Posts

GAMES

1. Valve gives developers power to ban players

2. Sooner or later, paid-for mods are coming

3. id Software planned to pay mod makers in 1995

4. Internet Archive’s MS-DOS Twitter games suspended

5. Glu Mobile gains $126 million Tencent investment and signs up Britney Spears

6. ‘Dota 2’ The International 2015 Compendium generates $2 million for prize pool at launch

7. Revenues up 33% YoY for PlayStation

8. EA grows sales to $4.5 billion in Fiscal 2015

9. Lawyer: 38 Studios documents shouldn’t be released piecemeal

10. What is happening at Konami?

11. A Saudi Prince Is Using Video Games To Fuel An Intellectual Renaissance In The Middle East

12. Homophobic game gets pulled from Steam Greenlight, developer issues statement

13. Valve: “Getting people sick isn’t a choice”

14. Game of Fear: What if a stalker had an army? Zoe Quinn’s ex-boyfriend was obsessed with destroying her reputation—and thousands of online strangers were eager to help.

15. GamerGate D.C. gathering targeted by bomb threat

16. Interzone CEO faces 120 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering

17. Myst TV show reportedly heading to Hulu

18. Headline: The Era of Japan’s All-Powerful Videogame Designers Is Over

19. These are the first finalists for the new World Video Game Hall of Fame

20. Madden 16 simulation predicts which players will be arrested this season

21. Ten Old Car Video Games That Are Still Great Today

22. A reenactment of Floyd Mayweather v. Manny Pacquiao in ‘Mike Tyson’s Punchout’

23. This Video Game Has Solved The Problem of Learning Guitar: I tried taking lessons. I tried reading guitar tabs online. The only thing that worked was Rocksmith.

24. A Rediscovered Mainframe Game From 1974 Might Be The First Text Adventure

DIGITAL

25. “Homophobe” brings Ireland’s first “right to be forgotten” court case

26. Revenge porn – the need to legislate between privacy and copyright?

27. Protecting Users’ Location Data From An Unconstitutional Search

28. Privacy trade-offs in retail tracking

29. Apple Has Plans for Your DNA: The iPhone could become a new tool in genetic studies.

30. How YouTube and Build-A-Bear Engage Kids Without Collecting Data

31. Secret Shuts Down

32. Norms of Computer Trespass (Orin Kerr)

33. The Great Database of China: Rating Moral Behavior, Blacklisting Citizens

34. And Another One Bites The Dust: Mass Surveillance Ruled Unconstitutional In Slovak Republic

35. New EFF ‘404’ Report Shows How Draconian Copyright Policies Stifle Online Speech Worldwide

+ Executive Summary: Missing Stories From the 301 Blacklist

+ USTR Releases Its Annual Special 301 ‘Naughty’ List Of Countries; EFF Responds With ‘Special 404’ List

36. Apple pushing music labels to kill free Spotify streaming ahead of Beats relaunch: Aggressive tactics from the music giant have garnered scrutiny from the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission

37. Fair Use At Risk When Private Companies Get To Make The Decision For Us

38. Grooveshark Shuts Down to Settle Copyright Infringement Suit

39. The Great Unbundling

40. Why Film Bizzers Are Still Outraged Over Europe’s Digital Single Market Plan

41. Rogers agrees to $5 million refund for charges resulting from misleading ads

42. Forget, Mayweather v. Pacquaio: The Big Fight Was Apparently Hollywood v. Periscope Streaming

43. Pro-Russian Videos Get Fake Views With Help From Malware

44. 3D printing and intellectual property rights in Canada

45. Facebook legacy contact initiative expands to Canada

46. Facebook Opens Internet.Org To All Developers In Response To Net Neutrality Concerns

47. Dear Tom Wheeler: I’m Sorry I Thought You Were A Mindless Cable Shill

48. Someone Has A Domain For Carly Fiorina’s Name And Is Pretty Upset With Her Layoffs While At HP

49. Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook are at war over the future of news — and one of them tried to buy a media company

50. The (Very) Big Fight For The Small Screen: A rising class of Internet video companies is challenging the supremacy of broadcast TV—and they’ve come with a list of 10 Totally Awesome Reasons Why They’re Doing It Wrong.

51. Coding has become the fourth literacy 

CREATIVITY

52. ‘Blurred Lines’ Judge Asked to Grant New Trial

53. FBI Spent Years ‘Researching’ The Lyrics To ‘Louie, Louie’ Before Realizing The Copyright Office Must Have Them

54. Judge Upholds State’s Alamo Trademark

55. John Green’s Brandcast Speech

56. Is the news behaving more like advertising?

57. Katy Perry’s left shark – take 2 

58. How Hollywood Keeps Out Women

59. Billionaire investor Peter Thiel: ‘Always aim for a monopoly. From society’s perspective, it’s complicated. But from the inside, I always want to have a monopoly.’

60. Technology is disrupting Hollywood and its gonna hit hard

jon

GAMES

1. US government takes on legal fight over console jailbreaking once more: US Copyright Office considers arguments as part of DMCA rulemaking.

2. How The DMCA And Anti-Piracy Measures Conspire To Keep Video Games In Their Cultural Place

3. How It’s Done: Rockstar Releases Video Production Editor For GTA So Fans Can Make Films

4. Is the US gov’t finally over video game violence?

5. University of Missouri researchers find that violent video games do not cause aggression in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

6. Sore loser swats Long Island home after losing a round of ‘Call of Duty’

7. Killing Floor 2’s EULA reserves the right to ban you for being a jerk

8. Turkish scholars launch petition against possible Minecraft ban

9. Pastor Dollar says ‘Pokémon’ makes you gay

10. Human rights advocates, military see violent video games as teaching tool

11. Mortal Kombat X: The Most Violent Video Game Ever?

12. MMA Fighter Upset Over Possible Homage In Mortal Kombat

13. Anita Sarkeesian named to Time 100

14. GamerGate and the Balkanization of Videogames

15. Net Neutrality-themed game ‘404Sight’ released

16. Pirate Bay co-founder denied bid to play original Nintendo in prison

17. Woman sues Google claiming she lost “thousands” through Google Play Store hack: Google never reimbursed her after agreeing that the purchases weren’t hers, she says.

18. Valve puts limits on customers who haven’t spent $5 on Steam to fight spamming and phishing schemes

19. Gaming will hit $91.5 billion this year – Newzoo

20. Strong year sees Sony climb above Microsoft in revenue rankings

+ PlayStation pushes Sony’s sales forecast up

21. Why The Next Sports Empire Will Be Built On Esports

22. Codemasters to renew F1 license

23. Guitar Hero is Back And I Really Like What I’ve Seen

24. BBC’s Grand Theft Auto TV show to star Bill Paxton and Daniel Radcliffe: Drama to detail cultural impact of GTA, with Radcliffe as Sam Houser and Paxton as Jack Thompson.

25. Simulection – What happens when you run the 2015 Conservative manifesto through a video game?: We are running the parties’ manifestos through Democracy 3, an election simulation video game. Here’s what happens if the Tories win…

26. A Game About Cancer, One Year Later

27. Video games can power up from merely fun to meaningful experiences

DIGITAL

28. A Robot That Bought Drugs Online Is Now Free From Police Custody

29. Do Killer Robots Violate Human Rights?: When machines are anthropomorphized, we risk applying a human standard that should not apply to mere tools.

30. Concerns of an Artificial Intelligence Pioneer: The computer scientist Stuart Russell wants to ensure that our increasingly intelligent machines remain aligned with human values.

31. Netizen Report: The Spring of Cybercrime Laws

32. Complaints To FTC About Rightscorp Detail Robocalls, Harassment And Baseless Threats To Sever Internet Connections

33. MPAA Pirated Clips From Google Commercials To Make Its Own MPAA Propaganda Videos

34. NHL bans media from using Periscope, Meerkat to subvert rights-holders

35. Bell faces $750M lawsuit over advertising program: Bell Canada is facing a $750 million class action lawsuit over a program that tracked its users’ internet usage to sell advertising

36. Meet the lawyer taking on Uber and the rest of the on-demand economy

37. Internet.org is a failed exercise in misdirection (Doc Searls)

38. Why India’s Net Neutrality Activists Hate Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg’s Internet.org philanthropy finds itself cast as the villain in India’s fight over Internet rules

+ Facebook’s Internet.org sees defections over alleged harm to net neutrality: App to get impoverished online gives free access, but only to select websites.

39. How Blogging is Held Hostage by Ethiopian Politics

40. Details Leak From Inside Putin’s ‘Humourless And Draconian’ Internet Troll Army

41. FBI can’t cut Internet and pose as cable guy to search property, judge says: “This is a monumental ruling protecting Americans’ privacy in the modern age.”

42. Robert Campbell sentenced to 6 years for cyberbullying campaign: Ottawa man pleaded guilty to 63 charges of identity fraud, defamation and criminal harassment

43. Apple refuses to answer questions over ‘homophobic’ Russian Siri: Russian voice-assistant for iPhones and iPad accused of answering questions with homophobic responses, while company dismisses issue as ‘a bug’

44. On The War On General Purpose Computing

45. Hollywood Collectively Loses Its Mind About Latest Set Of Livestreaming Apps

46. It wasn’t easy, but Netflix will soon use HTTPS to secure video streams

47. “It’s not that we control NewsFeed, you control NewsFeed…” Facebook: please stop with this.

48. An oral history of the epic collision between journalism and digital technology, from 1980 to the present

49. Age Of Technology: Generational Video Viewing Preferences Vary By Device And Activity

50. Who Says the Internet is Bad for Morality?

51. Should Reddit’s powerful mods be reined in?

52. Is Netflix Friend or Foe to the TV Industry? It’s More Confusing Than Ever.

53. Nobody’s Perfect: Leaked Contract Reveals Sony Requires Netflix To Geo-Block But Acknowledges Technology Is Imperfect

54. How the Computer Got Its Revenge on the Soviet Union: Condemned as a capitalist tool, the computer would help expose the USSR’s weakness.

CREATIVITY

55. Kate Taylor: We should judge pricey tax credits as job creators, not culture builders

+ Race to the Bottom: Why Government Tax Credits For Film and TV Production Don’t Pay (Michael Geist)

+ Ontario Tax Expenditure Review: Screen Based Sector

56. Op-ed: What if MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” had been on Facebook?: Under current Alabama law, it would have been a crime. Other states feel similar.

57. Copyright claims asserted in viral video of cop shooting fleeing suspect

+ The News Media’s Use of the Walter Scott Video Is – Surprise! – A Newsworthy Use

58. Copyright For Sale: How the Sony Documents Illustrate the Link Between the MPAA and Political Donations (Michael Geist)

+ Sony Once Again Ridiculously Warns The Media Not To Report On Leaked Emails

+ As Sony Continues Threatening Reporters, NY Times Reporter Wins Pulitzer For Reporting On Sony’s Emails

+ Our Response To Sony Sending Us A Threat Letter For Reporting On The Company’s Leaked Emails

59. Student Sues College After Campus Cops Demand He Get A Free Speech ‘Permit’ Before Handing Out Fliers

60. In Big Ruling, Sony Beats ‘Iron Man’ Composer’s Lawsuit

61. ‘Traditional TV viewing for teens and tweens is dead. Not dying. Dead.’

62. Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger Hits Setback After FCC Staff Recommend Hearing (Report)

63. The great unbundling: cable TV as we know it is dying

64. The Great Canadian Copyright Giveaway: Why Copyright Term Extension for Sound Recordings Could Cost Consumers Millions (Michael Geist)

jon

GAMES

1. YouTube gaming stars blindsided by Nintendo’s ad revenue grab: Game companies may not have legal right to claim a cut, lawyer says

+ YouTuber Angry Joe Swears Off Nintendo Videos After The Company Claimed His Mario Party 10 Take

2. Report: Gamers in Crimea lose access to Blizzard games due to U.S. sanctions

3. Videogame Publishers: No Preserving Abandoned Games, Even for Museums and Archives, Because All “Hacking” is Illegal

4. Report: Firmware update sets Chinese Xbox Ones region free

5. Microsoft Hits Halo Online Modders With Copyright Complaint

+ Github complies with Microsoft DMCA takedown of Halo Online mod repo: Gameplay footage of new game has also been removed from YouTube.

+ Modders want to remove Halo Online’s microtransactions, georestrictions: Leakers say they have multiple backups to avoid Microsoft’s DMCA requests.

6. Project Cars Hit With Its Third Delay

7. Publishers must stop marketing adult games to kids

8. ‘GGautoblocker’ creator and ‘Online Abuse Prevention Initiative’ founder targeted by swatting attempt

9. Copyrighting player-generated content in video games

10. Rovio awarded $2.7 million in copyright case

11. Does Paula Deen’s new mobile game infringe on an artist’s copyright?

12. Iranian cleric urges Western countries to ban ‘Islamophobic’ games and movies

13. Dollar’s buying power plummets in first day of “official” WoW gold trading: $20 game time “tokens” have already lost 27 percent of initial gold value.

14. Sony announces shutdown of ‘Destiny of Spirits’

15. FTC approves Sony PS Vita settlement

16. GameStop halts online pre-orders for newest Nintendo amiibo figures

17. Amazon licensing deal may have saved Crytek – report

18. Nexon acquiring Boolean Games

19. AR/VR to hit $150 billion by 2020 – Report

20. Minneapolis man steals 8-year-old’s video games, gets caught on camera

21. What Really Happened To Arcades

22. Nobuo Uematsu: the video game composer shaking up classical music

23. An all-too-accurate parody of YouTube gamers 

DIGITAL

24. DDoS attacks that crippled GitHub linked to Great Firewall of China: Whitehat hacker’s traceroute wizzardry pinpoints origin of denial-of-service code.

25. The Kremlin’s comment trolls are real — as is the media’s amnesia about them

26. The Surveillance Engine: How The NSA Built Its Own Secret Google

27. Facebook faces lawsuit over facial recognition software

28. How Facebook knows who all your friends are, even better than you do

29. Microsoft drops Do Not Track default from Internet Explorer: New language in W3C standard twisted its arm

30. Hulu beats lawsuit claiming it illegally shared user data with Facebook: The “Like” button collects data, but there’s no master list of videos watched.

31. The Battle Is For The Customer Interface: Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.

32. Chrome extension collects browsing data, uses it for marketing: Downloaded 1.2M times, “Webpage Screenshot” no longer available in Chrome Store

33. Privacy Commissioner of Canada Rules Bell’s Targeted Ad Program Violates Canadian Law (Michael Geist)

+ Privacy watchdog not yet satisfied with Bell’s about-face on ad tracking

34. AT&T enters into largest data breach settlement with FCC to date

35. Commissioner cautions children’s websites to tread carefully when it comes to privacy: Privacy Commissioner launches tips on protecting children’s privacy after website investigation highlights lessons such as the need for better, age-appropriate information and involvement of adults in privacy decisions

36. Leaked TPP Investment Chapter Reveals Serious Threat to User Safeguards

37. The Internet of Kafkaesque Things (Jay Stanley)

38. How the DMCA’s Online Copyright Safe Harbor Failed (Eric Goldman)

39. Court Declines To Dismiss Hashtag Infringement Claim

40. Two Court Rulings Completely Disagree With Each Other Over Whether Websites Need To Comply With Americans With Disabilities Act

41. FCC Moves To Give Internet Video Startups The Same Protections As Cable Companies

42. Dallas Buyers Club ruling: iiNet must hand over names of downloaders

43. A New Kind of Internet Pirate: What’s stopping people from using apps like Periscope and Meerkat to livestream video they don’t own? Not much.

+ Periscope, Meerkat, and sports: Can fans, media live stream from the game?

44. Microsoft, Getty Images settle dispute over online photo tool

45. Microsoft halts Kinect for Windows production

46. Teen rakes in $6,000 on “Uploader for Instagram” app, told to shut down:  The 17-year-old has removed his app after receiving demand letters from Instagram.

47. Barrett Brown suddenly stripped of prison e-mail after talking to press: Activist writes arbitrary punishment is part of “pattern of state retaliation.”

48. USPTO Demands EFF Censor Its Comments On Patentable Subject Matter

49. Net neutrality rules differ widely across developed nations

50. Police granted extra 12 months to try to crack suspect’s computer encryption

51. Taking Down Bigots With Their Own Weapons Is Sweet, Satisfying — And Very, Very Wrong: Actually, it’s about ethics in doxxing.

52. If you’re worried about Facebook hosting news content…you’re already dead.

53. The Rise of ‘Studyblrs’: Teens take to social media to show off their…study habits?

54. Would telepathy help?: Will the next generation of telepathy machines make us closer, or are there unforeseen dangers in the melding of minds?

55. The Internet Ruined April Fool’s Day: The holiday’s jokes are unfunny and misleading. They’re also, often, redundant.

56. The Meme as Meme: Why do things go viral, and should we care?

57. The Definitive Oral History Of 1980s Digital Icon Max Headroom

CREATIVITY

58. The cost of silence: mass surveillance & self-censorship

59. Warner Bros. And Rightscorp Argue That Copyright Trolling Is Protected By The First Amendment

60. Prince Gives Away Someone Else’s Artistic Efforts, Gets Sued

61. Consent to the use of copyrighted material not required to be in writing

62. Three’s fair use too: play is transformative work (Rebecca Tushnet)

63. Let’s talk TV – CRTC roadmap to “maximize viewer choice”

64. Comparison of Canadian content, production services, co-ventures and treaty co-productions

65. Rolling Stone’s investigation: ‘A failure that was avoidable’

+ Rolling Stone’s ‘A Rape on Campus.’ Notes and comment on Columbia J-school’s investigation.

+ Rolling Stone and the Temptations of Narrative Journalism

jon

GAMES

1. Zynga investors can sue FarmVille creator for alleged IPO fraud, judge says: Lawsuit back on the table for Zynga, where fortunes have plunged since 2011 IPO.

2. This Guy Remade Super Mario 64’s Most Iconic Level In HD And Playable In Your Browser

+ Nintendo Takedown Notice for Super Mario 64 HD

+ Fan-made Super Mario 64 game pulled after Nintendo cries foul

+ Fan-made Mario 64 remake disappears following Nintendo copyright complaint

+ Poll: Should Nintendo have DMCA’d a fan’s free Super Mario HD remake?

+ Why Does Nintendo Want This Superfan’s YouTube Money?

+ Nintendo’s physical DLC: Supply-limited toy needed for new gameplay puzzles

3. Lone modder’s Half-Life 2: Update brings modern graphics to a classic: Source engine overhaul four years in the making sees free Steam release tomorrow.

4. Andrew Eisen Video: ‘My Favorite Thing About Anita Sarkeesian’s Tropes vs Women Videos’

5. Julia Hardy’s Misogyny Monday

6. Community questions Obsidian over ‘Pillars of Eternity’ in-game trans joke

7. Mortal Kombat producer “quits” Twitter over violent threats to family

8. Game store swatted, nearly became complicit in inciting police response: Received phony call encouraging employees to shut blinds, shout about weapons.

9. Oracle settles with Rhode Island in 38 Studios bankruptcy case

+ 38 Studios auction brings in $90K for Rhode Island

10. UK school district will report parents to authorities for letting their children play R18 rated games

11. Secondary schools in NI to receive free copies of Minecraft

12. Brave Frontier publisher Gumi cuts 11% of staff following IPO

13. GameStop annual sales up slightly to $9.3 billion

14. The Unbalanced Design Of Super Smash Brothers

15. Meet America’s First Video Game Varsity Athletes

16. Epic Awards One Of Three Unreal Dev Grants To Makers Of Net Neutrality Game

17. Bioware makes Orbit framework open source

18. Japanese devs will soon be able to pitch games using Bandai Namco IP

19. MOBAs will overtake MMORPGs in F2P revenue this year – EEDAR

20. What does Google Play’s increase in game sessions mean for iOS?

21. Video Gaming Made Me a History Major: Empire of Earth and Medieval 2 Total War made me actually care about school.

DIGITAL

22. In Final Verdict, Jury Rules Against Pao On All Four Claims In Ellen Pao Vs. Kleiner Perkins

+ Two Jurors On Opposite Sides Share Their Pao Vs. Kleiner Perspectives

+ Ellen Pao and the Myth of Meritocracy

+ Ellen Pao’s Statement On Losing The Kleiner Perkins Case: “The Battle Was Worth It”

23. China Uses Unencrypted Websites to Hijack Browsers in GitHub Attack

+ China’s Great Firewall Turned Around: Why China Wants To Censor Global Internet

+ Google Chrome will banish Chinese certificate authority for breach of trust:  Draconian move follows the issuance of certificates masquerading as Google domains.

24. Obama signs executive order imposing sanctions on overseas hackers: President: “From now on, we have the power to freeze their assets.”

25. Feds subpoena reddit in effort to learn about users behind Dark Web chatter: ICE agent demands e-mail, IP logs, “means and source of payment,” and more

26. Judge: Mississippi investigation of Google likely violates 1st Amendment

27. Who Knows What Evils Lurk in the Shadows?: The story of the powerful spy agency most Canadians still don’t know, and the security bill that would expand its resources and reach (Ron Deibert)

+ An amended Bill C-51 is still a problem: insights from the U.S. (Jon Penney)

+ The government has not made its case for C-51 (Kent Roach & Craig Forcese)

+ From Obama Birthers to Anti-Immigration Activists: Who the Government Turned to for Bill C-51 Support During Committee Hearings (Michael Geist)

+ How C-51 undermines privacy (Lisa M. Austin, Benjamin J. Goold, Avner Levin and Andrea Slane)

28. Quebec Takes on the Internet: Government Announces Plans to Require Website Blocking & Studies New Internet Access Tax (Michael Geist)

29. Corporate Sovereignty Provisions Of TPP Agreement Leaked Via Wikileaks: Would Massively Undermine Government Sovereignty

30. Report: Facebook tracks all visitors, even if you’re not a user and opted out: In the EU, where free and informed prior consent is required, there could be an issue.

+ Facebook tracks logged-out users in ‘violation’ of EU law, study says

31. Tech companies are sending your secrets to crowdsourced armies of low-paid workers

32. 5 other insane things a corrupt DEA agent did while allegedly stealing Bitcoin from Silk Road

33. A Precautionary Approach to Big Data Privacy (Arvind Narayanan, Joanna Huey & Edward W. Felten)

34. Court Rejects Bizarre Attempt To Scrub Consumer Review–Goren v. Ripoff Report

35. Meerkat, YouNow, Periscope and the future of live-streaming

+ Meerkat is dying – and it’s taking U.S. tech journalism with it

+ Tech reporters blew the Meerkat story but, no, I can’t name a single one because fear!: My strange exchange last night with the author of that post: ‘Meerkat is dying – and it’s taking U.S. tech journalism with it.’

36. The Most Important Social Media Company You’ve Never Heard Of: Damien Patton has created a way to find out what is happening anywhere in the world–instantly. The inside story behind Banjo–and the gold rush sure to follow.

37. Gen Con issues letter to the community on SB 101, event stuck in Indianapolis until after 2020

38. Really, Rupert?

39. Fox News, Jeanie Pirro Facebook Lawsuit Could Change Copyright Landscape On Social Media

40. CRTC finds something fishy about dating site’s unsubscribe mechanism, operator nets $48,000 fine under anti-spam law 

41. Massive Anti-Net Neutrality E-mail Campaign Shows Signs Of Faking Many Signatures

42. Judge awards damages in false DMCA takedown case

43. Another invalidated clickwrap agreement

44. Those NDAs may not be worth the paper they are written on 

45. It’s Not Easy Being Scientology: Since its founding in the 1950s, L. Ron Hubbard’s organization has put a premium on controlling the flow of information—an increasingly impossible enterprise in the Internet age.

46. Facebook’s Message to Content Makers: We Own the Audience

47. How The US Government Legally Stole Millions From Kim Dotcom

48. The NFL Will Stream a Game on the Web Next Year. Don’t Get Used to It.

49. Two Years Later, Snowden’s Mangled Laptop Is More Than an Empty Symbol

50. One Artist’s Take on the Future of Personal Data

51. ‘Avengers’ 3D Firm Brings Patent Lawsuit Against ‘Divergent’ 3D Firm

CREATIVITY

52. CRTC dramatically shifts Canadian television regulation

+ Canada Forces A La Carte Rules On Cable Industry, Bell Pouts By Refusing To Show Regulator On Television

+ At Bell Media, editorial meddling by execs appears to be a recurring problem

+ Bell censorship: the status quo can’t endure

+ Don’t bundle me, bro: Life under the shadow of Big Telecom

+ Can CTV News and BNN be trusted to report on themselves? Depends on Kevin Crull’s mood

53. Judge Rules ‘Three’s Company’ Parody Play to Be Fair Use

54. In defense of Trevor Noah’s stupid, tasteless tweets

55. Rap lyrics are fiction — but prosecutors are treating them like admissions of guilt

56. Why Traditional TV Is The Real Walking Dead

57. Why curation could be at the core of future reporting

jon

GAMES

1. Lilith Games sues uCool for copyright infringement in federal court over ‘Heroes Charge’

+ Report: hidden code in uCool’s ‘Heroes Charge’ shows Lilith Games copyright

2. Sony’s US Bloodborne trademark expired on launch day

3. Indie Developer Retaliates To Negative Video With YouTube Takedown

4. New Chicago summit aims to raise awareness about video game law

5. Haunted House of Trademark Horrors: Meet the man who has been fighting an Atari trademark challenge for over three years.

+ TxK dev on Atari legal threats: “Attack me? They should have hired me”: Jeff Minter says his game is legally distinct from its Tempest inspiration.

6. PewDiePie, Anita Sarkeesian make Time’s ’30 Most Influential People on the Internet’ list

7. “That life is over”: Zoe Quinn looks beyond GamerGate

8. New ‘Offworld’ Gaming Site Seeks To Redefine Gamer Stereotypes

9.How League Of Legends Enables Toxicity

10. Report: YouTube Live will launch in 2015 with focus on game streaming

11. Square Enix shutting down ‘Final Fantasy XI’ for PS2 and Xbox 360 in 2016

12. Annual Rovio EBIT down 73% as merchandising falters

13. Iwata claims Nintendo’s deal with DeNA was not born out of shareholder pressure

14. This Is The Demo That Magic Leap Was Going To Show At Ted Before It Backed Out

+ 48 Crazy Ideas Coming From The $2 Billion Stealth Startup Magic Leap: Want A Peek At What Magic Leap Is Working On? We Pulled The Best Shots From Their Latest Patent Application.

15. Valve: “If there’s something useful, we’ll give it away”

16. Touchtone Holds A Mirror To Our Post-Snowden Surveillance State

17. Battlefield Hardline Review: Cop Out

18. Why Everyone Should Want Politics in Their Video Games

19. How Disney’s games are getting nearly 1M downloads a day and 70M unique users a month

20. World War II Snipers – Videogames vs History

21. The Changing Looks Of Final Fantasy’s Cid: Fashion Experts Weigh In

DIGITAL

22. This infographic shows the scope of internet censorship around the globe

23. The new authoritarianism (Sergi Guriev & Daniel Treisman)

24. Russia Will Deploy “Digital Fingerprinting” to Enforce Copyright Online

25. Tim Berners-Lee: We must take to the streets to protect the open web

26. Canadian Bar Association condemns Harper’s anti-terror bill: The group representing law professionals argues the bill’s “vague and overly broad language” could chill expressions of dissent.

+ How dangerous is C-51? You might be surprised (Michael Geist)

+ A Conversation About Bill C-51: How the Anti-Terrorism Bill Undermines Canadian Privacy (Michael Geist)

27. Digital Tailspin: Ten Rules for the Internet After Snowden, Michael Seemann

28. How social media makes us feel less upset about surveillance

29. Cisco Shipping Equipment to Fake Addresses to Foil NSA Interception

30. Pearson admits to monitoring students’ social media use during its online tests

31. FTC report reveals how Google manipulated its search results

32. Whether You’re Red or Blue, You Should Love the FCC’s Internet Plan (Susan Crawford)

33. Indian Law Used to Arrest People for Innocuous Facebook Posts Ruled Unconstitutional

34. AT&T is using the Title II rules it hates to get millions in refunds: FCC grants AT&T complaint on overcharges because of common carrier rules.

35. Ellen Pao “drove the returns” at VC firm while the men were promoted, lawyers say 

36. Twitter rolls out new filter for “threats, abusive language”

37. How Bloggers Made The Fashion Industry Pay More Attention To Minorities: The medium has forced the industry to recognize — and cater to — groups of women that it has completely ignored in the past.

38. Technology and Persuasion: Persuasive technologies surround us, and they’re growing smarter. How do these technologies work? And why?

39. How Life360 won its patent war

40. Rightscorp Discovering That Harassing Broadband Users Isn’t The Cash Cow It Thought It Would Be

41. Voltage Pictures Has To Pay $22k To Canadian ISP If It Wants Names For Its Shakedown Scheme

42. The Church Of Scientology is bad at Twitter

43. Beyond Freedom Of Information Requests: Freedom Of Code Requests

44. Internet TV’s Big Chance To Oust Cable Is Almost Here

45. For a brighter robotics future, it’s time to offload their brains: The power of cloud software could make robots smarter and less expensive.

46. Where next for robot journalists in the newsroom?: With Associated Press announcing that algorithmic programs will soon be used on the sports desk, should journalists be worried they’ll soon be replaced?

47. Yep, That Anti-Robot Protest At SXSW Was A Marketing Stunt [UPDATED]

48. Co-founder feuds at L.A. tech start-ups show how handshake deals can blow up

49. MRIs show our brains shutting down when we see security prompts

50. Humans: The Next Platform

51. Yik Yak And Online Anonymity Are Good For College Students

52. Balthus’ Soft-Core Polaroids Splash Down in Paris: An exhibit that is a violation of a young girl’s and a dead artist’s privacy. Or not.

53. Q&A: Cindy Cohn, EFF’s new executive director

54. Google Puts Online 10,000 Works of Street Art from Across the Globe 

CREATIVITY

55. Bell head meddled in news coverage

+ Bell’s Crull Banned CRTC Chair Blais From CTV News Coverage Following TalkTV Decision

+ Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-96, Let’s Talk TV: A World of Choice – A roadmap to maximize choice for TV viewers and to foster a healthy, dynamic TV market

+ What on earth is happening at Bell?: Top 10 list of Bell legal/regulatory/privacy issues over just the past two years (Michael Geist)

+ Why the Vertically Integrated TV Giants Are the CRTC’s Hidden Target in Pick-and-Pay Decision

(Michael Geist)

56. The new Gamergate: Angry white men are trying to shut down diverse comics

57. Plagiarize This: A reasonable Solution to Musical Copyright After “Blurred Lines”

58. Remixing Culture And Why The Art Of The Mash-Up Matters

59. Elon Musk put SpaceX’s photos in the public domain: So why does Flickr say they’re licensed?

+ Elon Musk Says SpaceX Photos Are Now Fully Public Domain

60. Stop The Presses: Disney Tells Court About The Importance Of The Public Domain

61. From free to fee: How U.S. dailies decide to use paywalls

62. The long, twisted history of glitch art

jon