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News of the Week; February 14, 2018

By Jon Festinger on March 11, 2018

GAMES

  1. Steam Purges Developer’s Games After Finding Manipulated Review Scores
  2. Valve bans developer after employees leave fake user reviews: Insel Games CEO encouraged employees to write reviews for its own game.
  3. Maltese publisher banned from Steam for review fixing
  4. Google removes 77 percent of Game Dev Tycoon’s positive reviews
  5. Game Dev Tycoon loses 77% of positive Google Play reviews: Indie developer suggests Google’s algorithm for handling fake reviews on free-to-play titles is to blame
  6. Hawaiian lawmakers want to prohibit loot boxes with new bills
  7. No video game loot boxes for buyers under 21, say proposed Hawaii bills: Law would require warnings, odds disclosures, and retailer enforcement.
  8. Senator calls on ESRB to re-consider loot boxes: New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan says “at minimum” the ratings system should note when games employ the contentious business model
  9. US Senator demands review of loot box policies, citing potential harm: New Hampshire’s Hassan says FTC action may be necessary if industry doesn’t respond.
  10. For Ubisoft, loot box inclusion boils down to two things: quality and choice
  11. Update: Swedish gambling legislation review unlikely to impact loot boxes – Any review of gambling legislation will not necessarily include an investigation into loot boxes, says Swedish Games Industry spokesman
  12. If loot boxes are free-to-play’s present, what will be the future?: With a new round of funding and Dauntless ramping up to open beta, Phoenix Labs is ready for a free-to-play renaissance
  13. The Museum Of Art And Digital Entertainment Calls For Anti-Circumvention Exemptions To Be Extended To Online Game Archives
  14. Esports Zerg – Rush The Olympics – But Can They Become Official Events?
  15. Watching over Overwatch pros: Talent agent Ryan Morrison on the incredible growth of the esports scene in recent years, and how players have changed along with it
  16. King of Kong star says “original tape” will prove his disputed scores: Mitchell suggests MAME footage could be suspect; analyst defends sources.
  17. Sports Direct buys 50% of GAME’s esports arenas in £3.2m deal: Belong arenas to appear in Sports Direct stores, with additional £55m in loans
  18. Sports Direct and GAME: Is this the future of games retail?
  19. ESL nabs minority stake in Indian mobile publisher Nazara  
  20. GameStop fires COO and EVP without cause: Long-serving execs depart retail giant
  21. UK screen industries back “zero-tolerance guidance” on harassment and abuse: Free 24/7 support hotline under development to help those affected by bullying and harassment
  22. 12 ex-Atari women respond to #NotNolan controversy, offer ‘70s perspective: Kotaku explores both sides of argument, interviews Bushnell’s female contemporaries.
  23. New Twitch guidelines address harassment and sexual content
  24. Twitch ramps up anti-harassment efforts with new community guidelines: Immediate indefinite bans introduced because “hate simply has no place in the Twitch community”
  25. Number of streamers earning money on Twitch spikes by 223% in 2017: Over 150,000 people join Twitch Affiliates program since launching in April
  26. Twitch Promotes Cheering, User-Generated Clips With New Cosmetic Features
  27. Twitch surpasses CNN and MSNBC with record-breaking viewership: Video streaming platform attracts 962,000 concurrent viewers in January
  28. Comments on Twitter could now lead to punishment on Twitch: New policy considers verified “off-Twitch” harassment “from any source.”
  29. Nintendo inspires improved January sales for UK retail: Monster Hunter is January’s No.3 best-selling game after just a week on sale
  30. Nintendo plots longer lifecycle for Switch: Firm wants to extend beyond the standard ‘five or six years’
  31. Nintendo Looking To Extend Normal Console Life Cycle With Switch: Nintendo’s plans for world domination continue
  32. Hackers hijack Nintendo Switch, show Linux loaded on console: Public release of exploit could be a long way off, though.
  33. Nintendo hopes “every single person” will own a Switch: Company wants to “prolong the life cycle” for the hot-selling system.
  34. The games behind the cardboard: We finally know how Nintendo Labo will play: Ahead of April launch, Nintendo dishes enough details to get our gaming hopes up.
  35. Nintendo: The Switch’s biggest challenge is broadening its appeal
  36. The Nintendo Switch, Joy-Cons, and even Labo are the result of Wii-era feedback
  37. Nintendo uncertain about future of the 3DS after Switch’s success 
  38. Monster Hunter: World becomes fastest-selling Capcom title in history
  39. Monster Hunter: World hits 6 million shipped – Co-op action game reaches milestone faster than any title in Capcom history, already publisher’s fourth best-seller of all-time
  40. Keep playing, keep paying: Ubisoft seeks games with “longterm engagement” – The numbers don’t lie: Games as “live” services bring in more money over time.
  41. Ubisoft is opting for quality over quantity for its big releases
  42. Assassin’s Creed: Origins on track to double Syndicate sales – Ubisoft emphasizes recurrent spending and catalog sales as it beats holiday quarter projections
  43. One year in, For Honor surpasses 7.5 million players
  44. New releases led growth in Ubisoft’s third quarter
  45. “History is our playground”: Bringing Assassin’s Creed into the classroom
  46. Take-Two expecting “another record year for GTA Online”: Rockstar’s multiplayer mode keeps growing four years after launch; publisher dismisses concerns of cannibalization from Red Dead Redemption 2
  47. Fortnite hit 3.4M concurrent players last weekend
  48. Clash of Clans developer Supercell reports a decline in profits
  49. THQ Nordic acquires Saints Row and Dead Island owner Koch Media
  50. De Blob publisher THQ Nordic buys Koch Media for €121m:Deep Silver, Saints Row, Dead Island and more acquired by European publisher
  51. Destiny 2 and Call of Duty: WWII drives earnings for Activision Blizzard 
  52. Activision Blizzard posts record quarter, full-year results: Growth in mobile more than offsets single-digit slips in console and PC revenues for owner of Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Candy Crush
  53. Blizzard Still Trying To Take Down WoW Vanilla Fan Servers While Refusing To Offer A Competing Product
  54. Nexon reports a record-breaking year: Revenues and income up as Dungeon & Fighter and Maple Story enjoy strong growth
  55. Chinese and UK focus promised as Bandai Namco reports profits dip: Restructure and fresh regional focus revealed as part of new mid-term strategy
  56. Bandai Namco to focus on creating new properties as profits slide
  57. Relic ceases support for underperforming Dawn of War III: “When a game underperforms, plans need to change,” says developer
  58. Horizon Zero Dawn writers honored at annual Writers Guild Awards
  59. Horizon Zero Dawn wins Writers Guild Award for best video game writing: Record-breaking PlaytStation 4 exclusive fends off Dishonoured: Death of the Outsider, Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow, and Madden NFL 18: Longshot to win prestigious award
  60. Zynga posts full-year profit for first time since 2010
  61. Zynga returns to full-year profits for the first time in seven years: Net income up $138.4m year-on-year to $26.6m, daily active users reaches four-year high at 20 million
  62. Supercell sales, earnings down in 2017: Clash Royale studio posts lowest numbers in three years, still brings in $810 million profit on more than $2 billion in revenue
  63. UK Charts: Shadow of Colossus PS4 beats PS2 original in first week sales – Monster Hunter World slips to No.3
  64. South Australia sections off $1.5M for local game dev community
  65. Planning for the end of the one-hit wonder: The mobile gaming landscape is filled with giant companies living off the back of a single, enormous hit title – but how many are planning effectively for when that title starts to decline?
  66. Chatterbox secures €325,000 to develop games for instant messenging platforms: “We are at the sweet spot of casual gaming and messaging – both mega trends of this decade”, says Chatterbox CEO
  67. Viacom closes down VR studio Viacom Next
  68. Viacom Next VR/AR studio shuts down: Developer of Smash Party and Transformers: Cade’s Junkyard axed as part of larger layoffs at Viacom
  69. Channel 4 announces retro games mini-series starring Rob Beckett: Four-part series will see stand-up comic and other celebrity guest exploring the history of video games
  70. Machinima: “We’re no longer an upstart teenager”: GM Russell Arons explains why the rebranded logo breaks from the past when the content strategy is about “returning to our roots”
  71. Before Tesla And SpaceX, Elon Musk Worked In Video Games
  72. Cryptocurrency boom, a problem for gamers, is a bonanza for GPU makers: Nvidia – “Strong demand in the cryptocurrency market exceeded our expectations.”
  73. Blog: The unavoidable conflict of serious storytelling in games
  74. Accessibility guidelines offer resources on making games inclusive
  75. Coding without a keystroke: The hands-free creation of a full video game – Coder wants to grow the speech-to-text coding community, uses his fun game to advocate
  76. The Fire Fades: Dealing with the scourge of burnout in game dev
  77. Blog: Charting the evolution of the games industry
  78. IGDA names Jen MacLean permanent executive director

DIGITAL

  1. Supreme Court backs CBC against bid to ‘unpublish’ internet story
  2. Canada: Removing Offending Content From The Internet Just Became Harder
  3. Kobo decision gives clarity to bureau’s reach
  4. Copyright in the Digital Age: Cisco v. Arista and the Scènes à Faire Doctrine 
  5. Trudeau to Facebook: Fix your fake news problem or face stricter regulations – The prime minister warned that Ottawa would intervene with stricter federal regulations if the social media giant doesn’t address integrity issues.
  6. Social media should put its house in order: The anonymity introduced by Facebook and Twitter allows much of the bile and disinformation online to flourish
  7. Man Sues Facebook For Moderating His Bigoted Posts, Wants Section 230 Declared Unconstitutional
  8. Facebook Takes Down Post Critical Of Indian Film For Copyright Violation, Even Though It Was An All-Text Post
  9. Anti-Piracy Video Masquerades As Anti-Malware Education And Is Filled With Lies
  10. Judge Dismisses Playboy’s Dumb Copyright Lawsuit Against BoingBoing
  11. An English-Language, Algorithmically-Personalized News Aggregator, Based In China — What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
  12. “Fake News” is a Feeling: Facebook says it wants to ensure the news its users see is “high quality.” That may be just another term for “feel-good”
  13. Facebook Funded Most Of The Experts Who Vetted Messenger Kids
  14. Inside The Two Years That Shook Facebook – And The World: How a confused, defensive social media giant steered itself into a disaster, and how Mark Zuckerberg is trying to fix it all.
  15. Commercial Content Moderation And Worker Wellness: Challenges & Opportunities
  16. Techdirt, Volokh Conspiracy Targeted With Bogus Defamation Claim For Publishing A Bunch Of Facts
  17. Grubhub drivers are contractors—not employees—judge rules: CEO says ruling “validates the freedom our delivery partners enjoy.”
  18. Snapchat Now Offers Stories Analytics To The Platform’s Influencers
  19. Snapchat Stands Pat On Redesign Despite Receiving Significant Backlas
  20. Devin Nunes Has His Own ‘News’ Site to Counter ‘Fake News’
  21. The Nunes Memo Has Effectively Destroyed Intelligence Oversight
  22. Troll factories, bots and fake news: Inside the Wild West of social media
  23. Tech’s Ethical ‘Dark Side’: Harvard, Stanford and Others Want to Address It
  24. Should Data Scientists Adhere To A Hippocratic Oath?
  25. Masters of Our DNA: Designer Bodies Are Not Science Fiction
  26. Washington’s Growing AI Anxiety
  27. World Leaders Have Decided: The Next Step in AI is Augmenting Humans
  28. The “Father of Artificial Intelligence” Says Singularity Is 30 Years Away
  29. To Make AI Smarter, Humans Perform Oddball Low-Paid Tasks
  30. How artificial intelligence can help navigate employee cannabis use legal issues
  31. Study finds gender and skin-type bias in commercial artificial-intelligence systems: Examination of facial-analysis software shows error rate of 0.8 percent for light-skinned men, 34.7 percent for dark-skinned women.
  32. Deepfakes, Privacy Rights and an AI-Powered Blurring of the Lines 
  33. Artificial Intelligence Is Now Fighting Fake Porn
  34. “We’re in a diversity crisis”: cofounder of Black in AI on what’s poisoning algorithms in our lives
  35. A wave of cheating AI robots is threatening to ruin HQ Trivia: Simple Google-based cheat sites often beat humans, but a big one was just shut down.
  36. Robots Can Do Lots Of Things Well, But At Least They Can’t Ski
  37. What Are The Ethical Issues Of Google — Or Anyone Else — Conducting AI Research In China?
  38. AI Will Give Rise to “Superhuman Workers,” Says Google X Co-Founder
  39. Google isn’t honoring Pixel’s warranty, so we’re suing, customers say: “Had Google disclosed the defect to her, she would not have bought a Pixel.”
  40. Google is good at building phones but terrible at selling them: After shipping just 3.9 million units in 2017, Google has a lot of retail work to do.
  41. Twitter & Facebook Want You To Follow The Olympics… But Only If The IOC Gives Its Stamp Of Approval
  42. NSA Sent Coded Messages From Its Official Twitter Account to Communicate With Foreign Spies
  43. Ninth Circuit Shuts Down ‘Terrorists Used Twitter’ Case But Not Because Of Section 230
  44. Op-ed: Logan Paul tases a dead rat, draws YouTube’s harshest crackdown yet – YouTube cut off all of Paul’s ad revenue, but why did it take so long?
  45. YouTube Temporarily Pulls All Ads From Logan Paul’s Channels, Citing Pattern Of “Damaging” Behavior
  46. YouTube suspends Logan Paul’s ad revenue, blames ‘recent pattern of behavior’: It’s only a temporary suspension though
  47. YouTube TV Gets Turner Channels And More Sports But Raises Price By $5
  48. YouTubers Gavin Free And Meg Turney Unharmed After Armed Fan Invaded Their Home
  49. Unilever CMO Warns YouTube, Facebook: Clean Up Or We Won’t Buy Ads
  50. AT&T Still Won’t Advertise On YouTube, Works On Its Own Advertising Marketplace
  51. A Lot Of People Listen To Celine Dion On YouTube On Valentine’s Day
  52. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki: “I Think [Facebook] Should Get Back To Baby Pictures”
  53. Google’s Big Ad-Blocking Update Comes to Chrome: Here’s What We Know
  54. CNN To Cut Roughly 50 Staffers On Digital Teams This Week
  55. A New Valentine’s Day Conundrum for Employers: Could Emoji Messages Amount to Harassment in the #MeToo Era?
  56. The End Of Waymo v. Uber Marks A New Era For Self-Driving Cars: Reality
  57. Uber And Waymo Abruptly Settle For $245 Million
  58. Waymo and Uber end trial with sudden $244 million settlement: Uber promises to make sure that none of Waymo’s software, hardware is used.
  59. Waymo And Uber’s Settlement Is A Good Thing: Focus On Innovating, Not Litigating
  60. Pummeled by scandal, Uber hit with $4.46B in losses during 2017: Curiously, UberEats now comprises about 10 percent of the company’s business.
  61. It’s all over: Why the Waymo v. Uber self-driving settlement makes sense – By giving up just 0.34 percent of the company, Uber essentially got off cheaply.
  62. Here’s how to use Kalanick speak at your next jam sesh, bro: “So during this jam session, you discussed the fact that ‘laser is the sauce,’ correct?”
  63. Amazon to take on UPS, FedEx via “Shipping with Amazon”: It will first service third-party Amazon sellers in the LA area.
  64. With Blink’s camera chip and a few AA batteries, Amazon goes low-energy: Blink cameras have years of battery life—Amazon wants that for its own devices.
  65. Apple’s Latest VR Patent Describes a Compact VR Headset with Eye Tracking
  66. Leak of iBoot code to GitHub could potentially help iPhone jailbreakers: Apple confirms code was real in DMCA filing with GitHub; code already in circulation.
  67. Apple’s HomePod: Paying $350 for a speaker that says “no” this much is tough: Apple’s first smart speaker feels exclusively designed for its most ardent fans.
  68. Here Are The NBA On TNT Games To Be Streamed In Live Virtual Reality
  69. Magic Leap Partners With NBA, Turner On 3D Game Viewing Experiences
  70. Magic Leap Takes on Funding from Media Company Axel Springer
  71. The Memification Of Knowledge: Is The Internet Making Us Less Informed? (Andres Guadamuz)
  72. How Technology Will Transform The Olympics At PyeongChang
  73. The Inevitable Agony Of Olympic Spoilers
  74. Now Hackers Are Mining Crypto On Government Websites
  75. More Than 4,000 Government Websites Infected With Covert Cryptocurrency Miner
  76. Mining Crypto Takes So Much Bandwidth, It’s Inhibiting the Search for Alien Life
  77. Salon to ad blockers: Can we use your browser to mine cryptocurrency?: Salon’s optional coin mining lets you avoid ads, but eats up your CPU power.
  78. Salon Offers To Remove Ads If Visitors Help Mine Cryptocurrency
  79. EU regulators warn consumers of virtual currencies bubble 
  80. Russian Nuclear Scientists Got Busted Mining Bitcoin Using Their Work Supercomputers
  81. Russian nuclear weapons engineers caught ­­­­minting blockchange with supercomputer: The system—used for simulating weapons tests—was not supposed to be connected to Internet.
  82. Accused “In fraud we trust” kingpin arrested while vacationing in Thailand: Police reportedly seize 100,000 bitcoins, valued at nearly $840 million.
  83. The harmful drive-by currency mining scourge shows no signs of abating: One attack sneaks coin-mining malware onto 4,300 sites. Another targets Android users.
  84. In Iceland, bitcoin mining will soon use more energy than its residents
  85. European bankers scoff at bitcoin for its risk, huge energy inefficiency: Top officials from Bundesbank, ECB push for the necessity of fiat currency.
  86. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies – an overview
  87. Cryptocurrencies – Current Regulatory Framework Applicable To Investment Funds
  88. “Troll” loses Cloudflare lawsuit, has weaponized patent invalidated: Cloudflare says it will be “ready to respond” if Blackbird appeals.
  89. Cloudflare Gets An Easy, Quick And Complete Win Over Patent Troll
  90. Everyone Hates Silicon Valley, Except Its Imitators
  91. What Microsoft’s Antitrust Case Teaches Us About Silicon Valley
  92. The Newest Emoji Say As Much About Us As Actual Words
  93. End Of An Era: Saying Goodbye To John Perry Barlow
  94. Mike Godwin Remembers John Perry Barlow

CREATIVITY

  1. Poland to outlaw references to ‘Polish death camps’ in Holocaust bill
  2. Poland’s president says he will sign controversial Holocaust bill
  3. Screen actors’ guild launches new initiative to fight sexual harassment
  4. Iron Maiden gets heavy with trademark infringers
  5. Judge Preska: Disputed Picasso Will Stay at the Met 
  6. Sivero v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.
  7. Human Rights Complaint on “Chief Wahoo” (Cleveland Indians) Logo to Proceed – Update on Law of Controversial Sports Logos
  8. Hollywood Has Some Wild Ideas For Copyright In NAFTA
  9. How We Got To The Point That Hollywood Is Trying To Attack The Internet Via NAFTA
  10. It’s alive! The public domain starts breathing again
  11. ‘Black Panther’ Brings Hope, Hype and Pride
  12. Wesley Snipes Has a Good Idea Why More People Don’t Remember How Important BladeWas
  13. Are We Running out of Trademarks? An Empirical Study of Trademark Depletion and Congestion (Barton Beebe & Jeanne C. Fromer)
  14. Does Running Out of (Some) Trademarks Matter? (Lisa Ouelette) 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Trudeau Puts An End to the Netflix and ISP Tax Debate: “Consumers…Pay Enough for Their Internet” (Michael Geist)
  2. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 1: Canada’s Current Copyright Law Provides Effective Anti-Piracy Tools (Michael Geist)
  3. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 2: Weak Evidence on the State of Canadian Piracy(Michael Geist)
  4. The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 3: Piracy Having Little Impact on Thriving Digital Services and TV Production (Michael Geist)
  5. Sending a Different Message: After Bell Website Blocking Coalition Warns About Cord Cutting, Bell CEO Says It Isn’t Accelerating (Michael Geist)
  6. Trump’s infrastructure plan has no dedicated money for broadband: Broadband would be one of numerous projects competing for a pool of money.
  7. FCC Refuses To Release FOIA Documents Pertaining To Its Stupid Verizon ‘Collusion’ Joke
  8. Verizon will start locking phones to its network to prevent armed robberies: Verizon will let customers unlock phones post-sale, but just how isn’t clear yet.
  9. Verizon Begins Locking Down Its Phones Again, Purportedly To ‘Stop Theft’
  10. Verizon-Owned Tumblr Joins The Latest Effort To Restore Net Neutrality
  11. Sorry, FCC: Charter will lower investment after net neutrality repeal – FCC claims Charter raised investment because of repeal, but that isn’t happening.
  12. FCC report finds almost no broadband competition at 100Mbps speeds: Even at 25Mbps, 43 percent of the US had zero ISPs or just one.
  13. Telecoms consumer protection and competition provisions in the USA
  14. CMA provisionally declares Fox/Sky deal to be against the public interest due to media plurality concerns, but does this spell the end of the acquisition?
  15. The Standalone Streaming Service HBO Didn’t Want To Offer Now Has 5 Million Users
  16. ESPN Still Isn’t Quite Getting The Message Cord Cutters Are Sending 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening disrupted by malware attack: Malware showed knowledge of Olympic networks’ structure – and users.
  2. Lesson from VTech
  3. Report: Equifax Lost Even More Information on Consumers Than It Told the Public
  4. Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Recommends European-Style “Right to be Forgotten”
  5. “The Right to be Forgotten”: Are There Two Solitudes in Quebec and the Rest of Canada?
  6. Chinese Police Add Facial Recognition Glasses to Their Surveillance Arsenal
  7. After Apple’s fight with FBI, two groups say they can solve the encryption battle
  8. White Paper Points Out Just How Irresponsible ‘Responsible Encryption’ Is
  9. From July on, Chrome will brand plain old HTTP as “Not secure”: The “Not secure” label will go where the padlock would go for an encrypted connection.
  10. That mega-vulnerability Cisco dropped is now under exploit: Bug with maximum severity rating is generating plenty of interest among hackers.
  11. A potent botnet is exploiting a critical router bug that may never be fixed: With Internet stability hanging in the balance, router maker maintains radio silence.
  12. Judge Tells CIA It Can’t Hand Classified Info To Journalists And Pretend The Info Hasn’t Been Made Public
  13. Cloud Communications Service Twilio Releases Two NSLs Sprung From Their Gag Order Cages
  14. Consumer Reports: Your ‘Smart’ TV Remains A Privacy & Security Dumpster Fire
  15. Camera Makers Still Showing Zero Interest In Protecting Users With Built-In Encryption
  16. Smart Meter Company Landis+Gyr Now Using Copyright To Try To Hide Public Records
  17. Georgia Senate Thinks It Can Fix Its Election Security Issues By Criminalizing Password Sharing, Security Research
  18. (Mis)conceptions About the Impact of Surveillance (Jon Penney)

Jon

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Au revoir to the 10th cohort of Video Game Law….

By Jon Festinger on February 15, 2018

 

As we approach reading week, it’s high time that I thank the 10th cohort of the course. There was lots to be impressed by. Your support of each other. Your commitment to really going deep on the legal questions. Your heartfelt efforts in class presentations. Ultimately what moved me the most was how you were per capita the most knowledgeable group about video-games, their history, quirks, and challenges, than any previous class. That characteristic, it turns out, informed everything else. Your confidence in the depth of your knowledge created the space to support your less expert colleagues with generosity and without judgment. It informed your curiosity and commitment to go deep into the legal issues. In turn that impacted your presentations which both deepened and broadened the course. My goal was to innovate in this tenth iteration by emphasizing active learning. Turns out all of you collectively were the real innovation. Thanks for all you did. Don’t be strangers…

Jon

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News of the Week; February 7, 2018

By Jon Festinger on February 13, 2018

GAMES

  1. Valve suspends Counter-Strike co-creator after arrest for sexual exploitation of a child
  2. Valve Suspends Counter-Strike Co-Creator Following Disturbing Allegations: Cliffe has been suspended “until we know more,” says Valve.
  3. Counter-Strike’s Jess Cliffe arrested for sexual exploitation of a child: Co-creator of classic first-person shooter suspended by Valve until more is known of charges
  4. Counter-Strike Co-Creator Charged With Paying 16-Year-Old For Sex
  5. Charges filed, details emerge for arrest of Counter-Strike’s co-creator: Charged with commercial sexual abuse of a minor.
  6. “A risk to the community”—Counter-Strike co-creator faces $150K bail post-arrest: Defense acknowledges sexual contact, says client “had no idea” witness was a minor.
  7. Subnautica developer fired over “many hateful statements”: Sound designer Simon Chylinski dropped from underwater survival game after history of insensitive tweets
  8. Is it right to classify excessive video game play as a health disorder?: “Once we say games are also an activity that pulls for that compulsiveness, the question is why aren’t more people then getting pulled into it?”
  9. ‘Dangerous gaming’: is the WHO right to class excessive video game play as a health disorder?: Industry figures question research that ‘pathologises’ compulsive gaming, while scientist involved defends move to address addiction
  10. Germany is considering a ban on loot boxes
  11. German Youth Protection Commission investigates loot boxes: It’s “conceivable” that loot boxes violate existing regulation, says commission chairman
  12. Quantic Dream labels claims of toxic conditions as “smear campaign”: Council of Paris investigating public funds awarded to studio, and considering tighter regulations for companies that do not care for staff
  13. EA stock reaches all-time high ahead of Battlefront II loot box return: Company’s stock rose 7%, peaking at $131 following recent financial results
  14. Take-Two swings to profit, has high hopes for Red Dead Redemption 2
  15. The Myth of Metacritocracy: 10 Years Ago This Month: EA learns a costly lesson about striving for excellence and Take-Two tells it to take a hike
  16. Take-Two’s usual performers carry company to solid quarter: Record quarters for Grand Theft Auto Online and NBA 2K continue to tide publisher over during a light year of major releases
  17. Over 1M Battlegrounds cheaters were banned in January alone
  18. PUBG Corp prepares to introduce new anti-cheat solution as total bans exceeds 2.5m: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds bans one million cheaters in January alone
  19. Donkey Kong scoreboard strips Billy Mitchell’s high score claims 
  20. Indiegogo threatens to recoup Spectrum Vega+ funds, new release date promised: Former managing director of Retro Computers Ltd refutes allegations made by company’s current directors
  21. Kickstarter and games in 2017
  22. Atari Gets The Settlement It Was Surely Fishing For Over An Homage To ‘Breakout’ In KitKat Commercial
  23. Amid furor over past sexism, Atari co-founder loses prestigious award: Bushnell apologizes for behavior, “applauds” GDC for promoting awareness.
  24. Twitch Ended 2017 With 15 Million Daily Visitors, 27K Partnered Streamers
  25. Konami apologizes for announcing nuclear disarmament (in Metal Gear Solid V): Server-wide cutscene event seems to have been activated prematurely by a glitch.
  26. Capcom’s hunt for a global audience: Monster Hunter was perhaps the best example of a “big in Japan” game – until Capcom’s persistence and confidence finally paid off this week
  27. Capcom lays off workers at Dead Rising studio
  28. Layoffs at Capcom Vancouver: 30% of studio laid off as Dead Rising developer reportedly sees one project cancelled, another has scope reduced
  29. Report: Gameloft closes New Orleans studio, layoffs at Gameloft Madrid
  30. Sales and profits slip at Sega despite bump in physical sales
  31. Jump in physical game sales can’t save Sega from sales and income drops: Games success not enough to overcome slumping arcade and smartphone performance
  32. Sonic 3D Blast dev releases director’s cut after 25 years
  33. Mojang is shutting down Scrolls’ online servers
  34. Existing titles drive profits at Square Enix as sales fall flat
  35. Smartphone success boosts Square Enix after a quiet nine months on consoles: Online titles Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X boost sales and subscriber numbers
  36. The 8 Ways Nintendo Can Double Down On Switch’s Success
  37. I’m A Nintendo Switch N00b Who Just Got A Hands-On With Labo
  38. The Switch’s premium online service is launching this September
  39. Nintendo to continue mobile push with Mario Kart Tour
  40. Nintendo will release a Mario Kart mobile game by March 2019: Mario Kart Tour will launch in the next financial year, the publisher said today
  41. Nintendo announces Super Mario movie in partnership with Illumination: Animation studio behind Despicable Me and Minions franchises to co-produce with Shigeru Miyamoto
  42. Why isn’t Nintendo Switch breaking records in the UK?: It’s the fastest-selling games console in almost every market it’s been released in, but not Britain
  43. Nintendo working on Mario movie with Minions creator Illumination
  44. Super Mario Odyssey producer settles the debate over Toad’s head: Is it a hat, or part of his anatomy?
  45. Why Nintendo Switch needs to find a new model of discovery: The family-friendly platform must learn from Steam’s cautionary tale
  46. After a rocky launch, Failbetter Games ends indie fund and lays off some staff
  47. NCsoft posts another year of record-breaking growth: Slight declines in mobile aren’t enough to ruin the show as online PC games enjoy a strong quarter
  48. Steam Winter Sale Data and the Effects of a Front Page Feature
  49. Report: Google considering streaming service for games
  50. Google prepping game streaming service – Report
  51. Google’s “Yeti” is reportedly a gaming hardware, streaming service beast: According to The Information, Google has been working on this for the past two years.
  52. How mobile game devs are evolving test and launch strategies: Google Play biz dev manager Emily Putze tracks how the traditional launch playbook for mobile games is changing
  53. Sony’s software strength offsets flat hardware sales: Sony shipped 9 million units of the PlayStation 4 in Q3, down 700k over last year
  54. Has the PS4 peaked? Annual console shipments are flat for 2017: This is about the age when Sony systems start their long, slow decline.
  55. Kaz Hirai steps down as president and CEO of Sony Corp.: Hirai hands leadership to CFO Kenichiro Yoshida after six years at the helm
  56. Sony financials: PlayStation software shines as hardware slows
  57. As Sony CEO Kaz Hirai steps down, the future of some products is in question: His successor has built a reputation for making tough cuts to get in the black.
  58. Sony Interactive Entertainment files Inter Partes Review of 3D Video Patent
  59. Upcoming PlayStation 4 update includes playtime management 
  60. Microsoft responds to indie retail backlash over Xbox Game Pass: Platform holder “pleasantly surprised” by store demand, considering broadening its distribution plans
  61. Always Be Pitching: How to find and talk to publishers to survive as an indie
  62. Layoffs at Nexon America after company restructuring
  63. Jobs lost as Nexon America restructures: But publisher insists there’s no significant impact to overall workforce, layoffs unrelated to struggling Lawbreakers
  64. UK game dev sector grows more than four times the rate of the economy in 2017: Games development sector contributes nearly £1.5 billion to the UK’s GDP, says TIGA report
  65. Pillars of Eternity II director on Obsidian’s shift from studio-for-hire to building its own IP: Working on your own IP is “less about the freedom and more about the institutional knowledge to understand what the IP is”
  66. New studio Lunar Great Wall will also teach games development: Italian start-up’s Claudio Giacopazzi tells us how the team will balance creation and education
  67. Encouraging charity with Don-Ay, the first ‘donation game’: Italian developer Affinity Project talks us through its mobile endless runner that enables players to help save real-world animals
  68. Gamevil and Com2us merge in the US: Mobile companies combine to focus efforts in North America
  69. Keywords expects $186m in revenues after 11 acquisitions in 2017: Service empire’s studio count has grown eightfold in the last five years
  70. Examining the role outsourcing plays in modern game development
  71. Tamatem nets $2.5M to localize mobile games for Arabic-speaking markets
  72. Q&A: Translating the humor & tone of Yakuza games for the West
  73. Trailmix aims to reinvent casual games – with a little help from Supercell: Backed by $4.2m from Supercell, King veterans Carolin Krenzer and Tristan Clark will push toward a richer and more meaningful take on casual gaming
  74. Human: Fall Flat dev credits community feedback for success
  75. “It’s hard to put in words how life-changing blockchain technology will be”: EverdreamSoft plans to demonstrate the new tech’s power by enabling players to sell – and more importantly own – in-game cards
  76. Blog: Can week-one Steam sales predict first-year sales?
  77. Latest Steam survey puts Oculus Rift and HTC Vive with equal market share
  78. Pokemon Go developer Niantic scoops up AR API maker Escher Reality
  79. Open-source game dev tool Godot Engine adds VR support
  80. Blog: The next surprise billion dollar game will be on Alexa
  81. Game dev in Oceania: A hands-off Aussie gov’t, and a Kiwi PM’s visit
  82. Blog: Are casual games maturing? 
  83. How Tetris was discovered in America
  84. Smithsonian American Art Museum puts out call for indie devs
  85. Applications open for Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition: Smithsonian puts out call for indie devs to explore this year’s theme of “game spaces”
  86. Machinima founder and VR developer Hugh Hancock has passed away

DIGITAL

  1. As Outlets Like Russia Today Influence Viewers, YouTube Will Add Notices To State-Sponsored Content
  2. YouTube will put disclaimers on state-funded broadcasts to fight propaganda: In efforts to educate viewers on where their news comes from.
  3. Appeals court: Twitter can’t be sued for “material support” of terrorism – 9th Circuit – “We conclude that Twitter has the better of the argument.” 
  4. Court Dismisses — For A Second Time — Lawsuit Seeking To Hold Facebook Responsible For Acts Of Terrorism 
  5. How Twitter Bots and Trump Fans Made #ReleaseTheMemo Go Viral: Russian bots and their American allies gamed social media to put a flawed intelligence document atop the political agenda. That should alarm us.
  6. ‘Fiction is outperforming reality’: how YouTube’s algorithm distorts truth – An ex-YouTube insider reveals how its recommendation algorithm promotes divisive clips and conspiracy videos. Did they harm Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency? 
  7. Ich Bin Ein Tweeter: I had enough of the trolling and toxic taunts on Twitter. So I reset my location and “moved” to Germany, the safest social media state in the world. 
  8. Learning The Politics Of “Digital Dissensus” 
  9. Policing the internet – “fake news” and social media offence update 
  10. China launches salvo against “network navy” of trolls who spread fake news: More than 200 arrests, thousands of accounts and websites seized for “illegal speculation.”
  11. Small Creator Sues YouTube Over Faulty DMCA Takedown Procedure
  12. Socioeconomic group classification based on user features / Facebook, Inc.
  13. Facebook Patents Tech To Bucket Users Into Different Social Classes
  14. Telegram iOS app removed from App Store last week due to child pornography: The app was restored only after Telegram removed the content.
  15. Theresa May Again Demands Tech Companies Do More To Right The World’s Social Media Wrongs
  16. It’s Time For A Serious Talk About The Science Of Tech “Addiction”
  17. Push Resumes For An EU Google Tax, With The Bulgarian Government Leading The Way
  18. Nest is done as a standalone Alphabet company, merges with Google: Google plans to “combine hardware, software, and services” between the two companies 
  19. Live Stream Of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Rocket Test Peaks At 2.3 Million Concurrent Views
  20. Americans staying home, streaming video, and using less energy because of it – Decouple economic growth from energy consumption: Tell your boss you want to work from home.
  21. Kian Lawley Out At Fox Film ‘The Hate U Give’ After Clip With Racist Remarks Surfaces
  22. On The Internet, Everyone Is A Creator
  23. Logan Paul Discusses “The Hardest Time Of My Life” In ‘Good Morning America’ Interview
  24. Logan Paul Returns to YouTube With ‘Comeback’ Video: ‘I Will Never Forget Who I Am at My Core’
  25. Logan Paul Is Back To Old Antics In First Comeback Vlog After Suicide Scandal
  26. Data-Saving YouTube Go App Arrives In 130 More Countries (But Not The US) 
  27. YouTube “tightening and enforcing” policies toward content creators: “We realise we have a serious social responsibility to get these emerging policy issues right,” says CEO 
  28. YouTube Announces 3 Potential Punishments For Top Creators Who Harm The Broader Community
  29. YouTube CEO Shares 5 Goals With Creators For 2018: “Addressing Your Concerns About Demonetization Is A Top Priority”
  30. Kylie Jenner Chooses YouTube For Baby Reveal, Nabs 28 Million Views In 24 Hours
  31. YouTube On ‘Play Button’ Awards: “Not All Creators Who Apply Will Receive Awards”
  32. YouTube TV subscribers can now watch live TV on Apple TV, Roku devices: Announcement comes after the rollout was delayed at the end of 2017.
  33. As The Winter Olympics Approach, YouTube Shares Data And Prepares To Host Highlights 
  34. YouTube Uses Its Version Of Snapchat’s Stories For Black History Month Campaign
  35. Snapchat Uses Live Streaming To Highlight Top Moments From 2018 Winter Olympics
  36. Patreon Introduces Exclusive Snapchat-Like Content For Donors, By Creators
  37. How Snapchat Is Sending #Metoo Down The Memory Hole: Disappearing-messaging apps may keep snoopers away—but they can also prevent us from preserving the past and finding justice in the future.
  38. BuzzFeed And NBCUniversal’s Latest Project Targets Millennial Parents
  39. Putting Pinners First: How Pinterest Is Building Partnerships For Compassionate Content Moderation
  40. Implementing Transparency About Content Moderation
  41. Tosca Musk Launches Streaming Service That Celebrates The Female Gaze 
  42. Hulu’s Super Bowl stream fails during final moments of game: Some customers lost video right before the end
  43. Hulu and Vue fumbled during the Super Bowl (but so did NBC): Two of the big streaming TV services cut out at critical moments in the game.
  44. Warner Music Hits $1 Billion in First Quarter, Digital Revenue Up 20%
  45. Study Suggests Shutting Down Filesharing Sites Would Hurt Music Industry, New Artists
  46. Appeals Court Makes A Mess Of Copyright Law Concerning ISPs And Safe Harbors
  47. BMG V. Cox is Major Copyright Victory for Music Industry
  48. Cox Not Entitled to DMCA Protection Given Lax Infringer Policy
  49. Fourth Circuit Raises Bar for DMCA Safe Harbor Defense 
  50. The Gig Economy’s Tipping Point
  51. Alexa, print money: Even Bezos stunned by Q4 Amazon income – Exceeds operating income estimate by 69%; hints at exactly how well Echo is doing.
  52. Inside Amazon’s Artificial Intelligence Flywheel: How deep learning came to power Alexa, Amazon Web Services, and nearly every other division of the company.
  53. What Amazon Does to Poor Cities: The debate over Amazon’s HQ2 obscures the company’s rapid expansion of warehouses in low-income areas.
  54. Don’t Make AI Artificially Stupid In The Name Of Transparency
  55. AI Just Learned How To Boost The Brain’s Memory
  56. Half of Americans Want Universal Income, but Expect AI Companies to Pay It 
  57. Greedy, Brittle, Opaque, And Shallow: The Downsides To Deep Learning – We’ve been promised a revolution in how and why nearly everything happens. But the limits of modern artificial intelligence are closer than we think.
  58. Photo Algorithms ID White Men Fine—Black Women, Not So Much
  59. Line-Drawing Exercises: Autonomy and Automation – An existential worry lies beneath concerns about the future of AI. We as humans fear that we will lose our autonomy as we pursue automation with such abandon. (John Palfrey)
  60. The Expansion Of Algorithmic Governance: From Code is Law to Law is Code (Samer Hassan & Primavera De Filippi)
  61. Irony Alert? Tech Insiders Form Organization to Combat the Dangers of Technology
  62. The End Of Data Without Borders: The storage and transmission of data around the world involves a constant clash of competing local, regional, and national regulations. But why does anyone care where data is physically located?
  63. Our Hackable Political Future
  64. The Big ICO Swindle: Many cryptocurrency speculators are banking on the theory that someone dumber than them will buy their tokens for more than they paid. That’s a pretty good bet … until it isn’t.
  65. A Classic Scam Finds New Life Stealing Bitcoin On Twitter
  66. Decrypting Taxation of Cryptocurrency
  67. Why experts are worried about Tether, a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency: Markets treat a tether as though it’s worth $1. But what if it’s not?
  68. Cryptocurrency botnets are rendering some companies unable to operate: Smominru botnet has infected 526,000 machines, generated as much as $3.6 million.
  69. Crypto Utopia In Puerto Rico: Digital Evangelism Or Disaster Capitalism? (Andres Guadamuz)
  70. A Video Platform That Wants To Be YouTube For Cryptocurrency Users Has Raised $20 Million
  71. Cryptocurrency in Small Bytes: Who’s in Charge Here Anyway? The U.S. Regulatory Landscape for Token Offerings
  72. The Wired Guide To The Blockchain: It’s super secure and slightly hard to understand, but the idea of creating tamper-proof databases has captured the attention of everyone from anarchist techies to staid bankers. 
  73. Feds Take Down A Half-Billion Dollar Cybercrime Forum After 7 Years Online
  74. No “Bright Line” In Influencer Marketing No-Nos, Tubefilter And SAG-AFTRA FTC Panel Shows
  75. ‘Catalog Of Missing Devices’ Compiles The Useful Tech Products DRM Is Preventing Us From Owning
  76. Viacom Will Reportedly Acquire Online Video Gathering VidCon
  77. It’s Official: Viacom Announces Its Acquisition Of VidCon
  78. Mitú, NFL Announce Partnership To Engage Latino Football Fans
  79. This Pastor Is Putting His Faith In A Virtual Reality Church: D.J. Soto believes Christianity can be renewed through worship in virtual space. His VR mega-church is even attracting atheists.
  80. Uber doesn’t want jury to see report, but judge says Uber is “stuck” with it: Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick may take the stand today.
  81. Waymo presents damning internal messages from Uber, which responds in kind
  82. Kalanick agrees: Google was and is “in the lead” in autonomous vehicles – According to a colleague’s notes, Uber’s co-founder sought “pound of flesh.”
  83. Uber: We had “no justification” for covering up data breach – Republican senator – data breach incident “raises red flags within this committee.”
  84. Waymo v. Uberkicks Off With Travis Kalanick In The Crosshairs
  85. Waymo v. Uber’s big Question: What On Earth Is A Trade Secret, Anyway?
  86. Google joins “universal stylus” group, hopes for cross-device compatibility: Can you build a universal stylus standard without Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung?
  87. Push Resumes For An EU Google Tax, With The Bulgarian Government Leading The Way
  88. Samsung leader walks from prison after bribery charges “suspended”: “Samsung is above the law and the court” says national assembly member.
  89. iPhone X Damage Report: Two Months Later
  90. How will new iPhones manage power? Apple’s response to senator raises questions: Apple is also exploring options for those who paid full price for new batteries.
  91. Op-ed: Apple was right to throttle iPhones, but some things still need to change – Prioritizing battery life and stability over speed was the best move for users.
  92. Apple sets quarterly revenue record following iPhone X launch
  93. Apple, Verizon Continue to Lobby Against The Right To Repair Your Own Devices
  94. It’s Time For A Serious Talk About The Science Of Tech “Addiction”
  95. The Formula For Phone Addiction Might Double As A Cure
  96. The Secret To Breaking Up With Your Phone? Remember That You Will Die.
  97. Comprehensive US cell phone safety study inches toward publication: In this study, being in one of the control groups was fatal.
  98. Relatively few LG customers will see any money from “bootloop” lawsuit: Chamberlain v. LG was sent to arbitration in June 2017; now LG has quietly settled.
  99. Toronto lawyer serves claim with Instagram
  100. IP monitor – Government is reviewing Copyright Act for currency with digital technology
  101. Moderation Is The Commodity
  102. 5 Takeaways From Tech Leaders’ Content Moderation Conference: Tech companies’ legal leaders and policy experts gathered at Santa Clara University School of Law on Feb. 2 for a day of panels on content moderation and removal.
  103. Behold, the 157 new emoji for 2018: New smileys, animals, hair colors, and lots more arrive in Unicode Emoji 11.0.
  104. Rebalancing Regulation of Speech: Hyper-Local Content on Global Web-Based Platforms (Chinmayi Arun)
  105. Co-founder of EFF, John Perry Barlow, dead at 70: “The Internet we all know and love today exists and thrives because of Barlow’s vision.”
  106. Mourning John Perry Barlow, The Bard Of The Internet

CREATIVITY

  1.  Ed Sheeran Among the Latest Musicians Accused of Copying Australian Artists
  2. Insights: After Music’s Massive Week, Can People Finally Make Money From It Again?
  3. Tarnishing The History Of Martin Luther King Jr.: Copyright Enforcement Edition
  4. Director Of Thor: Ragnarok Pirated Clips For His Sizzle Reel
  5. International Inconsistencies In Copyright: Why It’s Hard To Know What’s Really Available To The Public
  6. Israeli Music Fans Sue Two New Zealanders For Convincing Lorde To Cancel Her Israeli Concert 
  7. Public School Board Member Threatens Boss Of Woman Who Spoke Out Against School Book Banning
  8. Come Witness The Commentators That Help The NFL Fool The Public About Its ‘Super Bowl’ Trademark Rights
  9. BrewDog Beats Back Trademark Action From The Elvis Presley Estate
  10. Moosehead Breweries Cuts And Runs From Trademark Suit Against Hop ‘N Moose Brewing
  11. Best Buy Will No Longer Sell CDs and Target May Be Next
  12. Online Talent Search Company Settles FTC Allegations it Collected Children’s Information without Consent and Misled Consumers
  13. Understanding the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 (Eric Goldman)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Hail Mary Pass to Supreme Court Missed Its Mark: Application to Stay CRTC Order Prohibiting Simultaneous Substitution during the Super Bowl Dismissed
  2. Broadcasting Procedural Letter Addressed to Netflix (CRTC)
  3. No Panic: Canadian TV and Film Production Posts Biggest Year Ever Raising Doubts About the Need for Site Blocking and Netflix Regulation (Michael Geist)
  4. Anti-piracy group under fire for website-blocking proposal
  5. Does Canada Even Have a Huge Piracy Problem?: A coalition of powerful organizations wants to block piracy websites in Canada.
  6. Thousands Slam Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Proposal in Submissions to the CRTC (Michael Geist)
  7. Canada’s SOPA Moment: Why the CRTC Should Reject the Bell Coalition’s Dangerous Internet Blocking Plan (Michael Geist)
  8. Russia Blocks 500 ‘Pirate’ Sites in Four Months, Without a Single Court Order
  9. Bell offers free phone unlocking for all following protests: Telecom had declined requests from non-customers but has changed its policy 
  10. How Bell Let’s Talk became a triple win for BCE, consumers and the mental health cause: In an era of donor fatigue and one-hit wonder online campaigns, BCE’s annual corporate social responsibility effort continues to succeed despite criticism from skeptic
  11. Here’s Ajit Pai’s “proof” that killing net neutrality created more broadband: Pai’s FCC takes credit for broadband deployments that began under Obama.
  12. There are Ajit Pai “Verizon puppet” jokes that the FCC doesn’t want you to read: FCC won’t release emails about joke “collusion” video, says they would harm agency.
  13. Trump’s FCC Pats Itself On The Back For A Historically Stupid Year
  14. FCC Report Falsely Claims Killing Net Neutrality Already Helping Broadband Competition 
  15. ISPs must follow net neutrality in New Jersey, governor declares: ISPs can’t block or throttle traffic if they sell broadband to state agencies.
  16. California’s Net Neutrality Law Takes Another Step Forward
  17. New Jersey The Latest State To Protect Net Neutrality By Executive Order
  18. San Francisco seeks universal fiber broadband with net neutrality and privacy: Affordable broadband and consumer protections for all—that’s the plan at least.
  19. FCC Reaches Consent Decree with Noncommercial Broadcaster Imposing Largest Fine Ever Issued for Underwriting Violations – $115,000
  20. FTC issues comments on FCC’s robocall blocking rules 
  21. Trump Administration Proposes Construction of Federal 5G Wireless Network
  22. A New Frequency Range Could Open Up More Wireless Tech
  23. Comcast accused of demanding $3.5 million “punitive ransom” from rival: Wave Broadband says it had to pay big bucks to avoid losing sports networks.

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Right to be Forgotten, eh? Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Says Law Requires Search Engine De-indexing
  2. Canadian Privacy Commissioner Report Says Existing Law Already Gives Canadians A Right To Be Forgotten
  3. It is time to overhaul Canada’s data protection—your rights are at stake – Opinion: A draft position by Canada’s privacy commissioner on the right to be forgotten shows how our inadequate laws are being overstretched
  4. Here’s what you need to know about Canada’s ‘extraordinarily permissive’ new spying laws
  5. China Exporting Its Surveillance Tech And Philosophy To Other Countries, Helped By Equipment Donations
  6. Devin Nunes Releases Memo That Doesn’t Show The Surveillance Abuses He Hypocritically ‘Cares’ About
  7. Missouri Governor Sued Over His Office’s Use Of Self-Destructing Communications
  8. Judge should order governor to stop using ephemeral messaging app, lawyers say – Missouri governor’s lawyer: Use of Confide is protected under the First Amendment.
  9. Single-Pixel Tracker Leads Paranoid Turkish Authorities To Wrongly Accuse Over 10,000 People Of Treason
  10. Digital insecurity of journalists in Pakistan: DRF report
  11. IBM’s New AI Can Predict Psychosis in Your Speech
  12. The Equifax “Lock & Alert” app works, but what does it do?: Equifax’s new free phone app can “lock” your Equifax credit report. Just beware of typos.
  13. Hacker Lauri Love Wins Extradition Appeal; Won’t Be Shipped Off To The US
  14. In just 24 hours, 5,000 Android devices are conscripted into mining botnet: Worm-like infection targets devices that have seldom-used port 5555 open.
  15. Why cops won’t need a warrant to pull the data off your autonomous car: “It’s like instant replay in the NFL; I can tell what happened.”
  16. Facial Recognition in Retail: “Attention all Shoppers: We Already Know Everything about You”
  17. The House That Spied on Me
  18. Mind The Gap: This Researcher Steals Data With Noise, Light, And Magnets
  19. GDPR: The Most Frequently Asked Questions: Is a Service Provider’s Privacy Shield Certification Good Enough?
  20. Children and the GDPR
  21. Data is power: Towards additional guidance on profiling and automated decision-making in the GDPR (Frederike Kaltheuner, Elettra Bietti)

Jon

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News of the Week; January 31, 2018

By Jon Festinger on February 12, 2018

GAMES

  1. Twitch wins $1.3m lawsuit against view bots: California judge orders bot makers to shut down and pay damages to leading streaming platform
  2. Twitch viewbot makers ordered to pay nearly $1.4 million in lawsuit loss: Twitch filed a lawsuit against several botmakers in 2016, accusing them of reducing the quality of the service.
  3. New Twitch Rival Caffeine, With $46 Million In Funding, Focuses On Social Element Of Live Gaming
  4. Ex-Apple TV Execs Have Raised $46 Million for Live-Broadcasting Startup Caffeine
  5. Mixer getting in-stream tipping and game purchases
  6. Valve appeal against $2.4m fine extends four-year legal battle in Australia: Steam firm was fined for lack of refund policy but intends to fight back – despite previous failed appeal
  7. Games industry generated $108.4bn in revenues in 2017: $82bn generated by free-to-play games, esports on track to be a $1bn business in 2018
  8. EA makes $186m Q3 loss despite rising digital revenue: Packaged sales fell 18%, but digital revenue now 67% of total earnings
  9. EA posts a loss on better-than-expected revenues for the holiday season
  10. Star Wars Battlefront II disappoints with over 7 million sold: Anthem delayed to 2019 to give it more space from next Battlefield game, holiday competition; Respawn Star Wars game to launch by April 2020
  11. Xbox One X drives increase in Microsoft games revenue 
  12. Blizzard is monitoring YouTube videos to curb toxic Overwatch behavior
  13. Blizzard Using Social Media To Find Toxic Overwatch Players: Game director Jeff Kaplan noted that abusive chat is down since new features were implemented.
  14. Overwatch director says toxicity not solved, but improving: Abusive chat is down 17% and player reports are up 20% as Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan says “we’re restoring faith in the system”
  15. Washington state senator introduces bill to tackle the big loot box debate
  16. Washington state senator introduces bill to determine whether loot boxes are gambling: “If [parents] realised how predatory these game are then they wouldn’t want them under their Christmas tree, they wouldn’t want them going to their kids,” says senator
  17. The legislative fight over loot boxes expands to Washington state: New bill would require the gambling commission to weigh in on randomized items.
  18. Coffee Stain launches funding initiative to promote gender equality
  19. Coffee Stain acquires and rebrands Gone North Games
  20. Coffee Stain launches gender equality fund to improve developer diversity: Goat Simulator publishers will be investing in startups that employ at least as many women as men
  21. Blog: IGDA Survey shows diversity and job stability concerns
  22. SuperData: Free-to-play games led 2017, generating $15B in revenue on PC
  23. GDC State of the Industry: Under 25% of devs will have a publisher on their next game
  24. Wrong direction? Ubisoft raising prices on Rainbow Six: Siege by $20 – New players forced to pay extra for bundled, cosmetic loot boxes.
  25. Following feedback, Ubisoft cancels Rainbow Six Siegeprice increase plans
  26. Ubisoft withdraws Rainbow Six Siege price hike: Frustrated players mean the Standard Edition will remain at $40, but Gold and Complete will still cost more
  27. Does Razer Know It Posted a Racist Meme?
  28. Call of Duty Endowment awards $30,000 each to two UK charities: RFEA – The Forces Employment Charity and Walking With The Wounded are awarded the ‘Seal of Distinction’
  29. Study examines how the top 100 bestselling games portray drug use
  30. ESRB defends its drug-related guidance after study finds video game depiction unrealistic: 32% of drug use cases acted as power-up, while 28% boosted character’s health
  31. Video Game Companies Seek DMCA Exemption for Online Video Game Preservation
  32. 212 games approved for UK games tax relief in 2017: Government initiative to fund more games development continues, with a further 182 titles receiving interim certification
  33. DotaTV Streaming
  34. The (still) uncertain state of video game streaming online: “As an industry, we don’t really follow the law and we all do it.”
  35. YouTube Gaming grew its streamer base by 343% in 2017, Twitch by 197%
  36. Analyst: YouTube Gaming saw a 343% increase in active streamers in 2017
  37. Share, Stream, and Show – How today’s teens interact with mobile games: EEDAR head of consumer research Heather Nofziger looks at how developers can appeal to the younger set without alienating older audiences
  38. Facebook lets you tip game live streamers $3+
  39. ESPN, Disney XD sign “long-term, multi-event” deal for Madden esports: Electronic Arts’ Club Championships and Ultimate League season will air on Disney-owned networks in coming months
  40. id Software co-founders confirm that its biggest games’ heroes are all related: Turns out BJ Blazkowicz, Commander Keen, and “Doomguy” could all go to the same family reunion.
  41. The Rise Of The Sponsored Professional Competitive Gamer
  42. Gary Bettman: NHL To Announce Esports Competitions
  43. Facebook To Start Paying Select Gamers As Part Of New Creator Program
  44. Facebook opens pilot program to nurture more gaming streamers: Social network also exploring new monetisation models for creators, including payments during livestreams
  45. Nintendo’s revenue rockets as Switch nears 15m sold: Super Mario Odyssey has sold more than 9m, one of eight million-sellers for Switch this fiscal year
  46. Nintendo Switch has already outsold the entire Wii U run: And Super Mario Odyssey’s attach rate is off the charts.
  47. The Nintendo Switch has officially outsold the Wii U 
  48. Switch continues to drive sales and profits at Nintendo
  49. Nintendo confirms Mario Kart Tour for smartphones, Switch Online launch window: Investor call also reaffirmed plans for 3D-animated Super Mario film, other details.
  50. Nintendo scrapping Miitomo after two years: Platform holder’s first mobile game to shut down in May, digital currency no longer on sale
  51. Nintendo’s Miitomo shutdown is a wake-up call for its smartphone track record: Miitomo will end after roughly two years, missed the mark in so many ways.
  52. Microsoft gaming business up 8%: Xbox One X launch drives year-over-year revenue growth for the holiday quarter
  53. Independent UK Retailer Consider Boycott Of Xbox Products In Wake Of Game Pass Announcement: Retailers pass on Xbox products
  54. “For the consumer, Xbox Game Pass is fantastic. For retail, it just kills us outright”: Independent games stores debate the impact of Microsoft’s decision to add new first-party releases to its subscription service
  55. Microsoft might finally have a forward-thinking game with Sea of Thieves: Similarities to PUBG are nothing but good news for this online game’s pre-release test.
  56. Microsoft Acquires Cloud-Based Gaming Company Playfab
  57. Microsoft snaps up backend service platform PlayFab
  58. Sony patents show redesigned motion controller
  59. Sony patents suggest VR-driven redesign for PlayStation Move: Updated motion controllers will include analog sticks and finger tracking technology
  60. Sony collaborates with Facebook on God of War text adventure 
  61. Step Inside the Unabomber Investigation in New Interactive VR Experience
  62. GDC State of the Industry: HTC Vive remains the most popular target for VR devs
  63. How Anamorphine strives to depict mental health differently
  64. Has an accessible games industry undermined its long-term stability?: “All stakeholders need to come together… this is a challenge for everyone,” says head of indie publishing at Square Enix West
  65. Monster Hunter: World ships record 5M units in first three days
  66. Monster Hunter World shipped 5m units in its launch weekend: Capcom says the new game is the fastest selling in the series’ history, pushing lifetime sales past 45m
  67. Capcom income surges thanks to stellar games performance: Ultra Street Fighter II on Switch is a “smash hit”, making up for “soft” sales of Marvel vs Capcom
  68. Capcom sees an overall fall in sales but increase in profits
  69. Three quarters in, both revenue and profit are up at Konami
  70. Sales and profits both climb at Konami: Decent mobile performance and 80m downloads for mobile PES lead to increased profits guidance
  71. After suggesting that Fortnite is a priority, Epic shuts down another F2P game: Bad mid-January news was followed by insider tips about Paragon’s dire fate.
  72. Epic is closing down Paragon and offering refunds to players
  73. After nearly a decade, MMO Alganon shuts down servers
  74. Motiga’s Gigantic to shut down in July
  75. Tencent invests in film, television, and VR producer Skydance Media
  76. NetEase and Mattel partner to create Mattel163 dev studio
  77. NetEase and Mattel launch new game studio: Mattel163 will make digital games based on Mattel’s IP portfolio
  78. Infamous Atari Player Disqualified From World Record After 35 Years
  79. GDC Awards to honour Tim Schafer and Rami Ismail
  80. GDC backtracks on Bushnell award; Bushnell approves: “If my personal actions… offended or caused pain to anyone at our companies, then I apologize without reservation,” says Atari founder
  81. How to Make Healthy Games
  82. Paul George’s Nike Sneakers Light Up With PlayStation-Themed Colorway
  83. The Top 25 Game Anniversaries In 2018: From Space Invaders to Doom, many amazing, design-changing games are hitting major milestones this year.
  84. Global Game Jam returns for 10th anniversary celebrations

DIGITAL

  1. The Dutch were a secret U.S. ally in war against Russian hackers, local media reveal
  2. Candid camera: Dutch hacked Russians hacking DNC, including security cameras – AIVD shared data on “Cozy Bear” with US, helping thwart 2014 State Department hack.
  3. Mueller’s Team Has Interviewed Facebook Staff As Part Of Russia Probe
  4. Tinder must stop charging its older California users more for “Plus” features – Appeal ruling includes a Tinder dating joke: “We swipe left and reverse.” 
  5. Playboy Lawsuit Raises Major Question—Can Hyperlinking Be Copyright Infringement?
  6. Appeals court rules that Tinder’s pricing violates age discrimination laws
  7. We Need To Shine A Light On Private Online Censorship
  8. Reports allege Apple making fewer iPhone Xs due to weak demand: Thursday’s earning report may tell us more about iPhone X sales so far.
  9. Apple under investigation by DOJ, SEC for disclosures of its iPhone slow-down update: The government is looking into possible securities laws violations.
  10. Ruling raises songwriter royalties from Spotify, Apple Music by 44%: The new ruling will also make it easier for them to get paid quickly.
  11. Will Spotify’s expensive US copyright shortcut be its coda?
  12. Songwriters Must Get Nearly 5% More Royalties On Streaming Sites Like YouTube, Court Decides
  13. Fighting The Future: Teamsters Demand UPS Ban Drones And Autonomous Vehicles
  14. You Can’t Trust Facebook’s Search For Trusted News
  15. CJEU dismisses Schrems’ class action but grants leave to pursue Facebook Ireland as a consumer
  16. CJEU gives Green Light for Facebook Lawsuit in Vienna
  17. Rupert Murdoch Admits, Once Again, He Can’t Make Money Online — Begs Facebook To Just Give Him Money
  18. Facebook’s Experiment in Ad Transparency Is Like Playing Hide And Seek:Starting in Canada, Facebook is rolling out a global program to prevent foreign meddling in elections. Ads targeted to a narrow audience may be seen by other Facebook users — if they look hard enough. 
  19. Will Facebook’s Recent Announcement of Changes to News Feed Affect Legal Immunities for User Content?
  20. Health Experts Ask Facebook To Shut Down Messenger Kids
  21. Facebook Wants To Fix Itself. Here’s A Better Solution.
  22. People Can Put Your Face On Porn—And The Law Can’t Help You
  23. It’s Time to Talk About Internet Companies’ Content Moderation Operations 
  24. Why The History Of Content Moderation Matters
  25. NAFTA Offers Chance for Much-Needed Internet Safe Harbour Rules in Canada (Michael Geist)
  26. ‘Revenge porn’ bill receives renewed attention amid Greitens investigation
  27. A Month After Launch, Bloomberg’s 24-Hour, Twitter-Based News Feed Gets One Million Views Per Day
  28. Now That Tech Runs The World, Let’s Retire The Hacker Ideal
  29. Japanese exchange says hackers stole over $400M in cryptocurrency
  30. Two new cryptocurrency heists make off with over $400M worth of blockchange
  31. Japanese cryptocurrencies exchange abruptly halts withdrawals: Decision spooks digital currency markets
  32. A Debate About Bitcoin That Was A Debate About Nothing
  33. Now even YouTube serves ads with CPU-draining cryptocurrency miners: Ad campaign lets attackers profit while unwitting users watch videos.
  34. Scandinavia’s largest bank just banned all its 30,000 employees from trading cryptocurrency
  35. Feds shut down alleged $600 million cryptocurrency scam: AriseBank project was endorsed by boxer Evander Holyfield.
  36. Cryptocurrency Scams Are Just Straight-Up Trolling At This Point
  37. Virtual Currency – Financial Regulations to Curb Speculation and Money Laundering 
  38. YouTube Blocks Computer-Draining Ads That Secretly Mine Cryptocurrency
  39. Ad Spend Across YouTube, Facebook Set To Reach $37 Billion By 2022 
  40. Israeli Olympian Learned To Skeleton Sled On YouTube
  41. In First-Of-Its-Kind Deal, YouTube TV To Be Exclusive Broadcasting Partner Of MLS Team
  42. Pixel team is now in-house as Google closes $1.1 billion HTC deal: The HTC/Google deal announced last year has officially been completed.
  43. Google Will Let You Mute Annoying Ads That Stalk You
  44. The Shallowness of Google Translate: The program uses state-of-the-art AI techniques, but simple tests show that it’s a long way from real understanding.
  45. The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google
  46. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Google CEO Sundar Pichai Talk Jobs In Recode, MSNBC Interview
  47. The Dangers Of Keeping Women Out Of Tech
  48. Vice Chief Digital Officer, Previously Suspended After Report Of Sexual Misconduct, Will Not Return To Role
  49. Vice Media has fired the founder of its digital ad agency Carrot Creative following a sexual misconduct investigation
  50. Vice Media Goes After Vice Industry Token, A Porn Crypto-Currency Company, For Trademark
  51. FTC Staff Report: Consumer Recognition of Paid Search Advertising Online, Native Advertising
  52. Fitbit slaps expiration date on Pebble smartwatch support: Devices will continue to work after that date, but key features won’t be supported. 
  53. Can Our Phones Save Us From Our Phones?
  54. Your New Best Friend: AI Chatbot 
  55. Artificial Intelligence May Have Cracked Freaky 600-Year-Old Manuscript
  56. Google hired professional photographers to help train its AI camera
  57. Algorithms and Justice: Scrapping the ‘Black Box’
  58. Can an Algorithm Tell When Kids Are in Danger?: Child protective agencies are haunted when they fail to save kids. Pittsburgh officials believe a new data analysis program is helping them make better judgment calls.
  59. The case against understanding why AI makes decisions
  60. This op-ed wasn’t written by AI
  61. Microsoft’s “Ink to Code” turns drawings into user interfaces: Early prototype is being developed as a “Garage” project.
  62. Microsoft 2Q18: Trump tax hit turns strong quarter into $6.3B loss: Taxes aside, revenue was up 12 percent and operating income up 10 percent. 
  63. Shocking Report Suggests Some Celebrities May Be Buying Social Media Followers
  64. DraftKings Cofounder Sees Big Future With Foray Into Live Streaming
  65. Pablo Escobar’s Brother Gives Up His Quest For A Billion Dollar Extortion Of Netflix Over ‘Narcos’
  66. Insights: Netflix’s Great Week Leaves Pretenders Chasing The Dream
  67. What Does It Mean That Netflix, Amazon Left Sundance Empty-Handed?
  68. After dominating Sundance for 2 years, Netflix and Amazon bought zero movies at the festival this time around — and insiders told us why
  69. Amazon Video Direct’s New Compensation Rates May Leave Creators Feeling Burned
  70. Now Amazon is disrupting fashion retail, too: Ecommerce giant is set to overtake Macy’s as the largest seller of clothing in the US
  71. Walmart joins, well, most of its competitors in selling e-books: Kobo e-books, audiobooks, and e-readers are coming to Walmart stores.
  72. Fujifilm acquires Xerox for $6.1 billion: The new company, Fuji Xerox, will have a combined revenue of $18 billion. 

CREATIVITY

  1. ‘We Shall Overcome’ Overcomes Bogus Copyright Claim — Officially In The Public Domain
  2. Grumpy Cat still grumpy despite big copyright verdict 
  3. Do ‘Fast and Furious’ Movies Cause a Rise in Speeding?: Evidence suggests you may want to be more cautious near theaters in April 2020, when “Fast and Furious 9” is expected to arrive.
  4. Another Day, Another Flimsy Report Claiming TV Cord Cutting Won’t Save You Money
  5. Vegas Golden Knights Brand in Free-Fall?  
  6. The NFL Pretending Trademark Law Says Something It Doesn’t Leads To Hilariously Amateurish Ads For ‘The Big Game’
  7. Salt Lake Comic Con Files For A New Trial And Seeks Round 2
  8. Freud hid Bacon masterpiece for years to spite him 
  9. Spanish Government Uses Hate Speech Law To Arrest Critic Of The Spanish Government
  10. Israelis sue New Zealanders over cancelled Lorde concert
  11. Are women taking back Hollywood?
  12. Don’t Make the TPP Mistake Again: Why Canada Needs to Maintain a Progressive Approach on IP in NAFTA (Michael Geist)
  13. TPP Is Back, Minus Copyright Provisions And Pharma Patent Extensions, In A Clear Snub To Trump And The US
  14. Sarajevo’s City Government Says No One Can Use The Name ‘Sarajevo’ Without Its Permission 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. New York, Montana governors sign executive orders to safeguard net neutrality 
  2. Montana to FCC: You can’t stop us from protecting net neutrality – Montana governor is ready for lawsuits over attempt to protect net neutrality.
  3. New York Governor Signs Executive Order on Net Neutrality, as AT&T CEO Calls for Internet Bill of Rights
  4. Net neutrality will be enforced in New York under orders from governor: Executive order prevents state from buying Internet service that isn’t neutral.
  5. California Senate defies FCC, approves net neutrality law: Net neutrality takes big step forward in California, but lawsuits loom.
  6. The GAO Says It Will Investigate Bogus Net Neutrality Comments, Eventually
  7. Mayor quits FCC committee, says it favors ISPs over the public interest: Ajit Pai accused of tilting broadband committee toward industry representatives. 
  8. City-Run Broadband Can Keep Net Neutrality Alive–And It’s Cheap
  9. FCC Hopes Its Phony Dedication To Rural Broadband Will Make You Forget It Killed Net Neutrality
  10. FCC ‘Broadband Advisory Panel’ Faces Accusations Of Cronyism
  11. The Same FCC That Ignored Science To Kill Net Neutrality Has Created An ‘Office Of Economics & Analysis’
  12. Listen Up, Music Lovers: Here’s Why Net Neutrality Matters
  13. “Check your Comcast bill for unwanted fees,” new consumer alert says: Washington AG received 74 more complaints since amending lawsuit against Comcast. 
  14. Harvard Study Shows Community-Owned ISPs Offer Lower, More Transparent Prices
  15. Google Fiber’s wireless Internet service is leaving Boston: Google Fiber’s Webpass division will continue operating in seven other markets. 
  16. Sometimes, a Rule Means Just What it Says – FCC Denies TV Station Satellite Must-Carry Request Because it Was Not Sent By Certified Mail 
  17. Time for the FCC to Review Children’s Television Educational Programming Obligations of Broadcasters? Commissioner O’Rielly Thinks So 
  18. Comment Dates Set on National TV Ownership Caps – Can and Should the FCC Amend the 39% Audience Cap? 
  19. Supreme Court stays Bell’s Super Bowl appeal, so U.S. ads will air in Canada this year: Hearing still to be held over whether Canadians can watch U.S. ads during football game
  20. Here Is Your Yearly Reminder That You Can Find Super Bowl Ads On YouTube’s AdBlitz Channel
  21. Canadian Parliamentary Committee Recommends Changes and Clarifications to Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Draft OPC Position on Online Reputation (Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada)
  2. OPC Report Asserts Pipeda Protections Are Similar To EU “Right To Be Forgotten”
  3. Why a Canadian right to be forgotten creates more problems than it solves (Michael Geist)
  4. Expectation of Privacy in Text Message Conversations More Stringent in Canada Than the U.S.
  5. Troll networks threaten the 2019 Canadian federal election: UBC – Researcher says election laws need to be updated to protect from digital interference
  6. Minnesota Supreme Court Says Unlocking A Phone With A Fingerprint Isn’t A Fifth Amendment Issue
  7. UK Appeals Court Says GCHQ’s Mass Collection Of Internet Communications Is Illegal
  8. EU’s Highest Court Says Privacy Activist Can Litigate Against Facebook In Austria, But Not As Part Of A Class Action
  9. Happy Data Privacy Day! A turning point for anonymity, privacy, and the tools that deliver them
  10. Huawei loses another carrier deal as spying fears impede its US growth: Following AT&T’s lead, now Verizon has dropped plans to sell the Chinese phones.
  11. Scoop: Trump team considers nationalizing 5G network
  12. To counter China, White House memo suggests a nationalized 5G network: Memo claims government-run network would keep US safe from foreign attacks.
  13. Trump Administration May Build 5G Network to Protect Against Cyber Threats: The U.S. government has concerns over whether or not existing technologies might allow for China to spy on sensitive information. One proposed solution is to develop a 5G network
  14. Leaked Trump Plan To ‘Nationalize’ Nation’s 5G Networks A Bizarre, Unrealistic Pipe Dream
  15. China’s Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone: The country is perfecting a vast network of digital espionage as a means of social control – with implications for democracies worldwide.
  16. FBI Director Chris Wray Says Secure Encryption Backdoors Are Possible; Sen. Ron Wyden Asks Him To Produce Receipts
  17. Fitness tracking app reveals US army secrets?
  18. Fitness app that revealed military bases highlights bigger privacy issues
  19. Fitness Tracker Data Exposes Military Operations, Shows What Damage That Can Be Done With ‘Just Metadata’
  20. “Heatmap” for social athlete’s app reveals secret bases, secret places: Data map inadvertently reveals movements of people in dangerous and sensitive places.
  21. Fitness tracking app Strava gives away location of secret US army bases: Data about exercise routes shared online by soldiers can be used to pinpoint overseas facilities
  22. The Strava Heat Map And The End Of Secrets
  23. Unintended Consequences Of EU’s New Internet Privacy Rules: Facebook Won’t Use AI To Catch Suicidal Users
  24. The Latest Data Privacy Debacle
  25. High-severity vulnerability in Lenovo laptops let hackers access passwords
  26. Disrupting The Fourth Amendment: Half Of Law Enforcement E-Warrants Approved In 10 Minutes Or Less
  27. Harris Stingray Nondisclosure Agreement Forbids Cops From Telling Legislators About Surveillance Tech
  28. Senate IT Tells Staffers They’re On Their Own When It Comes To Personal Devices And State-Sponsored Hackers
  29. With Google, Bitcoins, and USPS, Feds realize it’s stupid easy to buy fentanyl: Simple search led investigators to sales of $766 million worth of fentanyl.
  30. Menacing Android botnet still thrives 16 months after coming to light: “DressCode” poses a major risk, because it opens a direct connection to infected phones.
  31. Cisco drops a mega-vulnerability alert for VPN devices: By using “crafted XML,” attacker could take over routers, security gateways.
  32. Look Out: Chrome Extension Malware Has Evolved
  33. IoT garage opener now more open, a year after customer firestorm: Founder says Ars “reaffirmed consumers’ concerns about true ownership of IoT devices.”
  34. Vulnerable industrial controls directly connected to Internet? Why not?: Even some devices with patches available are connected to the naked Internet.
  35. A Year in the Life of a Phishing Operation
  36. More than 2,000 WordPress websites are infected with a keylogger: Malicious script logs passwords and just about anything else admins or visitors type.
  37. In a first, US hit by “Jackpotting” attacks that empty ATMs in minutes: Malware causes machines to quickly dispense huge amounts of cash.
  38. Your Sloppy Bitcoin Drug Deals Will Haunt You For Years
  39. New York Police Union Sues NYPD To Block Public Release Of Body Camera Footage
  40. My Question To Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein On Encryption Backdoors
  41. GDPR will change world-wide privacy on May 25, 2018: here are 13 key GDPR terms you better know! 

Jon

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News of the Week; January 24, 2018

By Jon Festinger on January 30, 2018

GAMES

  1. Court rules illegal bot makers must pay $1.3 million to Twitch
  2. Judge Orders Makers Of Illegal Bots To Pay Twitch $1.3 Million
  3. It Kind Of Looks Like Crytek Sued Star Citizen Developer By Pretending Its Engine License Says Something It Doesn’t
  4. Legal Analysis of the ESL Genting Situation & DMCA
  5. Athletes’ Right of Publicity Claims Directed to Sports Video Games Not Preempted by Copyright Act 
  6. Valve appeals $2.4M fine as Australian legal battle rages on
  7. Atari Settles Kit Kat Spat With Nestle
  8. Atari looks to equity crowdfunding for RollerCoaster Tycoon Switch release
  9. Professors Stick Up for Game Producers Against Lindsay Lohan Swipe
  10. The heavy cost of toxic work culture: Regardless of the truth of the allegations of harassment and toxicity at Quantic Dream, many in the industry will have found the claims all too familiar
  11. How crunch is more than a labor issue in the video game industry
  12. Trion Worlds adds premium server with “no lootboxes” to Rift: Rift Prime server’s “progressively unlocked content” a response to debate in the wider industry
  13. Report provides ethical ways for devs to monetize games
  14. PUBG Corp. to donate $2M in lootbox proceeds to charity
  15. PUBG Corp donating $2m to charity: $1m charity campaign planned for later in the year following various donations in 2017
  16. PUBG Corp. to kick off 2018 expansion with new Amsterdam office: CEO Chang Han Kim also explains why there is no PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds movie in the works
  17. Unlocked PS4 consoles can now run copies of PS2 games: Recent exploit also allows for homebrew and PS4 game piracy.
  18. “We are giving back the true ownership of the assets to players”: French startup B2Expand is using blockchain tech to let players own and sell in-game items for Beyond the Void, and Ubisoft is helping
  19. ESA: The U.S. game industry saw $36B in revenue in 2017
  20. US games industry revenue hits record $36bn in 2017: Industry revenue sees 18% growth over 2016 with strong performance from hardware and software sales
  21. US console, PC market up 11% in 2017 – NPD: Hardware sales drove growth and Switch drove hardware sales as number of retail releases trend upward
  22. Digital game sales up 17% in December – Superdata: Research firm finds gamers worldwide spent nearly $10 billion on games as Call of Duty – World War II and Grand Theft Auto Online break records
  23. Mobile gaming sessions down by 16% in 2017 but users spending more money than ever: Meanwhile, larger high-end mobile devices seize 55% of market
  24. Ubisoft adds a digital assistant to its Ubisoft Club companion app
  25. Google Play aims to “fundamentally change the trajectory” of Indian game revenues: Director of Apps & Games Purnima Kochikar on the role of India in teaching developers to “build for billions”
  26. Aristocrat buys Big Fish for $990 million: Australian casino firm follows up $500m Plarium acquisition with another huge deal
  27. Denuvo Sold To Irdeto, Which Boasts Of Acquiring ‘The World Leader In Gaming Security’
  28. Game security outfit Denuvo acquired by cybersecurity specialist Irdeto
  29. Is Patreon a viable alternative to funding the indie dev dream?: Breaking the mould: Sokpop’s antithetical approach to games development
  30. Teaching players to rig elections
  31. Xbox is preparing for a post-console future: The latest Game Pass subscription offering is the next step in Microsoft’s hardwareless future
  32. Xbox Game Pass service getting first-party exclusives at launch
  33. Xbox Game Pass subscription service to include all first party games: Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 2 and State of Decay 2 will launch day and date on the service
  34. Minecraft sets new monthly active users record at 74M
  35. Minecraft reaches 74m MAUs from 144m sales: Monthly active users are up 35 per cent in the space of a year
  36. EVE Online community raises $119k in memory of departed dev
  37. Nintendo Labo: the next Wonderbook?: The Switch’s latest bold attempt to win over kids can’t work, can it?
  38. Nintendo’s share price jumps on Labo reveal: Games giant returning to ten year-high after major project showcase
  39. Crazy kaiju-robot antics only hint at Nintendo Labo’s true potential: We examine limited footage to figure out the robot suit—and predict Labo’s future.
  40. Gamasutra Asks: What to make of Nintendo Labo?
  41. Switch sold 1.5 million in US for December: Nintendo says its latest is the fastest-selling home console in US history; 3DS posts best monthly sales in three years
  42. Nintendo hardware sold a combined 2.6M units in December alone
  43. GDC State of the Industry: Dev interest in Nintendo Switch up, VR interest down
  44. Stardew Valley was the most-downloaded Switch title in 2017
  45. Stardew Valley was the world’s most downloaded Switch title in 2017 – But Minecraft: Switch Edition dominates in home territory of Japan
  46. Nintendo doesn’t seem to be “looking into” VR very much anymore: 4K update doesn’t seem to be in the immediate cards for the Switch, either.
  47. Oculus creates a new, open source unit of time to measure frame rates
  48. Video: Examining educational games through the lens of ‘fun’
  49. Facepunch Studios’ Rust to leave Early Access after four years: February release will arrive without any “big reveals”, but will come with more stable development and a $15 price increase
  50. Years after predicted “death,” game consoles are doing better than ever: Switch leads the way, but the entire console market is thriving.
  51. An MMO goes full circle, promises to bring subscriptions back this year: Rift went F2P in 2013. Rift Prime will undo that change—and on a separate server, to boot.
  52. Chinese mobile game market sees consumer spending rise by 250% since 2015
  53. Overwatch League player benched following homophobic remarks during livestream: Dallas Fuel’s Felix “xQc” Lengyel suspended until February 10
  54. Athletes’ right of publicity claims directed to sports video games not preempted by Copyright Act 
  55. Is eSports the next big sensation?
  56. Mail.Ru Group acquires Russian eSports leader ESforce for $100M
  57. Mail.Ru acquires largest Russian esports company in $100m deal: Esports “forecast by some to overtake the traditional sports market over the next decade,” says Mail.Ru CEO
  58. Nazara buys majority stake in Indian esports firm: Nodwin Gaming sells 55 per cent stake, will now operate as a subsidiary of Nazara
  59. Facebook signs eSports streaming agreement for CS: GO Pro League and ESL One
  60. ESL signs exclusive streaming deal with Facebook for CS:GO, Dota 2 esports: The esports league will also create a new show for Facebook Watch
  61. Facebook Goes Deeper Into Twitch’s Territory With Exclusive Esports Streaming Deal
  62. Gfinity: “We’re getting ready for when the esports revenue finally takes off” – Esports firm discusses its Elite series, why it’s partnering with EA and getting ready for the inevitable esports revenue
  63. Anthem delayed to 2019 – Report: BioWare devs tell Kotaku the studio is feeling the pressure of EA’s expectations and YouTubers’ anger
  64. Twitch inks deal to broadcast exclusive content from top Disney YouTubers: What do you Maker that.
  65. Twitch challenges YouTube with new video producer tools, Disney partnership: Four of YouTube’s most popular gamers will produce “exclusive” Twitch content.
  66. Twitch reaches exclusive Disney deal, swipes at YouTube with prerecorded video tools
  67. Maker’s Jacksepticeye, Strawburry17 To Create Exclusive Twitch Content As Part Of New Disney Deal
  68. Echo Fox President Jared Jeffries On Crossover Of NBA And Esports
  69. ESports Disputes: Choosing your battleground
  70. MLB Is Making R.B.I. Baseball 18: Priced at $29.99 on PS4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
  71. Do we even need a Netflix for games?: All forms of entertainment have perfected the on-demand model – except video games. We speak to the firms striving to rectify this
  72. Investors Poured a Record $2 Billion into VR/AR in 2017, But Early Stage Funding Slowed
  73. ‘VRChat’ Reaches 2 Million Installs, Doubling in the Last Ten Days
  74. Virtual Reality Users Watch Helplessly as Another User Has In-Game Seizure: “There was nothing we could do.”
  75. U.S. Olympic Athletes Are Using Virtual Reality to Train for Events
  76. U.S. Ski Team Trained In Virtual Reality For Pyeongchang Olympics
  77. More data, “real feedback” would greatly benefit indies – Clever Endeavour CEO: Ultimate Chicken Horse developer Richard Atlas lays out the biggest challenges he sees facing his studio after its first success
  78. UK Games Fund opens for fourth round, grants of up to £25,000 available: Pitch development programme announced for developers who don’t meet the UKGF criteria
  79. Drawn to Death developer lays off ‘vast majority’ of staff
  80. To build a future, Italy’s games industry must reckon with its past: Cultural prejudice against games remains strong in Italy, but the AESVI and its development community have gained vital ground on the path to acceptance
  81. The Mysterious Japanese Game That Took 14 Years To Officially Come Out
  82. Call of Duty WWII and Historical Memory
  83. Virtual Worlds Designed by Their Inhabitants

DIGITAL

  1. Canadian Court Asserts Jurisdiction over Craigslist Based on Cloud-Based Virtual Presence in Canada 
  2. Free Internet-Service Contracts Caught up by Consumer Protection Legislation in Quebec
  3. Appeals Court Says Accessing Data In A Way The Host Doesn’t Like Doesn’t Violate Computer Crime Laws
  4. DMCA Counternotification Doesn’t Create Personal Jurisdiction in Copyright Owner’s Home Court–Real v. Matteo (Eric Goldman)
  5. Tech Policy A Year Into The Trump Administration: Where Are We Now?
  6. Donald Trump one year on: How the Twitter President changed social media and the country’s top office – Mr Trump has weaponised Twitter, using it not just to reach the masses but to control the news agenda through bluster and distraction
  7. Senators ask social media execs to investigate “ReleaseTheMemo” hashtag: Meanwhile, WikiLeaks is offering to pay for a leaked copy of the memo in question.
  8. Twitter begins emailing the 677,775 Americans who took Russian election bait
  9. Russia-linked Twitter accounts are working overtime to help Devin Nunes and WikiLeaks
  10. Here’s why the epidemic of malicious ads grew so much worse last year: Forced redirects from Zirconium group push phony malware and fake Flash updates.
  11. Italian Government Criminalizes ‘Fake News,’ Provides Direct Reporting Line To State Police Force
  12. Brazilian Government Mobilizes Federal Police To Handle ‘Fake News’ Problem
  13. Psychiatrist Bitterly Drops Defamation Lawsuit Against Redditors
  14. Battling Botnets – Evolving U.S. Government Policies and Frameworks to Address Security and Resiliency Challenges
  15. Apple Successfully Avoids $50 Billion in American Taxes
  16. iOS 11.3 will be about more than just performance throttling options; AR is the focus: iOS 11.3 will add a performance throttling toggle and updates to Messages.
  17. EFF to Court: Linking Is Not Copyright Infringement
  18. EFF Tells Court That Boing Boing Linking To Playboy Images Is Not Infringement
  19. YouTube Musician Chrissy Chambers Wins Benchmark Revenge Porn Lawsuit
  20. Southwest’s Nonsense Lawsuit Over A Site That Made $45 Helping People Book Cheaper Flights
  21. Philippines Trying To Shut Down Popular News Site For Reporting On President Duterte
  22. The Constant Pressure For YouTube To Police ‘Bad’ Content Means That It’s Becoming A Gatekeeper 
  23. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Receive Praise From European Commission For Anti-Terrorist Efforts 
  24. What Has Tech Done To Fix Its Harassment Problem?
  25. YouTube is setting up an ‘Intelligence Desk’ to weed out dicey content before it raises bigger brand safety concerns
  26. Many Of YouTube’s Top Stars Have Come Out In Favor Of Partner Program Changes
  27. Logan Paul Returns To YouTube, Pledges To Donate $1 Million To Suicide Prevention Organizations
  28. Hotel Bans Influencers After YouTuber Proposes Free Stay In Exchange For Publicity
  29. Hotel That Banned Influencers Has Released #Bloggergate-Inspired Merch
  30. Millions of ‘Under-Connected’ American Families Experience A Whole Different Internet
  31. Demonized Smartphones Are Just Our Latest Technological Scapegoat
  32. Marriott Freezes Its Social Media Globally, And Makes Grovelling Apology To China, All For A Drop-Down Menu And Liking A Tweet
  33. China’s Solution To The VPN Quandary: Only Authorized, And Presumably Backdoored, Crypto Links Allowed
  34. Tunisia’s Plans To Bring In Its Own National ‘Aadhaar’ Biometric ID System Halted — For Now
  35. YouTube To Invest $5 Million In Creators Who Counter Hate And Promote Tolerance
  36. Insights: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, And Google’s Charm Offensive or: FANGs Make Nice With America
  37. Google CEO Reaffirms Firing James Damore Was the Way to Go, ‘I Don’t Regret It’
  38. Enforcement of Foreign Court Order. District court grants preliminary injunction preventing enforcement in the United States of Canadian court order requiring Google to delist certain search results worldwide
  39. Alphabet launches a cybersecurity company called “Chronicle”: It’s a “cybersecurity intelligence platform” powered by Alphabet’s servers.
  40. YouTube to Invest $5 Million This Year in Creators Who Promote ‘Empathy and Understanding’
  41. YouTube Deletes Channel Of Former USA Gymnastics Doctor Larry Nassar
  42. AARP Is Embracing YouTube, And The 50-Plus Crowd Is Sticking Around To Watch
  43. YouTube TV Has Amassed 300,000 Subscribers, While Hulu Live TV Counts 450,000 (Report)
  44. YouTube’s Consolidation Of Music Hubs Will Lessen Prominence Of Vevo-Branded Channels
  45. YouTube Will Merge Vevo Channel Subscribers Into Unified ‘Official’ Music Artist Accounts
  46. Competition in the digital age: How to tame the tech titans – The dominance of Google, Facebook and Amazon is bad for consumers and competition
  47. Amazon names 20 “finalist” cities in its new headquarters beauty pageant: Expansion candidates include most major East Coast cities, plus a few surprises.
  48. Today’s the day you can go to Amazon Go—a store with no queues and no cash: Until now, only Amazon employees could use the high-tech, hyper-convenient store. 
  49. Amazon Go debuts, and its prying cameras foil our shoplifting attempts
  50. Netflix Added Record 8.3 Million Subs Last Quarter, Will Test 15-Minute Stand-Up Special Format
  51. Netflix Lost $39 Million After Canceling Kevin Spacey Projects
  52. The Internet Is Enabling a New Kind of Poorly Paid Hell: For some Americans, sub-minimum-wage online tasks are the only work available.
  53. A New Service Would Make Deep Learning More Accessible to Millions of Coders
  54. Why This Intercontinental Quantum-Encrypted Video Hangout Is A Big Deal
  55. We Need to Open the AI Black Box Before It’s Too Late
  56. Software used in judicial decisions meets its equal in random amateurs: Software used to predict if people being sentenced will commit another crime.
  57. Forget The Robot Singularity Apocalypse. Let’s Talk About The Multiplicity
  58. People Keep Confusing Their Teslas For Self-Driving Cars
  59. The End of the Awl and the Vanishing of Freedom and Fun from the Internet
  60. Spotify Launches Visual-Podcast Strategy in Bid to Expand Beyond Music
  61. Spotify’s Spotlight Section Will Blend Podcasts, Images, Videos To Create New Media Offering
  62. Spotify Retools Content Strategy With a Pivot Away From Video
  63. Users Can Now Share Snapchat Stories Outside Of Snapchat
  64. Snapchat is no longer a private, disappearing, messaging app
  65. Snapchat Stories Can Now Live Outside The App
  66. ESPN Finds Success With Katie Nolan Hosting SportsCenter On Snapchat
  67. Snap Lays Off Two Dozen Staffers — Predominantly Within Its Content Division
  68. New Report: Digital Threats to Democratic Elections 
  69. Not Your Grandad’s Facebook? Targeted Social Media Ads Spur Age Discrimination Lawsuit 
  70. Facebook’s Bad Idea: Crowdsourced Ratings Work For Toasters, But Not News – Opinion – User reviews might work when you’re shopping for a phone charger on Amazon, but crowdsourcing “news” was what got us into this mess in the first place.
  71. Facebook Has Coined a New Unit of Time Called “the Flick”
  72. I Can’t Believe How Dumb Facebook’s News Feed Update Is 
  73. What the Heck Happened to the Cryptocurrency This Week?!
  74. Hackers Have Walked Off With About 14% of Big Digital Currencies
  75. Hacking and theft: the dark side of Blockchain
  76. Confessions Of A Bitcoin Sceptic (Andres Gudamuz)
  77. Major payment company: “Fewer and fewer use cases” for bitcoin payments – Stripe: bitcoin is “better-suited to being an asset than a means of exchange.”
  78. Marathon Patent Group Acquires Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Transmission Patents
  79. Here’s why you can’t buy a high-end graphics card at Best Buy: “Cryptocurrency can’t crash soon enough,” one gamer fumes.
  80. Blockchain technology could spell the end of DRM, says Robot Cache founder: Products tracked on the blockchain can’t be copied or altered, allowing users to resell their digital goods
  81. We Put The Entire Internet On The Blockchain—And You Can Too
  82. Rise of Blockchain and ICOs Brings Regulatory Scrutiny
  83. A Rescue Drone Saved Two Teen Swimmers on Its First Day of Deployment 
  84. Intel in meltdown over security breach lawsuit
  85. Inside Intel’s Plans To Capture The Olympics In Virtual Reality
  86. The Digital Poorhouse
  87. Microsoft’s “Ink to Code” turns drawings into user interfaces: Early prototype is being developed as a “Garage” project.
  88. Sequel To ‘Man From Earth’ To Be Released On Pirate Sites By Its Creators
  89. Primary care online – A revolution in modern society or a professional minefield?
  90. Copyright in data file formats from SAS to Technomed
  91. Cloud Communities: The Dawn of Global Citizenship? 
  92. The Cyberlaw Guide to Protest Art: Roadmap
  93. Twenty-Five Years Later: What Happened to Progressive Tech Policy?: A glimpse at how the Internet has changed over time
  94. Bring in the Nerds: Reviving the Office of Technology Assessment 

CREATIVITY

  1. Now Another Judge Smacks Around A Guardaley Shell Company Acting As A Copyright Troll 
  2. Hitting the right notes – Florence Foster Jenkins provides helpful guidance on joint ownership of copyright
  3. The Strange Copyright of Doctor Who
  4. Anything Your Heart Designs: Swarovski Hit with Copyright Infringement of Galatea’s “Two In One Heart” Design
  5. Grumpy Cat wins $710,000 payout in copyright lawsuit
  6. Protect your design: Recent developments in Canadian copyright law 
  7. IP: Copyright – 3D Printing Complicates Copyright
  8. K-pop superstars T-ara vow to fight for rights to their name; experts predict bitter legal battle ahead
  9. Brexit: opportunity or threat for the Art industry?
  10. UK Begins Absolutely Bonkers ‘Education’ Of Grade Schoolers About Intellectual Property And Piracy 
  11. US Army Files Dumb Trademark Opposition Against The NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights
  12. Censorship By Weaponizing Free Speech: Rethinking How The Marketplace Of Ideas Works
  13. Engineered for Dystopia: Engineering is full of authoritarians who, predictably, take all the wrong lessons from pop culture 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Bell Canada, et al. v. Attorney General of Canada (Motion to Stay CRTC Decision Denied, January 24, 2018)
  2. Vice’s Canadian cable TV channel is going off the air, after low ratings and reported losses for the $100 million joint venture 
  3. Mozilla, Consumer Groups Sue The FCC For Its Attack On Net Neutrality
  4. Net neutrality comment fraud will be investigated by government: Democrats requested investigation after millions of people were impersonated.
  5. Net neutrality is bad? 1 million PornHub employees can’t be wrong. Oh, wait: Millions of comments sent to FCC through bulk system used fake email addresses.
  6. Senate Push To Save Net Neutrality Needs Just One Vote, But You Still Shouldn’t Get Your Hopes Up
  7. Sorry, FCC: Montana is enforcing net neutrality with new executive order – State enforces net neutrality in government contracts, despite FCC preemption. 
  8. State AGs file protective petition to stop rollback of net neutrality rules; Senate Democrats announce plans to reverse FCC rule
  9. Montana Governor Takes Preserving Net Neutrality Into His Own Hands 
  10. Montana becomes the first state to implement net neutrality: Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock signs executive order requiring ISPs with state contracts to treat all content equally.
  11. Montana Says It Won’t Do Business With Net Neutrality Violating ISPs
  12. AT&T CEO’s net neutrality plan calls for regulation of websites: AT&T also wants to make sure net neutrality law won’t be too strict.
  13. AT&T’s Bogus ‘Internet Bill Of Rights’ Aims To Undermine Net Neutrality, Foist Regulation Upon Silicon Valley Competitors
  14. FCC Won’t Redefine ‘Broadband;’ Move Could Have Worsened Digital Divide
  15. FCC Backtracks on Boneheaded Plan to Redefine Broadband 
  16. FCC admits mobile can’t replace home Internet, won’t lower speed standard: Pai offers no data for claim that Title II repeal boosts broadband construction.
  17. FCC Backs Off Plan to Weaken Broadband Definition, But Still Can’t Admit Limited Competition Is A Problem
  18. Apple rejects net neutrality testing app, says it offers “no benefits to users”: Researcher’s iPhone app tests speeds of YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, and more. 
  19. The net neutrality testing app that Apple rejected is available now: App tests video speeds to help researchers gather data for throttling study.
  20. Apple’s Incoherent App Approval Process Strikes Again, Net Neutrality App Banned For No Real Reason
  21. A Comcast net neutrality commitment from the NBC merger just expired: Comcast will no longer face FCC oversight on net neutrality.
  22. A Perfect Storm Of Comcast Unaccountability Is Brewing
  23. FCC Fines Sinclair Broadcast Group $13.3 Million for Failure to Disclose Paid Content 
  24. Competition watchdog says Fox’s Sky takeover would result in the Murdoch family “having too much influence over public opinion”

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Teen Hacker Who Social Engineered His Way Into Top-Level US Government Officials’ Accounts Pleads Guilty To Ten Charges
  2. A Bunch Of Politicians Who Complain About Trump’s Authoritarian Tendencies Just Gave Him 6 Years To Warrantlessly Spy On Americans
  3. Finding Your Voice: Forget About Siri and Alexa — When It Comes to Voice Identification, the “NSA Reigns Supreme”
  4. Tinder’s Lack Of Encryption Lets Strangers Spy On Your Swipes
  5. Want to see all data Windows 10 sends Microsoft? There’s an app for that: The next big update to Windows 10 will be even more transparent about what it collects.
  6. Artificial Intelligence Is Going To Supercharge Surveillance: What happens when digital eyes get the brains to match?
  7. Menacing Malware Shows The Dangers Of Industrial System Sabotage
  8. WTF is GDPR?
  9. GDPR compliance – the final countdown begins
  10. The right to data portability in the GDPR: Towards user-centric interoperability of digital services
  11. OnePlus got pwned, exposed up to 40,000 users to credit card fraud: A malicious script injected into OnePlus’ payment page went undiscovered for two months.
  12. Malicious Chrome extension is next to impossible to manually remove: Extensions remain the Achilles heel for an otherwise highly secure browser.
  13. Meltdown And Spectre Patching Has Been A Total Train Wreck
  14. Android Users: To Avoid Malware, Try The F-Droid App Store

Jon

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News of the Week; January 17, 2018

By Jon Festinger on January 23, 2018

GAMES

  1. Nintendo sues mobile developer Colopl over patent infringement
  2. Twitch takes legal action following spambot incident: Brandan Lukus Apple faces “mischief in relation to computer data” charge over 150,000 spam messages across 1,000 channels
  3. Photographer sues IGN over Pokémon GO Photo
  4. Suspect in deadly Kansas “swatting” hoax charged with manslaughter: An online dispute over Call of Duty escalated to a fatal police shooting.
  5. Is Downloading Retro Video Game ROMs Ever Legal?
  6. Bungie promises to rebalance Destiny 2’s loot boxes, raids: Bevy of gameplay tweaks and features planned for coming year.
  7. Tencent working with Chinese police to fight PUBG cheats – report: 30 cases have been exposed as PUBG’s community is cleaned up ahead of official Chinese launch
  8. Tencent enlists Chinese police in the fight against Battlegrounds cheaters
  9. Video Game Lobby Group Slams Newest Trump Comments As ‘Repulsive’
  10. Battlegrounds surpasses 3 million players on Xbox One
  11. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds sells three million units on Xbox One: Battle royale game proves successful despite being plagued by bugs and technical issues
  12. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds most covered game in December 2017: Star Wars Battlefront II knocked from top spot as PUBG enjoys official console and Xbox launch
  13. Hostile workplace accusations rock PlayStation developer Quantic Dream
  14. Quantic Dream on defense amid allegations of toxic work environment
  15. Quantic Dream denies allegations of homophobia, racism and toxic studio culture: David Cage “shocked” and “outraged” as preliminary investigation by Paris public prosecutor is opened
  16. Games revenues expected to reach $235bn by 2022: Could reach $170bn this year, predominantly driven by mobile and PC
  17. Games software/hardware $165B+ in 2018, $230B+ in 5 years, record $2B+ investment last year
  18. Analyst: Mobile game sessions decreased by 16% in 2017
  19. Eight of the top ten mobile publishers in 2017 were game-related: Mixi’s Monster Strike top grossing mobile app for third consecutive year
  20. The cost of games
  21. Selling used PC games through the blockchain? We’re not buying it: Robot Cache has some interesting ideas and some important hurdles.
  22. How to keep a charity gaming marathon going for 160 hours straight: Behind the scenes with the tech and people behind Awesome Games Done Quick
  23. Nintendo announces DIY Nintendo Labo for the Switch
  24. Nintendo’s Labo playset slaps the Switch into build-your-own cardboard toys: Coming April 20, “crafted for kids and those who are kids at heart.”
  25. Nintendo Labo brings DIY approach to Switch: New Switch line will let users build peripherals with cardboard kits and use them in included games
  26. Nintendo Direct has transformed the company’s relationship with its fans: The firm has learnt to embrace its demanding fanbase
  27. Hackers seem close to publicly unlocking the Nintendo Switch: Coders are rapidly finding exploits to open up Nintendo’s new console.
  28. Nintendo Switch is the fastest-selling games console in France: French MD reveals Amiibo and software sales figures in new interview
  29. Nintendo adds Mario Tennis, Donkey Kong, Hyrule Warriors and Dark Souls to 2018 Switch line-up: But fans left to wait on Metroid and Pokemon
  30. Dark Souls, Donkey Kong Country lead a wave of Nintendo Switch ports: Plus – New Mario Tennis, free online hide-and-seek for Mario Odyssey.
  31. Now On Nintendo Switch, Furi Embraces The Power Of A Good Boss Fight
  32. Nintendo doesn’t seem to be “looking into” VR very much anymore: 4K update doesn’t seem to be in the immediate cards for the Switch, either.
  33. GAME sales up over 5% during Christmas: Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One X the key sales drivers
  34. GameStop holiday sales jump 11%: Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X drive hardware sales up 38%; used game sales down 8% as customer spending shifts to new games, collectibles
  35. Activision closes only North American distribution centre: Publisher claims decision is unrelated to steady rise of digital sales
  36. Activision’s Transformers games pulled from digital stores
  37. Unreal hosting livestream to help devs navigate potential legal landmines
  38. UK Charts: GTA V is back at No.1 226 weeks after it first came out – Price activity sends the 2013 title to the top for a 14th time
  39. Revealed: The 100 best-selling UK boxed games of 2017 – As always, Call of Duty and FIFA dominate. But there are a few surprises, too
  40. Activision-Hasbro deal expires, Transformers games pulled from digital stores: War for Cybertron, Transformers Devastation and more no longer available to buy as download
  41. Lego bringing online games to China with help from Tencent
  42. Tencent strikes deal with Lego to develop online games: Deal includes potential social network aimed at Chinese children
  43. MLS Enters Esports, Launches eMLS FIFA 18 League With EA Sports
  44. Insights: Don’t Overlook Overwatch As E-Sports Has Its Coming Out Party
  45. Blizzard boasts 10M viewers for Overwatch League opening week
  46. Overwatch League Day One: Dallas vs Seoul Match Sets The Tone For The League: Viewership peaked at 415k.
  47. Overwatch League attracts 10m viewers in its first week: Average audience of 408,000 per minute for opening day, concurrent viewers peaks at 437,000
  48. Swedish firm G:loot receives largest esports investment in Nordic region’s history: Confident investors back esports firm for $12.1 million
  49. At CES, Everyone Is Still Hunting For VR’s Killer App
  50. ‘VRChat’ Blasts Past 1 Million Installs Amidst a Skyrocketing Meme Economy
  51. Horizon Zero Dawn leads with ten nominations for the 21st DICE Awards – The Legend of the Zelda: Breath of the Wild a distant second, appearing in six catagories
  52. Steam competitor Robot Cache hopes to woo devs by slashing platform fees
  53. Games with pornographic ads sneak into the Play Store, get 3 million downloads: Google removes 60 apps packing the “AdultSwine” malware.
  54. Spanish government gives indies funding boost with new $7.9M grant
  55. Spanish government confirms €6.5m grant for indie devs: More funding available following news that €2m grant had been scrapped, reviving a market that lost 30 studios last year
  56. Video games crowdfunding raised $25m in 2017: ICO Partners estimates show only three projects raised more than $1m last year
  57. Devs answer: What were the overlooked gems of 2017?
  58. Horizon Zero Dawn and PUBG among top 2018 D.I.C.E. Award noms
  59. Developers share their favorite indie games of 2017
  60. 6 of the most significant mobile game trends in 2017
  61. Here are Gamasutra’s predictions about the game industry for 2018
  62. Madden NFL 18 and Horizon Zero Dawn among Writers Guild Awards nominees
  63. TIGA publishes guide to forthcoming changes in data protection law: The General Data Protection Regulation to replace the Data Protection Act on May 25
  64. Ultima Underworld and the freedom to make bad choices: Why I Love: Quantum Soup’s Chris Payne gets lost in the many innovations of The Stygian Abyss
  65. Games Done Quick raises $2.26M for the Prevent Cancer Foundation
  66. An appreciation of games that click back and change the gamers who love them: From The Dig to Pillars of Eternity, gaming does something no other pop culture medium can.
  67. Behavioral Profiling: How to Build Useful Player Models

DIGITAL

  1. Québec Court of Appeal confirms application of French language requirements for websites
  2. Search Engines Aren’t Liable for Indexing ‘Scam’ Locksmith Listings–Baldino’s Lock v. Google (Eric Goldman)
  3. A Patent For Geotagging IP Packets Raises Important Internet Law Questions
  4. Hawaii Alert System Accidentally Warns of Imminent ‘BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT’ [Updated]
  5. The interface to send out a missile alert in Hawaii is slightly less bad: The employee responsible for the alert has been temporarily reassigned.
  6. “Free TV” box lawyer says video industry is “digging its own grave”: A win for “Dragon Box” would be bad legal precedent for industry, lawyer says.
  7. Netflix, Amazon, and major studios sue maker of “free TV” box: Streaming services and film studios try to stop free access to shows and movies. 
  8. Tech Companies Are Complicit In Censoring Iran Protests
  9. How terrorists and provocateurs are using social media against western democracies: On the digital front line are guilt-ridden Russian trolls, young women lured by Isis and Facebook Sherlocks in suburbia.
  10. Facebook’s Revamp Includes an Effort to Fight Fake News: Will it work?
  11. Facebook Inks Licensing Deal With Music Mogul Irving Azoff, An Outspoken YouTube Critic
  12. Facebook Tweaks Newsfeed To Favor Content From Friends, Family
  13. Media Freaks Out About Facebook Changes; Maybe They Shouldn’t Have Become So Reliant On Facebook
  14. Investors Join Calls For Facebook, Twitter To Take More Responsibility
  15. Twitter Tried To Curb Abuse. Now It Has To Handle The Backlash
  16. Twitter faces trademark infringement lawsuit from podcast network: Internet broadcaster TWiT says Twitter is muscling in on its AV territory.
  17. Did Twitter engineers just admit to shadow-banning conservatives? Nope: An engineer’s plan to “ban a way of talking” didn’t refer to conservatives.
  18. Meet Antifa’s Secret Weapon Against Far-Right Extremists
  19. Why Cloudflare Let An Extremist Stronghold Burn
  20. Apple’s First Original Comedy Series To Star Kristen Wiig, With Reese Witherspoon As Executive Producer
  21. Apple to pay $38 billion in US taxes on overseas cash: Republican tax bill will save Apple tens of billions in taxes on overseas cash.
  22. It’s Time for Apple to Build a Less Addictive iPhone
  23. Shareholder Groups Say Apple Should Do More To Address Gadget ‘Addiction’ Among Young People: Should It?
  24. After slowdown controversy, iPhone 6 Plus users must wait for batteries: 6 Plus battery supply is limited, but other models are still mostly on schedule.
  25. Legal risk of cloud computing
  26. Eharmony agrees to pay up to $2.2 million to end auto-renewal suit 
  27. Amazon Says Its Thursday Night NFL Audience Outpaced Twitter
  28. Google will reportedly vet premium YouTube videos more closely
  29. YouTube Will Use Human, Technological Methods To Vet Premium Ad Tier Google Preferred 
  30. YouTube introduces new, stricter requirements for partners
  31. YouTube Alters Partner Program Eligibility, Vows All Google Preferred Videos Will Be Human-Verified
  32. Google Chrome extensions with 500,000 downloads found to be malicious: Google removes four extensions that used infected computers in click fraud scheme.
  33. Chromecast and Google Homes reportedly overloading home Wi-Fi: A bug is causing Google devices to pound networks with 100,000 packets at once.
  34. YouTube tightens the rules around creator monetization and partnerships
  35. YouTube raises subscriber, view threshold for Partner Program monetization: Making it harder for new channels to make money off of ads placed by YPP.
  36. YouTube fights “bad actors” with new content policies: New measures include manual vetting of Google Preferred videos, and a higher monetisation threshold for small channels
  37. Google to monitor popular YouTube channels – Report: After dropping another big YouTuber over controversy, company will begin vetting content in Google Preferred advertiser program 
  38. YouTube Content Head: 70% Of Upcoming YouTube Red Episodes Are Directed By Women
  39. Jackie Aina Receives NAACP’s First-Ever ‘YouTuber Of The Year’ Award
  40. Google Can Now Tell You Which Works of Art You Look Like
  41. Unofficial ‘Harry Potter’ Fan Movie Approved By Warner Bros., A Hit On YouTube
  42. The 30 YouTube Channels That Have Surpassed 10 Billion Lifetime Views
  43. Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” Becomes 4th YouTube Video To Surpass 3 Billion Views
  44. YouTube Says 70% Of All Watch Time Is Driven By Its Own Recommendations
  45. YouTube finally hands down punishment to creator for posting dead body video: After nearly two weeks, YouTube removes Logan Paul from Google Preferred.
  46. Top Creators Applaud YouTube’s (Delayed) Logan Paul Punishment
  47. After Logan Paul incident, Google Preferred YouTube videos will face further vetting: Videos with the top ads will be examined by human moderators and AI software.
  48. Blackpills Axes Logan Paul Series In Wake Of Suicide Vlog
  49. Logan Paul’s Content Was Questionable Before He Ever Set Foot In The “Suicide Forest”
  50. Logan Paul Says “Everyone Deserves Second Chances” Following Suicide Video
  51. Kevin Durant’s Media Company Will Help Athletes Launch Their Own YouTube Channels
  52. When It Comes To Gorillas, Google Photos Remains Blind
  53. Crime-Predicting Algorithms May Not Fare Much Better Than Untrained Humans
  54. Mechanical Turkers may have out-predicted the most popular crime-predicting algorithm
  55. Taming The Golem: Challenges of Ethical Algorithmic Decision-Making
  56. A Child Abuse Prediction Model Fails Poor Families
  57. AI needs debate about potential bias
  58. Microsoft Says AI Advances Will Require New Laws, Regulations: Increase in gig-economy jobs means tech companies have to step up to protect workers, provide benefits
  59. Machines Just Beat Humans on a Stanford Reading Comprehension Test
  60. Don’t Blame Social Media For Celebrity Politicians. Blame Everyone.
  61. The meteoric rise of the so-called ‘Influencer’
  62. Massive Data Dump Shows Flat Numbers For Snapchat’s Stories Across The Summer Of 2017
  63. Snapchat’s Big Redesign, Ahead Of US Launch, Has Received Overwhelmingly Negative Response Abroad
  64. Netflix could become the second-biggest media company behind Disney in 3 years, Barclays says: Barclays recommends Netflix shares, citing optimism over the company’s subscriber growth. The firm’s analyst predicts the internet streaming giant will generate annual sales growth of 27 percent through 2019 from 2016. “In our opinion, in the next 3-5 years Netflix is likely to become the second biggest media company by revenue (ignoring studios and theme parks), next only to Disney,” the analyst wrote. 
  65. Social Media Giants vs Children – the truth behind social media contracts 
  66. The Hidden Toll Of Fixing Meltdown And Spectre
  67. The impromptu Slack war room where ‘Net companies unite to fight Spectre-Meltdown: When major security vulns go live without warning, competitors suddenly band together.
  68. Spectre and Meltdown patches causing trouble as realistic attacks get closer: Driver incompatibilities and microcode problems are both being reported.
  69. Here’s how, and why, the Spectre and Meltdown patches will hurt performance: Now that microcode and patches are starting to ship, a clearer picture is emerging.
  70. Meltdown and Spectre: Good news for AMD users, (more) bad news for Intel – Windows patches are fixed, but microcode updates are causing even more trouble. 
  71. Researcher finds another security flaw in Intel management firmware: Active Management Technology defaults allow anyone to take control of many PCs.
  72. Highly Competent White House Spends 22 Minutes Trying to Mute a Conference Call
  73. The corpse of Circuit City will rise again on February 15: Follows similar promises of a relaunch from 2016 that never quite came together.
  74. Researchers find that one person likely drove Bitcoin from $150 to $1,000
  75. Bitcoin plunges—now down 47 percent from December peak: Every major cryptocurrency has seen double-digit losses in the last 24 hours.
  76. Kodak’s Supposed Cryptocurrency Entrance Appears To Be Little More Than A Rebranded Paparazzi Copyright Trolling Scheme… With The Blockchain
  77. New botnet infects cryptocurrency mining computers, replaces wallet address: Attacker has generated about $2,000 in digital coin so far in a scam that remains active.
  78. ‘Sex Party’ Or ‘Nerds On A Couch’? A Night In Silicon Valley
  79. Website Accessibility Cases Proceed Despite Absence of Regulations
  80. Boeing Decision Forges New Balance Between NLRA Rights and Social Media Policies 
  81. The Griefbot That Could Change How We Mourn: Muhammad Ahmed’s grandkids would never meet their grandfather, so he made an AI version of him. How might that change our concept of death?
  82. Artist transforms herself into a virtual assistant and obeys your commands: Would we rather have a human servant or Alexa? Lauren McCarthy decided to find out.
  83. The Strange History Of One Of The Internet’s First Viral Videos
  84. 2017 – The Year in Which Copyright Went Beyond Source Code 
  85. 2017: In Review – The biggest Tech trends and events of the Year
  86. Aliens, Autonomous Cars, and AI: This Is the World of 2118
  87. CES 2018: Most Absurd Technologies To Come

CREATIVITY

  1. Trump’s Personal Lawyer Sues Buzzfeed For Publishing Allegedly False Statements Written By Someone Else
  2. For The Second Time In A Week, German Hate Speech Laws Results In Deletion Of Innocent Speech
  3. Appeals Court OKs F-Bombs For Federal Trademark Protection
  4. Community Backlash Leads Adult Diaper Company To Drop Its Trademark Application for ‘ABDL’
  5. When the President Uses a Profanity, What Can Broadcast News Do? 
  6. Psychiatrist Drops His Lawsuit Against Critic Who Left Wordless One-Star Review
  7. Copyright Troll Gets Smacked Around By Court, As Judge Wonders If Some Of Its Experts Even Exist
  8. Copyright Law: Overcoming Claims of Copyright Protection for Derivative Works
  9. How Closed Trade Deals Ratchet Up the Copyright Term Worldwide
  10. New presidency of the Council of the European Union … new position on the EU copyright reform?
  11. It’s The (Democracy-Poisoning) Golden Age Of Free Speech  (Zeynep Tufekci)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Rogers employees say managers turn a blind eye so call centre workers can lie and cheat customers: ‘We do not believe the concerns raised represent our values or sales practices,’ Rogers says
  2. Judge Sweet: Fox News’s Statement that It Took “Decisive Action” After Assault Allegation Does Not Disparage the Unnamed Accused Assailant 
  3. Complaint: Bill O’Reilly Breached Settlement Non-Disparagement Clause by Portraying Accusers as Extortionate Liars 
  4. Trump’s ‘Fake News Awards’ could violate ethics rules: Little is known about what the president intends to do Wednesday, but some experts aren’t taking it lightly.
  5. Washington Legal Issues for TV Broadcasters – Where Things Stand in the New Year 
  6. After Being AWOL From The Fight For Years, Google & Facebook To Fund Lawsuits Over Net Neutrality
  7. 21 states sue FCC to restore net neutrality rules: A long legal process starts now.
  8. 22 State Attorneys General File Suit Against The FCC For Its Net Neutrality Repeal
  9. Nebraska The First ‘Red’ State To Craft Its Own Net Neutrality Law
  10. Why Are The People Who Whined About Wheeler’s Net Neutrality Rules Being ‘400 Pages’ Silent About Pai’s Being ‘539 Pages’
  11. Blackburn Doubles Down On A Decade Of Lies As She Pushes Fake Net Neutrality Law
  12. City-owned Internet services offer cheaper and more transparent pricing: Data shows why customers want muni broadband—and why telecom industry fears it.
  13. Study finds municipal broadband is up to 50% cheaper than telcos
  14. Harvard Study Shows Why Big Telecom Is Terrified of Community-Run Broadband: Community-owned internet service providers are cheaper and better.
  15. Colorado Cities Keep Voting To Build Their Own Broadband Networks
  16. Update on FCC’s Internet Freedom Order 
  17. FCC Internet Freedom Order: What Changed in the Final Decision
  18. Senate Hits 50 Votes in Bid to Save Net Neutrality and/or Make Republicans Look Dumb
  19. All Democrats and one Republican support net neutrality bill in Senate: Senate Dems seek one more vote for restoration of net neutrality and Title II.
  20. After false Hawaii missile notice, FCC launches investigation: For 38 minutes, Hawaiians had little information about what kind of threat they were facing.
  21. Samsung is the latest OEM to unlock FM chips in new phones: A push for better emergency readiness leads to radio on new Samsung devices. 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Mandatory new Canadian data breach obligations expected to take effect in 2018
  2. FTC Settles First Children’s Privacy Case Involving Connected Toys 
  3. Hack Brief: Russian Hackers Release Apparent IOC Emails In Wake Of Olympics Ban
  4. Trump tweet throws today’s House surveillance votes into chaos: Trump tweet appears to attack NSA spying hours after the White House defends it.
  5. Trump Doesn’t Understand Surveillance Powers; House Votes To Give Him More Of It
  6. Filibuster threat means Trump needs Senate Democrats to pass spying bill: The House just passed a bill extending NSA spying powers for six years.
  7. After Basically No Debate, And No Opportunity For Amendments, Senate Votes To Expand NSA Surveillance
  8. The House Has Voted. They Will Allow Warrantless Surveillance.
  9. US Telcos Threatened With Loss Of Government Contracts If They Do Business With Huawei
  10. Shooting The Messenger: Reporter Who Exposed Massive Indian Data Breach Targeted By Law Enforcement
  11. FBI security expert: Apple are “jerks” about unlocking encrypted phones – “Apple is pretty good at evil genius stuff,” FBI official laments at conference.
  12. FBI Says Device Encryption Is ‘Evil’ And A Threat To Public Safety
  13. Major security flaw in virtual reality porn app SinVR exposes the secrets of 20,000 users
  14. BitTorrent users beware: Flaw lets hackers control your computer – “Low complexity” hack for Transmission client may work against other clients, too.
  15. Chinese Internet Users Start To Rebel Against Lack Of Online Privacy
  16. Some international accounts alerted to Apple’s iCloud transfer in China: Update your iCloud country or region settings to prevent your data from moving.
  17. Found: New Android malware with never-before-seen spying capabilities – Skygofree is among the most powerful spy platforms ever created for Android.
  18. Border Searches Of Electronic Devices
  19. Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens
  20. Skype finally getting end-to-end encryption: It’ll use the Signal protocol, also used in WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and others.
  21. NFLPA President Eric Winston Likens Wearable Metrics To Health Data
  22. The “Doublespeak” Of Responsible Encryption
  23. Keep Calm – The GDPR is coming!
  24. Using AI To Identify Car Models In 50 Million Google Street Views Reveals A Wide Range Of Demographic Information
  25. Beyond the Privacy Torts: Reinvigorating a Common Law Approach for Data Breaches (Alicia Solow-Niederman)

Jon

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News of the Week; January 10, 2018

By Jon Festinger on January 22, 2018

GAMES

  1. Star Citizen devs file motion to dismiss Crytek lawsuit
  2. Star Citizen maker says engine suit “never should have been filed”: CIG accuses Crytek of selective and misleading reading of license agreement.
  3. Cloud Imperium Games responds to Crytek suit: Star Citizen studio calls CryEngine maker’s complaint misleading and scandalous, saying it “sacrifices legal sufficiency for loud publicity”
  4. Crowdsourced Content in Video Games: How Ownership Issues Almost “Ganked” a Copyright Case
  5. BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INC., AND VALVE CORPORATION, Plaintiffs,
    v.
    LILITH GAMES (SHANGHAI) CO. LTD., AND UCOOL, INC., Defendants.
  6. Regulators eye game monetisation in 2018: Controversy over monetisation of games isn’t going away, and it’s likely to reach the corridors of government sooner rather than later
  7. Eagle-eyed YouTuber discovers ongoing EA online-matchmaking shenanigans: 2017 papers confirm tests of existing games with “spending” as future objective.
  8. Epic planning audit to combat copyright infringement on Unreal Marketplace
  9. US government developing school shooting survival sim: Army and Department of Homeland Security working on first-person game that lets users play a teacher, cop, or shooter
  10. Epic clampdown on real-world guns and copyright-infringing game assets: Engine provider conducting thorough audit of Unreal Marketplace for trademark abuse
  11. NSPCC and Aardman create mobile game to help combat child abuse
  12. The World Health Organization Identifies Gaming Disorder as a Mental Health Condition
  13. WHO: “There is increasing and well-documented evidence of gaming disorder”: Recent listing is “only a clinical description” for diagnoses, not prevention or treatment
  14. Funplus Interactive ad deemed misleading by Advertising Standards Agency: Mobile developer used image from different game to promote King of Avalon: Dragon Warfare
  15. Civilization VI depiction upsets Poundmaker Cree Nation: Headman Milton Tootoosis says 2K never consulted First Nation for expansion, which “perpetuates this myth that First Nations had similar values” to colonial culture
  16. Civilization V mod adds realistic superintelligent AI research
  17. Smosh Games YouTuber departs following sexual assault allegations: Amra ‘Flitz’ Ricketts denies all “false claims” but “cannot risk negative impact” on YouTube group
  18. Amra ‘Flitz’ Ricketts Departs Smosh Games Amid Sexual Assault Allegations
  19. IGDA Survey: Game companies must do more to foster diversity
  20. How the 2018 Tax Reform Will Change Things for Indie Developers
  21. Glu Mobile sells Moscow dev studio and game rights for $4.5M
  22. Could movie shorts provide a template for funding indie games?: The Chinese Room’s Andrew Crawshaw ponders the potential for experimental tie-ins around AAA blockbusters
  23. Epic planning audit to combat copyright infringement on Unreal Marketplace
  24. App Store generates almost $900 million in seven days: Pokémon GO amongst the big Christmas success stories
  25. App Store sets new records as holiday spending tops $890M
  26. Steam breaks 18m concurrent users with largest growth in platform’s history: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds accounts for 16% of all concurrent users
  27. 80 years for a sleeveless jacket: PUBG’s loot box rates disclosed – Meanwhile, rarest item in new premium crate could cost $1,562.50 to acquire
  28. The rarest new PUBG items show up once every 80 years, on average: Artificial scarcity raises aftermarket values for ultra-rare cosmetics.
  29. How do you do ‘loot boxes’ right? F2P MMO game devs weigh in
  30. 7,672 games hit Steam in 2017 alone, says Steam Spy
  31. Steam saw more than 7,600 games debut in 2017 – SteamSpy: Tracking site finds 53% year-over-year jump in release numbers, slowing rate of growth for online storefront
  32. Confusion surrounds GOG’s rejection of Opus Magnum: Popular puzzle game from Zachtronics rejected by digital store but developer unable to share details
  33. Star Citizen developers raised $34.9m in 2017: For the second year in a row, Star Citizen crowd-sourced more money than all games on Kickstarter combined
  34. BroadbandTV Launches New Division To Develop Creator-Driven Mobile Games
  35. Spanish government cuts €2m fund for indie developers: 20 developers lose up to €150,000 each
  36. Ukie publishes funding and tax relief guide for UK game devs
  37. Ukie launches Access to Finance guide with Harbottle and Lewis: “There is money available if you know where to look,” says Ukie CEO
  38. Access to finance the leading obstacle to success for UK games industry in 2018: TIGA CEO: Looming clouds of Brexit beginning to “cast shadows on our games industry”
  39. With ~3M units sold last month, PS4 surpasses 73M sales worldwide
  40. 5.9 million PS4 consoles sold during 2017 Christmas period
  41. Japanese console game market experiences growth for the first time in 11 years
  42. Nintendo Switch surpasses Wii U lifetime sales in Japan
  43. Japanese console market spikes for the first time in 11 years: Nintendo Switch and PS4 drive hardware sales up 73% year on year
  44. Switch becomes fastest-selling home console of all time in the U.S.
  45. Nintendo Switch becomes fastest-selling console in US history: Platform holder breaks own record set by the Wii over ten years ago
  46. Nintendo Switch NBA game jumps through ridiculous hoops to issue a patch: With no answers from Playgrounds’ devs, we sleuth out the weirdest Switch patch yet.
  47. Amid a rising tide of games, devs reflect on state of the Switch market
  48. Nintendo Switch NBA game jumps through ridiculous hoops to issue a patch: With no answers from Playgrounds’ devs, we sleuth out the weirdest Switch patch yet.
  49. Hyperkin plans to release a new (old) Game Boy in 2018: Ultra Game Boy brings slim aluminum case, backlight for under $100.
  50. Miiverse archive recovers 17TB of social mirth after Nintendo’s shutdown: Archive Team saves hundreds of millions of posts from the vibrant social network.
  51. Haptic Controllers Bring Real Pain To VR Games
  52. Sony to Nearly Double the Total Number of PSVR Games by End of 2018
  53. Sony expects 130 PlayStation VR games this year: 80% increase driven by 2 million install base, company says
  54. Record over $3B AR/VR investment in 2017 ($1.5B + in Q4)
  55. VR/AR startups drew record investment in 2017 – Report: Digi-Capital says $3 billion haul led by Magic Leap, Improbable, Unity, Niantic; VR investment cooling as mobile AR ramps up
  56. Oculus sets sights on Chinese market with Xiaomi partnership
  57. Pokémon Go dropping support for older iPhones next month: iPhone 5 and 5C will no longer be able to run Niantic’s location-based phenomenon
  58. Asus sets up Chinese esports company with $16m investment: Well-established esports brand looks to spread into China with new League of Legends team
  59. Google eyes up Chinese eSports market with Chushou investment
  60. Video: The importance of storytellers in eSports
  61. Google Looks To Get Into Chinese E-Sports Market With Investment In Live Streaming Platform Chushou
  62. NRG CEO Andy Miller On Overwatch League’s Traditional Sports Influence
  63. Twitch Will Stream Every Match In The Overwatch League, Which Begins Play On January 10
  64. Twitch gets Overwatch League rights: Streaming platform signs deal for exclusive third-party rights for regular season and playoffs outside of China for next two years
  65. Part 1 – Let the games begin: German IP law in the world of esports
  66. Playable Ads: The Most Fun Ad Ever!
  67. How Playmob is gaming for a better world: CEO and co-founder Jude Ower on the power of playable ads to affect real social change
  68. Mad Catz returns under new management: Defunct peripherals brand rescued by Chinese holding company
  69. 49% of European gamers like to revisit classic games: However, almost 40% say retro games are never as good as they remember
  70. Even Realistic Videogames Like Call Of Duty Won’t Help Us Win Wars
  71. UK Charts: FIFA ends Call of Duty’s nine-week stay at No.1: It means WWII equals but does not beat Modern Warfare 2’s consecutive No.1 record
  72. Itch.io saw 100k projects created and 68k completed in 2017
  73. Our Video Game Predictions For 2018
  74. The Rise and Fall of EA Sports Big, as Told by the Creator of SSX: After the success of SSX, other likeminded extreme sports games like Cranked failed to come to fruition.
  75. Discovering the first video game commercial
  76. “The least-worst idea we had”—The creation of the Age of Empires empire: A brief oral history from the original game’s designers at Ensemble Studios.
  77. The rise, fall, and rise of MDickie—or, how to be the best worst game developer: “Single-handedly responsible for the WORST games to ever be enjoyed by millions of people.”

DIGITAL

  1. Pro-Kremlin Twitter Trolls Take Aim At Robert Mueller
  2. Should Twitter’s Ban on Hateful Content Apply to President Trump?
  3. Twitter Makes Clear it Won’t Block Trump—as Long as He’s President
  4. Chuck Johnson Sues Twitter, Copying Dennis Prager’s Lawsuit Against YouTube
  5. Potential Discrimination Through Social Media Ads 
  6. Free speech vs. censorship in Germany: New rules on online hate speech cause problems for internet giants.
  7. It Took Only Three Days For Germany’s New Hate Speech Law To Cause Collateral Damage
  8. Intel CEO sold all the stock he could after Intel learned of security bug: Intel claims sale was unrelated, but he planned sale after researchers disclosed bugs.
  9. Five California Communities Settle Auto-Renewal Claims with Online Dating Company eHarmony for More than $2 Million 
  10. Senator questions Apple over intentional iPhone slowdowns: The government of France is looking for answers, too.
  11. Apple planning new, “robust” parental controls to help protect children, teens: Investors are worried about youth becoming addicted to their smartphones.
  12. James Damore’s Lawsuit Is Designed To Embarrass Google
  13. Google fired James Damore for a controversial gender memo—now he’s suing: Damore argued few women program due to interest in “people rather than things.”
  14. Engineer says he quit Google after order to stop pro-diversity posts: Diversity advocate says he was told to “avoid posting on controversial topics.”
  15. Conservatives Are Now Getting Angry About Google’s Fact-Checking Module
  16. Google Bans Rehab-Related Search Ads in Another Country After Embarrassing Report
  17. Linus Torvalds Is Not Happy About Intel’s Meltdown and Spectre Mess
  18. Triple Meltdown: How So Many Researchers Found A 20-Year-Old Chip Flaw At The Same Time
  19. Meltdown and Spectre: Here’s what Intel, Apple, Microsoft, others are doing about it: Intel, Microsoft, ARM, and others have responded. We dig in.
  20. Bad docs and blue screens make Microsoft suspend Spectre patch for AMD machines: Blue screen crashes on decade-old AMD chips seem to be widespread.
  21. Intel faces class action lawsuits regarding Meltdown and Spectre: Class action lawsuits have been filed in California, Indiana, and Oregon.
  22. EMC, VMware security bugs throw gasoline on cloud security fire: Backups of virtual machines on some hosts could be accessed or altered by an attacker.
  23. Airbnb Gets Crucial Section 230 Win Over Unauthorized Subleases–La Park La Brea v. Airbnb (Eric Goldman)
  24. GoPro Loses Two-Year Battle With the Sky
  25. Man’s YouTube Video of White Noise Hit With Five Copyright Claims
  26. White Noise On YouTube Gets FIVE Separate Copyright Claims From Other White Noise Providers
  27. A Video Featuring Nothing But White Noise Has Received Five Content ID Claims Since 2015
  28. Will Smith Has Launched His Own YouTube Channel
  29. RTL Group Acquires United Screens for $14.9 Million
  30. Europe’s RTL Group Increases Online Video Footprint With $14.9 Million Acquisition Of United Screens
  31. Amazon’s Next Big Thing Could Be Serving You Ads on the Go
  32. Hulu now has over 17 million subscribers
  33. Amazon, Hulu, Netflix Achieve Near-Sweep Of Top TV Categories At 2018 Golden Globes
  34. I Spent A Week Living With Chatbots—Did All That Self-Help Help?
  35. A Former Facebook VP Says Social Media Is Destroying Society. And He’s Right.
  36. Mark Zuckerberg Essentially Launched Facebook’s Reelection Campaign
  37. How to Fix Facebook—Before It Fixes Us: An early investor explains why the social media platform’s business model is such a threat—and what to do about it.
  38. Facebook’s Virtual Assistant M Is Dead. So Are Chatbots
  39. NBC News got 4 million subscribers in 5 months to its Snapchat show
  40. In Series Of Tweets, YouTube Hints At “Further Consequences” For Logan Paul
  41. YouTube Star Logan Paul Puts His Vlog On Hiatus As He Takes Time “To Reflect”
  42. YouTube Removes Logan Paul From Google Preferred, Puts His YouTube Red Originals On Hold In Wake Of Controversy
  43. Content moderation is not a panacea: Logan Paul, YouTube, and what we should expect from platforms
  44. Iced tea company scraps plans to raise millions for blockchain pivot: Company’s stock tripled last month after it changed its name to Long Blockchain.
  45. We found a deleted page that reveals the paparazzi roots of Kodak Coin: Kodak’s stock has tripled since announcing the blockchain project on Tuesday.
  46. GoPro will stop selling drones once remaining Karma inventory is gone: Citing “untenable” aerial market and “hostile regulatory environments.”
  47. China Is Building a $2.1 Billion Industrial Park for AI Research
  48. Robots Have Replaced Humans in 25% of China’s Ammunition Factories
  49. China’s Crackdown on Crypto-Mining Threatens Bitcoin’s Future
  50. Remember Dogecoin? The joke currency soared to $2 billion this weekend: “There’s no active development anymore,” Dogecoin’s co-founder said last year.
  51. Hackers find new ways to print digital money for free: As valuations soar, attackers find ever more powerful CPUs to covertly conscript.
  52. Oracle app server hack let one attacker mine $226,000 worth of cryptocoins: Exploit published in December makes cracking unpatched Oracle servers easy.
  53. The Algorithms Aren’t Biased, We Are
  54. The ethics of Artificial Intelligence – the next step?
  55. The Strange Brands in Your Instagram Feed: A new breed of online retailer doesn’t make or even touch products, but they’ve got a few other tricks for turning nothing into money.
  56. Brands and ecommerce platforms: a tainted relationship?
  57. Why Europe Is Willing To Regulate Tech More Than The U.S.
  58. Intellectual Property Rights post Brexit – a call to arms
  59. Don’t Be Evil: Fred Turner on Utopias, Frontiers, and Brogrammers
  60. Does This Black Mirror Fan Theory Mean We’re Finally Ready For The Singularity?
  61. “Oh My God, This Is So F—-D Up”: Inside Silicon Valley’s Secretive, Orgiastic Dark Side – Some of the most powerful men in Silicon Valley are regulars at exclusive, drug-fueled, sex-laced parties—gatherings they describe not as scandalous, or even secret, but as a bold, unconventional lifestyle choice. Yet, while the guys get laid, the women get screwed. In an adaptation from her new book, Brotopia, Emily Chang exposes the tired and toxic dynamic at play.
  62. How To Curb Silicon Valley Power—Even With Weak Antitrust Laws
  63. Commentary: 3D printing
  64. Consumer 3D Printing: Is the UK Copyright and Design Law Framework Fit for Purpose (Pedro Malaquias)
  65. Cross-examining the network: The year in digital and social media research – Journalist’s Resource sifts through the academic journals so you don’t have to. Here are what they consider 10 of the most important pieces of new research into digital and social media published in 2017.

CREATIVITY

  1. Disney’s 1998 copyright term extension expires this year and Big Content’s lobbyists say they’re not going to try for another one
  2. Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again: Copyrights from the 1920s will start expiring next year if Congress doesn’t act.
  3. Copyright Maximalists Throw In The Towel On Term Extension; Admit That Maybe Copyright Is Too Long
  4. Donald Trump Hires Charles Harder To Threaten Steve Bannon With A Lawsuit, Block Publication Of New Book
  5. Trump attorney sends Bannon cease and desist letter over ‘disparaging’ comments
  6. Publisher Not At All Impressed By Trump’s Defamation Threat Letter; Promises To Defend The First Amendment
  7. By Complaining About US’s ‘Very Weak’ Libel Laws, Trump Is Actually S——g On Our ‘Very Strong’ First Amendment
  8. Really Bad Ideas: French President Macron Wants To Ban ‘Fake News’ During The Election
  9. The Gorilla Channel Satire Demonstrates The Ridiculousness Of Banning Fake News
  10. Appeals Court Drives Another Stake Into The Heart Of Idaho’s ‘Ag-Gag’ Law
  11. The Other Side: Phoenix Comicon Proactively Changes Names To Avoid San Diego Comic-Con Bully
  12. It Begins: Some Comic Conventions Refusing To Fold After San Diego Comic-Con Gets Its Trademark Win
  13. Bad week gets worse for Fox Judge Jeanine Pirro  
  14. Army Officially Opposes Vegas Golden Knights Trademark
  15. Theatre roles need to change following Soulpepper harassment allegations, Winnipeg directors say: Myth of ‘all-powerful’ director, vulnerability of actors contribute to culture of abuse, say 2 local directors
  16. Guardians of the Galaxy Is Leading The Unlikely Cassette Tape Revival
  17. Music Modernization Act launched in the US
  18. Shocked, Shocked To Learn The Patent Office Is Structurally Designed To Approve (Lousy) Patents
  19. Is the First Amendment Obsolete? (Tim Wu)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. FCC releases final net neutrality repeal order, three weeks after vote: With repeal officially published, FCC will soon face lawsuits.
  2. Tech Giants To Join Legal Battle Over Net Neutrality
  3. FCC Chair Ajit Pai cancels his CES appearance days before show: Pai likely would have had to answer questions about net neutrality repeal.
  4. Maine Governor Tells 16-Year-Old Worried About Net Neutrality Repeal To ‘Pick Up A Book And Read’
  5. “Vote out” congresspeople who won’t back net neutrality, advocates say: “If they don’t vote for net neutrality, let’s vote them out,” new campaign says.
  6. Supporters Aim To Use Net Neutrality To Bludgeon Cash-Compromised Lawmakers In The Midterms
  7. California The Latest State To Propose Its Own Net Neutrality Rules
  8. Net neutrality gaining steam in state legislatures after FCC repeal: Nebraska and California may challenge FCC’s attempt to preempt state laws
  9. GOP senator says she’ll vote to restore net neutrality rules: One more Republican vote needed to get net neutrality bill through Senate.
  10. Uphill Effort To Reverse Net Neutrality Repeal Has The Early Votes
  11. Restoration of net neutrality rules hits key milestone in Senate: 30 senators support net neutrality bill as Democrats try to force a vote.
  12. Net Neutrality: From Rules to Enforcement
  13. The History of Net Neutrality In 13 Years of Tales of the Sausage Factory (with a few additions).
  14. FCC Prepares To Weaken Broadband’s Definition To Hide Competitive, Coverage Issues
  15. FCC plan to lower broadband standards is met with “Mobile Only Challenge”: Many say that mobile can’t replace cable or fiber, but FCC may think otherwise.
  16. AT&T and Comcast finalize court victory over Nashville and Google Fiber: Nashville won’t appeal as Google Fiber-backed utility pole rule is invalidated.
  17. Comcast fired 500 despite claiming tax cut would create thousands of jobs: As Comcast pushed for tax cut, fired employees had to sign NDAs to get severance.
  18. Those Annoying Cable Channel Blackouts Are Only Going To Get Worse In 2018
  19. What is a Cable System – The Copyright Office Wants to Know  

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. We(Chat) The People: Technology and Social Control in China
  2. China Plans To Turn Country’s Most Popular App, WeChat, Into An Official ID System
  3. Want Anybody’s Personal Details From Aadhaar, India’s Billion-Person Identity Database? Yours For $8
  4. “Political pressure” reportedly kills Huawei/AT&T smartphone deal: Spying concerns from members of congress means AT&T won’t be selling Huawei phones.
  5. Prosecutors say Mac spyware stole millions of user images over 13 years: Fruitfly creepware turned on cameras and mics, automatically detected porn searches.
  6. Internet of Toys Enforcement: VTech Agrees to COPPA Settlement 
  7. FTC and VTech Settle Alleged COPPA Privacy and Security Violations
  8. FTC lawsuit over 2015 VTech data breach ends in settlement
  9. WhatsApp Security Flaws Could Allow Snoops To Slide Into Group Chats
  10. How The Government Hides Secret Surveillance Programs
  11. Google Puts Its SCA Warrant Appeal on Hold as High Court Prepares to Hear Microsoft Case 
  12. New York State Appellate Court Says Cell Site Location Records Have No Expectation Of Privacy
  13. The security of pretty much every computer on the planet has just gotten a lot worse
  14. Collection, storage and transfer of data in Canada

Jon

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News of the Week; January 3, 2018

By Jon Festinger on January 7, 2018

GAMES

  1. Call of Duty argument leads to fatal swatting – Report: Police kill 28-year-old Kansas man in response to bogus 911 call placed over a $1.50 wager match
  2. Alleged swatting hoax ends in the death of a father of two: The hoax was apparently sparked by a disagreement over a ‘Call of Duty’ game.
  3. “They call it swatting,” says grieving Wichita mother after son killed by police: The man wasn’t a gamer, but he apparently became the victim of a deadly “prank.
  4. After “swatting” death in Kansas, 25-year old arrested in Los Angeles: Arrest made after man dies in Kansas “swatting.”
  5. Mother of “swatting” victim wants cop criminally charged for shooting: Call of Duty gamer allegedly made fake emergency call to Wichita cops.
  6. Confused Judge Says Video Game Play Has No Copyright, Because The Work Is Not ‘Fixed’
  7. It’s misleading to advertise with images from a different game, rules UK ad authority
  8. The International in Vancouver? Valve may move huge ‘Dota 2’ esports event from Seattle to Canada
  9. World Health Organization adds video game addiction to diagnostic manual
  10. World Health Organisation recognises ‘gaming disorder’ as disease: First draft of upcoming compendium revision, if approved, warns of “significant impairment” in personal, family and social life
  11. Is gaming addiction a “disorder” or a “junk diagnosis”?: WHO listing renews debate over where to draw the line for “hazardous gaming.”
  12. ESA rebukes World Health Organization ‘gaming disorder’ classification
  13. IGN fires editor-in-chief – Report: Gaming site says it made the move after investigation into alleged misconduct
  14. Some mobile games now report TV viewing habits back to advertisers
  15. ERA: UK games sales hit £3.35 billion in 2017 – GfK and IHS data show significant growth of almost 10% in digital and physical sales
  16. Successful video game projects on Kickstarter flatline while tabletop spikes: In 2017, only one-in-eight successful game projects on the platform were video games
  17. Nintendo forecasts 37m Switch sales by April 2019: Meanwhile console nears 3.3 units in Japan, breaking region’s first-year sales record
  18. Report: Nintendo expects to sell 20M Switch consoles in the next fiscal year
  19. Pokémon Go finally coming to China, courtesy of NetEase: Niantic signs partnership with Chinese publisher, location-based phenomenon to launch in second half of 2018
  20. Enter the Gungeon sales have ‘surpassed all expectations’ on Switch
  21. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ CEO plans to make game a “universal media franchise”: PUBG Corporation already receiving calls from Netflix and Hollywood
  22. Battlegrounds surpasses 3M concurrent players on Steam
  23. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds hits 3m concurrent Steam users: Leaving Early Access pushes Bluehole’s mega-hit to a new milestone
  24. Here are the top grossing Steam games of 2017
  25. PUBG, Rainbow Six, Rocket League, Warframe and Ark top 2017 global Steam rankings: Valve also reveals most popular VR games
  26. LawBreakers publisher blames Battlegrounds for poor reception
  27. Nexon blames PUBG for LawBreakers’ struggles: Boss Key’s underperformance also impacted publisher’s Q3 financials in North America
  28. UK physical game sales are flat year-on-year – Call of Duty: WWII ends 2018 on a high
  29. Here are the top grossing Steam games of 2017
  30. Tabletop games soar on Kickstarter as video games stagnate
  31. Microsoft has ended production of the Xbox One Kinect adapter
  32. I Didn’t Think the Microsoft Kinect Could Be Deader, But Here We Are
  33. RIP Kinect: 2010-2017(ish) – Discontinued USB adapter is the last nail in the coffin for influential tech.
  34. Pressure Mounts for Xbox’s Missing VR Strategy as PSVR Rakes in $700M in Hardware Alone
  35. Combatting asocial VR with asymmetrical multiplayer: Developer MunkyFun shares how the new League of War bridges the gap between virtual reality and couch players
  36. CCP Studio Behind ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Acquired by Sumo Digital
  37. Sumo Digital takes over CCP Newcastle studio: Eve Valkyrie team rescued by growing UK developer
  38. Inside Microsoft HQ’s weird, wonderful swag store: Plus, the company’s Visitor Center shows us where all the Kinects went.
  39. Lost Destiny symphonic album, complete with Paul McCartney, has totally leaked – Destiny: Music of the Spheres leak confirmed as legit by multiple ex-Bungie staffers.
  40. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Brandon Sheffield’s all-time top 10 games hidden in other games
  41. Can games retail survive 2018?: Nintendo Switch and Red Dead Redemption 2 will prove crucial in what may be a tough year for shops

DIGITAL

  1. Revealed: Vietnam’s 10,000-Strong Internet Monitoring Force, Tasked With Stamping Out ‘Wrongful Views’
  2. German Hate Speech Law Goes Into Effect, Turning Social Media Platforms Into Gov’t Revenue Generators
  3. YouTube Deactivates Amazon Fire TV App Earlier Than Expected (Report)
  4. Amazon shipped over 5 billion items with Prime in 2017
  5. Amazon Can’t Target People Unable To Spell ‘Birkenstock’: Judge – The sandal maker fears Amazon might sell low-quality counterfeits.
  6. Watchdog bans advert’s claim eHarmony is ‘scientifically proven’: ASA says claim is misleading because dating site cannot prove it provides a greater chance of finding lasting love
  7. Academic researchers fire latest shots in adblocking arms race: Manipulating javascript can overcome publishers’ software.
  8. Logan Paul Apologizes For Vlog Showing Suicide Victim Amid Outcry From YouTube Community
  9. YouTuber Apologizes After Uploading Footage Of Apparent Suicide 
  10. Logan Paul’s Apology Video Has Amassed Roughly 24 Million Views In 24 Hours
  11. The Logan Paul Video Should Be A Reckoning For YouTube
  12. YouTube is equally to blame for Logan Paul’s vide
  13. After The Adpocalypse, JP Morgan Created Its Own YouTube Ad Safety Tool 
  14. Vevo Revenue Up 30 Percent in 2017 As it Eyes Profitability: Report
  15. Facebook Replaces Twitter As Exclusive Streaming Partner For Golden Globes Pre-Show
  16. These Are 50 Of The Biggest Fake News Hits On Facebook In 2017: Viral fake news generated more engagement on Facebook in 2017 than last year, according to a BuzzFeed News analysis.
  17. Vice Suspends President And Chief Digital Officer In Wake Of Sexual Harassment Claims
  18. Child porn law goes nuts: 14-year-old girl charged for nude selfie: The ACLU of Minnesota calls the charges absurd and unconstitutional.
  19. Is “Big Data” racist? Why policing by data isn’t necessarily objective: “Concerns with predictive big data technologies appear in most big data policing models.”
  20. Elon Musk says AI could doom human civilization. Zuckerberg disagrees. Who’s right?
  21. Soon We Won’t Be Able to Tell the Difference Between AI and a Human Voice
  22. Health Care Is Hemorrhaging Data. AI Is Here To Help
  23. I Believe In Intelligent Design … For Robots
  24. Spotify, Valued Around $19 Billion, Looks Toward Wall Street As It Makes Confidential Filing For Going Public
  25. Spotify faces $1.6 billion lawsuit from music publisher alleging copyright infringement
  26. Spotify sued for $1.6 billion by publisher representing Tom Petty, The Doors, others: The company is accused of using music without a license or compensation
  27. Digital Colonialism And Decentralisation (Andres Guadamuz)
  28. If We Want Brain-Computer Interfaces, We Must First Decode the Brain
  29. Dark Future: Here’s When We’ll Have the Black Mirror Tech That Lets Us Read Memories
  30. 2017 Was A Terrible Year For Internet Freedom
  31. Microsoft, DOJ set to go head to head at Supreme Court in 2018: Meanwhile, NSA spy suspect, KickassTorrents cases didn’t advance very much in 2017.
  32. How Hotmail changed Microsoft (and email) forever: Acquired December 1997, Hotmail was the gift that kept on giving—for good or ill.
  33. What’s behind the Intel design flaw forcing numerous patches?: There’s obviously a big problem, but we don’t know exactly what.
  34. Apple’s response to battery controversy: Have a new one for $29: In attempt to make amends for iPhone slow down “misunderstanding.”
  35. Your old iPhone battery can be replaced even if it passes Genius Bar test: iPhone 6 and later devices won’t be turned away by good Genius Bar test results. 
  36. Apple buys app development service Buddybuild 
  37. EU Copyright Law and the Cloud: VCAST and the intersection of private copying and communication to the public
  38. Pirates receive Christmas gift from Arnold J
  39. Hooters Investor Whispers ‘Blockchain’ and Its Parent Company’s Stock Soars 50 Percent
  40. Blockchain announcement sends stock of Hooters franchisee soaring – Press release: “Eating a burger is now a way to mine for cryptocoins.”
  41. Tiny company which owns some Hooter’s restaurants says it will use blockchain for rewards program, boosting stock by 50%
  42. Truth and fiction in blockchain’s brave new world: Why has the mere mention of the technology sent stock prices soaring?
  43. How the “Original Internet Godfather” walked away from his cyber crime past: Brett Johnson was dubbed the “Original Internet Godfather” by the US Secret Service.
  44. Hacker Lexicon: What Is Sinkholing?
  45. NewsMedia Council Dismisses Blacklock’s Complaint Against CANADALAND: Editor Tom Korski had alleged a “conflict of interest” in inviting professor Michael Geist to comment on Blacklock’s court battles.
  46. Do it For the Culture! (Memes)
  47. Looking Back at 2017: My Top Ten Posts (Michael Geist)
  48. How FANG Stocks Left the Media Business Snakebitten: A 2017 Retrospective
  49. License expired: The Ars Technica 2018 Deathwatch: Companies, tech, and trends least likely to succeed in 2018, as chosen by Ars editors.
  50. Insights: Peerless Prognostications For A Perilously Fuzzy Future In Online Entertainment

CREATIVITY

  1. Chinese Billionaire Got A US Court To Issue An Unconstitutional Gag Order On A Critic
  2. Oh, the Places Copyright and Trademark Law Go!
  3. The Federal Circuit Strikes Ban On Registering “Immoral” Or “Scandalous” Trademarks
  4. Lynyrd Skynyrd Member Sanctioned For Failure To Preserve Third Party’s Text Messages
  5. Appeals Court Dismisses Gang Designation Lawsuit Against The FBI Brought By Insane Clown Posse Fans
  6. Indiana tries to stop NFL kneeling–and would fail
  7. Knicks Center Enes Kantor To Be Tried In Absentia For Upsetting Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s Fickle Ego
  8. Hopefully For The Last Time: The US Has Zero New Works Enter The Public Domain On January 1st
  9. Happy Public Domain day! Here are the works entering the public domain in Canada and the EU, but not the USA, where the public domain is stagnant

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. No, The Death Of Net Neutrality Will Not Be Subtle
  2. Ajit Pai’s FCC is still editing the net neutrality repeal order: Repeal undergoing final changes as FCC prepares for court battle.
  3. Now That The FCC Is Doing Away With Title II For Broadband, Will Verizon Give Back The Taxpayer Subsidies It Got Under Title II?
  4. New York State Eyes Its Own Net Neutrality Law
  5. Comcast & The Cable Industry Greets The New Year With A Flurry Of Price Increases
  6. After beating cable lobby, Colorado city moves ahead with muni broadband: Fort Collins plans universal broadband, net neutrality, and gigabit speeds.
  7. Robocalls – and complaints about robocalls –  booming: 4.5 million complaints last year.
  8. AT&T sued over layoffs – after promising more investment because of tax cut: AT&T explanation of layoffs undercuts claim that net neutrality hurt investment.
  9. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation – 2017 Year in Review

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Hawaiian Supreme Court Says The First Amendment Protects Filming Law Enforcement
  2. New powers for Canadian spy agency alarming: Bill C-59 could normalize state-sponsored hacking and disinformation campaigns, university organization warns.
  3. A Critical Intel Flaw Breaks Basic Security For Most Computers
  4. A Major Security Vulnerability Has Plagued ‘Nearly All’ Intel CPUs For Years
  5. Report: All Intel Processors Made in the Last Decade Might Have a Massive Security Flaw [Updated]
  6. “Meltdown” and “Spectre”: Every modern processor has unfixable security flaws: Immediate concern is for Intel chips, but everyone is at risk.
  7. Ad targeters are pulling data from your browser’s password manager: New research shows an alarming new way to track web users
  8. After Equifax breach, anger but no action in Congress: The aftermath of the data breach played out like a familiar script: White-hot bipartisan outrage, then hearings and proposals that went nowhere.
  9. Six Cyber Threats to Really Worry About in 2018
  10. A practical guide to microchip implants: An estimated 50 to 100k folks have implants; how do the benefits compare to the risks?
  11. This AI, Developed at Stanford, Can Predict Who You’re Voting For: Researchers at Stanford have trained an AI to predict a person’s political leanings based on his or her neighborhood and choice of vehicle.

Jon

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News of the Week; December 27, 2017

By Jon Festinger on January 6, 2018

GAMES

  1. FCC issues final extension for video game CVAA accessibility waiver
  2. Founding member of Lizard Squad pleads guilty to cyber-crimes
  3. Apple now requires App Store games with loot boxes to list odds: Wednesday update to iOS rules also touches on VPN services, cryptocurrency apps.
  4. Guideline changes mean App Store devs must now reveal loot crate odds
  5. Developers must disclose loot box odds following update to App Store guidelines: Change to guidelines comes amidst ongoing debate as to whether loot boxes constitute gambling
  6. Can AAA Games Survive Without Microtransactions?: After a series of microtransaction controversies this year, we decided to delve into the price of videogames, and whether or not AAA games need things like lootboxes to stay profitable.
  7. Ubisoft releases open-source code for World in Conflictservers
  8. One of the first ever LGBTQ video games has been restored
  9. ‘Pokémon GO’ Now Uses Apple’s ARKit on iOS 11, Bringing Pokémon Closer to Reality
  10. A Christmas gift from Game Boy ROM hackers: Super Mario Land 2 in color
  11. NBA G League’s Streaming Deal With Twitch
  12. Rocket League surpasses 38 million players: 2017 is “best year yet” but there is still work to be done, says developer
  13. Cuphead sells two million units in two months: “Even in our wildest dreams, we never thought our crazy little characters would be embraced by this many fans,” says developer
  14. Call of Duty: WWII tops $1 billion worldwide – Activision says military shooter and Destiny 2 are 2017’s top grossing console games in North America
  15. Jason Schreier’s Top 10 Games Of 2017
  16. IGN’s Top 10 Most Improved Games Of 2017
  17. From Automata To Zelda, These Are The Best Games Of 2017
  18. 2017: Celebrating the bright spots – It may not have been a superb year overall, but expectations were defied and challenges overcome with creativity and passion in 2017
  19. Report: Nintendo won’t be rolling out 64GB Switch cartridges until 2019
  20. “Gamification” Is Improving Mental Health Treatment In So Many Ways
  21. War Stories: Lord British created an ecology for Ultima Online, but no one saw it
  22. Game of the Year 2017: The GI team picks their favourites, surprises and disappointments from 2017, and grants its top honour to Nintendo for creating an instant classic
  23. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: The top 10 games of the year
  24. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Katherine Cross’ top 10 games

DIGITAL

  1. Court Allows Some Access to Employee’s Social Media Accounts
  2. 17-Year-Old Mexican Social Media Star Shot And Killed After Insulting Cartel Leader
  3. Confessions of a Digital Nazi Hunter
  4. British Military Chief Warns Russia Could Cut NATO’s Internet Connections, As Traffic For World’s Top Sites Is Mysteriously Routed Via…Russia
  5. Germany Accuses Chinese Intelligence Services Of Using Fake LinkedIn Profiles To Recruit Informants And Extract Sensitive Information
  6. Chinese hackers go after think tanks in wave of more surgical strikes: When one NGO blocked intrusion, frustrated hackers tried to knock its website offline.
  7. How Controversial Chinese Billionaire Founder of Faraday Future Got a Gag Order Against Critic
  8. Geekbench and Reddit think they’ve cracked why iPhones get slower over time: Testing suggests that iOS 10.2.1 added this functionality to prevent shutdowns.
  9. Apple Had Way Better Options Than Slowing Down Your iPhone
  10. Of Course Apple Is Getting Sued Over the Old iPhone Throttling Fiasco
  11. Apple Facing A Bunch Of Lawsuits After Admitting It Slows Down Older Devices, But Insisting It’s For A Good Reason
  12. Days after iPhone battery fiasco, lawsuits against Apple begin to mount: Customers say they would rather have replaced battery than bought a new phone.
  13. Shane Dawson Confronted His Hater To Break Down The Relationship Between Creator And Fan
  14. Vice Founders Offer Apology, Changes As Culture Of Sexual Misconduct Comes To Light
  15. How do you change the most important law in Internet history? Carefully – Op-ed: Changes to law shielding websites from liability for user posts should be minor.
  16. Hotel That Charged Guest $350 For A Negative Review Now Facing A Lawsuit From State Attorney General
  17. YouTube Star Poppy Collaborates With Microsoft’s New Chatbot To Make “High-Quality Internet Content”
  18. As Artificial Intelligence Advances, Here Are Five Tough Projects For 2018
  19. Data mining program designed to predict child abuse proves unreliable, DCFS says
  20. Bitcoin’s price plunges amid broad cryptocurrency sell-off: Every major cryptocurrency suffered double-digit losses in the last 24 hours.
  21. Bitcoin Crashed and Took the Whole Market Down With It
  22. The Real Price of Bitcoin? According to Morgan Stanley, It’s Zero
  23. Ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain
  24. Iced Tea Maker’s Stock Price Triples After Adding ‘Blockchain’ to Name
  25. Iced tea company rebrands as “Long Blockchain” and stock price triples
  26. Songwriters, streaming companies strike landmark deal on music licensing
  27. Facebook, Ready To Make Music, Lands Licensing Deal With Universal Music Group
  28. Facebook Ditches ‘Disputed’ News Tag After It Totally Backfired
  29. German regulator alleges abuse of dominance by Facebook over data usage policies 
  30. Facebook’s Collection And Use Of Data From Third-Party Sources Is ‘Abusive’, Says Germany’s Competition Authority
  31. Netflix Delves Into Podcasting To Promote True Crime Docuseries ‘Wormwood’
  32. Nvidia to cease producing new drivers for 32-bit systems: Bit by bit, the PC world is continuing to drop its legacy support.
  33. Warren Kinsella settles claim against Twitter
  34. Loud, influential, and hyped: How we overestimate Twitter
  35. Library of Congress Gives Up Collecting All Tweets Because Twitter Is Garbage
  36. Twitter Survives TCPA Text Messaging Class Action
  37. CNN To Discontinue Its Snapchat News Show At The End Of The Year
  38. Pinterest Should Die
  39. Why Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore
  40. As Amazon Ramps Up Furniture and Appliance Business, Home Depot Is Sweating
  41. Charter, Disney Execs Pledge To Crack Down On Streaming Password Sharing ‘Piracy’
  42. UEFA secures UK court order to block illegal soccer streams: Using the same technology as the Premier League to stop feeds at their source.
  43. Why Workplace Instant Messaging Is Hot Again
  44. Google fights fragmentation: New Android features to be forced on apps in 2018 – New Play Store rules give developers one year to adopt any new Android changes.
  45. Adult supervision no longer needed at Google (Alpahbet)…so Eric Schmidt is stepping aside 
  46. Top EU Court Says Uber Is A Transport Service That Can Be Regulated Like Traditional Taxis
  47. The Most Awesome Codebreaker In World War II Was A Woman
  48. Virtual Reality Lets You Arrive Without Traveling
  49. Virtual reality’s best experiences and biggest (teleportation) steps in 2017: Who made VR’s best stuff in 2017 – and why wasn’t it Valve or Oculus? Plus, 2018 
  50. Big Tech: The New Predatory Capitalism – The tech giants are menacing democracy, privacy, and competition. Can they be housebroken?
  51. How Data Saved The Golden State Warriors
  52. Your face in froth: London cafe offers Europe’s first ‘selfieccino.’
  53. The most talked-about stories on Ars Technica in 2017
  54. The Worst Gadgets of 2017
  55. 2017 Was A Volatile Year In The World Of Online Video. Here Are Five Reasons Why. 
  56. The Canadian Copyright Review in the Age of Technological Disruption (Michael Geist)

CREATIVITY

  1. Livent decision and the scope of auditor liability
  2. Good News: Trump Protestors Accused Of ‘Hiding Behind The First Amendment’ Acquitted
  3. You can transfer a copyright without saying ‘copyright’ 
  4. EU Commission Hid Yet Another Report That Showed Its Assumptions About Copyright Were Wrong
  5. Europe’s Ongoing Attack On Free Speech, And Why It Should Concern Us All
  6. Fox News website beefs up and ‘goes a little Breitbart’: As competition surges on the right, Fox’s website increasingly follows the path of its prime-time hosts.
  7. Dear Barstool Sports: No You Cannot Sue The NFL For Its Non-Infringing Merchandise. Also, Relax.
  8. A Kat’s 2017 Copyright Awards
  9. These experts figured out why so many bogus patents get approved: Empirical research reveals three big problems with how patents are vetted.
  10. Concerns Around The Discourse About “Fake News” And Elections
  11. Class of 2018 

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

  1. Months Later, And People Are Still Discovering Their Dead Loved Ones Were Used To Support Killing Net Neutrality 
  2. The Heroes We Need: An Overview of Who’s Fighting for and Against Net Neutrality
  3. The End of the Internet? What to Expect after the FCC’s 3-2 Vote to Restore Internet Freedom 
  4. Comcast’s Tax-Cut Investment ‘Increase’ Is A Giant Nothingburger
  5. Washington state: Comcast was “even more deceptive” than we thought – “Additional consumers… rejected the SPP, but Comcast signed them up anyway.”
  6. Comcast claims it’ll spend $50B because of net neutrality repeal and tax cut: Comcast says it will increase network investment, but it was already doing that.
  7. Why Net Neutrality Will Be A Campaign Issue In 2018
  8. FCC tries to make Miami pirate radio station walk the plank: $144,000 fine for ignoring all requests to stop.
  9. The UK Just Decided That 10 Mbps Broadband Should be a Legal Right
  10. CRTC Seeks Comments on Its Reseller Registration Obligation
  11. Globe editorial: In 2018, the fight for net neutrality must continue 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Jailed Russian says he hacked DNC on Kremlin’s orders and can prove it
  2. Canadian Government Looking To Step Up Domestic Surveillance, Scale Back Intelligence Oversight
  3. Facial recognition at US airports becoming routine, researchers warn – Prof asks: “We’re wondering if this is the best use of a billion dollars?”
  4. What Amazon Echo And Google Home Do With Your Voice Data
  5. Facebook Transparency Report: Lots Of Government Surveillance, Bad Copyright Takedown Requests
  6. OkCupid begins enforcing real-name rules, insists it’s a good idea: Dating site claims it’s “keeping with the times,” but what of users’ privacy desires?
  7. Snowden’s New App Turns Your Phone Into A Home Security System
  8. No boundaries for user identities: Web trackers exploit browser login managers
  9. FOIA Researchers Are Targeting a Shadowy FBI Program Called ‘Gravestone’
  10. Improve your online safety with advice from experts

Jon

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News of the Week; December 20, 2017

By Jon Festinger on January 6, 2018

GAMES

  1. Crytek sues Star Citizen developers: Alleges Cloud Imperium is still using CryEngine, but studio will “defend vigourously” against “meritless lawsuit”
  2. Crytek sues Star Citizen developers over game engine: Legal action is another distraction for the long-delayed project.
  3. NBA2K18 Is Removing User Made Content From The Game Over IP Infringement, Refuses Refunds To Anyone Who Bought It
  4. China blocks Steam Community features: But games marketplace remains open for users to buy and play new titles
  5. How Minecraft Led To The Mirai Botnet
  6. Minecraft was the reason the Mirai botnet was created: “These kids are super smart, but they didn’t do anything high level—they just had a good idea. It’s the most successful IoT botnet we’ve ever seen—and a sign that computer crime isn’t just about desktops anymore.”
  7. Mod hub Nexus Mods plans to soon pay modders for their creations
  8. Nexus Mods will add a system to reward mod creators: Leading mod community’s lawyers see no obvious legal issue with Bethesda
  9. Cancelled Rising Thunder gets open-source release: Developer Radiant Entertainment gives game back to the community
  10. Meet the legislator trying to do something about video game loot boxes: Hawaii’s Chris Lee wants to protect minors from “psychological manipulation”
  11. How the legal battle around loot boxes will change video games forever: Digging in to one of 2017’s biggest gaming controversies
  12. Despite major controversy, the new ‘Star Wars’ game is a massive success
  13. New Zealand Gambling Regulator Deems Loot Boxes Not Gambling: Loot boxes don’t meet New Zealand’s legal definition of gambling.
  14. Obsidian Entertainment: “No microtransactions, of any kind, in our game”: Developer addresses consumer concerns following recent partnership with Take-Two Interactive’s indie publishing arm, Private Division
  15. Take-Two launches indie label with Obsidian, The Outsiders and Panache Digital onboard: Private Division will focus on high-end indie studios like those started by Patrice Désilets and Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto
  16. With Private Division, Take-Two wants to empower a new breed of indie developer: Michael Worosz on the emergence of a high-end indie development, and Take-Two’s “venture capital meets game publishing” strategic response
  17. Sorry, PlayerUnknown, you probably can’t stop Battlegrounds‘ copycats: US law offers few protections for gameplay design.
  18. Brendan ‘PlayerUnknown’ Greene calls for better IP protection in games: PUBG creator laments the lack of deterrents for copycats, says clones stifle innovation
  19. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Creator Massively Confused And Hypocritical In Rant Begging For More IP For Video Games
  20. Call of Duty: WWII drives November US game sales to $2.7bn – NPD – ATVI hit generated more launch month spending than any Call of Duty debut since Black Ops II in November 2012
  21. Super Mario Odyssey hits 1 million physical sales in Japan: The latest Famitsu data shows Switch nearing 3 million units sold
  22. Nintendo leads games industry figureheads’ 2017 highlights: Also, Red Dead Redemption 2 (and various sporting victories) on execs’ 2018 Most Anticipated list
  23. One-upping the NES Classic Edition with the Raspberry Pi 3 and RetroPie: NES Classic is no more, but luckily cheap hobbyist boards are great for little projects.
  24. Twitch announces reality game show for streamers: Stream On to feature creators competing to turn live-streaming into full-time career
  25. Twitch Begins Streaming Traditional Sports Through NFL, NBA
  26. Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey Discusses Interest, Role In Esports
  27. Analyst: On mobile platforms, women outspend men
  28. Women are most valuable mobile gamers – DeltaDNA: Analytics firm finds lifetime value of average female player is 44% higher than that of average male player
  29. Brexit’s shadow looms over 2018: A lack of recognition of the games industry’s needs from government have created concerns over hiring and trade that will continue into next year
  30. 29% of games businesses negatively affected by Brexit, says TIGA: Depreciation of sterling had positive impact on 11% games firms, according to survey
  31. FCC votes to dismantle net neutrality: ESA “disappointed” as US governing body votes 3-2 to abandon rule preventing service providers from blocking traffic
  32. ESA hails US tax reform: Trade group applauds permanent reduction in corporate tax rate from as high as 35% down to 21%
  33. Q&A: Designing Flutter VR, a game unapolegetically made for women
  34. The Race For AR Glasses Starts Now
  35. Pre-orders for Ataribox delayed: “Updated launch plan is currently underway,” says Atari
  36. Codemasters may be preparing to go public – Report: The British racing studio could be valued at more than £100m, according to Sky News
  37. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds sells 1 million on Xbox One: Survival shooter hits milestone in first 48 hours on sale in Xbox Game Preview program, now free with Xbox One X purchases through year’s end
  38. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Finally Comes Out For Real
  39. Magic Leap Finally Unveils its First AR Product ‘Magic Leap One’, Shipping Starts in 2018
  40. Magic Leap AR Headset Hands-on Offers Details on Field of View, Weight & Content
  41. Magic Leap: Founder of Secretive Start-Up Unveils Mixed-Reality Goggles – Rony Abovitz talks with Glixel about the tech and ambitions behind new MR Goggles
  42. Magic Leap One: Creator Edition shipping in 2018 – Augmented reality company unveils long-awaited first product, a self-contained wearable platform
  43. Facebook releases Spaces for HTC Vive: Oculus parent officially supports rival VR hardware with social chat app
  44. UK charts overhaul: Digital data will finally be counted – A new combined physical/digital chart set for 2019
  45. PS4 took half of all UK physical game sales in 2017: First year on record where a single console has accounted for more than 50% of the market
  46. The 3DO: The birth of my cynicism
  47. Guerrilla Games ending online support for Killzone 2 and Killzone 3
  48. People of the Year 2017: Strauss Zelnick – Take-Two’s chairman set the company up for a banner year with no major new releases beyond its annualized sports titles
  49. People of the Year 2017: From huge organisations and leading executives, to charitable causes and exceptional development talent – the best and brightest from the last year
  50. People of the Year 2017: Christian Whitehead – Sonic the Hedgehog is relevant again, thanks to the indie developer who succeeded where Team Sonic repeatedly failed
  51. Best PC Game Of 2017
  52. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: The top 10 game developers of the year
  53. GamesIndustry.biz presents… The Year In Numbers 2017: We present everything you need to know about the global market value, the biggest platforms, the hottest games and more
  54. 5 events that shaped the game industry in 2017
  55. 5 trends that defined the game industry in 2017
  56. How will 2018 shape the games business?: Our analyst panel dissects everything to look out for during the next year
  57. “2018 is going to be the year where gamers take the power back”: At the Slush conference, Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester predicted that next year will be great for gamers, and another disappointing one for VR
  58. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Bryant Francis’ top 10 games
  59. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Alissa McAloon’s top 6 games
  60. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Kris Graft’s top 10 games
  61. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Chris Kerr’s top 6 games
  62. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Phill Cameron’s top 10 games
  63. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: The top 10 game developers of the year
  64. Gamasutra’s Best of 2017: Alex Wawro’s top 7 games
  65. Obituary: Video game lawyer and VGBA co-founder David Rosenbaum

DIGITAL

  1. Disney to buy part of 21st Century Fox for $52 billion: Disney gets FX Networks, X-Men, Deadpool, and a majority stake in Hulu.
  2. Disney to Buy 21st Century Fox Assets for $52.4 Billion in Historic Hollywood Merger: Disney CEO Bob Iger extends contract through 2021 to oversee integration
  3. Disney’s Acquisition Of Fox Could Change Streaming Forever 
  4. What Will Happen To Hulu After Disney’s Fox Acquisition?
  5. Disney Will Get More Vice After Acquiring 21st Century Fox’s $70 Million Stake
  6. Disney buys 21st Century Fox in $52.4 billion deal: Acquisition includes popular IP like X-Men, Deadpool, Avatar and The Simpsons
  7. ESPN Expands Monday Night Football Rights To Smartphones
  8. Currency-mining Android malware is so aggressive it can physically harm phones: This is your phone on mining software. Any questions?
  9. Facebook sends Ars takedown notice from Pink Floyd over NASA audio: Pink Floyd’s 2011 “Immersion Box Set” has the same audio from Apollo 11 mission.
  10. Judge Hits Ctrl+Alt+Delete on Facebook User Tracking MDL 
  11. The Great AI Paradox: Don’t worry about supersmart AI eliminating all the jobs. That’s just a distraction from the problems even relatively dumb computers are causing. 
  12. Artificial intelligence is forcing us to work harder to define human intelligence — and to fight to defend it: Think like nobody’s strapping a band around your head to collect information about your thinking.
  13. Artificial Intelligence Is Killing The Uncanny Valley And Our Grasp On Reality
  14. 2017 Was The Year The Robots Really, Truly Arrived
  15. Montreal seeks to lead responsible artificial-intelligence research
  16. New York City moves to create accountability for algorithms: City Council passes bill addressing algorithmic discrimination in city government.
  17. Russia’s Version Of Siri Might Be Russia’s Next President
  18. For Russian ‘Trolls,’ Instagram’s Pictures Can Spread Wider Than Words
  19. Russia Threatens To Ban YouTube And Twitter, But Probably Won’t Try
  20. Twitter begins enforcing new anti-hate speech rules: Twitter won’t allow threats against people based on “group characteristics.”
  21. The ‘Twitter Purge’ Nazi reckoning has begun. Here are the rules.
  22. Once Again: Expecting Social Media Companies To Police ‘Bad’ Stuff Is A Bad Idea 
  23. Hotel owner says she gets death threats after guest was charged $350 for posting negative review 
  24. Microsoft Lifts Secrecy Veil In Harassment Cases, Will Others Follow?
  25. Microsoft ends arbitration in sexual harassment cases: No word as to whether other Silicon Valley giants will follow suit.
  26. Microsoft promises transparency in sexual harassment cases: Xbox platform holder will eliminate forced arbitration agreements in an effort to stop serial offenders
  27. For 8 days Windows bundled a password manager with a critical plugin flaw: Plugin for Win 10 version of Keeper had bug allowing sites to steal passwords.
  28. Google brings a Chrome… installer… to the Microsoft Store: The browser itself isn’t a store app. Just the installer.
  29. Neither Microsoft nor Google looks good in this Chrome-installer squabble: Microsoft shouldn’t remove the Chrome installer; Google should aim higher. 
  30. Chrome’s ad blocker goes live on February 15: The Web’s #1 advertising company makes a power play with its own ad blocker.
  31. European News Agencies Again Demand Google, Facebook, Etc. Pay Up For Sending Them Traffic
  32. Iowa Supreme Court Apparently Unfamiliar With First Amendment And Prior Restraint: Bars Newspaper From Publishing Info
  33. Alphabet wants to deliver Internet access via laser beams: The company already has a buyer for its “Free space optical communication.”
  34. The 37-Page Letter That Could Make Uber’s Problems So Much Worse
  35. New letter: Top Uber officials engaged in illegal wiretapping, shady spycraft – A top Uber lawyer instructed that “double-secret A/C priv” be written on a document.
  36. Top EU court: Uber is just another transportation service – Uber can now be regulated in EU member states like any company operating taxis.
  37. World-wide injunctions in the Canadian Supreme Court
  38. Google Finally Lets You Mute Autoplay Videos In Chrome—Here’s How
  39. Minnesota Mom Pleads Guilty To Killing Boyfriend In Ill-Conceived YouTube Stunt
  40. YouTube Music Head: Looped Song Clips No Longer Count Toward Billboard Chart Tallies
  41. YouTube Strikes New Deals With Universal and Sony Music
  42. YouTube Inks Licensing Deals With Universal And Sony Music As It Preps Paid Service (Report)
  43. The World’s Best Film School Is Free On YouTube
  44. Amazon Has Applied For A Trademark On A Name That Sounds Like A YouTube Competitor
  45. Amazon Prime Video App Gets Most Week One Downloads In Apple TV Store
  46. Alexa Wants You To Talk To Your Ads
  47. CBS Aims to Boost Video-Streaming News Hub CBSN in 2018
  48. Publishers To Stop Receiving Facebook Money For News Feed Videos
  49. Refinery29 Lays Off 34 Employees Amid Digital Media Headwinds
  50. Snap’s H.R. Chief Allegedly Warned Staff About Serial Killers
  51. ESPN, NBC Nab NFL Mobile-Streaming Games After Verizon Loses Exclusive Rights
  52. Delaware Supreme Court Reverses Controversial Dell Appraisal Ruling
  53. ‘Nazi VR’ Documentary Shows How VR is Helping to Convict Nazi War Criminals
  54. VR Has Officially Ascended to ‘Crappy Last-Minute Gift’ Thanks to This AXE Bodywash Bundle 
  55. Apple’s Third Series Order Is A Space Drama From ‘Battlestar Galactica’ EP
  56. North Korea suspected in latest bitcoin heist, bankrupting Youbit exchange: Breach bankrupts Seoul-based company after it reformed in wake of a previous heist. 
  57. Feds Rush to Cash in on Seized Bitcoin Cache Before the Bubble Bursts 
  58. Danish Hockey Team Owner Pays Player Son Exclusively In Bitcoin
  59. The Hard Math Behind Bitcoin’s Global Warming Problem
  60. Want to really understand how bitcoin works? Here’s a gentle primer: Ars goes deep on the breakthrough online payment network.
  61. Bank of Canada White Paper on Creating Digital Currency 
  62. Twitter Envisions Future Where Fans Might Pay A Dollar To See A Buzzer Beater
  63. New Website and Social Media Requirements for Canadian Reporting Issuers
  64. What Happens When We Let Tech Care For Our Aging Parents
  65. The 25 Most Popular Passwords of 2017: You Sweet, Misguided Fools
  66. Insights: The Week That Changed The Internet
  67. Silicon Valley’s Dumbest ‘Inventions’ of 2017
  68. Google Inc. v. Equustek Solutions Inc. 
  69. Internet Policy 20 Years Later: Did The U.S. Get It Right? 

CREATIVITY

  1. Dr. Seuss and Star Trek mashup comic isn’t fair use after all, judge says: Case could turn on whether Boldly is a parody or an homage. 
  2. T.J. Miller accused of physical and sexual assault in disturbing Daily Beast exposé
  3. United States v. Broadcast Music, Inc.
  4. Understanding joint authorship
  5. How To Be A Television Futurist In Four Simple Steps 
  6. Choosing the Ideal Venue for IP Disputes: Recent Developments in Federal Case Law 
  7. Framing the Copyright Review: Bains and Joly Reference the Public Domain, Flexibility, Open Access and Limits of the Law (Michael Geist)

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY 

  1. Fostering a Vibrant Canadian Programming Market: My CRTC Submission Focusing on Net Neutrality and Rejecting New Taxes, Fees or Content Blocking (Michael Geist)
  2. As the U.S. Retreats, Canada Doubles Down on Net Neutrality: “An Open Internet is Critical to Our Democracy” (Michael Geist)
  3. Goodbye, net neutrality – Ajit Pai’s FCC votes to allow blocking and throttling: But pro-net neutrality groups will sue FCC to reinstate consumer protections. 
  4. The FCC Just Killed Net Neutrality. Now What?
  5. Republicans Just Sold Out the Internet. Now What? 
  6. FCC Votes to Kill Net Neutrality, Capping a Year of Endless B.S.
  7. FCC Votes To Overturn Net Neutrality Rules, Brings Us One Step Closer To A Destroyed Internet
  8. GOP net neutrality bill would allow paid fast lanes and preempt state laws: FCC would be permanently barred from using Title II authority over broadband.
  9. Digital Creators Rally Against Repeal Of Net Neutrality
  10. Online Retailers Support Challenges to Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules
  11. Fight: The Wired Guide To Net Neutrality
  12. Donald Trump Jr. and Ted Cruz lambast Mark Hamill’s support of net neutrality: “It was Vader who supported govt power over everything said & done on the Internet.”
  13. The FCC’s ‘Harlem Shake’ video may violate copyright law: The agency apparently didn’t get permission to use the song.
  14. Leaked E-mail Shows Even The FCC’s Own CTO Thinks Gutting Net Neutrality Harms The Public
  15. T-Mobile’s Getting Into Cable TV, Where Its Opposition To Net Neutrality May Come Back To Bite It
  16. The Looming Net Neutrality Fight Is Looking Damn Good for Democrats
  17. The FCC’s Ajit Pai now openly mocking net neutrality protesters with his dumb new video
  18. Diplo and Mad Decent Take Aim at FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Over Illegal Use of “Harlem Shake”
  19. Baauer is ‘taking action’ against FCC chairman for using Harlem Shake in net neutrality repeal video: The DJ and producer will do ‘whatever I can to stop this loser’
  20. The Artist Behind The “Harlem Shake” Briefly Got An Ajit Pai Video Taken Down From YouTube
  21. This Whole Mess With Ajit Pai, The Harlem Shake And Copyright Is Bad And Everyone’s Wrong.
  22. Why Must The FCC Insult Everyone’s Intelligence By Misrepresenting Broadband Investment?
  23. Online Education After The End of Net Neutrality
  24. FCC Repeals Net Neutrality – Don’t Go Down Without A Fight
  25. The Biggest Whoppers From The FCC’s Net Neutrality Meeting
  26. After FCC Abandons Net Neutrality, States Take Up The Fight
  27. State attorneys general line up to sue FCC over net neutrality repeal: Net neutrality supporters will try to reinstate the rules in courts and Congress.
  28. Two Separate Studies Show That The Vast Majority Of People Who Said They Support Ajit Pai’s Plan… Were Fake 
  29. NY Attorney General Finds 2 Million Fake FCC Net Neutrality Comments
  30. N.Y. Attorney General on Why He Refuses to Let Net Neutrality Die
  31. Obama didn’t force FCC to impose net neutrality, investigation found: Ajit Pai still thinks Obama’s call for net neutrality rules amounted to an order.
  32. FCC Boss Claims Net Neutrality Supporters Were Clearly Wrong Because Twitter Still Works The Day After Repeal
  33. NAACP Fought Net Neutrality Until Last Week, Now Suddenly Supports The Idea
  34. “There will be a [Senate] vote” to reinstate net neutrality, Schumer says: Congress could block net neutrality repeal, but Democrats face tough odds. 
  35. Right On Cue, Marsha Blackburn Introduces A Fake Net Neutrality Bill To Make The FCC’s Idiotic Decision Permanent
  36. Corporate Power and Censorship: A World Without Net Neutrality
  37. This is why Canada is unlikely to end net neutrality like the US just did
  38.  How the end of net neutrality in the US could affect Canadians
  39. Committee calls for CASL clarification
  40. Industry Committee Calls for CASL Clarification, Rejects Demands for Anti-Spam Law Overhaul (Michael Geist)
  41. New Committee Report On CASL Highlights Need For Clarification And Education
  42. Koch Brothers Are Cities’ New Obstacle To Building Broadband
  43. FCC Permits Some Robocall Blocking
  44. Regulators and criminals crowd cyberspace
  45. How telecom and media companies can avoid the costly risks of mergers and acquisitions
  46. Comcast to be “unleashed” on rivals when NBC merger conditions expire: Breakup of Comcast and NBC should be explored, senator says. 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Avatars, Facial Scans & Virtual Basketball: Second Circuit Tosses Biometric Privacy Case 
  2. Another Court Says Compelled Password Production Doesn’t Violate The Fifth Amendment
  3. Court Says German Intelligence Agency Can No Longer Hoard Billions Of Metadata Records
  4. Kaspersky sues DHS over federal blacklist: “It failed to satisfy even the minimum standards of due process.”
  5. Inside China’s Vast New Experiment In Social Ranking
  6. China Is Building The Ultimate Surveillance Tool: A DNA Database Of Every Adult Resident In Troubled Xinjiang Region
  7. Canadian Position on Data Localization Rules in Trade Deals Revealed: Protection for Government Data Only (Michael Geist)
  8. Congress Backs Down From Terrible Surveillance Bill; Running Out Of Time
  9. Trump administration formally blames North Korea for WannaCry. Now what?: There’s not a lot of remaining leverage on North Korea to change its cyber-behavior.
  10. Homeland Security Adviser Pins Wannacry Attack On North Korea In Wall Street Journal Op-Ed
  11. Hold North Korea Accountable For Wannacry – And The NSA, Too
  12. Hackers take control of security firm’s domain, steal secret data: Attackers bypass HTTPS encryption protection by registering new TLS certificate.
  13. In a Dystopian Move, the SPCA Is Using a Robot to Scare off Homeless People
  14. The SPCA Has Removed Its Controversial Security Robot
  15. Facebook Can Now Find Your Face, Even When It’s Not Tagged
  16. Secrecy Is Dead. Here’s What Happens Next.
  17. Top 10 Privacy Law Developments of 2017

Jon

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