Posts

News of the Week; May 22, 2019

By Jon Festinger on June 19, 2019

GAMES

  1. N.Y. Supreme Court Dismisses Right of Publicity Claims against Take-Two Based on a Character from NBA 2K18
  2. Nintendo is pulling two mobile games from Belgium over loot box laws
  3. Belgian loot box decision takes down some of Nintendo’s mobile games
  4. Nintendo to halt service of two mobile games in Belgium amid loot box debacle – Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes to be taken offline in Belgium on August 27
  5. Nintendo offers Switch Online voucher to serve up digital discounts
  6. Mario Kart Tour beta hands-on: Microtransactions land like a nasty blue shell: The actual gameplay has some polish. Everything else in this Android beta stinks.
  7. Why we’re headed toward loot box legislation | Opinion: The games industry is poorly positioned to defend itself on this front, and the fallout could impact a lot more than just loot box mechanisms
  8. Who is responsible for loot boxes?: Voices from around the industry share their thoughts on what’s at stake and who should be doing what
  9. Access to Red Dead Online’s poker restricted by regional gambling laws
  10. Red Dead Online’s in-game poker unavailable in certain regions: Despite no connection with real-world money, players in countries with strict gambling laws may not be able to access minigame
  11. Unity slammed over engine features supporting the gambling industry: Developer removes posts detailing “especially helpful” real-money gaming features
  12. Zynga on licensing and addiction: Bernard Kim explains the strategy on deals for Star Wars and Game of Thrones Slots Casino, then ties addiction debate to Garth Brooks
  13. Riot ignores calls to scrap mandatory arbitration for all employees
  14. Riot Games stands firm against walkout employees’ demands
  15. Report: Tencent and Riot working on a mobile version ofLeague of Legends
  16. The Subtle Economics Of Private World Of Warcraft Servers: Anarchy, Order And Who Gets The Loot
  17. Xbox head commits to building a safe and inclusive game community
  18. Xbox: “We have a huge responsibility to a healthy gaming lifestyle” – The platform holder discusses addiction, aggressive monetisation and its role in protecting gamers
  19. Windows 10 now offers a game-focused Xbox Game Bar overlay
  20. Sega’s Judgement will be available in Japan again in July: A new character model and voice will replace that of actor Pierre Taki, who was arrested on drug charges
  21. Esports Pro Sues Gaming Organization FaZe Clan Over “Oppressive” Contract
  22. Streamer Tfue sues esports organization for illegal operation as a talent agency: Turner Tenney claims Faze Clan did not act in his best interests, withheld 80% of his earnings from streaming
  23. Esports Pro Tfue Sues FaZe Clan, Alleging Unpaid Sponsorship Earnings And Restrictive Contract
  24. Faze Clan and Tfue’s legal dispute could reshape e-sports and YouTube contracts forever: The lawsuit could be a turning point for e-sports organizations
  25. A New Lawsuit Could Transform How the Influencer Industry Is Regulated: Filing says “the time is now for content creators, gamers and streamers to stop being taken advantage of through oppressive, unfair and illegal agreements.”
  26. Some publishers pay streamers as much as $50k an hour to play new games
  27. Game Publishers Pay Top Streamers Like Ninja $50,000+ Per Hour To Play Their New Games (Report)
  28. Sega to resume sales of Judgment in Japan following drugs scandal
  29. Disney and Sega join $7.8m Series A funding round for Tyffon: Location-based VR company plans third Tokyo venue and US expansion
  30. The Ouya’s game store will close for good in June
  31. Crowdfunded gaming console Ouya will shut down for good on June 25th: Only games downloaded directly to console will be playable.
  32. Don’t Miss: A retrospective on the Ouya
  33. LCS directs Echo Fox to separate from shareholder over racist remarks: Esports organized instructed to take action within 60 days or risk participation in League of Legends Championship Series
  34. Legal Issues in Esports
  35. Valve is making Dota 2 players pay to avoid toxic gamers
  36. Valve lets players avoid toxic people in DOTA 2, charges for the privilege: Experimental Avoid Player feature included in $9.99 battle pass
  37. Valve making its own version of popular Dota 2 mod: After talks for a collaboration are abandoned, Valve will make a competing version of Dota Auto Chess “with Drodo’s blessing”
  38. Valve wasn’t ‘really sure what to do’ following Assassin’s Creed Unity review surge
  39. CD Projekt Red talks Cyberpunk 2077 crunch, vows to be ‘more humane’ to devs
  40. CD Projekt Red wants to be “known for treating developers with respect”: Company is pushing “non-obligatory crunch policy” for development of Cyberpunk 2077, asking workers to push back if hours are too much
  41. Kickstarter won’t recognize employee union without an election: Interim CEO acknowledges problems but believes the company is “better set up to be successful without the framework of a union”
  42. Apple ruling opens a can of worms for digital storefronts | Opinion: The Supreme Court ruling could open the floodgate to consumer lawsuits for digital stores – including the content of developer agreements
  43. Esports to add $8bn to Chinese domestic games revenue by 2023: Niko Partners report shows mobile esports game revenue doubling by 2023, when Chinese domestic market will top $41 billion
  44. Tencent games business remains steady in lingering effects of license freeze: Q1 growth mostly came from other sources, but company looks to more new releases in Q2
  45. Alibaba is the ‘better stock’ compared to Tencent, analyst says
  46. Tencent has acquired Swedish game developer Sharkmob
  47. Tencent acquires Sharkmob: Chinese tech giant buys nascent Swedish online game developer before it’s announced its first game
  48. NetEase pushed Minecraft to 200m registered Chinese users in Q1: Milestone achieved against a backdrop of rising revenue and profits from online games
  49. NetEase reveals game deals with Pokémon and Marvel: Pokémon Quest will be the first mobile game in the series to launch in China
  50. God of War has sold 10 million copies
  51. God of War reaches ten million lifetime sales: Meanwhile, streaming be part of Sony’s “mainstream business model” with its next-gen console
  52. Sony launches PlayStation Productions to turn games into movies and TV shows
  53. Sony announces PlayStation Productions to bring gaming IP to film and TV: Production studio to be headed by Asad Qizilbash, already working on first round of projects
  54. Shawn Layden stresses importance of diverse teams: PlayStation boss says teams need to represent a global fanbase, warns that “sameness is the death of innovation and creativity”
  55. PlayStation boss: “We believe the streaming era is upon us.”
  56. Backwards compatibility and streaming key to Sony’s next-gen strategy
  57. Sony hardware demo showcases speedy next-gen load times and rendering
  58. See how much faster Sony’s next PlayStation can load Spider-Man
  59. Sony and Microsoft teaming up to develop cloud and AI tech
  60. Sony and Microsoft partner for cloud, AI innovations: Rival platform holders to collaborate on projects using Microsoft Azure for competitive cloud technology
  61. Report: PlayStation staff were in the dark about the Sony and Microsoft team-up
  62. Report: Sony employees caught off guard by Microsoft cloud partnership
  63. Microsoft: Gaming should be for everyone, shouldn’t be toxic stew
  64. Xbox’s Gaming for Everyone: “Diversity has always been here”
  65. What Microsoft and Sony’s streaming partnership means for gaming’s future
  66. Xbox, PC get a little bit closer with the latest Xbox updates
  67. Minecraft Earth gives franchise a Pokémon Go twist: Microsoft launching free-to-play augmented reality mobile game in closed beta this summer
  68. Inside Minecraft Earth, Microsoft’s huge augmented reality gamble: Microsoft is taking the world’s second-best-selling game of all time into augmented reality. But will the push to net even more players stretch the game’s DNA past breaking point?
  69. Minecraft Earth Goes A Step Beyond Pokémon Go To Cover The World In Blocks – Microsoft’s ambitious goal: holograms that persist everywhere
  70. Minecraft has sold 176 million copies worldwide: Latest figure makes Mojang’s sandbox adventure the best-selling game of all time based on known game unit sales
  71. Marvel, The Pokemon Company partner with NetEase to launch games in China
  72. Mortal Kombat 11 is the second best-selling game of 2019 in the US: NPD data shows NetherRealm’s game beating Days Gone as the biggest game in April
  73. World War Z has sold almost 2 million copies in one month  
  74. World War Z closes first month with almost 2m sold: Saber Interactive’s sleeper hit has doubled sales since its launch week
  75. Metro Exodus recoups all costs, boosts Q1 revenue at THQ Nordic: Net sales spiked 158% at the publisher thanks to 4A Games’ shooter and Coffee Stain’s Satisfactory
  76. THQ Nordic acquires Gothic and Risen developer Piranha Bytes
  77. THQ Nordic acquires Gothic developer Piranha Bytes: German studio’s entire team and the rights to Risen and Elex were also part of the deal
  78. Ubisoft: The Division 2 missed sales goals on consoles due to crowded market
  79. Inside Station F: The grander ambitions of Ubisoft – Ubisoft’s focus on emerging technology, from blockchain to VR, points to something bigger for the French games giant
  80. Video: Writing and designing Star Trek: Bridge Crew for VR
  81. An exhaustive look at Oculus Quest’s first day of great, wireless VR software
  82. Oculus Rift S Review – A Good Choice for VR Newcomers, a Difficult Choice for VR Vets
  83. Magic Leap acquires Mimesys to boost spatial computing offerings
  84. This robot hits you in real life when you get hit in VR
  85. Pre-E3 2019: Oculus wants you to paddle a stealth VR kayak—and it’s awesome
  86. New Minecraft Earth AR game takes a cue from Pokemon Go
  87. Minecraft has sold 176 million copies in 10 years
  88. Uplay boost fails to prevent The Division 2 missing sales targets: PC gamers choose Ubisoft’s own marketplace over Epic Game Store as sequel sells ten times more than original
  89. Re-Logic won’t “sell our souls” with Epic Games Store exclusivity: VP Whitney Spinks assures Terraria developer’s audience that it won’t follow trend for PC exclusives
  90. Epic discounts entire Game Store library in storewide “Mega Sale“ [Updated]
  91. Teething pains for Epic Games Store as publishers opt out of debut ‘Mega Sale’
  92. Borderlands 3, other games temporarily removed from Epic Games Store sale [Updated]
  93. Gaming Platform War Update: Epic Games Store Suspends Accounts… For Buying Too Many Games
  94. Epic footing the bill for some discounts in the Epic Games Store’s first sale
  95. Steam Link streaming app launches on iOS a year after Apple rejection
  96. Steam Link finally available for iOS: Valve’s streaming up launches a year after Apple rejected it
  97. Steam Link comes to iOS without Steam Store functionality [Updated]
  98. GOG Galaxy 2.0 aims to bridge the platform gap in game communities
  99. Nippon Ichi Software reportedly unable to pay staff after Disgaea RPG teething problems: Japanese developer issues warrant to sell stock at reduced price
  100. Defiant Studios axed as Lords of the Fallen 2 developer
  101. Defiant Studios dropped as developer of Lords of the Fallen 2: CI Games terminates contract after one year, calls Defiant’s work on the game “inadequate”
  102. Epic Games store eats cost of site-wide sale: Company takes $10 off everything over $15 at no cost to publisher or devs, giving refunds for preorders, recent purchases
  103. Paradox pulls Bloodlines 2 from Epic Store during Mega Sale: Klei Entertainment follows suit with Oxygen Not Included as Epic offers $10 off basically everything
  104. 2K cuts off Borderlands 3 pre-orders on PC during Epic Mega Sale
  105. 2K halts Borderlands 3 pre-orders during Epic Games Store Mega Sale: Publisher says decision is temporary, and pre-orders made during sale will be honoured
  106. World of Warcraft Classic beta testers are reporting vanilla WoW features as bugs
  107. Dauntless launches on consoles with full, day-one crossplay
  108. Playtika launches casual games division
  109. The state of singleplayer games in 2019 so far: In 2017, we worried singleplayer games were dying. 2019 tells a different story.
  110. Making the player the AI in outer space thriller Observation 
  111. Don’t Miss: The world design of Diablo III
  112. Game Design Deep Dive: Environmental storytelling inGeneration Zero 
  113. Blog: Peeping under the hood of a rhythm game in Unity
  114. Blog: Was it worth quitting my job to go indie? 
  115. Blog: Successfully launching a game with a near-zero marketing budget
  116. Video: Slime Rancher dev’s guide to making games that stand out and survive
  117. Blog: Picking a platform – Bottom-up vs top-down thinking
  118. Blog: Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2019 
  119. Blog: The contradiction between hard fun and accessibility
  120. Blog: The ‘how’ of bittersweet game design
  121. Behind the enthralling dystopian student game, Burning Daylight  
  122. Video: Designing Path of Exile to be played forever
  123. Video: The care and feeding of live narrative game Fallen London
  124. Don’t Miss: Looking back at the development of the originalRage
  125. Video: How RimWorld found success through ridiculous, contrarian design
  126. Metro Exodus made back its dev and marketing costs in under 2 months
  127. Don’t Miss: Effectively marketing Chasm in a crowded Metroidvania market
  128. No show floor booth for Activision at E3: E3 floor plans reveal another big player has left the LACC show floor; EA returns with private meeting room
  129. Gaming Advertising Fines and Bans: How Might Recent Increases in Restrictions on Gaming Advertisements Across the Globe Impact Gaming Advertising in North America? 
  130. Top 5 takeaways from the Games Industry Law Summit 
  131. U.S. Patent No. 8,882,590: Touch-controlled game character motion providing dynamically-positioned virtual control pad 
  132. Required gamer viewing: The history of M2’s Japanese retro-port empire

DIGITAL

  1. Federal government proposes sweeping digital charter
  2. Canada’s Digital Charter: Trust in a digital world
  3. The Foundation of Canada’s Digital Charter: Privacy Law Reform Focused on a Data-Driven Economy (Michael Geist)
  4. The World Wants to Fight Online Hate. Why Doesn’t President Trump?: The White House foolishly rejected an international effort to stop the spread of extremism and violence on the internet.
  5. White House unveils new tool to report censorship by social media giants
  6. White House Sets Up Echo Chamber For Complaints About Social Media Bias Against Conservatives
  7. Governments And Internet Companies Agree On Questionable Voluntary Pact On Extremist Content Online
  8. Combating online hate could mean legal change
  9. Why Facebook shareholders want Mark Zuckerberg out
  10. Facebook and Google pressured EU experts to soften fake news regulations, say insiders: On the eve of European elections, the tech giants stand accused of sabotaging the European Union’s fight against disinformation.
  11. Flip Side To ‘Stopping’ Terrorist Content Online: Facebook Is Deleting Evidence Of War Crimes
  12. And Now The Prime Minister Of Canada Is Threatening To Fine Social Media Companies Over ‘Fake News’
  13. Huge New Study Finds Almost No Evidence That Social Media Makes Kids Unhappy
  14. AT&T denies that selling phone location data was illegal as FCC investigates
  15. AT&T Has Become a New Kind of Media Giant: Bellhead CEO Randall Stephenson is taking on Netflix and Comcast simultaneously. It won’t be easy.
  16. AT&T outclassed Verizon in hurricane response, and it wasn’t close, union says
  17. Trump tries to shut Huawei out of US market with executive order
  18. President Trump Issues Executive Order on Information Security; Huawei Technologies to Be Placed on “Entity List” 
  19. Trump issues Executive Order on securing information and communications technology and services – key points
  20. Telecom trade restrictions when dealing with Huawei and its non-U.S. affiliates
  21. Chinese Telecom Companies Under Fire: Commerce Moves to Cut Off Huawei From U.S. Technology, With More Restrictions Coming
  22. Trump Administration Limits US Purchase and Use of Certain Technology From Foreign Adversaries, Sale of US Technology to Huawei
  23. US Adds Huawei and Affiliates to the Department of Commerce Entity List – What to Expect From the Final Rule 
  24. ARM cuts ties with Huawei, threatening future chip designs: A major blow to Huawei
  25. ARM is the latest partner to shun Huawei, so how will it design chips?
  26. Sanctions on Steroids: Huawei is a Prohibited ‘Entity,’ Foreign Adversaries Are Lurking in Information and Communications Services, What Does It All Mean?
  27. Google Joins The Evidence-Optional Assault On Huawei
  28. Google reportedly ends business with Huawei, will cut it off from Play Store [Updated]
  29. Huawei a small part of an ‘insurmountably hard problem’ of cybersecurity
  30. Foxconn Still Trying To Tap Dance Around Its Ever-Shrinking Wisconsin Promises
  31. Hobbling Huawei: Inside the U.S. war on China’s tech giant
  32. Our Way or the Huawei: Are Your Fintech Contracts Ready for a National Emergency?
  33. Huawei’s US ban: A look at the hardware (and software) supply problems
  34. The US DOC gives Huawei a 90-day window to support existing devices
  35. Creator claims Lenovo stole foldable Moto Razr video it played at a press event
  36. Forget Huawei, The Internet Of Things Is The Real Security Threat
  37. Section 230 Protects Tor Project from Liability for Tragic Drug Overdose–Seaver v. Estate of Cazes (Eric Goldman)
  38. A Recap of My Recent Section 230 Papers (Eric Goldman)
  39. EFF Highlights Stories Of Bad Content Moderation With New TOSsed Out Site
  40. 3D-printed guns are back, and this time they are unstoppable: A decentralised network of gun-printing advocates is mobilising online, they’re anonymously sharing blueprints, advice and building a community.
  41. Malaysian Teen Commits Suicide After Instagram Users Voted For Her Death In Poll
  42. Instagram’s IGTV copies TikTok’s AI, Snapchat’s design
  43. Snapchat Bans Adult Entertainment Company’s X-Rated Lenses
  44. Alarming Lessons From Facebook’s Push to Stop Fake News in India
  45. Facebook’s A.I. Whiz Now Faces the Task of Cleaning It Up. Sometimes That Brings Him to Tears.
  46. Facebook has finally revealed what its secretive robotics division is working on, and it could spark competition with rivals like Google and Apple
  47. Should digital platforms be treated as publishers? Key elements of Digital Copyright Directive
  48. Killer Apps: The Real Dangers of an AI Arms Race
  49. Unboxing Artificial Intelligence: 10 steps to protect Human Rights (Council of Europe Commissioner For Human Rights)
  50. US to endorse new OECD principles on artificial intelligence
  51. ICO focuses on AI and biometric data
  52. How Tech Companies Are Shaping The Rules Governing AI
  53. Can Machines be Authors? (Daniel Gervais)
  54. Human rights concerns about AI hit lawyers in immigration, criminal law and trusts
  55. I listened to a Massive Attack record remixed by a neural network
  56. Is AI-generated music worth anything?
  57. DARPA Funds Ambitious Brain-Machine Interface Program: The N3 program aims to develop wearable devices that let soldiers to communicate directly with machines.
  58. Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot Requires Significant Driver Intervention: CR finds that latest version of Tesla’s automatic lane-changing feature is far less competent than a human driver
  59. Talk Dirty With Machine: The future is robots, and they’re teaching us how to flirt.
  60. Amazon’s AI improves emotion detection in voices
  61. Court Rejects Service of Process Via Amazon Messaging–Noco v. Chang (Eric Goldman)
  62. Amazon made video games for its workers to reduce tedium of warehouse jobs
  63. Grindr and Armslist Cases Reaffirm Core Protections for User-Generated Content
  64. DMCA Damages are Based Upon Defendant’s Acts, Not its Customers 
  65. US Magistrate Judge Provides The Template To End Copyright Trolling With Ruling Against Strike 3
  66. Virtual kidnappings are rattling families across the US
  67. We Are Tenants On Our Own Devices
  68. The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet: Why the dark forests of the internet – podcasts, newsletters, and other private channels - are growing, and why might that pose a problem
  69. Inside Google’s Civil War: Some employees say Google is losing touch with its “Don’t be evil” motto. What happens when an empowered tech workforce rebels?
  70. Google Updates Ad Policies on Abortion-Related Advertising
  71. Anti-abortion clinics that try to trick women face new Google ad policy
  72. You Don’t Own What You’ve Bought: Google Nest Edition
  73. Google Glass still exists: Meet Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2
  74. Google’s Duplex Uses A.I. to Mimic Humans (Sometimes): In a free service, bots call restaurants and make reservations. The technology is impressive, except for when the caller is actually a person.
  75. Songza Co-Founders Have Left YouTube Music Ahead of Google Play Music Shut-Down
  76. Terminated AdSense Publishers Can’t Get Their Accrued Earnings–eOnline v. Google (Eric Goldman)
  77. Prince And Bigi Jackson Launch Movie Review Series On YouTube
  78. YouTube Opens Applications For VR Creator Lab In London, Announces Oculus Quest App
  79. YouTube Convenes ‘DTC Council’ To Fortify Relations With Direct-To-Consumer Brands
  80. ‘Games Of Thrones’ Grey Worm Actor Sees Massive YouTube Spike This Season
  81. Twitter Bans Members Of Popular YouTube Music Group For Posting Covers Of Elton John Songs
  82. YouTube Cracks Down On Videos Instructing Viewers To Ingest Bleach As ‘Miracle’ Medical Cure
  83. YouTube’s Controversy-Ridden Beauty Community Reaches Detente. But Is That What Viewers Want?
  84. YouTube Will Soon Only Display Abbreviated — And Not Exact — Subscriber Counts
  85. YouTube is changing how subscriber counts are displayed, possibly shifting its culture: Sites like Social Blade may be impacted
  86. How Tea Accounts Are Fueling Influencer Feuds: As James Charles and Tati Westbrook battle it out, drama channels are raking in subscribers.
  87. YouTube Sets Sights On Primetime Emmy Nods For Will Smith, ‘Cobra Kai’, ‘Wayne’
  88. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/19/2019
  89. TikTok tops the iOS App Store for the fifth quarter in a row
  90. TikTok Owner Preparing Streaming Service to Rival Spotify 
  91. TikTok Parent Company Bytedance Will Launch Paid Music Streaming Service This Fall (Report)
  92. With 156% growth in 2018, Vice Media focuses on programmatic guaranteed deals
  93. VidCon Hires First Content Director, Enters Original Programming Fray With Inaugural Series
  94. Digital Talent Agency Gleam Futures Launches Creator-Brand Marketing Firm Gleam Solutions
  95. How Amazon turned its darkest time into runaway riches: When Amazon was in trouble back in 2001, Jeff Bezos called professor and Good to Great author Jim Collins — and became his best student ever.
  96. Amazon targets Uber Eats with Deliveroo investment: The online retailer is the largest investor in new $575 million funding round
  97. Amazon Sellers Hit With Phishing Scheme 
  98. Amazon Taps ‘Game Of Thrones’ EP Bryan Cogman For ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Prequel
  99. ‘MissionRacer’: How Amazon turned the tedium of warehouse work into a game
  100. Yes, Quora still exists, and it’s now worth $2 billion: According to some, the financing round for the question-and-answer platform speaks to the high valuation for virtually everything these days in the tech sector.
  101. Former US Attorney Preet Bharara says good journalism may have undermined the Mueller report: “The ‘fake news’ that Donald Trump decried, I think there’s an argument that it sort of saved him.”
  102. The CW Ends Netflix Distro Deal, But Streamer Won’t Necessarily Lose Hits Like ‘Riverdale’
  103. The CW is ending its Netflix deal, but that doesn’t mean Riverdale is disappearing
  104. Netflix Again Blows Past HBO, Others as No. 1 Pick for ‘Best Original Programming,’ Survey Finds
  105. Hulu Buys U.S. Distribution Rights For Weinstein Exposé Documentary ‘Untouchable’
  106. Retailers Should Consider Whether Behavioral Advertising Is Sale of Information Under CCPA
  107. BBTV Founder Shahrzad Rafati Named Vice Chair Of Canadian Federal Investment Agency
  108. Rob Glaser 2.0: RealNetworks Reinvents Itself As Facial Recognition Security Platform
  109. Wyoming Affords “Money” Status to Certain Virtual Currencies
  110. The Blockchain Paradox
  111. New Blockchain Solutions Debut Amid Enforcement Actions, New FinCEN Guidance and Warnings of ‘Blockchain Fatigue’ 
  112. Fuming Craig Wright Demands Podcaster Tell Court He Created Bitcoin
  113. Tech billionaires who donate millions are just “bribing society at large,” Anand Giridharadas says
  114. Genetic self-experimenting “biohacker” under investigation by health officials
  115. Biohacker Josiah Zayner accused of being an unlicensed practitioner: He says he’s under investigation by the California Medical Board.
  116. Viral Star Grumpy Cat Passes Away, Is Memorialized In Memes
  117. Grumpy Cat’s death marks the end of the joyful Internet
  118. A Computer Afflicted With 6 Infamous Viruses Has Passed $1 Million at Auction: The art project can be yours for a mere seven figures.
  119. Downs v. Oath
  120. Laying Out All The Evidence: Shiva Ayyadurai Did Not Invent Email

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Cable TV customer satisfaction falls even further behind streaming video: Pay-TV again ranks last in customer satisfaction among all US industries.
  2. US Targets Telecommunications Transactions Involving the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain
  3. Chairman Pai, Commissioner Carr Issue Formal Statements Supporting T-Mobile/Sprint Merger; Commissioner O’Rielly Also “Inclined” to Support Merger
  4. Ajit Pai OKs T-Mobile/Sprint merger, “requires” 5G rollout that’ll happen anyway
  5. Unsurprisingly, Ajit Pai’s FCC Thinks The T-Mobile Sprint Merger Will Be Wonderful
  6. Consensus Quietly Builds That 5G Was Overhyped, Rushed To Market
  7. T-Mobile/Sprint merger faces big trouble at DOJ despite FCC approval
  8. DOJ Staffers Think T-Mobile’s Merger Benefit Claims Are Nonsense
  9. Man who threatened to kill Ajit Pai’s children gets 20 months in prison
  10. FCC Adopts Sweeping Changes to FM Translator Interference Rules 

PRIVACY

  1. The Government Is Expanding Its Social Media Surveillance Capabilities: But social media monitoring programs and the algorithms that power them aren’t effective – and may be discriminatory.
  2. Should we ban facial recognition? From companies to cities, debate over privacy rages on
  3. Police facial recognition surveillance court case starts
  4. Some US Cities Are Moving Into Real-Time Facial Surveillance
  5. City Of San Francisco Bans Use Of Facial Recognition Tech By Government Agencies
  6. San Francisco Is The First City In The World To Restrict Government Use Of Facial Recognition Technology. Hopefully It’s Not The Last.
  7. As San Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Tech By Local Cops, New York City’s Legislators Stall On Transparency Reforms
  8. No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Case of Online Child Luring
  9. Data breach lawyer confirms thousands more TalkTalk customers could have claims for compensation
  10. >20,000 Linksys routers leak historic record of every device ever connected
  11. Federal Court Says Warrants Are Needed To Grab GPS Data From Third-Party Tracking Services
  12. Another Federal Magistrate Says Compelled Production Of Passwords/Biometrics Violates The Fifth Amendment
  13. ‘Privacy horse is sort of out of the barn’: Congress circles closer to federal privacy law
  14. Privacy Perils: The Downside of Pop-Ups
  15. Ransomware Cyberattacks Knock Baltimore’s City Services Offline
  16. Baltimore ransomware nightmare could last weeks more, with big consequences
  17. FBI Tells The Governor Of Florida About Election Hacking, But Says He Can’t Tell Anyone Else
  18. Hackers abuse ASUS cloud service to install backdoor on users’ PCs: Computer-maker’s WebStorage software tied to malware attack from the BlackTech Group
  19. FTC Commissioners discuss state privacy preemption 
  20. GDPR Turns One, eh? Current Impact on Canadian Businesses and the Road Ahead 
  21. Prince Harry Uses GDPR To Obtain Payout From Photographer Who Shot Photos Of His Rental Home
  22. These firms promise high-tech ransomware solutions—but typically just pay hackers
  23. WannaCry? Hundreds of US schools still haven’t patched servers [Updated]

CREATIVITY

  1. In San Francisco, an attack on press freedoms and echoes of autocracy
  2. San Francisco District Attorney Condemns Raid On Journalist’s Home: City police raided reporter’s home in probe of leaked information about Public Defender death.
  3. A step forward or new concerns? Examining the proposed Trade-marks Act
  4. Paradigm shift: Recommended changes to Canadian copyright law announced
  5. Canadian Committee Publishes Ludicrous Fantasy Pretending To Be Copyright Reform Analysis
  6. A Catfight Over Copyright
  7. Adidas Gets a Boost in Yeezy Copyright Battle
  8. Insights on Gen Z’s Perceptions of Brands & Counterfeits
  9. EU Blocks ‘Brexit Beer’ Trademark, First As ‘Offensive’, Then As Non-Distinctive
  10. Judge Alsup Slams Patent Troll For Basically Everything
  11. Disney accused of being real pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean
  12. Disney Wins ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ Copyright Suit As Court Declares You Cannot Copyright Pirate Life
  13. When the Music Biz Had It That Way: The Backstreet Boys’ ‘Millennium’ album, which turns 20 this week, was a diamond-selling mainstay in the pre-Napster era. It also may have helped bring about the bad times that followed.
  14. Trump won’t stop coining nasty nicknames for his foes — but the media must stop amplifying them.
  15. Trump vs. New York Times: the executive editor’s perspective
  16. Is it illegal to lie to voters in political ads?
  17. How Vince McMahon’s WWE Seized on TV Disruption to Become a Wall Street Champ
  18. Caesars, ESPN Reach Media Partnership Deal
  19. ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro is fighting the cord-cutting wave
  20. “Varsity Blues”: Don’t Let Morals Clauses Leave Talent in the Red
  21. Unearthing the Black newspaper that sold the California dream to freed slaves
  22. Kazakhstan Cops Protect Citizens’ Free Speech Rights By Arresting A Protester Holding A Blank Sign
  23. Scientists ‘paint’ Mona Lisa on a quantum canvas

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; May 15, 2019

By Jon Festinger on June 18, 2019

GAMES

  1. Philip Champion v. Take Two Interactive Software, Inc.
  2. Champion v Take Two Interactive Software, Inc. (Decided on May 10, 2019 Supreme Court, New York County, Kahn, J.)
  3. Hey! That’s My Move!
  4. The dangers of in-game data collection: Can your choices come back to haunt you?
  5. Devs reflect on the privacy risks surrounding how games subtly collect data
  6. Newzoo: More than one billion women are active gamers – Firm’s latest analysis shows 46% of all video game enthusiasts are female
  7. Only 9% of ESRB rated-games were deemed Mature in 2018
  8. Antitrust lawsuit over iOS App Store to move forward, despite Apple’s arguments
  9. Supreme Court Rules Against Apple in Case Alleging App Store Is a Monopoly
  10. US Supreme Court says Apple can be sued for monopolization: Decision from lower court that iPhone owners are direct purchasers from Apple rather than from developers is upheld, opening door to future storefront suits
  11. Supreme Court Allows Consumers to Sue Apple for Antitrust Violations
  12. Supreme Court Says iPhone Users Can Pursue Antitrust Claims Against Apple Over App Store
  13. Taking a Bite at the Apple: Ensuring a Level-Playing-Field for Competition on App Stores
  14. Supreme Court ruling could threaten Apple’s 30 percent app commission
  15. Former Claptrap voice actor details Randy Pitchford assault allegations
  16. YouTube Gamer ‘ProJared’ Accused Of Soliciting Nude Photos From Underage Fans
  17. Loot boxes should be banned, says US senator
  18. Sweden investigating loot boxes: Swedish Consumer Agency has been instructed to review casino-like elements of gaming mechanics
  19. What yesterday’s EU court ruling means for the games industry: Companies are advised to start acting quickly or face legal trouble once ruling implemented
  20. Employers must track staff working hours, EU court rules: Ruling to help uphold EU Working Time Directive should help tackle industry crunch problem
  21. NetherRealm reportedly responding to crunch concerns with meeting, survey: Studio-wide meeting sees employees share experiences, WB assembling focus groups to address issues
  22. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Crunch and walkouts are failures of management – Latest episode available to download now, discussing the recent incidents at NetherRealm Studios and Riot Games
  23. Big game, small team, no crunch: Behind the success of open world RPG Outward
  24. One month later, $249 All-Digital Xbox One S still seems unsustainable
  25. Microsoft patented a braille-displaying controller accessory for the blind
  26. WWE 2K dev establishing second wrestling IP to foster internal competition: “I think having no competitor isn’t healthy at all,” says Yuke’s senior vice president Hiromi Furuta
  27. ESA reportedly troubled by eroded trust, harsh management styles: Former president Michael Gallagher said to have exhibited “challenging” management approach that celebrated burnout
  28. Stanley Pierre-Louis named CEO and president of the ESA
  29. ESA names Stanley Pierre-Louis CEO: Trade group’s newly appointed head downplays reports of disarray and concerns about E3, crunch, loot boxes, and the WHO’s decision on gaming disorder
  30. Revenue and profit up at Tencent despite stagnant games revenue
  31. Tencent adds ‘Gameplay Management’ system to PUBG Mobile to encourage “healthy gaming”: Players under 18 will receive pop-ups reminding them to take a break
  32. PUBG Mobile now reminds minors to take breaks from playing in some countries
  33. Blog: Dealing with China’s ban on blood in video games
  34. The Epic Games Store quietly launches in China
  35. Epic Games Store stealth launches in China: Chinese players now able to purchase games from Fortnite creator’s marketplace
  36. Ghost Recon Breakpoint will skip Steam for Epic Games Store: Newly announced Ubisoft title follows The Division 2 into PC exclusivity
  37. Epic bolsters Unreal Engine with Twinmotion acquisition 
  38. Epic Games to receive BAFTA Special Award for contribution to game development
  39. Epic’s store continues to absorb PC gaming exclusives large and small
  40. Crowdfunded Outer Wilds joins growing list of Epic Games Store exclusives
  41. Google Play Store tweaks ratings system to focus on recent reviews
  42. Sony releases documentary detailing God of War’s development
  43. Nintendo Switch sales pass PS4 in Japan
  44. Nintendo Switch lifetime sales outstripping the PS4 in Japan
  45. Nintendo predicts tough expansion into China despite Tencent partnership
  46. Super Mario Maker 2 news dump: Finally, Mario gets an online-versus mode
  47. 28 years later, hacker fixes rampant slowdown on SNES‘ Gradius III
  48. Blog: Requiem for a Game Gear
  49. Sports and mobile titles driving growth at Konami
  50. Key franchises boost video game sales at Bandai Namco
  51. Bandai Namco sales and profits up last year, led by gaming segment: Company projects fewer releases next year, elevates Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada to general manager of original IP
  52. DeNA and The Pokemon Company have a mobile Pokemongame on the way
  53. DeNA reveals new Pokémon mobile game amid declining revenue: Games revenue and profit fell at DeNA, but Mario Kart and Pokémon are due to launch this fiscal year
  54. Insights: ‘Fortnite’ Is The New Social-Media Platform – Here’s What It Means
  55. Capcom creates feeder leagues to grow Street Fighter esports: Three new competitions kick off this summer to prepare players for professional tournaments
  56. Bigben Interactive aims to be “the middleweight champion” of games publishing: Head of publishing describes the French publisher’s escalating ambitions after acquiring Cyanide, Eko and Kylotonn
  57. New releases driving sales at Square Enix, but launch costs cause profits to dip
  58. Profits tumble at Square Enix due to escalating launch costs: Kingdom Hearts, Tomb Raider drove revenue, but higher costs led to sharp declines in profit
  59. Square Enix-founded RPG dev Studio Istolia closes down
  60. Studio Istolia closes down: Square Enix assigning staff elsewhere in company as Project Prelude Rune is cancelled
  61. Take-Two sees record net bookings thanks to flagship franchises
  62. GTA V is nearing 110 million sales worldwide
  63. Take-Two ends fiscal year with a group effort: Red Dead Redemption 2 sales slowing down but GTA V and NBA 2K19 continue to drive Take-Two results
  64. Grand Theft Auto V has sold 110m copies: Borderlands series has sold over 43m units, with Borderlands 2 accounting for 20m
  65. Take-Two: Investors are re-rating the games business –
  66. It’s still an entertainment business, reminds CEO Strauss Zelnick
  67. Take-Two CEO: Subscriptions not a ‘foregone conclusion’ for game industry
  68. Ubisoft sees record player engagement as full-year net bookings surpass $2.2 billion
  69. Ubisoft posts record sales again, delays Skull & Bones again: CEO Yves Guillemot says the games industry will reach 5 billion players in the next ten years
  70. Record-breaking Q1 revenues for Nexon at $840m
  71. Korean publisher exceeds forecasts thanks to stronger-than-expected performances for Dungeon&Fighter and MapleStory
  72. EA and Activision need to show us something new | Opinion: The industry’s biggest publishers now focus on pumping old franchises for incremental growth rather than honing their ability to create the next big thing
  73. ‘Record high’ investments see profits fall at Paradox
  74. Profit and revenue down at Paradox as investments reach “record high”: Q1 2019 performance “characterised by a focus on long-term growth and expansion” says CEO
  75. Nier: Automata has shipped over 4 million copies
  76. The Killing Floor series has earned $100 million in revenue in 10 years
  77. Discord surpasses 250 million registered users in four years
  78. Discord reaches 250m users after just four years: Gaming chat platform has doubled audience in a year, with 56m monthly active users
  79. Unity seeks another $125 million in funding
  80. Unity is looking to raise $125 million in additional funding
  81. Rage 2 aims to encourage streaming through interactive Twitch extensions
  82. The Australian Labor Party wants to restart the Interactive Games Fund
  83. Australian Labor party pledges to reinstate $25m Interactive Games Fund: If elected, Labor promises to end six years of budget cuts around creative industries
  84. Assassin’s Creed should partner with Stranger Things: Lessons from Changing Channels – We report back on the key takeaways from last week’s TV and games conference with BBC Studios
  85. Starbreeze lacks funds to operate for another year
  86. Rockstar acquires Indian art studio Dhruva from Starbreeze
  87. Rockstar acquires Dhruva Interactive from Starbreeze for $7.9m: Indian art production studio joins Red Dead Redemption publisher as Starbreeze continues to struggle
  88. Epic Games acquires Twinmotion: Developer offers visualisation toolkit for free with “no strings attached”
  89. Following your dreams: Pursuing a career making games | Opinion
  90. Blog: Four steps for branding your studio
  91. Blog: Tools for selling your story
  92. Blog: Creating a physics based fighting game in Unity
  93. Don’t Miss: Lessons of game design learned from Super Mario Maker
  94. Blog: The challenges of teamwork and game design
  95. Blog: We’re looking at accessibility all wrong
  96. Blog: Using your YouTube channel to market your games
  97. The 12 principles of animation in video games 
  98. When grinding is fun: Forager’s compelling approach to ‘idle game’ design
  99. Video: Insomniac’s technical postmortem of Marvel’s Spider-Man
  100. Don’t Miss: Reflections on the afterimage of Final Fantasy VII
  101. How hit crafting game Forager happily handles thousands of instances
  102. Sega has acquired Two Point Hospital developer Two Point Studios
  103. TinyBuild: Development to publishing, and back again
  104. Valve Index asks for innovation without incentive | Opinion: Platform agnosticism and high price may inhibit the innovative VR game development Valve claims the headset was made for
  105. Valve breaks down different tools for marketing games on Steam
  106. ‘Beat Saber’ Has Been PSVR’s Top Download for 6 Months Running
  107. Somnium Space Raises $1M to Expand Social VR Platform
  108. High Fidelity lays of 25% of staff and pivots to virtual communications: Founder Philip Rosedale admits “we probably still have a few years to wait” for tech to catch up with original vision
  109. Scopely acquires Digit Game Studios 
  110. Fig Open Access offers devs an ‘open-ended’ crowdfunding option
  111. Facebook’s VP of VR Hugo Barra steps down
  112. Hugo Barra steps down as Oculus head for new Facebook AR/VR role
  113. Facebook Shuffles Top Oculus Executives
  114. Challenging player entitlement by making them homeless: Homelessness is “intimidating for any artists who really wants to take it seriously” says Delve Interactive founder Danny Hayes
  115. The timeless magic of Shadow of the Colossus
  116. AI-generated pokemon that should not be
  117. Detective Pikachu film review: This is how you adapt a video game for theaters
  118. Detective Pikachu earned $161m worldwide in its opening weekend: Pokémon tie-in had best ever opening weekend for a video game film in the US, but its worldwide performance is still behind Warcraft
  119. Party like it’s 2004 with WoW Classic starting August 27

DIGITAL

  1. White House refuses to sign international statement on online extremism: Trump administration is “not currently in a position to join” global statement.
  2. Chinese owners of Grindr forced to sell by US over spying and blackmail fears
  3. CBS Happily Engages In Censorship To Placate China
  4. Your 5G Phone Won’t Hurt You. But Russia Wants You to Think Otherwise.
  5. Facebook co-founder calls for breakup of Facebook
  6. While Trump Complains About Facebook Takedowns, Facebook Is Helping Trump Take Down Content He Doesn’t Like
  7. Facebook is a capitalism problem, not a Mark Zuckerberg problem: Regulating social media is more important than breaking up Facebook.
  8. Facebook Says New Political Ad Policies are being Circumvented
  9. How far-right extremists rebrand to evade Facebook’s ban
  10. Facebook Should Be Broken Up Because Mark Zuckerberg Has ‘Unchecked Power,’ Company Co-Founder Says
  11. It’s Time to Break Up Facebook
  12. Breaking Up Facebook? 
  13. Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes Calls For Facebook’s Breakup… But Seems Confused About All The Details
  14. More Democrats are considering a breakup of Facebook: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the latest to say they are thinking about it
  15. Facebook: Brussels Court of Appeal refers case to Court of Justice of the EU
  16. Facebook’s ‘Please Regulate Us’ Tour Heads To France
  17. Facebook sues app maker, says it made millions misusing Facebook user data
  18. Imagine A Facebook Without Facebook: How A.I. Will Soon Disrupt Social Media
  19. Facebook imposes restrictions on live-streaming to prevent future abuse: ‘Our goal is to minimize risk of abuse on Live,’ Guy Rosen said
  20. Facebook Implements One-Strike Policy Barring Users From Livestreaming If They Post Hateful Content
  21. Section 230 Protects Facebook’s Account and Content Restriction Decisions–Ebeid v. Facebook
  22. Vox Admits It Got Section 230 Wrong, Fixes Its Mistake
  23. Section 230 Keeps The Internet Open For Innovation
  24. Democracy’s Dilemma: Democracies rely on the free exchange of ideas, but that freedom can be weaponized. How can democratic societies protect the free flow of information? (Henry Farrell, Bruce Schneier)
  25. The Bizarre Accuracy of Online Ads: A Case Study of Trackers on the Internet – A call for transparency and consent
  26. Online Retailer Redbubble Says It Will Pull Auschwitz-Themed Merchandise
  27. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Microsoft Take On Hate Content With ‘Christchurch Call To Action’
  28. Selling Fear? There’s An App For That
  29. Audit suggests Google favors a small number of major outlets
  30. White House launches tool to report censorship on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter: ‘If you suspect political bias caused such an action to be taken against you, share your story with President Trump’
  31. Friend portability is the must-have Facebook regulation: FTC must pave the path to competition
  32. Taliban fighters double as reporters to wage Afghan digital war
  33. French media is polarizing. But not in the way we expected.
  34. Higbee Tries To Shake Down Forum For Deep Linked Photograph
  35. Strike 3 Gets Another Judge To Remind It That IP Addresses Aren’t Infringers
  36. Don’t Suppress Customer Reviews: The FTC Really Means It
  37. You can’t spell FinTech without FTC
  38. Broad Coalition Tells Congress To Bring Back The Office Of Technology Assessment
  39. Instagram blocks vaccine hoax hashtags
  40. How Silicon Valley’s successes are fueled by an underclass of ‘ghost workers’: The invisible labor that makes our technology run
  41. Court Filing Reveals Kim Kardashian West Can Command $500,000 Per Sponsored Instagram Post
  42. Terms and Conditions: Recent Supreme Court Decisions Highlight There is More to Consider than Just the Privacy Policy 
  43. Disney takes full control of Hulu as Comcast steps aside
  44. Comcast is giving Disney full control of Hulu
  45. Disney In Total Control Of Hulu After $5.8 Billion Deal With Comcast
  46. Disney Takes Full Control Of Hulu, Ending Years Of Managerial Schizophrenia
  47. Hulu CEO Randy Freer explains why Hulu never promoted its ad-free version: The more expensive Hulu No Commercials plan was announced in 2015, and almost four years later, the company is finally ready to start advertising that it exists.
  48. Hulu’s VP Of Brand Nick Tran On Influencer Marketing: “It’s Not Bad To Be A Sellout If You Embrace It”
  49. #Advert – Transparency requirements for influencers
  50. How low prices could make for an antitrust case against Amazon: A theory of ‘predatory pricing’
  51. Talking to the Law Student With a Novel Theory About Amazon’s Power
  52. Is Amazon Violating the Sherman Act? (Shaoul Sussman)
  53. Prime Predator: Amazon and the Rationale of Below Average Variable Cost Pricing Strategies Among Negative-Cash Flow Firms (Shaoul Sussman)
  54. Exclusive: Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs
  55. Amazon to employees: Quit your job, we’ll help you start a delivery business
  56. “Goodwill Hunting”: Latest on Cybersquatting 
  57. Accessing a Deceased’s Digital Accounts
  58. New Citizen Lab report suggests Iran spreads fake news
  59. Editorial: Can Apple News+ kill ‘fake news’ and save journalism?
  60. Apple Launches New TV App, Providing Access to Over 150 Video Apps Including HBO, Hulu, CBS, Showtime, Starz, ESPN and Amazon Prime Video
  61. Parodies are coming for house HBO
  62. The Tinder Hacker: When I asked Sean about his hobbies, I wasn’t prepared for what he said.
  63. Gigi Gorgeous, Troye Sivan To Feature In YouTube’s Pride Month Programming
  64. VidCon Pacts With The Trevor Project To Curate LGBTQ+ Programming And Panels
  65. VidCon Unveils Creator Attendees, Industry-Track Lineup for 2019 U.S. Confab
  66. The EU Copyright Directive Passes – But Member States Remain Split on Upload Filters
  67. YouTube and its users face an existential threat from the EU’s new copyright directive
  68. CJEU considers individuals’ liability under data protection law in respect of videos published on YouTube: Individuals publishing online in breach of data protection laws may benefit from a ‘journalistic exemption’.
  69. YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Now Available In More Than 50 Countries
  70. Digital Rights Startup SuperBam Wants To Help YouTubers Reclaim The Millions They Lose From Piracy
  71. Is the war on piracy over?
  72. Tati Westbrook Rockets Past 10 Million Subscribers After Cutting Ties With Mentee James Charles
  73. Amid YouTube Beauty Rift, James Charles Loses 2.8 Million Subscribers As Tati Westbrook Gains 3.2 Million
  74. Tati Westbrook-James Charles Scandal Spawns Thousands Of Third-Party Videos And Tens Of Millions Of Views
  75. James Charles’ Sisters Apparel Seemingly No Longer Affiliated With Jeffree Star’s ‘Killer Merch’ In Wake Of Scandal
  76. James Charles’ YouTube downfall is big business for the rest of the community: Commentary and news channels are the big winners
  77. There’s No One To Root For In The James Charles Beauty YouTuber Drama
  78. YouTube Launches ‘Bumper Machine’ Tool, Which Auto-Generates 6-Second Ads
  79. YouTube Creators Will Receive Revenue From New Google Shopping Features
  80. Google’s Translatotron can translate speech in the speaker’s voice: It’s the first tool that can directly translate speech from one language into another.
  81. One Year Later, Restaurants Are Still Confused By Google Duplex: Google Duplex works until it breaks in unexpected ways
  82. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 5/12/2019
  83. Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019
  84. Report claims Google has 15m paying music subscribers
  85. YouTube Music And Google Play Music Count A Collective 15 Million Subscribers 
  86. TikTok Is the New Music Kingmaker, and Labels Want to Get Paid
  87. Audible Teams With Reese Witherspoon For Its First Original Programming Slate
  88. The Eternal Revenue Stream of Led Zeppelin: In the streaming era, record companies are cashing in anew on old hits – and getting more creative about how to do it
  89. As ‘Game of Thrones’ Comes To An End, Maisie Williams Launches Creator Collaboration App Daisie
  90. Netflix has made a rare acquisition, to help it make more kids’ stuff: The streaming company has bought StoryBots, a kids’ brand made by the guys who made JibJab.
  91. Videos On ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Are Still Racking Up Over 200 Million Views A Day
  92. Government of Canada creates Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence
  93. When Humans Attack: Re-thinking safety, security, and AI
  94. The AI Supply Chain Runs on Ignorance: Tech companies often fail to tell users how their data will be employed. Sometimes, the firms can’t even anticipate it themselves.
  95. Turn Your Pet Into Another Species With This AI Tool: Using similar algorithms to deepfakes, Nvidia developed a new way to turn your pets into tigers, wolves, and other animals.
  96. Why Google believes machine learning is its future: We heard so much about machine learning at Google I/O this year.
  97. Another Day, Another Company Scraping Photos To Train Facial Recognition AI
  98. AI in Focus – Robotics
  99. Fired by a robot!
  100. Starbucks to test out bean-to-cup blockchain
  101. Supply chain is obviously not a blockchain use case
  102. Adobe Warns Users Someone Else Might Sue Them For Using Old Versions Of Photoshop
  103. New Blockchain Solutions Across Industries, Institutional Cryptocurrency Trading Announced, Major Cryptocurrency Exchange Is Hacked 
  104. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency negotiability is an uncertain landscape
  105. Bitcoin-Bashing Democrat Calls for Blanket Ban on Cryptocurrencies
  106. It took just five days for bitcoin to rise from $6,000 to $8,000
  107. Improving upon the SEC’s Blockchain “Framework”: Toward a Reasonable Regulation of Digital Tokens
  108. Facebook Updates Ad Policies on Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Other Financial Products
  109. Legal and regulatory issues for custodians and administrators of digital assets
  110. How to Attract Startups and Tech Companies to a City Without Relying on Tax Breaks
  111. Why you should be rooting for startups like Uber
  112. Esther Wojcicki explains how she raised the CEOs of YouTube and 23andMe
  113. Technology Is as Biased as Its Makers
  114. We’re a Niche, We Just Didn’t Know: Why you probably belong to an inter-intellect and why this matters
  115. Microsoft: The open source company
  116. Microsoft open sources algorithm that gives Bing some of its smarts
  117. Miami Plastic Surgeon Sues Two Patients For Negative Reviews After He Had Them Sign Illegal Non Disparagement Agreements
  118. Lenovo shows off a folding-screen laptop, coming some time in 2020
  119. Why I (Still) Love Tech: In Defense Of A Difficult Industry
  120. Q&A: Melinda Gates opens up about tech industry, equality and 3 women who changed her life
  121. Mind the Gap: The Status of Digital Files Under Property Law (Johan Michaels & Christopher Millard)

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. 1.28 Million US Residents Cut The TV Cord Last Quarter
  2. All Four Major Wireless Carriers Hit With Lawsuits Over Sharing, Selling Location Data
  3. AT&T promised 7,000 new jobs to get tax break—it cut 23,000 jobs instead
  4. AT&T, Verizon Employees Caught Up In DOJ SIM Hijacking Bust
  5. Ajit Pai’s robocall plan lets carriers charge for new call-blocking tools
  6. Pai FCC ‘Solution’ To Nation’s Great Robocall Apocalypse? More Meetings
  7. The Pai FCC Sits On Its Hands While Phone Companies Rip Off American Taxpayers 
  8. FCC Denies China Mobile Application to Provide Service in US
  9. FCC Seeks Comments on Univision Request to Exceed 50% Foreign Ownership 
  10. FCC says carriers failed Florida after hurricane—but lets them off the hook
  11. 5G likely to mess with weather forecasts, but FCC auctions spectrum anyway
  12. Elon Musk’s Starlink Could Bring Back Net Neutrality and Upend the Internet: Thousands of spacecrafts could power a new global network.
  13. Advertising Message or Informational Content? – How Israeli Courts Interpret the “Spam Law” 
  14. 2019 Ranking Digital Rights: Corporate Accountability Index

PRIVACY

  1. Canadian Border Agents Also Routinely Demanding Passwords From Travelers And Searching Their Devices
  2. Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids Edition is illegally recording your children, 19 privacy advocates warn
  3. Millions of people uploaded photos to the Ever app. Then the company used them to develop facial recognition tools.
  4. New Data On London Metro Police Facial Recognition Tech Shows It’s Still Wrong 96 Percent Of The Time
  5. San Francisco Bans Facial Recognition Technology
  6. San Francisco bans city use of facial recognition surveillance technology
  7. San Francisco PD Raids Journalist’s Home To Find Out Which One Of Its Cops Leaked An Autopsy Report
  8. Surveillance software targets WhatsApp users
  9. WhatsApp reveals major security flaw that could let hackers access phones
  10. Justice Department charges Chinese hacker for 2015 Anthem breach
  11. Feds charge Chinese national in 2015 breach of health insurer Anthem
  12. Hackers breached 3 US antivirus companies, researchers reveal
  13. The kidtech is all right: Dylan Collins, CEO of SuperAwesome, describes how his six-year-old company is hitting a growth spurt by leading the charge on digital privacy for children.
  14. Ralph Lauren Must Defend TCPA Suit Over Excessive Text Messages 
  15. Seventh Circuit Finds That Autodialing Platform Providers Can Be Held Liable Under The TCPA When Controlling Calls Made By Clients 
  16. People say they care about privacy but they continue to buy devices that can spy on them: Experts explain why people are giving mixed signals about smart tech.
  17. Reading the Tea Leaves: What Do GDPR Enforcement Efforts Tell Us?
  18. GDPR Concerns Temporarily Result In The Removal Of Trash Cans From Ireland Post Office
  19. Enveloped in Suspicion

CREATIVITY

  1. The “Bulte Report” Redux: Canadian Heritage Committee Releases Embarrassingly One-Sided Remuneration Models Study (Michael Geist)
  2. The Canadian House of Commons Copyright “Shifting Paradigms” Report – Let’s Just Call it the “Values Gap” Report (Howard Knopf)
  3. Heffel Gallery decision is good news for museums building public art collections
  4. Hotel Can Legally Destroy Artwork, but Can’t Reproduce It, Says Court
  5. Copyright As Censorship: American Law Institute Uses Copyright To Stop Discussion Of Controversial Publication Prior To Vote
  6. A Complex Picture
  7. Batman-turned-artist faces copyright lawsuit 
  8. Arthur Lee Alfred v. The Walt Disney Co.
  9. Putting some teeth into Copyright law
  10. Conan O’Brien Explains The Insanity Of Fighting Bogus Joke Stealing Lawsuit For Years
  11. U.S. journalism really has become more subjective and personal – at least some of it: Analysis finds newspapers are a lot like 30 years ago. But TV news – especially cable news – has ramped up the emotion and arguing.
  12. Is It Still Punk When the Musician Makes It Big?
  13. Rapper on the Run: When Spanish authorities sentenced this provocative musician to prison for “glorifying terrorism,” his dedicated fans helped him make a daring escape across the border.
  14. In the Jungle: Inside the Long, Hidden Genealogy of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ – How American music legends made millions off the work of a Zulu tribesman who died a pauper.
  15. Pittsburgh’s Rap Scene Is Wounded But Optimistic:
  16. Following the deaths of Mac Miller and Jimmy Wopo, rappers like Benji. and My Favorite Color are doing their best to pick up the pieces.
  17. New rules on harmful gender stereotypes
  18. Coalition Of Rights Activists And Journalists Wants To Know Why DHS, CBP, And ICE Are Spying On Activists And Journalists
  19. Judge rejects Musk’s arguments to dismiss “pedo guy” defamation suit
  20. Guns N’ Roses sue brewery over Guns ‘N’ Rosé beer
  21. Copycat Flattened by Patent & Trade Dress Jury Verdict in Win for Tieks Shoes
  22. Joel Embiid Registers Trademarks in THE PROCESS
  23. Chicago Cubs Successfully Oppose Iowa Man’s ‘Cubnoxious’ Trademark; Court Cites Obnoxious Cubs Fans
  24. Using Third Party Trademarks as Hashtags Creates an Implied Association–Align v. Strauss
  25. Apples Only For Apple: Apple Opposes A German Bicycle Path
  26. A Fight for Authorship and Ownership of 150+ Quilt Patterns, and Bad Business Planning

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; May 8, 2019

By Jon Festinger on June 17, 2019

GAMES

  1. Riot Games employees organize walkout over forced arbitration 
  2. Riot Games employees hold walkout over forced arbitration: In one of the first games industry walkouts, League of Legends studio employees protest studio policy in light of gender discrimination lawsuits
  3. Riot Games walkout sees 150 developers protest forced arbitration 
  4. Riot Games will drop mandatory arbitration following walkout threats: Staff at League of Legends developer will no longer be blocked from filing lawsuits over sexual harassment or assault
  5. Riot agrees to scrap mandatory arbitration, but only for new employees
  6. Study sees link between loot boxes and gambling: Most gamers surveyed believe loot boxes are a form of gambling, more than a quarter have sold loot box items
  7. US Senator introducing legislation banning loot boxes in games aimed at minors
  8. U.S. Senator Introduces Bill To Ban Loot Boxes And Pay-To-Win Microtransactions
  9. Senator Wants to Ban Loot Boxes and Pay-to-Win Aimed at Kids 
  10. Senator Hawley announces bill banning loot boxes, pay-to-win mechanics: “Game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction,” Mo. Republican says.
  11. Proposed legislation aims to ban loot boxes in the United States
  12. Senator Hawley To Introduce Legislation Banning Manipulative Video Game Features Aimed At Children
  13. Blog: Complying with China’s new loot box rules
  14. Don’t Miss: Pay-To-Flay: Examining microtransactions inMortal Kombat X
  15. Bethesda’s latest Elder Scrolls adventure taken down amid cries of plagiarism
  16. Don’t Miss: How a ragtag band of modders restored Star Wars KOTOR II
  17. Game Devs Trolling Pirates Goes All The Way Back To At Least The Playstation Days With Spyro 2
  18. Video: Legal experts discuss the law’s impact on game dev in 2019
  19. Tencent shuts down PUBG Mobile in China following approval struggles
  20. China Replaces PUBG With Bizarre, Propaganda-Filled Clone
  21. Tencent pulls blockbuster game PUBG in China, launches patriotic alternative
  22. Tencent gives up on monetising PUBG in China: Long wait for approval prompts Chinese publisher to migrate users to new battle royale title, Game for Peace
  23. China remains a massive PC game market despite regulation hiccups
  24. Niko Partners: China online PC gaming revenue saw slight decline in 2018 – Domestic revenue dropped by approximately $300m from 2017 in the face of game license freeze
  25. Niko Partners: Chinese mobile gaming revenue up 29% last year despite license freeze
  26. Germany considers new youth protection guidelines for mobile monetisation: Deliberately broad draft guidelines leave questions hanging around enforcement
  27. Pitchford promises no “free-to-play junk” for Borderlands 3
  28. WHO gaming disorder could cost South Korean economy over $9bn: Korean culture ministry writes to World Health Organisation protesting ICD-11 draft
  29. GWU calls for testimonies against reported sexual predators at Quantic Dream – Update: French developer claims no knowledge of any incidents and urges victims to, “contact the relevant authorities”
  30. Claptrap voice actor accuses Gearbox CEO of assault, underpayment
  31. Claptrap voice actor accuses Randy Pitchford of assault amid pay dispute: Gearbox takes Eddings’ allegations “very seriously” but declines to comment due to it being “a personal matter”
  32. Star Citizen development reportedly troubled by mishandled money, micromanagement: Cloud Imperium Games has raised $288 million so far over a nearly eight-year development, but the end still isn’t in sight
  33. Starbreeze seeks funding to avoid imminent “liquidity shortfall”: Swedish company’s Q1 report suggests it won’t last 12 months without a new source of funds
  34. Bandai Namco’s long-running Tales series has crossed 20 million lifetime sales
  35. World War Z has topped 320,000 sales on the Epic Games Store
  36. World War Z sold 320k on Epic Games Store: Saber Interactive’s hit game skipped Steam, but PC still accounted for 25% of its week one sales
  37. Watch Close To The Sun’s developers talk launching on the Epic Game Store
  38. Risk of Rain 2 crosses 1 million sales in first month
  39. Mordhau sells 500,000 copies in one week 
  40. Live service roster helps Zynga deliver record mobile revenue and bookings
  41. Apple’s first new game in 10 years is Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard
  42. Xbox’s new Code of Conduct: yes to “get wrecked,” “potato aim,” no to hate
  43. Gameloft to bring Xbox Live features to 3 mobile games
  44. Xbox Live coming to select Gameloft mobile titles: Asphalt 9: Legends, Asphalt 8: Airborne, and Dragon Mania Legends among the first mobile games to use recently-announced mobile SDK from Microsoft
  45. Anthem fell short of EA’s sales expectations
  46. Revenue drops at Electronic Arts despite strong digital bookings
  47. EA Access is launching on PlayStation 4
  48. EA Access is launching on PlayStation 4 in July: Almost five years after its Xbox and PC debut, EA’s subscription service is finally available on Sony’s console
  49. Apex Legends, Anthem can’t save EA’s fourth quarter: Revenue and net income down double-digits as company falls off last year’s pace, but publisher forecasts a record-setting rebound ahead
  50. EA in ‘advanced negotiations’ to bring Apex Legends to China and mobile
  51. EA’s plan for a record year revolves around ongoing games: Apex Legends hopes are high as it heads to mobile and China, while the publisher projects unit sales of up to 8m for single-player Jedi Fallen Order
  52. GTA V becomes third most-watched game on Twitch thanks to role playing server: Live viewership hours increases nearly sixfold in space of single month
  53. Key franchises help Capcom to record profits for second consecutive year
  54. Capcom’s full-year results boosted by software strength: Devil May Cry, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter drive profit to record levels
  55. Supercell invests $3.8 million into Swedish studio Luau Games  
  56. Activision Blizzard quarterly revenues take a dip
  57. Activision Blizzard sees predicted Q1 start to “transition year”: Revenue down largely due to 16% drop in Blizzard earnings as the segment begins a year with “no major frontline release”
  58. The Call of Duty series has sold over 300 million games
  59. Activision Blizzard looks to esports, mobile, free-to-play during company transition: Call of Duty’s city-based league sells first five franchise teams; company staffs up for numerous mobile initiatives
  60. Danish government launches esport strategy to foster growth and tackle toxicity: Dedicated esports panel aims to build a “sustainable structure for the entire food chain”
  61. Creators Going Pro: ‘Fortnite’ Creative Expert Swiftor Doesn’t Just Make Content For His 3 Million Subscribers — He Makes Content With Them
  62. Former Fortnite UX lead digs into ethical game design
  63. Global console content, services spend reaches record high in 2018 – IHS Markit: 2019 expected to see continued market growth largely thanks to the Nintendo Switch
  64. Nintendo: “The reality is that the Chinese market is almost all mobile and PC games” – Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa cools enthusiasm around the Chinese launch of the Switch
  65. Nintendo says 3DS demand ‘stable’ despite notable declines
  66. Pokémon characters have their own pea-sized region in brain, study finds
  67. United devs stand, divided they crunch | Opinion: Management doesn’t need to mandate excessive overtime when it has developers policing each other
  68. CEO and co-founder Emily Greer departs Kongregate
  69. Former temps claim NetherRealm has long history of exploitation and abuse
  70. NetherRealm’s self-sustaining culture of crunch: Current and former employees describe pressures at Mortal Kombat studio placed on them from management and peers alike
  71. NetherRealms Studios investigating crunch and toxicity allegations: Following multiple exposés on self-sustaining culture of crunch, Mortal Kombat developer vows to “improve our company environment”
  72. Mortal Kombat 11 review: Great gameplay, excessively packaged
  73. Path of Exile devs “sometimes feel we are being asked to crunch” by fan demands: Grinding Gear Games asks fans for patience as it works on improvements for Path of Exile
  74. The pressure to constantly update games is pushing the industry to a breaking point: Live service games have trained players to expect a constant stream of new content, and only constant work can deliver it.
  75. What responsibility do leaders have to their developers?
  76. Microsoft files patent for controller accessory with Braille input and output: Gamepad would allow users to read and input Braille text, as well as convert speech commands to input
  77. Kerbal Space Program’s Breaking Ground DLC adds robotics and more experiments
  78. After 32-bit purge, GameClub raises $2.5M to bring back classic iOS games
  79. GameClub raises $2.5m for premium mobile game development: Studio is currently working to revitalize and update over 50 classic titles
  80. Phoenix Games has acquired UK studio Well Played Games
  81. Phoenix Games’ first acquisition is UK developer Well Played Games
  82. Echo developer Ultra Ultra closes down
  83. Google Stadia caused investors to walk away from Slightly Mad’s console: Future of the “Mad Box” is in question following the emergence of Google’s streaming service
  84. Google’s current VR plan is more about services than new hardware
  85. Google pivots away from VR hardware to focus on software: Company says it is in ‘deep R&D’ on new headsets, and is focused on games and apps for now
  86. Location-based VR Attraction ‘Hologate’ Celebrates 2 Million Player Milestone
  87. Microsoft announces HoloLens 2 Development Edition 
  88. HoloLens 2 dev kits: $3,500, or $99/month, with Azure credits, Unity trials
  89. Developer’s edition of HoloLens 2 launches today at $3,500: Alternatively, studios can pay $99 per month for access to the kit
  90. ‘High Fidelity’ Refocuses on Enterprise Market, Lays off 25% of Staff
  91. The Terrawurm experiment: Can indies work together on multiple games?
  92. Developing out loud for Amazon Alexa: Amazon head of voice design education Paul Cutsinger talks about how independent developers are rising to the unique challenges of making games for voice
  93. Remedy: “Single-player games are stronger than they have ever been” – At Reboot Develop, CEO Tero Virtala examined the new opportunities streaming services will create for independent AAA developers
  94. Ubisoft and Genba aim to thwart key resellers with silent key activation
  95. Ubisoft and Genba to “kill the grey market” with silent key activation: Genba’s Matt Murphy reveals how the two companies are clamping down on key reselling
  96. Sindiecate founders go AWOL, owing staff and contractors over €30,000: Spanish indie publisher collapses without answers after founders cultivate toxic work environment
  97. How Denuvo is tackling cheaters who think outside the box: Publishers face an uphill battle as cheats get more sophisticated and harder to detect
  98. BlizzCon 2019 tickets revolve around invasive, poorly reviewed smartphone app: And, lo, did fans sarcastically reply, “You guys all have phones, right?”
  99. After trailer outcry, Sonic the Hedgehog director tells fans to expect “changes”
  100. Sonic The Hedgehog film character design will change, says director: Jeff Fowler promises to overhaul Sonic’s look following the negative response to the film’s trailer
  101. Blog: What is ‘live support’ and how does it fit into the games industry?
  102. Blog: Transitioning from desktop to mobile game development
  103. Blog: Tips for finding and working with a publisher
  104. Blog: Creating music and SFX for games
  105. Blog: A mini-postmortem of the hero theme
  106. Don’t Miss: Analyzing how friendly AI ‘cheats’ in Ghost Recon Wildlands
  107. U.S. Patent No. 8,814,677: Using real-time constructive solid geometry to provide painting and thinning game mechanics 
  108. Evil Video Games Great At Detecting Early Dementia In People
  109. Brexit and its impact on the gaming sector | Opinion: Wright Hassall solicitor Patrick McCallum offers an update on the potential impact of the UK’s departure from the EU
  110. Nordic Game Discovery Contest reveals 15 finalists for 2019: Finalists were picked during heats at 15 global games events
  111. Marvel Strike Force and Shadowgun Legends honored at 2019 Google Play Awards
  112. Windows Solitaire inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame
  113. Mortal Kombat, Microsoft Solitaire, and more join World Video Game Hall of Fame
  114. Microsoft Solitaire, three others join World Video Game Hall of Fame: Super Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat, Colossal Cave Adventure also among Strong Museum’s 2019 inductees
  115. Take a look at some of the earliest designs for Plants vs. Zombies

DIGITAL

  1. Feds take down dark web index and news site Deep Dot Web
  2. How Chinese Spies Got the N.S.A.’s Hacking Tools, and Used Them for Attacks
  3. A mysterious hacker gang is on a supply-chain hacking spree: Group of likely Chinese hackers has poisoned software of at least six companies.
  4. China Stole NSA Cyberweapons And Used Them Against Us Allies
  5. Putin signs “Internet sovereignty” bill that expands censorship
  6. Canadian Billionaire Sues Twitter For Nasty Things Twitter Users Said About Him
  7. Why a Republican senator wants the FTC to throw the book at Facebook
  8. FBI And Half The World Bust Operators Of A Site That Made The Dark Web Searchable
  9. Mark Zuckerberg has to go. Here are 25 reasons why
  10. Alex Jones was banned from Facebook, but an hour later he was back on Facebook livestreaming
  11. Facebook And Instagram Permaban Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer For Posting Hate Content
  12. Instagram and Facebook Ban Far-Right Extremists: Alex Jones, Infowars, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, Paul Nehlen, and Louis Farrakhan have all been removed from the platforms.
  13. Facebook Rolls Out Broad Changes To How Its Algorithm Will Rank Videos
  14. Facebook will change video ranking to prioritize original content: It will prioritize videos that holds viewers’ attention.
  15. Report: Facebook looking to disrupt credit cards with cryptocurrency
  16. Facebook’s cryptocurrency might work like loyalty points
  17. Bitcoin is worth $6,000 for the first time this year: Bitcoin’s price has been rising in recent weeks and it’s not clear why.
  18. Amazon discriminates against pregnant women, seven lawsuits have said
  19. Amazon’s “Zero” Tolerance for Counterfeiting
  20. Wisconsin Supreme Court Fixes a Bad Section 230 Opinion—Daniel v. Armslist (Eric Goldman)
  21. New Essay: The Complicated Story of FOSTA and Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
  22. It’s One Thing For Trolls And Grandstanding Politicians To Get CDA 230 Wrong, But The Press Shouldn’t Help Them
  23. The Ninth Circuit Broke The Internet. So We Asked Them To Unbreak It.
  24. Twenty-one States Inadvertently Tell The DC Circuit That The Plaintiffs Challenging FOSTA Have A Case
  25. The Human Cost Of FOSTA
  26. Content Moderation is Broken. Let Us Count the Ways.
  27. Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Facebook Still Can’t Figure Out How To Deal With Naked Breasts
  28. Global regulation threatens to take a bite out of the FAANGs 
  29. Instagram Planning AI-Powered Pop-Ups To Ratchet Down Anti-Vaccination Content
  30. The Legislation That Targets the Racist Impacts of Tech: A proposed law would make big companies determine whether their algorithms discriminate
  31. Your phone isn’t spying on you – it’s listening to your ‘voodoo doll’: An ex-Google employee has described what’s going on when you think your phone has been listening to you
  32. Google unveils auto-delete for location, Web activity, and app usage data
  33. Apple to be formally investigated over Spotify’s antitrust complaint, says report: EU investigation will launch ‘in the next few weeks,’ according to the FT
  34. FBI Reports An Increasing Rate Of Internet-Facilitated Crime 
  35. Fourth Circuit Rejects “Good Faith” as Defense to Copyright Infringement
  36. “Please don’t stop the music”: Peloton Files Counterclaims Against Music Publishers in Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
  37. #1 app YOLO Q&A is the Snapchat platform’s 1st hit
  38. Disney could take full control of Hulu, but that doesn’t mean subscribers’ favorite shows disappear: Disney CEO Bob Iger comments on Hulu’s future
  39. Disney Writes Off Its Vice Stake in Latest Sign of Trouble
  40. Disney+ will not be a “Netflix killer” because at this point, nothing can kill Netflix: Redef CEO Jason Hirschhorn watches a lot of TV and he says Netflix has sucked him into watching less of everything else.
  41. Netflix Has Propelled The ‘Fab 5’ From ‘Queer Eye’ Into Bonafide Social Media Stars
  42. Open Source Makes Kodi Add-ons Proliferate — And Hard To Eradicate
  43. YouTube Now Has 2 Billion Monthly Users, Who Watch 250 Million Hours on TV Screens Daily
  44. More Than 250 Million Hours Of YouTube Content Are Watched On TV Screens Every Single Day
  45. More Than 500 Hours Of Content Are Now Being Uploaded To YouTube Every Minute
  46. YouTube Copyright Filters Suck: The ‘Beat Saber’ And ‘Jimmy Fallon’ Edition
  47. Ex-YouTube engineer reveals how video site worked to kill off Internet Explorer 6
  48. YouTube’s Always Wanted TV Ad Dollars. But At This Year’s Brandcast, Execs Upped The Intensity Of The Pitch.
  49. YouTuber Austin Jones Sentenced To 10 Years Behind Bars For Child Pornography
  50. Pornhub wants to buy Tumblr and restore site to former porn-filled glory
  51. Justin Bieber Pacts With YouTube for Project Premiering in 2020
  52. YouTube Renews Kevin Hart Comedy Series, Sets Maluma and Paris Hilton Documentaries, Lollapalooza Live-Streaming Deal
  53. Kris Jenner, Gary Vaynerchuk Talk Life And Business With 120 YouTubers At The Site’s ‘Top Creator Summit’
  54. YouTube Plays A Major Role In Google’s Plans To Revamp Ecommerce Arm 
  55. Bad Influence: Complying with FTC’s Endorsement Guide
  56. FTC Warns Ukraine Company: You Can’t Let Kids Use Your Dating Apps 
  57. Dating Apps Warned of Potential COPPA and FTC Act Violations Removed from App Stores 
  58. Liza Koshy, James Charles, And Lilly Singh Got Coveted Invites To The Met Gala
  59. Police Investigating Alleged Drugging Of Guest At Jake Paul-Hosted House Party
  60. After Streamlining Web Presence, Vice Reportedly Raises $250 Million In Debt Funding
  61. Vice Media Gets $250 Million in Debt Funding From George Soros, Other Investors
  62. ‘Game Of Thrones’ Videos Are Collecting Nearly 100 Million Views A Day
  63. CatCon Partners With Cats Of Instagram To Celebrate The Internet’s Greatest Cat Videos
  64. Sock Startup Bombas Says YouTube Yields More First-Time Orders Than Any Other Ad Platform
  65. Instagram’s In-App Shopping Feature ‘Checkout’ Helped Boost Adidas’ Online Sales By 40%
  66. Instagram Planning AI-Powered Pop-Ups To Ratchet Down Anti-Vaccination Content
  67. The Comedian Is In The Machine. AI Is Now Learning Puns
  68. Can AI Fairness Be Regulated?
  69. How to prepare students for the rise of artificial intelligence in the workforce
  70. The impact of intellectual property on artificial intelligence
  71. Blockchain, zero-code machine learning coming to Azure
  72. Blockchain Technology Embraced by Maryland Legislature
  73. Binance exchange hackers steal bitcoins worth $41m
  74. 3D-printing and IP rights
  75. Microsoft joins Climate Leadership Council: Company becomes first tech organization to join controversial group pursuing carbon fees, legal immunity for oil giants
  76. This Year’s Biggest NewFronts Buzzwords Were “Audio” And “Brand Safety”, Says Mindshare’s Christine Peterson
  77. Man Wins Legal Battle Over Traffic Ticket By Convincing Court A Hash Brown Is Not A Phone

COMMUNICATIONS  

  1. CRTC Issues Its First Penalty Against a CEO for Violating Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation
  2.  CRTC ups the CASL liability ante for directors and officers 
  3. More Than 100 CNN Staffers Take Buyouts as AT&T Pares Debt
  4. CMS Finalizes Rule Requiring Disclosure of Drug Prices in TV Ads 
  5. Verizon Media Said to Be Looking for Tumblr Buyer
  6. US Bandwidth Consumption Surges As Usage Caps Pose A Looming Threat
  7. Charter squeezes more money out of Internet users with new cancellation policy
  8. Megamergers Can’t Help Charter Spectrum As Cord Cutting Exodus Continues
  9. FCC Fixes Giant Error Over-Stating Broadband Availability… Then Doubles Down On Bogus Claims
  10. Ajit Pai refuses to investigate Frontier’s horrible telecom service
  11. The Super ‘Transparent’ Pai FCC Is Still Trying To Hide Details On Those Fake Net Neutrality Comments
  12. The FCC Hasn’t Done A Damn Thing To Seriously Police Wireless Location Data Scandals 

PRIVACY

  1.  Student Files $1 Billion Lawsuit Against Apple Over Supposedly Faulty Facial Recognition Tech That Falsely Accused Him Of Theft
  2. Refunds for 300 million phone users sought in lawsuits over location-data sales 
  3. Does Canadian Privacy Law Matter if it Can’t be Enforced? (Michael Geist)
  4. How Mass Surveillance Works in Xinjiang, China: ‘Reverse Engineering’ Police App Reveals Profiling and Monitoring Strategies
  5. Chinese Spies Intercepted NSA Malware Attack, Weaponized It Against Targets Around The World
  6. “RobbinHood” ransomware takes down Baltimore City government networks
  7. Smart Lock Vendors Under Fire For Collecting Too Much Private Data
  8. Massachusetts Judge Says ATF Can Apply A Suspect’s Fingerprints To Unlock An IPhone
  9. Latest ODNI Transparency Report Shows Steep Spike In Unmasking Requests For US Person Caught In NSA Collections
  10. Unless you want your payment card data skimmed, avoid these commerce sites
  11. Google Is Finally Copying Apple’s Approach to Privacy: New features will help keep your data on your device
  12. Google’s Sundar Pichai snipes at Apple with privacy defense: ‘Privacy cannot be a luxury good’
  13. Facebook’s contract workers are looking at your private posts to train AI: Human workers have to categorize posts to create training data for AI systems
  14. Canada Border Services seizes lawyer’s phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
  15. $3 Million Settlement for Exposure of and Latent Response to Exposure of 300,000 Patients’ Protected Health Information 
  16. Accused CIA Leaker Files Complaint Against The Government Seeking $50 Billion In Damages
  17. Governments are deploying spyware on killers, drug lords – and journalists
  18. Schools Are Safer Than Ever, But That’s Not Stopping Schools From Buying Social Media Monitoring Software
  19. First GDPR fine issued! 
  20. GDPR, ePrivacy and cookies: an update
  21. GDPR Penalties Prove Why Compliance Isn’t Enough—And Why Companies Need Clarity
  22. Senator Markey Announces ‘Privacy Bill of Rights’
  23. The Lure Of Learning Analytics: Researchers now have access to a flood of educational data on students that they hope will offer insights on how to improve the learning experience. Will it work?
  24. Spot the not-Fed: A day at AvengerCon, the Army’s answer to hacker conferences

CREATIVITY

  1. Infringement Plagues Pharaoh’s Fortune
  2. Artist’s trash is treasure 
  3. Saatchi Gallery decides to cover up artworks dubbed “blasphemous” 
  4. The male torso: Is it distinctive?
  5. UMG Fails To Get Trademark For ‘As Heard On TV’ In A Remarkably Sane Ruling From The TTAB
  6. Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Inc. Keeps Telling Licensees Its Trademarks Are Valid While Courts Keep Insisting They Are Not
  7. The Russo Brothers Break Down the Biggest Marvel Moments
  8. Unsurprisingly, Larry Klayman’s Veiled Threats And Insulting Of Judges Isn’t Helping Roy Moore’s $95 Million Defamation Lawsuit
  9. Why we are addicted to conspiracy theories: Outsiders and the disenfranchised have always embraced the existence of wild plots and cover-ups. But now the biggest conspiracy-mongers are in charge.
  10. Just Because The Rest Of The World Doesn’t Have A 1st Amendment, Doesn’t Mean It Can Trample Online Speech
  11. Federal Judge Says Flashing Headlights To Warn Drivers Of Hidden Cops MIGHT Be Protected Speech

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; May 1, 2019

By Jon Festinger on June 17, 2019

GAMES

  1. Report: Talks of developer walkouts prompt conversation inside Riot Games
  2. Citing arbitration clauses, Riot Games moves to block employee lawsuits
  3. Riot Files Motions To Block Current Employees From Taking Legal Action
  4. Riot employees threaten walkout over forced arbitration: League of Legends developer’s attempt to keep workers’ gender discrimination claims out of court draws backlash
  5. Riot says women waived right to sue when they were hired: League of Legends maker wants to enforce private arbitration clauses for gender discrimination claims
  6. The heavy toll of making games in the San Francisco Bay Area
  7. Swery’s White Owls is building a better work culture for Japan: Hidetaka Suehiro says his new studio’s treatment of employees is, “inspired by foreign game companies”
  8. New York Saxophonist Latest To Sue Fortnite Developers For Supposedly Ripping Off His… ‘Likeness’
  9. Musician Leo Pellegrino sues Epic Games over alleged misappropriation of his identity: Pellegrino’s “trademark moves have become inseparable from his persona and his life story” argues filing
  10. Epic Games acquires Rocket League dev Psyonix
  11. Epic acquires Rocket League studio, bringing game to Epic’s store this year: Steam sales will continue for now; Steam “support” will continue indefinitely.
  12. If Epic Vs Steam Is To Be A PR War, Epic’s Boss Just Issued A Brilliant Retaliatory Strike
  13. Steam crosses 1 billion registered accounts
  14. NCSoft Has A Great Opportunity To Be Awesome And Human To ‘City Of Heroes’ Enthusiasts
  15. The streaming service that wants to save the retro gaming biz from piracy
  16. Cox Internet now charges $15 extra for faster access to online game servers
  17. Google removes Do Global Games from Play Store: Developer with over 100 apps and 600m installs banned following reports of concealing ownership info, ad fraud
  18. Google CEO: Publishers “want to see our commitment” to Stadia – But Sundar Pichai says giving games execs hands on time with streaming service “completely wins people over”
  19. Publishers see Stadia as an ‘opportunity for a shift,’ says Google CEO
  20. Google Stadia will support “a variety of business models”
  21. Coming Facebook Gaming features focus on discovery and engagement
  22. Banned Republican politician restored to EVE Online council following investigation: “We made a mistake here and we offer our formal apologies,” says CCP Games
  23. EA lays out Apex Legends community tournament guidelines: This is what you need to know if you want to hold a local tournament without fear of EA’s legal department.
  24. Apex Legends updates less to maintain dev quality of life: Respawn’s Vince Zampella says studio is wary of overworking the team and reducing quality of work in the process
  25. BioWare delays multiple Anthem features: “There is a long way to go before Anthem becomes the game we all want it to be,” says BioWare
  26. Epic Removed A Popular Fortnite Mechanic Because It Made People Play Less
  27. Epic Games Boss Says They’ll Stop Doing Exclusives If Steam Gives Developers More Money
  28. Tim Sweeney: Epic would stop pursuing exclusives if Steam improved its revenue share – Epic CEO says Steam committing to permanent 88% revenue share would be “a glorious moment in the history of PC gaming”
  29. Phoenix Labs’ undaunted quest for cross-platform play: Founder Jesse Houston on choosing the Epic Games store over Steam, and how that choice is helping to realise its cross-platform vision for Dauntless
  30. Epic Games acquires Psyonix: Epic seems to leave door open for game to continue to be sold on Steam after Epic Games store release
  31. Snap’s big plan to turn Snapchat into a gaming platform
  32. Watch the Borderlands 3 gameplay reveal streams and you might win in-game loot: A new Echocast plugin will also enable viewers to look at streamers’ loadouts, inventories, and skill trees.
  33. Borderlands 3 is about more bullets, not new bullet points: Gearbox developers say the latest entry was about broadening the familiar, share thoughts on collaboration, crassness, and crunch
  34. Adult gaming portal Nutaku launches Android storefront: Restrictions on Google Play and App Store demanded new measures to “improve accessibility” for mobile users
  35. In-depth: Portfolio-scale machine learning at Zynga
  36. Zynga’s Q1 revenues, losses top expectations: Publisher credits “outstanding performances” from Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons for helping top line and hurting bottom line
  37. Record-breaking year for Jagex with revenues of £92.8m: Launch of Old School RuneScape on mobile drives fourth consecutive year of growth
  38. Original Earthworm Jim team reunites for new, Intellivision Amico-exclusive entry: Ten of the game’s original developers participating in creation of new title for upcoming, exclusive-heavy console
  39. There’s a 1 percent chance Valve announces a Half-Life VR game this week
  40. Valve Index is a 120Hz-plus ‘fidelity first’ VR headset, and it isn’t cheap
  41. Valve Index VR headset ships June 28 for $499-$999
  42. Hands-on: Valve’s Index Headset Sets an Impressive New Bar for VR Fidelity
  43. Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest launch May 21 for $399 each  
  44. Oculus Quest Review – The First Great Standalone VR Headset
  45. A VR game is helping researchers learn about and potentially detect Alzheimer’s
  46. Japanese mobile operator Docomo sinks $280 million into Magic Leap
  47. Magic Leap gets $280m investment from Docomo: Japanese telecomms deal pushes lifetime funding above $2.6 billion
  48. ‘Super Mario Odyssey’ & ‘Zelda Breath of the Wild’ Updated with Switch VR Support
  49. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate driving new Switch sales for Nintendo
  50. Nintendo Slays The Threat From Modded Nintendo Games For The Commodore 64
  51. Over 9.8 million people are using Nintendo’s premium Switch Online service
  52. Nintendo saw over $1 billion in digital sales this year, a company first
  53. Game with hidden Ruby interpreter pulled from Nintendo Switch eShop
  54. Nintendo’s VR Upgrade for Zelda Messed Me Up
  55. The Switch is closing in on 35 million lifetime sales
  56. Software driving growth at Nintendo as Switch falls just short of sales goal
  57. Nintendo remains the industry’s best long-term bet | Opinion: With Switch soaring and clear space ahead as competitors prepare next-gen offerings, Nintendo is back on top – and the long-term outlook is even more rosy
  58. Nintendo Switch had 23 million-selling games in the last fiscal year: Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa says there will be no new hardware announcement at E3 this year
  59. Nintendo Switch Online reaches 9.8m subscribers in six months: Just under one third of Switch owners are paid members of the online service
  60. Nintendo pulls A Dark Room from eShop over secret code editor
  61. Nintendo shares drop 5% after conservative Switch forecasts: But platform holder’s share price has still risen 29% since the start of the year
  62. A Dark Room pulled from Switch eShop for including code editor: Developer added Ruby editor at the “last second” without publisher’s knowledge
  63. Mario Kart Tour steps closer to launch with closed beta test: Nintendo’s upcoming mobile game was delayed from March 2019 launch due to concerns over its quality
  64. Xbox should absolutely team up with Nintendo at E3 | Opinion: This could be the quietest E3 yet, making it the ideal time for Microsoft and Nintendo to call a truce
  65. Microsoft is using the Xbox Adaptive Controller to support U.S. veterans
  66. Sega keen to improve profitability of digital titles after disappointing year
  67. Don’t Miss: A postmortem of the original Sonic the Hedgehog
  68. Mojang has released the ‘biggest Minecraft update yet’
  69. Microsoft continues to distance itself from Minecraft creator: Citing “his comments and opinions,” Mojang parent explains why Marcus “Notch” Persson won’t be involved in anniversary event
  70. Minecraft creator Notch unwelcome at 10th anniversary due to online conduct: Transphobia, homophobia, and racism aren’t Microsoft’s core values.
  71. Mojang donates $100k to water charity after Minecraftplayers rally to the cause
  72. PlayStation Now has 700,000 subscribers
  73. PlayStation Now downloads get double the play time of streamed games: Sony’s on-demand service has 700k subscribers, and many of them are choosing downloads over streams
  74. Rising PS4 game sales drive Sony to $78.1bn full-year revenues: Game segment’s operating income to take a $278.3 million hit as investment increases in PlayStation 5
  75. PS4 software sales up at Sony as hardware decline continues
  76. UK Charts: Days Gone defeats Mortal Kombat 11 to claim No.1 – PS4 exclusive scores decent debut in UK Top 40
  77. Slightly Mad Studios withdraws trademark for Mad Box console: Withdrawal follows opposition from French casual games firm called Madbox
  78. Project Cars dev fails to secure ‘Mad Box’ trademark for new console
  79. St. Jude’s PLAY LIVE Gamer Fundraising Summit Kicks Off In Memphis With Tons Of Twitch Stars
  80. Fans Can Now Buy Their Own Ninja Headbands For $22, Exclusively At Walmart
  81. Capcom restructures esports and media licensing business units: Company forms Capcom Media Ventures to manage global esports projects
  82. Denmark creates ‘national esports strategy’ to nurture competitive gaming
  83. Fnatic Secures $19m Funding, Announces Management Changes
  84. YouTube Millionaires: ProPepper’s YouTube Channel Is All ‘Fortnite,’ All The Time — And That’s What Drives His 10+ Million Monthly Views
  85. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: The slow journey to killing crunch
  86. Ex-NetherRealm devs: crunch and exploiting contractors was the studio norm
  87. Codemasters moves F1 team into new Birmingham studio: Studio head Ian Flatt says new premises allows developer to “recruit even further to expand the franchise”
  88. Starbreeze sells 10 Crowns publishing rights back to developer Mohawk Games
  89. Starbreeze sells publishing rights for 10 Crowns back to developer: Marks third such deal in just over a year, but still holds on to Psychonauts 2
  90. Snapchat is launching an SDK to let devs use Bitmoji avatars in their own games
  91. Four years after launch, Angry Birds 2 is still Rovio’s top-earning game
  92. Dino Patti: “If you get what you expected, it always gets boring”
  93. Blog: Approaching player choice in video games
  94. Blizzard will skip Gamescom this year to ‘focus on development’
  95. Bloodborne board game adaptation raises $1.6m in two days: Tabletop adaptation of FromSoftware’s nightmarish monster-fest breaks funding goal in 17 minutes
  96. AbleGamers reveals plan to get accessibility experts into AAA studios: “We’ve found that once we embed champions within the studio space, accessibility becomes a really cheap thing to add,” says CEO
  97. This Video Game Detects Alzheimer’s Earlier Than Lab Tests
  98. Ubisoft is rewarding players for reporting reproducible bugs in Rainbow Six Siege
  99. Mobile VR game Sea Hero Quest generates 1,700 hours of research into Alzheimer’s: Researchers claim every two minutes of gameplay is equal to five hours of lab-based studies
  100. Valve Index reveal: The best of VR’s first generation—but is it worth $999?
  101. Valve has a ‘flagship’ game headed to SteamVR headsets
  102. Oculus Quest review: 2019’s best new gaming system is wireless, affordable VR
  103. UK government awards £12m funding for innovation projects based on homegrown IP: Augmented and virtual reality games in development for Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit, and BAFTA-winning Peaky Blinders
  104. Mass Effect-inspired porn game is now one of the biggest gaming Kickstarters of all time: Subverse, a “kinky sci-fi RPG,” will likely break $2 million, putting it in an exclusive crowdfunding club.
  105. The Indie Guide To Marketing: Freelance marketer Bee Wakefield offers devs advice on how to promote their game – and why it takes more than just social media
  106. Understanding Inkle’s approach to making unique game settings
  107. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Vault: How Inkle designed its first 3D game
  108. A brief history of 3D texturing in video games
  109. Don’t Miss: The making of the N64 classic, GoldenEye 007
  110. Deux Ex: The game you can’t win – Why I Love – Bow to Blood developer Matthew Hoesterey says the immersive sim was everything he hoped for, but not what he expected
  111. Did a vigilante ROM leaker go too far to “preserve” a lost Atari ROM?
  112. Don’t Miss: How the developer of Dig Dog learned to make games without using his hands
  113. Coding without a keystroke: The hands-free creation of a full video game

DIGITAL

  1. Can we ever regulate online spaces? (Andres Guadamuz)
  2. Inside the Team at Facebook That Dealt with the Christchurch Shooting
  3. PewDiePie Addresses Christchurch Massacre, Urges Fans To Stop Using “Subscribe To PewDiePie”
  4. Facebook Files Questionable Lawsuit Over Fake Followers And Likes
  5. Austrian Government Wants To Outlaw Online Anonymity
  6. Smoking, depression apps sell your data to Google and Facebook, study finds
  7. How a Google Street View image of your house predicts your risk of a car accident
  8. Behind The Scenes Look At How Facebook Dealt With Christchurch Shooting Demonstrates The Impossible Task Of Content Moderation
  9. Regulating Facebook will be one of the greatest challenges in human history
  10. Facebook’s Zuckerberg announces privacy overhaul: ‘We don’t have the strongest reputation’
  11. Insights: Will We Still Like Instagram If We Don’t Know Who Likes What?
  12. Instagram Enlists Kim Kardashian, Kathleen Lights, And More To Roll Out Shoppable Posts
  13. Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Some Republican Politicians Are Indistinguishable From Neo Nazis
  14. Impossible Content Moderation Dilemmas: Talking About Racism Blocked As Hate Speech
  15. Samsung Made A Vertical TV To Display Instagram Stories, TikToks, And Snapchats
  16. The Wisconsin Supreme Court Gets Section 230 Right
  17. Ninth Circuit Chunks Another Section 230 Ruling – HomeAway v. Santa Monica
  18. Supreme Court Asks White House To Weigh In On Copyrightability Of APIs
  19. As Brand Safety Concerns Mount, Vice Denounces Keyword Blacklists For Restricting Diversity
  20. Vodafone Found Hidden Backdoors in Huawei Equipment
  21. Bloomberg alleges Huawei routers and network gear are backdoored
  22. Bloomberg Appears To Flub Another China Story, Insists Telnet Is A Nefarious Huawei Backdoor
  23. Silicon Valley is awash in Chinese and Saudi cash — and no one is paying attention (except Trump): A tough, new enforcement regime is becoming a geopolitical minefield for venture capitalists and startups.
  24. Judge blasts Assange for jumping bail, sentences him to almost one year
  25. Putin signs law to create an independent Russian internet
  26. Why Won’t Twitter Treat White Supremacy Like ISIS? Because It Would Mean Banning Some Republican Politicians Too.: A proactive, algorithmic solution to white supremacy would also catch Republican politicians.
  27. How The Alt-Right Infiltrated Architecture Twitter – And Turned Notre-Dame Into A Political Lightning Rod: Why are online white nationalists obsessed with modern architecture? It’s all a cover to push a racist agenda
  28. After White House stop, Twitter CEO calls congresswoman about death threats
  29. Texas Senator Pushing A Bill That Would Allow The State To Sue Twitter For Banning Conservatives
  30. Why Your Holiday Photos And Videos Of The Restored Notre Dame Cathedral Could Be Blocked By The EU’s Upload Filters
  31. Elon Musk reaches settlement in SEC tweet battle
  32. Disinformation Threatens 2020 Election
  33. Was Russia’s 2016 intervention for Trump a strategic failure?: Putin won the political battle, but the war’s outcome is still uncertain.
  34. HootSuite cuts jobs in reorganization at social media management business
  35. At NewFronts, Twitter Pitches Programming Pacts With Wall Street Journal, Live Nation, Univision
  36. Twitter Expands Live-Streaming Video Lineup, Sets Content Deals With Viacom, ESPN, Live Nation, Univision, and More
  37. YouTube Is Communicating Directly With Creators And Viewers More Than Ever – Through Its Twitter Account
  38. YouTube CEO addresses top creator issues including copyright claims and trending section
  39. YouTube Swings For The Fences In First-Ever Exclusive Deal With Major League Baseball
  40. YouTube Scores MLB 13-Game Package With Exclusive Rights in U.S., Canada
  41. Following Shane Dawson Summit, YouTube’s Tweaking Its ‘Trending’ Tab To Be 50% Native Creators
  42. Taylor Swift’s “Me!” Shatters YouTube Record For Most-Viewed Solo Female Debut
  43. Microsoft is now a $1 trillion company: Strong earnings push Microsoft toward a new milestone
  44. Microsoft market cap reaches $1 trillion: Company value edges over milestone this morning for the first time, making it most valuable US publicly traded company
  45. Apple sets sights on services as iPhone revenue continues to fall
  46. iPad and services on the rise at Apple as iPhone sales continue to fall
  47. Robotics company Anki lays off entire workforce ahead of closure
  48. Security Experts Unite Over the Right to Repair
  49. Minnesota May Be First State To Pass A Right To Repair Law
  50. SiriusXM financials reveal continued decline in Pandora users
  51. Post-Ticketfly, Pandora Integrates Ticketmaster Shows Into Its Artist Streams
  52. The Next Step In The Podcast Wars: Two Companies Looking To Be The Netflix Of Podcasts Start Fighting
  53. Despite Spielberg’s ‘Get Off My Lawn’ Moment, The Oscars Won’t Ban Netflix
  54. Now more expensive to sue multiple online infringers 
  55. Don’t let industry write the rules for AI: Technology companies are running a campaign to bend research and regulation for their benefit; society must fight back (Yochai Benkler)
  56. World Economic Forum’s AI head on how to protect human rights without stifling innovation 
  57. Is Artificial Intelligence Good for Our Health?
  58. Can algorithms themselves be biased?
  59. Google’s poetry algorithm automates teen angst: Give it a word and it’ll give you a masterpiece (of sorts). 
  60. Why Congress Needs The Office Of Technology Assessment More Than Ever 
  61. Google’s VP Of Agency And Brand Solutions Wants Facebook Watch To Get Bigger
  62. GroupM’s Global Head Of Social Says Marketers Must Practice Non-Linear Storytelling
  63. The Age Of The Influencer Has Peaked. It’s Time For The Slacker To Rise Again 
  64. Amazon Posts Record Profit in Q1 of $3.6 Billion, Plans to Upgrade Prime to Free One-Day Shipping
  65. How Amazon automatically tracks and fires warehouse workers for ‘productivity’: Documents show how the company tracks and terminates workers
  66. A doorbell company owned by Amazon wants to start producing “crime news” 
  67. Amazon Spent $1.7 Billion on Content in Q1, but Original Video Investments Still Unknown
  68. Amazon plans to make Prime shipping one-day by default
  69. Amazon Takes Direct Aim At Jay-Z’s Tidal
  70. BBC Expanding News Coverage With Interactive Video, Audio Articles, And New Verticals
  71. Hulu Greenlights Two New Marvel Series, Inks Two-Year Programming Pact With Chrissy Teigen
  72. Hulu tops 28 million customers, unveils new shows and a ‘binge watch’ ad experience
  73. Vudu Announces ‘Blue’s Clues’ Remake, Studio71 Film ‘Adventure Force 5’
  74. Technological Warnings from the Inside
  75. MIT finally gives a name to the sum of all AI fears
  76. The AI Group Elon Musk Quit Just Released An Amazing Music AI
  77. Spotify Now Has Over 100 Million Subscribers, Narrows Q1 Losses
  78. Layer and Nio’s intelligent Pal scooter learns your favourite routes
  79. The Vast Majority of All Futures Trading Is Now Automated
  80. Amazing AI Generates Entire Bodies of People Who Don’t Exist: The algorithm whips up photorealistic models and outfits from scratch.
  81. The Role of Professional Norms in AI Governance: Some Observations and Outline of a Framework (Urs Gasser)
  82. Beyond Bias: Re-imagining the Terms of “Ethical AI” in Criminal Law (Chelsea Barabas)
  83. Do You Know the Origin of your Website Content? . . . and Why You Should. 
  84. Condé Nast Entertainment Says It Has 100 Pilots In The Works
  85. Condé Nast Taps Joe Sugg For New YouTube Series, To Launch Sports-Themed ‘GQ’ Channel
  86. Vice to Relaunch Main Site, Bring Noisey Under Flagship Umbrella: Exclusive
  87. Viacom’s Kelly Day Wants To ‘Build Digital Worlds’ Around Its Biggest TV Hits
  88. Viacom is launching Pluto TV channels for Comedy Central, MTV and more
  89. Viacom Taps Eva Gutowski, Tana Mongeau, And Jason Nash For Latest YouTube Series Slate
  90. Billboard Music Awards Pacts With Nascent Stories-Editing App ‘Unfold’
  91. Slack plans to go public after hitting 10 million daily users
  92. Shoddy Software Is Eating The World, And People Are Dying As A Result
  93. In Its Race to Be First, Samsung Screwed Itself
  94. Samsung puts the screws to iFixit, makes it remove the Galaxy Fold teardown
  95. UWinnipeg receives $2.4 million to grow digital agriculture
  96. The leading “stablecoin” is no longer backed by $1 for every coin

COMMUNICATIONS

  1.  SCC decision could focus on CRTC’s reach
  2. Anti-spam laws are overreaching, say lawyers 
  3. Of Course Wireless Carriers Are Fighting a Bill That Stops Them From Throttling Firefighters’ Data 
  4. Verizon Media Unveils Augmented Reality News Partner Program, 5G Tech At NewFronts
  5. AT&T Settles Lawsuit Over ‘Fake 5G,’ Won’t Change A Thing
  6. Ajit Pai-proposed upgrade to 25Mbps starts paying off for rural ISPs
  7. Ajit Pai says he’s fixed giant FCC error that exaggerated broadband growth
  8. Comcast usage soars 34% to 200GB a month, pushing users closer to data cap
  9. Charter Spectrum Won’t Get Kicked Out Of New York State After ISP Promises To Suck Less
  10. Charter data use “rising rapidly” as cord cutters average 400GB a month

PRIVACY

  1. Canada Says Facebook Broke Privacy Laws With ‘Superficial’ Safeguards
  2. Facebook data leak: Province-by-province breakdown of affected Canadians
  3. Zero-day attackers deliver a double dose of ransomware – no clicking required: High-severity hole in Oracle WebLogic under active exploit for 9 days.
  4. At Long Last, NSA Finally Recommends Its Bulk Phone Collection Program Be Put Out Of Its Misery
  5. Vulture with GPS tracker held in Yemen on suspicion it was used for spying
  6. Probable Russian Navy covert camera whale discovered by Norwegians
  7. Massachusetts’ Top Court Says Warrants Are Needed For Real-Time Cell Site Location Info
  8. Coercive and Non-Coercive Surveillance Authorities
  9. Fear the Man in the Middle? This company wants to sell quantum key distribution
  10. Appeals Court: Chalking Tires For Parking Enforcement Violates The Fourth Amendment

CREATIVITY

  1. Myths and Reality About Canadian Copyright Law, Fair Dealing and Educational Copying (Michael Geist)
  2. The Copyright Board’s “New Leaf”? Not So Much and Not at All (Howard Knopf)
  3. The Toronto Real Estate Board is Back in the Copyright News (Howard Knopf)
  4. Can the taste of a cheese be copyrighted? (Eleonora Rosati)
  5. Today In Bananas Copyright Law: Court Urged To Rule That A Banana Costume Is Not Infringing
  6. Second Circuit Judges Brawl Over the Meaning of “Volition” in Copyright Cases–BWP v. Polyvore
  7. Announcing: The Public Domain Song Anthology
  8. Watch: The Latest Avengers Movie Is Already On Torrent Sites, But That Won’t Stop A Torrent Of Sold Theater Tickets
  9. Picture this: no direct infringement but no fair use either
  10. FanX, Previously Salt Lake Comic Con, Ordered To Pay $4 Million For San Diego’s Con’s Attorney’s Fees, Barred From Calling Itself A Comic-Con
  11. How Queer Is Star Trek?
  12. First teaser for Veronica Mars revival is everything we loved about the series
  13. Encyclopedia Brown And The Case Of The Mysterious Author: Donald J. Sobol created a mystery icon and sold millions of books. But who was he?
  14. Oxford Professor Argues Invisible Aliens Are Interbreeding With Humans
  15. The world is sadder and angrier than ever, major study finds
  16. A theory of style: We can analyse how fashion works by breaking it down into networks of style elements. What role, then, for human creativity?

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; April 24, 2019

By Jon Festinger on June 14, 2019

GAMES

  1. Iraq bans PUBG, Fortnite: Country joins Nepal and some parts of India in forbidding Bluehole’s shooter, citing impact on youth and addictive qualities
  2. Nepal lifts short-lived ban on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
  3. Fortnite and PUBG are now banned in Iraq: The Iraqi government is concerned about the negative effect the games have on youth.
  4. Iraq parliament votes to ban Fortnite and Battlegrounds
  5. Don’t Miss: How working on gross, violent games can mess with developers
  6. Nintendo issues DMCA takedown for Super Mario Bros.Commodore 64 port
  7. Super Mario Bros. Commodore 64 fan port hit with DMCA takedowns
  8. Nepal Supreme Court suspends ban on PUBG: Government ordered to show cause for its prohibition on popular survival shooter
  9. Over 200 Fortnite World Cup prize winners caught cheating: Over 1,200 total cheaters caught in first week of competition, most for circumventing region locks
  10. Supercell partners with Internet Matters to improve child safety online
  11. Constant development means a perpetual push to crunch at Epic, say Fortnite devs
  12. Epic devs speak out on Fortnite crunch: “I was working at least 12-hour days, seven days a week, for at least four or five months” after survival shooter became a mainstream phenomenon
  13. Apex Legends is on the decline with streamers after a record-setting month
  14. Overwatch lets players create custom modes with in-game scripting tools
  15. Respawn CEO: Sticking to seasonal updates better for Apex Legends devs
  16. 996.ICU accuses NetEase, Tencent and Chinese devs of overworking staff: Chinese tech workers use GitHub to highlight intensive overtime schedules, Microsoft employees petition to keep list uncensored
  17. China’s game approval rules will soon apply to HTML5 and WeChat mini-games
  18. China’s new gaming rules to ban poker, blood and imperial schemes
  19. China introduces new game approval process, limiting total approvals per year: HTML5 games now require approval, anti-addiction system policy expanded to mobile titles
  20. Tencent raises minimum age for “digital lock” to 16: New measure will be trialled in upcoming game, limiting gamers aged 15 and under to two hours a day
  21. Chinese streaming platform DouYu files for $500m IPO: Tencent-backed Twitch rival could be one of the largest Chinese floatations in the US so far this year
  22. Amnesia dev makes the case for why lying to players is sometimes good game design
  23. Nintendo and Tencent gain approval to bring the Switch to China
  24. Tencent cleared to distribute Nintendo Switch in China: Government of Guangdong province offers provisional go ahead for sale of the Switch in China
  25. Report: Cheaper Switch model will focus on portability
  26. Google coy with new Stadia details, pushes the promise of discoverability
  27. PUBG Corp sees $920 million in 2018 revenue: PC accounted for $790 million of total revenue; over half of total earnings came from Asia
  28. South Korean FTC to review in-game purchase policies
  29. South Korean FTC examining consumer regulations surrounding in-game purchases: Government body currently investigating issues surrounding minors making purchases and “unfair” limitations on refunds
  30. Assassin’s Creed Unity hit by review bombers intent on spreading positivity
  31. Burnout Paradise’s online servers are shutting down after 11 years
  32. Disney reportedly offered controlling stake in Nexon: Search for a buyer continues as Korean publisher’s founder meets with high-ranking Disney exec
  33. Welcome to The New Era of High Fashion and Video Game Collaborations: Inside Moschino and The Sims Partnership
  34. Mortal Kombat 11: Critical Consensus – Reviewers applaud the meat and bones of NetherRealm’s latest, but question the method for unlocking skins
  35. World War Z has surpassed 1 million sales in first week
  36. Frostpunk has surpassed 1.4 million sales in first year
  37. Persona 5 has sold over 2.7 million copies worldwide
  38. Nintendo stock leaps following Switch approval in China: 17% rise on Tokyo exchange is company’s largest percentage gain since Pokemon Go’s summer of 2016
  39. More powerful Nintendo Switch reportedly still in experimental stages: Other, smaller Switch version also rumored may be dockable after all, could launch this fall
  40. NPD: Nintendo Switch continues strong sales in quarter of hardware declines
  41. Report: Cheaper “Switch Lite” will be dockable, come in the fall
  42. Report: Cheaper Switch coming by June
  43. Happy 30th B-Day, Game Boy: Here are six reasons why you’re #1
  44. GB Studio offers a free Game Boy-inspired way to create 2D games
  45. Video: The making of the Xbox Adaptive Controller
  46. Sagging Xbox hardware sales offset by software, services growth: Microsoft says gaming revenues were up 5% in its third quarter thanks to third-party games’ monetization and subscription growth
  47. Xbox revenue held up by software and services as hardware sales fall
  48. GAME and GameStop shrug off Xbox One S All-Digital Edition threat: GaneStop survey finds around half of consumers are less likely to purchase console without disc drive
  49. Game Informer Australia closed down in wake of GameStop cuts
  50. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: PlayStation 5 vs disc-less Xbox: Will the future of consoles be defined by Sony’s SSD, Microsoft’s digital focus, or Capcom’s corporate branded arcade panel?
  51. Contributing devs up in arms over Capcom’s use of the FB Alpha emulator
  52. Sony promises “appealing” price for new PlayStation console: Wired releases more interview material after hardware’s high-spec prompts speculation over price
  53. Sony Brings Social VR Theater App to PSVR Users in Japan
  54. Linden Lab CEO: ‘We’re Pitching ‘Sansar’ Less as a VR Platform Now’
  55. Oculus Explains Why It Doesn’t Think the Time is Right for ‘Rift 2’ or ‘Rift Pro’
  56. The Simple Guide to Four Major VR Headsets Launching This Spring
  57. Iron Man VR preview makes me want to put on nerdy headgear again
  58. Nintendo’s past VR research laid the foundation for Labo VR
  59. Epic Games Store exclusivity helps Phoenix Point achieve 191% return: “Cash advance” from engine provider will be shared with Fig backers as part of game’s revenue
  60. Here’s why the Epic Games Store takes a 12 percent revenue cut from devs
  61. Gearbox CEO: Both devs and players benefit from Epic and Steam competition
  62. Gearbox’s Pitchford: Steam may be “a dying store” in 5 to 10 years
  63. Diverging paths: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo’s radically different visions | Opinion: After decades of platform holders releasing similar hardware, we should celebrate their new, wildly different visions of gaming’s future
  64. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s new Stage Builder mode is recommending inappropriate content: Stages with inappropriate images, names are being listed as “Recommended” and do not disappear
  65. Spectator Throws Dead Crab At Super Smash Bros. Tournament Winner
  66. European Esports Federation to be formed with 12 countries: Organization to serve as a “moderating partner” rather than a governing body for the industry
  67. Player Safeguarding, Welfare and Education in Esports – A Pragmatic Approach for Tournament Organizers 
  68. Actor Will Smith joins $46m investment into esports organisation Gen.G: Smith joined by investment partner and Japanese soccer star Keisuke Honda
  69. Branded for success | Opinion: Game Dragons’ Philip Oliver offers advice on how to licence IP, and how to identify IP that is now in the public domain
  70. AbleGamers launches new accessibility website: Accessible.Games provides means to connect developers and players with disability to help design more accessible games
  71. Kitfox: People are more important than projects – Co-founder Tanya X. Short says she’s reconsidering putting gameplay and quality on equal footing with respect and personal development
  72. Amy Hennig: Streaming must be more than “just an invisible console” – Real-time streaming will start a revolution in storytelling, Hennig said at Reboot Develop – but new kinds of content will be required
  73. Neo Cab: Staying human in a world where an algorithm is your boss – “We’re building these systems without thinking about the human costs… we only do it as numbers and aggregate”
  74. Warren Spector: “If immersive sims disappear, I disappear” –  System Shock developer explains why the struggles of Dishonored and Deus Ex won’t deter him from his chosen genre
  75. Frostpunk sells 1.4m units in first year: Publishing director Paweł Feldman unpacks some of the lessons learned in building 11 Bit Studios’ latest hit
  76. SuperData: Sekiro sells 1.4m digital units in March, beating Dark Souls III launch – Battle royales continue to drive growth alongside console games as premium PC digital sales decline
  77. World War Z sells 1m copies in first week: Co-op zombie shooter saw 70k concurrent players during launch
  78. CCP Games: EVE Online’s tech is “absolutely at its breaking edge” – At Reboot Develop, Hilmar Petursson detailed CCP’s plans to keep pace with the huge battles staged by EVE’s remarkable community
  79. Life after EVE Online: From intergalactic warfare to “elegant, cosy” card games: CCP Games co-founder Ívar Kristjánsson talks starting a new studio with his brother to fill a niche in the digital card game market
  80. Blog: What makes a game prologue gripping?
  81. Blog: Three lessons for narrative game design students
  82. Blog: Referencing objects—Names vs GUIDs
  83. Blog: Discussing the ins and outs of composing for games at the Library of Congress
  84. Blog: What happens when game artists design a mural
  85. Blog: Evolving difficulty modes in survival horror – Resident Evil 2
  86. Blog: 10 important Kickstarter hacks from an expert
  87. Street Fighter II designer walks through the creation of the game’s stranger fighters
  88. Don’t Miss: Making debugging into a mechanic inBeglitched
  89. Video: Why you should put your name on your indie game
  90. Boldly she rode: How Heaven’s Vault reinvents adventure games  
  91. Mojang sets March 2022 date for Minecraft movie premiere: Long in development project has a new director, and plenty of time to get ready for release
  92. Eight ways the UK games industry can work better with education
  93. Finnish games industry employed over 3,000, brought in over $2b in 2018
  94. Artificial Intelligence Is Helping Old Video Games Look Like New: Modders are taking advantage of AI tools to update old graphics
  95. Code to Inspire is creating “Afghan Hero Girls” through education
  96. The ethics of smurfing: Why players smurf, and what developers are doing about it.
  97. Keywords nabs Japanese HTML5 developer Wizcorp for $1.1 million
  98. A Kickstarter for a game that’s basically hentai Mass Effect has raised over a million dollars
  99. GTA 6 showed up on a Rockstar artist’s resume: With Red Dead Redemption 2 out presumably Grand Theft Auto 6 will follow, but is this confirmation?
  100. Don’t Miss: Devs reflect on the impact and legacy ofBurnout Paradise
  101. Spider-Man Developer Reveals Undiscovered Easter Egg That Only Happens On Saturdays
  102. Video: Procedurally creating Manhattan for Marvel’s Spider-Man
  103. The imperfect science of Falcon Age’s baby bird-based social media marketing
  104. You can now download the source code for all Infocom text adventure classics
  105. Reverse review bomb? AC: Unity draws praise for Notre Dame preservation: Average Steam user score shifts from “Mixed” to “Very Positive” in recent days.
  106. Top 10 Best-Selling Video Games Of All Time: Minecraft and GTA V have dominated the last decade, but where do they rank among the all-time bestsellers?

DIGITAL

  1. Twitter shuts down 5,000 pro-Trump bots retweeting anti-Mueller report invective: Bots were tied to account formerly used for pro-Saudi messaging.
  2. In meeting with Twitter chief, Trump complains about lost followers
  3. Eleventh Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Materially Supporting Terrorists” Fails–Palmucci v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
  4. How Twitter Has to Change
  5. Twitter Is Not America: A new Pew study finds a gulf between the general population and Twitter users.
  6. Sixth Circuit Court Dumps Lawsuit Seeking To Hold Twitter Responsible For The Pulse Nightclub Shooting
  7. Another Attempt To Tie Twitter To Terrorist Acts And Another Dismissal With Prejudice
  8. Twitter Permanently Suspends (Then Unsuspends) Lawyer For Telling NRA Supporters To ‘F— Off’ And ‘Own The Death’
  9. Sri Lanka Temporarily Bans Social Media Following Terror Attacks: The government hopes to stem the spread of fake news about the bombings.
  10. Sri Lanka’s social media ban enters its second day
  11. When a Country Bans Social Media – Sri Lanka’s ban on social media forces a question nobody wants to ask: What if a global media network is impossible?
  12. Sri Lanka attacks: government’s social media ban is an assault on free speech and ethnic harmony
  13. Sri Lanka Shut Down Social Media. My First Thought Was ‘Good.’
  14. Like Clockwork After A Big Tragedy, People Rush In To Blame… Social Media
  15. Facebook fights to “shield Zuckerberg” from punishment in US privacy probe
  16. In new gaffe, Facebook improperly collects email contacts for 1.5 million
  17. Facebook Expects Record Fine Up to $5 Billion From FTC for Privacy Violations
  18. Facebook while black: Users call it getting ‘Zucked,’ say talking about racism is censored as hate speech
  19. Facebook’s privacy issues could impact usage of its forthcoming voice assistant
  20. Facebook’s flood of languages leave it struggling to monitor content
  21. Facebook’s auto-captions for a recent launch video are hilariously bad
  22. Facebook is working on an AI voice assistant similar to Alexa, Google Assistant
  23. China Bans the Word ‘Leica’ on Social Media
  24. China censors ban Leica name over Tiananmen Square video
  25. NIH, FBI accuse scientists in US of sending IP to China, running shadow labs
  26. Russian court fines Internet user hundreds of dollars for calling Vladimir Putin an ‘unbelievable f—wit’
  27. Russians Will Soon Lose Uncensored Access to the Internet: A new law allows the Kremlin to spy on, filter, and control the country’s online activity, alarming human-rights watchdogs.
  28. A mystery agent is doxing Iran’s hackers and dumping their code
  29. Disinformation Is Drowning Democracy: In the new age of lies, law, not tech, is the answer.
  30. How Cambridge Analytica breached all the privacy laws
  31. My TED talk: how I took on the tech titans in their lair
  32. Photographer Sues for Failure to Provide Creative Commons-Required Attribution–Philpot v. WOS (Eric Goldman)
  33. New Paper: Why Section 230 Is Better Than The First Amendment
  34. New Paper: “Why Section 230 Is Better Than the First Amendment” (Eric Goldman)
  35. Forming an Online Contract May Be Harder Than Tough Mudder’s Salmon Ladder (Eric Goldman)
  36. Universal And Warner Block Time Live Streaming Its Time 100 Event Because Copyright Censors
  37. Platforms Want Centralized Censorship. That Should Scare You
  38. Scribd taking down the Mueller Report is the future the EU has voted for
  39. Scribd’s Takedown Of The Public Domain Mueller Report Is A Preview Of The EU’s Future Under The Copyright Directive
  40. Another Week, Another Hollywood Company Files A Takedown Against TorrentFreak
  41. Don’t Regulate The Internet Like Every Company Is The Same
  42. The UK’s Dubious Plan For Age-Based Porn Filters Begins On July 15
  43. Digitas Creative Chief Scott Donaton Says Brands Must Redress Broken Trust Across Digital
  44. Google Walkout Organizers Say They’re Facing Retaliation
  45. Google, YouTube and Alphabet Shake Off COPPA-Related Complaint
  46. YouTube Rolls Out Tools To Curb Misinformation Ahead Of EU Elections
  47. YouTube will label videos to help European users avoid fake news: The aim is to limit misinformation during the EU elections.
  48. Google, Verizon Pact To Bring YouTube TV To More Mobile Users
  49. Amazon and Google settle feud, bring YouTube back to Fire TV devices
  50. YouTube Returning To Fire TV After Amazon And Google Find Friendly Ground
  51. Here Are the Winners of the 2019 YouTube Works Awards
  52. Malala Yousafzai’s Nonprofit Debuts YouTube Series ‘Roll Call’ Spotlighting Girls Around The World
  53. YouTube Spotlights Eco-Minded Creators Krystn Keller, Justine LeConte, Others On Earth Day
  54. LeBlanc Family Cookoff Series ‘Annie Vs. Hayley’ Debuts On Nickelodeon’s YouTube Channel
  55. Susan Wojcicki Has “Tea Sessions” With Shane Dawson And James Charles To Discuss Creator Concerns
  56. Viewership On Twitch And YouTube Live Was Booming In Record-Breaking First Quarter
  57. Vimeo Bows ‘Showcase’ Toolkit To Help Creators Make Custom Websites, Smart TV Channels
  58. E*Trade Sued for Creating ‘Clone’ of Instagram Influencer
  59. Tag Two Friends but Please Don’t Sue – A Guide to Instagram Contest Rules
  60. Allegedly Defamatory Tweet About Non-Resident Insufficient to Confer Jurisdiction (Eric Goldman)
  61. HBO Objects to the President’s “Game of Thrones”-Themed Tweet
  62. Willful Copyright Infringement Requires Proof of Intent in the Ninth Circuit 
  63. Snapchat Gains 4 Million Users in Q1 as Snap Beats Earnings Estimates
  64. How publishers are using Snapchat’s curated stories tool for breaking news and more
  65. How to Avoid Copyright Infringement of Online Image
  66. Emilio Estevez Uses Some Public Domain Footage In Film, So Universal Studios Forces Original Public Domain Footage Offline
  67. Amazon will no longer sell Chinese goods in China
  68. Amazon demands selfies from delivery drivers to combat fraud
  69. If You Care About Privacy, Throw Your Amazon Alexa Devices Into the Sea
  70. Insights: What Netflix Says You’re Watching When You’re Not Watching Netflix, And Why It Matters
  71. Netflix To Grow New York City Footprint With Production Hub, Expanded Corporate HQ
  72. Netflix Further Experimenting With Episode Order In Test Randomizing ‘The Office,’ Our Planet,’ More
  73. Beyoncé Inks Three-Project Deal With Netflix Worth A Reported $60 Million
  74. Netflix offers $2 billion more in debt to fund its content spending
  75. All Your Favorite Shows Are Probably Leaving Netflix
  76. The Oscars decides Netflix is OK after all, following DOJ warning
  77. The Netflix-Twitter Complex
  78. Jumprope Is A New Social Network Where Users Create How-To Videos — And Then Post Them Everywhere
  79. Pinterest Shares Up 26% on IPO Day
  80. New Developments in Ongoing Website Accessibility Litigation 
  81. The Worst Thing About Instagram Might Be Going Away
  82. The Second-Most Instagrammed Car in the World Is the Honda Civic
  83. The CIA is joining Instagram: ‘Our team worked with the CIA, as they do with many partners,’ says Instagram
  84. ‘It’s not play if you’re making money’: how Instagram and YouTube disrupted child labor laws – ‘Kidfluencers’ are earning millions on social media, but who owns that money?
  85. NFL Taps Instagram to Feature Photos of 2019 Draftees and Let Fans Shop for Their Draft Hats 
  86. The Criterion Channel Should Be My Favorite Streaming Platform
  87. The future of high-speed computing may be larger CPUs with optics
  88. Elon Musk: Brain-Computer Interface Update “Coming Soon”
  89. AI Could Predict Death. But What If the Algorithm Is Biased?
  90. Applying for Your Next Job May Be an Automated Nightmare
  91. Artificial Intelligence Can Detect PTSD in Your Voice: Speech analysis software could revolutionize how we diagnose mental disorders
  92. Speech‐based markers for posttraumatic stress disorder in US veterans
  93. Some AI just shouldn’t exist: Attempts to “fix” biased AI can actually harm black, gay, and transgender people.
  94. This YouTube Channel Streams AI-Generated Death Metal 24/7: Dadabots was developed by two music technologists who wanted to prove that a neural network was capable of capturing  subtle stylistic differences
  95. Streamlabs: Twitch is still streaming king, though YouTube is gaining ground – YouTube reaches 24% of Twitch’s total streaming viewership
  96. The Gentle Side of Twitch
  97. TV Ratings Are Down For NBA Playoffs, But the League’s Worldwide Social Numbers Are Up
  98. Disney+ Is Betting On Quality Over Quantity With One Of Streaming Space’s Smallest Libraries
  99. Airbnb Delves Further Into Content Business With First Feature Film
  100. Facebook Watch Breakout ‘Red Table Talk’ Returns For New Batch Of Episodes May 6
  101. Foxconn’s Wisconsin Facility is a Ghost Town Where Workers Are Just ‘Moving Dirt Around’
  102. Foxconn: So, About That Factory in Wisconsin You Offered Us $4 Billion in Incentives to Build
  103. Samsung Galaxy Fold: Everything you need to know –
  104. Breaking news – Samsung responds to reported Galaxy Fold display issues
  105. After the Galaxy Fold breaks in the hands of reviewers, Samsung delays launch [Updated]
  106. Samsung Confirms It Will Delay Galaxy Fold Launch Following Early Disasters [Updated]
  107. The Samsung Galaxy Fold Is a Flawed Start to Something Amazing
  108. iFixit’s Samsung Galaxy Fold teardown reveals how the phone is dying
  109. Microsoft 3Q19 revenue up 14% on the back of strong cloud and, uh, Windows?: The PC market declined, but the Windows market did not.
  110. Microsoft engineer complains that company is biased against white men
  111. Thriller in Manhattan – NY Regulator and Declined BitLicense Applicant Engage in Extraordinary Public Brawl in Media Blog
  112. The Airbnb Invasion of Barcelona: In the tourist-clogged city, some locals see the service as a pestilence.
  113. Why are Canadian universities so slow to adopt digital learning?: Online courses are popular with students who juggle tough workloads. But only one in five institutions has a significant number of ‘blended’ options.
  114. New Paper: “Why Section 230 Is Better Than the First Amendment” (Eric Goldman)
  115. Dirty Data, Bad Predictions: How Civil Rights Violations Impact Police Data, Predictive Policing Systems, and Justice (Rashida Richardson, Jason M. Schultz & Kate Crawford)

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Millimeter-wave 5G will never scale beyond dense urban areas, T-Mobile says
  2. The DOJ Isn’t Buying T-Mobile’s Nonsensical Merger Benefit Claims
  3. AT&T’s fake 5G icons aren’t going away despite settlement with Sprint
  4. AT&T says 5G will be priced like home Internet—pay more for faster speeds
  5. Exit of AT&T’s WarnerMedia could spell trouble for OpenAP
  6. AT&T Misses Q1 Revenue Target as Premium TV, DirecTV Now Lose Subscribers
  7. White House Won’t Share Data On Whether It Interfered In AT&T Merger Review 
  8. Disney Makes Big Play to Stay in NFL’s TV-Football Game 
  9. FCC Under Fire For Putting ALEC Rep On ‘Consumer’ Advisory Board
  10. Ajit Pai proposes blocking China-owned telecom from US phone market

 PRIVACY

  1. How one country blocks the world on data privacy: The GDPR is the world’s toughest standard for data privacy. But its chief enforcer has yet to take a single action against major tech firms like Facebook and Google.
  2. Facebook’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Privacy Week
  3. No expectation of privacy in child-luring cases on the Internet, SCC rules
  4. Japanese Taxis Are Using Facial Recognition to Target Ads to Riders: Cameras in the back seat guess your age and gender – and then use them to serve you with ads.
  5. A Seamless Journey Awaits You On The Outbound Flights: All You Have To Give Up Is Your Face
  6. John McAfee Vows to Reveal Bitcoin’s Creator
  7. Shocker: John Mcafee Suspends Plan To Unmask Bitcoin’s Creator
  8. Marcus Hutchins, slayer of WannaCry worm, pleads guilty to malware charges
  9. Marcus Hutchins — The Guy Who Stopped Wannacry — Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy Charges
  10. The US wants to scan the faces of all air passengers leaving the country
  11. When License-Plate Surveillance Goes Horribly Wrong: The pitfalls of automated policing, where one piece of bad information can lead to a guns-drawn confrontation.
  12. State Investigator Granted Immunity For Hours-Long Detention Of Doctor At Gunpoint During A Search For Medical Records
  13. Marcus Hutchins, Security Researcher Who Stopped WannaCry, Pleads Guilty to Malware Charges
  14. Court Rules Chelsea Manning Must Stay in Jail for Refusing to Provide Testimony in WikiLeaks Case
  15. Cybercrime for dummies: cracking internet passwords is as easy as 123456 – GCHQ survey finds millions using most obvious passwords – including ‘password’, ‘qwerty’ and superhero names
  16. How Social Media, Technology and Privacy Laws Are Changing the E-Discovery Landscape
  17. Moving the Goalposts for Canadian Data: Federal Privacy Commissioner Changes Position on Cross-Border Transfers 
  18. Guidelines to protect client information on phones, laptops released: Tips on what to do when border officers request your password
  19. Bug in French government’s WhatsApp replacement let anyone join Élysée chats
  20. The French Govt’s Hand-Rolled Encrypted Messaging Service (Briefly) Allowed Anyone To Pretend They Were A Government Official

CREATIVITY

  1. Esplanade Productions, Inc. v. The Walt Disney Company: 9th Cir. dismisses copyright claim alleging Disney film Zootopia infringed materials for contemplated “Zootopia” franchise.
  2. Batiste v. Lewis: In copyright infringement lawsuit against Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, court finds no probative evidence that defendants copied any of Plaintiffs musical compositions or sound recordings.
  3. Copyright Lawsuits Over Product Shots Are Stupid–eTrailer v. Automatic Equipment (Eric Goldman)
  4. Mercedes Goes To Court To Get Background Use Of Public Murals In Promotional Pics Deemed Fair Use
  5. Werner Herzog Joins Plenty Of Other Artists In Recognizing Piracy Isn’t The Problem
  6. McQueen Estate Wants to Unravel a Tom Ford Sweater
  7. Dallas Mavericks Fail To Get Trademark For Its Star Player’s Nickname
  8. Why celebrities try to trademark their catchphrases and baby names: Taylor Swift wanted to own “This sick beat.” Kylie Jenner wants the name of her 1-year-old’s birthday party. Tim Tebow does own his prayer pose.
  9. The 50 Best Music Documentaries of All Time

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; April 17, 2019

By Jon Festinger on June 14, 2019

GAMES

  1. ISFE calls on European gambling authorities to tackle online skin betting: Comments come following move by Danish Gambling Authority to block 15 skin betting websites
  2. Rocket League halts loot box use in Belgium and the Netherlands  
  3. The Native American Quinault Nation has filed a lawsuit against Valve over gambling
  4. Native American nation files lawsuit against Valve over skins gambling: “Valve has profited handsomely for years from illegal online gambling, and has made only token efforts to stop it,” says Quinault Nation
  5. Game Exclusivity Wars Are Upon Us And Valve’s Anti-Review-Bombing Process Is Without A Rip-Cord
  6. The legal dispute between Take-Two, Rockstar, and Pinkerton has ended
  7. Take-Two, Rockstar complaint against Pinkerton dismissed: Suit dropped as defendant withdraws cease and desist claim against Red Dead Redemption 2 publisher and developer
  8. Take-Two Dismisses Its Lawsuit Against Pinkerton Agency As The Latter Runs From Its Own Cease And Desist
  9. Nepal bans PUBG over addiction concerns in children
  10. Nepal bans PUBG: Battle royale shooter prohibited over concerns about violence, addiction, and distraction from school work
  11. AbleGamers opens Accessible.Games, a dev portal for accessibility info
  12. Sony Reveals PlayStation 5 Details
  13. Sony teases next-gen PlayStation specs in new interview
  14. Sony Teases the World With First Details About the PS5, and The Wait Is Going to Be Excruciating
  15. Sony’s PS4 successor sports 3D audio tech, faster SSD storage
  16. Exclusive: What To Expect From Sony’s Next-Gen PlayStation
  17. Sony Reveals First PlayStation 5 Details
  18. Next PlayStation will have discs, backward compatibility: System won’t launch until 2020 at the earliest, will feature a solid-state hard drive, PSVR compatibility, 8K support
  19. PS5 Price Will Be ‘Appealing To Gamers In Light Of Its Advanced Feature Set’: A little hint, but not much more.
  20. Sony will start replacing offensive PSN IDs with temporary placeholders
  21. Sony is now auto-changing offensive PlayStation Network IDs: User IDs found to be offensive will be switched to a placeholder
  22. Sony has internal policies in place to reduce sexual content in PS4 games
  23. A now-fixed Origin vulnerability potentially opened the client to hackers  
  24. The Sims 4 is getting mouse and keyboard support on consoles
  25. Capcom debuts its own classic system, a $260 plug-n-play home arcade
  26. Capcom rolling out its own retro system: Capcom Home Arcade dual joystick set-up launches in October with 16 built-in games, €230 price tag
  27. Report: Apple willing to spend over $500 million bringing games to Arcade
  28. Apple invested a reported $500 million in Arcade partnerships: Financial Times’ sources reveal the high price of Apple Arcade subscription service
  29. Becoming part of the furniture: eSports in the mainstream
  30. Football clubs and eSports: A natural pairing? 
  31. Esports teams and players to get revenue from new Rocket League Esports Shop
  32. OpenAI’s machine learning bots defeat Dota 2 champion team
  33. Machine learning bots beat DOTA 2 world champions in best-of-three: After millions of learning matches, OpenAI Five readily best world champs
  34. OpenAI bot crushes Dota 2 champions, and now anyone can play against it
  35. Ninja named to Time 100: Popular streamer represents gaming on magazine’s annual list of influential people
  36. Epic can’t stop pissing off Fortnite pros
  37. In lieu of Store-hosted forums, Epic wants devs to link to external communities
  38. Hajime Tabata’s first post-Square Enix project is a licensed Paralympics game
  39. Hajime Tabata to lead development of first ever Paralympics game: Final Fantasy XV director’s new studio will help to build a young audience for the 2020 Paralympic Games
  40. Red Dead Redemption 2 named Game of the Year at Italian Video Game Awards
  41. Ubisoft pledges over $500,000 to Notre-Dame restoration efforts
  42. Ubisoft donates €500K to help restore Notre-Dame, gives away Assassin’s Creed Unity for free
  43. Ubisoft Pledges More Than $500,000 To The Notre-Dame Cathedral Restoration Effort
  44. Video: Creating a living open world for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  45. Ubisoft patches art containing homophobic slur out of The Division 2
  46. Ubisoft removes slur from The Division 2: Publisher apologizes for in-game street art image depicting police officer with a slur in ‘leetspeak’
  47. YouTube, Facebook put up ad roadblocks for Weedcraft, Inc.business sim
  48. Weedcraft Inc meets advertising, video blocks: Tycoon game about growing and selling marijuana has Facebook page restricted, YouTube videos demonetized
  49. Devolver: Publishing Weedcraft Inc “has been a nightmare” – Co-founder Mike Wilson says US marijuana tycoon title has been the hardest to bring to market due to industry resistance
  50. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice sold 2 million copies in under 2 weeks
  51. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice sells 2m in less than ten days
  52. “Accessibility” and “difficulty” aren’t the same thing | Opinion: The debate about Sekiro rapidly descended into straw-man bashing over “easy modes” – differently abled gamers’ needs are being lost in this mess
  53. Don’t Miss: Totally Accurate Battle Simulator and finding the fun in physics engines
  54. Google opens its Indie Games Accelerator to mobile devs across 37 countries
  55. Amy Hennig thinks game streaming could spark a creative revolution
  56. Xbox exec: Game streaming competitors like Stadia lack content
  57. Xbox: Stadia has the infrastructure, but doesn’t have the content – Platform holder suggests recently announced streaming service will struggle without more leading developers and publishers on board
  58. Aiming for affordability, Xbox announces the Xbox One S All Digital Edition
  59. Report: Fresh disc-less Xbox One S leaks suggests pricing shake up
  60. Student sues CEO of Minecraft Education Edition’s Chinese publisher: Minneapolis woman claims Richard Liu forced himself on a woman at her apartment following a company-funded networking event
  61. Xbox merges Live Gold and Game Pass under Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
  62. How a mobile game is reopening a hidden chapter in Taiwan’s history
  63. Disc-less Xbox One leaks ahead of expected reveal
  64. Digital-only console will be priced at €229.99, comes bundled with Minecraft, Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon 3
  65. Xbox One S All-Digital Edition Console Reveal Trailer
  66. Report: “All Digital” Xbox One coming May 7, for €229 in Europe
  67. Why $249 is an unsustainable price for the first all-digital Xbox [Updated]
  68. Everything we know about the first discless Xbox One, coming May 7 for $249
  69. Forza goes free-to-play with Forza Street: Microsoft rebrands and reboots Miami Street, out now for Windows with mobile versions to follow
  70. The Nintendo Switch’s Labo VR Kit Is Cheap VR That Doesn’t Suck
  71. Nintendo Labo VR Kit Review: Well, would you look at that.
  72. Nintendo Labo VR review: There’s no “Nintendo magic” inside these lenses
  73. HD emulation mod makes “Mode 7” SNES games look like new
  74. Clash of Clans season pass drives 145% revenue spike
  75. What the Breakout Success of ‘Apex Legends’ Could Mean for Respawn’s Upcoming VR Game
  76. Apex Legends patch nerfs Wingman, gives Gibraltar and Caustic damage reduction: Gibraltar and Caustic are too easy to hit, so Respawn is making them a little tougher instead.
  77. Dark Slope thinking bigger with warehouse-scale VR
  78. Superhot VR has out-earned the original Superhot
  79. Superhot VR sells 800k: Superhot Team’s FPS has now made more in revenue across VR releases than it has in non-VR
  80. Telltale’s The Walking Dead “made Skybound what it is”: Skybound Stories CEO Dan Murray says episodic game had more impact on the company than the TV show
  81. How Clone Wars and Rebels influenced Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
  82. Animoca Brands acquires majority stake in Trilliona dev Skytree for $850k
  83. Revealed: The most successful UK game developers
  84. Here is every boxed game to sell over 1m copies in the UK
  85. UK Charts: The Division 2 holds No. 1 in another week without big releases – Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, God of War, Spider-Man see increases due to spring, Easter sales
  86. CCP: China will be EVE Online’s biggest market in two years – At Reboot Develop, CCP’s Hilmar Petursson discussed the importance of China and Korea to the future of EVE Online
  87. Twitch launches first game, Twitch Sings: Free karaoke game developed in conjunction with Harmonix, designed for streaming
  88. Gayming Magazine to launch in June: New online gaming magazine to present LGBTQ+-focused news, reviews, features
  89. The Witcher Netflix series is coming in late 2019
  90. Halo Tv Series Casts Pablo Schreiber As Master Chief
  91. Activision Blizzard pays employees for health tracking
  92. NetEase investment is bringing indies East
  93. Kickstarter’s games category surpasses $1 billion in pledges
  94. Miyazaki vs Ueda: The path to compelling fantasy – Renowned Japanese developers discussed their differences at Reboot Develop, including opposing philosophies on animation and setting
  95. Amy Hennig: AAA industry is at “an interesting crossroads” with storytelling – At Reboot Develop, the revered creator confessed to feeling “overwhelmed” by the scale of AAA games, which are now too big for their own stories
  96. How Inkle developed its own ancient language forHeaven’s Vault
  97. Don’t Miss: Alien: Isolation and the evolution of horror sims
  98. Blog: How punishment systems can hurt gameplay
  99. Blog: Motivating players for better engagement and retention
  100. Blog: Some thoughts on difficulty in games  
  101. Blog: Turning your community into an extension of your team  
  102. Video: Steps for building a game’s community from scratch
  103. Blog: Orchestrating game worlds using Event SuperVision
  104. Blog: Exploring the ‘what’ of bittersweet game design
  105. The source code for Infocom’s classic text adventures is now on Github
  106. “The bankers are actually much more metal than publishers”: Headbang Club’s David Elahee talks about Double Kick Heroes’ path from Ludum Dare prototype to multiplatform launch
  107. Trion Worlds is shutting down Atlas Reactor this summer
  108. Gamigo shuts down Atlas Reactor: Trion Worlds’ F2P tactics title closes after two years, “can no longer sustain itself”
  109. Even Konami Code Couldn’t Rescue Its Slot-machine Game-related Patents from being Invalidated under Alice
  110. U.S. Patent No. 9,687,733: Game apparatus, storage medium, game controlling method and game system 
  111. Managing your game dev career, from early to late stages
  112. Video: Practical advice for saving video game history before it’s too late
  113. The new grammar of television (and games): Lessons from an avocado

DIGITAL

  1.  Facebook’s role in Brexit – and the threat to democracy
  2. Mark Zuckerberg leveraged Facebook user data to fight rivals and help friends, leaked documents show: Facebook’s leaders seriously discussed selling access to user data – and privacy was an afterthought. 
  3. 15 Months Of Fresh Hell Inside Facebook
  4. Facebook v. Sullivan: Building Constitutional Law for Online Speech (Thomas Kadri & Kate Klonick)
  5. TED offers Mark Zuckerberg a stage to explain himself once and for all
  6. British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr sticks it to the gods of Silicon Valley in Vancouver TED talk
  7. Carole Cadwalladr blasts tech titans at TED: Your technology is “a crime scene”
  8. Ethics Alone Can’t Fix Big Tech
  9. Grandstanding GOP Senators Continue To Mislead About Social Media Bias, Demand A ‘Fairness Doctrine’ For The Internet 
  10. No, Section 230 Does Not Require Platforms to Be “Neutral”
  11. Platform Liability Doesn’t — And Shouldn’t — Depend On Content Moderation Practices
  12. Nancy Pelosi Joins Ted Cruz And Louis Gohmert In Attacking CDA 230
  13. Section 230 Applies to ADA Closed Captioning Claims–National Federation of the Deaf v. Harvard (Eric Goldman)
  14. Stop Saying That Section 230 Was A ‘Gift To Internet Companies’
  15. Wherein The Copia Institute Updates The Copyright Office On The First Amendment Problems With The DMCA
  16. Apple and Qualcomm settle patent fight after one day in court
  17. Intel quits 5G modem business hours after Apple settles with Qualcomm
  18. New laws to block election meddling miss the mark, claims journalist who uncovered Facebook’s role in Brexit
  19. Another Government Impermissibly Censors Constituents on Facebook–Robinson v. Hunt County
  20. Facebook’s reckoning? The global battle to regulate social media: After fake news scandals, suicides and the Christchurch massacre, internet groups face a profound change in mood
  21. No, YouTube Cannot Reasonably Moderate All Content On Its Platform
  22. AI Won’t Save Us From Fake News: YouTube’s Fact Checking Tool Thinks Notre Dame Fire Is About 9/11
  23. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp back up after widespread outages
  24. A cognitive scientist explains why humans are so susceptible to fake news and misinformation: “We might like to think of our memory as an archivist that carefully preserves events, but sometimes it’s more like a storyteller.”
  25. EU Tells Internet Archive That Much Of Its Site Is ‘Terrorist Content’
  26. EU Parliament Takes Up Its Next Attempt To Wipe Out An Open Internet: Terrorist Content Regulation Vote On Wednesday 
  27. EU Parliament Votes To Require Internet Sites To Delete ‘Terrorist Content’ In One Hour (By 3 Votes) 
  28. What Will Happen When Governments Disagree Over Who Is A Terrorist Organization… And Who Needs To Be Blocked Online?
  29. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings To Leave Facebook Board In May
  30. DOJ to academy: don’t cancel Netflix
  31. Netflix’s Next Bid To Charm Awards Voters Is Its Own Magazine, Coming In June
  32. Netflix Is Close To Buying Hollywood’s Historic Egyptian Theatre — But Won’t Use It To Lure Film Awards
  33. Foxconn’s Wisconsin ‘Factory’ Is An Even Bigger Joke Than Everybody Thought
  34. Film, TV studios filing lawsuits against Canadian BitTorrent users
  35. T-Series Court Order Sees “Abusive, Vulgar, Racist” PewDiePie Diss Tracks Blocked In India
  36. Porn sites must age-verify British users starting July 15: Sites that don’t verify age could get blocked by British ISPs.
  37. Online harms white paper misses the mark (Andres Guadamuz)
  38. UK: online harms white paper – potential new regulatory framework for social media 
  39. UK Seeks to Establish Internet Watchdog 
  40. An Internet Regulator For The UK: 10 Things You Need To Know
  41. The future of free speech: The panic button and social media regulation – The special internet standard and its independent arbitration system
  42. German competition authority pushes the boundaries of abuse of dominance with infringement finding on online data collection 
  43. EU Council Officially Approves European Copyright Law Reforms: A New Digital Age Is Born 
  44. European Parliament Approves Controversial EU Copyright Directive
  45. The EU Copyright Directive – Filtering the Internet
  46. As Expected, EU Nations Rubber Stamp EU Copyright Directive
  47. As the EU Copyright Directive was approved, Germany admitted it requires copyright filters, putting it on a collision course with the EU-Canada trade deal
  48. DSM Directive Series #4: Article 17 obligations … in a chart (Eleonora Rosati)
  49. The Phantom Menace: Office Depot Settles with FTC Over Fake Virus Scans 
  50. COPPA Safe Harbor Hit by Storm 
  51. N.D. California Straightens Out Competitor’s Use of Infringing Hashtags: #newdevelopments in Using Trademarks as Hashtags
  52. An Email Inbox Isn’t a “Place” for Purposes of Florida Privacy Law–Hall v. Sargeant (Eric Goldman)
  53. Ian McEwan: ‘Who’s going to write the algorithm for the little white lie?’
  54. AI Robot paints its own moonscapes in traditional Chinese style
  55. AKQA says it used AI to invent a new sport called Speedgate
  56. Notes on AI Bias
  57. AI’s white guy problem isn’t going away: A new report says current initiatives to fix the field’s diversity crisis are too narrow and shallow to be effective.
  58. We’ve Been Warned About AI And Music For Over 50 Years, But No One’s Prepared
  59. People Are Horrified When They Have to Torture a Virtual Person: Even in a VR simulation, the Milgram Shock Experiment continues to traumatize.
  60. Participant concerns for the Learner in a Virtual Reality replication of the Milgram obedience study (Mar Gonzalez-Franco, Mel Slater, Megan E. Birney, David Swapp, S. Alexander Haslam & Stephen D. Reicher)
  61. Microsoft overhauling HR complaint process: After employees trade harassment stories, CEO Satya Nadella promises consistent, transparent enforcement of company policy
  62. HQ Trivia replaces Quiz Daddy Scott Rogowsky
  63. Longtime HQ Trivia Host Scott Rogowsky Exits Company
  64. Over half of HQ Trivia staff tried to oust CEO: Co-founder Rus Yusupov survived demands for his removal, but the search for a replacement chief has begun
  65. Another Appellate Court Rejects “Material Support for Terrorist” Claims Against Social Media Platforms–Crosby v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
  66. Marvel Set to Launch Live-Streaming Twitter Fan Show, Hosted by ‘Agent M’ and Angélique Roché
  67. Twitter Doesn’t Want You Sharing This Link About TV Piracy
  68. Twitter blocks EFF tweet that criticized bogus takedown of a previous tweet
  69. How Jack Dorsey plans to change Twitter
  70. A healthier Twitter: Progress and more to do
  71. Nichification
  72. AMC Networks boss Josh Sapan wants the people who make TV to look at the data – but not too much: There’s no algorithm for creativity yet, Sapan says on the latest Recode Media.
  73. Vimeo Breaks Into Shortform Space With Acquisition Of Video Creation Service Magisto
  74. Girls Who Code Helps Draft ‘Landmark’ Legislation Aimed at Closing the Gender Gap
  75. Google+ is back! Meet the enterprise-focused “Google Currents”
  76. Susan Wojcicki On YouTube’s Fight Against Grotesque Content: “I Own This Problem, And I’m Going To Fix It”
  77. YouTube tries a new metric to answer critics: Responsibility
  78. YouTube Is Plotting A New Metric That Would Reward ‘Quality Watch Time’ 
  79. YouTube Axes Four More Series As It Overhauls Original Programming Strategy
  80. YouTube Millionaires: Top ‘Madden NFL’ Gamer YoBoy Pizza Takes On Real-Life NFL Stars In New YouTube Series
  81. YouTube Teams Up With Enterprise For ‘Cobra Kai’ Campaign
  82. Horror Vloggers Sam And Colby Sign With CAA Amid YouTube Hiatus Announcement
  83. Korean Boy Band BTS Annihilates Record For Biggest 24-Hour YouTube Debut
  84. Clevver News, Style Channels Return To YouTube With Original Hosts After Defy’s Collapse
  85. YouTube Names New Head Of Unscripted; Says Upcoming Originals Slate Will Center On Music, Education, And Creators
  86. YouTube TV adds channels and raises price—you can’t opt out of either change
  87. Awesomeness Co-Heads Elucidate Vision For Gen Z Purveyor After Viacom Acquisition
  88. Top Scandinavian MCN ‘United Screens’, Which RTL Bought For $15 Million, Names New CEO
  89. Logan Paul’s Latest Podcast Guest Is Banned Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones
  90. Here’s Why Simply Nailogical, With 7 Million Subscribers, Still Maintains Day Job At Canadian Government
  91. Gaining Followers: Use of social media by Canadian public companies while navigating Canadian securities laws 
  92. Viceland To End Nightly Series ‘Vice Live’ Weeks After Show’s Premiere
  93. Creator Of Silk Road 2.0 Did Double The Business, Sentenced To Only Five Years In Prison
  94. Bendgate 2.0: Samsung’s $2,000 foldable phone is already breaking [Update]
  95. AT&T is selling its stake in Hulu
  96. AT&T Sells Back Its 10% Stake In Hulu, Valuing Streamer At $15 Billion
  97. Hulu, Netflix May Face Subpoena Over Fyre Documentaries
  98. Starz Really, Really Doesn’t Want You To Know That TorrentFreak Wrote About Leaked Shows, Or That Anyone Tweeted About It
  99. Starz Issues Laughably Unbelievable Excuse And Apology For Taking Down Tweets
  100. Legacy Music Industry Shouldn’t Get To Watch Over The Royalties Of Independent Songwriters
  101. Insights: As Video Streamers Turn Over Some Cards, Can They Avoid The Real Flop?
  102. Apple News+ Is a Total Mess
  103. Here’s the Weirdest Apple Bug I’ve Ever Heard Of
  104. The Incredible Old-School iTunes Feature I Hope Apple Doesn’t Kill
  105. Amazon reportedly set to launch a free music streaming tier: It could be available as soon as this week
  106. Another Federal Court Ruling Strengthens Brands’ Approach to Reduce Gray Market Sales on Amazon 
  107. TikTok Hiring “Talent Ambassadors” At 17 Colleges To Help Rake In Older Users
  108. Insights: Snap Reaction To New Initiatives Is Great, But Can Spiegel Sustain This Win Streak?
  109. Peyton Manning Hosting NFL History Docu-Series for ESPN+ Streaming Service
  110. Conde Nast now has 28 shows on Snapchat, with plans for more
  111. Instagram Launches Moody Camera Effects For Coachella, Billie Eilish
  112. Disney Streaming Service To Launch In November At $6.99 Per Month
  113. Disney+ launches on November 12 for $6.99/mo, plus new Marvel, Star Wars series
  114. Disney confirms it will ‘likely’ bundle Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu for one price
  115. How Vevo Is Boosting Views by Optimizing Video Thumbnails 
  116. DVD and Blu-ray sales nearly halved over five years, MPAA report says
  117. Leaked Avengers: Endgame Footage Has Hit the Internet
  118. In A First, VidCon Will Host Panels, Meet-And-Greets With Internet-Famous Pets
  119. New York State Department of Financial Services Revokes Crypto Exchange’s Safe Harbor to Operate Without BitLicense
  120. How Far We Haven’t Come: SEC Resistance to Blockchain Securities Continues?
  121. Keeping it real: Implications of blockchain technology on privacy obligations
  122. Strong corporate desktop sales limit the decline of the PC market
  123. Fortunately, There Are Incredible 3D Scans of Notre Dame – The good news: we have a highly-detailed digital template for how to rebuild.
  124. The Images That Could Help Rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral: And the young, brilliant professor who made them before he died

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. Wind, Sleet, and Dead Zones: My Quest to Map Chicago’s Spotty 5G
  2. What will journalism do with 5G’s speed and capacity? Here are some ideas, from ‘The New York Times’ and elsewhere
  3. T-Mobile/Sprint merger is in danger of being rejected by DOJ
  4. T-Mobile’s ‘Revolutionary’ New TV Service Looks Like The Same Old Crap 
  5. FCC Seeks Comments on Proposal to Allow All-Digital AM Radio Transmission 
  6. FCC Releases Notices on Radio License Renewal Process – New Form, New Database and More Scrutiny of the Public File 
  7. FCC “consumer advisory” panel includes ALEC, big foe of municipal broadband
  8. Very Little In Trump’s ‘Bold’ New Rural Broadband Plan Is Actually New
  9. FCC Warns Marketers of Video Streaming Devices to Comply with Device Authorization Rules 
  10. Telecoms: clarification on neighbouring landowners’ rights to require removal of apparatus 
  11. Landlord owners vs telecoms operators – The cat has got the cream
  12. Google Fiber exits Louisville, pays city $3.8M to clean up the mess it left
  13. Google Pays $3.8 Million To Clean Up Its Fiber Mess In Louisville 
  14. House Passes Net Neutrality Bill, McConnell Promises It Won’t Survive Senate
  15. Investor Lawsuit Accuses AT&T Of Downplaying Streaming Video Losses 

PRIVACY

  1. Julian Assange arrested, charged with conspiracy to hack US computers
  2. Julian Assange Arrested On Behalf Of The US, For Trying To Help Manning Crack CIA Password 
  3. There Are Many Reasons To Be Concerned About The Impact On Press Freedoms In The Assange Indictment
  4. Federal Privacy Commissioner Proposes A Complete Reversal Of Its Longstanding Approach To Data Transfers, Including Cross-Border Transfers
  5. Rewriting Canadian Privacy Law: Commissioner Signals Major Change on Cross-Border Data Transfers (Michael Geist)
  6. UK Government Issues Report on Huawei Vulnerabilities
  7. An Email Inbox Isn’t a “Place” for Purposes of Florida Privacy Law–Hall v. Sargeant (Eric Goldman)
  8. The FBI Wanted A Backdoor To The iPhone. Tim Cook Said No
  9. Motel 6 To Pay Out Another $12 Million For Handing Guest Info To ICE
  10. Court Says Headphone App Not Eavesdropping, But May Be Deceptive
  11. Why the US still won’t require SS7 fixes that could secure your phone
  12. Illinois bill banning eavesdropping by IoT devices defanged by tech lobby
  13. 5 Times Jeff Bezos Tried to Warn Us Amazon Is Listening
  14. Virtual Cupids Hit With $3 Million CAN SPAM Judgment
  15. The many lessons of the Equifax data breach
  16. The California Consumer Privacy Act
  17. The ePrivacy Regulation: The Next European Initiative in Data Protection
  18. Cops Are Trying to Stop San Francisco From Banning Face Recognition Surveillance
  19. FBI Cyber Crimes Division Not So Great About Passing Info To Victims Of Cyberattacks
  20. Why You Can No Longer Get Lost in the Crowd: Once, it was easy to be obscure. Technology has ended that. (Woodrow Hartzog & Evan Selinger)
  21. A security researcher with a grudge is dropping Web 0days on innocent users
  22. Hackers could read non-corporate Outlook.com, Hotmail for six months
  23. The wave of domain hijackings besetting the Internet is worse than we thought
  24. An Oxford philosopher who’s inspired Elon Musk thinks mass surveillance might be the only way to save humanity from doom
  25. The Vulnerable World Hypothesis (Nick Bostrom)

CREATIVITY

  1. My ADA Keynote: What the Canadian Experience Teaches About the Future of Copyright Reform (Michael Geist)
  2. Access Copyright Proposed Tariffs: Is the Copyright Board Turning Over New Leaves? (Howard Knopf)
  3. Trump Campaign Uses ‘Dark Knight’ Music In Campaign Ad, Warner Bros. Says It’s Looking At Legal Options
  4. Devin Nunes Admits That His Bogus Defamation Lawsuits Are Really About Phishing For Journalists’ Sources
  5. U.S. copyright: numerous works enter public domain for First Time in over two decades
  6. Changing the Cycle: Peloton Removes Songs at Heart of Copyright Infringement Suit
  7. Conan O’Brien joke-theft trial begins next month with testimony from Patton Oswalt
  8. How Private Equity Ate Hollywood – and Why Writers Are Fighting Back: Now largely owned by private equity firms, the big talent agencies have turned to producing films and shows—both representing and employing writers. That, say the writers, doesn’t work.
  9. The End Of The Absurdity: Iceland, The Country, Successfully Invalidates The Trademark Of Iceland Foods, The Grocerer
  10. AB/InBev, Jealous Protectors Of Trademark, Pretty Blatantly Committing Trademark Infringement
  11. Pepsi Moves for Summary Judgement in 2016 Super Bowl Ad Suit
  12. F.A. Panel Says Wayne Hennessey Is Too Stupid To Have Done Nazi Salute
  13. False Advertising: The Theory of Necessary Implication and the Presumption that Runs with It 
  14. How Kevin Feige Super-Charged Marvel Studios Into Hollywood’s Biggest Hit Machine
  15. In China, tattoos border on illegal – and they’re his life’s work
  16. Parody and abuse

Jon

Read More | No Comments

Vancouver Summer Mentorship Society Presentation on May 8, 2019

By Jon Festinger on June 13, 2019

Was very privileged to be asked to give a talk to a group of high school students who were spending a couple of day at Allard as part of a program put on by the Vancouver Summer Mentorship Society. More information about the society and it’s good work can be found on their GoFundMe page here: https://ca.gofundme.com/vancitymentors

It was a lot fun from my perspective. Great questions from some super-smart very eager minds.

Promised that I’d get the slides from the presentation up on the website – so here they are…Sorry it took so long.

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; April 10, 2019

By Jon Festinger on April 19, 2019

GAMES

  1. MIT Prof: It’s More Likely We’re Living In A Simulation Than Not
  2. Are we living in a computer simulation? I don’t know. Probably.: Why this computer scientist thinks reality might be a video game.
  3. Are we living in a simulation? This MIT scientist says it’s more likely than not
  4. Google Could Learn a Lot About You From Its New Gaming Platform: Stadia sounds great, but don’t forget that Google is a research company
  5. Google Play hosting inappropriate games with kid-friendly ratings: Free-to-play games featuring violent content and gambling routinely hit the platform thanks to reliance on developers to rate their own titles
  6. Snap Inc announces Snap Games, launching with six titles
  7. Snapchat Unveils Gaming Platform, New User Features, 10 Upcoming Originals At First Partner Summit
  8. Snapchat’s new Snap Games platform includes games from Zynga, Spry Fox
  9. Snapchat Unveils Gaming Platform, New User Features, 10 Upcoming Originals At First Partner Summit
  10. EU Commission accuses six game companies of illegal geo-blocking
  11. EU investigating Valve and 5 major publishers for illegal geo-blocking
  12. Valve argues it should be excluded from EU geo-blocking accusations
  13. PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch online services face UK investigation
  14. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo under investigation for consumer rights violation
  15. PSN name change feature goes into effect today
  16. PSN name changes launch today
  17. Starting Today, You Can Finally Change Your PSN Name
  18. PlayStation launches PSN ID change option, though not all games are supported
  19. You Can Now Change Your PSN Online ID—But There Are a Few Things You Need to Know
  20. BioWare Boss Addresses Studio Issues, Vows To ‘Continue Working To Solve Them’
  21. Charting the missteps that led to the decline of Telltale Games
  22. IGDA executive director Jen MacLean has stepped down
  23. FTC Loot Box Workshop Announced 
  24. FTC to Hold Public Workshop on Video Game Loot Boxes
  25. The FTC is holding a public workshop in August to discuss loot boxes
  26. What’s In the Box? FTC Solicits Public Comments Regarding Video Game Loot Boxes Amidst Uncertainty 
  27. FTC sets date for loot box workshop: Date set for August 7 on gathering of stakeholders, industry representatives, consumer advocates, and others to discuss consumer concerns
  28. The failure of the Russian global license proposal and the future of alternative remuneration systems (Gaetano Dimita & Ruslan Nurullaev)
  29. Fallout 76 Repair Kits raise new “pay-to-win” concerns
  30. How Fallout almost didn’t ship with its key SPECIAL system 
  31. The complicated process of making licensed video games
  32. Pre-order refunds could force publishers to shift priorities | Opinion
  33. Survey: More teenagers are getting into video games because of Fortnite
  34. Prince Harry Wants ‘Fortnite’ Banned
  35. Prince Harry Says Fortnite “Shouldn’t Be Allowed,” Calls Social Media “More Addictive Than Alcohol”
  36. Fortnite un-features community build containing inappropriate imagery
  37. Google Play is still struggling with inappropriate children’s games
  38. Why Valve actually gets less than 30 percent of Steam game sales
  39. Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney addresses Chinese spyware rumor
  40. Epic to continue signing exclusivity deals regardless of Steam plans
  41. Valve silences Borderlands review bombers with ‘off-topic’ fix
  42. Borderlands review bomb triggers Steam’s “off topic” fix [Updated]
  43. Steam users review bomb Borderlands in response to Epic exclusivity deal
  44. Valve finally tackles review bombing as Borderlands 2 attacked over Epic exclusivity: Last week’s work of user scores discounted under Steam’s new ‘off-topic review activity’ system
  45. A deep dive into Steam’s discovery queue
  46. Sold Out and Epic offering up to $500,000 in The Unreal Box Offer: UK publisher seeking games that “feel fresh in a genre that isn’t overcrowded” as it teams up with engine provider
  47. Retro streaming platform picks up Arc System Works, SNK, others
  48. Tencent launches early access WeGame X storefront internationally 
  49. Tencent stealth launches international version of WeGame storefront: WeGame X platform is available but still in “testing” phase, the Chinese publisher confirmed
  50. Tencent raises nearly $6bn in bond sale: Funds marked for general corporate use despite having $20 billion cash on hand
  51. Weaker currency could encourage foreign investment post-Brexit: Tencent Europe’s senior manager Li Ma also says Brexit will be damaging, but Britain will bounce back
  52. Microsoft increases Xbox Live Gold price in the UK: 12-month subscription goes from £39.99 to £49.99 to “address changing market conditions”
  53. Game Pass “Ultimate” and Game Pass for PC rumored to be coming soon
  54. The difficulties of researching gaming disorder and addiction: Dr Pete Etchells says there is an endemic problem with psychological research, as confirmation bias shapes the literature
  55. Battlefield V: Firestorm Review – A solid battle royale that doesn’t pack quite enough punch to get to the final circle.
  56. Gender pay gap widens in UK games industry: Women increase their representation throughout gaming, but median wages losing ground
  57. Meet 100 of the most influential women working in the UK games industry
  58. Brenda Romero’s guide to becoming a game designer
  59. Gaming is not a meritocracy: Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail pokes holes in the notion of cream rising to the top, explains why devs and platforms may believe in it anyway
  60. John Romero: “There are always people who question games that push the boundaries”
  61. “Games that have succeeded in Turkey are all localised — that’s hands down”: Vardiya co-founder Meriç Eryürek on the untapped opportunity in Turkey’s population of 30 million gamers
  62. Black Desert franchise tops $1 billion in revenues: Pearl Abyss says multiplatform MMORPG franchise has reached milestone in less than four years
  63. The second launch of Sea of Thieves: Rare on sustainable working ahead of its biggest game update so far
  64. Breach developer QC Games has shut down
  65. Daybreak Game Company back in control of H1Z1 battle royale spin-off
  66. How When Ski Lifts Go Wrong hits the right mix of blood and physics puzzles
  67. Buy-one-get-one-free sale helps Risk of Rain 2 attract 650,000 players in first week
  68. What makes a good Kickstarter campaign?: Anya Combs talks about ideal video length, the right number of .gifs, and one mistake that will keep any project from being featured
  69. 60% of Greater Southeast Asia gamers are “strongly drawn to esports”: New Niko Partners report finds 42% of players from the region prefer competitive arena titles, spend the most on games
  70. The concept of eDoping in eSports – cyber security as a safety measure, enforcement and sanctions in case of non-compliance 
  71. Loaded, A Talent Firm For Top Gaming Stars, Signs Dakotaz, Skadoodle, and Sjokz
  72. Sonic The Hedgehog Footage Reveals Plot Details, Setting And Jim Carrey’s Robotnik: The adaptation of the Sega game is (largely) set in our world.
  73. How Lockwood pulled off giving 4.5 million festive gifts to over a million players: Sponsored article: Lockwood Leamington’s Studio Director Oliver Clarke on the seasonal gifting feature created for virtual world Avakin Life
  74. Ubisoft ends production of Starlink toys following poor sales
  75. Ubisoft cancels Starlink physical toys following game’s under performance: Development team plans to “do right by our passionate fans” with biggest update so far
  76. Ubisoft CEO: Live games give devs a chance to refine rather than start from scratch
  77. BioWare GM (internally) addresses complaints fromAnthem devs
  78. BioWare admits workplace, production issues: “These problems are real and it’s our top priority to continue working to solve them,” says general manager Casey Hudson
  79. Super Meat Boy Forever delayed, will miss April launch
  80. Team Meat delays Super Meat Boy Forever to maintain “healthy and sustainable pace”: Studio opts not to “run ourselves into the ground” to finish game by previously announced April release
  81. Nintendo adding VR modes to Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey
  82. VR modes coming to Super Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wildon Nintendo Switch
  83. Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit Trailer
  84. Black Desert franchise has crossed $1 billion in gross sales
  85. Roblox now has over 90 million monthly active users
  86. Moonlighter sells 500,000 copies in less than a year
  87. Good Shepherd picks up majority stake in new studio, Artificer
  88. Disruptor Beam plans to offer a mobile live ops platform to other devs
  89. European gamers shows progressive streak on diversity: Ipsos MORI survey shows there is growing demand for a wider array of characters in games, although industry still faces apathy
  90. Future recognizes staff union: Publisher voluntarily recognizes organized employees of PC Gamer, GamesRadar and nine other publications
  91. How to effectively use procedural generation in games
  92. Don’t Miss: How devs deal with making enemies that feel ‘okay’ to kill
  93. Don’t Miss: A 2008 analysis of branching dialogue, fromMass Effect to Facade and beyond
  94. How playgrounds can inform multiplayer level design in video games
  95. Avalanche: “The industry is going to calm down on tech and focus on creativity”
  96. CVG team reunite for new games media website: Video Games Chronicle launches this month
  97. Video blog: Historians discuss Return of the Obra Dinn
  98. Watch Falcon Age’s lead dev dive into the making of this bird-tastic tale
  99. God of War wins big at BAFTA Game Awards 2019
  100. God of War takes home five BAFTAs
  101. God of War director: accessibility isn’t at odds with creative vision
  102. “Accessibility has never and will never be a compromise to my vision”: God of War director Cory Barlog’s statement becomes a rallying cry for developers in support of more accessibility options in games

DIGITAL

  1. The Sky Is Rising: The Entertainment Industry Is Thriving, Almost Entirely Because Of The Internet
  2. The UK Has Released Its Plan for Cracking Down on Social Media Content
  3. UK government proposes sweeping new regulations of online content
  4. Online Harms
  5. UK Now Proposes Ridiculous Plan To Fine Internet Companies For Vaguely Defined ‘Harmful Content’
  6. Aussie Senate Rushes Thru Bill That Would Fine Social Media Companies For Not Taking Down ‘Abhorrent’ Content Fast Enough
  7. European Parliament Adopts the Copyright Directive 
  8. Techdirt Podcast Episode 207: MEP Julia Reda Explains What’s Next With The EU Copyright Directive
  9. Canadian ISPs Call For Standardization And Fines For Copyright Trolls Ignoring Changes To Copyright Law
  10. Copyright Enforcement Service Claims $600 Billion-Worth Of Images Are ‘Stolen’ Every Day
  11. Include a ‘Creative Commons’ Argument in Your IP Defense 
  12. The death of Section 230
  13. Singapore Government Pushes Fake News Law Which Will Give It More Options To Shut Down Critics
  14. German Publishing Giant Claims Blocking Ads Is Copyright Infringement, In Yet Another Lawsuit Against The Industry Leader
  15. German Government’s Bullying Of FOI Group Provides A Warning Of How EU’s New Upload Filters Will Be Used For Censorship
  16. UK Government Misses Another Ship Date On Its Porn Filter
  17. Be Cautious About Big Internet Platforms Bearing Plans For Global Censorship
  18. Devin Nunes Has Filed A Second B.S. Defamation Lawsuit Telling You All About A News Article He Doesn’t Want You To Read
  19. It’s Fun To Laugh About Congressional Reps Suing A Satirical Internet Cow, But It’s A Real Attack On Free Speech
  20. Email chain prompts Microsoft to investigate reports of sexual harassment ignored by HR
  21. Leaked Microsoft Email Chain Reportedly Describes Hellish Workplace for Women
  22. Microsoft investigating more sexual harassment claims
  23. Microsoft responds to sexual harassment allegations within company
  24. Microsoft’s eBook store: When this closes, your books disappear too
  25. Amazon will launch thousands of satellites to provide internet around the world: 3,236 satellites will provide internet from low Earth orbit
  26. Amazon plans satellite broadband for “tens of millions” of people
  27. Amazon admits that employees review “small sample” of Alexa audio
  28. Yahoo tries to settle 3-billion-account data breach with $118 million payout
  29. Researchers unearth 74 Facebook cybercrime groups with 385,000 members
  30. Facebook Will Stop Suggesting You Invite Dead People to Events
  31. I Can’t Believe This Dopey, Busted-Ass Website Is What Messed Up Our Lives
  32. Where to Find Evidence on Facebook
  33. Facebook Issues Additional Transparency Rules for Political Advertising
  34. Facebook’s AI Helps Block Or Remove 1 Million Accounts Each Day
  35. China is reportedly trialing attention-detecting bands in schools
  36. Chinese government proposes ban on bitcoin mining
  37. Teens ‘not damaged by screen time’, study finds 
  38. Canada may regulate social media companies to avoid election meddling: Firms are not doing enough to combat potential interference, minister said after report found foreign meddling is ‘very likely’
  39. DOJ Warns Academy That Being An Anti-Streaming Luddite Could Violate Antitrust
  40. Marketers see progress in Twitter’s efforts to stamp out hate
  41. Twitter blocks Trump 2020 video over Dark Knight Risesmusic
  42. Be Careful What You Wish For: Twitter Temporarily Bans ‘Get Out The Vote’ Ads To Comply With ‘Fake News’ Law
  43. Children’s Advertising Review Unit Findings Should Not Be Ignored by App Developers 
  44. The rise of the killer robots – and the two women fighting back
  45. You call that EDM? Moritz Simon Geist’s robots make the most technical techno
  46. The basics of modern AI—how does it work and will it destroy society this year?
  47. AI pioneer: ‘The dangers of abuse are very real’ – Yoshua Bengio, winner of the prestigious Turing award for his work on deep learning, is establishing international guidelines for the ethical use of AI.
  48. Ethics guidelines for trustworthy AI (European Commission)
  49. Google Gives Up on AI Ethics (Board)
  50. Exclusive: Google cancels AI ethics board in response to outcry – The controversial panel lasted just a little over a week. 
  51. Hey Google, sorry you lost your ethics council, so we made one for you
  52. Watch Google’s AI Make Trump Sing Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”
  53. Android TV update puts home-screen ads on multi-thousand-dollar Sony Smart TVs [Update]
  54. Netflix: Coming Up Next… Emerging competitors and legal implications of the changing TV and film industry 
  55. Netflix ends AirPlay support on iOS in an ongoing souring of its Apple relationship
  56. Ironically, Too Many Video Streaming Choices May Drive Users Back To Piracy
  57. YouTube to develop interactive content like Netflix’s Bandersnatch
  58. YouTube wants to make choose-your-own-adventure shows
  59. YouTube creating interactive narratives: Video service establishes new unit to produce original Bandersnatch-style content
  60. YouTube is planning its own interactive Choose Your Own Adventure-style content: It’s looking to compete with Netflix
  61. YouTube Exec Ben Relles Named Head Of Innovation, Will Lead Platform’s Push Into Interactive Content
  62. YouTube Forced To Disable Comments On Livestreams Of White Nationalism Hearing In Congress
  63. YouTube TV Hikes Monthly Price To $50 As It Strikes Carriage Deal With Discovery 
  64. YouTube Millionaires: Danielle Cohn Got Her Start On Musical.ly — Now, Her YouTube Music Videos Are Viewed By Millions 
  65. Jennifer Lopez Revamps Her YouTube Channel To Give Viewers More Personal Content 
  66. YouTuber Charlie Ross Arrested For Impersonating Police Officer In April Fools’ Prank
  67. K-Pop Phenoms Blackpink Snatch Biggest YouTube Music Video Premiere Of All Time 
  68. YouTube Will Livestream Blackpink’s Coachella Performance In Times Square 
  69. YouTube Photographer Peter McKinnon Gets Photo Minted On Canadian Currency 
  70. PewDiePie Signs Deal To Livestream Exclusively On Blockchain-Based Platform DLive
  71. Brittany Furlan Launches ‘Worst Firsts’ Podcast With Studio71
  72. The LaBrants Apologize For Prank On 6-Year-Old Daughter: “We Think We’re Awesome Parents” 
  73. Disclosing Endorsements on Social Media: General Considerations for FTC Compliance by Brands and Influencers
  74. Why influencers need to use the right #hashtag
  75. Jeffree Star Says “Major Player” Was Arrested After $2.5 Million Makeup Burglary
  76. Cyber Group, YoBoHo team up on co-pro deal
  77. FTC Emphasizes that Providing Free Products Can Bias Reviews 
  78. Shiseido is increasing its influencer marketing spending by 50% in 2019
  79. Here’s How The Warp Zone Survived Defy Media’s Collapse — And Regained Control Of Its Content
  80. Snacks for Props: FTC Says No
  81. Fullscreen Signs 10 Clients to Talent Management Roster, Including Mikaela Hoover 
  82. Fullscreen’s Talent Unit Signs 10 Creators, Including Sierra Schultzzie, Josh Ovalle
  83. Digital Vets Launch ‘UNCMMN’ Talent Management Upstart, Repping Jay Versace, Jc Caylen
  84. Someone Hacks Defy Media’s Twitter Account, Promptly Uses It To Troll Everyone (Including Defy)
  85. Research analyst predicts Snapchat’s user base in the US will decrease in 2019
  86. Snapchat Announces 10 New Originals From BuzzFeed, New Form and Others 
  87. Beyoncé Is Dropping A Netflix Documentary Next Week (Trailer)
  88. Netflix in Italy: Emerging competitors and legal implications of the changing TV and film industry 
  89. Netflix’s DVD Rental Service Brought In $212 Million Last Year From 2.7 Million Subscribers
  90. Movie Theaters Don’t Like Netflix. Netflix’s Solution: Buy Its Own Movie Theater Chain.
  91. ‘Netflix Is a Joke’ Comedy Channel Sets SiriusXM Launch 
  92. MicTurn takes the idea of open-mic concerts online
  93. More people pay for Apple Music than Spotify in the US now
  94. Will Apple Just Kill iTunes Already?
  95. Why Would Anyone Buy an iPad Mini in 2019?
  96. Apple slashes HomePod price and introduces Powerbeats Pro 
  97. 3-year-old locks parents out of iPad for 25,536,442 minutes
  98. Hello world: Shining a light onto the culture of computer programmers
  99. Shani Hilton Departs BuzzFeed To Take Over As The Los Angeles Times’ Deputy Managing Editor Of News
  100. I Was Ready to Dunk on the Bose Frames… But I Actually Like Them?
  101. How Have Section 512(f) Cases Fared Since 2017? (Spoiler: Not Well) (Eric Goldman)
  102. Online Marketplace Defeats Trademark Suit Because It’s Not the “Seller”–OSU v. Redbubble (Eric Goldman)
  103. Somebody forgot to upgrade: Flights delayed, cancelled by GPS rollover
  104. Area Man Takes Over the Onion and Gizmodo Group in Private Equity Deal 
  105. Is It Time for a Blockchain Brexit?
  106. New Quantum Device Can “Generate All Possible Futures”
  107. Interfering trajectories in experimental quantum-enhanced stochastic simulation (Farzad Ghafari, Nora Tischler, Carlo Di Franco, Jayne Thompson, Mile Gu & Geoff J. Pryde)
  108. When Twitter Fingers Turn to Trigger Fingers: A Qualitative Study of Social Media-Related Gang Violence (Desmond U. Patton, David Pryooz, Scott Decker, William R. Frey & Patrick Leonard) 

CREATIVITY

  1. A Thousand Words: Getty Images Trigger Class Action
  2. Former Intelligence Officials Sue The Government Over Its Unconstitutional Pre-Publication Review Process
  3. Horse Race Announcer Sues Over Bill Murray Film That Included His Trademarked Tagline
  4. Kobe Bryant Every Bit As Useless As His Lawyers Predicted In Trademark Opposition
  5. Tennessee Senate Unanimously Passes Actual Anti-SLAPP Bill
  6. Battle of the Beers—Can Anheuser’s Bud Light Ads Be Literally True but Legally False?
  7. Are Vulgar Trademarks Protected Free Speech? Recent First Amendment Cases are Changing the Contours of Trademark Law
  8. The Emmys Are Still Going After A Pet Products Company Despite All The Concessions They’ve Been Given
  9. Legislator Irritated By A Journalist Decides State’s Government Should Start Regulating Journalism
  10. News organizations have all but abandoned their archives
  11. Alex Jones switches up defense in Sandy hook case
  12. When Asked About Marvel LGBTQ Heroes, Kevin Feige Says He Wants All Fans to ‘See Themselves Reflected’
  13. Viacom Prepares for Content Arms Race: ‘We’re Looking Beyond Our Own Networks’
  14. 20 years on, The Matrix remains influential

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Supporting a More Competitive Canadian Wireless Market: Speak Out on Navdeep Bains’ Proposed CRTC Policy Direction (Michael Geist) 
  2. FCC Proposes Protections for 5G Infrastructure Hub and Relay Antennas to Spur Deployment 
  3. In Verizon 5G launch city, reviewers have trouble even finding a signal
  4. Verizon’s ‘World First’ 5G Launch Was A Bit of a Dud
  5. New FCC Commissioner: Hey, Maybe Somebody In Government Could Address These Wireless Location Data Scandals?
  6. Just $6,790 Of $208 Million In Robocall Fines Have Been Collected By The FCC
  7. Not All Customers Are the Same: Top Court Rules Business Customers Cannot Join Consumer Class Action
  8. House Democrats Pass Bill to Restore Net Neutrality
  9. House Democrats refuse to weaken net neutrality bill, defeat GOP amendments
  10. House votes to restore net neutrality as White House threatens Trump veto
  11. Colorado Net Neutrality Bill Heads To Governor’s Desk For Signing
  12. Telecom Lobbyists Crushed San Francisco’s Quest For Better Broadband
  13. Pai FCC Tours The Country Promising Better Rural Broadband, But His Policies Routinely Undermine That Goal
  14. Lawsuit: AT&T’s DirecTV Now is a flop and AT&T lied to investors about it
  15. The robocall crisis will never totally be fixed
  16. More jails replace in-person visits with awful video chat products
  17. Rupert Murdoch, the NFL, and the Negotiation That Remade TV

 SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Canadian Privacy Commissioner Signals Major Shift in Approach on Cross-Border Data Transfers (Michael Geist)
  2. Court Says Government Can Continue To Withhold Six ‘Significant’ FISA Court Opinions In Their Entirety
  3. Polish Supervisory Authority issues GDPR fine for data scraping without informing individuals
  4. Samsung Galaxy S10 fingerprint sensor defeated by a $450 3D printer
  5. Ongoing DNS hijackings target Gmail, PayPal, Netflix, banks and more [Updated]
  6. ACLU Asks CBP Why It’s Threatening US Citizens With Arrest For Refusing Invasive Device Searches
  7. Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa: A global team reviews audio clips in an effort to help the voice-activated assistant respond to commands. 
  8. Oversight Report Says DEA Ran Multiple Bulk Data Collection Programs With Zero Legal Clearance
  9. Chicago’s Ankle Monitors Can Call and Record Kids Without Their Consent
  10. Well-funded surveillance operation infected both iOS and Android devices
  11. Counting the Countless: Why data science is a profound threat for queer people
  12. Yahoo tries to settle 3-billion-account data breach with $118 million payout
  13. Thumb drive carried by Mar-a-Lago intruder immediately installed files on a PC
  14. USB Drive Found on Jailed Mar-a-Lago Party-Crasher Contained Self-Executing Code
  15. Chapter 19: Glossary – Unlocking the EU General Data Protection Regulation
  16. Court Says California’s Anti-Spam Statute Doesn’t Regulate Affiliate Networks–Bank v. Hydra
  17. Airbnb guest found hidden surveillance camera by scanning Wi-Fi network
  18. Court Says Virginia PD’s Use Of Automatic Plate Readers Violates State’s Data Privacy Law
  19. New variants of Mirai botnet detected, targeting more IoT devices
  20. Mysterious safety-tampering malware infects a second critical infrastructure site
  21. DHS, FBI say election systems in all 50 states were targeted in 2016

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; April 3, 2019

By Jon Festinger on April 14, 2019

GAMES

  1. Oxford Researcher Blames ESA Reaction for Prolonged Gaming Addiction Crisis
  2. Screens, Teens, and Psychological Well-Being: Evidence From Three Time-Use-Diary Studies (Amy Orben & Andrew K. Przybylski)
  3. MIT Prof: If We Live In A Simulation, Are We Players Or NPCs?
  4. Google: We’re “committed to protecting and respecting privacy” with Stadia – Harrison assures streaming service’s users will be able to create an online persona “distinct and different” from their Google one
  5. Deep Silver deactivates stolen Metro Exodus Steam keys
  6. Sony is shutting down all Driveclub online servers
  7. Sony will switch off the DriveClub servers in March 2020
  8. Man gets 20 years for deadly “swatting” hoax
  9. Man responsible for fatal swatting call sentenced to 20 years
  10. Call Of Duty Gamer Behind Nation’s First “Swatting” Fatality Sentenced To 20 Years
  11. Security researcher pleads guilty to hacking into Nintendo and Microsoft
  12. Hacker sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for accessing Microsoft, Nintendo servers
  13. China’s frozen game approval process continues long thaw
  14. Latest batch of Chinese game approvals includes 30 foreign titles: Nearly 1,000 games have been approved since freeze was lifted in December
  15. Don’t Miss: A different approach to difficulty
  16. Event feedback leads Falcon Age devs to make combat optional
  17. No fooling: Reddit’s r/games goes silent for one day to call out hate, bigotry
  18. Ten tips for pitching from the head of ID@Xbox: Chris Charla gives developers a crash course on the dos and don’ts of selling potential partners on game ideas
  19. Inside look at BioWare explains exactly how fake E3 2017’s Anthem demo was
  20. Devs recall moments of instability, indecision, and crunch on Anthem
  21. How BioWare’s Anthem Went Wrong
  22. Blog: A short analysis of monetization in Apex Legends
  23. Drake invests in esports betting startup Players’ Lounge
  24. Video games are now a legitimate high school sport
  25. Players’ Lounge raises $3M for a wager-based, competitive video game platform
  26. Players’ Lounge raises $3m for buy-in gaming competitions: Drake, Take-Two CEO, Comcast, and former Yahoo CEO all invest in low-stakes tournament platform
  27. Durham College opens first-of-its-kind Esports Gaming Arena
  28. Blockchain: the real fuel for eSports 
  29. F1 To Release Official Blockchain Game
  30. Brendan Greene: “I’m done with battle royale” – PUBG designer discusses his move to the new Special Projects team, and the privilege of now working without a deadline
  31. This War of Mine has topped 4.5 million sales and raised over $500k for charity
  32. At Ubisoft you always have a second chance”
  33. Apple’s Arcade can succeed – if it aims at families | Opinion: New service can avoid joining a decade of “noble failures” trying to create alternatives to F2P by focusing on children and parents
  34. Borderlands 3 trailer shows some of its “over one billion guns”
  35. Borderlands 3 Is A Six-Month Epic Store Exclusive On PC
  36. Borderlands 3 will be a six-month Epic Games Store exclusive on PC
  37. Borderlands 3 is the next big Epic Games Store exclusive
  38. Borderlands 3 joins list of Epic Games store PC exclusives: 2K says its goal is “to embrace new distribution platforms that will contribute to our effort to grow the audience” for Gearbox’s shooter
  39. Epic wants to leave the Epic Games Store exclusivity decision up to devs
  40. Epic: “It’s never our intent to keep people away from playing a game” – David Stelzer and Sergey Galyonkin discuss Epic Games store exclusivity backlash and attracting devs
  41. Romero Games partners with Paradox Interactive for upcoming project
  42. Video: Sean Murray reflects on No Man’s Sky and grit in game dev
  43. UK video game spending rose to record $7.43 billion in 2018 
  44. What Astroneer’s devs learned while leaving Early Access
  45. Kenichiro Takaki departs Marvelous for Cygames: Senran Kagura producer resigns to work on new project following frustrations with restrictions on sexual content
  46. Today, WarCraft 1 & 2 get their first-ever digital launch—and it’s on GOG
  47. Is it all over for pre-owned video games?: Second-hand game sales remain significant, but the recent decline is by no means temporary
  48. GameStop posts massive loss as pre-owned game sales plummet
  49. GameStop posts $673m full-year loss: Specialty retailer acknowledges “the challenges facing our pre-owned video game business” and a need to change its business model
  50. GameStop: Sony pulling game cards won’t “have a material impact” on sales: Executive chairman Daniel DeMatteo believes PS4 owners will still fund digital purchases by buying currency in-store
  51. GameStop’s fortunes fall amid declining sales of games and consoles
  52. Sony updates policy to allow refunds on pre-orders: Refunds also allowed up to 14 days past purchase date if game has not yet been downloaded
  53. Sony tweaks PlayStation Store refund and cancelation policy in the U.S.
  54. Bethesda reveals “buddy pass” for Wolfenstein: Youngblood – Deluxe edition allows owner to share game with as many friends as they like for co-op play
  55. Microsoft scrubs Notch references from Minecraft: Platform holder distances itself from controversial creator
  56. Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson eradicated from splash text
  57. Minecraft update removes mentions of creator Notch from splash screens
  58. Minecraft: Java Edition surpasses 30 million lifetime sales
  59. Minecraft on PC surpasses 30m sales: In total, all editions of the game combined have sold over 150m
  60. Xenoblade developer Monolith Soft staffing up for Zeldaproject
  61. The case for a smaller, more portable Nintendo Switch | Opinion – Portables were said to be dead — so why would Nintendo consider releasing a smaller Switch?
  62. Twitch Prime users are being gifted a free year of Nintendo Switch Online
  63. Civilization VI update brings cross-platform cloud saves to Steam and Switch
  64. How Mario Kart Tour could bring Mario Kart up to speed | Opinion
  65. Sega Will Release The Genesis Mini On September 19
  66. Sega joins the mini-console revolution with Genesis Mini
  67. Sega Mega Drive Mini will launch September 19: Sonic, Ecco and ToeJam & Earl will be among 40 games built into the $80 retro console
  68. The Analogue Mega Sg answers why anyone would pay $190 for a new Sega Genesis
  69. Tencent opens new cloud streaming platform ‘Start’ for public testing
  70. Cloud streaming startup Polystream nets $12 million in funding
  71. CD Projekt plans to create 250 new jobs despite last year’s profit and revenue decline: Company still posts a healthy profit of €25.6 million as research and development spending hits €56.4 million
  72. Matchington Mansion surpasses $100m as competition sees downloads rise: Homescapes, Gardenscapes experience surge in installs despite no recent updates to either
  73. gamigo AG: acquisition of the game publisher WildTangent Inc. in the form of an asset deal leads to further profitable growth
  74. Rovio invests $3m in Play Ventures gaming fund: Fund has reached goal of $30m intended for investment in 20-25 companies
  75. FoxNext VP on turning Marvel: Strike Force into the Starbucks of mobile games
  76. Why 11 Bit Studios endeavors to put emotion and meaning first in game dev
  77. Designing for deck-building in video games
  78. Xsolla introduces new funding opportunity for indie developers
  79. Video: How devs can maintain their sanity for crunch and beyond 
  80. Humble Bundle cofounders step down because ‘we’re more startup kinda guys’
  81. Humble Bundle co-founders stepping down after best year ever: New vice president and general manager Alan Patmore pledges to grow company as “a force for good in this industry”
  82. Flaregames founder launches Phoenix Games to give smaller devs a leg up
  83. Gameloft partners with CARE for Dragon Mania Legends charity event
  84. Digital Minister Margot James: “This government is committed to helping games companies” – Writing for GamesIndustry.biz, the UK Minister details how the government is supporting British games developers and more
  85. Record year for UK games market as spending nears £6bn: Software alone accounted for £4 billion in revenue for the first time, records broken in hardware and digital spending
  86. Valve teases its own VR headset, the Valve Index, for May reveal
  87. Valve’s long-rumored VR headset is finally real: the Valve Index, coming in May
  88. Valve Index to launch June 15: VR headset to be sold separately from optional base station and motion controllers
  89. Space Channel 5 VR hands-on: Ulala’s back, and I met her
  90. Social VR Hits ‘Rec Room’ and ‘VRChat’ Coming to Oculus Quest
  91. Virtual & Augmented Reality Through the Legal Lens
  92. Abrams Artists Signs 5 Gaming Creators Including Meg Turney, Matt Cobuzio
  93. Hyper Light Drifter dev confirms TV series is in the works
  94. Adi Shankar producing Hyper Light Drifter TV series: Netflix’s Castlevania producer teams up with developer Alex Preston for animated adaptation
  95. Into the Pixel exhibit calls for submissions of game art
  96. Don’t Miss: Streamlining how players deal with death in games
  97. Blog: A different take on Sekiro Shadows Die Twice
  98. Why HandCircus rebuilt the early iOS game Rolando for modern devices
  99. The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset takes home GLAAD award for outstanding video game
  100. The Elder Scrolls Online honored with inaugural GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game
  101. Making piracy and pre-owned games problems of the past – 10 Years Ago This Month: Gaming execs kill two birds with one server-based stone, while Konami insists Six Days in Fallujah has no message
  102. Blog: 20 Years of retention in EverQuest
  103. Gratitude for the Miracle Man: Why I Love: Pumped BMX developer Adam Hunt pays heartfelt homage to a magazine disc demo of Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
  104. This Ebook Company Is Trying to Make Reading More Like Videogames
  105. Blockchain Games and Collectibles – Patents and Other Legal Issues 
  106. U.S. Patent No. 9,511,292: Video game competition notifications 
  107. Mayor Sadiq Khan opens London Games Festival 2019: Praised industry’s contributions to city’s economy and the diverse talent it is attracting
  108. These are Gamasutra’s favorite slides from GDC 2019
  109. Video: Laralyn McWilliams on staying optimistic and creative in game dev

DIGITAL

  1. 540 Million Facebook User Records Exposed Online, Plus Passwords, Comments, and More
  2. Facebook asked some users for their email passwords, because why not: And two third-party developers left the data from millions of Facebook users exposed in S3 bucket.
  3. Facebook’s Ad Algorithm Is A Race And Gender Stereotyping Machine, New Study Suggests
  4. Facebook’s Efforts ‘Not Nearly Sufficient’ in Genocide-Torn Myanmar, UN Investigator Says
  5. Mark Zuckerberg calls for more regulation of the internet
  6. Mark Zuckerberg To Congress: Okay, Fine, Please Regulate Me And Lock In My Dominant Market Position
  7. Mark Zuckerberg: The Internet needs new rules. Let’s start in these four areas.
  8. Mark Zuckerberg Is Developing The Facebook Watch Of News — With Monetization For Publications
  9. HUD Charges Facebook With Enabling Housing Discrimination 
  10. Facebook Cracks Down On White Supremacist Hate Content After Christchurch Massacre
  11. Complete Overreaction: Professor Calls For Shutting Down Facebook Live, Post-Christchurch
  12. Three Lessons In Content Moderation From New Zealand And Other High-Profile Tragedies
  13. The Bundeskartellamt’s Facebook Decision and the intersection of competition law and data protection 
  14. EFF Fights For Redditor Targeted By Religious Organization For Forum Posts About Its Data Collection Policies
  15. Elizabeth Warren Wants to Break Up Big Data – Could She Do It? 
  16. Countries Want to Ban ‘Weaponized’ Social Media. What Would That Look Like?
  17. What If Google And Facebook Admitted That All This Ad Targeting Really Doesn’t Work That Well?
  18. Russia Expands Site Blocking To VPNs
  19. Government’s “porn block” roll out delayed
  20. Blogger’s Screenshot of a Newspaper Page Qualifies as Fair Use–Clark v. TransAlt (Eric Goldman)
  21. Data dividend? California governor proposes plan to have companies pay consumers for using their info
  23. YouTube Won’t Ban Far-Right Activist Tommy Robinson — Here’s What It’s Doing Instead
  24. YouTube Terminated Yeah1’s MCN Status, But Now It Looks Like They’re Working Out A Deal
  25. YouTube Once Proposed Overhauling Its Entire Business Model, Paying Creators Based On Video Engagement (Report)
  26. YouTube TV Is Now Available In Every U.S. Market 
  27. Popular YouTube Stuntsman Was Behind The Mysterious Spacefaring Big Mac Found On A U.K. Soccer Field
  28. YouTube Facing Criticism After Promoting Zac Efron’s New Channel Instead Of Resident Creators 
  29. PewDiePie concedes to T-Series in battle for YouTube’s biggest channel 
  30. YouTube Video Essayist Lindsay Ellis Has Been Nominated For A Hugo Award
  31. Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” Sees Massive YouTube Spike Each April Fools’ Day
  32. AI Ethics: Seven Traps
  33. As AI Spreads, Tech Needs ‘Chief Bias Officers’
  34. God in the image of white men: Creation myths, power asymmetries and AI
  35. The Boundaries of Artificial Emotional Intelligence
  36. How Algorithms Can Learn to Discredit the Media: Defamation is efficient, and AIs may have already figured it out
  37. Why Community and Collaboration is the Key for Building Ethical AI
  38. Can AI be a fair judge in court? Estonia thinks so
  39. Researchers trick Tesla Autopilot into steering into oncoming traffic
  40. Google Employees Call on Company to Kick Heritage Foundation Ghoul Off AI Ethics Board
  41. Inside the Google employee backlash against the Heritage Foundation: ‘They think that some of our colleagues either do not or should not exist’
  42. Google Employees Step Up to Demand Fair Treatment for Contractors
  43. Here lies Google Inbox, a radical rethink of how email should work
  44. Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand
  45. Google Duplex arrives on iPhones, most Android devices
  46. Southern District of Indiana Rules that Property Manager is Subject to Personal Jurisdiction Based on Text Messages Sent to the Forum State
  47. Insights: Apple Echoes Amazon In A Rebuke Of Everything Google And Facebook Do
  48. Apple apologizes for failing MacBook keyboards yet again
  49. iFixit teardown: Apple’s AirPods are “disappointingly disposable”
  50. The New AirPods Are Fine
  51. Apple just confirmed once and for all that AirPower will never come out
  52. Latest iPhone Rumors: Apple Adding the Stuff Samsung Already Has
  53. EU Approves Controversial New Copyright Rules 
  54. The EU’s Catastrophic Copyright Directive Can Still Be Stopped, If Governments Of Sweden And Germany Do The Right Thing
  55. Much ado about “Article 13” (or is it 17?)
  56. After Insisting That EU Copyright Directive Didn’t Require Filters, France Immediately Starts Promoting Filters
  57. EU Commissioner Gunther Oettinger Admits: Sites Need Filters To Comply With Article 13
  58. “Very Short” and Incredibly Loud: New EU Copyright Directive a Shot in the FANGs
  59. Here Comes The Splinternet: How The EU Is Helping Break Apart The Internet
  60. Free Software Foundation Comes To Its Senses After Calling For EU To Fund Open Source Upload Filters
  61. EU’s Never Ending Quest To Rip The Internet And Free Expression To Shreds Continues With The Terrorist Content Regulation
  62. Cole And Savannah LaBrant Under Fire After “Prank” Convincing Daughter They Were Giving Her Dog Away
  63. DSM Directive Series #1: Do Member States have to transpose the value gap provision and does the YouTube referral matter?
  64. DSM Directive Series #2: Is the press publishers’ right waivable? (Eleonora Rosati)
  65. UK cyber security officials report Huawei’s security practices are a mess
  66. Salesforce Sued For Sex Trafficking… Because Backpage Used Salesforce’s CRM
  67. 9th Circuit’s Bad AirBnB Decision Threatens Basic Internet Business Models
  68. The Marriage of Silicon Valley and the Pentagon Is Happening Whether You Like It or Not
  69. Twitter now lets users appeal violations within its app
  70. Think before you tweet – the perils of social media for the accountancy profession
  71. What’s Gimlet’s Problem?
  72. Office Depot rigged PC malware scans to sell unneeded $300 tech support
  73. Office Depot And Partner Ordered To Pay $35 Million For Tricking Consumers Into Thinking They Had Malware
  74. Legal experts weigh in on controversial European copyright directive: Legislation shifts responsibility onto platform holders, but won’t necessarily affect content creators
  75. Section 230 Holds On As Grindr Gets To Use It As A Defense
  76. Important Section 230 Ruling from the Second Circuit–Herrick v. Grindr (Eric Goldman)
  77. Welcome To The Prude Internet: No More Sex Talk Allowed
  78. Senator Keeps Attacking a Law Crucial to Internet Speech—Only He Can’t Seem to Read It
  79. Cardi B, Juice WRLD, More Inducted Into Spotify’s RapCaviar ‘Pantheon’
  80. Department Of Justice Warns Academy That Banning Netflix From Oscars Could Violate Antitrust Laws
  81. Netflix Ranked as No. 1 Fastest-Growing U.S. Brand in 2019
  82. Netflix’s Biggest Price Hike Is Now Rolling Out To Existing Subscribers
  83. iHeartMedia Files for Potential IPO 
  84. Streaming drove 9.7% rise in global recorded-music revenues in 2018
  85. Nickelodeon Buys Learning App ‘Sparkler’ To Bolster Its Preschooler Streaming Service
  86. After 21st Century Fox Purchase, Disney Bows Out Of This Year’s NewFronts
  87. Hulu Is Exploring New Ad Experiences For Binge Watching: Advertisers could sponsor shows when the audience is clearly in it for the long haul
  88. Spielberg proposal to ban streaming from Oscars may be illegal, DOJ warns 
  89. Sony Sells Majority Stake In Its Crackle Streaming Service To Chicken Soup For The Soul
  90. Sony Sells Stake in Crackle, Launches Joint Venture With Chicken Soup for the Soul 
  91. Sony veteran Kaz Hirai has left the company after 35 years 
  92. Kaz Hirai retires as chairman of Sony Corporation: Former CEO departs company after 35 years
  93. Microsoft kills off the book store you probably didn’t know it had
  94. Viacom Will Tout New Suite of Advertising Options as TV’s Sales Season Draws Near
  95. Hiring Influencers: Are You Playing With Fyre? 
  96. Creators for Good: Karlie Kloss Inspires Young Girls in STEM
  97. Teacher Says She Was Fired for Not Being a ‘Role Model’ After Topless Selfie Leaks
  98. TikTok To Join Instagram, Snapchat In The Realm Of Geolocation Filters Following GeoGif Acquisition
  99. Not Quite So Sweet: POPSUGAR’s Removal of Instagram Sidebar Leads to a Loss on All Fronts
  100. Instagram Considers Ad Products To Compensate Stars On IGTV: Creators and publishers could share in riches from new ad opportunities on fledgling video service
  101. Mercedes-Benz sued four artists whose murals appeared in its Instagram posts.
  102. Instagram’s big bet on shopping could be worth $10 billion in 2021
  103. Rounding Up Three Recent Keyword Advertising Cases–Comphy v. Amazon & More (Eric Goldman)
  104. Google and Walmart team up to let users buy groceries with voice commands
  105. The First Smartwatch to Read Your Blood Pressure Is an Ugly Marvel
  106. The future of conveyancing – A new digital age?
  107. Russia’s Shotgun-Wielding Drone Is the Flying Nightmare You Didn’t Know You Had 
  108. Bitcoin Surges 15% Overnight Because Nobody Learned Their Lesson After the Last Crash
  109. As new prepaid rule takes effect, virtual currency wallet providers need to take notice
  110. How Automation Turns Us Into Trump Voters
  111. On the Early Web, People With Disabilities Found Community and Autonomy
  112. Taxing the sharing economy 
  113. The Online Icons That Didn’t Survive the Web’s First 30 Years
  114. Old, Online, And Fed On Lies: How An Aging Population Will Reshape The Internet 
  115. Copyright Registration, Publication on the Internet, and the Revolving “Back Door to Berne” (Eric Goldman)
  116. Rounding Up Three Recent Keyword Advertising Cases–Comphy v. Amazon & More (Eric Goldman)

CREATIVITY

  1. Alabama Court Decides Publicity Rights Trump First Amendment In S-Town Lawsuit
  2. Getty Images Sued Yet Again For Trying To License Public Domain Images
  3. Ariana Grande Demands All Photographers At Her Concerts Transfer Copyright To Her, NPPA Revolts
  4. Can an artist deem his own art worthy of protection? 
  5. Ed Sheeran’s copyright woes continue
  6. Texas A&M Wants out of the “12th Man” Copyright Suit
  7. Copyright’s Memory Hole (Eric Goldman & Jessica Silbey)
  8. Federal Court Says Teen’s ‘F— Cheer’ Is Protected Speech
  9. FTC hits predatory scientific publisher with a $50 million fine
  10. Infringers walk the plank as the Premier League’s anti-piracy campaign scores big success
  11. Australian Prosecutors Trying To Throw Reporters In Jail For Accurately Reporting On Cardinal George Pell’s Conviction
  12. Journalist Maria Ressa Arrested Yet Again As Philippines Keeps Finding Bogus Reasons To Arrest Vocal Critic
  13. The Moment The Matrix Changed Everything
  14. At Last! Mystery of Garfield Phone Beach Solved After 35 Years
  15. EU to introduce anti-money laundering legislation for the art industry

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. A Netflix Crisis?: Foreign Funding Now By Far the Largest Source of Financing for Canadian Fictional English Language TV Production (Michael Geist)
  2. Company Ordered to Pay Woman $459K After Spamming Her With More Than 300 Robocalls
  3. FCC “fined” robocallers $208 million since 2015 but collected only $6,790
  4. FTC Shuts Down Companies Responsible for Over One Billion Robocalls 
  5. District Court: “Ringless” voicemail is a “call” under the TCPA 
  6. Second District Court in the Nation Holds That a Ringless Voicemail is a “Call” Under the TCPA 
  7. The FTC Says It’s Totally Cool With Anti-Competitive Internet Fast Lanes 
  8. Ajit Pai wants to cap spending on broadband for poor people and rural areas
  9. FCC Plans to Eliminate Rural “Rate Floor,” Heading Off Potential Price Hikes 
  10. April Fool’s Day is Monday – Don’t Let the Joke Be on You by Forgetting the FCC’s Hoax Rule 
  11. Cohen Payment Kerfuffle Forces AT&T To Be Slightly More Transparent About Lobbying
  12. Verizon’s Spam-Blocking Call Filter Is Now Free
  13. Verizon refuses to admit that its “first to 5G” commercials are misleading
  14. Watch a Verizon 5G phone hit speeds faster than your home Internet
  15. UK ISPs now automatically refund customers £8 a day for Internet outages
  16. Telecom Lobby Suddenly Pretends To Care About Accurate Broadband Maps
  17. FTC gives ISPs green light to block applications as long as they disclose it
  18. FTC reaches settlements with multiple operations alleged to be responsible for placing billions of robocalls 
  19. FTC Launches Probe Into Telecom Privacy Issues. But Whether They’ll Act Is Another Matter Entirely
  20. FTC investigates whether ISPs sell your browsing history and location data 
  21. The Electronic Communications Code – First Tribunal Decision on Consideration and Compensation payable by Operators 
  22. Have You Been Sued by Manuel Hiraldo? 
  23. Court Grants Primary Jurisdiction Stay in TCPA Case Pending FCC Clarification of ATDS 
  24. New year, new rights for telecoms providers
  25. Wall Street Thinks The Cable TV Sector Could Easily ‘Unravel.’ That’s Probably A Good Thing.

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Court Documents Show Canadian Law Enforcement Operated Stingrays Indiscriminately, Sweeping Up Thousands Of Innocent Phone Owners
  2. Bezos rep says Saudis stole racy texts, leaked them to the Enquirer
  4. 7th Circuit Punts On Border Smartphone Searches; Says Riley Decision Doesn’t Affect Anything
  5. Seventh Circuit Wades into Big Data Case Law
  6. YouTube Defeats Lawsuit Over Children’s Privacy
  7. FTC imposes unprecedented fine for violations of children’s online privacy rules
  8. Ancestry-Testing Company: It’s Our ‘Moral Responsibility’ to Give The FBI Access to Your DNA
  9. FamilyTreeDNA Deputizes Itself, Starts Pitching DNA Matching Services To Law Enforcement
  10. Riding the waves of U.S. data privacy legislation 
  11. Utah – The First State to Require a Warrant for Third-Party Data 
  12. Woman from China, with malware in tow, illegally entered Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
  13. LAPD Watchdog Says Department’s Data-Based Policing Is Producing Nothing But Wasted Time And Rights Violations
  14. Kaspersky Lab Will Now Alert Users to ‘Stalkerware’ Used In Domestic Abuse
  15. Facial Recognition Tech Now Capable Of Getting You Kicked Out Of The Mall
  16. Facial recognition can drive business goals, but where do we draw the line?
  17. HTTPS Isn’t Always As Secure As It Seems
  18. FTC Seeks Information from ISPs on Privacy Procedures 
  19. Washington State Pushes Forward With Comprehensive Privacy Legislation
  20. Will Washington Be the Next California?
  21. Thoughts on personal data vs non-personal data
  22. To catch a drug thief, hospital secretly recorded births, women’s surgeries
  23. Clinic Files Amicus Brief Arguing for Broader Access to Government Databases Through FOIA
  24. Machines Shouldn’t Have To Spy On Us To Learn (Zeynep Tufekci)

Jon

Read More | No Comments

News of the Week; March 27, 2019

By Jon Festinger on March 31, 2019

GAMES

  1. Blog: How games software and hardware could top $200 billion by 2023
  2. Opinion: After Christchurch – What we owe our game communities
  3. “If we make room for them, then there is no room for anyone else”: IGF Award host Meg Jayanth calls for devs to reject fascists, demand better treatment for themselves and their colleagues
  4. #1ReasonToBe: “Inclusivity is a battle we can win”: Rami Ismail’s final stint hosting the panel shares the stories of a refugee turns games developer, an Egyptian woman who refused to let a visa rejection silence her, and more
  5. Overwatch saw 40% less disruptive behavior with the endorsement system
  6. PUBG Corp and NetEase settle Battlegrounds lawsuit
  7. PUBG Corp, NetEase settle copyright lawsuit: After suit alleging Knives Out, Rules of Survival copied PUBG and countersuit against “shameless attempt” at genre monopoly, companies now dismissing cases
  8. Madden Litigation Sputters Out With Settlement
  9. EA Lays Off 350 People In Marketing, Publishing, And More
  10. EA lays off 350 staff in marketing, publishing, and operations 
  11. EA closes Japan and Russia offices amid mass layoffs
  12. EA lays off 350 amid major organizational changes: Company reorganizing marketing, publishing, operations teams, decreases presence in Japan and Russia
  13. Electronic Arts closes Japan office as part of mass layoffs: Russian division also appears to be shuttering with operations moving to larger, regional office
  14. EA signs publishing deal with Vicarious Visions founders
  15. Sega removing actor from Western version of Judgmentafter drug scandal
  16. Judgment has sold through 97% of stock following controversy
  17. “Hard Rock” Hamilton Says Microsoft Can’t Leave Gears of War Lawsuit
  18. Judgement sales surge following voice actor drug charge controversy: There was “no correct way to deal with the situation,” says Sega chief creative officer
  19. Labor organizers share insight and tips on unionizing the game industry
  20. Roblox on creating kinder communities
  21. Game source code is a teaching tool, not a trade secret, argues VGHF founder
  22. Apple Finally Jumps Into Games with Subscription Service Featuring 100+ Exclusives
  23. Apple announces its own game subscription service, Apple Arcade
  24. Apple unveils Apple Arcade subscription service for iOS, Mac, Apple TV games
  25. Apple Arcade Games Subscription Service Announced
  26. Apple reveals game subscription service Apple Arcade: Program to launch this fall with focus on new, premium titles
  27. KO_OP, ustwo games announce Apple Arcade exclusives
  28. Opinion: A closer look at the strategy behind Apple Arcade
  29. Google Stadia Streaming Platform Launch, Game, And Feature Details Revealed
  30. Google Exec On Stadia’s Internet Speed Requirements
  31. Hands-On With Google Stadia
  32. Google Claims Stadia Is More Powerful Than PS4 And Xbox One Combined – GDC 2019
  33. Google’s Stadia Could Take Video Games Out of Your Hands: The new streaming service could make owning a video game a thing of the past
  34. In Wake Of Google Stadia, Reports Suggest Walmart Is Exploring A Game Streaming Service
  35. Report: Walmart is looking to enter the game streaming business
  36. Walmart exploring its own game streaming service – Report: Retail giant began talking to developers and publishers about its plans earlier this year
  37. Phil Spencer Reportedly Says Stadia Announcement Had ‘No Big Surprises’, Says Xbox Will ‘Go Big’ At E3
  38. Xbox will reportedly “go big” on streaming at E3 2019: Internal email from Phil Spencer says Google Stadia is a “validation” and notes “no big surprises” in Google reveal
  39. Report: Microsoft’s disc-less Xbox One S gets name and launch date
  40. Microsoft unveils new indie game showcase calledID@Xbox Game Pass
  41. Another World designer Eric Chahi sets up indie studio Pixel Reef
  42. Blog: My full time indie developer life – Year 2
  43. Blog: The colonial, non-colonial, and decolonial in video games
  44. All the Game Streaming Services Google Stadia Is Up Against
  45. Would a Google Stadia subscription service be bad news for the industry?: Analysts discuss Stadia’s potential to drive “a major downward trend” on prices, and what subscriptions mean for developers and diversity of games
  46. Google Stadia will support the Xbox Adaptive Controller: Microsoft’s accessible device included among third-party controllers Google’s platform will support
  47. Google tries to reassure gamers about Stadia speed and latency concerns
  48. How id Software went from skeptical to excited about Google Stadia streaming
  49. Slow Broadband, Usage Caps Could Mar Google Stadia’s Game Streaming Ambitions
  50. Google Stadia can succeed if it follows Fortnite’s footsteps | Opinion
  51. Nav promoted his new album in Fortnite stream with Ninja
  52. In-venue streaming and broadcasting of live sporting events – key legal issues for sports clubs and leagues
  53. Valve stays the course despite intensifying competition
  54. Valve Software dreams of analyzing your brainwaves to tailor in-game rewards: “We can figure out what kinds of rewards you like, and the kinds you don’t.”
  55. Valve is pushing new social features for Steam later this year 
  56. Standalone Vive Focus Plus will cost $799 when it arrives in April
  57. Valve Psychologist: Brain-computer Interfaces Are Coming & Could Be Built into VR Headsets
  58. PlayStation VR headset sales have topped 4.2 million
  59. ‘No Man’s Sky’ is Getting Full VR Support for PSVR, Rift, and Vive
  60. Sony Announces 4.2 Million PlayStation VR Units Sold
  61. Putting Sony’s 4.2 million PSVR sales in context
  62. Sony is pulling digital PS4 games from sale at GameStop, other retailers
  63. Sony stops selling digital game codes at physical retailers
  64. Sony pulls full game download codes from all stores: PlayStation confirms to GamesIndustry.biz new strategy starts April 1, cards for DLC and virtual currency will still be available
  65. Devil May Cry 5 shipped 2m units in two weeks
  66. Devil May Cry 5 has sold 2 million copies in first two weeks
  67. 6 years in, Warframe nears 50 million lifetime players
  68. Fallout 76 and a handful of upcoming Bethesda titles now headed for Steam
  69. Metro Exodus on Epic Store outsells its predecessor on Steam — but what does that tell us?: “It’s about the game, and not the store you sell on,” suggests Epic
  70. Observation will be an Epic Games Store exclusive, Steam page pulled
  71. Epic offers support for third-party key sales — but not for exclusives
  72. Sweeney commits to human moderators & quality filters for Epic’s Games Store
  73. Epic Games Store is making the industry better but “gamers don’t see that”: CEO Tim Sweeney addresses backlash against exclusivity deals, promises human curation to block “shock controversy games” like Rape Day
  74. Report: Nintendo Is Releasing Two New Switch Models
  75. Report: Nintendo planning two new Switch models
  76. Nintendo Allegedly Set To Release Two New Switch Models
  77. Report: Nintendo to release two new Switch models in 2019
  78. Stardew Valley is the best-selling indie game on Nintendo Switch
  79. Dead Cells has passed 1 million sales, and Switch leads the way on consoles
  80. Nintendo’s Labo VR Kit Is Its Wildest Cardboard Adventure Yet
  81. This Might Be the Least Fun Switch Accessory
  82. Oculus Founder: Rift S Suitable for Only About 70% of Population Due to IPD
  83. eSports and Copyright between choreographies and UGC 
  84. GameStop moving into esports with new events venue 
  85. GameStop partners with three esports organisations: Games retailer signs deals with Houston Outlaws, Envy Gaming, and OpTic Gaming
  86. Comcast plans to build a $50 million esports arena in Philadelphia
  87. SuperData: Apex Legends’ $92m launch month the best ever for a free-to-play game
  88. Mobile strength pushed Tencent past $19bn games revenue in 2018
  89. WarDucks raises $3.8 million to expand studio and create location-based AR game
  90. WarDucks raises €3.3 million for location-based AR mobile game
  91. I played 11 Assassin’s Creed games in 11 years, and Odyssey made them all worth it
  92. UK Charts: Sekiro Shadows Die Twice is the seventh new No.1 of the year – Activision and From Software title narrowly beats The Division 2
  93. Kabam acquires Montreal-based mobile studio Riposte Games & Co
  94. GAME revenue dips but profits jump on ‘relentless’ cost savings
  95. Indies clean up at GDC Awards 2019: God of War takes home yet another Game of the Year gong, and Return of the Obra Dinn wins $33,000 in IGF prizes
  96. GDC 2019 attendance sets new record at 29,000
  97. GDC celebrates record-breaking attendance and locks in 2020 dates!
  98. Blog: The best slides I saw at GDC 2019
  99. GDC 2019, as told through livetweets 
  100. Video Game Deep Cuts: The Game Developers Conference Aftermath
  101. A dev trained robots to generate “garbage” slot machine games—and made $50K
  102. Intel and Spirit AI are working on machine learning-powered voice chat moderation
  103. Video: Systemic AI design in Just Cause 3
  104. Get a job: DeepMind is hiring a Games Designer
  105. Deep Dive: Flexiscope, the play-time aware dungeon generator in Book of Demons
  106. Don’t Miss: Devs weigh in on the best ways to write and design characters
  107. Relinquishing Control: Remedy’s paradigm shift – Game director on leaving behind the tightly controlled experiences of Alan Wake and Quantum Break for, “a world that can support many stories, not just one story”
  108. Daedalic: “If we do this right, no one else will be able to make a Gollum game” – CEO discusses plans for the iconic character, who will star in the first of many Lord of the Rings games
  109. Critical Consensus: Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 –  Critics lament the lack of political heft in its story, but The Division 2 gets much right that BioWare’s Anthem got wrong
  110. ‘Buddy pass’ will let Wolfenstein: Youngblood players share with friends
  111. Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt spent heavily on R&D in 2018
  112. Boyfriend Dungeon dev examines why game fashion sucks, and what to do about it
  113. First-person digger: Stanley Black & Decker’s game controller for excavators
  114. The next generation starts with you | Opinion: Game Dragons’ Philip Oliver offers advice on how to better work with academia to improve the quality of graduates
  115. Twitch Launches ‘Squad Stream’ Feature, Enabling Four-Person Multiplay
  116. Ninja Is Getting His Face On A Red Bull Can
  117. Building a ‘homebrew’ video game console
  118. Niantic announces second Pokémon GO Earth Day event
  119. Obituary: Take-Two founder Ryan Brant has passed away
  120. Take-Two founder Ryan Brant dies: Publisher expresses condolences, gratitude to Brant for his vision and contributions

DIGITAL

  1. Muslim Advocacy Group Files Suit Against YouTube, Facebook For Hosting Christchurch Shooting Videos
  2. Microsoft calls for ‘industrywide’ moderation plan after New Zealand shooting: The company’s president calls for more coordination
  3. New Zealand Censors Declare Christchurch Shooting Footage Illegal; Start Rounding Up Violators
  4. Brutal Startup Is Using Eye Tracking to Force You to Watch Ads: It’s basically like “A Clockwork Orange.”
  5. Social media platforms under increasing pressure to protect users from harm
  6. Facebook and Instagram Finally Ban White Nationalism and White Separatism
  7. Facebook’s new rules come down against white nationalism, separatism
  8. Will Facebook’s New Ban On White Nationalist Content Work?
  9. Facebook Settles Claims Alleging Discriminatory Ad Targeting 
  10. Vice Media to Pay $1.9 Million to Settle Pay Discrimination Case
  11. Music labels sue Charter, complain that high Internet speeds fuel piracy
  12. RIAA Continues Its Legal War To Turn ISPs Into The Copyright Police: Sues Charter Communications
  13. The Latest Pro-PewDiePie Hackers Locked Users’ Files Until They Subscribed
  14. New Virus Steals Your Files Until PewDiePie Gets 100M Subscribers: Another ransomware variant encrypts your files unless you subscribe to PewDiePie – but even if you do, it deletes them anyway.
  15. PewDiePie fans keep making junk ransomware: Please, YouTube! Just hide PewDiePie and T-Series’ followers count and put this competition to bed.
  16. How Microsoft found a Huawei driver that opened systems to attack
  17. New Huawei phone has a 5x optical zoom, thanks to a periscope lens
  18. US Is Forcing A Chinese Firm To Sell Gay Dating App Grindr
  19. HMD admits the Nokia 7 Plus was sending personal data to China
  20. How Internet Mercenaries Do Battle for Authoritarian Governments
  21. HTML email reborn, as Google brings AMP to your inbox
  22. Google regrets ‘minor glitch’ that sent Ghanaian currency plummeting
  23. U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Search Google Settlement Agreement for Fairness  
  24. SCOTUS Remands Google Case to the Ninth Circuit for Spokeo Standing Analysis 
  25. Tenth Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Materially Supporting Terrorists” Fails–Sinclair v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
  26. The echo of American Fair Use and of its boundaries, in the EU and Italian System. A comparative analysis in the wake of the Fox News victory over TVEyes
  27. Nevada Judge Says Online News Publications Aren’t Protected By The State’s Journalist Shield Law 
  28. Talking Cat App Should Keep Quiet on Advertising, CARU Recommends
  29. A ‘Dark Day’: Copyright Law That Threatens the Internet as We Know It Passes Final EU Vote
  30. EU parliament passes controversial copyright overhaul [Updated]
  31. EU Puts An End To The Open Internet: Link Taxes And Filters Approved By Just 5 Votes
  32. The European Parliament has voted in favour of Article 13: Critics argued that Article 13, and related legislation passed today by MEPs, risked infringing on freedom of speech
  33. Article 13 – MEME Law is coming…
  34. “Memes banned” – the European Parliament votes in the EU Copyright Directive including controversial Articles 11 and 13 
  35. EU Parliament Passes Controversial “Meme Ban”: It’s a “dark day for internet freedom.”
  36. Swedish MEPs Announce Support For Article 13, Demonstrate Near Total Ignorance Of What It Actually Entails
  37. New Report: Germany Caved To France On Copyright In A Deal For Russian Gas
  38. Enough MEPs Say They Mistakenly Voted For Articles 11 & 13 That The Vote Should Have Flipped; EU Parliament Says Too Bad
  39. Tell The EU Not To Wreck The Internet
  40. A Century Ago We Killed The Radio Commons; Don’t Let The EU Do That To The Internet
  41. EU Commission Refuses To Explain Why It Published Medium Article Mocking The Public’s Concerns Over Article 13
  42. EU Internet Companies Warn EU Parliament Not To Vote For Articles 11 & 13; Say They’ll Hand The Internet To Google 
  43. MEPs Realizing How Bad Article 13 Could Be, Begin To Back Away From EU Copyright Directive
  44. Independent Musician Dan Bull’s New Song, Robocopyright, Warns Of The Dangers Of Article 13
  45. Sites Warn EU Users Of Just How Bad Article 13 Will Be
  46. Huge Protests Across Europe Protest Article 13; Politician Lies And Claims They Were Paid To Be There
  47. Supporters Of Article 13, After Denying It’s About Filters, Now Say It’s About Regulating Filters Which They Admit Don’t Work
  48. After EU Copyright Reform Passes, Susan Wojcicki Says “This Is The Beginning” Of YouTube’s Fight
  49. Most Advertisers Have Returned To YouTube After Comments Scandal, Google Exec Says 
  50. YouTube Usage Comprises 37% Of All Mobile Web Traffic, Study Finds
  51. YouTube Facing Lawsuit That Alleges Toy Unboxing Videos Are “Abusive Advertising Practices” Aimed At Children 
  52. YouTube Disabled Comments On Thousands Of Creators’ Channels To Prevent Child Predation. Tech Startup Respondology Thinks It Has A Solution. 
  53. YouTube Shutters ‘Fantastic Adventures’ Channel After Proprietor’s Arrest For Child Abuse
  54. YouTube Millionaires: AR12Gaming Started Sharing His Love For Racecar Games On YouTube In 2012. Now, His Company Sponsors Real-Life Racers.
  55. How YouTube is changing toys
  56. YouTube cancels two original series but denies moving away from original content
  57. YouTube Content Head Susanne Daniels Denies Eyeing Exit Amid High-End Series Cancellations
  58. Kim Kardashian’s Daughter North West Entering YouTube Fray In Collab With JoJo Siwa
  59. Influencers Allegedly Run Roughshod Over FTC Warnings
  60. Influencer Law 101: influencer exclusivity
  61. Law School Exam Part 5: Am I An Influencer?
  62. #InfluencerMarketing: What advertisers need to know about disclosure
  63. Lil Miquela, Shudu, Bermuda and Sophia The Robot: CGI and Robot IT Girls Who Will Become the Influencers of the Future 
  64. Studio71 Launches Weekly Reaction Series With Tal Fishman, Caylus Cunningham On ‘Caffeine’
  65. Ryan ToysReview’s Nickelodeon Series To Premiere On April 19
  66. YouTube’s FaZe Clan Inks Sponsorship, Content Pact With Automaker Nissan
  67. Liza Koshy Will Return To Her YouTube Channel After Yearlong Absence
  68. Liza Koshy Returns To YouTube With A Glitzy Musical For Her Dollar Store Shenanigans
  69. Creators Going Pro: Elle Mills’ YouTube Channel Is Becoming A Diary About The Raw, Vulnerable Parts Of Her Life
  70. Priyanka Chopra Launches YouTube-Funded Inspirational Special ‘If I Could Tell You Just One Thing’
  71. Admitted Meme Thief F-Jerry Sued for Allegedly Stealing a Meme 
  72. Popular Meme Account Sued For Copyright Infringement and Other Claims
  73. Expansion of the Madrid System 
  74. Ruling in Emoji Beach Ball IP Case Left Me Confused: Kangaroo v. Amazon (Eric Goldman)
  75. March Madness! Court Dismisses Lawsuit Over Massive Cyberattack After Basketball Game Loss–Higgins v. Kentucky Sports Radio (Eric Goldman)
  76. Amazon Will Soon Launch Mobile Ads In Search Results
  77. To rival Amazon, UPS enters healthcare—with doorstep nurse delivery
  78. StyleHaul Notifies Employees Of Layoffs, Shutdown Of U.S. Operations (Exclusive) 
  79. Here’s Why Netflix Launched ‘Love, Death & Robots’ With A Different Episode Order For Certain Users
  80. Netflix Reaches Tipping Point As Originals Now Outpace Acquired Titles – Study
  81. Netflix Asks Court To Dismiss Chooseco’s Lawsuit For All The Obvious Reasons
  82. Here’s How Apple’s Spending Its Massive $1 Billion Original Content Budget Ahead Of Streaming Service Launch
  83. Here’s the Full Rundown on Apple TV and the New Apple TV+
  84. Apple finally enters TV streaming space with new Apple TV+ service
  85. Here’s all the TV+ shows Apple flew out celebrities for
  86. Apple’s New Genre Shows Are Still Mysterious, But Here’s What We Learned Today
  87. Apple’s Streaming Service Apple TV+ To Launch This Fall, Will Have Zero Third-Party Content — But Plenty Of Add-Ons
  88. Liveblog: Apple unveils its TV service and more at the March 25 “It’s show time” event
  89. Apple promises its new credit card is a privacy-protecting beast
  90. Apple debuts its own credit card with a physical version to complement the app
  91. The Apple Card Is Great at Privacy but Mediocre Overall
  92. Everything that’s happening with Apple’s News+ subscription service
  93. Apple News+: A newsstand of 300 glossy magazines for $9.99/month
  94. Apple Used Its Oprah Moment to Pull One Over on Us
  95. Apple Designates Amazon As an Authorized Reseller of Apple – Highlighting the Importance of Online Sales Control for Even the World’s Most Powerful Brand
  96. Clippy briefly resurrected as Teams add-on, brutally taken down by brand police
  97. Microsoft ships antivirus for macOS as Windows Defender becomes Microsoft Defender
  98. Microsoft exec bans company from pulling any dumb April Fools’ pranks 
  99. Streaming Powers U.S. Latin Music Market to 18% Growth
  100. eMarketer claims Spotify US will overtake Pandora by 2021
  101. AI-music startup Endel to release albums through Warner Music
  102. A Survey Of The EU’s AI Ecosystem
  103. Expert views on the frontiers of AI and conflict  
  104. How to develop a successful IP strategy for AI
  105. Can AI Be A Fair Judge In Court? Estonia Thinks So
  106. How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Science
  107. Artificial Intelligence: A Potential Cybersecurity Safeguard or Viable Threat to the Healthcare Industry? 
  108. Algorithmic Accountability: A Primer
  109. Inside Google’s Rebooted Robotics Program
  110. Study shows complexity and uncertainty of IoT regulation in Europe 
  111. New York City Apartment Residents Sue Landlord Over New Smart Locks [Updated]
  112. US computer science grads outperforming those in other key nations
  113. Rethinking the rights of children for the internet age
  114. Disruptive Developments @20EssexStreet: What is the difference between a cryptocurrency trading platform and a kitchen blender? 
  115. What’s in a (User)Name? 
  116. Freetown Man Arrested for Keeping Flat-Screen TV Delivered to Him by Accident With Amazon Order 
  117. This Truck Spilled 40,000 Pounds of Printer Ink In a Crash That Probably Cost a Gazillion Dollars
  118. Man Steals $122 Million From Google And Facebook By Just Asking Them For Money
  119. Digital Business in Canada
  120. Internet Platform Governance, Part 1: What’s the Problem?
  121. Cloud computing in the United States
  122. Federal Prosecutors Recommend Paul Hansmeier Spend The Next 12 Years In Prison

CREATIVITY

  1. Photographer loses lawsuit over use of her photo in political mailer
  2. $35 billion in research funding “now at stake” after Trump executive order
  3. New waves in the battle against piracy of sports rights
  4. Copyright Ownership DJ Claim Must Plead Disputed Ownership 
  5. What do Bruce Springsteen and Venus and Serena Williams all have in common?
  6. Counterfeiting and the importance of brand protection in beauty
  7. Fashion and cultural expressions
  8. Dutch Golden Age painting returned to heirs of Nazi Spoliation victims
  9. Intellectual Property Law Year in Review – March 2019

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Cable Industry Embarrassed By The Word ‘Cable,’ Stops Using It
  2. FCC has to pay journalist $43,000 after hiding net neutrality records
  3. FCC (Read: Taxpayers) Forced To Pay Journalist’s Legal Bills After Tap Dancing Around FOIA Requests
  4. T-Mobile’s $50 home Internet service has no data cap, but plenty of limits
  5. AT&T’s “5G E” is actually slower than Verizon and T-Mobile 4G, study finds
  6. Another Study Finds Verizon’s 5G Is Barely Available, Not Scaleable
  7. Current Telecom Developments
  8. Bill To Restore Net Neutrality Moves Forward, And The Public Is Still Angry
  9. The regulators are coming: New EU online Platforms Regulation
  10. Five Minutes On… The EU Electronic Communications Code
  11. Comcast’s New Rented Streaming Box Is A Flimsy Attempt To Remain Relevant

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Facebook apps logged users’ passwords in plaintext, because why not
  2. Facebook stored hundreds of millions of passwords in plain text
  3. Facebook Screws Up Again
  4. Vigilant And Its Customers Are Lying About ICE’s Access To Plate Records
  5. Thomas Goolnik Again Convinces Google To Forget Our Story About Thomas Goolnik Getting Google To Forget Our Story About Thomas Goolnik
  6. Illinois Appeals Court Says Fifth Amendment Protections Apply To Cellphone Passwords
  7. California and European Privacy FAQs: Does the GDPR require that a company obtain consent from a website user before placing cookies on its browser?
  8. The privacy risks of unchecked facial-recognition technology
  9. The Government Is Using the Most Vulnerable People to Test Facial Recognition Software
  10. Having Privacy in Public: Limits to Unwanted Surveillance in Public Spaces
  11. Hijacked ASUS software updates installed backdoor on at least 0.5 million PCs
  12. Asus Goes Mute As Hackers Covertly Install Backdoors Using Company Software Update
  13. Reckless VII: Wife of Journalist Slain in Cartel-Linked Killing Targeted with NSO Group’s Spyware
  14. Critical flaw lets hackers control lifesaving devices implanted inside patients
  15. A rogue’s gallery of bad actors is exploiting that critical WinRAR flaw
  16. Telegram Goes Nuclear With New Message Deletion Feature
  17. Preparing for Compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act 
  18. Casino Screwup Royale: A tale of “ethical hacking” gone awry

Jon

Read More | No Comments



Creative Commons License