Oh is the best-selling boxed game in EMEAA charts: But Switch-exclusive Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution missed out to FIFA and (yes) GTA V in combined Top 10
28. What convinced Ubisoft to launch its own subscription service?: As Uplay+ launches, Brenda Panagrossi talks about the motivations and market research behind the publisher’s new offering
29. Yves Guillemot on the thin line between politics and entertainment: Ubisoft CEO speaks about the difficulty of tackling sensitive real-world issues while running a multi-billion dollar entertainment firm
30. Nintendo adds SNES titles to Nintendo Switch Online: 20 titles join the service tomorrow, compatible controller will be sold only to online subscription members
31. Nintendo is the new lead partner for Digital Schoolhouse: Firm will help 55 schools teach students about careers in the games industry, including esports via a Smash Bros tournament
32. Nintendo Direct shows off surprise sequels, new ports in aggressive year-end pitch
33. The best-selling games product on Amazon last month was a Switch screen protector: Nintendo dominated the online retail giant last month with six of the ten best-selling games
34. Nintendo Switch will finally get SNES games—20 of them—starting tomorrow
35. Pokemon Masters has topped 10 million downloads in four days
36. Trine 4 publisher Modus Games acquires Brazilian studio The Balance
37. Don’t Miss: The pros and cons of procedural generation inOverland
38. Don’t Miss: Tackling network programming for Age of Empires’ demanding battles – in 1996
39. Don’t Miss: A classic postmortem of Epic Games’ Unreal Tournament
40. Why you may be underpricing your video game
41. Blog: How onboarding should be applied to tutorials
42. Blog: 50 mistakes to avoid when developing an advergame
43. Blog: How painting works in Chicory: A Colorful Tale
44. Blog: The UX of the Overwatch role queue
45. Opinion: Can World of Warcraft Classic capture the MMO’s original glory?
46. Don’t Miss: Rethinking the RPG to make it fun to be the bad guy in Tyranny
47. How Remedy harnessed the ethereal beauty of brutalism to shape Control
48. Crafting the mobile-friendly atmospheric storytelling ofSky: Children of the Light
49. How to make 80-hour adventures for blind gamers | Opinion:  Accessibility consultant and blind gamer Brandon Cole offers advice on how to open up your epic blockbusters to the visually impaired
50. Video: How indies and small studios can succeed with licensed games
51. Video: A data-driven deep dive into the 12 motivations for players
52. Video: Conquering the creative challenges in Marvel’s Spider-Man
53. Disney, Marvel, and a decade of missed opportunity: 10 Years Ago This Month: Media giant planned to make super hero games internally, then spent years dismantling its own studios
54. Koch Media CEO: “We should welcome Epic and their business model” – Klemens Kundratitz says publisher is open to more exclusives with Epic Games Store despite backlash against Metro Exodus
55. A dev’s guide to sustainably supporting live games without crunching
56. Producer Keith Fuller on business realities of crunch, how to overcome them
57. How to get your game released on Google Stadia: Google’s Ray Bautista says Stadia is “moving away from the Wild West that exists in some storefronts today”
58. Google open sources real-time hand and finger tracking tech
59. Google Play apps with 1.5 million downloads drained batteries and slowed devices
60. Viveport Infinity rolls out support for the Valve Index
61. Nine Steam pre-release marketing tips from Valve’s Alden Kroll: Steam UI and interaction designer offers insight on the tools developers can use to build an audience before launch
62. Steam Library redesign ushers in new features for devs alongside spruced up game pages
63. Steam’s new, handsome “Library” update is better 16 years late than never
64. Steam Library overhaul to focus on organization, events: Coming changes include new developer tools, customizable “collections,” more from Steam Labs
65. Lucky’s Tale dev Playful secures $23 million to create viewer-friendly games  
66. Porsche got thousands of Twitch viewers to play its newest ad: The prize? Showing off Porsche’s newest Formula E car
67. Sales revenue up at CD Projekt thanks to evergreen The Witcher series
68. CD Projekt first-half revenues climb 26%: The Witcher franchise continues to drive Polish publisher’s results as Cyberpunk 2077 sees “final, most intensive phase of development”
69. Luminous Productions’ Back Stage tech demo shows off Square Enix’s ray tracing tech
70. Mobile studio Cerberus Interactive nets $1.75 million in funding
71. Investors sink $4 million into instant game developer Knock Knock
72. Modus Games acquires The Balance Inc: Maximum Games’ newly-launched publishing label picks up Brazilian studio behind Override – Mech City Brawl
73. Project xCloud to use SK Telecom exclusively in Korea: Microsoft partnership with mobile carrier calls for a 5G/LTE public preview of the streaming service next month
74. Sam Barlow on crafting stories players tell themselves: The acclaimed developer discusses his work on Telling Lies and Her Story, and how he hopes to advance interactive fiction
75. Critique Gaming: “We try to explore reality in meaningful ways” – Romanian indie dev discusses its motives as a politically charged studio, and how to breach difficult topics in sensible ways
76. Serious Games for and as Cultural Heritage (Boyan Bontchev)
77. First encounter: Ohio Challenger 2P (and its 4KB of RAM) – [From the archives] Wait, I can write my own video games?!?!

DIGITAL

1. Hong Kong ISPs Refuse To Help China Censor The Internet
2. Senator: Mark Zuckerberg should face “the possibility of a prison term”: “He ought to be held personally accountable,” Ron Wyden (D-OR) said.
3. FTC Fines Google $150-$200 Million For YouTube’s Child Data Privacy Violations 
4. YouTube fined $170 million for violations of children’s privacy
5. Google Is Fined $170 Million for Violating Children’s Privacy on YouTube
6. Google Exec Accused Of Fathering, Abandoning Baby With Employee
7. The career rise and controversy of David Drummond, Alphabet’s chief lawyer whose extramarital relationship with a former employee reignited criticism of Google’s culture
8. Google’s top lawyer allegedly cheated on his wife with multiple employees – against Google’s own policies: Drummond denies he had relationships with more than one Google employee
9. Google lets David Drummond do the talking
10. $650,000-a-year Google legal chief ‘had affairs with employees – and a CHILD with me before dumping me by text’ claims ex-worker as she hits out at ‘sexist culture’ at company
11. YouTube Re-Bans InfoWars Channel After It Temporarily Circumvented The Site’s Terms Of Service
12. Amid Reported FTC Investigation, YouTube Announces New ‘YouTube Kids’ Website
13. YouTube Kids is getting its own website: The platform has also introduced new age-based categories.
14. GM and Tesla unlock connected car features to help with Hurricane Dorian: OnStar’s Crisis Assist is free, and Tesla is unlocking extra range on some cars.
15. There Is Essentially No Statute of Limitations for Online Copyright Infringement–APL v. US (Eric Goldman)
16. Facebook Confirms 2 Billion Users Will Now Need To Opt In To Facial Recognition
17. Instagram may allow creators to syndicate IGTV videos to Facebook
18. Indiana Appeals Court Decides Badmouthing A Cop On Facebook Is A Crime
19. Netflix can kill The OA, but it can’t kill a movement: #SaveTheOA understands the stakes of the streaming wars.
20. YouTube Now Requires Creators To Manually Approve Crowdsourced Video Translations To Clamp Down On Trolls
21. YouTube Makes ‘Cobra Kai’ Free To Kick Off AVOD Era, Unveils New European Slate
22. YouTube Hands Out Grants To 8 Indian Creators As Part Of $20 Million ‘Learning Fund’
23. Delhi High Court yet again calls for accountability from e-commerce platforms.
24. Pinterest’s Way Of Dealing With Anti-Vax Nonsense And Scams Is Only Possible Because Of Section 230
25. Reminder: The Copyright Office Will Be Yanking Eligibility for the DMCA Online Safe Harbor (Again) (Eric Goldman)
26. Three Years Later And The Copyright Office Still Can’t Build A Functioning Website For DMCA Agents, But Demands Everyone Re-Register
27. Pressured By ‘Right To Repair’ Movement, Apple Will Sell Parts To Independent Repair Shops
28. Spotify is testing a ‘Create podcast’ button inside its app: Record, edit and publish a podcast right from your phone.
29. Pandora now lets you share music and podcasts to your Instagram Stories
30. Vevo strikes a new distribution deal for smart TVs
31. YouTube will stop displaying exact follower counts in September: It’s an attempt to take pressure off of creators, but it’s drawing criticism.
32. Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery System Has Brought Chaos And Carnage To America’s Streets — But The World’s Biggest Retailer Has A System To Escape The Blame
33. Amazon delivery contractors operate with little oversight, report finds
34. Alibaba, the $435 billion Chinese shopping giant, is gunning for Amazon in Europe
35. President Trump tweets picture of sensitive satellite photo of Iranian launch site
36. Judge Wants To Know Who’s Behind Devin Nunes’ Cow’s And Mom’s Twitter Account
37. Knight Institute Warns Rep. Ocasio-Cortez That She, Like Trump, Can’t Block People On Twitter
38. Former Hotel Exec Gets Elected To Congress, Decides First Order Of Business Is To Destroy Airbnb
39. Josh Hawley Continues To Pretend That Silicon Valley Isn’t Innovative
40. Vice sees success with its year-old cross-platform video ad sales push
41. Vice News To Merge With Viceland Amid Layoffs At Latter, Pivot Away From Entertainment
42. Pro Tip: Don’t Send A Completely Bogus Defamation Threat To A Website That Employs A Former ACLU Badass
43. Antonio Neri and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s cultural revolution
44. Unix at 50: How the OS that powered smartphones started from failure
45. Film & TV makers debut new feature to end the “soap opera effect” scourge
46. The (un)sustainability of Bitcoin | Alex de Vries

A.I.

1. A Voice Deepfake Was Used To Scam A CEO Out Of $243,000
2. Fraudsters deepfake CEO’s voice to trick manager into transferring $243,000
3. How YACHT fed their old music to the machine and got a killer new album
4. IoT botnet creator cops plea to hacking more than 800,000 devices
5. AI having uneven impact on lawyers
6. White House Now Thinks Harvesting Fitness Tracker Data Could Stop The Next Mass Shooting

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Fraudsters preying on Telus customers impacted by major email outage
2. AT&T’s confusing mess of online TV services even has AT&T confused
3. Unlicensed signal boosters get a boost from Amazon
4. The FCC Doesn’t Actually Know How Many People Have Broadband
5. DOJ ‘Solution’ For Sprint T-Mobile Merger Will Result In Less Overall Wireless Coverage
6. Comcast, beware: New city-run broadband offers 1Gbps for $60 a month
7. Samsung launches its first 5G-integrated CPU
8. Resolving telecoms disputes involving state entities in the Middle East

PRIVACY

1. EFF Sues CBP, ICE Over Refusal To Hand Over Its GPS Tracking Device Policies
2. Facebook And Twitter Hope To Fix California’s Troubled Privacy Law With…Misleading Ads?
3. You Know That Mobile Phone Tracking Data You Used As Evidence In Over 10,000 Court Cases? Turns Out Some Of It Was Wrong, But We’re Not Sure Which Yet
4. Just As Attorney General Barr Insists iPhone Users Have Too Much Security, We Learn They Don’t Have Nearly Enough
5. A glut of iOS 0-days pushes their price below cost of those for Android: Top price for unpublished Android exploits reaches $2.5 million, a 25% premium over iOS.
6. The Conflict Between Social Media Transparency And Bad Privacy Laws Is Going To Get Worse
7. Rash of ransomware continues with 13 new victims—most of them schools
8. Armed with iOS 0days, hackers indiscriminately infected iPhones for two years
9. Ring reportedly shared video sharing data, detailed maps with police in 2018
10. GirlsDoPorn.com faces trial for allegedly filming 22 women under false pretenses
11. InvizBox 2 redefines what “privacy” routers can do
12. Office Of Legal Counsel Sued For Refusing To Turn Over Legal Memos Congress Said Aren’t Exempt From FOIA Law

CREATIVITY

1. ‘Baby Shark’, Derived From A Public Domain Folk Song, Now The Subject Of A Copyright Dispute
2. Uber Takes On Beautician/Barber Over Her BeauBer Mobile App
3. Tom Brady Fails To Trademark ‘Tom Terrific’ As USPTO Rightly Assesses He’s Not The Most Terrific Tom
4. Even Kirk Herbstreit Thinks THE Ohio State Is Being THE Silliest With Its ‘THE’ Trademark Application
5. In video message on Dorian, President Trump displays doctored forecast
6. Bedbug Privilege: Bret Stephens Uses His NY Times Column To Suggest Jokingly Comparing Him To A Bedbug Is Prelude To Ethnic Genocide
7. Should advertising regulators enforce wokeness?

Jon

GAMES

1. Blizzard sues over “brazen” Warcraft clone: World of Warcraft maker taking InstantFuns to court due to Glorious Saga, saying the game’s content “is almost entirely copied”
2. New allegations of sexual assault surface against established game devs
3. Developers sound off after abuse accusations: People across the industry offer support to victims, perspective and calls to action for the rest of their peers
4. Tetrageddon Games developer warns women about Skyrim composer: Nathalie Lawhead says Jeremy Soule raped them, took advantage of an industry newcomer’s situation
5. More developers come forward with accounts of emotional abuse and sexual assault: Nathalie Lawhead’s account prompts Zoë Quinn, Adelaide Gardner, more to speak out about their experiences in the industry
6. Night in the Woods devs cut ties with Alec Holowka after abuse allegations
7. Riot Games settles gender-discrimination class action lawsuit 
8. Riot Games reaches preliminary settlement in class action lawsuit over gender discrimination: “Gender discrimination (in pay or promotion), sexual harassment, and retaliation are not systemic issues at Riot”
9. Ion Fury retains controversial in-game content after all: Facial cleanser name is in, slur is out, company still donating to Trevor Project and mandating sensitivity training
10. Sony clamps down on Vita hacking: Despite console’s slow death, Sony moves to protect its interests in Japan with anti-hacking firmware update
11. Mixer streamers can now earn cash for recommending Xbox Game Pass
12. Six men arrested over alleged Counter-Strike match fixing: Australian police say offences could lead to up to ten years in prison
13. Better with the cloud? Stadia gets the “fastest” Football Manager sims
14. Another Bad PR Sign: Indie Developer Shuns Epic Store, Saying ‘My Word Means Something’
15. Darq developer offers Epic revenue to charity if given non-exclusivity: Unfold Games offers to let the gaming community choose which organisation would receive donations
16. Australian police make arrests as part of investigation into esports match fixing
17. Twitch’s cuts of payments to esports teams is benefiting YouTube
18. OG wins Dota 2’s International for second straight year: Valve’s premiere esports competitions sees back-to-back champs for the first time
19. Benjamin ‘DrLupo’ Lupo Inks Multi-Year Equity Deal With Esports Conglomerate ReKTGlobal
20. Ninja defamed?
21. Accessibility Unlocked offers support to disabled developers in Australia and New Zealand: New group also wants to raise more awareness about accessibility issues for players
22. Restoring trust in Star Wars Battlefront II: Design director Dennis Brännvall reflects on the fallout from the loot box controversy, and how DICE has won back the community
23. DICE cancels new Battlefield V multiplayer mode to focus on eradicating bugs
24. DICE cancels Battlefield V competitive mode to focus on bug fixes: Battlefield still bug crushing nine months after release
25. Celebrity Entertainer Sues Over Video Game Avatar 
26. The joyful representation of The Sims: EA Maxis senior producer Michael Duke on creating studio longevity, improving representation, and building a lasting franchise
27. Modified DayZ receives MA15+ rating in Australia: Bohemia Interactive’s changes satisfy the Australian Classification Board
28. Video Game Age Ratings in Online Retail: Legal Requirements for Merchants
29. Emulator aims to keep Flash games alive and kicking after official support ends
30. New publisher Modern Wolf commits to “ethical development practices”: UK-based indie publisher has a zero tolerance policy on crunch, will champion developers from underrepresented regions
31. Nintendo continues marginal improvements to ethical mineral sourcing: Switch maker says it’s “putting smiles on the faces of our supply chain,” but efforts to ensure it isn’t funding human rights abuses far from complete
32. Hands-on: The Switch Lite is a smaller, more comfortable handheld
33. Nintendo removes credit card payment option from Wii U, 3DS eShop in EU and UK
34. Nintendo Wii U, 3DS eShops to stop accepting credit cards in UK, EU: Credit card purchases can still be made through Nintendo accounts
35. The future for platform holders is cooperation, not just competition | Opinion: Companies like Sony and Microsoft will always seek a competitive advantage, but the clear lines of the console wars are all but gone
36. Microsoft’s Age of Empires studio will oversee the IP rather than develop games 
37. Microsoft’s Age of Empires studio won’t be developing games: Shannon Loftis’ newly-created studio is focused on oversight of teams like Forgotten Empires, Relic
38. Bungie – “We need to dispel the notion Activision was some prohibitive overlord”: Destiny 2 developer discusses whether the game’s big changes this year were related to splitting from its original publisher
39. Google Play Store design refresh aims to boost game discoverability
40. Game stores: you need more real-time charts!
41. Play Ventures raises $40 million to fuel game-focused VC fund
42. Playtika acquires Best Fiends developer-publisher Seriously
43. Playtika acquires Best Fiends developer Seriously: Seriously’s “mobile first” entertainment strategy drove it to $69m revenue last year
44. Grand Theft Auto V is back on top in the EMEAA charts: The drought of major new releases leaves the door open for Rockstar once again
45. UK Charts: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe takes No. 1 (but it should be Minecraft, again) – For second week running, listing anomaly denies Minecraft top spot, despite being best-selling game for the week
46. ISFE: EU games industry worth over €21bn – Consoles account for 47% of revenue in France, Germany, Spain, and UK
47. MatPat’s Alternate Reality Game ‘The Theorist Gateway’ Has Amassed 400,000 Unique Players
48. Scopely announces Barcelona and Dublin expansion: Just two years since opening Barcelona office, mobile dev plans to triple its presence in the city
49. Razer and Tencent partner to further cloud gaming ambitions
50. Tencent partners with Razer for cloud gaming hardware, overseas expansion: Collaboration aims to have gaming hardware compatible with Tencent Cloud launched by year’s end
51. Play Ventures closes first funding round at $40m: Led by Rovio investment, VC fund raises $10m more than initial targets
52. Hatch and Vodafone partner to bring 5G mobile game streaming to Germany
53. Valve tweaks bug bounty program after ‘mistakenly’ turning away researchers
54. Valve says turning away researcher reporting Steam vulnerability was a mistake
55. Steam no longer allowing payments in Argentinian pesos: Storefront error cites “government laws,” but currency depreciation may be at the heart of payment block
56. Ubisoft exec claims Valve needs to modify Steam’s ‘unrealistic’ business model
57. Ubisoft exec criticises Steam’s “unrealistic” business model: “It doesn’t reflect where the world is today in terms of game distribution,” says VP of partnerships and revenue
58. “I spent 300 days on the road last year meeting developers”: Meet Kowloon Nights, the games fund that wants its partners to leave it behind
59. LCG Entertainment relaunches Telltale Games brand: New owners are “working very hard” to avoid mistakes of previous management
60. Telltale Games, the studio behind The Walking Dead, has been reanimated
61. Like a zombie, the Telltale brand is coming back from the dead
62. Warner Bros. Interactive to Open San Diego Studio Focused on Mobile Games
63. Warner Bros. forms new free-to-play mobile studio in San Diego
64. Warner Bros opens new mobile studio in San Diego: Branch will be led by Boston studio boss Tom Casey and specialise in free-to-play games
65. Using UI as a means to tell a story, convey emotion, and create personality
66. Video: A soft skills survival guide for game developers
67. Video: The three phases of designing Episode’s interactive fiction
68. Video: Inside the transmedia storytelling of Final Fantasy XV
69. Fumito Ueda on weaving empathy into victory in Shadow of the Colossus
70. 20 years after Seaman, Saito reflects on creativity and making new, strange things
71. World of Warcraft is hearthing back home again with Classic
72. Ancestors – The Humankind Odyssey: Critical Consensus – Patrice Désilets’ Panache Digital leaves the critics intrigued and ultimately frustrated with a unique game that refuses to hold the player’s hand
73. Don’t Miss: Taking the sting out of failure in Supergiant’sPyre
74. Don’t Miss: The story behind Remedy’s viral dog mocap star
75. Don’t Miss: How Remedy rewrote its engine tech to makeAlan Wake
76. Don’t Miss: Creating the free-flowing text conversations inMr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n
77. How we balanced our game for beginners and for pros
78. Blending comedy with capitalism in The Outer Worlds: Obsidian’s senior designer Brian Heins also discusses why tougher moral choices are more interesting
79. Bhad Bhabie Joyriding Game ‘Ride or Die!’ Geared Around Stealing Cars, Outrunning Cops
80. Bhad Bhabie Pacts With BBTV Interactive On Mobile Car Game ‘Ride Or Die!’
81. Blog: Creating Merchant of the Skies from announcement to Early Access launch
82. Blog: A primer on sound design for video games
83. Blog: Depiction of war in games – can you do better?
84. Blog: Second looks at snowballing
85. Creating a narrative focused mission design document: A Last of Us example
86. ‘Why all of our games look like crap’: One dev’s lessons in art style
87. Review: Control is Remedy’s best game yet—and a ray tracing masterpiece
88. C’mon and SLAM: How Oculus tackled portable, 6DOF tracking for the Quest
89. Oculus’ former head of mobile VR has left Facebook
90. Oculus VR loses its head of mobile: Max Cohen left this month, after leading Gear VR, Oculus Go, and starting push toward Oculus Quest
91. Indie Dev Experiment Brings Google Lens to VR, Showing Real-time Text Translation
92. VRGO Mini is Small Form Factor VR Locomotion Peripheral, Kickstarter Now Live
93. Telling Lies: Critical Consensus: Her Story creator Sam Barlow delivers critically acclaimed follow-up, but Telling Lies still lives in the shadow of its predecessor
94. PlayStation Productions joins the Uncharted movie as another director exits
95. PlayStation Productions is now working on the Uncharted movie: Sony’s new unit joins the producing team after film project loses yet another director
96. Metro 2033 movie in the works: Gazprom Media producing a feature film based on the novel that spawned 4A Games’ post-apocalyptic shooter franchise
97. Staffsource: Ars staffers reminisce on the games that made them gamers
98. The ten best console racing games of all time
99. Our favorite gaming studios, expos, museum exhibits—in a photo blowout
100. First International Gaming Summit on Mental Health set for October
101. Gamescom: Opening Night Live attracts 500,000 viewers – Another record-breaking year for Gamescom is topped off by newfound digital engagement of 100 million video views
102. U.S. Patent no. 9,656,167: Pre-play and post-play video game character presentation and equipping 

DIGITAL

1. Alphabet’s legal chief, David Drummond, comes under the spotlight following new allegations about his personal conduct
2. My Time at Google and After
3. Ex-Google Staffer Says After Split With Chief Legal Officer David Drummond: ‘Hell Does Not Begin To Capture My Life’
4. Google defends tracking cookies—some experts aren’t buying it
5. Google Play app with 100 million downloads executed secret payloads
6. Former Google engineer Levandowski indicted for stealing trade secrets
7. Top MPAA Lawyer, Mastermind Behind Its Plan To Attack The Internet, Arrested On Blackmail And Sexual Assault Charges
8. Facebook likely knew about Cambridge Analytica much earlier than we thought
9. Facebook bans ads from The Epoch Times after huge pro-Trump buy: By hiding its multimillion-dollar dark money ad spend, the organization bypassed Facebook’s political advertising transparency rules.
10. Facebook’s Weird Pointless Auditless Audit Of Political Bias On Its Platform
11. Russian Troll Farm Tries Again To Sue Facebook, Despite Having Its Original Complaint Dismissed On 230 Grounds
12. Ninth Circuit Releases Another Important CDA Section 230 Opinion With Broad Application – Automated Content Recommendation and Notification Tools Do Not Make Social Site the Developer of User Posts 
13. Gutting Section 230 Will Harm The Most Marginalized
14. Decision to Dismiss Suit Seeking to Hold Facebook Liable for Hamas Attacks Affirmed by the Second Circuit
15. Internet Presence Creates Exposure For Discrimination Claims Under California Law 
16. California State Court Tosses Spam Suit
17. Facebook tightens rules for U.S. political advertisers ahead of 2020 election
18. Ninth Circuit Denies En Banc Re-Hearing of Facebook First Amendment Challenge—TCPA Constitutionality Fight Headed to the Supremes? 
19. Guy Sues Facebook For Violating Basically All The Laws, For Shutting Down His Account And For Everything Else Bad Facebook Has Ever Done
20. Tracking online hate groups reveals why they’re resilient to bans
21. Australia plans to block sites hosting extremist content during attacks
22. YouTube disables 210 accounts spreading misinformation about Hong Kong
23. Google shutters more than 200 YouTube channels amid Hong Kong protests
24. YouTube Disables 210 Channels For Spreading Misinformation About Hong Kong Protests
25. YouTube is now labeling videos in Hong Kong uploaded by publishers with government or public funding
26. Amid Objective Content Controversies, Susan Wojcicki Defends “Openness” Of YouTube Platform
27. Google Agrees To Meet With The YouTubers Union, But Says It Won’t “Negotiate Their Demands”
28. The YouTube Radicalization Pipeline Exists, And It’s Driving Users Toward Increasingly Alt-Right Content (Study)
29. YouTube Expands New “Borderline Content”-Hunting Algorithm To The U.K.
30. China (Yes, China) Complains About Attack On Its ‘Free Speech Rights’ After Twitter/Facebook Boot Propaganda Accounts
31. Twitter Says No More Ads From State-Controlled News Media
32. Book publishers sue Audible to stop new speech-to-text feature
33. YouTube Updates Child Safety Policies To Remove Adult-Themed Videos Aimed At Kids
34. YouTube flags robot battle videos as “animal fights”
35. Probably Speech, Maybe Free: Toward a Probabilistic Understanding of Online Expression and Platform Governance – Applying a probablistic statistical framework to First Amendment questions (Mike Ananny)
36. Macron claims deal to end digital service tax fight with the US
37. Why Is MLB Claiming Revenue From Obviously Fair Use Videos On YouTube?
38. PewDiePie reaches 100m subscribers: Long-running YouTuber is the first individual to achieve this milestone
39. PewDiePie Hits 100 Million Subscribers, And Surprisingly, YouTube Pays Him Tribute
40. YouTube Embraces PewDiePie After Two-Year Cold Shoulder, Congratulates Him On 100 Million Subs
41. YouTuber Olly Thorn Raises $100,000+ By Livestreaming Shakespeare Readings 24/7 For 4 Days
42. Netflix-like pirate sites offered more video than the real Netflix, feds say
43. Netflix To Screen Scorsese’s $159 Million ‘The Irishman’ And 9 Other Films In Theaters This Fall
44. Anti-vaxxer livestreamed alleged assault on pro-vaccine lawmaker
45. James Charles Leaks Own Nude Photo Amid AT&T Hack Affecting Several Creators
46. IP Legal Considerations for Live Streaming
47. NY Times Goes Off On Amazon Because Some People Are Publishing Fake George Orwell Books
48. Hundreds of “banned” goods still for sale on Amazon, report finds
49. Amazon Prime Video Signs Distribution Deal With Altice Europe
50. EU data economy: legal, ethical & social issues
51. Agreement Amongst Competition Authorities of the G7 Countries on the Digital Economy
52. California arms traffickers used Snapchat to market illegal weapons: Recent investigations show that in the Bay Area, social media is playing a significant role in firearms sales
53. Snapchat Turns to Sneaker Culture in New ‘Kick Life’ Original Series: Dedicated to exploring what it truly means to be a sneakerhead.
54. TikTok Reportedly Piloting New Ad Product, An Audience Network, In Asia
55. What3words Is A Clever Way Of Communicating Position Very Simply, But Do We Really Want To Create A Monopoly For Location Look-ups?
56. Apple’s $44 Billion Drop Shows Growing Cost of Reliance on China
57. Maybe don’t keep your Apple Card in a leather wallet, Apple warns
58. Spotify matches Apple Music’s 3-month trial
59. Eminem’s music publisher claims Spotify owes millions in royalties for ‘Lose Yourself’ and other songs
60. Audiomack Announces Official Partnership With Warner Music Group: The streaming service’s first deal with a major label will focus on identifying and elevating new talent
61. Lululemon Launches ‘Sweatlife’ Podcast in Partnership With Makers
62. FameBit Founders Raise $2.2 Million For Podcast Advertising Startup ‘Podcorn’
63. NAD Gives Online Review Promotion a Negative Grade
64. Bosch Pulls Social Media Post Over Charges of Sexism
65. Companies Are Not Complying With the Safe Harbor Provision of the DMCA 
66. Section 230 Protects HOA for Publishing Meeting Minutes–Eagle Ridge Townhouse Ass’n v. Snapp (Eric Goldman)
67. Thinking About Restricting Online Reviews? FTC: Think Again
68. Building Buzz: Facebook Dominates In Audience Views for Three Highly-Anticipated TV Shows Coming This Fall
69. Why people keep falling for viral hoaxes
70. Nashville Trump Supporter Fired Over Facebook Post Wins Trial
71. Instagram, Facing Pressure From Facebook, Is Testing Back-To-Back Ads In Stories (Report)
72. Facebook is developing a new standalone Snapchat-like messaging app called ‘Threads’
73. Facebook Is Developing ‘Threads,’ An Instagram-Adjacent Messaging App That Automatically Shares Location, Battery Life Data (Report)
74. What’s not to like about Instagram’s latest test? 
75. Opinion: With This Statement, I Give Notice That Instagram Owns Your Soul – People posting a pseudo-legal declaration may believe they’re in a two-way dialogue with the company. The opposite is true.
76. YouTube TV To Sell Add-Ons For AMC-Owned Acorn TV, Urban Movie Channel
77. Beauty Giant Estée Lauder Now Allots 75% Of Its Digital Marketing Budget To Influencers
78. ASA rules against BetIndex Ltd
79. Vevo announces new ROUNDS urban series
80. Alleged “snake oil” crypto company sues over boos at Black Hat
81. Company Sues Blackhat Because People Mocked Their Sponsored Presentation And Called It Snake Oil
82. Judge savages self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor Craig Wright
83. FTC Permanently Bans Operators of Cryptocurrency MLM 
84. 3 Key Takeaways: Emerging Issues & Trends: Blockchain for In-House Counsel
85. The Circuitous International Travel of Your Data
86. No longer up in the air? Cloud transaction regulations are released
87. Bernie Su’s Livestreamed Interactive Sci-Fi Series ‘Artificial’ Brings Twitch Its First Emmy
88. Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech
89. The Barlowian Internet: The Faults Of The Internet Are Also Its Opportunity, But It’s Up To Us To Embrace Them

A.I.

1. Singularity: how governments can halt the rise of unfriendly, unstoppable super-AI
2. Do Citizens Have A Right To See The Algorithms Used By Publicly-Funded Software?
3. Why We Should Teach Kids to Call the Robot ‘It’: As a new generation grows up surrounded by artificial intelligence, researchers find education as early as preschool can help avoid confusion about robots’ role
4. Music to regulators’ ears? Antitrust, RPM, and AI
5. Robotic thread is designed to slip through the brain’s blood vessels: Magnetically controlled device could deliver clot-reducing therapies in response to stroke or other brain blockages.
6. 2019: A Bot Odyssey 
7. The rise of CGI influencers: getting real about the virtual within the fashion industry
8. In Memoriam: My Dear Friend and Colleague Ian Kerr (Michael Geist)

COMMUNICATIONS

1. The Cultural Lobby Demands for Internet Taxes and Fees: The Forgotten Piece in Canada’s Lower Wireless and Internet Cost Puzzle (Michael Geist)
2. DOJ’s plan to make Dish the fourth major carrier has a fatal flaw
3. The FCC has no idea how many people don’t have broadband access
4. Insights: You Can’t Always Get The Bandwidth You Want, But You’re Probably Getting The Bandwidth You Need
5. FCC Does Something Right: Proposes Making Suicide Prevention Hotline A Three Digit Number
6. NY Investigates Frontier Communications As US Telcos Slowly Implode
7. When a Broadcast Advertiser Becomes A Political Candidate, What is a Station to Do? 
8. FCC Seeks Comment on Verizon Petition for Declaratory Ruling on County’s Recurring Fees for Small Wireless Facilities in Public-Rights-of-Way
9. Cable industry fights plan to require robocall-detection technology
10. Anti-Robocalling Principles Established by State Attorneys General
11. Anti-Robocall Principles Agreed to by Carriers and State AGs 
12. State attorneys general and carriers announce collaboration to stem illegal robocalls 
13. State attorneys general work with telecom giants to address robocalls
14. US phone carriers make empty, unenforceable promises to fight robocalls
15. FCC Charges Stations With Unlawful Use of Emergency Alerts in Promos and Programming
16. New UK Regime for Telecoms Contract Changes and What To Expect in Ireland 

PRIVACY

1. Limitation Period for Damages Claims under Personal Information Protection Act (Alberta)
2. Millions Of Biometric Records Collected By Companies And Governments Left Exposed On The Web
3. How insurance companies are fueling a rise in ransomware attacks
4. Ninth Circuit Says Warrantless Device Searches At The Border Must Be Limited To Searches For Contraband
5. Ring has more than 400 police “partnerships,” company finally says
6. Unrollme Inc. Settles with FTC Over Allegedly Deceptive Email Practices 
7. FTC Unrolls Settlement Over Privacy Violations
8. Rogue ‘Smart’ Ovens Again Highlight How Dumb Tech Is Often The Smarter Choice
9. Cuckoo for Cookies 
10. Interlopers in Things? IoT devices may be used as backdoors to your network
11. CCPA Privacy FAQs: If a business receives a data subject access request, does it have to provide the specific pieces of personal information that it collected about the consumer?
12. Mitigating Franchisor Exposures for Systemwide GDPR Compliance through Cyber Insurance
13. The Myth of Consumer Security (Bruce Schneier)

CREATIVITY

1. Jeffrey Epstein Used a Bullet and a Dead Cat to Intimidate Vanity Fair Editor Graydon Carter: Report
2. Why ‘Vanity Fair’ Story Left Out Abuse Allegations Against Epstein
3. State Rep Tries To Bring Criminal Harassment Charges Against Journalists For Being Journalists
4. Missouri Attorney General Claims The First Amendment Allows Him To Withhold Public Records
5. SLAPP Threats Don’t Even Need To Become Lawsuits To Be Effective: Cop Gets Columnist Fired For Pointing To Picture Of Him With Racists
6. New Government Documents Reveal That Backpage Was Actively Helping Law Enforcement Track Down Traffickers
7. Court Rejects Plaintiff’s Attempt To Seal His Entire Lawsuit Against A Website That Publishes Court Documents
8. District Court: No negligent misrepresentation claims in smart TV privacy suit 
9. Don’t Let The Bret Stephens Bite: NY Times’ Hypocritical ‘Free Speech’ Columnist Flips Out After Being Called A Bedbug
10. Rutgers Forces LA High School To Change Logos Due To Its ‘R’ Trademark
11. The Man With the Tiger (and Snake) Tattoo Redux
12. Canadian Brewery Changes Name Of Brew Due To Peanut Butter Company Bully That Doesn’t Ship In Canada
13. The Patent And Trademark Office Is Apparently Branching Out Into The Immigration Enforcement Business
14. Never again advertising with women who do not know how to park cars and men who are incapable of raising children?
15. 4 lessons from the ASA’s first bans on sexist ads 
16. The Estate of Stanley Kauffmann v. Rochester Institute of Technology
17. New York State Bans Floating Digital and Flashing Billboards
18. Planning to Use Digitally Altered Photos of Your Competitor’s Product in Your Advertising?

Jon

GAMES

1. Why It’s So Hard to Stop Marketing Guns in Video Games: Video games don’t cause mass shootings, but they do serve as insidious advertisements for weapons.
2. YouTube sues alleged copyright troll over extortion of multiple YouTubers: Chris Brady seemed to target the Minecraft community, according to the suit
3. YouTube Sues User Who Allegedly Tried To Extort ‘Minecraft’ Creators By Filing Fraudulent Copyright Claims
4. After canceling one upgrade, Minecraft gets another—and it’s Nvidia RTX exclusive
5. Blizzard v Bossland Saga: a UK post-credits scene on account of profits
6. DayZ has ban lifted in Australia following modification
7. Ion Fury developers apologize for sexist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic remarks: Voidpoint pledges zero-tolerance policy, sensitivity training, game patch, and donation to The Trevor Project
8. Ubisoft Entertainment, S.A. et al v. Yousician Oy
9. PewDiePie Enters Nth Evolution Of His YouTube Channel, “Just Wants To Play ‘Minecraft’”
10. Survey highlights culture of overwork and toxicity in UK games industry: Entertainment union boss describes results as “damning indictment” of industry’s problems
11. Denuvo 6.0 has been cracked
12. Denuvo launches new mobile game security solution to help devs prevent tampering
13. Denuvo launches new mobile game security solution: Mobile Game Protection prevents debugging, reverse engineering, and changing the game
14. Google Stadia exclusives push potential players to data centers
15. Cyberpunk 2077, more games coming to Google Stadia: Stadia Connect reveals more titles for Google’s upcoming cloud streaming service
16. Cyberpunk 2077, exclusive Orcs Must Die 3, and many more now headed to Stadia
17. Robot Entertainment CEO: Orcs Must Die 3 “would not be possible without Google” – Patrick Hudson explains the decision to make the latest Orcs Must Die entry a Stadia-exclusive
18. 85 Google Play apps with 8 million downloads forced fullscreen ads on users
19. Google Play Store’s blindingly white redesign starts rolling out
20. Apple delays new rules around data tracking in kids’ games: “We aren’t backing off on this important issue, but we are working to help developers get there”
21. Report: Apple Arcade monthly subscription will cost $4.99
22. Report: Apple Arcade will cost just $4.99 a month
23. UK Charts: Crash Team Racing still No.1 (but it should be Minecraft) – Best-selling sandbox game just about outsold remastered racer, but listings quirk puts it lower in the Top 10
24. Mojang ends development on Minecraft’s Super Duper Graphics Pack: Microsoft working with Nvidia to bring ray-tracing to Minecraft on PC
25. Nvidia’s gaming business sees growth thanks to graphics demands
26. Loot Crate files for bankruptcy, lays off over 50: Employees report no notice or severance despite promises that “operations will continue as usual”
27. How Ark: Survival Evolved “fell into sustainable revenue” without skins or loot boxes
28. Gears 5 “ahead of the industry” on monetising without loot boxes: Multiplayer design director Ryan Cleven says The Coalition has been working on “player-friendly” purchase systems since Gears of War 4
29. Respawn devs roped into Reddit feud with fans over Apex Legends loot box furore: Respawn apologizes for comments made by developers toward players in response to loot box anger
30. Respawn at the Apex of community dysfunction | Opinion: Fans and developers say they want an open, transparent relationship with each other, but their actions suggest anything but
31. Embrace Fans: How One Mystery Modder Has Kept System Shock 2 Playable
32. Section 230 Doesn’t Protect Print-on-Demand Vendor–Atari v. Sunfrog (Eric Goldman)
33. Supreme Court Asked to consider section 230
34. Herrick v. Grindr: Why Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act Must be Fixed
35. Nintendo clamps down on YouTube game music channels: One channel received over 140 copyright claims against their videos
36. Nintendo Hates You: Company DMCAs Over 100 Videos Celebrating Nintendo Game Music
37. NPD: Nintendo sweeps July, though Madden takes the crown – “Fire Emblem Three Houses” saw the largest launch of a Fire Emblem game in US history
38. Turning the Nintendo Switch into Android’s best gaming hardware
39. Report: Nintendo continues its 2019 domination in hardware and software
40. Guidemaster: The best Nintendo Switch accessories you can buy in 2019
41. Microsoft contractors listened to user audio from Xbox consoles: Both deliberate and accidental Cortana, Kinect commands were recorded and heard, most reportedly from children
42. Xbox Game Studios-published Ori and the Blind Forestheaded to Switch
43. Xbox expands Nintendo Switch support with Ori and the Blind Forest
44. Xbox open to some first-party games appearing on other consoles
45. Microsoft has “no plans” to release more Xbox exclusives on PS4 or Nintendo Switch: Company says the focus is on its own platforms
46. Don’t Miss: A look back at the development of Ori and the Blind Forest
47. Don’t Miss: Surrendering control and trusting in players with Her Story
48. Mojang partners with Nvidia to bring real-time ray tracing to Minecraft
49. Kerbal Space Program 2 will take flight in 2020—here’s the first trailer
50. You’re Not Helping: ESPN Delays ‘Apex Legends’ Broadcast After 2 Mass Shootings
51. Echo Fox terminates its League of Legends players’ contracts
52. Echo Fox lays off League of Legends players as franchise slot sale moves forward: Riot Games taking applications for new partner in league slot following dispute between Echo Fox founder and shareholder
53. ELeague to broadcast Nintendo 2019 World Championships on CBS: Three-episode series to air summer competitions in Splatoon 2, Super Mario Maker 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
54. Gfinity Esports Australia shutting down this November: Esports tournament organiser ceasing operations after two years
55. Rapper Offset Tenders Investment In Leading Esports Collective FaZe Clan
56. The onslaught of regulation against games and esports | Opinion: Legal experts at Reed Smith reflect on the scrutiny the industry is under, and how the European Esports Federation might offer hope
57. Underneath The International’s $33m prize pool, a flawed system in continuous need of repair
58. Making money out of E-Sports Opportunities
59. YouTube Millionaires: The Leaderboard Is Building An Inclusive Destination For Gamers Of All Sorts
60. Sony open to PC versions of PlayStation exclusives
61. Sony-owned studios may lean into a wider, non-PlayStation install base in the future
62. Sweating the details of diversity in Marvel’s Spider-Man
63. Sony announces it’s buying Spider-Man developer Insomniac Games
64. Spider-Man developer Insomniac acquired, joins Sony Worldwide Studios
65. Sony acquires Insomniac Games: Insomniac’s Spider-Man, a PS4-exclusive, has now sold over 13m copies
66. Sony Acquires Insomniac Games, Delivering a Strategic Blow to Oculus Studios in the Process
67. Insomniac Games acquired by Sony, calls out “a special relationship”
68. ‘No Man’s Sky’ VR Review – A Wonderful, Deeply Flawed Space Odyssey
69. Guidemaster: 2019’s best VR is a battle between Oculus Quest, everyone else
70. Phoenix Labs acquires Bot School Inc: Dauntless developer invests further in cross-platform efforts
71. Phoenix Labs acquires Bot School Inc to further Dauntlesscross-play efforts
72. Epic apologises following release of re-skinned cosmetic item: Players refunded after complaints that new battle pet is nearly indistinguishable from previously released one
73. Epic Games opens new Cologne studio with Factor 5 founders  
74. Epic Games rolls out new store features as Cologne studio opens doors
75. Epic Games and Factor 5 founders opens new studio in Cologne: Unreal firm’s third German branch will focus on interactive media and streaming technology
76. Despite complaints, Epic stands behind Fortnite’s “anyone can win” mechs
77. Epic Games Store rolls out more cloud save support, flashier store pages
78. Unfold Games, studio behind DARQ, turns down Epic Games Store exclusivity deal
79. DARQ dev highlights “double standard” of Epic Game Store: Unfold Games explains decision to turn down exclusivity deal
80. Why one PC developer turned down the security of Epic’s exclusivity offer
81. ReadySet Heroes is the first Sony-published game to debut on Epic’s Games Store
82. Cracks Showing In Epic Store’s PR War As Developers Have To Plead With Public To Not Harass Them
83. Sony publishes ReadySet Heroes on Epic Games Store: Robot Entertainment’s action-adventure title is the first Sony-published title on the storefront
84. Steam’s ‘Follower’ counts: A discoverability gem hidden in plain sight
85. Steam is heading to China as a separate marketplace
86. Government regulation means Steam China will be a curated platform
87. My.Games is launching its own PC video game storefront
88. Klang Games raises over $22m in Series B funding for persistent MMO Seed
89. Starbreeze posts $6.6 million loss amid ongoing reconstruction 
90. Starbreeze attempts to stop Q2 FY19 bleeding with one-time revenue injections
91. Ubisoft on politics in games: “We know we’re not taking it far enough” – Editorial VP Tommy François says he wants future games to better represent multiple viewpoints on the world
92. Stop asking “is it political?” It always is | Opinion: Asking developers if their games are “political” has become an exercise in avoiding outrage; there are better ways to explore this complex, important question
93. Bungie says current Destiny 2 development is “unsustainable”
94. Activision Blizzard appoints its first-ever corporate-wide CMO
95. GOG has fulfilled two million Community Wishlist requests: Digital distributor celebrates milestone, ten years after launching programme
96. Fire Emblem Three Houses sold an estimated 800k digital units in July – SuperData: GTA Online Diamond Casino update brings in $69m across console and PC, PUBG sells another 1m units on PC
97. Microsoft has no plans to bring Xbox first-party exclusives to other consoles
98. Report: Microsoft used human contractors to listen in on Xbox-recorded audio
99. PUBG is rolling out console crossplay to Xbox One and PS4 this year
100. DuckTales makes a staggering last-minute comeback in EMEAA charts: Disney platformer rockets to No.3 before being delisted from stores 
101. Report: Mortal Kombat 11 leads the way in second-quarter video game engagement
102. Ubisoft rebrands its German studios: Blue Byte studios to become Ubisoft Düsseldorf and Ubisoft Mainz
103. Lockwood Publishing closes funding round led by Novator, CCP Games CEO: Unity Technologies founder David Helgasson also participates, appointed chairman of the board
104. Unity launches two new classroom tools to help teach programming  
105. THQ Nordic AB board proposes name change to Embracer Group: Proposal would separate holding company’s nomenclature from that of subsidiary publisher
106. My.Games to launch new PC gaming storefront: Mail.ru gaming division to distribute free-to-play and premium PC titles and other services starting late this year
107. What we can learn from… Warframe: From a slow start, Digital Extremes built a service game to rival Destiny, defying every convention along the way
108. U.S. retailers and consumers get stay of execution on Trump’s China tariffs
109. Metaari: US surpasses China as top-buying country for game-based learning – Industry revenue is expected to rise to over $24 billion by 2024
110. Valve to keep original Steam up in China: Company plans to have its global storefront freely available in the country even after the launch of the official Steam China storefront
111. Superhot Team aims to support ‘weird but smart’ devs with new indie fund
112. Superhot launches indie development fund: Director of special projects Callum Underwood details how the studio is giving back to the indie community with Superhot Presents
113. Wikia’s Fandom is getting into the game publishing business
114. Pre-tax earnings more than double at Stillfront Group in Q2: Group posts $49.9 million revenue and $15.9 million earnings
115. Bloodborne and Mass Effect 3 composer forms new audio production company  
116. Bloodborne composer co-founds new audio production company: The Audio Hive roster includes veterans from The Witcher 3, God of War, and Red Dead Redemption II
117. Halo Infinite and Halo 5: Guardians creative director has left 343 Industries
118. Defining ‘hyper-casual’ as a genre and exploring its long-term viability
119. Blog: Creating a questlog people actually read in Pathologic 2
120. Blog: How I translated Ancient Greek punishment games into Bitsy 
121. Blog: Implementing data structures – Part 2
122. Don’t Miss: A deep dive into the ‘old school’ save system ofAlien: Isolation
123. Video: Inside the flexible music system of Plants vs. Zombies Heroes
124. Don’t Miss: Designing Spider-Man 2’s classic web-swinging mechanic
125. Designing communities for kindness
126. Video: Designing multiplayer ranking systems like Elo and TrueSkill
127. Video: Great game audio choreography for battle design
128. Video: Designing for color blindness in games
129. Video: Think you’re ready to pitch a publisher? You’re not, and here’s why
130. Borderlands 3’s secret weapon is in the writers’ room: At Devcom, Gearbox Software’s Randy Varnell detailed the creation of a “narrative department” to meet the challenge of Borderlands 3
131. Remastering Yakuza for the modern world: Series producer Daisuke Sato discusses how and why the newly announced remasters have been changed in various ways
132. How positive relationships and slow, steady progress keep Raconteur Games smiling
133. Engaging level design for combat
134. Growing into Growtopia: Ubisoft Abu Dhabi head Yannick Theler talks about building a new studio in a non-traditional development scene
135. From concept to doubt to reevaluation: Designing Creature in the Well
136. GameStop lays off 120+ people, including some Game Informer staff
137. GameStop lays off 120 corporate staffers as stock continues to tumble
138. GameStop suffers another round of layoffs, Game Informer editors affected
139. Game Informer lays off ‘many’ staff: Now-former employees break the news about cuts at GameStop-owned magazine
140. What will be the biggest video games of Christmas 2019?: In the absence of Battlefield and Assassin’s Creed, there’s a big opportunity for alternative franchises to break through this Q4
141. Sony, Ubisoft receive multiple honors in Gamescom Awards 2019
142. U.S. Patent No. 7,717,789: Game program, game device, and game method 
143. Guidemaster: Navigating the hazy world of gaming laptops in 2019
144. Remembering the best shareware-era DOS games that time forgot
145. Ars Technica’s favorite video games from our first 10 years, 1998-2008

DIGITAL

1. Latest ‘Google Whistleblower’ To Prove Anti-Conservative Bias Doesn’t Prove Anything And Appears To Be Bigoted Conspiracy Theorist
2. Facebook audit of alleged anti-conservative bias fails to pinpoint any
3. Facebook, Twitter accuse China of spreading Hong Kong disinformation
4. Facebook and Twitter uncover Chinese trolls spreading doubts about Hong Kong protests: Close to 1,000 accounts were found on Twitter alone
5. Twitter and Facebook say China-linked accounts sought to fuel political discord in Hong Kong: Twitter said it  pulled down 936 troll accounts, many of which pushed conspiracy theories about the protest groups.
6. Twitter and Facebook take first actions against China for using fake accounts to sow discord in Hong Kong: Social media giants taking action against a ‘significant state-backed information operation’ related to the protests
7. Twitter, Facebook Turn Off Hundreds of Accounts Linked to Chinese Disinformation about Hong Kong Protests: In press releases, the companies say they have shut down Bejing-controlled activity.
8. Twitter And Facebook Removing Chinese Disinfo Campaigns Shows That, Contrary To Popular Opinion, They Do Moderate Against Disinfo
9. Google, Apple, and Mozilla block Kazakhstan government’s browser spying
10. States reportedly plan monopoly investigation of Google, Facebook, Amazon
11. WSJ Rightly Attacks Senator Josh Hawley’s ‘Nannyish’ Laws Regarding The Internet
12. Another Politician Unconstitutionally Censored Constituents on Twitter–Campbell v. Reisch (Eric Goldman)
13. How Beijing wages its media assault on the credibility of the Hong Kong protesters
14. Hong Kong Protestors Call for Disney Boycott After ‘Mulan’ Star Voices Support for Police Crackdown
15. Hong Kong Protestors Call for ‘Mulan’ Boycott After Star Shares Support for Police Crackdown
16. Pushing For Facebook, YouTube And Twitter To Ban Hate Speech Won’t Stop It From Migrating Elsewhere
17. Is There A Conspiracy Among Legacy Media Companies To Push A False Narrative About Big Tech?
18. 8 Ways to Stay Ahead of Influence Operations: With election meddling inevitable in 2020, the United States needs a powerful kill chain.
19. Websites that peddle disinformation make millions of dollars in ads, new study finds
20. Cutting the Funding of Disinformation: The Ad-Tech Solution
21. It’s On: Details Emerge Of Polish Government’s Formal Request For Top EU Court To Throw Out Upload Filters
22. Misinformation Has Created a New World Disorder: Our willingness to share content without thinking is exploited to spread disinformation
23. Mainland Chinese netizens face ‘pink terror’ of patriotic trolls amid Hong Kong protests
24. ‘Humiliating’: Chinese nationalist trolls target critics in Australia
25. Anonymous “Anonymous Cowards” are, for now, not welcome on Slashdot
26. Altruism Still Fuels the Web. Businesses Love to Exploit It: How open source projects reveal technology’s free rider problem. (Zeynep Tufekci)
27. Global regulation threatens to take a bite out of the FAANGs
28. Facebook Fined Again: Real Hypothetical Risks
29. In New Facebook Effort, Humans Will Help Curate Your News Stories
30. Facebook Is Rolling out a Tool to Limit Data Gathering
31. YouTube Sues Guy Who Tried To Extort People Through Bogus DMCA Takedowns
32. Man sued for using bogus YouTube takedowns to get address for swatting: YouTube sues man for multiple egregious abuses of the DMCA takedown process.
33. LGBTQ creators accuse YouTube of discrimination in class-action lawsuit alleging it unfairly restricts and demonetizes queer content
34. Lawyers Who Sued YouTube For Anti-Conservative Bias Are Suing YouTube Again… For Anti-LGBTQ Bias
35. LGBTQ+ YouTubers Allege that YouTube Engages in Discriminatory Practices
36. Lilly Singh Talks Late-Night Production, Says Her YouTube Uploading Schedule “Won’t Be So Rigorous”
37. ‘Spill’ Is A Drama YouTuber Who’s Gotten Nearly 1 Billion Views In 11 Months. But She Might Not Be A Real Person.
38. YouTube Testing Mega-Sized Thumbnails On Desktop Homepage, Much To Some Users’ Chagrin
39. YouTube Will Prevent Manual Copyright Claimants From Monetizing Creators’ Videos With “Short Or Unintentional” Uses Of Music
40. YouTube Is Finalizing Plans To Remove Targeted Advertising From Videos Aimed At Kids (Report)
41. YouTube will reportedly halt targeted ads for videos that appeal to kids: But how do you decide when a video is targeted at kids?
42. YouTube Originals become ad-supported and free after September 24th
43. YouTube’s Original Programming To Become Free For All Users On Sept. 24
44. The Streamy Awards Pact With YouTube For Exclusive Distribution Deal, Announce Dec. 13 Showdate
45. YouTube Is Hiring Partner Managers To Work With Conservative And Liberal News Creators
46. YouTube No Longer Commissioning Scripted Originals In EMEA, Orders 3 Education-Focused Projects
47. YouTube Is Axing Its Two-Year-Old Direct Messaging Feature In September
48. YouTube Links Up With Taylor Swift For Live Event Ahead Of ‘Lover’ Album Release
49. Google Testing Monetization Tool That Would Enable YouTubers To Host Virtual Events With Fans
50. The death of “Works with Nest” begins now with Google account migrations
51. The Meme Generation: Social Media Platforms Address Content Curation 
52. NBC Gives Lilly Singh A Superpowered Welcome With Hourlong Primetime Special
53. Asian Streamer Viu Adds Wattpad Development Deal
54. Whitney Cummings did a brave thing
55. Using #BrandAmbassador As Your Influencer Disclosure?
56. Premier League Social Video Standings Look A Lot Like Typical Season’s Table
57. Disney+, ESPN+ Subscribers Might Face Crackdowns On Password Sharing After Disney/Charter Deal
58. Disney fights streaming account sharing with help from cable industry
59. Disney+ is set to launch on all the major streaming platforms except Amazon
60. Disney+ To Launch In 5 Countries On Apple, Google, Roku, Microsoft, And Sony Devices
61. Apple TV+ will launch in November for $9.99, facing off against Disney+ at $6.99
62. Apple sues company that sells “perfect replicas” of iOS without a license
63. Apple Card is now available to all US iPhone owners, adds new cash-back rewards
64. Apple delays new rules for kid-focused apps to give devs more room to comply
65. Insights: ViacomCBS, Tumblr, And Houseparty – The Companies We Keep, And Those We Can’t
66. Twitter tests hiding direct messages it thinks are abusive: ‘Unwanted messages aren’t fun’
67. Comments on Rep. Gosar’s “Stop the Censorship Act,” Another “Conservative” Attack on Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
68. A Significant Section 230 Defense Win in the Ninth Circuit–Dyroff v. Ultimate Software (Eric Goldman)
69. Beto O’Rourke Joins The Silly Parade Of Confused Politicians Looking To Destroy Section 230
70. Companies Are Not Complying With the Safe Harbor Provision of the DMCA 
71. Domain Name Registrar Isn’t Liable for Counterfeit Goods–InvenTel v. GoDaddy (Eric Goldman)
72. FTC Settles Email Lawsuit with Unrollme 
73. Instagram to let US users report false content: Facebook-owned company seeking to stem spread of misinformation by removing dubious posts from searches
74. What’s not to like about Instagram’s latest test?
75. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry fell for an old-school Instagram hoax
76. Reddit Piloting New ‘RPAN’ Livestreaming Feature Over The Next Five Days
77. Oh, (No) Snap! CARU Praises Snapchat for Safeguarding the Underaged
78. Moviepass Changed User Passwords So They Couldn’t Use The Flopping Service
79. Senators Ask for Answers About the Meaning of “Amazon’s Choice”
80. Amazon outstrips Netflix on content marketing spend
81. What does Amazon’s “Top Brand” badge actually mean?
82. For Barstool Sports, Podcasts Are Now Around One-Third of Revenue
83. Spotify Is Developing A Stories Feature For Its Playlists
84. Spotify to Test a More Expensive Version of Its Popular Music Service
85. Ryan ToysReview, Pocket.watch To Premiere Five Specials On Roku’s Just-Launched ‘Kids & Family’ Channel
86. Kenyan Government Risks Squandering The Long-Term Potential Of Mobile Transactions In The Hope Of A Little Extra Tax Revenue
87. Résumés Are Starting to Look Like Instagram – and Sometimes Even Tinder: Employers see surge in Gen Z CVs containing photos and illustrations; ‘there’s a freaking bitmoji’
88. Facebook’s Libra Currency Gets European Union Antitrust Scrutiny
89. Law firm BakerHostetler develops blockchain-based smart legal contracts for the freight market
90. The Past and Future of The Internet: A Symposium for John Perry Barlow (Duke Law & Technology Review)

A.I.

1. International AI ethics panel must be independent: France and Canada are establishing an international committee to advise on the ethics of artificial intelligence. The group should be supported and shielded from undue influence.
2. Regulating unreality | The legal implications of “deepfakes”
3. There Is No Tech Solution to Deepfakes: Funding technological solutions to algorithmically-generated fake videos only puts a bandage on the deeper issues of consent and media literacy.
4. Update: The Illinois Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act 
5. A Looming AI War: Transparency v. IP Rights
6. Don’t Miss: How enemy AI works in Dicey Dungeons
7. Music to regulators’ ears? Antitrust, RPM, and AI
8. AI – top tips for the board 
9. YouTube Reportedly Deleting Battlebot Videos Citing Animal Fighting Ban
10. AI reads books out loud in authors’ voices

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Telus customers’ blood boiling after two days of email outage
2. 4-day Telus email outage caused by mishap during repair of data storage service
3. Telus offers bill credits as email disruption hits 5th day
4. CRTC sets final wholesale rates for access to high-speed broadband networks
5. Bell scales back rural internet plans after CRTC decision on rates: Bell will nix 200,000 customers from expansion, Rogers says it is reviewing options 
6. FCC Chairman Pai Formally Recommends Approval of Sprint/T-Mobile Merger and Associated Dish Requests
7. FCC Forgets About, Then Dismisses, Complaint Detailing Verizon’s Long History Of Net Neutrality Violations
8. FCC Expands Anti-Spoofing Prohibitions to Foreign-Originated Calls, Text-Messaging Services 
9. How malformed packets caused CenturyLink’s 37-hour, nationwide outage
10. Huawei Busted Helping African Governments Spy On The Press, Political Opponents
11. Huawei’s futuristic foldable smartphone gets delayed for a second time
12. Report: US expected to give Huawei another 90-day export license
13. Report: United States will give Huawei another 90-day export license
14. AT&T brings cable TV prices to online streaming with $135 monthly plan
15. Useless dads and passive women – first ads banned under the ASA’s gender stereotyping rules
16. A new regime for English media and communications cases

PRIVACY

1. Privacy Rights in the Internet Age and the New Tort of Public Disclosure of Private Facts
2. Attorney General William Barr Declares War On The General Public
3. As The NSA Declares Phone Record Program Dead, Trump Administration Asks For A Permanent Reauthorization
4. Ring asks police not to tell public how its law enforcement backend works
5. California Police Officers Are Handing Out Free Doorbell Cameras In Exchange For Testimony In Court
6. Gizmodo Media’s Clueless New Owners Tell Reporters They Can’t Use Encrypted Email Any More
7. Ransomware strike takes down 23 Texas local government agencies
8. While one Texas county shook off ransomware, small cities took full punch
9. The year-long rash of supply chain attacks against open source is getting worse
10. Microsoft bucks trend, maintains contractor reviews of voice recording
11. Badge life: The story behind DEFCON’s hackable crystal electronic badge
12. Kaspersky AV injected unique ID that allowed sites to track users, even in incognito mode
13. New Attack exploiting serious Bluetooth weakness can intercept sensitive data
14. The GDPR Is A Wide Open Vulnerability For Identity Fraud And Scams
15. Concealed Registration Data Under the GDPR Complicates UDRP Complaints
16. Can a company decide whether to deidentify information or delete information if it receives a ‘right to be forgotten’ request?
17. Ninth Circuit Rejects Facebook’s Article III Argument; Biometric Lawsuit Will Proceed
18. Facebook pivots privacy failings into pop-up cafes: The company cares about your privacy. Honestly.
19. Ninth Circuit Affirms Ruling that Plaintiffs Have Article III Standing in Illinois Biometric Privacy Class Action
20. Cybersecurity and the Internet of Things – is it Time to Regulate?
21. NIST Unveils IoT Baseline of Core Cybersecurity Features for Comment 
22. A cyberattack could wreak destruction comparable to a nuclear weapon
23. Still much to be determined on insurance coverage after cyberattacks: Case law on coverage after social engineering fraud is sparse
24. FCA introduces 18-month grace period for two-factor authentication for online transactions 
25. Security Researchers Find Several Bugs in Nest Security Cameras

CREATIVITY

1. Copyright law: set for an overhaul? – A look at the key recommendations of two recent House of Commons reports concerning Canadian copyright law
2. SCOTUS: Full Costs in Copyright Cases Limited by General Costs Statute
3. DOJ/Copyright Office File An Amicus Brief In Support Of Led Zeppellin
4. Spider-Man is out of the MCU thanks to Sony/Disney standoff
5. THE Ohio State University Applies For THE Stupidest Trademark In THE World
6. NC Appeals Court Withdraws Its Horrendous, Free Speech-Damaging Opinion On Retaliatory Arrests
7. Loss for Sheriff Joe Arpaio
8. They called you a troll, deal with it—court slaps down libel lawsuit
9. New Hampshire Supreme Court: Of Course It’s Not Defamatory To Call A Patent Troll A Patent Troll
10. White House Suspends Another Reporter’s Press Pass, Once Again, Raising 1st Amendment Concerns
11. Missguided Missed Deadline in Kardashian Suit
12. Bronze, Shape, Glow: A copyright tale destined for Broadway
13. Artist Sues Singer for Shooting then Selling Artwork
14. National Gallery discovers hidden secrets in Leonardo painting 
15. NDA and IP deals
16. The Matrix 4 is officially happening with Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss

Jon

GAMES

1. Ubisoft loses Rocksmith patent suit: Judge dismisses publisher’s claim against music tutorial software maker Yousician with prejudice
2. Twitter Data Shows Major Increase in Gaming Engagement on Platform 
3. US tariffs on video game consoles imported from China delayed to December
4. US delays tariff on game consoles: Trump says extra tax on some electronic products made in China won’t go into effect until December 15 to lessen impact on holiday shopping
5. Game revenues rise as Tencent enjoys end of China’s approvals freeze: Chinese publisher released ten mobile games in Q2 2019, compared to just one last year
6. Tencent doubling down on season passes as mobile titles drive revenue
7. Trump’s video game scapegoating feels downright nostalgic | Opinion: In an era when the industry’s real problems are internal and divisive, a flashback to being united against an external foe feels deceptively good
8. Walmart pulls video game ads — but not guns — after El Paso shooting
9. Walmart tells staff to pull violent game ads and demos, but guns still for sale
10. Walmart Reportedly Removing Violent Game Ads, Will Still Sell Guns: Despite the lack of evidence video games cause violence.
11. Walmart, ESPN pull violent game marketing following shootings
12. Walmart taking down violent video game demos, displays: Signs, displays containing “violent images or aggressive behavior” removed in wake of shootings; retailer still sells guns
13. ESPN, ABC delay Apex Legends tournament broadcast in wake of shootings
14. ESPN, ABC pull Apex Legends tournament show in wake of mass shootings: Broadcasters say decision was made “out of respect for the victims”
15. You’re Not Helping: ESPN Delays ‘Apex Legends’ Broadcast After 2 Mass Shootings
16. Strauss Zelnick says if violent games caused gun violence, he wouldn’t sell them – Take-Two CEO: “I wouldn’t choose to market substances that would cause people to get sick”
17. G2A responds to Unknown Worlds’ accusations, calling them slander
18. G2A fudges own history in response to developer complaint: Developer retracts accusations against marketplace, but remains frustrated with key reseller
19. Subnautica dev demands G2A pay $300,000 to cover lost chargebacks: Studio calls for controversial marketplace to honour its offer of 10x compensation
20. Twitch links to ‘porn account’, other Fortnite streamers via Ninja’s abandoned channel
21. Twitch backtracks after accidentally showing porn on Ninja’s old page
22. Twitch CEO apologizes after lengthy porn stream promoted on Ninja’s old page
23. Twitch CEO Apologizes To Ninja After His Defunct Account Was Used To Promote A Porn Stream
24. Ninja’s New Cross-Platform Video Strategy Since Leaving Twitch For Mixer
25. Insights: With Ninja’s Nifty Mixer Move, Live Streaming Leaps To Its Next Era
26. Newzoo: Fans watched 81.8m hours of the Fortnite World Cup across Twitch, YouTube – Official YouTube channel beat out official Twitch channel for viewership hours during finals
27. $3 million Fortnite winner—and his parents—become latest swatting targets
28. UTA Signs 21-Year-Old Twitch Newcomer BrookeAB
29. eFootball transfers: Juve and Man U snub FIFA to sign for PES 
30. UMG Media to acquire esports event company, Activate Entertainment
31. Statespace raises $2.5 million for esports training platform: Seed round was led by First Mark Capital, with participation from Expa, Lux Capital and WndrCo
32. Industry veterans launch payment platform for esport tournament winnings: “We want to help publishers…be more efficient by removing their hands-on time expediting the payments,” says Prize Payments CEO
33. Riot’s League Championship Series announces partnership with Honda
34. Epic is being sued over a security issue that left Fortniteplayer data exposed
35. Epic Games hit with class action suit over Fortnite security breach
36. Australian ratings board working to completely ban DayZfor promoting cannabis
37. DayZ refused classification in Australia after Five Star Games submission: Five Star Games has confirmed it was denied classification for DayZ’s retail release in Australia — the game is still available digitally
38. Bohemia Interactive will modify all versions of DayZ to avoid Australia ban
39. DayZ will be modified worldwide to lift Australian ban: Bohemia Interactive confirms it will be tweaking zombie hit to avoid isolating Australian players
40. FTC Gathers Video Game Industry to Talk Loot Boxes 
41. Loot boxes a matter of “life or death,” says researcher: Academics discuss their studies and concerns surrounding game monetization at FTC workshop
42. Epic Games commits to loot box transparency across portfolio: THQ Nordic also weighs in on ESA pledges: “We do not plan to implement casino-styled mechanics in our games”
43. Animoca Brands acquires digital collectibles marketplace Quidd for $5 million
44. Loots details new live streaming platform for the “TikTok generation”: Monetisation firm says its Twitch rival will open up new commercial opportunities for younger streamers
45. Valve turns to hands-on moderation to solve Steam Workshop woes
46. Devs are now required to contact Valve for release date changes on Steam
47. Valve addresses release date exploit for Steam’s Popular Upcoming List
48. Valve now requires moderator approval for some Steam Workshop submissions
49. THQ Nordic confirms new Saints Row title after strong Q1: The publisher also said that development of Dead Island 2 is now being led by Dambuster Studios
50. THQ Nordic acquires Darksiders dev Gunfire and racing studio Milestone
51. THQ Nordic buys Milestone Interactive for €44.9m in cash: Acquisition of Italian racing studio could almost double in value based on earnouts
52. THQ Nordic acquires Darksiders developer Gunfire Games: Value of the deal for Gunfire’s 63 staff and IP catalogue was not disclosed
53. THQ Nordic strengthens portfolio with Goodbye Kansas Game Invest acquisition: Goodbye Kansas Game Invest has five investments in early stage games companies, deal includes royalty rights to Biomutant
54. Managing the evolving state of Destiny 2: ‘the game cannot grow infinitely forever’
55. Bungie: Working on Destiny 2 “starting to wear people down” – Working practices for Annual Pass will be changed in third year to break out of “unsustainable development cycle”
56. Report: Riot Games workforce divided on diversity and inclusion push
57. One year later, Riot leadership, employees, say things are improving: Chief diversity officer Angela Roseboro reflects on a year of change as current and recent employees confirm efforts
58. Ustwo: Giving creativity the attention it deserves – Ustwo Games’ CCO and CEO discuss how to not lose creative people to business meetings
59. 2K confirms sending private investigators to Borderlands streamer’s house: A rep said the company has been investigating SupMatto for nearly a year.
60. Take-Two investigating streamer over Borderlands 3 leaks: Publisher says Twitch and YouTube user SupMatto has “a history of profiting from infringing our copyright”
61. Kawhi Leonard dunking on the Raptors was the only screen time they got in new NBA 2K trailer
62. Sharkmob on balancing social responsibility against revenue: “It’s not only about taking social responsibility, it’s also about the team being proud of what they make,” says CEO
63. Infinity Ward says Modern Warfare isn’t political, debates how it ever could be: Game’s directors stress that upcoming Call of Duty reboot focuses on “thematic things” not current politics
64. Activision Blizzard’s Q2 net revenue falls year-over-year to $1.4 billion
65. Activision Blizzard sees sagging sales, profit, engagement
66. Key metrics dip for publisher in second quarter as it prioritizes investments it expects to pay off in back half of the year
67. Activision Blizzard’s net-revenue down year-over-year in Q2 2019
68. Imperator: Rome plus multiple game expansions lift Paradox’s Q2 – Swedish publisher posts record Q2 revenues as long-term investments begin to pay off
69. Swedish studio Isbit Games shuts down after running out of funds
70. Isbit Games shut down: Former CEO Ben Cousins confirms Zlatan Legends studio closed its doors in June after running out of money
71. Fig to pay Wasteland 3, Psychonauts 2 investors lump sum following Microsoft purchase
72. Xbox head: Cloud gaming is inevitable but ‘years and years’ away from mainstream
73. Multi-platform games from Xbox-owned studios must ‘make sense for the franchise’
74. Xbox considers multi-platform options for some first-party studios
75. Microsoft: Cloud gaming is “inevitable” but “years” from mainstream
76. Mojang cancels Minecraft’s big graphics overhaul after performance struggles
77. Mojang ends development on Minecraft’s Super Duper Graphics Pack: Feature announced at E3 2017 “proved too technically demanding to implement as planned”
78. After two years of delays, Minecraft’s visual upgrade has been canceled
79. Singularity 6 secures $16.5 million to fund tech and game development
80. Square Enix shutting down Star Ocean: Anamnesis in the West after little over a year
81. Report: Parent company of publisher Annapurna Interactive is exploring bankruptcy 
82. Singularity 6 lands $16.5m investment: Former Riot devs’ social simulation studio scores Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz
83. Industry veterans launch hyper casual development outfit JaffaJam: New Zealand-based studio looks to “perfect the way free-to-play games are made and monetised”
84. Madden 20 just about squeezes into EMEAA Charts’ Top 10: Yes, Grand Theft Auto V is still No.1
85. EA SPORTS Madden NFL 20 Scores Early With Biggest Ever Digital Launch in Its First Week on Sale
86. FIFA 19 and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe are best-selling games in Europe this year: Physical sales data paints uniform picture of European consumers
87. UK spent £1.6bn on video games in the first half of 2019
88. NetEase revenue and profit up in Q2 following strong international performance: “We will continue exploring overseas market opportunities and growing our games business on a global scale,” says CEO
89. Nexon profits tumble in Q2 despite rising revenues: FIFA Online 4 drove Korean market, but China was the publisher’s single biggest region
90. Spilt Milk Studios cancels upcoming sci-fi MMO, Lazarus
91. The Final Fantasy XIV team is reworking base game content to be ‘more compact’
92. What Sharp’s IGZO display technology will mean for the Nintendo Switch
93. Dr. Mario World continues to lag after first month: Mobile puzzler falls well-below bar set by previous Nintendo titles
94. “Blast processing” in 2019: How an SNES emulator solved overclocking
95. Discord is launching in-server streaming later this month with new ‘Go Live’ feature
96. No More Robots: “I’m just doing D&D, but in a Discord server” – Mike Rose on the marketing tactics that drove the small publisher to $3m revenue, and why Xbox Game Pass is good for sales (for now)
97. Growing the industry with evening-sized games: Former Chinese Room lead Andrew Crawshaw on his romantic metal-detecting adventure that explores how people define success
98. Sean Murray calls No Man’s Sky Beyond the game’s “2.0” version—we believe it
99. Virtual reality streaming company Vreal has closed its doors
100. VR streaming platform Vreal shuts down and lays off staff: “We were definitely ahead of our time,” says virtual reality startup
101. Video: Designing great room-scale VR interactions theVacation Simulator way
102. Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell departs Facebook
103. Nate Mitchell leaves Oculus: Mitchell becomes the last of the VR outfit’s original co-founders to leave Facebook
104. Blow out your knee? Hope your surgeon’s got a VR headset
105. UCLA Surgical Training Study Shows VR Beats Traditional Training by 130%
106. British Airways testing VR headsets for first-class passengers this year
107. XRDC Innovation Report reveals games remain the top focus for AR/VR/MR devs
108. Unity brings Create with Code, Unity Teach programs out of beta: Educational initiatives enter classrooms to teach coding, offer sharing platform for educators
109. Discoverability: A ‘hot or not?’ genre guide
110. Video: A decade of improving the approachability of fighting games
111. Blog: Understanding the reality of game development
112. Blog: Avoiding helplessness – The worst feeling in games
113. Blog: The big game branding 101
114. Blog: Lessons learned from the development of Vicious Circle
115. Blog: 7 must-read books for game designers
116. Blog: Ancient Greek punishments as hypertexts
117. Blog: How music enhances virtual presence – Part 2
118. Blog: How to make a casual mobile game
119. Watch Age of Wonders: Planetfall’s lead dev discuss updating the series for a new age
120. Like a boss: The secrets behind great boss design
121. How moving from 2D to 3D shaped the design of Risk of Rain 2
122. Creature in the Well’s limiting, limitless unknown: Flight School Studios creative director Adam Volker shares how a two-person team turned constraints into creativity
123. How Astroneer creates an enjoyably unsafe space – Why I Love: Student game developer Aden Webb explores the mood-building design decisions of System Era’s survival sandbox
124. Don’t Miss: How data miners shed light on P.T.’s ghost story
125. Don’t Miss: Training players right, so they don’t hate learning to play
126. Don’t Miss: Exploring the secret depths of Bubble Bobble’s design
127. After 24 years at id, Tim Willits is now Saber Interactive’s chief creative officer
128. The hottest new board games from Gen Con 2019
129. Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? Let’s Not Find Out: Experimental findings will be either boring or extremely dangerous.
130. U.S. Patent No. 9,259,652: Time-shifted multiplayer game 
131. U.S. Patent No. 9,616,329: Adaptive learning system for video game enhancement 

DIGITAL

1. White House proposal would have FCC and FTC police alleged social media censorship
2. White House Once Again Circulating A Draft Executive Order On Social Media Bias
3. Be Careful What You Wish For In Asking Silicon Valley To Police Speech Online
4. Four Democratic Candidates Call on Walmart to Stop Selling Guns
5. TikTok is fuelling India’s deadly hate speech epidemic: In small-town India, TikTok videos are a new hate speech minefield. Thousands of videos are being removed as users exploit the wild growth of the social network
6. New Report Further Clarifies Foxconn’s Wisconsin Deal Was An Unsustainable Joke
7. Fox News Commentator Calls For A ‘Backlash’ Against Big Tech… Because Wikileaks Released His Phone Number
8. UK Moves To Give Regulators Power To Fine Internet Companies 5% Of Revenue If They Can’t Wave A Magic Wand And Make Bad Content Disappear
9. If You Lament The State Of Politics Today, Lament The Loss Of Aereo
10. Republicans suspend Twitter ad spending after boneheaded video takedown
11. Twitter backs down, allows McConnell to post video of protestor threats
12. What’s in a Tweet? Employer does not have to pay Settlement Funds After Grievor takes to Twitter
13. Twitter’s latest test lets users subscribe to a tweet’s replies
14. Has Twitter Declared You Dead?
15. Giant Copyright Troll, Malibu Media, Sued By Investors
16. Elsevier Says It’s Infringing To Link To Sci-Hub; Hypocrite Elsevier Links To Sci-Hub All The Time
17. Elsevier Tries To Lie About University Of California’s Contract Negotiation; UC Shows Its Receipts
18. Top University Of California Scientists Tell Elsevier They’ll No Longer Work On Elsevier Journals
19. Amazon workers in Minnesota walk off the job over parking issues
20. Schoolchildren in China work overnight to produce Amazon Alexa devices: Leaked documents show children as young as 16 recruited by Amazon supplier Foxconn work gruelling and illegal hours
21. Senators demand Amazon explain how junk winds up in “Choice” listings
22. Amazon says its facial recognition can now identify fear
23. Amazon unveils first batch of casting for The Wheel of Timeadaptation
24. ESRP Rebukes Yoga Company for Stretching the Truth About Influencers
25. Russian State Watchdog Tells YouTube To Stop Sending Push Notifications About Mass Protests
26. New Study Demonstrates YouTube’s Role In Far-Right Radicalization, Spread Of Conspiracies In Brazil
27. ‘We can’t reach the women who need us’: the LGBT YouTubers suing the tech giant for discrimination
28. YouTube should stop recommending garbage videos to users
29. Ex-Googler Recently Held Up As A ‘Whistleblower’ And ‘Proof’ Of Anti-Conservative Bias At Google, Actually Supported Richard Spencer, Racist Skinheads
30. Dennis Prager Peddles Complete Nonsense About ‘Google Censorship’ In The WSJ
31. LGBTQ YouTubers Hit Google With Lawsuit For Alleged Discrimination: Eight video creators say that have been unfairly targeted and demonetized by YouTube.
32. LGBTQ YouTubers are suing YouTube over alleged discrimination: Including suppressing video recommendations and demonetization
33. YouTube Unequally Applies Policies, Giving Favor To Creators Who Bring In Big View Counts, Content Moderators Say
34. YouTube lets biggest stars off the hook for breaking rules, moderators say
35. YouTube Testing Program That Lets Certain Demonetized Channels File Immediate Appeals Via YouTube Videos
36. LAPD Investigating YouTuber Brooke Houts For Hitting Her Dog On Camera
37. In Wake Of Brooke Houts Incident, PETA Asks Platforms To Enact Zero-Tolerance Animal Abuse Policy
38. YouTube Rolls Out ‘Super Chat’ Feature To 19 Additional Countries
39. Tech firms face fines for harmful videos from regulator Ofcom
40. Half Of Teens Turn To YouTube For News, Preferring Influencers Over Traditional News Organizations (Study)
41. YouTube Debuts First Shoppable AR Ad With Beauty Vlogger Roxette Arisa And MAC Cosmetics
42. YouTube tests letting ad bans be appealed by filming a YouTube video: Making it easier for creators to earn money
43. New Jersey Attorney Ethics Opinion Blesses Competitive Keyword Advertising (…or Does It?) (Eric Goldman)
44. Apple locks new iPhone batteries to prevent third-party repair, report says
45. The Apple Card is launching soon – here’s how to apply for one directly from your iPhone
46. Goldman Sachs, bank of the rich and powerful, is dipping into subprime lending with Apple Card
47. Apple’s new credit card comes with forced arbitration—here’s how to opt out
48. Apple Music For Artists Launches, Rivalling Spotify’s Analytics Tools
49. Apple TV+ Gives First Glimpse At Billion-Dollar Originals Slate With ‘Morning Show’ Teaser, Starring Jennifer Aniston
50. FAA Bans Recalled MacBook Pros From Flights
51. FAA tells airlines MacBook Pros with defective batteries can’t fly
52. Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
53. Spotify’s pitch to podcasters: valuable listener data: Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta today
54. Facebook Shielded by CDA Immunity against Federal Claims for Allowing Use of Its Platform by Terrorists 
55. Biometric Class Action Against Facebook Greenlit by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
56. Finding Article III Standing, Ninth Circuit Declines to Do an About-Face in Illinois Biometric Privacy Class Action against Facebook 
57. Ninth Circuit finds Article III standing in case alleging Facebook violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act
58. Ninth Circuit Allows Class Action Challenging Facebook’s Facial Recognition Technology Under Illinois BIPA
59. Senate Members Ask DOJ to Take Action as Number of Website Accessibility Lawsuits Continues to Rise
60. Facebook Tests Selling Subscriptions To Tastemade Plus, CollegeHumor’s Dropout, BritBox
61. In strategy shift, Facebook seeks to pay millions to license news
62. Facebook wants to be relevant in news again, and it’s willing to pay millions to bring back publishers: The company is building a new news effort
63. Instagram Is Rolling Out The Ability To Natively Pre-Schedule Grid Posts, IGTV Videos
64. Snapchat to Raise $1 Billion to Further Build Content, Gaming, and AR
65. Snapchat Decides to Raise $1bn for Filters, Content, Acquisitions: The company owes its financial escalation to some of its AR lenses like the baby lens and gender-change filters which had gone viral.
66. Snap announces Spectacles 3 with an updated design and a second HD camera: They’re $380 and go on sale in November
67. Snap Unveils Third Generation Of $380 Spectacles, With Two Cameras To Create AR Effects
68. Revealed: how Monsanto’s ‘intelligence center’ targeted journalists and activists – Internal documents show how the company worked to discredit critics and investigated singer Neil Young
69. Google Maps AR Navigation comes to iPhones and Android devices
70. Owners of defective 2016 Google Pixels can now claim up to $500
71. Google is giving students three months of YouTube Premium for free: Or YouTube Music Premium, which is a less good deal
72. Students Can Now Snag Three Free Months Of YouTube Premium And YouTube Music
73. YouTube Rolls Out ‘Super Chat’ Feature To 19 Additional Countries
74. Google, Cookies, and Cy-Pres-Only Settlements 
75. Now you can use Android phones, rather than passwords, to log in to Google*
76. Vice Appoints Former Munchies Exec Cliff Gulibert To Oversee All Digital Video Production
77. Liza Koshy Gets Glam As Beauty Brand C’est Moi’s Very First Ambassador
78. U.K. Vlogger Marina Joyce Found Safe By Police After Going Missing For 10 Days
79. U.S. Navy Taps Kevin ‘VSauce2’ Lieber, Jake Koehler, William Osman For Inaugural Influencer Campaign
80. Social Good Creators: Ashley Villa Is Changing The World For Female Entrepreneurs
81. Did a trainee social worker’s offensive social media postings render him unfit to practice?
82. Police say there is no danger after Twitch HQ threatened
83. Twitch launches beta for all-in-one streaming app Twitch Studio
84. Twitch has released its own broadcasting software: This is the company’s first broadcast offering
85. Netflix Signs Reported $300 Million Overall Film, TV Deal With ‘Game Of Thrones’ Creators
86. Game of Thrones creators sign $200 million Netflix deal to make exclusive shows and films: They’re also still helming Star Wars films for Disney
87. HBO Max Adds Millennial Comedy to Lineup of Originals
88. HBO Orders Female-Led Skateboarding Comedy From Crystal Moselle, Lesley Arfin
89. HBO Is About to Spend $1.5 Billion on…Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men?: Fledgling streamer casting a wide sitcom net—but will this leave it unable to secure another big hit, as Seinfeld invites a bidding war?
90. Blogger says she got an injunction for a post published five days earlier
91. Uber’s no-good, terrible-rotten bad Q2 loses more than $5 billion
92. Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires
93. At Defense Distributed, few glimpses of life after Cody Wilson: Court cases and social media spats continue over 3D-printed guns.
94. What a future without social media ‘likes’ could mean for the industry
95. The Hidden Risks Associated with Social Media Background Checks 
96. Companies Are Not Complying With the Safe Harbor Provision of the DMCA 
97. Regulation of Digital Platforms in Australia and UK
98. The Endless, Invisible Persuasion Tactics of the Internet: Online shopping turns your brain against you, but you can fight back.
99. UK consumers switch to online streaming en masse
100. Cody Wilson pleads guilty to lesser charge, will register as sex offender
101. NY Times Publishes A Second, Blatantly Incorrect, Trashing Of Section 230, A Day After Its First Incorrect Article
102. Cyber restraints of trade in the new era of digital markets 
103. To Cajole to Threaten: How Best to Curb Online Counterfeiting 
104. Transferring or cancelling a domain in USA
105. EU Court Determines Responsibility for Social Plug-ins on Website
106. Embedded EthiCS: Integrating Ethics Across CS Education
107. The guy behind the ‘Storm Area 51’ Facebook event is hosting an alien-themed festival
108. Geeky license plate earns hacker $12,000 in parking tickets

A.I.

1. AI researchers have a plan to pay patients for data
2. Artificial Intelligence and Bias: Social Impacts of a Technical Solution
3. Why AI needs more social workers, with Columbia University’s Desmond Patton
4. Video: Using AI to build a better future for game art production
5. All watched over by machines of loving grace: A critical look at smart contracts (Andres Guadamuz)
6. Putin’s robo-nauts prepare for lift-off: Russia’s space agency releases eerie footage of human-like android Fedor as he gets ready to join the International Space Station crew next week
7. A Tesla owner implanted the RFID chip from her Model 3’s keycard into her arm: Keyless entry
8. Elon Musk’s Neuralink: Both an evolution and a plan for radical change
9. Law in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
10. Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence in the UK
11. Breaking down the rich and complex AI of Hitman

COMMUNICATIONS

1. CRTC Establishes New Internet Code For Consumers
2. CRTC’s latest report shows price decline in communications services
3. CBC News: High cost of internet access leaving low-income families behind, report finds
4. Competition Bureau Study on the Broadband Industry Paints a “Largely Positive Picture”
5. It’s Back: The Netflix Tax Debate Returns for the 2019 Election (Michael Geist)
6. Postmedia Announces Refinancing Transaction
7. AT&T Employees Took Bribes To Plant Malware On Company’s Network
8. CBS and Viacom merger: ‘It’s not a surprise, but it is a big deal’
9. Courts Again Shoot Down FCC For Ignoring The Law, Making Up Stuff
10. Ajit Pai loses another court case as judges overturn 5G deregulation 
11. FCC Opens the 2.5 GHz Band for 5G Wireless Services
12. Trump admin reportedly drafting order to counter social media “bias”: The proposal would reportedly put the onus of content regulation on the FCC.
13. Texas AG Joins Lawsuit Against T-Mobile, Showing Bipartisan Opposition To Mindless M&As
14. Frontier network outages get worse in NY, triggering state investigation
15. Verizon: 5G speeds on low-spectrum bands will be more like “good 4G”
16. Verizon demands $880 from rural library for just 0.44GB of roaming data
17. Comcast Wireless Joins Verizon In Charging You More For HD Video
18. Verizon selling Tumblr to WordPress.com owner, but porn ban won’t go away
19. Verizon Selling Tumblr to Company That Owns WordPress
20. With Tumblr Sale, Verizon Continues To Stumble In Bungled Pivot Away From Telecom
21. Verizon sues city to avoid paying 5G fees, says the FCC has its back 
22. Utility Provider Settles Call Recording Lawsuit for $3.7 Million 
23. Trump Administration Issues Interim Rule Banning Agencies’ Procurement of Telecom Equipment and Services from Huawei, ZTE and Other Designated Chinese Companies 
24. Federal Government Further Banned from Using Huawei 
25. Huawei announces its first operating system, HarmonyOS 
26. Ofcom Consultation on the protection of TV and radio programme participants

PRIVACY

1. Class Action Lawsuit Hopes To Hold GitHub Responsible For Hosting Data From Capital One Breach
2. Whitney Cummings shares NSFW pic on Twitter after ‘foolish dorks’ attempt to extort her
3. Airline tracks Twitter user’s real-world ID, publishes her flight number: Southwest Airlines finally relents, after first insisting flight numbers aren’t PII.
4. Ring Is Teaching Cops How To Obtain Doorbell Camera Footage Without A Warrant
5. California Judges Nuke Two More SFPD Warrants Used To Search A Journalist’s Home And Office
6. Unsealed Warrants Show SFPD Officer Told Judges He Was Targeting A Journalist, But Judges Approved Them Anyway
7. Personal Email Management Service Settles FTC Charges over Allegedly Deceptive Statements to Consumers over Its Access and Use of Subscribers’ Email Accounts 
8. Makers of Head Impact Sensors Avoid FTC Enforcement Headache
9. Warren: FTC’s $125 cash option in Equifax settlement “misled” customers
10. I Tried Hiding From Silicon Valley in a Pile of Privacy Gadgets: Avoiding digital snoops takes more than throwing money at the problem, but that part can be really fun.
11. Google “Street View” Wiretap Allegations Settled for a “Modest” $13 Million 
12. Microsoft contractors hear phone sex and more while reviewing Cortana, Skype audio
13. They Grow Up So Fast These Days: Facial Recognition Tech Edition
14. Consumer Reports Finds Numerous Home Routers Lack Even Basic Security Protections
15. Found: World-readable database used to secure buildings around the globe
16. These companies claim to provide “fair-trade” data work. Do they?: Companies like CloudFactory, iMerit, and Samasource promise data sets provided by workers who are well paid and cared for. It’s not an easy business.
17. You’ve Been Hacked: Board Cybersecurity Liability and Risk Management
18. Woman accused of Capital One hack had stolen data from 30 companies, authorities say
19. Hack in the box: Hacking into companies with “warshipping”
20. Will technology return shame to our society?
21. Enforcement under the GDPR – the new paradigm
22. Indian Counseling Company Files Criminal Complaint Against Blogger Who Informed It About A Sensitive Data Leak
23. Hacker site’s incriminating database published online by rival group

CREATIVITY

1. A long and winding road: Canada nears the end of an ambitious project to modernize patent, trademark and industrial design laws
2. Blacklock’s Tendentious and Tenacious Litany of Litigation – the Latest (Lack of) Developments (Howard Knopf)
3. Judge Dismisses Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Defamation Lawsuit Against The New York Times
4. Combating Hate Speech Through Counterspeech
5. Universal pulls The Huntafter most recent deadly mass shootings [Updated]
6. Appeals Court Says Banana Costume Is Infringing
7. City of Phanatic Love: Phillies Face Lawsuit Over Beloved Mascot
8. Chequered flag to Ferrari: Competitors back to the drawing boards after Ferrari copyright ruling 
9. Reaping What They Sowed: Recording Industry Now Quite Upset About Copyright Run Amok
10. DC Opposes Trademark Application For ‘Algorithmic Justice League’ For Some Reason
11. Brewery In Wales Changes Name Of 2 Beers After Fight With Hugo Boss
12. North Carolina Court Says Retaliatory Arrests Over Protected Speech Are Cool And Legal
13. NAAG Asks VOD Providers to Shield Kids From Tobacco Imagery
14. Oops: Japan Anti-Piracy Proposals Probably Violate Its Constitution
15. Keep Shining Upon Us, Our Guiding Star – Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer (1976 – 2019)
16. IP rights in art in United Kingdom – England & Wales (England & Wales)
17. IP Top 10 July: Copyright Infringement is a… Dark Horse

Jon

GAMES

1. Parties agree to settle in Damion Perrine v. Sega of America 
2. TaxWatch: Activision Blizzard has dodged taxes on billions – UK think tank details how Call of Duty company’s corporate structure, IP royalty scheme minimizes money owed
3. Republican politicians say videogames partly to blame for mass shootings: GOP House minority leader Kevin McCarthy says videogames ‘dehumanize individuals’.
4. Another mass shooting, another wave of politicians pointing at video games
5. In Wake Of Mass Shootings, Top Trade Org Refutes Trump’s Claim That Gaming Is To Blame
6. ESA defends against Trump’s proposed video game crackdown: Meanwhile, publisher share prices fall in wake of US president’s address
7. IGDA, IGDAF issue statement on weekend shootings in the US: Advocacy organizations defend industry following President Trump’s accusations against “gruesome and grisly video games”
8. Biden says violent games are “not healthy” but not the cause of “carnage”
9. DayZ has been refused classification by the Australian ratings board
10. Psyonix is removing paid, randomized loot boxes fromRocket League this year
11. After Epic purchase, Psyonix removes random loot boxes from Rocket League: Move follows similar removal in Epic’s Fortnite: Save the World.
12. What did the FTC hear in its loot box workshop?: ESA defends virtual currency and dynamic drop rates as concerns are raised about consumer protection and similarities to gambling
13. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo team up to force loot box odds disclosures: Major publishers will also increase transparency in 2020 as FTC looks at loot boxes.
14. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony to launch platform-wide rules on loot box disclosures
15. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony to require loot box odds disclosure: Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Wizards of the Coast, and other publishers will also comply
16. Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft to require loot box odds disclosure: ESA says platform holders will roll out new policy that would apply to new games and updates that add loot box features
17. Consumer advocates to ESRB, FTC: Loot box odds disclosure is not enough – Consumer Reports’ Anna Laitin – “A kid is not going to make a better decision with odds disclosure”
18. Blog: The glorious, profitable, inescapable art of addiction
19. The flawed Kinder Egg defence: The University of Adelaide’s Dr Daniel King on what his “Unfair Play” academic study reveals about the industry’s monetisation practices
20. Psyonix removes paid, randomized crates from Rocket League: Replacement system will show exact items being purchased, similar to Fortnite
21. 18% of all physical ESRB-rated games have received an ‘in-game purchases’ label
22. FaZe Clan Countersues Tfue, Claims He Cost The Company “Many Millions” In Lost Income
23. FaZe Clan Claims ‘Fortnite’ Star Tfue Is Using Its Secrets to Launch a Competitor
24. Faze Clan countersues its Fortnite pro Tfue: Team responds to claims of illegal contract by saying player violated confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses
25. Super Mario Mischief 
26. Ion Maiden — new video game alleged to infringe heavy metal band’s trade mark
27. An in-game casino gave GTA Online its biggest player surge since launch  
28. Fig to pay lump sum to Wasteland 3 investors as Microsoft buys publishing rights
29. Wasteland 3 investors will receive lump payout following studio acquisition: Microsoft’s acquisition of inXile will get Fig investors higher-than-promised dividend rate
30. Fig plans payouts for Psychonauts 2 investors after Double Fine joins Microsoft
31. Microsoft’s Double Fine acquisition results in early Psychonauts 2 investor payout: Rate is higher than original promise, but eliminates chance to earn more on greater success
32. E3 data breach that exposed 2,000 journalists’ private data puts ESA in legal crosshairs
33. E3 accidentally leaks personal details of journalists, YouTubers and analysts: Over 2,000 names on the list
34. ESA has previously leaked media’s personal details for E3: Files have now been taken down from web archive, ESA “still investigating the matter”
35. ESA also leaked E3 2018’s media attendee list: Data has now been removed but was still live earlier this year, despite show organisers being alerted last September
36. UK’s Video Games Tax Relief has paid out £324m in five years: Over 1,000 claims have been made by developers and publishers since incentive launched in 2014
37. German games market’s headcount declines, but small companies on the rise: More than 11,000 people and 600 companies in Germany develop and distribute games
38. What to do when Bolivia hates you: Lewis Manalo used his life experiences to write on Ghost Recon – Wildlands, and was met with the wrath of both the critics and the entire country of Bolivia
39. Real people starring in porn games is a surreal new frontier: We talked to model and YouTuber LetyDoesStuff about starring in the sex game House Party.
40. It’s A New Dawn For ‘Minecraft’ Content On YouTube. Here’s What Sparked The Renaissance.
41. Ninja, one of Twitch’s top streamers, has left the platform for Mixer
42. Ninja ditches Twitch for exclusive streaming deal with Mixer
43. Ninja Ditches Twitch, Will Exclusively Stream On Microsoft’s Mixer
44. Ninja’ed: Microsoft swipes top game-streamer from Amazon’s Twitch
45. Ninja departure is “unlikely to diminish” Twitch: But it marks a “turning point” for Mixer, says analyst
46. Ninja off to strong start on Mixer: Racks up one million free subscriptions since announcing deal last week
47. Ninja Nabs 350,000 Mixer Followers Overnight, Catapults App To Top Of Charts
48. Ninja Accumulates 1 Million Mixer Subscribers In 6 Days, Thanks In Part To Free Offer
49. Mixer criticised for “breast-focused” streamer clothing guidelines: Twitch partner says rules deem female body “inherently inappropriate”, Microsoft will “evaluate if changes are needed”
50. Blog: 7 questions to answer before marketing on Twitch
51. Ooblets devs reveal threats of violence and racist abuse following Epic Store announcement: Despite the appalling backlash, the developers say that going with the Epic Games Store was the right call.
52. Ooblets dev received thousands of “hateful, threatening messages” over Epic exclusivity: Glumberland on being the target of online hate: “I had no idea it was this bad”
53. Ooblets devs break down their Epic Games Store exclusivity decision
54. Regarding what’s been happening
55. Ooblets dev stands by comments about toxic, entitled gamers: Wave of anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist abuse over Epic Games store exclusivity fails to convince Glumberland dev to recant statements
56. Epic Games denounces “disturbing trend” of harassment toward its partners: Following Ooblets exclusivity deal, Epic professes commitment to supporting its partners
57. Epic exclusivity deal covered Ooblets’ sales forecast across all stores: Glumberland offers insight into how important exclusivity can be for a smaller team
58. Don’t Miss: Building an audience early with visuals-first development in Ooblets
59. Steam’s Interactive Recommender landed 10,000 new games on wishlists
60. Severe local 0-Day escalation exploit found in Steam Client Services
61. Dapper Labs Partners With NBA To Launch Digital Collectibles Game
62. Revenue and bookings up at Zynga, despite slowing active users on mobile
63. After Japanese, Korean success, Zynga turns to China: COO Matt Bromberg: “We’re trying to take a measured approach”
64. Russian dev My.Games and Chinese publisher iDreamSky partner for global expansion
65. Creative Assembly and NetEase partner up to bring Total War to China
66. Koch Media opens Polish publishing office to boost presence in Europe
67. Ubisoft acquires mobile publisher Green Panda Games: 70% stake in Paris-based studio could raise to 100% over four years
68. Borderlands 2 has sold 22 million units to date: Franchise overall has reached 48 million units, buoyed by lead-in to Borderlands 3 launch
69. Final Fantasy and Romancing SaGa boost sales at Square Enix despite profit downturn
70. Square Enix kicks off financial year with Q1 sales of $501m: Sales up 19%, income rises 86% – driven in part by Final Fantasy XIV and remasters
71. UK Charts: Fire Emblem Three Houses scores second week at No.1: Madden arrives at No.5
72. Modern Pick Entertainment to acquire “substantial” stake in Slightly Mad Studios: European publisher says dev “fits perfectly” with non-violent esports mission
73. Obsidian “is not a crunch studio”: “We’d rather cut something than try and get people to not have a life outside the industry”
74. Glu Mobile sees record quarterly bookings in Q2 2019: Mobile publisher lowers full-year guidance to “reflect the timing of new launches”
75. At Schell Games, culture is the antidote to crunch and conflict: CEO Jesse Schell and four of the studio’s original executives discuss the importance of stability, team-building, and open communication
76. Yuke’s splits from WWE 2K franchise: Japanese studio will continue to support the game engine, but isn’t directly involved in WWE games for the first time in two decades
77. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick ‘feels good’ about Google Stadia’s release
78. Strauss Zelnick: Take-Two is “open-minded” on streaming, subscriptions – Despite caution on subscriptions, CEO says the company will “be where the consumer is”
79. Digital net revenue up to $427.8 million for the quarter at Take-Two Interactive
80. Take-Two Interactive ups full-year guidance following strong recurrent returns: Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold 25m units; NBA 2K19 has sold nearly 12m; Civilization VI over 5.5m
81. Automaton Games enters administration: Improbable offers to match former employees with open positions at SpatialOS developer
82. Studio71 Launches ‘The Binding Of Isaac’ Card Game At Target: Studio71 launches strategy card game based on indie video game.
83. Blog: Preparing for the changes to Google Play’s ratings system
84. Google is developing a game and app subscription service called Play Pass
85. Tencent launches its cloud services on WeGame in China:
86. Moonlight Blade, Chinese Parents, Blood of Steel, others can be played instantly on the service without download
87. Tencent aiding with localization, online services for the Switch’s move into China
88. Temporary Pokémon Center coming to London: Pop-up store opening at Westfield to coincide with Sword and Shield launch
89. Nintendo and Tencent working to localize Switch games for China: No Switch software has been approved by Chinese government so far, four games shown at ChinaJoy 2019
90. Blog: How I got my Nintendo Switch port to run at 60fps
91. Here’s why Nintendo Switch consoles keep frying
92. $13,000 NES cartridge found at the bottom of a Safeway sack
93. New ‘Game Trials’ program will let Switch Online members try games for free
94. Why is Electronic Arts almost completely ignoring the Switch?
95. EA CEO: The Switch isn’t players’ first choice for multi-platform EA games
96. EA: Our players often choose other platforms over Nintendo Switch – EA explains absence of games like The Sims 4 on Switch, points to $300m-plus bookings forecast for The Sims 4
97. EA: Subscriptions combined with cloud services will “lower the barriers” to gaming – CEO Andrew Wilson suggests cloud services paired with subscriptions would cause “shift” in gaming
98. Roblox has surpassed 100 million monthly active users
99. Pokémon GO reaches over one billion downloads worldwide: Niantic’s location-based Pokémon catching adventure achieves milestone just over three years after launch
100. Console Wars—a book about the Genesis and SNES—will become a TV show
101. DuckTales: Remastered is being pulled from digital stores on August 8
102. Enduring popularity of key franchises helps boost sales and profits at Capcom
103. Capcom profits up 50.8% thanks to “highly profitable” digital downloads: Japanese publisher increases focus on esports as it restructures unprofitable arcade business
104. “NBA Last 90” Foreshadows the Potentially Lucrative Intersection of eSports and Sports Betting
105. Chinese publisher NetEase is building a $725 million esports park in Shanghai
106. NetEase reveals plans for $700m esports stadium in Shanghai: Stadium to feature game development, team building, and training facilities
107. EVO in trouble with Bandai Namco, Konami and Solid Snake actor David Hayter: Tekken tournament organisers used iconic character in promo video without permission from any of the above
108. Nexon to acquire Swedish game developer Embark Studios
109. Nexon to fully acquire stock in Embark Studios: Nexon’s Western development strategy will now be “driven” by Embark founder Patrick Söderlund
110. Layoffs at Nexon America as two California-based offices are closed
111. Nexon closes second US office in a month: LA-based Division Partners precedes the closure of Nexon M later this month
112. Slitherine acquires Master of Magic publishing rights from Atari
113. Slitherine acquires Master of Magic franchise: Strategy game developer hints at publishing sequel to 1994 MS-DOS title
114. Flurry of New Apple ‘AR/VR’ Job Listings Point to New Products on the Horizon
115. Iconic VR Film ‘The Matrix’ to Return to Select Theaters for 20th Anniversary
116. XRDC: 59% of AR/VR developers are working on games – Oculus Rift surpassed HTC Vive this year as the top AR/VR/MR development platform
117. Valve Cancels VirtualLink Adapter Accessory for Index, Cites Technical Issues & Laptop Adoption
118. Valve clamping down on abuse of Steam’s Popular Upcoming list: Developers reportedly now need Valve’s approval before changing release date
119. Oculus Rift surpasses HTC Vive as VR devs’ top platform in new XRDC Innovation Report!
120. Here’s What Facebook Says About Camera Privacy on Quest & Rift S
121. Video: Reinventing a platformer for VR the Astro Bot way
122. Over 50 ‘field leaders’ laid off at GameStop due to ongoing cost-cutting
123. Why the gaming world will be worse once GameStop is gone
124. Video: A postmortem of indie kingdom-builder Kingdoms and Castles
125. Video: Delivering data-driven dynamic gameplay effects inFor Honor  
126. Video: What an art-house indie learned from a year of working in F2P
127. Video: How Slay the Spire achieved success through marketability
128. Dangen Entertainment: What it really costs to run an indie publishing label – With the right focus and the right relationships, the Osaka-based publisher can find success with 10,000 units sold
129. Genetics-themed survival game Niche is heading to schools for free
130. Immortalising your grandmother in a WWII game: Bob De Schutter talks us through the inspiration and incredible true stories behind his PC title Brukel
131. Don’t Miss: Building the monstrous transforming puzzle heads of GNOG
132. Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the development and design ofGravity Ghost
133. Don’t Miss: The Chinese Room’s Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs postmortem
134. Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the art design of Journey
135. This War of Mine: Five years later – Publishing director Paweł Feldman on how 11 bit Studios managed the game’s life-cycle and ensured steady sales
136. Niche developer offers game to schools for free: Stray Fawn Studio encourages teachers to get in touch for free classroom codes
137. How Diablo meets Left 4 Dead in co-op action RPGKillsquad
138. Metal Wolf Chaos XD: A weirdly timed return to 2004’s robo-blasting innocence
139. The design and iteration of tactical deck-building gameNowhere Prophet
140. Giving players the ability to bump off any NPC in The Outer Worlds was ‘insanely hard’
141. Making family matter in Children of Morta
142. The three eras of game discoverability
143. nWay introduces blockchain solution to its development platform: Power Rangers: Legacy Wars developer adds support for unified marketplace across all nWayPlay games
144. Video Gaming / E-Gaming Law Update
145. U.S. Patent No. 5,885,156: Video game apparatus, method of controlling the growth of play character in video game, and video game medium therefor 
146. Halo TV series pushed to 2021: Production on Showtime adaptation begins later this year with Natascha McElhone and Bokeem Woodbine among announced cast