Posts

GAMES

1. California claims $10 million gender discrimination settlement lets Riot off lightly
2. Nintendo Wins Battle with Pirates on UK Seas
3. Court Sides With Nintendo Over RomUniverse In Atttempt To Dismiss The Former’s Lawsuit
4. Court overturns $10.1 million verdict against Nintendo in Wii Remote lawsuit
5. Court reverses $10.1 million judgement against Nintendo in Wii patent case
6. Patent infringement ruling against Nintendo Wii Remotes overturned: Dallas federal court declares patent invalid, nullifies $10m payout to iLife Technologies
7. Nintendo can continue preventing cancellation of pre-orders in Germany: Lawsuit instigated by Norwegian Consumer Council dismissed, but may be appealed
8. Unsubtle Rainbow Six Siege DDoS dealers hit with Ubisoft lawsuit
9. Ubisoft files lawsuit against site that enabled Rainbow Six Siege DDoS attacks: Publisher claims group behind ShortNameGame sold the software used to disrupt the game
10. Crytek, Cloud Imperium battle over how to end Star Citizen lawsuit
11. Cloud Imperium responds to Crytek’s attempt to dismiss its own lawsuit: Star Citizen developer maintains engine providers claim “is and always has been meritless”
12. Researchers Scientifically Create Video Games To Benefit Cognitive Function
13. UK’s top mental health nurse wants crack down on loot boxes
14. NHS mental health director calls for loot box ban: UKIE responds, emphasising that industry already addresses spending caps and disclosed drop rates
15. UK lays out standards for handling children’s data: Information Commissioner finalizes Age Appropriate Design Code with 15 standards for developers to meet
16. Joe Biden Can’t Tell The Difference Between The 1st Amendment & Section 230; Still Thinks Video Games Cause Violence
17. Women suing Riot Games may be entitled to $400m not $10m: Two state regulators attempt to intervene with gender discrimination class action lawsuit in plaintiffs’ favour
18. The top 7 reasons women quit game development
19. Game dev union leader: “Dream job” passion “can open us up to exploitation”
20. Activision Blizzard, EA, Sony, Microsoft included in HRC’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index
21. GTA developer Rockstar pushes back against UK tax abuse allegations
22. Rockstar responds to claims it abuses tax relief: But Grand Theft Auto developer makes no comment on reports it has not paid corporate tax in four years
23. The best-selling games of the decade show AAA was left behind by innovation | Opinion: The games industry has made great strides forward in the past ten years – but none of that is apparent in the retail charts
24. Stillfront Group acquires Dragon Story dev Storm8 for as much as $400 million
25. Stillfront Group acquires Storm8 for up to $400m: Game studio coalition also raises $220m in additional financing
26. Current Prison Architect developer Double Eleven opens Malaysian office
27. Digital Bros. to buy Starbreeze assets from Smilegate: The €19.2m deal will give Italian publisher 30% of Starbreeze stock and 40% of voting rights
28. Tencent wants to fully acquire Conan Exiles developer Funcom
29. Tencent bids to acquire 100% of Funcom: Proposed deal would value the Norwegian studio at around $148 million
30. Tencent intends to further diversify investments outside of games
31. Tencent ramping up investments – but may veer away from games: Having already poured money into eleven games firms, Chinese giant is concentrating on new industries such as ‘smart retail’
32. Daybreak Games restructures internal studios around key franchises
33. Following Cyberpunk delay, CD Projekt Red expects dev team crunch
34. Cyberpunk 2077 release pushed back to September 17, 2020
35. CD Projekt Red delays Cyberpunk 2077 from April to September
36. Cyberpunk 2077 pushed to September: CD Projekt reveals that development staff have been required to crunch on upcoming RPG
37. Dying Light 2 delayed, no new release window given: Techland drops spring release target for open-world zombie shooter, says it will have more details “in the coming months”
38. Leaked images show Xbox Series X is missing Xbox One’s HDMI input
39. Xbox continues to expand Project xCloud’s preview library as testing continues
40. Microsoft goes all-in on the ‘evergreen platform’: Bowing out of launch exclusives for Xbox Series X means Microsoft is now fully committed to the bold vision it’s talked about for so many years
41. Report: Major PlayStation-exclusive series will get a PC port this year
42. Report: The Switch Lite topped 1 million sales in Japan in three months
43. Switch sales up 29% in Japan for 2019 as PS4 sales drop 29%: Famitsu numbers have hardware unit sales flat for the year; Switch Lite moves more than 1 million in just over three months
44. YouTube TV comes to PS4, replacing PlayStation’s own doomed TV service PS Vue
45. YouTube TV comes to PS4 as PS Vue moves out: Sony hardware maintains a live TV option at about the same price
46. Google expects 120 games to hit Stadia this year, including some exclusives
47. Stadia embracing timed exclusive strategy: Google says it wants to have more than 10 games debuting only on its streaming service in the first half of this year
48. BT becomes first European partner for Google Stadia: Google attempts to address Stadia lag problems with new high-speed broadband deal
49. Report: Google wants to bring the Steam game store to… Chrome OS?
50. NetEase launches own digital distribution platform in China
51. OpenCritic reviews have been added to the Epic Games Store
52. Epic Games Store avoids review bombing with OpenCritic integration: Review aggregation site will display how many critics recommend purchase on each title’s store page
53. Scopely acquires Marvel Strike Force dev FoxNext Games from Disney
54. Disney confirms sale of FoxNext, Cold Iron Studios to Scopely: Acquisition does not include Fox IP licensed games, which will stay with Disney
55. Significant layoffs at Super Lucky’s Tale developer Playful Studios
56. Playful Studios “significantly reduces” full-time staff: Super Lucky’s Tale devs undergoes layoffs amid transition to new production model
57. Amazon’s Twitch Drops Sharp after YouTube, Microsoft Say ‘Game On’
58. Only YouTube Gaming saw hours watched, streamed, and concurrent viewership up last quarter: Streamlabs – Twitch viewership began a decline in 2019, but other platforms have a long way to go to catch up
59. Video: YouTuber Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach reflects on his video history
60. Call of Duty Modern Warfare was the best-selling game of the year in the US: But Nintendo thrived in hardware and software sales at the end of its competitors’ console generations
61. Grand Theft Auto V was the best-selling game of the decade in the US: Joining it in the top ten – Seven Call of Duties, Red Dead Redemption II, and Minecraft
62. UK Charts: Star Wars Battlefront II returns to Top Five: Otherwise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is No.1 again
63. Dragon Ball Z and 3DS conquer latest UK Charts
64. The transcendent appeal of Mount & Blade Warband – Why I Love: The difficulty got John Nejady interested in TaleWorlds’ medieval battle game, but the community he found made it something more
65. Why the traditional product lifecycle “maybe doesn’t apply” to League of Legends: After ten years, League of Legends is still one of the most popular games on earth and Riot Games is riding that wave into new spaces
66. Report: PS4 exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn could come to PC
67. Horizon Zero Dawn reportedly coming to PC: Current PS4 exclusive may be part of suggested Sony strategy to “lean into a wider installed base”
68. Don’t Miss: Designing the stealth, economy, and encounters of Horizon Zero Dawn
69. Don’t Miss: Making Horizon Zero Dawn’s Machines feel like living creatures
70. 2020 African Games Industry Trends: Games Industry Africa’s Vic Bassey forecasts seven key storylines for the continent’s developing market in the year ahead
71. Media firm behind Autosport plans to “change the landscape” of racing games: Ex-Codemasters creative director Stephen Hood on how the new Motorsport Games group can disrupt the market
72. What is the best game engine for your game?: In-depth guides to finding the best game engine to develop your game, including Unreal, Unity, GameMaker, and more
73. How to apply for Video Games Tax Relief and make a VGTR claim
74. China Leading Esports Boom: More than a quarter of Internet users in China watch esports at least once per month, a new report finds, more than double the rate of audiences in the U.S. and Western Europe.
75. Turner Sports Pacts With Twitch On Linear And Digital Series, ‘ELeague Super Punch’
76. Oculus Go Now Permanently Priced at $150, All Supported Countries to See Similar Drop
77. Every classic Half-Life game is now free on Steam
78. Valve Makes All ‘Half-Life’ Games Free to Play Until ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Launches in March
79. Valve: ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Dev Team is the ‘single largest we’ve ever had’
80. Valve opens up about Half-Life: Alyx, Source 2 engine on Reddit
81. No plans for a full Source 2 SDK, and other tidbits from Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx AMA
82. Valve Confirms ‘Left 4 Dead’ VR Game Not in Active Development
83. Designing the mind-bending perspective puzzles of Superliminal
84. Don’t Miss: Deconstructing the success of The Witcher 3’s open world
85. Q&A: Evolving the combat design of id Software’s Doom Eternal
86. Blog: Resources for video game music composers – The big list 2020
87. Blog: How to keep adding content without hitting a limit
88. Blog: Is your 21st century games career what you thought it’d be?
89. Blog: Video game marketing predictions for 2020
90. Video: How to talk about games with those who don’t approve
91. Video: A performance and memory postmortem of Middle-earth: Shadow of War
92. Humble Bundle joins efforts to raise money for Australian bushfire relief: Meanwhile, Warframe dev Digital Extremes donates $30,000 to two chairties
93. U.S. Patent no. 10,278,001: Multiple listener cloud render with enhanced instant replay
94. U.S. Patent no. 10,279,252: Game execution environments

DIGITAL

1. San Francisco Pride Members Have Voted To Ban YouTube From This Year’s Parade
2. Anonymous Internet Posters Not Immune To Default Judgment
3. Your online activity is now effectively a social ‘credit score’: Especially when the Morality Police get acquired.
4. Facebook Still Isn’t Obligated to Publish Russian Troll Content–FAN v. Facebook (Eric Goldman)
5. Who is right about political ads, Twitter or Facebook?
6. Turkish Government Finally Lifts Wikipedia Ban
7. Harry and Meghan, the royal family of surveillance capitalism: From tabloid nationalism to international Instagram influencers – Meghan and Harry aren’t leaving the monarchy, they are leading it.
8. Brazil charges American journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes
9. Brazil prosecutes Glenn Greenwald in “attack on press freedom”
10. In A Blatant Attack On Press Freedom, Brazilian Government Charges Glenn Greenwald With ‘Cybercrimes’ For Reporting On Leaked Documents
11. The Similarities Between The US’s Case Against Julian Assange And Brazil’s Against Glenn Greenwald Are Uncanny
12. PayPal Giving Fund Enters Multi-State Settlement to Ensure Transparency to Donors
13. 23 Attorneys General Band Together to Make PayPal’s Charitable Donations Platform More Transparent
14. Vimeo Defeats Lawsuit for Terminating Account That Posted Conversion Therapy Videos–Domen v. Vimeo (Eric Goldman)
15. Does the principle of exhaustion apply to digital media? The CJEU provides clarity
16. A Sale or Not a Sale? The Digital Advertising Debate
17. Are legislators too slow to respond to digital trends?
18. Disney Accelerates Rollout Of ‘Plus’ Service In Key European Markets
19. Bad Ideas: Raising The Arbitrary Age Of Internet Service ‘Consent’ To 16
20. The Silicon Valley Economy Is Here. And It’s a Nightmare.: Low pay, soaring rents, and cities littered with e-scooters. Welcome to the future.
21. The psychology of Silicon Valley: We have to understand the people behind big tech in order to fix it
22. Biden wants Sec. 230 gone, calls tech “totally irresponsible,” “little creeps”: Biden had harsh words about tech, seemingly spurred by anger with Facebook.
23. Critics fear Facebook fact-checkers losing misinformation fight 
24. Facebook Watch Axes 2 Tentpole Series Amid Reported Shift Toward Unscripted Content
25. UFC Signs 3-Show Deal With Facebook Watch, Aiming To Promote Its PPV Matches
26. DraftKings Comes Under Fire Following Collusion Scandal Involving “Bachelor” Stars
27. Amazon retains world’s most valuable brand title by smashing through $200 billion barrier
28. TikTok Moves To Five-Floor Office In Culver City, Reportedly Looking For New CEO
29. TikTok Brought In 500% More Revenue, 738 Million Downloads In 2019
30. TikTok Entices Brands With Self-Serve Ad Buying, But Struggles With Lack Of User Data, Few Performance Metrics (Report)
31. Famous Birthdays Surpasses 25 Million Monthly Visitors, Driven By TikTok Surge
32. Report: TikTok owner ByteDance planning big push into mobile games
33. Spotify Reportedly In Talks To Acquire Media And Podcast Upstart ‘The Ringer’
34. Spotify’s new test lets influencers post Stories to introduce their own playlists
35. Instagram is testing direct messaging on desktop
36. Instagram is dropping the annoying IGTV button: ‘Very few are clicking into the IGTV icon’
37. Instagram’s Standalone IGTV App Has Clocked Just 7 Million Downloads To Date
38. Opinion: The Dishonest and Wasteful Practice Of Influencer Marketing – Stop chasing vanity metrics and unproven tactics, and return to the fundamentals of marketing and advertising
39. ASA continues to focus on Influencer Marketing in 2020
40. Influencer Marketing: Top Business and Legal Considerations for 2020
41. Learn From Sofia Vergara – Are Your Online Ads Legal?
42. Liza Koshy’s ‘Liza On Demand’ Gets Third Season Order At YouTube Originals
43. YouTube Rolls Out Profile Cards, Which Display Users’ Comment Histories (Sort Of)
44. Clorox Establishes Influencer Advisory Board, Tapping Hundreds To Bolster YouTube Presence
45. Bombay High Court in a Landmark Decision Restrains Review Video by Youtuber and Emphasizes on Responsible Use of the Power of Social Media
46. Leading European MCN Divimove Acquires Digital Talent Firm ‘Tube One’
47. Creators Going Pro: Walk Off The Earth’s Gotye Cover Went Viral On YouTube. Less Than A Month Later, They Had A Record Deal.
48. Apple TV+: Can it be saved before everyone’s free trials run out?
49. Netflix Now Counts 2 Minutes Of Watching As A “View” — A Change That Boosts Its Viewership Figures By 35%
50. Netflix To Spend An Estimated $17.3 Billion On Content In 2020
51. Studio Ghibli Signs First Streaming Deals, Bringing 21 Films To Netflix And HBO Max
52. Turner Sports Pacts With Twitch On Linear And Digital Series, ‘ELeague Super Punch’
53. Smart scale goes dumb as Under Armour pulls the plug on connected tech
54. Microsoft pledges to wipe out its carbon footprint by 2050 
55. Microsoft announces plans to be “carbon negative” by 2030: Company also plans to remove all its historical carbon emissions by 2050
56. The PinePhone starts shipping—a Linux-powered smartphone for $150
57. The Horizons of Technology and Digitalization in Arbitration
58. Canadian Securities Administrators Provide Guidance on Platforms that Facilitate Crypto Asset Trading
59. Somewhere over the rainbow: Dealing with evidence stored on a cloud
60. Political information in the age of the internet (Filip Matějka & Guido Tabellini)
61. Nobody can see all of CES. But I tried

A.I.

1. Alexa, Should We Trust You?: The voice revolution has only just begun. Today, Alexa is a humble servant. Very soon, she could be much more – a teacher, a therapist, a confidant, an informant.
2. Chinese court rules that AI article has copyright (Andres Guadamuz)
3. The Killer Algorithms Nobody’s Talking About: Activists fret about armies relying on killer robots, but some forms of artificial intelligence that don’t actually pull the trigger could still be a nightmare
4. Update on Federal Register Notice on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patent Issues
5. The rise of AI and WIPO consultation on intellectual property issues
6. Why do we get sad when robots die?: It’s not about seeming “human” – it’s about the work machines do for us.
7. And an Algorithm to Entangle them All? Social Credit, Data Driven Governance, and Legal Entanglement in Post-Law Legal Orders (Larry Backer)
8. Robot Rights? Let’s Talk about Human Welfare Instead (Abeba Birhane & Jelle van Dijk)
9. Artificial Intelligence and Community Well-being: A Proposal for an Emerging Area of Research (Laura Musikanski, Bogdana Rakova, James Bradbury, Rhonda Phillips, Margaret Manson) 
10. Artificial Intelligence, 5G and the Future Balance of Power
11. Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence 
12. A Tangled Web: How the Internet of Things and AI Expose Companies to Increased Tort, Privacy, and Cybersecurity Litigation
13. The machines are whispering: We tested AI Dungeon 2 and cannot stop laughing

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Comcast settles lying allegations, will issue refunds and cancel debts
2. Four defendants settle, six remain in FTC illegal robocalling suit
3. Verizon Launches New Private Search Engine In Hopes You’ve Forgotten Its Terrible Track Record On Privacy
4. Verizon Kills Cable Contracts As TV Sector Finally Starts Listening To Cord Cutters. Kind Of.
5. FCC shuts New York out of $20B broadband fund, and senators are angry
6. Smart homes will turn dumb overnight as Charter kills security service
7. Real or fake: New NBC Peacock shows
8. Combating Improper Robocalls: The TRACED Act Signed into Law
9. Lowest Unit Charge Windows Open in About 30 States and Territories – Reviewing A Broadcaster’s Political Advertising Obligations
10. Frontier, an ISP in 29 states, plans to file for bankruptcy
11. After Years Of Scandal And Incompetence, US Telco Frontier Files For Bankruptcy
12. The good, the bad and the 5G – an unprecedented level of threat (and opportunity)
13. Globalization, International Organizations, and Telecommunications (Kirsten Rodine-Hardy) 

PRIVACY

1. Report: Bezos’ phone uploaded GBs of personal data after getting Saudi prince’s WhatsApp message – The gigabytes-big data grab allegedly came over WhatsApp text from Mohammed bin Salman.
2. Report Says Saudi Prince MBS’s Whatsapp Account Personally Sent Jeff Bezos Malware Used To Access His Phone
3. The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It: A little-known start-up helps law enforcement match photos of unknown people to their online images – and “might lead to a dystopian future or something”
4. Reuters: Apple cut backup end-to-end encryption plans after FBI complained
5. New Report Says Apple Dropped Plans To Fully Encrypt Backups After FBI Complained
6. The FBI Can Get Into The Latest IPhones, So Why Is It Asking Apple To Break Encryption On Older Models?
7. The EU might ban facial recognition in public for five years
8. We’re Banning Facial Recognition. We’re Missing the Point. (Bruce Schneier)
9. California’s Ban Of Facial Recognition Tech Killed Off San Diego’s Mostly Useless Biometric Program
10. GirlsDoPorn website goes offline after $13M judgment, criminal charges
11. Privacy issues with e-discovery in Canada
12. WeLeakInfo gets pwned by FBI; Dutch, N. Irish police arrest alleged breach brokers
13. A Georgia election server was vulnerable to Shellshock and may have been hacked 
14. Bipartisan Legislation Aims to Expand Federal Protections for Children’s Online Privacy
15. The AdTech and the data protection debate
16. Study Shows The Internet Is Hugely Vulnerable To SIM Hijacking Attacks
17. Dear Reuters: This Is NOT How You Report On Dishonest, Disingenuous Talking Points From US Officials Regarding Encryption
18. Another reason to hurry with Windows server patches: A new RDP vulnerability
19. Researchers find serious flaws in WordPress plugins used on 400k sites
20. Top Issues in 2020: Privacy & Cybersecurity
21. What percentage of United States retailers have decided to block European visitors from reaching their websites?

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. IP Insight – Harry and Meghan Prioritise Trade Marks
2. Harry and Meghan seek global trademark for ‘Sussex Royal’ brand: Filings suggest plans for items and activities from clothing to ‘emotional support groups’
3. The “M” Word in Canadian Copyright Law – The “Mandatory” Matter (Howard Knopf)
4. Exceptional Circumstances Now Required for Extensions In Trademark Examination
5. Peppa Pig Owner Wins Copyright Infringement Case
6. Zazzle’s Insufficient Copyright Oversight Procedures Support Willful Infringement Finding
7. Fifth Circuit Holds Failure to Mitigate is No Bar to Statutory Damages Under Copyright Act
8. Federal Court dismisses patent infringement action for delay
9. Facebook Surges in U.S. Patent Rankings Due to Mounting AR Strategy
10. Trademark Opposition Stupidly Prevents Indians Pitcher Shane Bieber From Telling Everyone He’s ‘Not Justin’
11. Fair use or fair dealing? Where are we now?
12. A Blog’s RSS Feed May Not Grant an Implied Copyright License–MidlevelU v. Newstex (Eric Goldman)
13. CRISPR Patent – “Appeal Dismissed, Patent Revoked”
14. Breaking: EPO Board of Appeal upholds invalidation of Broad’s CRISPR-Cas9 patent
15. Patent battle over CRISPR
16. A Mixed Bag on New Rules – Juggling Copyright Preclusion and Patent Infringement
17. How Sonos’s case against Google could help shift the US patent narrative
18. Trade secret or patent protection – how do we decide?
19. Can newly discovered cannabis compounds be protected by patents?
20. Beat the Weeds: File Your Cannabis Trademarks in Canada
21. Intellectual Property Outlook: Cases and Trends to Follow in 2020 – PART 1
22. China update: IP section in the China-US trade deal (phase one)
23. EU Advocate General suggests pay-for-delay settlement agreements may be an abuse of dominant position
24. A new route to patent protection in Italy from July 2020
25. The EU Copyright Directive: Potential Copyright Liability and a “Best Efforts” Standard for Platforms

CREATIVITY   

1. No cameras in the courtroom in Meng Wanzhou case, B.C. judge rules: 13 Canadian and international media outlets had applied for right to broadcast extradition hearing
2. Why Is The NYC MTA Going After A Random Artist Who Created A Different Subway Map For Infringement?
3. Radiohead.com unveils “The Radiohead Library,” an official band repository
4. Radiohead Public Library: archive of band’s work goes live – Band collate music videos, newsletters and other ephemera on site, and upload rarities to streaming services
5. Rep. Lieu Tells Rep. Nunes He Looks Forward To Discovery, As More Evidence Of Nunes Connections With Parnas Emerge
6. Airbus Asks Court To Dismiss Chuck Yeager’s Lawsuit, Pointing Out It Doesn’t Allege Anything Actionable
7. “Come See Us At The Superb Owl” – Don’t Try This At Home! 2020 Update on Super Bowl Advertising and Promotions
8. Advertising – False Advertising Claims: Opting for Court
9. Klimt art thieves confess to stealing then returning painting: Portrait of a Lady was hidden in same Italian gallery from which it went missing in 1997
10. Additional Compliance for the Art World
11. Digital Street Culture Decoded: Why Criminalizing Drill Music is Street Illiterate and Counterproductive (Jonathan Ilan)

Jon

GAMES

1. Nintendo wins injunction against seller of Switch mod, pirated games: Defendent allegedly also sold modded NES Classic with over 800 games
2. Nintendo Responds To RomUniverse’s Lame Argument That First Sale Doctrine Makes The Site Non-Infringing
3. Crytek wants to dismiss its own lawsuit against Star Citizen developers
4. Crytek seeks to dismiss its own Star Citizen lawsuit until Squadron 42 launches: Creator of CryEngine believes Star Citizen’s single-player game will be delayed past June, moves for October trial
5. CD Projekt signs new agreement and ends dispute with The Witcher author: The game developer has the rights to the IP in video games, graphic novels, board games and merchandise
6. Take 2 Sues Fan Over Project To Finally Bring ‘Red Dead 1’ To The PC
7. Ragnarok acquires Rune II source code and assets following legal complaint
8. Rune II source code returned to publisher: More than a month after launch, Ragnarok Game LLC may have what it needs to update game left in limbo by demise of Human Head
9. Case Update: Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd. v. 3D Realms Entertainment ApS
10. Labor union CWA takes steps to organize game workers
11. Campaign to organise industry backed by major US communications union: Communication Workers of America allies with Game Workers Unite on new campaign to unite tech and gaming sector
12. Rockstar Spouse and the slow change of culture – 10 Years Ago This Month: Red Dead Redemption and its sequel both had crunch controversies, but the studio’s reactions show some change in thinking
13. Tackling online abuse in the games industry is “not optional” – 2019 in Review: “Whatever the platforms are doing, we’ve got to behave as if the cavalry is not coming,” says digital security expert
14. Escape from Tarkov dev says no playable women because of lore, “huge amount of work” required: Statement made in an effort to walk back three-year-old comment that war was only for “hardened men”
15. WWE 2K20 crashes because it’s 2020, and no, that’s not a joke: This Y2K bug can be called “Crash Jericho.”
16. Record $120.1 billion earned by games and interactive media in 2019: Superdata report shows $4 out of every $5 spent on digital games goes on free-to-play titles
17. Number of adults over age 50 playing games regularly is on the rise: More older adults prefer puzzle and logic games, and most are playing on phones and tablets
18. If History Repeats, Video Game Stocks Could Soar 690%+
19. UK video game sales drop for the first time since 2012: Physical sales plunge as digital growth slows
20. Analyst: Free-to-play games pushed digital game spend over $109 billion in 2019
21. The number of Steam releases remained relatively flat from 2018 to 2019
22. These are the highest grossing Steam games of 2019 
23. Major slowdown of new releases on Steam last year
24. Only two of the biggest Steam games in 2019 were new releases: “Sekiro Shadows Die Twice” and “Total War Three Kingdoms” manage to secure a place in platform’s highest grossers
25. The Witcher 3 hits new peak player record on Steam in wake of Netflix show
26. Amazon’s best-selling games of 2019 dominated by gift cards and Switch: Top three items were digital currency, 22 of top 50 products were for Nintendo’s console
27. On Christmas, mobile game spending reached $210 million: Sensor Tower accounted for 76% of all mobile in-app spending that day
28. UK Charts: Call of Duty retains No.1 as Brain Training Switch makes Top 20
29. It’s FIFA 20’s ninth week at No.1 in EMEAA
30. Twitter reveals which games dominated the online chatter in 2019
31. Square Enix eyes potential of XR, blockchain, and cloud gaming in 2020
32. Blizzard signs three-year deal with ESL, Dreamhack: StarCraft II World Championship Series is being retired as Blizzard commits to ESL Pro Tours for StarCraft II and Warcraft III: Reforged
33. League of Legends professional Maria ‘Remilia’ Creveling dies at 24: In 2015, Creveling became the first woman to compete in the League of Legends Championship Series
34. Destiny’s Sword presents a double-edged dilemma: 2Dogs’ Ken Hall talks about dealing with PTSD, anxiety, and addiction in a strategy MMO intended to be fun first and foremost
35. 2K Games resolves New Year bug in WWE 2K20: Y2K-style error rendered game unplayable as 2019 ended
36. Pokemon Go: Documents show Canadian military’s struggle with game
37. Final Fantasy VII Remakedemo has leaked, is packed with teases, spoilers
38. PlayStation VR sales have topped 5 million units worldwide
39. 5 Million PlayStation VR Units Sold, Sony Announces: PSVR continues to sell but slows in light of Quest and newer headsets
40. How Sony’s PlayStation 2 took the world by storm
41. Sony reveals PlayStation 5 logo, touts PlayStation 4 sales milestones
42. Feelreal VR Scent Mask Hits Roadblock Amidst Crackdown on Flavored Vaping Products
43. Subscriptions: When are auto-renewals fair game? | Opinion – As the CMA investigates the use of subscriptions in video games, legal experts at Lewis Silkin offer advice on best practices`
44. Nexon sells off mobile dev Gloops for a single yen
45. From licensing to lunch: How to work with Chinese partners – Unit 2 Games’ Hannah Waddilove on some of the less-discussed aspects of targeting the world’s largest games market
46. Simplified Chinese is now the dominant language among Steam users: Chinese users flock to Steam as platform provides more localised experience and uncensored games
47. Uncharted movie loses sixth director: Travis Knight leaves project over crunch and scheduling conflicts with lead actor
48. Don’t Miss: How classic games make smart use of random number generation
49. Breaking linear character progression with Outer Worlds’ flaw system
50. Superhot VR grossed over $2 million in the final weeks of 2019
51. Untitled Goose Game has topped 1 million sales in three months
52. Here are your finalists for the 2020 Independent Games Festival Awards!
53. Death Stranding leads the pack of 2020 Game Developers Choice Awards nominees
54. Team 17 acquires UK studio Yippee Entertainment for $1.85 million
55. At 10 million players, Xbox calls Sea of Thieves its most successful new IP this gen
56. Team17 acquires Yippee Entertainment for £1.4m: Developer behind Chimpact and Commandos 2 remaster will work on new IP, plus brands owned by Worms firm and its partners
57. Razer applies for digital bank licence in Singapore, proposes ‘youth bank’: Gaming accessories firm will take 60% stake in company and is leading a consortium of partners to bolster its bid
58. Clever design, lack of Bluetooth make Razer’s new phone gamepad a winner
59. Dell’s new Concept UFO puts PC gaming on a Nintendo Switch-like device
60. Alienware’s handheld Concept UFO PC takes cues from the Nintendo Switch
61. Report: Rumors suggest a new Switch model is due out this year
62. Fantasy Flight Interactive to close after company-wide layoffs
63. Platinum Games will use Tencent investment to ‘explore self-publishing’
64. Legal issues a new game studio should consider
65. Dead Cells Steam owners can now play previous versions of the game: The studio introduces the ability to roll-back the game to previous iterations
66. Report: Amazon’s Twitch Not Meeting Ad Revenue Expectations
67. The Last of Us director Bruce Straley on ludonarrative dissonance
68. Video blog: Historians discuss Assassin’s Creed II
69. Blog: Luring players with gratification
70. Blog: How Disco Elysium’s interjections turn information into gameplay
71. Blog: Game accessibility quotes of 2019
72. Blog: 3 disruptive game design trends to look out for in 2020
73. Analysts dole out 2020 predictions: Panel of industry watchers call their shots for the upcoming year in games (and assess how their 2019 calls turned out)
74. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Kris Graft’s top 10 games
75. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: The top 10 game developers of the year
76. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: The top 10 games of the year 
77. Games of the Year 2019: Our favourite games of the year ranged from epic adventures to innovative indie games – plus a couple of Switch hits
78. The Universim developer Crytivo donating two months’ revenues to Australian bushfire relief
79. U.S. Patent no. 10,275,947: Modifying a simulated character by direct manipulation

DIGITAL

1. Russia Disconnects Itself From The Internet, Asks UN To Let It Have More Control Of Internet Usage Around The World
2. Academic Publishers Get Their Wish: DOJ Investigating Sci-Hub Founder For Alleged Ties To Russian Intelligence
3. U.S. Army Bans TikTok On Government Phones, Calling App A “Cyber Threat”
4. China strengthens regulation of online audiovisual services
5. Amazon threatens to fire critics who are outspoken on its environmental policies: E-commerce giant warned workers who participated in protests that future comments regarding business practices could lead to termination
6. Oracle copied Amazon’s API—was that copyright infringement?
7. Turns Out Oracle Copied Amazon’s S3 APIs; When Confronted, Pretends That’s Different (Spoiler Alert: It’s Not)
8. Amazon partners with India’s second largest retailer to sell its goods online
9. EU top court rules out possibility to create second-hand marketplaces for digital content
10. Judge awards women $13 million in massive lawsuit against GirlsDoPorn
11. New Civil FOSTA Lawsuits Push Expansive Legal Theories Against Unexpected Defendants
12. Minnesota Appeals Court Nukes State’s Broadly-Written Revenge Porn Law
13. It’s the network, stupid: Study offers fresh insight into why we’re so divided: Social perception bias might simply be an emergent property of our social networks.
14. The FTC’s 2020 COPPA rules have YouTube creators scared
15. YouTube decides it’s easier to treat all watchers of kids’ content as kids
16. SCOTUS Grants Google’s Cert Petition in Oracle API Dispute
17. Java API Classes as Fictional Characters – A Proposal for Google v. Oracle
18. Court (Barely) Allows Class Action Lawsuit Over Google’s Location Tracking To Move Forward
19. Google’s Ad Network Prepares for the California Consumer Privacy Act
20. Researchers unearth malicious Google Play apps linked to active exploit hackers
21. Apple targets jailbreaking in lawsuit against iOS virtualization company
22. Apple’s app sales hit record $1.4 billion in the final days of 2019: App Store spending on the first day of 2020 reached US$386 million, a single-day record and a 20 per cent increase from last year
23. Apple and GPU-maker Imagination make nice in new licensing deal
24. Text and data mining under the digital copyright directive
25. Sonos’ Wasteful ‘Recycle Mode’ Bricks Perfectly Usable Tech
26. Films are quietly disappearing from Disney Plus: Movies like Home Alone and Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides have vanished from the streaming service
27. Disney Plus removes some films from service with no explanation: Users noticed a handful of titles went missing from the streaming library as soon as 2020 began
28. Disney+ Titles Disappear Without Warning, Bringing Confusion To The Streaming Wars
29. Here’s Why Some of Your Favorite Movies Are Disappearing from Disney Plus
30. Twitter Blocks Animated PNGs After A Bunch Of Shitbirds Spend National Epilepsy Month Harassing Epileptics
31. Twitter will put options to limit replies directly on the compose screen
32. YouTube officially rolls out changes to children’s content following FTC settlement
33. YouTube Disables More Product Features On Kid-Oriented Content After FTC Settlement
34. New Tool Enables YouTubers To Snip Sections Of Videos That Have Been Copyright Claimed
35. ‘Justin Bieber: Seasons’ Is Reportedly YouTube’s Most Expensive Original Ever
36. In 2019, WWE Uploaded 500 YouTube Videos Per Month—Making A Reported $13 Million In AdSense
37. Control and Influencers: ASA bans Love Island star Molly Mae Hague’s Instagram post
38. UK Advertising Standards Authority Bans Unlicensed E-Cigarette Instagram Posts
39. “Naked Philanthropist” Kaylen Ward Has Raised $700K For Bushfire Relief By Sending Nudes
40. Tana Mongeau, Jake Paul “Taking A Break,” Potentially Leaving MTV Collab In The Lurch
41. Jake Paul Sets Second Boxing Match With Gamer ‘AnEsonGib’, Streaming On DAZN From Miami
42. Michelle Obama To Launch College Docuseries On IGTV, ‘A Year Of Firsts’
43. Facing the Music: Protecting Photography in the Age of Instagram
44. Snapchat To Introduce ‘Bitmoji TV’, Fully-Animated Cartoons Starring Users’ Bitmojis
45. Spotify will use everything it knows about you to target podcast ads: One step closer to becoming a podcast ad network
46. Insights: Two Months In, Apple TV+ And Disney+ Hit The Churn Zone
47. Apple hires former HBO chief to produce TV, film, and documentaries exclusively for Apple TV Plus: Richard Plepler signs a five-year contract with Apple
48. Apple Shares Top $300 Amid Optimism About Holiday Sales
49. Disappointing: Apple The Latest To Abuse DMCA 1201 To Try To Stifle Competition, Security Research, Jailbreaking And More
50. Apple reunites with iPhone graphics chip partner to license technology: The company split with Imagination Technologies back in 2017
51. CES has never been great for women. Is 2020 the year that changes?: Keynotes or he-notes?
52. IRS drops longstanding promise not to compete against TurboTax
53. How modern tech has powered our favorite superheroes through the years
54. This time, for sure! Ars Technica’s 2020 Deathwatch
55. In This Time Of Techlash, It’s Important To Remember That Sometimes Social Media Is Actually Good
56. Goop’s Netflix trailer: Paltrow sinks into a vagina, spews pseudoscience
57. Can you resell an e-book online?
58. Redistributing E-Books Online Constitutes Copyright Infringement, Says Top EU Court
59. Troublesome Emojis in Criminal Cases
60. Tired of hearing about Wi-Fi 6? Great, let’s talk about Wi-Fi 6E
61. Top Internet Law Developments of 2019 (Eric Goldman)

A.I.

1. New Study Suggests That YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Isn’t The Tool Of Radicalization Many People Believe (At Least Not Any More)
2. The US just released 10 principles that it hopes will make AI safer: All future AI regulations will need to clear the checklist.
3. EU Patent Office Rejects Two Patent Applications In Which An AI Was Designated As The Inventor
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Patents – Will the Patent Office Change the Rules?
5. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Takes on Artificial Intelligence
6. WIPO Releases Draft Issues Paper on IP Policy for AI Inventions
7. Ex Parte Linden Gives a Boost to the Subject Matter Eligibility of AI inventions
8. USPTO Designates Ex Parte Linden as an Informative § 101 PTAB Decision
9. NextMind Unveils $400 Brain-Computer Interface Developer Kit
10. Video: Valve’s perspective on brain-computer interfaces in games
11. European Law Enforcement Officials Upset Facebook Is Warning Users Their Devices May Have Been Hacked
12. Facebook is banning (most) deepfakes: The policy doesn’t cover videos doctored using more conventional techniques.
13. Facebook Says It Will Ban ‘Deepfakes’: The company said it would remove videos altered by artificial intelligence in ways meant to mislead viewers.
14. Facebook bans deepfakes, but new policy may not cover controversial Pelosi video
15. Welcome to the age of uncertainty: If everything can be faked, how can we know anything is real?
16. European Union – Algorithmic Pricing under Article 101 TFEU
17. Snap Acquires Ukraine Startup ‘AI Factory,’ Which Helped Build Its ‘Cameos’ Feature, For $166 Million
18. Snap Confirms Acquisition of Deepfakes Startup AI Factory, Used to Power ‘Cameos’ Selfie Videos 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Notice of Violation: Orcus Technologies: Investigation Into The Orcus Rat
2. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation – 2019 Year in Review
3. Merger Lawsuit Docs Reveal T-Mobile Eyed Merging With Comcast
4. FCC Seeks Comment on Designations of Huawei and ZTE as National Security Threats
5. AT&T et al. fight against higher upload speeds in $20-billion FCC program
6. There’s A Recurring Theme With 5G, And It’s Disappointment
7. US finally prohibits ISPs from charging for routers they don’t provide
8. NYC broadband plan calls for fiber everywhere, with ISPs sharing network
9. TV Ratings Sag As Cord Cutting Continues To Surge

PRIVACY

1. Unable to unlock gunman’s iPhones, the FBI (once again) asks for Apple’s help
2. No, cops aren’t using SiriusXM to find criminals. Here’s how they do it
3. Department of Homeland Security Warns of Cyber-attacks by Iran
4. Unpatched US government website gets pwned by pro-Iran script kiddie
5. Iran courted US security expert for years, seeking industrial hacking training
6. There Is No ‘Going Dark:’ Always-On Surveillance Posing Risks To US Covert Operations
7. Florida Appeals Court Asks State’s Top Court To Decide Whether Compelled Password Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
8. Ring Sued Because ‘Taking Customers’ Security Seriously’ Means Selling Easily-Hijacked Cameras
9. “Cache issue” causes Xiaomi cameras to show other people’s camera feeds
10. Wyze Breach Leaves Data Of 2.4 Million Users Exposed Online
11. Unpatched VPN makes Travelex latest victim of “REvil” ransomware
12. Firefox gets patch for critical 0-day that’s being actively exploited
13. Firefox 72 blocks fingerprinting scripts by default, rethinks notification pop-ups
14. Chrome to start blocking annoying notification requests
15. UL Pushes Security Standards For The Internet Of Broken Things
16. ENISA releases report detailing security guidelines for Internet of Things
17. BitTorrent claims require more proof than an IP address to name a defendant
18. Jones Day Global Privacy & Cybersecurity Update

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. What the amendments to the USMCA mean for Canadian IP law
2. 2019 Highlights in Canadian Life Sciences IP and Regulatory Law
3. Appeals Court Smacks Down Patent Troll Blackbird, Orders It To Pay $363k In Attorneys Fees To Company It Sued
4. In flashpoint for the rebellion against big tech, Sonos sues Google for patent infringement
5. Securing Copyright and Trademark Rights for Broadcasts and Promotions Related to NFL Championship Games and Super Bowl LIV (54)
6. George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue Is In The Public Domain And Gerswhin’s Nephew Is Worried Someone Might Turn It Into Hip Hop
7. The Murkiness of the Public Domain
8. Tackling bad faith registration of domain names in a fast-changing landscape
9. Fox Factory v. SRAM – According to CAFC, No Presumption of Nexus for Bicycle Chainring Patents; IPR Decision Reversed and Remanded
10. The big IP stories you will be reading about in 2020

CREATIVITY

1. Chinese Skiers Training In Norway Ask Local Library To Remove ‘Controversial’ Books
2. Turkey Continues Its Attempt To Pass China In The ‘Most Journalists Jailed’ Category
3. Ex-Fox News reporter Courtney Friel claims Donald Trump invited her to Trump Tower to ‘kiss’
4. Susan J. Demas: Why are there so few stories about Trump’s health and sexual harassment scandals?
5. Class action lawsuits may be available for copyright infringement cases in some instances
6. Devin Nunes Libel Tourism Continues To Highlight The Problems Of Virginia’s Weak Anti-SLAPP Laws
7. Connecticut Cop Sues Local Blogger To Get Him To Turn Over Personal Info On Commenters Who Said Thing The Cop Didn’t Like
8. Hank Haney Sues PGA Tour, Claims They Forced SiriusXM to Cancel His Radio Show
9. Navy SEAL Leader Accused Of War Crimes Threatens Defamation Suit Against NY Times Reporter For Revealing Videos & Text Of Men Who Reported Him
10. Academic paper in comic form explores ethics of treating torturer with PTSD

Jon

GAMES

1. Arsenal’s Mesut Özil removed from PES 2020 after criticising China’s treatment of Muslims: NetEase also pulls the midfielder from two other Chinese version of Konami’s football game
2. Mesut Ozil removed from Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 in China: NetEase said Ozil’s comments ‘hurt the feelings of Chinese fans and violated the sport’s spirit of love and peace’
3. Police Arrest, Charge Twitch Streamer With Child Abuse After Receiving Tips From Community
4. Mixer, Facebook Gaming chipped away at Twitch market share in 2019: But Twitch is still far and away the streaming giant, with 73% of all streaming hours watched
5. Mixer Sees 149% Year-Over-Year Jump In Hours Watched, But Is Still Far From Challenging Twitch’s 9.3 Billion
6. CD Projekt and The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski settle royalties disagreement
7. The Witcher 3 sees jump in Steam players after debut of The Witcher Netflix show
8. Every major older version of Dead Cells is now preserved and playable on Steam
9. Ethics in the video game industry: A mythbusting and scientific approach
10. Dangen Entertainment’s new CEO to let devs cancel existing contracts: Developers remain skeptical of plan to right the ship after former CEO accused of harassment, unethical business practices
11. UK charity calls on government to regulate loot boxes: The Royal Society for the Protection of Health releases report on attitude of young people toward loot boxes
12. Telltale Games revival is aiming for a “stable, non-crunch work environment”: “We are a new company – with different ownership and management, and a different approach as to how we structure a studio”
13. Analyst: Red Dead Redemption 2 sold 400k copies on Epic Games Store
14. Google acquires Typhoon Studios to boost Stadia-exclusive content
15. Google Stadia acquires Typhoon Studios: Stadia head and Typhoon co-founders explain why the upstart studio is giving up being indie before its first game even launches
16. Panic will ship Playdate preview units to curious devs ahead of full launch
17. Facebook acquires cloud gaming service PlayGiga
18. Facebook acquires cloud gaming company PlayGiga for $78 million
19. Facebook acquires cloud gaming outfit PlayGiga: Madrid-based services provider reportedly cost $78m
20. Tencent expands ‘Start’ cloud gaming platform in China
21. Tencent launches its Start cloud gaming service: Blade & Soul, Path of Exile, Fortnite, NBA2K Online 2 are part of the beta test
22. The Rainbow Six Siege core team is shifting to new Ubisoft projects
23. After Inking Multiyear Endorsement Deal, Ninja Unveils First Adidas Sneakers
24. Global Esports Federation announced, backed by Tencent: Federation aims to be “the voice and authority for the worldwide esports movement”
25. Embracer Group acquires Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios
26. Embracer Group acquires Little Nightmares dev Tarsier Studios for $10.5m: Also gains Statik IP, but Little Nightmares and Stretchers remain with their publishers
27. Dragon Quest XI ships 5.5 million: Number includes digital sales and physical shipments of PS4, PC, 3DS, and Switch versions of Square Enix RPG
28. The long game: Running PR in the games-as-a-service era – Prezly’s Kate Bystrova talks to PR experts on the unique challenge of getting exposure for games that can be played for years and years
29. N3twork acquires Funko Pop Blitz after NBCUniversal winds down game business
30. Half-Life: Alyx Hands-On! Tested on 8 VR Headsets
31. 15 VR Games We Can’t Wait to Play in 2020
32. Road to VR’s 2019 Game of the Year Awards
33. In February, Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest is the next “game devs on TV” show
34. Video: Crafting the unsettling sounds of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
35. Blog: Pillars of playability – Exploring dynamic difficulty
36. Blog: The mighty MMM concept in hyper-casual game design
37. Blog: Engaging level design for combat – Part 3
38. Blog: Why Epic’s attempt to go fee-free on Google Play is bad news
39. Blog: Procedural texturing for hand-painted stylized character pipelines
40. Blog: Improving resource harvesting in real-time strategy games
41. Video Game Deep Cuts: 2019’s Best Best Best Best & Other Animals
42. Death Stranding, Control and next-gen teases among industry’s 2019 highlights: We asked publishers, platform holders, developers and more for their favourite moments and games of the year
43. Games of the Year 2019: The Outer Worlds – Obsidian Entertainment’s RPG showed what the studio can achieve with the time and space to express its talent
44. Games of the Year 2019: Eastshade – Stopping a moment to paint the Bloomsacs. Then another moment. Then so many more
45. 4 events that shook up the game industry in 2019
46. What we can learn from…The Future – 2019 in Review: Department of Play’s Will Luton on the trends technologies and that will disrupt the games business over the next decade
47. Mobile’s fast risers of 2019 could be leaders in 2020: Call of Duty and Mario Kart fell away in November, according to Sensor Tower, while Playrix’ Township and Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle were ascendant
48. 38 reasons why 2019 was not all bad: From charitable acts to crank-powered consoles, we round-up the best things to happen in the games industry over the past 12 months
49. Best of 2019: Level design patterns in 2D games
50. Gamasutra’s Best of 2019: Katherine Cross’ Top 5 Games
51. Ars Technica’s best games of 2019
52. Console makers lay out their 2020 visions | Opinion: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all have very different ideas of where the console market is going in 2020 and beyond – and it’s even possible that they’re all correct
53. U.S. Patent no. 10,265,627: Virtual reality simulation of a live-action sequence
54. U.S. Patent no. 10,272,335: Systems and methods of serving video for remote play

DIGITAL

1. FTC Rules Political Ad Marketing Firm Cambridge Analytica Deceived Facebook Users
2. FTC Approves Final Settlement Agreements Concerning Collection of Facebook Data
3. Facebook vs. the FTC: It’s Not Over Till It’s Over
4. 267 Million Names And Phone Numbers Leaked Online – And They’re All From Facebook
5. Facebook removes accounts with AI-generated profile photos
6. Facebook is working on its own OS that could reduce its reliance on Android
7. Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook: CJEU ruling on online defamation and liability of hosting services providers under the e-Commerce Directive
8. Schrems v Facebook: AG says Standard Contractual Clauses are Valid
9. Facebook Releases New Advertising Rules for the 2020 Census
10. ‘I am going to say quiet words in your face just like I did with Trump’: a conversation with the Zuckerbot -Mark Zuckerberg won’t talk to the Guardian. So we fed everything he says into an algorithm, and interviewed it
11. Sorry, but cryptocurrency will likely make you uncomfortable in 2020: It might even piss you off.: Thanks, Libra.
12. Financializing authoritarian capitalism: Chinese fintech and the institutional foundations of algorithmic governance (Julian Gruin)
13. Beyond scandal?: Blockchain technologies and the fragile legitimacy of post-2008 finance
14. Swiping right: face perception in the age of Tinder
15. Cox Communications hit with $1 billion verdict over music piracy
16. Dear Americans: Be Very, Very Afraid Of The EU’s New Copyright Rules
17. Inside the Koch data mine: Meet the guys building the right’s new machine.
18. The Surprising Nuance Behind the Russian Troll Strategy: We set out to study #BlackLivesMatter – instead, we were unintentionally learning about the Russian information operation to undermine democracy
19. The case for publicly enforced online rights: Democracies should establish a single infrastructure for the digital identity (Evgeny Morozov)
20. New German draft law to fight online hate speech obliges social media providers to notify police of suspicious online posts
21. ECJ rules that the sale of second-hand e-books infringes copyright
22. Indian Government Sets New Record For ‘Internet Shutdown By A Democracy’
23. Canadian ISPs Subject to Site-Blocking Order
24. Competition Bureau Hones in on #SponsoredContent and Social Media Advertising
25. Losing Streak Continues For Litigants Suing Social Media Companies Over Violence Committed By Terrorists
26. Report: Apple is developing satellites so the iPhone can skip wireless carriers
27. Apple, Google, and Amazon create “CHIP,” a new smart home standard [Updated]
28. Accountability Is Nowhere To Be Found For Foxconn’s Wisconsin Head Fake
29. Google fined ~$166 million by France over search ads
30. Chrome is getting a dedicated media control button
31. The Canadian Digital Law Decade: The Ten Most Notable Cases, Laws, and Policy Developments (Michael Geist)
32. CJEU rules that the provision of ebooks is an act of communication to the public (so there is NO digital exhaustion under the InfoSoc Directive) (Eleonora Rosati)
33. Study: Hadopi Has Been Great For Big Artists And Labels, Bad For The Spread Of Culture And Smaller Or New Artists
34. Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software to ensure he’d get new work
35. The Hassle of Housework: Digitalisation and the Commodification of Domestic Labour (Ursula Huws)
36. Insanity (AKA Copyright Statutory Damages) Rules: Cox Hit With $1 Billion (With A B) Jury Verdict For Failing To Magically Stop Piracy
37. Ghosh Yoga College Claims Copyright Infringement Over Netflix Documentary On Bikram Choudhury
38. Dethroning the Digital Platform Champions
39. Elon Musk And SpaceX Just Backed Down From Earlier Promise To Release SpaceX Photos To The Public Domain
40. Jake Paul Sued For Copyright Infringement Over 2017 Holiday Track “Litmas”
41. Influencers face backlash for promoting a Saudi Arabian music festival: And were reportedly paid six-figure sums
42. ‘Influencing is heading into the void’: Natasha Stagg and Kate Durbin on the future of social media
43. Tana Mongeau Lands ‘Here Comes Tana Claus’ YouTube Special At MTV
44. Want to Become A World-Famous YouTube Personality? Don’t Forget the Fine Print
45. Under the Influence: The Canadian Competition Bureau’s Stand on Misleading Product Endorsements
46. Cameron Dallas To Star As Aaron Samuels In Broadway Adaptation Of ‘Mean Girls’
47. Latte Lover Emma Chamberlain To Launch Her Own Coffee Business This Sunday
48. In Just 55 Days, MrBeast And Mark Rober’s #TeamTrees Raised $20 Million To Plant 20 Million Trees
49. Influencer marketing must be accurate and based on actual experience, says Competition Bureau
50. #InfluencerMarketing and #Transparency in #Ads: Competition Bureau Sends Letters to Brands and Agencies
51. How to Decrease Your Influencer Marketing Legal Risk
52. Pixel Perfect: The Legal Implications of Virtual Influencers and Supermodels
53. For Beauty Influencer Campaigns, YouTube Delivers
54. Instagram To Enforce Ban On Sponsored Content Involving Weapons, Tobacco, Vaping
55. Instagram To Enforce Ban On Sponsored Content Involving Weapons, Tobacco, Vaping
56. Australian Millionaire Seeking Personal Instagram Photographer, At $55,000 Salary
57. Instagram Announces Restrictions on Branded Content and Says Further Policies are Coming
58. All Def Digital’s Assets Acquired, Content Slate To Be Rebooted By Startup Culture Genesis
59. Not so IDLE hands: FBI program offers companies data protection via deception
60. I went undercover as an Amazon delivery driver. Here’s what I learned about the hidden costs of free shipping
61. Motorola gets cold feet, delays $1,500 Razr foldable days before launch
62. Leaked images of new Samsung foldable surfaces: It’s a flip phone
63. Is Your Website Accessible and Are You Liable if it Isn’t?
64. Social Media Made America Tired of Rich People: It used to be easier to hide your wine cave.
65. The 84 Biggest Flops, Fails, And Dead Dreams Of The Decade In Tech
66. Tech regulation and protecting children online; latest thinking from the UK
67. Reflections on 2019 in Technology Law, and a Peek into 2020
68. Tech & Comms 2020 Predictions

A.I.

1. World Intellectual Property Organization Weighs in on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property
2. World Intellectual Property Organisation and UK Information Commissioner’s Office announce consultations on AI
3. Patents Created by Artificial Intelligence?
4. EPO refuses DABUS patent applications designating a machine inventor
5. Towards a Critical Race Methodology in Algorithmic Fairness (Alex Hanna, Emily Denton, Andrew Smart & Jamila Smith-Loud)
6. 2019 Quantified Self Report Card
7. Artificial Intelligence Is Rushing Into Patient Care – And Could Raise Risks: AI systems are not as rigorously tested as other medical devices, and have already made serious mistakes
8. Is the idea of ‘care robots’ an oxymoron?: Pursuing efficiency by seeking to dehumanise human interaction by use of robotic support is a worrying development
9. United States – E-commerce and Big Data: Merger Control
10. Intervention – “Is Legal Technology a New ‘Moment’ in the Law and Development Trajectory?”
11. Do all marketing lists discriminate against consumers that exercise a right to be deleted?
12. Why I dislike what “quantum supremacy” is doing to computing research
13. Can Computers Dream? Refik Anadol Explores The Future of Artificial Intelligence: Anadadol’s installation at Light Art Space explores how our world will transform as humans and computers come closer together.  

COMMUNICATIONS

1.  Touchdown! The Supreme Court of Canada simplifies the standard of review analysis in historic Super Bowl trilogy
2. Supreme Court of Canada Establishes New Approach to Standard of Review 
3. Phone companies must block scam calls starting today. Here’s what you can expect
4. Congress Passes Bipartisan Robocall Legislation
5. Congress passes legislation expanding robocall penalties
6. T-Mobile/Sprint deal is good actually, Feds tell court in states’ lawsuit
7. Spectrum Customers Stuck With Thousands In Home Security Gear They Can’t Use
8. TV changed a lot in the 2010s, and the decade’s best reflects that
9. What’s New in 5G – December 2019
10. FCC Announces Improved Wireless Emergency Alerts 
11. Supreme Court Declines to Overturn Landmark TCPA Jury Verdict
12. GDPR and the Cloud – Helpful DPC Guidance for Organisations 

PRIVACY

1. Data Protection Changes Are Coming to Canada
2. Nearly 4,000 Ring Credentials Leaked, Including Users’ Time Zones And Device Names
3. NY Times Shows The Scope Of The Cell Location Data Scandal Nobody’s Doing Anything About
4. San Francisco Amends Facial Recognition Ban After Realizing City Employees Could No Longer Use Smartphones
5. Second Circuit Says Warrantless Backdoor Searches Of NSA Collections Might Violate The Fourth Amendment
6. Update privacy policies post-tech backlash, report tells smart watch and fitness tracker makers
7. PoS malware skimmed convenience store customers’ card data for 8 months
8. Dark Overlord taunted, threatened, and extorted. Now alleged member is behind bars
9. The California Consumer Privacy Act Is Upon Us; Here’s What Your Company Should Be Doing
10. Hospitality company’s bid to dismiss data breach suit rejected
11. Attorney General issues opinion on validity of Privacy Shield and Model clauses
12. Austria’s Top Court Says Police May Not Install Surveillance Malware On Computers And Phones, Nor Collect Vehicle And Driver Information Covertly
13. Top EU Court’s Adviser Says Personal Data Can Be Transferred Using ‘Standard Contractual Clauses’ — But Also Suggests That Privacy Shield Should Be Ruled Invalid
14. Giant surveillance balloons are lurking at the edge of space
15. The Internet of Things (IoT) will see an increase in regulation and self-regulation
16. How many websites are using opt-in, opt-out, or deemed consent cookie notices?
17. How many third party behavioral advertising cookies deploy on most websites?
18. Is Your Privacy Policy Ready for 2020?
19. When We Fail To Understand Privacy As A Set Of Trade-Offs, Everyone’s ‘Solutions’ Are Unhelpful
20. Rethinking privacy in the age of psychological targeting: Direct regulation of psychological targeting may lift from users the burden of actively protecting their privacy (Sandra Matz, Ruth Elisabeth Appel & Michal Kosinski)

CREATIVITY

1. Paris Court of Appeal confirms that Koons’s ‘Naked’ sculpture infringes copyright in ‘Enfants’ photograph, rejecting freedom of the arts and parody defences (Eleonora Rosati)
2. US government lists fictional nation Wakanda as trade partner
3. No Surprise: Judge Says US Government Can Take The Proceeds From Snowden’s Book
4. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Is Trying To Use An Anti-SLAPP Law To Get Out Of Paying Anti-SLAPP Damages And It Ain’t Working
5. Street art raises novel copyright issues – or does it?
6. Guity v. Santos: Court dismisses copyright claims against Santos, finding plaintiff had not identified protectable elements that were allegedly infringed, and that parties’ songs in their entirety were not substantially similar.
7. Remedies in IP antitrust cases in USA
8. China and Hollywood: Is the romance over?
9. ‘Cats’ Director Rushes Visual Effects Update Into Theaters After Disastrous Opening
10. Minority Report: How Canada’s Electoral System Disrupts Copyright Reform
11. The craziest Christmas patents you didn’t know existed
12. Naughty or Nice? A Few Last Minute Tips for Using Santa Claus in Your Advertising
13. Ars’ favorite movies of the 2010s (John Wick most definitely included)

Jon

GAMES

1. German regulator prompts Valve crackdown on Steam Nazis: Valve pledges to better train moderators after media agency finds dozens of banned symbols, slogans, anti-Semitism
2. Epic Games files preemptive lawsuit against Dancing Pumpkin Man: Fortnite developer responds to cease and desist letter with a lawsuit
3. Epic Games Store implements in-game purchases for third-parties: Developers who use their own payment tools will not share revenue with Epic on in-game transactions
4. Epic Games Store policy change expands in-game payment options for devs 
5. Indies hit with takedowns over trademarked ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ term
6. Chooseco Chooses An Adventure In Bullying Indie Game Devs Over Trademark
7. Ex-Razer employees accuse CEO of abusive behavior: Former employees say Min-Liang Tan yelled, threw objects, made threats, demanded unreasonable overtime, and was verbally abusive
8. Latest Rocket League update replaces loot boxes with an item store
9. Chucklefish apologizes after casting white voice actors for non-white characters
10. Chucklefish apologizes for Wargroove’s whitewashed voice casting: Developer says it made decision based only on audio files, pledges to be more sensitive in the future
11. Federal Communications Commission Rules Require Communications in Video Games to Be Accessible and Usable
12. 2K opens new in-house studio to work on BioShock franchise
13. 2K opens Cloud Chamber to build “another unforgettable BioShock experience”: We speak to the publisher’s first female studio head Kelley Gilmore about continuing Ken Levine’s acclaimed franchise
14. Nintendo Switch faces an uphill slog in China | Opinion: China is a country with little interest in consoles, so success for the Switch will require building a whole market segment from nothing
15. Nintendo Switch sold estimated 50k units in China on launch day: Niko Partners – Console on track to reach 100k units in the country by the end of 2019
16. Nintendo stock rises following Switch launch in China: Share price up 2.9%, reaching highest intraday level since May 2018
17. Nintendo Indie World showcase talks exclusives, sequels, and 2020 lineup
18. Sony will bring MLB: The Show to rival console platforms ‘as early as 2021’
19. Sony’s MLB The Show will be released on rival consoles: No new platforms confirmed for baseball series, but both Nintendo and Microsoft have shared the news
20. Sony pulls PS4 Lineup video after accusations of plagiarism: Video showcase appeared to directly copy animation styles from multiple other properties
21. Resident Evil 2 remake has passed 5 million sales
22. Resident Evil 3 remake headlines a handful of PS4 announcements
23. Sony announces plan to publish PlayStation games on non-PS consoles [updated]
24. PS4 finally gets Minecraft cross-platform play with Bedrock Edition – Sony overcomes worries about “safety risk” a year and a half after all other platforms connected
25. Minecraft update brings cross-platform play to PlayStation 4
26. Minecraft beats Fortnite and GTA as YouTube’s most-watched game of 2019
27. Choose Your Own Adventure publisher cracks down on Itch.io devs: Chooseco issues trademark infringements to four developers
28. Starbreeze exits reconstruction, looks toward continued Payday development
29. Payday 2 won’t see parity on consoles and PC, future Switch updates ‘unlikely’
30. Starbreeze completes reconstruction process after 12 months: It’s been a “toilsome journey” says CEO Mikael Nermak
31. Layoffs as mobile developer Gameloft closes UK office
32. Gameloft UK shuts down: Seven staff affected as mobile giant ditches British presence
33. Avakin Life dev Lockwood Publishing closes Leamington Spa studio: All four members of staff declined opportunity to move to growing Nottingham studio
34. The dawn of streaming requires contract revisions: Beiten Burkhardt’s Dr Andreas Lober explains why developers and publishers should check their contracts as services like Google Stadia emerge
35. Some Stadia games cost more than their downloadable counterparts
36. E3 without the lines: System Shock, other games to get 48-hour Steam demos
37. Important Updates to Google Play Developer Policies
38. Google refuses to budge on Play Store fees after Epic asks for Fortnite exemption
39. Kongregate acquires mobile and browser battle royale shooter Surviv.io
40. Kongregate acquires browser and mobile 2D battle royale Surviv.io: This marks the publisher’s second acquisition this year, more planned to come
41. Playrix acquires Eipix Entertainment: Homescapes creator enters Serbian market to create more free-to-play mobile games
42. Voodoo acquires mobile dev Gumbug
43. Voodoo acquires Gumbug: Mobile publisher picks up London-based developer of Smash Supreme and Notorious 99
44. Wildlife Studios raises $60m, now valued at $1.3b: Benchmark leads funding for Sao Paulo studio to grow mobile reach
45. Tatsuya Minami reportedly starts new, Capcom-backed studio M-Two Inc: Former PlatinumGames president’s Osaka-based team said to be contributing to Resident Evil 3
46. NetEase launches its own cloud gaming platform in beta: Service currently supports 38 games on mobile, but testers are waiting in long queue times to play
47. 12 years later, players somehow keep Team Fortress 2 alive on the PS3
48. The modders who spent 15 years fixing Knights of the Old Republic 2: From missing planets to missing romance options, players are restoring a classic.
49. FIFA 20 returns to No.1 on EMEAA charts for fifth week since launch: No new major releases and holiday sales kept momentum for Pokemon, Star Wars
50. UK Charts: No new releases means Mario Kart 8 Deluxe races back to No.3 – Nintendo racer boosted by new Switch bundle, FIFA and COD still top
51. Sales down 25 percent at close of GameStop’s third quarter 
52. GameStop Q3 global sales down again, expected full-year decline in the high-teens: Collectible sales was once again the only segment that showed any year-over-year growth
53. GameStop plans to wind down Nordic presence, close more stores to cut costs
54. GameStop winding down operations in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden: 140 stores globally have been closed already this year, 250 to 300 total closures planned by end of 2019
55. GameStop CEO: Financial struggles are a console issue, not a GameStop issue – George Sherman says industry headwinds are “having an outsized impact on our business”
56. Black Friday saw US mobile game spending hit nearly $70m: Sensor Tower Marvel Contest of Champions led record single day sales for mobile in the US
57. Call of Duty Mobile made almost $87m in its first two months: Sensor Tower reports Activision’s smartphone shooter has been downloaded 172 million times
58. Resident Evil 2 remake surpasses five million sales: Franchise lifetime sales at 94 million
59. Review aggregator site GameRankings is shutting down
60. GameRankings to close down after 20 years: Site will go offline on December 9
61. Rental kiosk Redbox is giving up on video game rentals
62. Redbox will no longer rent video games: Games will still be sold through the end of the year before it goes movies-only
63. CD Projekt Red ending Gwent console support to focus on PC and mobile
64. Mobile developer Wildlife Studios nets $60 million in funding
65. GAME’s Belong esports division opens 100-seat venue in London: Oxford Street location will be the home of the London Lionhearts esports team
66. PatronGG secures $1m for esports engagement app Kokyo: Bitkraft leads funding to continue its string of esports investments
67. Pole to Win opens product development unit: Orange Rock Studios will also contain Orange Rock Esports division
68. Canada a hub for booming esports industry, says lawyer
69. TV Academy Unveils First Emmy Category for Esports
70. The Emmys Adds First Category For Esports, Recognizing Outstanding Journalism
71. Riot teams up with Louis Vuitton for League of Legends clothing
72. Riot Games opens publishing label for League of Legends games from other devs 
73. Amid Flurry Of Departures, Twitch Locks Down DrLupo, LIRIK, TimTheTatman In Exclusive Deals
74. Twitch signs three exclusivity deals with major streamers: Video platform responds to Ninja and Shroud departure with own deals
75. Twitch just locked down top streamers DrLupo, TimTheTatman, and Lirik: According to the e-sports consultant Rod Breslau, the deals are potentially worth millions
76. Skybound Entertainment to make TV series based on DrDisrespect: Scripted, narrative series to focus on origins of popular, contentious Twitch streamer Guy Beahm’s character
77. Pokemon Go developer Niantic raised $100,000 for STEM programs in 2019
78. Niantic releases 2019 social impact report: Pokémon Go dev has raised $100,000 for STEM programs, hosted 90,000 players at charity events and picked up 20 elephants’ worth of trash
79. Niantic and Qualcomm collaborating on augmented reality glasses: Multi-year partnership will see Pokémon Go developer working on hardware and software for new AR platform
80. ‘Apollo 11 VR’ Studio to Launch ‘Shuttle Commander’ Next Week on PSVR
81. Fast Travel CEO navigates VR’s speed bumps: With two new VR titles launching in quick succession, Oskar Burman talks about how far the market has come and where it can improve
82. Oculus is rolling out controller-free hand tracking for the Quest this week
83. Surprise! Oculus Quest becomes first VR set with native hand tracking—this week
84. Oculus Quest Hand-tracking Starts Rolling Out This Week, Developer SDK Next Week
85. Report: Magic Leap laid off ‘dozens’ following slow sales of its debut AR headset
86. Magic Leap launches upgraded headset, reportedly lays off dozens: Company said to have planned to sell over 100k Magic Leaps in first year, only sold 6k in six months
87. Niantic and Qualcomm join forces to create new AR glasses
88. Adobe acquires 3D VR sculpting tool Medium from Facebook
89. Behind the ingenious audio design of action RPG classic Diablo II
90. How MechWarrior’s return took me back to the early ‘90s mall in my mind
91. Brenda Romero breaks down Empire of Sin’s complex relationship system
92. BioShock will return, but without Ken Levine
93. Halo Reach on PC is the customizable combat we’ve been wanting—but just barely
94. How Angry Birds broke the limits for mobile games: Marking the original game’s ten-year anniversary, we take a look at the impact the series had on the industry and the resilience of Rovio
95. How God of War converted a non-believer – Why I Love: Double Eleven’s Matt Dunthorne says the 2018 revamp turned him from uninterested onlooker into full-on fanboy
96. Bethesda updating Doom 1, 2 to include select mods like John Romero’s Sigil
97. Bethesda suspends The Elder Scrolls Legends development
98. Betheda has halted development on The Elder Scrolls: Legends
99. Elder Scrolls Legends development “on hold for the foreseeable future”: Bethesda no longer making new content for fantasy card battler, but will continue support with monthly rewards and regular events
100. Minecraft is most popular game on YouTube in 2019 with 100bn views: Controversial YouTuber Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg drives popularity of Minecraft as Fortnite settles
101. People of the Year 2019: Sam Barlow: We speak to the Telling Lies director about showcasing the true potential of interactive narrative in video games
102. Rockstar and Nintendo fill top five in Metacritic’s Games of the 2010s: Mario Galaxy 2, Breath of the Wild, Red Dead 2, GTA V and Mario Odyssey all had 97 average ratings
103. IndieBI: Superhot Team’s biz dev platform that helps indies stay indie – Business developer Tomas Kaczmarczyk on why good business intelligence benefits the whole industry
104. Kalypso opens third internal studio to work on ‘next-gen’ Commandos title
105. Kalypso opening third German studio: New team will work on next-gen Commandos title from the greater Frankfurt area
106. Report: iDreamSky in talks to acquire Leyou Technologies for $1.4 billion 
107. iDreamSky in talks to buy Leyou: Mobile publisher would get controlling interest in fellow Chinese outfit with stakes in Digital Extremes, Splash Damage, SNK Playmore
108. Imgur Launches New ‘Melee’ App Where Users Can Host, Discover Gaming Memes
109. Staying Alive: How some indies are setting their studios up for survival
110. Blog: How Ghost Recon Breakpoint broke the rules of player intel
111. Blog: How do bullets work in video games?
112. Blog: Building a procedurally generated Hearthstone
113. Blog: Five books to help you better understand player behavior
114. Blog: Sharing accessible narratives through environmental design
115. Blog: Emotional context in decision design
116. Blog: Turning a negative Steam review into a positive
117. Blog: Getting your big break as a game composer (2020 edition)
118. Watch Russ Bullock break down the dev process for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries
119. Video: How women-in-games initiatives make a difference
120. Video: How Eve Online addressed exploit abuse with customer care
121. Best of 2019: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
122. Best of 2019: Dissecting the development of Dwarf Fortress with creator Tarn Adams
123. Best of 2019: Designing Baba is You’s delightfully innovative rule-writing system
124. Best of 2019: Exploring the secret depths of Bubble Bobble’s design
125. People of the Year 2019: Yu Suzuki – Shenmue III came out 18 years after its predecessor and picked up exactly where it left off
126. People of the Year 2019: Media Molecule – The full version of Dreams will launch on February 14 — and Media Molecule spent 2019 paving the way for its success
127. People of the Year 2019: Hermen Hulst – Guerrilla Games’ former MD on the journey from Killzone to Horizon Zero Dawn, and his next challenge as PlayStation’s head of Worldwide Studios
128. The Year of PR Disasters – 2019 in Review: Industry figures and companies said or did ridiculous, inappropriate, and outright harmful things… and got away with it
129. The state of PC gaming in 2019.
130. Video Game Deep Cuts: PlayStation’s 25th, Top Games Of 2019
131. Industry-backed campaign encourages gamers to vote: Gamechanger Giveaway offers prizes in effort to increase voter turnout
132. Steam to host demos for The Game Awards digital spin-off event The Game Festival
133. Mourning the end of the video game rental era
134. A nebbishy bank teller discovers he’s trapped in a video game in Free Guy

DIGITAL

1. American WeChat Users Getting Banned For Celebrating Hong Kong Election Results
2. TikTok settles children’s data lawsuit one day after it was filed
3. The USA is investigating social media app TikTok – what does this mean for social media platforms & transparency?
4. TikTok CEO Cancels Capitol Hill Meetings Amid Investigation Into Chinese Surveillance, Censorship
5. TikTok Wraps 2019 With First-Ever Top 10 Lists Of Creators, Videos, Memes
6. TikTok’s Parent Company Piloting Spotify Competitor ‘Resso’ In Emerging Markets
7. Russia Blocks All Of Shutterstock Due To ‘Offensive’ Image Involving The Russian Flag
8. Russian ‘Evil Corp’ Was Behind a Decade of Hacks, U.S. Says
9. Kingpin of Evil Corp lived large. Now there’s a $5 million bounty on his head
10. FTC Slaps Cambridge Analytica With An Order Barring The Already Defunct Company From Illegally Collecting Data Ever Again
11. DHS Sued Over First Amendment-Trampling Social Media Vetting Program
12. Critics say Facebook’s powerful ad tools may imperil democracy. But politicians love them.
13. Trolling The Trademark Troll: Lemonade CEO Releases Chrome Extension To Remove Magenta From Websites
14. Senate Judiciary committee interrogates Apple, Facebook about crypto
15. Who’s Spreading Disinformation in U.K. Election? You Might Be Surprised
16. Social media platforms leave 95% of reported fake accounts up, study finds: Fake accounts are easy to buy and make, and platforms are bad at yanking them.
17. Twelfth Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Materially Supporting Terrorists” Fails–Retana v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
18. The Subtweet Defense Wins: Elon Musk Cleared In Defamation Case
19. Jury sides with Elon Musk in “pedo guy” defamation case
20. Lawyer Asks Racists To Use Sketchy Millions They Got From UNC To Fund Scholarships For Black Students To Avoid Lawsuit For Bogus Takedown
21. 3D printing can keep aging Air Force aircraft flying
22. DOL’s $400M pay-discrimination suit is unconstitutional, Oracle argues
23. Pinning Copyright Violations on Pinterest
24. Digital Entrepreneur To Serve 14 Years For Criminal Plot To Wrest Domain Name
25. Failed plot to steal domain name at gunpoint brings 14-year prison term
26. ADA Website Compliance: It’s back to the trial court for Domino’s Pizza
27. Verizon To Lay Off 150 More Employees From ‘Media’ Division
28. Verizon lays off more Yahoo/AOL employees after another drop in revenue
29. Verizon Media Pacts With Advisory Chair Serena Williams On Branded ‘Yahoo Shopping’ Series
30. Verizon reportedly blocks archivists from Yahoo Groups days before deletion
31. Verizon Is Undermining Efforts To Archive Yahoo Groups…For No Coherent Reason
32. Sledgehammer or scalpel? EU policy makers and industry debate digital regulation
33. Europe’s bid to re-nationalise tech
34. Alibaba and the forty infringers: IP enforcement with China’s biggest online marketplace
35. France, As Promised, Is First Out Of The Gate With Its Awful Copyright Directive Law: Ignores Requirements For User Protections
36. Sony Music Entertainment v. Cox Communications: Summary judgment for copyright holders, finding that ISP had specific knowledge of copyright infringement by subscribers on its networks and was contributorily liable.
37. Revolving Door Revolves Some More: Head Of Copyright Office Leaves To Join MPAA
38. Why Won’t Creative Future’s Members Comment About This Hollywood Front Group Smearing A Well Respected Law Professor?
39. Disney’s Decision Not To Renew SecuROM License Bricks ‘Tron: Evolution’
40. Disney+ Has Gotten 22 Million App Downloads In One Month (Report)
41. Netflix To Develop Limited Series About The Birth Of Spotify
42. Netflix Orders Limited Series Chronicling Origins Of Fellow Streamer Spotify
43. Hulu is finally offering 4K and 5.1 audio on Roku devices
44. Instagram Will Ask New Users For Birthdays
45. Instagram Is Finally Asking New Users If They’re Over 13, But Will That Protect It From COPPA?
46. Mraz Sues Festival Sponsor Over Use of Footage
47. Building a More Honest Internet: What would social media look like if it served the public interest? (Ethan Zuckerman)
48. The memefication of knowledge (Andres Guadamuz)
49. Netflix And Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ Brought 17 Million TV Viewers In First 5 Days
50. Netflix Is Spending $420 Million on Indian Content, CEO Says
51. Platforms, publishers, and the end of scale
52. Fewer than 10% of Americans are buying $1,000 smartphones, report says
53. Apple to speak at CES for first time in decades
54. Digital Kids’ Content Company ‘Moonbug’ Launches VOD Channel On Apple TV
55. Devin Nunes’ Virginia SLAPP Suits Causing Virginia Legislators To Consider A New Anti-SLAPP Law
56. Amazon: Trump used “improper pressure” to block AWS from DOD cloud contract
57. Amazon Secures Live Champions League Rights In Germany
58. Amazon Creates a Cost-Effective and Efficient Patent Infringement Remedy for Infringing Products Sold on its Marketplace by Third Parties
59. Ex-Governor Tries To Silence A Critic With A Bar Complaint; Gains Critic 70,000+ New Twitter Followers
60. Twitter is funding research into a decentralized version of its platform: The outside research team will be called Bluesky
61. Twitter Unveils New ‘Retweets’ Account To Fete User Community
62. Twitter Makes A Bet On Protocols Over Platforms
63. Snapchat Cameos edit your face into videos
64. It Doesn’t Take A Genius To Recognize How Dumb Genius’ Lawsuit Against Google Is Over ‘Stolen’ Lyrics
65. New YouTube policy tries to ban “implied” threats, “malicious” insults
66. YouTube Asks The FTC To Give Creators Clearer COPPA Guidelines Ahead Of Jan. 1 Enforcement
67. YouTube asks the FTC to clarify how video creators should comply with COPPA ruling
68. YouTube’s Revamped Harassment Policy Will Remove Videos With Insults Based On Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation
69. Michelle Obama, Liza Koshy, Julia Roberts Venture To Vietnam For YouTube Learning Original
70. YouTube Treads Safe Approach To This Year’s ‘Rewind’, With Series Of Data-Driven Lists
71. Shane Dawson, MrBeast, James Charles, Jeffree Star In YouTube’s Top Trending Videos Of 2019 Amid More Rewind Lists
72. Michelle Khare Debuts ‘YouTube Rewind 2019: The Musical,’ Chronicling Creator Community’s Successes And Scandals
73. Streamys Announces Host-Less Ceremony In Lieu Of ‘Collaborators’ Brandon Rogers, Mark Rober, Emma Chamberlain, Hannah Stocking, And More
74. Hyperlinks killed the radio star: High Court of England and Wales “Tunes In” to the radio streaming debate
75. BuzzFeed Loses 3 More Creators, Who Have Exited To Launch Indie Studio ‘Watcher’
76. BroadbandTV Reorganizes Music Services Under ‘Opposition’ Division
77. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 35: Allen Mendelsohn on Canada’s Copyright Site Blocking Saga (Michael Geist)
78. Hosted copyrights – are you bound by the EU directive?
79. Canadian Copyright 2.0: A look back at the 2019 statutory review recommendations for guidance on the future of copyright reform in Canada
80. OSC Orders Approval of Prospectus for Canada’s First Bitcoin Investment Fund
81. Patenting Blockchain Technologies
82. Electronic signatures – progress, but don’t throw away your pen
83. Australia remains closed for business on computer implemented business method patents
84. Insights: Seven Social Media Trends That Point To A Vexing 2020 For Creators, Brands

A.I.

1. Biased Algorithms Are Easier to Fix Than Biased People: Racial discrimination by algorithms or by people is harmful — but that’s where the similarities end.
2. Addressing indirect discrimination and gender stereotypes in AI virtual personal assistants: the role of international human rights law (Rachel Adams & Nora Ni Loideáin)
3. Who Owns an AI-generated Invention?
4. Does the FTC’s Recent Influencer Guidance Address Robots?
5. Best of 2019: How GoldenEye 007 set a new standard for video game AI
6. Video: The alchemy and science of machine learning for games
7. The case for artificial intelligence: 2020 will be the year for broad AI adoption in Canada, argues Sean Lynch
8. Bringing a balance of arms to communications policy making: CIPPIC and vLex deploy expert knowledge and artificial intelligence to improve the ability of Canadian citizens to make a difference.
9. Public opinion lessons for AI regulation
10. Biased Algorithms Are Easier to Fix Than Biased People
11. How Deepfakes Scramble Our Sense of True and False
12. Emotion-sensing robot launches to assist space station astronauts
13. Chatbots – Trends, Predictions and Five Key Legal Issues
14. An intersection of technology and life sciences: The impact of big data and social media 
15. The “Ghost Workers” Underpinning the World’s Artificial Intelligence Systems: Ron Orol speaks with Mary Gray, author of a book on the unseen labour that powers the internet 
16. Competing in an AI-driven world 
17. AI and healthcare
18. Cloudy with a chance of neurons: The tools that make neural networks work

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Court of Appeals Finds Maryland Law Imposing Political Disclosure Obligations on Online Platforms to be Unconstitutional – Finding Different Treatment of Broadcasters is Justified
2. Tucker Carlson and the Russification of the GOP
3. Fox News Is Now a Threat to National Security: The network’s furthering of lies from foreign adversaries and flagrant disregard for the truth have gotten downright dangerous.
4. Bernie Sanders vows to break up huge ISPs and regulate broadband prices
5. Study Says US Ranked 68th Out Of 100 In Mobile Video Quality
6. As Trial Begins, Evidence Shows Sprint, T-Mobile Know Merger Will Raise Prices
7. AT&T raises DirecTV prices again despite losing millions of customers
8. AT&T Says The Real Problem With The Internet Is We Pay Too Much Attention To Giant ISPs
9. Lawsuit forces CenturyLink to stop charging “Internet Cost Recovery Fee”
10. Huawei sues FCC to stop ban on Huawei gear in US-funded networks
11. FCC proposes new rules and spectrum reallocation that could change the future of auto safety communications – agency seeks comments and input
12. Another Day, Another Telecom Giant Caught Taking Taxpayer Subsidies They Didn’t Deserve 
13. Franken FMs – The FCC Asks if It Should Continue to Allow Channel 6 LPTV Stations to Operate as FM Broadcasters
14. FCC Issues New Radio Frequency Safety Rules, Seeks Comment on Additional Measures
15. FCC Grants Waivers of Geocoded Location Data Deadline 
16. FCC Plans Major Overhaul of Suspension and Debarment Rules for its USF, TRS, and Other Funding Programs
17. FCC Issues New Radio Frequency Safety Rules, Seeks Comment on Additional Measures 
18. FCC Rules That Unsolicited Ads Sent to Online Fax Services are not Prohibited 
19. New York Enacts New Telemarketing Law 
20. 5G Spectrum Auctions in Kinstellar Jurisdictions
21. Can 5G replace everybody’s home broadband?
22. Google Fiber ends $50, 100Mbps plan, but 1Gbps is still $70 with no data cap 
23. CIPPIC and Legal Tech Firm vLex Partnering on LFO-Funded and AI-Fueled Communications Policy Analysis Project 

PRIVACY

1. The Afghanistan Papers v. The Pentagon Papers: How A Whistleblower Worked Much Better Than Endless FOIA Litigation
2. Foreign Companies Can Use 28 U.S.C. § 1782 to Unmask Anonymous Internet Posters
3. Colorado Appeals Court: Three Months Of Surveillance Via Pole-Mounted Camera Is Unconstitutional
4. California Supreme Court Closes Warrantless Vehicle Search Loophole
5. Another Federal Court Says Compelled Production Of Fingerprints To Unlock A Phone Doesn’t Violate The Constitution
6. NYPD Finally Releases A Body Camera Policy That Gives The Department Plenty Of Ways To Withhold Footage
7. The FBI Says Your TV Is Probably Spying On You
8. DOJ Headed By William Barr Asked To Explain Warrantless Bulk Data Collection William Barr Authorized 27 Years Ago When He Was The Head Of The DOJ
9. Do cookie banners receive different acceptance rates on desktops and on smartphones?
10. Does the placement of a cookie banner impact user acceptance rate?
11. Do cookie banners receive different acceptance rates depending upon how many choices are provided to website visitors?
12. Getting Cookie Consent Right
13. EDPB Finalizes Guidance on GDPR Applicability Outside EU
14. The Fate Of EU Legislation Designed To Bolster Data Protection Beyond The GDPR, The ePrivacy Regulation, Hangs In The Balance
15. Framing a Federal Privacy Standard: Congressional Efforts Continue
16. Intel’s SGX coughs up crypto keys when scientists tweak CPU voltage
17. Defense Department To Congress: ‘No, Wait, Encryption Is Actually Good; Don’t Break It’
18. Keybase moves to stop onslaught of spammers on encrypted message platform
19. Newly discovered Mac malware uses “fileless” technique to remain stealthy
20. Louisiana State Government Systems Down Following Ryuk Ransomware Attack
21. Pensacola confirms ransomware attack but provides few details
22. Maze ransomware was behind Pensacola “cyber event,” Florida officials say
23. Fund Managers Targeted in Sophisticated Cyberattacks
24. The iPhone 11’s U1 chip necessitates constant geolocation checks, Apple says
25. Cops Offered Deeper Discounts On Ring Cameras Depending On How Much Of The Neighborhood The Cameras Would Surveil
26. Uploaded Ring footage reportedly provides location to the square inch

CREATIVITY

1. Taking Value out of the Copyright Tariff Process: The Copyright Board’s Access Copyright Post-Secondary Tariff Decision (Michael Geist)
2. Making the Best of a Bad Provision: Why Canada Should Work Toward a Copyright Term Extension Registration Requirement (Michael Geist)
3. Ad Agency Loses Copyright Infringement Attack on Pepsi
4. Ben and Jerry’s Hit With Two Sticky Suits
5. Last Christmas – Copyright and sound recordings
6. Marvin Gaye Family Not Done With Pharrell Just Yet: Bring Him Back To Court Claiming Perjury
7. The £90,000 banana – Why is it so appealing to the art market?
8. Questions Raised Over Marketing Restrictions on Olympic Athletes
9. Bias Disguised as Neutrality Gives Rise to False Advertising Claims
10. Spate of FDA and FTC Warning Letters Sets Stage for Wave of False Advertising Consumer Class Action Lawsuits
11. Smells Like Infringement: Court’s Refusal to Dismiss Copyright and Trademark Claims Makes Nirvana Smile
12. Standing Up for Stand-Up Comedy: Joke Theft and the Relevance of Copyright Law and Social Norms in the Social Media Age (Hannah Pham)
13. Watch: The Law of Advertising
14. Judge Orders Man Who Violated Recording Ban To Publish An Essay About Respecting The Court AND To Delete All Negative Comments From Readers

Jon

GAMES

1. Blizzard and NetEase win Overwatch copyright lawsuit in China
2. Patent Infringement Suit Over Apex Legends and Anthem
3. The Pokemon Company is suing unknown parties over Sword and Shield leaks
4. The Pokemon Company sues Pokemon Sword and Shield leakers: Unknown US individuals sought for posting early, unreleased images of new Pokemon on Discord, 4chan
5. What happens if loot box regulation passes into UK law? | Opinion: Reed Smith’s Emily Daniels and Hunter Thomson offer tips on how to stay ahead of any future legal restrictions
6. Man Spends $1.4 Million On Game Character, Which His Friend Then Accidentally Sold For Only $552
7. EA: “Cloud gaming is going to bring in another billion players” – CTO Ken Moss on EA’s huge investment in AI, cloud streaming and tech
8. EA/Origin Rewards Adopters Of Extra Security By Scaring Them
9. Analyst: Men more likely than women to buy games based on reviews
10. Brass Lion Entertainment and the critical business of diversity: Manveer Heir, Bryna Dabby Smith, and Rashad Redic on why their focus on diverse games is both a business decision and a human one
11. Google responds to claims it misled consumers over Stadia launch performance
12. Google addresses complaints of sub-4K image quality on Stadia
13. Google Stadia’s Claims For Streaming In 4K Seem… No, Just No
14. Stadia access codes have now reached Founder’s Edition buyers, days after launch
15. Google Stadia: Critical Consensus: Critics say Google Stadia is the best game streaming option around, but still falls short in almost every way that matters
16. Stadia Issues Continue And It’s The One Thing That Can’t Happen If We’re Going To Give Up Our Consoles
17. Google responds after Stadia owners accuse it of breaking promises over game performance
18. Google responds to criticisms of Stadia’s 4K support: After Red Dead Redemption 2 and Destiny 2 found to be upscaling lower resolutions, company says it expects developers to improve their games’ performance
19. Google offers refunds to Stadia players who bought games added to Pro subscription: Subscribers who purchased Farming Simulator and Tomb Raider are entitled to compensation
20. Google is offering refunds for players who bought new Stadia freebies
21. Google hires senior Assassin’s Creed devs for first Stadia studio
22. IP Insight – Blizzard v Bossland: Cheaters Never Prosper
23. Report: Amazon plans to announce long-rumored game streaming service in 2020
24. Amazon reportedly announcing game streaming service next year: Analyst suggests the retail giant will launch its service in time to compete with PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett
25. PlayStation controller patent shows larger triggers, no light bar
26. The hidden gems of Apple Arcade
27. Why are developers betting on Apple Arcade?: The mobile subscription service frees developers from monetisation worries, but questions linger about its future
28. AirConsole raises $3 million to expand library and reach
29. AirConsole raises $3m in Series A round: Cloud-based casual gaming platform looks towards partnership development
30. Toadman Interactive acquires publisher Sold Out
31. Toadman Interactive buys Sold Out for £16 million: UK publisher joins Swedish firm’s growing network of games companies
32. Top 1% of mobile publishers take 82% slice of downloads: Sensor Tower data showed 95% of IAP revenue going to just 1% of publishers in Q3 2019
33. Check out Xbox’s latest guidelines for building more accessible games
34. State of Decay 2, from Xbox Games Studios’ Undead Labs, headed to Steam
35. Xbox currently has no plans for xCloud exclusives, though it has been discussed
36. “No plans” for Project xCloud exclusives: Microsoft emphasises that it is “very early in the multi-year journey” for games streaming service
37. Shenmue III: Critical Consensus – The 18 year wait for a new Shenmue is over, and critics are split over a game deliberately out of step with the times
38. How Modern Warfare smooths over the horrors of war
39. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sold 4.75m digital units in its launch month – SuperData’s October report also shows Apex Legends having its best month since its launch quarter
40. UK Charts: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is back at No.1 as Nintendo Switch conquers top ten – Shenmue III debuts at No.17 and Football Manager 2020 comes in at No.16
41. Metacritic reveals the best 15 games of 2019 by review scores: Only One Nintendo Title Makes The Top Ten, According To Site’s Metascores
42. Making a career in games more sustainable: Goodbye Kansas’ Henrik Jonsson on how different corners of the games industry can stop driving away talent and support individuals long-term
43. Straight talk on funding — five top tips: Fundamentally Games’ Ella Romanos on forecasts, fees, the value of debt, and why failure can be useful
44. Ubisoft partners with blockchain distribution platform Ultra: “[Ubisoft] believes that all blockchain use cases that bring value to players are important to support,” says blockchain initiative director
45. Paid subscriptions coming to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp: Nintendo follows Mario Kart subscription with two tiers for Animal Crossing amounting to $10.98 per month
46. Who Leaked ‘Sword And Shield’ Secrets? Pokémon Lawyers Want To Catch ’Em All
47. Pokemon Sword and Shield have topped 6 million sales worldwide
48. Pokémon Sword & Shield are the fastest-selling games in Switch’s history: Switch duo sells six million copies worldwide in first week of release
49. The Witcher 3 continues to sell well as CD Projekt reports rising revenue
50. The Witcher 3, Gwent drive revenue growth at CD Projekt: Polish company looks toward strong Q4 with Gwent iOS and The Witcher 3 for Switch
51. Mobile developer and tool maker N3twork secures $40 million in funding
52. NetEase buys minority stake in Bossa Studios: Deal worth an alleged $30m precedes Bossa’s push into China with the launch of Hogwash
53. Coffee Stain invests in Kavalri: Goat Simulator publisher puts money into Equestrian the Game developer as part of initiative to address industry’s gender imbalance
54. Candy Crush Soda Saga and Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle hit $2b lifetime revenue – But Dragon Ball reached the milestone faster, according to Sensor Tower estimates
55. ‘Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’ broke multiple sales records for EA: Turns out Star Wars fans love a classic single-player game.
56. Jedi: Fallen Order sets records for EA Star Wars titles – Publisher says Respawn’s latest has best two-week digital sales in franchise history, best PC launch sales as well
57. Roblox grosses $1 billion in mobile revenue
58. Roblox surpasses $1b in lifetime revenue: Sensor Tower: Kid-friendly game creation platform has already grossed $435m so far in 2019
59. Analyst: Roblox revenue on mobile alone surpasses $1 billion
60. Rebellion has purchased Xenon and Speedball developer The Bitmap Brothers
61. Rebellion acquires The Bitmap Brothers: Sniper Elite developer plans to develop new games based on classic IPs from The Bitmap Brothers
62. Behaviour Interactive scrapping Deathgarden due to lack of players
63. Behaviour Interactive shuts down Deathgarden: Bloodharvest development: This is the second title Behaviour has shuttered this year, after its mobile Westworld game
64. Battleborn pulled from digital stores, going offline in 2021
65. 2K begins slow sunset of Battleborn: Free-to-play hero shooter will shut down virtual currency in February, game will remain live through January 2021
66. Swedish startup Coherence nets $2.5 million to build ‘democratic’ dev platform
67. Valve issues string of Steam bans after publishers caught abusing Steamworks
68. Steam removes hundreds of games after publishers abuse Steamworks: Russian publisher Dagestan Technology among those affected, although Valve has yet to offer further explanation
69. Valve is clearing out the last of its Steam Controller inventory
70. Valve discontinues Steam Controller: Ill-fated controller put out to pasture after four years
71. The Steam Controller is dead, but its legacy lives on
72. Intel granted patent for a new gamepad
73. VR would be “a really dark space right now” without Facebook’s money: At Reboot Develop Red, Chet Faliszek reflected on progress in the VR industry since he departed Valve
74. ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Trailer Revealed, Release Date Set for March 2020
75. Valve’s Gabe Newell: ‘We’re excited to return to Half-Life, VR has energized the studio’
76. First Look: ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Screenshots Are Classic Valve, with a Decade More Detail
77. Valve releasing Source 2 tools alongside Half-Life: Alyx next March
78. ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Will Run on All SteamVR Headsets, Free for Index Owners
79. Valve Index is Sold Out in Some Regions Following ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Announcement
80. Source 2 Tools Will Ship with ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ for VR Content from the Modding Community
81. Valve shares platform and launch details for VR exclusive Half-Life: Alyx
82. Half Life Alyx hits PC VR headsets in March 2020
83. Xbox chief: “Nobody’s asking for VR” for Project Scarlett
84. Phil Spencer: VR is isolating, isn’t a priority for Project Scarlett
85. Hey Surgeon, Is That a HoloLens on Your Head?: Mixed reality displays are entering the operating room, first as surgical planning tools and soon as real-time guides to help doctors zap tumors.
86. Beat Saber dev Beat Games acquired by Facebook
87. Facebook acquires Beat Games: Beat Saber developer joins Oculus headset maker to continue work on music VR games
88. Facebook just bought the developers behind virtual reality mega-hit ‘Beat Saber’ as part of a plan to ‘push VR to new heights’
89. Russian dairy cows wear VR glasses for better milk production: Farmers try virtual reality headwear to see if it will help cows calm down and produce more milk.
90. SuperData: Russia to surpass France as third-largest games market in Europe – Growth of mobile, esports, and free-to-play PC games expected to offset end of generation slowdown
91. DisguisedToast, a top Twitch streamer, is moving to Facebook Gaming
92. Facebook Makes First Play In Gaming Streamer Sign-Up Wars With ‘Disguised Toast’
93. Hearthstone streamer Jeremy ‘DisguisedToast’ Wang signs Facebook exclusivity deal: Wang follows in the footsteps of several other top streamers departing Twitch in recent months
94. Esports Org ‘Rogue’ Launches Latest Accelerator Program For Teen Fortnite Players
95. NBA star Tony Parker to be honoured at Esports BAR Cannes: Former San Antonio Spurs player will be given Ambassador award for his activities in esports
96. Why Session’s skateboarding design is more Skate than Tony Hawk
97. Snapchat’s journey to be a “gaming destination”: Global partnerships lead John Imah offers insight into the early days of Snap Games, and how it fits the company’s broader gaming strategy
98. The origins of Out Making Games, the UK’s first games industry LGBTQ+ network: We speak to the group’s founders about its initial success and plans to spread awareness and support in 2020 and beyond
99. Mike Pondsmith: “If you want to get somebody to see your point of view, don’t preach” – The veteran designer on adapting to new technology and using games to tackle political and social themes
100. Shovel Knight Showdown: Designing a roulette of gameplay
101. Reworking the combat system in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2
102. NetEase has purchased a stake in Surgeon Simulator dev Bossa Studios
103. Don’t Miss: Designing characters as UI in games like State of Decay
104. Don’t Miss: A game dev postmortem of the original BioShock
105. Don’t Miss: The legacy of Street Fighter II, in the words of the experts
106. Video: Adopting continuous delivery to combat crunch on Sea of Thieves
107. Video: How Riot creates new League of Legends champions
108. Blog: Handling Unity scene hierarchy and performance
109. Blog: What lessons can action games learn from Doom?
110. Blog: A trailer analysis of Manifold Garden
111. Blog: Combining film and comics to create the noir aesthetic of Interrogation1
112. Blog: The community-driven development of Vecter
113. Obituary: Stuido Studios co-founder Jose Zambrano

DIGITAL

1. Surprised about Mark Zuckerberg’s secret meeting with Trump? Don’t be
2. Facebook and Twitter data was exposed to developers through app store bug
3. Facebook is building an Instagram-style Close Friends feature: ‘Favorites’ sorts your actual friends from your Facebook acquaintances
4. Instagram Campaign Use Grows — But What Could The Removal Of Likes Mean For Creators?
5. Instagram’s @bitch Isn’t Your Typical Social Video Aggregator. It Actually Credits Content Creators And Licenses Their Work.
6. Singapore Government Tests Out Its Fake News Law Against An Opposition Party Leader
7. TikTok issues public apology for suspending the account of the teen behind the viral Chinese takedown video disguised as a makeup tutorial
8. YouTube Is Still Struggling To Label Videos From State-Controlled Outlets
9. Germany’s CDU, Angela Merkel’s Party Of Fuddy-Duddies, Decides To Join The Cool Kids: Backs Open Standards, Open Source, Open Data, Open APIs — Open Everything
10. Google fires four employees at center of worker organization efforts
11. Google Photos rolls out manual face tagging: Tutorial, benefits, and a big asterisk
12. Google bans microtargeting and “false claims” in political ads: Google’s new policy, like Twitter’s, is a shot across Facebook’s bow.
13. Google Permits Sports Betting Advertisements
14. Google Updates Its Political Advertising Policies
15. Supreme Court to Weigh in on Google-Oracle Copyright Dispute
16. A seismic cert – what to watch out for following the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Google v Oracle
17. Copyright Troll Mathew Higbee Demands ~$1,000 For Image Only His Team Viewed
18. Indiana manipulated report on Amazon worker’s death to lure HQ2, investigation says
19. State ignored worker death to lure Amazon business, report says
20. Amazon: Cops Can Get Recordings From Ring, Keep Them Forever, And Share Them With Whoever They Want
21. Court Says It’s Not Tortious Interference To Report Your Account Or Ask Twitter To Ban You
22. Twitter halts plan to remove inactive accounts until it can memorialize dead users: The company apologized for confusion around its plan to remove accounts
23. Twitter Just Confirmed A Better Way To Secure Your Account
24. Twitter will remove inactive accounts and free up usernames in December: No exact date for when usernames will be available
25. When Does a Tweet Fall Afoul of Regulation FD
26. Photographer Doubles Down On Tweet Copyright Protection
27. The Sketchy, Sketchy Case Of ICANN Execs And Self-Dealing Regarding The .Org Domain
28. Love Baby Yoda, you must
29. People can’t stop sharing Baby Yoda memes (and we don’t want them to)
30. Baby Yoda GIFs Removed Over Disney Copyright Issues: Leave our precious powerful alien infant alone!
31. Adorable ‘Baby Yoda’ GIFs return after Giphy mix-up: Disney wasn’t responsible for removing the cute little scamp.
32. Disney+’s The Mandalorian joins a long list of fake HDR content, analysis finds
33. Viacom’s Pluto TV Launches 24-Hour AwesomenessTV Channel In The U.K.
34. Former Devin Nunes’ Aide Uses Nunes’ Lawyer To File SLAPP Suit Against Politico
35. Alexander Vindman Now Threatens Bogus SLAPP Suit Against Fox News & Laura Ingraham
36. Google Will No Longer Allow Political Ad Targeting Based On Party Affiliation, Voter Records
37. Google Assistant can now navigate websites, book movie tickets
38. Google will pay $1.5 million for the most severe Android exploits
39. Google is killing Google Cloud Print
40. Rehearing Briefs in Enigma Software v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
41. Review Services Aren’t Liable for Removing Business Profiles (and Associated Reviews)–PCS v. HomeAdvisor (Eric Goldman)
42. More Evidence That Print-on-Demand Vendors May Be Doomed–Greg Young Publishing v. Zazzle (Eric Goldman)
43. Be careful with your AdWords: The German Federal Court of Justice sets a limit on the use of keywords for online advertising
44. Content and Conduct: How English Wikipedia Moderates Harmful Speech
45. Why can’t Internet companies stop awful content? – Opinion: Section 230 already got the balance right.
46. Sacha Baron Cohen Is Wrong About Social Media, Wrong About Section 230… And Even Wrong About His Own Comedy
47. Potential Amendments To CDA Section 230 Relating to Immunity Provided To Internet Intermediaries
48. Despite clear warnings, Europe is out of IP addresses—again
49. CCPA – Adtech Update
50. The Impact of Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes, and Other Online Ordering and Delivery Platforms on your Franchise Agreement
51. Netflix Starts To Harden Its Stance On Password Sharing
52. Netflix Clinches More K-Dramas In Multiyear Deals With Studio Dragon, JTBC
53. Netflix cancels its Mystery Science Theater 3000 revival
54. The Librem 5 has been “shipping” for a month—but not to backers
55. Bill Nye, Casey Neistat, iJustine Among Guests For Marques Brownlee’s YouTube Original ‘Retro Tech’
56. YouTube Test Matching “Edgy” Creators And Advertisers Has Resulted In Hundreds Of Thousands In Ad Dollars
57. YouTube Launches Largest ‘Masthead’ Ad Format On TV Screens Globally
58. YouTube Powerhouse ‘Bon Appétit’ Launches Linear Channel On Samsung TV Plus
59. YouTube Millionaires: Sierra Schultzzie Tries It All On In Her Adventurous, Body-Positive Videos
60. ‘Ryan’s World’ Continues Global Domination With Japanese-Language YouTube Hub
61. Epidemic Sound, A Music Licensor For Creators, Onboards YouTube, Spotify Vet Kate Vale
62. Spotify Faces Lawsuit From Indie Music Company Claiming Mistreatment
63. Just in case you didn’t get the message – Apple issues SEP FRAND statement
64. Apple and Intel Sue SoftBank-Funded Patent Troll, Claiming Antitrust Violations For Patent Trolling
65. Apple cancels theatrical premiere of its Oscar hopeful, The Banker
66. Apple Pulls “The Banker” From Premiere After Sexual Abuse Claims Against Real-Life Subject’s Son
67. To cut down on bugs, Apple is changing how it develops its software
68. ‘Rick And Morty’, Adult Swim Drive Social Video Views Amid Show’s Highly-Anticipated Return
69. Liza Koshy’s Latest Hosting Gig Is A Dance Competition Series For Quibi
70. Hey influencers! The FTC is talking to you – new guidance from the FTC
71. FTC Releases Sponsorship Disclosure Guide for Influencers on Social Media
72. Influencer Disclosure Update 101, Courtesy of the FTC
73. Influencer Marketing Pioneer ‘Best Fiends’ Taps Joey Graceffa, LaBrant Fam For Latest Launch
74. How MagicLinks Is Measuring Influencers’ Sales Data To Help Them Know Their Worth
75. UTA Signs Viral TikTok Star Brittany ‘Kombucha Girl’ Tomlinson (Exclusive)
76. Insights: College Sports Is About To Unleash An Influencer Deluge
77. Shane Dawson Concludes Jeffree Star Series With 142 Million Collective Views
78. Browser Extension ‘Honey’, A Frequent Shane Dawson And MrBeast Sponsor, Acquired For $4 Billion
79. Donut Media Drives In Creators MatPat, Linus Tech Tips, Gus Johnson, ChrisFix For Kia Challenge Series
80. Internet radio streams and the communication to the public right in Warner Music & Sony Music v TuneIn Inc.
81. Spotify’s Plans For Podcast Domination Involve Deals With Ryland Adams, Lele Pons
82. Spotify Awards to Debut in 2020, Geared to Mexico & Latin America
83. Spotify Is Launching Its Own Music Awards, Based on Streaming Data
84. Understanding Regulation of Cookies
85. Facebook posts that revealed client info bring public reprimand for MA lawyer
86. WayBack machine, a valid tool to verify a prior version of a web page
87. Private equity firm buys .org domain months after ICANN lifted price caps
88. The right T-shirt may increase medical implant’s battery life
89. Legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts
90. Cryptoassets: UK Jurisdiction Taskforce Publishes Statement
91. Legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts – the breakdown
92. Blockchain Basics: What GCs Need to Know About the Disruptive Technology
93. What does the FBI regard as the main cybercrimes? A closer look at the typologies
94. Voltage v. Salna + ~55,000 – Costs Implications of Dismissal of Reverse Class Action Certification Motion (Howard Knopf)
95. Website “Blocking Orders” Now Available In Canada
96. Can Canadian Courts Issue Site-Blocking Orders?
97. Federal Court Issues Site-Blocking Order for ISPs
98. Teksavvy Fights Back Against GoldTV Website Blocking Order – Interveners: Start Your Engines (Howard Knopf)
99. Canadian Copyright Website Blocking Underway As TekSavvy Appeals Federal Court Ruling (Michael Geist)
100. The Curious Case Of The Bogus CC License On A 3D Scan Of A 3000-Year-Old Bust Of Nefertiti
101. Rana Foroohar On How Tech Lost Its Way
102. Kate Klonick On Facebook’s Oversight Board
103. Digital assets and estate planning
104. Is it time to turn away from touchscreens in our cars?
105. Ubuntu 19.10: It’s fast, like “make old hardware feel new” fast

A.I.

1. NYC wants a chief algorithm officer to counter bias, build transparency
2. When Innovation Creates: Additional Developments in Artificial Intelligence at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
3. Can artificial intelligence systems patent their inventions?
4. “The UK Patents Act leaves no doubt that an inventor is a person…”
5. Sony establishes AI R&D division: New organisation will have offices in Japan, the US and Europe
6. FaceIt asking players to help train Minerva AI in fairly tackling toxicity: Upcoming Justice update will allow Counter-Strike community to review cases flagged by the machine learning tool
7. To secure a safer future for AI, we need the benefit of a female perspective
8. How A.I. Invoice Review Actually Works (Legal Tech Lesson)
9. How will AI transform the management of Intellectual Property?
10. Intel Core i9-10980XE—a step forward for AI, a step back for everything else

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Competition Bureau Continues Advocacy on Telecom Competition and Regulation
2. Cable Execs Now Falsely Claiming Cord Cutting Is Slowing Down
3. Huawei Files SLAPP Suits In France Against Critics Who Highlighted The Company’s Ties To The Chinese Government
4. FCC finalizes ban on Huawei and ZTE equipment in Universal Service Fund
5. FCC Adopts Order Restricting USF Funding on Huawei/ZTE; Possible Future Ban on All Equipment
6. FCC Proposes Rules Eliminating Outdated Network Unbundling/Resale Requirements
7. FCC Proposes Rules to Remove Bad Actors from Federally-Funded Programs
8. Third Circuit Denies Petition for Rehearing of Decision Overturning FCC Ownership Rule Changes
9. Empty T-Mobile Promises Convince Texas To Back Off Merger Lawsuit
10. Robocall Legislation Likely to Move Forward for White House Approval
11. NAB Seeks Reconsideration of FCC’s Clarification of Issue Advertising Public Disclosure Requirements – Rules Remain in Effect Though Some Clarification Provided
12. AT&T Exec Insists That No Broadband Company Is Violating Net Neutrality Even Though AT&T Is Absolutely Violating Net Neutrality
13. At launch, AT&T’s real 5G will only be as fast as its fake 5G
14. The Washington Post And AT&T Team Up To Over-hype 5G
15. Verizon’s new 5G coverage maps show just how sparse the network is
16. DOD joins fight against 5G spectrum proposal, citing risks to GPS
17. MediaTek and Intel team up to bring 5G networking to laptops and PCs
18. University of London v Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited [2019] EWCA Civ 2075
19. Telecoms: Court of Appeal ruling on operator’s right to survey  

PRIVACY

1. Suspect can’t be compelled to reveal “64-character” password, court rules
2. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Says Compelled Password Production Violates The Fifth Amendment
3. California Makes $50 Million Annually Selling Your DMV Data
4. EU’s High Court Issues Important Opinion on Website Cookie Consent
5. EU Tells US: Ban Strong Encryption, And Privacy Shield Data Sharing Agreement Could Be At Risk
6. Senate takes another stab at privacy law with proposed COPRA bill
7. Law Enforcement Agencies Bumping Up Demands For Uber Customers’ Data
8. A notorious Iranian hacking crew is targeting industrial control systems
9. 2.2 Million GateHub and RuneScape Passwords Compromised
10. Scammers try a new way to steal online shoppers’ payment-card data
11. Louisiana was hit by Ryuk, triggering another c
12. IIROC introduces mandatory cyber breach reporting
13. FedEx securities class action following the NotPetya cyberattack – implications for D&O insurance
14. Preparing for the California Consumer Privacy Act
15. States Set to Regulate the Internet of Things (IoT)
16. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Which supervisory authorities have released guidance on compliance with European cookie laws?
17. GDPR Privacy FAQs: What are the major differences between the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on cookies and the CNIL’s guidance on cookies?
18. GDPR Privacy FAQs: Can organizations use “terms and conditions” consent to gain consent to the deployment of cookies?
19. IP and data protection for fintech businesses in United Kingdom
20. Increased Ransomware Attacks Affecting All Industries
21. Hacker’s paradise: Louisiana’s ransomware disaster far from over
22. Senator Cantwell Releases Another Federal Privacy Law That Won’t Go Anywhere And Doesn’t Deal With Actual Issues
23. Governments Are Feeding on Facebook Data: Report Shows Recent Rise in Official Requests for User Information

CREATIVITY

1. Lawyer With Neo-Nazi Ties Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against SPLC For Calling Him A Neo-Nazi
2. This Week In Free Speech Hypocrites: ‘Free Speech’ Supporter Sheila Gunn Reid Gleefully Sues Someone For Calling Her A Neo-Nazi
3. Three Media Corporations Avoid Defamation Liability in Suit Brought by Joseph Arpaio
4. Supreme Court allows climate scientist’s defamation case to proceed
5. Australian Attorney General Wants To Make The Country’s Defamation Law Even Worse
6. The Federal Circuit’s Determination That Administrative Patent Judges are Unconstitutionally Appointed
7. The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 33: “Canadian Patenting is Not Going to Drive Anything” – Aidan Hollis on New Research on Patents and Innovation (Michael Geist)(
8. Banksy – showing “use” of his trademark or attempting to avoid evidential requirements of copyright law?
9. Nirvana Smiling as Motion to Dismiss Its Copyright and Trademark Claims is Denied
10. Beer Trademarks At Record High In UK As The Locking Up Of Language Continues To Boom
11. Nirvana, LLC v. Marc Jacobs International, LLC
12. Betty, Inc. v. PepsiCo, Inc.: District dismisses ad agency’s copyright infringement and breach of contract lawsuit accusing PepsiCo of copying concepts from rejected pitch for 2016 Super Bowl commercial.
13. Court of Appeal summarises law of joint authorship – Kogan v Martin
14. Transfer of “Know-How” includes Copyrights
15. The End Of Ownership, Military Edition: Even The US Military Can’t Fix Its Own Equipment Without Right To Repair Laws

Jon