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Implications of Forthcoming YouTube Policy Updates on Gaming Content
YouTube is looking to update their policies so as to better differentiate between real-world violence and gaming violence. In her quarterly letter, the platform’s CEO said the policy changes look to include fewer restrictions on violence in gaming content and matching interested advertisers with ‘edgier content’.
The existing policy has seen a crackdown on violent and “mature” content, which is often prone to demonetisation or being flagged for removal. At the moment, footage of real-world violence and simulated graphic violence in video games are treated the same on the platforms. This has led to frustration among YouTubers who produce gaming content, as they have been less likely to receive ad revenue unless they were playing something obviously family friendly. Perhaps the new policies to come will be beneficial to YouTubers who want to produce more adult-oriented gaming content.
The quarterly letter also addressed other issues including:
- Changes to treatment of data for children’s content as part of a settlement YouTube made back in September with the US FTC over violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (‘COPPA’), including requirements for creators to mark videos directed at kids;
- Progress in relatino to addressing aggressive copyright claims on the platform by rightsholders, especially for short music clips in monetised videos;
- Securing liability protections under the EU Copyright Directive, which is now being implemented into member-states’ national laws;
- Expansion of YouTube’s Self Certification pilot to enable content creators to self-report how their videos comply with ad policies.
All in all, quite a few interesting developments look to be coming to YouTube; we’ll have to wait and see how things unfold. Read the CEO’s letter in this blog post.
Video Game Machines Ruled as Slot Machines in Pennsylvania
This just in today: the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently ruled that video game machines called “Pennsylvania Skill”, manufactured and distributed by Pace-O-Matic (POM) are considered “slot machines” under the state law. The Pennsylvania Crime Code, Title 18 Section 5513, provides that it is illegal to manufacture, set up, sell, lease, or own a “slot machine” for gambling purposes, and these machines are subject to confiscation by authorities.
Video game machines/video gaming terminals are machines that allow gamblers to bet on the outcome of a video game. In Pennsylvania, they are found in gas stations and convenience stores. Up until today, they were in a bit of a legal grey area and those who argued in favour of their legality tended to present them as “games of skill”, as distinguished from traditional slot machines, which involve random luck. After this decision, it looks like law enforcement authorities have greater legal justification for seizing these machines and prosecuting those involved in their manufacture and distribution.
About the recent decision of POM of Pennsylvania LLC v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:
Some links for background context:
- https://www.casino.org/news/pennsylvania-games-of-skill-legal-issues-continue-to-trouble-authorities/
- https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/06/the-ones-that-got-away-lawmakers-in-americas-2-gambling-state-weigh-what-to-do-with-proliferating-skill-games.html
- https://lancasteronline.com/news/politics/lancaster-lawmakers-want-to-ban-pennsylvania-skill-machines/article_4b231028-8bbf-11e9-8113-3b33907cbe90.html
Video Game Patent Review Not Time-Barred, Fed. Cir. Says
Key takeaways
- Patent challenger never served in infringement case
- PTAB should determine proper service before review
A patent validity challenge at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wasn’t time-barred because the petitioner was never properly served in a related infringement case, the Federal Circuit ruled.
The PTAB should have considered the timeliness of a petition challenging Game & Technology Co.’s U.S. Patent No. 7,682,243 before instituting a review, the court said Nov 19.
But it upheld the board’s decision that the video game technology patent was invalid in light of prior art.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/video-game-patent-review-not-time-barred-fed-cir-says
“Sequels”: No More Game Preservation
In today’s class we spoke about the evolution of Video Games, especially encompassing the development of streaming through Google’s Stadia or Xbox’s X Cloud, but what about the development of Video Games themselves?
A recent article I read (link below) was discussing Overwatch 2 and highlighted the blurred line between sequels and expansions. Personally, I have always been irritated watching a Video Game release entirely unfinished and unpolished, full of bugs and errors, which is then followed up by an unending torrent of updates being release nearly constantly for months following the game. It’s understandable when a Video Game focuses on its online capabilities and ever-changing mission/loot parameters, but when you have a primarily single-player game – why oh why do we keep updating? It seems that most of the time I purchase a game I can expect massive changes within the upcoming months in order to accommodate some sort of issues in the original. And now we have a new problem: “Sequels” that are just a re-hash of the first one.
Given the trend of the Assassin’s Creed franchise and their monotony of repetitive games, it should be easy enough to change the cover, alter the cosmetics of the map, and add a new campaign and loosely connected story (at least). On the other hand, Overwatch 2 is a “new release” that now has “story missions”, however, the PvP basis of the game is going to be adjusted in tandem with Overwatch 1 players so that there is no divide between the players of each game and eventually the games will apparently be MERGED. That’s right – Overwatch 1 will apparently be fused so that it simply becomes Overwatch 2. So what is the point of a new game? Couldn’t the game just be updated to include story missions?
I doubt this trend will change. We have Path of Exile 2 as well, which is apparently a new campaign based on the original skills and style of the first game – really not much is new. We even have World of Warcraft: Classic, which is a return to the base game without the collection of expansions – while still distinct from WoW, it’s still a return to the beginning. At this point, I fully expect that our favourite franchise games might just get washed out as the same thing with new cosmetics – doubling down on purchasing power for no real developmental changes.
Presentation Outline: Digital Legacies – Examining the State of Digital Assets Upon Death
Have you ever thought about how much “stuff” you own that resides entirely online?
Do you attach some sort of real-world value to these assets?
Would you feel personal loss if certain digital assets were irretrievably lost?
In the event of death – what happens to these digital assets?
In this week’s presentation, Ellie, John, and Kiana will discuss the current state of succession law in relation to digital assets and how we must look beyond succession law to view the matter of digital inheritance as an intersection between succession, intellectual property, contract, and privacy law.
As an emerging area of law there are many issues that need to be addressed, however, we have narrowed our focus down to the following matters:
- What are digital assets?
- What is the current state of testate law in relation to digital assets?
- Common hurdles when dealing with digital assets
- Valuation of non-traditional digital assets
- Control: Rights vs. Ownership
- Can we regain control?
Associated Pre-Reading:
- “Eve Online virtual war ‘costs $300,000’ in damage” https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-25944837
- “ULCC: Uniform Access to Digital Assets by Fiduciaries Act (2016)” https://www.ulcc.ca/images/stories/2016_pdf_en/2016ulcc0006.pdf
- “Comment: Regulating Virtual Property with EULAs” http://wisconsinlawreview.org/comment-regulating-virtual-property-with-eulas/
News of the Week; November 13, 2019
GAMES
- Epic is suing another tester for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2 content
- Another tester is being sued by Epic Games for leaking Fortnite Chapter 2: Keywords Studio employee was fired day after leak, now faces claim for over $85,000 in damages
- Activision and EA insiders have been profiting from selling stock during buybacks: CEOs Bobby Kotick and Andrew Wilson have made millions, but companies insist there is no improper practice
- China details new play time and spending restrictions for minors playing online games
- US and China agree to roll back tariffs that were set to affect console and mobile
- Blizzard Confirms It Won’t Rescind Blitzchung’s Suspension
- US congressman calls out Blizzard for allowing racist groups in WoW: “Racism isn’t a game,” rep. Lou Correa said after being made aware of far-right user guild, The Enclave
- Overwatch director thinks Blitzchung ban “should be reduced more or eliminated”: Jeff Kaplan says the process for a suspension or ban in OWL “takes about four to five days”
- Activision Blizzard sees slumping sales, sliding engagement: Revenues and monthly active users down across the board for Activision, King, and Blizzard divisions
- CoD and WoW push Activision Blizzard to better-than-expected Q3
- Blizzard plans to merge Overwatch 1 and 2 clients down the line
- Has Blizzard solved the sequel dilemma? | Opinion: Launching a sequel to a service-based game can easily lose player goodwill — but Overwatch 2 may have found a clever way to thread the needle
- Blizzard: Overwatch and Overwatch 2 clients will merge eventually – Jeff Kaplan says that all benefits of the paid sequel will be available to players of the first game
- Why the Hearthstone devs wanted to make an auto battler
- Player spending in Grand Theft Auto Online jumped 23% following casino update
- Ignore the critics — Tax Relief is vital to the UK games industry | Opinion: Criticising Rockstar, Rocksteady and Creative Assembly for benefiting from VGTR misses the point, says legal expert Tim Davies
- Take-Two raises guidance as microtransaction spending grows 32%
- Net revenue up 74% at Take-Two thanks to Borderlands 3, NBA, GTA, and others
- Live games propel Take-Two toward quiet holiday as GTA V reaches 115m units sold – CEO Strauss Zelnick: “There’s no rulebook around how you create transitions or new products in a world of live services”
- Key resellers claim legitimacy — the courts say otherwise | Opinion: Beiten Burkhardt’s Andreas Lober probes the legal basis for key resellers, and finds those marketplaces on shaky ground
- Indie storefront Itch.io now boasts 200,000 games
- Valve appears to be working on a “Steam Cloud Gaming” service
- Steam game sales for ‘the other 50%’
- Steam search suggestions & premium positioning
- Death Stranding will launch simultaneously on Steam and the Epic Games Store
- UK Charts: Death Stranding is the second biggest PS4 launch of 2019 – Hideo Kojima’s game debuts at No.2 behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Roblox survey reveals disconnect between parents and teens over online bullying: Majority of parents believe their children will discuss online behaviour with them, but more than half of teens disagree
- U.S. VA evaluating how more accessible games help veterans heal
- NPD: U.S. games spending up 1% in Q3 as live-services offset consoles
- Revenue down at Nexon as Dungeon&Fighter works to win back players
- Nexon sales slip in Q3: MapleStory publisher shows modest revenue growth, but can’t offset double-digit percentage declines everywhere else
- PUBG Mobile generated $154 million during October 2019
- Call of Duty: Mobile racks up almost $60 million in launch month
- Call of Duty holds off Luigi’s Mansion 3 in the EMEAA chart: Activision’s shooter remained top of every chart despite competition from Nintendo’s latest exclusive
- Call of Duty Mobile beats Mario Kart Tour’s first month downloads: Sensor Tower estimates 148m downloads, behind only Pokémon Go in the all-time list
- Pokémon Sword and Shield review: A big adventure with a small Pokédex
- Just Dance 2020 is the last Ubisoft title on the Wii: Nintendo won’t say if it’s the last Wii game ever
- Nintendo: While nostalgia has appeal, remakes need to offer new game experiences
- Nintendo’s 3DS support will continue into 2020
- Don’t Miss: How Game Freak designs the iconic monsters of Pokemon
- Pokémon fans rally around Game Freak amid Sword and Shield unrest: The new Nintendo Switch games are due out this week
- Nintendo expects “remarkable results” from Mario Kart Tour: President Shuntaro Furukawa told investors that “earnings are off to a good start” following strong launch
- Bandai Namco revealed as a development partner for Mario Kart Tour
- Playtonic dismisses Microsoft buyout rumours: The Yooka-Laylee studio also confirmed it’s not working on a new Banjo-Kazooie game
- Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller review: For $180, it better be this good
- Microsoft using Xbox Adaptive Controller to rehabilitate US veterans: Company is working with Veteran Affairs to roll out device to medical centres
- Minecraft nearing 300 million registered users in China
- Minecraft closes in on 300m registered accounts in China: Mojang’s game now has 112m monthly active users worldwide
- Net sales and profits up at Square Enix despite HD game struggles
- Square Enix profits up 32% in first half of fiscal year: Publisher’s success driven by MMOs and mobile games as HD games sales slip year-on-year
- Flavourworks raises $3.8 million to make interactive games with live-action video
- Erica dev Flavourworks nets $3.85 million to make more interactive games
- Flavourworks raises £3m to expand Touch Video platform: Series A round was led by Hiro Capital, making its first investment after launching earlier this year
- TabTale changes its name to Crazy Labs with focus on hyper-casual mobile games
- Stillfront reaps rewards of Kixeye acquisition in Q3: Revenue from Core games division rises almost 200% following $90m deal
- Indie publisher Kiss launches Intelligent Finance ISA: Company tells GamesIndustry.biz it will fund future games by promising investors 6.8% profit per year through tech bond
- Playtika considering IPO as Chinese acquisition plans collapse: Mobile games firm seeks listing in unspecified market, according to the company that failed to buy it
- Epic Games acquires photogrammetry asset library and toolset maker Quixel
- Epic acquires Megascans creator Quixel: All Megascans assets to become free for Unreal Engine users
- Epic Games acquires photogrammetry startup Quixel to make games more realistic
- Atlas Empires dev Cerberus acquires marketplace platform Tastebud
- Cerberus Interactive acquires Tastebud: Texas studio wants to incentivise real-world purchases in its location-based title Atlas Empires
- Sony opening Malaysian art studio to boost first-party development
- PlayStation to open development studio in Malaysia: The new office will provide animation services to developers building exclusive PlayStation 5 games
- Sony’s Jim Ryan: We had to make changes to deliver our PlayStation 5 dream – PlayStation’s CEO on the globalisation of Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Sony has a PlayStation Now problem
- Abbey Games will terminate all employee contracts next month: Dutch indie “forced to scope down significantly” after Early Access version failed to live up to expectations
- Susan Wojcicki Talks Self Certification, Monetization, And Video Game Violence At YouTube’s First Gaming Creator Summit
- Starbreeze proposes plan to pay debts in full: Administrator signs off on reconstruction schedule that would see Payday outfit meet obligations to creditors within five years
- Homescapes has grossed $1b in lifetime revenue
- Tencent’s online game revenue surpasses $4 billion in Q3
- The Tencent zombie game trying to advance the battle royale formula – We speak to Next Studios about how Synced: Off-Planet recreates the tension of Fortnite or DayZ without copying the structure
- Report: Tencent wants to develop console games with help from Nintendo
- Tencent reportedly looking to use Nintendo IP as it expands internationally
- Tencent wants to make console games with Nintendo IP to boost US and Europe presence: It follows the two companies’ partnership to bring Switch to China
- PUBG Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile help drive Tencent gaming revenues: Chinese publisher cites increased contributions from overseas titles as driving growth in mobile gaming business, offsetting declines from PC
- Zynga: “Not every DAU is created equal”: President of publishing Bernard Kim talks about long-running live ops games and the decision to sunset or reinvest in them
- Gaming Industry Associations Agree on Universal Esports Principles
- Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag to be honoured at Esports Bar Cannes: 100 Thieves founder will be named Shaker of the Year at annual awards
- Hitmarker raises £200k for esports recruitment platform: Startup eclipsed £80k equity crowdfunding target in less than a week
- Twitch Studio, the company’s streaming software for new users, is now in open beta: The streaming site’s first software product is now available to everyone
- Q&A: Designing the foreboding Apple Arcade Soulslike Bleak Sword
- Apple reportedly making a VR/AR headset with a focus on gaming: Combined headset planned for 2021 or 2022, with lightweight AR glasses following in 2023
- Two years later, Apple’s AR/VR headset plans reportedly pushed back two years
- John Carmack wins Lifetime Achievement prize at VR Awards 2019: Oculus Quest crowned best hardware, while A Fisherman’s Tale is declared best game
- Virtual reality: Infringement in cyberspace
- Pistol Whip review: The year’s freshest VR game—and oh-so close to greatness
- Oculus and Unity team up for free course on VR game development
- Google brings DIY virtual reality to the masses by open-sourcing Cardboard SDK
- Only 12 games will be available on Google Stadia in time for Nov. 19 launch
- Stadia launch includes familiar lineup, one exclusive
- Google Stadia’s launch lineup includes 12 games: Only one title is an exclusive; three of them are Tomb Raider games
- Google unveils Stadia’s full 12-game launch day line-up: Plus 14 more titles for 2019.
- Stadia launch dev: Game makers are worried “Google is just going to cancel it”
- Kine creator: “The biggest concern with Stadia is that it might not exist” – DLC. At PAX West, developers Lucy Morris, Ken Hall, and Gwen Frey discuss diversity, community, and Stadia’s long-term potential
- Google plans to roll out Stadia features weekly after a barebones Nov. 19 launch
- Q&A: Respawn’s Mohammad Alavi works for greater diversity in game dev
- Diablo 4 impressions: Soaking in dark atmosphere and feel-good combat
- World of Warcraft: Shadowlands impressions: Leveling alts is about to get a lot more fun
- Activision Blizzard hits Q3 earnings targets with strong World of Warcraft Classic results
- Voodoo opens Canadian studio to expand beyond hypercasual market
- Voodoo opens Montreal studio as it expands beyond hypercasual games: New branch will be led by former Gameloft producer Mehdi El Moussali
- Human Head shuts down, staff to join Bethesda’s new studio: Co-founder Chris Rhinehart becomes creative director at Roundhouse Studios
- Prey dev Human Head Studios closes, is immediately revived by Bethesda
- What games are people talking about on Twitter?: Platform’s head of gaming content Rishi Chadha discusses what sparks conversation and how it differs from region to region
- Goldeneye 007’s lost remaster emerges again via massive, polished video leak
- Turning love into a cooperative game mechanic in The Game Bakers’ Haven
- Soul Reaver: Audacious, pulpy, intelligent, trashy, uncompromising
- “Expectations for full-price games is very high. You need a large budget to have a chance”: CI Games CEO Marek Tymiński on the struggles of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 and how upcoming sequel Contracts will rectify this
- Video: A chat with Mac Walters on the unsolved mysteries of the Mass Effect universe
- Video: Insights from the GDC 2019 Narrative Innovation Showcase
- Video: How Techland built Dying Light’s remarkable parkour system
- Blog: A battle royale analysis from Q3
- Blog: Analysing the success of Free Fire, the other king of battle royale
- Blog: When theme and mechanics collide
- Blog: Making a successful indie game using the GemuKai framework
- Don’t Miss: The Binding of Isaac postmortem
- Don’t Miss: Devs recount their near-catastrophic run-ins with the sunk cost fallacy
- Don’t Miss: How moving from 2D to 3D shaped the design of Risk of Rain 2
- Don’t Miss: Designing decisions that matter in Orwell
- “I believe I am preserving digital art in a physical form”: Special Reserve Games CEO Jeff Smith talks about the business of selling physical copies of indie hits, from speculators to customers buying games “almost blindly”
- New Noclip vid offers devs an inside look at how the ESRB works
- Video: An indie game dev’s guide to contracting
- Video Gaming / E-Gaming Law Update: Does Your Gaming Stream Violate the Copyright Act?
- Galaga and Pole Position composer Nobuyuki Ohnogi has passed away
DIGITAL
- India Is Stifling Kashmir Journalists And Twitter Is Helping Get The Job Done
- Insider Threats: DOJ Says Twitter Employees Spied On User Accounts For Saudi Arabia
- Hong Kong Court Hands Down Protest-Targeting Order Banning Online Content That ‘Incites Violence’
- Did a UK Judge Just “Break the Internet”? Stay Tuned re the TuneIn Decision
- UK Premier League scores big in battle against illegal streaming devices
- Is it time to look at monetisation as a new exclusive right of the author? (Andres Guadamuz)
- Court Deems Screenshot Fair Game for Fair Use Defense in Copyright Action
- Section 230 Helps Salesforce Defeat Sex Trafficking Lawsuit–Doe v. Salesforce (Eric Goldman)
- Biden Spreads False Info By Saying That Taking Away Section 230 Will Make Facebook Liable For Spreading False Info
- John Oliver Takes On SLAPP Suits And Anti-SLAPP Laws With A Grand Musical Number
- Massive Facebook document leak gives ammunition to investigators
- ECJ rules on Facebook “Like” button
- NY regulators investigating Apple Card after viral complaint of sexism: Customer service reportedly blamed “the algorithm” for discrepancies.
- Copyright Troll Lawyer Serves Up BS ‘Dead Grandfather’ Excuse For Missing Court; Now Facing Sanctions And Arrest
- Techdirt Podcast Episode 232: Copying Is Not Theft
- New Class Action Targets Discriminatory Ad Practices
- Members of violent white supremacist website exposed in massive data dump
- Netflix CEO defends censoring anti-government video in Saudi Arabia
- Netflix: We’re Not In The Truth To Power Business, We’re In The Entertainment Business
- Netflix Unveils Multi-Year Pact With Nickelodeon One Day After Disney+ Launch
- Too Many Streaming Exclusives Is Already Starting To Tick Users Off
- One Day In, Disney+ Already Has More Than 10 Million Subscribers
- High demand causes login problems on Disney+ launch day
- Defamation by Hyperlink
- Uber CEO: Time To Forgive The Saudis For Murdering That Journalist
- Uber CEO Defends Saudis After Jamal Khashoggi Murder: ‘Doesn’t Mean They Can Never Be Forgiven’ (Video)
- Softbank is getting exactly what it deserves, and it’s thanks to something way bigger than WeWork: Softbank took a $6.5 billion loss on investments in Uber and WeWork this quarter, and it deserves to lose more.
- Uber CEO says he was wrong to call slaying of Saudi Arabia journalist Jamal Khashoggi ‘a mistake’
- Uber CEO downplays Khashoggi murder, then walks back his comments
- Uber CEO downplays murder of Jamal Khashoggi as ‘mistake,’ then backtracks
- How terrible software design decisions led to Uber’s deadly 2018 crash
- Report Suggests Rampant Negligence In Uber Self Driving Car Fatality
- Amazon gains unfair edge by making sellers use its shipping, complaint says
- Amazon fails to unseat pro-tax city council members in Seattle
- Heineken challenged for targeting under 18s on Instagram
- Instagram is testing a new video editing tool called Reels that copies TikTok’s best features
- Twitter And Instagram Both Begin Experiments In Decreasing The More Socially Questionable Incentives Of Their Platforms
- TikTok Facing CFIUS Scrutiny
- US committee warned of China’s bulk data collection
- Google enlists outside help to clean up Android’s malware mess
- Google has access to detailed health records on tens of millions of Americans
- Google: You can trust us with the medical data you didn’t know we already had – Google has 50M people’s medical records but won’t merge them with other Google data.
- Google fires staffer, suspends two others, amid rising workplace tensions
- Google will offer checking accounts, says it won’t sell the data
- YouTube Insists It Isn’t Changing “Right To Monetize” After Terms Of Service Update Sparks Backlash
- YouTube To Host Charity Tribute Concert In Nashville To Fete Its Johnny Cash Doc
- YouTube Overhauls Homepage With Bigger Thumbnails, New Queue Button, More
- Federal and State Authorities Increase Scrutiny and Enforcement of Children’s Privacy; Google, YouTube Agree to Pay a Record $170 Million Fine
- Operation Full Disclosure, Continued: FTC Releases Disclosure Guides for Influencers
- FTC Releases New User-Friendly Disclosure Guidelines for Influencers
- FTC offers guidance for social media influencer disclosures
- FTC Releases Guidance for Influencers
- FTC Guidance for Social Media Influencers and Endorsements Continues to Evolve
- FTC Releases New Disclosures Guidance for Influencer #Ads
- Avoiding both irresponsible and misleading influencer marketing
- ASA ruling on “celebrity” status – ThisMamaLife
- ASA ruling on weight loss post – Jemmy Lucy
- ASA ruling on audience composition – Tanya Burr
- Tis the Season: Act in Time, or Your Nonprofit Will Say Goodbye to Any DMCA Safe Harbor Protection from Copyright Infringement Liability
- Liza Koshy Named Co-Chair Of Michelle Obama-Founded Nonprofit ‘When We All Vote’
- With 25 Million Views On Season 1, Kian And JC Are Readying Another ‘Reality House’
- Logan Paul vs. KSI 2 Turned Into A Legit Boxing Event
- Ahead Of Logan Paul Rematch, KSI Drops “Down Like That” Rap Track With Rick Ross, Lil Baby
- Spotify taps Viacom for content marketing globally
- Spotify’s Magic Leap app will change playlists as you change rooms: With an interface that appears in your real-world environment
- On Podcasting
- How Ipsy And Warby Parker Are Harnessing The Engagement Power Of Micro Influencers For Social Video
- Deloitte Ranks BroadbandTV One of The Fastest Growing Companies in North America
- How Canadian media-tech giant BroadbandTV is giving content owners a boost
- Microsoft’s Project Silica offers robust thousand-year storage
- Why more than 168,000 Valentine’s day text messages arrived in November
- The perils of messaging apps
- How Airbnb’s fight to overturn a New Jersey law imploded
- Will the Music Industry Continue To Win Its Copyright Battle Against ISPs?
- CISAC Labels Canada a “Digital Champion” for Digital Music Royalty Growth (Michael Geist)
- The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 31: Is Canadian Media in a Financial Crisis? – Marc Edge With a Different Take on What the Data Says
- Cloudflare Explains What It Takes To Slay A Patent Troll
- What is cyber insurance and how popular is it becoming?
- Safeguarding User Freedoms in Implementing Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive: Recommendations from European Academics
- Spotlight on Digital Competition Issues – A Digital Legacy
A.I.
- Twitter wants your feedback on its proposed deepfakes policy
- Intellectual property in open innovation and co-innovation in the field of artificial intelligence
- This system from Garmin can land a private plane when your pilot can’t
- When AI systems cause harm: the application of civil and criminal liability
- Task force on artificial intelligence hearing: AI and the evolution of cloud computing – key testimony on the risks, challenges and opportunities
- Uber still using Waymo-derived self-driving technology, expert says
- Meet MLPerf, a benchmark for measuring machine-learning performance
- Robot delivery services: the latest in anthropomorphic marketing?
COMMUNICATIONS
- Comcast is trying to “dismantle” Civil Rights Act of 1866, MLK’s daughter says
- How the FCC solves consumer problems—well, it doesn’t, really
- Third Circuit Asked to Rehear Decision Overturning FCC Ownership Rule Changes – Where Do We Go from Here?
- FCC To Consider All-Digital AM at its November Meeting – What Questions are Being Asked?
- AT&T switches customers to more expensive plans without asking them first
- A Decade Later, AT&T Pays A Pittance For Lying About Its Unlimited Data Plans
- States Are Being Conned By Lobbyists Into Backing Off The T-Mobile Merger Lawsuit
- The Color Magenta, Or How T-Mobile Thinks It Owns A General Color
- ‘Unlimited’ Data Plans With Very Obvious Limits Are Only Getting More Confusing
- DirectTV Forgot To Stop Charging Customers For Channels That Were Blacked Out
- Mozilla: ISPs Are Lying About Encrypted DNS, Should Have Privacy Practices Investigated
- Defense Department and FCC to Collaborate on 5G Testbeds
- 2020 Political Broadcasting Rules
- 2019 – 2020 Political Issue Advertising The Blessing and the Curse!
- How does Plume get all these ISP partnerships? Open source software
PRIVACY
- US violated Constitution by searching phones for no good reason, judge rules
- FBI Asks Congress To Permanently Reauthorize The Phone Record Collection The NSA Voluntarily Shut Down
- Breach affecting 1 million was caught only after hacker maxed out target’s storage
- Ring Spends The Week Collecting Data On Trick-Or-Treating Kids And Being An Attack Vector For Home WiFi Networks
- Ring-a-ding: IoT doorbell exposed customer Wi-Fi passwords to eavesdroppers
- Search warrant overrides 1M users’ choice not to share DNA with cops
- One of the world’s most advanced hacking groups debuts new Titanium backdoor
- The Battle Over Encryption
- Microsoft Says It’s Cool With California’s New Privacy Law
- IoT Security: NIST Spotlight
CREATIVITY
- Copyright & Colourable Imitation – Inside Out or Upside Down?
- Religion and belief discrimination: dismissing employee who refused to sign a copyright agreement was not discriminatory
- Indirect religion and belief discrimination: Did an employee suffer indirect discrimination because of her beliefs about copyright?
- Artists’ moral rights in the frame
- Vallejo v. Narcos Productions LLC
- Everybody must get (Sharon) Stoned
- Federal Court Says Man Arrested For ‘Criminally Defaming’ Cops Can Continue Suing To Block The Law From Being Enforced
- ASA ruling on gender stereotyping Philadelphia
- ASA ruling on gender stereotyping – Volkswagen
- Sandra Bullock & Ellen DeGeneres Lawsuit Takes on “Celebrity Endorsement Theft Industry”
- ASA ruling on alcohol and social responsibility – Macallan
- Public Backlash Leads To Backcountry.com Backing Down From Trademark Bullying
- Just Sue It: Nike Takes Skechers to Court For Copying Design Patents
- The best science and math moments in Sesame Street’s first 50 years
- A snapshot of the global patent landscape in eight charts
Jon
Class 10 – 11/13/19; “Consumers & Users: Cases, Clauses, & Contexts Part 3″ + ” Modifications in Video Games”
Video & slides below…
Jon
Fortnite professional ‘FaZe Jarvis’ has been banned for life by Epic Games for uploading videos of him cheating.
There has been a lot of conversation over the past week over Fortnite’s ban handed to FaZe Jarvis.
FaZe Jarvis is a 17-year-old professional Fortnite gamer for the esports organization ‘FaZe Clan’. He decided on making a youtube video, now deleted, showing the unfair advantages hackers and cheaters have when playing this game – and these players are often unpunished.
According to Fortnite’s developer Epic Games, none of what he did was OK. This week, the publisher hit Kaye with a lifetime ban, citing a “zero tolerance policy for the usage of cheat software.”
This ban has led to a lot of controversial discussions in the community as to whether or not public content creators should be held to a different standard than everyday players. He has since uploaded a video where he admits he wasn’t thinking of the potential consequences that might follow showing off a Fortnite aimbot has racked up 10 million views.
There has been support from professional players for Fortnite to reduce this ban, with Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, claiming the game’s celeb players shouldn’t be barred from playing because they deserve special treatment. Other members of FaZe Clan have spoken out in defense of Khattri, suggesting that Epic Games took less drastic action for players who have cheated with greater consequences – whereby another recent cheating incident that involved two competitive “Fortnite” players receiving a 14-day suspension after they were caught colluding with other players to place in a championship. After the suspension, the two players were able to advance and win monetary prizes.
Whereas the majority of the community Fortnite fans think the life ban is justified.
- One user wrote: “Not fair? Well don’t do dumb things to ruin other people’s game.”
- Another said: “Him being a public person makes what he did worse…and he should be held to a higher standard.”
This brings up a greater issue for esports athletes, there are no universal rules for games and cheating – rather full authority is given to the game developers to had out decisions at their will. This will come into greater scrutiny if Epic Games decide to reduce the severity of the game. Another example is in CSGO where members of iBuyPower were permanently banned from competition or involvement in Valve-associated events due to a match-fixing scandal, yet this ban was partially lifted a couple of years later.
Articles:
- https://www.tubefilter.com/2019/11/05/fortnite-faze-jarvis-banned-youtube-videos/
- https://www.polygon.com/2019/11/11/20959591/faze-jarvis-youtube-fortnite-lifetime-ban-controversy
- https://www.insider.com/faze-clan-wants-fair-compromise-epic-games-jarvis-fortnite-permaban-2019-11
- https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/10321527/fortnite-ninja-faze-jarvis-ban/
Racism in Video Game Culture Continued
Hi Guys,
Just wanted to follow up on the last week’s presentation with a short video on racism in video games. I was planning on showing a portion of this video during the presentation but due to time constraints ended up cutting it out. The video features a short interview with Terrence Miller, an African American Hearthstone player who made it to the finals of a live streamed competition in 2016. During the match, he was subjected to so much racism that the moderators could not keep up.
Thought it was interesting to see him talk about the incident first hand and gain some other insights on the problem of racism in video game culture.
Hope you find this useful!