News of the Week; November 1, 2017
GAMES
- Dev draws flak for making a game about resisting oil pipelines
- Energy Group Labels Creators Of Video Game As ‘Eco-Terrorists’
- Oil lobbyists accuse game of promoting “eco-terrorism”: Thunderbird Strike “an eco-terrorist version of Angry Birds,” says Republican senator
- Opinion: When Big Oil attacks your game
- EA shuts down community-led classic Battlefield revival project
- EA shuts down fan-run servers for older Battlefield games: Modified game clients were being used to get around defunct GameSpy servers.
- Kotaku’s scum-and-villainy story of why EA shuttered a Star Wars game: The ripple effects of LucasArts’ closure apparently set Visceral’s demise into motion.
- EA kicking a studio when it’s downsizing: 10 Years Ago This Month: EA Chicago’s closure makes the announcement of Visceral Games’ demise seem like a lesson in tact
- Visceral devs share the story of the studio’s closure
- EA CEO on Visceral closure: “It wasn’t about single-player vs live service” – But publisher says live services continue to be “the bedrock of our business”
- EA CEO Comments On Closing Visceral And Why Its Star Wars Game Was Refocused: “It does happen from time to time as part of the creative process.”
- EA tweaks Star Wars Battlefront II’s loot box drops following beta feedback
- EA execs address Battlefront II loot box concerns: Publisher insists Star Wars shooter will offer good value to players, won’t be pay-to-win
- Star Wars: Battlefront II changes its loot box plans… but is it enough?: Worst damage is fixed, but is this still too much Dark Side in a Star Wars game?
- How the ESRB is Promoting Children’s Gambling
- EA takes a loss in Q2 as digital sales continue to outshine physical
- EA Sports helps EA grow revenue, narrow losses: Digital growth more than offsets 19% year-over-year decline of packaged goods revenues
- PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds could face ban in China: Game deviates from values of socialism, according to China’s content watchdog
- Football Manager to include gay players for first time in series’ history: “I just think it’s crazy that in 2017 we are in a world where people can’t be themselves,” says game director
- So 52.45% of People Playing my Indie Game Have Pirated it…
- Ubisoft says DRM isn’t the reason Assassin’s Creed: Origins pushes CPUs: VMProtect has “no perceptible effect,” game uses “full extent” of CPU by design.
- With Denuvo Broken, Ubisoft Doubles Up On DRM for Assasin’s Creed Origin, Tanking Everyone’s Computers
- Ubisoft has made its Sharpmake game dev tool open-source
- U.S. gov’t stands by DMCA exemption for museums preserving online games
- Amazon opens dedicated ‘Retro Zone’ for selling ‘retro’ games and gear
- Wolfenstein II: a good argument for games to get political
- Does Wolfenstein II’s brutal opening have design value?
- Wolfenstein 2 Collectible Mocks Progressive Magazine Over Its Coverage Of White Nationalists
- The New Colossus: Building Wolfenstein II atop a million small decisions
- Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus Review – If the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi, I just made a whole pile of good Nazis.
- Ethics 101: Designing Morality in Games
- Dev Q&A: A Mortician’s Tale challenges how games depict death
- The economics of single-player games: As many top studios focus on multiplayer, service-based games, does the business case for narrative-driven single-player titles still add up?
- Reclaiming Assassin’s Creed’s lost identity
- Sales and profits up at Nintendo as the Switch continues to shine
- Nintendo Switch closing in on 8M sales worldwide
- SNES Classic and Super Mario Odyssey hit 2M sales
- Super Mario Odyssey hits 2 million sales: With Switch sales “tracking those of the Wii,” latest Mario game reached almost a third of the console’s audience
- Odyssey breaks 3D Mario week one sales record in Japan
- Super Mario Odyssey Review: Mario’s new romp joyously fuses old with new.
- Switch shipments will near 17 million units by the end of March: Six-month results show big increases in revenue and profit, with 50 million units of software expected to ship this fiscal year
- Nintendo survey reveals who’s purchasing the Switch
- Data shows versatility of the Switch is more than just a gimmick: Nintendo still has a knack for designing unique hardware
- Nintendo promises improved Switch availability for holiday season: Company bumps planned production by 4 million units to meet unexpected demand.
- Nintendo: The least popular way to play Switch games is primarily on a TV
- Super Mario Run is still short of Nintendo’s profit expectations: Despite reaching 200 million downloads, Nintendo tells investors that Mario’s mobile debut has “not yet reached an acceptable profit point”
- Sony’s games division drives strong growth in profits
- PlayStation drives Sony’s Q2 2017 revenues up to $18.25bn: Game and Network Services division saw sales more than double on 2016, PS4 shipments up to 67.5m units
- Sony focus moving from hardware sales to active user base: PS4 maker the latest to underscore the increasing importance of engagement metrics over unit sales
- Resident Evil 7 doubled PlayStation VR session time, says Sony
- Daybreak gives PS3 version of DC Universe Online 3 months to live
- Gartner’s Brian Blau on the State of the VR & AR Industries
- Oculus’ Bernard Yee: “Everything we’ve done to date is the warm-up for VR” – Executive producer posits that VR is about ‘the fantasy of the small space’ during View Conference talk
- Rob Pardo: VR MMOs not happening any time soon – World of Warcraft designer also offers advice to aspiring developers during his View Conference keynote
- “VR’s potential is literally infinite” – Oculus: Jason Rubin on the VR road-map and why analogies to failed tech from analysts and critics “all fall flat for me”
- CCP closes 2 studios as it backs away from VR development
- CCP exits the VR business: EVE Online studio has shuttered its Atlanta studio and is selling its Newcastle studio – the strategy shift impacts about 100 staff
- Google launches VR and AR object library called ‘Poly’
- Free-to-play Fortnite: Battle Royale surpasses 811k concurrent players
- Profits and revenue on the rise for Konami’s video game branch
- Profits up at Konami thanks to strong performance in mobile market: Konami enjoys 24.5% year-on-year profit growth in games industry
- Doubt cast on future of Amazon Game Studios’ first major development: Breakaway on “indefinite hiatus” according to report
- Steam beta tests Curator changes: Valve adds tools to help devs deal with influencers, hopes to roll them out wider in coming weeks
- Valve’s big Steam Curator overhaul aims to streamline key distribution
- Xbox software and services Q1 revenue offsets hardware decline: CEO Satya Nadella positions revenue balance as “leading indicator” of Microsoft’s ambitions in the gaming sector
- How Microsoft Delayed A Wildly Popular Xbox Feature To Clean Up Its Wildly Unpopular Always Online Plans
- Microsoft has stopped making the Kinect, and that makes me sad: Robbing the Xbox of its eyes and ears makes it a lesser platform.
- Microsoft could bring first-party titles to rival platforms
- HoloLens availability expanded as Microsoft continues pushing it to industry: Redmond insists that Mixed Reality isn’t just for gaming.
- Warner Bros. Interactive takes over Rocket League retail distribution
- Firefly Games partners with Dreamworks for franchise-laden RPG
- Riot Games introduces revenue sharing in EU LCS overhaul: Developer rethinks Challenger Series and looks to reward teams that “positively contribute to the success of the LCS”
- A New Cornerstone of Human Culture is Transforming Our Oldest Institutions: The future of eSports is in the hands of the players. Can they take it?
- Esports Execs Discuss Barriers, Advantages To Olympic Inclusion
- Olympic Committee agrees eSports ‘could be considered’ legitimate sport
- International Olympic Committee takes steps to recognise esports: IOC and international sports federation “in a dialogue with the games industry” on esports
- Olympic committee lays out expectations for esports’ inclusion: They will need an international governing organization
- Applying entrepreneurial skills to be a better game dev
- Juggling the chainsaws of work-for-hire vs. original projects
- Video Game Mini-Maps Might Finally Be Going Away
- The untapped potential of games to shape the future: “The popular imagination of games hasn’t quite caught up to the reality,” says Near Future Society co-founder Oliver Lewis
- Razer partners with devs to debut $700 game-focused Android phone
- Razer Debuts Its First Phone, And It’s Built For Games
- Essential Facts (Entertainment Software Association of Canada)
DIGITAL
- Association Isn’t Liable for Its Members’ Message Board Postings–Inge v. Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (Eric Goldman)
- European Court Rules On Internet Jurisdiction (Andres Guadamuz)
- TripAdvisor removed warnings about rapes and injuries at Mexico resorts, tourists say
- Appeals court keeps alive the never-ending Linux case, SCO v. IBM: SCO says IBM released a “sham” version of Monterey OS to prop up AIX for Power.
- Here are the Kremlin-backed Facebook ads designed to foment discord in US: Ads bash Clinton before election and cap on Trump after he won the presidency.
- What Congress Should Ask Tech Executives About Russia
- These Are the Ads Russia Bought on Facebook in 2016
- Congress Asks Tech To Face Hard Truths About Russian Meddling
- Spinoff: Whatever The Reports About Russian Trolls Buying Ads Is Initially, It’s Way, Way Worse
- Facebook, Google and Twitter grilled by Congress over Russian meddling – as it happened
- Facebook, YouTube admit to wider-ranging campaigns by Russian “state actors”: Disclosure of even bigger numbers comes ahead of Tuesday testimony on Capitol Hill.
- Facebook, Google, Twitter tell Congress their platforms spread Russian-backed propaganda – Twitter: “We are committed to working every single day at solving this problem.”
- Eight Revealing Moments From The Second Day Of Russia Hearings
- Top Experts: Can Facebook Legally Disclose Russian Ads–What does the Stored Communications Act say?
- Facebook Steps Up Efforts to Sway Lawmakers: Amid Russia probes and online ad scrutiny, social-media giant boosts lobbying spending and work on messaging
- Lawsuit accuses Facebook of scheming to weasel out of paying overtime: Lawsuit says Facebook has a “systematic, companywide wrongful classification” system.
- Collateral Damage Not Russian Site-Blocking’s Only Failure: Pirate Video Market Has Doubled As Well
- Reddit conducts wide-ranging purge of offensive subreddits
- NY Times Uncritically Says Fake News Debate Supports Chinese Style Censorship
- Trump adviser Roger Stone has been booted off Twitter: Stone fired off a profanity-laced tirade against a CNN reporter.
- Roger Stone, President Trump’s Attack Dog, Banned From Twitter For Harassing Journalists
- Roger Stone suing Twitter over suspension
- The College Kids Doing What Twitter Won’t
- Is Wikileaks Protected by Section 230? The Trump Campaign Thinks So (Eric Goldman)
- Trump Campaign Tries To Defend Itself With Section 230, Manages To Potentially Make Things Worse For Itself
- APNewsBreak: Georgia election server wiped after suit filed
- Craig Brittain’s Senate Race Page Reports Craig Brittain’s Personal Account As An ‘Imposter’
- Days after activists sued, Georgia’s election server was wiped clean: Main server deleted in July, two backups were “degaussed three times” in August.
- Georgia Election Server Mysteriously Wiped Clean After Lawsuit Highlights Major Vulnerabilities
- Georgia insists server deletion was “not undertaken to delete evidence”: “Narrative asserted in the media that the data was nefariously deleted… is without merit.”
- Russian Site-Blocking Operation Embroiled In Corruption Scandal
- Forcing Internet Platforms To Police Content Will Never Work
- Twitter drops hammer and sickle on RT, Sputnik ad buys over election shenanigans: No more sponsored Tweets, but Russia-funded media sites can still post “organic” Tweets.
- Twitter adds 4 million users amid ongoing harassment problem
- Ikea’s Ingenious Pre-Roll Ads Turn The Viewer Into A Voyeur
- YouTube Says New Technology Will Result In 30% Fewer Videos Being Deemed Advertiser-Unfriendly
- Google CEO: Viewers Accrue 100 Million Hours Of Daily YouTube Watch Time From Their Living Rooms
- YouTube TV Arrives On More Smart Devices, Including Xbox One Consoles, Android TVs
- Brands Beware: FTC Continues Campaign on Social Media Influencer Disclosures
- Florida Legislator Thinks First Amendment Should Be Trimmed Back A Bit To Deal With Social Media Threats
- How Google Goggles Won, Then Lost, The Camera-First Future
- Google Limits Access To Airfare Data, Risking Antitrust Concerns
- Dennis Prager Sues YouTube For Filtering His Videos In A Way He Doesn’t Like
- YouTube Responds To Lawsuit From Conservative Outlet, Says Restricted Mode “Is Not Censorship”
- Musician-Run Organization Runs Anti-YouTube Ad Campaign…On YouTube
- Finally, RIAA Front Group Admits That Forcing YouTube To Police Site Doesn’t Work Well
- Marketing Guy: Google Image Search Is A Honeypot Set Up By Aggressive Copyright Litigants
- Google’s AI Wizard Unveils A New Twist On Neural Networks
- Copyright Law Makes Artificial Intelligence Bias Worse: But it could be used to help fix the problem too.
- Artificial intelligence and copyright (Andres Guadamuz)
- We’re building a dystopia just to make people click on ads (Zeynep Tufekci)
- Universal Music Group Announces Strategic Alliance With Virtual Reality Company Within
- Amazon Amassed 7.1 Million Streaming Views In Four NFL Games
- Website copying allegations allow potpourri of claims (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Three female engineers sue Uber for sex and race discrimination: Plaintiffs claim that “stack ranking” was stacked against them.
- In shift to content distribution, Roku may stream to third-party devices: Roku’s mobile app could become a new hub for ad-supported channels.
- GoFundMe Jumps into Original Content, Launches New Studio
- Spotify Cancels Its Current Crop Of Original Video Series As It Looks To Design A New Format
- Apple Taking Family-Friendly Approach To $1 Billion Original Content Push
- Apple’s $1 billion TV lineup will be family-friendly, not Game of Thrones: Hollywood insiders paint a picture of a conservative company testing the waters.
- Is X > 8? Solving Apple’s iPhone sales equation: The iPhone 8 saw slow sales, while iPhone X demand quickly outstripped supply.
- Apple Reportedly Fires Engineer After Daughter’s iPhone X Video Goes Viral
- Apple Let YouTubers Review The iPhone X Ahead Of Traditional Tech Outlets
- Don’t drop that iPhone X—a screen repair will cost you $279
- Apple reportedly building iPhones, iPads without Qualcomm chips: Qualcomm has reportedly withheld software needed for testing its chips in Apple devices
- Microsoft Partners With NFL Stars For ‘Create Change’ Campaign
- AMD, which lost over $2.8B in 5 years, takes a hit after new report – Morgan Stanley: Demand for graphics chips, video game consoles will slow in 2018.
- GrubHub “gig economy” trial ends with judge calling out plaintiff’s lies: Small details of a part-time actor’s delivery job have become a federal case.
- The Little Black Box That Took Over Piracy
- The Rights of Synthetic Lifeforms is the Next Great Civil Rights Controversy
- DARPA’s New Brain Device Increases Learning Speed by 40%
- Prepping Self-Driving Cars For The World’s Most Chaotic Cities
- Future of Invasive Neural Interfaces & Uploading Consciousness with Ramez Naam
- Machine Learning Is Aiding in the Fight Against Mental Illness
- The Robot Tank Designed To Fight Russians
- Do Robots Have More Rights Than Women In Saudi Arabia?
- Sony’s Aibo robot dog is back, gives us OLED puppy dog eyes: You can adopt Sony’s newest robo dog today for $1,700 down and a mandatory monthly fee
- CAA Unveils Digital-Incubator Venture Creative Labs With $12.5 Million in Funding
- CAA Launches Startup Studio To Found New Tech And Media Companies
- Canadian Copyright, OA, and OER: Why the Open Access Road Still Leads Back to Copyright (Michael Geist)
- Information Disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policymaking
- This stupid patent was going to be used to sue hundreds of small businesses: A patent litigation factory was stopped from suing hundreds of small printers.
- Whois? No, Whowas: Incoming Euro privacy rules torpedo domain registration system: Internet policy wonks scramble over GDPR
- ‘I Forgot My Pin’: An Epic Tale Of Losing $30,000 In Bitcoin
- Samsung’s Mining Rig Lets You Collect Cryptocurrency Using 40 Old Galaxy Smartphones
- How Netflix works: the (hugely simplified) complex stuff that happens every time you hit Play
- Netflix Cancels ‘House Of Cards’ In Response To Sexual Misconduct Claims Against Kevin Spacey
- The Government’s Role in E-commerce: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on International Trade (Michael Geist)
- Prepping Self-Driving Cars For The World’s Most Chaotic Cities
- Best-Ever Algorithm Found For Huge Streams Of Data
- Rethinking Data Ownership in the Age of the IOT
- Inside The Downfall Of Doppler Labs
- The underground story of Cobra, the 1980s’ illicit handmade computer: In their poor, Communist country, Romania’s computer curious built an underground industry.
- Google, others showcase emoji cheeseburger construction faux pas: Emoji fragmentation of a small stakes, culinary variety.
CREATIVITY
- Gag order silencing Comic-Con producers declared unconstitutional: Appeals court says silencing online speech over trademark suit is unconstitutional.
- Florida’s top court stops 1960s band from earning pre-1972 copyright royalties: Do states want copyright to sprawl even further? Two have said “no.”
- Eight Mile Style v New Zealand National Party: National ‘Loses itself’ to Eminem in copyright case
- New Zealand political party infringed Eminem copyright, must pay $412k: “Sound alike” track used by ad firm was too close to Eminem hit “Lose Yourself.”
- CBS sues man for copyright over screenshots of 59-year-old TV show: Asked about the lawsuit, CBS says only that plaintiff will “end up on boot hill.”
- Regulators crack down on gambling ads appealing to children
- Australian Lawmakers Propose Outlawing Parody, Having A Sense Of Humor
- There’s no free speech right to refuse wedding cakes to gay couples
- Standing to Sue for Copyright Infringement: No Bright Line Rule for Stock Photo Agencies
- Not every pattern is protected by copyright, even if creating it involved many choices
- Evidence Continues To Show Benefit Of “Openness” In Copyright Regimes
- The #MeToo moment
- Against Allegedly
- Reporter Arrested, Thrown To The Ground For Cursing
- What future for UK copyright after Brexit? Report on IPKat-BLACA panel discussion
- The Prehistory of Music: A conversation on the deep history of humans and music with Gary Tomlinson, author of A Million Years of Music.
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- New CASL Ruling: CRTC Provides Guidance on B2B Messaging and the Due Diligence Defence
- Ajit Pai submits plan to allow more media consolidation: Rules that preserve media diversity in local markets will be eliminated.
- FCC chair wants to impose a cap on broadband funding for poor families: Pai proposes Lifeline budget cap and new limits on which ISPs can get subsidies.
- Another broadband merger: CenturyLink gets FCC approval to buy Level 3: CenturyLink gets bigger while it faces lawsuits alleging overcharges.
- Dead People Mysteriously Support The FCC’s Attack On Net Neutrality
- Sprint/T-Mobile merger is off, preserving wireless competition (for now): Sprint owner wants to maintain control and invest in its network, report says.
- How Right-Wing Media Is Ignoring The Mueller Indictments: “Much ado about nothing.”
- Charter CEO Tries To Blame Netflix Password ‘Piracy’ For Company’s Failure To Adapt To Cord Cutting
- Portugal Shows The Internet Why Net Neutrality Is Important
- Verizon-Funded Group Claims Killing Net Neutrality Would Really Help Puerto Rico Right Now
- Verizon Will Graciously Now Let You Avoid Video Throttling For An Additional $10 Per Month
- Verizon creates new $10 monthly charge to remove video throttling: $10 add-on charge removes limit that restricts mobile videos to 720p.
- Verizon Lobbies FCC To Block States From Protecting Broadband Privacy, Net Neutrality
- Verizon has a new strategy to undermine online privacy and net neutrality: FCC should declare state broadband laws invalid, Verizon tells commission.
- San Francisco, Seattle Tire of Comcast, Mull Building Citywide Fiber Networks
- AT&T admits defeat in lawsuit it filed to stall Google Fiber: Judge dismissed AT&T’s lawsuit against Louisville, and company won’t appeal.
- Pirate TV services are taking a bite out of cable company revenue: Millions of North Americans are using illegal TV services, research finds.
- Careful what you wish for – Bill O’Reilly version
- Brian Williams Opens Up About His Unexpected Re-Invention: “Second Acts Are Possible, With A Little Spiffing Up”: Most broadcasters would have been cooked if they had undergone the sort of scandal that Williams faced in 2015. But a slow-and-steady revival—a mixture of dutiful penance, clever planning, and a dramatic change in the media—has Williams turning 11 p.m. into the new primetime.
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- What Did Cambridge Analytica Really Do For Trump’s Campaign?
- China Tests The Limits Of Its Us Hacking Truce
- BlackBerry CEO Promises To Try To Break Customers’ Encryption If The US Gov’t Asks Him To
- Rumors That Facebook Is Secretly Recording You Refuse to Die
- A surge of sites and apps are exhausting your CPU to mine cryptocurrency: Coinhive harnesses the resources of 500 million people with no questions asked.
- New Evidence Shows Defense Dep’t Abusing Surveillance Procedures To Spy On Americans
- Video dooms cop who arrested nurse for not letting him take patient’s blood: Nurse told officer to get a warrant. Cop grabs her and arrests her for no reason.
- Judge Doesn’t Care Much For DOJ’s Boilerplate, Refuses To Grant One Year Gag Order
- FBI Says It Can’t Get Into 6,900 Encrypted Phones. So What?
- Declassified Docs Show NSA Trying To Prosecute A Journalist For His Successful FOIA Requests
- A new, virulent ransomware epidemic is fuelled by yet another leaked NSA cyberweapon
- Assessing the threat the Reaper botnet poses to the Internet – what we know now: Whatever the threat posed by the new IoT botnet, a worse one has lurked for months.
- Apple’s Machine Learning Engine Could Surface Your iPhone’s Secrets
- Facing privacy suits about facial recognition
- Back Down The Rabbit Hole About Encryption On Smartphones
- Researcher Still Being Pursued By Russian Bank Over Last Year’s Mistaken Trump Connection Story
- European Parliament Agrees Text For Key ePrivacy Regulation; Online Advertising Industry Hates It
- Kim Dotcom settles case he filed against NZ police over “military-style raid”: Cops could have “knocked at our door at a reasonable hour and advised me of my arrest.”
- Wyden’s Reform Bill Would Also Deter Misuse Of NSA Powers To Compel Tech Company Assistance
- Members of Congress want you to hack the US election voting system: Bug-bounty program would exempt participants from federal hacking laws.
- CIA releases 321 gigabytes of Bin Laden’s digital library, Web cache crap: “There is no absolute guarantee that all malware has been removed.”
- Man finds USB stick with Heathrow security plans, Queen’s travel details: Secrets discovered when USB was plugged into library computer; data unencrypted.
Jon
News of the Week; October 25, 2017
GAMES
- Slot machine denies Horizon: Zero Dawn DLC trademark – US patent office suspends The Frozen Wilds DLC trademark for similarities to mobile game Frozen Wild
- ‘Hey dude, do this’: the last resort for female gamers escaping online abuse – In the toxic environment of online gaming, women play incognito, pretend to be male or say nothing to avoid harassment
- The games industry responds to #MeToo: “By acting now, we can save countless individuals from physical, mental, and emotional pain, suffering, and distress”
- Implied sexual assault scene in Call of Duty modified for Australia: The “threat of sexual violence” no longer listed as content warning, but title remains rated R18+
- What’s next for Activision Blizzard’s $300m merchandise business: Consumer Products CEO on Activision Blizzard’s new franchise philosophy
- Hearthstone Player Waves His Hand, Sets Off Controversy
- Game Boss interview: How Zoe Quinn survived Gamergate and lived to fight Internet hate
- NeoGAF goes offline in wake of sexual assault allegations: “The story doesn’t reconcile logically with the facts,” says site founder
- Community Fallout from UploadVR’s Harassment Settlement, and Bearing Witness to Testimony
- Andromeda dev chalks up some of the game’s problems to a lack of diversity
- What do you do when a hate group steals your logo?: How a Star Citizen player group responded to white nationalists adopting their branding, and what publishers could learn from Cloud Imperium’s response
- NPD: Loot box controversy having no impact on game sales – Despite consumer outcry, the analysis firm tells GamesIndustry.biz AAA titles with microtransactions still appear among biggest sellers
- Destiny 2 PC Players Reporting Mass Bans, And No One Has Explained Why
- Bungie denies reports that innocuous apps led to PC Destiny 2 bans: But hundreds of angry players say they’ve been banned “for nothing.”
- Why LeBron James Doesn’t Own the Rights to His Tattoos
- How GTA Online painfully pulled Rockstar into the ‘live games’ biz
- Rockstar wants to return to single-player DLC in future games: GTA V was “very, very complete,” and absence of add-on content wasn’t a “conscious decision”
- EA ‘pushing for more open-world games [because] you can monetise them better,’ says ex-Bioware dev – Manveer Heir: “I’ve seen people literally spend $15,000 on Mass Effect multiplayer cards.”
- Opinion: The game industry must face up to its gambling problem
- Harmonix lays off 14 in bid to ‘reduce overhead’
- Gaming’s Fall Season Ain’t What It Used To Be
- Facebook updates Instant Games platform with video ads and ‘robust’ dev tools
- Facebook Instant Games trialling monetisation options for developers: In-app purchases and ads coming to a select set of games
- Mobile App Sweepstakes and Social Media – A Legal Perspective
- Google Play and App Store downloads and spending hit record levels
- Mobile downloads and consumer spending hit record high: iOS and Google Play enjoyed a 28% year on year growth in revenue for Q3, report says
- Adding multiplayer would “dilute” Wolfenstein’s storytelling: MachineGames’ Tommy Tordsson Björk on the benefits of single-player focus to “pushing the boundaries” in The New Colossus
- Gran Turismo Sport review: A brilliant, but very new, direction for the series: The latest game in this legendary franchise is all about racing online and e-sports.
- Nintendo Switch surpasses 2M sales in the U.S.
- Nintendo Switch passes 2 million US sales: Console was the best-selling games device in America for third consecutive month, according to NPD data
- Skipmore’s Kamiko sells 150,000 on Switch: Two-person Japanese studio sees a big return on Nintendo’s new console
- Switch update brings video capture and pre-purchasing
- Nintendo Switch’s first portable dock offers freedom, but with new shackles: Nyko dock delivers a much-needed option—but it comes with serious dealbreakers.
- Nintendo revisiting freemium model in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
- Nintendo fully embraces in-app purchases with Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp: Publisher moves past its “deep-rooted suspicion” of free-to-play for next mobile release
- Nintendo quietly adds GameCube controller support in latest Switch update
- Your old GameCube controllers now work with the Nintendo Switch: Stealth update could pave the way for Virtual Console, new Smash Bros..
- Unreleased Super NES game to come packed with every Analogue Super Nt – Super Turrican: Director’s Cut unearths the uncut 6 Mbit version of the game.
- Denuvo’s DRM now being cracked within hours of release: Best-in-class service can’t even provide a full day of protection these days.
- Multiple Titles Using Denuvo Cracked On Release Day As Other Titles Planning To Use It Bail On It Completely
- Devs tell tales of what happens when you give your game to pirates: “It’s definitely been a good decision. Your game is going to end up on piracy websites regardless, and you might as well have fun with it, and in a way prevent it from being a virus or some malicious software.”
- Eye Tracking Shows Where ELEAGUE Gamers Look On The Screen
- New York Yankees invest in Vision Esports: Most valuable team in baseball ventures into the world of competitive video games
- Why the NCAA doesn’t have a place in esports
- Investors pour $25M into eSports team Cloud9
- Esports firm Cloud9 raises $25m in latest funding round: Investors include WWE, Beverly Hills Sports Council, Washington Wizards owner and more
- Intel: VR is “eye-opening moment” for computing – Kim Pallister, director of the Intel VR Center of Excellence, on the chip maker’s goals for VR and why it sees VR making esports more accessible
- From taverns to tournaments: The rise of Gwent as an esport: CD Projekt Red’s Rafał Jaki explains why the studio’s competitive gaming ambitions are “not some calculated decision based on a spreadsheet”
- Microsoft launches TruePlay, an anti-cheat for UWP games
- Windows now includes gaming cheat detection at the system level: Optional “TruePlay” protects game memory, monitors OS for common cheating patterns.
- Microsoft introduces anti-cheating tool for UWP games developers: TruePlay aims to help studios monitor their games for common attacks, locks opt-out players from selected modes
- Microsoft kills the Kinect as production shuts down
- Microsoft discontinues Kinect: Depth-sensing Xbox camera shelved after seven years and 35 million units sold
- Microsoft Fully Discontinues The Kinect
- Microsoft has stopped making the Kinect, and that makes me sad: Robbing the Xbox of its eyes and ears makes it a lesser platform.
- Now we know why Xbox One backward compatibility took so long: Response to “always on” Internet fiasco put “back compat” on the backburner.
- Steam users can now send gift cards digitally
- Five reasons why Christmas 2017 might not be a disaster for games retail: It hasn’t started well, but there are still reasons to be hopeful
- Researchers expect close holiday competition between Xbox One X and PS4 Pro
- Xbox publishing head: Single-player games aren’t dead, just more complicated
- Sony: Planet of the Apes and PlayLink will help us reach non-gamers – Platform holder expects recognisable IP to play a big role in selling PlayStations to the masses
- Does Visceral’s closure prove AAA single-player games are dying?
- Ex-Visceral dev calls death of single-player fears “totally absurd”: Studio’s former level designer saddened by studio closure, but supports EA’s shift towards service games
- What the F&*K is a Gamerunner, and why do we need them?
- 666M tuned in to video game streams and videos last year, says SuperData
- A game dev’s romp through interesting 2017 game market data
- Over three times as many video game projects fail than succeed on Kickstarter: Video games continue to stagnate on the platform while board games are breaking records
- Interview With Ryan Morrison, Video Game Attorney – High Noon Hot Seat
- Gaming video content has an audience of 665 million: SuperData report forecasts ads and direct consumer spending to push GVC earnings to $4.6 billion in 2017
- Making the industry’s voice heard on Brexit: Exiting the EU is one of the biggest challenges the UK games sector has ever faced; the industry desperately needs its access to skilled staff to be protected
- Games for the Many: how Labour plans to win elections with video games – Designer Rosa Carbó-Mascarell on using video games to make politics accessible
- Gabe Newell’s $5.5bn net worth puts him in US’ top 100 wealthiest: Valve boss reaches No.97 on latest Forbes rich list, believed to own just over half his company
- Keywords agrees to $66.4M deal for game testing giant VMC
- British Games Institute seeking support from UK government
- Cognitive Biases to Watch Out For When Running a Games Business
- The Philosophy of Grinding and how to Reduce it
- Devs push back on Patreon’s ‘clearer stance’ regarding adult content
- A Brief History of Rappers Who Dress Like JRPG Villains
- Engare review: The geometry of Islamic art becomes a treasure of a game
- How games media can work more effectively with PR: LittleBig PR’s Gareth Williams offers a counterpoint to our recent piece on the relationships between journalists and the industry
- Returning to Second Life: Long after its grandest ambitions have faded, the platform still boasts people and profit.
- How Neopets influenced a generation of devs
- UNC Star Joel Berry II Loses Video Game, Punches Door, Breaks Hand
DIGITAL
- Demers v. Yahoo Inc: Québec Court Confirms that Québec Consumer Law Applies to Free Online Services
- Google Removed Catalonian Referendum App Following Spanish Court Order
- Another Court Rejects ‘Material Support To Terrorists’ Claims Against Social Media Sites–Gonzalez v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Controversial “Gripe Site” Protected (Again) by the Communications Decency Act and Defeats Novel Copyright Attack with Website “Browsewrap” License to User Generated Content
- Spanski Enterprises, Inc. v. Telewizja Polska, S.A.: How Far Is Too Far When It Comes to the Extraterritorial Reach of US Copyright Law?
- Nielsen Data says 89% of OTT Viewing Takes Place on TV Sets
- Apple calls report of reduced iPhone X Face ID specs “completely false”: Apple says Face ID will still only have a one-in-a-million chance of failing.
- All The Face-Tracking Tech Behind Apple’s Animoji
- After Supreme Court detour, Apple v. Samsung goes to a fourth jury trial: Apple wields design as a weapon, a strategy that has led to judicial paralysis.
- Apple’s Billion-Dollar Bet on Hollywood Is the Opposite of Edgy: A conservative corporation takes its first steps into a new industry.
- Empathy – the latest gadget Silicon Valley wants to sell you: The tech world wants us to believe that virtual reality will unlock human understanding on a global scale. But it’s also a business strategy
- Vox Media Fires Editorial Director Lockhart Steele For Misconduct, Says Investigation Is “Ongoing”
- Open for business, ransomware authors and perpetrators cashing in on emerging dark web marketplace economy
- Two-week-old Pixel 2 XL displays are already showing burn-in: LG’s terrible OLED panels have yet another issue.
- Gab Drops Its Lawsuit Against Google; Considers Trying Its Hand At Lobbying
- Copyright Office Will Renew Previous DMCA Exemptions Without Much Fuss — But Why Is This Even Necessary?
- Report: Twitter CEO took a Russian impostor’s bait in 2016: The retweets were for innocent, “positive” stories.” And that was the point.
- Proposed law would regulate online ads to hinder Russian election influence: Honest Ads Act requires Google, Twitter, Facebook to open ads to public review.
- When Russian Trolls Attack: Anna Zhavnerovich knew she was taking a risk when she publicized the details of her assault online. But in doing so, she joined a growing movement of survivors fighting back against Russia’s Kremlin-influenced trolling machine.
- Political ads on Twitter will now be labeled with lots of spending data: Follows mounting congressional pressure about social media ads and disclosure.
- In its new timeline, Twitter will end revenge porn next week, hate speech in two: The company has laid out a “safety calendar” with changes through January.
- Lawyers: Trump’s Twitter Account Not Presidential; Also: Trump Is President, Can’t Be Sued
- Trump’s Favorite Law Firm Loses Massive RICO SLAPP Suit Against Greenpeace, But Has Another One Already Going
- This Week’s Best Twitter Is College Kids Pretending to Flunk Midterms for Viral Fame
- Mercedes handles the competition because it knows how to handle data, too: Ahead of (another) Mercedes win, Ars gets a look at the team’s network stack.
- High-tech mirror for cancer patients only works if you smile
- UK Gov’t Considering Redefining Social Media Services As Publishers To Make It Easier To Control Them
- How Social Media Endangers Knowledge
- How Fiction Becomes Fact on Social Media
- The Responsibility of Online Platforms: a Marginal Challenge in Québec
- Russian Cyberspies Are Rushing to Exploit Recent Flash 0-Day Before It Goes Cold
- Computer Parts Site Newegg Is Being Sued for Allegedly Engaging in Massive Fraud [Updated]
- Korean banks sue Newegg, allege online retailer aided massive fraud: Both Newegg, ASI will “vigorously defend” their companies and deny wrongdoing.
- When Government Fails, Social Media Is The New 911
- How blockchain technology can set us free from this Brexit time warp
- Blockchains Explained In Two Minutes
- MasterCard Announces That Payments Can Now be Made on Blockchain
- Your Browser Could Be Mining Cryptocurrency For A Stranger
- An AI god will emerge by 2042 and write its own bible. Will you worship it?
- Elon Musk Eviscerates People Who Discuss “A.I. Gods”
- Artificial Intelligence in Christian Thought and Practice: This series by Christian computer scientists introduces questions for Christians about AI and its role in society
- These Are The Ethical Dilemmas We Face As AI Takes Over Our Lives
- Using Abstract VR Art for Neural Entrainment & Brain Research + Can Creative AI Become Conscious?
- The Surreal Comedy Bot That’s Turning AI Into LOL
- Google Is Honing AI That Can Recognize Human Actions Using YouTube Videos
- Insights: Google Knits Artificial Intelligence Into Everything, But Are We Sure It Won’t Be Evil?
- Welcoming Our New Robot Overlords: Once, robots assisted human workers. Now it’s the other way around.
- The Future of Online Dating Is Unsexy and Brutally Effective
- Facebook is struggling to meet the burden of securing itself, security chief says: Chief Security Officer described security report as a “very painful process.”
- How People Inside Facebook Are Reacting To The Company’s Election Crisis
- Monopoly Power and the Future of Facebook
- Will Facebook Kill All Future Facebooks?
- Court Not Impressed With Sneaky Plan To Sell Patents To Native Americans To Avoid Review… But New Lawsuits Filed
- Several women accuse tech pundit Robert Scoble of sexual harassment
- Tech Writer Robert Scoble Accused of Sexual Harassment, Assault by Multiple Women
- The Slippery Slope of Internet Censorship in Egypt: In response to a recent, dramatic increase of Internet filtering in Egypt, Internet users take to social media and Google Drive to protest filtering and disseminate banned content.
- A Joke Tweet Leads To ‘Child Trafficking’ Investigation, Providing More Evidence Of Why SESTA Would Be Abused
- Beyond ICE In Oakland: How SESTA Threatens To Chill Any Online Discussion About Immigration
- Study On Craigslist Shutting ‘Erotic Services’ Shows SESTA May Hurt Those It Purports To Help
- Is Hollywood ‘Exploiting’ Anti-Trafficking Organization To Support SESTA?
- How A Startup’s Legal Battle With A Software Giant Could Redefine Tech Workers’ Rights
- Uber, Intel, and other tech firms will urge Congress to let “Dreamers” stay – Uber: “We plan to support Dreamers as long as they need help.”
- Regulators of ‘sharing economy’ platforms caught between competing interests
- Cities around US offer billions in tax breaks to be Amazon’s HQ2: Cities and states are trying to one-up each other, showing off their best features.
- Another German decision warns against broad application of GS Media presumption for for-profit link providers
- NAFTA Modernization and IP/E-commerce: My Appearance at the Senate Open Caucus (Michael Geist)
- Netflix Plans To Fund Its Increased 2018 Content Budget With Additional $1.6 Billion Of Debt
- Netflix to Raise $1.6 Billion More Debt Financing to Fuel Content-Buying Binge
- Nielsen Now Vends Ratings Info For Netflix Shows To Top Media Companies
- Using YouTube Takedowns As Extortion
- YouTube’s brilliant ad was one of the biggest stories from Game 1 of the World Series
- As YouTube TV Begins World Series Ad Campaign, Its Play Button Vexes Viewers
- Billboard Will Decrease Weight Of YouTube Views In Hot 100 Charts
- How YouTube Entrepreneurs In Their 20s Are Disrupting Traditional Record Labels
- “Despacito”, YouTube’s Most-Viewed Video, Was Shot In 14 Hours And Edited On Final Cut Pro X
- Amazon Video Direct Funds Programming For The First Time By Investing In Funny Or Die Shorts
- BroadbandTV Signs Yousef ‘FouseyTube’ Erakat, Bart Baker, And h3h3Productions
- Snap Has Hundreds Of Thousands Of Unsold Spectacles Sitting In Warehouses
- The Judge’s Code: Meet the judge who codes — and decides tech’s biggest cases
- Digital Goods Are Valued Less Than Physical Goods
- How has digital journalism changed your work day?
- How Big Tech Became A Bipartisan Whipping Boy
CREATIVITY
- Eminem Wins New Zealand Copyright Lawsuit; Awarded Over 400K In Damages
- Author Who Lost Copyright Case Over The Da Vinci Code In The US In 2007 Looks To Revive It In The UK In 2017
- TV formats potentially eligible for copyright protection as dramatic works under UK law
- Forgetting Functionality (Christopher Buccafusco & Jeanne Fromer)
- Copyright Laws Make Photographs of the Eiffel Tower at Night Illegal
- Does a French copyright smell anything?
- Judge Bars News Station From Showing Pictures In News Story, Admits It’s Prior Restraint, Shrugs
- Hate speech is protected free speech, even on college campuses: My students trust colleges to control offensive speech. They shouldn’t.
- Communism’s Answer to Mickey Mouse Is Thrust Into a Very Capitalist Dispute
- Long Trail Brewing Sues East Coast Apparel Company Over ‘Take A Hike’ T-Shirt
- Harvey Weinstein Case Brings Sexual Harassment Back to the Spotlight
- Photographer Spends Eternity Waiting For Museum Visitors To Match Artworks And The Result Is Worth The Wait
- Serialized Television Has Become a Disease
- How (not) to protect an idea for a TV format
- Arnold Schwarzenegger Thinks Last Action Hero Bombed Because of Bill Clinton
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Government Rejects Call for an Internet Tax: “Conflicts With Principle of Affordable Access” (Michael Geist)
- Compliance and Enforcement Decision CRTC 2017-367: 3510395 Canada Inc., operating as Compu.Finder – Constitutional challenge to Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation
- Bill O’Reilly says he was one of many employees accused of sexual harassment at Fox
- James Murdoch Says Size of O’Reilly Settlement Was ‘News to Me’
- Local TV and radio stations no longer required to have local studios: Republicans eliminate rule, make it easier for stations to close local studios.
- The Main Studio Rule Is Dead; Long Live the Main Studio
- FCC Approves Repeal of Main Studio Rules and Starts Proceeding to Examine Broadcast Public Notices and Filing of TV Ancillary and Supplementary Revenue Reports
- FCC Likely To Use Thanksgiving Holiday To Hide Its Unpopular Plan To Kill Net Neutrality
- A Public Focused Approach To Net Neutrality
- Michigan Lawmaker Flees Twitter After Reports Highlight She Helped AT&T Push Anti-Competition Broadband Law
- Verizon brings back full-quality video streaming for $10 more: If you want your mobile video to stream in 4K on Verizon, you’ll need to pay extra. And have the right phone.
- Report: Verizon struggling to launch streaming TV service in crowded field – It’s had two delays and now plans to launch in the spring, says Bloomberg.
- Verizon’s Long-Shot Bet To Disrupt Google And Facebook
- Michigan Lawmaker Doesn’t Understand Her Own Bill Hamstringing Broadband Competition
- The Cable Industry’s Ingenious ‘Solution’ To TV Cord Cutting? Raise Broadband Rates
- After Report Suggests It Ripped Off Taxpayers, Frontier Communications Shrugs When Asked For Subsidies Back
- $100 Internet bill became $340 for no reason, Frontier customer says: Overcharges continue for months despite customer service promising a fix.
- Google Fiber is now in Louisville thanks to new fiber deployment strategy: Microtrenching sped up work in Louisville during court battle over utility poles.
- Wireless Carriers Again Busted Collecting, Selling User Data Without Consent Or Opt Out Tools
- Jails pocket up to 60 percent of what inmates pay for phone calls: “Site commissions” raise prices by sending up to 60 percent of revenue to jails.
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- DOJ changes “gag order” policy, Microsoft to drop lawsuit – Brad Smith, Microsoft’s attorney: “It is an unequivocal win for our customers.”
- New DOJ Policy Restricts Use Of Warrant/Subpoena Gag Orders
- Government Drops Its Demand For Data On 6,000 Facebook Users
- Amazon Key Is Bigger Than Package Delivery
- Amazon Key unlocks your door for in-home package deliveries: Will you let Amazon be the gatekeeper to your home?
- Court Has No Problem With All House Residents Being Forced To Hand Over Fingers To Law Enforcement
- Judge: MalwareTech is no longer under curfew, GPS monitoring – Marcus Hutchins, awaiting trial, can now live and work unencumbered in LA.
- New Ransomware Linked To Notpetya Sweeps Russia And Ukraine
- New wave of data-encrypting malware hits Russia and Ukraine: Highly advanced “Bad Rabbit” hits train stations, airport, and media.
- DOJ Subpoenas Twitter About Popehat, Dissent Doe And Others Over A Smiley Emoji Tweet
- The DOJ’s Bizarre Subpoena Over An Emoji Highlights Its Ridiculous Vendetta Against A Security Researcher
- The Reaper IoT Botnet Has Already Infected A Million Networks
- Equifax Deserves The Corporate Death Penalty
- Key e-mail from feds got caught in body-cam maker’s spam filter: Axon hopes “to resolve these matters as expeditiously as possible.”
- Police body cams had no “statistically significant effect” in DC: “There was no indication that the cameras changed behavior at all.”
- NYPD Tells Judge Its $25 Million Forfeiture Database Has No Backup
- NYPD can’t get story straight on evidence system backups: Deputy commissioner says the system is “backed up”; IT staff affidavit says otherwise.
- FBI director: Unbreakable encryption is a “huge, huge problem”: “I get it, there’s a balance that needs to be struck,” Christopher Wray said.
- Law Prof Argues Cell Location Records Shouldn’t Need Warrants Because Cell Phones Have Encryption
- Time For The Feds To Say What They Know About Kaspersky
- Worker who snuck NSA malware home had his PC backdoored, Kaspersky says: Kaspersky presses its case it didn’t knowingly help Russia steal NSA secrets.
- Kaspersky pledges independent code review to cast off spying suspicions: After accusations by DHS of ties to Russian intel, company seeks to reassure customers.
- Crippling crypto weakness opens millions of smartcards to cloning: Gemalto IDPrime.NET almost certainly isn’t the only smartcard vulnerable to ROCA.
- How To Avoid Future Krack-Like Failures: Create Well-Maintained ‘Fat’ Protocols Using Initial Coin Offerings
- “Security concerns” lead to LTE service shutdown on Chinese Apple Watches: The Chinese government doesn’t know what to do with eSIMs yet.
- Amazon Key Puts Deliveries—And Delivery People—In Your Home
- Computer hacking victims to receive up to £6,000 compensation for ‘distress’ caused by cyber crime, under new plans: There are fears the EU regulations will spark industry of bogus hacking claims – Companies with millions of customers could be left crippled if they have to pay – Bill would give right for payout for ‘psychiatric and psychological damage’ – In 2013 157,000 TalkTalk customers were affected when it was hacked – If everyone affected claimed, the company would have to pay £471 million
- On Internet-Connected Toys and Human Flourishing: Hello, Privacy
- Police Camera Study Shows New Tech Having Little Effect On Misconduct And Excessive Force
- Google, Facebook & Comcast Jointly Lied to California Lawmakers To Scuttle Broadband Privacy Bill
- How lobbyists convinced lawmakers to kill a broadband privacy bill: Leaked documents reveal scare tactics that helped ISPs avoid privacy rules.
- A comparative guide to data security penalties in 10+ jurisdictions
Jon
News of the Week; October 18, 2017
GAMES
- Blizzard takes Chinese dev to court over alleged mobile Overwatch clone
- Overwatch hits 35 million players: The player base continues to grow, but it’s slowing
- Activision patents matchmaking tech that can push players to buy upgrades
- Activision Patents Matchmaking That Encourages Players To Buy Microtransactions
- Patent that pushes microtransactions through multiplayer granted to Activision: The “exploratory” systems have not been implemented into any games as of yet, publisher says
- Activision’s patented method to drive microtransactions with matchmaking: Unused system could push newbies to “emulate the marquee player” in pairings.
- Activision Researched Using Matchmaking Tricks to Sell In-Game Items: In-game purchases are a multi-billion dollar business for Activision.
- Fortnite developer reportedly suing cheating players: Epic is looking to hit Fortnite cheaters hard.
- Epic Games sues alleged Fortnite cheaters over EULA violations
- Report: WB winding down Lego Dimensions ahead of schedule
- Lego Dimensions dropped – Report: Toys-to-life genre loses another player as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment pulls the plug a year earlier than planned
- PUBG has doubled total banned players in a month: BattlEye has banned 322,000 players, with as many as 13,000 banned every day
- Fortnite’s free-to-play battle royale mode passes 10M players
- Does anyone own the Battle Royale genre?: Current law gives developers little more than “a headstart” over potential imitators, says Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostyantyn Lobov
- Exclusive: Even Pokémon Go used by extensive Russian-linked meddling effort
- iLife wins $10.1 M from Nintendo
- Nintendo Reportedly Encouraging Mature Titles On Switch
- Why aren’t there more “Mature” games for Nintendo Switch?: Nintendo reportedly encouraging more adult fare but still won’t create it.
- Sony Music to publish games on Switch and PC through new Unties label
- Sony to publish Nintendo Switch games with new label Unties: Indie publisher operated by Sony Music Entertainment, first title Tiny Metal releases in November
- Nintendo Switch tiptoes toward letting users back up their data: Latest system update also enables video capture for… four games. Yes, four.
- Super Nt is a $190 FPGA, HDMI SNES (and probably other acronyms): High-end “clone” console could be hacked to support other classic systems.
- Ex-Naughty Dog dev levies sexual harassment allegation: Developer accuses studio of firing him after he spoke up; studio says it has no evidence he ever notified it of inappropriate conduct
- Naughty Dog responds to sexual harassment allegation
- CD Projekt Red responds to scathing Glassdoor reviews: After complaints of mismanagement, senseless crunch, and poor pay, Witcher studio says its approach to development “is not for everyone”
- CD Projekt Red talks company values in wake of employee complaints
- PC Shadow of War players cheat to get around loot box grind: Higher tier “Golden” chests still largely protected behind paywall.
- Thinking outside the loot box: Business model innovation is necessary despite the friction it causes – but the industry needs to recognise when it’s overstepping a line
- PEGI is leaving the verdict on loot boxes up to gambling commissions
- Loot boxes aren’t gambling – ESRB: European ratings board PEGI says it’s gambling commissions responsibilities to define loot box rules
- The Origin of Loot Boxes and why They are a Form of Gambling
- Loot box petitions have forced the UK government to respond
- Loot box petition prompts response from UK government: Department for Culture recognises risk and will keep matter under review
- UK government comments on rising loot box-related gambling concerns
- Loot boxes: Future of AAA or a monetisation misfire? – Developers discuss the reasoning behind the recent rise of microtransactions in full-price games
- EA Addresses Battlefront 2 Loot Crates, Shares Beta Feedback
- EA’s Access service is losing its first game, for undisclosed reasons
- EA is closing Visceral Games, changes direction of studio’s Star Wars game: It sounds like EA is pretty much starting over.
- EA closing Visceral Games and overhauling its Star Wars game
- EA shuts down Visceral, will reboot its Star Wars game due to “marketplace”: Dead Space’s creators are gone; outlook fuzzy on Amy Hennig’s single-player SW game.
- EA closing Visceral Games: Star Wars project delayed and moved to EA Vancouver as studio behind Dead Space, Battlefield Hardline shutters
- Big-budget, single-player gaming isn’t dead (yet): Despite industry pressures, the narrative adventure isn’t going anywhere.
- Battlegrounds becomes first Steam game to hit 2M concurrent users
- More games released on Steam this year than whole of 2016: Steam Direct fails to halt over population as total number of games expected to exceed 6,000
- Microsoft hooks up Minecraft to export buildings as 3D models
- Microsoft finally pledges to update Halo: Master Chief Collection… next year – Better incredibly late than never; will include Xbox One X functionality.
- Xbox chief wants Sony to explain its cross-platform play stance
- Xbox head says cross-platform talks with Sony go nowhere: Sony “should talk about what their view is,” says Spencer
- Xbox chief says Sony won’t allow cross-platform Minecraft, probably never will: Sony still doesn’t want to give up its platform lock-in.
- NIS America chief: Microsoft isn’t very supportive of Japanese devs: “Honestly speaking, Microsoft’s approach to Japanese games hasn’t been very supportive.”
- Gran Turismo Sport is extremely limited in offline mode: If servers or Internet are down, you’re stuck in “Arcade” mode with no saves.
- Gran Turismo Sport’s high-end bonuses: HDR is incredible, but VR is not
- Video: A game designer’s overview of the neuroscience of VR
- PUBG passes two million concurrent players milestone: Battle royale shooter’s record is now 700,000 players beyond Dota 2
- Football Manager 2018’s Medical Centre is the best thing to happen to injured players: Learn more about injuries and, crucially, how to avoid them.
- Broadcasting Dota 2
- NBA: “Esports is a massive industry, and we think we have a place in it” – The basketball league’s esports boss discusses decades-long plans for professional competitions with 2K Games
- How Rick Fox is changing the culture, strategy of eSports — at least at one team
- The New York Yankees are getting into the eSports business
- eSports on the Rise as Collegiate Sport
- Adidas Files Lawsuit Against ELEAGUE for Stealing Its “3 Stripes” Logo
- Adidas Opposes Turner Broadcasting’s ELEAGUE Logo Trademark Because Of Lines
- Real Life Soccer Player Besieged By Requests To Play For Foreign Team Due To Video Game Error
- Full scale of Apple’s patent loss to VirnetX is now clear: $440 million – Judge – Apple’s decision to sell after losing a 2012 trial was “unreasonably risky.”
- Apple asked to remove Philippines drug war games from App Store: Anti-drug organisation ANPUD demands an apology from Apple for handling “insensitive content”
- Apple CEO on AR Headsets: ‘We don’t want to be first, we want to be the best’
- Apple: “Quality” AR headsets aren’t possible with current tech – CEO Tim Cook believes “anything you would see on the market any time soon” won’t provide a good experience
- VR chasm of disappointment becoming more of an abyss?: Analysts weigh in on whether the latest Oculus announcements this week will move the needle for VR adoption
- John Carmack encourages VR devs to ’embrace the grind’
- Oculus Santa Cruz hands-on: The greatest trick the VR devil ever pulled
- New Blade Runner VR game foretells a Sega CD-styled story revolution: Technically impressive Oculus freebie has awful story, but it’s otherwise a must-play.
- Bought an Oculus Rift Just Before Last Week’s Price Cut? 5 Ways to Get a $100 Refund
- Eye Doctors Can Now Prescribe VR Lazy-eye Treatment for Home Use
- Magic Leap lands another $502 million: Startup’s series D funding round ends up roughly half the size previously reported
- Humble Bundle has been acquired by media giant IGN
- IGN buys Humble Bundle: Pay-what-you-want game storefront to retain office, staff, charitable focus as it joins consumer gaming site
- Humble Bundle: IGN deal’s value will be proved through action, not words – Humble co-founder John Graham and IGN’s Mitch Galbraith on balancing editorial integrity and commitment to charity
- Indiegogo opens digital marketplace for successfully crowdfunded projects
- How Bungie localized Destiny for the world
- Bungie Pulls Destiny 2 Emote After Players Discover Wall Glitch
- Hard games as a disempowerment fantasy: Bennett Foddy explains why he made his latest, Getting Over It, to hurt a certain kind of person
- Video Game Tutorials: How Do They Teach?
- 21 years later, original developer works to fix 16-bit Sonic: Downloadable mod aims to patch decades-old issues with Sonic 3D Blast.
- Japanese mobile market outgrows US three years in a row: RPGs account for 65% of mobile revenue in Japan, App Annie report shows
- Saving Japan’s Games
- Understanding the challenge facing Japan’s game preservationists
- Design approach in citizen science games, until EVE Online
- Brexit fears resurface at Westminster games panel: “We’re not getting a response from government that will prevent companies from deploying their contingency plans now”
- Two charities unite to help hospitalized disabled kids play games
- Google Play devs giving away IAP revenue to combat hunger crisis
- Google Play apps with as many as 2.6m downloads added devices to botnet – Your periodic reminder: Google is chronically unable to detect untrustworthy apps.
- IGDA Foundation grants the National Videogame Museum $4k to help pay for student visits
DIGITAL
- It’s 11 p.m., do you know where your ads are?:
- B.C. businesses and schools hurry to distance themselves from controversial media organizations after activists raise alarm over advertising with Breitbart and others
- An open letter to Mr Bezos, Mr Pichai and Mr Zuckerberg to tear down Breitbart News
- New Whistleblowers Highlight How Russia’s Information War On U.S. Was Larger Than Initially Reported
- The mysterious group that wants to kill Breitbart’s ad revenue, one tweet at a time
- Amazon isn’t one of the 2,575 companies to pull ads from Breitbart
- Amazon Suspends Video Head Roy Price Over Sexual Harassment Claims
- Due to legal settlement, Amazon customers now get a few extra bucks: Ars staffers got as little as $0.76 and as much as $12.02. How much did you get?
- Memo To Facebook: How To Tell If You’re A Media Company
- Sheryl Sandberg’s Russia talk was an insult to our intelligence
- Did Facebook delete Russian bought ads because of a bug?
- Facebook apologizes for allowing Russian ads to interfere with 2016 campaign – COO: Company must “prevent everything we can from this happening on our platforms.”
- What Facebook Did to American Democracy: And why it was so hard to see it coming
- Facebook is testing a resume feature to take on LinkedIn
- How Facebook’s Ad System Works
- Man acquitted of felony charge over Facebook police parody page sues: Fake account said police would offer abortions and anybody could become a recruit.
- Court To Guy Who Sued News Stations Over His Facebook Live Video: Pay Their Legal Fees… And Maybe Sue Your Lawyers
- U.S. Supreme Court Rejects CFAA Appeal by Power Ventures against Facebook
- The Problem With #MeToo And Viral Outrage
- Nova Scotia introduces new Cyber-bullying Legislation
- Incentivizing Better Speech, Rather Than Censoring ‘Bad’ Speech
- Cheap Speech and What It Has Done (To American Democracy) (Richard Hasen)
- Ninth Circuit Upholds Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements in Click-Through Agreements
- Age of consent in the GDPR: updated mapping
- Ex-workers: Supervisors at Tesla factory routinely called us the n-word – Tesla slams such abuse but expresses doubts regarding the men’s claims.
- There’s Blood In The Water In Silicon Valley: The bad new politics of big tech.
- African rulers’ weapon against web-based dissent: the off switch
- Saskatchewan Court of Appeal confirms that emails can extend limitation periods under the Limitations Act
- China congress: How authorities censor your thoughts
- DOJ indicts Chinese fentanyl distributors selling to Americans online: “They use multiple identities to disguise their activities and their shipments.”
- Reddit’s unlikely first edit partner: Time magazine
- Supreme Court refuses to hear case questioning Google’s trademark: Lawsuit claimed “google” had become synonymous with “search the Internet.”
- Google Bombs Are Our New Normal
- Google Offers Help To Industries It Helps To Destroy
- Google’s Learning Software Learns To Write Learning Software
- Twitter Says It Will Finally Do Something About Those Hordes of Nazis
- Harvey Weinstein Is Hollywood’s Silicon Valley Moment
- Eight takes on sexual harassment and Harvey Weinstein
- Twitter Says Rose McGowan Account Was Suspended Over Phone Number in Tweet
- Twitter’s suspension of Rose McGowan epitomizes the site’s most infuriating problem: It’s a double standard at its most divisive.
- Women Are Boycotting Twitter Today in Solidarity with Rose McGowan
- Twitter CEO after Rose McGowan account suspension: ‘We need to be a lot more transparent’
- Rose McGowan back on Twitter
- @jeffbezos I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadn’t been proven. I said I was the proof. (rose mcgowan)
- Rose McGowan says Amazon knew Weinstein had raped her
- Silicon Valley Can’t Handle Its Own Toxic Culture. Is It Really Ready to Tackle Hollywood’s, Too?
- Black members of Congress push for more diversity in Silicon Valley hires – Rep. Barbara Lee: “Coding jobs will become the blue collar jobs of the future.”
- We should stop tech firms from screening extremist videos: Internet giants have a duty to help counter-terrorism efforts
- Another Ridiculous Lawsuit Hopes To Hold Social Media Companies Responsible For Terrorist Attacks
- The ‘Gawker Effect’ Is Chilling Investigative Reporting Across The US
- Inside The Weird World Of Social Media Marathon Cheating
- Dutch privacy regulator says Windows 10 breaks the law: Regulator says Microsoft doesn’t offer enough information to enable informed consent.
- Judge Agrees – YouTube Mockery Protected by Fair Use
- AT&T Researchers Share Map Depicting Top YouTube Channels In Each State
- Blame The Cord-Cutters For AT&T’s Sudden Drop In Share Price
- YouTube Revamps Website For Creators, Rolls Out ‘Master Class’ Video Advice Series
- Here’s Why YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Started Her Very Own Channel
- Casey Neistat: YouTube Doesn’t Do Enough To Take Care Of Creator Community
- Advertising Practices Land Tinder in Hot Water
- Snapchat Stories Usage Among Top Influencers Has Dipped 33% In 6 Months
- Influencers Sound Off on Why They Do Not Want to Disclose Sponsored Posts
- Vice Media To Launch Sub-Saharan African Operation In 2018
- Major Studios, Streamers Declare Legal War on TickBox: “What TickBox actually sells is nothing less than illegal access to Plaintiffs’ copyrighted content,” a lawyer for the studios and streamers says.
- Netflix, Amazon, movie studios sue over TickBox streaming device: TickBox TV says it’s a “100% legal” directory of everything ever made.
- Netflix Now Says It Will Spend Up To $8 Billion On Original Content Next Year
- Two months after Disney split, Netflix pledges $8B for original content: What’s cooler than spending $6 billion (in 2017) on original content?
- Another German decision questions reasonableness of GS Media presumption if generally applied
- Revealed: How copyright law is being misused to remove material from the internet – When Annabelle Narey posted a negative review of a building firm on Mumsnet, the last thing on her mind was copyright infringement
- Copyright Isn’t a Tool for Removing Negative Reviews
- Sorry, You Can’t Abuse Copyright Law To Make A Negative Review Disappear
- New Copyright Trolling Operation Lowers The Settlement Demands And Calls Them Fines To Improve Conversion Rate
- Native American tribe sues Amazon and Microsoft over patents: Can “patent trolls” advance their cause using Native American legal rights?
- Vladimir Putin: Russia Will Issue its Own Cryptocurrency
- Sweden’s Tax Authority Accepts Bitcoin As Settlement: The Swedish government agency responsible for the collection of taxes has, for the first time, accepted bitcoin from a debtor.
- The Difference between Blockchain and Bitcoin
- Waymo’s staggering settlement demand for Uber: $1 billion: Holding fast on massive cash demand suggests Waymo wants to cripple its competitor.
- Uber And Lyft Haven’t Revolutionized The American City—Yet
- The Crowdsourced Maps Guiding Puerto Rico’s Recovery
- New neural network teaches itself Go, spanks the pros: This time, the Go-playing algorithm didn’t need any human players to help it.
- Artificial Intelligence – With Very Real Biases: According to AI Now co-founder Kate Crawford, digital brains can be just as error-prone and biased as ours
- Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence
- Stunning AI Breakthrough Takes Us One Step Closer to the Singularity
- The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions: Mistaken extrapolations, limited imagination, and other common mistakes that distract us from thinking more productively about the future.
- AI Experts Want To End ‘Black Box’ Algorithms In Government
- Can we teach robots ethics?
- You Aren’t Ready For The Weirdness Of Working With Robots
- Love in the Time of Robots: Hiroshi Ishiguro builds androids. Beautiful, realistic, uncannily convincing human replicas. Academically, he is using them to understand the mechanics of person-to-person interaction. But his true quest is to untangle the ineffable nature of connection itself.
- Apple’s Tim Cook On iPhones, Augmented Reality, And How He Plans To Change Your World: In a wide-ranging interview, the CEO of the biggest tech company in the world explains how AR will change our lives, and why he thinks the world is actually getting better
- First iPhone X batch reportedly only contains 46,500 units: Apple’s TrueDepth camera may be holding things up.
- Apple and GE partner to make industrial analytics iOS-accessible: GE thinks the software will result in $12 billion in revenue by 2020.
- Udacity to focus on individual student projects
- Many patent-holders stop looking to East Texas following Supreme Court ruling: Can Delaware handle the incoming caseload?
- The Case for CASL: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (Michael Geist)
- First Circuit Rejects Copyright Workaround to Section 230–Small Justice v. Ripoff Report (Eric Goldman)
- Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?: More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis.
CREATIVITY
- Statute Of Limitations Has Run Out On Trump’s Bogus Promise To Sue The NY Times
- At Core of 5Pointz Trial: Is Graffiti Art Protected by Law?
- Will Recent Court Rulings Endanger the Future of Biopics and Documentaries?: A Lynyrd Skynyrd movie ban and Olivia de Havilland’s recent legal victory are causing Hollywood studios, press organizations and others to speak up, lest they lose that right.
- Disney: The Only Fun Allowed At Children’s Birthday Parties Is Properly Licensed Fun
- Internet Archives Liberates Old Books Using Never Used Before Provision Of Copyright Law
- Freedom of panorama: would it hurt architects? Survey among Italian-based architects says NO
- “Haters Gonna Hate, Hate . . . .” Can Taylor Swift “Shake it Off”?
- CEIPI Opinion on copyright limitations’ reform in the European Digital Single Market
- (The cult of) personality rights in Canada
- Guide to Doing Business in Canada: Intellectual property
- Prioritizing the Public Interest: My Submission on Copyright Board of Canada Reform (Michael Geist)
- NDAs: A Logistical and Legal Nightmare
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Trump’s threats amount to a First Amendment violation
- Trump May Not Be Serious About His NBC Threats… But He May Have Violated The First Amendment
- FCC Chair Ajit Pai’s Silence On Trump Tweets Speaks Volumes
- Tom Wheeler to Ajit Pai: “Why the silence” about Trump’s media threats? – Meanwhile, Trump continued attacks on NBC, media: “Sadly, they and others are Fake News.”
- FCC chair “refused” to rebuke Trump over threat to take NBC off the air: Lawmakers want Pai to “publicly disavow President Trump’s repeated threats.”
- Six days later, FCC chair says Trump can’t order FCC to revoke TV licenses: Pai response is “better than nothing,” but critics want stronger rebuke of Trump.
- FCC Republican says Trump is “rightfully venting” anger at the press: O’Rielly sympathizes with Trump but says “politics” shouldn’t affect TV licenses.
- Republican fight against municipal broadband heats up in Michigan; Michigan bill says no “federal, state, or local funds” can pay for broadband.
- FCC’s DDoS claims will be investigated by government: GAO will investigate after Democrats asked for evidence that attacks happened.
- ISPs don’t want to tell the FCC exactly where they offer Internet service: Better data collection could tell us which homes have broadband and which don’t
- Big ISPs Lobby To Kill Attempts At More Accurate Broadband Mapping
- Groups Battle Trump FCC’s Claim That One ISP In A Market Means There’s Effective Competition
- Charter accuses its employees of cutting cables 125 times during strike – Lawsuit: Tens of thousands of New Yorkers lost service because of vandalism.
- Comment Dates Set on FCC Proposal to Abolish Requirement for Paper Copies of FCC Rules
- DOJ Staffers: The T-Mobile Sprint Merger Will Reduce Competition And Should Be Blocked
- T-Mobile Dials Back Major ‘Un-carrier’ Perk
- AT&T Spent Hundreds Of Billions On Mergers And All It Got Was A Big Pile Of Cord Cutters
- Comcast found a way to raise other cable companies’ prices, rivals say: Comcast/NBC contract demands allegedly make it hard to sell basic TV package.
- Google Fiber Gives Up On Traditional TV, And Won’t Be The Last Company To Do So
- Weather Forecast Title Not Significantly Inaccurate, Says Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
- Ah Statism, how we love thee! (Timothy Denton)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Details Emerge Of World’s Biggest Facial Recognition Surveillance System, Aiming To Identify Any Chinese Citizen In Three Seconds
- Supreme Court to decide if US has right to data on world’s servers: Feds claim legal right to reach into the world’s servers with a valid US warrant.
- Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Case Involving US Demands For Emails Stored Overseas
- Justices to Hear DOJ Appeal on Microsoft Ruling: Is Email Stored Abroad Subject to a U.S. Warrant?
- Microsoft never disclosed 2013 hack of secret vulnerability database: Database contained details required to carry out highly advanced software attacks.
- Attack of the Hack Back: The worst idea in cybersecurity is back again.
- “OK, Google. Send a Letter to the CPSC.”: Privacy Groups Request Recall of Google Home Mini
- Judge shocked to learn NYPD’s evidence database has no backup: City says cash forfeitures not in flagship PETS system; police say PETS backed up.
- DreamHost Wins Challenge Against DOJ’s Overbroad Data Demands
- DOJ Continues Its Push For Encryption Backdoors With Even Worse Arguments
- There’s No Good Decision in the Next Big Data Privacy Case
- Could a child sue their parents for sharenting?
- Viral video of man being dragged from United flight gets officers fired: “Our cell phones are the best deterrent to ensure mistreatment becomes a rarity.”
- It Takes Just $1,000 To Track Someone’s Location With Mobile Ads
- Millions of high-security crypto keys crippled by newly discovered flaw: Factorization weakness lets attackers impersonate key holders and decrypt their data.
- Details around controversial surveillance unknown
- Equifax website borked again, this time to redirect to fake Flash update: Malware researcher encounters bogus download links during multiple visits.
- After second bungle, IRS suspends Equifax’s “taxpayer identity” contract
- Federal watchdog tells Equifax – no $7.25 million IRS contract for you: Equifax-IRS ordeal exposes the strangeness of the government contracting system.
- There’s No Good Decision in the Next Big Data Privacy Case
- Equifax rival TransUnion also sends site visitors to malicious pages: People visiting TransUnion’s Central American site redirected to potpourri of badness.
- Accenture The Latest To Leave Sensitive Customer Data Sitting Unprotected In The Amazon Cloud
- Don’t Panic, But Wi-Fi’s Main Security Protocol Has Been Broken
- How the KRACK attack destroys nearly all Wi-Fi security: Android 6.0 hit especially hard, but all devices are vulnerable.
- Serious flaw in WPA2 protocol lets attackers intercept passwords and much more: KRACK attack is especially bad news for Android and Linux users.
- The Flawed System Behind The Krack Wi-Fi Meltdown
- Why The Krack Wi-Fi Mess Will Take Decades To Clean Up
- Australian defense firm was hacked and F-35 data stolen, DOD confirms
- Australian Police Ran A Dark Web Child Porn Site For Eleven Months
- Australian Government Claims That Facial Recognition Systems Increase Privacy…
- Google’s ‘Advanced Protection’ Locks Down Accounts Like Never Before
- Google now offers special security program for high-risk users: The new opt-in program requires authentication with a physical security key.
- The search for painless Internet privacy gets another boost with InvizBox 2: Successor to Tor “travel router” focuses on protecting traffic from “harvesting” by ISPs.
- In 3-1 vote, LA Police Commission approves drones for LAPD – ACLU: new policy “fails to take into account public mistrust” of police surveillance.
- Would the United States Be Responsible for Private Hacking? (Kristen Eichensehr)
Jon
News of the Week; October 11, 2017
GAMES
- Epic sues alleged Fortnite hackers Brandon Broom and Charles Vraspir
- How anime landed BattleTech and the MechWarrior games in legal trouble
- “It’s disturbing that Wolfenstein can be considered a controversial political statement”: Bethesda marketing boss Pete Hines discusses publisher’s marketing for upcoming anti-Nazi shooter
- Bethesda: Anti-Nazi game wasn’t meant to “incite political discussions” – Exec responds to anonymous vitriol, says Wolfenstein II is “on right side of history.”
- Dirty Chinese Restaurant mobile game canceled after racism criticism: Developer issues apology to Chinese community after call-out from US Congresswoman.
- Telltale’s Batman seemingly shows real image of assassinated ambassador
- Sex and gaming: Selling Japan’s Senran Kagura to the West – Marvelous Entertainment’s Michael Fisher and Harry Holmwood discuss the challenges and surprises this series presents
- Spreading social acceptance through a mobile game: Accidental Queens discusses the impact of exploring social themes in A Normal Lost Phone and Another Lost Phone
- Games as a service has “tripled the industry’s value”: Digital River report finds consumers prefer games with a steady stream of content over a $60 boxed title
- Rising game dev costs put squeeze on mid-tier studios
- Equity crowdfunding’s early success asks tough questions of Kickstarter: Kingdoms and Castles’ success proves the model, Tim Schafer says, and Fig’s Justin Bailey sees a niche future for donation-based crowdfunding
- Video: Game career advice from women who have been there and done that
- Bethesda’s Creation Club mod platform is live in Skyrim
- Creation Club brings paid mods to Skyrim: Bethesda finds acceptable face of paid mods and microtransactions after a long and difficult history
- Popular YouTuber calls for ESRB to step in over loot boxes: As controversy bubbles over, review aggregator OpenCritic takes “a stand against loot boxes”
- Loot boxes in video games will soon get a review flag from OpenCritic: “We’re going to take a stand” following poisonous boxes in new LOTR, Star Wars games.
- Loot boxes don’t count as gambling in the ESRB’s books
- Loot boxes aren’t gambling – ESRB: European ratings board PEGI says it’s gambling commissions responsibilities to define loot box rules
- What can game developers learn from road safety?: Epic Games UX researcher Ben Lewis-Evans details how creators can curb bad behavior through education, enforcement, and engineering
- The Untold Tale Of How Porsche’s Supercar Got Into Microsoft’s New Game
- ‘Yeesh, let’s not try and do that again’: Valve dev reflects on The Orange Box
- Nintendo shares hit-ten year high: Production of the Switch upped to two million units per month amid speculation of Chinese release
- The Nintendo Switch indie gold rush
- How Nintendo may be encouraging Switch hacking by trying to stop it: Fans look to hackers for save backup feature that Nintendo blocked to thwart hackers.
- SNES Classic outsells Switch’s launch during first week in Japan
- SNES Mini sells over 360,000 units in Japan in four days: The console is on track to outsell its predecessor, though stock shortages remain an issue
- Super NES Classic hacks are now oh, so easy to pull off—you can even addfeatures: One year after working on NES Classic, Russian hacker returns with similar exploit.
- Tekken 7 surpasses 2M copies sold on consoles, 3 months after launch
- Tekken 7 has sold over two million units on consoles: It took three months to outsell Street Fighter V which sold 1.7 million console units since February 2016
- PUBG reaches nearly two million concurrent players: The last-man-standing shooter continues to break records in spite of growing competition
- Microsoft backtracks on controversial changes to Forza 7 VIP pass
- Turn 10 studio head apologises to fans over Forza 7 VIP passes: Developer folds to community pressure following controversial changes and communication issues
- What happens to your Steam collection when you die?
- COPPA: A game developer’s primer: “COPPA has many easy-to-miss trip wires,” and Reed Smith’s John P. Feldman and Wendell J. Bartnick are here to help
- Fired Riot employee discusses toxicity and community engagement: Rutledge says that talking to players can be scary, but it’s better than “feeling like total silence out there”
- Nielsen Report: ESports Fan Base Growing, Increasingly Complex
- American esports audiences most receptive to corporate sponsorship, Nielsen report reveals: The Nielsen Esports Playbook finds esports fans are divided on VR and esports as an Olympic event
- Hulu Forays Into Esports, Strikes Exclusive Content Deal With ESL
- Hulu Dives Into eSports With Pact for Four Shows From ESL
- Oculus Rift sees permanent price drop: $399 with Touch controllers
- Zuckerberg announces $199 Oculus Go as “sweet spot” standalone VR headset: Shipping “early next year,” also teases wireless “Santa Cruz” headsets.
- At Oculus’ Developer Summit, VR Progress Is A Game Of Inches
- Microsoft mixed reality guru Alex Kipman believes communication will be VR’s killer app
- Tim Cook says the tech “doesn’t exist” for quality AR glasses yet: Cook compared AR’s rise to that of the App Store in scope and importance.
- Survey: 28% of fans in the West think eSports belong in the Olympics
- Activision Blizzard is ready to deliver on Overwatch League hype: Mike Sepso on easing tensions between publishers and players, and the firm’s long-term plans for esports
- Blizzard looks to ‘evolve’ Battle.net with new social features
- The ESports Playbook Maximizing Your Investment Through Understanding The Fans
- How one bad joke morphed Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3into the ill-fated BMX XXX
- Immortals appoint former hockey league officer as new president and COO – CrossCut managing director: “I believe we found a great fit and a world-class executive in Ari Segal.”
- Ubisoft to repurchase 4M shares as it continues fight against Vivendi
- Ubisoft to buy back 4m shares as it fends off Vivendi takeover: Anonymous investment services provider called in to help complete program by December 29th, 2017
- Nissan modified this GT-R to be driven with a PS4 controller: Remote-controlled by helicopter, it hit 131mph at Silverstone in the UK.
- AI isn’t just learning to play video games, it’s helping us build them
- The second death of the immersive sim (2007-2017) and a dark prophecy for a third-wave immersive sim
- Star Control II devs unite for a ‘passion project’ sequel
- How Video Games Satisfy Basic Human Needs
DIGITAL
- Catalan independence websites blocked by Spanish government in bid to stop referendum: ‘Blocking domain name servers is doing what Turkey does and what China does and North Korea does’
- The Disturbing Rise Of Cyberattacks Against Abortion Clinics
- Iran Cracks Down On Movie Pirates In The Most Inception-Esque Manner Possible
- Russia Moves to Block Cryptocurrency Exchanges
- Miami Beach Police Unaware Of The First Amendment, Arrest Guy For Twitter Parody Account
- Miami Beach cops arrest man for Twitter parody of police spokesman – Police chief: Parody “threatened to damage the reputation” of police department.
- Congress members threaten Twitter with regulation if it doesn’t suppress ‘racially divisive communications’ and ‘anti-American sentiments’
- Alt-White: How the Breitbart Machine Laundered Racist Hate – Here’s How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled Nazi and White Nationalist Ideas Into The Mainstream – A cache of documents obtained by BuzzFeed News reveals the truth about Steve Bannon’s alt-right “killing machine.”
- Fantasy gambling is newsworthy, doesn’t violate players’ rights of publicity (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Suing Doe reviewers under the Lanham Act fails (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Hyperlinking to Sources Can Help Defeat Defamation Claims–Adelson v. Harris (Eric Goldman)
- B.C. social-media terror case shows pitfalls for prosecution (Benjamin Perrin)
- Real Talk About Fake News: Towards a Better Theory for Platform Governance (Nabiha Syed)
- How to seek truth in the era of fake news
- Supreme Court Leaves Troubling CFAA Rulings In Place: Sharing Passwords Can Be Criminal Hacking
- Potential Lawsuit Could Reveal How Trump Targeted Voters on Facebook and If There’s Any Connection to Russia
- How Israel Caught Russian Hackers Scouring the World for U.S. Secrets
- Kaspersky reportedly modified its AV to help Russia steal NSA secrets: Hackers used company’s software to secretly scan for top-secret information, WSJ says.
- Kaspersky, Russia, And The Antivirus Paradox
- Silicon Valley’s Russian ads problem, explained: Why Facebook, Google and Twitter find themselves in the middle of an investigation into the 2016 election.
- Report: Facebook removed references to Russia from fake-news report – Facebook decided it didn’t have enough evidence to name Russia in April report.
- Atone? He’d better: Facebook is still the biggest source of right-wing fake news – From Hillary rumors to the nonexistent Puerto Rico truckers’ strike, Facebook continues to spread total garbage
- The Threat of Big Tech Is Real: Why it’s time to panic about what Google and Facebook are doing to our lives.
- “The Industry Is Fundamentally Broken”: Women On Sexism In Silicon Valley
- How Facebook Rewards Polarizing Political Ads
- The science behind why fake news is so hard to wipe out: It’s time for Facebook and Google to pay attention to the psychology of the illusory truth effect.
- How Facebook Outs Sex Workers
- Facebook outsources its fake news problem to Wikipedia—and an army of human moderators
- Accidental Dow Jones News Report Claims Google to Buy Apple for $9 Billion
- Dow Jones posts fake story claiming Google was buying Apple: Story claims Jobs arranged the $9 billion acquisition in his will.
- Why Apple could be slapped with a massive $15 billion Irish tax bill: Tech giants use shell companies to defer corporate income tax bills indefinitely.
- Jony Ive’s creativity pales compared to Apple’s App Store lawsuit defense: Apple sells “software distribution services to developers” who lease App Store space.
- Supreme Court says live streaming would “adversely affect” oral arguments: Court wants transparency “while preserving the integrity of its proceedings.”
- Facebook’s Promise of Community Is a Lie: Under increasing criticism for spreading fake news, the internet giant is using communitarianism as a shield.
- Monopoly Men: After an eventful summer in Silicon Valley, there is blood in the water. At stake is democracy itself.
- Should Facebook And Twitter Be Regulated Under The First Amendment?
- Insights: New Year, New Start for Facebook’s Ad Targeting Troubles
- Dove apologizes for ‘racist’ ad that caused outcry on social media
- Twitter Temporarily Blocks Campaign Ad… Getting It Much More Attention
- “Baby body parts” campaign ad from US House member blocked by Twitter
- Algorithms Have Already Gone Rogue
- Most people saw the Las Vegas shooting as a tragedy. Propagandists saw an opportunity.: Fake rumors designed to spread anti-leftist bias included making up victims, wrongly identifying the shooter, and feeding false narratives to media.
- YouTube Enacts Search Algorithm Changes After Las Vegas Conspiracy Videos Run Rampant
- Return of the algorithm monster: YouTube auto-promoted conspiracy theory videos – Dubious search results have led YouTube to “accelerate the rollout of planned changes.”
- Algorithmic Consumer Protection: To manage the risks & benefits of AI, we need to look beyond the fairness and accuracy of AI decisions.
- Vegan’s life upended after Facebook rant about “carnists” killed in Vegas: “It’s almost like a lynch mob is forming,” she says about the fallout from her post.
- YouTube Restricts Videos Related To Bump Stocks In Wake Of Las Vegas Shooting
- When YouTube Removes Violent Videos, It Impedes Justice
- Creators Cry Foul After YouTube Demonetizes Casey Neistat’s #LoveArmyLasVegas Video
- Jake Paul Sued For Damaging Man’s Hearing During Car Horn Prank
- German YouTube Star Finds Himself Facing Trial One Year After Ill-Advised Prank
- Defy Media Fires ‘Honest Trailers’ Creator Andy Signore After Wave Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations
- Amazon Weighing New Ad Programs To Make It A More Formidable YouTube Competitor (Report)
- GAW Miners founder owes nearly $10 million to SEC over Bitcoin fraud: Homero Josh Garza’s now-defunct companies must also pay $10 million.
- The Creator of Bitcoin Comes Clean, Only to Disappear Again
- How a Silicon Valley Striver Became the Alt-Right’s Tech Hero: Andrew Torba founded Gab.ai as a “free speech” alternative to other social networks
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai: ‘I don’t know whether humans want change that fast’ – From artificial intelligence to cheap smartphones, Google is on the frontline of technological development. But is it growing too big and moving too fast?
- Google’s New AI Can Mimic Human Speech Almost Perfectly
- Google’s Internet-Beaming Balloons Will Soon Be Floating Over Puerto Rico
- Google Fiber is losing interest in old-school TV: Existing TV customers will be kept on, but some will see a price increase.
- Kurzweil Claims That the Singularity Will Happen by 2045
- The Last Invention of Man: How AI might take over the world.
- The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions: Mistaken extrapolations, limited imagination, and other common mistakes that distract us from thinking more productively about the future.
- Put Humans at the Center of AI
- Waiting for the AI claims hurricane
- We Almost Gave Up On Building Artificial Brains
- As IBM Ramps Up Its AI-Powered Advertising, Can Watson Crack the Code of Digital Marketing?: Acquisition of The Weather Company fuels a new division
- Should drunk drivers be charged with DUI in fully autonomous cars?: New laws will have to be written based on the level of automation you have.
- How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds: Research suggests that as the brain grows dependent on phone technology, the intellect weakens
- ‘Our minds can be hijacked’: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia: Google, Twitter and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks alarmed by a race for human attention
- While You Were Offline: The People Of Twitter Agree With Rex Tillerson
- Does The Media Cover Trump Too Much? Too Harshly? Too Narrowly?
- Your Data is Being Manipulated (danah boyd)
- Six Features of the Disinformation Age
- Facebook Security Chief Alex Stamos Hits Back at Media Coverage of Its Algorithms
- Facebook security chief rants about misguided “algorithm” backlash
- Facebook Quietly Enters Starcraft War For AI Bots, And Loses
- At UN, robot Sophia joins meeting on artificial intelligence and sustainable development
- The Reports Are In: AI and Robots Will Significantly Threaten Jobs in 5 Years
- District 9 Director’s New Short Movie Offers A Disturbing Look At Our AI Future
- New Theory Cracks Open The Black Box Of Deep Neural Networks
- Why Don’t We Know the 100s of Women Writing About Tech?: When the Los Angeles Review of Books included only one woman writer in its tech issue, the Internet responded with a glorious list of women writers we should all know.
- How To Tell When Someone Else Tweets From @Realdonaldtrump
- What Rick and Morty fans’ meltdown over McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce says about geek culture: The mass revolt illustrated what increasingly toxic fandom culture looks like in real life.
- McDonald’s apologizes after ‘Rick and Morty’ Szechuan sauce deal makes adults mad, kids cry
- Dubai Prince Shows Off His Life Like No Other Royal
- Netflix Is Raising Prices Again
- Netflix raises its US monthly fee again, but only for two plans: The lowest tier stays the same, and the others are still competitive.
- Why Shonda Rhimes left TV for Netflix: ‘I love the creative freedom’
- Publishers seek removal of millions of papers from ResearchGate: Academic social network accused of infringing copyright on a massive scale
- New ‘Coalition For Responsible Sharing’ About To Send Millions Of Take-Down Notices To Stop Researchers Sharing Their Own Papers
- Library trolls copyright zealots by naming collection after Sonny Bono: Little-known copyright provision allows reproduction of full book texts.
- Authors Alliance & Creative Commons Launch New Termination Of Transfer Tool
- Windows Phone is now officially dead: A sad tale of what might have been
- “Technical difficulties” plague Arizona lottery; same winning numbers drawn: Yet again, Arizona Lottery investigates a glitch with a random number generator.
- 7th Annual Streamy Awards Live Stream Scores One Million Unique Viewers On Twitter
- AOL Is Shutting Down AIM in December
- kthxbai: AOL Instant Messenger is being turned off on December 15th – 20 years is a long time on the Internet.
- So Long, Aim. For Years, For Millions, You Were The Internet
- Fact: Asking Whether We Live in a Simulation is Not A Scientific Question
- Tim O’Reilly on why the future probably won’t be all that terrible: Economies as AI, humans as gut bacteria for tech, and how the Luddites got it wrong.
- What is the Value of Re-use? Complementarities in Popular Music (Jeremy Watson)
- Online Platforms and Free Speech: Regulating Fake News (Yale Law Journal)
- DPLA Exchange Offers Library-Centered Ebook Marketplace
- EU Commission issues guidance to online platforms for tackling illegal content online
CREATIVITY
- Ennio Morricone Loses Bid to Reclaim Rights to Film Scores
- Appeals Court Skeptical About Overturning Marvin Gaye Family’s “Blurred Lines” Victory
- Salt Lake Comic Con Fights Back Against Judge’s ‘Unprecedented’ Gag Order
- Courtroom “Feud” Leaves Accurate Speech About Celebrities Unprotected
- Who Can Create Copyrightable Work in Canada? Musings on a Monkey’s Selfie
- Books from 1923 to 1941 Now Liberated!
- Gender stereotyping in UK advertising – staying on the right side of the line
- Entertainment trade associations looking for opportunity to push a false narrative
- From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories – Multiple women share harrowing accounts of sexual assault and harassment by the film executive.
- Men Must Step Up to Change the Hollywood Culture That Enabled Harvey Weinstein
- Caroline Gleich Fights Back Against Cyber Harassment: Caroline Gleich’s Instagram feed is full of epic shots of the pro skier conquering the planet’s hardest lines. But in recent years, it was marred by an ugly shadow: anonymous bullies whose abusive comments left a wake of anxiety and doubt. Then Gleich spoke out about her tormenters—and realized she wasn’t the only adventure athlete being harassed online.
- The share of women in newsrooms has increased barely 1 percentage point since 2001, ASNE data shows: Things are almost as bad when it comes to the hiring of people of color: The share of POC working in American newsrooms is up 2.9 percent since 2001.
- The fight for the First Amendment, on campuses and football fields, from the sixties to today.
- Can the First Amendment save us?: It took a long time for the press to gain freedom and respect in America. Now both are in peril.
- How hip hop became the force behind Gabon’s political activism
- Bassel Khartabil’s Story Proves Online Activism Is Still Powerful
- Is Trump-Whisperer Maggie Haberman Changing The New York Times?: She’s a West Wing-beat colossus and a sui generis creature at the paper of record. “Maggie’s success is very much part of that tabloid, Twitter-fied sensibility bleeding into the Times,” says a colleague.
- Trump and the Watergate effect: Will young journalists still be inspired by today’s watchdog reporting?
- The Liberation of Kesha: Before she could make one of the year’s best albums, Kesha had to save her own life
- Whoops: Drug ads gloss over risks with a mind trick – that’s backed by the FDA – Drug makers are supposed to be forthcoming with health risks – and the more the better.
- France Has ‘Champagne,’ Portugal Has ‘Port.’ Should Australia Have ‘Uggs?’
- Marvel Keeps Making TV—But How Many Networks Is Too Many?
- Canada: The cult of personality (rights)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Netflix in campaign to ‘set record straight’ on $500-million pledge for Canadian productions
- Think There Should be a Netflix Tax?: Why There is Nothing Stopping Canadian Subscribers From Paying Today (Michael Geist)
- Donald Trump tweet suggests that FCC should take NBC off the air: That’s “not how it works,” FCC commissioner tells the president.
- Zero Rating & Internet Adoption
- Advertised broadband speeds should actually be realistic, UK tells ISPs: ISPs would have 30 days to improve speeds or risk losing customers.
- Anybody Claiming Net Neutrality Rules Killed Broadband Investment Is Lying To You
- Wall Street Predicts Apathetic Regulators And Limited Competition Will Let Comcast Double Broadband Prices
- Analysts Predict Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Will Be A Massive Job Killer
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- SCC rules residential school survivors’ testimony should be kept private
- US Government Has ‘No Right To Rummage’ Through Anti-Trump Protest Website Logs, Says Judge
- Court significantly reins in what data anti-Trump website must give to feds – Judge: DOJ can’t “rummage through the information contained on DreamHost’s website.”
- Treasury Department Wing Latest To Be Accused Of Domestic Spying
- Supreme Court: Hacking conviction stands for man who didn’t hack computer: High court refuses to hear appeal of hacking conviction, one-year prison sentence.
- Russia reportedly stole NSA secrets with help of Kaspersky—what we know now: Proven or not, the accusations almost certainly mean the end of Kaspersky as we know it.
- How Kaspersky AV reportedly was caught helping Russian hackers steal NSA secrets: Reports say Israeli spies burrowed inside Kaspersky’s network caught Russia red handed.
- Hackers Grab More NSA Exploits, Possibly With Assistance Of Russian Antivirus Developer
- The NSA’s ‘Time Machines’ Make It Incredibly Easy To Violate Section 702 Restrictions
- The Worst-Case Scenario For John Kelly’s Hacked Phone
- House Judiciary Committee Introduces Weak Surveillance Reform Bill
- Deputy AG Pitches New Form Of Backdoor: ‘Responsible Encryption’
- Trump’s DOJ tries to rebrand weakened encryption as “responsible encryption”: DOJ rekindles fight with Apple, wants government access to encrypted devices.
- DOJ Says No One Has Any Right To Question The Adminstration’s Handling Of Records, Not Even The Courts
- How the Chinese cyberthreat has evolved
- UK Home Secretary Calls Tech Leaders ‘Patronizing’ For Refusing To Believe Her ‘Safe Backdoors’ Spiels
- Man who sued over Facebook childbirth livestream slapped with $120k in fees: Plaintiff stayed mum about possible money received in three other cases.
- The Equifax Aftermath – We Need More Hacking
- Man: My wife and I were secretly filmed at our Airbnb rental – “I hope more victims will come forward,” says man who claims he was recorded naked.
- T-Mobile customer data plundered thanks to bad API: T-Mobile missed bug that allowed harvesting of IMSI numbers, security question answers.
- Hackers Score Touchdown: NFL Players Association Hit With Data Breach
- Google is permanently nerfing all Home Minis because mine spied on everything I said 24/7
- Sex Toys Are Just As Poorly-Secured As The Rest Of The Internet of Broken Things
- Locking Your Phone Like This Is Pretty Much Useless
- Mattel withdraws kid-focused “smart hub” from market after complaints: Lawmakers, child advocates expressed concern about caregiving being “outsourced.”
- Beware of sketchy iOS popups that want your Apple ID: Benign iOS prompts are indistinguishable from those generated by malicious apps.
- Schrems Redux: What’s the Future for Transatlantic Data Transfers?
- An Irish Court Clouds the Future of EU Data Transfers: The Luck of the Model Clauses May Be Done
Jon
News of the Week; October 4, 2017
GAMES
- Nintendo Creators Program cuts off livestreamers: YouTube Live broadcasts no longer allowed under revenue share initiative
- Nintendo no longer welcoming YouTube livestreams of its games: Live gameplay no longer allowed for channels in Nintendo’s revenue sharing program.
- Nintendo Bars Its YouTube Partners From Monetizing Their Live Streams
- Community registered designs & the CJEU – Nintendo v Big Ben
- Another classic Nintendo console, another insane dump of instruction manuals: One year later, and now you’re playing with super instruction manuals.
- Nintendo closing Wii Shop Channel: Wii and Wii U users will lose access to online storefront in 2019, sale of Wii Points currency to stop in March
- Parents Sue “Subway Surfers” Game for Privacy Violations (or Why Gamedevs Need a COPPA Compliant Privacy Policy)
- Netflix hints at move into publishing with Stranger Things: The Game
- Netflix Gets Into Game Development With A Mobile Tie-In For ‘Stranger Things’
- Unity reacts to Switch development woes: “More than 30% of games on Switch are made with Unity”
- Settling the debate: What makes a “core” Mario game? – And what does the argument say about how we define and value games in general?
- Sonic 3D Blast’s secret level select was actually a certification-passing trick
- ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’s Live-Action Movie Speeds Forward With ‘Deadpool’ Director Tim Miller
- Sonic the Hedgehog movie lands at Paramount: Producer behind Fast and the Furious franchise and Blue Streak teams up with Blur Studio co-founder for live-action/CG movie
- Chinese dev sues Fox over allegedly bungled Planet of the Apes tie-in game
- Dev calls it quits after losing entire game catalog in Valve’s ‘fake games’ purge
- Silicon Echo’s reputation is “destroyed beyond repair” after Steam’s fake game crackdown: Studio “forced to give up game development” after its entire catalogue was removed from leading PC marketplace
- Valve Collaborates with Fans Through New Shapeways 3D Printing Licensing Agreement
- Idea v. Expression: Game Studio Bluehole Gets Its Fur Up Over Epic Games Putting 100 Vs. 100 Player Battle Royale Into Game
- Can Cloned Video Games Survive the Battle Royale?
- Loot boxes have reached a new low with Forza 7’s “pay to earn” option – Rant: The scourge must be stopped.
- New casino game lets you bet real money on Pac-Man: Pac-Man Battle Casino part of a trend towards skill-based casino gambling.
- Overwatch director gets candid about the ‘scary’ side of game dev
- Overwatch director says it’s “scary” to be open with players: Amid threats and attacks, “It often feels like there is no winning.”
- Jeff Kaplan: ”It often feels like there is no winning” against toxic Overwatch users – Game director says forums don’t feel like a safe environment for his team
- Riot dev out after taking shots at oft-banned player: League of Legends studio apologizes to Tyler1 after lead experience designer speculates on his demise
- How to fight online hate in a GamerGate world, according to Zoe Quinn – Molly Sauter: Crash Override succeeds in conveying what it is like to be the target of a sustained, misogynistic harassment campaign
- Inbetween Games’ debut is a tribute to Berlin’s diversity: With All Walls Must Fall, a team of ex-Yager devs have captured the energy and inclusivity of the German capital
- Denuvo Game Cracked In Mere Hours
- FIFA 18 takes No.1, three out of five copies sold on PS4
- Why one Japanese entrepreneur is using an RPG to help fight depression
- PlayStation introduces credit card: The card promises rewards such as games, DLC, electronics and more
- Sony releasing updated PlayStation VR in Japan this month: Western release to follow, introduces stereo headphone cable support and new Processor Unit with HDR pass through
- Steam, Samsung and Halo all coming to Windows Mixed Reality: SteamVR preview now available to developers, Samsung Odyssey headset announced, and Halo Recruit VR experience will launch on October 17
- Microsoft acquires social VR platform AltspaceVR
- AltspaceVR is now part of Microsoft: Social VR company saved from going out of business by acquisition deal
- The inside story of the Xbox One X: Microsoft has created the world’s most powerful console. Could this next-generation machine lead to the rise of games as high art?
- World’s Largest Cinema Chain, AMC, Leads $30M Investment to Bring VR to Movie Theaters: Partnering with Dreamscape Immersive
- 35% of UK adults have heard of eSports, but only 7% are tuning in
- 35% of UK adults aware of esports – but only 7% watch it: YouGov study puts Britain at the bottom of the table when compared to China, the US, Germany and more
- Esports Leagues Set To Level Up With Permanent Franchises
- Immortals split threatens Counter-Strike team: Five-man squad sees one player fired, two more indefinitely suspended after missing tournament matches, making Twitter death threat
- Champions of the Shengha introduces moneyback guarantee: BfB Labs offers full refund after ten days for £40 heart-tracking mobile game
- Alibaba establishes games division to create titles in-house
- Alibaba planning to establish dedicated games business unit: Chinese e-commerce giant acquires online games firm EJoy, aims to “pursue excellence” in the industry
- The Strong’s latest windfall: Artifacts from the first coin-op game maker
- Ubisoft using machine learning to translate hieroglyphics: The Assassin’s Creed developer has put out a call for historians and researchers to aid in the project
- Can developers control streamers?: Reed Smith partner Carolyn Pepper walks through the options available if studios wish to stop influencers covering their games
- Bungie goes indie, BioWare gets bought – 10 Years Ago This Month: Halo studio gets its freedom from Microsoft as Electronic Arts acquires Mass Effect maker and Pandemic
- Microsoft alters Forza Motorsport 7 VIP pass store language following backlash
- Brain in a Jar 1: Two Systems
- How hitting a game cartridge unlocks gaming’s weirdest Easter egg: Sonic 3D Blast trick started as way to hide game-breaking bugs.
- Connecting educators with the unique teaching ability of games
DIGITAL
- Bad Info Follows Every Tragedy. Don’t Fall For It
- Google’s Top Stories Promoted Misinformation About the Las Vegas Shooting From 4Chan
- Google admits citing 4chan to spread fake Vegas shooter news: 4chan was, for some reason, counted among Google News’ “authoritative” sources.
- The Death Loop
- This “Ghost Gun” Machine Now Makes Untraceable Metal Handguns
- Myanmar’s Internet Disrupted Society—And Fueled Extremists
- As US launches DDoS attacks, N. Korea gets more bandwidth—from Russia: Fast pipe from Vladivostok gives N. Korea more Internet in face of US cyber operations.
- Sirius XM Uses DMCA To Memory Hole Archive Of Howard Stern’s Interviews With Donald Trump
- Years of Howard Stern’s interviews with Trump now gone after DMCA takedown: “This is the only public version of a massive quarter century trove of interviews.”
- Former Revenge Porn Site Operator Readies For Senate Run By Issuing Bogus Takedown Requests To YouTube
- Copyright Troll Carl Crowell Ups The Ante: Now Demands Accused Pirates Hand Over Their Hard Drives
- Shouldn’t Federal Judges Understand That Congress Did Not Pass SOPA?
- ‘Six Strikes’ May Be Dead, But ISPs Keep Threatening To Disconnect Accused Pirates Anyway
- Supreme Court Won’t Review US Government Getting To Steal All Of Kim Dotcom’s Stuff
- Supreme Court won’t hear Kim Dotcom’s civil forfeiture case – Dotcom’s lawyer: “It is a bad day for due process and international treaties.”
- Supreme Court says live streaming would “adversely affect” oral arguments: Court wants transparency “while preserving the integrity of its proceedings.”
- Federal Court Rejects Absurd Attempt to Sue #BlackLivesMatter, the Hashtag
- Coffee Subscription Lawsuit Involving Negative Option Contracts a Wake-up Call for Online Sellers
- Female ex-Oracle engineers sue for gender discrimination: Oracle, like Google, stands accused of paying women less than male equivalents.
- Why Tech Leadership Has A Bigger Race Than Gender Problem
- Oracle Tells The White House: Stop Hiring Silicon Valley People & Ditch Open Source
- Elsevier’s Latest Brilliant Idea: Adding Geoblocking To Open Access
- As ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Shows, The Streaming Exclusivity Wars Risk Driving Users Back To Piracy
- That Flag-Burning NFL Photo Isn’t Fake News. It’s A Meme
- Amazon’s First NFL Stream Posts Solid Numbers Despite Glitches, Paywall
- With 372,000 Average Viewers, Amazon Tops Twitter In First Stream Of NFL’s ‘Thursday Night Football’
- Amazon’s Attribution Approach To Streaming NFL Games
- Couple Grifts Amazon Out of $1.2 Million in Electronics
- Facebook: Ten million people exposed to Russia-linked ads
- Why Trump Hate and Russian Ads Are Good for Facebook
- Russia’s Facebook Ads Will Remain Secret, For Now
- Russian Facebook ads featured anti-immigrant messages, puppies, women with rifles: See some of the ads used “to sow discord and chaos, and divide us from one another.”
- Facebook loses attention as publishers shift focus to other platforms
- Who Will Take Responsibility For Facebook?
- Google and Facebook Failed Us: The world’s most powerful information gatekeepers neglected their duties in Las Vegas. Again.
- Does Even Mark Zuckerberg Know What Facebook Is?: The same company that gives you birthday reminders also helped ensure the integrity of the German elections.
- The U.S. Election System Remains Deeply Vulnerable, But States Would Rather Celebrate Fake Success
- Silicon Valley isn’t just disrupting democracy—it’s replacing it
- Trustworthy Networking
- How Vice reassures brand-safety conscious advertisers
- Uber Knew Its Self-Driving Guru Had Taken Google’s Trade Secrets, Report Says
- Waymo vs. Uber: unsealed court documents reveal damning evidence – Reports show lies, visits to shredder, and evasive texts
- Google May Not Need A Smoking Gun To Win Its Case Against Uber
- Here’s the “due diligence” report Waymo hopes will win its case against Uber – Otto’s head of HR: “I’m gonna go get your stuff destroyed this afternoon btw.”
- Uber Charges Passenger Clueless About Surge Pricing $925 For Ride
- Uber expands board to 17 members, reduces Kalanick’s power: A month into new job, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is making his mark at Uber.
- Uber investors to former CEO: We’ll sue you if you don’t vote how we want: “Our clients have authorized us to pursue any and all legal recourse… ”
- Section 230’s Applicability to ‘Inconsistent’ State Laws
- How Europe is going after big tech when no one else is
- Never Enough: EU Demands Social Media Companies Do The Impossible Even Faster
- Inmates Need Social Media. Take It From A Former Prisoner
- The Hardest Medium to Troll
- Microsoft Discontinues Groove Music, Partners With Spotify Instead
- Microsoft getting out of the music biz, moving Groove subs to Spotify: The app will stick around for local playback, but streaming is gone.
- Beauty for girls, pranks for boys – it’s the same old gender stereotypes for YouTube stars
- YouTube Adds iMessage Support To Make Sharing Videos Even Easier
- YouTube Restricts Externally-Linking End Cards (Include Those To Patreon) To Members Of Its Partner Program
- YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Launches New Channel With Influencer-Packed Intro Video
- YouTube TV To Serve As Presenting Sponsor Of The 2017 World Series
- YouTube Grows Up: Inside the Plan to Take on Netflix and Hulu
- Stupid Patent Of The Month: Will Patents Slow Artificial Intelligence?
- EFF: Stupid patents are dragging down AI and machine learning – “The patent reads like the table of contents of an intro to AI textbook.”
- Sex Trafficking Experts Say SESTA Is the Wrong Solution
- Artificial Intelligence Is Our Future. But Will It Save Or Destroy Humanity?
- DeepMind wants to answer the big ethical questions posed by AI
- How To Build A Self-Conscious Machine
- The Myth Of A Superhuman AI
- In AI We Trust? (Urs Gasser)
- Mr. Know-It-All: Is It Ok For Me To Ask Customer Service Reps If They’re Robots?
- Google’s DeepMind Launches Ethics Group to Steer AI
- Google’s AI Still Isn’t Smarter Than a First Grader
- What Happened When I Wore Google And Levi’s “Smart” Jacket For A Night
- Google’s Gadget Vision: Same Stuff, Different Screens
- Google unveils a $249 smart camera that decides what’s worth photographing: You can leave it lying around or wear it.
- Google Pixel Buds are wireless earbuds that translate conversations in real time: Google Translate in your ears for $159.
- Chinese High-Tech Startups: Now More Copied Than Copying
- Showtime Won’t Explain Why Its Website Was Hijacking User Browsers To Covertly Mine Cryptocurrency
- South Korea joins China in banning coin offerings: Money has flooded in an “unproductive and speculative direction,” official says.
- Looking Through an IP Lens at Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
- Cryptocurrencies: securities law implications
- Cryptocurrency: A ‘Snap’ on Developments
- LG is releasing a mosquito-repellent phone, but it probably won’t work: It claims to repel mosquitoes with ultrasonic waves, but scientists are skeptical.
- How VR Saves Lives In The OR
- The 3 Biggest Challenges Facing Augmented Reality Today
- Where Are The Drones That Could Be Saving Puerto Rico?
- Stop The Endless Scroll. Delete Social Media From Your Phone
- The War on General-Purpose Computing Turns on the Streaming Media Box Community
- Spurs Pitched Austin As Tech Hub To Lure Iguodala From Warriors
- App Listening For Audio Beacons May Be Illegal Wiretapping–Rackemann v. Colts (Eric Goldman)
CREATIVITY
- How The Supreme Court’s Continued Misunderstanding Of Copyright Ruined Halloween
- Crown copyright alive and well in new decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal (Teresa Scassa)
- The Eggshell Attorney General: Jeff Sessions wants a First Amendment that celebrates robust criticism of everyone but himself.
- New York voters have no 1st Amendment right to snap ballot-booth selfies: “The State’s interest in the integrity of its elections is paramount,” court says.
- Kmart faces copyright lawsuit for selling the wrong banana costume: Copyright law has gone bananas after a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.
- King’s College Football Coach Sued For Copyright Infringement For Retweeting A Book Page 2 Years Ago
- The Long Read: Confessions Of An English Music-Pirate
- Politics in the Workplace: Do NFL Players Have Freedom of Speech to Protest at Games?
- Police Chief Takes To Facebook To Complain About A Journalist Committing Journalism
- Judge: Barrett Brown donors can sue government over subpoenaed records – San Francisco activist led campaign to raise money for jailed journalist.
- The Trump Administration is Investigating the “Theft of IP” by China: What You Need to Know About Trademarks in China
- ASA cracking down on gender stereotypes in advertisements
- Unbalancing Act: How Conferences Perpetuate The Music Industry’s Gender Parity Crisis – Conferences have the opportunity to improve on reality’s mistakes. Unfortunately, the data shows otherwise.
- Lynda Carter to James Cameron: ‘Stop Dissing Wonder Woman, You Poor Soul’
- Remembering Tom Petty, Unlikely Video Pioneer
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Globe editorial: A bad idea for ‘fixing’ Canada’s internet rules
- Joly’s Digital Cancon Plan: Netflix May Be The Star, But No New Regulations, Taxes or Bailouts is the Story (Michael Geist)
- Cancon 2.0 and the Netflix deal: The 10 key takeaways – On Thursday, the Heritage Minister unveiled ‘Creative Canada,’ the first major overhaul of the cultural funding regime in more than 25 years. Here’s what you need to know
- Five reasons to like Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s Netflix deal
- Netflix commits to a $400 million investment in Canadian film and TV: It’s the company’s first permanent production outside the US
- Netflix Canada and the Misleading Claims About “Level Playing Fields” (Michael Geist)
- The Launch of ‘Creative Canada’: Some Brief Thoughts Following the Minister’s Speech
- Canada’s Cultural Funding Regime Receives Overhaul
‘Creative Canada’ – More Musings - Fake Data on Fakes: Digging Into Bell’s Dubious Canadian Piracy Claims (Michael Geist)
- Bell MTS hikes most of its rates
- Secretary of State refers Fox/Sky merger to the CMA on public interest grounds
- FCC chair accused of ignoring investment data in push to end net neutrality: Pai ignores cyclical nature of wireless network investment, critics say.
- ISPs want Supreme Court to kill Title II net neutrality rules now and forever: FCC may soon revoke net neutrality rules, but ISPs want immunity from regulation.
- Hoping The Third Time’s The Charm, ISPs Urge Supreme Court To Kill Net Neutrality
- Net neutrality debate ‘controlled by bots’
- Trump’s FCC Boss Blasts Apple For Refusing To ‘Turn On’ FM iPhone Chipsets That Don’t Actually Exist
- FCC chief Ajit Pai wants Apple to stop disabling FM radio chips in iPhones: Pai cites public safety concerns; Apple says new iPhones have no FM chip at all.
- Ajit Pai gets new term on FCC despite protest of anti-net neutrality plan: Democrats objected to Pai’s re-nomination, but Republicans had his back.
- Why some Senate Democrats voted to give Ajit Pai another term on FCC: Pai’s support mostly came from GOP senators, but four Democrats broke ranks
- Broadband Lobbyists Gush Over Re-Appointment Of Trump’s FCC Boss
- AT&T’s wireless home Internet, with 160GB cap, is now in 18 states: AT&T got nearly $3 billion federal subsidy to connect 1.1 million rural customers.
- As Broadband Usage Caps Expand, Nobody Is Checking Whether Usage Meters Are Reliable
- T-Mobile agrees to stop claiming its network is faster than Verizon’s: Verizon wins ruling as T-Mobile’s use of crowdsourced speed tests is criticized.
- What’s Going on With the Rumored, Not Good T-Mobile and Sprint Merger
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- So, Uh, That Billion-Account Yahoo Breach Was Actually 3 Billion
- Every Yahoo account that existed—all 3 billion—was compromised in 2013 hack: It’s official. If you had a Yahoo account in 2013, it was compromised.
- Hacks Are Always Worse Than Reported: All Of Yahoo Email Was Hacked In 2013. All. Of. It.
- NSA warned White House against using personal email: In briefings to incoming Trump aides, security officials highlighted the dangers of unsecured email and phones.
- NSA Warned Trump Staffers Against Personal Email/Device Use; Were Ignored
- The NSA Warned Jared Kushner Not to Do the Dumb Email Thing That He Then Did
- After Kushner’s private e-mail became known, it moved to Trump Org servers: In late September, it changed from outlook.com to mailhost01.trumporg.com.
- Well-Known Email Prankster Ends Up With Sensitive Document From Jared Kushner’s Lawyer
- Congressman demands to know if DHS will collect his social media history, too – Rep. Ted Lieu, naturalized American: “Does your proposed rule apply to me?”
- Use of Search Warrants to Create Trump Enemies List Continues
- Justice Department Demands Names of Thousands Who Liked Anti-Trump Facebook Page
- DOJ’s Facebook Warrants Target Thousands Of Users For Protesting Inauguration
- FOIA’ed Documents Show NSA Abuse Of Pen Register Statutes To Collect Content
- FBI may keep secret the name of vendor that cracked terrorist’s iPhone: Judge agrees with FBI that national security trumps the public’s right to know.
- SEC hack came as internal security team begged for funding: Forensic investigative unit was forced to use equipment tagged for scrap.
- The new surveillance state
- Sounding the privacy alarm
- As Expected, EU Court Of Justice To Review If Internet Company’s Privacy Practices Are Acceptible
- An alarming number of patched Macs remain vulnerable to stealthy firmware hacks: At-risk EFI versions likely put Windows and Linux PCs at risk, too.
- New Equifax CEO offers “sincere and total apology” to consumers: Embattled company vows to give consumers more control over their credit data.
- Equifax, Which Said Executives Did Not Know of Hack Before Trades, Has Launched a ‘Thorough Review’
- Equifax Was Warned About Vulnerability But Failed To Patch It
- Can Equifax’s Offerings Actually Protect Your Identity?
- A series of delays and major errors led to massive Equifax breach: Former CEO’s testimony to Congress reveals a shocking lack of security rigor.
- 6 Fresh Horrors From The Equifax CEO’s Congressional Hearing
- IRS awards Equifax no-bid, $7.25 million contract after hack: “This is considered a critical service that cannot lapse.”
- Into the Breach: How Canada’s Security Breach Disclosure Regulations Fall Short (Michael Geist)
- Auto Location Tracking Company Leaves Customer Data Exposed Online
- “NSFW” doesn’t begin to describe Bluetooth security in sex toys: Poor security lets connected “wearables” be hijacked by attackers.
- Can Pseudonyms Make Better Online Citizens?
Jon
News of the Week; September 27, 2017
GAMES
- Bluehole hits out at Epic for ‘replicating’ Battlegrounds in Fortnite
- PUBG devs call out Epic over Fortnite Battle Royale mode: “This was never discussed with us and we don’t feel that it’s right,” says head of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds dev Bluehole
- EU Commission: “No evidence that piracy affects video games sales” – Report suggests illegal consumption actually benefits legal sales, lowering prices will not affect piracy rates
- Yet Another Developer Sees That Free Can Work For Video Games As Both An Anti-Piracy Strategy And As Promotion
- Mod that adds online play to Super Mario 64 draws Nintendo’s ire: ROM hack is still available online despite YouTube and Patreon takedowns.
- Multiplayer madness: How F-Zero inadvertently inspired Super Mario Kart
- Super Mario Kart’s competitive scene is still going strong, 25 years on
- Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle outsells all non-Nintendo Switch games – Ubisoft crossover dominates within just a month of its release, Nintendo publishing in Japan and South Korea
- How do you sell FIFA 18 on Switch?: Possibly the most important third-party title to come to Nintendo’s console has a difficult message to get right
- Unity issues slowing down Switch ports: Yooka-Laylee release date still TBC
- Unity issues leading to delayed Switch launches for some devs
- Everything you need to know about the Super NES Classic Edition: 22 lesser-known facts and observations from a weekend wallowing in nostalgia.
- The SNES Mini is wonderful and just what the market needs: A £70/$80 games console is an ideal family product, irrespective of 1990s nostalgia
- Ataribox aims high with $250-300 price point, Linux core, custom AMD chip: Currently has spring 2018 launch window, will work with “other content platforms.”
- Gatorade pays California $300K, settles anti-water complaint: Just because drought-ravaged California has spent years urging residents to conserve water doesn’t mean it wants people to actually stop drinking the stuff. – When a Gatorade cellphone game suggested doing just that state Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a complaint accusing the popular thirst-quenching drink’s maker of false advertising.
- Blizzard will start dishing out permanent Overwatch bans next week
- Blizzard knuckles down on community as Valve fiddles: A few graphs won’t fix review bombing and abuse; if Valve wants tips, it could look to the tough decisions and hard work Blizzard is doing on Overwatch
- Concept art shows Valve almost added women to Team Fortress 2
- Valve wiped nearly 200 ‘fake games’ from Steam
- Valve removes 173 ‘asset flipping games’ from Steam: Entire portfolio of Silicon Echo Studios pulled, as well as associated accounts
- Sea’s the advantage: Cruise company Carnival gets into mobile casino games
- Game Designer Says Developers Would Be More Candid If Gamer Culture Wasn’t So Toxic
- Video game voice-actor strike might finally be over: 11 month strike reaches “tentative” end with bonuses, not royalties.
- Voice actors reach tentative deal to end strike: New agreement includes better bonuses, greater transparency, and protection against fines
- Avoiding the avoidable: Why ‘optional’ queer content isn’t solving the diversity problem (and how to fix this)
- EA Says It’s Fixing Formation That Baffles Madden’s AI
- Assassin’s Creed Origins will offer a combat-free, educational mode
- Combat-free mode makes Assassin’s Creed: Origins incredibly easy to explore – Education-focused mode literally turns the difficulty level down to zero.
- Ubisoft management gets big support as Vivendi threat looms: “We are delighted with the massive support of shareholders, which strengthens our determination and ability to defend the interests of all shareholders”
- Vivendi unsure whether to drop Ubisoft stock or attempt a takeover, says exec
- Vivendi undecided on Ubisoft takeover bid: Yves Guillemot continues to prevent hostile takeover with shareholder growth
- A disappointing week for UK game sales. Maybe.: Project Cars 2 makes it to No.2 as it struggles to reach heights of the original… or at least that’s what we guess
- PlayStation once again plays down Vita 2 possibilities: The company sees ‘limited potential’ for handheld game, despite Switch success
- Sony wishes PlayStation VR had stronger competition: Andrew House says he’s not comfortable leading the pack by a wide margin, new category should have multiple platforms succeeding
- Sony ‘not comfortable’ leading the VR charge, wants more competition
- HTC promises more VR innovation following $1.1B Google deal
- HTC to further support Vive following $1.1 billion Google deal: Cash made from selling mobile staff to Google will partly be used to fund growth in VR and AR
- VRChat Raises $4 Million Round Led By HTC
- HTC Leads $4M Series A Investment in Social VR Platform ‘VRChat’
- VR is an effective tool for exposure therapy & phobia treatment
- How presence in VR is beneficial for human research
- How medical care benefits from VR/AR and virtual humans
- How neuroscience can pave the way for VR’s future
- “We’re in danger of talking ourselves out of VR and AR”: A GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit panel discussed the need for patience among UK investors, and the earning potential of serious VR games for developers
- Oculus introduces refund policy for Rift and Gear VR games: Virtual reality users now able to request their money back within two weeks of purchase
- Apple’s ARKit game development: a whole new world
- Square Enix targets games-as-a-service, esports and higher digital sales: One in five copies of Final Fantasy XV sold in North America were downloads, almost one in three for Nier Automata worldwide
- Hackers hijack Final Fantasy Brave Exivus dev Gumi’s website with ransom demand
- Razer developing gaming smartphone for release by the end of year: Device part of wider strategy to capture Chinese market as firm prepares to go public on Hong Kong Stock Exchange
- Welsh Government provides funding for new Doctor Who game series: Double Eleven also involved as Tiny Rebel Games reveals new PC and mobile project
- One Gamer Fund unites seven charities under one banner: “Seven charities combined into a Voltron of altruism,” including AbleGamers, Child’s Play and Take This
- “Crowdfunding is the single hardest way to raise money”: Altara Games’ Ella Romanos warns that while crowdfunding endures, the bubble has burst – and the potential for cryptocurrency fundraising is still uncertain
- Patreon confirms $60 million funding round: CEO Jack Conte lays out growth plans for the next two to five years
- Atlus wants to cut off a PS3 emulator because it runs Persona 5: Patreon defends the emulator’s non-infringing nature, leaves page up.
- Atlus US file DMCA takedown against Patreon-funded PS3 emulator: Team behind RPCS3 hold their ground with support from Patreon against pressure from Persona 5 developer
- How to avoid a bad investor: Financial experts discuss the warning signs developers should look out for during the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit
- Everything you missed at the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit: Expert advice from investors on securing the best deal, the dangers of crowdfunding and the earning potential for VR developers
- Video: An indie dev crash course in business and leadership
- PUBG helps drive digital game sales up 11% in August – SuperData: Hearthstone, Overwatch, and Madden NFL 18 also contributed to the rise in digital sales for the month
- Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode goes free, despite PUBG complaints: Mode emerge from paid Early Access with latest update, indicating development has not been stalled by Bluehole
- Shadow of War DLC in honour of deceased developer is now free: Warner Bros. will make donation directly to the family of Michael Forgey who is immortalised as a character in the game
- WB Games clears up confusion surrounding charity ‘Forthog Orc-Slayer’ DLC
- “I want it just like LoL”: How do you monetize in-game skins?
- “Don’t Crunch” – Advice from the Best Places To Work: The winners of last week’s awards reveal their tips for start-ups
- Applying game design principles to be a better leader
- Astronauts Could Use TV, Video Games to Combat Isolation in Space
- Flappy Bird will die with iOS11: Developer of the wildly successful app confirms he will not update the game to run on a 64-bit system
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice
DIGITAL
- Russian operatives used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter and Muslims
- Facebook’s Frankenstein Moment
- Facebook Can Absolutely Control Its Algorithm
- Facebook revamps political-ad rules after discovering Russian ad buys: Shadowy Russian group spent $100,000 on political ads during the 2016 election.
- Mark Zuckerberg Is Still Pissed That We Know About His Army of Handlers
- Shareholders force Zuckerberg to give up plan for non-voting shares: The plan would have further cemented Zuck’s total control over Facebook.
- Facebook will target ads to people based on store visits, offline purchases, calls to businesses: Facebook is using its online-to-offline ad measurement tools for offline-to-online ad targeting.
- Facebook’s Ad Scandal Isn’t a ‘Fail,’ It’s a Feature (Zeynep Tufekci)
- Could public pressure cause Facebook to regulate itself?
- Facebook’s Crackdown Ahead Of German Election Shows It’s Learning
- How Germany’s far right took over Twitter – and tilted the election: A sophisticated and tightly organised troll army has spent the last three months championing a ‘patriotic revolution’. Boosting the AfD’s power is just the start
- Iceland authorities weighing options after neo-Nazi site registers there: The racist site has been at a .is domain for more than a week.
- Reddit’s campaign against hate speech worked: Even when users stuck around, they started watching their words more carefully.
- Jared Kushner conducted White House business with personal e-mail: Kushner lawyer says it was “fewer than a hundred e-mails.”
- Members Of Trump’s Admin Team Using Private Email Accounts Because Of Course They Are
- How One Syrian Fought To The Death For A Free Internet
- Judge spanks Mugshots.com hard for charging for photo removal: Lawsuit claims one arrestee was told it would cost $15k to have profile removed.
- EU Buried Its Own $400,000 Study Showing Unauthorized Downloads Have Almost No Effect On Sales
- EU study finds piracy doesn’t hurt game sales, may actually help: Results suggest a positive effect, but there’s a huge margin of error.
- German Court: Thumbnail Images In Search Engines Not A Copyright Violation
- German Federal Court of Justice rules that GS Media presumption of knowledge does not apply to Google Images
- Twitter testing shift from 140 to 280 characters: Twitter thinks 140 characters might be too constraining for English writers.
- Framing It Another Way: Tweets, Copyright and the De Minimis Doctrine
- Google Pulls YouTube From Amazon Echo: All About Control Or Just More Corporation On Corporation Violence?
- Ninth Circuit Blesses Amazon’s Terms of Service
- British News Channel Touts Amazon Bomb Materials Moral Panic That Ends Up Being About Hobbyists And School Labs
- Eros Beats Investor Suit Over Statements About Streaming Platform: The company touted 30 million users for Eros Now. The judge rules it was never said they were “meaningful” users.
- In my opinion, this is an opinion
- Fordham University Named in Class Action Lawsuit by Blind Individuals, Alleging Fordham.edu Website is Inaccessible
- Contact Lens Seller Agrees To $7 Million Settlement Over Search Ads
- U.S. Floats Nafta Proposal That Could Erode Copyright-Liability Protection: Language in the trade talks could weaken internet companies’ liability protections for pirated content
- NAFTA 2.0 and Intellectual Property Rights: Insights on Developing Canada’s Knowledge Economy
- FTC serves health-app maker massive slice of humble pie—and $1.5M bill: The app was meant to motivate users to go to the gym, eat veggies. It went very wrong.
- FTC clarifies influencer guidelines: Federal Trade Commission warns that platforms’ built-in disclosure methods aren’t sufficient, reviews of products given for free must be marked as ads
- The FTC, Like, Revises Its Social Media Endorsement Guides, Bruh!
- Disney’s New, Influencer-Led Mickey Mouse Club Releases Music Video For First Original Song
- Another Student Athlete Facing Scrutiny From NCAA For Budding YouTube Presence
- Emojis Head to a Courthouse Near You
- Victory for YouTubers as New York District Court rules “reaction video” is fair use
- Fair use is never simple
- Vimeo To Acquire Livestream, Launches ‘Vimeo Live’ Pro Broadcasting Product
- Verizon Reveals The Secrets Of Yahoo Search
- Facebook, NFL Back In Business Again With Programming Partnership
- Canon Virtual Camera System Enables Fans To Watch From Any 3D Angle
- Block The Pirate Bay Within 10 Days, Dutch Court Tells ISPs
- Company CEO Pleads Guilty After Forging Judge’s Signatures On Bogus Court Orders Sent To Google
- More Thoughts On The Senate’s SESTA Hearing
- My Senate Testimony on SESTA + SESTA Hearing Linkwrap (Eric Goldman)
- Google Will Survive SESTA. Your Startup Might Not.
- SESTA Is Being Pushed As The Answer To A Sex Trafficking ‘Epidemic’ That Simply Doesn’t Exist
- New Essay: The Ten Most Important Section 230 Rulings (Eric Goldman)
- Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing (Once Again) Demonstrates Why Demanding Platforms Censor Bad Speech Creates Problems
- London regulator announces Uber ban: Uber has 21 days to appeal the ruling, which could affect 40,000 drivers.
- Uber CEO apologizes for “mistakes” in London: Uber has vowed to appeal a decision banning the company from London.
- Uber really doesn’t want its drivers to be considered employees: O’Connor v. Uber one of 11 cases heard together at 9th Circuit.
- Waymo to judge: We want Uber to pay “only” $1.86 billion: Waymo says big numbers are based on Uber’s own calculations.
- ISIS Launches The Spelling Teacher, A New App For Kids
- Dispute Between Roberto Escobar And Netflix Over ‘Narcos’ Gets Weird: Licensing Talks And A Dead Location Scout
- What Netflix’s Congenial Trademark ‘Threat Letter’ Says About Everyone’s Tolerance For Trademark Bullying
- Why Big Tech Is Clashing With Internet Freedom Advocates
- Mattress Startup Casper Sued a Mattress Review Site, Then Paid for Its Acquisition
- Machine-learning cloud platforms get to work: Analytic platforms as a service (PaaS) could shorten machine-learning learning curve.
- Self-Driving Cars Will Kill People. Who Decides Who Dies?
- When Websites Design Themselves
- Bill Gates Says We Shouldn’t Panic About Artificial Intelligence
- Robots have already taken over our work, but they’re made of flesh and bone: Many jobs in the modern economy have been sapped of their humanity. How should we resist the rise of ‘digital Taylorism’? (Brett Frischmann &Evan Selinger)
- BCSC Grants Bitcoin Investment Fund Manager Registration
- If Bill Gates really thinks ctrl-alt-del was a mistake, he should have fixed it himself: You can’t pin the blame for this one on IBM.
- 4K titles on iTunes can only be streamed, not downloaded: You also can’t stream 4K videos from YouTube either.
- YouTube Revamps Analytics Reports To Help Creators Better Understand Subscription Traffic
- YouTube’s Technology Can Now Spit Out Thousands of Different Video Ads at Once: And target them based on apps that consumers have downloaded
- New French Law Orders Video Services Like YouTube, Netflix To Pay 2% Tax On Local Revenues
- Instagram now has 800 million monthly and 500 million daily active users
- Twitter explains why Trump can use site as venue for violence, hate: Announcement comes as social media is under pressure to remove hate-based accounts.
- Twitter sold enough ads to support all the live video shows it was pitching: Twitter is moving forward with 16 live video shows and features it said it wanted to stream.
- Vice Ramps Up Original French Content With Three New Shows
- Report recommends new legal approaches to online defamation
- Ivanka Trump: Computer science education a new “priority” – “We do have a major diversity problem in the tech industry,” president’s daughter adds.
CREATIVITY
- University Defeats Cyberbullying Lawsuit Related to Yik Yak–Feminist Majority v. UMW (Eric Goldman)
- What the Constitution says Berkeley can do when controversial speakers come knocking: The rules governing the right-wing “Free Speech Week” showdown.
- Italian Supreme Court confirms availability of copyright protection to TV formats
- The Grinch loses and protection of parody wins
- Osaka Court’s Ruling Helps Destroy Tattoos In Japan
- Turkish President Claims Jailed Journalists Are Actually Terrorists: From the wobbles-so-much-you-can’t-even-call-it-‘spin’ dept
- Kim Jong-Un Calling Trump A ‘Dotard’ Gave The Internet A Language Lesson
- Furie-ous creator of Pepe the Frog determined to use copyright to get his green creation back
- Is the alt-right’s use of Pepe the Frog “fair use?”: Is Pepe like Luke Skywalker—or just super-chill frog anyone can use?
- Penguin Random House LLC v. Frederick Colting d/b/a Moppet Books: District court finds that child-focused literary guides infringed copyrights in four famous novels and that literary guides did not qualify as fair use, granting summary judgment in favor of owners and exclusive licensees of copyrights in novels.
- Saudi minister fired after textbook shows Yoda at UN signing ceremony: Begun, the textbook scandal has.
- How The RIAA Helped Pave The Way For Spain To Undermine Democracy
- Appeals Court Limits Ability of Patent Trolls to File Suit in Far-Flung Districts
- Appeals Court Tells Patent Trolls’ Favorite Judge He Can’t Just Ignore The Supreme Court To Keep Patent Cases In Texas
- Instagram rolls out comment-control, puts onus on user to filter trolls
- “Comic-Con” trademark may have to activate superpowers to survive attack – Epic intellectual property battle: San Diego Comic-Con versus Salt Lake Comic Con.
- Challenge on offensive trademarks could bring clarity
- Velcro’s Hilarious Trademark Lesson Video Actually A Good Lesson In Just How Stupid Trademark Law Has Become
- Velcro’s anti-genericide song is big, bold and brash – but critics question whether it will actually be effective
- Scientific Publishers Want Upload Filter To Stop Academics Sharing Their Own Papers Without Permission
- Burger King is Trying to Ban It In Russia For the Most Insane Reason
- The very dirty history of on-demand video technology: In the early 1970s, hotels experimented with new video delivery systems for X-rated movies.
- Netflix Pulls Cartoon Episode After Mom Spots Stealthy NSFW Drawing
- Netflix Sends Cease-and-Desist to “Stranger Things”-Themed Bar
- A Brief History of Hiding Dicks in Cartoons
- Police: Armed Robber Dressed As Coke Bottle – Costumed perp held up eatery manager at Kentucky Rally’s
- Project Jengo Strikes Its First Targets (and Looks for More)
- Copyright’s Framing Problem (Margot Kaminski & Guy Rub)
- Is the First Amendment Obsolete? (Tim Wu)
- Response to Tim Wu’s piece on First Amendment obsolescence (Rebecca Tushnet)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- FCC Sued For Ignoring FOIA Request Investigating Fraudulent Net Neutrality Comments
- Ajit Pai’s plan to lower broadband standards is “crazy,” FCC Democrat says: “This is crazy. Lowering standards doesn’t solve our broadband problems.”
- Mission Accomplished: Ajit Pai’s FCC Declares Wireless Competition Issues Fixed: from the ignore-a-problem-and-it-goes-away,-right? dept
- Ajit Pai should be fired, petition says before Senate re-confirmation vote: Senate Democrats plan “very loud” debate on vote to give Pai a new term.
- To save net neutrality rules, senator tries to get Ajit Pai off FCC: Pai accused of ignoring “public interest” but will likely get new term on FCC.
- FCC declares that USA’s wireless competition problem has been solved: Ajit Pai’s FCC says mobile market is competitive, in change from Obama years.
- Joly’s Challenge: Digital Cancon Without New Digital Tax Dollars (Michael Geist)
- How to build an effective digital Cancon strategy on the cheap (Michel Geist)
- Not Just Netflix: Government Asks the CRTC To Conduct a Review of Changing Broadcast Models (Michael Geist)
- Bell Calls for CRTC-Backed Website Blocking System and Complete Criminalization of Copyright in NAFTA (Michael Geist)
- ‘Radical and overreaching’: Bell wants Canadians blocked from piracy websites – Company says a federal agency like the CRTC should create a blacklist of sites
- European Commission Backed Study Confirms Canada Among the Most Expensive for Broadband Internet Access (Michael Geist)
- Mysterious Apocalyptic Message Interrupts TV Broadcasts in California: ‘Violent Times Will Come’
- Report: T-Mobile, Sprint finally figuring out this merger thing – T-Mobile owner would take majority stake; US would be left with 3 big carriers.
- Prepare For An Epic BS Sales Pitch For The Competition-Killing Sprint, T-Mobile Merger
- Verizon backtracks—but only slightly—in plan to kick customers off network: Rural users with no other options can switch plans but can’t get unlimited data.
- Cox starts charging data cap overage fees in California: A new group of Cox customers gets a 1TB data cap and $10 overage fees.
- The Soaring Cost Of Sports Programming Is Simply Not Sustainable
- Global BC (CHAN-DT) re Global News Hour at 6 & Global News at 11 – Abbotsford school stabbing
- CTV Vancouver (CIVT-DT) re CTV News at 6 – Abbotsford school stabbing CBSC Decision 16/17-0554 2017 CBSC 9 September 26, 2017
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Bill C-58’s Order-Making Powers: A Huge Disappointment (Teresa Scassa)
- Justice Department goes nuclear on Google in search warrant fight: Google’s conduct is a “willful and contemptuous disregard of various court orders.”
- Report Details The NSA’s Decade-Long Abuse Of Its Surveillance Powers
- US Homeland Security Will Start Collecting Social Media Info on All Immigrants October 18th
- DHS To Officially Require Immigrants’ Files To Contain Social Media Info
- WhatsApp Reportedly Rejected UK Government Demand For Encryption Backdoor
- UK Man Gets 12-Month Sentence For Refusing To Turn Over Passwords To Police
- Another court tells police: Want to use a stingray? Get a warrant – DC Court of Appeals: Even if you know the police can track you doesn’t mean they should.
- Judge overturns local law that effectively banned drones over small town: Newton, Mass. wanted drone pilots to get permission to fly at or below 400 feet.
- Deloitte Hit By Cyberattack That Compromised Client Information & Decided To Basically Tell Nobody At All
- Deloitte hit by cyber-attack revealing clients’ secret emails: Hackers may have accessed usernames, passwords and personal details of top accountancy firm’s blue-chip clients
- Password-theft 0day imperils users of High Sierra and earlier macOS versions: Rogue apps can exfiltrate all plaintext passwords, no master password required.
- CCleaner Hack May Have Been A State-Sponsored Attack On 18 Major Tech Companies
- CCleaner malware outbreak is much worse than it first appeared: Microsoft, Cisco, and VMWare among those targeted with additional mystery payload.
- CCleaner backdoor infecting millions delivered mystery payload to 40 PCs: Samsung, Asus, Fujitsu, Sony, and Intel among those infected.
- How Malware Keeps Sneaking Past Google Play’s Defenses
- SEC Chairman reveals financial reporting system was hacked: EDGAR system data may have been used for “illicit gain through trading.”
- Man held website hostage for $10,000, failed, redirected it to porn, got busted: After plea deal, DOJ says: “this appears to be a one-time lapse in judgment.”
- All The Ways Equifax Epically Bungled Its Breach Response
- After huge Equifax breach, CEO “retires”: Board is “deeply concerned about and totally focused on the cybersecurity incident.”
- New York Governor Cuomo Directs NYDFS to Make Credit Reporting Agencies Comply with the State’s Cybersecurity Regulation
- NSA-Developed Crypto Technology No Longer Trusted For Use In Global Standards
- More Government Agencies Filing Lawsuits Against Public Records Requesters
- Released Snowden Doc Shows NSA Thwarting Electronic Dead Drops By Using Email Metadata
- Internet Explorer bug leaks whatever you type in the address bar: All your private addresses and search queries are belong to us.
- In a first, Android apps abuse serious “Dirty Cow” bug to backdoor phones: The critical Linux vulnerability is exploited on Android 1 year after coming to light.
- In spectacular fail, Adobe security team posts private PGP key on blog: Since deleted, post gave public and private key for Adobe incident response team.
- Do Tech Companies Really Need All That User Data?
- Cross-Border Data Access Primer
- Don’t Rely On An Unlock Pattern To Secure Your Android Phone
- How Much Do Your Dating Apps Know About You?
- One Tinder user’s data request turned into 800 pages of probing info: Yet another reminder that when a service is free, you are the product.
Jon
News of the Week; September 20, 2017
GAMES
- To tackle toxicity, Overwatch now mutes Xbox One players with bad Live rep
- Blizzard has taken disciplinary action against 480,000 Overwatch accounts: Jeff Kaplan’s team devotes “a tremendous amount of time and resources to punishing people,” and it’s slowing progress of the game
- Campo Santo’s DMCA strike against PewDiePie accepted by YouTube: Felix Kjellberg believes Campo Santo’s position wouldn’t “hold up in court” and amounts to abuse of the DMCA system
- Gaming YouTube must get its house in order: The risk posed by PewDiePie’s outbursts isn’t confined to his career; Google won’t tolerate a sector that keeps dragging down YouTube’s commercial prospects
- YouTube Gaming ups community-building tools with paid ‘sponsorships’
- Bungie Explains How Offensive Symbol Made Its Way Into Destiny 2: Vetting process didn’t catch image’s “vile derivation that has been repurposed by hate groups.”
- Bungie explains how a hate symbol ended up in Destiny 2
- Bungie promises deeper content vetting over Destiny 2 symbol: Bungie will conduct a process review after completely “scrubbing” the symbol from the game and promotional materials
- YouTube Launches Moneymaking Sponsorships For All “Eligible” Gaming Creators
- YouTube introduces Twitch-style sponsorship service for streamers: Trials of the $4.99 per month model have proven successful as platform abandons paid channel service
- In the wake of CSGO Lotto, FTC takes to Twitter to clarify its disclosure policy
- Russian Antifa Developed SharpShooter3D, A Nazi-Hunting Video Game
- Playing with politics: How real-world politics could improve your game
- “There will be hate you cannot control. In all honesty, it’s defeating”: Square Enix’s Amy Graves discusses the pressures community managers face ahead of her UKIE Careers Bar talk next week
- Why I deleted my Steam account: Valve’s dominance in the PC gaming space is made more harmful by its tolerance for toxic users
- Steam considers preventing review bombs, adds graphs instead: “In the end, we decided not to change the ways that players can review games, and instead focused on how potential purchasers can explore the review data.”
- Steam has a “review bomb” problem—but will today’s new feature fix it?: Follows a September 2016 overhaul which aimed to remove fraudulent reviews.
- Overwatch development hampered by toxic players, says director
- Overwatch now mutes Xbox One players with bad reputation: Further efforts to stem toxicity after revelation that abusive players hold back development
- Blizzard: Toxic Overwatch players are hurting the game’s development – This is why we can’t have nice things, apparently.
- Game: Interrupted – How a teenage gamer in the hottest new esport, Overwatch, became a reluctant icon for South Korea’s feminist movement.
- Video: How game communities build eSports scenes from the ground up
- As NFL ratings drop, a new internet study says young men like watching eSports more than traditional sports
- How Misfits went from League of Legends minnows to the World Championship: Team manager Joe Elouassi on managing burnout, the Overwatch League, and esports becoming an Olympic event
- Unity debuts open-source beta of a new machine learning AI toolkit
- Unity introduces Machine Learning Agents to help AI advancement: New feature goes into beta, primarily for researchers but engine firm keen to see what developers can do
- Battleborn is Battledead: Updates halted after ~16 months – Servers will stay up, but Gearbox seems to be transitioning to Borderlands 3.
- There’s Seemingly A NES Emulator And Game Hidden On Every Nintendo Switch
- Every Nintendo Switch appears to contain a hidden copy of NES Golf: What’s more, it might have a first for an emulated NES game – motion control.
- Hidden Switch game is actually a tribute to former Nintendo president: Unlock method seems designed to work only on July 11, the day Satoru Iwata died.
- How to (Maybe) Play the Super Secret Copy of NESGolf Hidden on Your Nintendo Switch
- Hackers Say Nintendo Switch Contains A Game That Unlocks On The Date Of Satoru Iwata’s Death
- The coming game cartridge renaissance?: Street Fighter II’s SNES rerelease could be the start of a trend.
- Nintendo Switch lands Doom and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus – Plus, Nintendo’s Arcade Archives retro classics, red JoyCon, and a Pokemon-themed 2DS.
- Doom, Wolfenstein II and Honor of Kings boost Switch third-party line-up: Bethesda shows its commitment, while Tencent is bringing China’s most popular game to the platform as Arena of Valor
- Nintendo Switch, Madden can’t stop August sales dip – NPD: Despite Madden topping the charts and Switch continuing to sell, total US game sales fell 2%
- Nintendo spent an estimated $4.5m on TV ads in August – Report: According to iSpot.tv Nintendo outspent other video game brands during the month to promote the new-look 2DS XL
- Nintendo shares riding nine-year high: Stock price closes the day up 7% as Switch maker tests heights not seen since the Wii’s heyday, considers Chinese expansion
- How Planet of the Apes is using console gamers to reach its real audience: The Imaginati’s Martin Alltimes talks us through the unusual business model behind narrative adventure spin-off Last Frontier
- Nintendo investors seem pumped about Tencent bringing its MOBA to Switch
- How much does it cost to develop a videogame?
- EA CEO Andrew Wilson joins Intel’s board of directors
- Hilarious, spectacular EVE betrayal destroys player group, costs trillions: Infighting and Cold War-style espionage led to largest theft in game’s history.
- ‘Star Wars: Battlefront II’ Won’t Be Supporting PSVR Headsets After All
- No VR for Star Wars Battlefront II but still “very important” for Criterion: UK studio says Rogue One demo “informed” Starfighter Assault mode, but sequel will not support virtual reality
- Someone has created a VR headset for the Commodore 64
- Developer gets a Game Boy emulator running on the Apple Watch, because he can: “Giovanni” emulator doesn’t quite fit full speed or compatibility on Series 2.
- Report: Magic Leap Could Reach $6B Valuation, First Device Shipping in 6 Months to “small group of users”
- Niantic: “AR is not just visual” – Pokémon Go developer suggests that audio will play a vital role in the design of its next game
- Mind the gap: Fortnite error briefly allowed cross-platform PS4/XB1 play
- Error leads to Fortnite cross-platform play between Xbox and Playstation: Issue fixed but Xbox head “would have liked to see them leave it on”
- The iPhone X’s ‘notch’ is powered by the same tech as the Kinect
- Disruptor Beam: Big name IP is about player retention, not acquisition – CEO Jon Radoff shares takeaways from making mobile games for Star Trek, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead
- How to launch a mobile game in multiple countries: Tappx CMO Ignasi Prat offers advice to developers hoping to release their app in as many markets as possible
- How has the flood of Steam games affected the average indie dev?
- Steam Direct fails to prevent revenue drop for indies: Average first month sales down by 39% since 2015, average naive revenue down by almost 50%
- Battlegrounds breaks the all-time Steam concurrent player record
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds smashes Steam records for concurrent users: Surpasses Dota 2’s player peak by less than 50,000
- Steam adds histograms to address review bombing: Ability to see how user reviews change over time one step on the way toward prediction-based review scores
- Rovio values itself at $1bn ahead of IPO
- Developers say a Star Citizen guild did not get $45,000 refund: Cloud Imperium says refund was actually for just $330
- McLaren builds a virtual hypercar for the next Gran Turismo game
- Blizzard chief explains how he raised money to start the company
- Classic Postmortem: How Maxis avoided sequel-itis on The Sims 2
- The Life and Merciful Death of the Fad Controller
- “There’s no better environment than AAA to develop your skills”: Playground Games’ Nick Duncombe discusses the benefits of working at an established studio rather than forming your own ahead of his UKIE Careers Bar talk
- Build, gather, brawl, repeat: The history of real-time strategy games: As we wait on a new Age of Empires this fall, let’s revisit the RTS genre’s highs and lows.
- Wireless PC Gaming At Lightspeed: Wireless mice that are now faster than wired
- How playing games can advance science
- How one man turns Garry’s Mod scenes into art
- The Most Popular Mod For Fallout 4 Is The One That Removes The Title Screen Crawl For Bethesda’s ‘Creation Club’
- Tracing the path an Israeli folk song took to end up in Japanese video games
- Humble has now raised over $100M for charity
- 15 practical pieces of advice, stuff that I learned the hard way
- 2 Games in 2 Months with a Stranger from Reddit
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite isn’t the same without arcade-era pixel art – A look back at the Marvel vs Capcom series and the evolution of pixel art to 3D.
- Richard Garriott remembers calling his parents to settle a fight over Ultima IV’s design
- NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wants sports on television to look more like video games
DIGITAL
- Hollywood’s Use of “Stolen” Computer Technology Tests Ownership Theories: In a bid to dismiss a lawsuit, Disney, Fox, and Paramount distinguish between human and technological output.
- Hulu Becomes First Streaming Service To Win Best Drama Emmy For ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
- To Fix Its Toxic Ad Problem, Facebook Must Break Itself
- Exclusive: Facebook Silences Rohingya Reports of Ethnic Cleansing – The social network says it’s committed to helping the world ‘share their stories.’ But when people from Burma’s oppressed minority post, their stories have a habit of disappearing.
- Facebook Enabled Advertisers to Reach ‘Jew Haters’: After being contacted by ProPublica, Facebook removed several anti-Semitic ad categories and promised to improve monitoring.
- Could Facebook Have Caught Its ‘Jew Hater’ Ad Targeting?: “Facebook can monitor the things it does that make it money.”
- Facebook’s Offensive Ad Targeting Options Go Far Beyond “Jew Haters”
- Trump Retweeted A Video From An Anti-Semitic Account Showing Him Hitting Hillary Clinton With A Golf Ball: The original poster had previously tweeted several anti-trans and racist statements.
- The Real Trouble With Trump’s ‘Dark Post’ Facebook Ads
- Google Allowed Advertisers To Target People Searching Racist Phrases: Google prompted BuzzFeed News to run ads targeted to keywords like “black people ruin neighborhoods,” then allowed the campaign to go live.
- Facebook’s Reckoning Draws Nearer: Sooner or later, the company will be forced to take on the responsibilities that come with being the world’s dominant news distributor.
- Facebook’s war on free will: How technology is making our minds redundant
- Should Facebook Ads Be Regulated Like TV Commercials?: The company’s sales to a Russia-connected troll farm raise big questions about free speech in advertising and beyond.
- Alt-Right Twitter App Developers Sue Google After Gab.Ai App Is Kicked Out Of The Play Store
- Google Paid HTC $1.1 Billion To Turn Itself Into A Phone Maker
- Google/HTC deal is official, Google to acquire part of HTC’s smartphone team: $1.1 billion deal means HTC will still exist, while Google beefs up its hardware team.
- Female ex-Googlers sue, claiming sex discrimination: Three former Googlers say women were funneled into less lucrative “job ladders.”
- The Pao Effect Is What Happens After Lean In
- Lost Context: How Did We End Up Here?: Facebook and Google’s advertising platforms are out of control. That used to be a good thing. Now…not so much.
- Twitter rival Gab sues Google over app store rejection: Gab, an app popular with the alt-right, says Google violated antitrust law.
- Twitter rival Gab faces domain loss over extremist content: After anti-Semitic post, registrar gives Gab five days to find a new provider.
- The Super-Aggregators And The Russians
- Facebook’s Russia data: What Mueller may learn
- A Fishy Wikileaks Dump Targets Russia For A Change
- New Group Of Iranian Hackers Linked To Destructive Malware
- Snopes And The Search For Facts In A Post-Fact World
- Unwanted ads on Breitbart lead to massive click fraud revelations, Uber claims – Uber: We paid Fetch Media for “nonexistent, nonviewable, and/or fraudulent advertising.”
- Here’s a real-life, slimy example of Uber’s regulator-evading software: “In using Greyball, Uber has sullied its own reputation,” Portland says.
- Waymo wants Uber to pay $2.6 billion in damages—just for starters: It’s the first hint of what Waymo might want as compensation for alleged theft.
- Appeals court rejects Uber’s attempt to dodge trial: No arbitration – And, Levandowski can’t stop Waymo lawyers from reading a report on his startup.
- Faced with a trove of new evidence in Uber case, Waymo asks to delay trial
- Uber: We don’t have to pay drivers based on rider fares – Contracts allow rider fares to be higher than what is known and paid to drivers.
- Drone delivery startup is about to begin commercial operations: Startup envisions hundreds of drone delivery stations across metro areas.
- Digital transformation: How machine learning could help change business – ML has more than just a learning curve to overcome before it transforms business.
- HTML5 DRM finally makes it as an official W3C Recommendation: 30.8% of W3C members disapproved of the decision.
- EFF Resigns From W3C After DRM In HTML Is Approved In Secret Vote
- HP Brings Back Obnoxious DRM That Cripples Competing Printer Cartridges
- Adding clickbait title isn’t false advertising or fraud on author Dankovich v. Keller, 2017 WL 4081852, No. 16-13395 E.D. Mich. Sept. 15, 2017 (Rebecca Tushnet)
- 5 reasons why people share fake photos during disasters
- Do the distracted boyfriend memes infringe copyright?
- The Blacklock’s Perfectly Predictable Costs Appeal Dismissal & a Preview of Potential Problems (Howard Knopf)
- The Senate Is Close To Undermining The Internet By Pretending To ‘Protect’ The Children
- Why SESTA Is Such A Bad Bill
- The Wrong Answer to a Serious Problem: Senator Wyden’s testimony to the Senate Committee on Commerce at the legislative hearing titled “S.1693, The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017”
- The Top Ten Myths About SESTA’s (S. 1693) Impact On Startups
- Senator Blumenthal Happy That SESTA Will Kill Small Internet Companies
- Is There A Single Online Service Not Put At Risk By SESTA?
- Free Software Foundation Europe Leads Call For Taxpayer-Funded Software To Be Licensed For Free Re-use
- The Sex Trafficking Fight Could Take Down A Bedrock Tech Law
- Music Industry Is Painting A Target On YouTube Ripping Sites, Despite Their Many Non-Infringing Uses
- YouTube Apologizes To ‘Red’ Subscribers Who Were Served Ads, Says Fix Is In The Works
- Yes, You Can Believe In Internet Freedom Without Being A Shill
- Regulating Hate Speech?
- The rise of AI is sparking an international arms race: Elon Musk thinks it’s the most likely cause of WWIII.
- The AI Chatbot Will Hire You Now
- AI: Scary for the Right Reasons
- AI built profiles for every individual is a reality
- AI Research Is In Desperate Need Of An Ethical Watchdog
- Can Competition Act address Big Data cases?
- Big data and Innovation: Implications for competition policy in Canada
- Big data may become big antitrust concern
- Google Chrome To Block Autoplay Videos With Sound Beginning In January
- Google Chrome will block autoplay video starting January 2018: Only muted video and user “interest in the media” will be allowed by default.
- Chrome Will Soon Block Autoplay Videos With Sound—Here’s Why You Should Be Worried
- YouTube TV, Now Available In Eight More Areas, Nears Completion Of US Rollout
- These Are The Types Of Influencers Who Get Paid Most Per Sponsored Post (Study)
- Snapchat Is Pulling Out All The Stops For This Year’s Emmy Awards
- Crowdfunding platform Patreon secures $60M investment
- Are We Asking Too Much From Defamation Law? Reputation Systems, Adr, Industry Regulation And Other Extra-Judicial Possibilities For Protecting Reputation In The Internet Age: Proposal For Reform (Emily Laidlaw)
- The Political Awakening of Silicon Valley: What happens when tech leaders, like Y Combinator’s Sam Altman, believe our system is broken? They treat it like a startup.
- “Skip intro”: Netflix could’ve saved TV title sequences, but now it’s killing them
- Netflix Has Narcos Actors Threaten To Shoot The Families Of French People For Pirating The Show
- Vancouver Canucks, Perspective Films Offer Virtual Reality Views
- Baltimore Ravens Debut NFL’s First Augmented Reality Face Painting
- Mizuno Introduces Smart Baseball With Internal Pitch-Tracking Tech
- China’s Largest Messaging App ‘WeChat’ is Creating its Own AR Platform
- It looks like China is shutting down its blockchain economy: Leaked regulation orders Chinese Bitcoin exchanges to shut down.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum plunge on Chinese crackdown
- The Pirate Bay Added a CPU-Hijacking Bitcoin Miner to Some Pages
- Feds in California are aggressively going after Silk Road, AlphaBay vendors: Federal courthouse in Fresno is set to see a lot of action in coming months.
- Your Digital Millennium Copyright Registration May Be About To Expire
- Bored With Your Fitbit? These Cancer Researchers Aren’t
- About FaceID
- After 23 years, the Apple II gets another OS update: On 30th anniversary of Apple II GS, devoted developer releases ProDOS 2.4.
- The Pluralist Model of Speech Regulation: Free Speech in the Algorithmic Society (Jack Balkin)
- Free Speech in the Algorithmic Society: Big Data, Private Governance, and New School Speech Regulation (Jack Balkin)
CREATIVITY
- Quebec Superior Court Rules on the Concept of Fair Dealing in Relation to the Substantial Reproduction of Journalistic Works
- Off-Broadway ‘Grinch’ Parody Defeats Copyright Claims
- Joy in Who-Ville? Playwright Wins Fair Use Copyright Dispute in Parody of “Grinch”
- Maradona sues Dolce&Gabbana over 2016 ‘MARADONA’ jersey
- Monkey Selfie Case Settled Out Of Court, Questions Remain (Andres Guadamuz)
- Lawyer: Without The Monkey’s Approval, PETA Can’t Settle Monkey Selfie Case
- Monkey See, Monkey Do… Monkey Own? The Curious Case of Naruto v. Slater
- Man who made “Pepe” wants his frog back, and he’ll use copyright to get it: Mike Cernovich won’t pay, threatens “to embarrass the f***” out of Pepe creator.
- With Court Ruling, Fan Subtitles Officially Copyright Infringement In Sweden
- Structural engineers score big as Federal Court recognizes and enforces copyright on structure of soccer complex
- Canadian Government Publications Still Don’t Belong To The People As Ottawa Maintains Its Iron Grip On Crown Copyright
- Melania Trump billboard removed in Croatia after legal action threatened
- ‘Racist’ Paddy Power Floyd Mayweather ad dealt knockout blow by ASA
- New patent review process has saved billions—so why is it under attack?: “Inter partes review” let a patent’s opponents be heard, without spending millions.
- Doubling (& Tripling) Down on Trademark Protection For Secret Menu Items–In-N-Out v. Smashburger
- Yoko Ono halts sale of John Lemon lemonade: Polish company agrees to change its name to On Lemon after legal letters saying drink infringed trademark
- Kim Kardashian West’s trade mark woes and the love-hate relationship between celebrities and IP
- New study claims Slender Man is in the commons, argues assertion of trademark rights “chills creativity”
- Charles Harder Loses Again: You Can’t Just File Defamation Lawsuits In A Random State Because You Like Its Statute Of Limitations
- Model Behaviour – Copyright infringement action brought against model Gigi Hadid
- Why Copyright Term Matters: Publisher Study Highlights Crucial Role of the Public Domain in Ontario Schools (Michael Geist)
- Buyer Beware: Make Sure Your Copyright Assignment Is Valid
- The Business of Fandom: How Teenage Girls Predict the Future of Culture
- 20 years in, Kid Rock, Eminem and ICP are politically relevant — and culturally divided
- How Amazon is becoming the third force in advertising, making the duopoly an oligopoly
- The Battle for Blade Runner
- Vermont State Police Rewrite Press Rules To Withhold As Much Information As Possible
- Bleistein, the Problem of Aesthetic Progress, and the Making of American Copyright Law (Barton Beebe)
- First application of the Canadian parody exception (Sabine Jacques)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Why Canadian cell phone bills are among the most expensive on the planet: As tech analyst Michael Geist has noted, cell phone companies keep raising prices ‘because they can’
- Toronto Star receives $65,000 fine for violating CRTC Do Not Call List rules
- Yet Another Report Says The Rate Of TV Cord Cutting Is Worse Than Anybody Thought
- “Fake” net neutrality comments at heart of lawsuit filed against FCC – Lawsuit: FCC ignored public records request for data on mass comment uploads
- ‘I Want to Explode’ — A Roger Ailes Protégé Bares His Soul: Joe Lindsley was as close to the late Fox News chairman as anybody. Now, for the first time, he’s giving his account of their dramatic split.
- The transformation continues (Timothy Denton)
- Verizon Is Booting 8,500 Rural Customers Over Data Use, Including Some on ‘Unlimited’ Plans
- Verizon Hangs Up On Tens Of Thousands Of ‘Unlimited’ Wireless Customers For Using Too Much Data
- Comcast looks forward to more mergers during Trump presidency: Comcast VP is glad Trump is “less hostile” to mergers than Obama.
- Comcast said he used too much data—so he opted to live without home Internet: Man said he didn’t go over his data cap; Comcast told him to trust the meter.
- FCC’s New ‘Diversity Chair’ Has Long History Of Undermining Minority Consumers At Comcast’s Behest
- T-Mobile’s unlimited plan will soon let you use 50GB before slowdowns: T-Mobile leaps further ahead of Verizon and AT&T with more data before slowdowns.
- T-Mobile backtracks from plan to throttle Apple Watch speeds to 512kbps: T-Mobile initially planned $20 charge for watch LTE, but now it’ll be $10.
- Unlimited Data Customers Report Fewer Network Problems Than Capped Users
- SpaceX’s worldwide satellite broadband network may have a name: Starlink – Low-latency, gigabit network inches closer to commercialization.
- A telemarketer called my elevator: The emergency intercom started speaking to me in a voice I’ve heard a thousand times.
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- EFF, ACLU Sue Government Over Warrantless Electronic Searches At The Border
- ISPs claim a privacy law would weaken online security and increase pop-ups: California to vote on privacy law opposed by AT&T, Comcast, Charter, and Verizon.
- Closely watched California Internet privacy bill dies in final minutes of legislative session
- California Sides With Comcast, Votes To Kill Broadband Privacy Law Favored By EFF
- ISPs can keep sharing your browsing history after California no-vote: Lawmakers fail to vote on opt-in rule that would protect your browsing history.
- Face Scanning Lawsuit Against Shutterfly Survives Motion to Dismiss
- Trump Administration Says It’s Classified If They Can Let The NSA Spy On Americans
- Equifax Officially Has No Excuse
- Oh Man, You’re Gonna Hate What Equifax Just Admitted About That Security Breach
- Equifax’s Chief Information Officer and Head of Security Are ‘Retiring’
- Equifax CIO, CSO “retire” in wake of huge security breach: Press release – “The company’s review of the facts is still ongoing.”
- DoNotPay chatbot adds feature allowing users to sue Equifax over data breach
- Scammers keep trying to sell fake Equifax facts: Site offers “proof” of access to Equifax data, but it all appears to be fake.
- FTC launches Equifax breach probe, warns consumers about credit scammers: Posing as Equifax employees, crooks are calling to verify your account information.
- Equifax sends breach victims to fake notification site
- Google stops challenging most US warrants for data on overseas servers: Microsoft keeps up the challenges while Supreme Court remains silent.
- Secret Algorithms Are Deciding Criminal Trials and We’re Not Even Allowed to Test Their Accuracy (ACLU)
- EFF Asks Court: Can Prosecutors Hide Behind Trade Secret Privilege to Convict You? (EFF)
- Biased Algorithms Are Everywhere, and No One Seems to Care: The big companies developing them show no interest in fixing the problem.
- Ad industry “deeply concerned” about Safari’s new ad-tracking restrictions: Apple’s limits on tracking will “sabotage the economic model for the Internet.”
- How One Of Apple’s Key Privacy Safeguards Falls Short
- Infrared signals in surveillance cameras let malware jump network air gaps: aIR-Jumper weaves passwords and crypto keys into infrared signals.
- The CCleaner Malware Fiasco Targeted At Least 18 Specific Tech Firms
- NSA Employees Routinely Undermined ‘Non-Attributable’ Web Access With Personal Web Use
- How The NSA Built A Secret Surveillance Network For Ethiopia
- Trudeau needs to deliver on his access-to-information promises
- New law firm seeks would-be gov’t whistleblowers, requires Tor and SecureDrop: “We want to earn the trust of people who have been 20-year veterans at the NSA.”
- Most-wanted criminal arrested after posting Instagram video of himself: Officials obtained fugitive’s GPS coordinates after he took to social media.
- Apple’s FaceID Could Be A Powerful Tool For Mass Spying
- Software Has A Serious Supply-Chain Security Problem
- For $200 you can buy an NBA smart jersey and be a marketing pawn: Once activated, Nike knows where you live, and when and where jersey is scanned.
- Internet-Connected Toys: Cute, Cuddly and Inherently Insecure
- The Undue Influence of Surveillance Technology Companies on Policing (Elizabeth Joh)
Jon
News of the Week; September 13, 2017
GAMES
- FTC Settles Complaint Against ‘Let’s Play’ YouTube Stars, Sends Warning Letters To Other Influencers And Demands Responses
- FTC demands disclosure from influencers following TmarTn CS:GO scandal – Commission rules that influencers must “clearly and conspicuously” identify links to products and services
- YouTubers escape fines for promoting their own CS:GO gambling site – FTC settlement extracts a promise not to do it again and not much else.
- Individual Influencers Settle With The FTC Over Undisclosed Endorsements
- Bungie pulls Destiny 2 item resembling white supremacist symbol
- Bungie removes hate symbol from Destiny 2: Developer says legendary gauntlets’ similarity to “Kekistan” flag was unintentional, doesn’t reflect its values
- Religious fighting game gets Steam banned in Malaysia: Valve pulls Fight of Gods after local ISPs were ordered by government to block access to digital storefront
- Funcom: Steam user reviews should be region gated – With “review bombs” now a common occurrence, CEO Rui Casais believes Steam should follow other stores and ditch “global” user ratings
- Blizzard brings forward annual charity drive to provide disaster relief
- Rovio IPO: A stark lesson in timing – Once the biggest company in mobile gaming, the Angry Birds creator now plans an IPO far more modest than its past ambitions
- Nintendo: Switch demand might outweigh supply during the holidays
- Nintendo wary of potential Switch shortages this holiday: Reggie Fils-Aime says “supply chain is there” but is cagey about whether platform holder will meet demand
- Switch version of Wonder Boyoutsells all other platforms combined
- Nintendo Switch versions of indie games outselling others: Wonder Boy, Forma.8 and Oceanhorn proving more successful than on other platforms, say devs
- For No More Heroes dev Goichi Suda, ‘the Switch is a punk console’
- For the first time in 15 years, Doom is coming to a Nintendo console
- Nintendo Urges Public: Don’t Pay More Than $80 for SNES Classic
- Nintendo bringing back NES Classic Edition in 2018: Super NES Classic Edition manufacturing to continue through next year as well
- Behind the effort to archive Nintendo’s disappearing social network: Scraping and saving millions of posts before Nintendo deletes them all on Nov. 7.
- Bandai Namco on the hunt for mobile mergers and acquisitions: Japanese publisher hopes to expand mobile business as it pursues global growth strategy
- Nintendo Still Not Ready For VR, Not Enough “Truly Fun” Experiences
- Niantic: Focus on visuals makes AR look like “a gimmick that lacks utility” – CEO John Hanke posts cool response to Apple’s reveal of the iPhone X’s capabilities
- Nazara’s $550m plans for India’s first games industry IPO: Mumbai-based mobile games publisher preparing for public listing
- Animal Farm developer: “I wish more games made a statement”: Imre Jele on why a team of highly experienced creators are revisiting Orwell’s 1940s classic
- Breaking the outrage cycle: Anger and abuse from fan communities have become a routine part of the games industry, but they don’t have to be
- Zoë Quinn: What Happened After GamerGate Hacked Me
- Women In Games Mobile Awards winners revealed: Plus Anita Sarkeesian given honourary Hall of Fame prize
- PAX Report: Rep. Jayapal speaks on players and political consciousness
- Video: A game dev guide to fostering a positive community
- Crunch mentality is ‘misguided and old-fashioned,’ says Tim Schafer
- Facebook: “We’re going all in with esports”: The leading social network explains why it is partnering with so many developers and their professional gaming leagues
- Facebook Pushes Further Into Esports With Paladins Partnership
- Blizzard is opening its own eSports venue in California
- Blizzard opening dedicated esports production facility: Blizzard Arena Los Angeles will include soundstages, practice facilities, merch store, seating for about 450 fans
- Lambton College announces plans for academic Esports program, officially opens campus gaming arena
- How can Riot Games fix League of Legends esports in Europe?: A prominent team has accused the European League Championship Series of being “neither rational nor fair,”, and Riot’s big changes have yet to arrive
- Two new Overwatch League teams point to strong US emphasis – report: Houston and Philadelphia teams would give the US 8 out of 11 spots in Activision Blizzard’s new competition
- Iron Galaxy’s Adam Boyes breaks down the pros and cons of game funding deals
- How to avoid getting sc—ed in a game publishing deal: Indies, don’t be afraid to negotiate and realize your value, says games lawyer Zachary Strebeck
- BIG List of Incubators, Accelerators and Funding Opportunities
- Gaming’s move away from ownership model is inevitable – EA: Publisher’s VP of investor relations says the technology is already in place for a shift to an access model like Spotify or Netflix
- Battlegrounds has surpassed 1M concurrent players on Steam
- 1,300 new games have been released since Steam Direct launched: The total number of games for this year has already exceeded 2015, says Niko Partners
- Raptr shutting down as optimization services become obsolete
- 14 Racing Games That Want To Win Over Your Wallet: It’s a good year to be a gearhead.
- Path of Exile Economy: Currency Trading
- Games writers now eligible for Nebula Award: Writers also able to apply for Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America membership
- The Secret Power of Play
- Games aren’t always fair, the magic lies in making you think they are: Behind the scenes with the neuroscience of game design
- Custom Xbox One S That Lights Up Revealed By Microsoft, Made In Collaboration With Chainsmokers: DJ duo behind “Closer” worked with Microsoft on this system.
- How the longest-running web series, Rooster Teeth’s ‘Red vs. Blue,’ makes money
DIGITAL
- Why Has the Government Failed to Act on Copyright Notice-and-Notice When Internal Docs Raise Abuse and Fraud Concerns? (Michael Geist)
- RT, Sputnik and Russia’s New Theory of War: How the Kremlin built one of the most powerful information weapons of the 21st century — and why it may be impossible to stop.
- The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election
- Russia’s Facebook Fake News Could Have Reached 70 Million Americans: Facebook acknowledged that Russian propagandists spent $100,000 on election ads. It neglected to mention how many millions of people those ads reached.
- Russian-made Facebook page invited Americans to protest “upsurge of violence”: Effort to unmask the Kremlin’s propaganda campaign takes a dark turn.
- I Bought a Russian Bot Army for Under $100
- Facebook May Have More Russian Troll Farms To Worry About
- Russia Piracy Blocking: Four Thousand ‘Pirate’ Sites Blocked… Along With Forty Thousand Sites Worth Of Collateral Damage
- Kaspersky software banned from US government agencies: Kaspersky: We have “never helped, nor will help, any government with cyberespionage.”
- Social influence and political mobilization: Further evidence from a randomized experiment in the 2012 U.S. presidential election (Jason J. Jones, Robert M. Bond, Eytan Bakshy, Dean Eckles & James H. Fowler)
- How Facebook Changed the Spy Game: I fought foreign propaganda for the FBI. But the tools we had won’t work anymore.
- Facebook Wins, Democracy Loses
- Why it’s so hard to trust Facebook
- Facebook will ban monetizing on violence and tragedy, even for news and awareness
- Facebook Sets Guidelines To Dictate What Types Of Content It Won’t Monetize
- The Terrifying Power of Internet Censors
- Facebook’s Failed $608 Million Bid For Cricket Rights Sends Strong Signal
- Facebook To Spend $1 Billion On Original Content For ‘Watch’ Through 2018
- Make Mark Zuckerberg Testify
- Facebook Wins Appeal Over Allegedly Discriminatory Content Removal–Sikhs for Justice v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- The Fake News Pipeline: How A Small-Time Clickbait Farmer Is Spreading the Gospel of Big Oil
- America Is a Cyberpunk Dystopia
- Adding a “disputed” label to fake news seems to work, a little. But for some groups, it actually backfires: Labeling only some fake news stories as fake can make some people more likely to believe other fake news that aren’t labeled.
- China’s Social-Media Smoke Screen
- 1st Amendment wins in self-proclaimed e-mail inventor’s Techdirt libel suit: The truth, whatever that may be, is the best defense to defamation.
- Texas AG’s office accuses ‘reputation management company’ of procuring fraudulent libel takedown lawsuits
- Texas Attorney General Issues Complaint Against Reputation Management Company For Bogus Lawsuits
- Blacklock’s Loses Appeal of Justice Barnes’ Costs Order: Dismissed from the Bench
- Patent Trolls’ Favorite Judge Comes Up With Test To Keep Patent Cases In East Texas, No Matter What SCOTUS Said
- The Latest Scam To Protect Sketchy Patents From Patent Office Review: Sell To Native Americans
- YouTube stream-ripping site for the masses dead in wake of RIAA suit: Youtube-mp3.org facilitated 40% of illegal stream-ripping from YouTube globally.
- Digital Network Collab Launches New Rights Management Tool
- Facebook Testing ‘Instant Videos’ Feature That Enables Offline Viewing
- The no-sports streaming bundle is coming soon from Viacom, Discovery, and others: The entertainment-focused service could cost less than $20 per month.
- Verizon customers can sue ad company over “zombie” cookies, judges rule: Judges say ad company can’t use Verizon’s arbitration clause to avoid lawsuit.
- Uber is apparently facing a third federal criminal investigation: Uber allegedly created fake Lyft accounts to gather data on drivers and prices.
- The first man at trial over a “gig economy” job got dismantled on cross-examination
- Amazon’s 1-Click Patent Is About To Expire. What’s The Big Deal?
- Canadian cities jump at chance to play host to massive Amazon HQ
- Amazon’s New Headquarters Should Be in Hell
- White Supremacist Threatens to Sue News Outlet Over Photoshopped Gun (That He Tweeted a Month Earlier)
- PewDiePie Draws More Ire By Using N-Word During Live Stream
- PewDiePie Uses Racial Slur In Livestream, Game Dev Says He’s “Worse Than A Closeted Racist”: The super-popular streamer has found himself in hot water, again.
- PewDiePie Is Inexcusable but DMCA Takedowns Are Not the Way to Fight Him
- PewDiePie racial slur sparks backlash from Campo Santo, Simogo: Prominent YouTube streamers brace for fallout from “liability” PewDiePie’s actions
- Why was it so easy to weaponize copyright against PewDiePie?
- Let’s Play Copyright Threat Raises Questions About The Law And How To Use It
- Campo Santo legally able to file DMCA against PewDiePie over racial slur: But court costs to enforce could be “well over six figures” so dangerous defence for indies and smaller studios
- Here’s what the law says about PewDiePie’s fight with Campo Santo: Game company wants to take down YouTube star’s livestreams after n-word incident.
- As PewDiePie Offers Apology For Racial Slur, YouTube’s ‘Let’s Play’ Gamers Worry About Financial Fallout
- Ted Cruz Liked a Porn Tweet and I Can’t Even Decide Which Joke to Say
- Cruz blames ‘staffing issue’ for porn video ‘liked’ on his Twitter account
- No “Contract By Tweet” for Plaintiff Who Pitches Movie Idea via Social Media (Eric Goldman)
- Congress Is About To Eviscerate Its Greatest Online Free Speech Achievement (Eric Goldman)
- Why Has the Government Failed to Act on Copyright Notice-and-Notice When Internal Docs Raise Abuse and Fraud Concerns?
- LinkedIn’s efforts to stop the bots
- Bitcoin investors could lose all their money, FCA warns: UK financial watchdog spells out risk for those participating in initial coin offerings using cryptocurrencie
- CSA Staff Narrow the Path for Cryptocurrency Offerings
- A Debate about Google and Its Critics: Recent allegations stoke growing ‘antitrust sentiment’ about Google.
- Can You Get Addicted to Trolling?: It’s becoming increasingly evident that, for some people, trolling isn’t just playing an a—-le on the internet.
- News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017 (Pew Research Center)
- A tech critic on the sham populism of Silicon Valley: Ex-New Republic editor Franklin Foer on the expansive power of big tech.
- There’s Blood In The Water In Silicon Valley: The bad new politics of big tech.
- Conservatives, liberals unite against Silicon Valley: The fading of the tech industry’s bipartisan glow in Washington puts it at risk for tighter regulations.
- Tech Is Public Enemy #1. So Now What?: If tech wants to reverse the crushing tide of negative public opinion, it must start creating public good commensurate with its extraction of private profit.
- Teen Girls With Smartphones Flirt Most With Depression and Suicide: A spike in the teen suicide rate parallels almost exactly the rise of smartphone use, especially among teen girls, who are the most vulnerable to cyberbullying and alienation.
- Searching For Help: She turned to Google for help getting sober. Then she had to escape a nightmare.
- Terms Of Service Aren’t Just Annoying—They’re A Failure
- Phones Are Changing How People Shoot And Watch Video
- Attacked by Rotten Tomatoes
- Hollywood’s Movies Suck, and It Doesn’t Want You to Know
- Lawyer who sued Gawker and Techdirt has a new target: Jezebel – “Whatever he says, goes,” former Superstar Machine member “Poppy” told Jezebel.
- AG Szpunar advises CJEU on cloud-based recording and private copying exception
- iPhone X: Software leak appears to confirm name, features, and specs – Meanwhile, iPhone 8 is an updated iPhone 7 with a glass back, and wireless charging.
- The Biggest IPhone Leak Yet Won’t Bruise Apple
- How Apple Finally Made Siri Sound More Human
- Apple, Facebook And Disney To Shake Up Video Streaming With Original Content
- Apple strikes deal with Warner Music, looks to pay labels lower rates: More paid subscribers means less money directly out of Apple’s pocket.
- Should Spotify Try to Become the ‘Netflix Of Music’? Not So Fast
- Disney To Move Marvel, ‘Star Wars’ Films From Netflix To Its Own Streaming Service
- Disney is pulling Star Wars and Marvel films from Netflix: In 2019, you’ll have to subscribe to Disney’s service to stream these movies.
- H3h3productions Raises Over $100,000 With Twitch Live Stream To Support Hurricane Harvey Relief
- Artificial Intelligence’s Fair Use Crisis (Benjamin L. W. Sobel)
- For Superpowers, Artificial Intelligence Fuels New Global Arms Race
- Putin says the nation that leads in AI ‘will be the ruler of the world’: The Russian president warned that artificial intelligence offers ‘colossal opportunities’ as well as dangers
- Elon Musk: Competition for AI Superiority at National Level Will Be the “Most Likely Cause of WW3”
- Following Elon Musk Letter, UK Government Plans to Ban Fully Autonomous Weapons
- Elon Musk auto-magically extended the battery life of Teslas in Florida to help drivers evacuate
- MIT, IBM team up on $240 million effort to rule the AI world: The open-ended research will explore consumer tech, health, and security applications
- Apple’s ‘Neural Engine’ Infuses The Iphone With AI Smarts
- Brain-Machine Interface Isn’t Sci-Fi Anymore
- How Seoul Is Reinventing Itself As A Techno-Utopia
- Every NFL Football Will Have A Data Tracking Chip This Season
- Are Your Jokes Always Bombing? This App Crowdsources Them
- It Took A Natural Disaster For Me To Understand Snap Map
- The Music Industry Bands Together To Finally Get Paid Online
- Inside Juicero’s Demise, From Prized Startup to Fire Sale: The shuttering of the much-ridiculed Silicon Valley startup was the culmination of unsustainable costs, slow sales and unflattering media reports.
- Before trying robot judges, let’s learn from robot referees: Automated rulings in sports can help inform the development of criminal justice tech.
- How Indian Smartphone Makers Lost the War Against Chinese Companies
- In Irma prep, GasBuddy downloads increased 10x, nuclear reactors stayed online
- Tesla remotely extends the range of some cars to help with Irma: An over-the-air software update temporarily unlocks spare battery capacity.
- Hurricane Irma took 7 million cable and wireline subscribers offline: Comcast, AT&T, other ISPs try to get customers online as power outages persist.
- How Silicon Valley is erasing your individuality
- Whose record is it anyway? Musical ‘crate digging’ across Africa
- Are nonprofit news sites just creating more content for elites who already read a lot of news?
- Internet Archaeology
- The History Of The Music Industry’s First-Ever Digital Single, 20 Years After Its Release
CREATIVITY
- Judge throws out 57-year-old copyright on “We Shall Overcome”: Pete Seeger asked for his name to be removed from the copyright in 1994.
- Monkey selfie case settles out of court
- Lawsuit settled over rights to monkey’s selfie photo
- PETA drops lawsuit arguing animals have right to own property: Naruto can beat his chest: Monkey’s habitat wins 25% stake in the selfies.
- Monkey Selfie Case Reaches Settlement — But The Parties Want To Delete Ruling Saying Monkeys Can’t Hold Copyright
- 9th Circuit’s VidAngel decision vindicates lawful video filtering service
- Federal Court Says Utah Theater Can Serve Up Beer And R-Rated Movies Simultaneously
- Another Craft Beer Brand Gets Bullied To Death Over Shaky Trademark Claims
- Why Is This Peppa Pig Cartoon Banned In Australia?
- Can a tattoo on human flesh be copyrighted? We’ll soon find out: Is the human body a protectable medium of expression for purposes of copyright?
- Is Moviegoing Dead? Lessons Learned From The Worst Summer At The B.O. In Over A Decade
- America’s local newspapers might be broke – but they’re more vital than ever: Local journalism is doing great work across the country while fighting cutbacks and tight budgets.
- Intellectual Property and Architecture
- Boats Are Art; Is Fashion?
- Who Cares Whether Cake-Baking Is “Expressive”? The Doctrinal Costs of Focusing on Private Burdens Rather Than Governmental Purpose
- UGC Uncertainty Consternation Continues
- Pop Stars or Porn Stars? ‘Blurred Lines’ Book Examines Music’s Role In Sexual Assault on Campus
- Dr. Phil Misuses Copyright In A False Imprisonment Claim
- Police Chief Says He’ll Decide Who Is Or Isn’t A Real Journalist
- Effectively Regulating E-Cigarettes and Their Advertising—and the First Amendment (Eric Lindblom)
- How Don Hewitt Invented 60 Minutes And Changed Journalism Forever
- Why the Fall TV Season is Like Your Junk Drawer
- Nicolas Cage Believes His Scrapped Superman Movie Is Better Than Man of Steel, Because It Exists Only in Our Minds
- Imagination is ancient: Our imaginative life today has access to the pre-linguistic, ancestral mind: rich in imagery, emotions and associations
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- TV Ad Spend To Remain Flat Through 2021 As Cord-Cutting Surpasses Projections (Report)
- More on Media Deregulation – Chairman Pai Speaks to NAB Radio Show and Promises to Propose the Repeal of a Rule Each Month
- Comcast Whines That The Net Neutrality Debate It Keeps Rekindling Is A Lot Like ‘Groundhog Day’
- Comcast Continues To Insist Its Sneaky, Misleading Fees Are Just The Company’s Way Of Being ‘Transparent’
- Comcast Sues Vermont, Insists Having To Expand Broadband Violates Its First Amendment Rights
- Comcast raises sports and TV fees again, says it’s about “transparency”: Charges fees even in areas where Comcast owns local sports networks.
- Comcast puts YouTube in its TV boxes to entice would-be cord-cutters: YouTube follows Netflix to a prime spot on Comcast’s X1 set-top boxes.
- Senators Blast The FCC For Weakening The Definition Of Broadband To Try And Hide The Industry’s Lack Of Real Competition
- AT&T’s John Stankey hopes to avoid a disconnect in merger with Time Warner
- This Sinclair-Tribune merger is a rotten deal for America: What’s to be done about “the most dangerous company most Americans haven’t heard of?”
- New analysis suggests Fox News is working, shifting votes to R column: Research relies on Americans being too lazy to keep channel surfing.
- Dirty, big secrets: Why won’t CNN and Fox account for their mistakes?
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Judge won’t release man jailed 2 years for refusing to decrypt drives: Kid-porn suspect to remain jailed pending 5th Amendment appeal to Supreme Court.
- Remember the artist whose iPhone was searched at border? He’s suing the feds: “The border doctrine does not say that the Constitution doesn’t exist at the border.”
- MA SJC Ruling on Bail Instructive Re: Algorithms and Criminal Justice
- NSA Broke The Encryption On File-Sharing Apps KAZAA And EDONKEY
- What you should know about privacy and Apple’s FaceID on iOS 11: Your rights may differ if phone is locked via biometrics compared to a passcode.
- New AI can guess whether you’re gay or straight from a photograph: An algorithm deduced the sexuality of people on a dating site with up to 91% accuracy, raising tricky ethical questions
- So, Equifax says your data was hacked—now what?: 143 million now face identity theft threat, so here’s what to do if you’re one of them.
- Why the Equifax breach is very possibly the worst leak of personal info ever: Consumers’ most sensitive data is now in the open and will remain so for years to come.
- Equifax Breach Response Turns Dumpster Fire
- Equifax Security Breach Is A Complete Disaster… And Will Almost Certainly Get Worse
- Why Some Are Recommending ‘Credit Freezes’ in the Wake of the Gigantic Equifax Data Breach
- Are you an Equifax breach victim? You could give up right to sue to find out: Visiting Equifax site to see if you’re a victim can require you to waive lawsuit rights.
- Failure to patch two-month-old bug led to massive Equifax breach: Critical Apache Struts bug was fixed in March. In May, it bit ~143 million US consumers.
- Don’t waste your breath complaining to Equifax about data breach (Bruce Schneier)
- Apple’s IOS 11 Will Make It Even Harder For Cops To Extract Your Data
- It’s about to get tougher for cops, border agents to get at your iPhone’s data
- The DNC’s Technology Chief Is Phishing His Staff. Good.
- Mandatory Data Breach Reporting One Step Closer with Publication of Proposed Regulations
Jon
News of the Week; September 6, 2017
GAMES
- Nintendo ordered to pay $10M following Wii patent infringement suit
- Jury finds Nintendo Wii infringes Dallas inventor’s patent
- Nintendo “disagrees” with $10m lawsuit verdict: Texas jury rules that platform holder’s best-selling Wii console infringes on iLife’s patents
- Killing Nazis, fighting religious fanaticism the focus of upcoming video games: Games take on new relevance in the current political climate
- No Violent Video Games In The Olympics, Says IOC President
- IOC President Tosses Shade At Including eSports In Olympics Over Concerns About Violence And Doping
- “The fact is that most League of Legends teams lose money”: H2K says Riot is “subsidized” by European LoL teams’ losses in a financial system that is “neither rational nor fair”
- Drone Racing League Expands Coverage To Asia For 2017 Season
- Nominees revealed for the inaugural Women In Games Mobile Awards
- Nominees revealed for first ever Women In Games Mobile Awards: South Park Phone Destroyer, A Normal Lost Phone and more in the running for September 6th event
- Gamegate Target Zoe Quinn Can Teach Us How to Fight Online Hate
- PUBG: “When you ask about growth on PC, I just look at League of Legends” – Brendan Green on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ growth, raising price-points, and the fringe benefits of working with Microsoft
- Battlegrounds breaks 10M sales less than 6 months into Early Access
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds tops 10 million sold: Bluehole hit shooter racks up another milestone after less than six months in Early Access
- Mixed Reality is Microsoft’s biggest 2017 launch: With strong partnerships and control of the Windows ecosystem, is Microsoft positioned to win the VR/AR race in the long run?
- PuttView Shows Pros What Augmented Reality Golf Outdoors Looks Like
- Minecraft Marketplace creators have earned $1M by selling user-made content
- As far as console launches go, the Switch has out-paced the PS4 in Japan
- Nintendo: Switch games may require external storage
- Nintendo meets need for external Switch storage with official cards: “A microSD card will be needed for certain Nintendo Switch games that contain an especially large amount of content”
- The Pokemon Company CEO Thought Switch Would Fail, Hints At Pokemon Switch Ideas
- Pokemon Company CEO sees a bright, rumbly future for AR games post-Pokemon Go
- Pokémon Go will get monster trading, one-on-one battles: Long-promised features are still coming to fix the “local spawn issue”
- GameStop: Forced bundles are for customer convenience – Retailer defends practice of requiring online purchasers of high-demand items to pay for additional merchandise
- Making Games in Tehran: A massive market, disconnected: The first Tehran Game Convention gave Brie Code insight into an emerging industry hobbled by sanctions and restrictions
- Amazon Associates lets Twitch viewers buy while streaming: Meanwhile Twitch Extensions enables developers to build interactive overlays for streamers
- Channel 4’s games publishing arm breaks out, goes independent: All 4 Games will be spun out as an independent publisher, although still retain ties with UK broadcaster
- Minecraft Marketplace creators have earned over $1m: Community-driven marketplace has been a success for the Minecraft ecosystem
- Ubisoft opens new studio to kick-start Quebec expansion
- Ubisoft creating 1,000 new jobs with two new Quebec studios: Publishing will invest $780m in growing its presence within the region by 2027, Saguenay studio opens early 2018
- Angry Birds maker Rovio confirms it’s planning an IPO
- Rovio details plans for $36m IPO: CEO says share sale will be “an important milestone” for Angry Birds developer
- Rovio launches ‘MumJam’ to help mothers get into the games industry
- Twitch introduces ‘Extensions’ suite to help foster engagement
- Super Mario Kart at 25: Dissecting a revolutionary game design
- Retro revival: Capcom re-releasing Street Fighter II on the SNES
- Masterpiece: Street Fighter II – Street Fighter II is an arcade monster that has stood the test of time.
- PAX West: At least eight of UFO 50’s games are instant retro classics – Preview – NES-styled game anthology is off to an amazing start.
- How Can Gameplay Allow Players to Get Creative?
- Choices in games should be deeper than good vs. evil, argues Obsidian co-founder: “It can’t just be do you shoot grandma or do you help her across the street.”
- Game Developers Explain Some Of Their Favorite Ways To Trick The Player
- How Neversoft twisted Tony Hawk to let players step off the board
- How Japanese and Western game dev differ, from a dev that has experienced both
- Urban Design and the Creation of Videogame Cities
- The PC issues that need fixing before Final Fantasy XV launches on Windows: PAX West demo may not be indicative of final PC product. We sure hope not.
- Could A Videogame Strengthen Your Aging Brain?
- 5 key lessons from the candid game dev book, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- Warner Bros donating Shadow of War DLC revenue to family of late producer: Mike ‘Forthog’ Fogey passed away during development of original, will be honoured as orc
- All proceeds from Shadow of War DLC will go to Michael Forgey’s family: Warner Bros. has clarified that it will make no profit from the DLC, regardless of where it is sold
- Earnings report roundup: Game industry winners and losers in Q2 2017
DIGITAL
- Case Dismissed: Judge Throws Out Shiva Ayyadurai’s Defamation Lawsuit Against Techdirt
- Judge dismisses Shiva “I Invented EMAIL” Ayyadurai’s libel lawsuit against Techdirt
- Court Dumps Lawsuit Against Zillow Over Its Inaccurate ‘Zestimates’
- Blogger Isn’t Liable for Anonymous Comments–Griffith v. Wall (Eric Goldman)
- Lawsuit: Amazon sold eclipse glasses that cause “permanent blindness”: “Eye injury ranging from temporary discomfort to permanent blindness.”
- Spotify: Don’t Compare Us to Napster – The company has responded to a copyright lawsuit by challenging what rights are truly implicated by streaming.
- Spotify Finally Realizes That Streaming Isn’t Reproduction Or Distribution
- Steve Jobs gave us President Trump
- The ‘internet of things’ is sending us back to the Middle Ages (Joshua Fairfield)
- CBS Welcomes Amazon’s NFL Streaming But Sees ‘Competitors’ In Future
- Apple, Amazon bid for James Bond film rights- Hollywood Reporter
- Kaspersky Gets Awful Patent Troll To Pay Up To Drop Its Own Case
- Reports of Russia’s Election Hack Keep Getting Scarier
- Thousands Of Facebook Ads Tied To Bogus Russian Accounts
- Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election
- Facebook sold 2016 election-related ads to “shadowy Russian company”: 470 “suspicious and likely fraudulent” FB accounts all tied to same Russian firm.
- The Devil’s Pact: Putin, the “Alt-Right” and the Long Shadow of History – The Russian president’s claims of “historical victimhood” in World War II try to justify his country’s present-day destructive behavior.
- Twitter Suspends Reporter’s Account… After He Gets Targeted By Russian Twitter Bots
- How Russian & Alt-Right Twitter Accounts Worked Together to Skew the Narrative About Berkeley: #Antifa and #Berkeley were hot topics last weekend in America — and in Russia
- Fear And Loathing On Social Media
- Digital property rights debate heats up in NAFTA renegotiation
- Leaked Plans Shows Top EU Body Backing: Copyright Industry Against The Public, The Internet, And Innovation
- Tech companies declare war on hate speech—and conservatives are worried: In light of Charlottesville, Silicon Valley revisits its absolute approach to free speech.
- AI is Developing Faster than Experts Imagined. Do We Need a Speed Limit?
- Google And Microsoft Can Use AI To Extract Many More Ad Dollars From Our Clicks
- How to Regulate Artificial Intelligence
- A Serf on Google’s Farm
- Reporter: Google successfully pressured me to take down critical story – Google allegedly told Forbes “the article was problematic and had to come down.”
- Google is losing allies across the political spectrum: Antitrust sentiment grows, so does skepticism about Google on both the left and the right.
- Google promised not to scan Gmail for targeted ads—but for how long?: Google tells judge it might resume targeted advertising “to meet changing demands.”
- Third-party Google Assistant speakers put “OK Google” in tons of form factors: The Google Assistant comes to speakers from Sony, JBL, Onkyo, Panasonic, and others.
- Say Goodbye To The Blob. Google’s New Emoji Have Arrived
- The YouTube Generation And 6-Second TV Ads
- Facebook’s YouTube Competitor, ‘Watch’, Rolls Out Nationwide
- Facebook launches Watch video service in U.S. to take on YouTube for ad dollars: The move comes as advertisers are shifting budgets from television to online as more viewers prefer to watch their favourite shows on smartphones and tablets
- Facebook is offering the music industry millions to let its users upload songs in videos
- Inside the black market where people pay thousands of dollars for Instagram verification
- Internet’s Most Popular “Stream Ripping Site” Shuts Down As Result Of Legal Settlement
- A Popular Third-Party YouTube Video Player Has Been Removed From The App Store
- Music Industry Halts Popular YouTube Piracy Service
- YouTube Live Now Supports Ultra-Low Latency, More: YouTube launched a series of updates for its livestreaming service
- The ‘demonetized’: YouTube’s brand-safety crackdown has collateral damage
- Why Alphabet’s Shares Are Soaring in 2017
- Bitcoin falls as China bans initial coin offerings
- How Netflix’s Content Strategy Is Reshaping Movie Culture
- Time Inc shifts toward video as eyeballs move online
- Time Inc, publisher of magazines including People and Sports Illustrated, is turning to the internet to distribute its growing cache of video material and television shows, part of a plan to counter fast-declining print advertising revenue.
- The Agony and Ecstasy of Building an Online Music Business
- In a blast from the past, Logitech releases a new trackball: It’s the company’s first new trackball in nearly a decade.
- As Uber struggles, Lyft expands into 32 more states: 94 percent of the US population will now be able to access Uber’s top competitor.
- Squeezed for profits, maker of $400 connected juice press closes up shop
- The Risks Of Demonizing Silicon Valley
- From Apple to Y Combinator—tech sector denounces new “Dreamers” plan: “It’s against our values to turn our backs on #DREAMers,” Uber’s new CEO tweeted
- Boston Red Sox caught red-handed using Apple Watch to steal signs: Boston was apparently stealing signs from opposing teams’ catchers and pitchers.
- Apple bids farewell to Apple Music Festival after 10 years: As Apple’s focus shifts to original video content for its services business.
- Samsung is Developing VR Tools to Help Diagnose Mental Health
- One of the biggest challenges of self-driving cars: The humans inside them.
- Stupid Patent Of The Month: JP Morgan Patents Interapp Permissions
- Surviving This Summer On The Internet
- Catching Up on Ninth Circuit CFAA Jurisprudence: Internet Law Casebook Excerpt (Eric Goldman)
- Global Content Removals Based on Local Legal Violations: Internet Law Casebook Excerpt (Eric Goldman)
CREATIVITY
- “Monkey Business” settled
- Awful Court Decision Says Dr. Phil Producer’s Video Not ‘Fair Use’
- Mickey singer Toni Basil sues Disney and South Park
- Why Notoriously Litigious Disney Is Letting Fan Stores Thrive: The Mouse isn’t bringing cease-and-desists down on Instagram darlings like Cakeworthy or The Lost Bros.
- Insurer Attempts To Fight Back Against Kanye West’s Touring Company’s Lawsuit
- New York Times 1; Sarah Palin 0
- Court battle over one driver’s pay could have big impact on “gig economy”: Was Raef Lawson an employee or a business owner when he drove for GrubHub?
- High-profile “gig economy” trial turns on a part-time actor’s job woes: A surprising plaintiff is challenging worker classifications in the gig economy.
- Judge Sweet: Lynyrd Skynyrd Movie Cannot Proceed
- Coachella Sues “Filmchella” for Trademark Infringement
- Terry Pratchett and protecting artistic legacy
- Can Rotten Tomatoes Crush a Movie at the Box Office?: Moviegoers, critics, and filmmakers weigh in on the website that is torturing major studios and redefining how we decide whether to go to the theater
- Theater of War: He traveled to some of the world’s most dangerous places to disarm militias, negotiate with gangs, and defy terrorists. But Bill Brookman was just a clown.
- Activists want to fight sex trafficking by changing a key Internet law: The 1996 law Section 230 is widely seen as a foundation of the Internet economy.
- Al Jazeera Gives A ‘Voice To The Voiceless’ By Killing News Comments
- What Makes Information Valuable? Information Quality, Revisited (Urs Gasser)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Senate Democrats fight FCC plan to lower America’s broadband standards: You can’t fix the US broadband problem by redefining it, senators tell FCC.
- FCC’s Broken Comments System Could Help Doom Net Neutrality
- FCC “apology” shows anything can be posted to agency site using insecure API: FCC API could be misused to host malware on FCC’s domain.
- FCC makes net neutrality complaints public, but too late to stop repeal: 13,000 pages of net neutrality complaints released, but comment deadline passed.
- Apple Throws Its Support Behind Net Neutrality. Sort Of.
- Apple’s Real Reason For Finally Joining The Net Neutrality Fight
- AT&T Blatantly Lies, Claims Most Consumers Want Net Neutrality Killed
- Large ISP & Silicon Valley CEOs Were Too Afraid To Publicly Testify On Net Neutrality
- Comcast sues Vermont to avoid building 550 miles of new cable lines: Vermont is trying to make Comcast bring TV and Internet to unserved areas.
- FTC slaps Lenovo on the wrist for selling computers with secret adware: Companies need user “affirmative consent” to preinstall MITM adware, FTC says.
- Video Chat Price-Gouging Costs Inmates More Than Money
- More and More Actions on Pirate Radio – What is Next?
- Bouyant RTL fully acquires SpotX
- BMG Continues Growth Spurt as Revenues Top $276 Million
- Antitrust Is Back — But The Media Industry Doesn’t Need It
- How I Became Fake News: I witnessed a terrorist attack in Charlottesville. Then the conspiracy theories began.
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Instagram Done Got Hacked
- Site sells Instagram users’ phone and e-mail details, $10 a search: Leak suggests this week’s Instagram breach was bigger than first thought.
- Celebs’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses exposed in active Instagram hack: Hackers exploited app bug, then advertised data in underground forums, researchers say.
- FDA, Homeland Security Issue First Ever Recall, Warnings About Flimsy Pacemaker Security
- Military Appeals Court Says Demands To Unlock Phones May Violate The Fifth Amendment
- The Epic Crime Spree Unleashed By Onity’s Ambivalence To Its Easily Hacked Hotel Locks
- Court Finds FBI’s ‘Malware’ Deployment To Be Perfectly Constitutional
- UK’s Terrorism Law Reviewer Says Tech Companies Shouldn’t Offer Encryption To Anonymous Users
- Officers With Personal Body Cams Taking The ‘Public’ Out Of ‘Public Accountability’
- As a general rule, body cam footage across US is not a public record: “The patchwork releases of body camera footage only sow further public distrust.”
- UK Police Test Facial Recognition Tech At Carnival, Rack Up 35 Bogus ‘Hits’ And One Wrongful Arrest
- Data Breach Exposes Thousands of Job Seekers Citing Top Secret Government Work
- Exploit goes public for severe bug affecting high-impact sites: Apache Struts bug opens banks, insurance cos., and Fortune 500s to code-execution hacks.
- Taking Stock Of Trump’s Cybersecurity Executive Order So Far
- Companies should treat cybersecurity as a matter of ethics
- The Feds Promised To Protect Dreamer Data. Now What?
- Canadian Cops Belatedly Asking For Authorization To Deploy Stingray Devices They’ve Been Using For Years
- The Privacy Battle Over the World’s Largest Biometric Database: A new ruling could jeopardize India’s controversial collection of citizens’ fingerprints, photographs, and iris scans.
- Hacker Lexicon: What Is DNS Hijacking?
- Above Devastated Houston, Armies Of Drones Prove Their Worth
Jon
News of the Week; August 30, 2017
GAMES
- Atari Sues Nestle Over A KitKat Commercial With An Homage To ‘Breakout’
- Judge tosses case brought by Magic: the Gathering judge who wants to be paid – “The complaint makes clear that Defendant’s program is purely voluntary.”
- Mass Effect takes a dirt nap: Mismanaged since poor decisions on Mass Effect 3, one of EA’s big franchises has bowed out for now. How did such a well-loved series decline so fast?
- “You need a publisher to survive on Steam”: Bulkhead Interactive’s Joe Brammer says games need to be “something really special” to succeed organically
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is Steam’s most-played game: Concurrent player count for survival shooter hits 877k, tops Valve’s own Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Battlegrounds eclipsed DOTA 2 to become the most played game on Steam
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: Failure as Fun – Why I Love – Fullbright co-founder Steve Gaynor shares what he sees in Bluehole’s smash hit survival shooter
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is taking “baby steps” into esports: Creative director Brendan Greene on the unique challenge of turning the Battle Royale genre into a spectator sport
- Formula 1 Enters Esports Arena With Launch Of Annual Competition
- All 32 NFL Teams To Be Represented In Madden NFL Esports Event
- Nielsen Launches Esports Vertical To Track Gaming Valuations
- Why NHL, NBA Owners Keep Investing In Esports
- ‘Violent’ games won’t be included in Olympic eSports consideration
- Violent content could hurt esports’ bid for the Olympics: Current Olympic Committee will not welcome games about “violence, explosions, and killing”
- Blizzard will toughen up to tackle toxic behavior in Overwatch community
- Blizzard vows tougher policies to punish Overwatch trolls: Temporary “silences” to become suspensions, permanent bans will come more quickly.
- Blizzard will permanently ban repeat offenders in Overwatch: Game director Jeff Kaplan details plans for tougher punishments against abusive players in popular online FPS
- Are app stores taking advantage of developers?: Following his comments at Devcom, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and leading mobile developers discuss Apple and Google’s 30% cut
- Gamescom: The industry’s discoverability crisis in a convention – The show is rammed full of games you’ve never heard of
- Xbox says it’s willing to work with devs to make cross-platform play happen
- Microsoft Confirms It’s Talking To Sony About Cross-Play: “We would like to enable them to be part of that; one community, to unite gamers.
- Prioritizing accessibility made Way of the Passive Fist much better
- Super Mario Odyssey wins big at the Gamescom Awards 2017
- If ‘Everyone Just Wants Free Stuff’ Is Responsible For Piracy, Why Can’t Nintendo Keep Its Classic Consoles In Stock?
- Confessions from a crunch addict: BioShock and Borderlands vet Walt Williams talks about the devastating impact of crunch culture in the games business
- To thwart key resellers, Darkwood dev releases its game on torrenting sites
- Developer Puts Game On The Pirate Bay Because Steam Key Resellers Are The Bigger Evil
- Darkwood dev pirates own game a week after launch: Acid Wizard says it would rather give game to those who can’t afford it than see them turn to key re-sellers, “the cancer that is leeching off this industry”
- For most women and girls, female protagonists matter, says survey
- Vive may be sold or spun-off from HTC – Report: Smartphone maker considering a variety of options from full sale of the company to separation from VR division
- Zero Latency’s ‘Warehouse Scale’ VR Arena Comes to MGM Grand in Vegas
- MLB Exploring Virtual Reality For Umpire Training
- Asus’ Windows Mixed Reality headset is priced on the steep side: Sure the “3D Polygon” shell looks nice, but is it worth a premium?
- Microsoft’s mixed reality headsets will work with Steam
- SteamVR games coming to Microsoft’s $299 VR platform: $399 bundles will also include motion controllers.
- Microsoft was leading the world in AR; now it’s at risk of being left behind: HoloLens was inspirational, but it’s ARKit and ARCore that are going to win developers.
- Google gets into augmented reality with ARCore: App-building platform supports Android Studio, Unity, Unreal out of the gate, works with millions of existing phones
- Google launches ARCore augmented reality SDK
- Google’s ARCore brings augmented reality to millions of Android devices: Forget Project Tango, ARCore covers most AR use cases with no special hardware required.
- Google Joins The Augmented Reality Party With ARCore
- 5 Google ARCore Experiments That Inject Magic into Everyday Life
- Sony drops PlayStation VR bundle price
- Sony now bundles camera with PSVR for $399: Plus, the PSVR Worlds bundle with Move controllers has been lowered to $449
- Codemasters is “holding back” from F1 VR: But racing studio celebrates arrival of high-end hardware like Xbox One X – and it’s keeping an eye on Switch
- Athletes Help Company Using Video Games For Concussion Management
- Digital market jumps 16% in July – Superdata: Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty ride high as worldwide digital game revenues grow to $7.8 billion
- Gamescom: The industry’s discoverability crisis in a convention – The show is rammed full of games you’ve never heard of
- GameStop Q2 profits fall despite Switch strength
- GameStop-owned EB Games rolls out used game rental service in Australia
- EB Games transforms its used game stocks into a massive lending library: Australian test program lets you borrow any used game for about $16 a month.
- GameStop blames “lagging Xbox One sales” for poor software performance: But “continued demand for Nintendo Switch” drives total revenue upward.
- Why Splatoon 2 Is The Perfect Online Shooter For Gamers That Don’t Play Online Shooters: Frenetic, strategic and delightfully lacking in toxicity.
- Nintendo is wiping out the Miiverse in November
- Nintendo introduces 20 more Switch-bound ‘Nindie’ indie games
- Nintendo is closing Miiverse: The online service will end in November, when a key features in several games will also cease to function
- 8 Questions About Dynamic Pricing
- How To Build Your Own SNES Classic Emulator
- How did the Game Genie work anyway?
- Retailer CEX suffers data hack with 2m accounts affected: Second-hand retailer says only expired credit cards were obtained
- Denuvo DRM prompts outcry from Sonic Mania players: Divisive anti-piracy software reportedly prevents offline play
- Sonic Mania PC version launches with Denuvo, online requirement: Sega says online authentication issue is “being corrected by the dev team.”
- Remembering That Xbox Wanted Always Online DRM For Its Console In The Wake Of Major Xbox Live Outtage
- Microsoft has discontinued the original Xbox One
- Xbox One’s second bid for the core gamer: Microsoft on the strategy behind Xbox One X, the lack of exclusives and why cross-platform play is so important
- Ark: Survival Evolved cross-play would take “a few days” to enable – Studio Wildcard says there’s “nothing preventing” players from coming together – apart from “policy issues” at Sony
- Just Tell Me What It Costs – in Dollars! Rejecting Obfuscated Monetization
- Masterpiece: Street Fighter II – Street Fighter II is an arcade monster that has stood the test of time.
- We say happy birthday to Goldeneye 007by looking at my 20-year-old review: My decades-old text didn’t age quite as well as the Rare FPS classic.
- ‘Half-Life 2: Episode 3’ Plot: A Possible Summary From the Former Writer
- Half-Life Writer Shares Episode 3 Details: Is this what Episode 3 could have been?
- Gearbox CEO: ‘I Don’t Know That We Could Or Should’ Make Half-Life 2: Episode 3 – “I feel like we got done with what we wanted to do.”
- Steam reviewers bomb Dota 2 over lack of Half-Life 3 – One reviewer: “Dota killed Half-Life 3. Nuff said.”
- Why don’t you make your own Half-Life 3if you’re so smart?: “Epistle 3 Jam” asks you to create the sequel Valve won’t.
- Why Call of Duty (probably) won’t convert to the games-as-service model
- No Man’s Sky Is Good Now
- The Future of EA Sports Is Storytelling
- Agential Structure Model, Classifying Fun Exhaustively
- How the Data Implosion will trigger the Great Game Dev Correction
- How funding sources dictate design
- Game design and Gestalt laws
- Some of the Hidden Realities of Game Development (for non-devs)
DIGITAL
- Appeals Court Upholds Injunction Against VidAngel’s Streaming Service: “Star Wars is still Star Wars, even without Princess Leia’s bikini scene,” states the opinion.
- Selling alterable versions of Star Wars is still infringement, court says: “Star Wars is still Star Wars, even without Princess Leia’s bikini scene.”
- Suit blaming iPhone for student’s death by texting driver is defeated by Apple: Judge agrees with Apple that it has no legal duty to combat distracted driving.
- Horrible or non-existent Mayweather-McGregor fight streams prompt lawsuit: Showtime “knowingly failed to disclose that its system was defective,” suit says.
- Mayweather V. McGregor: Showtime Got Injunctions On Pirate Stream Sites Which Didn’t Work & Neither Did Their Own Stream
- Reaction video deemed fair use in YouTuber court battle: The pair behind the YouTube channel H3H3 Productions wins copyright lawsuit.
- Why the H3H3 YouTube victory could mark a major turning point for the site: The husband-and-wife team triumphed in a copyright and defamation lawsuit, with huge implications for “fair use” on YouTube
- ‘Reaction’ Video Protected By Fair Use–Hosseinzadeh v. Klein
- YouTube Personality Upset About Criticism Of His Video Loses Infringement/Defamation Lawsuit
- Suing critics using copyright doesn’t workHosseinzadeh v. Klein, No. 16-cv-03081 S.D.N.Y. Aug. 23, 2017 (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Copyright Suit Requires Fair Use Analysis: A fair use analysis is required before a copyright suit against “appropriation artist” Richard Prince can be dismissed, a New York federal court judge decided this week, declining to grant a quick win.
- Ingrid Goes West revels in everything wrong with Instagram celebrities: Aubrey Plaza is terrific as a social media addict in search of viral fame.
- Insights: Who’s An Influencer When You Can Buy Fake Online Love?
- Snapchat Looks To Win Over Influencers As Many Of Them Head To Instagram
- YouTube’s Redesign Makes It Easier To Watch All The Videos
- How Youtube Perfected The Feed: Google Brain gave YouTube new life
- Amazon lures YouTube influencers
- Google And Walmart’s Big Bet Against Amazon Might Just Pay Off
- Amazon Prime members will get even deeper discounts at Whole Foods: Beef, salmon, avocados, and more will be cheaper for everyone starting next week.
- The Real Price of Those Cheaper Avocados: In the Amazon era, Whole Foods is already getting cheaper. But there’s a potential price for those discounted groceries.
- Cortana and Alexa are coming together in surprising Microsoft-Amazon partnership: You’ll be able to tell Cortana to talk to Alexa and vice versa.
- German Court Says Ad-Blocking is Liberation, Not Extortion
- After Previously Claiming the Economics Would Never Work, HBO Streaming Now A Major Windfall
- Dark web finds bitcoin increasingly more of a problem than a help, tries other digital currencies
- Magic Leap settles bitter legal battle with executives who started its Silicon Valley office
- NFL Deal In China Means Big Things For Social Media Streaming
- NFL Sets Kickoff of Twitter Live Show for 2017-18 Season
- Homeowners Can’t Sue Over Low Zestimates–Patel v. Zillow (Eric Goldman)
- Section 512(f) Complaint Survives Motion to Dismiss–Johnson v. New Destiny Church (Eric Goldman)
- Backpage Executives Must Face Money Laundering Charges Despite Section 230–People v. Ferrer (Eric Goldman)
- California Case Against Backpage Moves Forward Over Money Laundering Claims
- The Ten Most Important Section 230 Rulings (Eric Goldman)
- Violent Alt-Right Chats Could Be Key To Charlottesville Lawsuits
- DreamHost takes a beating after hosting racist Daily Stormer: The neo-Nazi site has struggled to find a domain registrar.
- The far right is losing its ability to speak freely online. Should the left defend it?: Free speech was the left’s rally cry. But the fate of the Daily Stormer, a hate site ‘kicked off the internet’, signals the increasing irrelevance of the first amendment
- A Hunt for Ways to Combat Online Radicalization
- Nazis, The Internet, Policing Content And Free Speech
- Trump’s Latest Nonsensical Announcement About Censoring The Internet
- Convicted felon Martin Shkreli finds novel way to be a jerk online: He has offered to sell a New York Post reporter’s domain name for $12,000.
- James Damore Case Could Spawn More Legal Headaches For Google
- Google-funded think tank fires prominent Google critic: Think tank boss allegedly accused scholar of “imperiling funding for others.”
- Would You Doxx a Nazi?: The dangers of revealing the names and identities of white supremacists
- Facebook has hired former NYT public editor Liz Spayd as a consultant in a ‘transparency’ effort: She has also worked at the Washington Post and Columbia Journalism Review as a top editor.
- The Scale Of Moderating Facebook: It Turns Off 1 Million Accounts Every Single Day
- Supreme Court of Canada challenges the idea of state sovereignty
- Snapchat Is Adding Manual Controls for Advertisers Concerned About Brand Safety: Buyers can limit which content categories ads appear in
- Uber board has a surprise new CEO pick: Expedia’s Dara Khosrowshahi: Board reportedly took a last-minute turn away from HP Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman.
- Uber drivers have made more than $50M in the first month of tipping: Company tries to keep drivers happy while it awaits a new CEO.
- Major Uber investor tells Benchmark: Drop your lawsuit against ex-CEO Kalanick – VC: Benchmark Capital “is trying to use the courts… to take over this company.”
- Engineer whose blog post caused a storm at Uber has filed a Supreme Court brief: Fowler files a determined defense of employee-driven class-action lawsuits.
- Uber to stop tracking customers after ride is over: Uber app was programmed to monitor riders for five minutes after trip was done.
- Win for ex-Grubhub driver in pending trial may profoundly impact “gig economy”: “This trial is a milestone because similar cases have settled or been dismissed.”
- Copyright Troll Insists Septuagenarian Is An Enormous Copyright Infringer, Then Runs Away After Backlash
- Supreme Court Has Another Chance To Help Take Down The Patent Trolls
- Kaspersky Lab turns the tables, forces “patent troll” to pay cash to end case: “Why don’t you pay us $10,000?”
- Samsung’s boss is sentenced to prison: Unlike other jailed chaebol bosses, he may not be pardoned
- Samsung heir convicted, sentenced to 5 years on corruption charges: Scandal was connected to a move to strengthen control of Samsung Electronics.
- Apple will build new data center in Iowa, get $200M in tax breaks: Cheap energy, open land, and tax breaks are making Iowa a go-to for data centers.
- More Than 180,000 iPhone Apps Won’t Be Compatible With iOS 11
- Merlin Has Paid Out $1 Billion To Indie Labels: Merlin, the global digital music rights agency for 20,000 indie labels and distributors from 53 countries, has announced its billionth dollar in distributions, since launching in May of 2008. With all of its payments coming from music streaming, this milestone points to a promising future for independent music companies.
- Dystopian What Happened To Monday?may hint at Netflix’s film priorities: One actor in many roles, a population-controlled future—so Hunger Games plus Orphan Black?
- For Netflix, ‘The Defenders’ Is A Market Research Goldmine
- Can ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Help CBS Boldly Go Into a Streaming Future?
- Why HBO was right to stand its ground against Game of Thrones hackers: As the network appears to emerge unscathed from a major cyber attack, experts say that hackers misjudged their leverage
- With the USS McCain collision, even Navy tech can’t overcome human shortcomings: One mistake can cascade into a disaster in heavy marine traffic, regardless of tech.
- Feds: Son teaches dad how to sell drugs on AlphaBay, they both get busted – From his iPad, son allegedly searched “safest wallet to transfer tumble.”
- New Mini-Antennae Could Pave the Way for Brain-Computer Interfaces
- Who Owns the Internet?: What Big Tech’s monopoly powers mean for our culture.
- The ‘Distracted Boyfriend’ Meme’s Photographer Explains All
- All The Gear You Need To Record A Hit Song On Your iPhone
- Turnaround artists: How companies can catch up to the digital revolution – Latecomers can succeed at digitization if they take these five steps.
- What We Get Wrong About Technology
- #BotSpot: Twelve Ways to Spot a Bot: Some tricks to identify fake Twitter accounts
- The age of AI surveillance is here
- Do We Need A Speedometer For Artificial Intelligence?
- In the AI Age, “Being Smart” Will Mean Something Completely Different
- Artificial Intelligence Policy: A Roadmap (Ryan Calo)
- How Copyright Law Can Fix Artificial Intelligence’s Implicit Bias Problem (Amanda Levendowski)
- The New Governors: The People, Rules, And Processes Governing Online Speech (Kate Klonick)
CREATIVITY
- Palin v. NYT dismissed
- Judge Tosses Sarah Palin’s Defamation Suit Against The New York Times, Says No Actual Malice
- A chicken sandwich cannot be copyrighted, court rules: Man who put chicken inside a bun sought $10 million for theft of creative work.
- Village Roadshow Promises To Mete Out Its Brand Of Justice As Inequitably As Possible
- General Mills loses bid to trademark yellow color on Cheerios box: Cereal maker claimed consumers identified “yellow” with “the Cheerios brand.”
- Cheerios’ Failed Case for Yellow Shows Why It’s So Hard for Brands to Trademark Colors: General Mills’ defeat illustrates one of branding’s trickiest tasks
- Comparison to former licensor’s products isn’t trademark infringement: Alpha Pro Tech, Inc. v. VWR Int’l, LLC, No. 12-1615, 2017 WL 3671264 E.D. Pa. Aug. 23, 2017 (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Is a ban on the words “climate change” in grants consistent with Tam? (Rebecca Tushnet)
- 4th Cir. holds certification nonprofit’s self-promotion to retailers is commercial speech: Handsome Brook Farm, LLC v. Humane Farm Animal Care, Inc., No. 16-1813, 2017 WL 3601506, — F. Appx. – 4th Cir. Aug. 22, 2017 (Rebecca Tushnet)
- State Courts Do Nominative Fair Use Tooz: Instant Infosystems, Inc. v. Open Text, Inc., 2017 WL 3634547, No. B276691 Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 24, 2017 (Rebecca Tushnet)
- On Remand, Ninth Circuit Says Robins Satisfied Article III Standing
- Copyright Consternation & Confusion on Canadian Campuses as York Cogitates its Appeal
- A Tee, A Tweet And Frank Ocean: Some Copyright Lessons
- What Business Insider’s rambling hatchet job gets wrong about my work on copyright: A recent piece in Business Insider insults Rebecca Giblin’s academic integrity. Here is where it goes so horribly wrong.
- President Trump Banned From Reading InfoWars, Including These Vital Stories of the Week
- How Conservatives Manipulated the Mainstream Media to Give Us President Trump: A new report shows how conservatives are winning a war that the rest of us don’t even know we’re fighting.
- How Trump Is Creating a Propaganda State: The president is taking conservative media to its evolutionary endpoint. Is there any way to stop him?
- Chelsea Clinton defends Barron Trump after conservative site criticizes his clothes
- Daily Caller slams Barron Trump for dressing like a normal kid sometimes: The right-wing rag the Daily Caller goes after the president’s 11-year-old son for dressing down — like a kid
- Fake News: It’s Mostly a Right-Wing Phenomenon
- Alec Baldwin’s Trump Impression Is A Technical Marvel
- IP lawyer who represented TiVo is Trump’s pick as USPTO chief: Andrei Iancu has enforced patents for TiVo and Immersion Corp.
- TV Station Falls For Pranksters; Sues Them For Fraud
- The Seattle Times Bans Sportswriters from Local Radio, TV
- How to Get Ripped Off While Trying to Book Your Favorite Rapper: Over a few months, one tiny Atlanta-based company made $67,000 booking Migos and Rae Sremmurd concerts across the country that never actually happened. Their business model is surprisingly common in the live rap music industry.
- Dinwoodie & Dreyfuss on Brexit & IP
- Wonder Woman Is “A Step Backwards,” James Cameron Says; Director Responds
- Patty Jenkins hits back at James Cameron: ‘He doesn’t understand Wonder Woman’
- Twitter Did Not Hold Back in Responding to James Cameron’s Wonder Woman Criticism
- Erasing Herself From The Narrative: Taylor Swift and the absence of intimacy in the launch of Reputation
- Blame Taylor Swift’s New Song On The Internet
- A Day After Being Uploaded To YouTube, Taylor Swift’s New Music Video Sets Record With 35 Million Views
- Taylor Swift’s ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ Smashes YouTube’s 24-Hour Record, Crushing Psy
- Former Band Member Sues The Roots
- Marijuana-Themed Media Company Merry Jane Gets A Spark From Seth Rogen, Wiz Khalifa
- Deputy Attorney General Trots Out All Sorts Of Silly Analogies About ‘Intellectual Property’
- The Hitman’s Bodyguard Tops Worst Weekend Box Office In 16 Years: Lowest-grossing weekend since September 2001.
- Free speech in the fog of scientific uncertainty (Jane Bambauer)
- Primary-Market Auctions for Event Tickets: Eliminating the Rents of “Bob the Broker”? (Aditya Bhave & Eric Budish)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- AT&T’s slow 1.5Mbps Internet in poor neighborhoods sparks complaint to FCC: AT&T refusal to boost Internet speed violates discrimination ban, complaint says.
- EFF, Others Think It Would Be Cool If The FCC Stopped Hiding 47,000 Net Neutrality Complaints
- Why Net Neutrality Matters Even In The Age Of Oligopoly
- Net neutrality comment deadline is tomorrow; 21.9 million comments in so far
- Even Many ISP-Backed Allies Think Ajit Pai’s Attack On Net Neutrality Is Too Extreme
- A Title II opponent explains why Ajit Pai’s plan won’t protect net neutrality: Pai says antitrust will protect net neutrality—here’s why it probably won’t.
- 98.5% of unique net neutrality comments oppose Ajit Pai’s anti-Title II plan: Besides form letters, ISP-funded study finds almost no support for repealing rules.
- AT&T absurdly claims that most “legitimate” net neutrality comments favor repeal: AT&T ignores finding that 98.5% of unique comments favor net neutrality rules.
- Junk call nightmare flooded woman with hundreds of bizarre phone calls a day: Kim France gets a lot of calls – but nothing prepared her for receiving 700 a day.
- ‘It was premeditated’: ‘FOX LIES’ guy speaks!
- Fox News lies about Bolling: ‘None of these women’ have come forward — except one of them has
- NPR Gives Up On News Comments; After All, Who Cares What Your Customers Have To Say?
- British Regulator Submits New Report to Government on Fox-Sky Takeover
- Paradigm Shift: Why Radio Must Adapt To The Rise Of Digital
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- cy pres-only settlement ok’d in Google privacy case In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litigation, — F.3d —-, 2017 WL 3601250, No. 15–15858 9th Cir. Aug. 22, 2017 (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Court Calls Out Government For The ‘General Warrant’ It Served To Facebook
- Man in jail 2 years for refusing to decrypt drives. Will he ever get out?: Defendant to ask Supreme Court if compelled decryption is a 5th Amendment breach.
- Feds: Man jailed for not decrypting drives has “chutzpah” to ask to get out – Prosecutors use Yiddish to describe man imprisoned 2 years for contempt of court.
- No Immunity For Cops Who Arrested Man Recording Them For Obstruction
- Some In Congress Don’t Get The “Gravity” Of Russian Election Meddling, Former CIA Director Said: John Brennan, CIA director under President Barack Obama, also bemoaned a “barrage” of “inaccurate and misleading” news reports. He made these statements in an internal memo to CIA employees obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
- All The Ways Us Government Cybersecurity Falls Flat
- Public should know how police are using high-tech spying tools
- Once Again, New Zealand’s Spying On Megaupload Execs Found To Be Illegal
- Megaupload execs’ extradition may be at risk after new spying revelations: GCSB couldn’t say more without jeopardizing the national security of New Zealand.
- Canadian Courts Edging Towards A Warrant Requirement For Device Searches At Borders
- Aetna Mailer Accidentally Reveals HIV Status Of Up To 12,000 Customers
- New app scans your face and tells companies whether you’re worth hiring
- CCTV + Lip-Reading Software = Even Less Privacy, Even More Surveillance
- 465k patients told to visit doctor to patch critical pacemaker vulnerability: A year after calling advisory “false and misleading,” maker warns patients to patch.
- IOT Devices Provide Comcast A Wonderful New Opportunity To Spy On You
- Leak of >1,700 valid passwords could make the IoT mess much worse: List of unsecured devices lived in obscurity since June. Now, it’s going mainstream.
- 711 million email addresses ensnared in ‘largest’ spambot: The spambot has collected millions of email credentials and server login information in order to send spam through “legitimate” servers, defeating many spam filters.
- India’s Supreme Court Rules Privacy Is A Fundamental Right; Big Ramifications For The Aadhaar Biometric System And Beyond
- MalwareTech’s legal defense fund bombarded with fraudulent donations: At least $150,000 in donations were from stolen or fake credit card numbers.
- One of 1st-known Android DDoS malware infects phones in 100 countries: Move over, IoT. Attackers are abusing a new widely used platform to knock out sites.
- Microsoft’s Bid To Save Powershell From Hackers Starts To Pay Off
- Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, And It Won’t Tell Me How
Jon
News of the Week; August 23, 2017
GAMES
- Give me a break: Atari suing Nestle over alleged Breakout-themed Kit Kat ads
- Atari sues Nestle, says Kit Kat video game ad violates Breakout copyright: Candy ad plays off Breakout, “an icon of early Silicon Valley ingenuity.”
- Atari in transition: From Speakerhats and gambling to LGBT dating apps and movies, CEO Fred Chesnais has aspirations for the legacy brand far beyond games and T-shirts
- Republicans try comparing tax code to Legend of Zelda, mix up their facts: Factual error has since been fixed on GOP site, but perhaps not the flawed logic.
- How Tencent’s latest hit Honour of Kings has divided generations
- Blizzard Apologizes To Entire Country Of Australia About Overwatch, Here’s Why: It’s called “take-away,” not “take-out.”
- No more Mass Effect Andromeda single-player updates: EA says there will be no more patches for in-game story content, but multiplayer will see continued content updates
- Mass Effect: Andromeda officially shuts down its single-player updates – Unless you play ME:A for multiplayer, your quest is effectively done.
- Mass Effect: Andromeda single-player development comes to an end
- Final Fantasy XV director plans official mod support for PC version
- Sweeney: App stores are “pocketing a huge amount of profit” at devs’ expense – “We should be angry about this, and we should constantly be on the lookout for other solutions, and new ways to reach gamers.”
- Falling indie prices undercut the market – Hideki Kamiya says Platinum has been “rescued” by NieR: Automata; but games like Platinum’s remain at risk from collapsing prices outside AAA
- Indie game pricing is “more art than science”: Should indies really be charging more for their games? Indie publishers and developers share their perspectives
- Indie Game Designer Estimates One PewDiePie Video Boosted Sales By More Than $100,000
- Game Digital shares recover after financials beat expectations
- Reworking Piczle Lines DX from mobile platforms to Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo Switch and Splatoon 2 lifts US games market in July: Sales for July up 19% as Splatoon 2 outsells Crash Bandicoot
- Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds surpasses 8M sales
- 6 years and a Chinese chicken company buyout later, Splash Damage’s Brink goes F2P
- Valve clarifies Steam key ‘crackdown’: Firm reiterates that unreasonable key requests will be declined
- Valve says it’s cracking down on big key requests to combat Steam skulduggery
- Early Access has changed We Happy Few — and helped the dev quadruple in size: “Early access didn’t just help shape the overall direction and focus of the game, it shaped the very fabric and makeup of our team.”
- Why Square Enix Collective is resurrecting Fear Effect: There are now two Fear Effect games coming to market 17 years after they were last seen
- Crackdown 3 delay damages Xbox One X line-up: Action game pushed back to spring 2018, leaving Forza 7 as Microsoft’s lead for new console
- Over 100 ‘enhanced’ titles are heading to the Xbox One X
- Zlatan Ibrahimović: “I want to make a difference in the video game world” – World renowned footballer on why his new mobile title, Zlatan Legends, stands apart from the flood of celebrity games
- Opinion: Exploring feminist game design in role-playing book #Feminism
- New Nielsen division to offer insight into esports market: Team will provide sponsorship valuation, custom research and more for competitive gaming
- NFL, EA team for esports: ‘Madden’ tourney first step for league
- Esports Continues Rise In Australia As A-League Team Signs Gamer
- Why Rocket League Might Be The Perfect Mainstream Esport: It’s simple to follow, easy to learn and difficult to master.
- HTC Vive receives $200/£150 price cut: Move follows Oculus price drop last month
- Sony “won’t allow” cross-platform play for Ark: Survival Evolved – Platform holder still reluctant to allow PS4 players to engage online with Xbox One owners
- Sony put the kibosh on cross-console play, says Ark: Survival Evolved dev
- Sony blocks yet another game from cross-console play with Xbox One: Continuing trend suggests Sony simply doesn’t want to link up with Microsoft.
- “With $6m, you can compete with Call of Duty”: Devcom panel discusses the opportunities for smaller studios in the AAA market
- Making a game to make a game; It’s like Kickstarter, but with more explosions.
- Chinese publishers ramping up global business – Report: App Annie says Chinese mobile game publisher revenues from overseas markets have doubled year-over-year
- Applying Data Science to Understand Your Players
- “Don’t treat your players like they’re stupid”: Bluehole’s Brendan Greene on maintaining honesty and transparency with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ Early Access community
- Surpassing $800M in revenue, one of Germany’s biggest earners still runs on Flash
- China’s top flight soccer league signs six-year game deal worth $15M
- What happens when you turn a game into a concert?: Jessica Curry discusses the difference of interactivity in Dear Esther Live and assesses how the industry treats women two years after she stepped back
- Why I Love: GamesIndustry.biz is readying a series of columns to add much needed positivity to the gaming media landscape, and we could use some help
- How to protect your video game trademark
- Putting a Face to the Game: The Intellectual Property Implications of Using Celebrity Likenesses in Videogames (Yin Harn Lee)
DIGITAL
- Judge sides with YouTubers Ethan and Hila Klein in copyright lawsuit
- YouTubers Ethan And Hila Klein Win Copyright Case, Court Says h3h3Productions’ Use Of Video Is Fair Use
- Appeals Court Grapples With Digital Files, and the Business of Selling “Used” Songs
- Uber’s Contract Upheld in Second Circuit–Meyer v. Uber
- Legal ruling in: Facebook ‘friends’ aren’t necessarily real friends
- Browsewrap/Clickwrap Distinction Vexes Another Court–Nevarez v. Ticketmaster
- Aspiring Actor Forges Court Order To Delist Content, Gets Busted By Judge, Forges Court Order To Delist Article About Contempt Charges
- Supreme Court asked to nullify the Google trademark: The case comes two months after court’s “offensive” trademarks ruling.
- Failed Cybersquatter Asks Supreme Court To Declare ‘Google’ A Generic Term
- Federal Judge Upholds Magistrate’s Ruling, Says Google Must Hand Over Data From Overseas Servers
- How the tech sector can legally justify breaking ties to extremists: Generally speaking, private enterprise may refuse service on ideological grounds.
- Code for tolerance: How tech companies can respond to hate but respect human rights
- The Tor Project Defends the Human Rights Racists Oppose
- Tor “can’t build free and open source tools” and stop racists from using them: “We are everything they claim to despise,” but Tor won’t prevent vile usage of its tools.
- Neo-Nazi Daily Stormer loses its Russian domain, too: Russian official cites “strict regime” for combatting extremism online.
- After bouncing around the Web, Daily Stormer lands a new CDN provider – BitMitigate founder: “I thought it would really get my service out there.”
- Spurned by Major Companies, The Daily Stormer Returns to the Web With Help From a Startup: The 20-year-old founder of BitMitigate said he had taken on the neo-Nazi website because he believes in free speech and because, “I thought it would really get my service out there.”
- Unable to get a domain, racist Daily Stormer retreats to the Dark Web: “We can’t keep trying random registrars,” site’s admin writes.
- After years of investigation, feds bust one of AlphaBay’s largest drug rings
- So, just how guaranteed is your freedom of speech online?
- Google explains why it banned the app for Gab, a right-wing Twitter rival: Gab’s free-speech stance makes it popular with right-wing trolls and racists
- Here’s a way to silence Trump on Twitter: Buy the microblogging service – White House says it’s a “ridiculous attempt” to silence Trump’s 1st Amendment rights.
- YouTube Briefly Nukes Video Of Nazi Symbol Destruction For Violating Hate Speech Rules
- Defining ‘Hate Speech’ Online Is An Imperfect Art
- OkCupid bans white supremacist “for life,” asks daters to report others: A white supremacist featured in a Charlottesville documentary can’t use OKC any
- One-Time Allies Sour On Joining Trump’s Tech Team
- Mnuchin’s Wife Mocks Oregon Woman Over Lifestyle and Wealth
- Mnuchin’s Wife Goes Full Marie Antoinette In Instagram Meltdown: The millionaire wife of the millionaire Treasury secretary bragged about how much they pay in taxes and accused a critic of being “adorably out of touch.”
- Before she was poor-shaming on Instagram, Louise Linton wrote a “white savior” Africa memoir
- Killer robots are coming, and Elon Musk is worried: Technology leaders warn autonomous drones could become “weapons of terror.”
- Sorry Elon Musk, the machines will not win – Weblog: Cyber expert Ryan Calo writes paper to demolish belief in looming AI apocalypse
- Killer robots: Experts warn of ‘third revolution in warfare’
- We can’t ban killer robots – it’s already too late
- Sorry, Banning ‘Killer Robots’ Just Isn’t Practical
- Taryn Southern Shares First YouTube Music Video For Album Composed Entirely By AI
- Dunce’s App: How Silicon Valley’s brand of behaviorism has entered the classroom
- Reddit Launches An In-House Video Player In Beta
- Now you can post videos directly to Reddit, no third-party service required: Upload .mp4 and .mov files directly from your phone or computer.
- Whatever Your Side, Doxing Is A Perilous Form Of Justice
- Fighting Neo-Nazis and the Future of Free Expression (EFF)
- The Great Free Speech Online Debate (Andres Guadamuz)
- Moving On From Obviously Fake News To Plausibly Fake News Sites
- Mapping The Most And Least Troll-Ridden Places In The U.S.
- We Live in Fear of the Online Mobs: Internet shaming spreads everywhere and lives forever. We need a way to fight it.
- Woman: My Uber driver went wrong way, I said something, he pushed me out – According to Courthouse News Service, Uber has been sued at least 433 times in 2017.
- SEC Report Asserts Cryptocurrency Tokens Are Securities Under US Law
- A Very Dumb Mistake Costs Cryptocurrency Investors Big Time
- Not a Token Gesture: Compensating Service Providers with Virtual Property
- A Google Tax Isn’t Going To Give Publishers The Payout They Think It Will
- Sharp sues Hisense over a foreign “gag order”: Sharp files a lawsuit in order to talk about the TVs being made in its name.
- Lawsuit revived over Apple retail workers’ pay during security checks: Dispute has widespread ramifications about pay for time spent in security checks.
- Proposed California Law Targets Sexual Harassment In Venture Capital
- Machines Taught By Photos Learn A Sexist View Of Women
- Quebecker files class action against Netflix over fee hike
- Insights: Breaking Up is Easy To Do—Netflix Rolls On After Disney Announcement
- Netflix Is Using The Defenders To Understand Its Audience
- This is how Netflix’s top-secret recommendation system works: Netflix splits viewers up into more than two thousands taste groups. Which one you’re in dictates the recommendations you get
- Why You Can’t Download All The Streaming Media You Want
- Roku Increases market share ahead of Amazon, Google, Apple
- Amazon’s Turker Crowd Has Had Enough
- Wisconsin lawmakers vote to pay Foxconn $3 billion to get new factory: State taxpayers could end up paying Foxconn $500,000 per job, or more.
- YouTube Music Chief Lyor Cohen: Promoting And Breaking New Artists Is A Top Priority
- YouTube, Facebook and Moral Rights
- ‘They could destroy the album’: how Spotify’s playlists have changed music for ever – Custom playlists on the streaming site can bring unknown artists to millions. But are they altering how songs get written?
- CNN launches daily news show on Snapchat
- Facebook really is losing teen users to Instagram and Snapchat
- Snapchat to Move Into Scripted Content by Year’s End
- Facebook, NASA To Host 4K, 360-Degree Live Stream Of Total Solar Eclipse
- Solar Eclipse Brings 3.1 Million Views To NASA’s Facebook Live Stream, Takes 10% Of Netflix Audience
- Facebook Takes New Steps To Crack Down On Video Clickbait
- Facebook’s evolutionary search for crashing software bugs: Ars gets the first look at Facebook’s fancy new dynamic analysis tool.
- Twitter To Stream From Inside Race Cars During NASCAR Playoffs
- Disney Tops BuzzFeed In Monthly Social Video Views For First Time In A Year (Study)
- Turner To Launch OTT Sports Platform, Live Games On Bleacher Report
- YouTube TV Adds 14 New Markets To Reach 50% Of US Households
- Angela Merkel Discusses Gender, Emojis During Studio71-Produced YouTube Stream
- YouTube Rolls Out ‘Breaking News’ Feed On Desktop Site And Mobile Apps
- Studio71 Sues Bethany Mota And Her Dad/Manager Over Brand Deal Gone Awry
- Moviepass Wants To Save Moviegoing – If Theaters Will Let It
- Australia blocks another 59 popular pirate sites
- Cambridge University Press backs down over China censorship: Publisher will reinstate articles to which it blocked online access in China in the face of international protests by academics
- ‘Smart’ Lock Vendor Locks Hundreds Out Of Their Home With Bungled Firmware Update
- “Bing is bigger than you think,” Microsoft boasts, at 33% of US searches: It turns out that “But nobody uses Bing!” isn’t actually true.
- Microsoft’s Speech Recognition is Now as Good as a Human Transcriber
- Intel first 8th generation processors are just updated 7th generation chips: No Coffee Lake or Cannonlake here; these are doubled up Kaby Lake parts.
- NAFTA Negotiations: Authors Alliance Joins Public Interest Groups In Support Of Transparency And Balanced Copyright Policy
- Civil society urges trade decision-makers to consider the impacts of NAFTA on digital rights
- Who Falls for Fake News? The Roles of Analytic Thinking, Motivated Reasoning, Political Ideology, and Bullshit Receptivity (Gordon Pennycook & David Rand)
- The NAFTA E-commerce Chapter: Ensuring the New Chapter Reflects Canadian Priorities (Michael Geist)
CREATIVITY
- The Tragedy Of Charlottesville In Two Powerful Photos
- Op-Ed: Speech in America is fast, cheap and out of control
- NFL Tells ICE That Parody Shirts Are Counterfeits
- Freedom of panorama in Portugal: content and scope of the exception
- Why the CJEU cheese copyright case is anything but cheesy
- Is 2 seconds of television time too much to be a fair use?
- Toblerone shape not distinctive enough for trademark, Poundland claims: Defending its right to launch Twin Peaks bar, budget chain cites Toblerone version with fewer chunks brought out last year
- Chateau Marmont, Hotel For Celebrity Humans, Sends Trademark C&D To Cateau Marmont, Hotel For Cats
- Comparative advertising using P’s logo is nominative fair use (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Forgetting Functionality (Christopher Buccafusco & Jeanne Fromer)
- Court Rules Ford Trucks’ Claim Is Puffery: A false advertising suit against Ford Motor Co. was limited after a federal court judge found the company’s “Built Ford Tough” claim is non-actionable puffery.
- Directing a Spotlight on the Feud over Ownership of Château Miraval’s Lights
- Because Of Course There Are Copyright Implications With Confederacy Monuments
- Louisiana’s Criminal Defamation Law Abused Again, But This Time The Gov’t Gets Away With It
- What Europe Can Teach America About Free Speech: In an unregulated marketplace of ideas, private citizens need to take up the burden of holding the line against racist extremism.
- The Right to Attention in an Age of Distraction
- Canada’s Diva of Doodlers has Definitively Distilled in this Divine Depiction the Diverging Directions of Debate on Canadian Copyright
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Pick-and-pay TV system a hit with Canadians, nearly one third bought solo channels: report – Although the vast majority of subscribers continue to buy larger packages, MTM’s research suggests a massive jump in interest in the smaller packages
- Judge Kills AT&T’s Attempt To Thwart Google Fiber Competition In Louisville
- AT&T’s attempt to stall Google Fiber construction thrown out by judge: AT&T sued Louisville over pole attachment rule, but judge says rule is valid.
- Trump’s DOJ not trying to stop AT&T/Time Warner merger: AT&T and DOJ “discussing merger conditions” that would let deal go forward.
- Former FCC Commissioner Tries To Claim Net Neutrality Has Aided The Rise Of White Supremacy
- Stop hiding 47,000 net neutrality complaints, advocates tell FCC chair: FCC now says it will release net neutrality complaints “as soon as we can.”
- Crowdfunded Billboards Shame Politicians For Selling You Out On Net Neutrality
- FCC’s claim that it was hit by DDoS should be investigated, lawmakers say: FCC hasn’t shown proof that it was attacked, Democrats say in call for probe.
- Lawmakers Want The GAO To Investigate The FCC’s Flimsy DDoS Claim
- Cox starts charging $50 extra per month for unlimited data: Or you can get another 500GB for an extra $30 every month.
- Verizon Begins Throttling Wireless Users, Effectively Bans 4K Streaming
- Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p: No 4K video allowed—new bandwidth limits apply to mobile hotspots, too.
- Patent-licensing company loses its $30M verdict against Sprint:Prism Technologies saw through three jury trials against big cell carriers.
- This is Sinclair, ‘the most dangerous US company you’ve never heard of’: Sinclair is the largest broadcast company in America. But its partisan politics – and connections to the White House – are raising concerns
- James Murdoch donates $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League following events in Charlottesville
- James Murdoch Rips Trump: “Standing Up to Nazis Is Essential” – In a memo, he also pledged a donation of $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League.
- Looking at Music Royalty Issues for Radio and TV Broadcasters
- Tech Journalists Keep Completely Missing The Point Of Cord Cutting
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Feds drop demand for 1.3 million IP addresses that visited anti-Trump site: Despite warrant’s language, feds say they didn’t want disruptj20.org visitor logs.
- Another staged body cam leads to 43 more dropped Baltimore prosecutions: Latest video “was self-reported as a re-enactment of the seizure of evidence.”
- Australian Gov’t Accessed Domestic Metadata Thousands Of Times, Shared Some Of It With China
- Federal Judge Upholds Magistrate’s Ruling, Says Google Must Hand Over Data From Overseas Servers
- Wanted: Weaponized exploits that hack phones. Will pay top dollar – Exploit broker Zerodium ups the ante with $500,000 to target Signal and WhatsApp.
- Border Device Searches Continue To Increase, Threatening More Than Just The 4th Amendment
- Indians have right to privacy, Supreme Court rules
- Spyware backdoor prompts Google to pull 500 apps with >100m downloads: Google killed secret plugin download capability after being alerted by researchers.
- Court Says Gov’t Needs More Than The Assumption Someone Owns A Cellphone To Justify A Search
- FOIA Lawsuit Filed Over DOJ Data Complainant Is Pretty Sure Doesn’t Even Exist
- Sonos Users Forced To Choose Between Privacy And Working Hardware
- As HBO Screams About GoT Episodes Leaking From A Hack, HBO Leaks Next GoT Episode Early
- Breaking Down HBO’s Brutal Month Of Hacks
- North Carolina Election Agencies First Learned They’d Been Hacked From Leaked Documents Published By The Intercept
- ICE: We don’t use stingrays to locate undocumented immigrants – Letter adds that, even when you’re targeted via stingray, you can still call 911.
- GCHQ Knew FBI Wanted To Arrest MalwareTech, Let Him Fly To The US To Be Arrested There
- Palantir’s Law Enforcement Data Stranglehold Isn’t Good For Police Or The Policed
- Contractor Exposes Personal Information Of 1.8 Million Chicago Voters On AWS
- Code chunk in Kronos malware used long before MalwareTech published it: Marcus Hutchins, the researcher who stopped WCry, complained his code was lifted.
- Secret chips in replacement parts can completely hijack your phone’s security: Booby-trapped touchscreens can log passwords, install malicious apps, and more.
- Welcome To The Technological Incarceration Project, Where Prison Walls Are Replaced By Sensors, Algorithms, And AI
- Driver’s license facial recognition tech leads to 4,000 New York arrests: “We will continue to do everything we can to hold fraudsters accountable.”
- When Government Rules By Software, Citizens Are Left In The Dark
Jon
News of the Week; August 16, 2017
GAMES
- Retired Dutch soccer player wins lawsuit against Riot Games
- Former footballer Edgar Davids wins lawsuit against Riot Games: Judge rules that League of Legends developer used Davids’ likeness for Striker Lucian skin
- Take-Two argues fair use in NBA 2K tattoo lawsuit: Eventual ruling may have an impact on ownership laws around the video game medium
- Video Game Maker Argues “Fair Use” of Images of NBA Player Tattoos
- Accessory Company Sues Nintendo Over Switch Design: Gamevice demands a ban on all Switch sales.
- Nintendo hit with lawsuit over Switch console design
- Nintendo sued over alleged patent violation by Switch controllers: Wikipad creator Gamevice claims removable Joy-Cons violates its patents
- Disney, Unity face lawsuit over collection of personal info through kids games
- Disney and Unity accused of collecting children’s personal information: More alleged COPPA violations in the US as 42 Disney games included in lawsuit
- How A Board Game Aboutbitter Legal Struggles Became A Bitter Legal Struggle: After Andrew Yoon drowned, his mother and best friend fought for control of the board game he created.
- Blatant clone or marketing hoax? The curious case of Tokyo 41 and Tokyo 42: The “demake” trend gets twisted with a touch of ARG (alternate reality game) panache.
- How ‘World Of Warcraft’ Spawned Steve Bannon And The Alt-Right As We Know It
- Discord shuts down server and accounts linked to white supremacists
- Discord clamps down on hate groups: Gaming chat and text app blocks alt-right server and bans users
- Baseball club trips over logo: The US Major League Baseball MLB is considering filing an opposition to the registration of a new logo by the Overwatch League, an online video game competition. MLB claims the logo too closely resembles its own MLB trademark.
- Battle.net is called Battle.net again, just like it always was: The “Blizzard Launcher” gets un-rebranded; call it “Blizzard Battle.net” now
- Blizzard to keep Battle.net name after all: Company reverses previously announced plan to phase out moniker, will use combined Blizzard Battle.net branding going forward
- Blizzard is bringing the Battle.net name back from the dead
- Skins, Smurfs and Skyrim: A brief history of PC modding
- How one dev aims to thwart arranged marriages through game design
- Against Gravity: “Physical harassment in VR can be really intense” – CCO Cameron Brown on nurturing Rec Room’s thriving community, and the “very real” sense of physical threat in a virtual world
- ‘VRChat’ Anecdotes and Dealing with Harassment & Tolling in Social VR
- AltspaceVR u-turns on closure: Inspired by outpouring of support from its community, social VR space may live on
- Watch: Your Brain in Virtual Reality – Dive head first into the neuroscience and psychology of VR.
- Full-Body Virtual Sports Game Sparc Set For Release On PlayStation VR
- Com2uS: Successful esports “don’t just appear out of nowhere” – The developer of $1 billion hit Summoners War has slowly built up to its first major global tournament
- Esports event considered for Paris 2024 Olympics: Meanwhile, Finland is the latest nation to recognise professional players as athletes
- Paris Olympic Committee To Consider eSports For 2024
- Millennial Esports buys majority stake in Test Drive Unlimited dev
- Esports firm acquires majority stake in Eden Games: 82.5% stakes in Gear.Club and Test Drive Unlimited developer purchased for €9m
- The International 2017 reached 5m peak concurrent viewers: The Dota 2 tournament’s peak audience has more than doubled in three years
- Elon Musk’s Dota 2 AI beats the professionals at their own game: But humans did eventually prevail over the computers.
- Elon Musk’s OpenAI Created a Bot That Can Beat the World’s Best eSports Players
- Overwatch League adds first UK franchise: London team will be owned by Cloud9, second Los Angeles team will be owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
- Overwatch, A Game About Teamwork, Is Getting A Free-For-All Deathmatch Mode
- Rocket League joins Tespa’s autumnal lineup of collegiate eSports events
- Echo: Ex-Hitman devs bring machine learning to stealth games – “How do you interact with your own play style? That’s the core of our gameplay.”
- Rovio nearly doubled its revenue during the second quarter
- Rovio sees revenue leap 94% in second quarter: Angry Birds Evolution and Battle Bay showed the “strongest launch ARPDAU and other KPIs ever seen in Rovio Games business unit”
- Rovio considers raising $400 million through local IPO – report: Public listing rumours persist, with the Finnish company valued at $2 billion
- Report: Tencent invests in Battlegrounds dev Bluehole
- Bluehole squashes Tencent investment rumour: Bluehole confirms no investment was made by Chinese company
- Tencent’s mobile game revenue tops PC for first time ever
- Tencent online game revenues hit $3.56 billion in Q2: Mobile revenue exceeded PC for the first time thanks to the success of games like Honor of Kings
- Hutch opening Nova Scotia studio: UK motorsports developer opens Canadian office to increase output, tap new talent pool
- Isolation, depression “running rampant” among indies – Devolver co-founder
- Indies need to start charging more for games – Steam Spy: “Stop undermining your game because somehow you think it’s not worth the asking price,” says Sergey Galyonkin
- Mayhem Above – The do’s and don’ts of a solo dev.
- Stop being a stupid indie-gamedeveloper
- Atari hands off Pridefest: Largely abandoned mobile game given to maker of LGBTQutie dating app alongside cash investment
- Funcom’s The Secret World picked up for a TV series: Johnny Depp’s production company Infinitum Nihil will be involved in screen adaptation of relaunched MMO
- Twitch rolls out its desktop app, complete with video chat
- Meet The Streamers Using Twitch To Pay For College
- Threats, fake names and philanthropy: The untold story of Jane Whittaker – From Alien vs Predator to Goldeneye, the developer discusses his journey to Keystone Games, a publisher donating profits to charity
- Blizzard to launch “global diversity and inclusion initiative”: Mike Morhaime wants to raise number of women and “under-represented minority groups” working at the company
- Fixing our broken internet culture: If we’re serious about tackling harassment of developers, start with the culture of angry entitlement encouraged by many media figures
- A Brief History of Game Jams
- Exploring Motivation: Why People Play Games for Years
DIGITAL
- Tech Has The Tools To Fight Hate. It Just Needs To Use Them
- Racist Daily Stormer moves to Russian domain after losing .com address: The site was barely offline for 24 hours.
- GoDaddy Severs Ties With Daily Stormer After Charlottesville Article
- Google Domains, GoDaddy blacklist white supremacist site Daily Stormer: Two domain registrars say the Daily Stormer violated their terms of service.
- After Getting Its Website Banned, Neo-Nazi Site Daily Stormer Gets Kicked Off YouTube, Too
- Racist Daily Stormer goes down again as CloudFlare drops support: Tech companies face intense pressure not to work with the hate site.
- CloudFlare CEO says his Daily Stormer takedown was “arbitrary” and “dangerous”: “I woke up this morning in a bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet.”
- Why We Terminated Daily Stormer
- The Daily Stormer’s Last Defender In Tech Just Dropped It
- After losing Patreon account, crowdfunded anti-refugee ship is adrift—literally: “Defend Europe” ship rescued by refugee relief agency’s ship after engine trouble.
- Charlottesville White Supremacists Begin to Lose Jobs, Web Hosting Platforms
- Web hosting, CDN companies torn as to how to respond to racist websites: Dreamhost, meanwhile, “will host any website as long as its content is legal.”
- Internet turns on white supremacists and neo-Nazis with doxing, phishing: Many fear being outed from photos, but now the real cyber game against “alt-right” begins.
- Trump’s Retweets Were Especially Batty This Morning
- Trump tweets cartoon of train hitting CNN reporter
- One Twitter Account’s Mission To Make White Supremacists Very, Very Famous
- The Online Radicalisation Of Young Men (Andres Guadamuz)
- Nazi Crybaby Films His Own Meltdown After Threatening to Kill Charlottesville Counter-Protesters
- Before Getting Banned From OkCupid, White Supremacist Chris Cantwell Wrote Tips for Dating Online
- After Charlottesville, Grief And Humor Go Hand In Hand On Twitter
- Did the Army Chief of Staff Just Subtweet President Trump?
- Trump can block people on Twitter if he wants, administration says: As president, Trump can use Twitter however he sees fit, Justice Department says.
- New Media And The Messy Nature Of Reporting On The Alt-Right
- Intel CEO Brian Krzanich quits Trump manufacturing council: Intel boss says “divided political climate” is causing “serious harm.”
- Social Media Efforts to Identify Charlottesville Marchers
- Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election (Rob Faris, Hal Roberts, Bruce Etling, Nikki Bourassa, Ethan Zuckeman, Yochai Benkler)
- Defending Hateful Speech Is Unpleasant But Essential, Even When Violence Is The End Result
- Hacking Hate and Extremism
- Perspectives on Harmful Speech Online (Berkman Klein Center)
- Florida City Ignores All Legal Precedent As It Attempts To Silence & Identify Mild Critic
- Saudi Government Looking To Jail More Citizens For ‘Harming Public Order’ With Their Religious Tweets
- A Guide To Russia’s High Tech Tool Box For Subverting US Democracy
- Biohackers Encoded Malware In A Strand Of DNA
- Researchers encode malware in DNA, compromise DNA sequencing software: It’s a proof-of-principle, done after making DNA analysis software vulnerable.
- The Ultimate Virus: How Malware Encoded In Synthesized DNA Can Compromise A Computer System
- Google Abruptly Cancels Town Hall About That Memo
- Google cancels all-hands diversity meeting over safety concerns: Google feared questioners would face threats if their names leaked online.
- Fired Google Engineer James Damore Takes His Case to Reddit
- The Actual Science Of James Damore’s Google Memo
- Weekend ‘March on Google’ canceled, organizer says: Firing of engineer spurred calls for right-wing rally at Google offices; local counter-protest will go on as planned
- We Need to Talk About Online Harassment: The public forum is taking place on social media, a place where women are being systematically silenced.
- One Of Uber’s First Investors Sued Travis Kalanick For Fraud
- Investors hit Uber ex-CEO hard, sue over alleged “gross mismanagement”: Before ouster, Travis Kalanick pushed for 3 new board seats—and he still controls them.
- Before Getting Banned From OkCupid, White Supremacist Chris Cantwell Wrote Tips for Dating Online
- In wake of lawsuit, Uber investors are now publicly sniping at each other: Shervin Pishevar, other investors worry of “escalation of this fratricidal course.”
- The Uber Dilemma
- FTC says Uber took a wrong turn with misleading privacy, security promises
- Uber agrees to 20 years of privacy audits following FTC charges: News reports of Uber employees using “God View” got the feds’ attention.
- Lawyers clash over an imaged hard drive as Waymo v. Uber hurtles toward trial: “He was ordered to come clean and did not come clean.”
- The ‘corporate governance nightmare’ that is Snap: Social media company’s disregard of shareholder rights is wrong, says Peter Smith
- Snapchat’s New Feature Stitches Together Concert Videos From Multiple Stories
- 46% Of Influencers Say They Would Give Up Snapchat If They Were To Abandon One Platform
- Everything About Disney and ABC’s ‘Pink Slime’ Settlement Should Scare the Hell Out of You
- Social media use should comply with securities law
- How Section 230 Helps Sex Trafficking Victims (and SESTA Would Hurt Them)
- Appeals Court Mostly Fixes Bad CDA 230 Ruling Over Publicity Rights
- Lawyer: Yahoo Lost Sec. 230 Immunity Because It Didn’t Hand Over Personal Info; Court: GTFO
- What Does The New CDA – Buster Legislation Actually Say?
- The MPAA Narrative About Piracy Flips To Danger From Pirate Sites Now That It Has Lost The Moral Argument
- Judge Preska: Widespread Pirating Makes Music Price Fixing Case Unsuitable for Class Treatment
- Apple going all-in on original programming, to the tune of $1 billion a year: Apple could “procure and produce” as many as 10 new shows next year.
- Apple To Spend $1 Billion On Original Shows Over Next Year (Report)
- Apple Takes Bite From Data Security False Ad Suit
- London Mayor Fingers The Culprit In Increased Knife Crime: YouTube
- Warner/Chappell Issues Copyright Claim Over YouTube Video Deliberately Containing None Of Its Music
- How Cults Use YouTube for Recruitment
- Once Again, Rather Than Deleting Terrorist Propaganda, YouTube Deletes Evidence Of War Crimes
- Where is the YouTube left? There, elsewhere and unfocused: Not all mediums are created equal
- Verizon Returns Its Ads To YouTube After A Five-Month Freeze
- Elvis Presley Racks Up 2.8 Billion YouTube Hits To Eclipse Kanye West, Lana Del Rey
- Nielsen To Incorporate Views On YouTube, Facebook, And Hulu Into Digital Ratings
- The Toxic Drama on YA Twitter: Young-adult books are being targeted in intense social-media callouts, draggings, and pile-ons — sometimes before anybody’s even read them.
- Investors rescue embattled SoundCloud with $170 million lifeline: The company laid off 40 percent of its workforce in July.
- SoundCloud, now Vimeo of Sound, instead of YouTube of Sound?
- CBS, Citing The NFL, Says Broadcasters And Streamers Can Coexist
- As A Streaming Future Looms, ESPN Is Damned If It Does, Damned If It Doesn’t
- Can Oath, The Arranged Media Marriage Of Yahoo And Aol, Avoid A Rough Divorce?: Can two once-great Internet behemoths come together harmoniously in an age of mergers, roll-ups, and distribution plays? The early returns suggests that Oath has some work cut out for itself.
- Netflix lured TV superstar Shonda Rhimes away from ABC
- How A.I. Is Creating Building Blocks to Reshape Music and Art
- All This Bitcoin Stuff Is Fake
- Bitcoin cash plunges as investors look to dump their coins
- Should We Ban Bitcoin to Curb Illegal Activities?
- Howard Marks, who has called past market bubbles, says ‘I don’t understand what’s behind bitcoin’
- Bitcoin and the Uniform Commercial Code (Jeanne Schroeder)
- New Civil and Criminal Consequences for ‘Revenge Porn’
- Secret Service agent, corrupted by Silk Road case, cops to second heist: Shaun Bridges, who already was given 71 months in prison, awaits a new sentence.
- American accused of faking eBay sales to fund US terror pleads guilty: It’s “first known time ISIS had given money to someone in the US for an attack.”
- The quiet war against ownership: A major conflict is shaping up between the owners of smart devices and the companies that produced them.
- Digital provisions turn farmers into hackers: Canada’s strict digital lock provisions mean farmers and other businesses cannot fully benefit from the market access provided by trade agreements.
- How The DMCA’s Digital Locks Provision Allowed A Company To Delete A URL From Adblock Lists
- Should Social Media Sites Be Forced To Pull Pastor Calling For War With North Korea?
- Why Everyone Is Hating on IBM Watson—Including the People Who Helped Make It
- Disney wants to make a huge shift in its business model — but it’s not ready to do it yet: Streaming movies to consumers is one thing. Streaming sports is something else. Bob Iger will wait on that one.
- Disney’s Building Its Own Netflix. Everyone Else Might, Too
- Disney and CBS mark milestones in streaming’s march to conquer cable
- Netflix, Disney In “Active Discussions” About Streaming Rights To Future Marvel, ‘Star Wars’ Films
- Netflix should be afraid of Disney’s OTT play
- Star Wars and Iron Man may not disappear from Netflix in 2019 after all: Netflix and Disney are still having “active discussions.”
- Ted Sarandos: Netflix’s Content Budget Will Ascend To $7 Billion In 2018
- The Messy, Confusing Future of TV? It’s Here
- Facebook’s original video platform will launch with Mike Rowe, MLB, and more: The new Watch platform will nurture original series and themed shows.
- Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Failure to Remove User Pages–Cross v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook Defeats Another Case Over Not Removing User Comments–La’Tiejira v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook’s Hate Speech Policies Censor Marginalized Users
- How Your Phone Number Became The Only Username That Matters
- Patreon will help fans pay their favorite artists more than $140 million this year: CEO Jack Conte explains what’s next — and why he really, really hates the term “tip jar”
- SpaceX is launching a supercomputer to the International Space Station: “If this experiment works, it opens up a universe of possibility.”
- AI and CGI will transform information warfare, boost hoaxes, and escalate revenge porn
- If an AI creates a work of art, who owns the rights to it?
- Nokia’s New Phone Ushers In The Unfortunate Era Of The ‘Bothie’
- Mr. Nice Guy: Instagram’s Kevin Systrom Wants To Clean Up The &#%$@! Internet.
- Your Instagram Posts May Hold Clues to Your Mental Health
- Instagram photos reveal predictive markers of depression (Andrew Reece & Christopher Danforth)
- Appeals court: Lawsuit over wrong info on Spokeo should move ahead – Search site must face allegations that it broke fair credit reporting laws.
- Giving Legal Effect to Emails – Can Emails Satisfy the Requirements to Extend Limitation Periods Under The Limitations Act?
- Great minds moji alike?
- We’re rewiring the Internet for freedom.
- Re-Shaming the Debate: Social Norms, Shame, and Regulation in an Internet Age (Kate Klonick)
- Golf App Uses AI To Account For Wind In Making Distance Calculations
- Robot Umpires Advocated By Chicago Cubs’ Ben Zobrist
- Update gone wrong leaves 500 smart locks inoperable: Fatal error leaves customers scrambling for fixes that can take a week or longer.
CREATIVITY
- The Chilling Effects of Openly Displayed Firearms: Charlottesville marks a new era of even bolder assertion of the right to threaten violence for political purposes.
- Lions denounce use of their logo by racists at Charlottesville rally
- Taylor Swift Spoke Up. Sexual Assault Survivors Were Listening.
- Kesha and Taylor Swift Find New Voices
- Taylor Swift’s Best Comebacks During Her Cross-Examination at Her Sexual-Assault Trial
- Jury Sides With Taylor Swift Over DJ In Groping Case
- The Kardashian Decade: How a Sex Tape Led to a Billion-Dollar Brand
- Hollywood’s China Money Heartbreak: Is the Love Affair Really Over? – Billions have been thrown into turmoil as Chinese regulators crack down on investments, Paramount’s backer skips a payment, and both Trump and some Dems adopt a protectionist stance.
- DC’s transit agency rejected ads touting the First Amendment (really): The DC transit agency banned “issue ads.” It hasn’t gone well.
- Bob Murray To Court: The ACLU Is Too Biased To File Its Brief
- Court Sends John Oliver, HBO Back To State Court To Fight Bob Murray
- Trademark Injunction Issued Against Print-on-Demand Website–Harley Davidson v. SunFrog
- White-on-White Trademark Usage Might Constitute Initial Interest Confusion–Agdia v. Xia (Eric Goldman)
- Five Reasons NOT to Register Your Trademark
- Lawsuits against media outlets are piling up
- How Royalty Exchange Has Transformed the World of Music Publishing
- Songwriter Groups Hit Out At RIAA For ‘Betrayal’ Over Moral Rights Issue
- AMC Theaters Is Not Happy About the New Super Cheap MoviePass Service
- The protection of the ‘eco-friendly’ Falabella bag by Stella McCartney in a recent decision of the Court of First Instance of Milan
- HBO hackers release Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes: HBO reportedly offered hackers $250,000 as a “stall tactic.”
- HBO Owns Itself in Latest Game of Thrones Leak
- Public Consultation on Reform of the Copyright Board of Canada Launched
- How Canada Can Use NAFTA’s IP Chapter to Level the Innovation Playing Field (Michael Geist)
- No Time for Tinkering: How a “more progressive” NAFTA could break the vicious circle of global inequities in the ownership of knowledge (Ariel Katz)
- Intellectual Property in a Renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement: A Canadian Perspective
- Danish University And Industry Work Together On Open Science Platform Whose Results Will All Be Patent-Free
- Tracking the spread of culture through folktales: Genomic, geographical, and cultural data join forces.
- How Jeff Koons, 8 Puppies, and a Lawsuit Changed Artists’ Right to Copy
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Good Politics, Bad Policy: Melanie Joly Sends TV Licensing Cancon Decision Back to the CRTC (Michael Geist)
- The Future of Canadian “TV”
- Trump Cribbed His Charlottesville Press Conference Straight From Fox News
- Fox News Host Files SLAPP Suit Against Reporter Who Exposed His Sexting
- Alex Jones’ Infowars supplements are overpriced, mundane vitamins – watered down: BuzzFeed reports results after sending supplements to an independent lab for testing.
- How a Conservative TV Giant Is Ridding Itself of Regulation
- Ajit Pai accused of conflict for helping former client, a prison phone company: Pai should recuse himself from inmate calling decisions, prisoners’ advocate says.
- FCC giving special help to right-wing TV news company, Democrats allege: Pai is helping Sinclair expand its reach into TV-owning homes, lawmakers say.
- FCC Begins Weakening The Definition Of Quality Broadband Deployment To Aid Lazy, Uncompetitive ISPs
- FCC faces backlash for saying Americans might not need fast home Internet: Everyone should have fast home Internet and mobile access, commenters tell FCC.
- New FCC Broadband ‘Advisory Panel’ Stocked With Telecom Consultants, Allies & Cronies
- GOP lawmakers shamed on billboards for trying to repeal net neutrality rules: Republicans want a “slower, censored, and more expensive Internet,” group says.
- FCC seemingly forgot about a net neutrality complaint filed against Verizon: There’s only been one formal net neutrality complaint, and FCC hasn’t ruled on it.
- One Man’s War Against Verizon’s Long History Of Lies, Anti-Competitive Behavior, And Nonsense
- Mozilla Study: Zero Rating Isn’t The Miracle Broadband Duopolies And Facebook Pretend It Is
- Broadband ISP Cox Will Now Charge You $50 More To Avoid Usage Caps, Overage Fees
- The Nation’s Telcos Are Hemorrhaging Customers Because They Refuse To Upgrade Their Networks
- Will radio kill the internet star?
- Newspapers Essential To Community
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- US government demands details on all visitors to anti-Trump protest website: Privacy advocates call warrant for IP addresses of 1.3 million people who visited inauguration protest website an unconstitutional ‘fishing expedition’
- Feds Demand ‘1.3 Million IP Addresses’ Of Visitors To Trump Protest Website
- Feds demand 1.3 million IP addresses of those who visited Trump protest site: DreamHost said the warrant is “a clear abuse of government authority.”
- We Fight for the Users
- DOJ Goes Way Overboard: Demands All Info On Visitors Of Anti-Trump Site
- Building America’s Trust Act would amp up privacy concerns at the border: Civil libertarians tell Ars they’re worried about “mass surveillance expansion.”
- Court Says CFAA Isn’t Meant To Prevent Access To Public Data, Orders LinkedIn To Drop Anti-Scraper Efforts
- LinkedIn Enjoined From Blocking Scraper–hiQ v. LinkedIn
- LinkedIn Connection Request Doesn’t Violate Non-Solicitation Clause—Bankers Life v. American Senior Benefits
- Tech companies, law profs agree: The Fourth Amendment should protect data – Filings argue support for convicted robber’s position in Carpenter v. United States.
- Russia’s ‘Fancy Bear’ Hackers Used Leaked NSA Tool To Target Hotel Guests
- Russian group that hacked DNC used NSA attack code in attack on hotels: Fancy Bear used Eternal Blue 3 months after it was leaked by a mysterious group.
- In Ukraine, a Malware Expert Who Could Blow the Whistle on Russian Hacking
- Ukraine malware author turns witness in Russian DNC hacking investigation: “Profexor” turns self in to Ukrainian authorities, assists FBI in DNC hack investigation.
- Stories Claiming DNC Hack Was ‘Inside Job’ Rely Heavily On A Stupid Conversion Error No ‘Forensic Expert’ Would Make
- Court Tells Government Sticking FOIA Waivers In Plea Agreements Is Probably A Bad Idea
- Salesforce “red team” members present tool at Defcon, get fired: “Red Team” members were fired as they stepped off stage after presenting internal attack tool.
- Researchers report >4,000 apps that secretly record audio and steal logs: SonicSpy family of apps pose as benign programs. Behind the scenes, they spy on users.
- 3 Big COPPA Class Action Suits Prove Privacy Tsunami is Coming
- VIZIO Can’t Switch Channel on Consumer Privacy Complaint
- NAFTA, Trump and the cloud: What the negotiations mean for your personal data
- How My Instagram Hacker Changed My Life
- Researcher who neutralized WCry pleads not guilty to writing banking malware: Marcus Hutchins is accused of creating software that became the malware Kronos.
- Verizon—Yes, Verizon—Just Stood Up For Your Privacy
- “Pretty egregious” security flaw raises questions about Pacer: Is the service used by a million journalists and lawyers doing enough for security?
- Mr. Know-It-All: When Someone Melts Down In Public, Can I Record It? (Please?)
- Mental health and the media: when privacy trumps getting the story: At what point, when the initial story is over, do news outlets and social media need to continue to stalk, hound and dig for every tiny detail?
- Those Free Stingray-Detector Apps? Yeah, Spies Could Outsmart Them
- Former NSA Official Argues The Real Problem With Undisclosed Exploits Is Careless End Users
Jon
News of the Week; August 9, 2017
GAMES
- Stephen K. Bannon once guided a global firm that made millions helping gamers cheat
- EA and Take-Two say Trump administration is harming the games industry: “There is a constant shortage of qualified, high-skilled labour within our industry”
- EA’s upcoming NBA Live will mark the video game debut of the WNBA
- Alleged misuse of children’s data lands Subway Surfers studio in court: New York and California lawsuits filed against Sybo and Kiloo
- Worldwide interactive media market tops $100 billion – Superdata: Research firm says global spend on games, eSports, game-related video content and VR/AR will be $104.6 billion this year, $168.8 billion by 2020
- eSports Could Be A Part Of The 2024 Olympics
- There’s a chance eSports could make an appearance at the 2024 Olympic Games
- Esports – one step closer to Olympic medal status?
- Esports platform Smash.gg raises $11m: Spark Capital, Accel and Horizon Ventures backs pro gaming venture
- How Rocket League is looking to shape the future of esports: Psyonix details its ambitious efforts to turn its car football game into a mainstream sport
- New ban system implemented as Rocket League surpasses 34m players: Abusive language and racial slurs will result in automatic ban, Psyonix asks players to report, mute and leave the rest to them
- It’s Dota 2 time: Y‘all should watch The International: The greatest tournament of all time for the greatest game of all time.
- The International 2017 starts with $24 million prize pool: Dota 2 tournament prize money is 16% up over last year, fourth consecutive year of setting a new record for esports
- Valve announces Artifact, a Dota-themed digital card game: Lay cards in three lanes (or however exactly the game works) sometime in 2018.
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds peak player count surpasses all non-Valve titles – Update: PUBG hits 500k concurrent users, behind only Dota 2 at the time the figure was recorded
- Titanfall 2 didn’t sell as well as it should have – Zampella: Despite that, Respawn CEO says studio is heavily invested in the franchise and has more on the way
- Rainbow Six Siege reaches 20m players, 2.3m DAUs: Ubisoft’s plan to “make a shooter that is here to stay” achieved through post-launch support
- With AI research in mind, Blizzard and DeepMind release StarCraft II API
- Digital sales dominate Activision Blizzard’s better-than-expected earnings
- Activision Blizzard posts gains for second quarter: Console sales dip despite strong launch for Crash Bandicoot collection; revenue from retail channels recedes
- Mobile revenue swing helps NCsoft offset tumbling profits
- Rising digital sales offsets physical decline at Square Enix
- Google’s AI Declares Galactic War On Starcraft
- Consumer scepticism drives Kickstarter decline: Videogames’ complex nature makes them perhaps the worst possible medium for crowdfunding – and consumers seem to be catching on
- Bandai Namco sees game revenue fall by 28%
- Over 200 games launched on Steam in the first week of August alone
- Steam attracts an average of 1.5M new customers a month
- Steam has attracted 27m new paying users in 18 months: Monthly active players now up to 67m, with daily average of 14m concurrent users
- The Nintendo Switch Is The Future Of Gadget Design
- Final Fantasy XV’s Multiplayer Has A Ridiculously Detailed Character Creator
- Final Fantasy XIV surpasses 10 million lifetime players
- Final Fantasy VII Retrospective: Great Because It’s Weird
- Jeff Minter and Atari reconcile for Tempest revival: Tempest 4000 in the works, just two years after designer and publisher were in dispute
- Bungie’s 13-year battle with crunch culture: At Casual Connect USA, Bungie’s Luke Timmins detailed how Halo 2’s “brutal” crunch led to a new way of thinking about people management
- Q&A: CEO Guillemot on Ubisoft’s origins, China expansion
- Devs reflect on 8 years spent making an episodic game meant to take 12 months
- The rise and fall of Flash games — A postmortem
- Video game remasters are a win-win for publishers: With low costs and strong interest from players, it’s easy to see why the remastering trend is catching on
- Hinterland: “There’s something a little bit broken about our internet culture” – Raphael van Lierop talks about a low point in dealing with The Long Dark’s Early Access community, and why he won’t go to Reddit any more
- New study sheds light on how playing games literally shapes the brain
DIGITAL
- Voltage Picture’s Lawyer Sues Copyright Trolling Participants, Calls Lawsuits Unethical
- “Podcasting patent” is totally dead, appeals court rules: Federal Circuit stands by 2015 ruling that knocked out Personal Audio’s patent.
- Five Ways NAFTA Talks Can Level the Innovation Playing Field: After years of ceding to US demands for tough anti-piracy rules, it’s time for Canada to fight for its interests (Michael Geist)
- Canada Can Stand Its Ground on Copyright in NAFTA Renegotiations: It’s all about knowing when to say no (Howard Knopf)
- Appeals Court Agrees: Awful Patent Used To Shake Down Podcasters Is Invalid
- Section 230 Helps Yahoo Defeat Lawsuit Over Online Harassment Campaign–Hall v. Yahoo (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Helps VRBO Defeat Claim Over Fraudulent Listing – Hiam v. Homeaway (Eric Goldman)
- Sen. Portman Says SESTA Doesn’t Affect the Good Samaritan Defense. He’s Wrong (Eric Goldman)
- Judge Rules Kickass Torrents Founder Properly Charged With Criminal Copyright Conspiracy
- Kickass Torrents Creator Can’t Get Criminal Case Tossed Out
- Douez v. Facebook: Are courts finally tuning into the reality of consumer contracts?
- ‘Blatant Sales Pitch’ on LinkedIn Likely Violates Non-solicitation Clause–Mobile Mini v. Vevea
- Why Apple and other tech companies are fighting to keep devices hard to repair: A new report says the tech industry is using its outsized influence to combat environmental product standards
- How Apple Is Putting Voices In Users’ Heads – Literally
- Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?: More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis.
- Turkish regime jails IT trainers in encryption clampdown: We discuss alarming move to target techies who help activists stay safe online.
- Facebook’s top global hires remain overwhelmingly white and male
- Inside The Partisan Fight For Your News Feed: How ideologues, opportunists, growth hackers, and internet marketers built a massive new universe of partisan news on the web and on Facebook.
- Facebook’s Latest Move to Fight Fake News Might Finally Be the Right One
- How Instagram Stories Have Changed Dating Forever
- Google Fires Engineer Who Wrote Memo Questioning Women in Tech
- Google fires engineer who “crossed the line” with diversity memo: Google says the post “advanced incorrect assumptions about gender.”
- Internal Messages Show Some Googlers Supported Fired Engineer’s Manifesto
- A Meme Shared on an Internal Google Meme Network Depicted a Leaker Being Beaten
- So, about this Googler’s manifesto.
- Memo to the Google memo writer: Women were foundational to the field of computing
- Susan Wojcicki Calls Google Anti-Diversity Memo A “Tragic” Display Of “Unfounded Bias”
- Segregated Valley: the ugly truth about Google and diversity in tech – Silicon Valley says it is committed to racial diversity in its workforce. But the numbers tell a different story
- How to End Google’s Monopoly
- Women Engineers On The Rampant Sexism Of Silicon Valley
- Elon Musk Once Fired His Assistant Of 12 Years For Wanting A Raise
- Inside the world of Silicon Valley’s ‘coasters’ — the millionaire engineers who get paid gobs of money and barely work
- After phishing attacks, Chrome extensions push adware to millions: Compromised accounts push fraudulent extension updates to unsuspecting users.
- The Mystery Of Nicole Mincey
- Microsoft Chatbot Trolls Shoppers For Online Sex
- London Mayor Urges YouTube To Remove Videos Espousing Gang Violence
- Google Preferred Advertisers Return To YouTube Months After ‘Adpocalypse’ (Study)
- New icons are YouTube’s latest way to alert creators of video demonetization: Plus, there’s now a quicker way to ask for a review of demonetized videos.
- YouTube Expands Appeals To Cover Videos That Lost Revenue After The Adpocalypse
- Native Video-Sharing And Chat Feature Rolls Out To YouTube App Globally
- Twitter Suspends Popehat For Writing About Violent Threats He Received From Another Twitter User
- Facebook, Twitter Consistently Fail At Distinguishing Abuse From Calling Out Abuse
- In Protest, Artist in Germany Re-Purposes Hate Speech From Twitter
- Exploring the Role of Algorithms in Online Harmful Speech
- Defendant who texted teen to commit suicide sentenced to 15 months in jail: Punishment stayed to allow appeals in a novel prosecution testing 1st Amendment.
- Facing libel lawsuit, Techdirt takes large donations to broaden coverage: Charles Koch Foundation and a charity from the Craigslist founder are among the donors.
- Psychiatrist Files Lawsuit Over Wordless One-Star Review
- China to Start Using Blockchain to Collect Taxes and Send Invoices
- Media scholar on Trump TV: “This is Orwellian, and it’s happening right now, right here” – The president has launched an online TV network. He’s calling it “real news.”
- Australian Public Servants Warned Against Liking Social Media Posts That Are Critical Of Government Policies
- Russia Wants Innovation, but It’s Arresting Its Innovators
- Stumbling “Blocks”: When Is Social Media Moderation a First Amendment Violation?
- The Long, Hot Summer Of Netflix’s Ever-Accelerating Expansion
- Netflix Buys Comics Publisher Behind Kingsman, Kick-Ass
- Disney Will Cease Distribution Deal With Netflix To Launch Its Own Streaming Service
- Disney Pulls Content From Netflix As Users Face An Annoying, Confusing Rise In Streaming Exclusivity Silos
- Inside Patreon, The Economic Engine Of Internet Culture
- Game of Thrones Star Says She Got Acting Role Because She Has Millions of Social Media Followers
- HBO Hackers Release Ransom Note And New Trove Of Stolen Data
- Game of Thrones script for “Spoils of War” leaks after HBO hack: No spoilers: Leak contains GoT info, unaired episodes of other shows, and internal docs.
- Augmented Reality Apps Could Pollute The Skies With Advertising
- Risks of Artificial Intelligence
- AI and music: will we be slaves to the algorithm? – Tech firms have developed AI that can learn how to write music. So will machines soon be composing symphonies, hit singles and bespoke soundtracks?
- New administrative notice-and-takedown procedure in Greece
- Inception Raises $15 Million Series A Funding Led By EU Media Conglomerate RTL Group
- VR-based Treatment for Vision Disorders Shows Positive Results in Peer-reviewed Study
- Researchers Induce Artificial Movement Sensation in VR Using Four-Pole Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation: Creators believe system could be “easily adapted to conventional VR systems”
- CBS is launching a streaming sports channel this year: It’s headed to internet-only TV providers.
- Radio navigation set to make global return as GPS backup, because cyber: GPS killed the radio nav in 2010, but a high-def version is set to return
- Mozilla’s new file-transfer service isn’t perfect, but it’s drop-dead easy: For less high-stakes uses, Send offers reasonable security and privacy assurances.
- Uber’s search for a female CEO has been narrowed down to 3 men
- Uber’s ex-CEO: Given reason for alleged Waymo data heist is “dumb”: Kalanick also said that Levandowski “should say what happened” rather than clam up.
- How one hot sauce seller hauled Uber into small-claims court and won $4,000: A driver took off with Dane Wilcox’s laptop, and Uber refused to pay him back.
- Amazon Halts Blu Phone Sales Amid Spyware Concerns
- SEC Warns That Digital Tokens May Be Securities
- An Oral History Of The DARPA Grand Challenge, The Grueling Robot Race That Launched The Self-Driving Car
- You’d Have To Click A Mouse 10 Million Times To Burn One Calorie
- From blockchain to drones, we need to stop obsessing about tech megatrends: If more men did the laundry, washing machines would be as hyped and alluring as drones
- The Guy Who Invented Those Annoying Password Rules Now Regrets Wasting Your Time
- 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 9: Justice System, Social Media, Miscellaneous (Eric Goldman)
CREATIVITY
- Canadian Government Puts Copyright Board Overhaul on Fast Track With Consultation Launching Tomorrow (Michael Geist)
- Why fears about ‘fair use’ copyright law are unfounded
- Canada’s intellectual property strategy must play to the country’s strengths
- Canadian Man Somehow Gets Trademark On His Own County’s Name, Govt. Says Legal Action Is The Only Remedy
- Post-Axanar, CBS unveils first official fan filmmaking initiative in Trek history: Star Trek Film Academy grants fan filmmakers access to training, New Voyages facilities.
- Judge Rules MGM Must Face Lawsuit Over James Bond Box Set Missing Two Bond Films
- Citing Free Speech, A.C.L.U. Sues Washington Metro Over Rejected Ads
- Monkey selfie animal rights brouhaha devolves into a settlement: Every conceivable joke has been made of this Planet of the Apes-styled litigation.
- Monkey Selfie Case May Settle: PETA Knows It’ll Lose, And The Photographer Is Broke
- “Thinking Out Loud” About Copyright Infringement (Again)
- Word on the street: McDonald’s has been accused of cultural appropriation, using without permission the work of street artists in an advertising campaign in Europe.
- Film Director’s Op-Ed Ignores Reality To Push Hollywood Lobbying Talking Points
- The Grinch that stole fair use?
- Copyright Suit Requires Fair Use Analysis: A fair use analysis is required before a copyright suit against “appropriation artist” Richard Prince can be dismissed, a New York federal court judge decided this week, declining to grant a quick win.
- Commercial Photography in Public Parks–Is Police Presence Required?
- Commercial Brochure not Protected by Copyright in Spain
- Lookalike Case: Max Verstappen’s Management Unsuccessful for Now
- Peter and the Test Tube Babies singer refused entry to the USA for mocking Donald Tump
- How Hulk Hogan & Peter Thiel Almost Made Sure That The Story Of R. Kelly’s ‘Cult’ Stayed Unpublished
- How Peter Thiel’s Secretive Data Company Pushed Into Policing
- Jeff Sessions Suggests He’s Steering The DOJ Towards Prosecuting More Journalists
- Deputy Attorney General Walks Back Attorney General’s Threat To Journalists
- Professors as Targets of Internet Outrage: Death threats and protests as statements about race and politics go viral.
- North Carolina Passes An Entirely Misguided Restore Campus Free Speech Act
- Inside NFL Cheerleaders’ Legal Fight for Better Pay
- NY Mets Oppose Trademark For Medical Exam Tracking System (METS) Claiming Potential Customer Confusion
- Inside Trump’s Global Trademark Trove
- Former Professional Wrestler Sues Van Morrison for Using his Likeness without Authorization
- Billy Two Rivers, former pro wrestler, to settle lawsuit against Van Morrison: Settlement details are still being finalized, according to lawyer Michael Graif
- We’re in the early stages of a visual revolution in journalism: It’s more than a pivot to video — it’s an evolution of text.
- Peter Bart: Will Time Warner’s Creative Energy Survive AT&T Takeover?
- Is There A Right Way To Put Slavery Onscreen?
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Canadian Telcos Take Aim At Kodi Addon Site With Shocking Search: True Purpose to “Destroy Livelihood of the Defendant” (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Telcos Lose Their Minds Over TVAddons
- Canadian Telcos Want To Play Police In War On Piracy: They’ve already raided a Montreal man’s home.
- Secret court order that let telcos search a Montrealer’s home a growing trend
- The Diminishing Value of Simsub: CBS Streaming Service Coming to Canada Next Year (Michael Geist)
- CRTC and UK Agency to Fight Spam and Unwanted Telemarketing Calls
- Cable’s New Brilliant Idea: Charging You More Money To Skip Ads
- Charter has moved millions of customers to new – and often higher – pricing: Pricing changes accelerate as Charter tries to boost revenue per customer.
- Data cap analysis found almost 200 ISPs imposing data limits in the US: Examination of 2,500 home Internet providers finds sizable minority with caps.
- Journalist Sues FCC For Hiding Details About Its Alleged, Phantom DDOS Attack
- Ajit Pai’s anti-net neutrality plan gets the facts and law wrong, lawmakers say: FCC accused of prioritizing “raw dollars” over small businesses and consumers.
- Congress Gives The FCC An Earful On Its Despised Plan To Kill Net Neutrality
- As net neutrality dies, one man wants to make Verizon pay for its sins: Alex Nguyen filed the only formal net neutrality complaint, and he’s still waiting for an answer
- The Ghostly Radio Station That No One Claims To Run: “Mdzhb” Has Been Broadcasting Since 1982. No One Knows Why.
- These Lawmakers Are Speaking out Against the FCC’s Plan to Dismantle Net Neutrality
- The FCC is full again, with three Republicans and two Democrats: 3-2 Republican majority likely to overturn net neutrality rules.
- Maybe Americans don’t need fast home Internet service, FCC suggests: By saying mobile is good enough, FCC could find that deployment problem is solved.
- FCC Proposes $82 Million Fine for Illegally “Spoofed” Robocalls
- FCC To Hold Hearing to Determine Whether to Deny License Renewal of Radio Station that was Silent for Most of its License Term
- $17,500 Settlement by TV Broadcaster for Not Identifying Educational and Informational Children’s Programming – Reminder that the FCC is Still in the Enforcement Business
- AT&T Lies Again, Insists Net Neutrality Rules Will Hurt First Responders
- Comcast Tries, Fails To Kill Lawsuit Over Its Hidden, Bogus Fees
- We analyzed 17 months of Fox & Friends transcripts. It’s far weirder than state-run media.: How the Fox morning show evolved into Donald Trump’s posse.
- Fox Exec Says She Won’t Make Excuses for Lack of Diversity, Proceeds to Make Tons of Excuses
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Salesforce fires red team staffers who gave Defcon talk: “As soon as they got off the stage, they were fired.”
- Body Cam Footage Of A Cop Planting Evidence Leads To Dozens Of Dismissed Cases
- House Oversight Head Still Concerned Surveillance He Approves Of Is Being Used Against His Party
- US Senators Unveil Their Attempt To Secure The Internet Of Very Broken Things
- Man used DDoS attacks on media to extort them to remove stories, FBI says: “If you do not remove it immediately, more severe attacks will hit your website.”
- Suspected sextortionist hiding behind Tor is outed by booby-trapped video: “Brian Kil” terrorized minors for years. Last month, a hack gave agents a big break.
- Convicted Fraudster Uses DDoS Attack To Clean Up Search Results, Fails Spectacularly
- Slayer of WCry worm charged with creating unrelated banking malware: Marcus Hutchins was hailed as a hero. Federal prosecutors say he was a criminal.
- Hacker Who Stopped Wannacry Charged With Writing Banking Malware
- The Indictment Against Malware Researcher Marcus Hutchines Is Really Weird
- Security researcher who neutralized WCry to be released on $30,000 bond: Prosecutors say Marcus Hutchins admitted he wrote alleged malware. Defense disagrees.
- WannaCry operator empties Bitcoin wallets connected to ransomware: Bot set up by Quartz reporter Keith Collins catches linked wallets being emptied.
- Researchers say WannaCry operator moved bitcoins to “untraceable” Monero: Wallets’ BTC exchanged for XMR, anonymous cryptocash favored by Shadowbrokers.
- Meet Alex, The Russian Casino Hacker Who Makes Millions Targeting Slot Machines
- Federal prosecutor struggles to describe stingray use in attempted murder case: Questions remain as to how Oakland cops, FBI used stingrays after a 2013 shooting.
- ACLU: Absent warrant standard, police could monitor anyone via location data – Opening brief filed in Carpenter, an important privacy case pending at Supreme Court.
- Protect The White Hat Hackers Who Are Just Doing Their Jobs
- Once Again With Feeling: ‘Anonymized’ Data Isn’t Really Anonymous
- The Attack On Global Privacy Leaves Few Places To Turn
- FTC Asked to Investigate Google’s Matching of “Bricks to Clicks”
- The FTC’s Latest Bid to Blacklist Telemarketers
- FTC must scrutinize Hotspot Shield over alleged traffic interception, group says: VPN service “can intercept and redirect HTTP requests to partner websites.”
- Complaint Filed Over Sketchy VPN Service
- FTC Schools “Smart” Toys with Updated COPPA Compliance Guidance
- FTC Increases Focus on Smart Toys with COPPA Update
- FTC Regulation of Cybersecurity and Surveillance (Chris Jay Hoofnagle)
Jon
News of the Week; August 2, 2017
GAMES
- Rockstar sued by owners of Miss Cleo – Psychic Readers Network claims GTA: Vice City character voiced by Miss Cleo actress infringed on rights to TV psychic persona
- Pokemon Go Fest attendees sue Niantic: Class-action suit filed by fans seeking reimbursement of travel costs to disappointing Chicago event
- Pokemon Go Fest’s blunders result in class-action lawsuit: What could go wrong other than spotty Internet, huge lines, and a server meltdown?
- Pokemon Go Has Highest-Grossing Day Since Launch Thanks To Legendaries
- Court Blocks Wisconsin Augmented Reality Permit Law From Being Enforced
- Pokemon The Movie: I Choose You! Coming To Theaters In The West This November
- Valve Pulls Popular Sex Game From Steam; Developer Blames Complaints About ‘Pornography’
- House Party removed from Steam for “pornographic” content: One House Party storyline depicts a female character blackmailed using nude photos stolen from her camera
- Delisted from Steam, a dev asks: what counts as ‘pornographic’?: “They didn’t specify anything in particular or define what they consider pornographic. I explained to them that I don’t consider the game pornographic as it’s not intended to titillate, but rather is intended to be a humorous and quirky game..”
- Sexually explicit game returns to Steam after adding “censor” bars: House Party criticized for “literally training its users in predatory tactics.”
- Man Stabbed Seven Times Over Magic: The Gathering Argument
- Danganronpa V3 rejected by South Korean game rating board
- Psyonix looks to automate banning of foul-mouthed Rocket League players
- Women in Games launches new mobile awards show
- EA earnings on the rise as digital sales continue to eclipse physical
- Live services power EA to Q1 growth: Publisher beats expectations with $1.425 billion in revenue, namechecks Battlefield 1, EA Sports Ultimate Team, The Sims 4
- EA: Streaming plus subscription will be the great disruptor in gaming – “We do believe there’s going to be more change in the next five years than there has been in the last 45,” says Andrew Wilson
- EA confirms BioWare Montreal is merging with Motive
- EA merging BioWare Montreal with Motive: Combined team has over 100 new hires, will be working on Jade Raymond’s new IP
- EA CEO: We can and will do VR, but ‘AR is more interesting’: “People seem to have come to terms with the fact that VR….is going to take a couple of years, at least, to kind of get to a point where it is truly a mass-market consumer opportunity.”
- Take-Two’s CEO is more upbeat about AR than VR
- NBA 2K17, Mafia III and GTAdrive unexpectedly high earnings for Take-Two
- Grand Theft Auto Online continues to drive Take-Two: Online component of GTA V delivers best quarter yet as Zelnick says they never planned on it lasting this long; publisher posts solid results in first quarter of light release year
- HTC targets first standalone Vive headset at China: Qualcomm mobile tech will allow new VR device to be “accessible to the masses in China”
- Reddit users re-enable Alien: Isolation’s VR mode with unofficial patch: It’s a Rift-only alpha and lacks comfort features, but it works very, very well.
- Microsoft offers new ways to buy Surfaces, cheapo VR headsets, and more: There’s a new Xbox One controller USB wireless stick for PCs, too.
- Researchers Showcase Impressive New Bar for Real-time Digital Human Rendering in VR
- Is VR fulfilling its promise this time around?: On the fifth anniversary of the Rift Kickstarter campaign, early backers assess how it’s gone and where it’s going
- Kickstarter and Games – 2017 mid-year status update
- Western release considered for Assassin’s Creed: Blood Sail – China-targeted MMO may go international as it ramps up brand’s mobile assault
- After a lengthy losing streak, Zynga is profitable again
- Zynga’s turnaround in full effect with $5.1m profit in Q2: 90% of Zynga’s audience now comes from mobile, CEO Frank Gibeau stressed to us
- Injustice 2 top grossing console game of Q2: Time Warner touts NetherRealm Studios’ DC Comics-based fighter as the best performer from April to June, despite launching in mid-May
- Released after 6+ years, Epic’s Fortnite surpasses 500k sales in first day
- Friday the 13th “stumbles” to 1.8m sold: Despite massive technical hurdles and poor reviews, the game has been profitable, Gun Media’s Wes Keltner explains
- Rewarded video ads most effective monetisation for mobile firms: But in-app purchases still generate the most revenue, according to AdColony report
- Xbox One X Will Help Grow The Industry, Ubisoft CEO Says: And Assassin’s Creed: Origins is taking “really good advantage” of the console’s power.
- Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds claims record for most peak players in a non-Valve game
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds peak player count surpasses all non-Valve titles: Hugely popular Early Access title has outperformed all Steam titles except for Dota 2 and CS:GO
- Valve takes on the task of making Dota 2 a newcomer-friendly MOBA
- Take Two cancels plans to stop printing money via Grand Theft Auto Online: Take Two’s “better-than-expected” Q1 2018 driven primarily by paid GTA Online DLC.
- Grand Theft Auto V’s endless success is the story of an era: Still topping charts four years after launch, GTAV is unprecedented – perhaps the first game to ever enter the public consciousness in this way
- How Ubisoft convinced Nintendo to give Mario a gun
- Super Mario Odyssey Is The First Mainline Mario Game Rated Higher Than E
- Nintendo Switch annual forecast bumped up to 12m by Wedbush: Analyst Michael Pachter says Nintendo may be stockpiling “excess” units in preparation for the holiday season
- Capcom ramps up Nintendo Switch production following Street Fighter success
- Super NES Classic pre-orders start later this month: Nintendo promises “significant amount” of consoles through end of the year.
- Tencent acquires 9% stake in Elite Dangerous dev for $23.1M
- PlayStation Plus prices on the rise in Europe and Australia
- Was PS3 hard to develop for?: 10 Years Ago This Month: Sony’s sales pitch as the powerful system took a hit when EA had to explain why Madden 08 on PS3 was noticeably worse than the Xbox 360 version
- PlayStation income drops 60% in Q1 but sales rise
- PS4 shipments hit 63.3m
- Sales up by 5.4 percent in Sony’s games division
- Why The New York Mets Are All In On Esports
- Disney Eyes Entry Into Esports In Orlando
- Live eSports matches join BBC programming lineup
- BBC Three to show major e-sports tournament
- Philippines government pledges support for esports: “It cannot be denied that esports requires tremendous amounts of skill and training”
- Smash.gg raises $11M for eSports event platform
- Women make up over half of players for mobile MOBA Honour of Kings
- UK women to spend over £1bn on video games – Barclays
- 3+ years in, Final Fantasy Tactics designer’s crowdfunded RPG changes devs
- Playdek abandons troubled Kickstarter title Unsung Story: Rights passed to Little Orbit three years after studio raised $660,000 via crowdfunding
- Video games declining on Kickstarter – ICO: Number of projects down, but funding stable; meanwhile tabletop games are enjoying “crazy growth,” says ICO Partners
- Neil Degrasse Tyson Wants You To Explore Deep Space—In A Video Game
- I Tested Two Retro Consoles―One Good, One Hot Garbage
- Nvidia and Remedy use neural networks for eerily good facial animation: The neural network just needs a few minutes of video, or even just an audio clip.
- The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Beating the bootlegs – Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov offers advice on how to protect your rights as a developer – and avoid infringing on the rights of others
- Game Development in Latin America – A Research
- Download me—Saying “yes” to the Web’s most dangerous search terms: Seeking “free games” and getting burned by illicit downloads is so 2008, right?
DIGITAL
- Online newspaper articles and libel do not toll notice and limitation periods
- Courts Keep Shredding Online Contract Formation Processes–McGhee v. NAB; Applebaum v. Lyft (Eric Goldman)
- Federal Court: Public Officials Cannot Block Social Media Users Because of Their Criticism
- Politicians’ social media pages can be 1st Amendment forums, judge says: Officials retain right to moderate comments to combat online trolls, judge says.
- Court Rules Temporary Ban Of Facebook Commenter By Gov’t Official Violates The First Amendment
- Politician Can’t Ban Constituent From Her Official Facebook Page–Davison v. Loudoun County Supervisors (Eric Goldman)
- Judge Tosses Vexatious Litigant Brett Kimberlin’s Lawsuit Against Conservative Blogger
- How an Ontario mom fended off a $120K libel lawsuit over her Facebook posts
- Stouffville woman awarded damages in SLAPP case
- Internet Censorship Bill Would Spell Disaster for Speech and Innovation
- Going to California—Google Asks U.S. Court to Declare Supreme Court of Canada’s Global Injunction Unenforceable
- Google’s US Challenge To The Canadian Global Delisting Order
- Google Asks US Court To Block Terrible Canadian Supreme Court Ruling On Global Censorship
- What Google’s New Autoplay Experiment Means For The Future Of Search
- U.S. Court Declares GPL Is A Contract (Andres Guadamuz)
- France: 13 million in damages awarded for linking to downloadable copyright works
- LinkedIn: It’s illegal to scrape our website without permission – A legal scholar calls LinkedIn’s position “hugely problematic.”
- New Web tool tracks Russian “influence ops” on Twitter: Hamilton 68 tracks Russian state news and Twitter trolls, shows propaganda trends.
- What They’ve Said About Russian Election Interference
- Russia Has Banned VPNs
- Putin bans VPNs to stop Russians accessing prohibited websites
- Unstoppable Force, Immovable Object: Iranian Resilience in a Censored Society
- How May 35th Freedoms Have Blossomed With China’s Martian Language
- Meet Mia Ash, The Fake Woman Iranian Hackers Used To Lure Victims
- Maybe the A.I. dystopia is already here
- Artificial Intelligence Develops Its Own Language
- The Internet Will Not Break: Denying Bad Samaritans Section 230 Immunity (Danielle Citron, Benjamin Wittes)
- Pointing at the Wrong Villain: Cass Sunstein and Echo Chambers
- Senate’s “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017”–and Section 230’s Imminent Evisceration (Eric Goldman)
- A ‘potentially deadly’ mushroom-identifying app highlights the dangers of bad AI: The app’s creator says it’s just a guide, but experts aren’t happy
- State attorneys general team up to scare you from “content theft sites”: PSA is titled “Be safe on the Internet to Protect Your Family.”
- Apple Removes Apps From China Store That Help Internet Users Evade Censorship
- Apple Removes All VPN Apps From Its Chinese App Store
- Apple’s Silence in China Sets a Dangerous Precedent
- Apple Caved To China, Just Like Almost Every Other Tech Giant
- Apple paid Nokia $2 billion to escape fight over old patents: It’s on the hook for more payments down the line, too
- Apple must pay $506M for infringing university’s patent: University of Wisconsin may collect $4.35 apiece for millions of iPads and iPhones.
- Apple can’t end lawsuit over “breaking” FaceTime on iPhone 4, judge rules: “FaceTime is a ‘feature’ of the iPhone and thus a component of the iPhone’s cost.”
- Company: Apple TV’s “what did she say” feature infringes our patent – Patent claims the concept of skipping back and enabling subtitles.
- Apple Sales Exceed Expectations as Buyers Wait for New iPhones
- A Super-Expensive iPhone Is Good News, Even If You Can’t Afford It
- After three years, iPad sales are up again for Apple
- Apple discontinues iPod Nano and Shuffle, updates iPod Touch models: Say goodbye to the tiny music makers of 2005.
- Goodbye iPod, And Thanks For All The Tunes
- Apple Glasses Are Inevitable
- Joining Apple, Amazon’s China Cloud Service Bows to Censors
- How An IOS Developer Just Uncovered The Next iPhone
- UK WiFi Company Uses Overlong TOS To Trick Hotspot Users Into Cleaning Toilets, Hugging Stray Cats
- Kim Dotcom set to receive seized funds, “4 containers full of seized property”: Megupload founder adds he plans to move his family to Queenstown, New Zealand.
- AG Wahl says that, at certain conditions, suppliers of luxury goods may prohibit retailers from selling on third-party online platforms
- How Threats Against Domain Names Are Used to Censor Content (EFF)
- Fact Checking Snopes On Its Own Claims Of Being ‘Held Hostage’ By ‘A Vendor’: Well, It’s Complicated
- Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says
- How Arby’s Dealt With Their Greatest Twitter Troll By Being Awesome; Also Sandwiches And Puppies
- Frank Ocean T-Shirt at Center of Debate Over Tweet Copyright: After singer’s Panorama Fest tee goes viral, creator of shirt and teen who first tweeted the quote wrestle over compensation and credit
- This U.S. Company Is Offering to Put Microchips in Their Employees
- A New Way for Therapists to Get Inside Heads: Virtual Reality
- Models of Consciousness Transformation & Unlocking Latent Human Potentials with VR
- No, Facebook Did Not Panic and Shut Down an AI Program That Was Getting Dangerously Smart
- Science Says 13 Reasons Why may Be The Public Health Scare People Thought
- Sex History Educational Site Wants To Know If It’s Going To Be Bricked Up Behind UK’s Porn Wall
- We need to take a vacation from social media: Various platforms – and Facebook especially – are, weirdly, both a kind of diary and a public performance.
- Facebook’s Complicity in the Silencing of Black Women
- ‘It’s digital colonialism’: how Facebook’s free internet service has failed its users – Free Basics, built for developing markets, focuses on ‘western corporate content’ and violates net neutrality principles, researchers say
- Lionsgate Launches Spanish-Language Streaming Service ‘Pantaya’ For U.S. Viewers
- Reddit Has $1.8 Billion Valuation After Chat-Room Site Banks $200 Million in Funding
- Reddit Raised $200 Million And Is Redesigning to Look More Like Facebook
- Spotify Surpasses 60 Million Subscribers
- Twitter Finds Meaning (and Madness) Under Donald Trump: The social platform was in bad shape last year, but it found an unlikely support system in an antihero
- Trump’s Radical Immigration Crackdown Won’t Help Tech
- A Gop Staffer Crowdsourced A Resolution From A Conspiracy Subreddit
- Bitcoin Exchange and Operator Charged With Money Laundering
- Feds say they caught a key figure in the massive Mt. Gox Bitcoin hack: Feds say a Russian man laundered criminal proceeds through the BTC-e exchange.
- Why the Bitcoin network just split in half and why it matters
- Bitcoin Is Splitting In Two. Now What?
- Here’s What CEOs Around the World Are Saying About the Bitcoin Fork
- Is the Party Over? SEC Concludes Cryptocurrency Offering Required Registration
- PewDiePie, YouTube’s biggest star, is leaning into his new, far-right following
- Here’s Why It Looks Like PewDiePie Has Lost 90% Of His Income: An annual report from his company suggests Pewdiepie’s income has dropped dramatically.
- NCAA Rules Football-Playing YouTuber Ineligible Due To Ad Revenue
- NCAA Strips UCF Kicker Of Eligibility After He Refuses To Stop Being An Athlete That Posts YouTube Videos
- UCF kicker ruled ineligible, loses scholarship after monetizing YouTube videos: Athletes can make YouTube videos, but they can’t make money off sports videos.
- Singing With Saquon? Current Stars Should Take NCAA at Its Word and Cash in Now on YouTube
- Amazon To Self-Distribute First Film In Theaters, Woody Allen’s ‘Wonder Wheel’
- Move Over, Bill Gates. Jeff Bezos Gets a Turn as World’s Richest Person.
- Streisand Effect Helps Sci-Hub To Acquire Almost All Scholarly Literature, Dooms Traditional Academic Publishing
- Jewish woman sues Andrew Anglin over ‘troll storm’: Suit against Daily Stormer’s neo-Nazi blogger raises questions about free speech and online harassment.
- YouTube Will Place Flagged “Supremacist” Videos That Don’t Violate Its Guidelines In A “Limited State”
- Following 10-Market Expansion, YouTube TV App Clocks 2 Million Downloads
- ‘Offline-First’ YouTube Go App To Launch In Nigeria
- YouTube Kids Lands “Eight-Figure” Upfront Commitment From Toy Brand Mattel
- Ars picks the top YouTube video of all time: We top off our look at the 10th anniversary of YouTube with the best video ever.
- YouTube Unveils First Country-Specific ‘Spotlight’ Channel In Canada
- YouTube throws more support behind Canadian creators with spotlight channel
- ViaSport, Microsoft Canada Team Up On Tech For More Inclusive Sports
- Redfin set out to disrupt real estate—it was harder than it looked: CEO once called real estate “by far the most screwed up industry in America.”
- America’s Competitors Angle for Silicon Valley’s Business
- Deceptive Online Marketing Practices: Intermediaries, what is your legal exposure?
- The complete history of the IBM PC, part one: The deal of the century: Bill Gates, mysterious deaths, and the business machine that sparked a home revolution.
- The complete history of the IBM PC, part two: The DOS empire strikes: The real victor was Microsoft, which built an empire on the back of a shadily acquired MS-DOS.
CREATIVITY
- York University to appeal recent copyright decision
- Why Fair Dealing is Not Destroying Canadian Publishing (Michael Geist)
- When life gives you Lemonade: court preserves copyright complaint against Beyoncé (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Photographer’s Copyright Suit Gets Mixed Results: A New York federal court judge handed a photographer a mixed result when it dismissed her copyright infringement claim but allowed her Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allegations to move forward in a dispute that began on Instagram.
- Premier League scores second ‘live’ blocking injunction
- Cabin Fever: Is Reconstructing a Work to Preserve It Copyright Infringement?
- When can publishing newspaper articles amount to harassment?: The High Court has struck out part of a harassment claim against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail Online. Unless the Judge’s order is successfully appealed, the remaining harassment claim will proceed to trial.
- Cigar City Brewing Sues Cigar City Salsa Over Trademark Despite Being In Different Marketplaces
- E And J Gallo Sends Cease And Desist Trademark Notice To E And B Beer
- Would You Confuse ‘Pierogi Fest’ With ‘Edwardsville Pierogi Festival’? Neither Would We
- Titleist Tees Up Lawsuit Against Parody Clothier Because Golf Doesn’t Have A Sense Of Humor
- Michelin Bursts Continental’s Trade Mark Application
- Seen around town(s), TM and right of publicity issues (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Copyright. Act of State Doctrine. Fifth Circuit holds that the act of state doctrine does not forbid U.S. courts from considering the applicability of copyright’s first sale doctrine to foreign-made copies when the foreign copier was a government agency
- EU’s draconian new copyright law puts an expiration date on startups
- NAFTA and a made-in-Canada IP framework
- Regulating the Internet of Toys
- Copyright Licences for Television and Film Content in Hotels
- Sony Pictures TV Networks to Acquire Funimation, Valuing Anime Distributor at $150 Million
- The ACLU filed a comical brief in defense of free speech and John Oliver’s satire
- Marshall County Coal Company v. John Oliver (Amicus Curiae Brief of ACLU to U.S. Dist. Ct., Northern District of West Virginia)
- 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 5 – Advertising, Contracts (Eric Goldman)
- 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 6 – Defamation, Section 230, Consumer Reviews (Eric Goldman)
- 1H 2017 Quick Links Part 7 – Fake News, RTBF, Censorship, Extremist Content (Eric Goldman)
- Innovation, Intellectual Property, and Development: A Better Set of Approaches For The 21st Century. (Dean Baker, Arjun Jayadev and Joseph Stiglitz)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Inconsistent Arguments and Questionable Claims: Bell Launches Yet Another Action Over CRTC’s Super Bowl Simsub Ruling (Michael Geist)
- TVAddons Returns, But in Ugly War With Canadian Telcos Over Kodi Addons
- Millennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV: the Antenna – Cord-cutters accustomed to watching shows online are often shocked that $20 ‘rabbit ears’ pluck signals from the air; is this legal?
- Republicans try to take cheap phones and broadband away from poor people: $9.25 monthly subsidy for mobile service would be eliminated by Republican bill.
- Sprint seeks merger with Charter to create wireless and cable giant: Comcast could have veto power over deal because of agreement with Charter.
- Sprint still seeks merger partner after being rejected by Charter: Sprint wanted to merge with Charter—or T-Mobile.
- Comcast fails to get hidden fee class-action suit thrown out of court: Comcast claims it can tack on Broadcast and Sports fees after order is submitted.
- FCC Extends TCPA Liability to Technology Platform Provider
- FCC says its specific plan to stop DDoS attacks must remain secret: Revealing technical details would “undermine our system security,” FCC says.
- Over 190 Engineers & Tech Experts Tell The FCC It’s Dead Wrong On Net Neutrality
- The Worst Internet In America
- Fox v. Aereokiller: Another Nail in the Internet “Cable” Coffin
- West Virginia Tries To Improve Broadband Competition, Incumbent ISPs Immediately Sue
- Cable lobby claims US is totally overflowing in broadband competition: NCTA touts data based on outdated broadband speed benchmark of 3Mbps.
- What Does Net Neutrality Mean for the Future of Cryptocurrency?
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Privacy rights on the NAFTA agenda: Will the new NAFTA allow Canadian governments to ensure that private data collected from Canadians will not be stored outside this country?
- First Playpen FBI Spyware Warrant Hits The Appeals Court Level; Is Upheld On ‘Good Faith’
- Second body cam video of Baltimore cops manufacturing evidence discovered: Second video prompts another dropped case—bringing it to nearly three dozen so far.
- Police body cam footage of man tased in back prompts $110K settlement: However, police board said tasing was “reasonable, appropriate, and within policy.”
- Baltimore police commissioner orders cops not to stage body cam footage: Prosecutors dropping 41 cases, and more on the way, because of body cam scandal.
- Another Federal Court Says No Warrants Needed To Obtain Historic Cell Site Location Info
- Georgia To Roll Out Tens Of Thousands Of CCTV Cameras With Real-Time Facial Recognition Capabilities
- Viacom Faces Children’s Privacy Class Claims Over Gaming App
- Federal Court Holds Noodles & Co. Has No Independent Duty of Care to Card Issuers For Data Breach
- New Nevada Law Requires Notice for Online Collection and Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information
- Google’s new scheme to connect online to offline shopping scrutinized: “Consumers cannot easily avoid Google’s tracking of their in-store purchase behavior.”
- Australian Prosecutors Want To Make It Illegal To Refuse To Turn Over Passwords To Law Enforcement
- UK Home Secretary Doesn’t Want Backdoors; She Just Wants Companies To Stop Offering Encryption Because No One Wants It
- Privacy Isn’t Dead. It’s More Popular Than Ever
- How A Bug In An Obscure Chip Exposed A Billion Smartphones To Hackers
- Broadcom chip bug opened 1 billion phones to a Wi-Fi-hopping worm attack: Wi-Fi chips used in iPhones and Android may revive worm attacks of old.
- Your Own Pacemaker Can Now Testify Against You In Court
- Stealthy Google Play apps recorded calls and stole e-mails and texts: Company expels 20 advanced surveillance apps installed on ~100 devices.
- When sextortion suspect refused to unlock her iPhone, the FBI stepped in
- Released Documents Show More Section 702 Violations By The NSA
- Someone Hacked Into HBO and Is Now Releasing Game of Thrones Info
- Hackers Threaten ‘Game of Thrones,’ as HBO Confirms Cyberattack
- Hack Brief: HBO Shows And A Game Of Thrones Script Land Online
- HBO confirms hack that reportedly included script to upcoming GoT episode: Video for episodes of Ballers and Room 104 also reportedly stolen.
- How Netflix DDOS’d Itself To Help Protect The Entire Internet
- Hackers descend on Las Vegas to expose voting machine flaws
- Every Voting Machine at This Hacking Conference Got Totally Pwned
- “E-mail prankster” phishes White House officials; hilarity ensues: Tom Bossert gave up personal e-mail in response to fake Kushner dinner invite.
- Privacy warnings spell trouble for millions of low-cost Android phone owners: Blu says the data its phones collect is standard. Experts disagree.
- Using a fitness app taught me the scary truth about why privacy settings are a feminist issue
- How a hacked Amazon Echo could secretly capture your most intimate moments: Hack isn’t simple and doesn’t work on all devices, but it’s definitely doable.
- How a podcaster managed to confront his tech support scammer, in person: “Alex, we have seen that your IP address has been compromised.”
Jon
News of the Week; July 26, 2017
GAMES
- Augmented reality wins big in 1st Amendment legal flap: Pokemon Go craze prompted a Wisconsin county to regulate AR game play.
- Location-based augmented reality games now protected by First Amendment: US judge rules it unconstitutional for laws to block where AR titles may be played
- Judge Rules Milwaukee Flouted U.S. Constitution in Response to ‘Pokemon Go’ Craze: The city didn’t like the prospect of rare flora being trampled by game players. A federal judge warns of censorship.
- Judge issues injunction against Milwaukee’s Pokémon Go ordinance: Pokéstops are protected by the first amendment … for now
- AR game restrictions ruled unconstitutional by district judge
- Pokémon Go Fest Is Having A Rough Start
- Niantic lays blame for Pokemon Go Fest problems: Developer puts worst connection problems at the feet of cell phone network providers, will continue running real-world events for fans
- MAME devs are cracking open arcade chips to get around DRM: And you can help transcribe the raw, visible bits and bytes.
- Take responsibility for your community: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds flap shows how game makers can set the tone for their player base with zero tolerance for toxic behavior
- Alleged copycat video game studio threatens lawsuits over “unreal information” – Riot Games: Mobile Rush had “near carbon copy” of many League of Legends heroes.
- Blizzard shuts down legacy WoW server hours after launch: Four years of work on Burning Crusade server brought to an end within five hours of launch
- Blizzard shuts down “legacy” WoW fan server hours after it goes up: Felmyst was a four-year labor of love, squashed in less than a day.
- Blizzard pledges crackdown on abusive and antisocial Overwatch players: Harsher penalties and new reporting tools incoming as Blizzard seeks to create “a truly welcoming environment” for Overwatch
- Overwatch League players to receive minimum $50k annual salary: $3.5 million in team bonuses available in Season 1, with $1 million of that total guaranteed to the winner
- Overwatch League Players Will Get Health Insurance, At Least $50K A Year
- MLB Mulls Over Opposing Trademark For New Overwatch League Logo
- Pyre review: A brilliant reinvention of the term “fantasy sports” – Bastion creators spilled some e-sports into a wonderful action-RPG crossover.
- How Japan’s eSports scene is being hamstrung by regulators
- David Stern Says He Has ‘Aged Out’ Of Esports
- Alex Mauer Gets Another Game Taken Down From Steam Via DMCA As She Sends Imagos’ Lawyer Death Threats
- Sony’s legal quest to remove its leaked developer’s kit from the Web: Effort appears to be squashing leak discussion and homebrew SDKs as well.
- Zoë and the Trolls: Video-game designer Zoë Quinn survived Gamergate, an act of web harassment with world-altering implications.
- Roblox set to pay in-game devs over $30M in 2017
- Name-your-price games storefront LBO launches: Curve Digital, Digerati, KISS among indie publishers on board for a Priceline-esque approach to game sales
- Bethesda drops premium DLC model for Doom: All multiplayer expansion packs will now be free
- John Romero: ‘I am the Doomguy (at least on the cover)’ – “Frustrated, I threw my shirt off and told him to give me the gun and get on the floor – grab my arm as one of the demons! Defeated, he deferred. I aimed the gun in a slightly different direction and told Don, ‘This is what I’m talking about!’ Don took several pictures.”
- Oculus: ‘4 VR titles have made more than $1M in the Oculus store alone’
- VR’s paths diverge: A question of scale – As the world’s largest VR arcade opens to showcase room- and arena-scale VR, the out-of-home possibilities continue to diverge from in-home implementations
- ViveNchill straps USB fans to HTC Vive because people will buy anything: This week in crowdfunding campaigns that somehow got funded…
- Video: Beyond Ageism — Developing VR games for an older audience
- £73m of video game tax relief paid out in 2016-17
- UK video games tax relief payouts up 60% to £73m: Claims more than double year-on-year to 280 in 2016/17
- UK devs doubling down on tax relief as payouts rise by 60 percent
- Digital game sales to reach $7.8 billion this year – SuperData: Video game DLC and microtransactions to drive $4 billion in sales alone, says research firm
- PS4, Tekken 7 drive June US game sales – NPD
- Hardware was up 27% y-o-y thanks to PS4 and Nintendo Switch
- Sales up at Nintendo as Switch sells 4.7M units worldwide
- Nintendo Switch hit 4.7 million shipped in fiscal Q1: Mario Kart sold in 3.54m units in launch quarter, Arms sold 1.18m units in two weeks
- Mario Kart director philosophical about need for the blue shell: “You know, sometimes life isn’t fair.”
- Jump the void: Confronting existential dread through Super Mario Maker – Three fun platform levels that show life is a meaningless, empty pit of nothingness.
- New Nintendo Trademark Filing Gives Hope For N64 Classic: A trademark application for the N64 controller potentially points to a new micro console.
- Microsoft’s earnings continue to rise, despite lagging Xbox hardware sales
- Windows XP, Vista buried by Blizzard: Time to upgrade that decade-old operating system, man.
- How Fire Emblem Heroes Made $100M from 10M Installs
- Screen Saviors: Can Activism-Focused Games Change Our Behavior?
- Making games under threat of nuclear war: Why Estonian developer ZA/UM is moving its team to the safety of a new London studio
- Atari launches wearable push with Speakerhats: Ball caps with built-in Bluetooth speakers made in partnership with NECA and Audiowear
- Yahoo Japan launches web-based Game Plus platform: New service focuses on HTML5 and cloud-streaming console title
- Words With Friends TV show in the works: Zynga partners with MGM to bring long-running mobile hit to the not-quite-as-small screen
- Australian industry laments “devastating” resignation of pro-game Senator: Scott Ludlam resigns over dual citizenship mistake, sending “shockwaves” through the developer community
- Video Game Publishers Sure Like ‘Extending’ Betas
- Analyst: Dedicated mobile game players in Japan, South Korea now play 3+ hours/day
- Why we will never show ads in our mobile games
- How Japanese game devs are coping with growing free-to-play pricing pressure
- No, digital isn’t cannibalizing retail – NPD: We talk with The NPD Group as it expands its digital tracking with a pilot program in the Americas
- Stores vs. Developers vs. Customers vs. Publishers
- DOJO Madness Launches Analytics Platform For League Of Legends
- Starpoint Gemini Warlords is a ‘community-developed’ indie game
- One Of Steam’s Top Selling Games Is A Dad Dating Simulator
- Intelligent Machines To Battle In First AI World Cup Soccer Tournament
- Real-Life Baby Terrifies Outlast 2 Player And Becomes Most-Watched Twitch Clip of All Time
- A Gamer Channel’s Mission: Send the Trolls Packing
- Why Young Men Might Be Playing Video Games Instead of Going to Work: It’s not just that games are more fun.
- Inside the Gaming Library at Gitmo, America’s Controversial Military Prison
- PS3 games are a big deal inside the Guantanamo Bay detention camp: “The Joint Detention Group began providing electronic games to detainees in 2008 to provide mental stimulation as part of the overall mission to ensure humane treatment. As technology evolved, systems were upgraded from the Nintendo to the PS3 between 2011 and 2012.”
- ‘Ready Player One’ Film Gets First Teaser Trailer
- How would the Affordable Care Act repeal impact independent developers?
- Level up: How video games evolved to solve significant scientific problems: Science, your chance to use all that time spent gaming for the greater good.
- DIGRA ’17 – Proceedings Of The 2017 DIGRA International Conference
DIGITAL
- Nielsen Now Incorporates YouTube TV, Hulu Viewing Into Television Ratings
- Sports streaming app DAZN launches in Canada with all NFL games for $20 a month: Will launch with NFL digital rights, company says more will be added
- Canadian Supreme Court rules against Google in favor of worldwide court orders: The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that Google must remove search results worldwide, dismissing concerns that this may impede freedom of expression for people outside of Canada or inspire other countries to censor speech.
- Canada’s Supreme Court orders Google to de-index site globally, opening door to censorship: Decision is dangerous to free speech and the free flow of online information.
- Google Fights Against Canada’s Order To Change Global Search Results
- Google Files Suit in U.S. Court To Block Enforcement of Canadian Global Takedown Order (Michael Geist)
- Google tells judge: Don’t let Canada force us to alter US search results: Google says Canadian order is “repugnant” to the First Amendment.
- Top European Court To Consider If EU Countries Can Censor The Global Internet
- Google right to be forgotten spat returns to Europe’s top court: French privacy watchdog demands global scrub of certain links—Google says “non.”
- Clock ticking on Google as $2.7 billion fine takes bite out of earnings: Parent company Alphabet has yet to lodge an appeal against the EU’s penalty.
- Google Finds And Blocks Spyware Linked To Cyberarms Group
- Google’s been running a secret test to detect bogus ads — and its findings should make the industry nervous
- Has Google paid off an army of academic researchers?
- Judge: Waymo may be in “a world of trouble” if it can’t prove actual harm by Uber – Ex-Waymo engineer Anthony Levandowski can be called to testify at trial, judge adds.
- Ontario Court of Appeal Confirms That Online Newspapers Are Still “Newspapers”
- Backpage.com Sues Missouri Attorney General: Website claims AG’s investigation is barred by the Communications Decency Act
- Copyright Case Over Richard Prince Instagram Show to Go Forward
- Appropriation Artist Can’t Win Fair Use Defense on Motion to Dismiss–Graham v. Prince
- Donald Graham’s Copyright Infringement Suit against Richard Prince Allowed to Go Forward
- Wikimedia Sweden loses case as court rules against free access to public art online
- Terrible Ruling Allows Untied To Keep Its Domain But Not Its Soul
- A German pirate just saved our right to take public selfies
- Twitter Working to Limit Fake Stories, Accounts
- Twitter says it’s making progress battling abusive behavior: The social network says users have encountered significantly less harassment in the past six months.
- How Twitter Fuels Anxiety: The anxious can often find a supportive community through tweeting, but the nature of the social media site can exacerbate symptoms.
- Twitter’s stock plunges as user growth stalls: Trump made Twitter more prominent than ever, yet profits are elusive.
- President Trump sued for blocking dissenting Twitter accounts free speech irony alert
- Trump’s New Communications Director Might Want to Delete These Tweets Too
- Exaggerated Claims And Out Of Context Tweets Used By Political Hopeful To Slap Restraining Order On Critic
- Court Can’t Ban Resident From Discussing HOA Online–Fox v. Hamptons at MetroWest Condos (Eric Goldman)
- How to get free US military weapons—build fake website and DOD will oblige: The “internal control processes for this program were really broken,” GAO says.
- United States lifts laptop and electronics ban from Middle East flights: Developers and games firms from the region now able to bring the equipment they need into US
- How Breitbart media’s disinformation created the paranoid, fact-averse nation that elected Trump: Democrats and progressives turned to wider and more reputable sources
- New Dot-Sucks Websites Troll Trump: Trump can’t buy up all the new anti-Trump websites ending in .sucks, .wtf, .fail
- Is Social Media Becoming the New Speech Governors?
- GDPR – Age Of Digital Consent
- New book explores how protesters—and governments—use Internet tactics: The protest frontiers are changing. An entrenched researcher explains why they work.
- Apple must pay $506M for infringing university’s patent: University of Wisconsin may collect $4.35 apiece for millions of iPads and iPhones.
- Qualcomm, feeling the squeeze as Apple and iPhone manufacturers cut off royalties, moves to the offensive
- The dramatic details of Steve Jobs’ life are playing out in a new opera: A time-hopping stage production about some of Jobs’ seminal life moments.
- Using a blockchain doesn’t exempt you from securities regulations: A $150 million Ethereum crowdfunding project broke the law, SEC says.
- Officials arrest suspect in $4 billion Bitcoin money laundering scheme: Bitcoin’s decentralized architecture makes it popular with criminal groups.
- Troops, Trolls and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation
- The Chinese Language as a Weapon: How China’s Netizens Fight Censorship
- Global Police Spring A Trap On Thousands Of Dark Web Users
- DOJ announces official takedown of AlphaBay, world’s largest Dark Web market: AlphaBay was “10 times the size of Silk Road,” according to the FBI.
- Family of dead AlphaBay suspect says he was a “good boy”: Alexandre Cazes, 26, also apparently spent a lot of time in a “pickup artist” forum.
- We Found Rep. Blake Farenthold’s Early ’90s Internet Message Board Posts
- Online Terrorist Propaganda: France and UK Put Internet Giants in the Cross-Hairs
- Our Minds Have Been Hijacked By Our Phones. Tristan Harris Wants To Rescue Them
- How AI Is Already Changing Business
- The Business Of Artificial Intelligence: What it can — and cannot — do for your organization
- Is Anyone Home? A Way to Find Out If AI Has Become Self-Aware: It’s not easy, but a newly proposed test might be able to detect consciousness in a machine
- The Rise Of AI Is Forcing Google And Microsoft To Become Chipmakers
- Elon Musk: Mark Zuckerberg’s understanding of AI is “limited”: Tech billionaires have differing views on where AI will take humankind.
- Zuckerberg and Musk are both wrong about AI: During an impromptu Facebook Live interview, Zuck said there’s no doomsday coming.
- Beijing Wants A.I. to Be Made in China by 2030
- AI Fight Club Could Help Save Us from a Future of Super-Smart Cyberattacks: The best defense against malicious AI is AI.
- Silicon Valley’s First Founder Was Its Worst
- Why Hollywood Studios Are Slow to Embrace Virtual Reality – VR Special Report: “The big elephant in the room is – How do you monetize this?” one analyst tells TheWrap
- Is the future VR … or AR?: Google VR boss Clay Bavor explains why the two technologies aren’t so different on the latest Too Embarrassed to Ask.
- Google Tests Interactive Learning with VR Espresso Machine, “People learned faster and better in VR”
- VR Ads Are Almost Here. Don’t Act Surprised
- Are You Prepared for the Legal Issues of Augmented Reality?
- Fullscreen Unveils Co-Viewing Feature Called ‘Watch Party’
- Celebrity Influencers Continue to Flout FTC Disclosure Rules
- Take A Trip To Los Angeles’ New Internet Celebrity Summer Camp: As viral fame becomes more attainable, summer camps may be the next classroom for kids
- Instagram Is Pushing Restaurants To Be Kitschy, Colorful, And Irresistible To Photographers
- Diminishing Returns: Online advertising’s dependence on surprise accelerates its own instability
- The human insights missing from big data
- A NASA Research Center Is Uploading 500 Archival Videos To YouTube
- After Alphabet Earnings Report, Analyst Estimates YouTube’s Stock Value At $75 Billion
- Why Adam Silver Was Against Suing Over NBA Highlights On YouTube
- YouTube TV Launches in 10 New Markets, Including Houston, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
- YouTube Will Now Redirect Searches For Extremist Videos To Anti-Terrorist Playlists
- Kodi magazine ‘directs readers to pirate content’
- MGM’s ‘Stargate’ To Get Its Own SVOD Service, And The Niche Get Nicher
- Adobe Is Finally Killing Flash (For Real, This Time)
- Snapchat is doing a daily news show with NBC
- Oxygen To Promote New True Crime Series By Letting Reddit Users Question Famous Jurors
- Korea’s 3 Largest Broadcasters Launch U.S. Streaming Service For K-Dramas, K-Pop
- Summer of Samsung: A Corruption Scandal, a Political Firestorm—and a Record Profit: A year after the exploding phones, Samsung is embroiled in the mess that brought down South Korea’s president. How is it still thriving?
- Mobile Video Ad Spend To Surpass Computer Spend For First Time Next Year (Report)
- Intel shuts down group working on wearables and fitness trackers: We probably won’t see any more wearables coming from Intel.
- Inside Cuba’s D.I.Y. Internet Revolution
- Where Is Hollywood Looking For Its Next Hit? Podcasts
- Podcasts Are Awesome But Are They A Business?
- Musicals (Yes, Musicals) Are About To Shake Up Podcasting
- Electronic music superhero Aphex Twin unearths massive, free music vault: Includes hours of never-before-released beats over past 20-plus years.
- Who owns Snopes? Fracas over fact-checking site now front and center: Snopes’ parent company was split—one half may be held by 5 men, or a single company.
- The Wearables Giving Computer Vision To The Blind
- Forget About Fake Artists – It’s Time To Talk About Fake Streams.
- RIP Microsoft Paint. Thanks For All The Hideous Doodles
- Windows Paint is now officially not getting updated any more
- How Bots Bested the $1 Billion Sneaker Resale Industry
- The manipulative tricks tech companies use to capture your attention
- Culture for a digital age: Risk aversion, weak customer focus, and siloed mind-sets have long bedeviled organizations. In a digital world, solving these cultural problems is no longer optional.
- The right of communication to the public … in a chart (Eleonora Rosati)
- The CJEU Pirate Bay Judgment and Its Impact on the Liability of Online Platforms (Eleonora Rosati)
- Defamation Law in the Internet Age (Background Papers from the Law Commission of Ontario)
- Intellectual Property in the New Technological Age: 2017 Volume I: Perspectives, Trade Secrets & Patents (Peter S. Menell Mark A. Lemley Robert P. Merges)
CREATIVITY
- China Banned Winnie The Pooh for Looking Like President Xi
- China Bans Justin Bieber
- Students Deeply Concerned With Federal Court Ruling Against York University
- U15Group of Research Universities Statement on Sustainable Publishing
- The York University Case: Crisis in Copyright Law
- Access Copyright v. York University – Some Important Comments and Questions from Prof. Ariel Katz (Howard Knopf)
- Access Copyright v. York University: An Anatomy of a Predictable But Avoidable Loss (Ariel Katz)
- Access vs York: Fair Dealing is for everybody
- Why Fair Dealing Is Not Destroying Canadian Publishing (Michael Geist)
- Jammin Java to Pay IP Damages to Marley Family
- U2 Seeks Dismissal of “The Fly” Infringement Suit
- Ninth Circuit: Federal Copyright Pre-empts California Publicity Right
- Palin v. The New York Times Co.: Newspaper Mounts Robust Defense to Defamation Lawsuit
- Vegetarian Ethiopian Cookbook Copyright Lawsuit Turns Sour–Schleifer v. Berns
- Anti-Logging Ad Protected by First Amendment: An environmental group’s anti-logging advertisement was protected by the First Amendment, the Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled, and the Port of Portland failed to meet the “heavy burden” necessary to prohibit the ad from being displayed at the Portland International Airport.
- Native Americans End Trademark Dispute With Redskins
- After Supreme Court Decision, People Race To Trademark Racially Offensive Words
- Olive Garden Asks Olive Garden Reviewer Not To Refer To Olive Garden Due To Trademarks
- Man ridicules Olive Garden’s demand letter over trademark dispute: “If you are asking me to simply add TradeMark® Symbols™ I must also decline.”
- Olive Garden apologizes to AllOfGarden blog, offers $50 gift card: “We’ve reached resolution / I received absolution.”
- San Diego Comic Con Gets Gag Order On Salt Lake Comic Con
- Microsoft’s secret weapon in ongoing struggle against Fancy Bear? Trademark law: “Redirecting…Strontium domains will directly disrupt current Strontium infrastructure.”
- Why are celebrities trade marking their children’s names?
- Two Dead on a Tom Cruise Movie Shoot: A Plane Crash in Colombia, Lawsuits and a Survivor Speaks Out
- Moneyball for Dead Celebs: This $5 Billion Business Sells Elvis and Michael Jackson – Authentic Brands, which also owns Muhammad Ali and Marilyn Monroe, values dead celebs on their social media presence and the spending power of their fans.
- Dave Chappelle On Comedy And Politics In The Age Of President Trump
- The TV That Created Donald Trump: Rewatching “The Apprentice,” the show that made his Presidency possible.
- Rock on! Hand gestures as trade marks
- The Life of a Song: ‘Ice Ice Baby’: The problems started with the single’s huge success (it was rap’s first Billboard number one)
- Wonder Woman Passes Guardians Vol. 2 To Become Summer 2017’s Highest-Grossing Movie At Domestic Box Office
- We Live In The Peak TV World ‘Mad Men’ Created Ten Years Ago
- How “Game Of Thrones” Feeds Its Own Thinkpiece Industry: In the era of peak TV, the thinkpiece as a tool to keep us watching has never been more effective.
- MTV Isn’t What It Used To Be: MTV used to be closely in tune with youth culture, creating cultural phenomena instead of merely covering them. Now, it looks like they’re just trying to catch up.
- A Balancing Act: Fair Use and Creative Content
- Courtesy Paratexts: Informal Publishing Norms and the Copyright Vacuum in Nineteenth-Century America (Robert Spoo)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- $89 Billion AT&T, Time Warner Merger Approval Looking Likely Despite Trump Pledge To Block Deal
- Has Trump Turned CNN Into A House Of Existential Dread?: After relentless attacks from Trump and his allies, a series of journalistic problems, and in the shadow of a possible merger, the network’s C.E.O., Jeff Zucker, is feeling the heat. “I think there’s a real chance that Zucker is being forced out,” said one employee. “That’s going to blow up this organization like nothing in the history of CNN.”
- Break up the cable monopolies? Democrats propose new competition laws: Democrats’ plan would “break up big companies if they’re hurting consumers.”
- FCC has no documentation of DDoS attack that hit net neutrality comments: Records request denied because FCC made no “written documentation” of attack.
- FCC Won’t Release Data To Support Its Claim A DDOS Attack, Not John Oliver, Brought Down The Agency’s Website
- The FCC Is Full of S–t
- Senator Wyden Argues FCC Is Either Incompetent Or Lying About Alleged DDoS Attack
- Senator blasts FCC for refusing to provide DDoS analysis: FCC is either too secretive or is unprepared for future attacks, senator says.
- Why Net Neutrality Matters Even In The Age Of Oligopoly
- FCC Chair Ajit Pai Can’t Come Up With a Single Plausible Reason Not to Screw Up the Entire US Internet
- Democrat asks FCC chair if anything can stop net neutrality rollback: Ajit Pai ignoring evidence that net neutrality helps businesses, lawmaker says.
- Lawsuit seeks Ajit Pai’s net neutrality talks with Internet providers: FCC accused of not complying with FoIA request for Pai’s talks with ISPs.
- Net neutrality faceoff: Congress summons ISPs and websites to hearing – Lawmaker schedules hearing with goal of replacing FCC’s net neutrality rules.
- FTC Staff Supports FCC’s Proposal to Reverse Broadband Enforcement Authority
- Senator Doesn’t Buy FCC Justification For Killing Popular Net Neutrality Protections
- Verizon accused of throttling Netflix and YouTube, admits to “video optimization”: Verizon claims mobile video experience not affected; some customers disagree.
- Verizon Now Says That Throttling Video Is Totally Cool
- Verizon accused of violating net neutrality rules by throttling video: FCC has no comment on petition to investigate Verizon slowing video to 10Mbps.
- Verizon Says It Was Totally Just Testing How to Throttle Video
- Lawsuits Pile Up For CenturyLink After Years Of Bogus Fees, Fraudulent Billing
- Commissioner O’Rielly Again Targets Pirate Broadcasters and Their Supporters to Walk the Enforcement Plank
- A short history of the right-wing politics of Sinclair Broadcasting
- The Sinclair Revolution Will Be Televised. It’ll Just Have Low Production Values: Small-time management is getting in the way of big ideas at the conservative broadcaster.
- When everything else fails, amateur radio will still be there—and thriving: Ham is now a full-fat fabric that can provide Internet access. Why aren’t you using it?
- The State of Traditional TV: Updated With Q1 2017 Data
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- NAFTA talks: U.S. proposal for cross-border data storage at odds with B.C., N.S. law: U.S. challenging provincial privacy rules that require personal information to be stored on domestic servers
- Calls grow for Canada to modernize privacy laws amid EU changes
- 66 Of Donald Trump’s Pre-Presidential YouTube Videos Have Been Made Private
- Moscow’s cyber-defense: How the Russian government plans to protect the country from the coming cyberwar
- Exclusive: Russia used Facebook to try to spy on Macron campaign – sources
- As Cyberattacks Destabilize The World, The State Department Turns A Blind Eye
- NZ judge: Our spies surveilled Kim Dotcom for 2 months longer than admitted – “The US extradition case is dying. And someone is going to pay for this mess.”
- Surveillance Used To Give Poor Students Extra Financial Assistance Discreetly. Is That OK?
- All Quiet On The Tech Front As The Clock Ticks Down On Section 702 Renewal
- The failure of police body cameras: Video was supposed to help hold police accountable. But it hasn’t lived up to much of the hype.
- Ashley Madison Class Accord Raises Question: How Do You Find Claimants Who Don’t Want to Be Found?
- Politician Uses Bad Cyberharassment Law To Shut Down Critic; Critic Hoping To Have Law Struck Down
- Court Rejects Cell Site RF Signal Map In Murder Trial Because It’s Evidence Of Nothing
- Scientists are now using Wi-Fi to read human emotions
- How Smart Devices Could Violate Your Privacy: With everything from speakers to water meters sending information to the cloud, a murder trial is testing the boundaries of privacy at home
- Turn Off Your Push Notifications. All Of Them
- Seeing Like a Network: Don’t call it threat modeling
Jon
News of the Week; July 19, 2017
GAMES
- Tackling mobile’s “game cloning” issue: Riot Games is trying to prevent League of Legends being ripped off by a cloning outfit, but is there more that store operators could do to protect creators?
- Moonton Responds To Copyright Infringement Suit From Riot Games By Threatening The Press With Lawsuits
- Pixelmon Minecraft mod shut down: The Pokémon Company’s intervention signals the end for the popular mod
- Copyright dispute sees River City Ransom: Underground temporarily pulled from Steam – Composer Alex Mauer claims Conatus Creative used her music without permission, Conatus say Mauer claims are false
- RCR: Underground changes soundtrack to avoid “false” DMCA takedown – “Being legally right is only half the story,” developer says of “wrongful claim.”
- Capcom Manually DMCAs English Translation Of Ace Attorney Game Not Available In English
- Zynga apologizes for random DLC pricing experiment: Publisher charged players between $5 and $35 for Fast and the Furious tie-in car in CSR Racing 2
- Struck by scammers, Itch.io eyes stronger safeguards for devs
- Itch.io changes policy in wake of pirated games scam: Open marketplace adapts after users report ersatz indie games being sold in store
- Oculus and Marvel Announce New Rift Co-op Title ‘Powers United VR’
- Oculus moving on from investing in smaller VR projects: VR market can now support small and mid-sized teams, Oculus now prefers multi-million dollar investments
- Disney targets virtual and augmented reality with Marvel, Star Wars games: Entertainment behemoth partners with Lenovo to create its own headset
- Rift Sale Eases Buyer’s #1 Concern, But All-in Cost Still Hinders Mainstream Traction
- VR criticism “a little unfair” – Fargo
- Mel Slater’s Theory of VR Presence vs an Elemental Theory of Presence
- Swery: There’s no guarantee any game will sell in Japan
- Mario Kart becomes the first Nintendo property to come to VR: …but you’ll have to go to a Japanese arcade to play it for now.
- Splatoon 2 redeems the most clever online shooter series in years: We have a lot to say about Nintendo finally getting an online game (mostly) right.
- Crash Bandicoot remaster cut corners on the freaking jump button: Frank admission from developer seems to imply that it won’t be fixed.
- Overwatch League faces uphill battle to profitability – Pachter: Wedbush analyst cites spectator unfriendliness, reliance on Twitch among factors that could hamper Activision Blizzard’s esports efforts
- Patriots, Mets and NetEase among first Overwatch League team owners: Five of the seven teams will be in the US, as well as one in Seoul and one in Shanghai
- Esports College Course Offered Since ‘People Learn Best When At Play’
- Games software/hardware over $150B in 2017, $200B by 2021, record $2.8B invested
- Games business worth $200 billion by 2021 – Digi-Capital: Firm says this year will see hardware and software drive $150 billion in revenues, but it’s become a “two speed market”
- Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds tops GTA V on concurrent Steam users: PUBG is now fourth on the list of highest concurrent player numbers, right behind Fallout 4
- Battlegrounds Streamer’s Suspension Provokes Candid Explanation From PlayerUnknown
- ESPN Makes Street Fighter Player Change Character’s Thong Due to ‘Broadcast Standards’
- Playdemic’s Golf Clash generates $1.1m in a single day: Studio aims to reap revenues of over $100m by the end of the year
- Ubisoft’s sales are more than 80% digital: No new major releases in Q1, but overall sales still climbed 45% for the French publisher
- Ubisoft thanks player engagement for growth during an otherwise quiet Q1
- Highmark raises $2m for games that battle brain disease: Canadian start-up’s oversubscribed seed round attracts investors, studio also names new CFO
- The state of Mac gaming: WWDC 2017 gave onlookers new hope (Metal 2!), but Mac gaming still lags despite growth.
- Ataribox retro mini-console plays current and classic games: Atari follows in footsteps of Nintendo’s NES Mini and SNES Mini—but with a twist.
- Ataribox will be similar to NES Classic: There will be a focus on delivering classic Atari content, but unlike Nintendo, new content will be offered as well
- New Atari Console Will Bring “Current Gaming Content” As Well As Classic Titles: “Our objective is to create a new product that stays true to our heritage while appealing to both old and new fans of Atari.”
- As UK retailer GAME struggles, Sports Direct snaps up 26% stake
- Sports Direct buys large stake in struggling GAME: Retail billionaire Mike Ashley takes almost 26% in the retailer
- Why does Sports Direct want GAME?: The retail giant now owns almost 26% of the UK High Street chain
- Early game dev Carol Shaw donates dev docs to Women in Games exhibit
- Highmark Interactive nets $2M to create games that fight brain disease
- Netflix’s Castlevania Is The Future Of Videogame Adaptations
- How an indie game became the star of a Nine Inch Nails music video
- Doom’s cover art had one secret – and John Romero just spilled it: Co-creator John Romero’s random trivia reveal spoils a Bethesda season-pass giveaway.
- “Games are the largest provider of critical thinking education in the world”: Improbable’s Oliver Lewis and Nick Button-Brown want to unlock the potential of games as an antidote for “fake news, bias and extremism”
- Rez’s Mizuguchi: Now ‘it’s possible, genuinely, to movepeople’ with games – “A long time ago there were no colors, just dots on a screen, bleep sounds. Now, we can express so much more, combining so many elements, and it’s possible, genuinely, to move people.”
DIGITAL
- NAFTA Intellectual Property Talks Should Be Wary of Big Data Impacts: Expanding intellectual property protection may stifle innovation and harm the public interest (Teresa Scassa)
- My NAFTA Consultation Comments: Promoting Canadian Interests in the IP and E-commerce Chapters (Michael Geist)
- Russian man who helped create notorious malware sentenced to 5 years: – DOJ: Citadel led to $500 million in losses for banks.
- Vladimir Putin Cut From Two Upcoming Hollywood Movies
- When Do Review Websites Commit Extortion?–Icon Health v. ConsumerAffairs (Eric Goldman)
- Creators Who Lost Revenue During “Adpocalypse” Seek Class Action Lawsuit Against YouTube
- Jake Paul’s Neighbors Hate Him And Are Considering A Class Action Lawsuit
- American YouTuber ‘My Mate Nate’ In Legal Trouble For Thailand Railroad Stunt
- Lilly Singh Named First UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador From The Digital Space
- Daenerys Targaryen Is The Most Popular ‘Game Of Thrones’ Character…On YouTube
- Google responds to academic funding controversy – with a GIF
- Correction to an article on Google’s academic influence
- The Ethics of Funded Research & the Ethics of Whistleblowing
- How (Not) to Buy an Academic
- All Out Of Ideas, Legacy News Providers Ask US Gov’t For The Right To Collude Against Google & Facebook
- Google Glass is Back, Glass ‘Enterprise Edition’ Unveiled
- Google Glass 2.0 Is A Startling Second Act
- Google’s New Feeds Show You The Internet You Want To See
- Korean defectors show locations of mass graves using Google Earth: NGO creates maps to guide future investigation of crimes against humanity.
- Defense of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop offers case study on how to sell snake oil: While trying to hammer a medical blogger, Goop nails the best ways to sell BS.
- 70-Year-Old ‘Grandma’ Is Making Serious Waves Within South Korea’s YouTube Scene
- Insights: In An Escher-esque Turn Of Events, Newspapers Need Antitrust Exemption To Deal With Google’s Antitrust Power
- The Biggest Dark Web Takedown Yet Sends Black Markets Reeling
- Two judges smack down notorious patent holder “Shipping and Transit” in one week: More than 300 lawsuits, more than 800 payouts, but not one decision on the merits.
- EFF has appealed the W3C’s decision to make DRM for the web without protections
- Germany Obliges Social Media Companies to Delete Hate Speech
- Nearly 90,000 Sex Bots Invaded Twitter in ‘One of the Largest Malicious Campaigns Ever Recorded on a Social Network’
- Twitter’s Never Going To Ban Donald Trump
- Trump’s Policies Are Sending Precious Startup Jobs To Canada
- As a Guru, Ayn Rand May Have Limits. Ask Travis Kalanick.
- VC Firms Promise To Stamp Out Sexual Harassment. Sounds Familiar
- 22,000 People Agree to Clean Toilets for WiFi Because They Didn’t Read the Terms
- Even Teenagers Are Creeped Out by Snapchat’s New Map Feature
- Snapchat Teams Up With Formula 1 for Grand Prix Stories
- Formula 1 Shares ‘Great Moment’ With Snap Inc. To Attract Millennials
- Watch a Woman Destroy $200,000 Worth of Art While Taking a Selfie
Asia’s Online Video Market to Hit $46 Billion by 2022, Dwarfing Theatrical - Netflix surges to record high as company adds non-US subscribers: There are now more people streaming Netflix outside the US than domestically.
- Netflix Blasts Past Expectations By Adding 5.2 Million New Subscribers In Second Quarter Of 2017
- Netflix Content Assets Valued at $11 Billion — More Than Time Warner, Viacom, Discovery, AMC
- Safeguarding Safe Harbors
- Focus: Social media evidence plays important role in litigation
- The First Alexa Phone Gets Amazon Even Closer To Total Domination
- Amazon Bursts Blue Apron’s Bubble, As The Market Checks Tech’s Hype
- At This Point, Amazon Can Crush a Company Just By Filing for a Trademark
- Pressure mounting for US government to examine Amazon-Whole Foods accord: On campaign trail, Donald Trump said Amazon had “a huge antitrust problem.”
- Chatbot lawyer, which contested £7.2M in parking tickets, now offers legal help for 1,000+ topics: DoNotPay has expanded to cover the UK and all 50 US states. Free legal help for everyone!
- A Son’s Race To Give His Dying Father Artificial Immortality
- Elon Musk’s Freak-Out Over Killer Robots Distracts From Our Real AI Problems
- Pocket brains: Neuromorphic hardware arrives for our brain-inspired algorithms – IBM’s TrueNorth helps usher in design that could again get around Moore’s Law limits.
- Blockchain for the humanitarian sector
- The Curious Comeback Of The Dreaded QR Code
- Scrap dealer finds Apollo-era NASA computers in dead engineer’s basement: Plus hundreds of mystery tapes from Pioneer and Helios probe missions.
- #engage it’s time for judges to tweet, like, & share
CREATIVITY
- Federal Court finds University’s Fair Dealing Guidelines Are Not So Fair. When is Fair Foul, and Foul Fair?
- Access Copyright v. York U – And All Eyes Over to York U for What’s Next
- Ignoring the Supreme Court: Federal Court Judge Hands Access Copyright Fair Dealing Victory (Michael Geist)
- Donald Graham’s Copyright Infringement Suit against Richard Prince Allowed to Go Forward
- Canadian Rapper Sends Rap Video Cease & Desist Letter To Coca Cola For ‘Jacking’ His Catchphrase
- Copyright Madness: Blurred Lines Mess Means Artists Now Afraid To Name Their Inspirations
- Latest EU Parliament Votes On Copyright: Give Big Corporations More Copyright
- Animal rights? Monkey selfie case may undo evolution of the Internet – Analysis: PETA’s quest for animals to own property is no laughing matter.
- Monkey selfie photographer says he’s broke: ‘I’m thinking of dog walking’ – David Slater has been fighting for years over who has the copyright to photos taken by monkeys using his camera, and says he’s struggling as a result
- George Romero, Zombies… And The Public Domain
- How the Guy Who Played Jar Jar Binks Survived the Fandom Menace
- No One Looks Good in the Ugly Drama Surrounding Kermit the Frog’s Firing
- Freedom of panorama in Italy: does it exist? (Eleonora Rosati)
- 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 1 – Trademarks, Keyword Ads (Eric Goldman)
- 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 4 – Copyright, Patent, More (Eric Goldman)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Government to name industry veteran Ian Scott as new head of the CRTC: The government will name Ian Scott as chairman and Caroline Simard as vice-chair of broadcasting
- White House gives thumbs up to overturning net neutrality rules: Congress should replace the FCC’s Title II rules, Trump spokesperson says.
- FCC refuses to release text of more than 40,000 net neutrality complaints: Ajit Pai says there’s no net neutrality problem—but keeps complaints under wraps.
- Ajit Pai not concerned about number of pro-net neutrality comments: Two million new pro-net neutrality comments claimed by “Day of Action” organizers.
- Senator Wyden To FCC Chair Pai: Hey, Stop Lying About What I Said To Undermine Net Neutrality
- Our Net Neutrality Comments To The FCC: We Changed Our Mind, You Can Too
- Comcast says net neutrality supporters “create hysteria”: Comcast, Verizon, and CenturyLink counter pro-net neutrality “Day of Action.”
- Comcast accuses net neutrality advocates of not “living in the real world”: Anyone who denies harm from Title II rules is denying reality, Comcast says.
- Comcast: We Must Kill Net Neutrality To Help The Sick And Disabled
- A Comcast billing nightmare affects woman caring for her sick father: “People with sick or dying family members should never have to go through this.”
- Comcast/NBC Caught Intentionally Misspelling Show Names To Help Hide Sagging Nielsen Ratings
- Charter Spectrum ‘Competes’ With New $20 Streaming TV Service Featuring $6 In Entirely Bogus Fees
- Openreach faces regulatory action if BT split fails to spur broadband market: Decent speeds and right service to meet consumer needs are on Ofcom’s list of demands.
- Sixth Circuit Blocks ‘Junk Fax’ Class Action Under Telephone Consumer Protection Act
- Any Changes to Radio Station Ownership Cap Rule Likely to Come from Courts, Not Congress
- EFF Highlights How ISPs Are Lying To Californians To Try And Kill New Broadband Privacy Protections
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Appeals court OKs secrecy of FBI national security data requests: Targets of NSLs can’t challenge them because ISPs can’t tell the target about them.
- Appeals Court Agrees Government Can Tell NSL Recipients To STFU Indefinitely
- Ashley Madison Parent Company to Pay $11.2 Million to Data Breach ‘Victims’
- Lawyers score big in settlement for Ashley Madison cheating site data breach: Members who paid $19 for their data to be deleted (it wasn’t) might get a refund.
- French court refers ‘right to be forgotten’ dispute to top EU court
- Facebook Persistent Tracking Lawsuit Crashes Again
- Security experts from Google, Facebook, Crowdstrike want to save US elections: “Defending Digital Democracy” will “generate innovative ideas” to safeguard democracy.
- Hack Brief: A Myspace Security Flaw Let Anyone Take Over Any Account, No Biggie
- Private Data Of 6 Million Verizon Users Left Openly Accessible On The Internet
- Indian ISPs Continue Futile Effort To Prevent Subscribers From Using Decent Encryption
- Privacy International Sues US Government Over Denied Access To Five Eyes Surveillance Agreements
- Government Lawyers Hoping To Keep Leaker’s Lawyers From Talking About Leaked Documents
- US border agents: We won’t search data “located solely on remote servers” – What does that mean in practice? CBP isn’t saying for now.
- White House voter commission publishes names, numbers of worried citizens: Vice president’s spokesman dismisses concerns: “These are public comments.”
- Trump’s Pick For FBI Head Sounds A Lot Like The Guy He Fired When It Comes To Encryption
- Prime Minister Says the Laws of Australia Can Beat the Laws of Math
- Biometrics catches violent fugitive 25 years on the run: Like it or not, facial-recognition tech has become an everyday part of society.
- DHS Goes Biometric, Says Travelers Can Opt Out Of Face Scans By Not Traveling
- DHS Confirms There Will Be More And Greater Intrusiveness During Border Searches
- New Zealand Airports Customs Officials Performing ‘Digital Strip Searches’ Of Travelers’ Electronics
- Not for the first time, Microsoft’s fonts have caught out forgers: If you’re going to pretend a document is from 2006, you should use Times New Roman.
- From Sans Serif To Sans Sharif: #Fontgate Leads To Calls For Pakistan’s Prime Minister To Resign
- Congresswoman’s iPhone contained nude images, and an aide put them online: Staffer allegedly accessed images while taking lawmaker’s phone in for repair.
- California Vote on Internet Privacy Could Have Big Impact on Other States: State law would limit how internet service providers can use customers’ data
- Apple’s Privacy Pledge Complicates Its AI Push
- An Amazon Echo Can’t Call The Police—But Maybe It Should
- IBM’s Plan To Encrypt Unthinkable Amounts Of Sensitive Data
- Reputation Matters: Court of Appeal prohibits Reuters from publishing commercially confidential information – The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Reuters against an injunction granted by the High Court to hedge fund Brevan Howard, which prohibited Reuters from publishing certain commercially confidential information.
- 1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 2 – Privacy, Security (Eric Goldman)
- Averting Robot Eyes (Margot E. Kaminski, Matthew Rueben, William Smart, Cindy Grimm)
Jon
News of the Week; July 12, 2017
GAMES
- Singer Suing Bethesda Over Use Of His Music In “Repugnant” Fallout 4 Commercial: The musician finds the ads to be “repugnant and morally indefensible.”
- Riot files suit against alleged League of Legends mobile clone maker
- Riot Games suing Chinese developer behind League of Legends clone: Lawsuit is reportedly the third time Shanghai Moonton has infringed Riot’s IP
- Making game development global again: Meet the Syrian and Iranian developers making an opportunity of Donald Trump’s travel ban – with a little help from Unity
- Still under threat of Vivendi takeover, Ubisoft aims to expand its board
- Most of Japan’s top-selling 2017 games are on Nintendo platforms
- Nintendo rules out move into PC publishing: Mobile push was made to help expand the console business, president Tatsumi Kimishima said
- Nintendo first-party line-up designed to inspire third-party studios: Company says Zelda, Mario Kart 8, Arms and Mario Odyssey show developers what is possible on Switch
- How Nintendo is using first-party Switch games to inspire third-party devs: “It was important to have these three very different [launch games] to be able to transmit to the people the originality of the console.”
- Nintendo could have supported Super FX long before the SNES Classic: Despite rumors, Nintendo always had the rights to the chip’s architecture.
- Bootleg NES Classics flood market to fill demand that Nintendo won’t: Convincing fakes differ from the real thing only in small details.
- Where are all the Nintendo Switch game ports?: Despite healthy hardware sales, plenty of big-name games aren’t making the switch.
- What developers are saying about the design of Nintendo’s Arms
- Nintendo Switch finally has a streaming video app, and it works—kind of: Comes from Japan’s popular Niconico video service, but it works in any region.
- Players appreciate variety over high performance, argues Miyamoto
- Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app launching July 21
- How Many Times Has Mario Died? Announcing A Wired Investigation
- Ark: Survival Evolved price increase is “outrageous”, says DayZ creator – RocketWerkz CEO Dean Hall believes Ark is “nowhere near” stable enough for $60 Early Access price and retail release
- Amazon acquires cloud service provider GameSparks – report: Back-end service provider is now part of Amazon Web Services
- Pokémon Go and Plymouth: How games are impacting urban design – Pokémon Go has created a new breed of conscientious urban wanderer; developers and town planners take heed!
- How Pokémon Go has transformed the brand: The mobile game may be past its peak, but its impact is permanent
- Bandai Namco signs publishing deal with Duelyst dev Counterplay
- Sega embraces “grassroots” games-as-a-service: John Clark details organic approach led by studios, focused on communities, and applied to everything from recurring revenue to PC ports
- Former Sega America boss says lack of company support killed the Dreamcast: “[The Dreamcast] was so successful at launch … but the company was just not putting money behind it. We had bankers running it.”
- PS4 games added to PlayStation Now streaming library
- PlayStation Now updated with PS4 game support—and a hint at its future: Ars tests newer games on streaming service, notices some interesting categorization.
- Playstation’s VR Gun Is a Deeply Satisfying New Way to Slaughter Aliens
- ‘Fantastic Contraption’ Gets PSVR Release Date & Price – Exclusive Levels, Native 120 FPS Rendering
- Google Blocks, The Company’s Newest VR Play, Is All About Stuff, Man
- Oculus cuts Rift price for second time this year, now $399 with Touch: Unexpected price slashing raises questions about hardware’s costs, sales, future.
- Oculus’ Jason Rubin: Exclusivity deals won’t stop VR game dev from growing: “I stole a lot from Donkey Kong Country when I made Crash Bandicoot. Insomniac stole a lot from Crash Bandicoot when they made Ratchet & Clank. Including our crates.”
- Is high-end VR a dead end? The Rift, Vive, and PSVR could fall short of success on their own while still securing a brighter future for VR
- “So what the hell is Magic Leap doing?”: At the Develop conference today, Graeme Devine described the pitching process that helped Magic Leap discover the true nature of mixed reality content
- Why Valve’s new SteamVR Knuckles are important for VR
- Steam Greenlight vs. Steam Direct: What indies need to know
- Valve dismisses Steam Direct concern: Alden Krol says “a bunch of low effort, low quality games” aren’t hurting better titles, details changes for discoverability, curators
- Two years in, Steam is Rocket League’s least popular platform
- Valve bans over 40,000 Steam accounts as summer sale entices cheaters: Largest mass banning of accounts in the digital platform’s history
- How One Game Developer Views Steam’s Refund Policy As A Boon In The Face Of Over $4 Million In Refunds
- Game names are getting shorter over time, and other Steam fun facts
- Netflix for indie games: How Jump aims to help devs beat discoverability issues
- Halo backward-compat news may spell death knell for Master Chief Collection: Every Xbox 360 Halo game will soon work on Xbox One, but why the MCC silence?
- The Sleeper Autistic Hero Transforming Video Games
- University of California Irvine will soon offer Overwatch scholarships
- University of California to add Overwatch scholarship: UC Irvine introduced a League of Legends scholarship last year
- DOTA 2 breaks eSports prize pool record again: Over $20.75 million at stake as Valve’s seventh The International tournament surpasses last year’s total with almost a month left to raise more funds
- Athletics, eSports, and tech leaders buy in as Overwatch League names inaugural teams
- Patriots’ Robert Kraft, Mets’ Jeff Wilpon Buy Into Overwatch League
- Gree calls time on Western operations as focus shifts to Japan
- Report: 50 laid off as Gree shutters Melbourne studio
- Netflix’s Castlevania Turns the Video Game Series Into a Bloody Great TV Show
- Minecraft: Education Editionheads up 2017 Games for Change finalists
- Castlevania on Netflix falls one whip short of a good crack: A few quality bits, but bizarre game conversion is somehow too short and too long.
- Could there be a speculative script industry for narrative games?: Falmouth University lecturer and games writer Hannah Wood ponders whether writing can be done upfront for story-driven games
- Video: Lessons learned from citizen science efforts in EVE Online
- Study: Lumosity boosts brain function as much as normal video games – by 0% – But taking cognitive tests repeatedly makes you better at taking cognitive tests.
- What Killed the MMOG?
- 15 Years Later, Here’s Why A Gamer Was Duct-Taped To A Ceiling
DIGITAL
- Over many objections, W3C approves DRM for HTML5: Contentious feature is added, without mandate to protect security researchers.
- Global Web standard for integrating DRM into browsers hits a snag – EFF: Protections needed to “engage in lawful activity that DRM gets in the way of.”
- Tim Berners-Lee Sells Out His Creation: Officially Supports DRM In HTML
- EFF Officially Appeals Tim Berners-Lee Decision On DRM In HTML
- People Would Pay A Hell Of A Lot More If DRM Were Gone
- Head of Mt Gox bitcoin exchange on trial for embezzlement and loss of millions: Mark Karpelès faces up to five years in jail as Japanese authorities press charges in bankruptcy case that lost 850,000 bitcoins and $28m of user money
- Vizio sues Chinese tech giant LeEco over failed merger
- Vizio sues LeEco in the wake of their failed $2 billion deal: It filed two lawsuits seeking $110 million in damages.
- Vizio’s Tolerance for LeEco’s B.S. Has Come to an End
- Court Refuses to Dismiss Photojournalist’s Complaint Against Clothing Company for DMCA Violation
- Court Says DMCA Safe Harbors Disappear Once Infringing Images Are Printed On Physical Items
- Here’s the brutal reality of online hate: Death threats. Mutilated animals. Damnation. The victims of online hatred share their experiences.
- Why Protecting The Free Press Requires Protecting Trump’s Tweets
- The Great Firewall Of China Grows Stronger As China Forces App Stores To Remove VPNs
- China’s Surveillance Plans Include 600 Million CCTV Cameras Nationwide, And Pervasive Facial Recognition
- China Bans Online Videos Showing Homosexuality And Activists & Communist Youth League Are Outraged
- Yelp, Twitter and Facebook Aren’t State Actors–Quigley v. Yelp (Eric Goldman)
- News industry decries Facebook’s “digital duopoly,” wants government help: Newspapers “forced to surrender their content” want to team up and negotiate.
- Free Speech Fans Sue Donald Trump for Blocking Them on Twitter
- Twitter users blocked by Trump sue, claim @realDonaldTrump is public forum: Lawsuit adopts a unique constitutional theory about social media rights.
- Social media driving risky behaviour in Lynn Canyon, North Shore mountains
- Supreme Court of Canada Upholds Order for Google to Block Search Results Globally
- No, The Canadian Supreme Court Did Not Ruin the Internet
- Court Won’t Let Patent Troll Dismiss Its Way Out Of A Lawsuit, Orders It To Pay Legal Fees
- Study: Dutch Piracy Rates In Free Fall Due Mostly To The Availability Of Legal Alternatives
- Pirate Bay Re-enters List of 100 Most Popular Sites on the Internet
- There Is An Easy Answer To Whether Machines Should Get Copyright Rights And It Comes Down To Copyright’s Purpose
- Could a Robot Be President?: Yes, it sounds nuts. But some techno-optimists really believe a computer could make better decisions for the country—without the drama and shortsightedness we accept from our human leaders.
- Waymo drops most of its patent case against Uber: Judge questioned whether Waymo’s patent case is “worth the salt.”
- Waymo v. Uber: Alphabet CEO Larry Page will be deposed – Also, Uber’s attempt to get documents from competitor Lyft gets squashed.
- Responding to the “Campaign for Accountability” report on academic research
- Setting the record straight on WSJ Google “Paying Professors” Article
- You should be outraged at Google’s anti-competitive behavior
- There Are Only a Few Possibilities for the Future of News
- Press Association wins Google grant to run news service written by computers: News agency gets €706,000 to use AI for creation of up to 30,000 local stories a month in partnership with Urbs Media
- A Blueprint For Coexistence With Artificial Intelligence
- Latest experiments reveal AI is still terrible at naming paint colors: Or maybe Janelle Shane’s neural network is secretly making fun of humanity?
- Prince’s Music Videos Hit YouTube
- Wiz Khalifa’s See You Again is now the most-viewed YouTube video of all time
- Valuable Branded Posts Make Stephen Curry Top NBA Player On Social
- Native Advertising, Influencers, And Endorsements: Where Is the Line Between Integrated Content And Deceptively Formatted Advertising?
- Facebook, Snapchat could pay millions for World Cup 2018 highlight rights: Where will you watch clips from the biggest soccer tournament next year?
- Nothing Bums Me Out Like Scott Walker’s Instagram Feed
- Microsoft to Lay Off an Estimated 3,000 Employees
- Disney Feels The Heat As Children Lead The Cord Cutting Revolution
- Disney Invests in 11 Tech and Media Companies for 2017 Accelerator Program
- Struggling for survival, SoundCloud closes San Francisco, London offices: Audio startup has lost over $150M from 2010 through 2015.
- Insights: In The Digital Future, What Do Studios Look Like (If Anything At All)?
- The Technology That Will Make It Impossible for You to Believe What You See: With these techniques, it’s difficult to discern between videos of real people and computerized impostors that can be programmed to say anything.
- Scientists Upload A Galloping Horse Gif Into Bacteria With CRISPR
- Online Harassment 2017: Roughly four-in-ten Americans have personally experienced online harassment, and 62% consider it a major problem. Many want technology firms to do more, but they are divided on how to balance free speech and safety issues online (Pew Research Center)
CREATIVITY
- York University Loses On “Mandatory” Issue And Fair Dealing (Howard Knopf)
- CAUT disappointed with Federal Court copyright ruling against York University
- Did you hear the one about a monkey suing a photographer for infringement?: “Monkey see, monkey sue is not good law.”
- Law banning filming Utah slaughterhouses ruled unconstitutional: “Were the law otherwise,” judge says, Utah could outlaw “creating music videos.”
- The Supreme Court just totally, brilliantly fixed Canada’s long-running patent fiasco
- What’s Next For The Founder Of The Slants, And The Fight Over Racial Slurs
- Three Questions from the Supreme Court’s Decision on “Offensive” Trademarks
- New York State Fails to Extend the Scope of its Right to Publicity Statute
- Bob Murray Demands John Oliver Be Silenced… While HBO Moves Case To Federal Court
- Don’t Let The Alt-Right Fool You: Journalism Isn’t Doxing
- The Guerrilla Journalists Defying Isis One Video At A Time
- House Appropriation Committee Demolishes Hollywood’s Excuses For Moving Copyright Office Out Of Library Of Congress
- State Department concocting “fake” intellectual property “Twitter feud”: “Our public diplomacy office is still settling on a hashtag,” State Department says.
- How “fake news” could get even worse
- Two Wangs Of Ireland Battle Over Trademarks Nobody Will Confuse
- Brooklyn Coffee Shop Locks Unicorn Horns With Starbucks
The diplomatic crisis of Qatar and Gulf Cooperation Council’s IP - Possibly most intense Star Wars v. Star Trek argument ever ends in arrest
- 20 years after ‘Contact’ came out, the rest of pop culture still hasn’t caught up
- Donald Trump Jr.’s Free Speech Defense: It’s as bogus as it sounds.
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Cable TV companies can charge higher prices thanks to new court ruling: Court upholds FCC decision that said cable TV faces competition nationwide.
- Television Station Challenging the Denial of Public Access to an Official Court Recording
- Microsoft Unveils Plan To Deliver Broadband To 2 Million, NAB Immediately Craps All Over The Announcement
- Microsoft wants all of rural America to get high-speed broadband: Microsoft invests in white space networks, offers royalty-free access to patents.
- AT&T Claims Forced Arbitration Isn’t Forced… Because You Can Choose Not To Have Broadband
- Trump Hopes To Use AT&T Time Warner Merger As ‘Leverage’ Over CNN
- White House could use AT&T/Time Warner deal as “leverage” against CNN: AT&T seemingly on track to buy Time Warner despite Trump’s anger at CNN.
- If FCC gets its way, we’ll lose a lot more than net neutrality: Beyond no-blocking rules, Title II plays big role in overall consumer protection.
- Cable lobby conducts survey, finds that Americans want net neutrality: NCTA touts opposition to price caps—which don’t exist for home Internet.
- AT&T Pretends To Love Net Neutrality, Joins Tomorrow’s Protest With A Straight Face
- AT&T joins net neutrality protest—despite suing to block neutrality rules: AT&T joins net neutrality “Day of Action” but wants to overturn Title II rules.
- Telecom Industry Feebly Tries To Deflate Net Neutrality Protest With Its Own, Lame ‘Unlock The Net’ Think Tank Campaign
- Facebook, Google to join net neutrality demonstration
- Facebook, Google Wake Up From Their Coma On The Subject, Join Wednesday’s Massive Net Neutrality Protest
- How Facebook, Google, Netflix, and others supported net neutrality today: See how websites, advocacy groups, and even some ISPs defended net neutrality
- The Who’s Who Of Net Neutrality’s ‘Day Of Action’
- Day Of Action: Sen. Wyden Leads The Battle For Net Neutrality
- How The Internet Showed Up For Net Neutrality Today, From Reddit To Google
- The FCC Insists It Can’t Stop Impostors From Lying About My Views On Net Neutrality
- AMC To Charge Cable Customers $5 More To Avoid Advertisements
- Cable TV companies can charge higher prices thanks to new court ruling: Court upholds FCC decision that said cable TV faces competition nationwide.
- TCPA Jury Award Trebled to $61.3 Million Against Dish Network For Failure to Monitor its Telemarketing Vendor
- NAB Details Radio Stations that Could be Affected by Repacking of the TV Band
- Changes in FCC Rules on Third-Party Fundraising By Noncommercial Stations Effective Now – Except for the New Disclosure and Paperwork Obligations
- Toward an Open and Innovative Internet: What Lies Behind Canada’s Net Neutrality Success Story (Michael Geist)
- Ofcom spectrum auction caps are “kick in the teeth” for consumers—Three UK: Regulator insists new airwaves rules will drive competition in mobile market.
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Federal Appeals Court Rules that There is a First Amendment Right to Record the Police
- Third Circuit Appeals Court Establishes First Amendment Right To Record Police
- Judge denies DOJ effort to halt Twitter lawsuit over national security orders: Twitter wants to be able to say precisely how many secret orders it received.
- Judge Says Twitter Can Move Forward With First Amendment Lawsuit Over NSL Reporting Limitations
- Facebook Back In Court Challenging More Law Enforcement Gag Orders
- FBI didn’t need warrant for stingray in attempted murder case, DOJ says – Prosecutors: “signals emitted from a phone are… not by their nature private.”
- Your Guide To Russia’s Infrastructure Hacking Teams
- Kaspersky under scrutiny after Bloomberg story claims close links to FSB
- Wait, what? Trump proposed a joint “cyber security unit” with Russia: “It’s not the dumbest idea I have ever heard, but it’s pretty close.”
- Trump’s Voter Data Haul Tests the Privacy of Public Records: Just because information is “publicly available” does not mean it is, or should be, widely available.
- Six major US airports now scan Americans’ faces when they leave country – House testimony: “It is important to note that CBP is committed to privacy.”
- China Uses Facial Recognition To Combat Jaywalking
- Apple Opens Data Center in China to Comply With Cybersecurity Law
- Virgin’s CCTV images of Corbyn on “ram-packed” train didn’t break data law: But firm did breach law by exposing faces of passengers travelling on same service.
- Former Head Of GCHQ Says Don’t Backdoor End-To-End Encryption, Attack The End Points
- Comcast, AT&T, WhatsApp all score low on new “Who Has Your Back?” list: EFF’s annual ratings show that the industry’s biggest names have a ways to go.
- Sorry, But You Need To Care About Blac Chyna And Rob Kardashian
- Google Home Breaks Up Domestic Dispute By Calling the Police
- Did an Echo Call 911 During a Domestic Assault? Amazon Says No.
- The Petya Plague Exposes The Threat Of Evil Software Updates
- I Gave Mattel My Email Address to Keep My Child Safe. They Used It to Send Me Spam.
- How to Protect Your Digital Self
- How I learned to stop worrying (mostly) and love my threat model: Reducing privacy and security risks starts with knowing what the threats really are.
- With Bill C-58, the federal government has left the heavy lifting on access to information reform for another day/year/government.
- Personal Liability Under Canada’s Anti-Spam Law
- The Trudeau government redacted the details of its own transparency plan
- Whose Speech Is Chilled by Surveillance?: Women and young people are more likely to self-censor if they think they’re being monitored. (Jonathon Penney)
- The Hidden Force That Will Drive GDPR Privacy Compliance (Daniel Solove)
- ATIA reform Bill creates new relationship between Information and Privacy Commissioners over “personal information” (Teresa Scasa)
Jon
News of the Week; July 5, 2017
GAMES
- Tencent imposing time limits on children to allay addiction fears
- Tencent implements time limits to curb kids’ gaming addictions: Honour of Kings players under 12 restricted to one hour per day, two for under 18s
- Tencent: Honor of Kings restrictions won’t hurt game revenue – “Under 12 years old constitute a small proportion of our total user base and a smaller percentage of our paying user base”
- Halo-inspired fan-game gets conditional thumbs up from Microsoft: Installation 01 can continue to operate as long as it stays non-commercial.
- Report: Xbox One X benchmarks detail 4K capabilities: Some games hit 4K with extra GPU overhead, others struggle with higher resolution.
- Case study: When 2 indie devs come up with very similar concepts
- Indie Developer Finds Game On Torrent Site, Gives Away Free Keys Instead Of Freaking Out
- The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Diversity in games with Anita Sarkeesian: The Feminist Frequency founder on her Tropes series, dealing with the backlash and how developers can explore new stories
- 15-Year-Old’s Reaction To Winning Her First Street Fighter V Tournament Is Everything
- Activision Blizzard: Overwatch League is the most ambitious in eSports history – At Gamelab, MLG founder Mike Sepso opened up about the Overwatch League – “this will be a core part of the future of the eSports business”
- Nickelodeon invests in amateur eSports outfit Super League Gaming
- Nickelodeon enters esports as part of $15m funding round for Super League Gaming: SLG total now at $28m, other investors include DMG Entertainment and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik
- Layoffs as ESL restructures: Jobs lost as world’s largest esports organisation “realigns resources”
- Valve to axe Dota 2 Majors in favour of third-party tournaments: The road to The International 2018 will be handled by third-party tournaments, selected by Valve
- Bioware Shoots Down Mass Effect: Andromeda DLC Cancellation Rumors, But No Single-Player DLC Reportedly Planned
- The Nintendo Switch and the Long Game
- UK retailer GAME issues profit warning as Switch shortage hits hard
- How Super Mario Run’s lackluster sales are changing Nintendo’s mobile strategy
- The game has changed for Nintendo on mobile: Last year smartphones were set to be Nintendo’s saviour; with the successful launch of Switch the calculus has changed
- Nintendo dismisses idea of entering resurgent PC market
- Nintendo Switch arrests Japanese console market decline: Mario Kart 8 was the best-selling Switch game in H12017, beating Zelda despite much later release date
- Super Mario Odyssey will never be ‘Game Over’, according to devs
- Japanese console market grows for the first time in three years
- Amazon UK retroactively imposes one-per-customer SNES Mini limit: Customers who pre-ordered multiple devices have had their orders reduced
- Play Game Boy cartridges on your smartphone with this £60 accessory: Adds the physical buttons, too.
- Pokemon Go surpasses $1.2 billion in revenue
- Pokémon Go still has millions of players after one year: Millions of Pokémon Go players get big gym, pokécoin, raid boss update for first anniversary.
- A year in, millions still play Pokémon Go(and will likely attend its festival): Punctuating a wild 12 months, Niantic releases a big gym overhaul patch.
- Ubisoft wishes Watch Dogs 2 players a terrible Fourth of July: Single-player mode had been slapped with loud surround-sound noise, until update.
- GAME issues profit warning as Switch stock dries up: But retailer expects to see growth in the software markets over the following financial year
- China extends lead as the world’s biggest video game market
- Chinese games market is the world’s biggest at $25.6bn: Expected to grow to $29bn by the end of 2017, currently represents 25% of the global market
- Sony Pulls “World’s Fastest Platinum Trophy” Game From PSN
- ‘The economics are really tough’ for console exclusives, says former Sony exec
- Brexit Britain: League of Legends in-game currency gets UK price hike
- Brexit prompts League of Legends price hike: Riot Games increasing the cost of virtual currency by 20% from July 25th
- Zynga Founder Launches New Political Project And It’s Getting Criticized
- For indie devs, the Vita’s niche audience is what makes it a viable platform: “Any time you have a system that gets kind of neglected by its parent company, you find this hardcore passionate fanbase ready to support anything that’s coming out for it.”
- Without code from the original, Blizzard had to build StarCraft: Remastered from scratch
- StarCraft Remastered devs unveil price, explain how much is being rebuilt: Dev team admits losing old code and assets, needing to “eyeball everything.”
- Razer files for IPO in Hong Kong: Peripherals company to pursue ambitious expansion plans by going public, expects to raise a reported $600 million
- Video game distributors prepare for digital future: Alliance rebrands and moves into digital publishing – “We believe consumers will access all software digitally,” CEO Jay Gelman says
- “Gamers are part of our creative process” – Activision’s Eric Hirshberg: The Activision CEO on rescuing Call of Duty, re-launching Destiny and what comes next for Skylanders
- Survey: 77% of devs believe AR/MR will be more popular than VR, long-term
- Of Course There’s A Reason Why Tekken 7’s Android Has Breast Physics
- A programmer turned Wikipedia into a classic text adventure: Developer turned a novel-generation project into an interactive Infocom tribute.
- The Worst E3 Ever?: 10 Years Ago This Month: ESA nukes its annual showcase just as the industry reaches its peak, and the Red Ring of Death ushers in the Mattrick era at Xbox
DIGITAL
- Federal Court of Appeal Deals Music Labels Major Defeat By Upholding Tariff 8 Internet Streaming Decision (Michael Geist)
- The Battle Over Tariff 8: What the Recording Industry Isn’t Saying About Canada’s Internet Streaming Royalties (Michael Geist)
- Court vacates apparent fake-defendant libel takedown order in Patel v. Chan
- State Dept. Enlists Hollywood And Its Friends To Start A Fake Twitter Fight Over Intellectual Property
- Rob Kardashian Could Face Revenge Porn Charges for Posting Explicit Photos of Blac Chyna, Expert Says
- Trump Mocks Mika Brzezinski
- Mika Brzezinski explains what President Trump’s tweets reveal about him
- Morning Joe co-hosts accuse White House of blackmail over tabloid story
- Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough’s Extortion Claim Against Donald Trump and the National Enquirer
- Why Trump’s Vengeful Tweeting MattersDonald Trump Is Testing Twitter’s Harassment Policy: The president’s latest outbursts suggest the social-media platform imposes no editorial standards. But should it?
- Twenty Theses About Twitter (Eric Posner)
- Trump Supporters Cry Bias After NPR Tweets the Declaration of Independence
- Save Free Speech From Trolls: Criticism is not censorship no matter how insistent Twitter’s free speech brigade might be.
- CNN implied threat against redditor over Trump-CNN GIF ignites Internet: After extracting apology from “HanAs**holeSolo”, CNN reserves right to expose him.
- Silicon Valley sexual harassment scandal spreads: Six women have accused Binary Capital partner Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted sexual advances. Several said the misconduct took place when the women sought funding or guidance on their businesses.
- More women come forward to talk about Silicon Valley’s sexual harassment problem: Some big name VCs have issued apologies
- Women in Tech Speak Frankly on Culture of Harassment
- ‘I was getting confused figuring out whether to hire you or hit on you’: Five Silicon Valley tech investors are accused of sexually harassing women: Dave McClure of 500 Startups and Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital were both accused of sexually harassing women in the tech industry; Justin Caldbeck of Binary Capital, Marc Canter of Macromedia and investor Jose De Dios also had allegations leveled against them; Ten female entrepreneurs came forward and revealed the allegations this week; They claim the men targeted them with sexist comments, touched them without permission or sent inappropriate messages or emails over the years; McClure, Sacca and Caldbeck have all publicly apologized for their behavior; De Dios has denied the allegations against him, while Canter accused a woman of lying about her claims
- Start-up investor Dave McClure resigns from 500 Startups
- We Are All Internet Bullies
- UK dealer charged in US over multimillion-dollar fake Bitcoin site scam: Renwick Haddow created ‘trendy’ companies and duped investors into thinking they were big successes, authorities in New York allege
- Facebook’s Secret Censorship Rules Protect White Men from Hate Speech But Not Black Children: A trove of internal documents sheds light on the algorithms that Facebook’s censors use to differentiate between hate speech and legitimate political expression.
- Facebook ‘Hate Speech’ Rules Protect Races And Sexes — So, Yes, White Men Are Going To Be ‘Protected’
- Facebook found a new way to identify spam and false news articles in your News Feed: People who post 50-plus times per day are likely sharing spam or false news, Facebook says.
- The Most Important Lesson From the Leaked Facebook Content Moderation Documents
- Overhauling Groups Won’t Help Facebook Build Communities
- Denied: Afghanistan’s All-Girl Robotics Team Can’t Get Visas To The US
- Newegg fought its way through two appeals to win fees from this patent-holder: It took repeated appeals to win an award that “aged like fine wine.”
- Copyright Office Releases Report on Section 1201
- What’s wrong with the Copyright Office’s DRM study?
- Eliminating Internet Safe Harbours Would Hurt The Economy
- Market Court’s ruling expected to stem flow of copyright letters
- Instagram Unleashes An AI System To Blast Away Nasty Comments
- Instagram Starts Using Artificial Intelligence to Moderate Comments. Is Facebook Up Next?
- Citrix isn’t just for telecommuting, Red Bull Racing uses it at the track: But the next big thing will be machine learning and AI for simulations and design.
- Copyright and innovation: If Canada is to become an major centre of high-tech business and AI development, it must remove the copyright-related impediments to innovation.
- SIRI-OUSLY 2.0: What Artificial Intelligence Reveals About the First Amendment (Toni M. Massaro, Helen Norton & Margot E. Kaminski)
- Search Algorithms Kept Me From My Sister For 14 Years
- Machine Creativity Beats Some Modern Art: If machines can outperform humans at playing games and driving cars, can they also produce better art? A new kind of Turing test aims to find out.
- First And Only Snippet Tax Deal In Spain Is With Big Supporter Of Snippet Tax In Germany
- Delete Hate Speech or Pay Up, Germany Tells Social Media Companies
- Germany passes law with huge fines for Internet companies that don’t bar hate speech: German legislators want hate speech removed within 24 hours.
- Germany Officially Gives Up On Free Speech: Will Fine Internet Companies That Don’t Delete ‘Bad’ Speech
- Designing Genderless Emoji? It Takes More Than Just Losing The Lipstick
- Zillow Only Kinda Backs Down From Dubious McMansion Hell Threats Following EFF’s Engagement
- McMansion Hell is Back Online, Will Not Comply With Zillow’s Demands [Update: Zillow Will Not Sue]
- FilmOn’s chutzpah doesn’t pay off; labeling it a site of (c) infringement is protected by anti-SLAPP law: FilmOn.com v. DoubleVerify, Inc., 2017 WL 2807911, No. B264074 Cal. Ct. App. Jun. 29, 2017 (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Canadian Supreme Court holds that Google can be ordered to de-index results globally
- No Monitoring & No Liability: What the Supreme Court’s Google v. Equustek Decision Does Not Do (Michael Geist)
- Google v. Equustek: Unnecessarily Hard Cases Make Unnecessarily Bad Law (Ariel Katz)
- Supreme Court of Canada lends an enforcement hand to intellectual property right owners
- When Google and its ilk become regulators, we all lose
- Judge Tosses Woman’s Lawsuit Brought Against Google Because A Blogger Said Mean Things About Her
- Google Begins Experimenting with VR Ads
- The Lawsuit That Could Pop Alphabet’s Project Loon
- Apple Adds VR Rendering Essentials to MacOS via Metal 2
- Ars spends too much time trying to work in Haiku, the BeOS successor: After years of alpha, the open source execution of BeOS is beautiful but buggy.
- In attempt to achieve YouTube stardom, woman accidentally kills her boyfriend: According to Pedro Ruiz’ aunt, her late nephew told her – “We want to get famous.”
- YouTube Reportedly Offered Nominal Refunds To Brands Who Pulled Spend In ‘Adpocalypse’
- Three-Month-Old YouTube TV Expands To 10 Additional Markets
- Now Netflix Is Reviving Its Own Canceled Shows, Too
- Disney Channel And Freeform Ratings Are Falling As Young Viewers Turn To Streaming Platforms
- BBC Pledges To Invest $44 Million In Digital Content For Kids Through 2020
- We need our platforms to put people and democratic society ahead of cheap profits: The BBC is a model for a trusted social networking platform that combats fake news and propaganda while serving the public interest.
- Sale Of Roku Devices Banned In Mexico Due To Rampant Hacking
- Rotten Tomatoes And The Unbearable Heaviness Of Data
- Podcast Ad Revenues Are Expected To Reach $220 Million In 2017 (Study)
- GrubHub trial may finally answer contractor vs. employee quandary: A GrubHub loss could pave the way for a slew of similar labor cases.
- Couple Asks Internet To Photoshop Out Shirtless Guy From Engagement Photo, Regrets It Immediately
- People Who Follow Influencers Are More Likely To Engage In Charitable Causes (Study)
- The US government is removing scientific data from the Internet: At Ars Technica Live, we talked to Lindsey Dillon, who decided to do something about it.
- Information overload makes social media a swamp of fake news: Low attention and a flood of data are serious problems for social networks.
- Another Collision of Housing Regulations and Online Innovation–SF Housing Rights Committee v. HomeAway (Eric Goldman)
- Looking Forward To Next 20 Years Of A Post-Reno Internet
- The Shifting Landscape of Global Internet Censorship: An Uptake in Communications Encryption Is Tempered by Increasing Pressure on Major Platform Providers; Governments Expand Content Restriction Tactics (Jonathan Zittrain, Robert Faris, Helmi Noman, Justin Clark, Casey Tilton & Ryan Morrison-Westphal)
- The complete history of the IBM PC: Bill Gates. Mysterious deaths. IBM trying to act like a nimble startup. This story has it all!
- With iPhone, Apple showed AT&T and Verizon who’s boss: Apple refused to let wireless carriers ruin the customer experience.
CREATIVITY
- Paul McCartney Finally Regains Beatles Rights After Near 50-Year-Long Battle
- Claim U$ 150.000 for Trump: Photographer Julie Dermansky is claiming 150,000 dollars in damages from US President Donald Trump after the Trump organisation apparently used one of her photos without permission.
- Kanye West Is Done With Tidal
- The Music Industry’s Still Off Key: The power brokers aren’t responsible for its revival.
- RIAA Trashes Its Legacy As A 1st Amendment Supporter By Cheering On Global Internet Censorship
- The elusive data behind copyright reform: In the absence of data, scholars, legislators and other stakeholders are forced to grope in the dark about what copyright reform has wrought. (Bob Tarantino)
- France’s Highest Court Rules in Favor of Freedom of Expression of Director over Heirs’ Droit Moral
- Shop Till You Drop… Your Claim… Stores’ Layout Protected by French Copyright
- Olivia de Havilland Files a Right of Publicity Suit against Feud Producers
- Library of Awesome—Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, and Copyright
- Stars are getting militant about inequality in Hollywood. It’s about time.
- Alex Jones Has a Perfectly Normal Chat About All the Slave Children Who Are Sent to Mars
- The End of Utility? Supreme Court of Canada Rewrote Patent Law Rationale as We Knew It
- Supreme Court harms Canada’s innovation policy stand ahead of NAFTA negotiations
- ‘Bombshell’ Canadian Patent Ruling Seen Favoring Foreign Companies: Supreme Court decision lowers bar for receiving patents – Decision removes a trade irritant with U.S. before Nafta talks
- AstraZeneca Canada Inc. v. Apotex Inc. (SCC)
- USPTO Economists on Patent Litigation Predictors
- The Importance of Brand Clearance: How About “COVFEFE” As a Brand? Part 2
- NFL is advising ICE to seize obvious parodies, my FOIA suit reveals (Rebecca Tushnet)
- EU And US Perspectives On Fair Dealing For The Purpose Of Parody Or Satire (Graeme Austin)
- The age of distributed truth
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- NFL, DirecTV Defeat ‘Sunday Ticket’ Lawsuit: The battle over blacked-out games has ended. DirecTV and the NFL are dancing in the legal endzone after a California federal court dismissed a nationwide class-action lawsuit over Sunday Ticket.
- Sports Media Is Dead, Long Live Sports Media
- Tom Wheeler defends Title II rules, accuses Pai of helping monopolists – Ex-FCC chair: Title II is crucial for net neutrality and consumer protection.
- Trump picks Republican to fill empty commissioner seat at FCC: Trump nominates Brendan Carr, general counsel and former aide to Chairman Pai.
- 50 million US homes have only one 25Mbps Internet provider or none at all: 10.6 million homes have no wired access to 25Mbps, 4.9 million can’t get 3Mbps.
- Vidéotron says it was ‘forced to put an end’ to Unlimited Music, will give customers free data
- Canadian cellphone startup has success stateside, but shut out at home
- Record $280M Fine for Dish Network’s Telemarketing Violations
- AT&T: Forced arbitration isn’t “forced” because no one has to buy service – To avoid AT&T arbitration, your only choice is to not be a customer.
- Comcast, Charter May Soon Get Even Larger With Joint Acquisition Of Sprint
- Murdoch’s Sky takeover bid delayed by UK gov’t, sent to CMA for further assessment: Culture secretary says there’s a risk that Murdoch would control too much UK media.
- Verizon Wireless disconnects some heavy data users in rural areas: Verizon sheds customers who roam on rural networks and use tons of data.
- ISPs Are No Longer Even Bothering To Provide Bogus Excuses For Their Expanding Use Of Usage Caps
- Cox expands home Internet data caps, while CenturyLink abandons them: Meanwhile, Cox has plans to charge extra for unlimited data.
- 40 ISPs, VoIP And VPN Providers Tell FCC They Like Having Net Neutrality Rules
- ‘Free Market’ Group: FCC Comments Show Nobody Really Wants Net Neutrality
- A Curious Tale of Economics and Common Carriage (Net Neutrality) at the FCC: A Reply to Faulhaber, Singer, and Urschel (Dwayne Winseck & Jefferson Pooley)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- DOJ Asks The Supreme Court To Give It Permission To Search Data Centers Anywhere In The World
- Moving Beyond Backdoors To Solve The FBI’s ‘Going Dark’ Problem
- NSA Continues To Dodge ‘Incidental Collection’ Question, Wants Its ‘About’ Surveillance Program Back
- Laptop ban led to 20-percent drop in flights for one Mideast airline: Emirates, Etihad, and Turkish Airlines increase security, drop electronics ban.
- NATO Considering ‘Petya’ Malware a Potential Act of War
- NotPetya developers may have obtained NSA exploits weeks before their public leak: Clues may tie people behind massive malware attack to mysterious Shadow Brokers group.
- Backdoor built in to widely used tax app seeded last week’s NotPetya outbreak: Operation that hit thousands was “thoroughly well-planned and well-executed.”
- As A New Wave Of Cyberattacks Rolls Out, Rep. Ted Lieu Asks What The NSA’s Going To Do About It
- Global cyberattack seems intent on havoc aimed at Ukraine, not extortion
- Coalition Objects to Renewed Calls for Weaker Encryption Following ‘Five Eyes’ Ottawa Meeting
- Google DeepMind deal with NHS broke UK data law, rules ICO: Medical trial that slurped patient records of 1.6 million Brits ruled illegal by watchdog.
- In Worrisome Move, Kaspersky Agrees to Turn Over Source Code to US Government
- HTTPS Certificate Revocation is broken, and it’s time for some new tools: Certificate Transparency and OCSP Must-Staple can’t get here fast enough.
- Windows 10 will try to combat ransomware by locking up your data: But how to protect files from users who have access to those files remains tricky.
- Government Kills Cyber Remedies as Cyber Threats Mount
- Cheerleader Fraudulently Obtains Court Order To Scrub Web Of Her Boyfriend-Beating Past
- Federal government proposes reform of public sector Access to Information Act
- The Bootlegger, the Wiretap, and the Beginning of Privacy
Jon
News of the Week; June 28, 2017
GAMES
- Texas judge calls for an end to Oculus and ZeniMax’s “big, hairy fight”: Injunction hearing started this week, with Zenimax asking for $500 million additional damages and a 20% cut of Oculus’ revenue
- Facebook Fights to Prevent Oculus Rift Sales Ban
- Rockstar clarifies Grand Theft Auto V modding policy
- Rockstar: GTA single-player mods are “generally” safe from legal action – Take-Two and Rockstar have agreed to focus on GTA Online mods, an updated version of OpenIV is now available
- Single-player modding returns to GTA V after publisher takedown: Popular OpenIV tool restored after discussions, changes to protect multiplayer.
- Pokémon Go’s New Gyms Are Off To A Rocky Start
- Here’s why ‘deliberate Switch shortages’ is a ridiculous notion: Nintendo has regularly said it’s ramping up production, so why are people so worried the platform holder is holding out on us?
- Nintendo: Switch shortages are “definitely not intentional” – In an Ars interview, exec also addresses issues with NES Classic, 3DS, and fan games.
- Nintendo apologises for Japanese Switch shortages as sales pass 1m: Company pledges increased shipments in July and August
- Nintendo Announces SNES Classic, Which Comes With 21 Stellar Games
- SNES Classic Edition Announced And Dated
- Plug-and-play SNES Classic coming Sept. 29 for $80 with two controllers: Unreleased Star Fox 2 among 21 16-bit classics included; Japanese version now confirmed.
- Fears of limited SNES Classic supply lead to 150% online resale markup: One eBay listing for the $80 system already sold for a whopping $390
- Nintendo Will Produce ‘Significantly More’ SNES Classic Editions Than Nes Classic: Nintendo is currently only planning to ship the SNES Classic through the end of 2017.
- Nintendo plans to produce ‘significantly more’ than 2.3M SNES Classic Editions
- Nintendo Confirms SNES Classic Controller Cord Length Is Longer Than NES Classic’s
- Nintendo’s Market Value Climbs Past Sony Corp: Nintendo’s stock value is the highest it’s been since 2008.
- Nintendo Switch Helps Company Surpasses Sony In Market Cap: For the second time in 11 months, Nintendo’s market cap passes Sony’s.
- Super Mario Odyssey wins big at Game Critics Awards
- Sega Forever brings retro games to iOS and Android for free: Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star II, Comix Zone, Kid Chameleon, and Altered Beast launch.
- Botched Sega Forever launch blighted by poor emulation: Sega defends Unity emulation saying it wants games to reach “largest audience possible.”
- Mobile fragmentation to blame for Sega Forever launch woes: But publisher’s Mike Evans promises updates on the way that should get nostalgia assault back on track
- Q&A: How Microsoft is pitching the Xbox One X to devs (and consumers)
- Xbox One X to sell 17m by 2021 – DFC: Even with 4K TV sales on the rise, Xbox One X will only appeal to a narrow demographic, says David Cole
- PlayStation Emerging Filmmakers Program launched to create multiple new TV series: Sony seeking original video content with plans to make five pilots for potential shows
- With Sony’s indie support in question, developers at E3 weigh in
- Guillemot family raise Ubisoft stake to fend off Vivendi
- Ubisoft’s Guillemot family acquires larger stake in company: Attempts to thwart Vivendi takeover ongoing as founders now own 13.6% of shares, 20% of voting rights
- Paradox undoes global price increase in the name of transparency
- Paradox insists price hikes “create a more equal price point”
- Digital games up 9% in May to $7.8 billion – Superdata: Research firm finds steep drops in premium PC and console spaces offset by mobile, free-to-play growth
- Virtual Reality Can Teach Altruism, Empathy — and Why You Should Use Less Toilet Paper
- Survey: 31% of VR/AR devs are working on a platform exclusive
- One in three VR/AR projects in development will be platform-exclusive: HTC Vive remains developers’ headset of choice in VRDC survey
- New VRDC VR/AR Innovation Report reveals the HTC Vive is devs’ top target
- Report: Valve’s former augmented reality system is no more – CastAR creators have yet to confirm Polygon report of downturn, liquidation.
- Report: Augmented reality startup CastAR has closed its doors
- Twitch Overhauls App, Adds Native Mobile Streaming And ‘Dark Mode’
- Twitch Affiliates will soon reap the rewards of paid subscription tiers
- Corona 2D game engine is now ‘completely free’
- Blizzard announces major changes to loot systems in Overwatch & Hearthstone
- Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds has banned 25k cheaters since launch
- Child protection and Esports
- Splatoon dev: ‘Being an eSport wasn’t something that we were ever really considering’
- AbleGamers’s Player Panels aim to give game devs insight on accessibility
- How Naughty Dog broke Sony’s hardware rules to create Crash Bandicoot
- Rust dev shares Steam refund data: ~330k copies, $4M+ revenue refunded
- In a bid for better transparency, G2A will strip anonymity from key sellers
- Destiny 2’s guns won’t recoil on PC as they do on consoles: Project lead says aiming drift “doesn’t feel good” when using a mouse.
- Wargaming opens mobile game development and publishing division
- The memory optimization struggle in Unity3d
- Unity showcases new camera and Timeline tech ahead of 2017.1 release
- Unity launches graduate research program to fuel innovation in games
- German chancellor Angela Merkel to open Gamescom 2017: First time the country’s leader will open long-running video games expo
- Ready Player One: Video Game Oral Histories: Did you know that “Ms. Pac-Man” started out as a character named “Crazy Otto”? Or that “Halo: Combat Evolved” was originally going to be a real-time strategy game? Here are the companies, consoles and titles that ate your quarters and bruised your thumbs.
- iPhone at 10: How Apple changed gaming for the better and the worse – For gaming, the iPhone sparked a gold rush and burst of creativity still felt today.
- Dev rescues ’80s text adventure source code by baking tapes in an oven
- John Romero’s Doom II floppy disks sell for over $3,000: A small price to pay?
DIGITAL
- Pakistan Sentences First Person To Death Over Social Media Posts
- China just banned livestreaming because it’s too hard to censor
- Google must alter worldwide search results, per orders from Canada’s top court: Vancouver tech company seeks to de-list a website selling alleged counterfeits.
- Supreme Court Case Upholds Order Against Google
- Supreme Court of Canada states “The Internet has no borders” in upholding global injunction in search results case
- Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc. (SCC)
- Section 230 Protects Google’s Decision Not To De-Index Content–Bennett v. Google
- Canadian Supreme Court Says It’s Fine To Censor The Global Internet; Authoritarians & Hollywood Cheer…
- Ominous: Canadian Court Orders Google To Remove Search Results Globally
- Google Suffers Severe Setback from the Supreme Court of Canada (Howard Knopf)
- Global Internet Takedown Orders Come to Canada: Supreme Court Upholds International Removal of Google Search Results (Michael Geist)
- Without telling media, Arizona judge orders dozens of articles to be deleted: An NFL cheerleader and US Army officer was celebrated—until she was arrested.
- Canada’s Supreme Court clears way for Facebook privacy lawsuit
- Supreme Court turns down EFF’s “Dancing Baby” fair use case: The law against bogus DMCA takedowns will remain tough to enforce.
- Copyright Office Admits That DMCA Is More About Giving Hollywood ‘Control’ Than Stopping Infringement
- Supreme Court of Canada finds Facebook’s Forum Selection Clause is Unenforceable; Privacy class action can proceed in Canadian Court
- Few “likes” for Facebook Forum Selection Clause: Supreme Court Finds “Strong Cause” to Not Enforce Forum Selection Clause
- Douez v. Facebook, Inc. (Supreme Court of Canada)
- Law on Jurisdiction Clauses Changes in Canada
- Facebook Must Face the Fact That Its Forum Selection Clause is Unenforceable in Canadian Privacy Class Action
- Supreme Court Rules Facebook Can’t Contract Out of B.C. Privacy Law (Michael Geist)
- Why clicking ‘I agree’ may no longer mean you agree to everything (Michael Geist)
- Supreme Court of Canada Leaves Forum Selection Clauses in a State of Uncertainty
- Man drives into Ten Commandments monument in Arkansas Capitol, streams it on Facebook: Replicas of the Ten Commandments on public property always spark controversy.
- Zillow is threatening to sue a blogger for using its photos for parody: McMansion Hell becomes legal hell
- Zillow Sends Totally Ridiculous Legal Threat To McMansion Hell
- Zillow Still Doesn’t Get It: Second Letter About McMansion Hell Is Still Just Wrong
- “McMansion Hell” used Zillow photos to mock bad design—Zillow may sue: “It is my sincere hope that this issue is resolved as amicably as possible.”
- Ill-Advised Copyright Lawsuit Over Facebook Live Video Becomes Costly For Plaintiff–Konangataa v. ABC (Eric Goldman)
- Court Orders Man Who Sued News Orgs For Clipping His Facebook Video To Pay Everyone’s Attorney’s Fees
- Cops Sent Warrant To Facebook To Dig Up Dirt On Woman Whose Boyfriend They Had Just Killed
- Facebook’s Secret Censorship Rules Protect White Men from Hate Speech But Not Black Children: A trove of internal documents sheds light on the algorithms that Facebook’s censors use to differentiate between hate speech and legitimate political expression.
- Facebook’s secret rules mean that it’s OK to be anti-Islam, but not anti-gay: “The policies do not always lead to perfect outcomes,” top Facebook official says.
- Judge rips lawyers in IP rift over viral Facebook childbirth video: Judge says media should be paid the “costs of defending this frivolous litigation.”
- YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft Form New Group to Fight Terrorist Content
- Facebook launches UK initiative to counter online extremist material
- Macedonian Publishers Are Panicking After Facebook Killed Their US Political Pages: Over 30 Facebook pages being run from Macedonia have been removed by Facebook in the past two months.
- Facebook Is Launching A Standalone App Exclusively For Video Creators
- Facebook Surpasses Insane Milestone Of 2 Billion Worldwide Users
- We desperately need a way to defend against online propaganda: Despite years of fake news online, we still have no idea how to protect against it.
- United Airlines wins suit against founder of Untied.com complaint site
- Patriots’ owner says NFL’s future is through livestreaming
- Fox Sports Pacts With Facebook to Live-Stream European Soccer Champions League Matches
- FOX Sports To Stream Champions League Matches On Facebook In U.S
- China’s Central Bank Has Begun Cautiously Testing a Digital Currency: The People’s Bank of China has developed a digital currency that’s designed to scale to the number of transactions made every day across the country.
- Wikileaks Attempts To Bully Wikileaks Documentary With C&D Notices
- Google hit with record EU fine over Shopping service
- Google Slapped With $2.7 Billion EU Fine Over Search Results: EU orders Google to treat rival comparison-shopping services equally in its search results
- Google fined $2.7B by European Commission for abusing search monopoly: EU also rules that Google must stop demoting competitors in search results.
- Google’s Big Eu Fine Isn’t Just About The Money
- Three Thoughts On EU’s $2.7 Billion Antitrust Google Fine
- Google’s Elite Hacker SWAT Team vs. Everyone: Brash. Controversial. A guard against rising digital threats around the globe. Google’s Project Zero is securing the Internet on its own terms. Is that a problem?
- Aspiring YouTuber, 22, Fatally Shot While Filming Ill-Conceived Prank Video
- Black Pigeon Speaks: The Anatomy of the Worldview of an Alt-Right YouTuber
- Trump Accuses Amazon of Not Paying ‘Internet Taxes,’ Which Aren’t a Thing
- No, Donald Trump Isn’t Calling For An Internet Tax
- Does the Packingham Ruling Presage Greater Government Control Over Search Results? Or Less?
- As Predicted, Cox’s Latest Appeal Points To SCOTUS’ Refusal To Disconnect Sex Offenders From Social Media
- London police arrest four in Windows support scam bust: India-based scam callers pose as ISP employees.
- New York Attorney General Unveils Latest Ticket Bot Enforcement Actions against Ticket Vendors and Software Developer
- Instagram Stories Crushes Snapchat, Offers Downloadable Live Streams
- Investigation Shows That FTC’s Reminder Letters Are Ineffective at Disclosing Paid Posts on Instagram – Groups to the FTC: Enforcement Action Needed to Change Influencer Behavior on Instagram
- Adventure cat goes viral : Cat has nearly 22,000 Instagram followers
- Baby Ariel, Joanne The Scammer Named Most Influential On The Internet By ‘Time’
- FTC Updates Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Compliance Plan to include Connected Toys
- Cracking YouTube In 2017: The New Research That Cracks The Code On YouTube’s Algorithms
- YouTube Adds Machine Learning To Comments, Rebuilds Its Desktop Creator Studio
- YouTube Claims 1.5 Billion Monthly Users in Latest Ad Sales Pitch
- YouTube Announces New VR Video Format, App Revamp At VidCon Keynote
- YouTube’s Ad-Supported Originals Are Directly Competing For TV Ad Dollars
- YouTube Red Originals Have Received 250 Million Views So Far, And 2017 Will Bring 13 New Releases
- YouTube Co-Viewing App ‘Uptime’ Officially Exits Beta
- YouTube’s “VR180” format cuts down on VR video’s prohibitive requirements: VR in only 180 degrees is easier to stream and fits traditional video content better.
- YouTube Unveils Defiant Hero Video For Fifth Annual LGBTQ Pride Campaign
- Game Music Composer Goes On DMCA Blitz Against Innocent YouTubers Over Contract Dispute With Game Publisher
- Google Will No Longer Scan Gmail for Ad Targeting
- Scroogled no more: Gmail won’t scan e-mails for ads personalization – Google kills Gmail’s most controversial feature.
- Google Unveils An AI Investment Fund. It’s Betting On An App Store For Algorithms.
- Football’s Next Frontier: The Battle Over Big Data – NFL players have signed a five-year deal with WHOOP, a biometric performance company that measures workout strain, recovery, and quality of sleep via a wearable band. If teams want to see the data, they’re going to have to pay up . . . but they won’t be the only customers
- Should robot artists be given copyright protection (Andres Guadamuz)
- Has human communication become botifed?
- IBM To Provide Wimbledon Highlights Using Artificial Intelligence
- AI and the Law: Setting the Stage (Urs Gasser)
- Artificial Intelligence for good
- Reddit Hails Advertisers With Announcement Of Video Ads
- Disney Is Reviving ‘Mickey Mouse Club’ With New Class Of Influencer Mouseketeers
- Vimeo Decides To End Plans For SVOD Service
- Vimeo Kills Plans For Subscription-Video Service
- BlackBerry’s no-phone business model isn’t working out as planned: Stock falls 13 percent in one day after bad sales numbers.
- Amazon’s latest Prime Exclusive Phones range from $79 to $199: In exchange for lockscreen ads, Amazon is offering up to an $80 discount on some phones.
- Sean Parker Leaves Spotify Board as Company Brings in Heavy Hitters
- Inside Spotify’s Financials: Is There a Path to Profitability Or an IPO?
- Over 1000 Uber Employees Have ‘Demanded’ Travis Kalanick’s Return In Letter To Board
- Waymo tells judge: Uber’s ex-CEO knew about Google files – Levandowski had “five discs in his possession containing Google information.”
- Fake online stores reveal gamblers’ shadow banking system
- Judges refuse to order fix for court software that put people in jail by mistake – Defender: Switch to Odyssey Court Manager remains at the heart of the problem.
- The tragedy of FireWire: Collaborative tech torpedoed by corporations: “Show us that it’s being adopted in the industry, and we’ll put it in.”
- Social media has changed TV, for better and worse
- The Industry of Virality (or what a raccoon video can teach us about the Internet)
- The Pirate Bay – A Communication to the Public
- How 7 words unfit for TV fostered an open Internet 20 years ago today: “When we decided to bring the case, none of us had been online.”
- How The ACLU’s Fight To Protect ‘Indecent’ Speech Saved The Internet From Being Treated Like Broadcast TV
- Inside Apple’s 6-Month Race To Make The First iPhone A Reality
- The iPhone’s Turning 10. What Will It Look Like At 20?
- A touch of Cocoa: Inside the original iPhone SDK – Back in 2008, Ars took its first look at what Apple provided for iPhone developers.
- Back to the iPhone future: Lessons from a decade of Apple influence in medicine: iPhones spurred big changes in learning and practicing medicine—and there may be more
- Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity
- Samsung’s fiery Galaxy Note 7 to rise from the ashes as the “Fandom Edition”: The Note 7 FE hits South Korea (and some other countries) on July 7.
CREATIVITY
- U.S. Lobby Groups Take Aim At Canadian Copyright Law in NAFTA Comments: No Balance, No Fair Use, & No Cultural Exception (Michael Geist)
- Re:Sound Resoundingly Loses Judicial Review of Copyright Board Tariff 8 Decision (Howard Knopf)
- A Copyright Board for Canada at 150: A well funded Copyright Board with a clear mandate and a regulated process for public input should be central to Canada’s copyright regime.
- The great intellectual property trade-off: BBC World Service, 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy
- Copyright protection for factual compilations in Singapore: creativity alone is not enough
- Jordan-Benel v. Universal City Studios, Inc.
- “Turn Down For What?” How About For Copyright Law!?
- Bob Murray’s Lawsuit Against John Oliver Is Even Sillier Than We Expected
- Coal Boss Files Total SLAPP Suit Against John Oliver & HBO
- Anti-SLAPP law to be tested at Ontario Court of Appeal
- A Time magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It’s fake.
- Why Racially Offensive Trademarks Are Now Legally Protected
- Examination Guide 1-17: Examination Guidance for Section 2(a)’s Disparagement Provision after Matal v. Tam and Examination for Compliance with Section 2(a)’s Scandalousness Provision While Constitutionality Remains in Question (Issued June 26, 2017)
- King Has ‘Crush’ Trademark Opposed By Dr. Pepper
- Forever 21 Slaps Gucci with Strongly-Worded Trademark Lawsuit
- AG Szpunar advises CJEU to rule that a red sole may not be just a colour
- Christian Louboutin, Christian Louboutin SAS v Van Haren Schoenen BV
- Justin Bieber tweets and an international arbitrator listens: court refers defamation claim to arbitration
- How Major Lazer Bet on Diversity (and Data) to Make Global Hits: ‘The Audience Controls Music Now’
- Don’t use that tone(r) with me: How first sale can exhaust IP rights
- Art Fight! The Pinkest Pink Versus The Blackest Black
- Antony Gormley asks for ‘vandalised’ beach sculptures to be cleaned: Sculptor’s life-sized iron men in Crosby have been brightly decorated with a polka-dot bikini and other embellishments
- Ninth Circuit Upholds Law Against Misleading Anti-Abortion Ads
- How ‘The Bachelor’ Franchise Is Exploiting Race For Ratings
- The National Enquirer’s Fervor for Trump: The tabloid is defined by its predatory spirit. Why has it embraced the President with such sycophantic zeal?
- Goodbye Nonpartisan Journalism. And Good Riddance.
- How Countries Around the World Fund Music—and Why It Matters: As President Trump eyes abolishing federal arts funding in the U.S., a survey of tax-supported music from Australia to Iceland reveals a complex, shifting landscape.
- Anita Sarkeesian’s astounding ‘garbage human’ moment: Feminist speaker hits back at trolls and haters
- The Rise of the Thought Leader: How the superrich have funded a new class of intellectual.
- Is the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science?: It is an industry like no other, with profit margins to rival Google – and it was created by one of Britain’s most notorious tycoons – Robert Maxwell.
- The Political Economy of Celebrity Rights (Mark Bartholomew)
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Why Net Neutrality Matters Even In The Age Of Oligopoly
- Tumblr Goes Radio Silent On Net Neutrality After Verizon Acquisition
- 30 small ISPs urge Ajit Pai to preserve Title II and net neutrality rules – Letter: Title II didn’t hurt investment, is good for small ISPs and customers.
- AT&T Promises A Cornucopia Of Broadband Investment…But Only If Trump Gives It A Giant Tax Cut & A Shiny New Merger
- AT&T May Soon Return To Charging Broadband Subscribers More For Privacy
- AT&T: Forced arbitration isn’t “forced” because no one has to buy service: To avoid AT&T arbitration, your only choice is to not be a customer.
- Verizon illegally denied Charter access to utility poles, complaint says: Charter fined for slow Internet rollout but says Verizon delayed construction.
- FCC Proposes $120 Million Fine for Spoofed Robocalls
- Thankfully, Marketing Industry Plan For ‘Ringless Voicemail’ Dies a Quiet Death…For Now
- Ringless voicemail spam won’t be exempt from anti-robocall rules: After heavy opposition, robocall company gives up attempt to avoid FCC rules.
- Scammer who made 96 million robocalls should pay $120M fine, FCC says: Vacation scam preyed on elderly and disrupted medical paging system, FCC says.
- Advertiser Fined By FCC For Use Of Emergency Tones in Football Ads
- Frontier Communications Caught (Again) Ripping Off West Virginia Taxpayers
- Comcast accused of cutting competitor’s wires to put it out of business: Comcast “systematically destroyed” an ISP with 229 customers, lawsuit claims.
- Comcast and Charter could invest in Sprint’s network, resell Sprint data: Sprint is holding “exclusive talks” with the two biggest US cable companies.
- Charter promised more broadband but didn’t deliver, now must pay fine: 21,000 NY customers did not get broadband on schedule, despite merger promise.
- Wall Street Is Starting To Get Very Nervous About Cable TV Cord Cutting
- Cable Industry Quietly Shelves Its Bogus Plan To Make Cable Boxes Cheaper, More Competitive
- Taking the pulse of ESPN
- What the failure of Star Touch teaches us about a media bailout
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Election Hackers Altered Voter Rolls, Stole Private Data, Officials Say
- Matthew Keys’ guilty verdict and sentence to stand, 9th Circuit rules: “Keys made the CMS far weaker by taking and creating new user accounts.”
- A report card on the national security bill: Two of Canada’s foremost experts in national security law give their assessment of Bill C-59: there’s much to like, but also room for improvement. (Craig Forcese & Kent Roach)
- Liberals shockingly timid on access-to-information reform
- Trudeau government shelves part of anti-spam law that would allow private lawsuits: Provisions to allow Canadians to sue spammers had been due to take effect July 1
- The battle over encryption and what it means for our privacy
- Tuesday’s massive ransomware outbreak was, in fact, something much worse: Payload delivered in mass attack destroys data, with no hope of recovery.
- A new ransomware outbreak similar to WCry is shutting down computers worldwide: Like earlier ransomware worm, new attacks use potent exploit stolen from the NSA.
- ‘Petya’ ransomware attack: what is it and how can it be stopped?: Companies have been crippled by global cyberattack, the second major ransomware crime in two months. We answer the key questions
- Ohio Gov. Kasich’s website, dozens of others defaced using year-old exploit: “High risk” exploit patch was issued in May of 2016.
- Does US have right to data on overseas servers? We’re about to find out: Supreme Court case has ramifications for tech sector, foreign relations, and privacy.
- This Windows Defender bug was so gaping its PoC exploit had to be encrypted
- Skylake, Kaby Lake chips have a crash bug with hyperthreading enabled: A fix is available for Linux systems; Windows users will have to use firmware updates.
- To Avoid Being Cut Out Of The Market, US Tech Companies Are Allowing Russian Vetting Of Source Code
- Australia To Push For Encryption Backdoors At Next ‘Five Eyes’ Meeting
- Australia advocates weakening strong crypto at upcoming “Five Eyes” meeting: Oz AG to discuss “ongoing challenges posed by terrorists and criminals using encryption.”
- UK Law Enforcement Telling Citizens To ‘See Something Say Something’ About Dark Web Use
- How the CIA infects air-gapped networks: Sprawling “Brutal Kangaroo“ spreads malware using booby-trapped USB drives.
- Some beers, anger at former employer, and root access add up to a year in prison: Ex-tech pleads guilty to smart meter network attack; changed a password.”
- NFL Uses Eye-Tracking Technology To Study How Fans Watch Games
- Meet the Princeton-Trained Computer Scientists Building a New Internet That Brings Privacy and Property Rights to Cyberspace (New at Reason)
- Settlement of Walmart Canada Photo Centre Data Breach Lawsuits – Lessons Learned
- Facial Recognition Software Brings Personalized Ads To The Supermarket
- Medical records join revenge porn, credit card numbers for Google removal: It’s an elective removal, though. Google will only do it if you ask.
- 15 years after ‘Minority Report’: A cautionary film, ignored.
Jon
News of the Week; June 21, 2017
GAMES
- Court Stops Pokémon GO Litigation
- Niantic to punish Pokémon Go cheaters with mark of shame: Gamemaker says ill-gotten Pokémon “may not behave as expected.”
- Consumer Protection Class Action Lawsuit Over “Free” Candy Crush Plays Will Proceed
- After winning $500M in lawsuit against Oculus, ZeniMax pushes for more
- ZeniMax to judge: Block Oculus sales or give us 20%: After trial victory, company also ups damage demand from $500 million to $1 billion
- Popular GTA mod OpenIV receives cease and desist from Take-Two: Modder claims legal threat is “illiterate both technically and grammatically”.
- Take-Two pulls two GTA Online mods amidst OpenIV fallout: Force Hax and Menyoo withdrawn, but OpenIV’s community is fighting back against cease-and-desist order
- Take-Two shuts down a trio of Grand Theft Auto Online cheat providers
- Grand Theft Auto modding project folds following Take-Two’s demands: Dev says Take-Two told him that modding games is “an illegal activity.”
- E3 2017: Rockstar Addresses Take-Two’s Decision To Shut Down GTA Modding Software OpenIV: “Take-Two’s actions were not specifically targeting single player mods.”
- Rockstar: Single-player Grand Theft Auto mods not under threat – Take-Two’s takedown notice was due to specific problems with OpenIV “enabling malicious mods”
- Konami accused of blacklisting former employees – report: Publisher instructs other companies not to hire ex-staff, blocked Kojima Productions health insurance application
- Facebook reports 41m E3 posts, likes and comments
- According to the ESA, E3 attendance jumped by 18k this year
- Devolver claims ESA meddling after losing $100k on rented E3 lot: City of Los Angeles denied indie publisher permits to expand its E3 presence, ESA denies claims it was involved
- Atari re-entering hardware business with mysterious ‘Ataribox’
- Atari is preparing to launch new hardware: The “Ataribox” is “years in the making” and will be based on PC technology
- Atari’s New Console Sounds Like a Bad Idea
- Capcom and Bandai Namco sign cross-licensing deal to improve online play
- Capcom and Bandai Namco ink cross-licensing deal for fighting games: “Online matching” agreement will reduce dev costs and production times for “game series such as Street Fighter”
- Rocket League Dev On Cross-Network Play’s Importance To Industry
- E3 is over and investors are hammering GAME, GameStop: After an E3 filled with great games, you might think retailers could get a little boost, but that’s not the case
- Are retail investors right to be worried after E3?: GAME and GameStop’s share price takes a tumble following last week’s LA event
- Video game trade group sees pros and cons in new Trump administration – Good: Tax cuts, visa reform, IP protection. Bad: “Exclusionary” policies.
- Channel 4: “There’s a massively disproportionate amount of money and effort going into core VR games” – Broadcaster’s games publishing arm says it’s open to opportunities in mobile VR, but first title Soar is currently “a one-off”
- 15 VR, AR, and video game startups join MIT’s Play Labs summer tech accelerator
- Minecraft’s cross-platform online play is powered by Xbox Live, even on the Switch
- Xbox One X selling at a loss: Despite $499 price tag, Microsoft’s new console is still “not the money-making part of the business”
- Microsoft: Sony’s comments about Minecraft safety “not healthy for anyone” – Xbox boss Phil Spencer responds to Sony’s reasoning for not following Nintendo into cross-platform play
- Sony’s PlayLink links your phone to your PS4 for multiplayer minigame madness: The second screen concept is back, only this time it might actually be worth it.
- Twitch and Blizzard Announce Two-Year Worldwide Collaboration
- Twitch and Blizzard forge two-year streaming deal for eSports events
- 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.
- Where Nintendo stands on esports
- Insights: Should ESPN Now Stand For E-Sports Network? There Are Worse Ideas.
- Tencent’s five-year plan for a ¥100bn Chinese esports industry: Riot Games parent pushing for unified standards, more leagues and esports-themed industrial parks
- NBC Sports launches Rocket League tourney: Sports network teams with Psyonix and FACEIT for $100,000 competition, will televise finals in some territories
- The rise of eSports: are addiction and corruption the price of its success?: Forget football, the world’s fastest-growing sport is live video gaming. But increasingly its impact is proving harmful to those involved
- Six ways to make the most of Video Games Tax Relief: Altara Games’ Ella Romanos explains why there is no longer a barrier to UK studios who want to benefit from this government incentive
- Nine Australian indie games receive government funding boost
- Google Play is fighting an uphill battle against Android adware: Google hasn’t yet removed all of the apps, which have as many as 6 million downloads.
- After years of GamerGate harassment, Brianna Wu’s still fighting: Internet trolls turned Brianna Wu’s life upside down. But, she’s running for Congress and thinking all isn’t quite lost.
- Xbox’s revamped, inclusive avatars will let players “really reflect who they are”: New avatar system will launch on Windows 10 this autumn, with Xbox One devices to follow
- CCP brings color-blind support to EVE Online
- HDR and video games: Ars leaves E3 with more questions than answers: HDR looks great in applicable games, but newer game consoles blew a big E3 opportunity.
- A remaster with no old code: Crash Bandicoot was rebuilt nearly from scratch: Just enough source material was salvaged, along with a happenstance speech of old.
- Games Have Too Many Words: A Case Study.
- Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs. That’s OK. (For Now.)
- Player One: The video-game industry is built on the cultish fantasy that all technology and effort can be redeemed as pure pleasure
- Thy Mighty Contract: What You Need To Know About Publishing Deals, Part 1
- Video: A lawyer’s guide to practical contract law for indie devs
DIGITAL
- Supreme Court Won’t Hear Dancing Baby Case… Despite Gov’t Admitting ‘Serious Legal Error’
- Supreme Court turns down EFF’s “Dancing Baby” fair use case: The law against bogus DMCA takedowns will remain tough to enforce.
- Supreme Court Says You Can’t Ban People From The Internet, No Matter What They’ve Done
- Ban on Sex Offenders Using Social Media Violates First Amendment–Packingham v. North Carolina (Eric Goldman)
- There’s a constitutional right to use social media, Supreme Court says: North Carolina’s law was “unprecedented in the scope of First Amendment speech.”
- European Court Rules On Legal Nature Of Torrent Links In Pirate Bay Case
- US Embassy Threatens to Close Domain Registry Over ‘Pirate Bay’ Domain
- German Court Bans Google From Linking To Lumen Database Showing Takedown Notices
- It’s criminal charges and leg shackles for man who shared Deadpool on Facebook: A single Facebook post resulted in 5 million views and a federal investigation.
- Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigns after pressure from investors: Five major Uber investors called for his resignation following months of blunders.
- Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned due to investor pressure, and a search for a new leader is on: Benchmark, Fidelity and others demanded his resignation in a letter titled “Moving Uber Forward.”
- A Short History Of The Many, Many Ways Uber Screwed Up
- With her blog post about toxic bro-culture at Uber, Susan Fowler proved that one person can make a difference: The former engineer took a big swing at the car-hailing giant, and did us all an even bigger favor.
- Travis Kalanick And The Last Gasp Of Tech’s Alpha CEO
- Queen’s Speech: We’re getting rid of Internet safe spaces. Really now.
- Amazon to Buy Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion
- Amazon shakes up grocery sector with $13.7-billion Whole Foods deal
- Amazon Is About To Transform How You Buy Groceries
- Just in Time, Amazon Patents Method to Prevent In-store Comparison Shopping
- Ready For A Monopoly Fight? Amazon And Whole Foods Isn’t It
- Spotify Passes 140 Million Users, Promises to Pay Labels $2 Billion as Losses Widen
- Spotify ‘Sponsored Songs’ lets labels pay for plays
- California’s Anti-SLAPP Law Saves Another News Publication From Bogus Lawsuit
- The Chilling Effects Of A SLAPP Suit: My Story
- The Texting Suicide Case Is About Crime, Not Tech
- Colorado Legalizes Another Vice: Texting While Driving
- Frequency of Courts’ References to Emojis and Emoticons Over Time (Eric Goldman)
- Vice Media Receives $450 Million Boost From TPG
- Vice Raises $450 Million To Build “Largest Millennial Video Library In The World”
- Breitbart News, Donald Trump’s Pravda, Is In Crisis
- Time Warner just handed Snapchat a $100 million lifeline
- Netflix is getting into the ‘choose your own adventure’ game business
- Argentina’s government is wooing entrepreneurs with a new law
- Facebook’s Instagram Stories crushes Snapchat with 250 million daily active users
- Facebook sics AI on terrorist posts, but humans still do the dirty work: “We don’t want Facebook to be used for any terrorist activity whatsoever,” says FB.
- An Artificial Intelligence Developed Its Own Non-Human Language: When Facebook designed chatbots to negotiate with one another, the bots made up their own way of communicating.
- fAIth: The most avid believers in artificial intelligence are aggressively secular – yet their language is eerily religious. Why?
- Humans Can’t Expect AI To Just Fight Fake News For Them
- We need our platforms to put people and democratic society ahead of cheap profits: The BBC is a model for a trusted social networking platform that combats fake news and propaganda while serving the public interest.
- Tesla Model S warned driver in fatal crash to put hands on steering wheel: Model S driver had hands on steering wheel for 25 seconds during a 37-minute period.
- Digital Native Advertising, Influencers And Reviews
- First Reported Consumer Complaint About an Influencer Post
- The FTC Speaks, Instagram Listens: A New Disclosure Tool for Social Media Influencers
- FTC aims to block DraftKings, FanDuel merger over monopolization concerns
- When pop stars have Instagram, they no longer need record labels
- Katy Perry’s Four-Day YouTube Live Stream Amassed 49 Million Views Worldwide
- Katy Perry Just Became the First Person to Reach 100 Million Twitter Followers
- Colorado dad gives sons smartphones, regrets it, now wants to ban preteen use: He started nonprofit, wrote ballot measure to prevent use by kids under 13.
- NCAA Forces UCF Football Player To Choose Between His Athletic Career And His YouTube Channel
- Google Announces Four More Steps Its Taking To Fight Extremist Content On YouTube
- Google now actively works against extremist YouTube videos: New policies make it harder for terroristic content to flourish (and be found) on YouTube.
- Google Glass is apparently back from the dead, starts getting software updates: Google’s aging face computer gets a firmware and companion app update.
- How Amazon’s Echo Is Making Major Labels Rethink Their Tunes
- Bitcoin and Ethereum Just Crashed, Taking Coinbase Down With Them
- 2017 Surface Pro least repairable ever; Surface Laptop is made of glue: Compact design continues to be at odds with maintenance and repairability.
- Ready Lawyer One: Legal Issues In The Innovation Of Virtual Reality (Crystal Nwaneri)
CREATIVITY
- Asian Rock Band v. the PTO: The Supreme Court, the First Amendment, and What the Justices Decided in Matal v. Tam
- Matal, Interim Director, USPTO V. Tam (SCOTUS)
- Supreme Court rules: Offensive trademarks must be allowed – Justice Samuel Alito: “Giving offense is a viewpoint.”
- Supreme Court Ruling on Offensive Trademarks Could Embolden Future Trademark Applicants
- Siding with The Slants: Ban on Disparaging Marks Held Unconstitutional
- SCOTUS Strikes Down Ban on Disparaging Trademarks
- How The Supreme Court’s Recent Free Speech Ruling May Destroy Hollywood’s Plans To Kick People Off The Internet
- Supreme Court Reminds US Government That Hate Speech Is, In Fact, Free Speech
- Slightly cooler take on Tam (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Captain Morgan defends trademark as Admiral Nelson’s is ordered to weigh anchor
- Gene Simmons attempts to trademark love
- Gene Simmons Abandons Hand Gesture Trademark Application
- NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights Making a Name for Themselves the Hard Way
- The search to prove that trademark dilution exists; new study casts “serious doubt” on validity of current evidence
- Should the Patent and Trademark Office Be Allowed to Change Its Mind?: The Supreme Court will decide soon.
- A Decade Later, Judge Says ‘Jersey Boys’ Use Of Unpublished Autobiography Is Fair Use
- Fair use is the fifth season in Jersey Boys case (Rebecca Tushnet)
- Comicmix Wins Against Dr. Seuss Estate On Trademark Infringement Claim, Copyright Claim In Serious Jeopardy
- Mankowitz’s famous portrait of Jimi Hendrix is original and deserves copyright protection, says Paris Court of Appeal.
- Copyright Troll Rightscorp Ramps Up Its Efforts To Get ISPs To Push Its Payment Demands On Users
- Multiple German Courts Rule Photos Of Public Domain Works Are Not In The Public Domain
- Coal CEO Threatens John Oliver With A SLAPP Suit
- SLAPP Threats And The Grenfell Fire: Why We Must Stop Attacks On Free Speech
- Peter Pan and the Copyright that Never Grew Up
- Once more into the copyright breach: A look at what adjustments to copyright policy can be made through regulation, what needs legislative tweaking, and what’s brewing in the courts. (Howard Knopf)
- Fact Check: Distortions and Fake News in Virginia Shooting
- The Normalization of Conspiracy Culture: People who share dangerous ideas don’t necessarily believe them.
- It’s Super Dangerous to Be a Journalist in the Philippines
- Star Wars Han Solo film directors leave, citing “creative differences”: No replacement named, but film still on track for 2018 release says Lucasfilm.
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Why the Government Was Right to Swiftly Ditch the Ill-Advised Internet Tax (Michael Geist)
- CRTC to ban unlocking fees for smartphones as of Dec. 1
- CRTC bans smartphone unlocking fees, outgoing chairman Blais regrets not taking decision sooner: Bell, Rogers and Telus all charge $50 to unlock a phone. That fee will be eliminated as of Dec. 1.
- Change is in the Airwaves: CRTC Expands the Wireless Code of Conduct
- Canadian Government Suspends Implementation of Private Right of Action Under CASL
- Saving Private Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Terrible From the Latest Canadian Proposals (Michael Geist)
- Chris Selley: Federal government should stop trying to help private media and fix the CBC – If the Trudeau Liberals want to help out media, I suggest they forget about the outlets they don’t own and start worrying about the one they do
- Andrew Coyne: A bailout won’t save media, but just make it easier to avoid problems – If this proposed Canadian Journalism Fund is about saving news, it’s odd that the publishers should have such a narrow definition of it
- Alex Jones Scoops Megyn Kelly And Proves The Media Isn’t Ready For The Trolls: “I’m not looking to portray you as a bogeyman,” Kelly said in the published audio.
- How NBC botched the Megyn Kelly rollout
- The Psychology Of Why Interviewing Alex Jones Is Such A Bad Idea
- While You Were Offline: Fox News Is Officially No Longer ‘Fair And Balanced.’ Wait…
- Democrats urge Trump administration to block AT&T/Time Warner merger – Senate Democrats: “Mega conglomerate” could punish rivals and harm consumers.
- FCC makes net neutrality commenters’ e-mail addresses public through API: E-mail addresses aren’t required, though names and home addresses are.
- Netflix joins Amazon and Reddit in Day of Action to save net neutrality: Netflix changes tune, says it “will never outgrow the fight for net neutrality.”
- Cable Lobbyists Try To Scuttle State Inquiries Into Lousy Broadband Service, Slow Speeds
- Three UK fined £1.9M over failure to provide non-stop access to 999 services: Ofcom – Tech issues should never hamper customers’ ability to make emergency calls.
- Cable lobby tries to stop state investigations into slow broadband speeds: Besides gutting net neutrality, industry wants less scrutiny of speed claims.
- Verizon Is Killing Tumblr’s Fight For Net Neutrality: One of the open internet’s fiercest defenders has a new boss
- Verizon Bucks AT&T And Comcast, Supports Utility Pole Reform For Faster Fiber Deployment
- Broadband ISP CenturyLink Accused Of Wells-Fargo-Esque Scam That Bilked Millions From Customers
- 80% Of Cord Cutters Leave Because Of High Cable TV Prices, But The Industry Still Refuses To Compete On Price
- It’s Working: Free Press Documents Historic Levels of Investment and Innovation Since FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order – Using FCC’s own financial disclosures and statements to investors, new report definitively debunks FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s claims about Title II harming investment
- Cable Industry Lobbyist Proclaims Cable TV Industry ‘Failing’ While Advocating Against Broadband Consumer Rights
- Wall Street Still Annoyed That Competition Forced Wireless Carriers To Bring Back Unlimited Data Plans
- Utility that says Comcast didn’t pay bills threatens to pull wires off poles
- Mobile Roaming Charges Abolished in the EU
- EU mobile roaming charges end today, but beware of other costs: Rules only apply to roaming, which is subject to fair use policy. So check the small print.
- California may restore broadband privacy rules killed by Congress and Trump: State law could protect customers’ browsing history, but FCC rule is still dead.
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Web host agrees to pay $1m after it’s hit by Linux-targeting ransomware: Windfall payment by poorly secured host is likely to inspire new ransomware attacks.
- Netizen Report: China Has a New Cybersecurity Law
- How An Entire Nation Became Russia’s Test Lab For Cyberwar
- Russia Stumbles Forth In Quest To Ban VPNs, Private Messenger Apps
- North Korea’s Sloppy, Chaotic Cyberattacks Also Make Perfect Sense
- Five Eyes Wide Open: How Bill C-59 Mixes Oversight with Expansive Cyber-Security Powers (Michael Geist)
- Why the Government’s ATI Reform Bill is a Promise Broken: Proactive Disclosure ≠ Access to Information (Michael Geist)
- Unnamed Tech Company Challenged 702 Surveillance Order
- Man To Spend 180 Days In Jail For Turning Over Non-Working Password
- Reckless Exploit: Mexican Journalists, Lawyers, and a Child Targeted with NSO Spyware
- Revealed: Facebook exposed identities of moderators to suspected terrorists: A security lapse that affected more than 1,000 workers forced one moderator into hiding – and he still lives in constant fear for his safety
- Patents Reveal How Facebook Wants To Capture Your Emotions, Facial Expressions And Mood
- UK Cops Say Visiting the Dark Web Is a Potential Sign of Terrorism
- The ethics of police using technology to predict future crimes: Using computer models to determine where crime is most likely to occur could reinforce police biases about neighbourhoods with ethnic or racial minorities
- 2008 FISA Transcript Shows NSA Already Knew It Might Have An Incidental Collection Problem
- Oversight Report Shows NSA Failed To Secure Its Systems Following The Snowden Leaks
- Secret Defense Dept. Report Shows Manning Leaks Did No Serious Damage
- Leaked recording: Inside Apple’s global war on leakers: Former NSA agents, secrecy members on product teams, and a screening apparatus bigger than the TSA.
- Deputy Attorney General Asks Congress For $21 Million To Solve The FBI’s ‘Going Dark’ Problem
- There Is No ‘Going Dark’ Problem
- Security News This Week: Microsoft’s Patching Old Versions Of Windows Because Things Are That Bad
- Honda shuts down factory after finding NSA-derived Wcry in its networks: Automaker briefly stops making cars to contain worm that first struck in May.
- Advanced CIA firmware has been infecting Wi-Fi routers for years: Latest Vault7 release exposes network-spying operation CIA kept secret since 2007.
- How A Company You’ve Never Heard Of Sends You Letters About Your Medical Condition
- Nevada Enacts Internet Privacy Regulation
- How to Browse the Web and Leave No Trace
- GOP Data Firm Accidentally Leaks Personal Details of Nearly 200 Million American Voters
- GOP Data Firm Left The Personal Data Of 198 Million American Voters On Openly-Accessible Amazon Server
- How a Company You’ve Never Heard of Sends You Letters about Your Medical Condition
- U.S. Repeal of Privacy Rules Causes Concern For U.S. Internet Users – What do the Changes Mean for Canadians?
- No Sanctions for Unintentional, Automatic Deletion of Web History and Related Information
- Fake Libel Court Order Used In (Failed) Attempt To Vanish Sexual Battery Conviction
- A French Artist Says He Received a National ID Card Using a Computer-Generated Headshot
Jon
Check out theVideos of Interest to Law 423 on YouTube 
Communications Law
Join the Community!