News of the Week

GAMES

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

DIGITAL

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

A.I.

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

COMMUNICATIONS

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

PRIVACY

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

CREATIVITY

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

Jon

GAMES

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

DIGITAL

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

A.I.

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

COMMUNICATIONS

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

PRIVACY

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

CREATIVITY

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

Jon

GAMES

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

DIGITAL

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

A.I.

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

COMMUNICATIONS

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

PRIVACY

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

CREATIVITY

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

Jon

GAMES

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

DIGITAL

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

A.I.

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

COMMUNICATIONS

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

PRIVACY

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

CREATIVITY

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

Jon

GAMES

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

DIGITAL

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

A.I.

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

COMMUNICATIONS

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

PRIVACY

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

CREATIVITY

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

Jon

GAMES

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

DIGITAL

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

A.I.

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

COMMUNICATIONS

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

PRIVACY

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

CREATIVITY

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

Jon

GAMES

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

DIGITAL

1. European Court Of Justice Rules On Three Big Copyright Cases
2. Have You Heard? If You Spread ‘Hurtful’ Rumors In China, You’ll Be Thrown Off The Internet For Years
3. The ‘cesspool of hate’ message board 8chan was taken offline after being linked to 3 mass shootings this year
4. Online providers knock 8chan offline after mass shooting
5. 8chan resurfaces, along with The Daily Stormer and another Nazi site
6. The Lawless Way to Disable 8chan: The decision to disable an infamous message board fell to Matthew Prince, an internet executive who is deeply uncomfortable with his own power.
7. Trump Calls On Social Media Companies To Become Pre-Crime Agents
8. From Trump to Fox News to 8chan – the web of white supremacist rhetoric is wide: Trump is a politician perfectly fitted for an ecosystem that amplifies extreme emotion and allows the loud to drown out the calm
9. ‘Free Speech Defender’ Devin Nunes Sues More Critics, Promises More Such Lawsuits Are Coming
10. Microsoft catches Russian state hackers using IoT devices to breach networks
11. Image, ownership and an app made in St Petersburg
12. Four questions about online hate speech
13. Why Is Our First Reaction To Mass Shootings To Talk About Censorship?
14. Using Restorative Justice To Deal With Internet Trolls And Jackasses
15. Twitter users are escaping online hate by switching profiles to Germany, where Nazism is illegal
16. Twitter to Remove Third-Party Data From Ad-Buying System: The change follows a similar move by Facebook and comes as privacy concerns grow
17. Judge Not Impressed With DOJ’s Attempt To Claim Presidential Tweets And Orders Don’t Mean Anything
18. iOS 13 privacy feature will force total overhaul for Facebook apps
19. UK Lobbyist’s Long-Running Astroturf Efforts Shows Facebook Will Never Be Able To Stop Fake News, Ban All Conservatives
20. Enough With The Myth That Big Tech Is ‘Censoring’ Conservatives AND That The Law Requires Them To Be Neutral
21. New legislation is putting social networks in the crosshairs: Republicans and Democrats have ideas for regulating big tech platforms – and their bills are now moving through Congress
22. A new bill aims to protect US voters from the next Cambridge Analytica
23. FBI says “extremists” motivated by Pizzagate, QAnon are threats
24. Cloudflare has had enough, cutting off 8chan
25. Dumped by Cloudflare, 8chan gets back online—then gets kicked off again
26. 8chan is all the way down—“It’s DNS. It’s always DNS.”
27. Competition law scrutiny on tech giants spills over to the other side of the Atlantic (and the rest of the globe?)
28. Once More With Feeling: Nearly All General Interest News Paywalls Will Fail
29. UK’s Online Harms Regime Must be “Proportionate”, According to the ICO and Ofcom 
30. North Korea took $2 billion in cyberattacks to fund weapons program: U.N. report
31. What Happens When The US Government Tries To Take On The Open Source Community?
32. Philippines Lawmaker Introduces ‘Fake News’ Bill That Would Allow The National Police To Literally Police Speech
33. Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy
34. Apple and Google temporarily stop listening to Siri and OK Google queries
35. Apple suspends Siri response grading in response to privacy concerns
36. Apple’s AirDrop and password sharing features can leak iPhone numbers
37. Apple hones its focus on services with new TV deals for AirPlay 2, HomeKit
38. The FTC is looking into the Amazon and Apple deal that crushed small resellers: Experts say the deal raises serious antitrust concerns
39. Apple’s innovative virtual credit card is now available—but only to some people
40. Apple isn’t the most cash-rich company in the world anymore, but it doesn’t matter
41. FedEx Ends Ground-Delivery Deal With Amazon
42. FedEx leaves Amazon on the doorstep as the store becomes a competitor
43. Another Day, Another Company Leaving Sensitive User Data Exposed Publicly On The Amazon Cloud
44. Google has a problem with pregnant workers, employee memo alleges
45. Google will charge search providers to be the Android default in Europe: The top-three bidders will join Google on the choice screen
46. Google Is Testing a $4.99 App Subscription Bundle
47. Google launches new shopping service in the US
48. Google publishes sustainability plan for hardware, but its impact is uncertain
49. Big Four Broadcasters Sue Streaming Video Provider Locast, Claim It’s ‘Aereo 2.0’
50. Bumble stumbles: State policy interests override dating app’s contractual forum 
51. Domino’s takes its case for non-accessible design to the Supreme Court: The ADA is almost 30 years old, but the company says websites don’t count.
52. Facebook penalised $US5 billion by the FTC – A digital privacy reckoning
53. Facebook open-sources algorithms for detecting child exploitation and terrorism imagery: Crowdsourcing a better solution to disturbing photos and videos
54. No Immunity For Cops Who Arrested A Man For Creating A Facebook Page Mocking The Police Department
55. What Facebook’s New Policy Means for Alcohol, Tobacco, and E-Cigarette Content and Sales
56. Facebook’s settlements with the Federal Government—Key takeaways for all companies to consider
57. Facebook just fine following eye-watering privacy penalty?
58. Facebook briefly removes Area 51 event ‘by accident’
59. Area 51 raid event ‘to see them aliens’ removed by Facebook: The event creator is planning a real-life festival to replace the tongue-in-cheek Area 51 raid.
60. Tastemade Taps Ian Hecox, Meghan Rienks, Arden Rose For Facebook Watch Slate
61. Facebook Wants to Integrate Instagram Direct Messages With Messenger
62. What’s FaceApp and Facebook Got to Do with Competition Compliance in Canada?
63. The Tax Man Taps the Brakes on Digital Currency Expansion
64. Anime gets its #MeToo moment in clash between Dallas-area voice actors
65. Netflix Is Asking Android Users For Permission To Track Their Physical Movements
66. Utah Tax Commission Doesn’t Want a Piece of Your Video Streaming 
67. The Streaming Video-on-Demand War Is Going to Get Bloody: Media behemoths want to conquer a realm now dominated by the likes of Netflix.
68. The Worst May Be Yet to Come for Netflix: There’s a long road ahead for the streaming giant as new competitors, including your phone company, step up
69. Disney’s new streaming bundle priced to compete with “standard” Netflix plan
70. Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu will be bundled for $12.99. Netflix should be worried.: Disney is aggressively crafting the service to be an end-all, be-all for streaming subscribers.
71. Insights: How Netflix Is Building Its Global Reach One Acquisition At A Time
72. HBO Launches ‘Recommended by Humans’ Streaming Site in Dig at Netflix
73. HBO Max secures exclusive US streaming rights for Doctor Who, other BBC series
74. Malaysia Looks To Prosecute Homeowners Where Accused Streaming Piracy Occurs
75. YouTube is the world’s top-grossing video app with $138M in user spending
76. YouTube’s recent algorithm change explains why your feed is full of children’s videos: Including nursery rhymes and cartoons
77. YouTube Tweaked Its Algorithm To Promote “Quality Family Content.” That Change Decimated Kid-Friendly Creators’ View Counts.
78. Gizmodo: Why Can’t YouTube Do ‘Good’ Content Moderation? Answer: Because It’s Impossible
79. YouTubers ‘The Ingham Family’ Are Selling $340 Dolls Of Their Newborn Son
80. Michelle Obama To Launch College Advice Series On ‘YouTube Learning’ Hub
81. Susan Wojcicki Discusses New Creator-On-Creator Harassment Policy In Sitdown With Alfie Deyes
82. Claim Over Takedown Notice Triggers Anti-SLAPP Law & a Fee Shift–Complex v. X17 (Eric Goldman)
83. Some Much-Needed Pushback on the Anti-Section 230 Craziness (Linkwrap) (Eric Goldman)
84. Correcting the Record on Section 230’s Legislative History
85. NY Times Joins Lots Of Other Media Sites In Totally And Completely Misrepresenting Section 230
86. The scary trend of internet shutdowns
87. Wake-up call: ways of working with influencers
88. When Influencers Fail to Influence 
89. By Winning Motion to Dismiss, Supermodel Loses Chance to Clarify Whether She Can Lawfully Post Photos of Herself to Social Media 
90. Are you an influencer? Then you may well need to be a follower …
91. Actor Wil Wheaton Sues Geek & Sundry For Shorting Him On Web Series Payment
92. Bernie, Biden, And Warren Get Post-Democratic Debate Social Video Bump
93. Snapchat Parent Company to Raise $1 Billion in Debt Financing, Citing Potential Acquisitions
94. Snapchat To Raise $1 Billion In Debt Financing, In Part To Fund Acquisitions
95. Snapchat Launches New, Streamlined Ad Creation Process
96. Snapchat Launches Latest Batch Of ‘Creator Shows’ With The Kaplan Twins, Matt Steffanina, Teala Dunn
97. Snapchat Takes Implicit Dig At Instagram In New Ad Campaign — On Instagram
98. Following Platform-Wide Purge, Instagram Hires First Exec To Interface With Meme Accounts
99. Tencent in Talks to Buy 10% of Universal Music Group
100. Warner Posts Solid Third Quarter Results, Digital Revenue up 12.5%
101. New EU and UK guidance on online terms and conditions and privacy policies
102. Electronic credit contracts and signatures under Quebec Consumer Law
103. Rocky Mountain States Make Headway in Blockchain-Related Legislation
104. Building better legal blockchains: More law firms are testing the use of blockchain technology in their legal business, as organizations grapple with standards
105. I tried to pay with bitcoin at a Mexico City bar—it didn’t go well
106. Crypto Exchange and Payment Solutions Expand, New UK Guidance Issued, US Enforcement Actions Continue 
107. Online Platforms: “Walking” the line between legal and financial services compliance
108. Paddling to surfing: the rise of Online Dispute Resolution
109. Work Ruined Email: It’s not too late to fix it.
110. MSDN Magazine will publish its last issue, ending a Microsoft developer era
111. Now even funerals are livestreamed—and families are grateful
112. Don’t Let This Get Lost In The Shuffle: The Data Transfer Project Is Expanding, And Could Help Create Real Competition Online
113. Don’t worry – It’s publicly available on the internet!: Due diligence considerations with respect to licensing data and acquiring data-dependent businesses.
114. From Apps On Your Phone To Satellites In The Sky, A New Program Looks Into The Ethics Of Mapping

A.I.

1. California now has a new Bot disclosure law – will other states follow suit? 
2. Roll over, Beethoven: Decoding the maestro’s musical style with statistics
3. People don’t want to see workers replaced by a robot—themselves excepted
4. Everyone Hates Customer Service. This Is Why.: Technology lets companies see how badly they can treat consumers, right up until the moment they bolt
5. ‘We cannot have technology and sales take over safety’: Tesla is being sued again for a deadly Autopilot crash
6. Feds told Tesla to stop making “misleading statements” on Model 3 safety
7. Whitney Cummings—and her sex robot—take on modern womanhood
8. Robotic tails for humans are here
9. The Next Frontier: A.I. and the Efficiently Resourced Legal Department
10. Computer Science Could Learn A Lot From Library And Information Science
11. Artificial Intelligence: What we have seen so far in 2019 and what is to come… 
12. We Took a Ride on NYC’s First Self-Driving Shuttle
13. Are Your AI Selection Tools Validated? OFCCP Provides Guidance for Validation of AI-Based Algorithms 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. CRTC tells wireless companies to stop offering 3-year contracts again
2. CRTC ups the CASL liability ante for directors and officers
3. Cable Programming Blackouts Continue To Rise As Cord-Cutting Continues
4. FCC finally orders ISPs to say exactly where they offer broadband
5. ISP Frontier is failing so badly it won’t take questions from investors
6. Pai’s FCC orders cities and towns to stop regulating cable broadband
7. FCC Seeks to Close the Digital Divide with Its Proposed $20.4 Billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
8. Virgil Quick Come See: FCC Drives Down Local Government Regulation of Cable Operators 
9. FCC Adopts Rules Banning Spoofing of Texts and Foreign Calls
10. FCC adopts rules to ban malicious spoofing of texts and international calls 
11. FCC Releases Order Removing Unbundling, Resale Requirements for Price Cap ILECs
12. FCC finally gets around to denying net neutrality complaint against Verizon
13. The FCC Finally Starts Taking America’s Broadband Maps More Seriously
14. Verizon’s New ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans Still Have Very Real, Problematic Limits
15. AT&T Scores $1 Billion Contract To Rebuild DOJ Systems
16. AT&T workers took $1 million in bribes to unlock 2 million phones, DOJ says
17. AT&T Hopes A Confusing Rebranding Will Help Its Muddled Video Plans Make Sense
18. Comcast’s “unlimited” mobile plan now costs $20 extra for HD video
19. FCC adopts rules addressing spoofed texts and international robocalls 
20. After Missing Cord Cutting Trend, Nielsen Falls Apart

PRIVACY

1. Oversight Report Shows The NSA Did Not Delete All The Inadvertently-Collected Phone Records It Claimed It Had Deleted
2. Cisco pays $8.6 million for selling surveillance system it knew was vulnerable
3. Cisco Shells Out $8.6 Million For Selling The Government Easily Hackable Tech
4. Amazon Has Already Roped 200 Police Departments Into Its Ring Doorbell Surveillance/Promotional Scheme
5. Police can get your Ring doorbell footage without a warrant, report says
6. Louisiana Governor Declares Statewide Emergency After Cyber-Attacks Against School Systems 
7. The FTC’s Settlement With Equifax Is Such A Joke, The FTC Is Now Begging You Not To Ask For A Cash Settlement
8. Class Action Against Yahoo!: A Data Breach is Not Always Evidence of Compensable Loss
9. Ransomware, “wiper” malware attacks have more than doubled, IBM team says
10. Microsoft Nabs Russian Hackers Exploiting Flimsy IOT Security
11. Skype, Slack, other Electron-based apps can be easily backdoored
12. Hong Kong protesters are using lasers to distract and confuse
13. Pentagon testing mass surveillance balloons across the US
14. Brace for controversy: Edward Snowden has written a memoir
15. Barr says the US needs encryption backdoors to prevent “going dark.” Um, what?: “The FBI says they’re ‘going dark.’ Well yeah, because they’ve been staring at the sun.”
16. WIPO Says Websites In Its Pirate Database Don’t Deserve Due Process Because ‘They Know What They’re Doing’
17. New advanced malware, possibly nation sponsored, is targeting US utilities
18. Google starts selling its Titan security key in Canada, Japan, the UK, and France: The rest of the world may follow
19. Hush — They’re Listening to Us 
20. Facial Recognition Is Suddenly Everywhere. Should You Worry?
21. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Do cookie banners that disclose the use of analytics or behavioral advertising cookies, and state that continued use of a website is deemed acceptance of those cookies, satisfy European privacy laws?
22. Privacy and Cybersecurity State Law Tracker: Maine Consumer Privacy Law 
23. What all the stuff in email headers means—and how to sniff out spoofing

CREATIVITY

1. Jury awards Joyful Noise $2.8M in copyright infringement damages for Katy Perry’s Dark Horse
2. Who Wrote ‘Stairway to Heaven’? Music Industry Braces for Copyright Suits: A $2.8 million judgment against Katy Perry has record business worried about an onslaught of infringement cases
3. Bat Out of Court: Meat Loaf Settles Copyright Lawsuit Over “I’d Do Anything For Love”
4. A Decision of Interest to the Entertainment Industry: Is an event organizer responsible for an artist’s late appearance? Court dismisses class action  regarding Travis Scott’s late appearance at Osheaga Festival.
5. IP monitor – Confusion: more than just the sum of its parts
6. Canadian Copyright Mass Litigation – Reasonable Reimbursement for Norwich Order Compliance
7. Sex tech companies protest for the right to advertise—online or in the subway
8. A History Of Women In Quentin Tarantino Movies: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has reignited discussion about how Tarantino depicts women.
9. SLAPP Suit In Virginia Tries To Silence Historian Highlighting Ancestry Of Guy Suing To Keep Confederate Statues In Charlottesville
10. Yes, That Banana Costume Is Copyrightable
11. Court of a-peel: nasty split over banana costume leads to legal monkey business – Judge found a full-body banana costume sold by Arizona company may be too similar to one originally sold by a New Jersey costumer
12. Copyright Protection for Banana Costumes Is, Uh, Bananas–Silvertop v. Kangaroo (Eric Goldman)
13. Another Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Fails–Dr. Greenberg v. Perfect Body Image (Eric Goldman)
14. Scotch Jedi: American Whiskey Isn’t Going Down Smooth
15. 100% Natural Case 100% Dismissed: You Can’t Have a False Advertising Case Without Advertising
16. Competition law considerations for licensing agreements in Canada
17. 10 most urgent press freedom cases in August: One Free Press Coalition
18. Brexit and… copyright – an update

Jon

GAMES

1. British Gambling Commission: Industry should be “proactively dealing” with skin betting – Loot boxes still aren’t gambling but concerns raised over similarities and companies that fail to police secondary markets
2. Addicted to Loot: Recent developments in gaming addiction and gambling concerns in the UK
3. SEC Issues No-Action Letter for Gaming Tokens 
4. GTA dev Rockstar Games under fire from UK tax watchdog
5. Rockstar hasn’t paid UK corporation tax in ten years, claims investigative think tank: Grand Theft Auto V developer also issued claims worth over £42 million in Video Game Tax Relief
6. No Shellebration for Turtle Rock Studios 
7. Heroes Charge into Copyright Battle 
8. “It ain’t over till the Old Lady sings” – Konami, Juventus and the licensing of IP for use in sports video game content
9. CD Projekt Red promises “no disrespect” in religious-themed Cyberpunk 2077 quests: Polish studio “doesn’t want to avoid religion as a topic” but acknowledges player choices could cause controversy
10. Doomed: Bethesda’s Classic Doom Re-Releases Are Fixed, But Demonstrate Again That We Don’t Own What We Buy
11. Classic Doom games vanish, reappear on Xbox One with features missing
12. Bethesda removing mandatory login from Doom re-releases after fan backlash
13. Bethesda says online requirement for Doom re-releases was a mistake
14. Joke game removed from Steam after offering bribes to customers: Cyerprank 2069 offers collectors edition of Cyberpunk 2077 for “funniest review”
15. A bug has tanked Team Fortress 2’s Steam Marketplace economy  
16. Creators Going Pro: YouTube Gets Viewers Into The Mind Of Gamer Rez And His ‘Fortnite’-Loving Family
17. PUBG Corp says it has buried the hatchet with Fortnite dev Epic Games
18. PUBG. Corp says Epic is “one of our best partners” despite previous lawsuit attempt: Studio director Brian Corrigan dismisses notion of animosity between two companies
19. The Epic Games Store has started rolling out cloud saves
20. Epic Game store adds cloud saves: Feature active for a handful of titles, storefront says more work needed before it can be adopted on a larger scale
21. Understanding the success of Fortnite: A UX and psychology perspective
22. On YouTube’s Biggest Channels, Videos With Keywords Like ‘Fortnite,’ ‘ASMR’ and ‘Insane’ Get Higher Views
23. Immortals Gaming Club reportedly selling Houston Outlaws for $40m: Deal expected to close in August to keep Immortals from owning two Overwatch League teams at once
24. Strafe raises $3m for esports hub app: Seed round led by Bitkraft Esports Ventures
25. Bulkhead Interactive announced $650,000 investment into esports: Battalion 1944 dev expands esports offering and suggests more future investment
26. Winner of the Fortnite World Cup took home $3m: Kyle Giersdorf, 16, won the solo competition, winners of the duos tournament received 1.5m each
27. The Fortnite World Cup | A Record-Setting Tournament
28. The ‘Fortnite’ World Cup Finals Drew More Than 2 Million Concurrent Viewers
29. FaZe Clan Brings In First Female Member, 13-Year-Old Deaf ‘Fortnite’ Pro Ewok
30. Ninja is writing a book that will teach you to become an ‘unstoppable’ gamer: He’s also co-writing a graphic novel that will showcase his ‘unmatched wits and skill.’
31. Rocket League gets license approval in China: Tencent partnership leads to free-to-play release of Psyonix’s car soccer hit
32. Qualcomm and Tencent team up for future mobile game devices and content 
33. Whoever wins the console wars of tomorrow, Microsoft will profit | Opinion: Satya Nadella sees a future where every game “platform” will ultimately run on Azure’s infrastructure
34. Microsoft CEO: Partnership with Sony was driven by the PlayStation maker
35. Microsoft: Cloud partnership “all driven by Sony”: The deal means Microsoft is “dependent” on Sony’s success, according to CEO Satya Nadella
36. The PlayStation 4 has shipped 100 million units faster than any other console
37. Putting the PS4’s 100 million sales in context: 67 months to hit 9 figures is the fastest-ever pace for a home console.
38. PlayStation 4 software revenue dips as hardware shipments hit major milestone
39. US tariffs on Chinese goods could raise PlayStation console prices, warns Sony  
40. Facebook migrating Instant Games away from Messenger
41. Facebook Instant Games moves off Messenger: New game reviews re-opening after three-month hiatus
42. Zynga sees best mobile bookings and revenue in company history for Q2: Mobile publisher raises year-long guidance following record performances from Empires & Puzzles, Merge Dragons! and mobile Words With Friends
43. Pokemon Go surpasses 1 billion downloads worldwide
44. Slitherine enters contract with Dstl to develop games for UK military: Wargaming developer to create dedicated versions of Command Modern Air/Naval Operations, Flashpoint Campaigns
45. Tilting Point invests $30 million in Mino as Cat Gamelaunches worldwide
46. Tilting Point invests $30m into Mino Games’ Cat Game: This marks the publisher’s largest user acquisition investment so far
47. Mail.Ru’s My.Games grows revenues to $116.9 million in Q2: But suffers $10 million impairment charge as Obsidian co-developed MMO Skyforge falters
48. Focus Home Interactive’s Q1 revenue up 49% YOY: World War Z accounted for nearly half of the publisher’s sales last quarter
49. Star Trek Fleet Command surpasses $100m in lifetime revenue: Mobile game is publisher Scopely’s fastest-growing mobile title
50. No More Robots reaches $3m in lifetime revenue: Manchester-based publisher reaches milestone one week after launch of Nowhere Prophet
51. Bigben Interactive acquires French development studio Spiders
52. Automation enters administration and cancels Mavericks: Proving Grounds
53. Kickstarter veterans on how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign: YoYo Games’ Ross Manthorp explains seven key crowdfunding lessons from GameMaker Studio 2 developers
54. EA expects The Sims 4 to deliver net bookings on par withApex Legends
55. Live services brought EA $2.5 billion in net bookings in the last 12 months
56. Nearly half of EA’s unit sales are now digital: Publisher’s quiet first quarter headlined by growing digital dominance
57. Switch driving sales at Nintendo as ‘foreign exchange losses’ cut profits
58. Nintendo recasts Fire Emblem: Three Houses voice actor after abuse confessions
59. Fire Emblem beats Wolfenstein to the top of the UK charts: Nintendo published four of the top ten games in the UK last week
60. Nintendo’s 3DS plans remain unchanged as unit and software sales slow
61. Both digital and packaged game sales on the rise at Sega Sammy
62. Wolfenstein: Youngblood Review: A co-op spin-off does Wolfenstein better and worse than ever.
63. Fire Emblem Three Houses: Critical Consensus: Critics heap near unanimous praise for the strategy RPG’s return to console
64. Grand Theft Auto V leads a static top three in the EMEAA charts: Team Ninja’s Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 was the only new entry in the combined physical and digital chart
65. Dragalia Lost becomes second highest-grossing Nintendo mobile game: Game still sits well behind Fire Emblem Heroes, but continues trend of high spend per install
66. Amazon is ending Prime Video support on the Wii U
67. Amazon reportedly ends Prime Video on Wii U, launches it for VR: Company offering a $25 credit toward Fire TV services for Wii U Prime users
68. Bandai Namco opening Barcelona mobile studio: Bandai Namco Mobile will focus on creating and marketing games outside the Asian market
69. The irony of Oddworld: Lorne Lanning on crunching to make games about the exploitation of workers
70. There is no typical Curve game: Publishing director Simon Byron explains how the indie publisher tries to keep surprising and introduces new signing Autonauts
71. Creating terrifying, memorable 2D monsters
72. Video: A game programmer’s guide to the dark secrets of RNG
73. Watch two of Elsinore’s devs discuss the tragic Shakespeare simulator
74. Don’t Miss: Balancing the old with the new in Monster Prom’s fandom-friendly DLC
75. Unity valuation hits $6 billion following latest investment deal
76. Latest Unity investment values company at $6 billion: Tender offer of $525 million more than doubles valuation for game dev engine outfit
77. Video: Niantic founder examines the state & future of AR games
78. Schell Games receives $900,000 for HistoryMaker VR from government grant 
79. US Department of Education awards $900k to Schell Games for VR education: Grant from Small Business Innovation Research program will assist with development of HistoryMakerVR
80. HP Reverb Still ‘Sold Out’ as Reports of Display Issues Continue
81. Zuckerberg to Shareholders: ‘Quest is selling as fast as we can make them’
82. Cloudhead Games’ VR sleight of hand: Designer Antony Stevens and senior programmer Cameron Oltman talk Aperture Hand Labs, and where hand tech is headed now
83. Devcom set to thrive in close alliance with Gamescom: Nico Balletta on what being backed by the organiser of Gamescom means for the future of Devcom
84. Creating a vegetation system that reacts to the environment
85. Learn, reset, repeat: The intricacy of time loop games
86. Improving the depiction of mental illness in Vampire: The Masquerade
87. Don’t Miss: How devs deal with making enemies that feel ‘okay’ to kill
88. Don’t Miss: The Blue Shell and its discontents (Ian Bogost)
89. Making the bizarre, hilarious world of Trover Saves the Universe
90. Q&A: Behind the new open-ended design of Wolfenstein: Youngblood
91. Video: How 20XX survived and thrived in Early Access
92. Making the most interesting licensed games through self-sabotage: John Wick Hex director and writer Mike Bithell shares his strategy for finding good partners to make interesting licensed projects
93. EarthNight’s quest for epic yet accessible: Cleaversoft’s Rich Siegel on why he made it less punishing for novices late in the process
94. Blog: Considerations when writing music for games
95. Couples that play Mario Kart together stay together: A survey finds playing Mario Kart keeps the romance alive. And Call of Duty and Skyrim aren’t bad for love either.
96. U.S. Patent No. 9,061,205: Music video game with user directed sound generation 

DIGITAL

1. Sites could be liable for helping Facebook secretly track your web browsing, says EU court
2. Court of Justice of the European Union Press Release No 99/19 Luxembourg, 29 July 2019 Judgment in Case C-40/17 Fashion ID GmbH & Co. KG v Verbraucherzentrale NRW eV
3. Russian Interference and Data Privacy: Facebook Stockholders Demand Section 220 Inspection to Investigate Wrongdoing of Board and Senior Management
4. The FTC is investigating Facebook. Again
5. FTC Announces Record-Breaking Facebook Settlement
6. FTC unfriends Facebook
7. FTC Sues Cambridge Analytica for Deceptive Practices 
8. Facebook Enters into Data Privacy Violation Settlement Agreement 
9. FTC Hits Facebook With an Unprecedented Fine for Privacy Violations and a Rigorous Order on Privacy Governance
10. Business Takeaways from the FTC $5 Billion Settlement with Facebook
11. What’s Next After Facebook’s Record $5 Billion Fine and Cambridge Analytica? 
12. Cambridge Analytica made “ethical mistakes” because it was too focused on regulation, former COO says: “…we forgot to pause and think about, ethically, what was going on.”
13. The Great Hack Wasn’t A Hack And Big Tech’s Problems Aren’t Really About Big Tech
14. FTC Hands Down 5 Billion Dollar Penalty To Facebook
15. Facebook Just Paid a $5 Billion Fine for Privacy Breaches. Now it Wants Access to Your Brain.
16. Please break up Facebook, cofounder asks regulators: They say that breaking up is hard to do, but Hughes really wants to try.
17. Facebook to Settle with SEC for $100 Million 
18. Privacy group asks court to reconsider FTC’s $5 billion Facebook deal: The settlement does nothing to address the underlying issues, EPIC says.
19. What Facebook’s next 20 years will look like: is this the future of US privacy? 
20. Facebook is Making Progress on Its Mind Reading Headset: Facebook really wants to get inside your head.
21. Facebook is funding brain experiments to create a device that reads your mind: Big tech firms are trying to read people’s thoughts, and no one’s ready for the consequences.
22. NY Times Calls Out Politicians For Lying About Section 230
23. Congressman Who Was Sued For Blocking Constituents On Social Media Now Also Wants To Undermine Section 230
24. Second Circuit Issues Powerful Section 230 Win to Facebook in “Material Support for Terrorists” Case–Force v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
25. Facebook Defeats Pro Se Consumer Privacy Suit–Hassan v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
26. Facebook reached out to Netflix, Disney on new TV device, report says: The device will reportedly use the same tech as Facebook Portal.
27. Facebook Wants Disney, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HBO’s Streaming Services On Its Upcoming Connected TV Device (Report)
28. GitHub access restricted in Iran, Syria, and Crimea due to sanctions
29. Disney to Integrate Hulu Scripted Originals Team Under Dana Walden
30. Facebook announces Libra cryptocurrency – Congress responds
31. Regulators Dislike Facebook’s Entry into Cryptocurrency Market, Calling “Libra” an AML Threat
32. Facebook’s Libra Prompts Federal Draft Legislation 
33. Facebook And Instagram Ban User Posts Selling Alcohol And Tobacco
34. Teenage Instagram Users Are Exposing Their Personal Information To Access The Platform’s Business Analytics (Report)
35. Instagram Permanently Suspends Roughly 30 Meme Accounts With Millions Of Followers
36. Why Conservatives Allege Big Tech Is Muzzling Them: Google and Facebook aren’t infringing on the right’s freedom of expression, but insisting otherwise is politically convenient.
37. The future of the decentralized web
38. International Law and Cyber Activity: Why are a set of governing norms needed?
39. Full Social Media Disclosure Now Required for U.S. Visas
40. CJEU rules that unauthorized (non-trasformative) sampling can infringe a phonogram producer’s rights and German free use is against EU law (Eleonora Rosati)
41. Chinese vlogger who used filter to look younger caught in live-stream glitch
42. Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sues Google for ad censorship
43. Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google, Using All The Same Debunked Legal Theories Others Have Tried
44. People forged judges’ signatures to trick Google into changing results
45. Why Is Trump Seeing Red Over France’s ‘Google Tax’?: French unilateral efforts to fix loopholes in global tax rules are adding fuel to the trans-Atlantic trade spat.
46. Chrome continues to wind down Flash support with latest browser update
47. Missouri Senator Proposes Bill Banning YouTube’s Autoplay, Facebook And Twitter’s Infinite Scroll
48. Proposed US law would ban infinite scroll, autoplaying video: The features drive addiction by exploiting our brains, Sen. Josh Hawley says.
49. Josh Hawley Wants To Appoint Himself Product Manager For The Internet
50. Can YouTubers really unionize?: Yes, and no. They at least have the support of a really big one.
51. Popular Stream-Ripping Site Declines To Play Whac-A-Mole With YouTube
52. YouTube videos with kids get three times as many views as videos without kids: A new study has found
53. YouTube Videos Featuring Young Children Get Triple The Views Of Videos That Don’t (Study)
54. A Week in the Life of Popular YouTube Channels: Analysis of videos posted finds that children’s content – as well as content featuring children – received more views than other videos
55. YouTube video takedowns of harmful content haven’t hurt revenue: Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat says the company’s doing just fine.
56. YouTube’s New Feature Requires Creators To Self-Rate How Ad-Appropriate Their Videos Are
57. YouTube Stays Uncharacteristically Silent On New 24-Hour Music Video Viewership Record
58. YouTube Creator Group Teams With Europe’s Largest Trade Union To Launch ‘FairTube’ Initiative
59. All Def Digital Has Reportedly Filed For An ‘ABC’ — An Alternative Procedure To Bankruptcy
60. Bustle Digital Shelves Gawker Relaunch, Lays Off Site’s Staff
61. Apparently, More Than 64,000 People Paid $50 To Watch Jake Paul And Tana Mongeau Get Married
62. Consumers Can’t Understand the Online Contracts They “Agree” To. Now What?
63. After SEC Approval, YouNow Integrates ‘Props’ Crypto Tokens Into Livestreaming Ecosystem
64. Iran’s Government Gives the Official Nod to Crypto Mining
65. Cryptocurrencies: practical considerations in insolvencies 
66. NBCUniversal Streaming Service To Launch In April 2020, Will Feature ‘The Office’ And Original Content From Sky Studios
67. NBC Pacts With Twitter For Exclusive 2020 Tokyo Olympics Live Programming
68. Lilly Singh’s NBC Talk Show To Bow Sept. 16, Names Comedy Vet John Irwin Showrunner
69. Vice Media In Talks To Acquire Refinery29
70. NBA Renews China Digital Deal With Tencent
71. Music crowdfunding website PledgeMusic goes offline amidst bankruptcy proceedings: The company shut down operations earlier this year after not delivering funds to 
72. Why A ‘Clever Hack’ Against Nazis Shows How Upload Filters Have Made Copyright Law Even More Broken
73. Everything Cops Say About Amazon’s Ring Is Scripted or Approved by Ring
74. Amazon writes scripts for cops to sling Ring home cameras, report says
75. Amazon’s Free Doorbell Cameras Only Cost Law Enforcement Agencies Their Dignity And Autonomy
76. New Campaign Demands End to Amazon’s Partnerships with Police: People can sign a petition urging their local government to forbid police partnerships with surveillance companies like Amazon’s Ring.
77. Could Oberdorf Open the Door to Infringement Liability for Amazon 
78. Wisconsin Court Holds Amazon Can Be Strictly Liable for Marketplace Items–State Farm v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
79. The L.A. Times’ disappointing digital numbers show the game’s not just about drawing in subscribers – it’s about keeping them
80. HBO, The Walking Dead, And Star Trek Grab Comic-Con Spotlight On Social Video
81. Virtually every Apple business grew in every region this quarter—except the iPhone
82. Apple acquires Intel’s 5G smartphone modem business for $1 billion
83. Apple acquires the bulk of Intel’s smartphone modem business for $1 billion
84. Insights: Netflix Tumbles But Who Can Take Advantage?
85. Netflix is not a tech company
86. Netflix Is Asking Android Users For Permission To Track Their Physical Movements
87. WarnerMedia greenlights a retelling of The Odyssey for HBO Max: Based on Madeline Miller’s take on the original epic poem
88. Snapchat launches ‘instant’ tool for creating vertical ads
89. The ugly side of Snapchat and Instagram filters
90. PinkNews has tripled revenue over the last year, driven by Snapchat
91. Duolingo partnered with Twitch to help you learn languages better: Now you have no excuse to avoid the owl
92. Casey Neistat’s 368 Hits Stride With Brand Collabs, Including Ongoing Pact With Adobe
93. Nerdy Craigslist founder wants to change the world — starting with your news: Craig Newmark is a self-proclaimed nerd and reformed jerk. Now he’s putting money behind his politics.
94. Bytedance Confirms It’s Developing A Smartphone, But Says That’s Not Because Of TikTok
95. Sony Music Revenue Up 11%, Streaming Soars 27% in First Quarter
96. Spotify’s Q2 2019: 108m subscribers, €1.67bn revenues, and a €76m net loss
97. Thinking about our digital afterlives
98. The Death Of Ownership: Educational Publishing Giant Pearson To Do Away With Print Textbooks (That Can Be Resold)
99. Trump threatens retaliation against France over digital service tax
100. The Superiority of the Digital Service Tax over Significant Digital Presence Proposals (Wei Cui)
101. Redbox Automated Retail, LLC v. Disney Enterprises, Inc.
102. Cyber laundering: What are some key challenges in detection and regulation?
103. Now Even Funerals Are Livestreamed—And Families Are Grateful
104. Chinese vertical dramas made for phone viewing show the future of mobile video

A.I.

1. No authors at all, or too many to count? – AI and IP
2. DeepMind AI predicts acute loss of kidney function two days in advance, study shows
3. AI’s current hype and hysteria could set the technology back by decades
4. 6 ways AI is making an impact on video games: AI has changed the way video games work, and it’s slated to change that even more. NPCs beware.
5. Video: A dev’s guide to testing game AI
6. One chip to rule them all: It natively runs all types of AI software
7. It’s Sentient: Meet the classified artificial brain being developed by US intelligence programs

COMMUNICATIONS  

1.  Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2019-269: The Internet Code
2. CRTC’s new Internet Code of Conduct falls short of expectations
3. Soon you’ll be able to watch PBS on YouTube
4. DOJ Approves T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Based on Third-Party Divestiture Agreement Involving Dish Network 
5. DOJ Prepares To Sign Off On An Elaborate T-Mobile Merger Plan That Isn’t Likely To Work
6. It’s official: US government approves T-Mobile/Sprint merger
7. The DOJ’s Plan To ‘Fix’ The T-Mobile Merger Isn’t Going To Work
8. AT&T loses nearly 1 million TV customers after raising DirecTV prices
9. AT&T Loses 1 Million Video Users After Spending Billions On Mergers To Dominate Video
10. AT&T kills DirecTV Now brand name as TV subscribers leave in droves
11. TV networks sue nonprofit to kill free TV service: Locast, an AT&T-funded nonprofit, retransmits local TV over the Internet. 
12. Court Will Decide If AT&T Is Liable For Cryptocurrency Theft Caused By Shoddy Security
13. Inside CEO John Stankey’s ‘Action-Oriented’ Approach to Reposition WarnerMedia
14. To protect its satellites, France outlines ambitious space-weapons program
15. Looking at Equal Opportunities – When Does the Appearance of a Political Candidate on a Broadcast Program Trigger Equal Time Obligations? 
16. Advertising is a cancer on society
17. Proposed Broadcast Industry Equal Employment Opportunity Reforms Receive Significant Media Attention
18. Cord Cutting Is Setting Records In 2019

PRIVACY

1. FaceApp, the Methuselahn faced Cloud of privacy concerns
2. Terms of Use: Disarming Ourselves, Arming Russia and China 
3. Hackers Seize Control Of Bulgarian Tax Agency, Sprinkler System
4. Siri records fights, doctor’s appointments, and sex (and contractors hear it)
5. Apple contractors ‘regularly hear confidential details’ on Siri recordings: Workers hear drug deals, medical details and people having sex, says whistleblower
6. Privacy Tip #200 – Iranian Backed Hacking Group Using LinkedIn To Deliver Malicious Documents 
7. Hacker ID’d as former Amazon employee steals data of 106 million people from Capital One
8. Capital One Gets In On The Data Breach Action, Coughs Up Info On 100 Million Customers To A Single Hacker
9. San Mateo Dumps Red Light Camera Program After A Decade Of Continuous Failure
10. ICO Issues First Intentions to Fine Under the GDPR 
11. UK – New ICO guidance on the use of cookies and similar technologies
12. An Increasing Regulatory Focus on Cookies: Time to Review Your Compliance?
13. Capital One Data Breach Compromises Data of Over 100 Million
14. Post GDPR world – cross-border data privacy best line of defence
15. Cookie consent: update one year post-GDPR
16. William Barr Turns Up The Heat On The DOJ’s Anti-Encryption Rhetoric
17. Unsealed Warrant Shows SFPD Officer Misled Court About Journalist’s Occupation
18. You can go claim at least $125 from the Equifax settlement right now
19. You’re probably not going to get your $125 from the Equifax settlement: Equifax has somehow found a way to make the settlement even more disappointing.
20. City Of Orlando Kicks Amazon’s Facial Recognition Tech To The Curb
21. NYPD Screws Up Again; Hands Out Even More ‘Secret’ Facial Recognition Docs To Researchers
22. Louisiana declares state of emergency in response to ransomware attack
23. The Newest Growth Market For License Plate Readers Is Those A——s Running The Local Homeowners Association
24. Once More With Feeling: ‘Anonymized’ Data Is Not Really Anonymous
25. Privacy Perils: Bluetooth Blues
26. Who have you been giving your name and number to? A cautionary tale
27. WannaCry slayer, malware author Marcus Hutchins sentenced to time served
28. 200 million devices—some mission-critical—vulnerable to remote takeover
29. Cybersecurity officials warn state and local agencies (again) to fend off ransomware
30. FTC Seeks Comments on COPPA
31. FTC Announces COPPA Rule Review
32. FTC Seeks Comments on Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule 
33. Preparing for the inevitable hack: Experts in cybersecurity say businesses that handle personal information need to know that protecting themselves from liability is not a matter of if a data breach occurs but when.
34. Op-Ed: How data privacy laws could make the criminal justice system even more unfair
35. The CPSC Releases Framework of Safety for the Internet of Things 
36. Interaction Between Privacy and Competition Law in a Digital Economy
37. Intellectual Property and Technology News (North America), Q2 2019: The government in your cloud
38. Data Protection update – July 2019

CREATIVITY

1. Watch Hong Kong demonstrators pack airport, sing protest song from ‘Les Misérables’: The tune has become a universal anthem of protesters, “Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men?”
2. Attacks on the media in Hong Kong threaten democracy
3. Covington teen’s $250M suit against the Washington Post dismissed
4. As Expected: Covington HS Teen’s Lawsuit Against The Washington Post Is Dismissed
5. Covington student’s defamation case against Washington Post is dismissed
6. Judge dismisses suit against Washington Post filed by teen who faced-off with Native American activist in DC
7. Defamation Lawsuit Against The Washington Post Has Been Dismissed: Teen claimed he was misrepresented, but a judge ruled that was not supported “by the plain language in the article.”
8. $250 Million Lawsuit Against The Washington Post Dismissed: Federal judge dismissed suit of student Nick Sandmann after the Post wrote about his confrontation with a Native American activist earlier this year.
9. Court Dismisses Democrats’ Nutty Lawsuit Against Russia, Wikileaks And Trump Associates
10. CJEU rules that freedom of information and of the press cannot justify a derogation from the rights of copyright holders beyond allowed exceptions and limitations (Eleonora Rosati)
11. CJEU rules that use of a protected work for the purpose of reporting current events does not, in principle, require authorization (Eleonora Rosati)
12. Aussie court finds media outlets liable: Winkler
13. Iron Man’s Iron Defense 
14. Katy Perry loses ‘Dark Horse’ Trial:…Jury Says It’s A Rip-Off
15. Katy Perry Flame’d: Dark Horse infringes Joyful Noise Copyright
16. Andy Warhol Foundation Wins Copyright Lawsuit Over Prince Portrait & More Art World Headlines
17. Horizon Comics Productions, Inc. v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC.
18. Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz May Have Cost His Client A Ton Of Money, And Set An Expensive Precedent For Copyright Trolls
19. Rock Stars Form Lobbying Group to Counter Tech Giants’ Power
20. Liverpool FC Also Apparently Attempted To Trademark Widely Used Chant By Football Fans
21. Fans, Indie Soccer Clubs Slam Liverpool FC For Trying To Trademark ‘Liverpool’
22. The World’s Most Ridiculous Trademark Dispute Is Now Over: Yosemite Gets Its Names Back
23. Canadian Competition Bureau updates Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines
24. Kawhi Leonard v. Nike, Inc.: Copy, derivative work or distinct work?
25. Copyright Infringement Claims Against Just Fresh Restaurant Prove Stale
26. Intellectual Property Protection for Recipes
27. K-Pop’s Big China Problem: Chinese stars are spinning off in their own orbit as politics gets in the way of profit.
28. UFC Broadcast Partner Goes Pay-Per-View And Pushes Fans To Piracy
29. Sweden vs. ASAP Rocky: The rapper has unwittingly stumbled into a bitter debate over race, crime, immigration, and the future of the country’s famed welfare state.
30. IP rights in art in USA – New York (New York)
31. Intellectual Property and Technology News (North America), Q2 2019: Supreme Court Corner Cases we are following
32. Woman dies in Alaska trying to reach famed bus from book

Jon

GAMES

1. Court Tosses Lawsuit Claiming Muting A Runescape Character Violates The First Amendment
2. Nintendo facing class action suit over drifting Switch controllers
3. Nintendo faces class action lawsuit over Joy-Con drifting defect: US law firm calls on Switch owners to join suit as plaintiff Ryan Davis seeks monetary relief
4. Nintendo is reportedly offering free repairs for Joy-Con controllers: An internal memo advises support staff that no proof of purchase or confirmation of warranty is required
5. Report: Nintendo offering free Joy-Con repairs after drifting controversy
6. Report: Nintendo quietly owns up to “Joy-Con drift,” will repair for free
7. Miyamoto remembers the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in new book
8. Is Playing a Video Game on YouTube a Public Performance? 
9. FIFA’s loot boxes don’t count as gambling, says UK Gambling Commission
10. FIFA packs and loot boxes ‘not gambling’ in UK
11. Grand Theft Auto Online’s new casino is limited by gambling laws in some countries
12. Grand Theft Auto V update adds a casino that can be played with real money: Real money can be spent on chips, though it cannot be cashed back out into actual money
13. UKIE’s Jo Twist is right: the words we use matter | Opinion – If we casually use terms like “addictive” it robs us of the ability to have a proper discussion when games do cross a line
14. Supercell discontinues games in Vietnam due to ‘regulatory issues’
15. Supercell pulls games out of Vietnam, citing “regulatory issues”: 142 other mobile games removed by government agency in legal crackdown
16. A look at The Sims 1 design docs, and a dev’s argument for including same-sex romance
17. Girls’ Game Lab launches to host game development workshops for young girls
18. “If she can do it, I can too”: The message behind Girls’ Game Lab – New not-for-profit team setting up coding workshops for young girls, first one to be held at Playground next month
19. “Employee health, employee happiness, and then the game — in that order”: Michael Paixao on winning a legal battle against former employer ZeniMax Media to create a better work culture with Bad Yolk
20. Ex-MachineGames devs target healthy work-life balance with new studio: Bad Yolk already has a team of ten AAA veterans, with experience on Gears of War, The Darkness and The Division
21. GOG reverses decision to reject Heaven’s Vault: Inkle’s adventure game will be added to the storefront despite GOG’s initial refusal
22. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’s first month revenue lags far behind Pokémon Go – Sensor Tower data shows Niantic’s new game firmly in Pokémon Go’s shadow
23. After 28 years, cofounder Frank Pearce is leaving Blizzard
24. Blizzard’s bad-news year continues with another co-founder’s departure
25. Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce ends 28-year career at company: “The time has come for me to step away from Blizzard and pass the torch to the next generation of leaders,” says Pearce
26. Gearbox commits to cross-play for Borderlands 3: The feature will not be available immediately, but Randy Pitchford promises support “as soon as practicable after launch”
27. Don’t Miss: Crafting the oppressive soundscape ofWolfenstein II: The New Colossus
28. Don’t Miss: The challenges and rewards of designing local multiplayer games
29. Don’t Miss: The art of the tutorial
30. Deep Dive: Burdening players with the power of the system in Legal Dungeon
31. Disney and Glu aim to target nostalgia without exploiting it: Both companies address the scrutiny around free-to-play ahead of the launch of Disney Sorcerer’s Arena
32. Tencent and The Pokemon Company are making games together
33. The Pokémon Company teams up with Tencent to create more Pokémon games: Tencent’s TiMi Studio Group will lead development on multiple unknown new titles
34. Tencent makes ‘substantial investment’ in retro streaming service Antstream
35. DouYu goes public with $775m Nasdaq IPO: Tencent-backed Chinese streaming platform is valued at more than $3.7 billion
36. Nintendo, Tencent set a date to discuss Switch launch in China
37. Tencent and Nintendo to host Switch press conference in China on August 2: Shanghai event is the first official update since Tencent was cleared to distribute the console in China
38. NPD: Super Mario Maker 2 warps to the top of June US sales – Nintendo Switch continues its reign as best-selling hardware platform for 2019
39. Bandai Namco combines physical toys and mobile games with Tori: New platform will be an “ecosystem” of toys and software, designed with input from “experts in children’s learning and development”
40. Sega ends publishing partnership with narrative studio Interior Night
41. Sega drops publishing deal with Interior Night: But studio says parting was amicable and a new partnership will be announced soon
42. Microsoft sees dip in quarterly Xbox revenue as hardware sales slow
43. Microsoft hardware revenue dips 48% YOY for fourth quarter: Xbox Live reaches 65 million MAUs as subscriptions offset hardware and software declines
44. Microsoft is ‘well positioned’ to succeed in larger game market, claims CEO
45. Satya Nadella: Microsoft is “well positioned” to expand beyond traditional gaming: CEO says investments in cloud technology will benefit Xbox as well as company’s other divisions
46. The Mirage of Cloud Gaming (And How to Reach the Oasis)
47. Google tries to reassure gamers it’s behind Stadia for the long haul
48. Stadia director of product: “Eventually all games will be in the cloud and we’ll feel great” – Andrey Doronichev responds to concerns about service discontinuation, ISPs, features in Reddit AMA
49. Tools to manage Stadia’s data usage are in the works, says Google
50. Ubisoft says porting games to Stadia hasn’t been a costly affair  
51. Ubisoft pledges support to open source 3D creation tool Blender
52. Doppio raises $1.1 million from Google and Amazon for voice-controlled games
53. Google, Amazon invests in voice-controlled games studio Doppio: Portuguese developer secures €1m in seed funding
54. PC overtakes PlayStation 4 as Ubisoft’s most lucrative platform this quarter
55. Zynga is growing its presence in India with a studio expansion 
56. Grand Theft Auto V returns to top spot in EMEAA charts: Super Mario Maker 2 is best-selling physical game for the week
57. SuperData: Crash Team Racing sold over 550k units digitally in June – Overwatch surpasses $1b in in-game spending, Rainbow Six Siege revenue up to $36.8m last month
58. UK Charts: Crash Team Racing returns to No.1 as Amazon Prime Day boosts market – Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 debuts at No.2
59. Tekken 7 has crossed 4 million sales worldwide
60. id Software studio director Tim Willits is stepping down after 24 years
61. Kongregate acquires mobile and browser game Bit Heroes
62. Kongregate acquires Bit Heroes from Juppiomenz: Publisher plans to turn mobile, web-based RPG into larger franchise
63. Bigben acquires Spiders: French studio is the latest in a series of acquisitions bolstering Bigben Interactive’s internal development prospects
64. NetEase opens R&D studio in Montreal
65. NetEase launches Montreal studio: Creation of new R&D-focused development location follows last week’s R&D-minded investment in Montreal’s Behaviour Interactive
66. Rooster Teeth To Drop First Original IP Game In August, Unveils ‘Shark Week’ Collab
67. Techland: “It’s still not a corporate studio. We still get crazy sometimes” – The Dying Light 2 developer on the rise of the Polish industry, and growing from 200 staff to 300 in just a few years
68. Indies on Steam are betting on discoverability: After a year of missteps by Valve, indie devs are cautious about Steam Labs and their future visibility on Steam
69. From platform holder to indie investor: Former PlayStation boss Jack Tretton talks about backing indies like Blue Isle’s Citadel: Forged With Fire
70. 5 tips for surviving and thriving in game design 
71. Inside Steam Diving Bell, a tool for ‘Wikipedia binging’ Steam games
72. Game Seer Venture Partners launches with €10m fund: Company will invest up to €1.5 million in PC and console games, doesn’t require long-term plans
73. Don’t Miss: Making Insomniac’s Spider-Man do what a spider can
74. Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the success of The Witcher 3’s open world
75. Drawkanoid: Launching an indie game in a market where “everything changes”: Nordic Game Discovery Contest winner discusses game launches and monetisation in an ever-changing ecosystem
76. Australian studio Defiant Development is ceasing development of new titles
77. Defiant Development to close after nine years: Pioneering Australian studio was “not able to change quickly enough” to adapt to the changing industry
78. “If you’re trying to make the game of the film, you’re onto a loser”: Outright Games’ Nick Button-Brown explains how the publisher is trying to break the stigma around licensed kids games
79. Blog: Turning my grandmother’s childhood memories into a game
80. Blog: A NASA historian considers Kerbal Space Program
81. Blog: Designing sounds and music for a casual mobile game
82. Blog: The one metric you SHOULD care about when launching your game
83. Video: Letting Go – The Florence postmortem
84. Video: An actor’s advice on getting great mocap performances in games
85. Video: Tips for programmers in the game industry
86. Video: What makes for successful, memorable game trailers
87. Watch a design breakdown of digital card game adventureNowhere Prophet
88. Kind Words: A game of lo-fi beats, letters to strangers, and feeling less alone – Popcannibal’s Ziba Scott on designing and moderating a game exclusively about being kind to other people
89. Brendan Greene: “It’s crazy, the hate I receive. I just have to ignore it”: At Gamelab 2019, Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail talked to PUBG’s creator about the darker side of making a global phenomenon
90. ‘Fortnite’ Partners With YouTube To Give Players Exclusive Loot When They Watch Live Streams
91. The free-to-Play cookbook: Secrets to player engagement – deltaDNA reveals the top tips on monetizing your mobile game
92. NSE and Intel partner for second season of the British University Esports Championship: Long-term strategic partnership committed to investing in grassroots esports
93. Gaming and esports revenues on the rise for MTG: InnoGames’ Forge of Empires was at the heart of the Swedish firm’s growth in the second quarter
94. Echo Fox proposes sale of slot in League of Legends Championship Series: Riot must still review the sale, rumoured to a $30.25 million sale to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment
95. Tencent to stream NBA 2K League in China: Selected playoff matches and every game of the finals to be made available through Tencent Sports, Tencent Video, and Tencent News
96. Geoff “iNcontroL” Robinson dies at 33: Esports broadcaster, streamer, former StarCraft II pro suffered a sudden illness
97. Fight for money and fame in Fortnite and Apex Legends this weekend
98. Football Manager 19 surpasses 2m copies sold across all platforms: It’s the first annual Football Manager game to reach this milestone
99. How Satisfactory’s network optimizations keep multiplayer factories humming along
100. Oculus Go emulation coming to the Quest later this year 
101. Oculus Quest teardown shows how the standalone VR headset was built
102. Digital Catapult launches AR and VR accelerator programme for UK startups: Early-stage companies to receive mentorship and access to investors
103. I Spent a Full Day Working in the Magic Leap One & Discovered the AR Office of the Future
104. Blockchain Gaming: Buzzwords, bulls and bears 
105. Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Looks Absolutely Fantastic – ‘Game Of Thrones’ Fans Take Note

DIGITAL

1. FTC fines Facebook $5 billion, imposes new privacy oversight
2. Facebook Agrees to New FTC Privacy Oversight, Will Pay $5 Billion Fine Under 20-Year Settlement
3. FTC’s Privacy Settlement With Facebook Gets Pretty Much Everything Backwards; Probably Helps Facebook
4. Facebook Knows More About You Than The CIA
5. Facebook: Hypothetical Risk Factors are Insufficient Disclosure When the Risk has Occurred 
6. Still available via Google Analytics: Data slurped from 4 million browsers
7. Google Finally Settles Lawsuit Over Decade-Old WiFi Snooping Accusations
8. Justice Department launches antitrust probe into big tech
9. Antitrust as a Tool to Regulate the FANG Companies: Differing Approaches in the United States and in Europe
10. It’s Time to Reboot the Startup Economy: The new laws and antitrust actions that would resurrect American innovation (Tim Wu)
11. As Russian “FaceApp” gobbles up user photos, Schumer asks FBI to investigate
12. Advanced mobile surveillanceware, made in Russia, found in the wild
13. Section 230 Works: Russian Trolls Don’t Get To Sue Facebook For Being Kicked Off Facebook
14. Russia F’d With American Democracy, But It Can’t F— With Section 230 – Federal Agency of News v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
15. “We’re not ready” for foreign election interference in 2020, says Rep. Adam Schiff: Democrat has warned Facebook, Twitter, and Google to be on notice for deepfakes and other dirty tricks.
16. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Says $5 Billion FTC Settlement Terms “Go Beyond Anything Required Under U.S. Law”
17. Breaking: US to ban Facebook Cryptocurrency
18. Crypto and Blockchain Markets Signal Growth Amid Regulator Skepticism, Hacks and Sanctions Warnings 
19. Judge allows suit against AT&T after $24 million cryptocurrency theft
20. Google’s Project Dragonfly ‘terminated’ in China: Google’s controversial plan to launch a censored search engine in China has been “terminated”, a company executive has said.
21. Google pays $11 million to settle 227 age discrimination claims
22. For All Of Trump’s Complaints About Social Media ‘Censorship’, The White House Itself Moderates Content Similarly To Social Media Sites
23. Trump’s Tweets: A Warning That Public Officials’ Personal Social Media Posts Might Actually Be The Government’s
24. Police Union Responds To Outing Of Officers’ Bigoted Social Media Posts By Offering To Erase Officers’ Online Presences
25. The Man Who Built The Retweet: “We Handed A Loaded Weapon To 4-Year-Olds” – The button that ruined the internet – and how to fix it.
26. Leave.EU may keep name after no-deal Brexit if ownership handed to EU citizen: UK-based owners of .eu domains could use transfer loophole to keep name
27. Brexit funder Arron Banks threatens Netflix over Great Hack documentary: Legal threat comes as campaigners warn UK government that courts are being used to intimidate journalists
28. Netflix Hit With Class Action Shareholder Lawsuit Following Dismal Q2 Earnings
29. Copyright Infringement Confirmed, but No Damages for “Cordoba” Photographer
30. Court Holds that Arbitration Clause in “Hybridwrap” Terms Is Unenforceable 
31. Lessons from Bumble’s Choice of Law Clause–King v. Bumble
32. Instagram Hides Likes And Video Views In More Countries To Cut Down On “Pressure” Users Face, While TikTok Tests Adding Another Public Metric
33. Why hiding likes won’t make Instagram a happier place to be: Mark Zuckerberg’s app is making likes invisible in a new trial. The aim is to “reduce pressure” on users, but it’s not clear how (or if) this will work
34. Judge Tosses Crazy Copyright Lawsuit Over Gigi Hadid Photo
35. Dear AHL: Get Your App S— Together Because You’re Freaking Us Out
36. Another Blocked Facebook User Loses in Court–Dipp-Paz v. Facebook
37. The Fall Of Mic Was A Warning: “I don’t need a pair of Nikes. I need a 401(k)” — and other lessons from the death of a venture-backed, Facebook-dependent, millennial-focused news site.
38. Web Search Data Indicates Soaring Interest for Facebook Libra in China
39. Facebook is backpedaling from its ambitious vision for Libra
40. Facebook Watch Scares Up 5-Series Content Slate From Horror Hub Crypt TV
41. Facebook is both killing and funding local journalism
42. Snap Stock Skyrockets as Company Adds 13 Million Daily Active Users in Q2
43. Netflix Takes Aim at Facebook With ‘The Great Hack’: A new documentary out July 24, explores Facebook’s role in helping get Trump elected and pushing Brexit – among other things.
44. Netflix Sees First Subscriber Losses Ever
45. Netflix lost US subscribers in Q2 over price hikes; how can it win them back?
46. Netflix’s Original Content Strategy Is Failing
47. Netflix Hit With Class Action Shareholder Lawsuit Following Dismal Q2 Earnings
48. Adware Is The Malware You Should Actually Worry About
49. Which Sports Brands Have Been Viewed The Most In 2019 So Far?
50. Social Media Platforms Under Attack in the Senate
51. Influencer and Content Marketing: IP, Privacy and Compliance Issues
52. KLM and Its Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day on Social Media
53. 51% Of Gen Z, Millennials Daydream About Life Without Social Media, Fullscreen Study Finds
54. FTC Seeks Public Comments to Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule 
55. HQ Trivia Turns Down New Funding Amid Layoffs, Internal Petition To Oust CEO 
56. Andy Signore Acknowledges “Appalling” Behavior, But Fiercely Refutes Allegations Of Sexual Assault
57. Stream-Ripping Sites And YouTube Now Engaged In Whac-A-Mole
58. YouTube, FTC reach settlement over child privacy
59. FTC’s YouTube Privacy Settlement Pisses Everyone Off; Perhaps We’re Doing Privacy Wrong
60. YouTube shifts the burden: requires manual copyright claimants to timestamp the allegedly infringing material; simplifies the rectification process
61. YouTube’s Autocomplete Feature Has a Huge Spoiler Problem: If you type “Iron Man” into YouTube, the top suggestion is a major “Avengers: Endgame” spoiler. And that’s just the tip of the spoilerberg.
62. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody video hits 1 billion views on YouTube: It’s the first pre-1990s video to reach that milestone.
63. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” Becomes Oldest Music Video In YouTube History To Hit 1 Billion Views
64. Creators Going Pro: Married YouTubers ‘Rose & Rosie’ Have Made A Career Of Candid, Clever Content About Their Life Together
65. YouTube Will Exclusively Livestream Fuji Rock, Japan’s Largest Outdoor Music Festival
66. MLB to livestream 13 games exclusively on YouTube in Canada
67. Odell Beckham Jr. Launching Production Company, YouTube Channel With Wheelhouse 
68. Odell Beckham Jr. Forms Content Company To Launch His Own YouTube Channel
69. Logan Paul Reveals Income Woes, Hypes His Upcoming YouTuber vs. YouTuber Event ‘The Challenger Games’
70. Zefr Sells YouTube Management Businesses RightsID And ChannelID To Vobile Group For $90 Million
71. Zefr Sells Its Copyright-Flagging and YouTube Channel-Management Businesses to Vobile for $90 Million
72. YouTube Music Now Lets Users Switch Seamlessly Between A Song And Its Music Video
73. Apple Music Launches ‘Rap Life’ Playlist: The rebrand replaces “A-List: Hip-Hop.”
74. Apple closes in on $1 billion deal to buy Intel’s modem business: report
75. Dropbox irks Mac users with annoying Dock icon, offers clueless support
76. Very Confused Judge Allows Bizarre Copyright Lawsuit Against Cloudflare To Continue
77. The CASE Act: The Road To Copyright Trolling Is Paved With Good Intentions
78. The Amazon dilemma: how a tech powerhouse that fulfills our every consumer need still lets us down – Despite criticism, Amazon refuses to acknowledge unintended consequences of its rise
79. Amazon warns customers: Those supplements might be fake
80. Hulu’s Longtime CFO Elaine Paul Joins Amazon Studios In Same Role
81. Hulu Launches Collection Of Space-Themed Content From NASA, Including 24-Hour NASA TV Feed
82. Microsoft closes fiscal 2019 with revenue spikes driven by cloud services
83. Microsoft has a wild hologram that translates HoloLens keynotes into Japanese: Azure and HoloLens combine for a hint at the future
84. Can Disney’s Circle really deliver a porn-free Internet?
85. BuzzFeed To Host ‘Internet Live’ Variety Show With Lil Nas X, JoJo Siwa, Jason Nash
86. Fanjoy To Host Creator Pop-Up Series At Los Angeles Mall This Summer, Starting With Sam And Colby
87. Creators For Social Good: Jackie Aina Is Pushing The Beauty World To Be Better For People Of Color, One Video At A Time
88. Dude Perfect’s 2016 Collab With Serena Williams Sees Viral Resurgence After Polarizing Survey
89. Shane Dawson’s Surprise Eugenia Cooney Doc Nabs 21 Million Views In 3 Days
90. WarnerMedia’s HBO Max Unveils Content Team
91. Vice Media, Mailchimp Partner on Original Docuseries ‘Second Act’
92. iHeartMedia Stock Drops in NASDAQ Debut
93. Why The Appearance Of A One Terabyte microSD Card Means The War On Unauthorized Music Downloads Is (Almost) Over
94. Love letter to my iPod Classic
95. Open Source Is Becoming a ‘Best Practice’ 
96. Why Carl Malamud’s Latest Brilliant Project, To Mine The World’s Research Papers, Is Based In India
97. Texas Rule on “Gig Workers” Takes Effect
98. Second Circuit Upholds Ban on In-Uber Advertising
99. How Humans Will Bring the Internet to Space: In the future, orbiters, rovers, deep space probes, and even human space habitats will be nodes on the internet of things.
100. John McAfee believed to have been detained, campaign manager says: Data secreted across the world will be released if McAfee stays missing, his Twitter account says.
101. After outcry, DoorDash promises workers will get 100% of tips
102. Tech Tax – Times Are A Changing? 

A.I.

1. Ticketmaster Reaches Settlement with Ticket Broker over Unauthorized Use of Automated Bots 
2. China’s deepfake celebrity porn culture stirs debate about artificial intelligence use
3. Jazz Generated By A Neural Network Is Absolutely Terrifying
4. Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI
5. Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI: Group commits to using Azure as exclusive cloud provider in its pursuit of artificial general intelligence
6. Elon Musk Details ‘Neuralink’ Brain Interface Tech, Oculus CTO Calls It “very bold work”
7. Pedestrian collision puts Vienna’s driverless bus trial on hold: The city has paused Navya’s trail pending a full investigation
8. The Algorithmic Colonization of Africa: Startups are importing and imposing AI systems founded on individualistic and capitalist drives
9. AI and IoT Legislative Update: Second Quarter 2019
10. The Human Brain Project Hasn’t Lived Up to Its Promise: Ten years ago, a neuroscientist said that within a decade he could simulate a human brain. Spoiler – It didn’t happen.
11. An introduction to Artificial Intelligence for in-house lawyers in the Retail and Consumer sector
12. Mayer Brown’s Tech Talks: Smart Licensing of AI
13. Shall we play a game? Reinforcement learning and the AI training data challenge 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. DOJ to approve T-Mobile/Sprint merger despite 13 states trying to block it
2. Telecom Union Got Hoodwinked Into Supporting AT&T’s Shitty Merger
3. Verizon wants you to pay $650 plus $85 a month for a 5G hotspot
4. Claims Of 5G Health Risks Are Frequently Based On A Single, 20 Year Old Flawed Graph
5. Who is leading the 5G patent race? July 2019 update 
6. Early 5G Plans Show Cell Carriers Haven’t Learned Much About Misleading ‘Unlimited’ Plans
7. TV blackouts hit record high as customers get screwed by industry squabbles
8. FCC Aims to Make Broadband Deployment Data More Precise
9. FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, Better Broadband Mapping – Two More Reverse Auctions 
10. Latest Huawei ‘Smoking Gun’ Still Doesn’t Prove Global Blackball Effort’s Primary Justification

PRIVACY

1. Steve Bannon The Latest To Abuse Consumer Location Data
2. Instead Of Parents Spying On Their Kids Online, Why Not Teach Them How To Be Good Digital Citizens
3. Judge Unseals, Tosses Warrant Used By The San Francisco PD To Obtain A Journalist’s Phone Records
4. I found your data. It’s for sale.: As many as 4 million people have Web browser extensions that sell their every click. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
5. My browser, the spy: How extensions slurped up browsing histories from 4M users
6. Dropbox silently installs new file manager app on users’ systems [Updated]
7. More on DataSpii: How extensions hide their data grabs—and how they’re discovered
8. How private is your browser’s Private mode? Research into porn suggests “not very”
9. DNA Information of Thousands of Individuals Exposed Online for Years 
10. Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says
11. Oversight Report: World’s Most Powerful Spy Agency Is An Insecure Mess That Can’t Keep Tabs On Its Own Employees
12. Inadequate Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Due Diligence Alleged in Starwood Deal as UK ICO Fines Marriott $125M for GDPR Violations 
13. Chances of destructive BlueKeep exploit rise with new explainer posted online
14. U.S. Supreme Court Broadens FOIA Exemption 4 for ‘Confidential’ Materials
15. How to make your creative business GDPR compliant
16. GDPR Privacy FAQs: What are the different types of cookie banners?
17. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Do European privacy laws require a cookie banner when a company uses first-party session cookies?
18. FTC reportedly approves $5 billion privacy settlement with social media company
19. FTC Requests Public Comments on COPPA Rule
20. FTC Asks if COPPA Rule Amendments Warrant Further Changes
21. Equifax to pay $575M for data breach, promises to protect data next time
22. What You Should Know About the Equifax Data Breach Settlement
23. Public Records Request Nets User’s Manual For Palantir’s Souped-Up Surveillance Software
24. Privacy Tip #199 – Guard Your Cryptowallet: Cryptoheist in Japan Drains $32 million from Exchange 
25. London Metropolitan Police’s Facial Recognition System Is Now Only Misidentifying People 81% Of The Time
26. FBI, ICE Are Running Facial Recognition Searches Against State Drivers’ Databases
27. Oakland, California On Its Way To Becoming The Third US City To Ban Facial Recognition Tech
28. Facial recognition banned in another city: Oakland, California, has followed San Francisco as the second Bay Area city to vote down the use of the technology.
29. UK Parliamentary Committee Calls For The End Of Facial Recognition Tech By The UK Government
30. CCTV cameras don’t deter crime, so why does Ottawa want them?
31. Chrome 76 prevents NYT and other news sites from detecting Incognito Mode
32. Nigerian scammers slide into DMs, so Ars trolls them: Romance scams persist, somehow, by preying on the gullible; Twitter is fertile ground.
33. Phishing for victims: Cybercriminals can use complex technology but rely on old-fashioned human error to succeed
34. An Old Hack Comes Back to Haunt (Newly-Public) Slack 
35. Recent FinCEN Advisory Details Dramatic Increase in Frequency and Severity of Business Email Compromise Fraud Schemes 
36. One of These Things Is Not Like The Other: Emails Are Not Subject To The TCPA, Even If You Get Them On Your Smartphone. 
37. 8th Circuit affirms reduction in TCPA statutory damages from $1.6 billion to $32 million 
38. GandCrab Ransomware Backers Working on New Ransomware REvil 
39. Researchers Build App That Kills To Highlight Insulin Pump Exploit
40. CCPA Creates Possible Dilemmas for Companies Sending Text Messages. Is Your Business Ready?
41. Global Data & Privacy Update – June 2019
42. 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 6 (Privacy, E-Commerce, & More) (Eric Goldman)

CREATIVITY

1. New York Court Finds Warhol Series to be Fair Use of Prince Photograph 
2. Sony Music brings recordings and publishing under one roof
3. Dean Guitar Counter-Sues Against Gibson Guitars, Attempts To Invalidate Several Trademarks
4. Gibson Guitar Formalizes Its Hands-Off IP Enforcement Approach With Authorized Partnership Program
5. The U.S. Trademark Office Adopts New Rule Requiring Appointment of U.S. Counsel to Represent a Non-US Domiciliary in Trademark Matters 
6. Filipina Girl From New Zealand Takes Her Slime Show International After Fending Off Nickelodeon Lawsuit
7. Logical? Logos do not necessarily enjoy copyright protection
8. Harmful Gender Stereotypes Banned in UK Advertising: An Update 
9. Nike Strikes Back Against Kawhi Leonard Over Logo Lawsuit
10. Unlicensed “health coach” claims health advice is free speech—court disagrees
11. Olympics Games organisers issue strict guidelines for Tokyo 2020
12. Court Determines That This Duck Doesn’t Look Enough Like Another Duck To Be Infringing
13. You can’t copyright a cocktail, so what’s a creative bartender to do?
14. The art of Hong Kong protests
15. Tales of the ‘Basterds’: The story of Quentin Tarantino’s World War II revenge fantasy ‘Inglourious Basterds’ as seen through the eyes of the ragtag crew he created to take down the Nazis

Jon

GAMES

1. Former College Basketball Players Sue Fortnite Creators for Use of “Running Man” Dance
2. ESA Steps In With Amicus Brief In Support Of Activision Versus Humvee
3. Would freedom of speech beat loot box legislation? | Opinion: A look back at the Supreme Court’s 2011 ruling on video game violence suggests the First Amendment defense may not play out the same way a second time
4. German researchers propose treatment for gaming addiction: Clinical trial of 143 finds promising remission rate using cognitive behavioral therapy
5. Losing yourself in virtual worlds can have good as well as negative effects: Psychologist Pete Etchells chats with Ars about his first book, Lost in a Good Game.
6. Yogscast CEO Mark Turpin resigns following sexual harassment allegations: Turpin apologises for “error of judgement” as second sexual harassment case hits Yogscast in as many weeks
7. Ion Maiden becomes Ion Fury following Iron Maiden trademark lawsuit 
8. Battlegrounds has been banned in Jordan due to negative impact on players
9. Gears 5 to drop depictions of smoking after urging from Truth Initiative
10. The Coalition partners with Truth Initiative, cuts smoking from Gears 5: Rod Fergusson – “I’ve been against smoking from the beginning”
11. Why is there no smoking in Gears 5? It depends on who you ask: Either way, you won’t see cigars dangling from COG mouths any time soon.
12. Red Candle won’t be re-releasing Devotion (yet) following China controversy
13. Red Candle Games will not re-release Devotion “in the near term”: Developer apologizes again for artwork mocking Chinese president, but hopes to “rebuild trust”
14. Respawn will deal with Apex Legends cheaters by making them fight each other
15. Respawn working on matchmaking Apex Legends cheaters with other cheaters: Studio upping anti-cheat resources, working on spam and cheat detection using machine learning
16. Overwatch’s new cheat detection will end matches when cheats are used
17. Blizzard testing automatic shutdown for Overwatch matches where players are cheating: But game’s director Jeff Kaplan promises rule-abiding players will not be punished in any way
18. Ubisoft criticised for sourcing Watch Dogs Legion music through Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s HitRecord: Developers and composers decry use of audience compositions as ‘exploitative spec work’
19. Ubisoft Once Again Crowdsourcing Content For Video Game, Once Again Gets Unwarranted Backlash
20. Ubisoft defends Watch Dogs HitRecord partnership amid spec work criticism
21. Ubisoft puts kibosh on Assassin’s Creed XP-farming exploit
22. Ubisoft bans XP farming quests in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s story creator: Coincidently, publisher continues to sell permanent XP boosts as in-game purchases
23. Ubisoft: “Nobody has dared do anything with a granny before” – EMEA Director Alain Corre on Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy, and the dream of creating a game with one billion players
24. Odyssey and Siege push Ubisoft to a better-than-expected quarter
25. Ubisoft sees PC, digital sales share increase in Q1: Publisher continues anticipating quieter first half as it preps for big releases, UPlay+ later this year
26. Ubisoft’s Uplay+ subscription library launches this fall with 100+ games
27. How to spot an exploitative mobile game publishing deal — from a former publishing CEO
28. Blog: Charting the record $9.6B games investment over the past 18 months
29. ‘Reality-focused’ game dev Surrogate secures $2 million in funding
30. UK publisher Merge Games creates $4 million indie game fund
31. Kickstarter suspends funding campaign for online gameRAW over honesty concerns
32. Ratio of successful Kickstarter projects at highest since Double Fine Adventure: ICO Partners breaks down ongoing maturation of crowdfunding projects with H1 2019 update
33. Kickstarter suspends over ambitious MMO inspired by GTA Online: “We require projects to be honest and clearly presented, and this project failed to meet that standard,” says Kickstarter
34. Blog: Crowdfunding and video games – A 2019 mid-year update
35. Blog: Crowdfunding and tabletop games – A 2019 mid-year update
36. Minecraft Earth’s closed beta: This augmented reality needs more augmenting
37. Want to be more creative? Playing Minecraft can help, new study finds
38. Video Games can Increase Creativity, but with Caveats (Jorge Blanco-Herrera, Douglas Gentile & Jeffrey Rokkum)
39. Jo Twist: Games industry needs to “step up” to fight cultural bias – UKIE CEO warns critics and publishers to be careful with their language, says games are “an easy target because we’re new”
40. Under fire from game devs, G2A proposes new ‘Key Blocker’ tool
41. G2A proposes key-blocking tool: But controversial marketplace wants at least 100 developers to register interest before it begins development
42. How does the games industry get rid of G2A? Eliminate game keys altogether: The only way to stop key resellers is to stop selling keys, but will the industry take such a radical step?
43. Wube Software takes up G2A on offer to pay back ten times its chargeback fees: Studio has racked up $6,600 in chargebacks for Factorio, also encourages players to pirate rather than buy via G2A
44. GOG puts Heaven’s Vault up for sale after declining to sell the game at launch
45. Jason Kingsley: Epic is “paying through the nose” to build its store – Rebellion founders discuss change of heart on Epic Store exclusivity
46. Epic awards Blender Foundation $1.2m grant: Epic MegaGrants-fueled support to help bolster Blender creation suite
47. RetroArch will be Steam’s biggest emulation launch yet, coming July 30
48. Steam Labs is Valve’s new home for experimental Steam features
49. Controversial freelance firm Fiverr opens game services store
50. Fiverr adds dedicated gaming store: Freelancer hiring platform includes sections for development and streaming services
51. Stadia’s dev partners program has received more than 4,000 applications 
52. Google’s Dead Wrong If It Thinks Broadband Caps Won’t Hurt Game Streaming
53. PlayStation’s former portfolio strategy head is now tackling game licensing at Disney
54. Disney hires former PlayStation portfolio boss to head up games licensing: John Drake says it’s an “amazing time” to bring the worlds of Star Wars, Marvel and Fox to video games
55. Video: The importance of finding your platform champions
56. RuneScape dev Jagex says sale is possible, but not set in stone
57. Jagex denies reports it has been sold: Suggested sale by owner Fukong “remains one of various possible outcomes”
58. Smartphone maker Rokit launches $50 million game development fund
59. Smartphone maker ROKiT announces $50m indie dev fund: Selection committee of industry veterans established, up to $500,000 per project on offer
60. Tencent launches app for streaming PC games to smartphones: League of Legends only game currently available, but more expected soon
61. Twitch growth dips as Fortnite viewership continues to decline: Riot Games surpasses Epic Games as most-watched publisher in Q2 2019
62. Fortnite streaming hours drop for fourth straight quarter: Biggest battle royale games all show declines but Epic’s hit remains most watched title on streaming platforms
63. Epic awards $1.2 million to Blender Foundation through Epic MegaGrants program
64. Don’t Miss: 20 difficult games worth revisiting and learning from
65. League of Legends dominates South Korean PC cafés: Riot Games’ hit accounted for almost 40% of hours played last month as Path of Exile made a strong first impression
66. Riot extends deadline for removal of Echo Fox shareholder following racist remarks: Esports organisation was instructed to oust shareholder two months ago or face “formal action” from LCS
67. Esports Upstart 100 Thieves Names Retail Vet Doug Barber VP Of Brand And Apparel
68. Don’t Miss: Memoirs of a video producer who put Madden in Madden
69. Nearly three-fourths of gamers prefer Netflix-style subscription for cloud games: Broadband Genie: 86% say they expect cloud purchases of games to be cheaper than digital or physical copies
70. Nintendo deletes popular Mario Maker 2 level for unexplained reasons
71. Dr Mario World is the lowest grossing Nintendo mobile launch so far: But Sensor Tower says puzzle game is on par with latest Candy Crush release
72. Nintendo reaffirms its toy-maker identity | Opinion: Ventures into mobile games and streaming might have clouded Nintendo’s self-image — but the company is still first and foremost a toy-maker
73. Switch owners say Joy-Con controllers are prone to drifting after just months
74. Evidence points to another Switch hardware revision on the horizon
75. Nintendo releasing new Switch with longer battery life: Tweaked model of flagship console will last up to nine hours – two more than Switch Lite
76. The Switch may be getting a new processor and flash storage
77. New standard Switch model will improve battery life 40 to 80 percent
78. Nintendo is boosting Switch battery life through a slight hardware refresh
79. The industry is still “developing games in a bubble”: FlavourWorks’ Jack Attridge says Conan O’Brien’s Clueless Gamer videos are proof of how inaccessible games have become
80. “In the past, YouTubers were very problematic… Suddenly they became our allies”: How streaming can benefit storytellers, and the “serious problem with people not even finishing our games”
81. CAA Signs Comedic Gaming Collective ‘Neebs Gaming’ (Exclusive)
82. Control, alt, degree: Trinity Western to launch game development program this fall
83. Big PC sales continue to rock EMEAA charts: GTA V back in the lead alongside resurgence of Borderlands games
84. UK digital charts: Sales and anticipation lift Borderlands 2, Pre-sequel once more – Crash Team Racing holds on for one more week, before being dethroned by GTA V
85. Gearbox wants crossplay in Borderlands 3, but it won’t launch with it
86. UK Charts: Super Mario Maker 2 scores third consecutive No.1 – But Crash is snapping at Nintendo’s heels
87. German consumers spent €4.4bn on video games in 2018: Mobile and consoles have overtaken PC as nation’s most popular games platforms
88. MTG has invested $11m in games companies this year: H1 deals include Dorian, Tonk Tonk Games and Sviper
89. Merge Games announces $4m indie publishing and marketing fund: UK publisher looking for multi-platform titles to support as it celebrates 10th anniversary
90. Indie publisher Private Division splits from Swedish dev The Outsiders
91. Video: Living the freelancing dream while avoiding the nightmare
92. NetEase acquires minority stake in Behaviour Interactive: Partnership to help enhance Chinese game giant’s research and development efforts
93. LuckyHammers shuts down: 70 employees affected by closure of Montreal-based studio
94. Private Division has parted ways with Darkborn developer, The Outsiders: Publisher confirms split at end of last year, but financially supported dev for “several months” afterwards
95. NetEase nabs minority stake in Dead by Daylight dev Behaviour Interactive
96. Terraforming Mars dev LuckyHammers has closed down
97. Outsourcing studio Pole to Win expands with Montreal office
98. Surrogate raises $2m in seed round: Funding will go toward development of “Surrogate Reality” portfolio of games
99. Sports Direct now owns 84% of GAME: Shares in UK games retailer will be removed from London Stock Exchange by August 12
100. GameStop taps design firm R/GA to help keep its stores relevant
101. GameStop plans to renovate stores, pilot new store concepts: Troubled retailer hopes to draw customers back in with local esports competitions and retro-only branches
102. Pixion Games raises $2m toward mobile esports development: Seed funding to focus on core PvP experiences, expansion of “lunchtime esports”
103. Spiritfarer wants to talk to you about death: Thunder Lotus CEO William Dubé and creative director Nicolas Guérin on the game’s conception and the personal stories that built it
104. Lego Star Wars: Rise of TT Games: Game director James McLoughlin talks us through the evolution of the Lego games as the studio comes full circle with The Skywalker Saga
105. Boom-shaka-laka: Call of Duty’s new “Gunfight” mode is like NBA Jam with guns
106. The aggressive resource management of Doom Eternal
107. Blog: The secrets of dynamic difficulty adjustment
108. Blog: Finding the fun in monetizing Archero – Part 3
109. ‘Things will go wrong’: The challenge of Dauntless’ day-one crossplay
110. Don’t Miss: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
111. Designing experimental game Cultist Simulator for commercial success
112. Rumor: Apple Reportedly Suspends Work on Consumer AR Headset
113. Overcooked 2 named Game of the Year at Develop:Star Awards: Sumo Digital, Playground Games take home multiple prizes in inaugural event
114. Pokemon Detective Pikachu is the second highest grossing video game movie ever
115. Blog: How music enhances virtual presence – Part 1
116. Detective Pikachu becomes the highest-grossing video game movie: Film has brought in over $436m worldwide as five remaining territories push it over record set by Warcraft
117. The Man in the High Castle creator to produce TV series based on Warhammer 40,000: Games Workshop, Big Light Productions partner for live action series, entitled Eisenhorn
118. Atari 2600 rarity Extra Terrestrials goes on sale for $90,000
119. U.S. Patent No. 5,805,784: Computer story generation system and method using network of re-usable substories 
120. Fashion in games: Why it matters
121. Pakistani Minister Congratulates Pilot For Miraculous Save In Retweet Of GTA V Video

DIGITAL

1. Facebook Embeds ‘Hidden Codes’ To Track Who Sees And Shares Your Photos
2. Facebook To Face Record $5 Billion FTC Settlement Related To Cambridge Analytica Scandal
3. Facebook’s FTC fine will be $5 billion—or one month’s worth of revenue: Fine will settle privacy investigation triggered by Cambridge Analytica scandal.
4. FTC Approves Record $5 Billion Settlement with Facebook 
5. FTC Approves $5 Billion Fine Against Facebook for Privacy Violations
6. The FTC And Facebook: Why The $5 Billion Fine Is Both Too Little And Too Much
7. Facebook denies allegations that you make friends on Facebook: Facebook responds with blanket denials to DC’s Cambridge Analytica suit.
8. Here’s What Facebook Says About Camera Privacy on Quest & Rift S
9. Germany Cashes Out, Hits Facebook With Fines For Failing To Comply With Its Ultra-Vague ‘Hate Speech’ Law
10. Laura Loomer Files Defamation Suit Against Facebook For Calling Her ‘Dangerous’ When Booting Her From The Platform
11. There’s a big problem with Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency
12. House Representatives Ask Facebook to Halt Moving Forward with its Cryptocurrency
13. Donald Trump blasts Facebook’s Libra, demands strict regulation
14. Donald Trump: Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies aren’t money – The US president said he’s not a fan of Facebook’s Libra, and demands digital coin companies seek a banking charter
15. Anti-money laundering rules for cryptocurrency dealers finalized by Canadian government
16. A Global Review of the Regulatory Considerations Relating to Crypto-Asset Trading Platforms 
17. By Clicking Continue…
18. Affirmed: President Trump Cannot Block Critics on Twitter
19. Second Circuit Affirms Judge Buchwald in Trump Twitter Case 
20. Second Circuit Holds That Blocking Users’ Access To Presidential Twitter Account Violates First Amendment 
21. Trump can’t block his critics from the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account, says the Second Circuit (and the First Amendment)
22. Right-wingers say Twitter’s “bias” against them should be illegal
23. Following Trump Ruling Against Twitter Blockade, AOC Sued For Her Blocks On Twitter
24. Comments on the Hikind v. Ocasio-Cortez Lawsuit Over AOC’s Twitter Blocks (Eric Goldman)
25. America’s Road to Reputational Ruin: The decline in U.S. soft power didn’t start with Trump, but he accelerated it this week with his racist tweets.
26. Twitter launches the ‘Hide Replies’ feature, in hopes of civilizing conversations
27. Twitter is changing Twitter.com to be more like mobile app
28. Microsoft warns 10,000 customers they’re targeted by nation-sponsored hackers: Hacking remains a tool of choice for influencing elections, company warns.
29. Ninth Circuit Upholds Arbitration Provision in Online Consumer Contract
30. Can an employer be vicariously liable for an employee’s racist Facebook post?
31. Censored Chinese search project is “terminated,” Google rep testifies
32. GOP Puts Google Search On Trial In DC
33. Why Is The Washington Post Publishing Blatantly False Propaganda About Section 230?
34. Former Content Moderator Explains How Josh Hawley’s Bill Would Grant Government Control Over Online Speech
35. 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230, Content Moderation) (Eric Goldman)
36. IBM’s Ridiculous Opportunism: Sells Out Section 230 To Sell More Filters
37. The Third Circuit Joins The Ninth In Excluding E-Commerce Platforms From Section 230’s Protection
38. Section 230 Is Not Exceptional, It Is Not Unique, It Is Not A Gift: It’s The Codification Of Common Law Liability Principles
39. Gab, Mastodon And The Challenges Of Content Moderation On A More Distributed Social Network
40. The Sixth Circuit Also Makes A Mess Of Section 230 And Good Internet Policy
41. Three Years Later: 1st Amendment Challenge Over DMCA’s Anti-Circumvention Provisions Can Move Forward
42. Large and Diverse Coalition Issues a Statement of Principles to Help Evaluate UGC Liability Reform Proposals (Eric Goldman)
43. ICO’s McDougall Warns Adtech Sector that Change Is Needed 
44. Senator Graham Spreads A Bunch Of Nonsense About ‘Protecting Digital Innocence’ Online
45. Netflix Removes Controversial Suicide Scene From ’13 Reasons Why,’ Citing Medical Experts
46. Netflix U.S. Subs Drop in Q2 After Price Hikes, Company Blames Global Forecast Miss on Content Slate
47. The Toxic Potential Of YouTube’s Feedback Loop
48. American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts
49. YouTube stars wish YouTube had more competition from other platforms
50. Creators Say Competition Would Force YouTube To Be Better — But Right Now, There Are No Competitors
51. YouTube Megastar KondZilla, With 50 Million Subscribers, Drops Trailer For New Netflix Series
52. YouTuber Ray Diaz Arrested For Allegedly Assaulting His Underage Girlfriend
53. YouTube Finally Demands Specificity From Copyright Claimants
54. YouTube Begins Blocking Stream-Ripping Sites
55. At VidCon, YouTube Announces Addition Of Channel Membership Levels, ‘Super Stickers,’ More Merch Shelf Vendors
56. TikTok took over VidCon, and YouTube is next: YouTube offers what TikTok can’t – stability
57. YouTube is adding more ways for creators to make money: New merch, membership, and chat features
58. YouTube is launching educational playlists that won’t include algorithmic recommendations
59. The Dodo Launches Children’s-Focused YouTube Channel With 3 Original Series
60. Glad Challenges YouTube Vet Grace Helbig To Create An Instagram-Worthy Dish While Offroading
61. Creators Going Pro: For Musicmaking Duo NEFFEX, YouTube Opened All The Doors To A Full-Time Career
62. Kian And JC To Launch $25,000 ‘Big Brother’-Style Series With 13 YouTuber Contestants
63. Cracking The YouTube Algorithm In 2020
64. American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts: Becoming an astronaut ranked last among five professions.
65. StyleHaul’s Former VP Of Accounting And Finance Indicted For Embezzling $22 Million
66. RTL Group Consolidates 3 European MCNs Under The Divimove Banner
67. BroadbandTV Corp. Partners with Snapchat to bring new Creator Shows to Life
68. These Brands Dominated Social Video Through The First Half of 2019 (Study)
69. James Charles, Emma Chamberlain Among 25 Most Influential People On The Internet, Per ‘Time’
70. Ryan Toys Review Scrubs Up With Colgate For Children’s Oral Care Collection
71. Joey Graceffa’s ‘Escape The Night’ Spawns Actual Escape Room In L.A. This August
72. You could be a celebrity without knowing it if you have 30,000 followers on social media 
73. New Study Points Out What A Boon Sports Streaming Piracy Could Be To Leagues
74. Netflix Hires BBC Studios’ Jackie Lee-Joe as Chief Marketing Officer
75. EFF Posts New White Paper On Stingray Device Capabilities
76. Doing the right thing: accessibility and OTT broadcasters 
77. Hulu To Get A Little More Delicious With 24 Shows From Tastemade
78. Disney Shutters FX Networks’ Nascent Streaming Service FX+ After Acquiring It In March
79. VidCon To Host Inaugural Asian Summit In Singapore, Will Return To London In February
80. FBE Launches Interactive Content Lab, Will Produce 12 TV Pilots Alongside Eko
81. Quibi Acquires Projects From ‘Glee’ Alum Darren Criss, WWE
82. NBC News to Produce Two Daily Shows for Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi
83. Quibi Acquires First News Program In Reported 8-Figure Deal With NBC
84. Patreon Announces $60 Million Funding Round, With Participation From Creators Hannibal Buress, Serj Tankian
85. Microsoft Teams is now officially bigger than Slack
86. Microsoft opens first flagship store in Europe: Announcement of location on Oxford Circus comes alongside £1m grant to train young community members in digital skills
87. Gartner, IDC agree that PC sales are up—but they don’t agree what a PC is
88. EU Looking To Regulate Everything Online, And To Make Sites Proactively Remove Material
89. Amazon Teams With Colorado Police, US Postal Service On Sting That Catches Zero Package Thieves
90. 27 Top Twitch Streamers Host Amazon Prime Shopping Stream ‘Twitch Sells Out’
91. Amazon Music Unlimited is growing faster than Apple Music or Spotify, report says
92. Spotify Pacts With Disney to Launch Hub With Music From Movies, TV Shows
93. Spotify And Disney Partner To Bring Mouse House Magic With New ‘Disney Hub’ Playlists
94. International family law: is WhatsApp the future for serving court papers?
95. OurPact returns to App Store, reviving debates about Apple’s impartiality
96. Apple reportedly planning to fund creation of exclusive original podcasts
97. Apple is planning to buy up original podcasts with exclusivity in mind
98. Patchwork of digital taxes intensifies
99. US Trade Representative Initiates Section 301 Investigation of France’s Digital Services Tax
100. Lawmaking for the Internet of Things
101. The Failure Of Courts/Regulators To Understand The Difference Between Infrastructure Providers And Edge Providers Is Going To Be A Problem
102. WIPO Now Gets Into The Extrajudicial, Zero Due Process, Censorship Act Over Sites It Declares ‘Infringing’
103. Insights: As Our Cultural Lives Go Fully Digital, How Will We Signal What We Care About?
104. Tech journalism’s ‘on background’ scourge
105. Browse the Bookshelf of U.S. Case Law: Announcing the CAP Case Browser
106. Justice John Paul Stevens, dead at 99, promoted the Internet revolution

A.I.

1. Steam embraces machine learning with interactive recommendation tool
2. Steam launches Steam Labs to house feature experiments: First three test projects all involve new ways to discover games, including a machine learning recommendation feature
3. Steam uses machine learning for its new game recommendation engine
4. Devs express optimism, caution over Steam interactive recommender
5. Australian researchers just released the world’s first AI-developed vaccine and it could prevent another horror flu season
6. California’s BOT Disclosure Law, SB 1001, Now In Effect 
7. ‘Robot’ umpire calls first professional baseball game with one hitch and no controversy
8. Neuralink: Elon Musk’s Elusive Brain-Computer Firm Just Made a Big Reveal
9. Elon Musk’s Neuralink Takes Baby Steps to Wiring Brains to the Internet
10. Musk’s newest startup is venturing into a series of hard problems
11. Elon Musk announces another price hike for “full self-driving” package
12. Facebook and CMU’s ‘superhuman’ poker AI beats human pros: ‘It can bluff better than any human.’
13. Facebook AI Pluribus defeats top poker professionals in 6-player Texas Hold ’em
14. Ford-VW alliance means more EVs for Europe, joint Argo AI investment
15. Artificial intelligence (AI) designs metamaterials used in the invisibility cloak: The research team led by professor Rho of POSTECH developed a simultaneous inverse design of metamaterials via deep learning
16. MIT whiz kids got a robot to take on the viral #BottleCapChallenge
17. Atlantic League coach ejected for arguing over automated strike zone just one inning into robot umpire era
18. How GoldenEye 007 set a new standard for video game AI
19. How AI companies can avoid ethics washing
20. Blizzard unleashes Google’s DeepMind AI against European Starcraft II players: Experimental AlphaStar agent will play anonymously, but only against gamers who opt into test matches
21. Brains scale better than CPUs. So Intel is building brains

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  EFF Hits AT&T With Lawsuit Over Sale Of User Location Data
2. AT&T Breaks Another Merger Promise In Making ‘Friends’ Exclusive
3. AT&T Will Now Filter Robocall Spam, If You Pay Them Extra
4. ‘Smoking gun’: Huawei staff employment records link them to Chinese military agencies
5. The Drama Around Huawei: Can U.S. Companies Do Business with the Chinese Chipmaker?
6. Cheap as chips? Controversial judgment could have significant implications for the global wireless communications industry
7. HBO Communications Chief Quentin Schaffer to Exit After 39 Years
8. Google Joins Talks In Bid To Salvage T-Mobile Merger
9. Charter gets final approval to stay in NY despite breaking merger promise 
10. 5G’s Latest Problem: Summer Temps Are Causing 5G Phones To Overheat
11. The latest barrier to 5G speeds? The summer: Hands-on report says “persistent overheating” issues plague 5G hardware.
12. Last Woman Standing: Belittled by Viacom and CBS executives and insulted by her own father, Shari Redstone now sits atop a $30 billion media empire.
13. Fortune favours the bold broadcaster? 
14. The Impact of PDR Network LLC v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic
15. Ajit Pai’s new gift to cable companies would kill local fees and rules
16. FCC Makes $100 Million Available for Telehealth Experiments
17. FCC Proposes a Three-Year Pilot Program to Fund “Connected Care” Telehealth Applications
18. FCC Set to Commercialize Educational Broadband Service Portion of 2.5 GHz Band to Enable 5G
19. FCC Considers Restrictions on Arrangements Between Building Owners and Broadband Providers
20. FCC gives ISPs another $563 million to build rural-broadband networks
21. West Virginia’s Biggest Telco Says Broadband Business ‘Unsustainable’ 
22. FCC Seeks Comment on Actions to Promote Broadband Deployment and Competition in Apartment and Office Buildings 
23. FCC Revises Broadcast Signal Carriage Election Notices for Cable, Satellite, and Other Multichannel Video Providers 
24. FCC Makes Significant Changes to Its Children’s Television (KidVid) Rules
25. Actions Taken at July Meeting – FCC Adopts Changes to Children’s Television Rules and to TV MVPD Carriage Election Notices Procedures  
26. FTC Announces Robocall Crackdown
27. FCC Chairman proposes rules addressing spoofed texts and international robocalls 
28. All Bark and No Bite? FCC Proposes Rule To Ban Spoofing of Text Messages and Foreign Robocalls 
29. FCC Holds Summit on Implementation of SHAKEN/STIR Call 
30. 2.5 GHz EBS Spectrum to Be Commercialized, Opened to TribalNations

PRIVACY

1. British Airways and Marriott Face Record-Breaking GDPR Fines
2. British Airways faces record-breaking GDPR fine after data breach: The ICO wants to fine the airline £183 million
3. GDPR Shows its Teeth – UK Pursuing Record Fines for Data Breaches, Emphasizes Accountability 
4. A Fine Mess: the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office’s proposed GDPR fines
5. Russian Spy Discovers The Hard Way How Much His Smartphone’s Metadata Reveals About His Activities
6. How U.S. Tech Giants Are Helping To Build China’s Surveillance State
7. DEA tracked every opioid pill sold in the US. The data is out – and it’s horrific: Just three drug makers and six distributors were behind the flood.
8. Office 365 declared illegal in German schools due to privacy risks
9. German state bans Office 365 in schools, citing privacy concerns: Schools in Hesse will have to rely on non-cloud software
10. Revealed: This Is Palantir’s Top-Secret User Manual for Cops – Palantir user manual gives unprecedented insight into how the company logs and tracks individuals.
11. Former Content Moderator Explains How Josh Hawley’s Bill Would Grant Government Control Over Online Speech
12. Google workers listen to your “OK Google” queries—one of them leaked recordings
13. Can I buy a phone that doesn’t use anything from Google or Apple?: Steve does not like firms slurping up his data, so wants a device that respects his privacy
14. Eavesdropping flaw prompts Apple to suspend Walkie-Talkie app
15. Wiretap Report Says Courts Are Seeing Fewer Wiretap Requests, Fewer Convictions Linked To Wiretaps
16. Collecting employee data: Privacy and data protection concerns are gaining increasing prominence in the workplace
17. NAD Recommends Baby Monitor Improve Disclosure of Information Gathering
18. New UK ICO guidance on cookies and similar technologies 
19. Here’s How To Harness Facebook’s New Privacy Updates To (Sort Of) Control Who Has Your Personal Data
20. CCPA Privacy FAQs: If I post a “do not sell my personal information” link on my website, and opt those consumers that select it from receiving behavioral advertising cookies, have I complied with the CCPA?
21. Reducing the risk of ransomware attacks
22. Privacy concerns over viral photo apps are totally valid. But they’re also often overblown.: The panic about FaceApp’s old-person filter isn’t wrong, exactly. It’s just tinged with xenophobia and devoid of context.
23. A Recap of the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Amending the California Consumer Privacy Act
24. No Shirt, No Shoes, No Facescan, No Service: Welcome To 21st Century Convenience Store Shopping

CREATIVITY

1. In Canada and elsewhere, freedom of speech is on the endangered list
2. Cameras should be welcomed in Canadian courtrooms: Forstner
3. Canada’s election advertising rules have changed – here’s what you need to know
4. Judge Castel: Plaintiffs Fail to State Claim Against Ja Rule for Fyre Festival 
5. Claims of False Advertising and Unfair Competition Are Not Disparagement or Defamation 
6. Danish court orders car dealer to compensate Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
7. Rights in sports data
8. NY AG settlement resolves deceptive practices action with ticket resale companies 
9. SPLC Asks Court To Toss Proud Boy Founder’s Defamation Lawsuit By Asking ‘Where’s The Lie?’
10. Congress Moving Forward With Copyright-For-Censorship ‘Small Claims’ Act
11. WIPO copyright treaty to be adopted in Uzbekistan
12. Branding and marketing clearance is the new punk rock
13. Alitalia Pulls Commercial Featuring Actor in Blackface
14. TD Bank N.A. v. Hill
15. Tackling the registration of copycat company names and domain names
16. California Student-Athletes Would Like to Remind You, “It’s My Name, Don’t You Forget!”
17. The helicopter team that films the Tour de France is one of a kind
18. Sound, Noise, Distinguish? The relationship between sound and intellectual property law (Shane Burke)
19. 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 5 (Censorship, Defamation) (Eric Goldman)

Jon

GAMES

1. Sensor Tower: Gaming accounted for 75% of total mobile revenue so far in 2019 – Game spending reaches nearly $30 billion this year
2. Developers and G2A clash over the impact of grey market keys on indies
3. No More Robots petition demands G2A drop all indie games: Mike Rose claims retailer is “lying” about his lack of contact, and low sales of Descenders via its marketplace “isn’t the fucking point”
4. G2A: “We want to finally stop the accusations” – Divisive marketplace addresses developer complaints after indies called for players to pirate games rather than purchase from G2A
5. G2A: “It’s a good thing that people can re-sell keys” – Marketplace says it aims to present a solution to current controversy later this week
6. G2A image rehabilitation effort backfires: Platform says employee approached 10 sites to run undisclosed sponsored post, says it was unauthorized, “absolutely unacceptable”
7. Indie Publishers Tell Gamers To Pirate Instead Of Buying Keys Through Reseller G2A
8. GameStop: “As new subscription services evolve, we’ll evolve along with them” – US retail giant talks about surviving the digital transition by turning stores into experiences
9. Take This rounds up data on crunch and mental health in the game industry
10. For Warframe, live support means seeing development as a marathon, not a sprint
11. New executive directors named for both the IGDA and the IGDA Foundation
12. China’s biggest game devs join forces to create new age rating system
13. Microsoft and Sony reportedly scaling back console production in China: President Trump’s trade war causing further disruption in tech sector manufacturing
14. Report: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo consider moving manufacturing out of China
15. Nintendo will move parts of Switch production from China to Vietnam
16. Nintendo moves some Switch production to Vietnam: Japanese publisher confirms the move is to diversify its manufacturing locations, and is unrelated to proposed tariffs
17. “Xbox Game Pass is the first time subscription is fair for developers”: At Gamelab 2019, a panel of developers debated the breakthrough Microsoft has made with its subscription service
18. Research lessons from the making (and near-breaking) ofHalo 2
19. French government launches ‘Join the Game’ campaign to recruit game devs
20. French government launches campaign to attract UK talent post-Brexit: UKIE CEO responds to Join the Game, which boasts tax breaks and funding for studios that relocate
21. UK trade association asks government to counter France’s seduction of game devs
22. TIGA calls for Video Game Investment Fund for UK devs to prevent post-Brexit exodus: “Governments in other jurisdictions will continue to seek to attract our successful studios and talented development staff”
23. Yogscast cuts ties with Matthew ‘Caff’ Meredith after sexual harassment allegations: Meredith’s entire mod team abandons him as eight victims come forward in three days
24. Obsidian has been “very careful” not to “lecture” players with politics in Outer Worlds: “I don’t want people to think this is a really hard, politically-charged game,” says co-director Leonard Boyarsky
25. Google speaks to fuzzy game-ownership question in new Stadia FAQ
26. tinyBuild CEO clears confusion on DRM stance after one rep says it’s “not smart business”: Alex Nichiporchik claims comments were result of not properly training community managers on the issue
27. Hello Games: Positive No Man’s Sky stories “don’t do as well — and that’s a problem” – Sean Murray discussed his decision to stop talking to the press after the launch of No Man’s Sky
28. League of Legends leads Fortnite as Twitch’s most viewed game of 2019
29. League of Legends reclaims top spot on Twitch: Riot’s MOBA on track to exceed one billion hours viewed in 2019, as Fortnite begins to flag
30. Former Riot and EA devs form new multiplayer studio, Vela Games
31. Konami PES rebrand will help the series in Europe: “Talking about Pro Evolution Soccer — in Europe, it was always a tricky one”
32. Former Paradox CEO defends studio’s continuous DLC model as ‘fair and balanced’
33. Paradox’s Fredrik Wester defends company’s DLC policy:
34. Former CEO says business model isn’t flawless but funds ongoing development and allows for experimentation
35. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Why people see EA as the “bad guys”
36. Tencent, Chinese gaming companies push new age rating system: Proposed system would have four categories, spearheaded by publishers and developers
37. Official StarCraft mod makes the game look like a Saturday morning cartoon
38. Don’t Miss: Devs measure the enduring influence ofStarCraft
39. When will Disney get back into video games? | Opinion: Suggesting Disney should buy Activision Blizzard is half correct; its gaming strategy needs re-evaluation, but that’s the wrong acquisition
40. Artifact designer says game is salvageable, but isn’t interested in damage control: “Valve is a smart company with lots of smart people working there, I think that it’s possible they can do that,” says Richard Garfield
41. Layoffs at Endless Entertainment: Mobile studios behind Series Your Story Universe dismisses seven staff due to slowdown in development cycle
42. RuneScape dev Jagex sold by parent company for $530 million
43. Glass Bottom Games on taking “the biggest possible swing” with Skatebird
44. How Zachtronics makes its games so GIFable: Studio founder Zach Barth discusses why screenshots are more important for indies than trailers
45. Zachtronics offers free educational licenses for all of its games: SpaceChem and Opus Magnum dev advises educators to “understand” the games before showing them to students
46. Blog: Why Academia: School Simulator hasn’t done as well as similar games
47. Nintendo is ‘investigating’ 5G and streaming tech, but refuses to ‘chase trends’
48. Shigeru Miyamoto: Games will still be fun without streaming: Legendary Nintendo designer says “it may look like we’re falling behind” but platform holder is still keeping up with new tech like VR
49. Nintendo Switch Online now has over 10 million subscribers
50. Bethesda: “We are bringing some people to Nintendo Switch” – Pete Hines discusses building new IP, the potential of streaming, and its recent love for Nintendo
51. Super Mario Maker 2 holds UK No.1 in strong week for Nintendo Switch: Handheld game sales rise as summer months roll on
52. The compact Switch Lite is Nintendo’s newest dedicated handheld
53. Nintendo confirms portable-only, $200 “Switch Lite” for September [Updated]
54. Nintendo: The 3DS isn’t about to be replaced by the Switch Lite
55. Crash Team Racing nitro-boosts to stay at the top of EMEAA charts
56. Beat Saber dev Beat Games shuffles leadership as CEO steps down
57. Report: Facebook Signs Deal for ‘Assassin’s Creed’ & ‘Splinter Cell’ VR Games
58. Grab the new XRDC Healthcare Report and see how AR/VR is changing medicine!
59. Play as Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand in Metal Gear Solid 5
60. Gaming Luminary DanTDM Concludes Arena-Only U.K. Tour Dubbed ‘The Contest’
61. DrLupo, Who Raised $920,000 In 4 Hours For St. Jude, Honored As Hospital’s First ‘Creator Of The Year’
62. Cuphead has sold 4 million copies and has a Netflix adaptation on the way
63. Cuphead the game is becoming Cuphead the animated Netflix series
64. Cuphead getting Netflix series: Syndication company behind Betty Boop and Popeye helping adapt vintage cartoon-styled game that has now sold more than 4 million
65. U.S. Patent No. 8,858,328: Storage medium having game program stored therein, hand-held game apparatus, game system, and game method 
66. Shovel Knight has surpassed 2.5 million sales
67. Mobile dev Million Victories raises $1.4 million
68. Smite and Paladins developer Hi-Rez has opened its first UK studio
69. Former Panic Button development director opens new studio Enduring Games
70. My Friend Pedro’s journey from Flash cult hit to indie success
71. Fall Guys developer Mediatonic cuts the ribbon on new Madrid studio
72. Don’t Miss: How to design for coziness
73. Don’t Miss: 50 common game camera mistakes — and how to fix them
74. Don’t Miss: Monsters from the id: The making of the original Doom
75. Blog: Generating world maps for Unexplored 2
76. Watch Children of Morta’s lead dev explain its family-focused game design
77. Video: Game design tools beyond spreadsheets and flowcharts 
78. Exploring special game modes in a roguelike context
79. Keywords Studios opens recording studio for game localization in Brazil
80. Behind the 12-year-old Wii Sports hoax that briefly fooled the Internet
81. Fixing the past: The art of collecting pinball machines

DIGITAL

1. Once Again, Russian Internet Propaganda Efforts Shown To Be Much Bigger Than Originally Believed
2. Report: Russian intel started the Seth Rich rumor to cover for DNC hack – Yahoo News’ Michael Isikoff claims SVR was the source of story in “ConspiracyLand” podcast.
3. Appeals Court Affirms: Trump Can’t Block Followers On Social Media
4. Pres. Trump Violates the Constitution By Blocking @RealDonaldTrump Followers–Knight First Amendment v. Trump
5. Trump’s Twitter blocks violate First Amendment rights, appeals court affirms
6. Prenda Law porn-troll saga ends with prison for founder
7. Prenda’s John Steele Gets 5 Years In Prison; Insists He’s Really, Really, Really Sorry
8. CBP Agents Flocked To Closed Facebook Groups To Post Bigoted Memes And Insult Detainees
9. If You Want To Kill Google And Facebook, Leaving Section 230 Alone Is Your Best Hope
10. France wants to fine Facebook over hate speech: The measure would force companies to remove content within 24 hours, and was approved by the lower house of the French Parliament Thursday
11. Governor Cuomo Calls For Investigation Into Facebook’s Advertising Practices
12. Wellness startup’s generic Viagra ads flout Facebook rules
13. Facebook Unveils New Monetization Tools, Including More Creator Control Over ‘Ad Breaks’
14. Facebook says it will launch experimental apps under NPE Team name: Facebook experiments… what could go wrong?
15. Facebook Announces Libra Cryptocurrency and Calibra Wallet 
16. Why Libra Needs A Humanitarian Fig Leaf
17. SEC Sues Social Media Co. Over $100 Million ICO
18. Computer from NASA’s Apollo program reprogrammed to mine bitcoin
19. Web Scraping Decisions Consider Contract Cause of Action 
20. Comments on Sen. Hawley’s “[Ending] Support for Internet Censorship Act” (Eric Goldman)
21. Politicians Queue Up To Make France’s Proposed Law Against ‘Hateful Content’ Far, Far Worse
22. Could ‘fake text’ be the next global political threat?: An AI fake text generator that can write paragraphs in a style based on just a sentence has raised concerns about its potential to spread false information
23. Amazon Workers Plan Prime Day Strike at Minnesota Warehouse
24. Court rules Amazon can be held responsible for defective third-party goods
25. Amazon May Be Liable for Marketplace Items–Oberdorf v. Amazon (Eric Golman)
26. “Close to 10%” of Autopilot software team reportedly departs after shakeup
27. ‘Deep Fake’ Legislation Is On The Way, Threatening Free Speech Protections
28. The UK’s Entire Approach To ‘Online Harms’ Is Backwards… And No One Cares
29. UK ISPs Vilify Mozilla For Trying To Secure The Internet
30. FTC Reportedly Considering Asking YouTubers To Turn Off Ads In The Name Of Child Privacy
31. YouTube’s Cleanup Efforts Are Driving Business Opportunities for Creators, Says Product Chief Neal Mohan
32. YouTube Updates Video Editing Tools, Allowing Creators To Automatically Release Manual Copyright Claims
33. YouTube is making it much easier for creators to deal with copyright claims
34. Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: The Case Of YouTube And ‘Hacking’ Videos
35. Studio71 Signs Jacksepticeye, Joey Graceffa and Other YouTubers to Multichannel Network Roster
36. Having 30,000 followers makes you a celebrity, UK advertising watchdog rules: The one time it might be ok to obsess over your follower count
37. What Actually Counts As Good Engagement For Influencer Marketing?
38. RTL Consolidates Digital Operations, Sets Ambitious Revenue Target
39. Report: Struggling HQ Trivia developer cuts workforce by 20 percent 
40. Layoffs at HQ Trivia as downloads continue to fall: Troubled mobile company streamlines as it shifts towards subscriptions
41. Report: TikTok was installed 344m times in first half of 2019
42. TikTok Is A Mostly Untapped Space For Western Ecommerce — But Chinese Companies Are Using It To Make Millions
43. Russell Simmons-Founded All Def Digital Lays Off Staff in Reorg; CEO Claims Company Isn’t Shutting Down
44. Mobile Content Vs. Short-Form – It’s Not the Same Thing 
45. Beauty Brand Il Makiage Re-Launches Website With Micro Influencers To Solve Makeup’s Ecommerce Conundrum
46. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Serena Williams to Create Shows for Snapchat
47. Snapchat snaps up shows from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maddie Ziegler
48. Snapchat Launches ‘Creator Shows’ From Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Hart, Serena Williams and Others – With Ad-Revenue Sharing Deals
49. Snapchat Introduces New ‘Creator Shows’ Format With Emma Chamberlain, Rickey Thompson, FaZe Banks
50. Snapchat is launching Creator Shows featuring stars and influencers: They’ll be five-minute shorts with around 10 episodes
51. BuzzFeed Debuts First Snapchat Original, Weekday Trendy News Roundup ‘BTW’
52. BBC Studios Invests in Short-Form Platform Quibi
53. BBC Studios Invests In Quibi, Will Produce Original Nature Series ‘Fierce Queens’
54. Why Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi Is Luring A-List Talent
55. AT&T takes some Time Warner shows off Netflix, makes them exclusive to HBO Max
56. Sony Pictures Buys Nurulize, a Virtual Production Software Startup
57. IBM Patents a Watch That Unfolds Into a Full Tablet
58. The computer conundrum: New technologies force the profession to deal with new ethical debates
59. Raspberry Pi admits to faulty USB-C design on the Pi 4
60. Behold, the most (intentionally) poorly designed website ever created
61. Penetration testing takes on new meaning when cyber meets Harlequin
62. The DMCA bell did not toll for a beloved musician—thus, I could grieve him
63. Third parties confirm AMD’s outstanding Ryzen 3000 numbers: AMD has pulled ahead of Intel for the first time in 20 years.
64. Microsoft releases Windows 1.11 throwback app as a Stranger Things tie-in

A.I.

1. Lennon or McCartney? Machine learning tries to crack disputed Beatles authorship: Researchers at Harvard analysed 8 songs to find out which Beatle wrote them
2. AI made from a sheet of glass can recognise numbers just by looking
3. Training a single AI model can emit as much carbon as five cars in their lifetimes: Deep learning has a terrible carbon footprint.
4. Tiny robot leaps around carrying its own battery, electronics

COMMUNICATIONS

1. What we Heard – The Report of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review (BTLR) Panel
2. Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review: What We Heard Report   
3. ‘Smoking gun’: Huawei staff employment records link them to Chinese military agencies
4. “This is crazy”: FCC kills part of San Francisco’s broadband-competition law
5. Killing Net Neutrality Rules Did Far More Harm Than You Probably Realize
6. Amazon plans nationwide broadband—with both home and mobile service
7. Amazon Jumps Into The Satellite Broadband Game
8. AT&T’s robocall-blocking expansion won’t block spam calls unless you pay extra
9. Coop Leader Testifies Regarding Inaccurate FCC Broadband Data 
10. T-Mobile says it can’t be sued by users because of forced-arbitration clause
11. Last Woman Standing: Belittled by Viacom and CBS executives and insulted by her own father, Shari Redstone now sits atop a $30 billion media empire.

PRIVACY

1. Court: It’s Cool If The (Federal) Government Searches A Phone The (Local) Government Seized Illegally
2. Breaching the GDPR won’t fly with the ICO
3. British airways to be fined a record £183m for data breach
4. British Airways faces record-breaking GDPR fine after data breach: The ICO wants to fine the airline £183 million
5. New UK ICO guidance on cookies and similar technologies 
6. GDPR: One Year On
7. Can I buy a phone that doesn’t use anything from Google or Apple?: Steve does not like firms slurping up his data, so wants a device that respects his privacy
8. Zoom for Mac made it too easy for hackers to access webcams. Here’s what to do [Updated]
9. Silent Mac update nukes dangerous webserver installed by Zoom
10. D-Link Settles With FTC, Agrees To Fix Its Shoddy Router Security
11. Whitehats use DoS attack to score key victory against ransomware crooks
12. Starter for five on Legislating the Internet of Things
13. Months After The Law’s Enactment, California Law Enforcement Agencies Are Still Blowing Off Public Records Requests
14. Voting Machine Makers Claim The Names Of The Entities That Own Them Are Trade Secrets
15. Thinking Of Privacy As A Property Right Will End Badly

CREATIVITY

1. In Canada and elsewhere, freedom of speech is on the endangered list
2. Cameras should be welcomed in Canadian courtrooms: Forstner
3. Health Canada’s new draft Guidance on Advertising versus Other Activities is now available
4. New rules banning harmful gender stereotyping in advertising 
5. Indonesian Court Convicts Woman Of Criminal Defamation For Recording Her Boss Trying To Harass Her Into An Affair With Him
6. Big Fair Use Win Concerning Andy Warhol’s Paintings Of Prince
7. Whose Game is on? Carrie Underwood and NBC sued over SNF song 
8. Pirates of the Caribbean Copyright Suit Must Walk The Plank 
9. Copyright Infringement Claims Precluded by Plaintiff’s Own Patent Lawsuit
10. Supreme Court to consider Abrogation of Sovereign Immunity under Copyright Law
11. Supreme Court to address Whether Copyright Protection available for Annotated State Code
12. Breach of confidence, copyright and database rights: live sports data
13. International trademarks: Is the Madrid System right for you?
14. Vegan Food Manufacturers Sue State Over Unconstitutional Law Banning Them From Using Meat Words
15. Sound, Noise, Distinguish? The relationship between sound and intellectual property law (Shane Burke)
16. 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 2 (Keyword Advertising) (Eric Goldman)
17. 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 3 (Trademarks) (Eric Goldman)

Jon

GAMES

1. Bots and Cheaters Lose as League of Legends is awarded a $10 Million Payout 
2. Esports contract dispute: Seeking to set an industry standard
3. Industry tells UK lawmakers it wants more research into gaming disorder: Commons committee not left reassured following latest immersive and addictive technologies inquiry hearing
4. Adolescents and loot boxes: links with problem gambling and motivations for purchase (David Zendle, Rachel Meyer & Harriet Over)
5. Digital Minister Margot James defends loot boxes: But MP calls for more research into link between gaming and gambling, and says firms with aggressive monetisation should be “brought into line”
6. Man sentenced to 2 years in prison for 2013 DDoS attack against Daybreak
7. Man behind Daybreak Games DDoS sentenced to two years in prison: Series of attacks against formerly-Sony Online Entertainment, Battle.net, Dota 2, others also asked to pay $95,000 in damages
8. “The games industry has some maturation to do in understanding data protection law”: Information Commissioner tells Parliament it will audit publishers and developers as it works on Age Appropriate Design Code
9. Chinese government revokes business license of Devotionpublisher Indievent
10. Chinese government reportedly revokes Indievent’s business license: Devotion publisher previously cut ties with developer Red Candle Games following discovery of in-game art mocking Chinese president
11. DrDisrespect returns to Twitch after ban over E3 livestream: Guy Beahm was widely criticised for streaming from a public bathroom during E3 2019
12. Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm offers statement after E3 bathroom filming fiasco: Beahm says “laws/repercussions of filming in the bathroom” simply didn’t occur to him
13. Dr DisRespect Apologizes For Public Bathroom Stream, Teases Twitch Return Next Week
14. Mordhau developer denies plans for gender/diversity toggle after describing plans for said toggle
15. Mordhau developer denies it was planning a “toggle” for diversity [Updated]
16. Wolfenstein: Youngblood will not be altered for German release – International version of the game will be available in Germany, complete with Nazi imagery
17. Indie Developers Change Game Name Over Bethesda Trademark Dispute 
18. Epic pledges to cover refund costs for crowdfunded Epic Games Store exclusives
19. The Gaming Platform Wars Are Beginning To Screw Up Crowdfunding Games
20. The Game Outcomes Project isn’t returning for its 2018-19 edition
21. Don’t Miss: The Game Outcomes Project: Learning how teams succeed and fail
22. Super Mario Maker 2: Critical Consensus – A complete and well-rounded experience universally praised by critics
23. Nintendo Does The Nintendo: ‘Mario Royale’ Fan Game Becomes ‘DMCA Royale’… And Is Now Dead
24. Dear Nintendo: Here Are Some Ways You Could Be A Little More Cool, Man
25. Miyamoto: Costs and dwindling appeal make new adventure games a hard sell
26. Steam works wonders for the retail PC market – 10 Years Ago This Month: Valve buddies up with GameStop, BioWare talks industry maturity, and the expensive peripheral trend cools off
27. Indie developers suggest Steam Summer Sale confusion is hurting their games: Misreading of “Grand Prix” promotion seems to be causing spike in wishlist removals.
28. Paradox exec: Steam’s 30% fee is “outrageous”
29. Devs hit by Steam promo confusion as games are pulled from Wishlists 10
30. Valve clarifies Steam Sale event after devs chart declining wishlists
31. Epic Games will foot refund bill for Shenmue III, future crowdfunded exclusives
32. Shenmue 3 dev to offer backer refunds over Epic Games Store exclusivity
33. Angry Shenmue III backers can get refunds after Epic Game Store move
34. Shenmue 3 PC backers will get refunds over Epic exclusivity: Ys Net and Deep Silver will reimburse backers who expected a Steam key for the game
35. Video: Darkest Dungeon’s ‘camp counselor’ approach to community management
36. Maybe Epic’s Claims For Exclusivity Strategy To Benefit The Gaming Industry Isn’t Entirely Crazy
37. Developers call for players to pirate their games rather than buy from G2A: Studio and publisher behind Descenders decry controversial retailer’s sponsored ads, Rami Ismail backs them up
38. Editor Roundtable: What’s up with game subscription services?
39. EA: “I struggle with the perception that we’re just a bunch of bad guys” – Behind the big blockbusters, EA is offering very friendly deals for indie developers — EVP Matt Bilbey tells us why
40. Antonick v. Electronic Arts, Inc. 
41. EVE players are plotting revenge after alien invasion mostly just annoyed everyone: Though initially terrifying, the Drifter Invasion of EVE Online quickly became tedious and boring.
42. Street Fighter characters to be used in Osaka police recruitment ads: Capcom consents to have iconic characters used to recruit “cyber-crime” investigators
43. Google Stadia exec isn’t worried about data caps—but he probably should be
44. Stadia purchases and saves will remain accessible, even if a publisher pulls support
45. Stadia head: Devs, publishers, and players aren’t ready for a subscription-only platform 
46. PlayStation Vue applies a $5-a-month increase to all live TV plans
47. Sony considers turning to studio acquisitions as competition rises
48. Jim Ryan says Sony is looking at studio acquisitions: “Companies new to the games industry looking at the market with hope is something we definitely welcome”
49. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo Say Trump Tariffs Will Make Game Consoles Hugely More Expensive
50. Gumi lays off 32 with closure of Gumi Europe
51. Free-to-play studio Redhill Games secures $11.4 million investment
52. Square Enix: “We always look out for new IP” – President Yosuke Matsuda on Avengers, Final Fantasy VII, game streaming and its commitment to new projects
53. This GTA 6 ‘leak’ is detailed, but almost certainly fake
54. Farming Simulator 19 sold over two million copies
55. Focus Home reports record year as Farming Simulator 19passes 2 million sold
56. Age of Empires series still attracts more than a million players each month: “And the numbers keep going up,” almost 15 years after the last full game
57. Call of Duty League adds LA, Minnesota slots: LA’s Immortals Gaming Club to compete under OpTic Gaming brand
58. Riot Games teams up with Nielsen to measure brand exposure for esports sponsors: “We have the opportunity to help monetise Riot Games’ platform and validate this growing market”
59. YouTube Millionaires: ‘QJB,’ One Of YouTube’s Longest-Running Gaming Channels, Says Staying Consistent Is The Key To Keeping Fans
60. Nexon becomes majority owner of fledgling Swedish studio Embark
61. Age of Empires series brings in over 1 million players each month
62. Weather Factory on the advantages of being “weird and divisive”: Co-founder Lottie Bevan talks about scrapping the studio’s plans based on a single tweet, and how open development keeps experimental games on track
63. Remedy obtains publishing rights to Alan Wake: Remedy talks up possibility of multiplatform release for the cult Xbox 360 favourite
64. Report: Microsoft still planning a low-cost, streaming-focused Xbox
65. Remedy has acquired the publishing rights to Alan Wakefrom Microsoft
66. Village Roadshow has acquired the television and film rights to Myst
67. id Software’s origin story set to become USA Network TV series
68. Guidemaster: Is Valve Index the best virtual reality system to buy in 2019?
69. Valve is exploring ‘several ways’ of doing untethered Index VR
70. Valve is already exploring “untethered” Index VR hardware: Gabe Newell placed new headset alongside Half-Life and Steam as a “milestone” for the company
71. Valve to release Index 3D models to aid VR headset and controller mods
72. Valve Index makes VR prettier, but it’s the controllers that steal the show
73. Valve releases CAD files for Index headset: Modeling, design files aim to encourage mod-ability, including “frunk” accessories
74. Digital Minister wants UK Games Fund to continue: James declares £5m financing initiative a success but extension depends on next government spending review
75. South East, London, North West, and Scotland are largest UK dev centres, TIGA reveals: Over half of UK industry based outside London and South East
76. Series: Your Story Universe developer Endless Entertainment lays off 7 staff
77. Entrepreneurs educate by gamifying the law
78. U.S. Patent No. 4,738,451: Multi-player, multi-character cooperative play video game with independent player entry and departure 
79. Why Clint Hocking wanted every NPC in Watch Dogs: Legion to be playable
80. Tilting Point promises more than $20 million for UA costs in CookApps publishing deal
81. Artifact’s pricing and value didn’t quite line up, says consulting designer
82. Zachtronics games are now free for public schools and educational nonprofits
83. The complicated process of porting Graveyard Keeper to consoles and mobile
84. Blog: Charting the pacing of Uncharted 2 – Part 2
85. Blog: Historians discuss Total War: Three Kingdoms
86. Blog: How game developers can get the most out of Discord
87. Blog: MVP like Nintendo in 1980
88. Summer Games Done Quick closes 2019 event with $3 million raised for MSF

DIGITAL

1. Twitter Will Now Hide, Suppress Spread Of Government Officials’ Tweets That Violate Its Guidelines
2. Twitter clarifies special rules for tweets by world leaders like Trump
3. Boris Johnson, UK’s Answer To Trump, Offers A Masterclass In How To Use The Dead Cat Strategy Combined With A Google Bomb
4. Chinese Border Agents Now Installing Malware On Foreigners’ Cellphones
5. Deceptive marketing in the spotlight: Ticketmaster to pay Competition Bureau penalty of $4.5 million
6. Retailers all but beg FTC to take action against Google, Amazon
7. D-Link agrees to new security monitoring to settle FTC charges
8. Amazon confirms it keeps your Alexa recordings basically forever
9. Amazon can be held liable for defective third-party products on its platform, court rules: A potentially damaging precedent for the company
10. Amazon Might Be Liable for Defective Marketplace Items (But Only When It Tries to Warn Consumers)–Fox v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
11. Taylor Swift To Headline Amazon’s Prime Day Concert Livestream
12. It’s not that we’ve failed to rein in Facebook and Google. We’ve not even tried: The tech giants use our data not only to predict our behaviour but to change it. But we can resist this attack on democracy (Shoshana Zuboff)
13. Researchers crack open Facebook campaign that pushed malware for years: Facebook removes pages following discovery of a campaign that hid in plain sight.
14. Facebook Defeats Alabama Injunction for Lack of Jurisdiction–Facebook v. KGS (Eric Goldman)
15. Ninth Circuit Rejects Facial Recognition Claim Against Facebook 
16. Facebook To Start Handing User Info To French Government So It Can Start Punishing People For Being Stupid
17. Facebook’s new terms of service explains how ads get targeted: There are also new details on user rights to uploaded content and when you can appeal a ban
18. As Facebook cracks down on hate speech, it’s also re-evaluating another policy: Nipples
19. Libra: A centralised wolf in decentralised sheep’s clothes
20. Facebook gets more official pushback on Libra
21. BuzzFeed’s ‘Good Advice Cupcake Show’ To Be Facebook Watch’s First Animated Series
22. Senator Lindsey Graham To Host Special ‘But Think Of The Children Online!’ Moral Panic Hearing
23. We Should Probably Stop Blaming Technology For The Failings Of Human Beings
24. Google announces new subsea cable ‘Equiano’, connecting Africa and Europe
25. Gmail’s API lockdown will kill some third-party app access, starting July 15
26. The End Of The Open Internet: Cory Doctorow’s Op-Ed From The Future
27. CNIL Publishes Action Plan Regarding Online Targeted Advertising 
28. Bringing competition to the digital age: Commissioner Matthew Boswell intends that the Competition Bureau be a leading enforcement agency in the digital economy
29. Is ‘This Time Different’ Concerning Big Internet Dominance?
30. State Judge Prefers Prior Restraint To The First Amendment, Orders Blogger To Delete Supposedly Defamatory Posts
31. Crazy Copyright Suit Over Gigi Hadid Posting A Photo Of Herself To Instagram Shows Absurdity Inherent In Photo Copyrights
32. Gigi Hadid “Obliterates” copyrights with fair-use bazooka
33. “But It’s on the Internet!” You Still Need a License to Use that Photo! 
34. Are GIFs Subject to Copyright?
35. Trump Thinks That The Government Can And Should Sue Internet Companies Because He Doesn’t Like The People Who Work There
36. Inside Story On The War On Backpage Raises All Sorts Of Legal Questions
37. California’s Bot Transparency Law Goes into Effect on July 1, 2019 
38. Will California’s New Bot Law Strengthen Democracy?
39. California Court Finds Section 230 Protects Decision to Suspend and Ban Twitter Account 
40. Section 230 Protects Snapchat from Liability for Cyberbullying–Grossman v. Rockaway Township (Eric Goldman)
41. WSJ Op Ed Warns: Killing Section 230, Kills The Internet
42. Yes, The EU Copyright Directive Does Have A Few Good Ideas — But They Need To Be Implemented Properly
43. Latest Linkwrap on FOSTA’s Aftermath (Eric Goldman)
44. Reddit ‘Quarantines’ Pro-Trump Subreddit Over Anti-Police Threats: Users allegedly threatened law enforcement ordered to find Republican senators
45. The Trump Campaign Spent Hundreds Of Thousands To Take Over YouTube’s Masthead
46. YouTube promises users more control over recommendations
47. YouTube Vet Philip DeFranco Hits Play On ‘Rogue Rocket’ Channel With New Correspondents, Deeper Dives
48. 30,000 followers makes you an Internet “celebrity,” says UK ad regulator
49. The Internet broke today: Facebook, Verizon, and more see major outages
50. FTC, FDA Caution E-Cig Companies About Influencer Marketing
51. FTC Continues Enforcement of Unfair and Deceptive Online Activities
52. FTC Announces First Actions Enforcing The Consumer Review Fairness Act 
53. Netflix Pledges to Cut Back Smoking Depictions in Original Productions After Group Blasts ‘Stranger Things’
54. Gabby Douglas, Dashawn Jordan, Giannis Antetokounmpo To Attend VidCon As Part Of First Nike Sponsorship
55. Jony Ive will depart Apple to start his own company
56. Apple Design Guru Jony Ive to Depart to Form Independent Firm
57. iPhone and iPad designer Jony Ive is leaving Apple after 27 years
58. Report describing Jony Ive’s Apple exit gains a sharp response from Tim Cook
59. Apple Music Tops 60 Million Subscribers, Including Users on Free Trials
60. Samsung CEO calls Galaxy Fold launch failure “embarrassing”
61. Russell Simmons’ All Def Digital Is Shutting Down, According To Sources 
62. Spotify Shuts Down Ability for Independent Artists to Upload Music Directly
63. Spotify Signs Deal To Get Footloose With Kevin Bacon In Upcoming Comedy Podcast
64. Tidal Launches Enhanced Credits Feature
65. Instagram Will Integrate Ads Into ‘Explore’ Tab Over Coming Months
66. The Streaming TV Sector Still Doesn’t Realize Exclusives Will Drive Users Back To Piracy
67. Quibi Snags ‘Hunger Games’ Alum Liam Hemsworth For Thriller Amid $1 Billion Content Push
68. Patenting Trends in Blockchain Innovations
69. You too could now 3D print a Lamborghini Aventador at home: If you had some impressive STEAM physics, engineering and manufacturing skills, that is
70. ICANN eliminates .org domain price caps despite lopsided opposition
71. eSignature and ePayment News and Trends
72. Tech competence should be required
73. Batten Down the Hatches: Digital Tax Nor’easter Coming This Fall 
74. Microsoft is teasing Windows 1.0 and other 1980s software
75. You Don’t Own What You’ve Bought: Microsoft’s Books ‘Will Stop Working’

A.I.

1. When it comes to AI regulation, Canada can do better: Countries are considering the guiding philosophies
2. Are You Talking To A Bot? – New CA Law Makes Disclosure the Best Option 
3. Is There Anybody Behind That Bot? 
4. Schools Are Using ‘Aggression Detecting’ Mics That Are Set Off By Coughing, Slamming Locker Doors To Head Off The Next School Shooting
5. The first AI capable of simulating the universe works so well it’s scary
6. FaceTime feature in iOS 13 feigns eye contact during video calls
7. Mini neural networks mimic the human cerebrum
8. I Welcomed Our New Robot Overlords At Amazon’s First AI Conference
9. Signs from above: Drone with projector successfully trolls car AI
10. AI Isn’t Making The Criminal Justice System Any Smarter
11. Endless AI-generated spam risks clogging up Google’s search results: A ‘tsunami’ of cheap AI content could cause problems for search engines
12. The future of AI research is in Africa: In the last few years, the machine-learning community has blossomed, applying the technology to challenges like food security and health care.
13. The hidden labor supporting algorithms: “Ghost Work” reveals labor structures masked by technology
14. Blog: Creating the the AI of Sea of Thieves – Part 4

COMMUNICATIONS

1. What is the Point of the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review if the Government Has Already Decided What It Intends To Do? (Michael Geist)
2. Canadian CEO Penalized for His Company’s CASL Breaches
3. Sinclair Faces Expanded Probe For Shady Behavior During Tribune Merger
4. Supreme Court Declines to Decide whether FCC Orders Bind District Courts
5. House votes to block Ajit Pai’s plan to kill San Francisco broadband law
6. Former Head Of Ajit Pai’s Broadband Advisory Council Is Headed To Prison For Fraud
7. Pai’s FCC Crushes Rules That Brought More Broadband Competition To San Francisco
8. T-Mobile enemy Dish could help save the T-Mobile/Sprint merger: Dish could resell T-Mobile/Sprint network access in deal to save merger.
9. Frontier customer bought his own router—but has to pay $10 rental fee anyway
10. NASA, NOAA, and the Navy Tell The FCC Its 5G Plan Will Harm Weather Forecasting 
11. The Press Needs An Intervention When It Comes To Over-Hyping 5G

PRIVACY

1. Now TikTok is facing a UK investigation over children’s data
2. SCHREMS 2.0 – the demise of Standard Contractual Clauses and Privacy Shield? 
3. Superhuman says it will disable email read receipts by default after privacy controversy: Pixel tracking is still an option, but it’ll be limited
4. Taser maker says it won’t use facial recognition in bodycams
5. Axon Ethics Board Pulls Plug On Facial Recognition Tech Being Added To Its Body Cameras
6. Deepfake revenge porn distribution now a crime in Virginia
7. Deepfakes and Other Disinformation Pose Growing Business Threats, Say WilmerHale Lawyers
8. Author pulls software that used deep learning to virtually undress women
9. Somerville, Massachusetts Becomes The Second US City To Ban Facial Recognition Tech
10. These are a few of our favorite IoT: NIST finalizes Internet of Things cyber guidance
11. Watching Me, Watching You – IoT Camera Hacks Surge
12. Another Report Shows The GDPR Benefited Google And Facebook, And Hurt Everyone Else
13. New York Data Privacy Law
14. New York Senate Considers Sweeping New Privacy Bill That Would Create a Fiduciary Duty to Consumers 
15. Maine Enacts Broadband Privacy Law
16. Hackers Have Been Stealing User Data From Global Cell Networks Since 2012
17. Benefit of the but-for bargain: Assessing economic tools for data privacy litigation
18. Ryuk, Ryuk, Ryuk: Georgia’s courts hit by ransomware
19. Georgia courts (mostly) shrug off ransomware attack
20. Florida LAN: Someone clicks link, again, giving Key Biscayne ransomware
21. New ransomware infections are the worst drive-by attacks in recent memory
22. “We need to up our game”—DHS cybersecurity director on Iran and ransomware
23. Documents Show The NSA’s Abuse Of Its Phone Records Collection Continued Right Up Until Its Decision To Pull The Plug
24. Department of State Requests Social Media Profile Identifiers
25. Smile, Your City Is Watching You: Local governments must protect your privacy as they turn to “smart city” technology.
26. Here We Go Again: Trump Administration Considers Outlawing Encryption
27. Standard Contractual Clauses and EU-US Privacy Shield – Under scrutiny
28. Cookie consent – What “good” compliance looks like according to the ICO

CREATIVITY

1. SCOTUS: Lanham Act’s Ban on Registration of “Immoral or Scandalous” Marks Unconstitutional
2. Why the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision to Allow Federal Registration of FUCT Impacts Every Day Businesses
3. UMG Tries To Block O-Town’s Trademark Application Over Its Motown Record Label
4. Gibson Guitar Declares Shift In IP Enforcement After Most Recent Public Backlash
5. NBC and Carrie Underwood Face Lawsuit Over NFL Sunday Night Football Theme Song
6. Banning harmful gender stereotypes in advertising – what you should know
7. Brazilian court bans subway performers 
8. College Forgets How The First Amendment Works; Targets Its Own Student Newspaper With A Public Records Request
9. The Root weeds out ebony’s Lanham Suit
10. Zion Williamson’s Legal Battle with His Former Marketing Agency
11. Andy Warhol’s “Prince Series” Ruled Fair Use
12. Second Circuit Holds New York’s Met Museum Can Keep Picasso’s The Actor
13. Who Owns the Law? Supreme Court to Decide if State Governments Can Copyright Legal Texts
14. U.S. Supreme Court to Review Copyrightability of Privately-Produced Annotated State Statutory Compilations 
15. Inaccurate Copyright Application, Without a Plausible Excuse from the Copyright Owner, Leads to Invalidation of Registration
16. Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreements and the Harmonisation of Copyright Law at International Level: Lessons to be Learned from the TTIP (Christophe Geiger)
17. 1H 2019 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright & More) (Eric Goldman)

Jon

GAMES

1. Rovio files trademark lawsuit against hot chicken restaurant ‘Angry Birdz’
2. Rovio sues California chicken restaurant over Angry Birds trademark: Finnish developer alleges Angry Birdz Nashville Hot Chicken violating trademark on both name and logo
3. Law against account boosting goes into effect in South Korea
4. Cease-and-desist transforms Mario Royale into DMCA Royale
5. Don’t Miss: Dissecting the revolutionary game design ofSuper Mario Kart
6. Super Mario Maker 2 review: A great sequel, playable on a better console
7. Epic and EA execs squirm under scrutiny from British MPs: Testimonies arouse suspicion and dismay from members of immersive and addictive technology inquiry
8. British technology inquiry chair says industry is only “paying lip service” to gaming addiction: King Digital, UKIE, TIGA, others struggle to convince MPs that games industry is taking issues like loot boxes seriously
9. At U.K. Parliament Hearing, Electronic Arts Says Its Loot Boxes Aren’t Loot Boxes
10. EA: Loot boxes actually “surprise mechanics” that are “ethical and fun” – Gaming reps at UK parliamentary panel also answer charges of addictive game design.
11. Gimme the loot – United States proposes ban on loot boxes
12. Anthem’s rocky launch hasn’t dissuaded EA, says CEO
13. EA sees Bioware’s Anthem on “seven to ten year cycle”: CEO Andrew Wilson admits the publisher “might not invest further” if players were not compelled by the experience
14. Jedi: Fallen Order hands-on: Finally, a solid EA Star Wars game⁠—is that enough?
15. Patrick Söderlund’s $20m retention bonus didn’t leave EA with him: Stock grant reportedly returned to company pool used for initiatives including new hires
16. Security firms demonstrate subdomain hijack exploit vs. EA/Origin
17. Twitch takes action against trolls amid artifact’s downfall 
18. Twitch introduces Subscriber Streams: New feature allows Partners and Affiliates to set some streams as only for paid channel subscribers
19. YouTuber JacksFilms Accuses ‘Fortnite’ Of Stealing, Selling His Deep Dab
20. Desmond ‘Etika’ Amofah found dead at 29: Nintendo-focused YouTuber had been missing since last week after video threatening self-harm
21. YouTuber And Twitch Streamer Desmond ‘Etika’ Amofah Found Dead At Age 29
22. Razer cuts ties with streamer following Twitter remarks about men: Brazilian streamer removed from company’s influencer program after tweeting that “men are trash”
23. Popular Gamers Mini Ladd And BigJigglyPanda To Embark On 27-City ‘Demonetized’ Tour
24. Saving Fallout 76: Bethesda’s Pete Hines on using the lessons from The Elder Scrolls Online to fix a rare misstep for Bethesda Game Studios
25. The U.S. Government has blocked League of Legends in Iran and Syria
26. League of Legends reportedly blocked in Iran: Riot Games’ message to Iranian users attributed block to “US laws and regulations
27. Just 15% of European gamers are interested in Google Stadia and xCloud: According to the latest survey results from GameTrack for UK, France, Spain and Germany
28. Teamfight Tactics is a super fun Auto Chess variant, despite frustrating RNG: League of Legends’ take on the mod is a winner.
29. Square Enix “Ethics Department” advised changes on Final Fantasy VII character: Alterations to Tifa’s character model centred around wardrobe, not breast size, and were guided by internal ethics group
30. Square Enix partners with Gary Sinise Foundation to raise cash for first responders
31. Project Babel dev Colopl says employees inflated sales to boost app rankings
32. CD Projekt Red: “Everyone is feeling the pressure on Cyberpunk 2077” – But the studio’s new crunch stance has been a boost to staff morale, says quest director
33. QA bears the brunt of Treyarch’s crunch and culture issues, say staff
34. Stories of crunch, neglect for QA at Treyarch: Call of Duty Black Ops 4 employees and contractors describe unfair treatment, disregard for contractor work force
35. Bungie pushes back Destiny 2 fix to maintain dev work-life balance
36. Bungie delays Destiny 2 patch to avoid crunch: Community asked to wait in the name of “preserving work-life balance”
37. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Why do we need unions?
38. The subtle art of crisis management: From epic crunch to 8chan AMAs, the games industry is never far from a scandal — but PR professionals face many challenges when reacting to calamity
39. Console makers seek to avoid 25% price bump driven by Trump’s trade war
40. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony pen letter against Trump’s game console tariff
41. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo: 25% tariff on consoles would cause “disproportionate harm”: Letter from leading hardware manufacturers says tariff on hardware made in China would hurt economy, jobs, innovation
42. “Iwata Asks” developer interviews will become a book: Earthbound creator’s company to publish collection of discussions between late Nintendo president and developers
43. Nintendo chooses Israel for its second official store: First new outlet in 14 years now open, Tokyo stored planned for later this year
44. Tel Aviv is now home to Nintendo’s second official store
45. Sega sees streaming’s potential to reach new audiences
46. How id built Wolfenstein 3D using Commander Keen tech
47. Ninja To Release How-To Gaming Guide, Graphic Novel As Part Of Three-Book Deal
48. Alpha Protocol removed from Steam as music rights expire: Sega says it still owns the IP, but nine-year-old game contains songs that would need re-licensing
49. Steam now has an official LGBTQ+ tag, hub page: Category appears following Nepenthe developer’s request on Steam forums
50. Steam and Ubuntu clash over 32-bit libs
51. Steam ending support for Ubuntu over 32-bit compatibility
52. Don’t Miss: 20 essential real-world games to study (and play!)
53. Subscription services unlikely to replace traditional game sales, says WBIE
54. Microsoft’s Strategy to Become the ‘Netflix for Games’
55. Report: The rumored second next-gen Xbox model likely won’t see the light of day
56. Microsoft reportedly cuts internal content teams at Inside Xbox and Mixer: Change in strategy prompts layoffs and potential contract cancellation as company’s fiscal year nears end
57. Report: Microsoft has laid off content creation staff at Mixer and Inside Xbox
58. Minecraft: Education Edition is getting an Immersive Reader and new educator resources
59. Commodore 64 gets retro re-release: Full-sized version of the 80’s gaming goliath set to launch December 5
60. Charity livestream raises $3.7m for children’s hospital: Fortnite streamer Dr.Lupo breaks records, raising $1 million in four hours
61. Bungie raises over $400,000 for children’s hospital during charity livestream
62. Bungie raises over $400k for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Developer’s block on Guardian Con Charity Marathon Stream was largest block in event’s history
63. Humble has raised $150M for charity through bundles and storefront
64. Ubisoft: Watch Dogs Legion will encourage players “to think differently” – But the E3 hit will still allow players to “make their own minds up” about depiction of surveillance state Britain
65. Ubisoft sees high acceptance for opt-out subtitles: Even in games that ship with subtitles off by default, publisher sees more than half of players turn them on
66. Crystal Dynamics: The Avengers is the biggest thing we’ve ever done – The Square Enix studio on its transformation beyond Tomb Raider
67. F1 2019 simulates the highs and lows of motorsport, on and off the track
68. Square Enix launches charity fundraising campaign for first responders: Publisher will match donations made to Gary Sinise Foundation up to $50,000
69. Sean Murray on No Man’s Sky: “I thought we were making a niche game” – Hello Games’ founder on the difficulties of transforming a live game, and pushing past a divisive launch
70. Cory Barlog: “We’re now able to give actors meaty performances, as opposed to just doing voice” – God of War’s director expects more actors like Keanu Reeves to star in games
71. Building interesting emergence in Dying Light 2
72. Sea of Thieves is the game it is today because of Game Pass, says Xbox head
73. Blog: Creating the the AI of Sea of Thieves – Part 3
74. Blog: Consoles are resilient for now, but cloud gaming poses new challenges
75. Blog: On narrative from a cognitive perspective – Part 4
76. Blog: An archaeologist considers Heaven’s Vault  
77. Blog: Creating natural looking geometry in Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy
78. Blog: The love-hate relationship between marketeers and social media
79. Blog: Localizing your game without making it suck
80. Video: Learning from the doomed launch of Brigador
81. Video: Rapid-fire animation insights from the GDC 2019 Animation Microtalks 
82. Keeping up with the surprise success of Mordhau
83. Cultist Simulator mobile: The all-singing, all-dancing data dump
84. Amazon’s struggle is a reminder that content is still king | Opinion: Every tech giant wants a slice of the games business, but the difficulty of creating great games and valuable IP hasn’t changed
85. GAME recommends shareholders accept Sports Direct offer: Company says 30 pence per share is a fair value considering industry challenges
86. Valve launches first mobile game: Dota Underlords is company’s take on Dota Auto Chess, will also be available on PC, Mac, and Linux
87. Dota Underlords has topped 170,000 concurrent users in 24 hours
88. World War Z has topped 700,000 sales on the Epic Games Store
89. Tim Sweeney: Epic Games Store exclusives will help devs everywhere earn more
90. Tim Sweeney: “Unpopular” Epic Game Store exclusives are working – Epic CEO argues that the divisive strategy will benefit gamers in the long term
91. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite generated $1.7m less than Pokémon Go on day one – Sensor Tower data shows more than 400,000 installs, $300,000 in revenue across the US and UK, but launch is flagging behind Niantic’s best
92. Forge of Empires reaches €500m in lifetime revenue: InnoGames’ strategy title brought in over €250m in the last two years
93. This brilliant GTA 5 zombie RP mod is a DayZ-esque nightmare: RottenV adds purpose and structure to GTA 5’s often unpredictable roleplay scene.
94. It’s possible to build a Turing machine within Magic: The Gathering
95. Azerion has purchased Spil Games’ mobile game division
96. Spil Games sells mobile division to Azerion: Founders remain owners of Spil’s web portals, will work in partnership with Azerion
97. Esports Star Tfue Sues To Void His Contract With FaZe Clan 
98. Lessons from the Lawsuit That Could Shake Up the Esports Industry
99. Global esports director Kim Phan departs Blizzard
100. Blizzard loses global esports director Kim Phan: Phan is the second high ranking departure from Blizzard’s esports department in recent weeks
101. Trust Esport invests €1.5m in smartVR: French investment fund supports development of VR arcades and related esports services
102. Valve launches VR Portal spinoff Aperture Hand Lab
103. Magic Leap suing ex-employee for stealing tech to make his own XR headset: Florida start-up claims former engineer’s Nreal Light headset bears a “striking similarity” to confidential company tech
104. Seven years on from Oculus Rift’s launch, how far have we come? | Opinion: Game Dragons’ Andrew Oliver ponders the current state of virtual reality, and how it might benefit from 5G and streaming
105. Superdata: PUBG sells 4.7m digital units year-to-date – Fortnite still leader in digital earnings on console last month, though revenue remains down YOY
106. Insights: Never Mind Peak TV, Are We Headed To Peak Game Service?
107. Making the most of a digital office space: Sonderlust’s Lyndsey Gallant explains how the remote working studio’s all-day video conferences have helped the team
108. Time to Chain Up: Is Blockchain About to Change the Gaming Industry?
109. 28 years later, a no-disc version of the Sega CD finally exists—and it works
110. 22 of the worst PC games of all time
111. Myst to be adapted for TV and film: Village Roadshow Entertainment acquires rights to game’s mythology for “multiplatform universe”
112. Fed. Cir. Spots Weak Claim Construction Arguments
113. A Single Prior Art Reference Can Render a Patent Obvious
114. Game and Tech. Co. v. Activision Blizzard  (U.S.C.A. Fed. Circuit, June 21, 2019)

DIGITAL

1. Once Again: It’s Not Clear The Internet Needs Creepy Targeted Ads
2. Facebook usage falling after privacy scandals, data suggests: Actions such as shares and likes down nearly 20%, though user numbers still growing
3. Facebook adds new limits to address the spread of hate speech in Sri Lanka and Myanmar
4. Facebook to identify French hate speech suspects
5. Exclusive: In a world first, Facebook to give data on hate speech suspects to French courts
6. Australia Says Media Companies Can Be Sued Over User Comments On Facebook
7. Court Declines to Dismiss Data Breach Claims Against Facebook Based on Access Token Incident–Bass v. Facebook
8. Your Periodic Reminder That Facebook Isn’t a State Actor–Williby v. Zuckerberg
9. If Facebook or Google create their own currency, they can control our lives
10. Facebook Rolls Out Political Advertising Tools Globally
11. After Months of Rumors, Facebook Officially Announces New Libra Cryptocurrency
12. Facebook’s New Currency Has Big Claims and Bad Ideas: Libra is an ideological project, not a practical one.
13. Why Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Is Both More Interesting Than Expected And Less Interesting Than I Hoped
14. Quadriga Founder Spent Client Money, Bankruptcy Monitor Says: Ernst & Young says Gerald Cotten, late founder of defunct Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, funneled client money into fraudulent accounts
15. New crypto-currency rules come as enforcement ramps up
16. Instagram will start putting ads within the Explore page: Ads everywhere
17. Facebook makes another push to shape and define its own oversight
18. District Court Finds Use of Third-Party Hashtags Created Implied Association 
19. Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation
20. Sudan court orders company to end military-ordered internet blackout: lawyer
21. Indian Gov’t Uses National Security Law, Bad Information To Block Twitter Accounts All Over The World
22. Russian Government Demands All Foreign Press Outlets Register For The Privilege Of Delivering News To Russia
23. FedEx sues US government over export controls after Huawei problems 
24. After Decades Of Demanding China ‘Respect’ US Patent Law, Senator Rubio Pushes Law That Says US Can Ignore Huawei Enforcing Patents
25. If China Is A Glimpse Of Our Future Surveillance Nightmare, Maybe Hong Kong Shows How To Fight It
26. Trump Ponders Banning All Chinese-Made Gear From US 5G Networks
27. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 17: What To Do About Huawei? – Christopher Parsons Unpacks One of Canada’s Most Challenging Policy Issues (Michael Geist)
28. YouTube Reportedly In Late Stages Of Federal Investigation For Violating Children’s Privacy Laws
29. YouTube reportedly under investigation over alleged child protection breaches: “An FTC investigation into YouTube’s treatment of children online is long overdue,” says US lawmaker
30. YouTube spreads ‘misleading information’ about experimental stem cell treatments: Health Canada has warned unlicensed clinics are offering unauthorized cell therapies and making unproven, outsized claims
31. LGBTQ+ YouTube Employees Could Face Consequences If They Protest Steven Crowder Decision At Pride (Report)
32. Meghan Trainor To Headline VidCon Kickoff Concert ‘YouTube Onstage’ 
33. In The Ever More Crowded Streaming Space, YouTube Is “Zigging Where Other People Are Zagging,” Susanne Daniels Says
34. YouTube Rolls Out 3 Tools To Give Viewers More Control Over Suggested Videos
35. YouTube Music Can Now Auto-Save 500 Suggested Songs For Offline Consumption
36. Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/23/2019
37. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/23/2019
38. Google CEO Admits That It’s Impossible To Moderate YouTube Perfectly; CNBC Blasts Him
39. YouTube Confirms Test Of Feature That Hides Comments By Default On Android App
40. Google Hardware quits the tablet business, again
41. Google is killing YouTube’s “Hangouts on Air” this year
42. Kingsley Returns To YouTube After Yearlong Absence, Says #YouTubeBlack “Changed My Life”
43. Firefighters Used YouTube Videos To Rescue Ducklings Trapped In Storm Drain
44. ‘Siphoning off the crap’: Agencies prioritize buying premium content directly on YouTube
45. Yoga Influencers’ Disclosures Show Limits of Flexibility 
46. Andy Signore Settles Lawsuit Against Defy Media, Is “Looking Forward To Exposing The Truth”
47. Cameo raises $50m for its celebrity-shoutouts app
48. Cameo Raises $50 Million In Series B, Has Hosted 275,000 Video Shoutouts In 2 Years
49. BBTV Signs Kwebbelkop, Family Fun Pack, And Athletes Anthony Adams And Tristan Jass
50. UK May Have Finally Ditched Its Absurd Porn Filter Plan
51. Before Demanding Internet Companies ‘Hire More Moderators,’ Perhaps We Should Look At How Awful The Job Is
52. Review: Google Chrome has become surveillance software. It’s time to switch. – Our latest privacy experiment found Chrome ushered more than 11,000 tracker cookies into our browser – in a single week.
53. Insights: The Young Turks Will Intertwine Their Values With Their Ad Dollars, But Can Other Media Sites Afford To Follow?
54. After Teaming With Emma Chamberlain, Louis Vuitton Invites The Dolan Twins To Paris Fashion Week
55. With new leadership, Snapchat makes friends among marketers and publishers in Cannes
56. Sorry, ads are coming to TikTok
57. Vice Media to shut down operations in Montreal
58. Wattpad strikes Mediaset agreement
59. BET’s Upcoming Streaming Service To Be Joint Venture With Tyler Perry
60. Netflix Is Testing A Pop-Out Player On Desktops So You Can Multitask While You Watch
61. The Obamas’ First Netflix Feature, ‘American Factory,’ Is Headed To Theaters
62. Implications from New Hampshire Lottery Commission v. Barr
63. Hulu Is Already The SVOD Growth Story of 2019
64. Disney Is Saying All the Right Things About the Hulu-Disney+ Relationship: The company will work to keep its divided streaming offerings on the same page.
65. Disney Pushing To “Significantly” Expand Hulu’s Original Programming, Says CEO Randy Freer
66. The New Takedown Obligations in the EU for Online Content-Sharing Service Providers
67. EU Intellectual Property Office Produces Dumbest Propaganda Film Ever, Pretending Without IP There Is No Creativity
68. The Paywall Conundrum: Even Those Who Like Paying For News Don’t Pay For Much News
69. The Raspberry Pi 4 launch site runs on a Pi 4 cluster
70. Proposed Law Would Force Big Tech to Reveal Value of Consumer Data
71. Explainer: How Letting Platforms Decide What Content To Facilitate Is What Makes Section 230 Work
72. Legislators Propose Narrowing § 230’s Protections 
73. Supposedly Disadvantaged Conservatives Not Exactly Rushing To Support Josh Hawley’s Anti-Section 230 Bill
74. Self-Made Millionaire Loses Lawsuit Over Facebook’s Removal Of Videos Of People Urinating
75. The Plaintiff Is Probably Pissed About Section 230–Fyk v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
76. Don’t Shoot The Message Board: A Data Driven Look At The Impact Of Section 230 On Innovation And The Economy
77. Locksmiths Locked Out: Court Affirms Immunity for Use of Tools That Portray Third-Party Content Pictorially or as an Aggregate Metric 
78. Concerns about misinformation could lead to limits on key media freedoms 
79. Guy Pushing Hawley’s ‘Viewpoint Neutrality’ Concept In The Media Used To Write For White Supremacist Site
80. States Limit Employer Access to Employee Social Media and Other Internet Accounts
81. Amazon takes on TCL’s Roku TV with low-cost HDR Fire TV
82. Amazon patents ‘surveillance as a service’ tech for its delivery drones: Including technology that cuts out footage of your neighbors house
83. Amazon got clearance to build drones that can carry out surveillance on customers’ homes between deliveries
84. Nicosia v. Amazon (U.S. District Ct., Eastern District of New York, Memorandum & Order June 14, 2019)
85. Hackers, farmers, and doctors unite! Support for Right to Repair laws slowly grows
86. Bill Gates calls failure to fight Android his “greatest mistake”
87. Researchers develop ‘vaccine’ against attacks on machine learning
88. Ontario Human Rights Commission looking at AI impact on racial profiling: OHRC to create policy guidance on artificial intelligence in policing
89. Who’s that bot? California requires clear disclosure starting 7/1/2019
90. McCormick’s concept grill plays music based on what you’re cooking: The SUMR HITS 5000 has a built-in DJ to (kind of) spice up your BBQs.
91. How Machine Learning Turned Major Lazer’s ‘Make It Hot’ Into Vertical Video
92. The trick to saving human factory jobs might be teaming up with the machines
93. Queen’s Law partners with European business school for AI project: Collaboration could lead to breakthrough in IP law on both sides of the Atlantic
94. Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Protection
95. Report from AI Decoding IP: Day 1
96. The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
97. Is Artificial Intelligence Set to Transform Private Equity Dealmaking? 
98. Oxford Business Blog highlights Prof. Dignam’s work on AI
99. Artificial Intelligence: The Very Human Dangers of Dysfunctional Design and Autocratic Corporate Governance (Alan Dignam)
100. The company that owns TikTok now has one billion users and many are outside China
101. German regulator says it discovered new illegal software on Daimler diesels
102. A History of IP in 50 Objects: Internet (Jonathan Zittrain)
103. A paper towel dispenser with an end-user license agreement is a special kind of hell
104. Modern Courts and the Need for Judicial Technological Competence
105. Major League Baseball’s Obsession With Cashing In On Everything Has Harmed The Game’s Popularity Online

COMMUNICATIONS

1. A Spectrum of Opportunities and Challenges: Canada’s 5G Future
2. Ex-chair of FCC broadband committee gets five years in prison for fraud
3. Robocalls Swamp Hospitals As The Trump FCC Pretends To Fix The Problem
4. FCC Tees Up Mid- and High-Band Spectrum Auctions to Support 5G at July Open Meeting 
5. FCC Releases Draft Order on Changes to Children’s Television Rules – Action Expected July 10
6. Ajit Pai tries to kill San Francisco’s attempt to spur broadband competition
7. FCC battles meteorologists again over plan to help wireless industry
8. FCC lets Verizon lock cell phones to network for 60 days after activation
9. Verizon Now Pretending That 5G Will Help Cure Cancer
10. AT&T sued over hidden fee that raises mobile prices above advertised rate
11. AT&T Ratchets Up The Content Wars
12. States Flex Their Muscles and Antitrust Skills to Block Sprint/T-Mobile Merger 
13. Dish To Buy Parts of T-Mobile To Save Sprint Merger, But It’s Not Likely To Help
14. No, Your Kid Isn’t Growing Horns Because Of Cellphone Use
15. Another EEO Audit Released – Looking at the FCC’s Current EEO Obligations
16. House subcommittee approves bipartisan robocall bill 
17. Deference to Agency Jurisdiction Still Unanswered: SCOTUS Fails to Resolve Whether an FCC Order Interpreting the TCPA is Binding on Federal District Courts
18. Private Publishers Aren’t State Actors–Manhattan Community Access v. Halleck

PRIVACY

1. Why data ownership is the wrong approach to protecting privacy (Cameron Kerry & John Morris)
2. “Gonna stand my ground; And I won’t back down”¹ – The OPC charges forward with its controversial consultation on transborder dataflows/transfers for processing
3. Nation-sponsored hackers likely carried out hostile takeover of rival group’s servers: Like an episode of Spy vs. Spy, Russian-speaking Turla appears to hijack OilRig’s network.
4. As The DOJ Continues To Complain About Encryption, Cellebrite (Again) Announces It Can Crack Any IPhone
5. Australian Home Affairs Minister Says Government Still Considering Spying On Its Own Citizens
6. DHS cyber director warns of surge in Iranian “wiper” hack attacks
7. Iranian state hackers reload their domains, release off-the-shelf RAT malware
8. A rogue Raspberry Pi helped hackers access NASA JPL systems
9. Potent Firefox 0-day used to install undetected backdoors on Macs: So far, attacks are known only to target Mac users involved in cryptocurrency.
10. A tale of two cities: Why ransomware will just get worse
11. Can’t Have Copyright Enforcement Without Destroying Privacy Protections
12. Canadian global leadership on data protection
13. Data compliance goes global: Vivek Narayanadas, in-house counsel for Shopify, has his hands full navigating privacy and data protection laws around the world.
14. Privacy FAQs: If a company receives a right to be forgotten request, is it required to delete records that show whether an individual opted-in or opted-out from marketing?
15. Privacy Report: Three Dating Apps Removed from App Store After Potential COPPA Violations
16. Maine and Nevada’s New Data Privacy Laws and the California Consumer Privacy Act Compared
17. Want Companies to Comply with the CCPA? Delay Its Effective Date
18. State Privacy Laws Continue to Proliferate
19. Sshh: Alexa can hear you
20. Top 5 ways GDPR impacted digital banking in its first year
21. Interior Department Putting Even More Effort Into Dodging FOIA Request

CREATIVITY

1. The Copyright Board Game (Howard Knopf)
2. Unbalanced Witness List: Why the Copyright Review Was Right To Ignore the Canadian Heritage Committee Study, Part Three (Michael Geist)
3. Limited Views: Why the Copyright Review Was Right To Ignore the Canadian Heritage Committee Study, Part Two (Michael Geist)
4. Ignoring the Evidence: Why the Copyright Review Was Right To Ignore the Canadian Heritage Committee Study, Part Four (Michael Geist)
5. Better Data, Better Results: Comparing the Gap Between the Copyright Review and Heritage Study on the Music Industry’s Policy Proposals (Michael Geist)
6. Universal Music Cashed In On Insurance After It Let Thousands Of Master Recordings Burn… And Didn’t Give Any To Artists
7. Just Don’t Infringe Copyright, Kawhi Leonard Tells Nike
8. Kawhi Leonard v. Nike Inc.: How copyrights can trump trademarks? 
9. Raptors Win but Trademark still under Claw 
10. Stephen Curry’s “Holey Moley” Faces Trademark Complaint in California Court
11. Appellate Court leaves open question of good faith in copyright litigation 
12. Supreme Court to Decide Whether States Can Copyright Annotated State Law
13. Supreme Court To Review Whether Or Not You Can Copyright State Laws
14. Supreme Court to Rule on Whether Sovereign Immunity Protects States from Copyright Infringement Claims
15. Have We Learned Anything from Pepe the Frog About Copyright Law?
16. US Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban of ‘Scandalous’ Trademarks
17. Supreme Court Now Says That The Trademark Office Can’t Reject ‘Immoral Or Scandalous’ Trademarks
18. SCOTUS: Ban on “FUCT” trademark registration violates First Amendment
19. F-*-C-T- U.S. Supreme Court strikes down ban on registration of immoral or scandalous marks 
20. Supreme Court Says “Scandalous” Trademarks May be Registered
21. Caterpillar Now Going After All The Cats For Trademark Cancellations
22. Surge in Defamation Claims: What is Causing the Increase?
23. French Museum filled with fakes still questioning how it happened a year on 

Jon

GAMES

1. The creator of ‘Pokémon Go’ is suing an ‘association of hackers’ that it says helps players cheat at its games
2. Niantic is suing Global++ over modified Pokemon Go,Ingress apps
3. Niantic files lawsuit against “hacker” group: Global ++ has allegedly created derivative apps based on Ingress, Pokémon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite
4. From Pokémon to Harry Potter: Niantic’s hopes for Wizards Unite
5. Niantic has acquired Beasts of Balance developer Sensible Object
6. Twitch Sues Troll Streamers Over Violent Videos, Pornography
7. Twitch sues users who posted porn, racism, and more to Artifact stream page
8. Twitch Suing 100 Users Who Spammed ‘Artifact’ Game Category With Pornographic And Violent Content
9. Twitch sues unknown parties over flood of explicit videos on Artifact streams
10. EA praises its own ‘ethical, fun, and enjoyable’ loot box use in FIFA
11. CARU Takes Action Against Two Mobile Apps 
12. State of California investigates Riot for systematic gender discrimination
13. Riot Games accused of non-compliance with gender discrimination investigation: State of California turns to the courts for help, but Riot insists it has cooperated since the beginning
14. Women accounted for 21% of E3 stage presenters, just 5% of game protagonists: But annual Feminist Frequency gender breakdown shows number of games with multiple choice is at a five-year high
15. Devs deserve the benefits of a union, says US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders
16. Bernie Sanders endorses game industry unionisation: Presidential candidate says game workers “deserve to collectively bargain”
17. Only 17% of E3 games are non-violent: GamesIndustry.biz study found major publishers are behind less than half of all combat-free titles in Los Angeles
18. Mobile games are losing to video in the battle for users’ time: Games still earn the majority of revenue, but App Annie report shows video apps streaking ahead in terms of hours spent
19. NPD: May 2019 was the worst May for new releases since 1998 – Mortal Kombat 11 overtakes Kingdom Hearts III as best-selling software title year-to-date; hardware and software sales see overall declines
20. Tfue’s Lawyer Reveals Shocking New Info on FaZe Clan Lawsuit
21. Did FaZe Clan break any laws with the H1ghsky1 signing?
22. ZeniMax shuts down fan remake of Doom: Modder pulls the project after legal warning, is forbidden to infringe on Bethesda trademarks again
23. Sweeney: Sony enabling cross-play was “one of the greatest moments in Epic’s history” – Meanwhile, Epic founder dismisses the notion of Fortnite addiction
24. Steam Remote Play now supports game streaming across different networks
25. Steam update changes In-Home Streaming to Remote Play: Games from your Steam client can now be streamed to PCs and devices across different networks
26. Alpha Protocol delisted from Steam due to publishing rights expiration
27. Twitter data shows Nintendo as the winner of E3 2019: Nintendo Direct E3 generated more Twitter activity than Keanu Reeves
28. Avengers, Nintendo Owned The E3 Video Conversation
29. Don’t Miss: Captain Toad and the core of Nintendo game design
30. Xbox and Cyberpunk 2077 won the battle for media coverage at E3 2019: ICO Partners’ annual report indicates strong coverage for the absent Sony, and finds Square Enix was the most talked about publisher
31. Cyberpunk designer says CDPR is working on transgender character options
32. Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Remake lead online pre-orders post-E3: Amazon and GameStop data show Collectors, Ultimate Editions top gift card sales following press events
33. From The Witcher 3 to Cyberpunk: The evolution of CD Projekt’s quest design
34. Next-gen expectations overshadowed E3 | Opinion: Rather than being a final hurrah for the current generation, E3 highlighted expectations that most upcoming titles will bridge next year’s hardware transition
35. Opinion: Cloud gaming for both Microsoft and Google remains a horseless carriage
36. 83% of gamers potentially interested in streaming services: But 20% of people surveyed have broadband that would struggle to meet Stadia’s minimum requirements
37. Google Stadia Is About To Show Everyone Why Broadband Usage Caps Are B.S.
38. Stadia’s E3 Doom Eternal demo made me a cloud gaming believer
39. Nintendo is ‘evaluating’ game streaming technology
40. Nintendo “evaluating” streaming, but focused on physical and downloads: Don’t expect Switch to have its own Stadia-style service any time soon
41. Nintendo pledges continued support for the 3DS: “We believe it’s a great entry point for young gamers,” says NOA president Doug Bowser
42. NPD: Nintendo likely to end the year as best-selling publisher – With no looming major end-of-year releases, Call of Duty, NBA 2K, and Madden predicted to top 2019 software charts
43. Minecraft: Story Mode relisted on Xbox 360, but for $100 to deter new buyers
44. Minecraft Story Mode for Xbox 360 gets massive price hike: Episodes temporarily selling for $99.99 each to give existing owners a window to download the game while discouraging new sales
45. Square Enix working to preserve and release entire game library
46. Square Enix is considering its own subscription service
47. Square Enix subscription service would focus on classic titles
48. Square Enix eyes its own subscription service: Company currently understanding the model via working with Xbox Game Pass
49. How is Game Pass adding so many indie titles at launch?: ID@Xbox director Chris Charla talks about independent developers’ concerns around subscription plans and streaming services
50. Video: How the ‘indiepocalypse’ changed the shape of indie success
51. Keanu Reeves: “Games don’t need legitimising” – Cyberpunk star praises the impact of games on performance capture, dismisses the notion that they need celebrity endorsement
52. Playtonic: “We are never using the term spiritual successor again” – The Yooka-Laylee studio on avoiding the comparisons to Donkey Kong Country
53. Forza Horizon 4 reaches 10m players: Best-selling game in Playground’s racing series achieves milestone eight months after launch
54. Sea of Thieves reaches 8.4m lifetime players: Since its anniversary update in late April, Rare’s pirate adventure has seen 2m users
55. The Witcher 3 has passed 20m lifetime sales: CD Projekt Red’s celebrated game has contributed more than half of the series’ 40m sales
56. Zynga-owned Empires & Puzzles has surpassed 34 million downloads
57. Fallout Shelter reaches $100m lifetime revenue: US accounts for roughly 60% of global revenue, followed by UK at 9%
58. Fallout Shelter is coming to Tesla cars: Mobile management sim to join Cuphead, Atari classics on electric cars
59. Final Fantasy VII Remakehands-on: Already feels like the one for jaded JRPG fans
60. Live, die, repeat: How Outer Wilds piques curiosity in an ambivalent solar system
61. Atari’s new VCS isn’t a console, but it isn’t quite a computer either
62. EA pledges new reporting tools, periodic Community Reports to combat toxicity
63. EA holds Building Healthy Communities Summit, pledges to fight toxicity: Publisher looking at new tools and features to improve community management and reporting in its games
64. PUBG Mobile daily users pass 50m, downloads pass 400m: Figures have more than doubled in seven months — even without a Chinese release
65. Niko Partners: Game for Peace expected to bring in nearly $1b by year’s end – PUBG Mobile clone anticipated to be one of Tencent’s biggest games; meanwhile, PUBG Mobile has brought in $400m overseas
66. Konami rebrands PES as eFootball PES: New name for long-running sports series designed to underline the company’s commitment to esports
67. Twitch acquires Bebo to bolster esports offerings
68. Twitch acquires Bebo to bolster esports push: Deal for amateur esports brand is worth a reported $25 million
69. Twitch Launches Teespring Integration, Enabling Creators To Sell Subscriber-Only Merch
70. Amazon Game Studios lays off ‘dozens’ of staff
71. Amazon laid off ‘dozens’ of game developers amid reorganization: The company has reportedly canceled several unannounced games as well
72. Amazon Game Studios lays off “dozens”: Multiple unannounced projects cancelled; employees given 60 days to find new internal positions
73. D3T details first ever Wellbeing Week: Studio’s new initiative will cover physical, emotional and financial health across five days of activities
74. Stardock reveals Cider Cloud engine – CEO Brad Wardell: “Our goal is to be able to design games that just aren’t possible today”
75. How Media Molecule designed a fun and robust toolset forDreams
76. In-depth: A tool for game accessibility and depth analysis
77. Blog: A tool for game accessibility and depth analysis – Part 2
78. Blog: A tool for game accessibility and depth analysis – Part 3
79. Blog: So you want to have a kick-ass Steam page?
80. Blog: Design insights we learned at Dreamhack Dallas 20192
81. Blog: The importance of definitions in game design 
82. Blog: Tips and tricks for managing open game development
83. Blog: Creating the the AI of Sea of Thieves – Part 2
84. Blog: Four decades of advergames
85. Blog: Watch the first Library of Congress lecture given by a game composer
86. Don’t Miss: Rethinking the RPG to make it fun to be the bad guy in Tyranny
87. Video: 9 takeaways of Duelyst’s journey from tabletop to digital game
88. Designing Monster Hunter: World around the conflict of empathy and violence
89. Q&A: Writing new characters, new worlds in Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds
90. Brenda and John Romero’s Empire of Sin is an emergent narrative gangster flick
91. Elite Dangerous dev Frontier signs first third-party publishing deal
92. How do you improve a great racing game? Just add Lego bricks
93. The Oculus Quest saw $5 million in content sales in first two weeks
94. Oculus: Quest’s potential to make VR a ‘viable medium’ means store curation is a must
95. Against Gravity raises $24m for VR development: Rec Room studio continues working on ways to connect users in shared VR spaces
96. Former Magic Leap employee accused of stealing tech to launch own AR glasses
97. GameStop closing down ThinkGeek’s standalone online store
98. ThinkGeek closes site, moves in with GameStop: Over 40 US physical locations to remain open, online sales to close July 2
99. Elon Musk: ‘The Simulation, The Simulation, The Simulation’: “We could be somebody’s video game right now. Whose avatar are you?”
100. Tesla is turning its showrooms into arcades
101. The best games, demos, and tech of E3 2019
102. E3 2019 in photos: Gooigi, crazy arcade machines, and a DOOM museum
103. E3 2019 saw fewer attendees than last year
104. E3 attendance drops slightly for 2019: Next year’s show set for Los Angeles Convention Centre between June 9th and 11th
105. Blog: Does Sony’s absence mean game over for E3?
106. Don’t let ego kill E3 | Opinion: E3 is a silly, special week in the games industry calendar — and maybe it doesn’t need to change that much to survive
107. The GamesIndustry.biz E3 Award Winners
108. The biggest disappointments of E3
109. Call of Duty, Pokemon dominate GameStop pre-orders in wake of E3: Pre-orders up 63% on newly-announced titles last week for gaming retailer
110. Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour honoured at Games for Change Awards: Ubisoft picked up three awards last night, while Nintendo Labo was named Game of the Year
111. Nintendo and Ubisoft honored at the 2019 Games for Change Awards
112. U.S. Patent No. 7,887,403: Method and system for controlling a game involving battles 
113. Check out Opus Magnum dev Zachtronics’ entire game design history for free

DIGITAL

1. UK makes ‘first’ conviction over 3-D printed gun
2. Browsewrap Terms Enforced Due to Customer Knowledge of Existence of Terms 
3. New Zealand judge sends neo-Nazi to prison for sharing mosque shooting video: Sharing the video is illegal in NZ and “encourages mass murder,” judge says.
4. New Zealand Man Gets 21 Months In Prison For Sharing Footage Of The Christchurch Shooting
5. FBI Serves Incredibly Broad Warrant To 8chan, Demanding Info On All Users Who Responded To A Shooter’s Post
6. Supreme Court Signals Loud And Clear That Social Media Sites Are Not Public Forums That Have To Allow All Speech
7. 60% of British adults and 80% of young teenagers suffered harm online in the last 12 months – the UK debate about the need to regulate the internet continues apace 
8. Douez v Facebook gives existing class actions green light to grow under new opt-out rules 
9. Bodies In Seats: At Facebook’s worst-performing content moderation site in North America, one contractor has died, and others say they fear for their lives
10. Inside the German antitrust plan to destroy Facebook’s data monopoly: Quietly but effectively, the Bundeskartellamt is landing some serious blows against big tech
11. With cryptocurrency launch, Facebook sets its path toward becoming an independent nation
12. Facebook launches cryptocurrency with Visa, MasterCard, Uber, and others
13. Regulating UK digital services – the British government shares its thoughts 
14. The Online Harms White Paper: Who will regulate the internet, and how? 
15. The Online Harms White Paper: Is technology the answer? 
16. Russia warns of “cyberwar” following report the US attacked its power grid
17. Russia To Ban VPN Providers That Refuse To Aid Censorship
18. Congress, Regulators, and Justice Department Gear Up to Investigate “Big Tech,” But Focus and Scope Under Current Law Remains Unclear 
19. Investigating Big Tech! 
20. There Are Lots Of Ways To Punish Big Tech Companies, But Only A Few Will Actually Help Improve The Internet
21. Co-opting digital companies into tax law enforcement
22. Content Moderation Is Impossible: You Can’t Expect Moderators To Understand Satire Or Irony
23. Once More With Feeling: There Is No Legal Distinction Between A ‘Platform’ And A ‘Publisher’
24. Site-Blocking In Australia Expanded Again To Include 105 More Sites, Including A Search Engine
25. The Flipside To Figuring Out What Content Do You Block: Cloudflare’s Project Galileo Focuses On Who It Should Protect
26. Cloudflare aims to make HTTPS certificates safe from BGP hijacking attacks
27. Blockchain company and CEO to pay over $1M for misleading investors 
28. Facebook Just Blindfolded War Crimes Investigators | Opinion
29. Facebook backs social commerce startup Meesho in first India investment
30. Facebook confirms it will launch a cryptocurrency called Libra in 2020: The effort is supported by Mastercard and Visa, among dozens of other partners
31. Facebook announces Libra cryptocurrency: All you need to know: The use cases, technology and motive behind the new digital money
32. Facebook’s cryptocurrency to debut next week backed by Visa, Mastercard, Uber, and others: WSJ – An unveiling is expected next week, with a launch to follow in 2020
33. Report claims Spotify is backing Facebook’s new cryptocurrency
34. Locksmiths locked out of lawsuit against search engines 
35. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot may sign an exclusive deal with AT&T’s WarnerMedia for $500 million: A massive deal for WarnerMedia heading into the streaming wars
36. The Tor Browser Afforded CDA Immunity for Dark Web Transactions 
37. Court Says Section 230 Shields Twitter From Revenge Porn Bro’s Stupid Lawsuit
38. Twitter Gets Another Significant Section 230 Win in Lawsuit by Suspended User–Murphy v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
39. Congress Now Creating A Moral Panic Around Deepfakes In Order To Change CDA 230
40. How 13 Became the Internet’s Age of Adulthood: The inside story of COPPA, a law from the early days of e-commerce that is shaping a generation and creating a parental minefield
41. Anonymous Online Speech: Considerations for Victims and Speakers
42. Google CEO Apologizes To LGBTQ+ Staffers After YouTube Firestorm: “You Are A Source Of Pride For Us”
43. YouTube weighs changes to how it handles children’s content
44. YouTube Considering Moving All Children’s Content To ‘Kids’ App As Sundar Pichai Becomes More Involved In Day-To-Day Decision-Making (Report)
45. Former Clevver Hosts Joslyn Davis And Lily Marston Launch Female-Centric YouTube Upstart
46. YouTuber Elijah Daniel Rents, Renames Michigan Town “Gay Hell” In Protest Of Trump
47. YouTube’s AR ads let you try on virtual makeup alongside beauty vloggers
48. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/17/2019
49. YouTube’s Kirsten Dunst Series ‘On Becoming A God In Central Florida’ Moves To Showtime
50. YouTube Teams With Universal Music To Remaster Hundreds Of Iconic Music Videos
51. After Busy One-Month Hiatus, James Charles Makes Grand Return To YouTube
52. Kim Kardashian Deep Fake Video Removed By Copyright Claim
53. PewDiePie Mulls The Relative Decline Of His Channel, Says Taking A Break Could “Kill” It
54. Even Yoginis Must Comply with the Endorsement Guides
55. NAD Not Influenced by Verification Platform’s Claims 
56. Kayla Itsines, Jeffree Star, Eugene Lee Yang Named Most Influential Influencers (Study)
57. Writer-Director And Trans Activist Janet Mock Inks Multimillion-Dollar Netflix Deal
58. Netflix is going to get ads sooner or later, say executives from Hulu and NBC
59. Cinematographer-Influencer Hunter Moreno Launches Merch Line At Urban Outfitters
60. VidCon Will Venture To Mexico For First Latin American Convention In 2020
61. Vice Media Digital Makeover Triggers Traffic Slide: April free fall follows closure of partner-traffic program, but company attributes drop to temporary lull in content output
62. Vevo Ups Music Video Consumption 140%
63. Hannah Hart, Todrick Hall Among LGBTQ+ Celebs In Taylor Swift’s “You Need To Calm Down” Video
64. Spotify now allows advertisers to specifically target podcast listeners: The podcast ad targeting begins
65. Pandora now has its own ‘audio consultancy’ for advertisers
66. Lyrics Site Accuses Google of Lifting Its Content: Genius says it can prove lyrics from its site are appearing in Google search information panels—by examining the apostrophes
67. Dumbest ‘Gotcha’ Story Of The Week: Google, Genius And The Copying Of Licensed Lyrics
68. Genius hid a Morse code message in song lyrics to prove Google was copying them
69. Genius/Google Dispute Gets Even Dumber: Microsoft And Amazon Show Same ‘Coded’ Lyrics, But Genius Doesn’t Care
70. Google is ending the integration between Drive and Photos
71. Google’s ninth attempt at a messaging service will be based on RCS
72. Eugene Lee Yang’s Coming Out Video Has Raised $60,000 For The Trevor Project
73. Jaclyn Hill Refutes Accusations That Her New Brand Is Vending Moldy Lipsticks
74. Quibi Has Sold $100 Million In Upfront Ads To P&G, Pepsi, Walmart
75. Quibi Taps Tyra Banks For Docuseries Dissecting Global Beauty Standards
76. Snapchat Renews Two Originals From Vertical Networks, Overtime (Exclusive)
77. Distributor DistroKid steps up its fight against fake uploaders
78. Target’s same-day deliveries might break my Amazon Prime addiction
79. Shopify going head-to-head with Amazon, spending $1 billion on fulfilment network: Fulfilment network aims to provide two-day shipping within 99% of United States
80. Domino’s Petitions Supreme Court for Review of Unfavorable Website Accessibility Decision
81. DSM Directive Series #6: ‘hyperlinking’ in the press publishers’ right (Eleonora Rosati)
82. Polish Government’s Legal Challenge To EU Copyright Directive’s Article 13/17 Remains Shrouded In Mystery, But Details May Not Matter
83. Prenda Mastermind Gets 14 Years In Prison, Told To Pay Back Just $1.5 Million
84. Legal Aspects of Cloud Computing: Cloud Contracting
85. Illinois Regulates the Use of AI in Video Interviews 
86. Experts: Spy used AI-generated face to connect with targets
87. This Marketing Blog Does Not Exist: An AI Generated Marketing Blog by Fractl
88. The fourth Industrial revolution emerges from AI and the Internet of Things
89. We won’t be listening to music in a decade according to Vinod Khosla
90. AI Can Thrive in Open Societies: The belief that China’s surveillance gives it an advantage is misleading – and dangerous.
91. Forget About Fake News, How About Fake People? California Starts Regulating Bots as of July 1, 2019
92. China‘s Social Credit System: Seeing Like an Authoritarian State (Cristie Ford)
93. Huawei bracing for a 40% to 60% drop in international smartphone shipments
94. Huawei export ban claims another victim: Huawei’s $2,600 foldable smartphone
95. Huawei Now Using Patent Claims To Demand $1 Billion From Verizon, As The US Tries To Chase Huawei Out Of The US Market
96. The north face’s wikipedia stunt goes south

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  Bell and Telus beef up data plans after Rogers sparks ‘unlimited’ price war
2. Message Received: Why Unlimited Wireless Plans Show Government’s Emphasis on New Competition is Being Heard (Michael Geist)
3. Shockingly, Cable TV and Broadband Customer Satisfaction Is Still The Worst In America
4. None Of The Claimed Benefits Of Killing Net Neutrality Ever Arrived
5. AT&T cuts another 1,800 jobs as it finishes fiber-Internet buildout
6. AT&T Lays Off Thousands After Nabbing Billions In Tax Breaks And Regulatory Favors
7. No state action in administering public-access cable channels
8. Supreme Court Holds that Private Entity Operating Public-Access Television Channel Is Not A Government Actor Subject to the First Amendment
9. US Attorneys and FCC Combine to Shut Down Pirate Radio Station
10. Starry aims to bring its $50, 200Mbps broadband to 25 more US states
11. FCC Pats Itself On The Back For ‘New’ Robocall Plan That Isn’t New, Has No Real Teeth
12. Ajit Pai says NOAA and NASA are wrong about 5G harming weather forecasts 
13. The 2.5 GHz Band: No Longer Just for Education 
14. Study finds that a GPS outage would cost $1 billion per day
15. Comcast Forgets To Delete Evidence It’s Using Evil Fansubs In Its Streaming Service
16. Cable companies can save money now that DOCSIS 3.1 upgrade is mostly done
17. TCPA Class Action Update: Dish Network on the Hook for $61 Million for Third-Party Agent’s TCPA Violation
18. TCPA Legislative Update: Senate Passes TRACED Act and Works on More Robocall Legislation
19. Preparing for the 2020 Elections – Our Updated Political Broadcasting Guide
20. Doing Business in Canada 2019: Information and Communications Technology

PRIVACY

1. Florida city pays $600,000 ransom to save computer records
2. Oracle issues emergency update to patch actively exploited WebLogic flaw
3. Apple Accused of Unlawfully Disclosing Users’ iTunes Data
4. Canada’s New Digital Charter and What this Means for PIPEDA
5. Combatting cyber threats: CSE releases new baseline cybersecurity controls
6. La Liga Fined 250K Euros For Using Mobile App To Try To Catch 3rd Party Pirates
7. Privacy Shield: If You Got It – Flaunt It; If Not – Don’t
8. Samsung’s security reminder makes the case for not owning a Samsung smart TV: Run a virus scan ‘every few weeks,’ it says
9. Samsung asks users to please virus-scan their TVs
10. We’re Apparently Scanning Our TVs For Viruses Now
11. For the industrial Internet of Things, defense in depth is a requirement
12. Radiohead Responds To Extortionate Hacker By Releasing Hacked Recordings For Charity
13. Hackers behind dangerous oil and gas intrusions are probing US power grids
14. Securing The Nation With Insecure Databases: CBP Vendor Hacked, Exposing Thousands Of License Plate, Car Passenger Photos
15. Privacy Matters: A Website Privacy Policy is Good Governance
16. Internet of Things – A Fast Forward to the Future 
17. Maine’s New Internet Privacy Law: What You Need to Know
18. Nevada Passes Online Consumer Privacy Legislation
19. Conduct business in Nevada? If so, be aware that a new Nevada law gives consumers the right to opt-out of the sale of their personal information
20. Recent Developments in Consumer Privacy Legislation and Cybersecurity Practices
21. Data protection in investigations
22. Doing Business in Canada 2019: Privacy and Anti-Spam Laws

CREATIVITY

1. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 16: The Copyright Review Report – Carys Craig on the Roadmap for the Future of Canadian Copyright Law (Michael Geist)
2. Appeals Court To Rehear Case On ‘Stairway To Heaven’ Copyright Infringement Questions
3. Pepe The Frog Creator, Infowars Both Claim Victory After $15k Copyright Settlement
4. Wedding photographers and copyright – what’s your position?
5. Retailers: beware the ban on gender stereotyping 
6. No pictures, please: Scotland v England as a forum for defamation cases
7. ‘Star Trek’ Logo Spotted on Mars
8. Copyright First Sale Doctrine & Patent Exhaustion Prevent Equitable Estoppel Defenses
9. Canada’s trademark changes mean higher fees, more complexities in filing: Amendments are intended to modernize Canada’s intellectual property framework
10. Adidas loses EU bid to extend three-stripe trademark
11. Adidas loses three-stripe trademark battle in European court: Logo first registered on a football boot in 1949 was not ‘distinctive’ enough, says court
12. adidas AG & Marques v. EUIPO (Judgment Of The General Court, 19 June 2019)
13. Domain Name Law

Jon

GAMES

1. Report: Global gaming software spend hits $132bn
2. Lawsuit alleges Unity CEO sexually harassed former VP
3. Unity faces lawsuit as John Riccitiello accused of sexual harassment: Former VP of recruitment claims CEO made several advances before she was unfairly dismissed
4. Unity faces lawsuit as John Riccitiello accused of sexual harassment
5. Star Control creators no longer opposing Stardock’s Star Control trademark
6. Stardock and Star Control creators settle lawsuits—with mead and honey: A surprising – and surprisingly amicable – conclusion to the multi-year legal saga.
7. Star Control creators settle legal battle with Stardock:
8. Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III say dispute was settled “amicably and in a way where the fans are the biggest winners”
9. Blog: What can devs learn from the Ion Maiden trademark lawsuit?
10. Activision Shouts ‘First Amendment’ Over Humvee’s Trademark Lawsuit For Call Of Duty Depictions
11. Report: Tariffs prompt Nintendo to move some Switch production out of China
12. New Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser speaks against crunch
13. Nintendo is working on a direct Breath of the Wild sequel
14. Breath of the Wild sequel partially inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2
15. Don’t Miss: Designing Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s unconventional mechanics
16. Nintendo’s E3 Direct had nothing new for the 3DS
17. Inside the work to get Doom on the Super Nintendo
18. Streamer Dr Disrespect has E3 badge revoked after filming in public bathroom: Twitch channel also taken down after multiple “IRL” livestreams that included bystanders using restrooms
19. Ubisoft: Watch Dogs Legion “has a message for sure”: Creative director Clint Hocking says the new game is about “fighting back against things that are obviously wrong”
20. Ubisoft says avoiding messages is part of making “more mature games”: VP of editorial Tommy Francois talks about publisher’s stance on politics in games, says “Nothing is simple in life”
21. New Ubisoft tool lets Assassin’s Creed Odyssey players create custom quests
22. Ubisoft’s new Uplay+ subscription launches for PC this year, Stadia in 2020
23. Ubisoft fills E3 hour with Tom Clancy games and Watch Dogs Legion gameplay: Publisher also announces multiple new IP and a new subscription service, UPlay+
24. Ubisoft enters subscription battleground with Uplay Plus: PC and Google Stadia service to include over 100 Ubisoft PC games
25. Google Stadia will let publishers offer their own subscription plans
26. Anita Sarkeesian: “No more excuses for the lack of women at E3” – The Feminist Frequency founder on the need for better representation, both with games characters and on-stage presenters
27. Pole to Win CEO: Building a team that will retire with you: Deborah Kirkham on the importance of company culture, and how she landed her current executive role by asking for it
28. Epic collaborates with dance creator on Fortnite emote: Developer changes tact after series of lawsuits over alleged copyright infringement dominate headlines
29. ‘Fortnite’ Still Leads Views For Gaming Titles On Social Video. By A Lot.
30. Game over for loot boxes in new proposed legislation
31. After 8Chan-gate, THQN unveils stirring anti-Nazi game set in 1930s Germany
32. Xseed Games’ controversial credits policy only names current staff members: Publisher says it “appreciates the hard work of everyone who contributes” but removes them from game credits if they leave
33. Are we witnessing the end of the console wars? | Opinion: Sony and Microsoft’s controllers appearing onstage at an Apple keynote speaks to a new landscape where former rivals are working together
34. Sony trialing new PlayStation voice chat transcription feature
35. Sony chief: ‘There’s no scenario where the PlayStation and Xbox platforms combine’
36. Sony: There is “no scenario where the PlayStation and Xbox platforms combine” – PlayStation’s Jim Ryan insists that Sony’s new partnership with Microsoft will only go so far
37. Xbox One successor Project Scarlett slated for Holiday 2020
38. Microsoft reveals first details on “Project Scarlett” game console for 2020
39. Microsoft’s next-gen Project Scarlett console will still have a disc drive
40. Microsoft working to get “every single Xbox One game” working on Scarlett
41. Microsoft ending Xbox One backwards compatibility efforts to focus on next-gen
42. Microsoft will launch new Xbox console next year: Halo Infinite will be a launch title for the new hardware, codenamed Project Scarlett
43. Phil Spencer on Project Scarlett: “We want to be compatible across all generations” – Xbox head nods toward backward compatibility on next-gen console with emphasis on Xbox Live
44. Microsoft ends Xbox One backwards compatibility efforts to focus on Project Scarlett: Reveals final titles to be added as it aims to make four generations of games work with next console
45. Xbox at E3: Halo Infinite leads massive first-party deluge of Xbox, PC games – Microsoft moves on Sony’s E3 absence with a smorgasbord of Xbox Game Studios fare.
46. Phil Spencer: “It would be nice to buy a Japanese studio” – The head of Xbox on Game Pass, the impact of streaming, and why he’s not afraid of Google
47. Microsoft revamping Xbox Live gamertags so users can share the same name
48. “There is no downside to Game Pass,” says Playground Games: Forza Horizon studio tells us how the Xbox subscription service has taken its series to even greater heights
49. Microsoft announces PC Game Pass pricing, adds to Ultimate bundle
50. UPlay+ subscription lets you play every Ubisoft game on PC and Stadia: $14.99/month service includes all DLC, “earliest access” to new Ubisoft titles.
51. Project Xcloud demo of Halo 5 nearly indistinguishable from local play
52. Xbox’s Phil Spencer: Our next console will have a disc drive – Microsoft gaming boss says that millions of people still love physical
53. Xbox adding Remote Play-style console streaming, xCloud preview launches this October – Platform holder’s streaming strategy will centre around two pillars: Project xCloud and user’s own consoles
54. Xbox head: xCloud aims to complement video game hardware, not replace it
55. Microsoft xCloud console streaming service goes live in October
56. Microsoft acquires Double Fine Productions
57. Microsoft picks up Psychonauts 2 publishing rights from Starbreeze
58. Double Fine Productions is Microsoft’s latest Xbox acquisition: Crowdfunders will still get Psychonauts 2 on their chosen platform.
59. Microsoft buys Double Fine Productions: Xbox paid Starbreeze $13.2 million for publishing rights to Psychonauts 2
60. Ooblets to self-publish after Double Fine joins Microsoft
61. Struggling Starbreeze granted extended reconstruction period until September
62. Double Fine: Xbox deal won’t change multi-platform Psychonauts 2 release – Tim Schafer describes relief at no longer having to pitch ideas “to every publisher that exists”
63. Double Fine confirms no layoffs to publishing team after Xbox acquisition: Plans for Double Fine Presents are still “evolving,” but it is committed to spotlighting original developers
64. Microsoft has quietly established a new Age of Empiresstudio
65. Microsoft forms dedicated Age of Empires studio
66. Xbox now has 15 standalone studios follow past year’s high-profile acquisitions
67. Microsoft confirms no Forza Motorsport 8 in 2019: Next entry in the series is “in concept” as Turn 10 Studios focuses on building community
68. Google Stadia’s paid subscription service launches in November: Stadia Pro to cost $9.99/month for 4K streaming, occasional free games; free version ‘Stadia Base’ coming next year
69. Google Stadia requires $130 upfront, $10 per month at November launch
70. Stadia ‘Founder’s Edition’ launches in November, base version in 2020
71. Despite “revolutionary” promises, Stadia’s biz model is pure establishment
72. “Big exclusive games win the day, and Stadia does not have any”: Industry analysts are questioning the value that Google Stadia will offer to its paying subscribers
73. YouTube can’t be trusted with Google Stadia | Opinion: Years of lax content policy has permitted bigotry, hate groups, and harassment to flourish on YouTube. Now Google wants to use it to sell games directly
74. Publishers can put their own separate subscriptions on Google Stadia – Phil Harrison: Publishers with “bigger catalogs and more significant lineups” could put other subscriptions on top of Stadia Pro
75. Google Stadia in 4K might push you past your home-Internet data cap
76. Larian Studios will not “participate in the exclusivity game” with Baldur’s Gate III: The long awaited RPG sequel will not be exclusive to Google Stadia or any other platform
77. Divinity: Original Sin developer Larian Studios is behindBaldur’s Gate 3
78. Baldur’s Gate III is finally official, coming to PC and Stadia
79. Atari’s throwback Atari VCS console up for pre-order, starting at $250
80. Hatch partners with Samsung to bring 5G game streaming to the U.S.
81. EA signs fresh indie publishing deals with Zoink, Glowmade and Hazelight: Meanwhile, more studios join EA’s Origin Access subscription service
82. UK Charts: Sony’s Days of Play campaign puts FIFA 19 back at No.1 – PlayStation exclusives account for almost half the top ten best-selling games of the week
83. Konami announces plug-and-play TurboGrafx-16 Mini
84. Super Mario Maker 2’s online mode will get a “friends” patch after launch [Updated]
85. Fallout 76 updates promise turnaround after “well-deserved criticism”: Battle royale mode, human NPCs, and free trial among coming changes.
86. Bethesda unveils Orion to offer engine-level enhancements for streaming games
87. Bethesda unveils Orion game streaming tech: Robert Duffy and James Altman discuss the details of the company’s new engine optimization SDK that works with any streaming service
88. Bethesda says its Orion tech can make all cloud gaming better, faster
89. Bethesda’s E3 revealed new IP from Tango Gameworks, Arkane Lyon
90. The Elder Scrolls Online has reached 13.5m players: Zenimax’s MMORPG has gained 2.5m new players in the last year
91. Destiny goes free-to-play as Destiny 2: New Light
92. Destiny 2 will become free-to-play later this year, cross-platform [Updated]
93. FFVII and Avengers bookend Square Enix’s hour of announcements, commercials: Multiple retro remasters also announced, and a new title from Square Enix Collective
94. Bungie to launch free-to-play Destiny 2 in September –
95. Destiny 2: New Light will launch on the same day as transition to Steam, the “new home for the Destiny PC community”
96. Shenmue 3 is an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC
97. Shenmue III is an Epic Games store exclusive on PC: It appears Ys Net will not be issuing refunds for those upset at the game’s removal from Steam
98. Steam developers can start uploading assets for new library layout
99. Epic Games Store exclusive Satisfactory has topped 500,000 sales
100. Epic Games store offering a free game every week for 2019: Storefront to continue Epic Mega Sale offer for the rest of the year
101. Epic launches its overhauled Unreal Online Learning portal
102. Epic Games has acquired group video chat platform Houseparty
103. Playground Games: “Crunch has no place in modern development” – The Forza Horizon developer on its new studio, and the transition to running a game as a live service
104. Report: Blizzard began making, then canceled, a StarCraftfirst-person shooter
105. Report: Blizzard cancels StarCraft spinoff to double down on new Diablo, Overwatch games
106. Blizzard reportedly cancels StarCraft FPS to focus on Overwatch, Diablo: No layoffs from StarCraft project or other cancelled mobile game, resources allocated to upcoming major IP sequels
107. Naughty Dog is shutting down PS3 servers for Uncharted 2,3, and The Last of Us
108. Minecraft Dungeons hands-on: A shameless Diablo clone—and better for it
109. Blog: Admiring the design in hyper-casual games
110. Video: Efficient texture streaming in Titanfall 2
111. Video: Inside the theme-oriented design of Phantom Doctrine
112. Video: How cheating and making player life easier helpedDead Cells shine
113. Video: Why fashion in (most) games sucks, and why you should care
114. Don’t Miss: A look at the data-driven AI framework behindDestroy All Humans 2
115. Don’t Miss: How bad crediting hurts the game industry and muddles history
116. Opinion: Observation’s AI is a brilliant narrative device
117. What Massive has learned making live content for The Division 2
118. Next Games is making a location-based Stranger Things mobile game
119. Zynga launches Snap Games-exclusive battle royale game
120. Zynga proposes $600m convertible note sale: If successful, it would add to the $600m raised from the sale of its San Francisco headquarters
121. Novaquark secures $11.2 million in funding to continueDual Universe development
122. Novaquark raises additional $11.2 million for Dual Universe: Including Kickstarter funds, the French developer has brought in $22.6 million toward the game
123. Rec Room dev Against Gravity secures $24 million in funding
124. Tencent sells a quarter of its Glu Mobile shares for $56 million
125. Tencent sells a quarter of its stake in Glu Mobile: Online giant still owns nearly 15% of mobile publisher after unloading about 5% for more than $56 million
126. Intellivision opening European office: Hires Computec CEO ahead of new Amico console launch in 2020
127. SuperData: US millennials spend $112 a month on gaming – Report finds 71% of millennial gamers watch gaming video content online
128. AAA game downloads on the brink of overtaking physical in Europe: Exclusive figures reveal rapid digitisation as consumers drop physical in favour or digital
129. Sports Direct offers to buy UK retailer Game Digital for $66 million
130. Can Sports Direct halt the gradual demise of GAME?: Expect more store closures, but hopefully a future for the specialist UK retailer
131. Immortals Gaming Club acquires Infinite Esports & Entertainment: Deal brings OpTic Gaming and Houston Outlaws under same umbrella as MIBR and the LA Valiant
132. Esports Global Fund launches next month backed by British Esports Association: Esports and gaming investment venture secures €30m in total investment with goal of €100m in three years
133. Esports: an untapped market for both brands and law firms
134. ReKTGlobal acquires Greenlit Content: Esports company takes on portfolio including GameDaily.biz, Prima Games, and Shacknews
135. FaZe Clan’s Youngest Member, 12-Year-Old H1ghSky1, Gets Twitch Account Deactivated After Lying About His Age
136. Imagine Dragons Become First Major-Label Band With a ‘Beat Saber’ Music Pack
137. VR app Virtual Desktop dropping VR streaming feature at Oculus’ behest
138. Oculus is Forcing the Removal of SteamVR Streaming from Quest App, Dev Says
139. Facebook: $5m in Oculus Quest software sold since launch: VP of AR and VR Andrew Bosworth indicates size of the software market in Oculus Quest’s first two weeks
140. Analysis: Monthly-connected VR Headsets on Steam Pass 1 Million Milestone – Monthly-connected headsets on Steam are up 80% year-over-year
141. Sony sets December 2020 release date for Uncharted movie: Spider-Man’s Tom Holland will play Nathan Drake in the long in development adaptation
142. EverQuest’s long, strange 20-year trip still has no end in sight
143. Vanessa Gill and Damon Packwood named Global Gaming Citizens