News of the Week

GAMES

1. Fears of Bethesda legal action prompts cancellation of Fallout 3 remake: Capital Wasteland scrapped as modders seek to maintain a good relationship with Elder Scrolls publisher
2. Fight for Star Control ownership escalates after settlement offer leaks
3. JRPG Becomes The First Game Banned In The UK For Over A Decade: The game has been banned over concerns that it sexualises children.
4. Britain Is The Latest Country To Ban A Sexy Dungeon Crawler
5. Omega Labyrinth Z banned in the UK for sexualization of minors
6. Omega Labyrinth Z the first game to be banned in the UK since Manhunt 2: PQube’s dungeon crawler refused rating by Video Standards Council for “sexualisation of children”
7. Opinion: So what *does* the science say about games and violence?
8. As Video Games Are In Presidential Crosshairs, New Study Again Shows They Don’t Affect Behavior
9. Two months of daily GTA causes “no significant changes” in behavior: No difference detected over a battery of 52 separate behavioral tests.
10. Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study (Simone Kühn, Dimitrij Tycho Kugler, Katharina Schmalen, Markus Weichenberger, Charlotte Witt, Jürgen Gallinat)
11. How devs deal with making enemies that feel ‘okay’ to kill
12. Military-themed video games can promote a damaging vision of real war
13. In order to create empathy in players, writers need to get personal 
14. Arma III developer raises over $170K for International Committee of the Red Cross
15. Valve quietly cracks down on Steam hate groups: Several Nazi and school shooter-themed groups deleted, but other toxic communities still remain
16. Blog: What’s up with the DMCA fight over defunct online games?
17. Fortnite’s unconventional launch
18. Fortnite tops $1.5M in revenue during first week on mobile
19. As Fortnite rises, Epic champions community & cross-platform tech
20. Though invite-only, Fortnite Battle Royale tops iOS charts at launch
21. Fortnite breaks record for most-viewed stream on Twitch 
22. Drake, Ninja light up Twitch with Fortnite stream: Epic and Twitch say they didn’t pay for session that saw rapper and streamer draw more than 600,000 concurrent viewers
23. Twitch Prime kicks off monthly free games bundle with Superhot, Shadow Tactics: Members will receive permanent additions to their collections as long as their subscription lasts
24. Epic gifts over $12M worth of Paragon assets to Unreal Engine devs
25. $12m of Epic Games’ Paragon assets now free to all developers: Unreal Engine provider offers character models, animations, environments and more ahead of next month’s shutdown
26. Epic Games CEO: AR glasses will “eventually replace smartphones”: Before that, console-quality games on mobile phones will be the big trend.
27. Epic Games shows off lifelike “digital humans” with Star Wars and Andy Serkis demos: At GDC today, the Unreal Engine creator demonstrated how real-time raytracing will help games finally cross the uncanny valley
28. Star Wars: Battlefront II’s new update axes “pay-to-win” upgrades – Character upgrades now earned through linear, in-game experience system.
29. ‘Serious Sam’ Developer Teams Up With Denuvo Cracker To Pump Up Sales For Failed Game
30. How a ‘bug’ in an educational writing game cursed at children
31. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice leads BAFTA Games Awards 2018 nominations
32. Hellblade leads with nine nominations at this year’s BAFTAs: Horizon Zero Dawn a close second with eight, followed by What Remains of Edith Finch with seven
33. Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds is now free on iOS, Android—and dang, it’s solid: We break down our first session with the Western version to explain why we’ll come back.
34. Nintendo Switch breaks records for first-year US sales: Meanwhile, NPD reports spending on games products neared $1 billion in February
35. Nintendo working to improve discoverability of Switch titles on eShop
36. Nintendo reveals best-selling indie Switch games: Celeste triumphs as platform holder pledges to improve eShop discoverability
37. How they got Ark: Survival Evolved working on Switch: Port specialists Abstraction on Nintendo, hitting the headlines at GDC and creating its own IP
38. Finally, a portable solution for those “vertical” Switch games: Upcoming accessory lets you simply capture that classic arcade aspect ratio
39. Nintendo’s influence on independent devs and their games  
40. How Mario Kart influenced Nintendo’s fighting game, ARMS 
41. This Eerie Mario Tribute Is An Ode To Playing Games With Your Brother
42. Sonic the Hedgehog’s origin story, according to the devs who made him
43. Established Japanese devs are making games under a new approach
44. Epic: The barrier between Xbox and PlayStation “will inevitably come down”: Tim Sweeney on the emergence of “real games for gamers” on mobile, and the role of cross-platform play for the future of the games business
45. Microsoft: ‘We’re growing our gaming business beyond the console’ – The company lays out its vision to attract two billion gamers by 2020
46. Microsoft targets game devs with new ‘device-agnostic’ Gaming Cloud biz
47. Xbox adds almost 300 indie games in a year: “We try to never say the word indie internally,” says ID@Xbox director
48. Why Unity and Universal are giving indies access to Hollywood IP: New contest, supported by Microsoft and Intel, gives devs the chance to create games based on Back To The Future, Jaws and more
49. Crytek will now take a 5% cut from games made using CryEngine 5.5
50. Crytek adopts royalties model as CryEngine 5.5 arrives: Developer will now take a five per cent share of earnings from games built with its technology
51. Atari reveals its nostalgic ‘Ataribox’ game console as the Atari VCS
52. The Ataribox becomes the Atari VCS: Hardware gets a new name, logo and look, but it’s still unclear as to what precisely it has to offer
53. MLB Just Released A Reboot Of The ’80s Nintendo Classic ‘R.B.I. Baseball’: We STILL can’t get that damn background music out of our heads.
54. Google Play is launching download-free instant games
55. Subway Surfers becomes first game to surpass 1B downloads on Google Play
56. Subway Surfers becomes first Android game to pass 1bn downloads: Sybo and Kiloo’s mobile hit achieves new milestone after outperforming all other games last year
57. Mobile increasing its share of the games industry – Report: App Annie and IDC find mobile consumer spending was double that of PC/Mac gaming last year, 3.6 times that of consoles
58. French games industry hits $5.3bn in 2017: Software, hardware and accessories sales all improve
59. Vivendi sells entire stock of Ubisoft shares, Tencent among buyers
60. Vivendi Exits Ubisoft for $2.46 Billion as Tencent Enters
61. Vivendi sells its entire stake in Ubisoft: The Guillemot family regains control of the publisher, with Tencent taking a 5 per cent stake
62. China’s largest game publisher adds Ubisoft to its massive portfolio: Vivendi is officially out of the picture – but Tencent’s Western dominance only rises.
63. Ubisoft and Tencent form ‘strategic agreement’ to bring games to China: Tencent will publish, promote and operate Ubisoft’s PC and mobile titles in its home market
64. China’s largest game publisher adds Ubisoft to its massive portfolio: Vivendi is officially out of the picture—but Tencent’s Western dominance only rises.
65. Tencent’s Q4 profit doubles: Big jumps in mobile games and smaller PC growth boost Chinese giant as financial year closes
66. UK Charts: Burnout Paradise is back at No.1 after 10 years – Kirby Star Allies is fastest selling Kirby game in UK chart history
67. Klang nets $5M to support the development of its AI-driven MMO, Seed
68. Klang secures $5m investment to develop AI-driven MMO Seed: Venture capital firm Makers Fund leads investment in “genre-breaking” title
69. EA’s secretive SEED team shows off first demo, Project Pica Pica: GDC technical demo showcases work with ray-tracing and self-learning AI agents
70. EA is overhauling Battlefront II’s controversial progression system
71. How Kongregate plans to rival Steam with new store Kartridge: “Everybody uses Steam, but they don’t necessarily love it,” says CEO Emily Greer
72. After closing down Paragon, Epic makes its assets free-as-in-speech: Content can only be used in Unreal Engine 4, because Epic isn’t running a charity.
73. Amazon debuts GameOn, a new cross-platform competitive game platform
74. Amazon’s new GameOn tech enables devs to offer real-world prizes in games: Newly-announced APIs enable in-game competitions on mobile, PC and console
75. What can games developers learn from a social casino firm?: KamaGames CEO Andrey Kuznetsov offers advice on how to increase revenues and keep your players hungry for more
76. Growth, toxicity, crunch: Devs talk about what went wrong at Telltale
77. Former Telltale developers accuse studio of breeding toxicity: Co-founder Kevin Bruner is strongly criticised by former colleagues complaining of never-ending crunch and stifled creativity
78. Jack Tretton launches indie investment fund: Interactive Gaming Ventures funding projects for a stake of the IP, looking for reliable returns more than swinging for the fences
79. Gorogoa: how the hit indie game derived from a failed comic book
80. SimCity creator Will Wright’s new game will harvest your memories
81. Will Wright returns to game development with mobile title Proxi: The Sims creator working with Unity to find an artist for his first games project in almost a decade
82. Unity getting new rendering, machine learning, and performance tools
83. THQ Nordic revives 16 Nickelodeon games as part of “asset care” strategy: Publisher announces return of multiple Nickoldeon titles including Invader Zim, SpongBob SquarePants, and Avatar: The Last Airbender
84. Google Opens ‘Maps’ API So Devs Can Create ‘Pokémon Go’-style Games
85. Google doubles down on mobile games with new store Google Play Instant: New store aimed at improving discoverability lets users play games without downloading them first
86. Google opens up Maps data for developers to build mixed reality games: Google Maps API grants access to accurate, living model of the world to serve as foundation for games
87. Google Cloud teams with Ubisoft for open-source game server project Agones: Companies invite developers to work together on enabling smoother matchmaking and multiplayer for games of all sizes
88. The Play Store gets a “try now” button for games, no install required: Google Play Instant can launch a demo instantly on Android, with no install process.
89. Major video game tournament abandoning Seattle for Vancouver: The International Dota 2 Championships to take place at Rogers Arena starting Aug. 20
90. City of Arlington Announces Plan For Largest Esports Stadium In North America
91. NFL and NBA veterans among key hires at Activision Blizzard’s new esports division: “We’re committed to maintaining the highest degree of excellence and professionalism in our operation,” says esports division CEO
92. NBA Eyes Global Expansion For NBA 2K After Inaugural Season
93. How blind players succeed at sports video games they’ve never seen: A few small accessibility changes can unlock a whole new playerbase.
94. Pac-Man on Hololens: Bandai Namco shows us how they made it not suck – GDC 2018 panel shows off a 3D-printed Hololens mod – and lots of high-fiving.
95. LeanGP Home Motorcycle Sim Doubles Crowdfunding Goal With 3 Weeks to Go
96. The HTC Vive Just Got A Big Price Cut
97. HTC to launch standalone Vive Focus headset outside of China
98. Vive Pro to retail for $799, standard Vive gets $100 price drop
99. Unreal Engine 4 adds Magic Leap One support
100. Magic Leap Launches Developer SDK, Confirms Eye-tracking, Room-scanning, and More
101. Oculus introduces hardware reports so devs can make ‘data-driven decisions’
102. The VR Metaverse Of Ready Player One Is Just Beyond Our Grasp
103. Insights: IMAX And Nickelodeon Hope To Find Lost Gen Z Fans In VR
104. VR headsets have become the new arthouse – the best of SXSW’s fantastic VR festival: David Attenborough gave me fossils. Jessica Chastain whispered me through a black hole.
105. Using data to look at what VR games get right (and wrong) about accessibility
106. Be ready to pay a lot for Vive Pro’s higher-res virtual reality: Lack of bundled controllers and trackers decreases the value proposition.
107. HTC Vive announces price of Vive Pro at £799; cuts price of existing headset: Vive Pro will ship on April 5 and come with six-month Viveport Subscription
108. Facebook releases engagement-focused Games SDK
109. Facebook reveals new SDK for PC game development: SDK includes new features around community engagement and analytics
110. Facebook Instant Games platform opens up to all developers: After nearly 18 months in closed beta, Instant Games opens up to developers with a host of new features
111. Can Facebook catch up to Twitch and YouTube?
112. Game Workers Unite to Jen MacLean: ‘We want to work with you’
113. Video games will take over Trafalgar Square during London Games Festival: London Games Festival returns 5th – 15th April
114. Jean Grae’s New Music Video Is A Trip Through Classic Arcade Games
115. The Internet Archive uploads handheld retro games 
116. The 12 Worst Video Game Movie Adaptations Of All Time: From Super Mario Bros. to Postal, these movies give adaptations a bad name.
117. Relive portable gaming’s limited LCD past through the magic of emulation: MAME-powered “Handheld History Collection” captures everything but the molded plastic.
118. #Wargames Is A Unique, Interactive Revival Of The ’80s Movie
119. A look at how (and why) devs work memorials and tributes into games

DIGITAL

1.  Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, explained: Trump operatives got private data from 50 million Facebook users.
2. Canada’s privacy watchdog launches investigation into Facebook after allegations of data leak: ‘If true, the allegations raise a major challenge for privacy rights,’ says Daniel Therrien
3. Both Facebook And Cambridge Analytica Threatened To Sue Journalists Over Stories On CA’s Use Of Facebook Data
4. Facebook may have violated FTC privacy deal, say former federal officials, triggering risk of massive fines
5. The Irreversible Damage Of Mark Zuckerberg’s Silence
6. Mark Zuckerberg Talks To Wired About Facebook’s Privacy Problem
7. Zuckerberg: Cambridge Analytica leak a “breach of trust” with users – The Trump-linked consulting firm harvested data from 50 million Facebook users.
8. Mark Zuckerberg Announces that Facebook is an Information Fiduciary (Jack Balkin)
9. Mark Zuckerberg Speaks, But Is He Listening?
10. Facebook-Cambridge Analytica – Brave New World for Privacy and Data Misuse
11. On the web, privacy in peril: Massive mining of users’ data on Facebook eats away at public’s online trust, analyst says
12. Facebook’s Surveillance Machine (Zeynep Tufekci)
13. Cambridge Analytica suspends CEO pending probe in Facebook data scandal: Cambridge Analytica embroiled in scandal over its handling of Facebook users’ personal data
14. Cambridge Analytica suspends CEO amid uproar over Facebook data leak
15. Cambridge Analytica Execs Caught Discussing Extortion And Fake News
16. Facebook Has Many Sins To Atone For, But ‘Selling Data’ To Cambridge Analytica Is Not One Of Them
17. Facebook Owes You More Than This
18. Tell Facebook: this can’t happen again.
19. Facebook CEO Zuckerberg conspicuously absent as data scandal grows
20. Some Facebook employees are angry that Mark Zuckerberg has ghosted in the middle of this scandal
21. The billionaire cofounder of WhatsApp, which Facebook acquired for $19 billion, just tweeted #DeleteFacebook
22. Facebook’s value drops $30 billion after an enormous data scandal involving 50 million Facebook account
23. A Hurricane Flattens Facebook
24. Mark Zuckerberg is acting like a man who can’t be fired — and the unique way his stock is structured could be why
25. Here’s How to Share as Little Data as Possible Without Deleting Facebook
26. Mark Zuckerberg: I Can Barely Handle This CNN Interview, What Makes You Think I Can Handle Congress
27. Here’s Why That Recent Abuse of Facebook Data Matters
28. Yes, we should be outraged about Facebook
29. It’s Time For Facebook To Share More Data With Researchers
30. Facebook To Launch Paid Monthly Subscriptions, New ‘Rights Manager’ For Creators
31. UN Says Facebook Is Complicit In The Spread Of Anti-Muslim Hate In Myanmar
32. Did Facebook Violate SESTA By Promoting Child Abuse Videos? 
33. The Long History of Computer Science and Psychology Comes Into View: Understanding that legacy can help us stop the next Cambridge Analytica.
34. The Complete Guide To Facebook Privacy
35. What Would Regulating Facebook Look Like?
36. How Not To Regulate Social Networks
37. How ‘Regulating Facebook’ Could Make Everyone’s Concerns Worse, Not Better
38. Facebook’s security chief to depart role over company’s handling of misinformation: CSO Alex Stamos clashed with other executives over handling of Russian meddling.
39. Facebook Security Chief Reportedly Leaving Over Russia Probe Disagreement
40. DHS warns of new Russia hacks as US sanctions Russia over election interference: DHS alert warns of Russian government malware targeting critical infrastructure.
41. The White House Finally Hits Russia Back For Online Chaos
42. U.S. Imposes Additional Russian Sanctions for Election Interference and Cyber Attacks
43. US officials: Kaspersky “Slingshot” report burned anti-terror operation – Joint Special Operations Command ran campaign against ISIS, Al Qaeda for at least 6 years.
44. How Trump’s Lawyer’s Silly Lawsuit Against Buzzfeed May Free Stormy Daniels From Her Non Disclosure Agreement
45. China to bar people with bad ‘social credit’ from planes, trains
46. Chinese Citizens With Bad ‘Social Credit’ to Be Blocked From Taking Planes and Trains
47. Forbidden Feeds: Government Controls On Social Media In China
48. People’s Republic of Desire film review: Yes, Black Mirror is already here: A portentous look at the impact of unchecked money-for-popularity online services.
49. Apple’s App Store mysteriously went dark in Iran yesterday
50. We’ve Seen What Bots Do to Democracy. Are We Adapting Fast Enough?
51. Voice Chat App Zello Turned A Blind Eye To Jihadis For Years
52. How a Norwegian comment section turned chaos into order – with a simple quiz – SXSW: NRK’s dedicated tech team employs “open source” tactics to fight trolling.
53. Congress OKs sex-trafficking bill that critics say will “censor the Internet”: Critics say law will limit free speech online and won’t help trafficking victims.
54. Internet Wins, And The Need To Appreciate What We’ve Got Before It’s Gone
55. Can SESTA Be Fixed?
56. SESTA’s Sponsors Falsely Claim That Fixing SESTA’s Worst Problem Harms Hollywood
57. Hollywood’s Behind-The-Scenes Support For SESTA Is All About Filtering The Internet
58. As Expected Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Unconstitutional SESTA Bill, Putting Lives In Danger
59. Lawsuit Against Online Dating App Grindr Dismissed Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 
60. The evolution of internet service provider and host liability
61. Reddit Made The Video Star
62. Google Hopes YouTube’s “Top News” Section Will Combat Misinformation In Its Search Results
63. Report: Google is buying innovative camera startup Lytro for $40 million – Lytro seems to be at the end of the line, and Google is grabbing it at a bargain.
64. Lyor Cohen At SXSW: YouTube’s Music Service Will Be Something Consumers “Will Be Proud Of”
65. YouTube Will Increase Ads For Certain Viewers To Drive Subscriptions To New Music Service
66. The First YouTube Space In The Middle East Is Now Open In Dubai
67. YouTube Tightens Its Policies On Gun-Related Videos
68. YouTuber Who Trained His Girlfriend’s Dog To Be A Nazi Facing Hate Crime Charges In Scotland
69. As YouTube Begins Crackdown On Gun Channels, One Of Them Heads To Pornhub
70. Susan Wojcicki On YouTube’s Fight Against Misinformation
71. Wikipedia Says It Wasn’t Warned About YouTube Integration To Combat Conspiracies
72. YouTube Creator Convicted Of Hate Crime For Teaching Pug Nazi Salute
73. YouTube Simplifies Livestreaming Process From Computers, Webcams, And Android Camera Apps
74. Don’t Ask Wikipedia To Cure The Internet
75. Censorship Creep Is Setting In As Social Media Companies Try To Stay Ahead Of European Lawmakers
76. EU’s Mandatory Copyright Content Filter Is The Zombie That Just Never Dies
77. Logan Paul Launches Twitch Channel, Drawing 190,000 Followers In 24 Hours
78. After Record-Setting Broadcast With Drake, Twitch Streamer Ninja Says He Makes $500,000 Per Month
79. Rihanna Slams Snapchat Ad for Joking About Domestic Violence
80. Rihanna Rebukes Snapchat For Ad Appearing To Make Light Of Domestic Violence
81. Snapchat Taps New Exec To Oversee Relationships With Influencers, Celebrities
82. iHeartMedia Files for Bankruptcy
83. German Lawyers Call For Their Profession’s Bug-Ridden, Soon-To-Be Mandatory, Email System To Be Open Sourced
84. US Navy Accused Of Massive Amounts Of Piracy By German Software Company
85. Elon Musk Says He’s Formed a Media Company Called ‘Thud’ After Hiring Ex-Staffers of The Onion
86. Cheddar Raises $22 Million, Doubling Valuation, As It Eyes International Expansion
87. New York power companies can now charge Bitcoin miners more: With few community benefits, power authorities are cracking down.
88. City In New York Becomes First to Ban New Bitcoin Mining
89. Ether plunges after SEC says “dozens” of ICO investigations underway: The Ethereum cryptocurrency is below $500 for the first time since 2017.
90. A “tamper-proof” currency wallet just got backdoored by a 15-year-old: Backdoor allows attacker to recover private keys stored on Ledger hardware wallets.
91. Uber self-driving car hits and kills pedestrian: An Arizona pedestrian died in the hospital following the crash.
92. Uber’s Self-Driving Car Just Killed Somebody. Now What?
93. Police chief: Uber self-driving car “likely” not at fault in fatal crash – Tempe police chief says victim “came from the shadows right into the roadway.”
94. Tempe Police Chief Indicates The Uber Self-Driving Car Probably Isn’t At Fault In Pedestrian Death
95. Pedestrian Deaths By Car In Phoenix Area Last Week: 11. But One Was By A Self-Driving Uber
96. Real stupid questions about artificial intelligence: Spirit AI’s Emily Short says it’s more important than ever for the press and public to understand what AI is, and what it can do
97. Robotic muscle and sensitive polymer fingers in Columbia University’s robotics labs: When building, there are lots of different paths to the same ends.
98. Med Students Are Getting Terrible Training In Robotic Surgery
99. Beware Of Roboadvisors Bearing Low Fees: Companies like Wealthfront are moving away from their early ideals of low-fee passive investing—and customers should be skeptical. 
100. Watch A Robot ‘Hen’ Adopt A Flock Of Chicks
101. Autonomous Robot Bees Are Being Patented by… Walmart?
102. L’Oreal Buys Augmented Reality Beauty App, Allowing Robots To Point Out Our Every Flaw
103. OpenAI Wants to Make Safe AI, but That May Be an Impossible Task
104. Tech Companies Try To Retrain The Workers They’re Displacing
105. Sociologists Examine Hackathons And See Exploitation
106. Maybe Nobody Wants Your Space Internet
107. Porsche and Bugatti turn to 3D printing for complex or rare parts: Additive manufacturing is starting to gain acceptance among automakers.
108. Bento, A Feline Known For Appearing In ‘Keyboard Cat’ Videos, Has Died
109. Bento the Keyboard Cat, internet sensation and YouTube star, dies: The beloved feline star of the popular meme has died age eight. But does this really mean the end?
110. Steve Jobs’ 1973 job application fetches $174,000 at auction: Under “abilities,” Jobs wrote “electronics tech or design engineer. digital.” 

CREATIVITY

1. Radio-Canada reporter arrested for harassment after requesting interview
2. Appeals Court Says It’s Okay To Copyright An Entire Style Of Music
3. Lucha Underground Wrestling Sends Legal Threat To Journalists For Publishing ‘Spoilers’

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Outlier: Why Bell’s Leadership on Website Blocking Places It at Odds With Telecom Companies Around the World (Michael Geist)
2. Dialling Up the Bell Lobbying Playbook: Production Company Website Blocking Submissions Using Identical Script (Michael Geist)
3. The Justice Department, AT&T-Time Warner trial is underway
4. Ex-DOJ Officials Raise Trump, AT&T Merger Interference Concerns
5. AT&T suffers another blow in court over throttling of “unlimited” data: AT&T can’t force California customers into arbitration, judge says.
6. Ajit Pai celebrates after court strikes down Obama-era robocall rule
7. Ajit Pai says net neutrality was the top threat to broadband deployment: FCC chair still can’t offer proof that repeal will boost broadband access.
8. Why the first state with a net neutrality law isn’t scared of lawsuits: Washington lawmaker: FCC can’t preempt state laws “just because it says so.”
9. California Introduces New, Tougher Net Neutrality Rules; Uses Ajit Pai’s Abdication Of Authority Against The FCC
10. Entire broadband industry will help FCC defend net neutrality repeal: NCTA, CTIA, and USTelecom sign up to defend net neutrality repeal in court.
11. If You’re Angry About Facebook’s Privacy Abuses, You Should Be Four Times As Angry At The Broadband Industry
12. NY says Charter lied about new broadband, threatens to revoke its franchise: Charter tried to count old broadband toward new merger commitments, NY says.
13. The Cable Industry Is Quietly Securing A Massive Monopoly Over American Broadband
14. The FCC Should Use Blockchain To Manage Wireless Spectrum
15. An “Ashamed” Fox News Commentator Just Quit The “Propaganda Machine”: “Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association,” Col. Ralph Peters wrote in an email to colleagues. “Now I am ashamed.”
16. US Spends $2 Billion Monthly On Streaming Services, Older Viewers Cut Cords
17. The Dangers Of Big City Subsidies: When public assets are privatized and auctioned off to the highest bidder, everyone loses. 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Russian Court Says Telegram Must Hand Over Encryption Keys To State Intelligence Service
2. Malware attack on 400k PCs caused by backdoored BitTorrent app: Once the stuff of spy novels, supply chain attacks are becoming common.
3. UK High Court perma-bans efforts to extradite Lauri Love for US hacking trial: Sets precedent for blocking extradition of hackers to US on humanitarian grounds.
4. Privacy Practices Every Company Should Address in Wake of Action Against PayPal
5. This Call May Be Monitored For Tone And Emotion
6. US spy lab hopes to geotag every outdoor photo on social media: “Finder” will geotag images by terrain, sky features.
7. Cops Wanting To Track Movements Of Hundreds Of People Are Turning To Google For Location Records
8. Europe’s New Privacy Law Will Change The Web, And More
9. Alphabet’s ‘Outline’ Software Lets Anyone Run A Homebrew VPN
10. A YouTuber Who Put A GoPro On A Sushi Restaurant Conveyor Belt Has Caused Quite The Stir In Japan
11. YouTube Video Causes Sushi Restaurant Chain To Ban Photography
12. “Hey Google, could you be used against me in court?”
13. Clock Runs Out On Perjury Charges For James Clapper, Ensuring He Won’t Be Punished For Lying To Congress
14. Adrian Lamo, former hacker who turned in Chelsea Manning, dead at 37: Intruder of Yahoo, Microsoft, and NYT was best known for reporting Manning leaks.

Jon

GAMES

1. White House meeting over violent video games accomplished little, say attendees 
2. Opinion: Trump’s video game ‘summit’ reminds us who the enemy is
3. Trump’s Video Game Summit: Developers On One Side, Partisan Hack Puritan Cosplayers On The Other
4. After industry meeting, Trump highlights alleged game violence effects: Democrats accuse president of using games to “change the subject” from gun control.
5. IGDA: Blaming gun violence on games is a distraction, but a chance to educate  
6. Yelling at “scumbags” – inside the White House’s last gaming violence summit: When gaming executives meet the executive branch, the discussion can get a bit bumpy.
7. What to expect from Trump’s game industry summit today: Attendee list suggests a vigorous debate between pro- and anti-gaming voices.
8. These are the people attending the White House’s game violence meeting
9. ZeniMax, Take Two CEOs to meet with President Trump: White House sources have confirmed two attendees of today’s meeting on gun violence
10. Trump meeting with game execs yields “significant progress” – Legislator: Missouri Representative Vicky Hartzler gives her assessment as ESA thanks president for “receptive and comprehensive approach”
11. Trump White House’s Horribly Violent Video-Game Reel Goes Viral
12. This alternate montage challenges the White House’s violent games reel 
13. Watch the industry’s response to Trump’s violent video games reel: Games For Change compiles montage of beautiful and emotional moments from The Last of Us, Zelda, Minecraft, Abzu and more
14. Devs of violent games in White House reel “should be ashamed” – Spector: Warren Spector calls supercut of gory titles “simply disgusting,” says those titles hurt the industry
15. ‘The American Dream’ Parodies US Gun Culture, Launching This Week at a Key Moment in Gun Rights Debate
16. What would Trump’s trade war mean for the games business?: The high-profile summit on game violence is a paper tiger; the industry should take the opportunity to persuade the President on trade issues instead
17. Super Seducer blocked from release on PlayStation 4: The BBC has claimed that Sony “banned” the controversial seduction game
18. “Dating coach” game Super Seducer barred from PlayStation 4: Available on Steam, game using live-action video to “teach” pick-up techniques.
19. Voice-acting rights halt effort to put Fallout 3 inside Fallout 4: Converting licensed vocal files falls into a legal gray area.
20. Fortnite Players Are Getting Fraudulent Charges For Hundreds Of Dollars
21. Fortnite players receiving refunds after accounts were hacked  
22. Fortnite’s cross-platform play will not work between Xbox and PlayStation: Sony appears to be the holdout again as Epic’s multiplayer hit adds cross-play between PC, Mac, console and new mobile versions
23. Fortnite Battle Royale will have the “same gameplay” on mobile devices: PS4 and Xbox One can play with PC/mobile, but not with each other.
24. Blog: Making a multiplayer PC game playable cross-platform on PS4
25. Microsoft claims Sony is stopping Xbox One and PS4 cross-play
26. ModDB has restored and relaunched GameFront
27. Fully restored GameFront relaunches: Modding hub is back online after two years, with completely restored content and new features
28. Game Developer Embraces Modding Community So Much They Made Their Work An Official Release
29. PUBG Corp acquires MadGlory to enable community developer tools: New subsidiary will launch online portal for custom-made APIs, matchmaking engines and esports systems
30. PUBG is third highest-earning Steam game of all time, according to Gabe Newell: Valve boss points to Bluehole’s phenomenon as proof of how Steam benefits the industry
31. Op-Ed: Australia’s gambling crackdown signals choppy waters for loot boxes
32. Happy Wars shutting down Xbox 360 and PC servers this year
33. Devs celebrate women game devs on International Women’s Day
34. Here’s how the games industry is honouring International Women’s Day: We round up all the events and other activities video games firms are hosting to celebrate women everywhere
35. Ubisoft and Microsoft Women in Gaming panel pushes for clarity on how feminism fits into gaming
36. Female Overwatch League host receives death threats over Women’s Day tweet: Soe ‘Soembie’ Gschwind-Penski besieged on social media for thanking supportive men
37. Overwatch League team releases twice-banned player: Dallas Fuel cuts ties with Félix “xQc” Lengyel after he follows up suspension for homophobia with suspension for racism
38. Red Bull announces UK’s largest public esports studio: Studio launches later this month in partnership with ASUS Republic of Gamers, Noblechairs, and Newegg
39. This Stadium In China Is Built Exclusively For Esports
40. Violent video games not welcome for Olympic esports consideration: Overwatch and Call of Duty won’t be Olympic sports any time soon.
41. Alibaba backs non-violent esports for Olympic inclusion
42. Alibaba to focus on non-violent games for Olympic esports bid: First-party publishers of violent games will be “suspected of only pushing your games for your own benefit”
43. NHL Announces First Esports Draw With EA Sports Game
44. EA adds 6 Warner Bros. published games to Origin Access
45. EA adds WBIE to Origin Access: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment becomes first major external publisher added to subscription game service
46. Twitch is getting into the ‘free games for subscribers’ business 
47. Kixeye raises $20M to blend machine learning and game marketing
48. Facebook opens up its Instant Games platform to all devs
49. Dotemu opens new publishing label to support small creative devs
50. Valve adds optional ‘Plus’ paid subscription to free-to-playDota 2
51. Jason Rohrer’s “off-Steam” gamble paid off: The indie designer released his new game outside of Valve’s platform, and it eclipsed sales of his last Steam release in one week
52. Indie devs weigh the pros and cons of forgoing a Steam release
53. Analysts: Games responsible for 80% of all mobile app spending in 2017
54. Could games development transition to a complete outsource model?
55. FoxNext opens new studio to create story-driven titles
56. What’s the story at Wooga?: CEO Jens Begemann explains the reasoning for the casual games studio’s plan to focus on story-driven games
57. Call of Duty goes early to avoid Red Dead clash: Activision releasing Black Ops 4 a full month earlier than usual as Rockstar’s next is set to dominate Q4 – but will others follow?
58. Dune II and the three rules of a good licensed game
59. Oculus has a fix for the mass Oculus Rift outage
60. Oculus Publishes Repair Tool to Patch Debilitating Rift Error, Offers $15 Store Credit
61. Cities: Skylines has sold 5M copies on PC alone
62. Nintendo rescues quiet February for UK games retail
63. 3DS lifecycle extends to 2019 with Nintendo Direct surprise announcements: Luigi’s Mansion remake, new WarioWare and Bowser’s Inside Story bolsters handheld’s line-up for the next 12 months
64. Nintendo announces a bunch of 2018 games, but none as big as Switch Smash Bros.: Nintendo Direct video includes lots of ports coming to Switch, 3DS, as well.
65. Nintendo inks deal with YoYo to bring GameMaker Studio 2 games to Switch
66. Street Fighter collection revives rare multiplayer mode for Switch
67. Don’t Miss: How Nintendo designed the inviting mini-world of Animal Crossing
68. Why you should (and shouldn’t) port your mobile game to the Switch: EEDAR senior analyst Matt Diener finds that Switch players are big mobile spenders – will that lead to successful mobile adaptations?
69. Google Maps transforms into Mario Kart for Mario Day  
70. Google announces new open source multiplayer server Agones
71. Devs can now use Google Maps API to build their own game worlds
72. How to Turn Google Maps Into Mario Kart
73. Gabe Newell: Valve has always been a ‘bit jealous’ of companies like Nintendo 
74. Dota 2 card game “the first of several games” coming from Valve: Gabe Newell’s company now has “ability to develop hardware and software simultaneously”
75. Valve’s making games again: Hands-on with Artifact’s digital trading cards – Newell: “Artifact is to trading card games what Half-Life 2 was to single-player action.”
76. Valve introduces subscription model to Dota 2: $3.99 a month subscription “an evolution of the Majors Battle Pass” says Valve
77. Valve lets us loose in its new offices, unlocks the doors to a rare merch room: Valve recently moved to new offices, so we took every photo we were allowed.
78. BitGuild announces blockchain platform for online games: “The implications of having a true gaming network built on the blockchain are nearly limitless,” says CEO
79. Tencent invests up to $1bn into streaming services within 24 hours: Chinese giant poured $632m into Douyu and led a $461m funding round into its rival Huya
80. Kixeye secures $20m funding for machine learning platform: Mobile firm claims tech optimises gameplay and monetisation to solve the ‘one-hit wonder problem’
81. Looking at open world games to understand player autonomy
82. Report: Fruit Ninja creator Halfbrick cuts workforce by 50 percent
83. Outpost wants to mix games with reality TV: CEO Wright Bagwell says incorporating an audience and fame leaderboards into the studio’s SOS survival game “radically changes” player behavior
84. HQ Trivia raises $15 million in funding: Growing trivia game platform offers real-money prizes, is now worth $100 million
85. Microsoft Shows New Research in Haptics With ‘CLAW’ VR Controller Prototype
86. Valve launches VR resolution auto-optimization tool for SteamVR
87. Steam will now auto-scale VR resolution to max out your GPU: New feature aims to “take the headset out of the equation for [VR] developers.”
88. Eyes-on with the HTC Vive Pro: Not a revolution, but also more than resolution – We take a closer look at a Ready Player One event during SXSW.
89. Skyrim VR is coming to PC, and it marks a Bethesda first: Oculus approval 
90. The First Reactions to Ready Player One Are Mostly Positive… Mostly
91. The Princeton Review reveals the best schools in the world for game design: University of Southern California and the Southern Methodist University ranked top for the second year in a row
92. Meet the dev who sold his house to make a 100% for-charity game

DIGITAL

1. Back to B.C.: Court Re-examines Google Takedown Order In Light of U.S. Ruling (Michael Geist)
2. College Athletes Appeal to Seventh Circuit Against FanDuel’s and DraftKings’ Use of Images 
3. How Isis And Russia Won Friends And Manufactured Crowds: The Islamic State built a global brand using the power of social media. Now, Russia is following a similar playbook—and it’s all too easy.
4. Russian Propaganda Remains On Reddit
5. House Committee Report Highlights Russian Use of Social Media to Disrupt Pipeline Projects
6. Russia Censors News Reports About Anti-Putin Ice Graffiti, Leaving Its Contents Entirely Up To Our Collective Imagination
7. Rian Johnson: Russian Bots Targeted Star Wars: The Last Jedi to Save General Hux
8. If The US Government Can’t Figure Out Who’s A Russian Troll, Why Should It Expect Internet Companies To Do So? 
9. Egypt sets up hotline for complaints against ‘fake news’: Egypt’s government press centre has called BBC report on human rights abuses ‘fake news’
10. Bad Actors Are Using Social Media Exactly As Designed
11. The spread of true and false news online (Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, & Sinan Aral)
12. The science of fake news (David M. J. Lazer, Matthew A. Baum, Yochai Benkler, Adam J. Berinsky, Kelly M. Greenhill, Filippo Menczer, Miriam J. Metzger, Brendan Nyhan, Gordon Pennycook, David Rothschild, Michael Schudson, Steven A. Sloman, Cass R. Sunstein, Emily A. Thorson, Duncan J. Watts, Jonathan L. Zittrain)
13. When WhatsApp’s Fake News Problem Threatens Public Health
14. Be The (Online) Change You Want To See 
15. Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm
16. Trump issues order blocking Broadcom takeover of Qualcomm, citing national security 
17. President Trump blocks $117 billion Qualcomm takeover: Singaporean rival Broadcom prevented from buying US chip firm over “national security” concerns
18. President Trump blocks Broadcom takeover of Qualcomm despite re-domiciliation efforts
19. President Trump halts Broadcom’s bid for Qualcomm, citing “national security”: Last week, Treasury official argued deal would let China dominate 5G development.
20. Is China Discriminating against U.S. Firms Related to Technology Transfer, IP, Trade Secrets, and Innovation? 
21. Court documents reveal 238 gender discrimination and harassment complaints filed against Microsoft: Microsoft facing lawsuit over “unchecked gender bias that pervades its corporate culture”
22. “Women at Microsoft are sexualized by their male managers,” lawsuit alleges: Of 108 gender discrimination complaints, Microsoft concluded just one was legit.
23. Microsoft Helps Get A Computer Recycler Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison For Offering Unapproved Recovery Disks
24. YouTube Shows Dennis Prager’s Claim Of Discrimination Against Conservatives Is Laughable
25. YouTube Will Link Directly To Wikipedia To Fight Conspiracy Theories
26. YouTube To Clamp Down On Conspiracy Theories With Wikipedia-Sourced Text Boxes
27. Wikimedia’s Transparency Report: Guys, We’re A Wiki, Don’t Demand We Take Stuff Down
28. It’s Not Just The US — The Indian YouTube Community Has a Fake News Problem, Too
29. Twitter’s Attempt To Clean Up Spammers Meant That People Sarcastically Tweeting ‘Kill Me’ Were Suspended 
30. Rage against the Machine! CMA sets up a new on data unit to investigate online anti-competitive behaviour
31. Five Senators Agree: Search Engines Should Censor Drug Information 
32. Cannabis website to California: Section 230 protects us from your demands – Prof: “It is difficult to see how Weedmaps could be held liable for these ads.”
33. More People Realizing That SESTA Will Do A Lot More Harm Than Good
34. Just As Everyone’s Starting To Worry About ‘Deepfake’ Porn Videos, SESTA Will Make The Problem Worse
35. If You Think SESTA Will Help Victims Of Sex Trafficking, Read This Now
36. Sex Workers And Survivors Raising The Alarm About SESTA: It Will Literally Put Their Lives In Danger
37. Sri Lanka Blocked Facebook This Week for Allegedly Spreading Hate Speech and Violence
38. News Publishers Ask For Monopoly Powers To Fight Back Against Google/Facebook Monopoly
39. Facebook Didn’t Kill Online Sketch Comedy—The Entire Internet Did
40. Facebook has signed a deal to stream 25 afternoon MLB games
41. Facebook Watch Will Exclusively Air 25 Weekday MLB Games In 2018
42. Facebook Reportedly Pays At Least $30 Million For Rights For 25 Weekday Afternoon MLB Games
43. MLS, Twitter Announce Three-Year Live Streaming Deal
44. YouTube TV Wants To Woo Sports Fans, So It Will Sponsor Two More World Series
45. Judge Rules In YouTube’s Favor In Zombie Go Boom’s Adpocalypse Lawsuit
46. YouTube Reptile Vlogger Charged With 23 Counts of Illegally Possessing Venomous Snakes
47. YouTube’s Robert Kyncl On Logan Paul Controversy: “We Should Have Done Better”
48. YouTube Star Jake Paul Talks To Marco Rubio, Pledges $25,000 In Quest To Stop School Shootings
49. YouTube’s Human Moderators Will See Limited Four-Hour Shifts To Preserve Their Sanity
50. The Price Of YouTube TV Is Officially Up To $40 Per Month, With Existing Customers Grandfathered In
51. Penny’s Notes on the Rising Influence of Influencers
52. Vice CEO Shane Smith To Be Replaced By Former A&E Chief Nancy Dubuc (Report)
53. How To Make A Clean Break With The Clingiest Social Networks
54. Today’s Debate Over Online Porn Started Decades Ago
55. Ad-Blocker Ghostery Just Went Open Source – And Has A New Business Model
56. AI Has A Hallucination Problem That’s Proving Tough To Fix
57. The Quest To Make A Robotic Cat Walk With Artificial Neurons
58. It’s Really Hard to Give AI “Common Sense”
59. Four AI composition tools easy enough to soundtrack your film masterpiece: AI creativity now extends to music composition tools that anyone can access.
60. Come Harvest Time, Who Owns the Fruits of Machine Learning? 
61. Sierra Leone Just Held the World’s First Blockchain-Powered Election 
62. Bitcoin Is Ridiculous. Blockchain Is Dangerous
63. Is The Blockchain Hype Over? (Andres Guadamuz)
64. Beware the use of crypto-currencies
65. Cryptocurrencies fall as Google announces ad ban: Facebook banned ads for cryptocurrency from its ad networks in January.
66. There’s a currency miner in the Mac App Store, and Apple seems OK with it: Popular Calendar 2 app mines Monero by default, but at least it discloses it. 
67. Taxation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
68. The Obamas Are In “Advanced Negotiations” With Netflix For Political Series Slate
69. Netflix may sign the Obamas in exclusive content deal: Apple and Amazon are reportedly also interested in working with the former president.
70. Netflix Piloting Feature That Lets Kids Earn Virtual Rewards For Streaming
71. Spotify Enlists Its Users to Add Music Metadata
72. Killing The Golden Goose (Again); How The Copyright Stranglehold Dooms Spotify
73. Apple is acquiring the Netflix of magazines: The service had “hundreds of thousands” of subscribers as of 2016.
74. Apple Buys Texture, the Netflix for Magazines
75. Eddy Cue On Apple’s Video Vision: Unlike Netflix, “We’re Not After Quantity”
76. Operation Bayonet: Inside The Sting That Hijacked An Entire Dark Web Drug Market 
77. The Long-Awaited Interactive Adaptation Of ‘WarGames’ Has Premiered 
78. Inside The Vatican’s First-Ever Hackathon

CREATIVITY

1. The Supreme Court’s Decision in Livent: a Framework for Deciding Auditor’s Negligence Cases 
2. Can Mattel be prevented from making its own Frida Kahlo Barbie doll?
3. Playboy Decides Not To Appeal Silly Boing Boing Lawsuit In The Most Petulant Manner Possible
4. Copyright, Censorship, Pepe & Infowars
5. Pay attention to the “moral rights” of visual artists  
6. Research Shows That Published Versions Of Papers In Costly Academic Titles Add Almost Nothing To The Freely-Available Preprints They Are Based On 
7. Court Orders Copyright Troll To Post $10,000 Bond After He Lied About His Client’s Licensing Agreement
8. Domain names: getting real 
9. Federal Judge Says Business Names Provided By Reviewers At A Review Site Are Contributory Trademark Infringement
10. Nevada Supreme Court Overturns Lower Court’s Abysmal Ruling On Las Vegas Shooting Coroner’s Reports
11. Iowa Town Threatens Critical Resident With A Lawsuit, Gets Sued By The ACLU Instead
12. Trump’s Lawyers Apparently Unfamiliar With Streisand Effect Or 1st Amendment’s Limits On Prior Restraint
13. Is Jediism a recognized religion in Canada?

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, The Finale (Michael Geist) 
2. Why Canadians oppose blacklisting “pirate” websites
3. FCC must defend net neutrality repeal in court against dozens of litigants: Lawsuits filed by tech firms, states, and advocates were merged into one suit.
4. States Take Sides on Net Neutrality
5. Calif. weighs toughest net neutrality law in US—with ban on paid zero-rating: Bill would recreate core FCC net neutrality rules and be tougher on zero-rating. 
6. Telecom Lobbyists Whine About State Net Neutrality Efforts They Helped Create 
7. Terrified Of Losing In Court, ISPs (With Senator John Kennedy’s Help) Push Hard For A Fake Net Neutrality Law
8. When slow downloads hit an app developer, only Comcast customers suffered: Comcast and Cogent fight again, and customers lose with slow Internet service.
9. Comcast gets FCC’s help in $3.5 million battle against small cable company: Wave Broadband paid Comcast millions and won’t get refund; FCC rejects complaint.
10. Verizon Forced To Briefly Give A Damn About Its Neglected Broadband Networks
11. Verizon agrees to fix failing broadband networks to settle investigation: Verizon will fix NY copper lines and potentially upgrade more than 30,000 homes.
12. AT&T/Time Warner merger will raise TV bills $436 million a year, US says: AT&T scoffs at “insubstantial 45-cent monthly increase, all of 0.4% per bill.”
13. ‘Intense distress’: Lawsuit from Seth Rich’s parents details trauma from Fox News hatchet job
14. Cable’s Top Lobbyist Again Calls For Hyper Regulation Of Silicon Valley
15. When Monsters Exaggerate 
16. Broadcasting: A Key Brexit Priority
17. Pakistan Court Declares Mobile Data Disconnections By The Government Illegal

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. California district court rules social media company cannot dismiss non-users’ facial scan privacy claims 
2. TSA accused of searching domestic travelers’ devices with no warrant: TSA has failed to fully respond to FOIA requests from the ACLU.
3. FBI Documents Show More Evidence Of Agency’s Sketchy Relationship With Best Buy’s Geek Squad
4. FBI Director Says It’s ‘Not Impossible’ To Create Compromised Encryption That’s Still Secure
5. Yahoo’s ToS limitations of liabilities challenged in Cyberbreach of 3 billion users! 
6. Judge Says Yahoo Still On The Hook For Multiple Claims Related To Three Billion Compromised Email Accounts
7. There Are No Guardrails on Our Privacy Dystopia: If tech is going to infiltrate, influence, and shape all of society, it is unacceptable for tech and pure market forces to decide the limits of the surveillance state.
8. Potent malware that hid for six years spread through routers: Nation-sponsored Slingshot is one of the most advanced attack platforms ever.
9. Senior ex-Equifax executive charged with insider trading: CIO allegedly sold $1 million worth of stock 10 days before public learned of breach.
10. Router-Hacking ‘Slingshot’ Spy Operation Compromised More Than 100 Targets
11. Weighing Privacy vs. Security For The Internet’s Address Book
12. Keeper Security Reminds Everyone Why You Shouldn’t Use It; Doubles Down On Suing Journalist

Jon

GAMES

1. Clicker Heroes maker compares new lawsuit from “patent troll” to extortion: “It’s as if someone walked into my home with a knife and asked me for $35,000.”
2. Teen Who Made A Dumb School Shooting Joke On Snapchat Ordered By Judge To Not Play Violent Video Games
3. Judge bars student from violent games after alleged shooting threat: “You can play all the Mario Kart you want,” judge says.
4. Judge bans 16-year-old from violent video games over school shooting threat: Teen had no access to weapons but ‘joke’ Snapchat threat led to criminal charges
5. Trump to meet with game industry Thursday over gun violence: ESA says it will go to the White House later this week.
6. Trump Announces One-Sided Plan To Meet With Video Game Makers Over Gun Violence
7. Opinion: Trump’s alleged video game summit? It’s a trap!
8. Trump’s meeting with the game industry over gun violence may be a debate
9. Trump says violent games are OK for his young son, maybe not for yours: “I look at some of the things he’s watching and I say, ‘How is that possible?'”
10. Rhode Island Legislator Proposes A Tax On Video Games Based On Existing Entirely Voluntary Ratings System
11. Rhode Island Law Would Mandate Porn Filters, Charge You $20 Per Device To Bypass Them
12. Don’t Miss: How working on gross, violent games can mess with developers
13. Don’t Miss: Video games and gun violence, a year after Sandy Hook
14. Five Years After His Arrest, Prosecutors Try To Push Back Justin Carter’s ‘Terroristic Threat’ Trial
15. Trump to meet with gaming execs – report: White House describes the meeting as part of “an ongoing discussion”, but the ESA and its members haven’t received a formal invitation
16. Trump plans to meet with game industry over violent video games 
17. Rainbow Six Siege to ban players who use toxic language 
18. Rainbow Six Siege breaks its Steam concurrent player record two years after launch
19. New report questions World Heath Organisation’s proposed ‘gaming disorder’ classification: Meanwhile, the global games industry’s rejection of the WHO proposal intensifies
20. Researchers push back against WHO’s planned ‘gaming disorder’
21. Tencent plans to introduce in-game contracts between parents and kids
22. Blog: Game level generation using neural networks
23. Clicker Heroes dev speaks out over patent troll threats
24. Playsaurus targeted by “patent trolls” over Clicker Heroes virtual currency: “We absolutely refuse to negotiate license fees with patent holders who make bogus claims,” says Playsaurus CEO
25. Metal Gear Survive: Critical Consensus – Tepid responses to Metal Gear’s first post-Kojima release paint it as a frustrating and tedious affair with occasional flashes of brilliance
26. Can Metal Gear survive?: With weak sales, bad word of mouth and almost zero marketing support, Konami’s first attempt at a post-Kojima Metal Gear suggests a tough road ahead for the franchise
27. Rovio closes London studio after one year
28. Unhappy Rovio says 2017 was its ‘best ever year’: Revenue and Profit rise sharply, but miss analyst expectations
29. Rovio shutters London studio and lays off entire team
30. Rovio’s head of games Wilhelm Taht has left the company
31. Ubisoft acquires Brawlhalla dev Blue Mammoth Games
32. Amazon acquires backend cloud-based game dev platform GameSparks
33. Pokémon toys and trading card sales spike in Europe: €100 million spent on trading cards in 2017 in Europe
34. The Most Shameless Pokemon Go Rip Offs So Far
35. UK enjoys record-breaking year with £5.11bn spent on video games in 2017: Valuation by trade body UKIE shows digital games market exceeded £1.5bn for the first time ever
36. Online retail now accounts for over 40% of UK boxed game sales: Supermarket market share continues to tumble in 2017
37. Mobile interactive story games generated $14m last month: Apps like Choices, Episode and What’s Your Story have generated $52.5m since November
38. UK Charts: No new games as FIFA 18 takes No.1 yet again – Mario Kart leaps up four places
39. UK Data: Over 20% of Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and Battlefront II sales were digital – FIFA 18 was 19.9%, while online games like Destiny 2 posts even stronger digital sales
40. Monster Hunter: World ships 7.5M units in under two months
41. Monster Hunter: World is the best-selling game in Capcom’s history – Breakout hit’s 7.5 million shipped units is the highest ever for the Japanese publisher
42. Final Fantasy XV for Windows should have been a mess, but it’s the opposite: Square Enix mostly delivers the scalable, tweakable performance that PC gamers crave.
43. Modders try to fix what Square Enix broke with PC Chrono Trigger port: Removing ugly HD filtering and other unneeded tinkering is an uphill battle.
44. Video: How Gone Home was localized by fans
45. Celeste devs release player movement code for the tough-as-pitons platformer
46. Check out the now open-source code powering UI layout inHeaven’s Vault
47. New indie publisher Graffiti Games announces three titles for 2018: Vancouver-based publisher unveils its first-year plans
48. Nintendo expected to overtake Microsoft in 2018: IHS Markit’s 2017 full-year figures also show console market enjoyed biggest growth in six years
49. No Switch hardware revision this year – Report: Wall Street Journal says company will focus on peripherals to drive sales for hybrid system’s second year
50. Boutique publishers are the future of the indie games market: Devolver, Double Fine, Raw Fury and Buried Signal’s Jason Roberts on how publisher identity can help indie games to rise above the noise
51. The quiet need for Chinese indie games: Spotlightor Interactive founder Gao Ming on the fight for originality within a developing games scene
52. Report: Gameloft has shut down Gameloft Madrid
53. Gameloft closes Madrid studio: Closure marks seventh significant cut to a Gameloft studio in less than three years
54. Largest charity tournament in mobile esports history kicks off on March 3: Mobile esports platform Skillz sets itself $100,000 target
55. Esports Held Its Own Upfront In New York City, As Brands Like L’Oreal Carefully Plan Their Entry
56. Florence Is A Mobile Game That Captures The Power Of Touch
57. Optimism at Atari?: 10 Years Ago This Month – With a high-profile hire, a new vision, and an anticipated Alone in the Dark reboot, gaming’s original titan was poised for a comeback
58. Review: Sony Playstation 4 Pro – A year after its release, one question remains – Is it finally time to go Pro?
59. Space Ape teams with London universities on free games masterclasses: Six-session course will cover game design, community engagement and more, classes will also be livestreamed
60. Video games graduates have more than doubled in five years: “We need to continue to increase the supply of highly skilled games graduates,” says TIGA CEO
61. Bandai Namco’s VR Zone Arcade Lowers Age Restriction to 7 Years Old
62. Kongregate to launch dev-friendly digital games platform, Kartridge
63. Kongregate launching new download games store Kartridge this summer: Publisher readies its own Steam rival with no upload fees and support for pay-what-you-want games
64. Oculus Rifts stop working
65. Software error causes mass Oculus Rift outage
66. A rift in VR: Critical error shuts down Oculus headsets worldwide – A small software update may be required to address the issue.
67. For the first time, the Oculus Rift is the leading VR headset on Steam
68. Oculus Rift becomes leading VR headset on Steam: Latest hardware and software survey puts Oculus Rift two points ahead of HTC Vive
69. Oculus Rift is now the most popular VR headset on Steam: But PC gaming’s most popular platform still has a relatively tiny VR userbase.
70. Nicolas Cage’s ‘The Humanity Bureau’ VR Experience is Another Strike Against VR Film Promos
71. Virtual reality is coming to a courtroom near you: ABA Techshow panel explores use of VR in law
72. Magic Leap raises $461 million in funding from Saudi Arabian investment arm
73. HQ Trivia app secures $15 million in funding 
74. How an injured dev learned to make games without using his hands
75. Blog: Learning more about your audience
76. Blog: Dealing with love and hate from your fans 
77. Devs reflect on the impact and legacy of Burnout Paradise
78. Cataloguing soda machines in games throughout the ages 

DIGITAL

1. In US v. Microsoft, A Decades-Old Law Leaves Few Good Options
2. Is Trump’s Twitter behavior constitutional? A court will decide.
3. Clarifying Outer Bounds of Copyright Fair Use, Second Circuit Finds Video Monitoring Service Infringing
4. Do Memes Infringe Copyright? (Andres Guadamuz) 
5. Protecting human rights online: new guidelines on internet intermediaries (Council of Europe)
6. China Briefly Bans The Letter ‘N’ On Social Media After Anger Over Plans To Make Xi Jinping ‘Dictator For Life’
7. African Union Bugged by China: Cyber Espionage as Evidence of Strategic Shifts
8. Singer/Professor Tries To Sue Student For Bad Internet Ratings, Fails, Appeals, Fails Again
9. EU Commission Says Social Media Companies Must Take Down ‘Terrorist Content’ Within One Hour
10. News in a disintegrating reality: Tow’s Jonathan Albright on what to do as things crash around us: “The kinds of things that I often see could literally be stopped by one person. I mean: 4chan trending on Google during the Las Vegas shooting? How that eve
11. New Foils for the Right: Google and Facebook
12. Wall Street Journal Explains Why SESTA Is A Terrible Idea And Is Unnecessary
13. Can Someone Explain How SESTA Will Stop Sex Trafficking?
14. Blame the Computer: The fake science that keeps threatening to kill us
15. The Podcasting Juggernaut Has (Finally) Arrived: How publishers are racing to own the money-printing machine that is the daily news podcast.
16. Publishers Could Get A New Weapon Against Facebook And Google
17. Could Soap-Cutting Videos Be The Successor To YouTube’s Massive Slime Craze?
18. YouTube Doesn’t Know Where Its Own Line Is
19. YouTube Says New Human Moderators Mistakenly Punished Some Far Right And Pro-Gun Creators
20. YouTube Stars Chomp On Some Lemons To Promote Bone Marrow Donations For Leukemia Patients
21. YouTube’s Next Music Service Looks As If It Will Debut Later Than First Anticipated
22. Insights: Stuck Between YouTube And A Hard Place, Being An Influencer Is Tougher Than Ever
23. As Advertisers Flee, Alex Jones Claims His YouTube Ban Will Come Today
24. InfoWars’ conspiracy theories have advertisers ditching YouTube channels: Even YouTube’s existing advertiser tools didn’t prevent this from happening.
25. Angry Pick-Up Artist Says He Won’t Issue Bogus YouTube Claim On Critic’s Video; Issues Bogus Claim On Critic’s Video
26. Top Marketers Nike, Paramount, More Pull Ads From InfoWars YouTube Channel
27. Platform Changes Cause Influencer Anxiety
28. Project Gutenberg Blocks Access In Germany To All Its Public Domain Books Because Of Local Copyright Claim On 18 Of Them
29. Unprompted, creepy laughter from Alexa is freaking out Echo users: Amazon knows about the bug and is working to fix it.
30. Amazon and Google Are Back to Feuding, This Time Over Smart Homes and Nest
31. Google ends major OS support for Nexus phones and Pixel tablet: The two years of major OS updates is over for the Nexus 6P, 5X, and Pixel C.
32. Google helps Pentagon analyze military drone footage – employees “outraged”: “Project Maven” applies Google’s image recognition tech to drone footage.
33. Female Google engineer says she faced “frequent sexual harassment”: Woman charges “Google was fully aware” of sexist behavior but didn’t stop it.
34. New Lawsuit Exposes Google’s Desperation To Improve Diversity
35. Ex-Google recruiter: I was fired because I resisted “illegal” diversity efforts – Google vows to defend lawsuit, says it hires “candidates based on their merit.”
36. Why Are There Few Women In Tech? Watch A Recruiting Session
37. Facebook’s Equal Time Quandary: The social media giant could even the playing field for political ads. But is that what candidates really want? 
38. Censoring a Facebook Post Showing a Naked Statuette? 
39. Facebook survey: Should we let men ask 14-year-old girls for sexual pictures? – “This content should be allowed on Facebook” was an option for something beyond illegal. 
40. BlackBerry weaponizes instant messaging patents, sues Facebook: BlackBerry continues shift to patent litigation with Facebook lawsuit.
41. Twitter CEO wants to study platform’s “health,” but is he ignoring the cancer?: Anecdotal data makes us wonder when a terrifying Twitter botnet will take over.
42. What Would A ‘Healthy’ Twitter Even Look Like?
43. Famous Racist Sues Twitter Claiming It Violates His Civil Rights As A Racist To Be Kicked Off The Platform
44. Netflix To Display MPAA Ratings As Part Of Plan To Enhance Parental Controls
45. Snap Layoffs: Snapchat Parent Said to Be Axing 100 Engineering Employees
46. The Limits Of Explainability: Academics, economists, and AI researchers often undervalue the role of intuition in science. Here’s why they’re wrong.
47. Algorithms Are Creating A “Digital Poorhouse” That Makes Inequality Worse
48. Robot smashes Rubik’s Cube record with 0.38-second solve: “The machine can definitely go faster,” inventor says.
49. The Subtle Nudges That Could Unhook Us From Our Phones
50. After Just 6 Months, the Phone Notch Is Already Deeply Uncool
51. Got Crypto? Be Careful How You File Your Taxes
52. At This Crypto Event, The Attendees Really Were High 
53. Hackers exploiting rTorrent to install Unix coin miner have netted $4k so far: Ongoing attacks give complete control and require no user interaction.
54. Angry Coinbase users sue over claimed security failings, insider trading
55. Bitcoin falls 10 percent after SEC warns about unregulated exchanges: Bitcoin falls 10 percent after regulators signal crackdown on exchanges.
56. Lamar Smith says Russian bots are trying to cripple US energy production: Russian bots stirred pipeline trouble. Was it sowing divisions or targeting energy?
57. Mind Games: The Tortured Lives Of ‘Targeted Individuals’ – Thousands of people think that the government is using implanted chips and electronic beams to control their minds. They are desperate to prove they aren’t delusional.
58. Wireless Carriers, Hardware Companies Use Flimsy IOT Security To Justify Attacks On Right To Repair Laws
59. 911 recordings reveal Apple’s problem of employees walking into walls: Apple was warned by a city official about the danger of employees walking into walls.
60. Here Are 911 Transcripts of Some of the Times Apple Employees Walked Directly Into Glass Walls
61. Youth Gun Violence Prevention in a Digital Age (Desmond Upton Patton, Kyle McGregor, & Gary Slutkin)
62. Your Data Is Crucial to a Robotic Age. Shouldn’t You Be Paid for It?
63. EU Adopts Ban on Unjustified Geo-Blocking: The new EU geo-blocking regulation prohibits unjustified geo-blocking.

CREATIVITY

1.  And the Oscar goes to… Freedom of Contract! March 2018: Morality clauses are back in the spotlight after a spate of high-profile scandals in Hollywood.
2. Pepe the Frog Artist Suing InfoWars for Copyright Infringement
3. Pepe’s creator sues Infowars, claiming new poster infringes copyright: Infowars founder Alex Jones maintains that the poster is protected under fair use.
4. Thelonious Monk Estate Hornin’ In on Right of Publicity Trial: Jazz great’s heir sues craft brewery for using dad’s likeness on merchandise
5. TVEyes Inc. Crosses the Boundary of Fair Use Defense in Copyright Infringement Case Against Fox News Network, LLC
6. All Eyes on Fair Use: The Second Circuit Delivers a Victory for Copyright Owners 
7. Fox News Network, LLC v. TVEyes, Inc.: Second Circuit reverses district court’s finding of fair use, holding that while TVEyes’ “Watch” function is transformative, it is not fair use in that it provides virtually all of Fox’s content to subscribers.
8. The 2nd Circuit Contributes To Fair Use Week With An Odd And Problematic Ruling On TVEyes
9. California Court Dismisses Copyright Suit Against BBC Over Cosby Documentary Over Lack Of Jurisdiction
10. MPAA Opposes Several Filmmaker Associations Request For Expanded Circumvention Exemptions
11. Fair Dealing Support for News Reporting and Public Debate: The Case of Warman and National Post v. Fournier (Michael Geist)
12. Fair Dealing and the Right to Read: The Case of Blacklock’s Reporter v. Canada (Attorney General) (Michael Geist)
13. Update: Ontario Court Upholds That Professional Hockey Player Did Not Breach Morals Clause in Endorsement Contract
14. French Government Wants To Toss Far-Right Political Leader In Jail For Posting Images Of Terrorist Atrocities
15. Why the roots of patent trolling may be in the patent office: Trolls love patents from examiners who are “lenient” about patent vetting.
16. ‘Dr. Strangelove’ Is Basically a Documentary

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1.  The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 12: Increasing Privacy Risks for Canadians (Michael Geist)
2. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 13: It is Inconsistent With the CRTC Policy Direction (Michael Geist)
3. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 14: Failure To Further the Telecommunications Act Policy Objectives (Michael Geist)
4. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 15: It Undermines the Telecommunications Act Policy Objectives (Michael Geist) 
5. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 16: The CRTC as the Internet Content Regulatory Authority (Michael Geist)
6. Comcast Protected Browsing Blocks TorrentFreak, Showing Why Site-Blocking Sucks Out Loud Always
7. Washington State Passes Law Protecting Net Neutrality
8. Washington State Enacts Net Neutrality Law, In Clash With FCC
9. Washington state passes net neutrality: Governor signs bipartisan legislation seeking to restore measures recently scrapped by FCC decision
10. Washington State Laughs In The Face Of FCC Attempts To Ban States From Protecting Net Neutrality
11. Middle Schoolers Cheer As Oregon Passes A Net Neutrality Law
12. $20 porn-unblocking fee could hit Internet users if state bill becomes law: The opposite of net neutrality: R.I. bill requires ISPs to block sexual content.
13. GOP tries to block state net neutrality laws and allow paid prioritization: GOP bill would outlaw blocking and throttling but give major concession to ISPs.
14. The Wired Guide To Net Neutrality: Everything you need to know about the struggle to treat information on the internet the same – ISPs shouldn’t be able to block some sorts of data and prioritize others.
15. AT&T has good and bad news for users of its limit-ridden unlimited plans: AT&T ends one speed limit but introduces a new one; some prices are going up.
16. Charter appeals court loss, still claims it can’t be punished for slow speeds: New York AG alleges that Charter promised speeds it knew it couldn’t deliver. 
17. Oregon Winds Up Giving Comcast A Huge Tax Break For Doing Nothing Differently
18. Sprint’s CEO Thinks This Whole Killing Net Neutrality Thing Is Pretty Nifty
19. Telecom Sector Can’t Stop Falsely Claiming That Net Neutrality Will Harm The Sick, Derail Smart Cars
20. Ajit Pai won’t get his gun – FCC chair rejects NRA award after ethics review: NRA honored Pai for killing net neutrality, tried to give him handmade long gun.
21. After Chat With Ethics Lawyers, FCC Boss Declines NRA Gun Award For Killing Net Neutrality 
22. Ajit Pai’s supporters say he’s gone too far with plan that hurts poor people: Pai takes heat from all sides over plan to evict resellers from Lifeline program.
23. Nobody (Even His Industry BFFs) Likes Ajit Pai’s Latest Attack On Low Income Broadband Programs
24. “Dig Once” rule requiring fiber deployment is finally set to become US law: Dig Once mandates fiber conduit installation in government-funded road projects.

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. No Longer Fit for Purpose: Why Canadian Privacy Law Needs an Update (Michael Geist)
2. Proposed changes to Canadian privacy laws influenced by changes coming from EU
3. Facebook Loses Second Attempt to Dismiss Biometric Data Class Action 
4. Government Says FISA Court Should Stop Wasting Time Considering The ACLU’s Request For Greater Transparency
5. Best Buy defends practice of informing FBI about child porn it finds: New documents produced as a result of FOIA lawsuit brought by EFF.
6. Uber ‘Surprised’ By Totally Unsurprising Pennsylvania Data Breach Lawsuit
7. US service provider survives the biggest recorded DDoS in history: Nearly 100,000 memcached servers are imperiling the stability of the Internet.
8. Github Survived The Biggest DDOS Attack Ever Recorded
9. It just got much easier to wage record-breaking DDoSes: Exploits that abuse memcached servers threaten the stability of the Internet.
10. 23,000 HTTPS certificates axed after CEO emails private keys: Flap that goes public renews troubling questions about issuance of certificates.
11. Trustico website goes dark after someone drops critical flaw on Twitter: Outage comes a day after CEO admitted emailing private keys for 23k HTTPS certs.
12. FBI again calls for magical solution to break into encrypted phones – FBI chief: “I don’t buy the claim that it’s impossible” to solve “Going Dark.”
13. Spoof, Jam, Destroy: Why We Need A Backup For GPS
14. Uh Oh: Blockchain May Not Be as Secure as We Thought
15. Customer information compromised following NIS America storefront breach: “We have identified the issue, removed it from our website, and taken steps to prevent this issue from recurring,” says NIS America
16. The Leaked NSA Spy Tool That Hacked The World
17. Spy v. Spy: An NSA Leak Reveals The Agency’s List Of Enemy Hackers

Jon

GAMES

1. Star Control devs file counterclaim against Stardock over IP ownership
2. Star Control countersuit aims to invalidate Stardock’s trademarks: Stardock claims Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III didn’t even create the classic games.
3. Twitch Interactive, Inc. v. Justin Johnston, Et Al.
4. Trump decries violent games after school shooting: US president raises concerns about the internet, games, and movies during a meeting on school safety
5. Trump Blames School Shootings On Violent Video Games, Movies; Suggests We Need Some Sort Of Rating System For Them
6. President Trump: “We have to do something” about violent video games, movies: Parkland student who plays Call of Duty responds: “That’s just a really pathetic excuse.”
7. Right On Time: Kentucky Governor Lays The Blame For Florida School Shooting At The Feet Of Video Games
8. Rhode Island might tax violent games to fund mental health programs
9. Rhode Island politician proposes violent game tax: 10% sales tax on M-rated games would pay for mental health and counselling resources in schools
10. Game Studio Threatens Employees’ Jobs If They Don’t Write Positive Reviews Of Own Game, Then Steam Pulls Game Entirely
11. ESRB defends “fun” loot boxes as it starts labeling all “in-game purchases”: New label doesn’t specifically call out loot boxes to avoid “overwhelming” parents.
12. ESRB to add ‘In-Game Purchase’ label to games featuring loot boxes
13. ESRB responds to loot box controversy with in-game purchase label: Rating board to add new indicator on physical games when players can spend money from within the game
14. Riot reveals the odds and rules that power League of Legends loot boxes
15. Hooked on loot boxes: The industry’s push for engagement at all costs is ready to backfire as it misunderstands the concern over a controversial mechanic
16. League of Legends dev Riot Games details how it ensures fairer loot box odds: Leading MOBA studio is the latest to share drop rates as scrutiny over monetisation continues
17. Nintendo’s eShop refund policy found to violate European consumer rights: Norwegian Consumer Council asks Nintendo to bring its policy in line with European law
18. Game Studio Found To Install Malware DRM On Customers’ Machines, Defends Itself, Then Apologizes
19. ESA Comes Out Against Allowing Museums To Curate Online Video Games For Posterity
20. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild big winner at DICE Awards
21. Zelda and Nintendo clean up at the DICE Awards
22. Breath of the Wild wins four including GOTY, while Nintendo was involved with a further seven winners
23. In the age of the Switch, the Nintendo 3DS refuses to die: Despite Switch success, older portable is still popular, especially in the US.
24. Nintendo: letting our fans review video games might not be a good idea – Change comes only five days after Nintendo caught up with rivals’ review systems.
25. Nintendo Pulls Switch Game User Reviews
26. Nintendo Adds User Reviews, Immediately Pulls Them
27. Nintendo is letting players review Switch games on its official website
28. Nintendo’s disappointing year on mobile: Smartphone games are proving to be a challenge for Nintendo – and the problems are more basic than a failure to embrace F2P
29. Sega’s Yakuza 6 demo accidentally included the full game: Lucky downloaders got the entire game well ahead of April 17 release.
30. The state of iOS game development, according to the creators of Alto’s Odyssey: From Metal to Android, Ryan Cash, Jason Medeiros, and Eli Cymet talk shop.
31. Star Control creators file counterclaim against Stardock: Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III seek an injunction, but Stardock CEO responds that its ownership position is “incontestable”
32. Rebellion trademark clash compels Ballistic Interactive to change game name: Upcoming RPG Hellhunter will now be released as HellSign, Sherdians lawyer warns indies to check trademarks
33. Double Fine’s indie publishing biz aims to grow and help devs ‘rise above the noise’
34. Blog: Random advice on how to survive as an indie studio
35. “There’s no excuse for unequal pay”: Leading UK games organisations discuss the importance of ensuring employees of any gender are paid fairly as claims against major non-games firms rise
36. Former EA devs reflect on work culture 14 years after EA Spouse 
37. Facebook launches Women in Gaming site to share stories, research, and tools
38. Facebook launches #SheTalksGames initiative to promote women in video games: Women In Gaming Stories is designed to encourage more women into the games business, and into leadership roles
39. Twitch Partners With Non-Profit On ‘BroadcastHER’ Grants To Support Female Gamers
40. 1,000 Dreams in partnership with Twitch to support female streamers: Plans to raise money for BroadcastHER Grant through Women’s History Month streaming event
41. PAX producer ReedPOP acquires Gamer Network
42. Over half of games journalists see a future co-existing with influencers: 15% view influencers as a “significant threat” to games journalism
43. NPD: US games business had its best January since 2011- Monster Hunter World was the best-selling game in a month where dollar spend reached $1.1 billion
44. NPD Group: U.S. video game hardware sales topped 1M in January
45. PlayStation Plus will stop offering PS3 and Vita games in 2019 
46. Almost $9bn spent on digital games in January – Superdata: Research firm also reports PUBG and Fortnite generated $200m in revenue last month
47. Australians spent AU$3.23bn on video games in 2017: IGEA data shows AU$1bn on physical hardware and software, console sales up 36% year-on-year
48. Metacritic ranks Bethesda as top-rated big publisher of 2017: Nicalis takes top-spot for best mid-sized publisher while EA comes in at fifth place after it “fell precipitously” last year
49. Are video games immune to cryptocurrency failure?: 46% of 2017 ICOs have already failed, but most games-based projects seem to be ongoing
50. UK Charts: Metal Gear Survive debuts at No.6 – £25 spin-off game fails to have a big impact on the charts
51. Horizon Zero Dawn has sold over 7.6M copies worldwide
52. Metal Gear Survive is The Rebirth And Death Of Metal Gear
53. Warcraft III receives major patch ahead of first ever Invitational
54. Critical Force: “Mobile will become more and more important to esports” – CEO Veli-Pekka Piirainen on how patient community building and emerging markets helped Critical Ops to reach one million daily players
55. Newzoo lays down ten key factors that will determine the growth of esports: “Crunch time for esports as it enters adolescence,” says market intelligence firm
56. Esports Monetization Platform FanAI Has Cleveland Cavaliers’ Backing
57. Discord expands verified server program to eSports teams
58. Vision Esports secures $38M to ramp up investment efforts
59. Vision Esports raises $38 million in funding: Round led by Evolution Media featured contributions from numerous star professional athletes
60. GamersOrigin, LDLC Event et l’Olympique lyonnais: les trois premières sociétés agréées pour l’emploi de joueurs professionnels de jeux vidéo compétitifs
61. Overwatch: Building an esport from the ground up
62. H1Z1 player base declines by 91% months before launch of pro league: Concurrent players down to 9,000 from peak of 150,000
63. Smite esports leagues will be exclusive to Microsoft’s Mixer: Xbox streaming service to showcase both the Pro and Console series for Hi-Rez’s fantasy MOBA
64. Augmented and mixed reality revenue to overtake VR by 2021: AR/MR revenue expected to double to $3.2 billion this year
65. Facebook pulls VR shooting demo from display at CPAC: “We regret that we failed to do so in the first place,” says Facebook VP of VR
66. Augmented and mixed reality revenue to surpass VR by 2021
67. Google opens up ARCore access as SDK exits preview
68. Rovio’s value halves following investor exodus: Angry Birds developer cites spiralling user acquisition cost for profit forecast shortfall
69. Wooga makes layoffs as it pivots towards story-driven games
70. Trion Worlds remastering Defiance without TV show: MMO publisher will bring free-to-play shooter to PC and current gen consoles despite lack of key selling point
71. Pokemon Day 2018 Celebrations Include Snapchat Lenses, New Pikachu In Pokemon Go: Plus a new Pikachu Talk app for Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
72. Blizzard Let Zenyatta Walk And It Was A Mistake
73. Why release a new N64 game in 2018?: How a forgotten PS1 game has become a Kickstarter hit
74. Metal Gear Survive Dev Appears To Call Out Konami In Hidden Message
75. WWE Items Coming To Rocket League
76. Ex-Quantic Dream dev launches video game storytelling course: Interior Night’s Caroline Marchal teams up with author and TV producer John Yorke for seven-week program
77. Weza Interactive’s mission to become Africa’s success story: Kenyan developer George Ahere on how local culture inspired debut title Mzito and his plans to raise the continent’s profile in the global games market
78. Ubisoft’s “Minority Report of programming”: La Forge claims its Commit Assistant AI for detecting bugs as they’re introduced can cut programming time by 20 per cent
79. Obscure 1984 Donkey Kong game released online
80. Europe finally gets a video game chart with digital data
81. Can gaming’s own “academy awards” become a cultural event?: Academy president says attracting the “wider gamer audience” isn’t a priority.
82. Obituary: Former President and CEO of Atari Ray Kassar 

DIGITAL

1. How a fight over Star Wars download codes could reshape copyright law: Legal scholar says Redbox’s win over Disney is an “atomic bomb of a finding.”
2. Disney Enterprises, Inc.; Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc.; Lucasfilm Ltd., LLC, MVl Film Finance LLC, Plaintiff, v. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC
3. Disney’s Stupid Lawsuit Against Redbox Results In Judge Saying Disney Is Engaged In Copyright Misuse
4. Court Finds That Embedded Twitter Photo on Website May Subject Website Owner to Copyright Liability – Be Careful What You Post  
5. U.S. Federal Court rules embedding a Tweet could be copyright infringement
6. Embedding a Third Party Tweet Constitutes Copyright Infringement
7. District judge in the SDNY: Embedding links to third-party web content is copyright infringement 
8. ‘Repeat infringers’ under Digital Millennium Copyright Act not repeat infringers as adjudged by court
9. Second Circuit Rejects TVEyes’s Fair Use Defense For Online Service Allowing Users To Watch Fox News Content
10. Federal Court of Appeal approves website seizure and Anton Piller order against online copyright piracy platform
11. Loss In 9th Circuit Appeals Court Isn’t Slowing 1-800-LAWFIRM’s Lawsuit Crusade Against Social Media Companies
12. DOJ Tells Congress SESTA/FOSTA Will Make It MORE DIFFICULT To Catch Traffickers; House Votes For It Anyway 
13. House Prepared To Rush Vote On Terrible Frankenstein SESTA, Which Will Harm Trafficking Victims & The Internet
14. Now It’s The Turn Of Mercedes-Benz To Grovel Before China, Over An Instagram Post Quoting The Dalai Lama
15. Apple Agrees To Store Chinese iCloud Data In China, Making It Much Easier For The Chinese Gov’t To Access It
16. Apple to suspend iTunes Store support for “obsolete” first-gen Apple TV: Security changes will also affect Windows XP and Vista machines running iTunes.
17. Mistakes And Strategic Failures: The Killing Of The Open Internet
18. Russian Hacker False Flags Work—Even After They’re Exposed
19. How Manafort’s inability to convert a PDF file to Word helped prosecutors: Former Trump campaign manager allegedly emailed doctored docs to his assistant. 
20. FTC Refunds Victims of Tech Support Scam 
21. AT&T Fails In Bid To Kill FTC Authority Over Broadband Monopolies
22. COPPA, FTC Act Violations for Talent Agency
23. Connected Toys, COPPA, and What’s Next 
24. Google starts a push for cross-platform app development with Flutter SDK: As Flutter hits beta 1, Google revs up promotion efforts for a new way to make apps.
25. Google Must Be Stopped Before It Becomes An AI Monopoly: We should start thinking now about how to build an antitrust regime that will preserve several companies’ robust AI assistants. 
26. Artificial Intelligence & Inclusion 
27. New Report on Emerging AI Risks Paints a Grim Future
28. The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence: Forecasting, Prevention, and Mitigation
29. How AI-Driven Insurance Could Reduce Gun Violence: Exploring a market-based, technologically-enabled compromise to preventing gun violence.
30. The Verdict Is In: AI Outperforms Human Lawyers in Reviewing Legal Documents
31. Self-Driving Cars Are Smart, But Car Washes Stump Them
32. Inside The Alexa Prize: Amazon is in a pitched battle with its rivals to bring truly conversational AI into our homes. So the company is staging a contest—a mad dash toward an outlandish goal: Cook up a bot capable of small talk.
33. Amazon Made $5.6 Billion in Profits Last Year and Reportedly Paid Zero American Dollars in Federal Taxes
34. Amazon Pays $1 Billion For Video Doorbell Startup Ring After Shark Tank Passed On It
35. Why Amazon is sending you pictures of your front porch
36. Amazon splurges on Ring, hopes smart doorbells bolster in-home deliveries: The company’s new acquisition brings video doorbells into its smart home family.
37. Insights: Can Twitter, Facebook and Google Evolve Fast Enough to Extract Us from The Mess They’ve Made? 
38. Fake Social Followers Yield Real Legal Concerns
39. Kylie Jenner Said She Doesn’t Use Snapchat Anymore And Its Stock Fell 3% In A Half-Hour
40. ‘We’re watching a company explode’: is Snapchat becoming irrelevant?
41. Sexting is on the rise among teens: ~27% get nudes, other racy messages: But researchers found no gender differences in sending and receiving rates.
42. Vogue, Vice put editorial collaboration on hold
43. BuzzFeed’s AM To DM Brings In One Million Views Per Episode By Incorporating “Twitter’s DNA”
44. YouTube Strikes InfoWars Channel Amid Attempt To Crack Down On Conspiratorial Content
45. YouTube Won’t Ban Neo-Nazi Group Chanting ‘Gas the ******, Race War Now’: Atomwaffen calls for genocide and has been linked to several murders, but the company site says a warning label is sufficient.
46. After Some Pushback, YouTube Finally Bans Neo-Nazi Group
47. YouTube’s Monetization Model, Algorithm Provide Unique Haven For Conspiracy Theorists (Study)
48. Digital Networks Differ On Responses To YouTube’s New Partner Program Requirements
49. California Court Holds That YouTube’s Removal Notice Is Not Defamatory 
50. Manchester United, YouTube’s most viewed English club, finally launch official channel 
51. Move Over, TV: Students Now Distract Themselves From Homework With YouTube, Study Finds 
52. Top 3% Of YouTube Creators Received 90% Of Sitewide Views In 2016
53. YouTube To Keep Original Productions Budget Flat Over Next Two Years (Report)
54. YouTube TV Partners With Seattle Sounders To Stream All 2018 Matches 
55. YouTube TV, In Search Of Sports Fans, Gets Rights To Stream Seattle Sounders Soccer Matches
56. Drug Addiction Educator Says He’s Leaving YouTube After Erratic Content Strikes
57. YouTube Restores Ads On Logan Paul’s YouTube Channel After 18-Day Suspension
58. YouTube brings ads back to Logan Paul’s channel, but he’s on a 90-day probation: He’s still not eligible for YouTube’s Google Preferred ad program
59. Logan Paul And KSI Are Probably Going To Box And It’s Going To Be The Biggest Thing Ever On YouTube
60. Jake Paul Breaks Daily Vlogging Streak To “Help Some People That Are In A Lot Of Need” 
61. Alphabet Will Not Share YouTube’s Revenue With The SEC 
62. Poland’s Central Bank Paid Popular YouTubers To Create Anti-Cryptocurrency Videos
63. Coinbase: We will send data on 13,000 users to IRS – Bitcoin startup says if concerned, “seek legal advice from an attorney promptly.”
64. Self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator accused of $5 billion crypto heist: Craig Wright accused of “perpetrating a scheme” to con Dave Kleiman and his estate.
65. The Problem With Cryptojacking 
66. Venezuela says its cryptocurrency raised $735 million – but it’s a farce: Venezuela says its presale raised $735 million in 24 hours. Don’t believe it.
67. Bill Gates says cryptocurrencies have “caused deaths in a fairly direct way”: Gates says cryptocurrencies’ main feature is anonymity.
68. Bill Gates Thinks Cryptocurrency Is Killing People ‘In a Fairly Direct Way’
69. Here’s How Blockchain Could Be Used for Gun Control
70. Managing Copyrights on a Blockchain: How Close Are We and What Does It Mean?
71. New York’s Top Court Rules 7-0: “Private” Facebook Posts Subject to Disclosure
72. Section 230 Isn’t About Facebook, It’s About You
73. Facebook’s Mandatory Malware Scan Is An Intrusive Mess
74. Facebook Live Usage Among Previously-Paid Publishers Declined By More Than 50% In 2017
75. What Facebook Isn’t Saying About Trump And Clinton’s Campaign Ads 
76. Facebook apologizes over “Bullet Train” VR demo at right-wing conference: Facebook exec says demo scuttled “out of respect” for recent shooting victims.
77. Netflix CFO: We’re Going To Have 700 Original Programs On Our Platform In 2018 
78. Instagram image of Lego assault rifle, threat lead to 14-year-old’s arrest: San Diego County teen wrote Tuesday evening – “Don’t come to school tomorrow.”
79. NIST Releases Draft Report on IoT Cybersecurity Standards; Comments Due April 18 
80. Vox Lays Off 50 Staffers, Mostly Across Social Video Teams
81. Wow, Who Could Have Predicted 59 Percent of 2017’s ICOs Are Already Dead or Doomed
82. Peter Thiel Is A Flawed Messenger With A Crucial Message For Tech
83. Tinder Wants To Make Emoji For Interracial Couples
84. Feedless Takes The News Feed Out Of Social Media
85. When a robot writes your news, what happens to democracy? 
86. From fake news to fabricated video, can we preserve our shared reality?: The advent of inexpensive and readily accessible fabricated video production brings new meaning to the phrase ‘seeing is believing.’
87. There’s something strange going on amid the satellite Internet rush: Greg Wyler, the founder of OneWeb, starts a second company to compete with himself. 
88. How Bittorrent Spurred The Streaming Revolution
89. My Dreams of Owning The Matrix Phone Can Finally Be Fulfilled
90. A Short History Of Technology Worship: It’s possible that neither intelligence nor beauty is what makes converts. It’s technology itself. 
91. Silicon Valley pub that helped birth PC industry to close because of high rent: The Oasis Beer Garden will serve its final pizza and pour its last pint on March 7.

CREATIVITY

1. Insurer Settles $10M Coverage Dispute With Kanye West Touring Company 
2. Coal CEO’s defamation lawsuit against John Oliver is dismissed: Murray Energy says it will appeal the decision.
3. Stanford Professor Drops Stupid SLAPP Suit Against Critics; Still Mad Online
4. Appeals Court Affirms Dismissal Of Frank Sivero’s Publicity Rights Suit Against ‘The Simpsons’ 
5. Court Destroys Future Public Art Installations By Holding Building Owner Liable For Destroying This One
6. Dark Day For Hollywood – Law Prohibiting Online Publication Of Actors’ Ages Is Unconstitutional! 
7. Federal Court Shuts Down IMDb-Targeting ‘Anti-Ageism’ Law Permanently
8. Fair Dealing Fake News: When Seeking a Refund Arising From Copyright Over-Payments Becomes a “Legal Attack on Writers” (Michael Geist)
9. Why Fair Dealing Benefits Creators: The Case of a Room Full of Spoons (Michael Geist)
10. Why Fair Dealing Safeguards Freedom of Expression: The Case of the Vancouver Aquarium (Michael Geist)
11. Judge Saris Opines on Copyright Infringement in 3-D Greeting Card Case 
12. Black Panther Surpasses Wonder Woman, Toy Story 3 At Domestic Box Office: Third highest-grossing MCU movie domestically.
13. Mark Millar Has an Interesting Theory About Why Marvel Movies Work and DC Movies Don’t
14. Disney Donates $1 Million To Open Stem Centers In Honor Of Black Panther Success: The money will go towards building new Centers of Innovation for kids interested in STEM. 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 8: The Ineffectiveness of Website Blocking (Michael Geist)
2. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 9: Why it Violates Canadian Net Neutrality Rules (Michael Geist)
3. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 10: Why It May Violate Human Rights Norms (Michael Geist)
4. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 11: Higher Internet Access Costs for All (Michael Geist)
5. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan: Canadians Take a Stand Against Site Blocking (Michael Geist)
6. NRA gives Ajit Pai “courage award” and gun for “saving the Internet”: Killing net neutrality helps Pai win award for “standing up under pressure.”
7. NRA Gives FCC Boss An Award For ‘Courageously’ Killing Net Neutrality, May Have Violated Ethics Rules
8. FCC Republican faces ethics complaint after calling for Trump’s re-election: Pai and O’Rielly both face ethics questions after appearances at CPAC.
9. Vimeo, In Ongoing Battle For Net Neutrality, Refiles Lawsuit Against FCC
10. AT&T loses years-long quest to cripple FTC authority over telecoms: Unlimited data throttling case is back on after FTC wins major ruling.
11. AT&T describes post-net neutrality plans for paid prioritization: “AT&T is not interested in creating fast lanes and slow lanes,” ISP claims. 
12. Democrats submit plan to save net neutrality, still one vote short in Senate: Democrats still trying to convince Republicans to keep net neutrality rules.
13. The Final Countdown to Net Neutrality’s Death Begins Today
14. The Death Of Net Neutrality Will Be Official In April (Cue The Lawsuits)
15. As Protection Ends, Here’s One Way To Test For Net Neutrality
16. Life in the Fast Lane: FCC Releases Final Rule Repealing Net Neutrality 
17. Defying Pai’s FCC, Washington state passes law protecting net neutrality: Washington may be the first state to impose net neutrality rules on all ISPs.
18. The FCC’s ‘New’ Broadband Availability Map Hallucinates Broadband Competition
19. Why states might win the net neutrality war against the FCC: FCC might have doomed its preemption case by renouncing authority over broadband.
20. Verizon and a company it bought just paid $614M in biggest FCC fine ever: Straight Path failed to use spectrum, resulting in $614M fine and sale to Verizon.
21. Charter Spectrum Fails To Wiggle Out From Under State Lawsuit For Crappy Service 
22. The Moon Will Soon Have Its Own Mobile Network
23. A Parliamentary Committee Makes Recommendations Regarding Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. US Officials Say Russia Hacked Pyeongchang Olympics, Tried to Pin It on North Korea
2. Russia accused of “false flag” attack on Olympic opening: Routing hacks, bits of code used to throw off attribution trail.
3. America’s Voting Systems Are Highly Vulnerable to Hackers: And we’re doing nothing to protect them.
4. Feds have spent 13 years failing to verify whether passport data is legit: Data is read off e-passports, but CBP lacks software to verify digital signatures.
5. US Border Officials Have Never Verified Chipped Passports, Despite Demanding Their Usage
6. Us Border Patrol Hasn’t Validated E-Passport Data For Years: US Customs and Border Patrol hasn’t been verifying the cryptographic signatures on e-Passports – because they never installed the right software.
7. YouTube Removes Some Demographics Data From Creator Analytics To Protect Viewer Privacy
8. Microsoft’s Supreme Court Case Has Big Implications For Data
9. Microsoft doesn’t want to turn over foreign server data, SCOTUS to weigh in: Silicon Valley fears that if US wins, its data held abroad will be vulnerable.
10. Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments In Microsoft Email Case
11. SEC Issues Interpretive Guidance on Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosures: Greater Engagement Required of Officers and Directors
12. Car companies are preparing to sell driver data to the highest bidder: Connected cars are going to monetize data, but most drivers don’t know that.
13. Covert ‘Replay Sessions’ Have Been Harvesting Passwords By Mistake
14. How To Turn Off Facebook’s Face Recognition Features
15. Man removes feds’ spy cam, they demand it back, he refuses and sues
16. Cellebrite can unlock any iPhone (for some values of “any”): Forensics contractor’s “Advanced Unlocking Service” still has to brute-force passcodes
17. Developer gets prison after admitting backdoor was made for malice: Full-featured trojan catered to password thieves, Peeping Toms, and ransomware scammers.

Jon

GAMES

1. Gameloft facing lawsuit from outsourcing firm over copyright infringement
2. Outsourcer suing Gameloft over Asphalt assets and trade secrets: Vietnamese studio Glass Egg claims employees created assets without company’s knowledge
3. Despite increased downloads, Gameloft sees drop in daily and monthly average users
4. European regulator: Nintendo’s strict eShop refund policy is unlawful
5. After 600 days of being banned, former CS:GO streamer sues Twitch
6. Ubisoft Perma-Bans Creator Of Cool, Non-Cheating Tool For ‘The Division’ Because It Was Made With Cheating Software
7. Add-on dev Flight Sim Labs under fire for using malware as DRM
8. Flight-sim devs say hidden password-dump tool was used to fight pirates: Developer says tool was intended to target one specific cracker.
9. Streamer Sues Twitch Over Suspension: James ‘PhantomL0rd’ Varga says he was a “scapegoat”.
10. Banned Twitch streamer files lawsuit against platform for loss of earnings and “reputational harm”: James “Phantoml0rd” Varga argues he was never given adequate explanation for the ban
11. Twitch delays enforcement of new community guidelines over clarity concerns: Video platform criticised for new guidelines being vague
12. Twitch Just Launched Chat Rooms And It’s The 90s All Over Again
13. EVE Online to permanently ban repeat offenders using bots
14. Eugen Systems devs on strike after claiming violation of rights 
15. Video games, not guns, to blame for school shooting, says Kentucky gov.: “It’s the same as pornography…. we are reaping what we’ve sown here.”
16. Game industry pushes back against efforts to restore gameplay servers: DMCA exemption fight shows mistrust over limited “preservation” claims.
17. ESA argues against DMCA exemption for abandoned online games
18. ESA opposes potential DMCA rule change aimed at preserving abandoned online games: “Preservation of online video games is now critical,” says Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment
19. Hawaii proposes landmark legislation against loot boxes: State representative who previously declared legislation a “slippery slope” affirms support for efforts toward regulating loot boxes; expects more states to follow Hawaii’s lead
20. U.S. Senator calls on ESRB and FTC to review loot box practices 
21. Blog: Much ado about loot boxes
22. Report: 69% of consumers find cosmetic microtransactions acceptable: Only 6% of consumers never spend money on microtransactions
23. 27% of Brits have purchased 18-rated games while still underage: While still underage, 65% of millennials have played an 18-rated video game and 35% bought one
24. Microsoft: “Representation isn’t just good common sense, it’s good business sense” – At the DICE Summit today, Phil Spencer urged the industry to pursue diversity and inclusivity or risk missing out on the growth opportunities to come
25. Learning from scantily clad dancer scandal, Xbox exec calls for inclusivity: Phil Spencer sees “opportunity and responsibility to make gaming for everyone.”
26. For Xbox boss Spencer, inclusivity is key for successful company culture 
27. Rovio partners with GSN Games for cash-wagering Angry Birds game
28. Nightdive puts crowdfunded System Shock reboot on hiatus: The project lost focus after raising more than $1.3 million from Kickstarter backers
29. Atari launching two cryptocurrencies: Shares spike 52% after company unveils Atari Token and Pong, announces plans to allow cryptocurrencies in its gambling business
30. Atari stock jumps 52% on plans for nostalgia-backed cryptocurrencies: “Atari Token” and “Pong Token” continue long trend of zombie corporate licensing.
31. Doom on Switch may have changed everything with new motion controls: Nintendo teased this brilliant idea in Splatoon. Will other shooters follow?
32. UK Charts: Nintendo Switch push sends FIFA back to No.1: Kingdom Come –  Deliverence makes No.2, Bayonetta 2 back at No.5
33. Super Rare Games bringing limited edition indie games to Nintendo Switch
34. How Nintendo Labo is using the Switch’s IR Camera and HD Rumble features
35. How Switch’s success is impacting devs in the game porting biz
36. Nintendo To Expel Members From ‘Creators Program’ In Accordance With New YouTube Policy
37. Starbreeze banking on The Walking Dead after posting pre-tax loss of $22.2M
38. Ubisoft Berlin’s growth ambitions will need government support: “We intend to grow to a considerable size,” says studio director Istvan Tajnay, “but we could grow to a huge size if parameters were right”
39. How Augmented Reality Is Shaping The Future Of Play
40. Gree VR Fund invests $18.3m into 17 augmented and virtual reality startups: San Francisco-based venture capital fund re-brands to reflect commitment beyond just virtual reality
41. The Difference Between Smartglasses & AR Glasses, and Why Everyone is Confused
42. Could Esports Become Part Of Olympics By 2024?
43. Daytona 500 Race Week Features Esports Tournament On Mobile Stage
44. How Major League Baseball Is Approaching Future Entry Into Esports
45. Blizzard using in-game rewards to promote OverwatchLeague streams on Twitch
46. The CEO of esports team Splyce explains the human side of professional play
47. Learning to love older games: The recent boom in remastered games isn’t just business as usual; it signifies an underlying shift in how consumers value older games
48. Meet the brewery making its own video game: Tiny Rebel Games teams up with its sister company to create Beer Money
49. A Videogame Developer Who Finds Power In Pathos
50. Nightdive Studios puts System Shock remake on hold 
51. Blog: Building my courtroom drama game, Twelve Absent Men
52. How multimedia trade marks could kill cloned games: Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov believes a new form of IP protection will greatly benefit developers – as shown by Rebellion’s Sniper Elite 4
53. Bandai Namco opens two virtual reality arcades in south England: Plans to further expand the operation across the UK throughout 2018
54. Blog: Flash games aren’t dead, they’re just in a coma
55. Blog: How marketing drives engagement in free to play games
56. Opinion: Why there’s no such thing as ‘the game industry’
57. “History is our playground”: Bringing Assassin’s Creed into the classroom – We speak to Maxime Durand, franchise historian behind the publisher’s flagship series, about its new violence-free Discovery Mode
58. Blog: Listen to a Harvard Egyptologist discuss Assassin’s Creed: Origins

DIGITAL

1. Instagram, YouTube Face Full Block In Russia After Billionaire Wins A Privacy Lawsuit Over Pictures With An Alleged Escort
2. OCA upholds $700,000 award in internet defamation case
3. Playboy says linking to Playmate archive violates copyright; judge says no way: Boing Boing linked to an Imgur-hosted archive that has since been taken down. 
4. Scraping Is OK, Copying Proprietary Software Is Not 
5. Terrible Copyright Ruling Over An Embedded Tweet Undermines Key Concept Of How The Internet Works
6. A Ruling Over Embedded Tweets Could Change Online Publishing
7. Are news publishers directly liable for embedding tweets that contain images not created by that tweeter?
8. Disney Enterprises, Inc. v. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC 
9. 32 lawsuits filed against Intel over Spectre and Meltdown flaws
10. Court Realizes It Totally Screwed Up An Injunction Against Zazzle For Copyright Infringement 
11. John Perry Barlow and the Foundational Values of the Net
12. Twitter “bot” purge causes outcry from trollerati as follower counts fall: Right-wing tweeters see thousands of followers purged for “suspicious account behavior.”
13. Even If The Russian Troll Factory Abused Our Openness Against Us, That Doesn’t Mean We Should Close Up
14. NRA Goes Quiet on Twitter, Just Like After Previous Mass Shootings
15. Parkland Conspiracies Overwhelm The Internet’s Broken Trending Tools
16. Pro-Gun Russian Bots Flood Twitter After Parkland Shooting
17. Special Counsel indicts 13 people, Russian troll farm on conspiracy charges: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says Russians conducted “information warfare.”
18. How the Internet Companies That Sold Ads to Russian Trolls Can Fix the Problem: Mueller’s indictments describe a sprawling Russian scheme to sow discord in our elections using social media. The platforms now have a duty to protect our democracy 
19. DOJ Russia Indictment Again Highlights Why Internet Companies Can’t Just Wave A Magic Wand To Make Bad Stuff Go Away
20. TWiT takes on Twitter in trademark dispute
21. Conservative Twitter Users Lose Thousands of Followers, Mass Purge of Bots Suspected
22. A Blockbuster Indictment Details Russia’s Attack On US Democracy
23. The Toolset Of An Elite North Korean Hacker Group On The Rise
24. U.N. chief urges global rules for cyber warfare
25. YouTube’s Top Trending Video This Morning Promoted Conspiracy Theory About Florida Shooting Survivor
26. YouTube Outlines New Official Punishments For ‘Egregious Cases’
27. As “Demonetization Day” Arrives On YouTube, Small Creators Offer Advice To One Another
28. Why Artificial Intelligence Researchers Should Be More Paranoid
29. Algorithmic Impact Assessments: Toward Accountable Automation in Public Agencies 
30. Big Data Suggests Big Potential For Urban Farming
31. Canadian Competition Policy Focuses in on “Big Data”
32. Toward ethical, transparent and fair AI/ML: a critical reading list
33. A Biohacker Regrets Publicly Injecting Himself With CRISPR: “There’s no doubt in my mind that somebody is going to end up hurt eventually.”
34. Internet rages after Google removes “view image” button, bowing to Getty: Getty drops lawsuit against Google in exchange for controversial image search changes.
35. Google’s New Ad Blocker Changed The Web Before It Even Switched On
36. A Lack of Emotional Intelligence is Fueling Misogyny and Racism at Google — and Across Silicon Valley
37. Misogyny Online: Death by a Thousand Cuts
38. Google Fired and Disciplined Employees for Speaking Out About Diversity
39. Ex-Google Employee Claims Wrongful Firing For Criticizing James Damore’s Memo
40. Ex-Google engineer: I was fired for being too liberal – Tim Chevalier sues Google, claims only employees “who represent the majority” speak.
41. Infamous Google memo author shot down by federal labor board: Damore’s gender-focused memo was “discriminatory, constituted sexual harassment.”
42. Good news: Chrome debuts automatic blocking of annoying ads – Starting this week, Chrome took aim at some of the Internet’s most intrusive ads.
43. Glitch on Bitcoin Exchange Drops Prices to Zero Dollars, User Tries to Make Off With Trillions 
44. Taxation of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies
45. NSA Exploit Now Powering Cryptocurrency Mining Malware
46. Tesla cloud resources are hacked to run cryptocurrency-mining malware
47. Cryptocurrency-mining criminals that netted $3 million gear up for more: Attackers who mined 10,829 Monero coins over 18 months target a new server platform
48. Cryptocurrency Mining Company Coinhive Shocked To Learn Its Product Is Being Abused
49. Blockchain Just Isn’t As Radical As You Want It To Be
50. Instagram’s Latest Direct Messaging Feature Challenges Snapchat Again
51. One Down: Instagram Caves To Russian Censorship As All Eyes Turn To YouTube
52. Facebook’s secret weapon in the fight against foreign meddling? Postcards 
53. Copycat: How Facebook Tried To Squash Snapchat
54. Facebook Notification Spam Has Crossed The Line
55. Facebook ‘Security’: A New VPN That’s Spyware And Two-Factor Authentication That Spams You 
56. Wired’s Big Cover Story On Facebook Gets Key Legal Point Totally Backwards, Demonstrating Why CDA 230 Is Actually Important
57. NFL Thursday Night Digital Rights: Amazon, YouTube, Twitter, Verizon Again at Bidding Table
58. YouTube, Amazon, Twitter May Bid Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars For NFL Rights
59. Amazon To Bring Ad-Supported Options To Its Channels Program 
60. Amazon uses cash back benefits to entice Prime members to Whole Foods
61. UberEats Driver Kills Customer During Delivery in Atlanta 
62. Why are we still struggling with hyper-linking and copyright law? (Andres Guadamuz)
63. Could 5G Break Facebook And Google’s Grip On Online Content, Cut ALL Cords?
64. Iran’s National Information Network: Faster Speeds, but at What Cost?
65. Apple’s Excellence in Design Leads to Employees Smacking Into Glass Walls
66. NBA’s Adam Silver Focused On Tech That Creates Magical Experiences
67. Kudos To The Crock-Pot People For Handling The Online Fallout From ‘This Is Us’ So Well
68. Everyone Creates: New Empirical Data Shows Just How Much The Internet Has Enabled A New Creative Economy 

CREATIVITY

1. Court Shakes Off Dumb Copyright Lawsuit Against Taylor Swift 
2. US Judge dismisses Taylor Swift ‘Shake it Off’ lyric as too ‘banal’ to copyright: Nick McDonald comments
3. Judge Dismisses Taylor Swift Lawsuit While Pouring the Burn Sauce
4. John Wiley & Sons Inc. v. DRK Photo: Second Circuit holds that stock photograph company aggregating claims for copyright infringement against third-party licensees for exceeding usage limits of licenses does not have standing  
5. Rearden LLC v. Walt Disney Company: District court dismisses copyright and direct patent infringement claims against various film studios arising out of allegedly unauthorized use of plaintiff’s MOVA computer-graphics motion capture technology
6. Jerry Seinfeld is being sued for allegedly stealing the idea for Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee
7. How a Polish Holocaust Story Became the Basis of a Controversial Copyright Case in Canada’s Federal Court
8. Germany’s Speech Laws Continue To Be A Raging Dumpster Fire Of Censorial Stupidity
9. The Lynyrd Skynyrd Texting Case: Spoliation and Non-Party Texts 
10. Scholastic Wants To Help Young Creators Showcase Their Works By Stripping Them Of Their IP Rights
11. What Black Panther’s Success Means For The Future Of Movies 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 4: Absence of Court Orders Would Put Canada At Odds With Almost Everyone (Michael Geist)
2. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 5: The Inevitable Expansion of the Block List Standard for “Piracy” Sites (Michael Geist)
3. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 6: Over-Blocking of Legitimate Websites (Michael Geist)
4. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 7: The Likely Expansion of the Block List to Non-IP Issues (Michael Geist)
5. Bell to Employees: Click Here To Support Our Website Blocking Proposal at the CRTC (Michael Geist) 
6. Congress Pressures FCC Boss Over His Total Failure To Police Net Neutrality Comment Fraud
7. AT&T’s attempt to buy Time Warner suffers a blow in court: AT&T loses bid for evidence; Trump’s hatred of CNN won’t play big role in case. 
8. AT&T tries to prove Trump meddled in merger review because he hates CNN
9. FCC Boss Being Investigated By His Own Agency For Being Too Cozy With The Industry He Regulates 
10. Ajit Pai Is Reportedly Being Investigated by the FCC’s Inspector General 
11. Ajit Pai faces investigation into moves that benefit Sinclair Broadcasting: IG examines whether Pai “improperly coordinated with Sinclair” on rule changes.
12. Ajit Pai’s Plan Will Take Broadband Away From Poor People
13. FCC Broadband Availability Data Derided As Inaccurate, ‘Shameful’ 
14. To kill net neutrality, FCC might have to fight more than half of US states: Bucking FCC and Ajit Pai, lawmakers across US have proposed net neutrality laws.
15. More Than Half Of U.S. States Now Pushing Their Own Net Neutrality Rules
16. Charter fails to defeat lawsuit alleging false Internet speed promises: Net neutrality repeal can’t save Charter from lawsuit, NY Supreme Court says.
17. Starting Small on Media Regulation Modernization – Rule Requiring Hard Copy of FCC Rules Repealed 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. German Court Says Facebook’s Real Names Policy Violates Users’ Privacy
2. Facebook has been sharing our data for months to help study income inequality: In the US, just 1 percent of the population holds 40 percent of the wealth.
3. Mountain of sensitive FedEx customer data exposed, possibly for years: Company stored customer passports, driver licenses, and more in public Amazon bucket.
4. In terse statement, White House blames Russia for NotPetya worm
5. Mozilla’s Open Letter To Expert Committee Drafting India’s First Data Protection Law Slams Aadhaar Biometric Identity System
6. Internal Versus External Tracking Is Next Frontier Of Data Privacy

Jon

GAMES

1. Valve suspends Counter-Strike co-creator after arrest for sexual exploitation of a child
2. Valve Suspends Counter-Strike Co-Creator Following Disturbing Allegations: Cliffe has been suspended “until we know more,” says Valve.
3. Counter-Strike’s Jess Cliffe arrested for sexual exploitation of a child: Co-creator of classic first-person shooter suspended by Valve until more is known of charges
4. Counter-Strike Co-Creator Charged With Paying 16-Year-Old For Sex
5. Charges filed, details emerge for arrest of Counter-Strike’s co-creator: Charged with commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
6. “A risk to the community”—Counter-Strike co-creator faces $150K bail post-arrest: Defense acknowledges sexual contact, says client “had no idea” witness was a minor.
7. Subnautica developer fired over “many hateful statements”: Sound designer Simon Chylinski dropped from underwater survival game after history of insensitive tweets
8. Is it right to classify excessive video game play as a health disorder?: “Once we say games are also an activity that pulls for that compulsiveness, the question is why aren’t more people then getting pulled into it?”
9. ‘Dangerous gaming’: is the WHO right to class excessive video game play as a health disorder?: Industry figures question research that ‘pathologises’ compulsive gaming, while scientist involved defends move to address addiction
10. Germany is considering a ban on loot boxes
11. German Youth Protection Commission investigates loot boxes: It’s “conceivable” that loot boxes violate existing regulation, says commission chairman
12. Quantic Dream labels claims of toxic conditions as “smear campaign”: Council of Paris investigating public funds awarded to studio, and considering tighter regulations for companies that do not care for staff
13. EA stock reaches all-time high ahead of Battlefront II loot box return: Company’s stock rose 7%, peaking at $131 following recent financial results
14. Take-Two swings to profit, has high hopes for Red Dead Redemption 2
15. The Myth of Metacritocracy: 10 Years Ago This Month: EA learns a costly lesson about striving for excellence and Take-Two tells it to take a hike
16. Take-Two’s usual performers carry company to solid quarter: Record quarters for Grand Theft Auto Online and NBA 2K continue to tide publisher over during a light year of major releases
17. Over 1M Battlegrounds cheaters were banned in January alone
18. PUBG Corp prepares to introduce new anti-cheat solution as total bans exceeds 2.5m: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds bans one million cheaters in January alone
19. Donkey Kong scoreboard strips Billy Mitchell’s high score claims 
20. Indiegogo threatens to recoup Spectrum Vega+ funds, new release date promised: Former managing director of Retro Computers Ltd refutes allegations made by company’s current directors
21. Kickstarter and games in 2017
22. Atari Gets The Settlement It Was Surely Fishing For Over An Homage To ‘Breakout’ In KitKat Commercial
23. Amid furor over past sexism, Atari co-founder loses prestigious award: Bushnell apologizes for behavior, “applauds” GDC for promoting awareness.
24. Twitch Ended 2017 With 15 Million Daily Visitors, 27K Partnered Streamers
25. Konami apologizes for announcing nuclear disarmament (in Metal Gear Solid V): Server-wide cutscene event seems to have been activated prematurely by a glitch.
26. Capcom’s hunt for a global audience: Monster Hunter was perhaps the best example of a “big in Japan” game – until Capcom’s persistence and confidence finally paid off this week
27. Capcom lays off workers at Dead Rising studio
28. Layoffs at Capcom Vancouver: 30% of studio laid off as Dead Rising developer reportedly sees one project cancelled, another has scope reduced
29. Report: Gameloft closes New Orleans studio, layoffs at Gameloft Madrid
30. Sales and profits slip at Sega despite bump in physical sales
31. Jump in physical game sales can’t save Sega from sales and income drops: Games success not enough to overcome slumping arcade and smartphone performance
32. Sonic 3D Blast dev releases director’s cut after 25 years
33. Mojang is shutting down Scrolls’ online servers
34. Existing titles drive profits at Square Enix as sales fall flat
35. Smartphone success boosts Square Enix after a quiet nine months on consoles: Online titles Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X boost sales and subscriber numbers
36. The 8 Ways Nintendo Can Double Down On Switch’s Success
37. I’m A Nintendo Switch N00b Who Just Got A Hands-On With Labo
38. The Switch’s premium online service is launching this September
39. Nintendo to continue mobile push with Mario Kart Tour
40. Nintendo will release a Mario Kart mobile game by March 2019: Mario Kart Tour will launch in the next financial year, the publisher said today
41. Nintendo announces Super Mario movie in partnership with Illumination: Animation studio behind Despicable Me and Minions franchises to co-produce with Shigeru Miyamoto
42. Why isn’t Nintendo Switch breaking records in the UK?: It’s the fastest-selling games console in almost every market it’s been released in, but not Britain
43. Nintendo working on Mario movie with Minions creator Illumination
44. Super Mario Odyssey producer settles the debate over Toad’s head: Is it a hat, or part of his anatomy?
45. Why Nintendo Switch needs to find a new model of discovery: The family-friendly platform must learn from Steam’s cautionary tale
46. After a rocky launch, Failbetter Games ends indie fund and lays off some staff
47. NCsoft posts another year of record-breaking growth: Slight declines in mobile aren’t enough to ruin the show as online PC games enjoy a strong quarter
48. Steam Winter Sale Data and the Effects of a Front Page Feature
49. Report: Google considering streaming service for games
50. Google prepping game streaming service – Report
51. Google’s “Yeti” is reportedly a gaming hardware, streaming service beast: According to The Information, Google has been working on this for the past two years.
52. How mobile game devs are evolving test and launch strategies: Google Play biz dev manager Emily Putze tracks how the traditional launch playbook for mobile games is changing
53. Sony’s software strength offsets flat hardware sales: Sony shipped 9 million units of the PlayStation 4 in Q3, down 700k over last year
54. Has the PS4 peaked? Annual console shipments are flat for 2017: This is about the age when Sony systems start their long, slow decline.
55. Kaz Hirai steps down as president and CEO of Sony Corp.: Hirai hands leadership to CFO Kenichiro Yoshida after six years at the helm
56. Sony financials: PlayStation software shines as hardware slows
57. As Sony CEO Kaz Hirai steps down, the future of some products is in question: His successor has built a reputation for making tough cuts to get in the black.
58. Sony Interactive Entertainment files Inter Partes Review of 3D Video Patent
59. Upcoming PlayStation 4 update includes playtime management 
60. Microsoft responds to indie retail backlash over Xbox Game Pass: Platform holder “pleasantly surprised” by store demand, considering broadening its distribution plans
61. Always Be Pitching: How to find and talk to publishers to survive as an indie
62. Layoffs at Nexon America after company restructuring
63. Jobs lost as Nexon America restructures: But publisher insists there’s no significant impact to overall workforce, layoffs unrelated to struggling Lawbreakers
64. UK game dev sector grows more than four times the rate of the economy in 2017: Games development sector contributes nearly £1.5 billion to the UK’s GDP, says TIGA report
65. Pillars of Eternity II director on Obsidian’s shift from studio-for-hire to building its own IP: Working on your own IP is “less about the freedom and more about the institutional knowledge to understand what the IP is”
66. New studio Lunar Great Wall will also teach games development: Italian start-up’s Claudio Giacopazzi tells us how the team will balance creation and education
67. Encouraging charity with Don-Ay, the first ‘donation game’: Italian developer Affinity Project talks us through its mobile endless runner that enables players to help save real-world animals
68. Gamevil and Com2us merge in the US: Mobile companies combine to focus efforts in North America
69. Keywords expects $186m in revenues after 11 acquisitions in 2017: Service empire’s studio count has grown eightfold in the last five years
70. Examining the role outsourcing plays in modern game development
71. Tamatem nets $2.5M to localize mobile games for Arabic-speaking markets
72. Q&A: Translating the humor & tone of Yakuza games for the West
73. Trailmix aims to reinvent casual games – with a little help from Supercell: Backed by $4.2m from Supercell, King veterans Carolin Krenzer and Tristan Clark will push toward a richer and more meaningful take on casual gaming
74. Human: Fall Flat dev credits community feedback for success
75. “It’s hard to put in words how life-changing blockchain technology will be”: EverdreamSoft plans to demonstrate the new tech’s power by enabling players to sell – and more importantly own – in-game cards
76. Blog: Can week-one Steam sales predict first-year sales?
77. Latest Steam survey puts Oculus Rift and HTC Vive with equal market share
78. Pokemon Go developer Niantic scoops up AR API maker Escher Reality
79. Open-source game dev tool Godot Engine adds VR support
80. Blog: The next surprise billion dollar game will be on Alexa
81. Game dev in Oceania: A hands-off Aussie gov’t, and a Kiwi PM’s visit
82. Blog: Are casual games maturing? 
83. How Tetris was discovered in America
84. Smithsonian American Art Museum puts out call for indie devs
85. Applications open for Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition: Smithsonian puts out call for indie devs to explore this year’s theme of “game spaces”
86. Machinima founder and VR developer Hugh Hancock has passed away

DIGITAL

1. As Outlets Like Russia Today Influence Viewers, YouTube Will Add Notices To State-Sponsored Content
2. YouTube will put disclaimers on state-funded broadcasts to fight propaganda: In efforts to educate viewers on where their news comes from.
3. Appeals court: Twitter can’t be sued for “material support” of terrorism – 9th Circuit – “We conclude that Twitter has the better of the argument.” 
4. Court Dismisses — For A Second Time — Lawsuit Seeking To Hold Facebook Responsible For Acts Of Terrorism 
5. How Twitter Bots and Trump Fans Made #ReleaseTheMemo Go Viral: Russian bots and their American allies gamed social media to put a flawed intelligence document atop the political agenda. That should alarm us.
6. ‘Fiction is outperforming reality’: how YouTube’s algorithm distorts truth – An ex-YouTube insider reveals how its recommendation algorithm promotes divisive clips and conspiracy videos. Did they harm Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency? 
7. Ich Bin Ein Tweeter: I had enough of the trolling and toxic taunts on Twitter. So I reset my location and “moved” to Germany, the safest social media state in the world. 
8. Learning The Politics Of “Digital Dissensus” 
9. Policing the internet – “fake news” and social media offence update 
10. China launches salvo against “network navy” of trolls who spread fake news: More than 200 arrests, thousands of accounts and websites seized for “illegal speculation.”
11. Small Creator Sues YouTube Over Faulty DMCA Takedown Procedure
12. Socioeconomic group classification based on user features / Facebook, Inc.
13. Facebook Patents Tech To Bucket Users Into Different Social Classes
14. Telegram iOS app removed from App Store last week due to child pornography: The app was restored only after Telegram removed the content.
15. Theresa May Again Demands Tech Companies Do More To Right The World’s Social Media Wrongs
16. It’s Time For A Serious Talk About The Science Of Tech “Addiction”
17. Push Resumes For An EU Google Tax, With The Bulgarian Government Leading The Way
18. Nest is done as a standalone Alphabet company, merges with Google: Google plans to “combine hardware, software, and services” between the two companies 
19. Live Stream Of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Rocket Test Peaks At 2.3 Million Concurrent Views
20. Americans staying home, streaming video, and using less energy because of it – Decouple economic growth from energy consumption: Tell your boss you want to work from home.
21. Kian Lawley Out At Fox Film ‘The Hate U Give’ After Clip With Racist Remarks Surfaces
22. On The Internet, Everyone Is A Creator
23. Logan Paul Discusses “The Hardest Time Of My Life” In ‘Good Morning America’ Interview
24. Logan Paul Returns to YouTube With ‘Comeback’ Video: ‘I Will Never Forget Who I Am at My Core’
25. Logan Paul Is Back To Old Antics In First Comeback Vlog After Suicide Scandal
26. Data-Saving YouTube Go App Arrives In 130 More Countries (But Not The US) 
27. YouTube “tightening and enforcing” policies toward content creators: “We realise we have a serious social responsibility to get these emerging policy issues right,” says CEO 
28. YouTube Announces 3 Potential Punishments For Top Creators Who Harm The Broader Community
29. YouTube CEO Shares 5 Goals With Creators For 2018: “Addressing Your Concerns About Demonetization Is A Top Priority”
30. Kylie Jenner Chooses YouTube For Baby Reveal, Nabs 28 Million Views In 24 Hours
31. YouTube On ‘Play Button’ Awards: “Not All Creators Who Apply Will Receive Awards”
32. YouTube TV subscribers can now watch live TV on Apple TV, Roku devices: Announcement comes after the rollout was delayed at the end of 2017.
33. As The Winter Olympics Approach, YouTube Shares Data And Prepares To Host Highlights 
34. YouTube Uses Its Version Of Snapchat’s Stories For Black History Month Campaign
35. Snapchat Uses Live Streaming To Highlight Top Moments From 2018 Winter Olympics
36. Patreon Introduces Exclusive Snapchat-Like Content For Donors, By Creators
37. How Snapchat Is Sending #Metoo Down The Memory Hole: Disappearing-messaging apps may keep snoopers away—but they can also prevent us from preserving the past and finding justice in the future.
38. BuzzFeed And NBCUniversal’s Latest Project Targets Millennial Parents
39. Putting Pinners First: How Pinterest Is Building Partnerships For Compassionate Content Moderation
40. Implementing Transparency About Content Moderation
41. Tosca Musk Launches Streaming Service That Celebrates The Female Gaze 
42. Hulu’s Super Bowl stream fails during final moments of game: Some customers lost video right before the end
43. Hulu and Vue fumbled during the Super Bowl (but so did NBC): Two of the big streaming TV services cut out at critical moments in the game.
44. Warner Music Hits $1 Billion in First Quarter, Digital Revenue Up 20%
45. Study Suggests Shutting Down Filesharing Sites Would Hurt Music Industry, New Artists
46. Appeals Court Makes A Mess Of Copyright Law Concerning ISPs And Safe Harbors
47. BMG V. Cox is Major Copyright Victory for Music Industry
48. Cox Not Entitled to DMCA Protection Given Lax Infringer Policy
49. Fourth Circuit Raises Bar for DMCA Safe Harbor Defense 
50. The Gig Economy’s Tipping Point
51. Alexa, print money: Even Bezos stunned by Q4 Amazon income – Exceeds operating income estimate by 69%; hints at exactly how well Echo is doing.
52. Inside Amazon’s Artificial Intelligence Flywheel: How deep learning came to power Alexa, Amazon Web Services, and nearly every other division of the company.
53. What Amazon Does to Poor Cities: The debate over Amazon’s HQ2 obscures the company’s rapid expansion of warehouses in low-income areas.
54. Don’t Make AI Artificially Stupid In The Name Of Transparency
55. AI Just Learned How To Boost The Brain’s Memory
56. Half of Americans Want Universal Income, but Expect AI Companies to Pay It 
57. Greedy, Brittle, Opaque, And Shallow: The Downsides To Deep Learning – We’ve been promised a revolution in how and why nearly everything happens. But the limits of modern artificial intelligence are closer than we think.
58. Photo Algorithms ID White Men Fine—Black Women, Not So Much
59. Line-Drawing Exercises: Autonomy and Automation – An existential worry lies beneath concerns about the future of AI. We as humans fear that we will lose our autonomy as we pursue automation with such abandon. (John Palfrey)
60. The Expansion Of Algorithmic Governance: From Code is Law to Law is Code (Samer Hassan & Primavera De Filippi)
61. Irony Alert? Tech Insiders Form Organization to Combat the Dangers of Technology
62. The End Of Data Without Borders: The storage and transmission of data around the world involves a constant clash of competing local, regional, and national regulations. But why does anyone care where data is physically located?
63. Our Hackable Political Future
64. The Big ICO Swindle: Many cryptocurrency speculators are banking on the theory that someone dumber than them will buy their tokens for more than they paid. That’s a pretty good bet … until it isn’t.
65. A Classic Scam Finds New Life Stealing Bitcoin On Twitter
66. Decrypting Taxation of Cryptocurrency
67. Why experts are worried about Tether, a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency: Markets treat a tether as though it’s worth $1. But what if it’s not?
68. Cryptocurrency botnets are rendering some companies unable to operate: Smominru botnet has infected 526,000 machines, generated as much as $3.6 million.
69. Crypto Utopia In Puerto Rico: Digital Evangelism Or Disaster Capitalism? (Andres Guadamuz)
70. A Video Platform That Wants To Be YouTube For Cryptocurrency Users Has Raised $20 Million
71. Cryptocurrency in Small Bytes: Who’s in Charge Here Anyway? The U.S. Regulatory Landscape for Token Offerings
72. The Wired Guide To The Blockchain: It’s super secure and slightly hard to understand, but the idea of creating tamper-proof databases has captured the attention of everyone from anarchist techies to staid bankers. 
73. Feds Take Down A Half-Billion Dollar Cybercrime Forum After 7 Years Online
74. No “Bright Line” In Influencer Marketing No-Nos, Tubefilter And SAG-AFTRA FTC Panel Shows
75. ‘Catalog Of Missing Devices’ Compiles The Useful Tech Products DRM Is Preventing Us From Owning
76. Viacom Will Reportedly Acquire Online Video Gathering VidCon
77. It’s Official: Viacom Announces Its Acquisition Of VidCon
78. Mitú, NFL Announce Partnership To Engage Latino Football Fans
79. This Pastor Is Putting His Faith In A Virtual Reality Church: D.J. Soto believes Christianity can be renewed through worship in virtual space. His VR mega-church is even attracting atheists.
80. Uber doesn’t want jury to see report, but judge says Uber is “stuck” with it: Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick may take the stand today.
81. Waymo presents damning internal messages from Uber, which responds in kind
82. Kalanick agrees: Google was and is “in the lead” in autonomous vehicles – According to a colleague’s notes, Uber’s co-founder sought “pound of flesh.”
83. Uber: We had “no justification” for covering up data breach – Republican senator – data breach incident “raises red flags within this committee.”
84. Waymo v. Uberkicks Off With Travis Kalanick In The Crosshairs
85. Waymo v. Uber’s big Question: What On Earth Is A Trade Secret, Anyway?
86. Google joins “universal stylus” group, hopes for cross-device compatibility: Can you build a universal stylus standard without Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung?
87. Push Resumes For An EU Google Tax, With The Bulgarian Government Leading The Way
88. Samsung leader walks from prison after bribery charges “suspended”: “Samsung is above the law and the court” says national assembly member.
89. iPhone X Damage Report: Two Months Later
90. How will new iPhones manage power? Apple’s response to senator raises questions: Apple is also exploring options for those who paid full price for new batteries.
91. Op-ed: Apple was right to throttle iPhones, but some things still need to change – Prioritizing battery life and stability over speed was the best move for users.
92. Apple sets quarterly revenue record following iPhone X launch
93. Apple, Verizon Continue to Lobby Against The Right To Repair Your Own Devices
94. It’s Time For A Serious Talk About The Science Of Tech “Addiction”
95. The Formula For Phone Addiction Might Double As A Cure
96. The Secret To Breaking Up With Your Phone? Remember That You Will Die.
97. Comprehensive US cell phone safety study inches toward publication: In this study, being in one of the control groups was fatal.
98. Relatively few LG customers will see any money from “bootloop” lawsuit: Chamberlain v. LG was sent to arbitration in June 2017; now LG has quietly settled.
99. Toronto lawyer serves claim with Instagram
100. IP monitor – Government is reviewing Copyright Act for currency with digital technology
101. Moderation Is The Commodity
102. 5 Takeaways From Tech Leaders’ Content Moderation Conference: Tech companies’ legal leaders and policy experts gathered at Santa Clara University School of Law on Feb. 2 for a day of panels on content moderation and removal.
103. Behold, the 157 new emoji for 2018: New smileys, animals, hair colors, and lots more arrive in Unicode Emoji 11.0.
104. Rebalancing Regulation of Speech: Hyper-Local Content on Global Web-Based Platforms (Chinmayi Arun)
105. Co-founder of EFF, John Perry Barlow, dead at 70: “The Internet we all know and love today exists and thrives because of Barlow’s vision.”
106. Mourning John Perry Barlow, The Bard Of The Internet

CREATIVITY

1.  Ed Sheeran Among the Latest Musicians Accused of Copying Australian Artists
2. Insights: After Music’s Massive Week, Can People Finally Make Money From It Again?
3. Tarnishing The History Of Martin Luther King Jr.: Copyright Enforcement Edition
4. Director Of Thor: Ragnarok Pirated Clips For His Sizzle Reel
5. International Inconsistencies In Copyright: Why It’s Hard To Know What’s Really Available To The Public
6. Israeli Music Fans Sue Two New Zealanders For Convincing Lorde To Cancel Her Israeli Concert 
7. Public School Board Member Threatens Boss Of Woman Who Spoke Out Against School Book Banning
8. Come Witness The Commentators That Help The NFL Fool The Public About Its ‘Super Bowl’ Trademark Rights
9. BrewDog Beats Back Trademark Action From The Elvis Presley Estate
10. Moosehead Breweries Cuts And Runs From Trademark Suit Against Hop ‘N Moose Brewing
11. Best Buy Will No Longer Sell CDs and Target May Be Next
12. Online Talent Search Company Settles FTC Allegations it Collected Children’s Information without Consent and Misled Consumers
13. Understanding the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 (Eric Goldman)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Hail Mary Pass to Supreme Court Missed Its Mark: Application to Stay CRTC Order Prohibiting Simultaneous Substitution during the Super Bowl Dismissed
2. Broadcasting Procedural Letter Addressed to Netflix (CRTC)
3. No Panic: Canadian TV and Film Production Posts Biggest Year Ever Raising Doubts About the Need for Site Blocking and Netflix Regulation (Michael Geist)
4. Anti-piracy group under fire for website-blocking proposal
5. Does Canada Even Have a Huge Piracy Problem?: A coalition of powerful organizations wants to block piracy websites in Canada.
6. Thousands Slam Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Proposal in Submissions to the CRTC (Michael Geist)
7. Canada’s SOPA Moment: Why the CRTC Should Reject the Bell Coalition’s Dangerous Internet Blocking Plan (Michael Geist)
8. Russia Blocks 500 ‘Pirate’ Sites in Four Months, Without a Single Court Order
9. Bell offers free phone unlocking for all following protests: Telecom had declined requests from non-customers but has changed its policy 
10. How Bell Let’s Talk became a triple win for BCE, consumers and the mental health cause: In an era of donor fatigue and one-hit wonder online campaigns, BCE’s annual corporate social responsibility effort continues to succeed despite criticism from skeptic
11. Here’s Ajit Pai’s “proof” that killing net neutrality created more broadband: Pai’s FCC takes credit for broadband deployments that began under Obama.
12. There are Ajit Pai “Verizon puppet” jokes that the FCC doesn’t want you to read: FCC won’t release emails about joke “collusion” video, says they would harm agency.
13. Trump’s FCC Pats Itself On The Back For A Historically Stupid Year
14. FCC Report Falsely Claims Killing Net Neutrality Already Helping Broadband Competition 
15. ISPs must follow net neutrality in New Jersey, governor declares: ISPs can’t block or throttle traffic if they sell broadband to state agencies.
16. California’s Net Neutrality Law Takes Another Step Forward
17. New Jersey The Latest State To Protect Net Neutrality By Executive Order
18. San Francisco seeks universal fiber broadband with net neutrality and privacy: Affordable broadband and consumer protections for all—that’s the plan at least.
19. FCC Reaches Consent Decree with Noncommercial Broadcaster Imposing Largest Fine Ever Issued for Underwriting Violations – $115,000
20. FTC issues comments on FCC’s robocall blocking rules 
21. Trump Administration Proposes Construction of Federal 5G Wireless Network
22. A New Frequency Range Could Open Up More Wireless Tech
23. Comcast accused of demanding $3.5 million “punitive ransom” from rival: Wave Broadband says it had to pay big bucks to avoid losing sports networks.

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Right to be Forgotten, eh? Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Says Law Requires Search Engine De-indexing
2. Canadian Privacy Commissioner Report Says Existing Law Already Gives Canadians A Right To Be Forgotten
3. It is time to overhaul Canada’s data protection—your rights are at stake – Opinion: A draft position by Canada’s privacy commissioner on the right to be forgotten shows how our inadequate laws are being overstretched
4. Here’s what you need to know about Canada’s ‘extraordinarily permissive’ new spying laws
5. China Exporting Its Surveillance Tech And Philosophy To Other Countries, Helped By Equipment Donations
6. Devin Nunes Releases Memo That Doesn’t Show The Surveillance Abuses He Hypocritically ‘Cares’ About
7. Missouri Governor Sued Over His Office’s Use Of Self-Destructing Communications
8. Judge should order governor to stop using ephemeral messaging app, lawyers say – Missouri governor’s lawyer: Use of Confide is protected under the First Amendment.
9. Single-Pixel Tracker Leads Paranoid Turkish Authorities To Wrongly Accuse Over 10,000 People Of Treason
10. Digital insecurity of journalists in Pakistan: DRF report
11. IBM’s New AI Can Predict Psychosis in Your Speech
12. The Equifax “Lock & Alert” app works, but what does it do?: Equifax’s new free phone app can “lock” your Equifax credit report. Just beware of typos.
13. Hacker Lauri Love Wins Extradition Appeal; Won’t Be Shipped Off To The US
14. In just 24 hours, 5,000 Android devices are conscripted into mining botnet: Worm-like infection targets devices that have seldom-used port 5555 open.
15. Why cops won’t need a warrant to pull the data off your autonomous car: “It’s like instant replay in the NFL; I can tell what happened.”
16. Facial Recognition in Retail: “Attention all Shoppers: We Already Know Everything about You”
17. The House That Spied on Me
18. Mind The Gap: This Researcher Steals Data With Noise, Light, And Magnets
19. GDPR: The Most Frequently Asked Questions: Is a Service Provider’s Privacy Shield Certification Good Enough?
20. Children and the GDPR
21. Data is power: Towards additional guidance on profiling and automated decision-making in the GDPR (Frederike Kaltheuner, Elettra Bietti)

Jon

GAMES

1. Twitch wins $1.3m lawsuit against view bots: California judge orders bot makers to shut down and pay damages to leading streaming platform
2. Twitch viewbot makers ordered to pay nearly $1.4 million in lawsuit loss: Twitch filed a lawsuit against several botmakers in 2016, accusing them of reducing the quality of the service.
3. New Twitch Rival Caffeine, With $46 Million In Funding, Focuses On Social Element Of Live Gaming
4. Ex-Apple TV Execs Have Raised $46 Million for Live-Broadcasting Startup Caffeine
5. Mixer getting in-stream tipping and game purchases
6. Valve appeal against $2.4m fine extends four-year legal battle in Australia: Steam firm was fined for lack of refund policy but intends to fight back – despite previous failed appeal
7. Games industry generated $108.4bn in revenues in 2017: $82bn generated by free-to-play games, esports on track to be a $1bn business in 2018
8. EA makes $186m Q3 loss despite rising digital revenue: Packaged sales fell 18%, but digital revenue now 67% of total earnings
9. EA posts a loss on better-than-expected revenues for the holiday season
10. Star Wars Battlefront II disappoints with over 7 million sold: Anthem delayed to 2019 to give it more space from next Battlefield game, holiday competition; Respawn Star Wars game to launch by April 2020
11. Xbox One X drives increase in Microsoft games revenue 
12. Blizzard is monitoring YouTube videos to curb toxic Overwatch behavior
13. Blizzard Using Social Media To Find Toxic Overwatch Players: Game director Jeff Kaplan noted that abusive chat is down since new features were implemented.
14. Overwatch director says toxicity not solved, but improving: Abusive chat is down 17% and player reports are up 20% as Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan says “we’re restoring faith in the system”
15. Washington state senator introduces bill to tackle the big loot box debate
16. Washington state senator introduces bill to determine whether loot boxes are gambling: “If [parents] realised how predatory these game are then they wouldn’t want them under their Christmas tree, they wouldn’t want them going to their kids,” says senator
17. The legislative fight over loot boxes expands to Washington state: New bill would require the gambling commission to weigh in on randomized items.
18. Coffee Stain launches funding initiative to promote gender equality
19. Coffee Stain acquires and rebrands Gone North Games
20. Coffee Stain launches gender equality fund to improve developer diversity: Goat Simulator publishers will be investing in startups that employ at least as many women as men
21. Blog: IGDA Survey shows diversity and job stability concerns
22. SuperData: Free-to-play games led 2017, generating $15B in revenue on PC
23. GDC State of the Industry: Under 25% of devs will have a publisher on their next game
24. Wrong direction? Ubisoft raising prices on Rainbow Six: Siege by $20 – New players forced to pay extra for bundled, cosmetic loot boxes.
25. Following feedback, Ubisoft cancels Rainbow Six Siegeprice increase plans
26. Ubisoft withdraws Rainbow Six Siege price hike: Frustrated players mean the Standard Edition will remain at $40, but Gold and Complete will still cost more
27. Does Razer Know It Posted a Racist Meme?
28. Call of Duty Endowment awards $30,000 each to two UK charities: RFEA – The Forces Employment Charity and Walking With The Wounded are awarded the ‘Seal of Distinction’
29. Study examines how the top 100 bestselling games portray drug use
30. ESRB defends its drug-related guidance after study finds video game depiction unrealistic: 32% of drug use cases acted as power-up, while 28% boosted character’s health
31. Video Game Companies Seek DMCA Exemption for Online Video Game Preservation
32. 212 games approved for UK games tax relief in 2017: Government initiative to fund more games development continues, with a further 182 titles receiving interim certification
33. DotaTV Streaming
34. The (still) uncertain state of video game streaming online: “As an industry, we don’t really follow the law and we all do it.”
35. YouTube Gaming grew its streamer base by 343% in 2017, Twitch by 197%
36. Analyst: YouTube Gaming saw a 343% increase in active streamers in 2017
37. Share, Stream, and Show – How today’s teens interact with mobile games: EEDAR head of consumer research Heather Nofziger looks at how developers can appeal to the younger set without alienating older audiences
38. Facebook lets you tip game live streamers $3+
39. ESPN, Disney XD sign “long-term, multi-event” deal for Madden esports: Electronic Arts’ Club Championships and Ultimate League season will air on Disney-owned networks in coming months
40. id Software co-founders confirm that its biggest games’ heroes are all related: Turns out BJ Blazkowicz, Commander Keen, and “Doomguy” could all go to the same family reunion.
41. The Rise Of The Sponsored Professional Competitive Gamer
42. Gary Bettman: NHL To Announce Esports Competitions
43. Facebook To Start Paying Select Gamers As Part Of New Creator Program
44. Facebook opens pilot program to nurture more gaming streamers: Social network also exploring new monetisation models for creators, including payments during livestreams
45. Nintendo’s revenue rockets as Switch nears 15m sold: Super Mario Odyssey has sold more than 9m, one of eight million-sellers for Switch this fiscal year
46. Nintendo Switch has already outsold the entire Wii U run: And Super Mario Odyssey’s attach rate is off the charts.
47. The Nintendo Switch has officially outsold the Wii U 
48. Switch continues to drive sales and profits at Nintendo
49. Nintendo confirms Mario Kart Tour for smartphones, Switch Online launch window: Investor call also reaffirmed plans for 3D-animated Super Mario film, other details.
50. Nintendo scrapping Miitomo after two years: Platform holder’s first mobile game to shut down in May, digital currency no longer on sale
51. Nintendo’s Miitomo shutdown is a wake-up call for its smartphone track record: Miitomo will end after roughly two years, missed the mark in so many ways.
52. Microsoft gaming business up 8%: Xbox One X launch drives year-over-year revenue growth for the holiday quarter
53. Independent UK Retailer Consider Boycott Of Xbox Products In Wake Of Game Pass Announcement: Retailers pass on Xbox products
54. “For the consumer, Xbox Game Pass is fantastic. For retail, it just kills us outright”: Independent games stores debate the impact of Microsoft’s decision to add new first-party releases to its subscription service
55. Microsoft might finally have a forward-thinking game with Sea of Thieves: Similarities to PUBG are nothing but good news for this online game’s pre-release test.
56. Microsoft Acquires Cloud-Based Gaming Company Playfab
57. Microsoft snaps up backend service platform PlayFab
58. Sony patents show redesigned motion controller
59. Sony patents suggest VR-driven redesign for PlayStation Move: Updated motion controllers will include analog sticks and finger tracking technology
60. Sony collaborates with Facebook on God of War text adventure 
61. Step Inside the Unabomber Investigation in New Interactive VR Experience
62. GDC State of the Industry: HTC Vive remains the most popular target for VR devs
63. How Anamorphine strives to depict mental health differently
64. Has an accessible games industry undermined its long-term stability?: “All stakeholders need to come together… this is a challenge for everyone,” says head of indie publishing at Square Enix West
65. Monster Hunter: World ships record 5M units in first three days
66. Monster Hunter World shipped 5m units in its launch weekend: Capcom says the new game is the fastest selling in the series’ history, pushing lifetime sales past 45m
67. Capcom income surges thanks to stellar games performance: Ultra Street Fighter II on Switch is a “smash hit”, making up for “soft” sales of Marvel vs Capcom
68. Capcom sees an overall fall in sales but increase in profits
69. Three quarters in, both revenue and profit are up at Konami
70. Sales and profits both climb at Konami: Decent mobile performance and 80m downloads for mobile PES lead to increased profits guidance
71. After suggesting that Fortnite is a priority, Epic shuts down another F2P game: Bad mid-January news was followed by insider tips about Paragon’s dire fate.
72. Epic is closing down Paragon and offering refunds to players
73. After nearly a decade, MMO Alganon shuts down servers
74. Motiga’s Gigantic to shut down in July
75. Tencent invests in film, television, and VR producer Skydance Media
76. NetEase and Mattel partner to create Mattel163 dev studio
77. NetEase and Mattel launch new game studio: Mattel163 will make digital games based on Mattel’s IP portfolio
78. Infamous Atari Player Disqualified From World Record After 35 Years
79. GDC Awards to honour Tim Schafer and Rami Ismail
80. GDC backtracks on Bushnell award; Bushnell approves: “If my personal actions… offended or caused pain to anyone at our companies, then I apologize without reservation,” says Atari founder
81. How to Make Healthy Games
82. Paul George’s Nike Sneakers Light Up With PlayStation-Themed Colorway
83. The Top 25 Game Anniversaries In 2018: From Space Invaders to Doom, many amazing, design-changing games are hitting major milestones this year.
84. Global Game Jam returns for 10th anniversary celebrations

DIGITAL

1. The Dutch were a secret U.S. ally in war against Russian hackers, local media reveal
2. Candid camera: Dutch hacked Russians hacking DNC, including security cameras – AIVD shared data on “Cozy Bear” with US, helping thwart 2014 State Department hack.
3. Mueller’s Team Has Interviewed Facebook Staff As Part Of Russia Probe
4. Tinder must stop charging its older California users more for “Plus” features – Appeal ruling includes a Tinder dating joke: “We swipe left and reverse.” 
5. Playboy Lawsuit Raises Major Question—Can Hyperlinking Be Copyright Infringement?
6. Appeals court rules that Tinder’s pricing violates age discrimination laws
7. We Need To Shine A Light On Private Online Censorship
8. Reports allege Apple making fewer iPhone Xs due to weak demand: Thursday’s earning report may tell us more about iPhone X sales so far.
9. Apple under investigation by DOJ, SEC for disclosures of its iPhone slow-down update: The government is looking into possible securities laws violations.
10. Ruling raises songwriter royalties from Spotify, Apple Music by 44%: The new ruling will also make it easier for them to get paid quickly.
11. Will Spotify’s expensive US copyright shortcut be its coda?
12. Songwriters Must Get Nearly 5% More Royalties On Streaming Sites Like YouTube, Court Decides
13. Fighting The Future: Teamsters Demand UPS Ban Drones And Autonomous Vehicles
14. You Can’t Trust Facebook’s Search For Trusted News
15. CJEU dismisses Schrems’ class action but grants leave to pursue Facebook Ireland as a consumer
16. CJEU gives Green Light for Facebook Lawsuit in Vienna
17. Rupert Murdoch Admits, Once Again, He Can’t Make Money Online — Begs Facebook To Just Give Him Money
18. Facebook’s Experiment in Ad Transparency Is Like Playing Hide And Seek:Starting in Canada, Facebook is rolling out a global program to prevent foreign meddling in elections. Ads targeted to a narrow audience may be seen by other Facebook users — if they look hard enough. 
19. Will Facebook’s Recent Announcement of Changes to News Feed Affect Legal Immunities for User Content?
20. Health Experts Ask Facebook To Shut Down Messenger Kids
21. Facebook Wants To Fix Itself. Here’s A Better Solution.
22. People Can Put Your Face On Porn—And The Law Can’t Help You
23. It’s Time to Talk About Internet Companies’ Content Moderation Operations 
24. Why The History Of Content Moderation Matters
25. NAFTA Offers Chance for Much-Needed Internet Safe Harbour Rules in Canada (Michael Geist)
26. ‘Revenge porn’ bill receives renewed attention amid Greitens investigation
27. A Month After Launch, Bloomberg’s 24-Hour, Twitter-Based News Feed Gets One Million Views Per Day
28. Now That Tech Runs The World, Let’s Retire The Hacker Ideal
29. Japanese exchange says hackers stole over $400M in cryptocurrency
30. Two new cryptocurrency heists make off with over $400M worth of blockchange
31. Japanese cryptocurrencies exchange abruptly halts withdrawals: Decision spooks digital currency markets
32. A Debate About Bitcoin That Was A Debate About Nothing
33. Now even YouTube serves ads with CPU-draining cryptocurrency miners: Ad campaign lets attackers profit while unwitting users watch videos.
34. Scandinavia’s largest bank just banned all its 30,000 employees from trading cryptocurrency
35. Feds shut down alleged $600 million cryptocurrency scam: AriseBank project was endorsed by boxer Evander Holyfield.
36. Cryptocurrency Scams Are Just Straight-Up Trolling At This Point
37. Virtual Currency – Financial Regulations to Curb Speculation and Money Laundering 
38. YouTube Blocks Computer-Draining Ads That Secretly Mine Cryptocurrency
39. Ad Spend Across YouTube, Facebook Set To Reach $37 Billion By 2022 
40. Israeli Olympian Learned To Skeleton Sled On YouTube
41. In First-Of-Its-Kind Deal, YouTube TV To Be Exclusive Broadcasting Partner Of MLS Team
42. Pixel team is now in-house as Google closes $1.1 billion HTC deal: The HTC/Google deal announced last year has officially been completed.
43. Google Will Let You Mute Annoying Ads That Stalk You
44. The Shallowness of Google Translate: The program uses state-of-the-art AI techniques, but simple tests show that it’s a long way from real understanding.
45. The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google
46. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Google CEO Sundar Pichai Talk Jobs In Recode, MSNBC Interview
47. The Dangers Of Keeping Women Out Of Tech
48. Vice Chief Digital Officer, Previously Suspended After Report Of Sexual Misconduct, Will Not Return To Role
49. Vice Media has fired the founder of its digital ad agency Carrot Creative following a sexual misconduct investigation
50. Vice Media Goes After Vice Industry Token, A Porn Crypto-Currency Company, For Trademark
51. FTC Staff Report: Consumer Recognition of Paid Search Advertising Online, Native Advertising
52. Fitbit slaps expiration date on Pebble smartwatch support: Devices will continue to work after that date, but key features won’t be supported. 
53. Can Our Phones Save Us From Our Phones?
54. Your New Best Friend: AI Chatbot 
55. Artificial Intelligence May Have Cracked Freaky 600-Year-Old Manuscript
56. Google hired professional photographers to help train its AI camera
57. Algorithms and Justice: Scrapping the ‘Black Box’
58. Can an Algorithm Tell When Kids Are in Danger?: Child protective agencies are haunted when they fail to save kids. Pittsburgh officials believe a new data analysis program is helping them make better judgment calls.
59. The case against understanding why AI makes decisions
60. This op-ed wasn’t written by AI
61. Microsoft’s “Ink to Code” turns drawings into user interfaces: Early prototype is being developed as a “Garage” project.
62. Microsoft 2Q18: Trump tax hit turns strong quarter into $6.3B loss: Taxes aside, revenue was up 12 percent and operating income up 10 percent. 
63. Shocking Report Suggests Some Celebrities May Be Buying Social Media Followers
64. DraftKings Cofounder Sees Big Future With Foray Into Live Streaming
65. Pablo Escobar’s Brother Gives Up His Quest For A Billion Dollar Extortion Of Netflix Over ‘Narcos’
66. Insights: Netflix’s Great Week Leaves Pretenders Chasing The Dream
67. What Does It Mean That Netflix, Amazon Left Sundance Empty-Handed?
68. After dominating Sundance for 2 years, Netflix and Amazon bought zero movies at the festival this time around — and insiders told us why
69. Amazon Video Direct’s New Compensation Rates May Leave Creators Feeling Burned
70. Now Amazon is disrupting fashion retail, too: Ecommerce giant is set to overtake Macy’s as the largest seller of clothing in the US
71. Walmart joins, well, most of its competitors in selling e-books: Kobo e-books, audiobooks, and e-readers are coming to Walmart stores.
72. Fujifilm acquires Xerox for $6.1 billion: The new company, Fuji Xerox, will have a combined revenue of $18 billion. 

CREATIVITY

1. ‘We Shall Overcome’ Overcomes Bogus Copyright Claim — Officially In The Public Domain
2. Grumpy Cat still grumpy despite big copyright verdict 
3. Do ‘Fast and Furious’ Movies Cause a Rise in Speeding?: Evidence suggests you may want to be more cautious near theaters in April 2020, when “Fast and Furious 9” is expected to arrive.
4. Another Day, Another Flimsy Report Claiming TV Cord Cutting Won’t Save You Money
5. Vegas Golden Knights Brand in Free-Fall?  
6. The NFL Pretending Trademark Law Says Something It Doesn’t Leads To Hilariously Amateurish Ads For ‘The Big Game’
7. Salt Lake Comic Con Files For A New Trial And Seeks Round 2
8. Freud hid Bacon masterpiece for years to spite him 
9. Spanish Government Uses Hate Speech Law To Arrest Critic Of The Spanish Government
10. Israelis sue New Zealanders over cancelled Lorde concert
11. Are women taking back Hollywood?
12. Don’t Make the TPP Mistake Again: Why Canada Needs to Maintain a Progressive Approach on IP in NAFTA (Michael Geist)
13. TPP Is Back, Minus Copyright Provisions And Pharma Patent Extensions, In A Clear Snub To Trump And The US
14. Sarajevo’s City Government Says No One Can Use The Name ‘Sarajevo’ Without Its Permission 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. New York, Montana governors sign executive orders to safeguard net neutrality 
2. Montana to FCC: You can’t stop us from protecting net neutrality – Montana governor is ready for lawsuits over attempt to protect net neutrality.
3. New York Governor Signs Executive Order on Net Neutrality, as AT&T CEO Calls for Internet Bill of Rights
4. Net neutrality will be enforced in New York under orders from governor: Executive order prevents state from buying Internet service that isn’t neutral.
5. California Senate defies FCC, approves net neutrality law: Net neutrality takes big step forward in California, but lawsuits loom.
6. The GAO Says It Will Investigate Bogus Net Neutrality Comments, Eventually
7. Mayor quits FCC committee, says it favors ISPs over the public interest: Ajit Pai accused of tilting broadband committee toward industry representatives. 
8. City-Run Broadband Can Keep Net Neutrality Alive–And It’s Cheap
9. FCC Hopes Its Phony Dedication To Rural Broadband Will Make You Forget It Killed Net Neutrality
10. FCC ‘Broadband Advisory Panel’ Faces Accusations Of Cronyism
11. The Same FCC That Ignored Science To Kill Net Neutrality Has Created An ‘Office Of Economics & Analysis’
12. Listen Up, Music Lovers: Here’s Why Net Neutrality Matters
13. “Check your Comcast bill for unwanted fees,” new consumer alert says: Washington AG received 74 more complaints since amending lawsuit against Comcast. 
14. Harvard Study Shows Community-Owned ISPs Offer Lower, More Transparent Prices
15. Google Fiber’s wireless Internet service is leaving Boston: Google Fiber’s Webpass division will continue operating in seven other markets. 
16. Sometimes, a Rule Means Just What it Says – FCC Denies TV Station Satellite Must-Carry Request Because it Was Not Sent By Certified Mail 
17. Time for the FCC to Review Children’s Television Educational Programming Obligations of Broadcasters? Commissioner O’Rielly Thinks So 
18. Comment Dates Set on National TV Ownership Caps – Can and Should the FCC Amend the 39% Audience Cap? 
19. Supreme Court stays Bell’s Super Bowl appeal, so U.S. ads will air in Canada this year: Hearing still to be held over whether Canadians can watch U.S. ads during football game
20. Here Is Your Yearly Reminder That You Can Find Super Bowl Ads On YouTube’s AdBlitz Channel
21. Canadian Parliamentary Committee Recommends Changes and Clarifications to Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Draft OPC Position on Online Reputation (Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada)
2. OPC Report Asserts Pipeda Protections Are Similar To EU “Right To Be Forgotten”
3. Why a Canadian right to be forgotten creates more problems than it solves (Michael Geist)
4. Expectation of Privacy in Text Message Conversations More Stringent in Canada Than the U.S.
5. Troll networks threaten the 2019 Canadian federal election: UBC – Researcher says election laws need to be updated to protect from digital interference
6. Minnesota Supreme Court Says Unlocking A Phone With A Fingerprint Isn’t A Fifth Amendment Issue
7. UK Appeals Court Says GCHQ’s Mass Collection Of Internet Communications Is Illegal
8. EU’s Highest Court Says Privacy Activist Can Litigate Against Facebook In Austria, But Not As Part Of A Class Action
9. Happy Data Privacy Day! A turning point for anonymity, privacy, and the tools that deliver them
10. Huawei loses another carrier deal as spying fears impede its US growth: Following AT&T’s lead, now Verizon has dropped plans to sell the Chinese phones.
11. Scoop: Trump team considers nationalizing 5G network
12. To counter China, White House memo suggests a nationalized 5G network: Memo claims government-run network would keep US safe from foreign attacks.
13. Trump Administration May Build 5G Network to Protect Against Cyber Threats: The U.S. government has concerns over whether or not existing technologies might allow for China to spy on sensitive information. One proposed solution is to develop a 5G network
14. Leaked Trump Plan To ‘Nationalize’ Nation’s 5G Networks A Bizarre, Unrealistic Pipe Dream
15. China’s Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone: The country is perfecting a vast network of digital espionage as a means of social control – with implications for democracies worldwide.
16. FBI Director Chris Wray Says Secure Encryption Backdoors Are Possible; Sen. Ron Wyden Asks Him To Produce Receipts
17. Fitness tracking app reveals US army secrets?
18. Fitness app that revealed military bases highlights bigger privacy issues
19. Fitness Tracker Data Exposes Military Operations, Shows What Damage That Can Be Done With ‘Just Metadata’
20. “Heatmap” for social athlete’s app reveals secret bases, secret places: Data map inadvertently reveals movements of people in dangerous and sensitive places.
21. Fitness tracking app Strava gives away location of secret US army bases: Data about exercise routes shared online by soldiers can be used to pinpoint overseas facilities
22. The Strava Heat Map And The End Of Secrets
23. Unintended Consequences Of EU’s New Internet Privacy Rules: Facebook Won’t Use AI To Catch Suicidal Users
24. The Latest Data Privacy Debacle
25. High-severity vulnerability in Lenovo laptops let hackers access passwords
26. Disrupting The Fourth Amendment: Half Of Law Enforcement E-Warrants Approved In 10 Minutes Or Less
27. Harris Stingray Nondisclosure Agreement Forbids Cops From Telling Legislators About Surveillance Tech
28. Senate IT Tells Staffers They’re On Their Own When It Comes To Personal Devices And State-Sponsored Hackers
29. With Google, Bitcoins, and USPS, Feds realize it’s stupid easy to buy fentanyl: Simple search led investigators to sales of $766 million worth of fentanyl.
30. Menacing Android botnet still thrives 16 months after coming to light: “DressCode” poses a major risk, because it opens a direct connection to infected phones.
31. Cisco drops a mega-vulnerability alert for VPN devices: By using “crafted XML,” attacker could take over routers, security gateways.
32. Look Out: Chrome Extension Malware Has Evolved
33. IoT garage opener now more open, a year after customer firestorm: Founder says Ars “reaffirmed consumers’ concerns about true ownership of IoT devices.”
34. Vulnerable industrial controls directly connected to Internet? Why not?: Even some devices with patches available are connected to the naked Internet.
35. A Year in the Life of a Phishing Operation
36. More than 2,000 WordPress websites are infected with a keylogger: Malicious script logs passwords and just about anything else admins or visitors type.
37. In a first, US hit by “Jackpotting” attacks that empty ATMs in minutes: Malware causes machines to quickly dispense huge amounts of cash.
38. Your Sloppy Bitcoin Drug Deals Will Haunt You For Years
39. New York Police Union Sues NYPD To Block Public Release Of Body Camera Footage
40. My Question To Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein On Encryption Backdoors
41. GDPR will change world-wide privacy on May 25, 2018: here are 13 key GDPR terms you better know! 

Jon

GAMES

1. Court rules illegal bot makers must pay $1.3 million to Twitch
2. Judge Orders Makers Of Illegal Bots To Pay Twitch $1.3 Million
3. It Kind Of Looks Like Crytek Sued Star Citizen Developer By Pretending Its Engine License Says Something It Doesn’t
4. Legal Analysis of the ESL Genting Situation & DMCA
5. Athletes’ Right of Publicity Claims Directed to Sports Video Games Not Preempted by Copyright Act 
6. Valve appeals $2.4M fine as Australian legal battle rages on
7. Atari Settles Kit Kat Spat With Nestle
8. Atari looks to equity crowdfunding for RollerCoaster Tycoon Switch release
9. Professors Stick Up for Game Producers Against Lindsay Lohan Swipe
10. The heavy cost of toxic work culture: Regardless of the truth of the allegations of harassment and toxicity at Quantic Dream, many in the industry will have found the claims all too familiar
11. How crunch is more than a labor issue in the video game industry
12. Trion Worlds adds premium server with “no lootboxes” to Rift: Rift Prime server’s “progressively unlocked content” a response to debate in the wider industry
13. Report provides ethical ways for devs to monetize games
14. PUBG Corp. to donate $2M in lootbox proceeds to charity
15. PUBG Corp donating $2m to charity: $1m charity campaign planned for later in the year following various donations in 2017
16. PUBG Corp. to kick off 2018 expansion with new Amsterdam office: CEO Chang Han Kim also explains why there is no PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds movie in the works
17. Unlocked PS4 consoles can now run copies of PS2 games: Recent exploit also allows for homebrew and PS4 game piracy.
18. “We are giving back the true ownership of the assets to players”: French startup B2Expand is using blockchain tech to let players own and sell in-game items for Beyond the Void, and Ubisoft is helping
19. ESA: The U.S. game industry saw $36B in revenue in 2017
20. US games industry revenue hits record $36bn in 2017: Industry revenue sees 18% growth over 2016 with strong performance from hardware and software sales
21. US console, PC market up 11% in 2017 – NPD: Hardware sales drove growth and Switch drove hardware sales as number of retail releases trend upward
22. Digital game sales up 17% in December – Superdata: Research firm finds gamers worldwide spent nearly $10 billion on games as Call of Duty – World War II and Grand Theft Auto Online break records
23. Mobile gaming sessions down by 16% in 2017 but users spending more money than ever: Meanwhile, larger high-end mobile devices seize 55% of market
24. Ubisoft adds a digital assistant to its Ubisoft Club companion app
25. Google Play aims to “fundamentally change the trajectory” of Indian game revenues: Director of Apps & Games Purnima Kochikar on the role of India in teaching developers to “build for billions”
26. Aristocrat buys Big Fish for $990 million: Australian casino firm follows up $500m Plarium acquisition with another huge deal
27. Denuvo Sold To Irdeto, Which Boasts Of Acquiring ‘The World Leader In Gaming Security’
28. Game security outfit Denuvo acquired by cybersecurity specialist Irdeto
29. Is Patreon a viable alternative to funding the indie dev dream?: Breaking the mould: Sokpop’s antithetical approach to games development
30. Teaching players to rig elections
31. Xbox is preparing for a post-console future: The latest Game Pass subscription offering is the next step in Microsoft’s hardwareless future
32. Xbox Game Pass service getting first-party exclusives at launch
33. Xbox Game Pass subscription service to include all first party games: Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 2 and State of Decay 2 will launch day and date on the service
34. Minecraft sets new monthly active users record at 74M
35. Minecraft reaches 74m MAUs from 144m sales: Monthly active users are up 35 per cent in the space of a year
36. EVE Online community raises $119k in memory of departed dev
37. Nintendo Labo: the next Wonderbook?: The Switch’s latest bold attempt to win over kids can’t work, can it?
38. Nintendo’s share price jumps on Labo reveal: Games giant returning to ten year-high after major project showcase
39. Crazy kaiju-robot antics only hint at Nintendo Labo’s true potential: We examine limited footage to figure out the robot suit—and predict Labo’s future.
40. Gamasutra Asks: What to make of Nintendo Labo?
41. Switch sold 1.5 million in US for December: Nintendo says its latest is the fastest-selling home console in US history; 3DS posts best monthly sales in three years
42. Nintendo hardware sold a combined 2.6M units in December alone
43. GDC State of the Industry: Dev interest in Nintendo Switch up, VR interest down
44. Stardew Valley was the most-downloaded Switch title in 2017
45. Stardew Valley was the world’s most downloaded Switch title in 2017 – But Minecraft: Switch Edition dominates in home territory of Japan
46. Nintendo doesn’t seem to be “looking into” VR very much anymore: 4K update doesn’t seem to be in the immediate cards for the Switch, either.
47. Oculus creates a new, open source unit of time to measure frame rates
48. Video: Examining educational games through the lens of ‘fun’
49. Facepunch Studios’ Rust to leave Early Access after four years: February release will arrive without any “big reveals”, but will come with more stable development and a $15 price increase
50. Years after predicted “death,” game consoles are doing better than ever: Switch leads the way, but the entire console market is thriving.
51. An MMO goes full circle, promises to bring subscriptions back this year: Rift went F2P in 2013. Rift Prime will undo that change—and on a separate server, to boot.
52. Chinese mobile game market sees consumer spending rise by 250% since 2015
53. Overwatch League player benched following homophobic remarks during livestream: Dallas Fuel’s Felix “xQc” Lengyel suspended until February 10
54. Athletes’ right of publicity claims directed to sports video games not preempted by Copyright Act 
55. Is eSports the next big sensation?
56. Mail.Ru Group acquires Russian eSports leader ESforce for $100M
57. Mail.Ru acquires largest Russian esports company in $100m deal: Esports “forecast by some to overtake the traditional sports market over the next decade,” says Mail.Ru CEO
58. Nazara buys majority stake in Indian esports firm: Nodwin Gaming sells 55 per cent stake, will now operate as a subsidiary of Nazara
59. Facebook signs eSports streaming agreement for CS: GO Pro League and ESL One
60. ESL signs exclusive streaming deal with Facebook for CS:GO, Dota 2 esports: The esports league will also create a new show for Facebook Watch
61. Facebook Goes Deeper Into Twitch’s Territory With Exclusive Esports Streaming Deal
62. Gfinity: “We’re getting ready for when the esports revenue finally takes off” – Esports firm discusses its Elite series, why it’s partnering with EA and getting ready for the inevitable esports revenue
63. Anthem delayed to 2019 – Report: BioWare devs tell Kotaku the studio is feeling the pressure of EA’s expectations and YouTubers’ anger
64. Twitch inks deal to broadcast exclusive content from top Disney YouTubers: What do you Maker that.
65. Twitch challenges YouTube with new video producer tools, Disney partnership: Four of YouTube’s most popular gamers will produce “exclusive” Twitch content.
66. Twitch reaches exclusive Disney deal, swipes at YouTube with prerecorded video tools
67. Maker’s Jacksepticeye, Strawburry17 To Create Exclusive Twitch Content As Part Of New Disney Deal
68. Echo Fox President Jared Jeffries On Crossover Of NBA And Esports
69. ESports Disputes: Choosing your battleground
70. MLB Is Making R.B.I. Baseball 18: Priced at $29.99 on PS4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
71. Do we even need a Netflix for games?: All forms of entertainment have perfected the on-demand model – except video games. We speak to the firms striving to rectify this
72. Investors Poured a Record $2 Billion into VR/AR in 2017, But Early Stage Funding Slowed
73. ‘VRChat’ Reaches 2 Million Installs, Doubling in the Last Ten Days
74. Virtual Reality Users Watch Helplessly as Another User Has In-Game Seizure: “There was nothing we could do.”
75. U.S. Olympic Athletes Are Using Virtual Reality to Train for Events
76. U.S. Ski Team Trained In Virtual Reality For Pyeongchang Olympics
77. More data, “real feedback” would greatly benefit indies – Clever Endeavour CEO: Ultimate Chicken Horse developer Richard Atlas lays out the biggest challenges he sees facing his studio after its first success
78. UK Games Fund opens for fourth round, grants of up to £25,000 available: Pitch development programme announced for developers who don’t meet the UKGF criteria
79. Drawn to Death developer lays off ‘vast majority’ of staff
80. To build a future, Italy’s games industry must reckon with its past: Cultural prejudice against games remains strong in Italy, but the AESVI and its development community have gained vital ground on the path to acceptance
81. The Mysterious Japanese Game That Took 14 Years To Officially Come Out
82. Call of Duty WWII and Historical Memory
83. Virtual Worlds Designed by Their Inhabitants

DIGITAL

1. Canadian Court Asserts Jurisdiction over Craigslist Based on Cloud-Based Virtual Presence in Canada 
2. Free Internet-Service Contracts Caught up by Consumer Protection Legislation in Quebec
3. Appeals Court Says Accessing Data In A Way The Host Doesn’t Like Doesn’t Violate Computer Crime Laws
4. DMCA Counternotification Doesn’t Create Personal Jurisdiction in Copyright Owner’s Home Court–Real v. Matteo (Eric Goldman)
5. Tech Policy A Year Into The Trump Administration: Where Are We Now?
6. Donald Trump one year on: How the Twitter President changed social media and the country’s top office – Mr Trump has weaponised Twitter, using it not just to reach the masses but to control the news agenda through bluster and distraction
7. Senators ask social media execs to investigate “ReleaseTheMemo” hashtag: Meanwhile, WikiLeaks is offering to pay for a leaked copy of the memo in question.
8. Twitter begins emailing the 677,775 Americans who took Russian election bait
9. Russia-linked Twitter accounts are working overtime to help Devin Nunes and WikiLeaks
10. Here’s why the epidemic of malicious ads grew so much worse last year: Forced redirects from Zirconium group push phony malware and fake Flash updates.
11. Italian Government Criminalizes ‘Fake News,’ Provides Direct Reporting Line To State Police Force
12. Brazilian Government Mobilizes Federal Police To Handle ‘Fake News’ Problem
13. Psychiatrist Bitterly Drops Defamation Lawsuit Against Redditors
14. Battling Botnets – Evolving U.S. Government Policies and Frameworks to Address Security and Resiliency Challenges
15. Apple Successfully Avoids $50 Billion in American Taxes
16. iOS 11.3 will be about more than just performance throttling options; AR is the focus: iOS 11.3 will add a performance throttling toggle and updates to Messages.
17. EFF to Court: Linking Is Not Copyright Infringement
18. EFF Tells Court That Boing Boing Linking To Playboy Images Is Not Infringement
19. YouTube Musician Chrissy Chambers Wins Benchmark Revenge Porn Lawsuit
20. Southwest’s Nonsense Lawsuit Over A Site That Made $45 Helping People Book Cheaper Flights
21. Philippines Trying To Shut Down Popular News Site For Reporting On President Duterte
22. The Constant Pressure For YouTube To Police ‘Bad’ Content Means That It’s Becoming A Gatekeeper 
23. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Receive Praise From European Commission For Anti-Terrorist Efforts 
24. What Has Tech Done To Fix Its Harassment Problem?
25. YouTube is setting up an ‘Intelligence Desk’ to weed out dicey content before it raises bigger brand safety concerns
26. Many Of YouTube’s Top Stars Have Come Out In Favor Of Partner Program Changes
27. Logan Paul Returns To YouTube, Pledges To Donate $1 Million To Suicide Prevention Organizations
28. Hotel Bans Influencers After YouTuber Proposes Free Stay In Exchange For Publicity
29. Hotel That Banned Influencers Has Released #Bloggergate-Inspired Merch
30. Millions of ‘Under-Connected’ American Families Experience A Whole Different Internet
31. Demonized Smartphones Are Just Our Latest Technological Scapegoat
32. Marriott Freezes Its Social Media Globally, And Makes Grovelling Apology To China, All For A Drop-Down Menu And Liking A Tweet
33. China’s Solution To The VPN Quandary: Only Authorized, And Presumably Backdoored, Crypto Links Allowed
34. Tunisia’s Plans To Bring In Its Own National ‘Aadhaar’ Biometric ID System Halted — For Now
35. YouTube To Invest $5 Million In Creators Who Counter Hate And Promote Tolerance
36. Insights: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, And Google’s Charm Offensive or: FANGs Make Nice With America
37. Google CEO Reaffirms Firing James Damore Was the Way to Go, ‘I Don’t Regret It’
38. Enforcement of Foreign Court Order. District court grants preliminary injunction preventing enforcement in the United States of Canadian court order requiring Google to delist certain search results worldwide
39. Alphabet launches a cybersecurity company called “Chronicle”: It’s a “cybersecurity intelligence platform” powered by Alphabet’s servers.
40. YouTube to Invest $5 Million This Year in Creators Who Promote ‘Empathy and Understanding’
41. YouTube Deletes Channel Of Former USA Gymnastics Doctor Larry Nassar
42. AARP Is Embracing YouTube, And The 50-Plus Crowd Is Sticking Around To Watch
43. YouTube TV Has Amassed 300,000 Subscribers, While Hulu Live TV Counts 450,000 (Report)
44. YouTube’s Consolidation Of Music Hubs Will Lessen Prominence Of Vevo-Branded Channels
45. YouTube Will Merge Vevo Channel Subscribers Into Unified ‘Official’ Music Artist Accounts
46. Competition in the digital age: How to tame the tech titans – The dominance of Google, Facebook and Amazon is bad for consumers and competition
47. Amazon names 20 “finalist” cities in its new headquarters beauty pageant: Expansion candidates include most major East Coast cities, plus a few surprises.
48. Today’s the day you can go to Amazon Go—a store with no queues and no cash: Until now, only Amazon employees could use the high-tech, hyper-convenient store. 
49. Amazon Go debuts, and its prying cameras foil our shoplifting attempts
50. Netflix Added Record 8.3 Million Subs Last Quarter, Will Test 15-Minute Stand-Up Special Format
51. Netflix Lost $39 Million After Canceling Kevin Spacey Projects
52. The Internet Is Enabling a New Kind of Poorly Paid Hell: For some Americans, sub-minimum-wage online tasks are the only work available.
53. A New Service Would Make Deep Learning More Accessible to Millions of Coders
54. Why This Intercontinental Quantum-Encrypted Video Hangout Is A Big Deal
55. We Need to Open the AI Black Box Before It’s Too Late
56. Software used in judicial decisions meets its equal in random amateurs: Software used to predict if people being sentenced will commit another crime.
57. Forget The Robot Singularity Apocalypse. Let’s Talk About The Multiplicity
58. People Keep Confusing Their Teslas For Self-Driving Cars
59. The End of the Awl and the Vanishing of Freedom and Fun from the Internet
60. Spotify Launches Visual-Podcast Strategy in Bid to Expand Beyond Music
61. Spotify’s Spotlight Section Will Blend Podcasts, Images, Videos To Create New Media Offering
62. Spotify Retools Content Strategy With a Pivot Away From Video
63. Users Can Now Share Snapchat Stories Outside Of Snapchat
64. Snapchat is no longer a private, disappearing, messaging app
65. Snapchat Stories Can Now Live Outside The App
66. ESPN Finds Success With Katie Nolan Hosting SportsCenter On Snapchat
67. Snap Lays Off Two Dozen Staffers — Predominantly Within Its Content Division
68. New Report: Digital Threats to Democratic Elections 
69. Not Your Grandad’s Facebook? Targeted Social Media Ads Spur Age Discrimination Lawsuit 
70. Facebook’s Bad Idea: Crowdsourced Ratings Work For Toasters, But Not News – Opinion – User reviews might work when you’re shopping for a phone charger on Amazon, but crowdsourcing “news” was what got us into this mess in the first place.
71. Facebook Has Coined a New Unit of Time Called “the Flick”
72. I Can’t Believe How Dumb Facebook’s News Feed Update Is 
73. What the Heck Happened to the Cryptocurrency This Week?!
74. Hackers Have Walked Off With About 14% of Big Digital Currencies
75. Hacking and theft: the dark side of Blockchain
76. Confessions Of A Bitcoin Sceptic (Andres Gudamuz)
77. Major payment company: “Fewer and fewer use cases” for bitcoin payments – Stripe: bitcoin is “better-suited to being an asset than a means of exchange.”
78. Marathon Patent Group Acquires Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Transmission Patents
79. Here’s why you can’t buy a high-end graphics card at Best Buy: “Cryptocurrency can’t crash soon enough,” one gamer fumes.
80. Blockchain technology could spell the end of DRM, says Robot Cache founder: Products tracked on the blockchain can’t be copied or altered, allowing users to resell their digital goods
81. We Put The Entire Internet On The Blockchain—And You Can Too
82. Rise of Blockchain and ICOs Brings Regulatory Scrutiny
83. A Rescue Drone Saved Two Teen Swimmers on Its First Day of Deployment 
84. Intel in meltdown over security breach lawsuit
85. Inside Intel’s Plans To Capture The Olympics In Virtual Reality
86. The Digital Poorhouse
87. Microsoft’s “Ink to Code” turns drawings into user interfaces: Early prototype is being developed as a “Garage” project.
88. Sequel To ‘Man From Earth’ To Be Released On Pirate Sites By Its Creators
89. Primary care online – A revolution in modern society or a professional minefield?
90. Copyright in data file formats from SAS to Technomed
91. Cloud Communities: The Dawn of Global Citizenship? 
92. The Cyberlaw Guide to Protest Art: Roadmap
93. Twenty-Five Years Later: What Happened to Progressive Tech Policy?: A glimpse at how the Internet has changed over time
94. Bring in the Nerds: Reviving the Office of Technology Assessment 

CREATIVITY

1. Now Another Judge Smacks Around A Guardaley Shell Company Acting As A Copyright Troll 
2. Hitting the right notes – Florence Foster Jenkins provides helpful guidance on joint ownership of copyright
3. The Strange Copyright of Doctor Who
4. Anything Your Heart Designs: Swarovski Hit with Copyright Infringement of Galatea’s “Two In One Heart” Design
5. Grumpy Cat wins $710,000 payout in copyright lawsuit
6. Protect your design: Recent developments in Canadian copyright law 
7. IP: Copyright – 3D Printing Complicates Copyright
8. K-pop superstars T-ara vow to fight for rights to their name; experts predict bitter legal battle ahead
9. Brexit: opportunity or threat for the Art industry?
10. UK Begins Absolutely Bonkers ‘Education’ Of Grade Schoolers About Intellectual Property And Piracy 
11. US Army Files Dumb Trademark Opposition Against The NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights
12. Censorship By Weaponizing Free Speech: Rethinking How The Marketplace Of Ideas Works
13. Engineered for Dystopia: Engineering is full of authoritarians who, predictably, take all the wrong lessons from pop culture 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Bell Canada, et al. v. Attorney General of Canada (Motion to Stay CRTC Decision Denied, January 24, 2018)
2. Vice’s Canadian cable TV channel is going off the air, after low ratings and reported losses for the $100 million joint venture 
3. Mozilla, Consumer Groups Sue The FCC For Its Attack On Net Neutrality
4. Net neutrality comment fraud will be investigated by government: Democrats requested investigation after millions of people were impersonated.
5. Net neutrality is bad? 1 million PornHub employees can’t be wrong. Oh, wait: Millions of comments sent to FCC through bulk system used fake email addresses.
6. Senate Push To Save Net Neutrality Needs Just One Vote, But You Still Shouldn’t Get Your Hopes Up
7. Sorry, FCC: Montana is enforcing net neutrality with new executive order – State enforces net neutrality in government contracts, despite FCC preemption. 
8. State AGs file protective petition to stop rollback of net neutrality rules; Senate Democrats announce plans to reverse FCC rule
9. Montana Governor Takes Preserving Net Neutrality Into His Own Hands 
10. Montana becomes the first state to implement net neutrality: Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock signs executive order requiring ISPs with state contracts to treat all content equally.
11. Montana Says It Won’t Do Business With Net Neutrality Violating ISPs
12. AT&T CEO’s net neutrality plan calls for regulation of websites: AT&T also wants to make sure net neutrality law won’t be too strict.
13. AT&T’s Bogus ‘Internet Bill Of Rights’ Aims To Undermine Net Neutrality, Foist Regulation Upon Silicon Valley Competitors
14. FCC Won’t Redefine ‘Broadband;’ Move Could Have Worsened Digital Divide
15. FCC Backtracks on Boneheaded Plan to Redefine Broadband 
16. FCC admits mobile can’t replace home Internet, won’t lower speed standard: Pai offers no data for claim that Title II repeal boosts broadband construction.
17. FCC Backs Off Plan to Weaken Broadband Definition, But Still Can’t Admit Limited Competition Is A Problem
18. Apple rejects net neutrality testing app, says it offers “no benefits to users”: Researcher’s iPhone app tests speeds of YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, and more. 
19. The net neutrality testing app that Apple rejected is available now: App tests video speeds to help researchers gather data for throttling study.
20. Apple’s Incoherent App Approval Process Strikes Again, Net Neutrality App Banned For No Real Reason
21. A Comcast net neutrality commitment from the NBC merger just expired: Comcast will no longer face FCC oversight on net neutrality.
22. A Perfect Storm Of Comcast Unaccountability Is Brewing
23. FCC Fines Sinclair Broadcast Group $13.3 Million for Failure to Disclose Paid Content 
24. Competition watchdog says Fox’s Sky takeover would result in the Murdoch family “having too much influence over public opinion”

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Teen Hacker Who Social Engineered His Way Into Top-Level US Government Officials’ Accounts Pleads Guilty To Ten Charges
2. A Bunch Of Politicians Who Complain About Trump’s Authoritarian Tendencies Just Gave Him 6 Years To Warrantlessly Spy On Americans
3. Finding Your Voice: Forget About Siri and Alexa — When It Comes to Voice Identification, the “NSA Reigns Supreme”
4. Tinder’s Lack Of Encryption Lets Strangers Spy On Your Swipes
5. Want to see all data Windows 10 sends Microsoft? There’s an app for that: The next big update to Windows 10 will be even more transparent about what it collects.
6. Artificial Intelligence Is Going To Supercharge Surveillance: What happens when digital eyes get the brains to match?
7. Menacing Malware Shows The Dangers Of Industrial System Sabotage
8. WTF is GDPR?
9. GDPR compliance – the final countdown begins
10. The right to data portability in the GDPR: Towards user-centric interoperability of digital services
11. OnePlus got pwned, exposed up to 40,000 users to credit card fraud: A malicious script injected into OnePlus’ payment page went undiscovered for two months.
12. Malicious Chrome extension is next to impossible to manually remove: Extensions remain the Achilles heel for an otherwise highly secure browser.
13. Meltdown And Spectre Patching Has Been A Total Train Wreck
14. Android Users: To Avoid Malware, Try The F-Droid App Store

Jon

GAMES

1. Nintendo sues mobile developer Colopl over patent infringement
2. Twitch takes legal action following spambot incident: Brandan Lukus Apple faces “mischief in relation to computer data” charge over 150,000 spam messages across 1,000 channels
3. Photographer sues IGN over Pokémon GO Photo
4. Suspect in deadly Kansas “swatting” hoax charged with manslaughter: An online dispute over Call of Duty escalated to a fatal police shooting.
5. Is Downloading Retro Video Game ROMs Ever Legal?
6. Bungie promises to rebalance Destiny 2’s loot boxes, raids: Bevy of gameplay tweaks and features planned for coming year.
7. Tencent working with Chinese police to fight PUBG cheats – report: 30 cases have been exposed as PUBG’s community is cleaned up ahead of official Chinese launch
8. Tencent enlists Chinese police in the fight against Battlegrounds cheaters
9. Video Game Lobby Group Slams Newest Trump Comments As ‘Repulsive’
10. Battlegrounds surpasses 3 million players on Xbox One
11. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds sells three million units on Xbox One: Battle royale game proves successful despite being plagued by bugs and technical issues
12. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds most covered game in December 2017: Star Wars Battlefront II knocked from top spot as PUBG enjoys official console and Xbox launch
13. Hostile workplace accusations rock PlayStation developer Quantic Dream
14. Quantic Dream on defense amid allegations of toxic work environment
15. Quantic Dream denies allegations of homophobia, racism and toxic studio culture: David Cage “shocked” and “outraged” as preliminary investigation by Paris public prosecutor is opened
16. Games revenues expected to reach $235bn by 2022: Could reach $170bn this year, predominantly driven by mobile and PC
17. Games software/hardware $165B+ in 2018, $230B+ in 5 years, record $2B+ investment last year
18. Analyst: Mobile game sessions decreased by 16% in 2017
19. Eight of the top ten mobile publishers in 2017 were game-related: Mixi’s Monster Strike top grossing mobile app for third consecutive year
20. The cost of games
21. Selling used PC games through the blockchain? We’re not buying it: Robot Cache has some interesting ideas and some important hurdles.
22. How to keep a charity gaming marathon going for 160 hours straight: Behind the scenes with the tech and people behind Awesome Games Done Quick
23. Nintendo announces DIY Nintendo Labo for the Switch
24. Nintendo’s Labo playset slaps the Switch into build-your-own cardboard toys: Coming April 20, “crafted for kids and those who are kids at heart.”
25. Nintendo Labo brings DIY approach to Switch: New Switch line will let users build peripherals with cardboard kits and use them in included games
26. Nintendo Direct has transformed the company’s relationship with its fans: The firm has learnt to embrace its demanding fanbase
27. Hackers seem close to publicly unlocking the Nintendo Switch: Coders are rapidly finding exploits to open up Nintendo’s new console.
28. Nintendo Switch is the fastest-selling games console in France: French MD reveals Amiibo and software sales figures in new interview
29. Nintendo adds Mario Tennis, Donkey Kong, Hyrule Warriors and Dark Souls to 2018 Switch line-up: But fans left to wait on Metroid and Pokemon
30. Dark Souls, Donkey Kong Country lead a wave of Nintendo Switch ports: Plus – New Mario Tennis, free online hide-and-seek for Mario Odyssey.
31. Now On Nintendo Switch, Furi Embraces The Power Of A Good Boss Fight
32. Nintendo doesn’t seem to be “looking into” VR very much anymore: 4K update doesn’t seem to be in the immediate cards for the Switch, either.
33. GAME sales up over 5% during Christmas: Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One X the key sales drivers
34. GameStop holiday sales jump 11%: Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X drive hardware sales up 38%; used game sales down 8% as customer spending shifts to new games, collectibles
35. Activision closes only North American distribution centre: Publisher claims decision is unrelated to steady rise of digital sales
36. Activision’s Transformers games pulled from digital stores
37. Unreal hosting livestream to help devs navigate potential legal landmines
38. UK Charts: GTA V is back at No.1 226 weeks after it first came out – Price activity sends the 2013 title to the top for a 14th time
39. Revealed: The 100 best-selling UK boxed games of 2017 – As always, Call of Duty and FIFA dominate. But there are a few surprises, too
40. Activision-Hasbro deal expires, Transformers games pulled from digital stores: War for Cybertron, Transformers Devastation and more no longer available to buy as download
41. Lego bringing online games to China with help from Tencent
42. Tencent strikes deal with Lego to develop online games: Deal includes potential social network aimed at Chinese children
43. MLS Enters Esports, Launches eMLS FIFA 18 League With EA Sports
44. Insights: Don’t Overlook Overwatch As E-Sports Has Its Coming Out Party
45. Blizzard boasts 10M viewers for Overwatch League opening week
46. Overwatch League Day One: Dallas vs Seoul Match Sets The Tone For The League: Viewership peaked at 415k.
47. Overwatch League attracts 10m viewers in its first week: Average audience of 408,000 per minute for opening day, concurrent viewers peaks at 437,000
48. Swedish firm G:loot receives largest esports investment in Nordic region’s history: Confident investors back esports firm for $12.1 million
49. At CES, Everyone Is Still Hunting For VR’s Killer App
50. ‘VRChat’ Blasts Past 1 Million Installs Amidst a Skyrocketing Meme Economy
51. Horizon Zero Dawn leads with ten nominations for the 21st DICE Awards – The Legend of the Zelda: Breath of the Wild a distant second, appearing in six catagories
52. Steam competitor Robot Cache hopes to woo devs by slashing platform fees
53. Games with pornographic ads sneak into the Play Store, get 3 million downloads: Google removes 60 apps packing the “AdultSwine” malware.
54. Spanish government gives indies funding boost with new $7.9M grant
55. Spanish government confirms €6.5m grant for indie devs: More funding available following news that €2m grant had been scrapped, reviving a market that lost 30 studios last year
56. Video games crowdfunding raised $25m in 2017: ICO Partners estimates show only three projects raised more than $1m last year
57. Devs answer: What were the overlooked gems of 2017?
58. Horizon Zero Dawn and PUBG among top 2018 D.I.C.E. Award noms
59. Developers share their favorite indie games of 2017
60. 6 of the most significant mobile game trends in 2017
61. Here are Gamasutra’s predictions about the game industry for 2018
62. Madden NFL 18 and Horizon Zero Dawn among Writers Guild Awards nominees
63. TIGA publishes guide to forthcoming changes in data protection law: The General Data Protection Regulation to replace the Data Protection Act on May 25
64. Ultima Underworld and the freedom to make bad choices: Why I Love: Quantum Soup’s Chris Payne gets lost in the many innovations of The Stygian Abyss
65. Games Done Quick raises $2.26M for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
66. An appreciation of games that click back and change the gamers who love them: From The Dig to Pillars of Eternity, gaming does something no other pop culture medium can.
67. Behavioral Profiling: How to Build Useful Player Models

DIGITAL

1. Québec Court of Appeal confirms application of French language requirements for websites
2. Search Engines Aren’t Liable for Indexing ‘Scam’ Locksmith Listings–Baldino’s Lock v. Google (Eric Goldman)
3. A Patent For Geotagging IP Packets Raises Important Internet Law Questions
4. Hawaii Alert System Accidentally Warns of Imminent ‘BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT’ [Updated]
5. The interface to send out a missile alert in Hawaii is slightly less bad: The employee responsible for the alert has been temporarily reassigned.
6. “Free TV” box lawyer says video industry is “digging its own grave”: A win for “Dragon Box” would be bad legal precedent for industry, lawyer says.
7. Netflix, Amazon, and major studios sue maker of “free TV” box: Streaming services and film studios try to stop free access to shows and movies. 
8. Tech Companies Are Complicit In Censoring Iran Protests
9. How terrorists and provocateurs are using social media against western democracies: On the digital front line are guilt-ridden Russian trolls, young women lured by Isis and Facebook Sherlocks in suburbia.
10. Facebook’s Revamp Includes an Effort to Fight Fake News: Will it work?
11. Facebook Inks Licensing Deal With Music Mogul Irving Azoff, An Outspoken YouTube Critic
12. Facebook Tweaks Newsfeed To Favor Content From Friends, Family
13. Media Freaks Out About Facebook Changes; Maybe They Shouldn’t Have Become So Reliant On Facebook
14. Investors Join Calls For Facebook, Twitter To Take More Responsibility
15. Twitter Tried To Curb Abuse. Now It Has To Handle The Backlash
16. Twitter faces trademark infringement lawsuit from podcast network: Internet broadcaster TWiT says Twitter is muscling in on its AV territory.
17. Did Twitter engineers just admit to shadow-banning conservatives? Nope: An engineer’s plan to “ban a way of talking” didn’t refer to conservatives.
18. Meet Antifa’s Secret Weapon Against Far-Right Extremists
19. Why Cloudflare Let An Extremist Stronghold Burn
20. Apple’s First Original Comedy Series To Star Kristen Wiig, With Reese Witherspoon As Executive Producer
21. Apple to pay $38 billion in US taxes on overseas cash: Republican tax bill will save Apple tens of billions in taxes on overseas cash.
22. It’s Time for Apple to Build a Less Addictive iPhone
23. Shareholder Groups Say Apple Should Do More To Address Gadget ‘Addiction’ Among Young People: Should It?
24. After slowdown controversy, iPhone 6 Plus users must wait for batteries: 6 Plus battery supply is limited, but other models are still mostly on schedule.
25. Legal risk of cloud computing
26. Eharmony agrees to pay up to $2.2 million to end auto-renewal suit 
27. Amazon Says Its Thursday Night NFL Audience Outpaced Twitter
28. Google will reportedly vet premium YouTube videos more closely
29. YouTube Will Use Human, Technological Methods To Vet Premium Ad Tier Google Preferred 
30. YouTube introduces new, stricter requirements for partners
31. YouTube Alters Partner Program Eligibility, Vows All Google Preferred Videos Will Be Human-Verified
32. Google Chrome extensions with 500,000 downloads found to be malicious: Google removes four extensions that used infected computers in click fraud scheme.
33. Chromecast and Google Homes reportedly overloading home Wi-Fi: A bug is causing Google devices to pound networks with 100,000 packets at once.
34. YouTube tightens the rules around creator monetization and partnerships
35. YouTube raises subscriber, view threshold for Partner Program monetization: Making it harder for new channels to make money off of ads placed by YPP.
36. YouTube fights “bad actors” with new content policies: New measures include manual vetting of Google Preferred videos, and a higher monetisation threshold for small channels
37. Google to monitor popular YouTube channels – Report: After dropping another big YouTuber over controversy, company will begin vetting content in Google Preferred advertiser program 
38. YouTube Content Head: 70% Of Upcoming YouTube Red Episodes Are Directed By Women
39. Jackie Aina Receives NAACP’s First-Ever ‘YouTuber Of The Year’ Award
40. Google Can Now Tell You Which Works of Art You Look Like
41. Unofficial ‘Harry Potter’ Fan Movie Approved By Warner Bros., A Hit On YouTube
42. The 30 YouTube Channels That Have Surpassed 10 Billion Lifetime Views
43. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” Becomes 4th YouTube Video To Surpass 3 Billion Views
44. YouTube Says 70% Of All Watch Time Is Driven By Its Own Recommendations
45. YouTube finally hands down punishment to creator for posting dead body video: After nearly two weeks, YouTube removes Logan Paul from Google Preferred.
46. Top Creators Applaud YouTube’s (Delayed) Logan Paul Punishment
47. After Logan Paul incident, Google Preferred YouTube videos will face further vetting: Videos with the top ads will be examined by human moderators and AI software.
48. Blackpills Axes Logan Paul Series In Wake Of Suicide Vlog
49. Logan Paul’s Content Was Questionable Before He Ever Set Foot In The “Suicide Forest”
50. Logan Paul Says “Everyone Deserves Second Chances” Following Suicide Video
51. Kevin Durant’s Media Company Will Help Athletes Launch Their Own YouTube Channels
52. When It Comes To Gorillas, Google Photos Remains Blind
53. Crime-Predicting Algorithms May Not Fare Much Better Than Untrained Humans
54. Mechanical Turkers may have out-predicted the most popular crime-predicting algorithm
55. Taming The Golem: Challenges of Ethical Algorithmic Decision-Making
56. A Child Abuse Prediction Model Fails Poor Families
57. AI needs debate about potential bias
58. Microsoft Says AI Advances Will Require New Laws, Regulations: Increase in gig-economy jobs means tech companies have to step up to protect workers, provide benefits
59. Machines Just Beat Humans on a Stanford Reading Comprehension Test
60. Don’t Blame Social Media For Celebrity Politicians. Blame Everyone.
61. The meteoric rise of the so-called ‘Influencer’
62. Massive Data Dump Shows Flat Numbers For Snapchat’s Stories Across The Summer Of 2017
63. Snapchat’s Big Redesign, Ahead Of US Launch, Has Received Overwhelmingly Negative Response Abroad
64. Netflix could become the second-biggest media company behind Disney in 3 years, Barclays says: Barclays recommends Netflix shares, citing optimism over the company’s subscriber growth. The firm’s analyst predicts the internet streaming giant will generate annual sales growth of 27 percent through 2019 from 2016. “In our opinion, in the next 3-5 years Netflix is likely to become the second biggest media company by revenue (ignoring studios and theme parks), next only to Disney,” the analyst wrote. 
65. Social Media Giants vs Children – the truth behind social media contracts 
66. The Hidden Toll Of Fixing Meltdown And Spectre
67. The impromptu Slack war room where ‘Net companies unite to fight Spectre-Meltdown: When major security vulns go live without warning, competitors suddenly band together.
68. Spectre and Meltdown patches causing trouble as realistic attacks get closer: Driver incompatibilities and microcode problems are both being reported.
69. Here’s how, and why, the Spectre and Meltdown patches will hurt performance: Now that microcode and patches are starting to ship, a clearer picture is emerging.
70. Meltdown and Spectre: Good news for AMD users, (more) bad news for Intel – Windows patches are fixed, but microcode updates are causing even more trouble. 
71. Researcher finds another security flaw in Intel management firmware: Active Management Technology defaults allow anyone to take control of many PCs.
72. Highly Competent White House Spends 22 Minutes Trying to Mute a Conference Call
73. The corpse of Circuit City will rise again on February 15: Follows similar promises of a relaunch from 2016 that never quite came together.
74. Researchers find that one person likely drove Bitcoin from $150 to $1,000
75. Bitcoin plunges—now down 47 percent from December peak: Every major cryptocurrency has seen double-digit losses in the last 24 hours.
76. Kodak’s Supposed Cryptocurrency Entrance Appears To Be Little More Than A Rebranded Paparazzi Copyright Trolling Scheme… With The Blockchain
77. New botnet infects cryptocurrency mining computers, replaces wallet address: Attacker has generated about $2,000 in digital coin so far in a scam that remains active.
78. ‘Sex Party’ Or ‘Nerds On A Couch’? A Night In Silicon Valley
79. Website Accessibility Cases Proceed Despite Absence of Regulations
80. Boeing Decision Forges New Balance Between NLRA Rights and Social Media Policies 
81. The Griefbot That Could Change How We Mourn: Muhammad Ahmed’s grandkids would never meet their grandfather, so he made an AI version of him. How might that change our concept of death?
82. Artist transforms herself into a virtual assistant and obeys your commands: Would we rather have a human servant or Alexa? Lauren McCarthy decided to find out.
83. The Strange History Of One Of The Internet’s First Viral Videos
84. 2017 – The Year in Which Copyright Went Beyond Source Code 
85. 2017: In Review – The biggest Tech trends and events of the Year
86. Aliens, Autonomous Cars, and AI: This Is the World of 2118
87. CES 2018: Most Absurd Technologies To Come

CREATIVITY

1. Trump’s Personal Lawyer Sues Buzzfeed For Publishing Allegedly False Statements Written By Someone Else
2. For The Second Time In A Week, German Hate Speech Laws Results In Deletion Of Innocent Speech
3. Appeals Court OKs F-Bombs For Federal Trademark Protection
4. Community Backlash Leads Adult Diaper Company To Drop Its Trademark Application for ‘ABDL’
5. When the President Uses a Profanity, What Can Broadcast News Do? 
6. Psychiatrist Drops His Lawsuit Against Critic Who Left Wordless One-Star Review
7. Copyright Troll Gets Smacked Around By Court, As Judge Wonders If Some Of Its Experts Even Exist
8. Copyright Law: Overcoming Claims of Copyright Protection for Derivative Works
9. How Closed Trade Deals Ratchet Up the Copyright Term Worldwide
10. New presidency of the Council of the European Union … new position on the EU copyright reform?
11. It’s The (Democracy-Poisoning) Golden Age Of Free Speech  (Zeynep Tufekci)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Rogers employees say managers turn a blind eye so call centre workers can lie and cheat customers: ‘We do not believe the concerns raised represent our values or sales practices,’ Rogers says
2. Judge Sweet: Fox News’s Statement that It Took “Decisive Action” After Assault Allegation Does Not Disparage the Unnamed Accused Assailant 
3. Complaint: Bill O’Reilly Breached Settlement Non-Disparagement Clause by Portraying Accusers as Extortionate Liars 
4. Trump’s ‘Fake News Awards’ could violate ethics rules: Little is known about what the president intends to do Wednesday, but some experts aren’t taking it lightly.
5. Washington Legal Issues for TV Broadcasters – Where Things Stand in the New Year 
6. After Being AWOL From The Fight For Years, Google & Facebook To Fund Lawsuits Over Net Neutrality
7. 21 states sue FCC to restore net neutrality rules: A long legal process starts now.
8. 22 State Attorneys General File Suit Against The FCC For Its Net Neutrality Repeal
9. Nebraska The First ‘Red’ State To Craft Its Own Net Neutrality Law
10. Why Are The People Who Whined About Wheeler’s Net Neutrality Rules Being ‘400 Pages’ Silent About Pai’s Being ‘539 Pages’
11. Blackburn Doubles Down On A Decade Of Lies As She Pushes Fake Net Neutrality Law
12. City-owned Internet services offer cheaper and more transparent pricing: Data shows why customers want muni broadband—and why telecom industry fears it.
13. Study finds municipal broadband is up to 50% cheaper than telcos
14. Harvard Study Shows Why Big Telecom Is Terrified of Community-Run Broadband: Community-owned internet service providers are cheaper and better.
15. Colorado Cities Keep Voting To Build Their Own Broadband Networks
16. Update on FCC’s Internet Freedom Order 
17. FCC Internet Freedom Order: What Changed in the Final Decision
18. Senate Hits 50 Votes in Bid to Save Net Neutrality and/or Make Republicans Look Dumb
19. All Democrats and one Republican support net neutrality bill in Senate: Senate Dems seek one more vote for restoration of net neutrality and Title II.
20. After false Hawaii missile notice, FCC launches investigation: For 38 minutes, Hawaiians had little information about what kind of threat they were facing.
21. Samsung is the latest OEM to unlock FM chips in new phones: A push for better emergency readiness leads to radio on new Samsung devices. 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Mandatory new Canadian data breach obligations expected to take effect in 2018
2. FTC Settles First Children’s Privacy Case Involving Connected Toys 
3. Hack Brief: Russian Hackers Release Apparent IOC Emails In Wake Of Olympics Ban
4. Trump tweet throws today’s House surveillance votes into chaos: Trump tweet appears to attack NSA spying hours after the White House defends it.
5. Trump Doesn’t Understand Surveillance Powers; House Votes To Give Him More Of It
6. Filibuster threat means Trump needs Senate Democrats to pass spying bill: The House just passed a bill extending NSA spying powers for six years.
7. After Basically No Debate, And No Opportunity For Amendments, Senate Votes To Expand NSA Surveillance
8. The House Has Voted. They Will Allow Warrantless Surveillance.
9. US Telcos Threatened With Loss Of Government Contracts If They Do Business With Huawei
10. Shooting The Messenger: Reporter Who Exposed Massive Indian Data Breach Targeted By Law Enforcement
11. FBI security expert: Apple are “jerks” about unlocking encrypted phones – “Apple is pretty good at evil genius stuff,” FBI official laments at conference.
12. FBI Says Device Encryption Is ‘Evil’ And A Threat To Public Safety
13. Major security flaw in virtual reality porn app SinVR exposes the secrets of 20,000 users
14. BitTorrent users beware: Flaw lets hackers control your computer – “Low complexity” hack for Transmission client may work against other clients, too.
15. Chinese Internet Users Start To Rebel Against Lack Of Online Privacy
16. Some international accounts alerted to Apple’s iCloud transfer in China: Update your iCloud country or region settings to prevent your data from moving.
17. Found: New Android malware with never-before-seen spying capabilities – Skygofree is among the most powerful spy platforms ever created for Android.
18. Border Searches Of Electronic Devices
19. Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens
20. Skype finally getting end-to-end encryption: It’ll use the Signal protocol, also used in WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and others.
21. NFLPA President Eric Winston Likens Wearable Metrics To Health Data
22. The “Doublespeak” Of Responsible Encryption
23. Keep Calm – The GDPR is coming!
24. Using AI To Identify Car Models In 50 Million Google Street Views Reveals A Wide Range Of Demographic Information
25. Beyond the Privacy Torts: Reinvigorating a Common Law Approach for Data Breaches (Alicia Solow-Niederman)

Jon

GAMES

1. Star Citizen devs file motion to dismiss Crytek lawsuit
2. Star Citizen maker says engine suit “never should have been filed”: CIG accuses Crytek of selective and misleading reading of license agreement.
3. Cloud Imperium Games responds to Crytek suit: Star Citizen studio calls CryEngine maker’s complaint misleading and scandalous, saying it “sacrifices legal sufficiency for loud publicity”
4. Crowdsourced Content in Video Games: How Ownership Issues Almost “Ganked” a Copyright Case
5. BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INC., AND VALVE CORPORATION, Plaintiffs,
   v.
   LILITH GAMES (SHANGHAI) CO. LTD., AND UCOOL, INC., Defendants.
6. Regulators eye game monetisation in 2018: Controversy over monetisation of games isn’t going away, and it’s likely to reach the corridors of government sooner rather than later
7. Eagle-eyed YouTuber discovers ongoing EA online-matchmaking shenanigans: 2017 papers confirm tests of existing games with “spending” as future objective.
8. Epic planning audit to combat copyright infringement on Unreal Marketplace
9. US government developing school shooting survival sim: Army and Department of Homeland Security working on first-person game that lets users play a teacher, cop, or shooter
10. Epic clampdown on real-world guns and copyright-infringing game assets: Engine provider conducting thorough audit of Unreal Marketplace for trademark abuse
11. NSPCC and Aardman create mobile game to help combat child abuse
12. The World Health Organization Identifies Gaming Disorder as a Mental Health Condition
13. WHO: “There is increasing and well-documented evidence of gaming disorder”: Recent listing is “only a clinical description” for diagnoses, not prevention or treatment
14. Funplus Interactive ad deemed misleading by Advertising Standards Agency: Mobile developer used image from different game to promote King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare
15. Civilization VI depiction upsets Poundmaker Cree Nation: Headman Milton Tootoosis says 2K never consulted First Nation for expansion, which “perpetuates this myth that First Nations had similar values” to colonial culture
16. Civilization V mod adds realistic superintelligent AI research
17. Smosh Games YouTuber departs following sexual assault allegations: Amra ‘Flitz’ Ricketts denies all “false claims” but “cannot risk negative impact” on YouTube group
18. Amra ‘Flitz’ Ricketts Departs Smosh Games Amid Sexual Assault Allegations
19. IGDA Survey: Game companies must do more to foster diversity
20. How the 2018 Tax Reform Will Change Things for Indie Developers
21. Glu Mobile sells Moscow dev studio and game rights for $4.5M
22. Could movie shorts provide a template for funding indie games?: The Chinese Room’s Andrew Crawshaw ponders the potential for experimental tie-ins around AAA blockbusters
23. Epic planning audit to combat copyright infringement on Unreal Marketplace
24. App Store generates almost $900 million in seven days: Pokémon GO amongst the big Christmas success stories
25. App Store sets new records as holiday spending tops $890M
26. Steam breaks 18m concurrent users with largest growth in platform’s history: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds accounts for 16% of all concurrent users
27. 80 years for a sleeveless jacket: PUBG’s loot box rates disclosed – Meanwhile, rarest item in new premium crate could cost $1,562.50 to acquire
28. The rarest new PUBG items show up once every 80 years, on average: Artificial scarcity raises aftermarket values for ultra-rare cosmetics.
29. How do you do ‘loot boxes’ right? F2P MMO game devs weigh in
30. 7,672 games hit Steam in 2017 alone, says Steam Spy
31. Steam saw more than 7,600 games debut in 2017 – SteamSpy: Tracking site finds 53% year-over-year jump in release numbers, slowing rate of growth for online storefront
32. Confusion surrounds GOG’s rejection of Opus Magnum: Popular puzzle game from Zachtronics rejected by digital store but developer unable to share details
33. Star Citizen developers raised $34.9m in 2017: For the second year in a row, Star Citizen crowd-sourced more money than all games on Kickstarter combined
34. BroadbandTV Launches New Division To Develop Creator-Driven Mobile Games
35. Spanish government cuts €2m fund for indie developers: 20 developers lose up to €150,000 each
36. Ukie publishes funding and tax relief guide for UK game devs
37. Ukie launches Access to Finance guide with Harbottle and Lewis: “There is money available if you know where to look,” says Ukie CEO
38. Access to finance the leading obstacle to success for UK games industry in 2018: TIGA CEO: Looming clouds of Brexit beginning to “cast shadows on our games industry”
39. With ~3M units sold last month, PS4 surpasses 73M sales worldwide
40. 5.9 million PS4 consoles sold during 2017 Christmas period
41. Japanese console game market experiences growth for the first time in 11 years
42. Nintendo Switch surpasses Wii U lifetime sales in Japan
43. Japanese console market spikes for the first time in 11 years: Nintendo Switch and PS4 drive hardware sales up 73% year on year
44. Switch becomes fastest-selling home console of all time in the U.S.
45. Nintendo Switch becomes fastest-selling console in US history: Platform holder breaks own record set by the Wii over ten years ago
46. Nintendo Switch NBA game jumps through ridiculous hoops to issue a patch: With no answers from Playgrounds’ devs, we sleuth out the weirdest Switch patch yet.
47. Amid a rising tide of games, devs reflect on state of the Switch market
48. Nintendo Switch NBA game jumps through ridiculous hoops to issue a patch: With no answers from Playgrounds’ devs, we sleuth out the weirdest Switch patch yet.
49. Hyperkin plans to release a new (old) Game Boy in 2018: Ultra Game Boy brings slim aluminum case, backlight for under $100.
50. Miiverse archive recovers 17TB of social mirth after Nintendo’s shutdown: Archive Team saves hundreds of millions of posts from the vibrant social network.
51. Haptic Controllers Bring Real Pain To VR Games
52. Sony to Nearly Double the Total Number of PSVR Games by End of 2018
53. Sony expects 130 PlayStation VR games this year: 80% increase driven by 2 million install base, company says
54. Record over $3B AR/VR investment in 2017 ($1.5B + in Q4)
55. VR/AR startups drew record investment in 2017 – Report: Digi-Capital says $3 billion haul led by Magic Leap, Improbable, Unity, Niantic; VR investment cooling as mobile AR ramps up
56. Oculus sets sights on Chinese market with Xiaomi partnership
57. Pokémon Go dropping support for older iPhones next month: iPhone 5 and 5C will no longer be able to run Niantic’s location-based phenomenon
58. Asus sets up Chinese esports company with $16m investment: Well-established esports brand looks to spread into China with new League of Legends team
59. Google eyes up Chinese eSports market with Chushou investment
60. Video: The importance of storytellers in eSports
61. Google Looks To Get Into Chinese E-Sports Market With Investment In Live Streaming Platform Chushou
62. NRG CEO Andy Miller On Overwatch League’s Traditional Sports Influence
63. Twitch Will Stream Every Match In The Overwatch League, Which Begins Play On January 10
64. Twitch gets Overwatch League rights: Streaming platform signs deal for exclusive third-party rights for regular season and playoffs outside of China for next two years
65. Part 1 – Let the games begin: German IP law in the world of esports
66. Playable Ads: The Most Fun Ad Ever!
67. How Playmob is gaming for a better world: CEO and co-founder Jude Ower on the power of playable ads to affect real social change
68. Mad Catz returns under new management: Defunct peripherals brand rescued by Chinese holding company
69. 49% of European gamers like to revisit classic games: However, almost 40% say retro games are never as good as they remember
70. Even Realistic Videogames Like Call Of Duty Won’t Help Us Win Wars
71. UK Charts: FIFA ends Call of Duty’s nine-week stay at No.1: It means WWII equals but does not beat Modern Warfare 2’s consecutive No.1 record
72. Itch.io saw 100k projects created and 68k completed in 2017
73. Our Video Game Predictions For 2018
74. The Rise and Fall of EA Sports Big, as Told by the Creator of SSX: After the success of SSX, other likeminded extreme sports games like Cranked failed to come to fruition.
75. Discovering the first video game commercial
76. “The least-worst idea we had”—The creation of the Age of Empires empire: A brief oral history from the original game’s designers at Ensemble Studios.
77. The rise, fall, and rise of MDickie—or, how to be the best worst game developer: “Single-handedly responsible for the WORST games to ever be enjoyed by millions of people.”

DIGITAL

1. Pro-Kremlin Twitter Trolls Take Aim At Robert Mueller
2. Should Twitter’s Ban on Hateful Content Apply to President Trump?
3. Twitter Makes Clear it Won’t Block Trump—as Long as He’s President
4. Chuck Johnson Sues Twitter, Copying Dennis Prager’s Lawsuit Against YouTube
5. Potential Discrimination Through Social Media Ads 
6. Free speech vs. censorship in Germany: New rules on online hate speech cause problems for internet giants.
7. It Took Only Three Days For Germany’s New Hate Speech Law To Cause Collateral Damage
8. Intel CEO sold all the stock he could after Intel learned of security bug: Intel claims sale was unrelated, but he planned sale after researchers disclosed bugs.
9. Five California Communities Settle Auto-Renewal Claims with Online Dating Company eHarmony for More than $2 Million 
10. Senator questions Apple over intentional iPhone slowdowns: The government of France is looking for answers, too.
11. Apple planning new, “robust” parental controls to help protect children, teens: Investors are worried about youth becoming addicted to their smartphones.
12. James Damore’s Lawsuit Is Designed To Embarrass Google
13. Google fired James Damore for a controversial gender memo—now he’s suing: Damore argued few women program due to interest in “people rather than things.”
14. Engineer says he quit Google after order to stop pro-diversity posts: Diversity advocate says he was told to “avoid posting on controversial topics.”
15. Conservatives Are Now Getting Angry About Google’s Fact-Checking Module
16. Google Bans Rehab-Related Search Ads in Another Country After Embarrassing Report
17. Linus Torvalds Is Not Happy About Intel’s Meltdown and Spectre Mess
18. Triple Meltdown: How So Many Researchers Found A 20-Year-Old Chip Flaw At The Same Time
19. Meltdown and Spectre: Here’s what Intel, Apple, Microsoft, others are doing about it: Intel, Microsoft, ARM, and others have responded. We dig in.
20. Bad docs and blue screens make Microsoft suspend Spectre patch for AMD machines: Blue screen crashes on decade-old AMD chips seem to be widespread.
21. Intel faces class action lawsuits regarding Meltdown and Spectre: Class action lawsuits have been filed in California, Indiana, and Oregon.
22. EMC, VMware security bugs throw gasoline on cloud security fire: Backups of virtual machines on some hosts could be accessed or altered by an attacker.
23. Airbnb Gets Crucial Section 230 Win Over Unauthorized Subleases–La Park La Brea v. Airbnb (Eric Goldman)
24. GoPro Loses Two-Year Battle With the Sky
25. Man’s YouTube Video of White Noise Hit With Five Copyright Claims
26. White Noise On YouTube Gets FIVE Separate Copyright Claims From Other White Noise Providers
27. A Video Featuring Nothing But White Noise Has Received Five Content ID Claims Since 2015
28. Will Smith Has Launched His Own YouTube Channel
29. RTL Group Acquires United Screens for $14.9 Million
30. Europe’s RTL Group Increases Online Video Footprint With $14.9 Million Acquisition Of United Screens
31. Amazon’s Next Big Thing Could Be Serving You Ads on the Go
32. Hulu now has over 17 million subscribers
33. Amazon, Hulu, Netflix Achieve Near-Sweep Of Top TV Categories At 2018 Golden Globes
34. I Spent A Week Living With Chatbots—Did All That Self-Help Help?
35. A Former Facebook VP Says Social Media Is Destroying Society. And He’s Right.
36. Mark Zuckerberg Essentially Launched Facebook’s Reelection Campaign
37. How to Fix Facebook—Before It Fixes Us: An early investor explains why the social media platform’s business model is such a threat—and what to do about it.
38. Facebook’s Virtual Assistant M Is Dead. So Are Chatbots
39. NBC News got 4 million subscribers in 5 months to its Snapchat show
40. In Series Of Tweets, YouTube Hints At “Further Consequences” For Logan Paul
41. YouTube Star Logan Paul Puts His Vlog On Hiatus As He Takes Time “To Reflect”
42. YouTube Removes Logan Paul From Google Preferred, Puts His YouTube Red Originals On Hold In Wake Of Controversy
43. Content moderation is not a panacea: Logan Paul, YouTube, and what we should expect from platforms
44. Iced tea company scraps plans to raise millions for blockchain pivot: Company’s stock tripled last month after it changed its name to Long Blockchain.
45. We found a deleted page that reveals the paparazzi roots of Kodak Coin: Kodak’s stock has tripled since announcing the blockchain project on Tuesday.
46. GoPro will stop selling drones once remaining Karma inventory is gone: Citing “untenable” aerial market and “hostile regulatory environments.”
47. China Is Building a $2.1 Billion Industrial Park for AI Research
48. Robots Have Replaced Humans in 25% of China’s Ammunition Factories
49. China’s Crackdown on Crypto-Mining Threatens Bitcoin’s Future
50. Remember Dogecoin? The joke currency soared to $2 billion this weekend: “There’s no active development anymore,” Dogecoin’s co-founder said last year.
51. Hackers find new ways to print digital money for free: As valuations soar, attackers find ever more powerful CPUs to covertly conscript.
52. Oracle app server hack let one attacker mine $226,000 worth of cryptocoins: Exploit published in December makes cracking unpatched Oracle servers easy.
53. The Algorithms Aren’t Biased, We Are
54. The ethics of Artificial Intelligence – the next step?
55. The Strange Brands in Your Instagram Feed: A new breed of online retailer doesn’t make or even touch products, but they’ve got a few other tricks for turning nothing into money.
56. Brands and ecommerce platforms: a tainted relationship?
57. Why Europe Is Willing To Regulate Tech More Than The U.S.
58. Intellectual Property Rights post Brexit – a call to arms
59. Don’t Be Evil: Fred Turner on Utopias, Frontiers, and Brogrammers
60. Does This Black Mirror Fan Theory Mean We’re Finally Ready For The Singularity?
61. “Oh My God, This Is So F—-D Up”: Inside Silicon Valley’s Secretive, Orgiastic Dark Side – Some of the most powerful men in Silicon Valley are regulars at exclusive, drug-fueled, sex-laced parties—gatherings they describe not as scandalous, or even secret, but as a bold, unconventional lifestyle choice. Yet, while the guys get laid, the women get screwed. In an adaptation from her new book, Brotopia, Emily Chang exposes the tired and toxic dynamic at play.
62. How To Curb Silicon Valley Power—Even With Weak Antitrust Laws
63. Commentary: 3D printing
64. Consumer 3D Printing: Is the UK Copyright and Design Law Framework Fit for Purpose (Pedro Malaquias)
65. Cross-examining the network: The year in digital and social media research – Journalist’s Resource sifts through the academic journals so you don’t have to. Here are what they consider 10 of the most important pieces of new research into digital and social media published in 2017.

CREATIVITY

1. Disney’s 1998 copyright term extension expires this year and Big Content’s lobbyists say they’re not going to try for another one
2. Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again: Copyrights from the 1920s will start expiring next year if Congress doesn’t act.
3. Copyright Maximalists Throw In The Towel On Term Extension; Admit That Maybe Copyright Is Too Long
4. Donald Trump Hires Charles Harder To Threaten Steve Bannon With A Lawsuit, Block Publication Of New Book
5. Trump attorney sends Bannon cease and desist letter over ‘disparaging’ comments
6. Publisher Not At All Impressed By Trump’s Defamation Threat Letter; Promises To Defend The First Amendment
7. By Complaining About US’s ‘Very Weak’ Libel Laws, Trump Is Actually S——g On Our ‘Very Strong’ First Amendment
8. Really Bad Ideas: French President Macron Wants To Ban ‘Fake News’ During The Election
9. The Gorilla Channel Satire Demonstrates The Ridiculousness Of Banning Fake News
10. Appeals Court Drives Another Stake Into The Heart Of Idaho’s ‘Ag-Gag’ Law
11. The Other Side: Phoenix Comicon Proactively Changes Names To Avoid San Diego Comic-Con Bully
12. It Begins: Some Comic Conventions Refusing To Fold After San Diego Comic-Con Gets Its Trademark Win
13. Bad week gets worse for Fox Judge Jeanine Pirro  
14. Army Officially Opposes Vegas Golden Knights Trademark
15. Theatre roles need to change following Soulpepper harassment allegations, Winnipeg directors say: Myth of ‘all-powerful’ director, vulnerability of actors contribute to culture of abuse, say 2 local directors
16. Guardians of the Galaxy Is Leading The Unlikely Cassette Tape Revival
17. Music Modernization Act launched in the US
18. Shocked, Shocked To Learn The Patent Office Is Structurally Designed To Approve (Lousy) Patents
19. Is the First Amendment Obsolete? (Tim Wu)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. FCC releases final net neutrality repeal order, three weeks after vote: With repeal officially published, FCC will soon face lawsuits.
2. Tech Giants To Join Legal Battle Over Net Neutrality
3. FCC Chair Ajit Pai cancels his CES appearance days before show: Pai likely would have had to answer questions about net neutrality repeal.
4. Maine Governor Tells 16-Year-Old Worried About Net Neutrality Repeal To ‘Pick Up A Book And Read’
5. “Vote out” congresspeople who won’t back net neutrality, advocates say: “If they don’t vote for net neutrality, let’s vote them out,” new campaign says.
6. Supporters Aim To Use Net Neutrality To Bludgeon Cash-Compromised Lawmakers In The Midterms
7. California The Latest State To Propose Its Own Net Neutrality Rules
8. Net neutrality gaining steam in state legislatures after FCC repeal: Nebraska and California may challenge FCC’s attempt to preempt state laws
9. GOP senator says she’ll vote to restore net neutrality rules: One more Republican vote needed to get net neutrality bill through Senate.
10. Uphill Effort To Reverse Net Neutrality Repeal Has The Early Votes
11. Restoration of net neutrality rules hits key milestone in Senate: 30 senators support net neutrality bill as Democrats try to force a vote.
12. Net Neutrality: From Rules to Enforcement
13. The History of Net Neutrality In 13 Years of Tales of the Sausage Factory (with a few additions).
14. FCC Prepares To Weaken Broadband’s Definition To Hide Competitive, Coverage Issues
15. FCC plan to lower broadband standards is met with “Mobile Only Challenge”: Many say that mobile can’t replace cable or fiber, but FCC may think otherwise.
16. AT&T and Comcast finalize court victory over Nashville and Google Fiber: Nashville won’t appeal as Google Fiber-backed utility pole rule is invalidated.
17. Comcast fired 500 despite claiming tax cut would create thousands of jobs: As Comcast pushed for tax cut, fired employees had to sign NDAs to get severance.
18. Those Annoying Cable Channel Blackouts Are Only Going To Get Worse In 2018
19. What is a Cable System – The Copyright Office Wants to Know  

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. We(Chat) The People: Technology and Social Control in China
2. China Plans To Turn Country’s Most Popular App, WeChat, Into An Official ID System
3. Want Anybody’s Personal Details From Aadhaar, India’s Billion-Person Identity Database? Yours For $8
4. “Political pressure” reportedly kills Huawei/AT&T smartphone deal: Spying concerns from members of congress means AT&T won’t be selling Huawei phones.
5. Prosecutors say Mac spyware stole millions of user images over 13 years: Fruitfly creepware turned on cameras and mics, automatically detected porn searches.
6. Internet of Toys Enforcement: VTech Agrees to COPPA Settlement 
7. FTC and VTech Settle Alleged COPPA Privacy and Security Violations
8. FTC lawsuit over 2015 VTech data breach ends in settlement
9. WhatsApp Security Flaws Could Allow Snoops To Slide Into Group Chats
10. How The Government Hides Secret Surveillance Programs
11. Google Puts Its SCA Warrant Appeal on Hold as High Court Prepares to Hear Microsoft Case 
12. New York State Appellate Court Says Cell Site Location Records Have No Expectation Of Privacy
13. The security of pretty much every computer on the planet has just gotten a lot worse
14. Collection, storage and transfer of data in Canada

Jon

GAMES

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

DIGITAL

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

CREATIVITY

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

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

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

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

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

Jon

GAMES

1. FCC issues final extension for video game CVAA accessibility waiver
2. Founding member of Lizard Squad pleads guilty to cyber-crimes
3. Apple now requires App Store games with loot boxes to list odds: Wednesday update to iOS rules also touches on VPN services, cryptocurrency apps.
4. Guideline changes mean App Store devs must now reveal loot crate odds
5. Developers must disclose loot box odds following update to App Store guidelines: Change to guidelines comes amidst ongoing debate as to whether loot boxes constitute gambling
6. Can AAA Games Survive Without Microtransactions?: After a series of microtransaction controversies this year, we decided to delve into the price of videogames, and whether or not AAA games need things like lootboxes to stay profitable.
7. Ubisoft releases open-source code for World in Conflictservers
8. One of the first ever LGBTQ video games has been restored
9. ‘Pokémon GO’ Now Uses Apple’s ARKit on iOS 11, Bringing Pokémon Closer to Reality
10. A Christmas gift from Game Boy ROM hackers: Super Mario Land 2 in color
11. NBA G League’s Streaming Deal With Twitch
12. Rocket League surpasses 38 million players: 2017 is “best year yet” but there is still work to be done, says developer
13. Cuphead sells two million units in two months: “Even in our wildest dreams, we never thought our crazy little characters would be embraced by this many fans,” says developer
14. Call of Duty: WWII tops $1 billion worldwide – Activision says military shooter and Destiny 2 are 2017’s top grossing console games in North America
15. Jason Schreier’s Top 10 Games Of 2017
16. IGN’s Top 10 Most Improved Games Of 2017
17. From Automata To Zelda, These Are The Best Games Of 2017
18. 2017: Celebrating the bright spots – It may not have been a superb year overall, but expectations were defied and challenges overcome with creativity and passion in 2017
19. Report: Nintendo won’t be rolling out 64GB Switch cartridges until 2019
20. “Gamification” Is Improving Mental Health Treatment In So Many Ways
21. War Stories: Lord British created an ecology for Ultima Online, but no one saw it
22. Game of the Year 2017: The GI team picks their favourites, surprises and disappointments from 2017, and grants its top honour to Nintendo for creating an instant classic
23. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: The top 10 games of the year
24. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Katherine Cross’ top 10 games

DIGITAL

1. Court Allows Some Access to Employee’s Social Media Accounts
2. 17-Year-Old Mexican Social Media Star Shot And Killed After Insulting Cartel Leader
3. Confessions of a Digital Nazi Hunter
4. British Military Chief Warns Russia Could Cut NATO’s Internet Connections, As Traffic For World’s Top Sites Is Mysteriously Routed Via…Russia
5. Germany Accuses Chinese Intelligence Services Of Using Fake LinkedIn Profiles To Recruit Informants And Extract Sensitive Information
6. Chinese hackers go after think tanks in wave of more surgical strikes: When one NGO blocked intrusion, frustrated hackers tried to knock its website offline.
7. How Controversial Chinese Billionaire Founder of Faraday Future Got a Gag Order Against Critic
8. Geekbench and Reddit think they’ve cracked why iPhones get slower over time: Testing suggests that iOS 10.2.1 added this functionality to prevent shutdowns.
9. Apple Had Way Better Options Than Slowing Down Your iPhone
10. Of Course Apple Is Getting Sued Over the Old iPhone Throttling Fiasco
11. Apple Facing A Bunch Of Lawsuits After Admitting It Slows Down Older Devices, But Insisting It’s For A Good Reason
12. Days after iPhone battery fiasco, lawsuits against Apple begin to mount: Customers say they would rather have replaced battery than bought a new phone.
13. Shane Dawson Confronted His Hater To Break Down The Relationship Between Creator And Fan
14. Vice Founders Offer Apology, Changes As Culture Of Sexual Misconduct Comes To Light
15. How do you change the most important law in Internet history? Carefully – Op-ed: Changes to law shielding websites from liability for user posts should be minor.
16. Hotel That Charged Guest $350 For A Negative Review Now Facing A Lawsuit From State Attorney General
17. YouTube Star Poppy Collaborates With Microsoft’s New Chatbot To Make “High-Quality Internet Content”
18. As Artificial Intelligence Advances, Here Are Five Tough Projects For 2018
19. Data mining program designed to predict child abuse proves unreliable, DCFS says
20. Bitcoin’s price plunges amid broad cryptocurrency sell-off: Every major cryptocurrency suffered double-digit losses in the last 24 hours.
21. Bitcoin Crashed and Took the Whole Market Down With It
22. The Real Price of Bitcoin? According to Morgan Stanley, It’s Zero
23. Ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain
24. Iced Tea Maker’s Stock Price Triples After Adding ‘Blockchain’ to Name
25. Iced tea company rebrands as “Long Blockchain” and stock price triples
26. Songwriters, streaming companies strike landmark deal on music licensing
27. Facebook, Ready To Make Music, Lands Licensing Deal With Universal Music Group
28. Facebook Ditches ‘Disputed’ News Tag After It Totally Backfired
29. German regulator alleges abuse of dominance by Facebook over data usage policies 
30. Facebook’s Collection And Use Of Data From Third-Party Sources Is ‘Abusive’, Says Germany’s Competition Authority
31. Netflix Delves Into Podcasting To Promote True Crime Docuseries ‘Wormwood’
32. Nvidia to cease producing new drivers for 32-bit systems: Bit by bit, the PC world is continuing to drop its legacy support.
33. Warren Kinsella settles claim against Twitter
34. Loud, influential, and hyped: How we overestimate Twitter
35. Library of Congress Gives Up Collecting All Tweets Because Twitter Is Garbage
36. Twitter Survives TCPA Text Messaging Class Action
37. CNN To Discontinue Its Snapchat News Show At The End Of The Year
38. Pinterest Should Die
39. Why Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore
40. As Amazon Ramps Up Furniture and Appliance Business, Home Depot Is Sweating
41. Charter, Disney Execs Pledge To Crack Down On Streaming Password Sharing ‘Piracy’
42. UEFA secures UK court order to block illegal soccer streams: Using the same technology as the Premier League to stop feeds at their source.
43. Why Workplace Instant Messaging Is Hot Again
44. Google fights fragmentation: New Android features to be forced on apps in 2018 – New Play Store rules give developers one year to adopt any new Android changes.
45. Adult supervision no longer needed at Google (Alpahbet)…so Eric Schmidt is stepping aside 
46. Top EU Court Says Uber Is A Transport Service That Can Be Regulated Like Traditional Taxis
47. The Most Awesome Codebreaker In World War II Was A Woman
48. Virtual Reality Lets You Arrive Without Traveling
49. Virtual reality’s best experiences and biggest (teleportation) steps in 2017: Who made VR’s best stuff in 2017 – and why wasn’t it Valve or Oculus? Plus, 2018 
50. Big Tech: The New Predatory Capitalism – The tech giants are menacing democracy, privacy, and competition. Can they be housebroken?
51. How Data Saved The Golden State Warriors
52. Your face in froth: London cafe offers Europe’s first ‘selfieccino.’
53. The most talked-about stories on Ars Technica in 2017
54. The Worst Gadgets of 2017
55. 2017 Was A Volatile Year In The World Of Online Video. Here Are Five Reasons Why. 
56. The Canadian Copyright Review in the Age of Technological Disruption (Michael Geist)

CREATIVITY

1. Livent decision and the scope of auditor liability
2. Good News: Trump Protestors Accused Of ‘Hiding Behind The First Amendment’ Acquitted
3. You can transfer a copyright without saying ‘copyright’ 
4. EU Commission Hid Yet Another Report That Showed Its Assumptions About Copyright Were Wrong
5. Europe’s Ongoing Attack On Free Speech, And Why It Should Concern Us All
6. Fox News website beefs up and ‘goes a little Breitbart’: As competition surges on the right, Fox’s website increasingly follows the path of its prime-time hosts.
7. Dear Barstool Sports: No You Cannot Sue The NFL For Its Non-Infringing Merchandise. Also, Relax.
8. A Kat’s 2017 Copyright Awards
9. These experts figured out why so many bogus patents get approved: Empirical research reveals three big problems with how patents are vetted.
10. Concerns Around The Discourse About “Fake News” And Elections
11. Class of 2018 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Months Later, And People Are Still Discovering Their Dead Loved Ones Were Used To Support Killing Net Neutrality 
2. The Heroes We Need: An Overview of Who’s Fighting for and Against Net Neutrality
3. The End of the Internet? What to Expect after the FCC’s 3-2 Vote to Restore Internet Freedom 
4. Comcast’s Tax-Cut Investment ‘Increase’ Is A Giant Nothingburger
5. Washington state: Comcast was “even more deceptive” than we thought – “Additional consumers… rejected the SPP, but Comcast signed them up anyway.”
6. Comcast claims it’ll spend $50B because of net neutrality repeal and tax cut: Comcast says it will increase network investment, but it was already doing that.
7. Why Net Neutrality Will Be A Campaign Issue In 2018
8. FCC tries to make Miami pirate radio station walk the plank: $144,000 fine for ignoring all requests to stop.
9. The UK Just Decided That 10 Mbps Broadband Should be a Legal Right
10. CRTC Seeks Comments on Its Reseller Registration Obligation
11. Globe editorial: In 2018, the fight for net neutrality must continue 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Jailed Russian says he hacked DNC on Kremlin’s orders and can prove it
2. Canadian Government Looking To Step Up Domestic Surveillance, Scale Back Intelligence Oversight
3. Facial recognition at US airports becoming routine, researchers warn – Prof asks: “We’re wondering if this is the best use of a billion dollars?”
4. What Amazon Echo And Google Home Do With Your Voice Data
5. Facebook Transparency Report: Lots Of Government Surveillance, Bad Copyright Takedown Requests
6. OkCupid begins enforcing real-name rules, insists it’s a good idea: Dating site claims it’s “keeping with the times,” but what of users’ privacy desires?
7. Snowden’s New App Turns Your Phone Into A Home Security System
8. No boundaries for user identities: Web trackers exploit browser login managers
9. FOIA Researchers Are Targeting a Shadowy FBI Program Called ‘Gravestone’
10. Improve your online safety with advice from experts

Jon

GAMES

1. Crytek sues Star Citizen developers: Alleges Cloud Imperium is still using CryEngine, but studio will “defend vigourously” against “meritless lawsuit”
2. Crytek sues Star Citizen developers over game engine: Legal action is another distraction for the long-delayed project.
3. NBA2K18 Is Removing User Made Content From The Game Over IP Infringement, Refuses Refunds To Anyone Who Bought It
4. China blocks Steam Community features: But games marketplace remains open for users to buy and play new titles
5. How Minecraft Led To The Mirai Botnet
6. Minecraft was the reason the Mirai botnet was created: “These kids are super smart, but they didn’t do anything high level—they just had a good idea. It’s the most successful IoT botnet we’ve ever seen—and a sign that computer crime isn’t just about desktops anymore.”
7. Mod hub Nexus Mods plans to soon pay modders for their creations
8. Nexus Mods will add a system to reward mod creators: Leading mod community’s lawyers see no obvious legal issue with Bethesda
9. Cancelled Rising Thunder gets open-source release: Developer Radiant Entertainment gives game back to the community
10. Meet the legislator trying to do something about video game loot boxes: Hawaii’s Chris Lee wants to protect minors from “psychological manipulation”
11. How the legal battle around loot boxes will change video games forever: Digging in to one of 2017’s biggest gaming controversies
12. Despite major controversy, the new ‘Star Wars’ game is a massive success
13. New Zealand Gambling Regulator Deems Loot Boxes Not Gambling: Loot boxes don’t meet New Zealand’s legal definition of gambling.
14. Obsidian Entertainment: “No microtransactions, of any kind, in our game”: Developer addresses consumer concerns following recent partnership with Take-Two Interactive’s indie publishing arm, Private Division
15. Take-Two launches indie label with Obsidian, The Outsiders and Panache Digital onboard: Private Division will focus on high-end indie studios like those started by Patrice Désilets and Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto
16. With Private Division, Take-Two wants to empower a new breed of indie developer: Michael Worosz on the emergence of a high-end indie development, and Take-Two’s “venture capital meets game publishing” strategic response
17. Sorry, PlayerUnknown, you probably can’t stop Battlegrounds‘ copycats: US law offers few protections for gameplay design.
18. Brendan ‘PlayerUnknown’ Greene calls for better IP protection in games: PUBG creator laments the lack of deterrents for copycats, says clones stifle innovation
19. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Creator Massively Confused And Hypocritical In Rant Begging For More IP For Video Games
20. Call of Duty: WWII drives November US game sales to $2.7bn – NPD – ATVI hit generated more launch month spending than any Call of Duty debut since Black Ops II in November 2012
21. Super Mario Odyssey hits 1 million physical sales in Japan: The latest Famitsu data shows Switch nearing 3 million units sold
22. Nintendo leads games industry figureheads’ 2017 highlights: Also, Red Dead Redemption 2 (and various sporting victories) on execs’ 2018 Most Anticipated list
23. One-upping the NES Classic Edition with the Raspberry Pi 3 and RetroPie: NES Classic is no more, but luckily cheap hobbyist boards are great for little projects.
24. Twitch announces reality game show for streamers: Stream On to feature creators competing to turn live-streaming into full-time career
25. Twitch Begins Streaming Traditional Sports Through NFL, NBA
26. Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey Discusses Interest, Role In Esports
27. Analyst: On mobile platforms, women outspend men
28. Women are most valuable mobile gamers – DeltaDNA: Analytics firm finds lifetime value of average female player is 44% higher than that of average male player
29. Brexit’s shadow looms over 2018: A lack of recognition of the games industry’s needs from government have created concerns over hiring and trade that will continue into next year
30. 29% of games businesses negatively affected by Brexit, says TIGA: Depreciation of sterling had positive impact on 11% games firms, according to survey
31. FCC votes to dismantle net neutrality: ESA “disappointed” as US governing body votes 3-2 to abandon rule preventing service providers from blocking traffic
32. ESA hails US tax reform: Trade group applauds permanent reduction in corporate tax rate from as high as 35% down to 21%
33. Q&A: Designing Flutter VR, a game unapolegetically made for women
34. The Race For AR Glasses Starts Now
35. Pre-orders for Ataribox delayed: “Updated launch plan is currently underway,” says Atari
36. Codemasters may be preparing to go public – Report: The British racing studio could be valued at more than £100m, according to Sky News
37. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds sells 1 million on Xbox One: Survival shooter hits milestone in first 48 hours on sale in Xbox Game Preview program, now free with Xbox One X purchases through year’s end
38. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Finally Comes Out For Real
39. Magic Leap Finally Unveils its First AR Product ‘Magic Leap One’, Shipping Starts in 2018
40. Magic Leap AR Headset Hands-on Offers Details on Field of View, Weight & Content
41. Magic Leap: Founder of Secretive Start-Up Unveils Mixed-Reality Goggles – Rony Abovitz talks with Glixel about the tech and ambitions behind new MR Goggles
42. Magic Leap One: Creator Edition shipping in 2018 – Augmented reality company unveils long-awaited first product, a self-contained wearable platform
43. Facebook releases Spaces for HTC Vive: Oculus parent officially supports rival VR hardware with social chat app
44. UK charts overhaul: Digital data will finally be counted – A new combined physical/digital chart set for 2019
45. PS4 took half of all UK physical game sales in 2017: First year on record where a single console has accounted for more than 50% of the market
46. The 3DO: The birth of my cynicism
47. Guerrilla Games ending online support for Killzone 2 and Killzone 3
48. People of the Year 2017: Strauss Zelnick – Take-Two’s chairman set the company up for a banner year with no major new releases beyond its annualized sports titles
49. People of the Year 2017: From huge organisations and leading executives, to charitable causes and exceptional development talent – the best and brightest from the last year
50. People of the Year 2017: Christian Whitehead – Sonic the Hedgehog is relevant again, thanks to the indie developer who succeeded where Team Sonic repeatedly failed
51. Best PC Game Of 2017
52. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: The top 10 game developers of the year
53. GamesIndustry.biz presents… The Year In Numbers 2017: We present everything you need to know about the global market value, the biggest platforms, the hottest games and more
54. 5 events that shaped the game industry in 2017
55. 5 trends that defined the game industry in 2017
56. How will 2018 shape the games business?: Our analyst panel dissects everything to look out for during the next year
57. “2018 is going to be the year where gamers take the power back”: At the Slush conference, Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester predicted that next year will be great for gamers, and another disappointing one for VR
58. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Bryant Francis’ top 10 games
59. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Alissa McAloon’s top 6 games
60. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Kris Graft’s top 10 games
61. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Chris Kerr’s top 6 games
62. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Phill Cameron’s top 10 games
63. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: The top 10 game developers of the year
64. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Alex Wawro’s top 7 games
65. Obituary: Video game lawyer and VGBA co-founder David Rosenbaum

DIGITAL

1. Disney to buy part of 21st Century Fox for $52 billion: Disney gets FX Networks, X-Men, Deadpool, and a majority stake in Hulu.
2. Disney to Buy 21st Century Fox Assets for $52.4 Billion in Historic Hollywood Merger: Disney CEO Bob Iger extends contract through 2021 to oversee integration
3. Disney’s Acquisition Of Fox Could Change Streaming Forever 
4. What Will Happen To Hulu After Disney’s Fox Acquisition?
5. Disney Will Get More Vice After Acquiring 21st Century Fox’s $70 Million Stake
6. Disney buys 21st Century Fox in $52.4 billion deal: Acquisition includes popular IP like X-Men, Deadpool, Avatar and The Simpsons
7. ESPN Expands Monday Night Football Rights To Smartphones
8. Currency-mining Android malware is so aggressive it can physically harm phones: This is your phone on mining software. Any questions?
9. Facebook sends Ars takedown notice from Pink Floyd over NASA audio: Pink Floyd’s 2011 “Immersion Box Set” has the same audio from Apollo 11 mission.
10. Judge Hits Ctrl+Alt+Delete on Facebook User Tracking MDL 
11. The Great AI Paradox: Don’t worry about supersmart AI eliminating all the jobs. That’s just a distraction from the problems even relatively dumb computers are causing. 
12. Artificial intelligence is forcing us to work harder to define human intelligence — and to fight to defend it: Think like nobody’s strapping a band around your head to collect information about your thinking.
13. Artificial Intelligence Is Killing The Uncanny Valley And Our Grasp On Reality
14. 2017 Was The Year The Robots Really, Truly Arrived
15. Montreal seeks to lead responsible artificial-intelligence research
16. New York City moves to create accountability for algorithms: City Council passes bill addressing algorithmic discrimination in city government.
17. Russia’s Version Of Siri Might Be Russia’s Next President
18. For Russian ‘Trolls,’ Instagram’s Pictures Can Spread Wider Than Words
19. Russia Threatens To Ban YouTube And Twitter, But Probably Won’t Try
20. Twitter begins enforcing new anti-hate speech rules: Twitter won’t allow threats against people based on “group characteristics.”
21. The ‘Twitter Purge’ Nazi reckoning has begun. Here are the rules.
22. Once Again: Expecting Social Media Companies To Police ‘Bad’ Stuff Is A Bad Idea 
23. Hotel owner says she gets death threats after guest was charged $350 for posting negative review 
24. Microsoft Lifts Secrecy Veil In Harassment Cases, Will Others Follow?
25. Microsoft ends arbitration in sexual harassment cases: No word as to whether other Silicon Valley giants will follow suit.
26. Microsoft promises transparency in sexual harassment cases: Xbox platform holder will eliminate forced arbitration agreements in an effort to stop serial offenders
27. For 8 days Windows bundled a password manager with a critical plugin flaw: Plugin for Win 10 version of Keeper had bug allowing sites to steal passwords.
28. Google brings a Chrome… installer… to the Microsoft Store: The browser itself isn’t a store app. Just the installer.
29. Neither Microsoft nor Google looks good in this Chrome-installer squabble: Microsoft shouldn’t remove the Chrome installer; Google should aim higher. 
30. Chrome’s ad blocker goes live on February 15: The Web’s #1 advertising company makes a power play with its own ad blocker.
31. European News Agencies Again Demand Google, Facebook, Etc. Pay Up For Sending Them Traffic
32. Iowa Supreme Court Apparently Unfamiliar With First Amendment And Prior Restraint: Bars Newspaper From Publishing Info
33. Alphabet wants to deliver Internet access via laser beams: The company already has a buyer for its “Free space optical communication.”
34. The 37-Page Letter That Could Make Uber’s Problems So Much Worse
35. New letter: Top Uber officials engaged in illegal wiretapping, shady spycraft – A top Uber lawyer instructed that “double-secret A/C priv” be written on a document.
36. Top EU court: Uber is just another transportation service – Uber can now be regulated in EU member states like any company operating taxis.
37. World-wide injunctions in the Canadian Supreme Court
38. Google Finally Lets You Mute Autoplay Videos In Chrome—Here’s How
39. Minnesota Mom Pleads Guilty To Killing Boyfriend In Ill-Conceived YouTube Stunt
40. YouTube Music Head: Looped Song Clips No Longer Count Toward Billboard Chart Tallies
41. YouTube Strikes New Deals With Universal and Sony Music
42. YouTube Inks Licensing Deals With Universal And Sony Music As It Preps Paid Service (Report)
43. The World’s Best Film School Is Free On YouTube
44. Amazon Has Applied For A Trademark On A Name That Sounds Like A YouTube Competitor
45. Amazon Prime Video App Gets Most Week One Downloads In Apple TV Store
46. Alexa Wants You To Talk To Your Ads
47. CBS Aims to Boost Video-Streaming News Hub CBSN in 2018
48. Publishers To Stop Receiving Facebook Money For News Feed Videos
49. Refinery29 Lays Off 34 Employees Amid Digital Media Headwinds
50. Snap’s H.R. Chief Allegedly Warned Staff About Serial Killers
51. ESPN, NBC Nab NFL Mobile-Streaming Games After Verizon Loses Exclusive Rights
52. Delaware Supreme Court Reverses Controversial Dell Appraisal Ruling
53. ‘Nazi VR’ Documentary Shows How VR is Helping to Convict Nazi War Criminals
54. VR Has Officially Ascended to ‘Crappy Last-Minute Gift’ Thanks to This AXE Bodywash Bundle 
55. Apple’s Third Series Order Is A Space Drama From ‘Battlestar Galactica’ EP
56. North Korea suspected in latest bitcoin heist, bankrupting Youbit exchange: Breach bankrupts Seoul-based company after it reformed in wake of a previous heist. 
57. Feds Rush to Cash in on Seized Bitcoin Cache Before the Bubble Bursts 
58. Danish Hockey Team Owner Pays Player Son Exclusively In Bitcoin
59. The Hard Math Behind Bitcoin’s Global Warming Problem
60. Want to really understand how bitcoin works? Here’s a gentle primer: Ars goes deep on the breakthrough online payment network.
61. Bank of Canada White Paper on Creating Digital Currency 
62. Twitter Envisions Future Where Fans Might Pay A Dollar To See A Buzzer Beater
63. New Website and Social Media Requirements for Canadian Reporting Issuers
64. What Happens When We Let Tech Care For Our Aging Parents
65. The 25 Most Popular Passwords of 2017: You Sweet, Misguided Fools
66. Insights: The Week That Changed The Internet
67. Silicon Valley’s Dumbest ‘Inventions’ of 2017
68. Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc. 
69. Internet Policy 20 Years Later: Did The U.S. Get It Right? 

CREATIVITY

1. Dr. Seuss and Star Trek mashup comic isn’t fair use after all, judge says: Case could turn on whether Boldly is a parody or an homage. 
2. T.J. Miller accused of physical and sexual assault in disturbing Daily Beast exposé
3. United States v. Broadcast Music, Inc.
4. Understanding joint authorship
5. How To Be A Television Futurist In Four Simple Steps 
6. Choosing the Ideal Venue for IP Disputes: Recent Developments in Federal Case Law 
7. Framing the Copyright Review: Bains and Joly Reference the Public Domain, Flexibility, Open Access and Limits of the Law (Michael Geist)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY 

1. Fostering a Vibrant Canadian Programming Market: My CRTC Submission Focusing on Net Neutrality and Rejecting New Taxes, Fees or Content Blocking (Michael Geist)
2. As the U.S. Retreats, Canada Doubles Down on Net Neutrality: “An Open Internet is Critical to Our Democracy” (Michael Geist)
3. Goodbye, net neutrality – Ajit Pai’s FCC votes to allow blocking and throttling: But pro-net neutrality groups will sue FCC to reinstate consumer protections. 
4. The FCC Just Killed Net Neutrality. Now What?
5. Republicans Just Sold Out the Internet. Now What? 
6. FCC Votes to Kill Net Neutrality, Capping a Year of Endless B.S.
7. FCC Votes To Overturn Net Neutrality Rules, Brings Us One Step Closer To A Destroyed Internet
8. GOP net neutrality bill would allow paid fast lanes and preempt state laws: FCC would be permanently barred from using Title II authority over broadband.
9. Digital Creators Rally Against Repeal Of Net Neutrality
10. Online Retailers Support Challenges to Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules
11. Fight: The Wired Guide To Net Neutrality
12. Donald Trump Jr. and Ted Cruz lambast Mark Hamill’s support of net neutrality: “It was Vader who supported govt power over everything said & done on the Internet.”
13. The FCC’s ‘Harlem Shake’ video may violate copyright law: The agency apparently didn’t get permission to use the song.
14. Leaked E-mail Shows Even The FCC’s Own CTO Thinks Gutting Net Neutrality Harms The Public
15. T-Mobile’s Getting Into Cable TV, Where Its Opposition To Net Neutrality May Come Back To Bite It
16. The Looming Net Neutrality Fight Is Looking Damn Good for Democrats
17. The FCC’s Ajit Pai now openly mocking net neutrality protesters with his dumb new video
18. Diplo and Mad Decent Take Aim at FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Over Illegal Use of “Harlem Shake”
19. Baauer is ‘taking action’ against FCC chairman for using Harlem Shake in net neutrality repeal video: The DJ and producer will do ‘whatever I can to stop this loser’
20. The Artist Behind The “Harlem Shake” Briefly Got An Ajit Pai Video Taken Down From YouTube
21. This Whole Mess With Ajit Pai, The Harlem Shake And Copyright Is Bad And Everyone’s Wrong.
22. Why Must The FCC Insult Everyone’s Intelligence By Misrepresenting Broadband Investment?
23. Online Education After The End of Net Neutrality
24. FCC Repeals Net Neutrality – Don’t Go Down Without A Fight
25. The Biggest Whoppers From The FCC’s Net Neutrality Meeting
26. After FCC Abandons Net Neutrality, States Take Up The Fight
27. State attorneys general line up to sue FCC over net neutrality repeal: Net neutrality supporters will try to reinstate the rules in courts and Congress.
28. Two Separate Studies Show That The Vast Majority Of People Who Said They Support Ajit Pai’s Plan… Were Fake 
29. NY Attorney General Finds 2 Million Fake FCC Net Neutrality Comments
30. N.Y. Attorney General on Why He Refuses to Let Net Neutrality Die
31. Obama didn’t force FCC to impose net neutrality, investigation found: Ajit Pai still thinks Obama’s call for net neutrality rules amounted to an order.
32. FCC Boss Claims Net Neutrality Supporters Were Clearly Wrong Because Twitter Still Works The Day After Repeal
33. NAACP Fought Net Neutrality Until Last Week, Now Suddenly Supports The Idea
34. “There will be a [Senate] vote” to reinstate net neutrality, Schumer says: Congress could block net neutrality repeal, but Democrats face tough odds. 
35. Right On Cue, Marsha Blackburn Introduces A Fake Net Neutrality Bill To Make The FCC’s Idiotic Decision Permanent
36. Corporate Power and Censorship: A World Without Net Neutrality
37. This is why Canada is unlikely to end net neutrality like the US just did
38.  How the end of net neutrality in the US could affect Canadians
39. Committee calls for CASL clarification
40. Industry Committee Calls for CASL Clarification, Rejects Demands for Anti-Spam Law Overhaul (Michael Geist)
41. New Committee Report On CASL Highlights Need For Clarification And Education
42. Koch Brothers Are Cities’ New Obstacle To Building Broadband
43. FCC Permits Some Robocall Blocking
44. Regulators and criminals crowd cyberspace
45. How telecom and media companies can avoid the costly risks of mergers and acquisitions
46. Comcast to be “unleashed” on rivals when NBC merger conditions expire: Breakup of Comcast and NBC should be explored, senator says. 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Avatars, Facial Scans & Virtual Basketball: Second Circuit Tosses Biometric Privacy Case 
2. Another Court Says Compelled Password Production Doesn’t Violate The Fifth Amendment
3. Court Says German Intelligence Agency Can No Longer Hoard Billions Of Metadata Records
4. Kaspersky sues DHS over federal blacklist: “It failed to satisfy even the minimum standards of due process.”
5. Inside China’s Vast New Experiment In Social Ranking
6. China Is Building The Ultimate Surveillance Tool: A DNA Database Of Every Adult Resident In Troubled Xinjiang Region
7. Canadian Position on Data Localization Rules in Trade Deals Revealed: Protection for Government Data Only (Michael Geist)
8. Congress Backs Down From Terrible Surveillance Bill; Running Out Of Time
9. Trump administration formally blames North Korea for WannaCry. Now what?: There’s not a lot of remaining leverage on North Korea to change its cyber-behavior.
10. Homeland Security Adviser Pins Wannacry Attack On North Korea In Wall Street Journal Op-Ed
11. Hold North Korea Accountable For Wannacry – And The NSA, Too
12. Hackers take control of security firm’s domain, steal secret data: Attackers bypass HTTPS encryption protection by registering new TLS certificate.
13. In a Dystopian Move, the SPCA Is Using a Robot to Scare off Homeless People
14. The SPCA Has Removed Its Controversial Security Robot
15. Facebook Can Now Find Your Face, Even When It’s Not Tagged
16. Secrecy Is Dead. Here’s What Happens Next.
17. Top 10 Privacy Law Developments of 2017

Jon

GAMES

1. Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for breach of contract
2. The Force Is Weak With EA’s ‘Star Wars Battlefront II’ Game
3. Loot boxes may not return to Star Wars: Battlefront II: Amid pushback, exec floats possibility that microtransactions could be gone for good.
4. Opinion: This is the game industry’s last chance for lootbox self-regulation
5. New Zealand says lootboxes ‘do not meet the legal definition for gambling’
6. Survey: 11% of British children have taken part in game-related gambling
7. Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst predicts Battlefront 2 will miss its sales target by 2.5m copies
8. NPD Shows Dismal ‘Battlefront 2’ Sales At 20% Of ‘Call of Duty: WWII’ Sales
9. NPD Reveals Star Wars Battlefront II’s Physical Sales in the US Were “Disappointing” During November
   
10. You Must be 18 or Older to Enter cut from Steam over pornography concerns
11. How A Dorm Room Minecraft Scam Brought Down The Internet
12. Time for games to get cultured on culture: Far Cry 4 writer CJ Kershner says developers are getting better about depicting other groups, still have room to improve
13. Former employee sues Crytek Istanbul: Head of game operations laid off in October, still waiting on severance pay
14. Crytek partners with new startup to launch cryptocurrency for games
15. Make games inspired by the public domain
16. Apple’s evolving rules make iOS a hard platform for small devs, says Year Walk dev
17. PlayStation 4 has sold over 70 million units worldwide: Current generation console approaches lifetime sales of PlayStation 3
18. PlayStation 4 surpasses 70M sales as PSVR gains traction
19. Sony Has Sold Over 2 Million PSVR Units Worldwide Since Launch
20. ‘Ready Player One’ Movie Gets First Full Trailer, Book Sequel in the Works
21. Steam now lets devs know what platform users are wishlisting on
22. Accounting co-developer Squanchtendo rebrands to avoid Nintendo confusion
23. Squanchtendo rebrands to avoid Nintendo clash: Justin Roilland’s VR studio now called Squanch Games, teases first title announcement at this week’s Game Awards
24. Zelda: Breath of the Wild takes top honor at The Game Awards
25. Nintendo Switch worldwide sales top 10M units
26. Putting Nintendo Switch’s 10 million sales in context: How does Nintendo’s hot console compare, historically?
27. Is Nintendo Switch really as successful as we think it is? – Review of the Year: We look at a landmark 12 months for Nintendo
28. Call of Duty: World War II longest-running UK No.1 since 2015 – Activision Blizzard’s latest shooter rack up sixth consecutive week in the top spot
29. The Uncharted franchise has surpassed 41M sales
30. Global esports revenue to hit $2.3 billion in 2022 – SuperData: “Advertisers and investors are finally taking notice of esports’ access to key audiences”
31. CrossCut Venture to invest in games and esports after raising $125 million fund: Gaming an esports represent “growing area of importance”
32. Sacramento Kings Unveil Esports Facility Inside Golden 1 Center
33. Investors sink $25M into mobile eSports platform Skillz
34. Playkey raises $10.5m through cryptocurrency sale: Russian streaming platform attracts new investors through Initial Coin Offering
35. LMFAO Xur Is Selling Prometheus Lens
36. People of the Year 2017: SpecialEffect – This year has been the video game charity’s biggest and most important on record
37. People of the Year 2017: Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene – The driving force behind the biggest game of 2017 was “a photographer, a DJ, a designer” for most of his life – the remarkable rise of Brendan Greene
38. ‘PlayerUnknown’ argues for better protection against copycat games: “I want other developers to put their own spin on the genre… not just lift things from our game. I want this genre of games to grow. “
39. It’s Not That Videogames Don’t Need Big Award Shows. It’s That They Don’t Need Any

DIGITAL

1. Canadian ISPs And Hollywood Agree On Plan To Make Themselves Judge, Jury and Website Executioner
2. “Suspicious” event routes traffic for big-name sites through Russia: Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft all affected by “intentional” BGP mishap.
3. Russia Says Disconnecting From The Rest Of The Net ‘Out Of The Question’, But Wants Alternative DNS Servers For BRICS Nations
4. Prince’s Estate Goes After Another YouTuber, This Time To Protect Copyrights Against Bootleg Concert Footage
5. YouTube’s new music streaming service reportedly launching next March: It will combine YouTube Red with Google Play Music
6. Very Dumb YouTuber Nearly Died In Very Dumb Head-In-Cement Microwave Stunt
7. YouTube Exec Addresses Inappropriate Videos In Open Letter To Family Creators: “We Hear You And We Are Listening” 
8. Gamer Dan “DanTDM” Middleton Leads Forbes List Of Top-Earning YouTube Stars With Estimated $16.5 Million Income In 2017
9. After Investigation, Father Behind Terminated YouTube Channel Toy Freaks Won’t Face Criminal Charges
10. YouTube TV’s Latest Territorial Expansion Adds 34 Markets, Includes College Football Hotbeds Ahead Of Postseason 
11. NFL Inks Multi-Year Deal With Verizon To Expand Live Streaming 
12. Verizon Pays Reported $2.25 Billion To Stream NFL Games (Including This Season’s Playoffs) On Go90, Yahoo, AOL
13. ESPN+ Streaming To Bring ‘Netflix-Like Aggregation’ Of Sports Content 
14. Twitch To Broadcast The NBA’s Second-Tier League With Its Streamers As Commentators
15. Twitch, NBA G League Streaming Deal Elevates Hoops Fan Commentary
16. Amazon Adds Twitch Compatibility For All Alexa-Enabled Devices
17. Ahead of FCC vote, Twitch CEO speaks on importance of net neutrality
18. The Amazon machine
19. Apple TV App Now Makes It Easier For Fans To Discover, Follow Sports
20. Apple confirms Shazam acquisition; Snap and Spotify also expressed interest
21. Apple Acquires Music Identifying Service Shazam: Other potential suitors included Snapchat and Spotify.
22. Instagram Removes Stories Ad With Hair Strand To Trick Users Into Swiping Up
23. Netflix calls out the 53 people who can’t stop watching A Christmas Prince
24. MPAA Wins: Australia To Carve Google And Facebook Out Of Its Expanded Safe Harbor Provisions
25. Google Promised a Way to Jailbreak the iPhone and It Delivered
26. Google Is Giving Away AI That Can Build Your Genome Sequence
27. In Just 4 Hours, Google’s AI Mastered All The Chess Knowledge in History
28. DeepMind AI needs mere 4 hours of self-training to become a chess overlord: AlphaGo Zero needed three days to train up in Go; AlphaZero needed just eight hours.
29. Artificial Intelligence Seeks An Ethical Conscience
30. Former Facebook Exec: ‘You Don’t Realize It But You Are Being Programmed’
31. What Happens When the Government Uses Facebook as a Weapon?: It’s social media in the age of “patriotic trolling” in the Philippines, where the government is waging a campaign to destroy a critic—with a little help from Facebook itself.
32. Rise of the Chatbots 
33. The App That Reminds You You’re Going to Die: It helped me find inner peace. 
34. Insights: High Tech, High Touch, & How To Keep The Human In An Algorithmic World 
35. I used to be a bitcoin bull—here’s why that changed: With “buy bitcoin with credit card” trending on Google, investors should be wary. 
36. Patreon to World: ‘We Messed Up’
37. Patreon Calls Off Fee Change Following Widespread Creator Consternation
38. Why Everyone Is Mad at Patreon Now
39. Change To Patreon’s Fee Structure Has Many Creators Up In Arms
40. Patreon senior engineer: “We don’t need” misbehaving CEOs: “Bad actors” have had their time. “They’re done. They can go.”
41. Uber’s Not The Only One That Should Be Wary Of Disappearing Messaging Apps
42. Uber settles second US lawsuit filed by India rape victim: Woman claimed that Uber execs accessed, shared her medical files.
43. Twitter Will Finally Display View Counts On Video Tweets
44. This Is How Steve Bannon And Breitbart Tried To Sabotage Twitter: For more than a year before he became Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Steve Bannon sought to wage war against Twitter, tasking Milo Yiannopoulos and other Breitbart News employees to look into editorial, financial, and legal ways they could harm the Jack Dorsey–led social network.
45. LinkedIn Activity May Violate Non-Solicitation Agreements 
46. Connected Devices and the Right-To-Repair Movement
47. Cracking down on a bad coin offering
48. SEC Chair Clayton issues statement on cryptocurrencies and ICOs: are all ICOs securities offerings? 
49. Bank of America Wins Patent for Crypto Exchange System
50. This startup uses body heat to mine crypto – for when robots take our jobs
51. How Technology Tests Our Trust
52. Silicon Valley’s Worst Apologies of 2017  

CREATIVITY

1.  The Fight for Fair Copyright Returns: Canadian Government Launches Major Copyright Review (Michael Geist)
2. Opening Statements In The Trademark Battle Of The Comic Cons, While Other Regional Cons Go Full Judas
3. SLCC Rankles Judge With Social Media Posts As A Jury Prepares To Rule
4. San Diego Comic-Con Wins Lawsuit Over ‘Comic Con’ Trademark
5. Comic Con Verdict: Salt Lake Comic Con Loses The Battle, Now Seeks To Win The War 
6. Indigenous activist heads back to court in fight against Cleveland Indians logo
7. Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. v. ComicMix LLC 
8. Egyptian singer Shyma gets two years in jail – for suggestively eating a banana in a music video: She was arrested last month after authorities said her music video for ‘I Have Issues’ incited debauchery
9. Saudis Will Be Able To Go To Movie Theaters For The First Time In Decades
10. Reporter Says NFL Network Job Interviewer Asked If She “Planned On Getting Knocked Up” 
11. Look, we all want to watch Avengers and X-Men fight, but this Disney-Fox merger still sucks
12. Disney And Fox
13. 11 Minor Star Wars Characters Who Got Absurdly Full Lives Beyond the Movies 
14. Canadian Trade Committee Warns Against Unbalanced U.S. IP Demands in NAFTA (Michael Geist) 
15. State Board That Fined Man For Criticizing The Government Without A License Admits It Was Wrong

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. On the Eve of the FCC’s Reclassification of Broadband Services, the FCC and FTC Release Memorandum of Understanding for Oversight of Broadband 
2. No, The FTC Won’t Save You Once Net Neutrality Rules Are Killed
3. It’s Super Hard To Find Humans In The Fcc’s Net Neutrality Comments
4. FCC Must Investigate Fraud Before Voting On Net Neutrality 
5. What to Expect from the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order 
6. Net Neutrality a Concern? Companies Are Already Denying You Access to Content
7. Net Neutrality Protests Move Online, Yet Big Tech Is Quiet
8. FCC Plan To Kill Net Neutrality Rules Could Hurt Students
9. FCC Commissioner Blasts Her Own Agency for Withholding Evidence of Fraud
10. A Republican lawmaker urges FCC to delay net neutrality repeal vote: FCC should wait for Congress to create net neutrality law, Republican says. 
11. The FCC Says Net Neutrality Cripples Investment. That’s Not True
12. Net Neutrality, Kanye, and Hot Dogs: Quantifying the Impact of the Day of Action Using Media Cloud and Google Trends
13. Any lawful device: Revisiting Carterfone on the eve of the Net Neutrality vote – From the archives: An old FCC decision provides perspective for what the Commission is doing now.
14. Leaked Video Shows FCC Chair Ajit Pai Roasting Himself With ‘Jokes’ About Being a Verizon Shill 
15. Bomb threat temporarily disrupts FCC vote to kill net neutrality rules: Repeal vote was about to happen when Ajit Pai announced brief recess.
16. FCC Boss Claims Net Neutrality Hurts Small ISPs, But The FCC’s Own Data Proves Otherwise
17. Ajit Pai offers no data for latest claim that net neutrality hurt small ISPs: ISPs supposedly harmed by the rules expanded to new areas and installed fiber.
18. FCC Boss Lies Again, Insists Net Neutrality Harms The Sick And Disabled 
19. FCC Boss ‘Jokes’ About Being A ‘Verizon Puppet’ At Tone Deaf Industry Gala
20. Ajit Pai jokes with Verizon exec about him being a “puppet” FCC chair: “We want to groom a Verizon puppet to install as FCC chair,” Verizon says in skit. 
21. ISP disclosures about data caps and fees eliminated by net neutrality repeal: ISPs won’t have to reveal the full cost of service when you buy broadband.
22. How Reddit and others “broke the Internet” to support net neutrality today: Major websites join last-ditch effort to save net neutrality rules.
23. “Face reality! We need net neutrality!” Crowds chant across the country: Protests led by various activist groups manage to turn out crowds large and small.
24. T-Mobile promises to end the “complete bulls—t” from TV companies in 2018: John Legere wants to give the cable companies a taste of the “Un-carrier” medicine.
25. Why I Changed My Mind On Net Neutrality
26. The Free Market Argument For Net Neutrality
27. Net Neutrality Briefing: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (Michael Geist)
28. Canada’s Lead Negotiator Confirms Government Seeking Net Neutrality Safeguards in NAFTA (Michael Geist)
29. India Embraces Full Net Neutrality As The U.S. Turns Its Back On The Concept
30. Shocker: Study Finds Cord Cutting Very Real, TV Execs Still Failing To Adapt

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Supreme Court of Canada Rules Text Messages Can Attract a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy
2. SCC Recognizes Expectation of Privacy in Text Message Conversations
3. The Supreme Court says your text messages could be considered private even after you send them: The court cautions that much depends on the facts of each case
4. Texting and the Expectation of Privacy
5. Supreme Court of Canada Rules Text Messages May Attract Reasonable Expectation of Privacy (Michael Geist)
6. Canadian Supreme Court Says Privacy Protections Apply To Sent Text Messages Obtained From The Recipient
7. Google Publishes Another Batch Of National Security Letters, Updates Its Transparency Report
8. Top EU Data Protection Body Asks US To Fix Problems Of ‘Privacy Shield’ Or Expect A Referral To Region’s Highest Court
9. UK Court Says Company Is Innocent In Massive Data Breach Caused By Vindictive Employee, But Must Nonetheless Pay Compensation
10. Court Holds NYPD In Contempt For Refusing To Hand Over Documents Related To Black Live Matter Surveillance
11. Court Says Google Must Unmask Person Who Left Wordless, One-Star Review Of Local Psychiatrist
12. How to Track a Cellphone Without GPS—or Consent
13. How Email Open Tracking Quietly Took Over The Web
14. Kaspersky Closes DC Office, Says It Is ‘No Longer Viable’ to Work With Federal Government
15. Exposed: Ethiopia’s nefarious, comically bungled spyware campaign – Publicly traded company helps country spy on critics, no questions asked.
16. Iranian Hackers Have Been Infiltrating Critical Infrastructure Companies
17. Game-changing attack on critical infrastructure site causes outage: Attack will serve as a blueprint for future attacks on other industrial systems.
18. Quantum Computing Is The Next Big Security Risk
19. Making Sense Of Apple’s Recent Security Stumbles

Jon

GAMES

1. Epic Sues 14 Year Old It Accuses Of Cheating In Videogames After He Counternotices a DMCA On His YouTube Video
2. Epic Games lawsuit over Fortnite cheats ends in settlement
3. Creators of Star Control accuse Stardock of publishing games without permission
4. Star Control creators accuse Stardock of selling games unlawfully: GOG.com pulling games from sale as publisher says devs have gone years without asserting rights, should have addressed it sooner
5. Gambling-addicted teen begs EA to reconsider microtransaction strategy: Meanwhile, Take-Two Interactive boss insists loot boxes aren’t gambling
6. EA trips up on the path from Product to Service: Consumer annoyance over micro-transactions doesn’t change the fact that every major publisher is shifting business model wholesale in that direction
7. State Rep: Games industry must self-regulate loot boxes before government steps in
8. Games industry must self-regulate on loot boxes, says state representative – Sean Quinlan: Legislation would be a “slippery slope”
9. 35% or more of EA Sports players spend on Ultimate Team: CFO Blake Jorgensen says publisher focuses on getting people into the funnel, not on making payers spend more
10. Warframe dev: Industry must get better at “giving players a choice and a voice” – Microtransactions aren’t inherently bad, and they can work with AAA-type experiences says Meridith Braun, VP, Publishing, Digital Extremes
11. PUBG Will Never Add A Loot Box Item ‘That Affects The Gameplay’: New cosmetic items will come after official launch.
12. EA says half of Ultimate Teamplayers spend money on the F2P mode: “Of those 75 percent of the people, about half of those people actually spend some money and the other half just play without spending. But in a free-to-play world, that’s a fantastic balance of spenders and non-spenders.”
13. What reaching 25 million users says about Rainbow Six Siege and games-as-a-service: Siege is an outlier, and one the publishing giants can learn from
14. FTC Finalizes Its First Settlement For Social Media Influencers
15. Childline and NSPCC condemn ‘unacceptable’ Detroit: Become Human – Campaigners concerned by the depiction of violence against children
16. “We have to remember it’s a game”: Mixing anti-cultism and action in Far Cry 5: Creative director Dan Hay discusses reactions to Ubisoft’s upcoming shooter and how the Far Cry team touches on topical themes
17. “It’s the game designer’s job to evoke different sides of humanity”: Thatgamecompany president Jenova Chen believes that positive behavior can be rewarded and monetized
18. Bungie opens up about Destiny 2 changes after hidden “scaling” debacle: Big changes coming for experience system and everything else.
19. “Smaller studios will define the future of video game storytelling”: A fresh wave of developers aims to change the industry with narrative titles that appeal to wider audiences than anything in the charts
20. Sega cuts full-year profit forecast by 54.5 percent
21. People of the Year 2017: Ninja Theory – Ninja Theory is to be commended for its handling of mental illness and for showing how indies can still approach AAA development
22. People of the Year 2017: Larian Studios – With Divinity: Original Sin II, the Belgian studio combined both commercial performance with creative excellence – and it did so on its own terms
23. War Child UK launches world’s first mobile gaming armistice: Charity looking to build on success of 2016’s armistice which raised over £100,000
24. Twitch sees “glimmer of hope” in battle against toxic behavior: Co-founder Kevin Lin tells GamesIndustry.biz he believes positivity will perpetuate out from smaller, more controlled channels
25. The Odd, Enduring Appeal Of Musou Games May Finally Be Paying Off
26. Why The Golden State Warriors Bet Millions On A League of Legends Team
27. Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue On Esports: ‘It’s Not Sports’
28. Mark Emmert: NCAA Exploring Whether Or Not It Has Role In Esports
29. College Conference Commissioners Question Whether Esports Is A Sport
30. The Overwatch Videogame League Aims To Become The New NFL
31. The Overwatch League Preseason Begins Today, Here’s What You Need To Know
32. BBC launches VR Hub studio: Broadcaster will focus on high-quality, high-impact experiences in effort to push tech to the mainstream
33. VR devs need to unlearn unspoken game dev rules, says Oculus exec: “Sometimes people don’t understand how specific an IP is to the hardware it’s been made for.”
34. Analyst: The Switch topped online sales charts during Thanksgiving weekend
35. The Switch was the best-selling product online over Thanksgiving: Nintendo’s console tops the charts despite not going on sale
36. Nintendo brings Wii and GameCube titles to Nvidia Shield in China
37. Nintendo targets Chinese gamers with remasters for Nvidia Shield: Platform holder increases presence in lucrative market with China-only re-release of Twilight Princess and New Super Mario Bros. Wii
38. Nintendo brings HD Wii games to China’s Nvidia Shield—is Switch next?: Remastered ports could be a test run on similar Tegra hardware.
39. A List Of Old Games That I Would Definitely Buy Again On Switch
40. Valve announces the return of Portal… via Bridge Constructor: Licensed expansion almost counts as V alve’s first “new” game in years.
41. Vivendi a third wheel in the Activision Blizzard union: 10 Years Ago This Month: The media giant orchestrated a massively successful merger but walked away with relatively little to show for it
42. Blizzard, EA among Glassdoor’s best places to work: Employees have given both game companies high marks
43. Digital revenues up 15% in October – Superdata: Single-player games holding their own while Destiny 2 and PUBG push premium PC up 28%; worldwide digital revenues total $8.5 billion
44. Sega’s game division holds strong despite 54.5% cut to company-wide profit forecast: Operating income for games up by $35 million despite net sales decline
45. Neill Blomkamp: ‘It’s inevitable that the uncanny valley just goes away’ – District 9 director talks about his experience creating the ADAM short films with Unity
46. The games industry has an inferiority complex, and it’s holding us back: Some studios have a “fundamental lack of understanding” of narrative and character development, says writer for Destiny: The Taken King
47. Super Mario Run, CATS get Google Play 2017 nods: Nintendo claims most downloaded new title while ZeptoLab’s battle bot fighter awarded Game of the Year
48. World of Warcraft, world of inspiration – Why I Love: Lightseekers senior designer Ana Steiner traces her history with the MMO that convinced her to pursue a career in games
49. Blackbird Interactive to open new gaming studio in False Creek Flats
50. Citing volatile value, Steam drops Bitcoin support
51. Steam no longer accepting Bitcoin: Storefront says high fees and volatile price fluctuations make supporting the cryptocurrency “untenable”
52. Crytek helping launch Crycash cryptocurrency: Developer says paying players who reach certain milestones in its games will be a cost-effective user acquisition strategy

DIGITAL

1. Bell Leads on Radical Proposal for CRTC-Backed Mandatory Website Blocking System (Michael Geist)
2. Bell’s Latest Privacy Solution: Enhance Internet Privacy By Blocking Access to It (Michael Geist) 
3. Not Just Bell: Shaw Calls on CRTC To Support Website Blocking (Michael Geist)
4. SCC To Weigh In On Fees For Identifying ISP Subscribers: Rogers v. Voltage 
5. “Relief and happiness”: Supreme Court of Canada to hear VICE press freedoms case
6. The Reckoning at Vice Has Begun
7. Sixth Circuit Suggests Liability for Copyright Infringement May Justify Reduced First Amendment Protection for Anonymous Speech, But Recommends Consideration of Context and ‘Practical Need’ for Unmasking 
8. Silicon Valley Investor Takes Leave of Absence After Harassment Reports
9. Senator Kamala Harris Serves Up A Not-Completely-Terrible Revenge Porn Bill
10. Hyperloop One co-founder takes leave after sexual harassment accusations: Shervin Pishevar claims he is the subject of a “smear campaign.”
11. Disney Sues Redbox Over Sale of Movie Download Codes: The DVD kiosk rental company allegedly disassembles a product package and then sells codes separately in what Disney asserts is a violation of copyright law.
12. The Uber-Waymo Lawsuit Gets A New Star—And Takes A Wild Turn
13. LA City Attorney Jumps Into Uber Fray 
14. Waymo can’t stop Uber employees from explaining Wickr use while at Waymo – Judge Alsup: “I can’t stand it when Waymo or the other side wants it both ways.”
15. Yahoo’s Insanely Bad Deal to Pay Mozilla $375 Million a Year for Nothing Is Headed to Court
16. Apple agrees to set aside more than $15 billion to Ireland in back taxes: Despite EU ruling, neither Apple nor Ireland wants the Cupertino company to pay.
17. Twitter’s Year in Review Confirms 2017 Sucked
18. Tinder Can Now Show Who It Thinks You’ll Swipe Right On
19. The Future of Artificial Intelligence and its Impact on Society
20. A Swarm Intelligence Correctly Predicted TIME’s Person of the Year
21. I Enlisted an Algorithm to Help Me Write the Perfect Piece of Science Fiction. This is our Story.
22. Google Yanks YouTube From Amazon’s Echo Show And Fire TV Devices
23. Google will pull YouTube support from Amazon Fire TVs in 2018: No more YouTube for yet another Amazon device.
24. Google and Amazon are punishing their own customers in a bitter feud: It shouldn’t have come to this
25. Google And Amazon Are Harming Consumers And Behaving Like Obnoxious Toddlers 
26. Amazon Prime Video finally arrives on Apple TV, months after original announcement: The long-awaited app is now available for 3rd-gen Apple TVs and newer devices.
27. Google is blocking YouTube on Amazon’s Echo Show and Fire TV: The service won’t work until Amazon is willing to collaborate with Google on a YouTube app for its devices.
28. Google bans Android developers from adding lock screen ads: Users will no longer be troubled by shady apps that hijack lock screens.
29. Chrome to stop third-party software injections because they make it crash: Users with injected software are 15 percent more likely to experience crashes.
30. Essential CEO Andy Rubin goes on leave for “personal reasons”: A report claims Rubin, the father of Android, left Google after an HR investigation.
31. Google, Amazon Find Not Everyone Is Ready For AI
32. Inside Baidu’s Bid To Lead The Ai Revolution
33. San Francisco Just Put The Brakes On Delivery Robots
34. Many Startup Founders Doubt Extent Of Sexual Harassment
35. Home Security Company Says No One Linking To Its Website Is Allowed To Disparage It
36. Snopes Debunks Fake YouTube Video; Video’s Creator Responds With A Bogus DMCA Notice
37. Data-Saving YouTube Go App Arrives In Thailand, Malaysia, Ghana, Kenya, More
38. YouTube Will Reportedly Make Advertisers Pay More To Ensure Placement On Top-Level Videos
39. YouTube Will Have 10,000 Humans Working To Purge Questionable Content In 2018
40. Expanding our work against abuse of our platform
41. Toy Freaks Dad Reportedly Under Investigation For Disturbing Videos
42. Seven-Year-Old Suffers Severe Burns After Attempting YouTube ‘Fire Challenge’
43. Amid Kids’ Content Controversy, YouTube To Offer 5 Family-Friendly Red Series For Free
44. YouTube CEO To Creators: We’re Going To Be Better About Demonetization
45. Vidme Shuts Down Its Video Platform, Will Launch New Product Next Year
46. YouNow Inks First Content Deal With Eleven Sports For Crypto App Rize
47. BET To Celebrate Influencers, Viral Videos At Inaugural ‘Social Awards’
48. It’s 25 years since someone sent the first text message
49. Emails Show Pretty Much Everyone on Trump’s Transition Team Knew Mike Flynn Talked to Russians
50. Oh my god, he just admitted to obstruction of justice. If Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI when he asked Comey to let it go, then there is your case.
51. Looking for the Linguistic Smoking-Gun in a Trump Tweet: Could the word pled really reveal who wrote Trump’s reaction to the Flynn news?
52. The underground story of Cobra, the 1980s’ illicit handmade computer: In their poor, Communist country, Romania’s computer curious built an underground industry.
53. ‘Mailsploit’ Lets Hackers Forge Perfect Email Spoofs
54. Is Bitcoin a Pyramid Scheme?
55. The IRS Has Come Knocking at Bitcoin’s Door
56. Bitcoin, Bankers, and Barriers to Legislation
57. Bitcoin’s insane energy consumption, explained: One estimate suggests the Bitcoin network consumes as much energy as Denmark.
58. Bitcoin Mining Guzzles Energy—And Its Carbon Footprint Just Keeps Growing
59. A brief history of Bitcoin hacks and frauds: Bitcoins have been a juicy target for hackers since 2011.
60. Feds shut down allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency offering: Cryptocurrency offerings are no longer a regulation-free zone.
61. Will Repealing Net Neutrality Really Spell Doom for Cryptocurrencies? 
62. The Wikipedia Competitor That’s Harnessing Blockchain For Epistemological Supremacy
63. Preparing for liability in the age of the Internet of Things 
64. Future Historians Probably Won’t Understand Our Internet, and That’s Okay: Archivists are working to document our chaotic, opaque, algorithmically complex world—and in many cases, they simply can’t.
65. Canada’s Missing Internet Provision: Why NAFTA Offers the Chance to Establish Long Overdue Online Speech Safeguards (Michael Geist)

CREATIVITY

1.  Disney Sued Over Alleged “Let It Go” Song Theft, Millions Of YouTube Covers Could Be Affected
2. Brown v. Time Warner, Inc.
3. Copyright Does Not Protect Ideas, Only Expression 
4. Comic-Con Busted In Libya For Being “Exploitative”
5. Protecting TV Show Formats
6. New copyright protection test for designs of useful articles
7. Can You Copyright Infringe Anonymously? Revisited.
8. What Happens If The DOJ Ends Up With Martin Shkreli’s Sole Copy Of The Wu Tang Clan Album?
9. Robin Wright To Lead Final ‘House Of Cards’ Season Without Kevin Spacey
10. In the Future, Everyone Will Have Their Personality Misappropriated for 15 Minutes 
11. Ohio couple gronked again 
12. Don’t Stop The Presses! When Local News Struggles, Democracy Withers
13. Atlanta Anchor Sharon Reed Claps Back at Viewer Who Calls Her N-Word After Mayoral Election
14. Appeals Court Affirms Dismissal of Libel Claims in Stolen Valor Case: Shane Ladner sued New World Communications of Atlanta for defamation after Ladner and his wife were among veterans on a float that collided with a train in Texas.
15. Ladner v. New World Communications of Atlanta Inc.

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Massachusetts District Court Finds VoIP Service is Not Cellular Service Per Se Under the TCPA  
2. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Pandora Could Face Billions In ‘Fast Lane’ Surcharges
3. How To Make Sense Of Net Neutrality And Telecom Under Trump
4. 50,000 net neutrality complaints were excluded from FCC’s repeal docket: FCC is “going to great lengths to ignore these documents,” advocate says.
5. Democrat asks why FCC is hiding ISPs’ answers to net neutrality complaints: Records request for net neutrality complaints and resolutions still unfulfilled.
6. Use This Tool to See If Your Name Was Used to Support Net Neutrality Repeal 
7. New York AG Provides Tool To Help You Check If Your Name Was Used To Support Killing Net Neutrality
8. Net neutrality activists just took over Reddit with protest posts: “This is my Senator. He sold me out to telecom lobbyists.” 
9. Absent Facts To Support Repealing Net Neutrality, Ajit Pai Wildly Attacking Hollywood Tweeters
10. After Attacking Random Hollywood Supporters Of Net Neutrality, Ajit Pai Attacks Internet Companies
11. Ajit Pai Attacked Hollywood & Silicon Valley Because Even Republicans Are Against His Net Neutrality Plan
12. Ajit Pai Doesn’t Want You Talking About Court Ruling That Undermines His Bogus Claim That The FTC Will Protect Consumers
13. Days Before Doing Verizon’s Bidding, Ajit Pai Gives A Talk At Verizon
14. The FCC Tried To Hide Net Neutrality Complaints Against ISPs 
15. Tom Wheeler slams Ajit Pai’s plan to kill net neutrality rules: FCC is “bend[ing] to the wishes” of big Internet providers, ex-chair says.
16. Commentary: The FCC Has Always Defended Net Neutrality. Why Stop Now?
17. Guardians of the Future: The FCC Commissioner is Working to Delay the Net Neutrality Vote
18. FCC won’t delay vote, says net neutrality supporters are “desperate”: Pai says FTC will protect consumers—but FTC could lose its regulatory authority.
19. AT&T wants you to forget that it blocked FaceTime over cellular in 2012 – AT&T: Your Internet service won’t change after FCC eliminates net neutrality rules.
20. ISPs Are Already Using The FCC’s Planned Net Neutrality Repeal To Harm Consumers 
21. No Parlay for Pirates: FCC Turns Up the Heat on Dozens of Alleged Pirate Radio Operators 
22. Digital Cancon, the Sequel: CRTC Broadcast Consult Sparks Demands for Everything from Internet and iPod Taxes to Website Blocking to Abandoning Net Neutrality (Michael Geist)
23. Tragedy offers lessons for event organisers managing volunteers

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Drawing the Line: Supreme Court Addresses Major Privacy Rights in Cell Phone Dispute
2. Judge Rules Amended Eavesdropping Suit Against Golden State Warriors Can Proceed
3. Trump Tweet About Surveillance Undercuts FBI’s Glomar Responses In FOIA Lawsuits 
4. House Internet Censorship Bill Is Just Like The Senate Bill, Except Worse
5. House Intelligence Committee Lobs Zero-Reform Section 702 Bill Into The Mix At The Last Possible Minute
6. German Government Official Wants Backdoors In Every Device Connected To The Internet
7. Navy Officer Working For The NSA Caught Trying To Search Her Boyfriend’s Son’s Phone
8. NSA, DOJ Still Aren’t Letting Defendants Know They’re Using Section 702 Evidence Against Them
9. Don’t Buy Anyone an Echo
10. Electrician Used Greasy Junk Food Bags to Hide His GPS Location and Skip Work
11. Evidence That Ethiopia Is Spying On Journalists Shows Commercial Spyware Is Out Of Control
12. Champing At The Cyberbit: Ethiopian Dissidents Targeted with New Commercial Spyware
13. 100,000-strong botnet built on router 0-day could strike at any time: New strain of Mirai is sophisticated, locked, and loaded.
14. “Malware-free” attacks mount in big breaches, CrowdStrike finds: Stolen credentials, exploits of command-line tools used in 66 percent of attacks.
15. Mastermind behind sophisticated, massive botnet outs himself: Andromeda kingpin is identified by his ICQ number.
16. Are you kidding me? Only 15% of US companies have insurance for their data! 
17. The Internet of Toys: Legal and Privacy Issues with Connected Toys

Jon

GAMES

1. Study: Pokémon Go led to increase in traffic deaths, accidents – Detailed look at accident reports shows 26.5% relative increase near Pokéstops.
2. Parent rebukes Epic for suing teenage Fortnite player accused of cheating
3. 14-Year Old Video Game Cheater Sued, Mom Says He’s A Scapegoat [Update]
4. Good News for Game Developers: Court Extends Protections for Using Others’ Trademarks in the Advertising of Artistic Works
5. Activision Considering An Opposition To Trademark For Dog-Curbing Company ‘Call Of Doodee’
6. Destiny 2 misrepresented XP gains to its players until the devs got caught: After confirming a hidden “XP scaling” system, Bungie made XP grinds even slower.
7. Bungie Changes Destiny 2 XP System After Players Discover It Was Rigged
8. Bungie drops hidden Destiny 2XP scaling following player outcry
9. People Are Making Cults And Prisons In Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
10. Fans launch Black Friday boycott to #FixFIFA: Petition calling for changes has over 26,000 signaures
11. Belgium denounces loot boxes as gambling; Hawaiian legislator calls them “predatory”: Belgium decides that the combination of random rewards and pay-to-play is gambling.
12. Victorian gambling commission: “What occurs with ‘loot boxes’ does constitute gambling” – Commission has limited options for enforcement, looks to work with other agencies to bring about change
13. British Gambling Commission worried about ‘potential risk’ of loot boxes
14. British Gambling Commission concerned with “increasingly blurred” lines between games and gambling: Meanwhile, French politician calls for “prompt and sincere self-regulation” of the industry
15. UK Gambling Commission Determines Loot Boxes Aren’t Gambling Under British Law
16. Teen who spent $10k+ on microtransactions warns devs of the risk they pose: “The majority of the reason that I made my post was not really to slam EA or any of the companies that do this, but to share my story and to show that these transactions are not as innocent as they really appear to be. They can lead you down a path.”
17. Disney flexes its muscle over Star Wars and Marvel: The IP powerhouse values protecting that IP over any business relationship – as firms working on those properties would do well to remember
18. EA: Visceral’s canned Star Wars project too linear for modern tastes
19. Popularity of linear games declining – EA: CFO Blake Jorgensen says cancelled Star Wars project was a type of game “people don’t like as much today as they did five years ago or 10 years ago”
20. “You probably don’t want Darth Vader in pink”: EA CFO Blake Jorgensen says faithfulness to Star Wars canon prevented a cosmetic microtransaction model for Star Wars Battlefront II
21. Star Citizen now offering to sell in-game land: The most successful crowdfunded game ever is asking players to spend more
22. Animal Crossing Pocket Camp: Critical Consensus – A faithful yet divisive pocket-sized recreation of the beloved series, plagued by microtransactions
23. PC microtransaction revenue has doubled since 2012 –  SuperData report: Battlefront II is the poster child of a new and uncomfortable growing pain for the games industry
24. Take-Two president weighs in on loot boxes as ‘not gambling’: “The whole gambling regulator thing, we don’t view that thing as gambling. Our view is the same as the ESA statement, for the most part. So that’s going to play its course.”
25. Games industry is going 100% digital – Take-Two: President Karl Slatoff says physical game sales are probably going away on a 5-20 year timeline, weighs in on loot boxes
26. Games could be hit hard by net neutrality’s death: This is class warfare and gamers and small game companies are in the crosshairs
27. Appeals Court Affirms Dismissal on Standing Grounds of Biometric Privacy Suit over Videogame Facial Scan Feature 
28. Portraying migrants’ struggles via cellphones in Bury Me, My Love
29. Four And A Half Years After Raising $121,000, Skyrim Composer’s Kickstarter Is MIA 
30. Star Citizen offers $50-$100 in-game ‘land claims’ to boost dev funds
31. Global gaming revenue on par with sports at $149bn for 2017: Software revenue alone expected to reach $143.5 billion by 2020
32. ‘Pokémon Go’ Studio Niantic Completes $200M Funding Round
33. Pokémon global lifetime sales surpass 300m: Figure does not include Pokémon Go or downloads, but does include Snap, Stadium and all the other spin-offs
34. Nintendo Switch on track to outpace ten-month sales of the Wii by 20%
35. Nintendo’s “insane turnaround” driving holiday sales – Analyst: We chat with analysts in the wake of Black Friday and Cyber Monday
36. Report: Nintendo to start offering in-game power-ups via cereal boxes: Box for “Super Mario Cereal” reportedly doubles as an Amiibo.
37. Animal Crossing: Pocket Campimpressions: Nintendo should be ashamed – Lots of good AC series content, but core experience is too low on free-to-play scale.
38. VR headset sales are slowly rising out of the doldrums: Lower prices lead to increased interest as PlayStation Move dominates sales.
39. Analyst: 1M VR headsets shipped last quarter, an industry first
40. More than one million VR headsets sold last quarter: PlayStation VR accounts 80% of Japanese market
41. UK charts: PS4 and PSVR enjoy a strong Black Friday: PlayStation VR sold more than in the previous 18 weeks combined, strongest week of the year for software units and revenue
42. VR to star in China’s $1.5bn future tech theme park: Virtual rollercoasters, shooting games and alien tours will feature
43. Over 300,000 games consoles sold in the UK last week – GfK: Black Friday was the 13th biggest day ever for UK games retail
44. Sony posts record Black Friday hardware sales: Head of PSN Eric Lempel says company sold more PlayStations over the weekend than in the 23-year history of the brand
45. PUBG going mobile with Tencent’s help: The wildly popular game is not only coming to China, but it’s about to get the mobile treatment
46. Mobile still a moving target: GameChangerSF is finding more value bringing back lapsed players than searching for new ones
47. Report: Marvel Heroes dev Gazillion shuts down, lays off entire workforce
48. Gazillion Entertainment has officially shut down: Marvel Heroes goes offline a month ahead of schedule as studio closes
49. Rovio shares fall by 20 percent thanks to rising UA costs
50. Indie devs explore the benefits of working with a publisher: “Indie dev is a minefield now. To have a chance at a good level of success, you basically have to nail everything. That’s a really tall order, so devs are simply looking to stack the odds in their favor.”
51. The sunk cost fallacy: Devs describe how it almost destroyed them
52. 9 years in, Demon’s Souls is losing its online features
53. PC free-to-play revenue has doubled since 2012
54. Pokemon game series surpasses 300M lifetime sales
55. Pokemon Go developer Niantic nets $200M in funding
56. Investors pour $50M into social/casino mobile game dev Huuuge
57. Game sells Multiplay server hosting division to Unity for $25.2M
58. Unity buys GAME’s Multiplay Digital business for £19m: GAME bought the entire Multiplay division for £20m almost 3 years ago
59. Zelda concert producer: “I just want to bring video game music to the masses”: Jason Michael Paul looks back on 14 years of creating video game concerts
60. Oral History: How Marvel’s Creative Head Helped Bring Nintendo To America

DIGITAL

1. Truthfeed Spreads Pro-Trump Propaganda: The website has connections to the president’s camp—and white supremacists.
2. YouTube pulls ads on 2 million inappropriate children’s videos: It’s also investigating autocomplete search after suggestions for child exploitation content
3. YouTube Investigating Pedophiliac Phrases In Autocomplete Search Suggestions
4. Adidas, Mars Among Brands To Suspend YouTube Campaigns In Response To Inappropriate Kids Videos
5. YouTube’s Creepy Kid Problem Was Worse Than We Thought
6. Making a federal case out of revenge porn 
7. Chicago Considers Another Dumb ‘Texting And Walking’ Law To Raise Revenue
8. The “Lowdown” on DMCA Regulations and Take-Downs
9. YouTube Announces Its Version Of Snapchat’s Stories Among Community Tab Updates 
10. Apple Projected to Spend $4.2 Billion on Original Content by 2022
11. Analyst Projects Apple’s Original Content Budget Will Rise To $4.2 Billion Per Year By 2022
12. Apple Launches New YouTube Channel With Handful Of How-To Videos
13. BuzzFeed To Lay Off Roughly 100 Staffers Amid Missed Revenue Goals
14. BuzzFeed Lays Off About 100 Staffers, Refocuses Content Efforts 
15. The Potential Of Artificial Intelligence In The Future Of Sports
16. Artificial intelligence to impact personal injury law
17. The challenges of patenting artificial intelligence
18. Designing Artificial Intelligence to Explain Itself: A new working paper maps out critical starting points for thinking about explanation in AI systems.
19. A Layered Model for AI Governance
20. Manufacturing an Artificial Intelligence Revolution (Yarden Katz)
21. Cookie law conundrum: Do you know what your webmaster is busy baking?
22. Consumer protection and online advertising
23. Websites use your CPU to mine cryptocurrency even when you close your browser: Resource-draining code hides in pop-under windows that can remain open indefinitely.
24. Uber’s crisis deepens with record quarterly loss: Uber continues disrupting old-fashioned notions of profit.
25. Uber Waymo Trial Delayed After Justice Department Jumps In, Unprompted, To Tell Judge That Uber Was Withholding Evidence
26. Judge delays trial after ex-Uber employee describes rogue behavior: Richard Jacobs, an ex-security official at Uber, testified in court Tuesday.
27. Chicago: Uber’s claim that hackers fully deleted stolen data is “nonsensical” – Uber’s been sued at least 11 times in just 1 week, faces new scrutiny from Senate.
28. Uber hit with 2 lawsuits over gigantic 2016 data breach: “Uber knew or should have known its security systems were inadequate.” 
29. Cyber Monday topped Prime Day to become Amazon’s biggest shopping day ever
30. Facebook (still) lets housing advertisers exclude users by race: ProPublica bought ads that excluded African-Americans, Spanish speakers, Muslims.
31. How Bored Panda Survived Facebook’s Clickbait Purge
32. The End Of The Social Era Can’t Come Soon Enough: It seems increasingly likely that our society will one day view our infatuation with Twitter, Facebook, and the like as a passing, often destructive fad.
33. Elon Musk wins bet, finishing massive battery installation in 100 days: South Australia battery installation has 100MW capacity, a world record.
34. Email Is Broken. Can Anyone Fix It?
35. Subverting Democracy, Advertising, and the Economy Through Bots 
36. Platform Market Power (Kenneth Bamberger & Orly Lobel)

CREATIVITY 

1.  UK High Court rules that TV Show Formats can be Copyright Protected
2. Journalism Is Imploding Just When We Need It Most
3. Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA Opposes Trademark Application For Dog-Walking Company Called Woof-Tang Clan
4. Blade Runner 2049 Director Opens Up About the Film’s Treatment of Women
5. Wilfrid Laurier graduate student delivers a wake-up call
6. Here’s the full recording of Wilfrid Laurier reprimanding Lindsay Shepherd for showing a Jordan Peterson video: Teaching assistant Shepherd was accused of creating a ‘toxic climate’ at the university by screening a televised debate discussing gender-neutral pronouns
7. Christie Blatchford: Here’s where Laurier can stick their apology to Lindsay Shepherd: Rambukkana’s ‘open letter’ is all I expected of a man who would invoke the spectre of Hitler to try to shut down an underling — craven, dissembling, revisionist
8. Why Wilfrid Laurier University’s president apologized to Lindsay Shepherd: Deborah MacLatchy says she regrets how the meeting was conducted
9. Counter-protests at Wilfrid Laurier University over freedom of speech turn — well, one man was shouting
10. Teaching assistant who was sanctioned questions sincerity of Wilfrid Laurier University’s apology: ‘I didn’t expect their apology to be sincere. I don’t think that they are sincere,’
11. Modern Educayshun: Mao, Orwell and Kafka at Wilfrid Laurier University
12. Commentary: Laurier University incident demonstrates defence of certain kinds of speech
13. Neither Wilfrid Laurier University’s methods nor teaching assistant’s debate helped trans people: Its actions come across as high-handed thought-policing that plays right into the hands of the intolerant, Shree Paradkar writes.
14. A woman approached The Post with dramatic — and false — tale about Roy Moore. She appears to be part of undercover sting operation.
15. How media brands are using marketing to turn accusations of fake news into page views
16. The battle over Gucci’s trademark stripes: Gucci’s trademark infringement claim against Forever 21 took a major step forward this month after a US district court dismissed the counterclaim by the fast fashion chain seeking cancellation of the disputed marks. Gucci claims that Forever 21 has infringed the trademarks protecting its ‘iconic stripe motifs’ in blue-red-blue and green-red-green.
17. The Role of Trademark Law in the History of US Visual Identity Design, c.1860–1960 (Carma Gorman)
18. How Patents Have Contributed To The Opioid Crisis 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Rogers to cut off support for Viceland TV station
2.  CASL is Constitutional (And Some Guidance on How to Interpret It)
3. Ajit Pai’s Big Lie
4. Ajit Pai’s Shell Game
5. Comcast Spent Millions Repealing Net Neutrality, Now Wants You To Believe It Won’t Take Full, Brutal Advantage 
6. Comcast deleted net neutrality pledge the same day FCC announced repeal: Three-year-old “no paid prioritization” pledge was suddenly removed.
7. Comcast hints at plan for paid fast lanes after net neutrality repeal: Comcast still won’t block or throttle—but paid prioritization may be on the way.
8. AT&T and Comcast lawsuit has nullified a city’s broadband competition law – Bad news for Google Fiber: Nashville utility pole ordinance invalidated by judge.
9. Judge Backs AT&T, Comcast Nuisance Suit Against Google Fiber In Nashville
10. Nazis Want Net Neutrality Repealed To ‘Unleash A Plague Of Frogs On Twitter.’ It Won’t Happen
11. FCC explains why public support for net neutrality won’t stop repeal: Americans who support net neutrality find that their voices don’t count for much.
12. Ajit Pai blames Cher and Hulk actor for ginning up net neutrality support: Net neutrality support is just “fear-mongering and hysteria,” FCC chair says.
13. NY Attorney General Investigating Why Dead People Supported The FCC’s Attack On Net Neutrality
14. The FCC’s Attack On Net Neutrality Is Based Entirely On Debunked Lobbyist Garbage Data
15. Charter is using net neutrality repeal to fight lawsuit over slow speeds: Charter cites FCC preemption of state net neutrality rules in case filed by NY. 
16. More than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments were Likely Faked: I used natural language processing techniques to analyze net neutrality comments submitted to the FCC from April-October 2017, and the results were disturbing.
17. What An Internet Analyst Got Wrong About Net Neutrality
18. What Actually Happens the Day Net Neutrality Is Repealed
19. Mark Cuban Still Has Absolutely No Idea How Net Neutrality Works
20. Net Neutrality Divide: Canada and the U.S. Go Separate Ways on an Open Internet (Michael Geist)
21. AT&T’s C.E.O. Meets Trump’s Justice
22. AT&T says it should be allowed to buy Time Warner because Comcast bought NBC: AT&T will use customer data to boost advertising business, court filing says. 
23. FCC Adopts Rules Allowing Voice Service Providers to Block Illegal Robocalls 
24. The VCAST decision: how to turn a private copying case into a case about communication/making available to the public
25. TV[R]EV: Is Local TV Worth Saving?

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. SCC To Weigh In On Fees For Identifying ISP Subscribers: Rogers v. Voltage 
2. Supreme Court to rule on Rogers’ charges for infringer names and addresses
3. Yet Another Legal Action By Dogged Privacy Activist Brings Good News And Bad News For Facebook In EU’s Highest Court
4. Security firm was front for advanced Chinese hacking operation, Feds say: The accused hacked 3 multinational corporations in pursuit of intellectual property.
5. Hacker pleads guilty to huge Yahoo hack, admits helping Russia’s FSB: Three fellow co-defendants remain at large in Russia, unlikely to be extradited.
6. Justices hear case that could reshape location privacy in the cellular age – Gorsuch: Unfettered access is “exactly what the framers were concerned about.”
7. 10 Reasons Why the Fourth Amendment Third Party Doctrine Should Be Overruled in Carpenter v. US (Daniel Solove)
8. Supreme Court Must Understand: Cell Phones Aren’t Optional
9. The Fifth Amendment, Decryption and Biometric Passcodes
10. Judge Tosses Long-Running Section 215 Surveillance Lawsuit
11. Big Brother is Watching You: Feds Now Vetting Foreign Workers Via Social Media 
12. Want your kid to behave this Christmas? There’s an app for that
13. What Amazon Echo And Google Home Do With Your Voice Data
14. It’s Not Always AI That Sifts Through Your Sensitive Info
15. Australian man uses snack bags as Faraday cage to block tracking by employer: On 140 occasions, electrician logged that he was working while concealing his location.
16. Anyone Can Hack Macos High Sierra Just By Typing “Root”
17. macOS bug lets you log in as admin with no password required: Here’s how to protect yourself until Apple patches bafflingly bad bug.
18. Federal student aid site offers one-stop shopping for ID thieves?: If you have someone’s name, birthdate, and SSN, FAFSA site will give up sensitive data.
19. Maine Government Agency Tries To Charge Public Records Requester $750 For Opening A PDF
20. How four Microsoft engineers proved that the “darknet” would defeat DRM – From the archives: How this quartet nearly got fired for it.

Jon

GAMES

1. Russian Foreign Ministry Accuses America Of Supporting ISIS With Video Game Footage
2. Clicker Heroes developer drops free-to-play model over ethical concerns: “We really don’t like making money off players who are in denial of their addiction,” says Playsaurus
3. Citing ethics and better game design, Clicker Heroes 2 dev forgoes free-to-play: “The mere existence of real-money purchases puts an ugly cloud over the player’s experience, with the persistent nagging feeling of ‘My game could be so much better if I just spent a few dollars.’ That alone feels terrible”
4. When F2P goes wrong: NCSoft gave latest game five months before pulling plug – Refunds for some MxM players; in-game coins for all (which won’t matter by Jan. 31).
5. It’s Only A Game. Or Is It? Advergaming In The Digital Age 
6. Star Wars Battlefront II Is Less A Game Than A Value Proposition
7. Star Wars: Battlefront II review: Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope: Even if EA fulfills promises, this game may still be too far gone to the Dark Side.
8. After fan outcry, EA kicks real-money purchases out of Battlefront II: Feature will return, but “only after we’ve made changes to the game.”
9. “Nothing should feel unattainable”: DICE responds to Star Wars loot box backlash: Battlefront II developer hosts Reddit AMA, “deeply saddened” by negative response
10. Belgian Gambling Commission targets EA and Blizzard over loot boxes: “The crate mechanics of Star Wars Battlefront II are not gambling,” says EA
11. Belgian officials say they’d like lootboxes banned, but investigation continues
12. Belgium Aims To Ban Loot Boxes In Europe
13. Star Wars Battlefront II: This Is What $100 Could Get You Before Microtransactions Were Disabled
14. Battlefront II dev temporarily turns off all microtransactions
15. EA suspends microtransactions in Star Wars Battlefront II hours before game launch: “Sorry we didn’t get this right,” says DICE general manager
16. Star Wars Battlefront II: Will EA’s concession hurt sales?: Analysts debate the impact of EA’s last-minute move to pull microtransactions from the title
17. Star Wars Battlefront loot boxes investigation continues, say Belgian authorities: Hawaii also considers legislation against “Star Wars-themed online casino”
18. Hawaiian representative wants to clamp down on ‘predatory’ loot boxes
19. Wall Street is freaking out as EA caves again to social media outrage over its ‘Star Wars’ game: Investors are now worried the controversy over Electronic Arts’ “Star Wars Battlefront II” in-game monetization model will hurt the video game’s sales. – “The escalation of EA concessions over the past month are a potential negative indicator of pre-order sales trends and overall unit confidence,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post writes.” – EA’s stock is down 7 percent month to date through Thursday compared with the S&P 500’s 0.4 percent gain.
20. EA tells investors turning off Battlefront 2’s microtransactions will not affect earnings
21. EA share price dips following loot box debacle: Also, Need for Speed Payback retools loot boxes following “community feedback”
22. Star Wars: Battlefront II debacle points the way forward – EA’s approach to microtransactions has been a complete disaster, but it may have stumbled upon a model other publishers should consider emulating
23. Did Disney push for EA’s Battlefront microtransaction decision?: Off-the-record “concerns” and official “support.”
24. Disney pressured EA to pull Star Wars microtransactions – Report: Online outrage had licensing partner concerned the Battlefront II reception could tarnish the Star Wars brand
25. UK boxed charts: Disappointing debut for Star Wars Battlefront II: EA’s blockbuster shooter down 50% compared with Battlefield 1
26. After Battlefront 2 Backlash, Need For Speed: Payback Alters Progression System
27. EA Devs Dial Down Microtransaction Pressure In Latest Need For Speed
28. Devs promise to change Battlefront II until players are happy: “We will be looking at data continually and make adjustments…”
29. Loot boxes are not bad game design, say devs: Star Wars aside, loot boxes are here to stay; “It’s just us dinosaurs that remember buying a game once for a fixed price and getting a set experience”
30. Applying ‘players first’ logic to loot boxes and other mechanics in Hearthstone
31. Economics Of Microtransactions In Video Games
32. Video Game Monetization Strategies
33. FCC is about to dismantle net neutrality: Gamers who rely on equal access to the internet may no longer have any such guarantee
34. When Will Video Game Software Need to Meet FCC Accessibility Requirements?
35. Video Game Software Industry Seeks a Final Disabilities Access Waiver Extension 
36. Marvel Heroes players chasing add-on refunds after short-lived console launch
37. The survival of GAME: Why the retailer is feeling defiant in the face of digital dominance
38. 11 years after launch, Titan Quest gets a new expansion pack
39. “It’s not Hitman without IO”: Why Square Enix set the franchise free – President and CEO Yosuke Matsuda tells GamesIndustry.biz the reasons behind the surprise split with IO Interactive
40. Steam overhauls user reviews to counter spam bots: Platform holder seeks to take power away from accounts that rate an “excessive number of reviews”
41. Publishers are “the most valuable piece of the puzzle” right now: We Are Fuzzy’s Maxx Burman offers a not-so-fuzzy view of indie development in 2017 as he readies his first project, Sleep Tigh
42. NCsoft will shut down Master X Master just months after launch
43. Tiny Metal director accused of funding game with money from another Kickstarter
44. Marvel Heroes Players Are Demanding Refunds For In-Game Purchases
45. Marvel Heroes players chasing add-on refunds after short-lived console launch
46. Marvel Heroes to close down as Disney terminates Gazillion partnership: Future remains uncertain for Marvel Heroes staff
47. Gazillion faces surge of refund requests after Marvel Heroes closure news: Players frustrated after spending hundreds of dollars on in-game microtransactions
48. Chasing the local optimum: Data-led strategies have left many companies trying to squeeze revenue from the same small but lucrative market segment – it’s not an approach with a bright future
49. Twitch: “We’re almost ready to go full-blown Hunger Games” – Co-founder Kevin Lin is excited for a new age of games development where streaming audiences can interact with the players
50. How Ninja Theory proved independent AAA has a future: “Smaller indie teams that want to make that step up in production values can adopt this kind of model”
51. Mario can’t prevent US game sales from falling 11% in October: Nintendo had a great month, but that was offset by an overall decline in software spending
52. Super Mario Odyssey tops US charts for October: Nintendo all over the NPD charts as Switch and Super NES Classic take top two spots on hardware side
53. Nintendo Switch is dominated by physical sales – GAME: Publishers says physical tie-ratio for Switch is almost identical to Wii
54. GAME: In UK and Spain, Switch attach rates are matching the Wii’s
55. GameStop’s earnings rise thanks to demand for new games and Nintendo’s Switch
56. Nintendo Switch drives GameStop global sales to just shy of $2bn for latest quarter: Hardware and software demand counters slight decline in pre-owned sales
57. Nintendo’s Switch and SNES Classic topped U.S. game hardware sales last month
58. Square Enix says its games are a good fit for the Switch, get buried on Steam
59. Vivendi holding off on Ubisoft takeover plans for six months
60. Vivendi: No plans for Ubisoft takeover for six months – French media giant still has aspirations to grow in gaming, but says it will limit stake in Assassin’s Creed publisher for now
61. Jon Shafer leaves Paradox over creative differences: Civilisation V designer moves on after just six months with new employer
62. Xbox One X launch sales well behind competition in Japan: Brand new super-powered console outsold by six-year-old handheld PlayStation Vita
63. The world of Skyrim is thrilling and flawed in VR: A nice place to visit, but I’m not sure about spending 100 hours.
64. “Life doesn’t wait for you, and neither does VR”: Baobab discusses the difficulty of directing player attention, and why we need new terms for virtual reality experiences
65. Wargaming’s symbiotic relationship with education and marketing: Director of special projects Tracy Spaight explores the applications for AR and VR outside of gaming
66. Riot Games Is Trying To Turn League Of Legends Into A Collegiate Esport
67. Why NCAA Involvement In Esports May Not Be Such A Bad Thing
68. What I learned visiting my first live eSports tournament: Just watching on Twitch isn’t the same as being immersed in the crowd.
69. You Can Now Hire Professional Gamers To Play Call Of Duty For You
70. Brooklyn Soccer Leagues To Replicate FIFA Video Game ‘In Real Life’
71. Wanted: Loving home for Boeing 737 cockpit and flight simulator
72. It’s A Living: Meet One Of New York’s Best Professional D&D Dungeon Masters
73. The rise of D&D liveplay is changing how fans approach roleplaying: From Stranger Things’ Dungeons & Dragons obsession to the YouTube and Twitch players becoming online celebrities, role-playing games are becoming public entertainment
74. South Australian government launches $2M digital games investment fund
75. Opinion: South Australia’s $2 million AUD investment in game devs
76. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild leads Golden Joystick award winners
77. The McLaren Formula 1 team just hired the World’s Fastest Gamer: The F1 team wanted a new simulator driver. Now it has found one—through gaming.
78. During The Holiday Season, Home Is Where The Games Are
79. Axiom Verge Publisher Donating 75 Percent Of Its Share To Developer’s Son’s Healthcare

DIGITAL

1. Music Canada Data Confirms Huge Increase in Streaming Revenues and Sharp Decline of Music Listening from Pirated Sources (Michael Geist)
2. SOCAN Financial Data Highlights How Internet Music Streaming is Paying Off for Creators (Michael Geist)
3. Judge Halts Copyright Troll’s Lawsuit Against A Now-Deceased Elderly Man With Dementia And An IP Address
4. EFF Wins Over Patent Troll Trying To Silence EFF Calling Its Patent Stupid
5. Microsoft facing lawsuit over alleged HoloLens patent infringement
6. Microsoft sued over HoloLens patent infringement: Connecticut-based HoloTouch claims that HoloLens actually infringes two of its patents
7. Google plans to ‘de-rank’ Russia Today and Sputnik to combat misinformation: Alphabet chief executive Eric Schmidt says Google and other tech companies must act against state-run Russian news agencies to stop spread of falsehoods
8. US court thumbs its nose at Supreme Court of Canada: Google v Equustek (Barry Sookman)
9. Monopoly Leveraging & Equal Treatment: the EU Commission’s Google Shopping Decision
10. NSW Supreme Court considers jurisdictional issues in an online contract: Gonzalez v Agoda Company Pty Ltd [2017] NSWSC 1133
11. Closed by Default: Why is Prime Minister Trudeau Using Restrictive Terms for Flickr Image Use? (Michael Geist)
12. Inside Google’s Struggle to Filter Lies from Breaking News: The company is revamping the way it displays breaking news search results
13. YouTube Terminates Controversial Kids Channel With Over 8.5 Million Subscribers
14. YouTube’s Purge Of Inappropriate Content Aimed At Kids Spans Tens Of Billions Of Views
15. What makes YouTube’s surreal kids’ videos so creepy?
16. ‘This is not TV’: A growing number of advertisers feel duped by YouTube
17. The Professional Friends of YouTube: The platform and its young celebrities have built a self-contained universe of political cluelessness
18. YouTube Is Addressing Its Massive Child Exploitation Problem: After BuzzFeed News provided YouTube with dozens of examples of videos — with millions of views — that depict children in disturbing and abusive situations, the company is cracking down.
19. Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal: Inside the web of conspiracy theorists, Russian operatives, Trump campaigners and Twitter bots who manufactured the ‘news’ that Hillary Clinton ran a pizza-restaurant child-sex ring
20. Surveillance Fans Angry Journalist Used Metadata, Contact Chaining To Out Comey’s Secret Twitter Account
21. By year’s end, you’ll know if you liked a Kremlin-created Facebook page: “This tool will be available for use by the end of the year in the Facebook Help Center.”
22. One Of The Biggest Alternative Media Networks In Italy Is Spreading Anti-Immigrant News And Misinformation On Facebook: The network sheds light on the overlap between the fringe underbelly of the Catholic world, Italy’s nationalist movements, and for-profit clickbait.
23. We’ll Be Paying For Mark Halperin’s Sins For Years To Come: Reports of sexual harassment destroyed his reputation and his career. But I want to talk about the deeper, subtler, more insidious effect Mark Halperin had on our politics.
24. The policy that the US porn industry has and Facebook needs
25. In her new book, ‘The Uterus Is a Feature, Not a Bug,’ Sarah Lacy says women should fight back, not ‘lean in’: Amusingly, Lacy says Facebook — whose COO Sheryl Sandberg wrote “Lean In” — rejected ads for the book because of the word “uterus.”
26. The Education of Mark Zuckerberg: The Facebook founder has discussed “community” more than 150 times in public. A close reading reveals his road map for the platform’s future.
27. Facebook Launches Creator-Focused App With Content Production And Analytics Tools
28. Facebook Acquires Exclusive Rights to 47 College Basketball Games From Smaller Conferences
29. Athens Court of Appeal applies CJEU GS Media linking decision and interprets ‘profit-making intention’ restrictively
30. Vice Forms Advisory Committee With Gloria Steinem Following Sexual Harassment Claims
31. Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo Tenders Investment In News Startup Axios
32. Chinese students claim they worked illegal overtime making the iPhone X: Teens say a school made them intern at Foxconn, but Apple says it was voluntary.
33. The Hidden Cost of Bitcoin? Our Environment.
34. A Virtual Reality Film Experience Just Received the First Oscar for VR
35. Inside The Race To Hack The Human Brain
36. This Man Is Leading an AI Revolution in Silicon Valley—And He’s Just Getting Started: The cofounder and CEO of semiconductor and software maker Nvidia saw the future of computing more than a decade ago, and began developing products that could power the artificial intelligence era. Thanks to that vision, and relentless execution, his chipmaker today is perhaps the hottest company in Silicon Valley. And it may just be getting started.
37. China Challenges Nvidia’s Hold On Artificial Intelligence Chips
38. For the First Time, a Robot Passed a Medical Licensing Exam: Chinese AI-powered robot Xiaoyi took the country’s medical licensing examinations and passed, according to local reports. Xiaoyi is just one example of how much China is keen on using AI to make a number of industries more efficient.
39. Experts: Artificial Intelligence Could Hijack Brain-Computer Interfaces
40. Has The Silicon Valley Hype Cycle Run Its Course?: The social media boom, powered by the growth of mobile computing, is over. And while a glittering new technological age of artificial intelligence beckons, the current cycle seems bloated and fatigued. It’s no wonder venture capitalists are looking elsewhere.
41. iOS 11 Is Killing Me
42. Report: Apple Acquired VR Headset Startup Vrvana for $30 Million
43. Amazon Secures Rights To Stream ATP World Tour In U.K., Ireland
44. Amazon’s Last Mile: Who delivers Amazon orders? Increasingly, it’s plainclothes contractors with few labor protections, driving their own cars, competing for shifts on the company’s own Uber-like platform. Though it’s deployed in dozens of cities and associated with one of the world’s biggest companies, government agencies and customers alike are nearly oblivious to the program’s existence.
45. The Uber CEO Who Arrived In The Us With Nothing
46. Colorado fines Uber $8.9M for allowing dozens of unauthorized drivers: Colorado found many drivers with “suspended, revoked, or cancelled driver’s licenses.”
47. Hackers hit Uber in 2016: data on 57 million riders, drivers stolen – CEO: “You may be asking why we are just talking about this now, a year later.”
48. Uber Hid Security Breach Impacting 57 Million People, Paid Off Hackers
49. Jeffrey Tambor To Depart ‘Transparent’ Amid Sexual Harassment Claims: The actor Jeffrey Tambor will depart Transparent — one of Amazon’s most synonymous original shows — following accusations of sexual harassment by two women involved in the Emmy-winning production.
50. We’ll Be Paying For Mark Halperin’s Sins For Years To Come: Reports of sexual harassment destroyed his reputation and his career. But I want to talk about the deeper, subtler, more insidious effect Mark Halperin had on our politics.
51. The Washington Post Is A Software Company Now: The newspaper created a platform to tackle its own challenges. Then, with Amazon-like spirit, it realized there was a business in helping other publishers do the same.
52. This Amazon seller lost $400,000 in sales after being attacked by self-proclaimed ‘virus of Amazon’
53. Tencent crosses $500 billion market cap milestone: Gaming giant is the first Chinese tech company to cross that financial mark
54. Tencent and Bluehole partner to bring Battlegrounds to China
55. Tencent to publish PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in China: Bluehole’s new partner obliterates any notion on a ban in PUBG’s biggest market
56. IGN, PCMag, AskMen Owner Acquires Mashable For $50 Million
57. Marvell Technology to buy chipmaker Cavium for about $6 billion: Two more chipmakers come together to try to compete with Intel, Broadcom.
58. BuzzFeed IPO Dreams Fizzle as Company Said to Miss 2017 Revenue Target
59. Univision Seeking to Sell Minority Stake in Fusion Media Group
60. Archivist Leslie Berlin Tackles Silicon Valley’s Past In ‘Troublemakers’
61. The media industry has suddenly become a ‘Game of Thrones’-like battle for power

CREATIVITY

1. Judge: EFF’s “Stupid Patent of the Month” clearly protected by Constitution – GEMSA, which has sued dozens of US tech firms, never responded to EFF’s lawsuit.
2. Good Ruling: Court Affirms Fox’s Victory In Trademark Suit From Empire Distribution Over Its Hit Show ‘Empire’
3. The Monkey Selfie Strikes Back (Andres Guadamuz)
4. The Sad Legacy Of Copyright: Locking Up Scientific Knowledge And Impeding Progress
5. Ninth Circuit: Let’s Talk About Comic-Con
6. Twentieth Century Fox Television v. Empire Distribution, Inc.
7. Gucci “Wrongfully Claims a Monopoly” on Stripes, per Forever 21 Complaint
8. Nobel Prize Winning Economist Says Non-US Countries Have Unique Opportunity To Reform Intellectual Property
9. Trial Set To Start For Journalist Facing Decades In Prison For Covering Inauguration Day Protests 
10. Roy Moore’s Threat Letter To Sue The Press Is An Artform In Bad Lawyering
11. Alabama Media Group Isn’t Messing Around With Roy Moore’s Silly Threat
12. Israeli court addresses relationship between design protection and copyright
13. Zack Snyder Fans Petition For The Release of His Cut of Justice League As Deleted Scenes Leak Online
14. Ben Affleck Stole Some Batarangs From the Justice League Set
15. Justice League, Rotten Tomatoes, And DC Fans’ Persecution Complex
16. Kaye v. Cartoon Network, Inc.
17. Harvey Weinstein’s Secret Settlements: The mogul used money from his brother and elaborate legal agreements to hide allegations of predation for decades.
18. What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men?
19. Broadcaster Leeann Tweeden Accuses Sen. Al Franken of Assault
20. Trump Mocks Al Franken On Twitter, Blows It
21. Twitter, It’s Time to End Your Anything-Goes Paradise
22. The Soft Racism of Apu from “The Simpsons”
23. Rashida Jones And Writing Partner Dropped Out Of Toy Story 4 Over “Philosophical Differences” With Pixar: “It is a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice.”
24. The Female Supercomputer Designer Who Inspired Steve Jobs: The designer and artist Tamiko Thiel gets her due in a new show at MoMA.
25. The Rope: The Forgotten History of Segregated Rock & Roll Concerts – The Platters, the Flamingos, and other pioneering performers share stories of divided audiences, Jim Crow absurdities and harrowing violence
26. How culinary propaganda from a women’s magazine made Thanksgiving a thing
27. Life After ESPN: In April, around 100 employees of the Worldwide Leader in Sports were laid off. Since leaving the mothership, some have found new work, new homes, and new careers—while others are still searching for their next chapter.

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY 

1.  Canada and the U.S. stand divided at the crossroads of net neutrality (Michael Geist)
2. Bell insider reveals high-pressure sales tactics required on every single call: Bell says allegations are ‘completely unfounded and untrue’
3. Trump administration files suit to block AT&T/Time Warner merger: $108 billion merger would raise TV bills and prices for AT&T rivals, DOJ said.
4. The Right Choice For The Wrong Reasons? DOJ Sues To Kill The AT&T Time Warner Merger
5. Why Mergers Like the AT&T-Time Warner Deal Should Go Through
6. A ‘Supernatural’ Profits Fight, and the AT&T-TW Merger Issue That Few Are Discussing: Warner Bros. has been battling the creator of one of the longest-running television shows in an arbitration that addresses the fairness of media consolidation and the very mechanism to resolve disputes with those who feel shortchanged.
7. Why The Government Is Right To Block The AT&T-Time Warner Merger
8. The Economic Case Against an A.T. & T.-Time Warner Merger
9. FCC Releases Net Neutrality Killing Order, Hopes You’re Too Busy Cooking Turkey To Read It
10. FCC Moves To Gut Rules Protecting Broadband Users Telcos No Longer Want
11. FCC Head Ajit Pai: Killing Net Neutrality Will Set the Internet Free
12. An Open Letter to the FCC:
13. FCC Plans To Gut Net Neutrality, Allow Internet ‘Fast Lanes’
14. FCC will also order states to scrap plans for their own net neutrality laws – Double win for ISPs: No more net neutrality, and state laws will be preempted.
15. I’m on the FCC. Please stop us from killing net neutrality
16. Here’s How The End Of Net Neutrality Will Change The Internet
17. Welcome to 2018. There’s No Net Neutrality. We Made Dystopia a Reality.
18. Will Your TV Watch You? FCC Green Lights Targeted Advertising in Next Gen TV Broadcasting Standard 
19. Sorry, poor people: The FCC is coming after your broadband plans: 70% of low-income wireless subscribers in Lifeline could have to find new ISPs.
20. Here’s the FCC’s Plan to Kill Net Neutrality
21. The FCC Is Trying To Destroy The Internet
22. Why Are People Celebrating Al Franken’s Incomprehensible Speech About The Internet?
23. Republicans Finally Set a Date to Kill Net Neutrality
24. The End Of Net Neutrality As We Know It
25. FCC stonewalled investigation of net neutrality comment fraud, NY AG says: Net neutrality fraudsters likely impersonated “hundreds of thousands” of people.
26. Who is Ajit Pai, the “Trump soldier” remaking America’s internet?
27. FCC will also order states to scrap plans for their own net neutrality laws – Double win for ISPs: No more net neutrality, and state laws will be preempted.
28. FCC Finds the Case for Broadcast Ownership Deregulation Compelling 
29. Disgusted With Charter Spectrum Merger, Lexington To Build Entirely New Fiber Network
30. Robocalls from spoofed Caller IDs may soon be blocked by phone companies: FCC authorizes aggressive blocking of spoofed and invalid numbers.
31. The Robocall Nightmare Is Only Getting Worse—But Help Is Here
32. Verizon may sign new deal with NFL to expand game streaming rights: Increasing the number of devices to which Verizon can stream football games.
33. Shaw undercuts Big Three on iPhone pricing, Freedom Mobile to sell iPhone X for $0 upfront: Freedom’s steep discount comes with the caveat that its network only covers major centres in B.C., Alberta and Ontario, meaning consumers may face additional roaming charges outside those zones 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Apple formally asked to release Texas shooter’s iCloud data: Texas judge also signs off on search of shooter’s iPhone SE, LG dumbphone.
2. Court Denies Government’s Demasking Demands In Inauguration Protest Case
3. New York Court Says NYPD Must Get Warrants To Deploy Stingrays
4. Kaspersky: Yes, we obtained NSA secrets. No, we didn’t help steal them – Moscow-based AV provider challenges claims it helped Russian spies.
5. Dozens Of Tech Experts Tell DHS & ICE That Its Social Media Surveillance And Extreme Vetting Should Be Stopped
6. Intel Chip Flaws Leave Millions Of Devices Exposed
7. Defense Department Spied On Social Media, Left All Its Collected Data Exposed To Anyone
8. Investigation Finds Google Collected Location Data Even With Location Services Turned Off
9. No, you’re not being paranoid. Sites really are watching your every move: Sites log your keystrokes and mouse movements in real time, before you click submit.
10. New Study Finds Poorly Secured Smart Toys Lets Attackers Listen In On Your Kids
11. Court Says Glassdoor Must Disclose Anonymous Reviewers’ Information in Grand Jury Proceedings
12. Most Senate Intelligence Committee Members Are Fine With Domestic Surveillance By The NSA
13. Man gets threats—not bug bounty—after finding DJI customer data in public view: A bug bounty hunter shared evidence; DJI called him a hacker and threatened with CFAA.
14. Pentagon contractor leaves social media spy archive wide open on Amazon: Trove included more than 1.8 billion posts spanning eight years, many from US people.
15. Infosec star accused of sexual assault booted from professional affiliations: Morgan Marquis-Boire resigned from Citizen Lab back in September 2017.
16. Iconic hacker booted from conferences after sexual misconduct claims surface: Professor, reporter say meetings with Draper years ago turned inappropriate
17. Skype is the latest messaging app to disappear from Chinese app stores: Skype falls victim to China’s strict cybersecurity laws and Internet regulations.
18. DOJ names Iranian as hacker who stole unaired episodes from HBO: “Those hiding behind keyboards in countries far away—eventually, winter will come.”
19. New “Quad9” DNS service blocks malicious domains for everyone: Set DNS server to 9.9.9.9, and (known) malware and phishes won’t be able to phone home.
20. Should I Confess My Internet Stalking To My Date?
21. Thirty years later, “Max Headroom” TV pirate remains at large: Whoever was behind 1987 Chicago “broadcast intrusion” is the D.B. Cooper of media 

Jon

GAMES

1. Humvee maker sues Activision over trademark infringement in Call of Duty
2. Humvee maker suing Activision over trademark infringement in Call of Duty: Automotive firm says series success came “only at the expense of AM General”
3. Complaint: Call of Duty Video Game Infringes Trademarks by Pervasively Featuring Humvees 
4. Staffers stage walkout at IGN over mismanagement of sexual harassment claims
5. IGN promises change following allegations of sexual harassment against former editor: Content staff release statement declaring solidarity with victims, some employees stop work in protest against harassment
6. Russian military cites game screenshot as “evidence” of US ISIS support: Image from mobile AC-130 Gunship Simulator apparently came from a YouTube trailer.
7. Behind the addictive psychology and seductive art of loot boxes: How gambling principles and seductive animation compel players to drop cash on card packs and weapon crates.
8. From loot tables to loot boxes, how do we manage an addiction to addiction?
9. Compulsion Loops & Dopamine in Games and Gamification
10. Battlefront II dev: ‘It’s up to us to make sure that grind is fun and not overwhelming’: “I think crates can be a fun addition as long as you don’t feel forced to engage with them in order to progress. I feel that’s where the issue is with our game right now and that’s where we’ll look to solve as quickly as we can.”
11. EA could replace annual sports games with live services: CEO Andrew Wilson says approach to Korean and Chinese markets could be extended globally, publisher is looking at subscription model for mobile games
12. EA CEO: It’s only a matter of time before games embrace subscription services – “The notion that [subscription streaming services] wouldn’t impact our industry, I think, is naive. Will it take a little bit longer? Yes, for a whole bunch of reasons [like] file size, level of interactivity, and design.”
13. EA: Live services plus subscriptions equals “uncapped” monetization – CFO Blake Jorgensen discusses how publisher is becoming less dependent on new titles, growing a more stable business
14. Unlocking a Hero in ‘Star Wars Battlefront II’ Takes Almost Two Days of Gameplay
15. Can EA fix what’s broken with Star Wars: Battlefront II’s economy? – Rant: Loot boxes are just the beginning of EA’s worst-ever dive into pay-to-win.
16. Fans Worry Star Wars Battlefront 2’s ‘Free’ DLC Heroes Are Going To Take Eons To Grind For
17. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Players Won’t Be Able To Finish Campaign Until Nearly A Month After Launch
18. Congratulations to EA for Posting the Most Hated Comment in Reddit History 
19. EA Defense Of Star Wars Battlefront II Becomes Most Downvoted Reddit Comment Ever
20. EA promises “constant adjustments” to Battlefront II monetization: Users estimate it will take 40 hours to unlock iconic characters, prompting more backlash against the multiplayer shooter
21. Battlefront II devs cut cost of in-game unlocks 75% in response to fan outcry
22. Star Wars Battlefront 2 Developer Confirms That They Will Continue Tweaking The Loot Boxes In Response To Community Feedback: “We’re not somehow trying to bite the hand that feeds us.”
23. The Curious Case Of The ‘EA Game Dev’ Who Said He Received Death Threats
24. Battlefront II, Overwatch under scrutiny by Belgian gambling regulator
25. Need for Speed: Payback can’t avoid its own bankruptcy – Poor driving and awful writing don’t justify a tremendous loot-drop grind.
26. EA buys out a game studio after shutting another one down 3 weeks ago: Studio behind Titanfall, unnamed Star Wars game stays with EA to tune of up to $455M.
27. EA buys Titanfall dev Respawn Entertainment for as much as $455M
28. Electronic Arts to acquire Titanfall maker Respawn for as much as $455 million
29. Reviews vs. revenues: Mixed messages for Take-Two – NBA 2K18 players say they hate virtual currency, but sales figures say they’re spending more than ever; Take-Two listens to the latter at its peril
30. Ex-BioWare dev traces loot boxes back to Mass Effect 3and FIFA
31. The Real Problem With ‘Games As Service’ Isn’t The Microtransactions
32. From loot tables to loot boxes, how do we manage an addiction to addiction?
33. Publishers argue mandated ESRB ratings puts physical indie releases at risk
34. Indies feel the pinch from Sony’s new ESRB mandate: Special edition physical versions of online titles have to be rated, and it’s not going over well with some small studios
35. Guillemot: “PlayStation 5 and fourth Xbox to launch 2019 at the earliest” – Ubisoft CEO does not expect new consoles any time soon thanks to launch of PS4 Pro and Xbox One X
36. Softly, softly: The Xbox One X Launch
37. GameStop aborts the launch of its unlimited game rental program
38. GameStop suspends its unlimited used games program: The PowerPass program has been “temporarily paused” – customers who purchased a pass will get refunds
39. Wolfenstein 2 Reminds Us What Heroes Look Like
40. Bury me, my Love: Using video games to push back far-right rhetoric – Developer Florent Maurin on how we perceive refugees and the role of games in the debate
41. Now you see me: Representation as innovation – Broader representation of gender, race and sexuality can lead to new stories, says Kim Belair, and new stories can enlighten and excite
42. Victoria state government creates opportunities for women in games with $140,000 pledge: Funding opens up positions in seven Australian studios
43. UK government pledges 2,000 visas, £61m investment to Tech sector: Number of visas doubled to bring in more talent, with three £20m schemes planned to grow Britain’s digital industries
44. Pulling back the curtain on Overwatch’s development process
45. More than 6,000 games released on Steam in 2017 so far: Almost ten years’ worth of new games are already on the marketplace – and there’s still a month to go
46. Ark dev: “Retail was not something we had planned to do” – Studio Wildcard’s Jesse Rapczak on the benefits of retail in a digital era, Ark getting enhanced for Xbox One X, and possibly targeting Switch
47. Disney severs ties with Marvel Heroes dev Gazillion Entertainment
48. Kickstarter Launches a Patreon Competitor Called Drip
49. Kickstarter Looks To Compete With Patreon, Launches New Platform Called Drip
50. Kickstarter launches Patreon rival Drip: New crowdfunding platform allows creators to offer subscriptions for ongoing content, will integrate with Kickstarter
51. ‘Pokémon GO’ Makers Announce Harry Potter AR Game, Releasing 2018
52. Where is VR’s Nintendo Switch?: Cloudhead Games CEO Denny Unger says that developers need a device that offers both mobility and a high-powered VR experience
53. More third-party publishers ‘aggressively’ ramp up Nintendo Switch support: Square Enix and Ubisoft are the latest to pledge additional products
54. Doom definitely works on the Switch, but it looks noticeably worse: Reboot looks pretty good in portable mode, pretty fuzzy on the big screen.
55. Report: Nintendo boosting Switch production, could make 30M consoles next year
56. Nintendo takes a gamble with record-setting Switch production plans: Reported bump to 25 to 30 million units per year carries its share of risk.
57. Nintendo to ship almost 50 million Switch units by April 2019: Platform holder plans to produce up to 30 million consoles in next fiscal year
58. Nintendo Switch Has Added Its First Video Streaming App: Hulu
59. Open-world games are broken, and Nintendo spent 2017 trying to fix them
60. Porting classic games to smartphones isn’t the way to go, says Nintendo
61. Report suggests Nintendo close to deal for a new Mario movie: Miyamoto would be a producer on possible Illumination Entertainment film.
62. Minions studio close to deal for Mario movie – Report: Universal’s Illumination Entertainment and Nintendo nearly ready to move forward with animated feature film
63. IO Interactive has cut a deal to make a Hitman TV series
64. Hitman series in the works at streaming platform Hulu: John Wick creator Derek Kolstad on board to write pilot
65. Game Developers Conference announces the inaugural GDC Film Festival
66. GDC rolling out its own film festival: Event organizers open submissions for documentaries and other game-focused films to screen during annual conference
67. National Videogame Arcade launching music festival in 2018: Masaya Matsura, Jessica Curry and Rob Hubbard to headline new event
68. CCP dev: “Virtual reality doesn’t need a killer app” – Eve Valkyrie lead game designer Andrew Whillans also shares how to account for low install bases with VR multiplayer games
69. Latest Figures Suggest ‘Resident Evil 7’ Could Have Some 475,000 PSVR Players
70. Sony ramping up Move production for PSVR push: Platform holder also reports virtual reality attach rate highest on PS4 Pro, five games sold per headset
71. ‘Haptic Shape Illusion’ Allows VR Controllers to Simulate Feel of Physically Larger Objects
72. Tencent still eyes acquisition of PUBG developer Bluehole – report: Tencent working with firm to deliver PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in China, says Korean Times
73. Tencent to help establish Snapchat as games platform: Chinese behemoth believes mobile games will help social media firm meet growth expectations
74. Tencent online gaming revenue exceeds $4bn in latest quarterly financials: Company-wide profit up to $2.7 billion, year-on-year increase of 67%
75. Marvel Heroes Shut Down By Disney
76. New Counter-Strike Matchmaking System Analyses Your Behavior In Other Steam Games
77. Studio founded to develop bespoke esports title: Former US talent agency esports head looks to build competitive game from the ground-up
78. Konami partners with eSports outfit to launch a new PES league
79. Esports Industry Awards winners announced: Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere and Megan “RheingoldRiver” Cutrofello first women to be recognised at awards
80. The Game Awards adds new honors, including an award for ‘live games’
81. Nominees revealed for The Game Awards 2017
82. DRM Strikes Again: Sonic Forces Just Plain Broken Thanks To Denuvo
83. Warner Bros.’s Machinima Launches 24-Hour Channel on Twitch
84. Razer raises $500 million with Hong Kong IPO: Successful floatation drives stock up 40%, sells just over one billion shares
85. What do players want from DLC? Obsidian survey attempts to find out
86. The Digital Ruins of a Forgotten Future: Second Life was supposed to be the future of the internet, but then Facebook came along. Yet many people still spend hours each day inhabiting this virtual realm. Their stories—and the world they’ve built—illuminate the promise and limitations of online life.

DIGITAL

1. Court Rejects Gossip Site’s Fair Use Defense–Barcroft v. Coed Media
2. Cable Providers “Cut the Cord”: Audio/Video Streaming Patents Fail Both Alice Steps
3. Playboy Sues BoingBoing For Linking To Collection Of Centerfold Pictures
4. Google LLC v. Equustek Solutions Inc.: On Google’s motion for preliminary injunction, district court enjoins enforcement of Canadian court order requiring Google to delist search results worldwide, finding that Google had established likelihood of success on merits of its argument that order undermined safe harbor protection afforded by Communications Decency Act to Google as interactive service provider, and threatens free speech.
5. Why Google should be afraid of a Missouri Republican’s Google probe: Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is probing Google’s business practices.
6. Shady Anti-Spyware Developer Loses Lawsuit Against Competitor Who Flagged Its Software As Malicious
7. California Appeals Court Issues A Ruling That Manages To Both Protect And Undermine Online Speech
8. Should we still doubt about the legality of Copyleft?
9. Julian Assange’s Secret DMs to Donald Trump Jr. Are Somehow Dumber, Sadder Than You’d Think
10. Twitter’s Authentication Policy Is A Verified Mess
11. Unusual experiment reveals the power of non-mainstream media: Scholars found that small media outlets have a big effect on Twitter discussions.
12. Facebook Live Is The New QVC
13. The Latest Social Media Trend in Government: It’s hard to get people to follow their local government on Facebook or Twitter. A few cities are using their employees’ personal accounts to connect with more residents.
14. Instagram CEO Positions His Company as Safer Alternative to Controversial Rivals
15. How A Russian Troll Fooled America: Reconstructing the life of a covert Kremlin influence account
16. Very Tired-Sounding John Kelly: Yeah, I Just Ignore Donald Trump’s Tweets
17. University could lose millions from “unethical” research backed by Peter Thiel: With nudge from federal regulators, an internal investigation found big problems.
18. Canada Revenue Agency Obtains Broad Court Order for Years of PayPal Data (Michael Geist)
19. For nearly a year, WikiLeaks was DMing with Donald Trump Jr.: “if your father ‘loses’ we think it is much more interesting if he DOES NOT conceed”
20. WikiLeaks Hitting Up Donald Trump Jr. Shouldn’t Surprise You
21. UK Gov’t Destroys Key Emails From Julian Assange Case, Shrugs About It
22. Trump’s Data Gurus Are Now Turning Their Attention To Your TV: Cambridge Analytica is eyeing targeted TV ads and mobile apps alongside some surprising allies.
23. Paradise Papers: Royalties from thousands of song classics tucked away tax-free – Music catalogue based in Jersey collected millions from songs by Duke Ellington, Sheryl Crow, The Trammps
24. Logitech Once Again Shows That In The Modern Era, You Don’t Really Own What You Buy
25. After online outrage, Logitech will now replace Harmony Link devices for free: You’ll have a new device no matter your warranty status.
26. After Backlash, Logitech Will Upgrade All Harmony Link Owners For Free
27. YouTube Red Climbs the List of Top Ten OTT Platforms
28. Don’t Let YouTube Babysit Your Children
29. Algorithmic Videos Are Making YouTube Unsuitable For Young Children, And Google’s ‘Revenue Architecture’ Is To Blame
30. Encore+ a new YouTube channel for retro CanCon: TV shows and films include Degrassi High, The Littlest Hobo, Mr. Dressup and Due South
31. Google broadens takedown of extremist YouTube videos
32. YouTube Will Remove More Extremist Videos With The Aid Of Government Lists
33. YouTube Vows To Crack Down On Inappropriate Videos Aimed At Children
34. YouTube Pacts With Ticketmaster To Help Musicians Boost Concert Sales
35. YouTube partners with Ticketmaster to sell concert tickets on artists’ video pages
36. YouTube Says World Series Ad Campaign Drove “Double Digit” Lift In YouTube TV Brand Awareness
37. YouTube To Discontinue In-Video Notifications As It Continues To Transition To Card-Based System
38. Online Video Star Matthias Declines Invite To Yearly Rewind Video In Protest Against YouTube’s Policies
39. Fullscreen Shutting Down Subscription VOD Service, Will Lay Off 25 Employees
40. Fullscreen To Shutter SVOD Service In January, Will Lay Off Roughly 25 Staffers
41. Disney Streaming Service May Signal End Of Marvel-Netflix Shows
42. Netflix Study Finds Stigmas Surrounding Public Binge-Viewing Have Dwindled
43. Offering Good Legal Options Works: Interest In Netflix Outpaces Pirate Options In Brazil
44. Sports Illustrated TV: Time Inc.’s First Subscription VOD Is $5 Monthly on Amazon Channels
45. Amazon Paid A Reported $250 Million For Rights To ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Prequel Series
46. Amazon launches Alexa, Echo, and Prime Music in Canada today: Alexa has a new Canadian English accent.
47. Amazon Music app for Android quietly gets Chromecast support: Casting gets a little easier for Android users who get their tunes from Amazon.
48. WhatsApp: inside the secret world of group chat – When WhatsApp launched it quickly became the main messaging service for groups of friends and family. More recently it’s become a useful platform for activists and politicians, fuelling a ‘whisper network’ of alliances and playing a crucial role in the recent revelation of the sexual abuse scandal
49. Facebook Defeats Lawsuit By User Suspended Over ‘Bowling Green Massacre’–Shulman v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
50. Facebook, show us your secret recipe
51. Sean Parker unloads on Facebook “exploiting” human psychology
52. Facebook can’t cope with the world it’s created
53. Facebook Local Might Be The Only Facebook App You Need
54. Huge media companies like CBS and ESPN are banding together to fight Google and Facebook — but it may not be enough
55. Why Google should be afraid of a Missouri Republican’s Google probe: Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley is probing Google’s business practices.
56. Fashion, Maslow and Facebook’s control of social
57. ESPN Launches a New Version of ‘SportsCenter’ to Snapchat
58. The Facts: Non-Consensual Intimate Image Pilot
59. How One Woman’s Digital Life Was Weaponized Against Her
60. Online harassment of women journalists and international law: not “just” a gender issue, but a threat to democracy
61. And Another Thing: Those Dumb Social Media Guidelines For Journalists Are Going To Paint A Target On Their Backs
62. Breitbart’s Coming Exploitation Of The Believe Women Movement
63. Section 230(c)(2) Protects Anti-Malware Vendor–Enigma v. Malwarebytes  (Eric Goldman)
64. 230 bars false advertising claim against antimalware provider (Rebecca Tushnet)
65. Celebrate The 20th Anniversary Of A Seminal Section 230 Case Upholding It With This Series Of Essays
66. Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of Internet Law’s Most Important Judicial Decision
67. Copyright Infringement and the DMCA’s Safe Harbor Provisions 
68. The UK’s Broad Rejection of the §230 Model
69. UK Government promises more visas, more investment for tech sector
70. Sex, Scandal and Intermediary Liability: Imagining Life Without ‘Zeran v. AOL’: The Bazee.com legal saga highlights what could happen without a strong third-party liability protection standard for Internet businesses.
71. Wikipedia Warns That SESTA Could Destroy Wikipedia
72. Monkey Selfie Photographer Says He’s Now Going To Sue Wikipedia
73. China’s Bytedance Buying Social-Video App Musical.ly
74. U.S. Employs Rarely Used Tool to Probe China IP Practices
75. What My Personal Chat Bot Is Teaching Me About AI’s Future
76. The Robots Are Coming: For our jobs. Our military. And our current way of life. That is, unless a handful of local AI wizards can stop them
77. Ray Kurzweil On Turing Tests, Brain Extenders, And Ai Ethics
78. The real danger of Artificial Intelligence it’s not what you think
79. A Great Use For Artificial Intelligence: Scamming Scammers By Wasting Their Time
80. Welcome To The Era Of The Ai Coworker
81. Today, World Leaders Will Meet to Decide the Future of “Killer Robots”
82. Boston Dynamics CEO Believes Robotics Will Become “Bigger Than the Internet”
83. Could Software Stop School Shootings?: Panic button apps and AI could keep kids safer from shootings, but there are many non-technological problems to solve first.
84. Bitcoin compromise collapses, leaving future growth in doubt: Bitcoiners don’t trust elites—even Bitcoin elites.
85. Bitcoin rival doubles in price in four days as Bitcoin price slumps: With Bitcoin mired in controversy, a rival called Bitcoin Cash is gaining ground.
86. CEO who presided over Mt. Gox’s collapse could end up with massive profits: Creditors to be paid out at April 2014’s ~$440 per Bitcoin, not Nov. 2017’s ~$6,500.
87. Bitcoin Gold, the latest Bitcoin fork, explained
88. Covert Cryptocurrency Miners Quickly Become A Major Problem
89. Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain | How will these impact IP law?
90. 17-Qubit Chips Have Officially Arrived, and So Begins the Quantum Revolution
91. ESPN Streaming Service Set to Launch in Spring of 2018
92. North Korea’s Apple Obsession Brings New Meaning to the Phrase ‘Walled Garden’
93. HTC Announces Multi-million Dollar Vive Art Initiative, Bringing VR to Museums Worldwide
94. Hashtag History
95. CompuServe Forums, RIP: More than two decades of discussion and bad advice about to be deleted.