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News of the Week; October 31, 2018

By Jon Festinger on November 6, 2018

GAMES

  1. Suspect in fatal swatting faces 46 new charges: Tyler Barriss expected to plead guilty to phoning in bomb threats and using police to harass others for years leading up to last December’s death over a Call of Duty argument
  2. The Library of Congress just made game preservation a little bit easier
  3. Researchers can now legally restore “abandoned” online game servers
  4. Analyst expects Houser brothers to receive huge Red Dead royalties: Take-Two clarifies that last year’s royalties of $383m shared across all studios
  5. Rockstar devs detail the studio’s history with ‘mandatory’ crunch
  6. Rockstar’s broken work ethics: Former employees detail mandatory long hours, unpaid overtime, and a culture of fear at studios behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption
  7. Rockstar: “Overtime is not mandatory” – Red Dead Redemption developer responds to increasing number of stories about studio’s intense working conditions
  8. Red Dead Redemption 2: Critical Consensus – Rockstar’s latest hailed as a masterpiece, raising the bar for open worlds to come
  9. Red Dead Redemption 2 made $725 million over the weekend
  10. Red Dead Redemption 2 makes $725 million in three days: It’s the second biggest entertainment launch in history behind GTA V
  11. Red Dead Redemption 2 UK sales more than double the first game: Rockstar’s latest epic is the second fastest-selling game of the year
  12. Crunch, work-life balance, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: A view from the top
  13. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey built without ‘massive crunch’: “We think it’s a false economy to burn out our teams. We risk losing them”
  14. SAG-AFTRA’s new agreement opens doors for small-budget and indie games
  15. Ex-IGDA head Kate Edwards now convinced game devs need unions: Edwards explains what pushed her from being open to the idea of organized labor to believing it needs to happen
  16. Twitch teams up with Harmonix to develop a streaming karaoke game
  17. Female Gamers Defend Twitch Star Pokimane After Sexist Backlash Following Makeup-Free Stream
  18. Introducing the games industry’s latest gender diversity initiative – G Into Gaming
  19. Can a video game prevent domestic violence?: We speak to Professor Adele Jones about her ongoing work to tackle abuse and the attitudes that lead to it
  20. Renegotiated music licenses bring Alan Wake back to digital stores
  21. Alan Wake returns to digital storefronts after music rights snafu [Updated]
  22. Edge Case Games ceases support for Fractured Space: Developer intends to keep servers online “for the foreseeable future”
  23. The dark, ironic, surreal games of Central and Eastern Europe: The region’s developers have found a place in the market by taking the upheaval of the past, and creating a unique visual and thematic identity
  24. Epic Games secures $1.25 billion from multiple investors
  25. Epic Games raises $1.25 billion from handful of investors: KKR, ICONIQ Capital, Smash Ventures, and four more join the ranks of Fortnite studio’s minority shareholders
  26. ‘Fortnite’s’ Streaming Popularity May Have Peaked (Analyst)
  27. Games deals in 2018 worth record $25bn but “could signal top of the market”: IPO market falls 90 per cent but games investment reaches “unprecedented” levels, according to Digi-Capital
  28. SuperData: Digital spend on console reaches $1.24bn for September – Destiny 2 Forsaken expansion beats out Fortnite to top digital console rankings
  29. Liftoff: Mobile user acquisition costs drop while in-app purchases struggle – Mobile App Engagement Index report notes that costs to get users from install to in-app purchase are rising quickly despite high engagement
  30. Candy Crush Saga is the UK’s most popular game of all time on Android
  31. Nier: Automata’s 2B Is Coming To Soulcalibur VI
  32. Massive apples, cubes draw ire in ranked SoulCalibur VIonline play
  33. Zynga reports rising revenues and deals for Harry Potter & Game of Thrones games
  34. Zynga investing in Harry Potter, Game of Thrones titles: Both licensed games will be casual, mobile experiences to be developed at company’s US studios
  35. Edge Case Games ends development of free-to-playFractured Space
  36. The balance of Scavengers, a multiplayer game built by “famously vicious trolls”: Midwinter Entertainment CEO Josh Holmes believes “griefing” is an inevitable part of playing online – and accepting that is key to ensuring fair play
  37. Turning a documentary into a video game: The team behind Never Alone discuss its upcoming Blue Planet tie-in with the BBC
  38. Team Sonic Racing delayed until May 2019: Return of Sega-themed kart racing series was due on shelves before Christmas
  39. Industry-first esports gambling platform gets wagering license approval: “There is finally a legitimate, regulated operator in the space that has a pretty comprehensive offering,” says Unikrn CEO
  40. Esports Integrity Coalition issues five-year ban to CS:GO cheater: OpTic disbands in wake of Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat’s ban for cheating in two competitions
  41. NBA superstar Michael Jordan leads $26m investment into aXiomatic Gaming: Jordan invests in parent company of third-most valuable esports organisation, Team Liquid
  42. Conde Nast owner Advanced Publications acquires The Esports Observer 
  43. Advance acquires The Esports Observer: Media company makes significant investment increase shortly after acquiring gaming analytics firm Newzoo
  44. Esports makes up 9-17% of Twitch’s viewership in 2018 so far: Fortnite viewership dips in Q3 of this year, leaving Activision Blizzard to command attention once more
  45. Blizzard launches standalone, souped-up Overwatch viewer for esports event
  46. Unikrn gets gambling license for crypto-based betting on esports and games
  47. Monster Hunter: World continues to drive sales at Capcom
  48. Monster Hunter: World drives Capcom to strong six-month results – Hit title has eclipsed 10m shipments, helped Capcom to double profits
  49. Microsoft gaming revenue up 44% despite quiet Q1 2019: Platform holder to expand Xbox Game Pass offering on PC
  50. Microsoft Reveals ‘Maquette’, a VR Tool for Spatial Ideation and Design
  51. Microsoft CEO reveals Xbox Game Pass is heading to PC
  52. Microsoft is bringing all-you-can-play Game Pass subscription to PC
  53. Minecraft reaches 150 million downloads in China: Free-to-play Chinese version gains 50 million players in five months
  54. Sony sold nearly 4 million PS4s in the last three months
  55. Sony reports 65% increase in games profit driven by sales of Spider-Man
  56. Don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing…in Spider-Man
  57. Spider-Man drives 65% increase in games profits for Sony: Software sales were behind a strong fiscal Q2, Sony said, even as PS4 hardware sales continued to fall
  58. Blog: A design analysis of Marvel’s Spider-Man
  59. Here are all 20 games you’ll get with the PlayStation Classic
  60. Full List Of PlayStation Classic Games Is Missing Some Classics
  61. PlayStation Classic’s full game list announced, and it might annoy you
  62. PlayStation Classic’s full game list announced, and it might annoy you
  63. Sony announces PlayStation Classic game line-up: 20 titles on plug-and-play console include Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto, and Rayman
  64. Why Playstation Classic (and other throwback consoles) may never feature the sports games we loved
  65. Sony licenses PSVR design to Lenovo following eerily similar VR headsets
  66. Sony licenses PSVR design for Lenovo VR headset: Two-year deal aims to expand and improve VR industry
  67. Before crucial holiday season, Nintendo struggles as Sony shines
  68. Nintendo recommits to “keep the business going” for 3DS
  69. Bethesda hasn’t forsaken the Switch, despite Fallout 76skipping the console
  70. Nintendo Switch version of Fallout 76 “wasn’t doable”: New game won’t be following Doom and Wolfenstein to Nintendo’s console, but Bethesda remains committed to the Switch as a “viable platform”
  71. Switch reaches 22m lifetime sales in a solid six months for Nintendo: Total software unit sales are now at 111 million units for Nintendo’s console
  72. Over 1,300 games from 500+ publishers have been released on the Switch’s eShop
  73. Switch sales remain steady as Nintendo reports bump in profits
  74. Report: Nintendo’s latest mobile game Dragalia Lostearned $28M in first month
  75. Fortnite downloaded onto ‘nearly half’ of all Switch consoles
  76. The Switch has surpassed 22M units in lifetime sales
  77. A peek at Nintendo’s early Wii Remote prototype for the GameCube
  78. Japanese auction reveals Nintendo’s first Wii remote—for the GameCube
  79. Super Mario Odyssey has sold over 12 million copies
  80. Income from player recurring investment rises to $297 million for Ubisoft
  81. Ubisoft CEO: Cloud gaming can help AAA games grow beyond PC and console
  82. Steam, Proud Adopters Of Hands Off Games Policy, Very Hands On When Banning All Of TorrentFreak
  83. Steam now boasts 90 million monthly active users
  84. New Valve Data Gives Fresh Insight into Number of VR Headsets Used on Steam
  85. Oculus Now Lets You Record Abusive Behavior on Go & Gear VR
  86. Has the VR boom hit a wall?: Enormous progress has been made in headset design and software development for VR – but without a major technological leap forward, current devices won’t reach the mass market
  87. Don’t Miss: Here They Lie and the ethics of VR horror
  88. EA reveals Project Atlas, a new game dev platform ‘in the cloud’
  89. EA details new cloud native development platform, Project Atlas: Unified platform aims to “seamlessly converge” artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and Frostbite engine
  90. FIFA & Madden drive a strong Q2 for EA ahead ofBattlefield V
  91. Battlefield V will have premium currency, but no pay-to-win progression system
  92. The rising need for game economy designers in freemium mobile games
  93. What drives players to digital murder in The Sims games
  94. Unity announces a winner for the Universal game dev contest 
  95. Child of Light and Talking Tom to be adapted for TV and film
  96. Blog: The universal inaccessibility of board games
  97. Blog: A different approach to difficulty
  98. Blog: Let’s talk about innovation in mobile games
  99. Blog: Playing video games – A rambling essay about hating what you love
  100. Blog: Why record $25 billion games deals could signal top of the market
  101. Tabletop games are bigger than ever, and its driving growth in the digital sector
  102. Raspberry Pi launches game dev magazine Wireframe 
  103. Raspberry Pi launches games development magazine Wireframe: Fortnightly publication launches November 8th, 10,000 free welcome issues on offer
  104. Australian devs’ advice to students: Specialise, and kill your darlings – At Melbourne Games Week, Blake Mizzi and Chris Wright outlined two key mistakes students make after graduating

DIGITAL

  1. Canadian Government Banning Settlement Demands in Copyright Notice-and-Notice System (Michael Geist)
  2. Canadian Government Rejects Access Copyright’s Demand for Statutory Damages (Michael Geist)
  3. Canadian ISPs Want To Amend Law To Outlaw Settlement Letters
  4. This is fine: IBM acquires Red Hat
  5. Who owns this AI-generated painting? (Andres Guadamuz)
  6. Painting created by Artificial Intelligence goes under the hammer at Christie’s  
  7. This AI Lie Detector Flags Falsified Police Reports
  8. AI Dreamed Up These Nightmare Fuel Halloween Masks
  9. Glimpse: Truly Useful Augmented Reality is Coming. We’re Not Ready. – Soon we’ll be using augmented reality more seamlessly than ever before. And that means we need ground rules for how to not be creeps.
  10. Facebook Sees A Future In Augmented Reality Glasses 
  11. Hey, How’d That Facebook ‘War Room’ Fare During Brazil’s Election Season? Oh.
  12. Facebook yanks content tied to Iranian effort due to “inauthentic behavior”: Detected last week by investigators, accounts targeted US and UK users to “spread discord.”
  13. Facebook Bans Proud Boys, Vice Co-Founder Gavin McInnes
  14. U.K., Canada Call on Mark Zuckerberg to Appear Before International Panel
  15. Instagram’s IGTV, BuzzFeed Launch Accelerator Program For 15 Vertical Video Creators
  16. Liza Koshy To Co-Host ‘Election Afterparty’ On MTV With Charlamagne Tha God
  17. Snapchat Lost Users in Quarter, Says Declines Will Continue
  18. Snap expands Snapchat Shows with 25 new series out of the UK
  19. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel Rescinded Promotion for Ex-WarnerMedia Exec Kristen O’Hara, Who Is Now Leaving (Report)
  20. GitHub is now officially a part of Microsoft
  21. Snapchat Content Chief Wants To Foster Creator Ecosystem Like On YouTube, Vine — And He’s Unimpressed By IGTV
  22. EU ‘Protecting Consumers’ By Forcing Them To Pay More For Android?
  23. Google CEO: We need to “take a much harder line on inappropriate behavior”
  24. Over a decade, Google handsomely paid 3 men accused of misconduct, per report
  25. YouTube Fixes Error Messages Stating Certain Free Videos Required Payment
  26. YouTube’s ‘Cobra Kai’ Pilot Passes 50 Million Views, With Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score
  27. YouTube’s New King? India’s T-Series Could Soon Overtake Pewdiepie To Become The World’s Biggest Channel
  28. Naomi Campbell, Janelle Monáe, And Lakeith Stanfield Grace #YouTubeBlack Creator Summit
  29. Disney Star Peyton List Joins Cast Of YouTube Premium’s ‘Cobra Kai’ For Season 2
  30. Trudeau’s gift to Google
  31. Patreon And Reddit Add Integrations To Help Creators Connect With And Gain New Supporters
  32. Elle Mills Launches Patreon Account Because She Spends “Way More Money Creating Videos Than I Earn From Them”
  33. Brands and Influencers: Navigating Influencer Agreements from Macro to Micro
  34. SVOD Service Zeus Inks Tech Pact With Vimeo On Back-End, Unveils 3 New Shows
  35. Fox Nation Sets Launch Date
  36. FilmStruck Is Latest Casualty Of WarnerMedia Streamlining, Will Shutter In November
  37. Warner Bros. and Turner Are Killing One of the Internet’s Last Good Things
  38. Cheddar Buys ‘Rate My Professors’ Website From Viacom
  39. UK Government Screws Head On Straight, Bans Use Of Term ‘Fake News’ By Gov’t Officials
  40. Brookings survey finds 57 percent say they have seen fake news during 2018 elections and 19 percent believe it has influenced their vote
  41. Breitbart Snowflakes Threaten To Sue People Who Have Asked Advertisers To Stop Advertising On Breitbart
  42. Trump Tweets, ‘I Rarely Use a Cellphone,’ From His iPhone
  43. The President’s Phone OPSEC Continues To Be, Well, Crap
  44. Campbell Soup Co. Executive Is Out After Tweeting George Soros Conspiracy Theory
  45. UK set to impose new “tech tax” on Silicon Valley giants
  46. U.K. to Slap New Tax on Technology Giants
  47. UK Commits to Introducing Targeted Digital Services Tax
  48. The Digital Services Tax: A Conceptual Defense (Wei Cui)
  49. FundamentalVR Partners with Mayo Clinic to Develop VR Surgical Simulations, Raises $1.4M Financing
  50. The Indiana Supreme Court’s Decision in Daniels v. FanDuel, Inc.: What it Means for Right of Publicity Law and the Future of Online Sports Betting
  51. Half of enterprise machines run Windows 10, as Windows 7’s end of life looms
  52. Court Rules on Remand that it Lacks Long-Arm Jurisdiction Over Tech Company in Defamation Lawsuit 
  53. After 10 Years, Bitcoin Has Changed Everything—And Nothing
  54. Court Orders Tracing Remedy For Cryptocurrency – Copytrack Pte Ltd v. Wall
  55. Swedish Court Misunderstands Memes
  56. Mail bombing suspect repeatedly threatened Democrats on Twitter
  57. Detailed And Thorough Debunking Of Bloomberg’s Sketchy Story About Supply Chain Hack
  58. Section 230 Protects Twitter’s Decision to Suspend User’s Account–Mezey v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
  59. Video Advertising Contract Descends Into Possible “Cyberattack”–Radian Weapons v. GY6Vids
  60. Seventh Different Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Material Support to Terrorists” Fails–Taamneh v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
  61. Making Sense of the Canadian Digital Tax Debate, Part 2: Mandated Canadian Content Contributions aka a “Netflix Tax” (Michael Geist)
  62. Making Sense of the Canadian Digital Tax Debate, Part 3: New Taxes or Fees on Internet Access (Michael Geist)
  63. Making Sense of the Canadian Digital Tax Debate, Part 4: New Taxes or Fees on Digital Devices (Michael Geist)
  64. Helium implicated in weird iPhone malfunctions
  65. Why almost everyone was wrong about Tesla’s cash flow situation
  66. Eye doctors find that WebMD symptom checker was wrong more than half the time

CREATIVITY

  1. New Bill C-86 introduces many more changes to IP laws
  2. Taking on the Trolls: Canadian Government To Regulate Patent Demand Letters (Michael Geist)
  3. Pharrell Is Not At All Happy About Trump Using ‘Happy’ At His Rally… And He Might Actually Have A Case
  4. Judge Engelmayer: Copyright Damages from Brief Display of Plaintiff’s Art in Kendrick Lamar Music Video Are Not Inherently Speculative 
  5. Copyright in the United States
  6. Fair use isn’t arithmetic 
  7. EU Copyright Directive Update: Fresh (But Slim) Hope Of Stopping Link Taxes And Upload Filters
  8. Indiana Supreme Court Rules Against Student Athletes in Fantasy Sports Rights of Publicity Case
  9. Indiana Supreme Court: No Right to Publicity in Fantasy Sports
  10. Megyn Kelly ousted from NBC show after blackface backlash
  11. The House Of Cards cast bailed on Megyn Kelly, and now NBC News might even cut her loose 
  12. Fox News takes a hard pass on Megyn Kelly
  13. MoMA museum claims infringement and dilution by MoMaCha tea café name
  14. The Urban Legend About Scattering Human Ashes at Disney Is True, and It’s Worse Than We Thought

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Net neutrality delay: Calif. agrees to suspend law until after court case
  2. California Agrees To Delay Net Neutrality Law Pending Outcome Of Federal Lawsuit
  3. California Delays Implementation of Its Net Neutrality Law Pending Challenge of FCC’s Order 
  4. FCC Falsely Declares Community Broadband An ‘Ominous’ Attack On Free Speech
  5. Texas, Arkansas, & Nebraska AGs Are Now Aiding The Broadband Industry’s Assault On Net Neutrality
  6. Charter Spectrum Jacks Up Rates (Again) Thanks To Merger ‘Synergies’
  7. FCC Republican claims municipal broadband is threat to First Amendment
  8. Verizon won’t speed up 5G buildout despite FCC preempting local fees

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Facebook could face legal claims from a million UK users following Information Commissioner’s data breach fine
  2. When idle gossip goes too far – data breach involving Facebook
  3. The New Mandatory Data Breach Reporting Regimes: Four Key Elements
  4. EFF Sues California Law Enforcement Agency For Refusing To Hand Over Stingray Documents
  5. Court: Teen’s driving killed someone, but he can’t be forced to give up passcode
  6. Feds took woman’s iPhone at border, she sued, now they agree to delete data
  7. Florida Appeals Court Says Producing Passwords Is Testimonial And Protected By The Fifth Amendment
  8. New Signal privacy feature removes sender ID from metadata
  9. How a 19th-Century Teenager Sparked a Battle Over Who Owns Our Faces
  10. My Father Says He’s A ‘Targeted Individual.’ Maybe We All Are
  11. Feds Also Using ‘Reverse Warrants’ To Gather Location/Identifying Info On Thousands Of Non-Suspects
  12. The Price of Privacy: Canada’s Top Court Rules, ISPs must disclose the identity of illegal downloaders at a “reasonable” cost
  13. Last Chance To Opt Out Of #MyHealthRecord, Australians!
  14. Take a Wild Guess Why Visiting 9,000 Porn Sites on Your Government Computer Is a Dumb Idea
  15. EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework Joint Annual Review 2.0 

Jon

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News of the Week; October 24, 2018

By Jon Festinger on November 6, 2018

GAMES

  1. Zombie Orpheus cancels contract with GOG over transphobia: JourneyQuest producers pull content, saying “We cannot do business with a company that doesn’t take human rights seriously”
  2. Rockstar Games defends itself over working conditions claims
  3. Rockstar allows employees to speak out on 100-hour week controversy: Tools programmer Vivianne Langdon kicks things off with assurances she’s never worked more than 50 hours a week, with paid overtime
  4. Red Dead Redemption 2 Developers Speak Out After Rockstar Lifts Social Media Ban
  5. The Red Dead Redemption 2 companion app can completely replace its HUD
  6. Rockstar says average work week under 46 hours: “We will not stop working to improve in this area,” says co-head of Red Dead Redemption 2 developer
  7. Independent game stores may get Red Dead Redemption 2 late: A number of smaller US stores have reported they may not have copies until 5-10 days after release
  8. Rockstar developers speak out about “100-hour weeks” comment
  9. Rockstar states overtime is ‘optional’ for studio that sometimes pulled 50-hour weeks
  10. Rockstar Lincoln QA tester: “Overtime is NOT optional, it is expected” – Current employee describes “standard” crunch hours v. “true” crunch hours, new policy change making overtime optional
  11. Rockstar Games clocks the average employee’s workweek at 42-45 hours  
  12. Rockstar devs detail the company’s long and troubled relationship with crunch
  13. Rockstar QA Studio Told That Overtime Is Now Optional After Workers Said It Felt Mandatory
  14. Rockstar employees past and present offer mixed takes on company’s work culture: Extensive report shows uneven experiences across Rockstar studios and departments, including year-long crunch
  15. Rockstar devs comment on work culture after 100-hours backlash
  16. 100-hour weeks mean bad management, not passion: Rockstar may not be the hell it’s been portrayed as – but we need to stop lionising long overtime and start seeing it as a shameful sign of failure
  17. Grand Theft Auto V hack exposed single-player games to malicious trolls
  18. Six Foot lays off nearly one third of dev team followingDreadnought Steam launch
  19. How Riot has been removing cheaters from League of Legends
  20. Games as a service drives huge market value spike for EA, Activision
  21. EA Origin Access includes more indie games in its repertoire 
  22. Xbox sees earnings rise on the strength of third-party game sales  
  23. Fan Translator Likely Finds His Work In Official Game Release And Is Totally Cool With It
  24. Bethesda softens ground for “spectacular issues” with Fallout 76 launch
  25. “Don’t give into fear and keep adding more features” – How not to overwork your employees: EA’s Criterion, one of the UK’s best places to work, on how it avoids crunching
  26. How to avoid video game development crunch: “Teams who are having fun make better games and making games should be fun – otherwise, what’s the point?”
  27. “I’ve seen sleep disorders, chronic stress fatigue, dissolved relationships, broken marriages…”: At Game Connect Asia Pacific, Keith Fuller detailed the fallout from crunch, and Kate Edwards said “we need to find our rage” in order to fight it
  28. A post-mortem of Telltale Games: Speaking at Sweden Game Conference 2018, former Telltale narrative designer Emily Grace Buck says it’s time for a “really serious conversation about potentially starting a union”
  29. Skybound “fully expect” third episode of The Walking Dead’s final season to launch this year: CEO Ian Howe said reuniting the Telltale team is difficult due to people moving on, and others not wanting to come back
  30. Skybound CEO aims to finish out The Walking Dead with ‘100%’ former Telltalers
  31. Six Foot lays off one third of development staff: Flagship game Dreadnought hampered by delays, slow sales, and mixed reviews
  32. ‘Fortnite’ Developer Sues Two YouTubers For Using, Selling Cheat Codes
  33. Epic Games to establish new office in Australia and New Zealand
  34. Some Best Buy copies of Starlink are missing the game itself: Several people report receiving starter packs with all pieces except the game
  35. Dota 2 now dynamically discloses loot box odds in-game
  36. Valve publishes loot box odds for Dota 2: Chances of receiving a rare item from a bundle now disclosed in game, with escalating odds calculated
  37. Discord updates terms of service to force arbitration over lawsuits
  38. NPD: Marvel’s Spider-Man was the biggest PlayStation exclusive launch ever – The web-slinger’s latest outperformed the combined launch sales of all his previous adventures since 1995
  39. A Nintendo-backed initiative aims to work Labo into classrooms  
  40. Nintendo Labo heads to schools: Institute of Play program will bring the kits to 100 classrooms to integrate into curriculum
  41. Common problems when translating games into Japanese
  42. Steam reaches 90m monthly active users: Halt on new-game licenses in China buoy Steam’s market presence as Tencent continues to suffer
  43. Steam surpasses 30 million domestic users in China
  44. Steam’s Chinese audience grows to more than 30 million users: Dota 2 credited with driving Valve’s marketplace in the region as firm prepares for China-only version
  45. China ends ‘green channel’ game approvals amid ongoing licensing freeze
  46. China closes last remaining official game licensing process: ‘Green channel’ process reportedly shuttered while companies continue to wait for licensing to re-open
  47. “More people have played Florence in Mandarin than in English”: At Game Connect Asia Pacific, Mountains founder Ken Wong emphasised the importance of Asian markets – for studios of all sizes
  48. Call of Duty brings in $500 million in three days: Black Ops 4 sees launch weekend revenue in line with last year’s WWII, not quite up to Black Ops III’s $550 million
  49. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 review: War games, now with battle royale!
  50. Call of Duty Black Ops 4: Critical Consensus: Activision’s annual shooter ditches the campaign but critics say a standout battle royale mode is a fine reward
  51. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 introduces special in-game items to support veterans
  52. With Black Ops 4, Call Of Duty Takes Aim At A Fortnite World
  53. Gamigo confirms acquisition of Trion Worlds
  54. Significant layoffs at Trion Worlds following acquisition by Gamigo
  55. Jade Raymond departs EA
  56. EA Motive founder Jade Raymond departs EA
  57. EA and Activision’s $79bn games-as-a-service growth: DFC reports shows both publishers’ values have surged since 2012 as they increase focus on live titles
  58. Games as a service drives huge market value spike for EA, Activision
  59. All eyes on Red Dead as UK games retail falters: LEGO, SoulCalibur and Starlink fail to lift physical sales in poor start to Q4
  60. Splash Damage ends live development on Dirty Bomb two months after launch: Servers will remain up “as long as there are a meaningful number of players”
  61. The average Football Manager 2018 player has over 285 hours of playtime: Nearly half of the game’s owners were still playing in September – almost a year after release
  62. Unity dabbles in development with FPS Sample Game: VP of engineering Brett Bibby says undertaking will demonstrate the “best way to build a specific type of game”
  63. Drake And Scooter Braun Join Nadeshot’s ‘100 Thieves’ Esports Startup, Which Has Raised $25 Million To Date
  64. Abrams Artists Agency Onboards New Esports And Digital Branding Agents
  65. Betting platform nabs license for cryptocurrency gambling on eSports
  66. Green Man Gaming delays float due to ‘horrendous’ equity markets
  67. Arena of Valor brings in $15 million lifetime player spending: International version of Honor of Kings sees strong September led by US spending
  68. CCP CEO: “You can’t build a business” on current VR – Hilmar Veigar Pétursson says virtual reality has fallen far short of the Eve developer’s expectations
  69. CCP Games CEO: “We expected VR to be two to three times as big”
  70. SuperData: Mobile AR to generate more revenue than VR by 2021
  71. VR and AR dev Resolution Games secures $7.5 million in funding
  72. After five years of waiting, Sixense will refund its VR controller Kickstarter backers
  73. A postmortem of Boyfriend Dungeon’s $272K Kickstarter
  74. Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe leaves Facebook
  75. Oculus Co-founder Departs Facebook Amidst Rumor of Rift 2 Cancellation
  76. Facebook exodus continues as Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe leaves
  77. Oculus Shut Down Movie Purchases & Rentals on Rift Toda
  78. PSVR’s Weirdest Game ‘Accounting+’ Now Available on Vive & Rift with New Levels
  79. UK magazines GamesTM and GamesMaster to close: Multiformat magazines axed
  80. Phoenix Labs on walking the line between Dauntless and reckless: In the wake of its latest funding round, co-founder Jesse Houston talks about growing the studio and the game at a deliberate pace
  81. What does it take to reach No.1 on mobile?: AppLovin’s Lion Studios shares its secrets of success as it pushes indie title Flip Trickster to the top of the charts
  82. If less than 30% of players come back to your game on Day 2, fix it or kill it: But GameAnalytics’ mobile benchmarking reports shows that 40% retention rates for Day 1 mean a game is doing well
  83. “Designing with marketing in mind” in Move or Die: At the Dev Play conference, Nicolae Berbece described taking Move or Die from a humble Flash game to an audience of over 500,000 people
  84. Diddy Kong was my Dark Souls: Sumo Digital’s Jamie Smith says Rare’s N64 kart racer left the competition in the dust
  85. Those painted sculptures in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey are true to history
  86. Listen to history experts discuss Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  87. Intellivision joins the retro console space with new hardware coming in 2020: Formerly defunct console brand is re-imaged as Intellivision Amico

DIGITAL

  1.  This Week’s Bomb Scares Are A Perfect Misinformation Storm
  2. Twitter takes down more accounts affiliated with Alex Jones’s Infowars
  3. Twitter plays whac-a-mole with Alex Jones, suspends 18 linked accounts
  4. Bleacher Report’s House of Highlights Sets Twitter Live Talk Show Debut
  5. Uber vice president resigns after sexual misconduct allegations
  6. Microsoft making more of the Windows 10 built-in apps removable
  7. Microsoft’s problem isn’t how often it updates Windows—it’s how it develops it
  8. Microsoft posts a record $29.1 billion Q1. Same old, same old
  9. eBay is going to war with Amazon over an alleged scheme to steal business that is ‘startling in breadth’
  10. Why Netflix Features Black Actors In Promos To Black Users
  11. Rideshare and Chill? Lyft Introducing a Spotify/Netflix-Inspired Subscription Service 
  12. Establishing an AI code of ethics will be harder than people think: Ethics are too subjective to guide the use of AI, argue some legal scholars.
  13. Novelists Have A Boring New Gimmick: Writing Dull Books With AI 
  14. This Startup Is Paying Strangers To Train AI’s
  15. The AI Cold War That Threatens Us All
  16. Want to Keep Canadian AI Thriving?: Create a Copyright Exception for Informational Analysis (Michael Geist)
  17. New Roundup Ranks The World’s Robots By Creepiness
  18. An agnostic observation on machine-originated works and copyright
  19. How Alibaba Used Big Data To Dream Up A Peppercorn Snickers Bar 
  20. The HTC Exodus Blockchain Phone Comes Into Focus
  21. Two Cryptocurrency Heavyweights Partner On A Dollar-Backed Stablecoin
  22. FinCEN warns of Iran using virtual currencies to bypass sanctions
  23. It’s Blockchain your Honour
  24. Why A Blockchain-based DRM Has Always Been A Terrible Idea
  25. Inside Facebook’s election war room: In a Menlo Park conference room, a global effort to fight misinformation comes together
  26. Facebook’s War Room Is Definitely Managing at Least One Crisis
  27. Facebook is using new software to identify and remove child nudity photos uploaded to the site 
  28. Facebook May Buy A Cybersecurity Company To Prevent Another Major Hack
  29. SoundCloud now lets you share songs to Instagram Stories
  30. Hundreds of health crowdfunding campaigns are for sham treatments
  31. Instagram just surpassed Snapchat as the most used app among American teens, according to a new Wall Street survey
  32. Snapchat helped over 400,000 users register to vote: To combat historically low voter turnout 
  33. Report: Amazon Tried To Sell Facial Recognition Tech To Ice
  34. Microsoft making more of the Windows 10 built-in apps removable
  35. Axios Ridiculously Calls For Newsrooms To Ban Journalists From Having Opinions Online
  36. Trump Wants to Borrow Tech Workers From Amazon, Google, and Microsoft: Report
  37. Google to charge Android OEMs as much as $40 per phone in EU 
  38. Just As Expected: GDPR Has Made Google Even More Dominant In Europe
  39. Google to Remove Deceptive Travel Ads
  40. CEO Gets Nine Months In Prison For Forging Court Documents Ordering Google To Delist Negative Reviews
  41. YouTube CEO Calls on Creators to Rally Against EU Copyright Legislation
  42. GroupM: YouTube’s better at brand safety, but still has a ways to go
  43. YouTube partners with Eventbrite to sell concert tickets below music videos
  44. YouTube is investing $20M in educational content, creators: Including partnering with third-party studios and networks
  45. YouTube Invests $20 Million In Its ‘YouTube Learning’ Initiative To Support Creators, Launches Channel To Curate Educational Content 
  46. Susan Wojcicki Says YouTube Update This Quarter Improved Monetization Icon Accuracy By 10%
  47. Susan Wojcicki Warns Article 13 Could Result In Shutdown Of Millions Of YouTube Channels In The EU
  48. Rihanna Tries Her Hand At Being A Beauty Vlogger In New YouTube Series 
  49. David Dobrik, Casey Neistat, ‘Escape The Night’ Lead 2018 Streamys Nominees; Awards To Air Oct. 22 On YouTube
  50. YouTube Revamps Look Of Video Embeds, Adds New Shortcuts To Boost Channel Growth
  51. PewDiePie Decries YouTube’s Release Of Logan Paul Movie While His Series Remains Shelved
  52. 2018 Streamy Awards: Complete Winners List
  53. Todd The Hero Dog Named First-Ever ‘Dog Of The Year’ At 8th Annual Streamys
  54. Influencer Marketing – Three Golden Rules 
  55. Warner Bros. Promptly Shutters K-Drama Streaming Destination DramaFever
  56. Intel’s 5GHz i9 Processor Is Incredible for Hype and Pretty Good for Computing, Too 
  57. IBM: Quantum Computers Could Be Useful, But We Don’t Know Exactly How
  58. The Incredible Evolution of the Smartphone Notch: From Bezels to All Screen
  59. This Gorgeous All-Screen Phone Shows How the Notch Dies
  60. Streaming Exclusives Will Drive Users Back To Piracy And The Industry Is Largely Oblivious 
  61. Bad Newspaper Photoshop: Manny Machado Apparently Needs Emergency Shoulder Surgery, Probably Not Worth $300M
  62. Another Report Shows That FOSTA Increased (Not Decreased) Sex Trafficking; Where Is The Outrage?
  63. As Predicted, Australian Government Looks To Creep Site Censorship Into Search Censorship
  64. UK Refreshes Stupid Porn Filter Law, Making It Fresher But No Less Stupid
  65. Interpol Alert Issued By Turkey For Exiled Journalists President Erdogan Wants To Toss In Jail
  66. Vietnam Expands Decades Long Effort To Crack Down On Any Dissent Online By Demanding Data Be Kept In The Country
  67. Mexico Reverses Ban On Selling Roku Hardware After Absurd Piracy Ruling 
  68. 100 Websites That Shaped the Internet as We Know It
  69. Section 230 Applies to Defend Trade Secret Act Claims–Craft Beer Stellar v. Glassdoor (Eric Goldman)
  70. Making Sense of the Canadian Digital Tax Debate, Part 1: Digital Sales Taxes (Michael Geist) 

CREATIVITY

  1. USMCA versus NAFTA: what’s changed and what it means for intellectual property in Canada
  2. U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement: Business Insights on Intellectual Property Issues
  3. Ninth Circuit Finds Bus Ads Protected by First Amendment
  4. Photographers’ Claims Against the NFL Score a Touchdown
  5. Appeals Court Says Of Course Georgia’s Laws (Including Annotations) Are Not Protected By Copyright And Free To Share
  6. No Substantial Similarity Between TV Shows Empire and Cream
  7. Supreme Court to Address Meaning of “Full Costs” as Used in Copyright Act
  8. Too hyperbolic to be believed: How social media is transforming libel law 
  9. Disney Wouldn’t Let Wreck-It Ralph 2 Joke About Kylo Ren
  10. Internet Memes Are Making UK Children Fat, Say Researchers Who Don’t Understand Memes
  11. Fake Products From Movies Become Awesome Pop Culture Posters
  12. “Bank For Your Buck” – The Legal Implications of Banksy’s Destruction of “Girl with Balloon” 
  13. Block Party? UK Government Considers New Ways of Clamping Down on Illegal Streaming 
  14. Intellectual Property and the implications of a “No Deal” Brexit
  15. It’s Blockchain your Honour

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Consumer Groups Say FCC Deregulatory Fever Harming Hurricane Michael Recovery
  2. Ajit Pai killed rules that could have helped Florida recover from hurricane 
  3. Ajit Pai, Telecom Lobbyists Are Now Coordinating Their Lies In Perfect Symmetry
  4. Entire broadband industry sues Vermont to stop state net neutrality law
  5. 3 states try to help the FCC kill net neutrality and preempt state laws
  6. Broadband Industry Sues Vermont For Daring To Protect Consumers, Net Neutrality
  7. CP24 re a news report about 4-20
and a panel discussion about the Ontario provincial election (CBSC Decision 17/18-1438)
  8. Turner Axes Super Deluxe Following AT&T’s Time Warner Acquisition 
  9. T-Mobile CEO Insists New Merger Will Create Jobs, Competition. Wall Street, History Disagree.
  10. Big Bird Goes Digital: The FCC Undertakes to Modernize Children’s Television 
  11. New Law Sets Up Federal-State Showdown Over Net Neutrality
  12. NY’s AG Is Trying To Tie Major ISPs To Those Bogus Net Neutrality Comments

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. NYT: Chinese and Russian spies routinely eavesdrop on Trump’s iPhone calls
  2. How Russia’s “influence operations” targeted the midterms (and how they still do)
  3. Russia was likely behind dangerous critical infrastructure attack, report says
  4. Russian trolls get DM from US Cyber Command: We know who you are. Stop it
  5. Voltage Pictures and the Massive Mass Litigation Mess in Canada (Howard Knopf)
  6. High Court blocks data privacy opt out group action against Google
  7. Hack on 8 adult websites exposes oodles of intimate user data
  8. Amazon, Super Micro Join Apple in Demanding Retraction of Bloomberg Story on Hacked Server Boards
  9. Apple CEO Tim Cook calls on Bloomberg to retract its Chinese spy story
  10. Apple Demands Retraction Of Bloomberg’s Big ‘Chip Infiltration’ Story; Bloomberg Has Some Explaining To Do
  11. Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls for Tougher Privacy Laws
  12. Tim Cook calls for strong US privacy law, rips “data-industrial complex”
  13. Apple’s TV subscription service starts in 2019 to compete with Netflix, Amazon
  14. Amazon pitched its facial recognition to ICE, released emails show [Updated]
  15. This business card-sized Japanese phone bucks the giant-phone trend
  16. Big Tech Splits Over Privacy Issues, at Least on the Surface: Big tech companies are paying lip service to online privacy, but their efforts are paper-thin.
  17. Two new supply-chain attacks come to light in less than a week
  18. California Passes First-Of-Its-Kind Law Focused on Internet of Things Cybersecurity 
  19. Firefox 63 blocks tracking cookies, offers a VPN when you need one
  20. Judge Says FOIA Isn’t Battleship; Requesters Don’t Need To Score Direct Hits To Obtain Documents

Jon

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Discussion Outline (November 7)

By Tom Allchurch on November 5, 2018

Group: Tom Allchurch, Basti Ashford, Craig Duffy

Hey guys,

We’ll be discussing gamification – the process of applying the elements of a game to a situation where they have not previously been used. In Part 1, we’ll be looking at what gamification is and why it’s useful, in Part 2 we’ll be looking at gamification in everyday life, and in Part 3, we’ll be looking at the gamification of politics (a topical issue, given this week’s US midterm elections).

As preparation, please watch the following videos (13 minutes total)

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News of the Week; October 17, 2018

By Jon Festinger on November 4, 2018

GAMES

  1. John Carmack and ZeniMax have ended their legal dispute
  2. Epic sues YouTubers for using and selling Fortnite cheats
  3. Epic Games files suit against YouTubers over Fortnite cheats: Lawsuit alleges defendants promoted cheats in videos, violating copyright and terms of use
  4. Epic sues two YouTubers over Fortnite cheats: Brandon Lucas and Colton Conter stand accused of promoting and selling cheats for the hit game
  5. Fortnite, GTA V hackers face legal action for online cheating
  6. GTA V cheaters’ assets frozen following Australian court ruling
  7. Epic Games Likely DMCA’d Its Own Fortnite Trailer, Showing The Problems With YouTube’s DMCA Process Yet Again
  8. Fortnite’s Android version is no longer invite-only
  9. GTA cheat developers have assets frozen in crackdown: Australian federal court approves search and seizure orders against creators of “Infamous” cheat
  10. Developers drag Rockstar over 100-hour weeks on Red Dead Redemption 2: Where studio management sees dedication, creators from across the AAA and indie spectrum see mismanagement, abuse
  11. Dan Houser: “We have some senior people who work very hard purely because they’re passionate” – Rockstar co-founder provides additional context to earlier statement about “100-hour weeks” on Red Dead Redemption 2
  12. Former Rockstar and Telltale dev says “time for change” on crunch culture: Job J. Stauffer recalls harsh work culture on GTA IV, cites “dozens” of other devs with similar experiences
  13. Crunch isn’t required, claims Rockstar co-founder after 100-hour weeks comment
  14. How the West Was Digitized: The making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2.
  15. Sega reports ‘long overtime’ hours cut by 80%
  16. Sega credits strong localizations for jump in worldwide game sales
  17. Rockstar debacle prompts devs to spotlight their crunch-free games
  18. Valve under investigation by Brazilian government over violent political game
  19. Brazilian government opens investigation into Valve, Steam, and developers behind Bolsomito 2k18: Game features character based on Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro punching minorities with the aim of purging “the evils of communism”
  20. German regulator warns Outfit 7 and Green Tea Games over in-app purchases: Consumer protection body concerned by how studios are targeting minors with microtransactions priced at up to €109.99
  21. Discord’s problem: Which Nazi group were you reporting again? – A year after promising to take action against all forms of hate, gaming-focused communication platform’s follow-through is lacking
  22. Discord Store enters global open beta: Service launches with 23 store titles, new Nitro subscription service
  23. China’s new game approval process could hurt indies most – Vicarious: CEO of PR firm specializing in bringing Chinese titles to the West talks about potential knock-on effects of new regulatory system
  24. China’s Huawei thinks it can capture Switch market…with a $1,000 phone
  25. The Witcher Saga: the author’s quest for additional royalties from video game developer 
  26. Starlink: Is this Christmas’ riskiest video game? – In a period awash with major sequels, Ubisoft’s Starlink is the only new IP coming out. Can it survive?
  27. Ubisoft to partner with EGAL at UC Berkeley to research industry diversity: Company to provide support and research materials for MBA student projects
  28. Ubisoft issues call for third season of incubator program at Station F: Blockchain, AI technology start-ups encouraged to apply for six-month support program at Paris campus
  29. Ubisoft Massive COO: “We don’t want to take a stance in current politics” – Speaking during Sweden Game Conference 2018, Alf Condelius discusses the separation of games and politics with The Division
  30. Ubisoft Joins Blockchain Game Alliance as Publishers Anticipate Death of the Video Game Console
  31. Ubisoft has a free-to-play mobile Assassin’s Creed game on the way
  32. Sega’s Genesis (and more) get an HDMI upgrade with the Mega Sg: $190 FPGA-powered hardware also supports Master System, Game Gear, and more.
  33. The Xbox Tanker is turning: It takes years for a console platform to win back hearts and minds, but Xbox is finally getting there; now it needs to find and promote its unique difference
  34. Microsoft has pulled the plug on Minecraft’s Apple TV version
  35. Microsoft kills support for Minecraft on Apple TV: “We need to reallocate resources to the platforms that our players use the most,” says Microsoft
  36. Creators Going Pro: Gary ‘RageElixir’ Yong Has Built A Top ‘Minecraft’ Channel By Seizing Opportunities
  37. Bethesda Softworks opens new office to expand global operations
  38. Bethesda teams up with West Virginia Tourism Office forFallout 76 promo
  39. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 more anticipated this holiday than Red Dead Redemption 2 – Nielsen’s season interest rankings also show hype for Spider-Man, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Super Mario Party
  40. Call of Duty children’s hoodies are a “consequence of success”: Activision Blizzard exec Philippe Bost assures that official merchandise is only ever targeted at adults
  41. Players are exploiting Black Ops 4 emotes to peek around corners
  42. Starlink: Battle for Atlas review: Cool toys, solid spacefaring
  43. Report: Blizzard considering bringing cross-platform play to Diablo 3
  44. Educational games startup Kahoot valued at $300 million: Valuation follows $15.4 million in fundraising, company’s worth has tripled in seven months
  45. War Child UK partners with Bandai Namco on 11-11: Memories Retold: “Together we can work to end the suffering of children caught in the violence of war,” says Elijah Wood, star of 11-11: Memories Retold
  46. Bandai Namco agrees to European distribution deal forCyberpunk 2077
  47. The uphill battle of getting Katamari Damacy noticed by Namco
  48. Conde Nast owner Advance buys majority stake in market researcher Newzoo
  49. Blog: Working with local devs to gain experience in games user research
  50. Panic Button and the search for “design fun”: GM Adam Creighton shares how the studio hailed for Switch ports approaches broadening its portfolio, tackling hardware challenges, and accessibility
  51. “It felt like the reality of the world was fighting against this game”: Greg Lobanov talks about trying to make the relentlessly positive Wandersong during relentlessly turbulent times
  52. Roblox acquires PacketZoom: Mobile performance improvement start-up will bring its technology to MMO studio as it pursues international growth
  53. Fighting Esports Group closes $15m funding round
  54. Ninja Continues Bid To Take Gaming Mainstream With ‘Ellen’ Appearance
  55. The Division developer: Politics in games are ‘bad for business’
  56. Feel better about your PlayStation VR with sweet new games Astro Bot, Firewall
  57. ‘Astro Bot’ Ranked 6th Best PS4 Game of 2018, #1 PSVR Game of All Time
  58. Sony has fixed the messaging bug that’s been crashing PS4s
  59. VR design principles in RIGS: Mechanized Combat League
  60. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: ‘Oculus Quest Completes Company’s First-Gen Lineup’
  61. Facebook is testing a mobile app for watching Facebook Gaming streams
  62. Magic Leap wants to avoid a takeover and go public: CEO Ronny Abovitz believes an IPO would be “the best thing for the creative community”
  63. The Magic Leap Con
  64. Cloudhead’s The Gallery crowned game of the year at VR Awards 2018: Meanwhile, HTC takes home the gong for best headset with Vive Pro
  65. CVAA Compliance Waiver for Video Games Set to Expire in December 2018
  66. How Landfall Games finds the fun in physics engines
  67. Q&A: Inside the tools and techniques used to build The Crew 2’s open world
  68. Blog: Self-determination theory and player affect
  69. Ars on your lunch break: This is your brain on video games
  70. Loot Crate now offers a monthly indie game subscription service 
  71. Loot Crate launches monthly indie game subscription: Loot Play subscribers will get five games each month for $10, but only one will be revealed before launch
  72. Video Game Monetization (e.g., ‘Loot Boxes’): a Blueprint for Practical Social Responsibility Measures (Daniel Luke King & Paul H. Delfabbro)
  73. What developers say Apple needs to do to make the Apple TV a gaming console
  74. Why Paradox is bringing visual editing tools to its next engine update
  75. Canceled version of a Shenmue HD remaster shows what could’ve been
  76. Video: BioWare’s postmortem look at the making of Star Wars: The Old Republic
  77. National Videogame Museum to open in Sheffield this November 

DIGITAL

  1. Twitter releases archive of 10 million tweets from state-backed troll accounts: Over 9 million of those originated from Russian-backed accounts 
  2. Twitter Offers Up Semi-Public Database of Known State-Sponsored Accounts 
  3. New research suggests Twitter’s strategy for fighting misinformation is ineffective 
  4. Twitter Under Formal Investigation for How It Tracks Users in the GDPR Era
  5. Netflix Reminds Everyone That The Internet Isn’t A Broadcast Medium With New Choose Your Own Adventure Shows
  6. Why is a Lisbon soccer team trying to unmask Portuguese bloggers in US court?
  7. Facebook Portal’s claims to protect user privacy are falling apart
  8. Here’s how to see if you’re among the 30 million compromised Facebook users
  9. Facebook confirms 30 million people had personal data stolen in breach
  10. Advertisers allege Facebook hid the fact that no one watches video ads
  11. Help Wired Track How Political Ads Target You On Facebook
  12. How to Do Everything But Delete Your Facebook Profile 
  13. Facebook Tempts Political Backlash With Massive Purge of 810 Pages and Accounts
  14. Already facing an uphill misinformation fight, Facebook loses to scammers, too
  15. Please Don’t Post Your Potentially Felonious Crimes to Facebook
  16. A New Facebook Lawsuit Makes ‘Pivot To Video’ Seem Even More Shortsighted
  17. Facebook Now Dominates YouTube For Video Content. Here’s How Brands Should Respond
  18. Looking beyond Facebook and Instagram, DTC brands try Snapchat
  19. Amazon patents Alexa tech to tell if you’re sick, depressed and sell you meds
  20. Amazon launches online store featuring ‘Shark Tank’ products 
  21. Amazon overtakes Microsoft to top intangible value ranking; research calls for “revolution” in accounting
  22. Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, dies at 65
  23. Paul Allen—Microsoft co-founder, Seahawks owner, and space pioneer—dies at 65
  24. PC market flat, as Surface becomes a top-5 computer brand in the US
  25. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Addresses Continuing Concerns About Conspiratorial Content, Says Platform “Is In A Much Better Place” 
  26. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki: Despite Its Problems, YouTube Is Growing Up 
  27. Creators In YouTube’s Partner Program Can Now Be Kicked Out For Posting “Duplicative Content”
  28. YouTube is cracking down on creators who post duplicated content: Changes to YouTube’s Partner Program are afoot 
  29. Mamrie Hart And Grace Helbig YouTube Show ‘This Might Get’ Gets Axed, But Will Live On As A Podcast
  30. After $5 billion EU antitrust fine, Google will start charging for Android apps
  31. Google’s YouTube suffers a major outage
  32. Google Is Finally Ready To Talk About Its Chinese Search Engine 
  33. Google Chief Sundar Pichai Explains Early-Stage China Plans
  34. Senators to Google: Why didn’t you disclose Google+ vulnerability sooner?
  35. The Good Censor Document Shows Google Struggling With The Challenges Of Content Moderation
  36. Chinese Professor Argues Google Should Launch A Censored Search Engine In China
  37. Report: Former top Waymo engineer altered code to go on “forbidden routes”
  38. Creators Face Brief Existential Crisis Amid Temporary YouTube Outage 
  39. Pioneering YouTuber Gigi Gorgeous Has Penned A Memoir About Her Transgender Journey
  40. YouTube Premium Moves Forward With Logan Paul Film 10 Months After Suicide Controversy 
  41. This 2-Year-Old’s YouTube Cooking Tutorials Are Scoring Hundreds Of Thousands Of Views
  42. Former YouTube Exec Launches Incubator Initiative For Education Creators 
  43. WarnerMedia To Launch Streaming Service In 2019, Comprising Content From HBO, Warner Bros., More
  44. Fullscreen Offers Advertisers New ‘Shield’ Tool To Ensure Brand Safety 
  45. Uber CEO backs out of Saudi conference after suspected state-sanctioned murder of Washington Post journalist
  46. Anand Giridharadas On Saudi Money And Silicon Valley Hypocrisy
  47. Turkish Paper Claims Evidence of Jamal Khashoggi’s Murder Was Transmitted by His Apple Watch
  48. Apple Will Reportedly Make Original Video Programming Free For All Device Owners
  49. Apple Acquires Music-Analytics Startup Asaii
  50. Mixcloud and Universal Music Announce Multi-Year Licensing Deal
  51. Portal A, Kevin Hart, ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Honored At First ‘Streamys Brand Awards’
  52. Jay Shetty To Host 2nd Annual ‘Streamys Purpose Awards’, Followed By Creator Summit On Mental Health
  53. The Rise of the Influencer: Advertising Standards Agency release clear guidance for ‘Influencers’- #AD not #Spon? 
  54. Jeffrey Katzenberg Announces Shortform Subscription Service’s Name, Confirms Deals With Guillermo Del Toro, Antoine Fuqua, Jason Blum
  55. Snap could go private if it can’t get people to stay on its app for longer, analyst says
  56. Snapchat Just Released A Meme-Filled Set Of Lenses For Cats
  57. You Have No Idea What Artificial Intelligence Really Does: The world of AI is full of hype and deception.
  58. Art, AI & Infringement: A Copyright Conundrum
  59. A Shortage Of Trained Job-Seekers Is Holding AI Back
  60. Roborace wants the future of racing to be AI plus humans, working together 
  61. The Boston Dynamics Robot Atlas Is Now A Parkour Master
  62. Glimpse: Man’s Best Friend, Forever? We May Love Robot Dogs As Much As the Real Thing
  63. Cryptocurrencies “on the brink of an implosion” – Juniper: Research firm sees further falls likely with market cap of blockchain currencies already 75% down within the last year
  64. Cryptocurrencies Just Plummeted $13 Billion in Value Over the Course of a Few Hours
  65. Reports: Crypto Is A Threat To Your Savings Account, But Not World Markets
  66. Everything You Wanted to Know About Blockchain in One Infographic 
  67. NBA & NextVR Announce 2018-19 VR Livestream Lineup
  68. Internet Relay Chat turns 30—and we remember how it changed our lives
  69. Palm rises from the dead as a zombie brand, launches tiny smartphone
  70. Disrupting the Reaper: Tech Titans’ Quest for Immortality Rages Forward – Silicon Valley’s war on death continues—as does the uncomfortable, spreading psychology of those rich enough to fight it. 
  71. Goodbye NAFTA, Hello USMCA: A New Framework for Investment, IP and the Digital Economy
  72. The Full “Culture Exception” That Isn’t: Why Canada Caved on Independent Cultural Policy in the USMCA (Michael Geist)
  73. Tech firms to SEC: We want the option to pay non-employee workers in equity
  74. What do we actually know about the risks of screen time and digital media? 

CREATIVITY

  1. Woman who bought shredded Banksy artwork will go through with purchase: Buyer of Girl With Balloon, who paid £1.04m for work, says she has her ‘own piece of art history’
  2. Banksy’s Self-Destructing “Love Is In the Bin” – A Good Reminder of the Moral Rights of Authors
  3. Star Wars Writer Chuck Wendig Claims Marvel Fired Him for ‘Vulgarity’ and ‘Too Much Politics’ On His Social Media
  4. Stairway To Heaven Is Not Blurred Lines
  5. Can’t Wish Away The Mistakes In The Original ‘Stairway To Heaven’ Verdict
  6. PEN America Sues Donald Trump For 1st Amendment Violations In Attacking The Press
  7. Another Critic Of Egypt’s Government Gets Hit With ‘Fake News’ Charges
  8. One of the Screenwriters of the Original AladdinHas a Big Complaint About the Remake
  9. Will mass copyright infringement litigation slow?
  10. We regret to inform you that America is now at war with The View
  11. Will Donald Trump Support A Federal Anti-SLAPP Law Now That It’s Helped Him Win Stormy Daniels’ Defamation Suit?
  12. Warner Media Opposes Trademark Filed By Actual ‘Wicked Witch’ Over Its Wizard Of Oz Trademarks
  13. A Modern Melody for the Music Industry: The Music Modernization Act Is Now the Law of the Land
  14. Zen Studios alters classic pinball art to protect family-friendly rating [Updated]
  15. Boeing Accused Of Covert, Coordinated Op-Ed Smear Campaign Against Space X
  16. African Nations Rife With Illegitimate Collection Societies: Nigeria Files Criminal Complaint Against COSON

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Up to 9.5 million net neutrality comments were made with stolen identities 
  2. 99.7% Of Original Comments Opposed FCC Repeal Of Net Neutrality
  3. Oh Look, The FCC Is Lying Again In Its Latest Court Filings On Net Neutrality
  4. FCC tells court it has no “legal authority” to impose net neutrality rules
  5. Comcast complains it will make less money under Calif. net neutrality law
  6. Washington State Laughs At Federal Attack On State Net Neutrality Laws 
  7. 34 State AGs Demand The FCC Do More To End Annoying Robocalls
  8. Stop Working for Fox News
  9. AT&T to launch streaming service after $85b Time Warner purchase
  10. DOJ Continues To Point Out A Mega-Merged AT&T Will Jack Up Prices On Everybody
  11. WarnerMedia To Launch Streaming Service In 2019, Comprising Content From HBO, Warner Bros., More
  12. USMCA Impact on Communications Industries
  13. Widespread Cable, Internet, and Radio Outages Mark Hurricane Michael’s Path of Destruction
  14. Ajit Pai slams carriers for slow restoration of cell service after hurricane
  15. Verizon fiber suffered “unprecedented” damage from Hurricane Michael
  16. Wall Street Quietly Warns That 5G Wireless Is Being Aggressively Over-hyped

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Canadian Privacy Commissioner Goes To Court To Determine If Canada Can Force Google To Delete History
  2. 21-year-old who created powerful RAT software sentenced to 30 months
  3. Another Massive Credit Reporting Database Breached By Criminals
  4. Vizio Customers Get A Pittance In Settlement Over Snooping Televisions
  5. Winter is coming: Preparing for Canada’s new mandatory federal data breach regulations
  6. Does Canadian Privacy Law Apply to Google Search? (Michael Geist)
  7. Apple to Australia: “This is no time to weaken encryption”
  8. New Internet of Things (IoT) NIST Draft Publication Provides Welcomed Guidance 
  9. ‘Do Not Track,’ the Privacy Tool Used by Millions of People, Doesn’t Do Anything
  10. Ancestry Sites Could Soon Expose Nearly Anyone’s Identity, Researchers Say
  11. Creeps Will Soon Be Able To Find Almost Anyone On Genealogy Sites
  12. IBM Built A Menacing Black Truck For “Cybersecurity Incident Response”
  13. If Supermicro boards were so bug-ridden, why would hackers ever need implants?

Jon

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News of the Week; October 10, 2018

By Jon Festinger on November 4, 2018

GAMES

  1. Sony sues hacker for manufacturing and distributing jailbroken PS4s: Defendant’s actions “were knowing, deliberate, willful and in complete disregard of SIE’s rights,” Sony claims
  2. Sony confirms PlayStation 5 (but doesn’t call it PlayStation 5): CEO Kenichiro Yoshida says it’s “necessary to have a next-generation hardware”
  3. PlayStation users will be able to change PSN ID starting 2019
  4. Sony confirms PSN name change feature: Long-requested ability to change PlayStation Network IDs will roll out early next year, will cause problems with some games
  5. Sony CEO claims next-gen hardware is ‘necessary’ 
  6. Change that embarrassing PlayStation account name starting next year
  7. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., Plaintiff, – against – David Zipperer (United States District Court Southern District Of New York, August 16, 2018)
  8. Microsoft Announces Xbox Game Streaming Service
  9. Microsoft unveils Project xCloud game streaming technology
  10. Microsoft announces Project Xcloud—Xbox game streaming for myriad devices
  11. Microsoft details game streaming service Project xCloud: Public trials begin next year, Xbox One developers apparently able to bring games across “with no additional work”
  12. Microsoft in talks to buy Obsidian – Report: Xbox outfit closing in on a deal for Pillars of Eternity developer with one source telling Kotaku it’s “a matter of when, not if”
  13. Mojang is making some Minecraft libraries open source
  14. EA “closely monitoring” Ronaldo rape investigation: FIFA 19 cover athlete downplayed in promotional materials as police look into allegations
  15. FIFA 19 scores at launch on top of EMEAA charts: Forza Horizon 4 launch just misses capturing Spider-Man
  16. EA partners with the Premier League for new esports competition
  17. EA announces partnership with English Premier League: Landmark deal “carves a critical path forward” for FIFA esports
  18. Jacksonville victims to be honoured with charity Madden tournament tomorrow: Muthead League scraps plans for season six in favour of raising money for tribute fund
  19. South Korean network OGN bringing esports programming to North America with $100m investment: Esports producer to partner with PUBG Corp to livestream and broadcast upcoming National PUBG League
  20. NHL Team Institutes ‘No Video Game’ Policy For Players Due To Fortnite ‘Addiction’
  21. Infinite Esports & Entertainment lays off 19 employees, replaces president: “We think we grew too fast” says new president Ryan Musselman
  22. Industry staff protest working conditions with Twitter storm: IGDA exec Jen MacLean issues statement on #AsAGamesWorker protest
  23. A closer look at the malware that masquerades as Fortnitecheats
  24. Fortnite season 6 trailer gets a copyright strike from… Epic Games?: Well, at least the players seem to be having a laugh
  25. Epic is bringing a physical Fortnite bundle to store shelves for the holidays
  26. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey sales out-perform rest of series on current console generation: Physical, digital, and “player recurring investment” in first few days top Origins, Syndicate, or Unity
  27. Google’s Project Stream: That’s really a full Assassin’s Creedin my browser
  28. UK retailer GAME selling Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 early: Extra time agreed upon with Activision so players can download 50GB day one patch
  29. Declaration of gambling regulators on their concerns related to the blurring of lines between gambling and gaming
  30. Loot Boxes: Gaming or Gambling? 
  31. Report: Telltale Games lays off remaining ‘skeleton crew’
  32. Remaining Telltale staffers laid off: Former narrative designer confirms her “skeleton crew” lost their jobs, but “there are still good people at the company”
  33. Report: Telltale wants another studio (and ex-The Walking Dead devs) to finish the game
  34. Skybound’s Walking Dead finale hasn’t secured original devs yet: Company says the intent is to use ex-Telltale developers to finish the story, but “there are a lot of moving parts”
  35. Opinion: Will Telltale’s fate be a catalyst for industry reform?
  36. Skybound to complete development of Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Walking Dead parent company steps in
  37. Skybound vague on future of Telltale partnership
  38. Skybound Games will finish work on Telltale’s The Walking Dead
  39. Pixel Toys embraces games-as-a-service with Warhammer: Realm War
  40. “We aren’t curing cancer. There’s a human cost to making games”
  41. Blizzard to champion diversity at BlizzCon 2018
  42. Jagex investigates streamer following allegations of abusive behaviour: Ali “Gross Gore” Larson accused of sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and physical violence during RuneFest 2018
  43. SuperData launches media measurement tool SuperData Arena: Dashboard will allow users to track multiple metrics related to game streaming and videos across major content platforms
  44. Games industry contributes £2.87bn to UK economy, supports nearly 50,000 jobs: 2016 screen industries report also shows every £1 invested via tax relief adds £4 to economy
  45. Leaked Video Seems To Show Open-World Harry Potter Game
  46. Developers weigh in on “cold reality” check for indies: Responses to John Warner’s sobering article came from a range of indie devs, both with and without AAA experience
  47. Indie dev’s “honest mistake” inadvertently revives dying game: HyperReuts sees average player count explode from one, to an all-time peak of over 170,000
  48. War Stories: Serious Sam almost didn’t happen—until crates saved the day
  49. Com2uS: “We were just shocked” by audience response to Summoners War esports – CEO Casey Lee discusses stumbling into mobile esports as a way to engage and grow its existing community
  50. Romanian government boosts games industry with €94 million tech fund: A huge new fund was revealed at Dev.Play 2018 today, pointing to a bright future for the country’s game developers
  51. Homescapes emulates Gardenscapes with reported $420m first year revenue: Sensor Tower’s data suggests another massive hit for Playrix
  52. GOG Celebrates 10 Years Of Competing With Piracy And Being DRM Free By Saying So
  53. Epic Games acquires game security and player service outfit Kamu
  54. Epic Games acquires game security and anti-cheat firm Kamu: Helsinki specialist has already been working on Fortnite, will continue to work will all other customers
  55. Epic to launch “Support-A-Creator” Fortnite initiative: Creators will receive $5 for every 10k in-game currency spent by individual players until the end of the year
  56. CD Projekt Red partners with Digital Scapes on Cyberpunk 2077: Vancouver-based studio to bring BioWare, Radical Entertainment, Relic veterans to work on upcoming open-world RPG
  57. Sensor Tower: Fortnite on iOS earns $300m in 200 days: $20m of the total was earned in the past week after the launch of Season 6
  58. Wavedash lays off the majority of its staff: Studio says loss of investor support prompted layoffs, offers to introduce hiring developers to former staff
  59. Blog: Why one size doesn’t fit all in virtual reality
  60. Nintendo Could Be Fixing the Switch’s Biggest Flaw
  61. Report: Nintendo to launch updated Switch console in 2019
  62. Report: New Nintendo Switch Model Coming In 2019
  63. Nintendo planning new Switch for 2019 – Report: Wall Street Journal says an improved model is set for late next year
  64. Nintendo gives Switch subscribers decked-out NES Zeldasave file
  65. Nintendo hacks The Legend of Zelda to make it more accessible
  66. Dragalia Lost is a turning point for Nintendo: After focusing on mobile games based on established IPs, Nintendo’s launch of an original IP unashamedly focused on the Japanese market is a major departure
  67. Nintendo has patented a Game Boy case for smartphones
  68. Nintendo patents Game Boy phone controller/case: Filing invites speculation of a new way for Mario maker to monetize its legacy games on smartphones
  69. My.com: “Launching on console is shaping how the whole company looks at games”
  70. Making games is just the beginning for Media Molecule’s Dreams: Siobhan Reddy tells us why the upcoming title aims to transform everyone into a game developer, filmmaker, musician, artist and more
  71. NFTS secures £10m funding to run national centre for immersive storytelling
  72. Blog: Using artificial intelligence to generate game content
  73. Stuxnet Documentary ‘Zero Days VR’ Wins an Emmy
  74. Borderlands 2 getting full-scale PlayStation VR port December 14
  75. Magic Leap announces grant program for indie developers 
  76. ‘Beat Saber’ is Now the 7th Best Rated Steam Game of All Time
  77. How Early Access shaped the narrative structure of We Happy Few
  78. Mega Man is the next game franchise headed to The Big Screen
  79. Capcom announces live-action Mega Man movie: Japanese publisher working with Planet of the Apes production company Chernin Entertainment
  80. Netflix’s Witcher Series Has Cast 2 of Its Most Important Female Characters
  81. Paul W. S. Anderson’s Monster Hunter movie slated for production: Film will feature two protagonists from different worlds battling big beasties in order to survive
  82. Redundant translations in video games and anime
  83. How to choose what game to make next
  84. Blog: How ‘design thinking’ can help create good games
  85. Don’t Miss: 6 ways that the Final Fantasy series continues to influence devs
  86. Brian Fargo kicks off ten-part Video Game MBA video series tomorrow
  87. Here’s A Candid Breakdown Of Exactly How Much Money Twitch Streamers Earn Per Month
  88. Hands-on: Fallout 76 lets you bring some company to the Apocalypse
  89. Ars on your lunch break: Repairing your brain with video games

DIGITAL

  1. Libel by Tweet: Ontario Court of Appeal Upholds Dismissal of Twitter Libel Claim under Anti-SLAPP Legislation 
  2. Setting the Standard?: How the USMCA Quietly Reshapes Global Digital Trade Agreements (Michael Geist)
  3. Why the USMCA Will Enhance Online Free Speech in Canada (Michael Geist)
  4. How Canada Surrendered Policy Flexibility for Data Localization Rules in the USMCA (Michael Geist)
  5. USMCA: Four Important Changes to Intellectual Property Rights
  6. H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies
  7. Boof!: Pro-Kavanaugh “Robo-Texts” Trigger Potentially Massive TCPA Class Action against Faith and Freedom Coalition, Inc. in Florida 
  8. Government Moves To Seize All Backpage Assets Prior To Securing Convictions
  9. Facebook, Whose Support Made FOSTA Law, Now Sued For Facilitating Sex Trafficking Under FOSTA 
  10. Facebook Glitch Stopped Some Users With Lots of Posts From Deleting Their Accounts
  11. Facebook Launches a Camera for Your Home—What Could Possibly Go Wrong
  12. Facebook unveils smart displays, promises not to snoop on your video calls 
  13. Insights: Should You Give Facebook Another Portal Into Your Life?
  14. Facebook Watch Sets Series Adaptation Of ‘Limetown’ Podcast With Jessica Biel
  15. Google Successfully Amends Its AdWords TOS to Add Arbitration Clause–Trudeau v. Google (Eric Goldman)
  16. Google Drops Bid for Massive Military Cloud Computing Contract Amid Employee Pressure
  17. Google Call Screening: A personal robot that talks to, hangs up on spam calls 
  18. Google+ shutting down after data leak affecting 500,000 users
  19. Google Didn’t Report Its Data Leak Till Months Later. Now It’ll Face the Consequences.
  20. Google+ users, upset over data leak, sue Google
  21. Blogger Defeats Defamation Claims Over Posts Claiming a “Scam”–RainSoft v. MacFarland  (Eric Goldman)
  22. Augmented Retail – The Use of Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality to Enhance the Customer Shopping Experience 
  23. This Brain-Analyzing AI Could Kill Your Dream Of Being A Professional Athlete
  24. Would a BDSM Sex Robot Violate Asimov’s First Law of Robotics?
  25. Here are the top ways people die while taking selfies and “being cool”
  26. Thanks To Copyright, We Already Know How Aggressive Content Moderation Works: And It’s A Disaster
  27. 8% Of People Admit To Watching YouTube Videos While Driving, As Vlogging Behind The Wheel Runs Rampant
  28. YouTube TV Adds Ability To Fast-Forward Through Ads On DVR’d Shows
  29. YouTube To Net $3.4 Billion In U.S. Ad Revenues This Year (Study) 
  30. Indian Children’s Channel ChuChu TV, Which Has 20 Billion Views, Readies Global Licensing Push
  31. After Scandal, Manny MUA Plots YouTube Return With Self-Produced Docuseries
  32. Top YouTubers Are Taking Heat For Their Deals With A Controversial Mental Health App
  33. YouTube To Collaborate With Joseph Gordon-Levitt On Hourlong TV Special
  34. Vox To Debunk Misconceptions About The News In Ad-Supported YouTube Original
  35. Vice Media to Launch First Series on Instagram’s IGTV, Slates YouTube and Snapchat Programming
  36. Viacom Announces New Awesomeness, MTV, Comedy Central TV Shows To Premiere On YouTube, Twitter, Hulu
  37. CAP releases a new guide for social media influencers 
  38. Team 10 Ex-COO Nick Crompton Claims Jake Paul’s Pranks Are Fake In Dawson Docuseries
  39. Jukin Launches New Ad Tool That Creates 6-Second Spots With User-Generated Content
  40. TiVo Bolt OTA review: For would-be cord-cutters with great antenna reception 
  41. Snapchat is collaborating with Hollywood producers and writers to add scripted shows to the app amid user decline
  42. Snapchat turns its attention to India as it battles Instagram to win users
  43. Insights: Should Amazon Snap Up Struggling Snapchat?
  44. New Amazon Minimum Wage Is Below Median Pay in Most Areas
  45. Leaked Whole Foods Email Clarifies How Amazon’s Pay Raises Will Work
  46. Amazon Has a Massive New Division—and No One’s Paying Attention to It
  47. Amazon built an AI tool to hire people but had to shut it down because it was discriminating against women
  48. Amazon’s Secret AI Hiring Tool Reportedly ‘Penalized’ Resumes With the Word ‘Women’s’
  49. California’s War On ‘Bots’ Could Be A Steep Uphill Climb
  50. Netflix Released Record-High 676 Hours of Original Programming in Q3
  51. Netflix Is In Final Negotiations To Purchase Its First Production Studio, Will Bring 1,000+ Jobs Per Year To New Mexico
  52. Bloomberg: Super Micro motherboards used by Apple, Amazon contained Chinese spy chips
  53. How The Us Forced China To Quit Stealing – Using A Chinese Spy: For years, China has systematically looted American trade secrets. Here’s the messy inside story of how DC got Beijing to clean up its act for a while. 
  54. Apple, Amazon Deny China Installed Tiny Spy Microchips on Their Servers, but We’re Still Freaked Out
  55. Bloomberg stands by Chinese chip story as Apple, Amazon ratchet up denials
  56. Apple to Congress: Chinese spy-chip story is “simply wrong”
  57. Apple Watch Series 4 Review: A Giant Leap
  58. I take back every bad thing I ever said about the Apple Watch
  59. How Jamal Khashoggi’s Apple Watch Could Solve His Disappearance
  60. Data-deletion bug forces Microsoft to suspend rollout of Windows 10 update
  61. Microsoft promises to defend—not attack—Linux with its 60,000 patents
  62. Vogue launches a Spanish-language edition on Snapchat Discover
  63. Snapchat Envisions TV For The Mobile Era With Slate Of A Dozen ‘Snap Originals’
  64. Fox News Unveils Long-Form Programs for Fox Nation Streaming Service
  65. Why Are Tech Companies Pouring Money Into Instant Translators?: Do we *really* need to speak every language on earth? Tech companies seem to think we do.
  66. Now Twitter’s ‘Report’ Function Being Used To Disappear Complaint About GDPR Being Used To Disappear Public Court Document 
  67. Federal Court Dumps Another Lawsuit Against Twitter For Contributing To Worldwide Terrorism
  68. Elon Musk isn’t on his Twitter leash yet, so he’s taunting the SEC
  69. SEC’s Action Against Elon Musk Highlights the Importance of Care in Tweeting Corporate Information
  70. Elon Musk, Tesla, and the Perils of Social Media
  71. Fake Elon Musks Clutter Twitter with Crypto Scams: The scammers stay one step ahead of the platform, which isn’t great news for the midterms.
  72. Elon Musk Is Making Good on His Promise to Pay for Flint’s Clean Water
  73. Tim Berners-Lee Moves Forward With His Big Plan To Fix The Web By Bringing Back Its Original Decentralized Promise
  74. The Internet’s keepers? “Some call us hoarders—I like to say we’re archivists”
  75. We’ll Soon Know Exactly How Terrible The Internet Is For Our Mental Health
  76. Domain names: Seven “dirty words” now acceptable in .US 
  77. Creative Commons Continues To Try To Help Courts Understand What Its NonCommercial License Means
  78. The Internet’s keepers? “Some call us hoarders—I like to say we’re archivists”
  79. Dark Web vendor with totally amazing beard sentenced to 20 years in prison 

CREATIVITY

  1. Taylor Swift Causes Surge in Voter Registration After Endorsing Democrats on Instagram
  2. State Street Escalates Policy on Board Gender Diversity and Touts Impact of its “Fearless Girl” Campaign 
  3. Ninth Circuit Extends Tam 1st Amendment Protections to Advertising
  4. Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin
  5. Ronnie Van Zant Inc. v. Cleopatra Records, Inc.
  6. Full Speed Ahead for Graffiti Artist’s Suit Against GM
  7. Banksy booby-trapped one of his paintings to “self-destruct” at auction, and that’s actually pretty funny
  8. Spanish Court Moves Forward With Prosecution Of Man Who Offended A Bunch Of Religious Lawyers
  9. Bangladesh government to discuss tough new media law with journalists
  10. Most Chinese Patents Are Being Discarded By Their Owners Because They Are Not Worth The Maintenance Fees To Keep Them
  11. A ‘No Deal Brexit’ and its Affects on IP 
  12. USMCA (NAFTA 2.0): What’s New for Intellectual Property in Canada
  13. Recording proceedings in the lower courts – are televised trials likely in the future? 
  14. Ousted Guardians of the Galaxy director switches camps, tied to new DC Comics film

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Major US telecom was infiltrated by backdoored Supermicro hardware, Bloomberg says
  2. AT&T-Time Warner appeal: How liberal judges could help the DOJ’s case
  3. HBO, CNN, DC Comics, and more could join a streaming video service under AT&T
  4. Ajit Pai’s 5G plans make it harder for small ISPs to deploy broadband
  5. Ajit Pai faces rare criticism from GOP senator on rural broadband failures
  6. Justice Department, ISPs File Suit against California Net Neutrality Law
  7. Robocallers “evolved” to sidestep new call blocking rules, AGs tell FCC
  8. 35 States Tell the FCC to Get Off Its Ass and Do Something About Spoofed Robocalls
  9. Wi-Fi 6 Is Coming: Here’s Why You Should Care
  10. Hate your Comcast broadband? Verizon might sell you 5G home Internet
  11. After throttling firefighters, Verizon praises itself for “sav[ing] lives” 
  12. New Verizon Ad Hopes To Make You Forget It Throttled Firefighters For No Reason
  13. AT&T Claims It Wants Meaningful Privacy Rules…After Just Lobbying To Kill Meaningful Privacy Rules

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Russian spies hacked officials to protect doping athletes, US charges
  2. As Everyone Knows, In The Age Of The Internet, Privacy Is Dead — Which Is Awkward If You Are A Russian Spy
  3. Travelers To New Zealand Now Face $3,000 Fines If They Don’t Give Their Device Passwords To Customs Agents
  4. Feds to judge: We still think we can put GPS trackers on cars entering US
  5. Free Law Project Takes A Stand Against Attempt To Use GDPR To Disappear A Public Court Docket
  6. Instagram is testing the ability to share your precise location history with Facebook: Revealed just weeks after Instagram’s co-founders left the company 
  7. Now Instagram might let Facebook spy on your location
  8. Lawyers for Vizio Smart TV owners propose final deal, around $20 per person
  9. Vizio Agrees to $17M Settlement to Resolve Smart TV Class Action Suit 
  10. California’s new data privacy law: What you need to know
  11. California Passes First Cybersecurity Law Regulating IoT Devices
  12. California’s IoT Security Law is Well-Intentioned, but a Comprehensive Federal Law is Needed (Eric Goldman)
  13. Equifax Inc 2017 US data breach generates fines for Equifax Ltd in the UK

Jon

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Class 8 – 10/31/18; “From Wheelbarrows to Holodecks: Conundrums of Technology & Law in the Future of Video-Games” + “esports”

By Jon Festinger on October 31, 2018

Slides and video below…

Jon

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Class 7 – 10/24/18; “What’s it all about…EULA?” + “Ratings and Censorship of Video Games”

By Jon Festinger on October 24, 2018

Video and slides below. Sorry that the slides had to be split into 3 parts, the last two of which being the loot box section. That was even after culling the loot box section to really center on the Battlefront narrative, as that focuses the storytelling better without missing any essential components.

Jon

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Discussion Outline: October 31

By jonah brook on October 24, 2018

Group: Selena Chen, Jonah Brook, Scott MacDonald, Bas Van Schaik

Discussion Topic: Esport: Gaining Traction

Hello everyone! This week’s topic will be esports, its growth, governance, labour, and international components.

  1. Esports: Emulating the Traditional “Big Sports” (Scott)
  • Consideration of what is sports?
  • Highly skilled nerds or legitimate athletes?
  • Case study: Overwatch League
  • How esports has copied traditional big sports structure and formula of success
  • The growing market and demand for esports
  • Big sports ownership has taken notice and invested
  • Overwatch league expansion and global markets a discussion of international issues

 

  1. Esports Governance and Gambling (Jonah)
  • Introduction to (lack of) esports regulatory bodies
  • Discussion of the developer-driven nature of esports and potential issues – using Blizzard Entertainment as a case study
  • A brief introduction to esports gambling and issues within that industry
  • And finally the overlap: match-fixing in esports

 

  1. Labour Conditions Within the Esport Industry (Selena)
  • Brief discussion regarding the benefits of being in the industry – what makes being a professional gamer appealing to youths
  • Discussion regarding the downsides of being in the industry – examples of restrictive contracts, blacklisting, and pay dispute
  • Discussion regarding contracts signed by players in the industry – example of an abusive contract
  • Discussion regarding working conditions of a professional gamer
  • Discussion of potential solutions and future trends of the industry with regards to its treatment of professional gamers

 

  1.  International aspects: Dispute resolution & immigration (Bas)
  • Brief introduction to forms of dispute resolution in esports
  • Discussion regarding (specialized) arbitral tribunals
  • A brief introduction to immigration in international sports
  • Discussion regarding the different policies in north america and its implications in future esports events

 

Preparation for presentation

In preparation for next week’s presentation, please watch the following video regarding how esports is changing the perception of gamers.

Click on the image below to link to the video: 

Look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday!

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Discussion Outline: October 24, 2018

By Dylan Braam on October 23, 2018

Hello everyone,

This week’s discussion hour topic is video game classification systems and censorship.

We will be discussing the following:

1. Why Classify and Censor Games – Violence in Video Games

2. Video Game Classification in North America (the ESRB)

3. International Classification of Online Games

4. Video Game Classification in Australia

5. Censorship Around the World

In preparation, please watch this video outlining some of the limitations of the current North American system of classification.

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Talk on “Streaming Boxes” at More Than Just A Game | Frankfurt – October 19, 2018

By Jon Festinger on October 21, 2018

Was very privileged to be invited to Frankfurt am Main, Germany to speak at the Frankfurt Edition of More Than Just A Game. Special thanks Dr. Andreas Lober and the law firm of Beiten Burkhardt for all of their considerable hospitality. It was great event.

Here is the Program, which may be a useful reference point when it comes topics for both in-class presentations and term papers.

Finally, attached below is an updated version of the slides I presented on the topic oid “Streaming (video-game) Boxes”.

Jon

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