News of the Week; August 22, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Telus class action case heads to the SCC
- This Really Isn’t Our Fight and It Will Cost Us”: Behind the Scenes of CBC Support for Bell’s Website Blocking Plan (Michael Geist)
- Email Marketing In Canada (CASL)
- Maximum Mudslinging: How Powerful Lobby Groups Are Working to Sideline Civil Society Voices on Digital Policy (Michael Geist)
- ‘Oversight’ Hearing Fails Utterly To Hold FCC Accountable For Lying To Congress About Fake DDOS Attack
- Ajit Pai Knew FCC Cyberattack Was Fake for Seven Months but Kept Quiet
- Ajit Pai knew DDoS claim was false in January, says he couldn’t tell Congress
- Ajit Pai Opposes Effort To Update The Definition Of Broadband
- A Senator Says U.S. Broadband Maps ‘Stink.’ Here’s Why Nobody Wants To Fix Them.
- ISPs say they can’t expand broadband unless gov’t gives them more money
- 23 Attorneys General Urge Appeals Court To Restore Net Neutrality
- Verizon Throttled The ‘Unlimited’ Data Plan Of A Fire Dept. Battling Wildfires
- Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” data during Calif. wildfire
- Verizon Throttled Fire Department’s ‘Unlimited’ Plan While They Were Fighting Mendocino Complex Fire
- Verizon Is Wrong. Throttling Emergency Responders’ Data Is Definitely About Net Neutrality.
- Fire dept. rejects Verizon’s “customer support mistake” excuse for throttling
- AT&T/TIME Warner DOJ Smack Down: You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows
- A Victory for Introductory Offer and Subscription Advertisers: FTC Fails to Prove Deception Against DIRECTV
- DirecTV beats $4B lawsuit that alleged it tricked customers into paying more
DIGITAL
- Will the Canadian Voltage Reverse Class Action Now Fizzle?
- Twitter Gets Powerful Win in “Must-Carry” Lawsuit–Taylor v. Twitter
- Appeals Court Says Of Course Twitter Can Kick Racists Off Its Platform
- As Press Freedom Dies In Turkey, Twitter Is There To Help Dig Its Grave
- Dutch Government Prosecuting Dutch Citizen For Insulting Turkish President Recep Erdogan
- EU Commission Moving Forward With Legislation Demanding One Hour Removal Of ‘Terrorist Content’
- Section 230 Survives to Fight Another Day Following California Supreme Court Decision
- Automated ‘Content Protection’ System Sends Wave Of Bogus DMCA Notice Targeting Legitimate URLs
- Automated Filter Removed Parliament Member’s Article Warning About Censorship By Automated Filters
- 3D-printed gun activists set to face numerous US states in court
- Microsoft shuts down phishing sites, accuses Russia of new election meddling
- Man sues over Google’s “Location History” fiasco, case could affect millions
- Google reportedly plans flagship retail store (again), this time in Chicago
- After employee revolt, Google says it is “not close” to launching search in China
- Apple complies with China’s rules again, pulls gambling apps from App Store
- Apple Store Shoppers Tackle Suspects in $18,000 MacBook Grab-and-Dash Heist
- Huawei was caught using a pro camera to fake smartphone photos (again)
- UK Consumer Watchdog Is Monitoring Social Influencers Who May Be Failing To Disclose Paid Promotions
- Couple behind “prolific” dark net fentanyl sales busted by DOJ
- The Internet is making us stupid (Andres Guadamuz)
- Facebook: Iran has been posting hundreds of fake pages since 2011
- Facebook removed hundreds of pages from Iran and Russia as part of ongoing investigation into platform abuse
- Facebook begins rating users on how trustworthy they are at flagging fake news
- Facebook Helps Landlords Discriminate Against Minorities, Says U.S. Government
- DOJ Asking Court To Force Facebook To Break Encryption On Messenger Voice Calls
- ‘Facebook What?’ Half of Users Have Never Heard of Facebook’s Watch Video Service
- The Media Tried To Game The Machines and You’ll Never Guess What Happened Next (Facebook Won)
- Elon Musk Explains Why He Quit Instagram: ‘I Didn’t Like It’ [Updated]
- Brands Are Reaching Out To Young Teens On Instagram To Negotiate Cheap Product Endorsement
- Laura Lee Apologizes For Racist Tweets Amid Loss Of 240,000 Subscribers In Roughly 1 Week
- Once Again, Court Rejects Silly Claims That YouTube Provided Material Support For Terrorists
- Rutgers University Study Warns Against Glut Of Misleading Plastic Surgery Videos On YouTube
- “Re-Inspired” Kandee Johnson Returns To YouTube After Months-Long Absence
- YouTube Millionaires: MacDoesIt Says YouTube Has “Made A Home” For Him And Other Marginalized Creators
- Philip DeFranco Testing New Show Format To Avoid “Suppressed” YouTube Videos
- YouTuber True Geordie, The Commentator For KSI And Logan Paul’s Match, Launches Mobile Boxing Game
- YouTube Premium Is Readying 50 Originals For 2019. Here’s The Kind Of Content It’s Looking For.
- YouTube Outlines Originals Strategy in Europe, Middle East, Africa
- YouTube Music Signs American Music Awards Two-Year Title Sponsorship Deal
- YouTube Music Inks Two-Year Sponsorship Deal With The American Music Awards
- Ariana Grande Using Snapchat to Launch ‘Sweetener’ Merchandise via a Shoppable Selfie Lens
- Viacom Lays Off A Number Of AwesomenessTV Employees
- Walmart’s Streaming Video Service Plans Coming Into Focus, Will Launch Late 2018
- Relax, binge watchers. Netflix is not adding commercials
- Netflix will now interrupt series binges with video ads for its other series
- Netflix Is Testing Personalized “Surfacing Recommendations” — AKA Ads — Between Episodes
- 35% Of Millennials and 42% Of Gen Z Share Their Streaming Service Passwords (Study)
- Study Finds Streaming Service Usernames And Passwords For Sale On Dark Web
- Check’s in the Mail: Sony Music Disburses $750 Million to Artists in ‘Spotify Windfall’: The “completely voluntary” payment will not count against unrecouped earnings.
- Vice Media signs long-term content deal with Bell: Move comes after Rogers walked away from previous $100M pact
- Amazon Apparently Wants to Destroy TiVo Now
- Amazon Is Planning Live TV Recorder, Challenging TiVo: Box would record live TV and stream that video to smartphones; Device competes with offerings from TiVo, Dish’s Slingbox
- Giphy Adds Curated Stories to Desktop, Mobile Web
- AT&T Sued After SIM Hijacker Steals $24 Million in Customer’s Cryptocurrency
- Ouch, These Stories From the Crypto Crash Are Hard to Stomach
- The blockchain bonanza is over for graphics card makers
- NVIDIA cryptocurrency revenues fall 82% below $100m estimate for last quarter: Revenues up but OEM segment declines 54 per cent with crypto shortfall
- Saving Lives With Tech Amid Syria’s Endless Civil War: The Bashar al-Assad regime’s indiscriminate air strikes have terrorized civilians for years. Now a small band of activist-entrepreneurs is building a sensor network that listens for warplanes
- To Build Trust In Artificial Intelligence, IBM Wants Developers To Prove Their Algorithms Are Fair
- To Lead in AI, House of Lords Urges UK to stay nimble, focus on ethics, and look to Canada
- AI-Generated Art Will Go On Sale Alongside Human-Made Works This Fall
- A realistic look at AI in science fiction
- The Viral Robot Video That’s Freaking Everyone Out Is Totally Fake
- A Robot Will Become A Real-Life Movie Star
- Baseball Players Are Sick of Fallible Umpires. Robots Should Make Calls Instead.
- The gig economy and the law
- Massachusetts gives workers new protections against noncompete clauses
- Prenda Scam Boss, Paul Hansmeier, Pleads Guilty
- Paul Hansmeier finally cops to being a porn troll, after a years-long saga
- Bitmovin Takes A Scorched Earth Approach To Patent Troll, Who Limps Away Quickly
- Before You Talk About How Easy Content Moderation Is, You Should Listen To This
- The four ways that ex-internet idealists explain where it all went wrong: 21st-century digital evangelists had a lot in common with early Christians and Russian revolutionaries.
- Bill Gates Says We Need New Economic Models That Take Tech Into Account
- These 3,800-Year-Old Peruvian Carvings Look Like Modern Emoji
CREATIVITY
- Only 12% Of Music Revenue Goes To Actual Artists
- Stan Lee Has Been Granted a 3-Year Restraining Order Against His Former Manager and Guardian
- Kevin Spacey’s new movie might make less than $500 this weekend
- Kelly Marie Tran Speaks Out Against Racist Star Wars Fans With Some Powerful Words
- Movie Company Sues Post-Production Studio For $5 Million For Leaking ‘Kickboxer’ Film That Grossed $5k Domestically
- Museum Visitor Falls Into Giant Hole That Looks Like a Cartoonish Painting on the Floor
- Judge In Broward County Documents Case Decides The First Amendment Doesn’t Cover These Public Records
- Elected Official Files Business, Trademark Registrations Using Name Of Website That Frequently Criticized Her
- In-N-Out Sends Punny Cease And Desist Over Fairly Clear Trademark Infringement
- Heaven Hill Distillery Knocks On Bob Dylan’s Door Over His Heaven’s Door Whiskey For Trademark Infringement
- As Academic Publishers Fight And Subvert Open Access, Preprints Offer An Alternative Approach For Sharing Knowledge Widely
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Canadian Privacy Commissioner says public profiles are private
- FBI Tried To Get Google To Turn Over Identifying Info On Hundreds Of Phone Owners
- FBI Warning: Data Security Issues Posed by the Internet of Things
- Just say no: Wi-Fi-enabled appliance botnet could bring power grid to its knees
- The limits of intelligence collection
- Toward defining privacy expectations in an age of oversharing: Our digital data deserves protection, writes Margot Kaminski, a law professor
- Voting Machine Vendors, Election Officials Continue To Look Ridiculous, As Kids Hack Voting Machines In Minutes
- Researcher Says Police Body Cameras Are An Insecure Mess
- Let’s Retire the Phrase ‘Privacy Policy’: People assume it means their information will be kept private. Nothing could be further from the truth.
- Teen Hangout Site Shuttered for COPPA Violations
- Recent Developments Regarding the California Consumer Privacy Act
GAMES
- Liftoff: Women make in-app purchases at a 79% higher rate than men – iOS user acquisition more expensive, but also more lucrative than Android
- Analyst: More players are making in-app purchases (with less nudging)
- 2K tweaks loot boxes in NBA 2K to comply with new Belgian gambling laws
- Loot Box Regulation: The State of Play
- China’s censors may target business models, not content: With no games approved in four months, China’s censorship regime is in flux; could game monetisation be in the sights of the new authorities?
- Games of Skill v. Games of Chance – The Legal Analysis
- Indictment: Congressman spent campaign funds on $1,500 in Steam games [Updated]
- U.S. judge blocks sale of GTA Online cheat programs
- US judge blocks man from selling Grand Theft Auto Online cheat programs: Take-Two claims software by David Zipperer has cost the firm more than $500,000
- Judge Stanton grants preliminary injunction against creator of “grand theft Auto V” cheat software
- Game dev suffers broken teeth, skull fracture after trying to film arrest
- Veteran game designer arrested after altercation with police: Industry crowdfunds legal and medical fees for former Disney and Turbine developer Patricia A. Pizer after alleged assault
- Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against ‘League of Legends’ Developer Riot Games
- Riot Games exec Greg Street promises change to sexist culture
- Video: How Riot partners with players to positively impact the world
- How Not Tonight went from workplace sim to twisted Brexit vision
- Video: How to foster diversity in games
- Developers of adult games on Steam should “assume months” before game approval
- Valve makes Windows games playable on Linux with Steam Play update
- Steam Play update makes Windows-only games playable on Linux: Valve rolls out new open source compatibility tool Proton, complete with Vulkan support
- “No school shooters”: Robot Cache promises more curation than Steam – CEO says every game submitted will be reviewed for content on blockchain-based marketplace
- THQ Nordic team-up brings select Microsoft Studios games to Steam
- Judge Orders Alleged EA Games Hacker to Pay $750,000 Bail in Cryptocurrency
- ROM sites are falling, but a legal loophole could save game emulation
- FTC Approves Changes to Video Game Industry’s Safe Harbor Program Under COPPA
- Clash of Clans, Fortnite lead top mobile games for session time: Users spent 3.83 billion hours playing Clash of Clans in May through July of this year
- Please Don’t Download Fortnite for Android From Sketchy Places
- Impostor Fortnite Android Apps Are Already Spreading Malware
- Pokémon Go file check opens new front in war on rooted Android phones
- Fortnite’s five-month iOS revenue on par with Clash Royale: Epic’s blockbuster reaches $200 million revenue on the App Store, according to Sensor Tower estimates
- PUBG Mobile surpasses 100 million downloads since launch
- PUBG Mobile hits 100 million downloads: Battle royale’s mobile version also reaches 14 million daily active users
- Capcom has shipped 10M copies of Monster Hunter: World
- Assassin’s Creed to skip major release in 2019: Ubisoft avoids spin-off titles as well, focusing on support of Odyssey
- Minigame integrated into EVE Online helps scientists understand cells
- EVE Online players further scientific research using pattern-matching minigame
- Blog: Making the first game containing Nazi symbols in Germany
- How Six Ages builds a game around the power of myth
- Steam’s content-driven freeze on game approvals expected to last for months
- Valve accidentally unveils Steam.tv broadcasting platform
- Valve launches streaming platform Steam TV: Quiet launch of new broadcasting arm gives Twitch and YouTube gaming a new competitor
- Some Twitch Users’ Private Messages Were Exposed To Other Users. Here’s How To Check If You’re One Of Them.
- Twitch Prime Will Rescind Ad-Free Viewing Beginning Next Month
- Pay now or kiss Twitch Prime’s no-advertising perk goodbye starting Sept 14
- Mad Machines to debut as a “First on Discord” game: Rocket League-like robot spike hockey game will be exclusive to Discord at launch
- Blog: Honest reflections on Patreon from a game media creator
- Sony Finally Gets A Little Weird With Its New DualShock 4 Colors
- Citing ‘Sony’s plans to discontinue the Vita,’ Bloodstaineddev cancels port
- Bloodstained Vita release canceled due to “Sony’s plans to discontinue” handheld: Kickstarter update delays game to 2019, offers refunds to Vita backers
- PlayStation VR Passes 3 Million Units Sold
- Worldwide PlayStation VR sales have topped 3 million
- PlayStation VR hits 3 million sold: Sony says PSVR software sales approaching 22 million; Skyrim tops the list of most-played PSVR games
- VR’s slow growth ideal for indies – Moss dev
- EA Respawn’s Unannounced Oculus Exclusive Characterized as a “AAA VR Shooter”
- EA, Unity, Epic, and others unite to promote best practices for HDR
- Inside Two Bit Circus, LA’s new VR and arcade amusement park
- Zynga to develop a Star Wars mobile game following Disney partnership
- Zynga’s NaturalMotion studio partners with Disney for new Star Wars game: Publisher will also take over mobile tower defense game Star Wars Commander
- Microsoft’s Moon Studios, Activision Blizzard stand out in Gamescom Awards: Koch Media, Nintendo also take home multiple honors
- Microsoft prepares to kill the Windows 8 store: No new apps from November
- Microsoft, Sony, other major publishers form HDR Gaming Interest Group: Group aims to specify and share public guidelines to improve HDR gaming
- Minecraft: Education Edition is coming to iPad
- Keywords Studios acquires Studio Gobo for £26m: Technical services provider continues spending spree with eighth acquisition this year
- Profits tumble 57.5% at Rovio, despite rising games revenue: Angry Birds 2 pulls in €29.7 million but developer admits it “did not see the growth we wanted” from other games
- Realm Royale loses 97% of its players in two months: Steam user reviews suggest balancing issues lie at the heart of Hi-Rez Studios’ battle royale decline
- Despite millions of downloads, publishers won’t sign the sequel to Velocity 2X
- FuturLab: No publisher will sign Velocity 2X sequel, despite millions of downloads – UK studio shares turbulent journey behind Velocity Supernova, the secretly-developed sequel it might never release
- Gameseek founder returns with toy and video games retailer: Just three months since the website entered administration leaving customers out of pocket
- OK Fine, Maybe Nintendo’s on to Something With the Labo Vehicle Kit
- InkyPen brings comics, graphic novels to Nintendo Switch: Comic subscription service’s debut marks first worldwide media app of its kind on the console
- Nintendo’s Switch has been hiding a buried “VrMode” for over a year
- Shuhei Yoshida’s first play of God of War – “He was horrified”: At Devcom 2018, creative director Cory Barlog laid out the difficult user responses to the in-development God of War, from both playtesters and SIE’s top brass
- Cliff Bleszinksi to address Boss Key failure in new book: Industry veteran’s memoir “closes the chapter” on studio that shut down less than a year after its debut title Lawbreakers launched
- Scammers are still trying to snag free games from indie devs
- The Division 2 “is like a second marriage”: Massive’s David Polfeldt talks us through his team’s ‘endgame first’ mentality and why the first Division could last longer than we expect
- In Octopath Traveler, jobs define more than just gameplay mechanics
- Playne: Encouraging mindfulness through video games – Developer Krish Shrikumar on using video games to break down stigma against meditation and mindfulness
- The creators of the Nintendo 64 GoldenEye have officially ruled: Oddjob is cheating
- Developing GoldenEye 007 when the technology didn’t exist
- F1 2018: More than a great game, it’s an interactive history lesson
- Don’t Miss: Devs reflect on the impact and legacy ofBurnout Paradise
- Shenmue I & II impressions: A gaming history lesson, but it feels like school
- Ubisoft’s once-yearly Assassin’s Creed series is skipping a 2019 release
- Don’t Miss: The physics of trains in Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate
- Dontnod’s Vampyr picked up for TV adaptation by Fox21
- Fox21 adapting Dontnod’s Vampyr for TV: Series based on video game will be produced by same company behind upcoming Life Is Strange TV show
- Ustwo Games’ Monument Valley picked up for film adaptation
- Lakers, Timberwolves, Nets, and Hawks Join NBA 2K League’s Second Season
- Valve’s nearly $25M The International prize pool sets esports-wide record
- The International brings record-breaking prize pool: Dota 2 tournament’s $24.8 million pool once again largest in esports history
- Esports official medal in 2022 Asian Games up in the air again: OCA backtracks, citing lack of overarching governing body as key hurdle in recognition as a medaling event
- NASCAR Team Properties extends gaming license through 2029, expands Esports initiatives.
- As Esports Race to Turn Pro, Madden NFL Stays Open to All Gamers
- This Is The Longest Madden Glitch I’ve Ever Seen And It Keeps Getting Stranger
- Facebook removes its revenue share from Instant Games on Android
- Facebook drops its revenue share for Instant Games on Android: Social network will no longer take a cut of in-app purchases on Google devices, applies new rates retroactively
- Amazon removes its 20 percent preorder discount on games
- Amazon Prime eliminates 20% discount on game pre-orders
- GAME’s full-year revenues expected to suffer slight decline
- NVIDIA Demo Shows Off Real-time Ray Tracing Capabilities of RTX Cards
- ‘Battlefield V’ Shows What NVIDIA RTX Ray Tracing Means for the Future of Gaming
- What Will Quantum Computer Games Be Like?
- Rules of the game (part 1): Copyright protection of video games in Canada
- Raytracing explained: Nvidia, Microsoft lead the way in revolutionizing gaming graphics
Jon
News of the Week; August 15, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- When Did Ajit Pai Know?
- On Thursday, Ajit Pai Has To Explain Why His FCC Made Up A DDOS Attack And Lied To Congress
- Ajit Pai grilled by lawmakers on why FCC spread “myth” of DDoS attack
- Ajit Pai Does Something Right, Will Reform Stupid Utility Pole Rules To Speed Up Fiber Deployment
- Ajit Pai loses in court—FCC can’t kill broadband subsidy in Tribal areas
- Court Rejects Ajit Pai’s Bid To Reduce Broadband Subsidies For Tribal Areas
- Oh Look, Yet More Efforts To Strangle Broadband Competition
- The Sinclair/Tribune Merger Is Dead
- Tribune calls off merger, blasts Sinclair for circumventing FCC rules
- Tribune Kills Merger, Sues Sinclair For Its ‘Unnecessarily Aggressive’ Merger Sales Pitch
- FCC says court made error in approval of AT&T/Time Warner merger
- Third Comcast Website Flaw Exposes User Data In As Many Months
- Telus vs. Telus: Who Do You Believe on Wireless Competition in Canada?
- Speedier broadband standards? Pai’s FCC says 25Mbps is fast enough
- A Community-Run ISP Is the Highest Rated Broadband Company in America: A Consumer Reports survey of 176,000 Americans finds that small, locally owned ISPs are routinely ranked higher than big telecom companies.
DIGITAL
- Unenforceability in the U.S. a Non-Starter When Google Returns to the BC Supreme Court
- Google’s servers housed by a third-party ISP qualify as a regular and established place of business to establish proper venue in the Eastern District of Texas
- How 3-D Printing Exposes the Fallacy of Federal Gun Laws
- Twitter says InfoWars hasn’t ‘violated our rules.’ It looks like that’s not the case
- Twitter finally deletes some of Alex Jones, Infowars videos and tweets: Glad to have you on board, Twitter – signed, every other tech company.
- Twitter suspends Alex Jones for urging people to keep “battle rifles” ready [Update]
- Alex Jones claims he’s being silenced as bans push him to alternative platforms: Removals from Facebook, YouTube, Spotify and Apple haven’t slowed his posting, but the Infowars founder is appealing to the president
- InfoWars app will stay in the iOS App Store—here’s Apple’s reason why
- Alex Jones’ ‘Free Speech’ Shouldn’t Be Your Primary Concern
- Online activists hit hatemongers like Alex Jones where it hurts the most – in the wallet
- Vimeo Bans Alex Jones After Conspiracy Hawker Ramps Up Output There
- Platforms, Speech And Truth: Policy, Policing And Impossible Choices
- Platforms Are Not Publishers: The essential value of the internet is conversation, not content – and journalists need to embrace it.
- How social media took us from Tahrir Square to Donald Trump: To understand how digital technologies went from instruments for spreading democracy to weapons for attacking it, you have to look beyond the technologies themselves. (Zeynep Tufekci)
- How Turkey silences journalists online, one removal request at a time
- Should platforms be regulated? A new survey says yes.
- How WeChat Filters Images for One Billion Users
- New law bans US gov’t from buying tech from Chinese giants ZTE and Huawei
- Sneaky Website User Bound by Online Terms of Use Provision Despite Renewing Subscription in Spouse’s Name
- Now returning: NFL games, player protests, and presidential tweets
- Adidas will livestream high school football games on Twitter: A new series will broadcast eight weekly games from across the country through the season.
- Is A Twitter Account An Employer’s Trade Secret? Yes, Says Media Company
- Twitter Promptly Suspends Tesla Whistleblower Following Tweets About His Former Employer
- Ruby Rose Quits Twitter Following ‘Batwoman’ Backlash
- Microsoft Threatens to Stop Hosting Gab, the Worst Social Network, Over Anti-Semitic Threats of Violence
- Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar: Reuters found more than 1,000 examples of posts and images attacking the Rohingya on Facebook. A secretive operation by the social media giant is failing to end the problem.
- The Vigilantes on Facebook Who Stream To Catch a Predator-Style Ambushes of Alleged Pedophiles
- Facebook will make accounts with a ‘large audience’ verify their location
- Facebook Bans ‘Promotion’ Of Kodi Boxes, Even If They’re Perfectly Legal
- The Story Behind The Story That Created A Political Nightmare For Facebook: In 2016, Gizmodo reported that Facebook workers “suppressed” conservative news. An editor has second thoughts.
- Facebook is hiring the team behind an interactive video company that dragged its feet in complying with data rules
- Facebook Beats Sony to Spanish Soccer Rights in India
- Accused Pirate Tries For Attorney’s Fees After Copyright Troll Attempts To Run Away From Discovery
- Topple Track Attacks EFF and Others With Outrageous DMCA Notices
- Drake Becomes First Musician To Hit 50 Billion Global Streams Across All Platforms
- Spotify Is Testing A Free Version Of Its Service Where Users Can Skip Ads
- Logan Paul Says He Wants To Challenge A UFC Fighter After His Much-Hyped Boxing Match With KSI
- KSI Releases Documentary ‘Can’t Lose’ Ahead Of Logan Paul Boxing Match-Up
- YouTube Paying Stars Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars To Promote New Features (Report)
- PBS Taps BroadbandTV to Manage User-Uploaded YouTube Videos
- BroadbandTV Announces New Partnership with PBS
- BroadbandTV Pacts With PBS To Help It Monetize User-Generated YouTube Uploads
- YouTube TV Adds 100th Service Location
- YouTube Star Jimmy Wong Cast In Disney’s Live-Action ‘Mulan’ Adaptation, Set For 2020
- YouTube Beauty Stars Alissa Ashley And Cloe Feldman Sign With Abrams Artists Agency
- YouTube Yanks Horror Film Ad For Violating Its ‘Shocking Content’ Policy
- It’s Still Shockingly Easy To Buy (And Sell) Fake YouTube Views
- The Flourishing Business of Fake YouTube Views: Plays can be bought for pennies and delivered in bulk, inflating videos’ popularity and making the social media giant vulnerable to manipulation.
- Susan Sarandon-Starrer ‘Viper Club’ Is YouTube’s First Film To Get A Theatrical Release
- SAG-AFTRA National Director Wants To Protect Online Creators, Says Industry Is “Very Unfair And Unbalanced”
- Posting on Social Media? What #paid influencers need to know
- Ad Standards: Influencer Marketing Steering Committee Disclosure Guidelines
- #Infringement – How social media dealt a blow to Nike’s latest marketing campaign
- Lele Pons Signs With Universal Music Group’s 10:22 pm Label
- PopSugar Earns the Ire of Two New Fashionistas
- NBCUniversal To Release Streaming Service ‘Watch Back,’ Which Rewards Viewers For Engaging
- ‘Star Wars’ Series For Disney’s Upcoming Streaming Platform To Cost A Reported $100 Million
- The Roku Channel is now available on the Web without a Roku device
- Ninja Says He Won’t Stream With Other Women In Order To Preserve His Marriage
- Lele Pons Inks Record Deal With Universal Music Group Imprint ‘10:22 pm’
- What Am I Worth to Advertisers? My Obsessive Quest to Put a Price on My Attention
- Honey Badger Don’t Care, but the Lanham Act Might
- Interacting With This Therapy Bot Can Help Children With Autism Perfect Their Social Skills
- Watch A Sporty AI Teach Itself To Dribble Better Than You
- AI Can Make Sure Cancer Patients Get Just Enough (but Not Too Much) Treatment
- AI Is Shining a Spotlight on Women Scientists That Were Previously Overlooked
- Helping Global Policymakers Navigate AI’s Challenges and Opportunities
- Sophia the Robot – her charm and her challenges
- Alexa and Cortana integration starts rolling out today
- I Tried Apple’s Screen Time Tool. The Results Were Not Heartening.
- Maybe MoviePass Shouldn’t Compare Itself To Uber
- It’s Time to Let MoviePass Die
- Scientists Knew Blue Light From Screens Contributed to Blindness. Now They Know Why.
- The Uncertain Future of Screens and Humans
- The California Consumer Privacy Act Should Be Condemned, Not Celebrated
- An Update on the Constitutional Court Challenge to FOSTA–Woodhull Freedom v. US
- Prisons Switch Device Providers; Render $11.3 Million Of Inmate-Purchased Music Worthless
- General Magic—how tech superfriends assembled, dreamt up smartphones, and failed
CREATIVITY
- One-Sided Story: Lobbyist Data Shows Music, Movie and Publisher Groups Account For 80 Per cent of Registered Copyright Meetings in Canada Since 2015 Election
- Disney Takes Stand Against “Overzealous Copyright Holders”
- Irony Alert: Disney (Yes, DISNEY!) Whines About ‘Overzealous Copyright Holders’
- Disney Gets Early Loss In Trademark, Copyright Suit Against Unlicensed Birthday Party Characters
- Two skyline photo cases, two different results
- Ferrari Crashes Head-On Into Infringement Suit
- Aloha Poke Co. Rewarded For Trademark Bullying With Protests Outside Its Headquarters In Chicago
- Bruce Lee’s Estate Gets Stiff Roundhouse Kick After Trying To Block Theater Company’s Trademark
- The free speech panic: how the right concocted a crisis: Snowflake students have become the target of a new rightwing crusade. But exaggerated claims of censorship reveal a deeper anxiety at the core of modern conservatism
- Blame Rupert Murdoch for Trump Calling Journalists ‘Enemies of the People’: Fox News made the president, and there is no doubt about the man who made Fox News what it is.
- Dinesh D’Souza and the Decline of Conservatism
- Ivanka Trump apparently really hated that SNL “Complicit” ad
- School Board Demands Journalists Be Punished For Reporting On The School Board’s Redaction Failure
- Broward County School Board Gets Hit With Anti-SLAPP Suit After Trying To Punish Paper For Exposing Its Redaction Failure
- Copyright in Cream Cheese
- Hall v. Author Solutions LLC
- Disney Enterprises, Inc. v. Characters for Hire, LLC
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- We’re Bad At Regulating Privacy, Because We Don’t Understand Privacy
- Brief To FISA Court Says The Presumption Of Openness Should Apply There, Too
- Judge Bypasses The First Amendment, Conjures Up A Right To Be Forgotten For The Complainant
- AP Exclusive: Google tracks your movements, like it or not
- Google May Still Be Tracking You, Even If You Opted Out
- In-vehicle wireless devices are endangering emergency first responders
- Australian gov’t wants to force tech firms to weaken crypto
- Australian law could force tech firms to hand over customer data: Companies like Facebook, Apple and Google could face a $7.3 million fine if they don’t.
- Australian Gov’t Floats New Batch Of Compelled Access Legislation With An Eye On Encryption
- Malware has no trouble hiding and bypassing macOS user warnings
- A New Pacemaker Hack Puts Malware Directly On The Device
- Hack causes pacemakers to deliver life-threatening shocks
- In-the-wild router exploit sends unwitting users to fake banking site
- Hackers Find Earth’s Satellite Communication Systems Aren’t All That Secure
- Hackers Reportedly Breach PGA Servers, Demand Bitcoin Ransom
- Bitcoin and ether are both down more than two-thirds from their peaks
- Hacking A Brand New Mac Remotely, Right Out Of The Box
- Pre-Teen Hackers Prove It: The U.S. Election System Simply Isn’t Secure Enough
- Facial Recognition Tool That Tracks People Across Social Media Now Available to Hackers
- Windows 10 to get disposable sandboxes for dodgy apps
- Caesars Palace not-so-Praetorian guards intimidate DEF CON goers with searches [Updated]
GAMES
- Bethesda defends legal action against man selling pre-owned copy of Evil Within 2: Publisher says sale of sealed and unopened games still constitutes unauthorised reselling if listed as new
- Bethesda hits Amazon seller with legal threat over reselling pre-owned game as ‘new’
- Bethesda reluctant to bring Elder Scrolls: Legends to systems that don’t offer cross-play
- Bethesda pressures Sony with “non-negotiable” cross-platform demand [Updated]
- Lawsuit threat shuts down ROM downloads on major emulation site
- Devs corroborate claims of sexist culture as Riot looks for way forward
- Ex-Naughty Dog dev explores the perks of a studio devoid of ‘dedicated management’
- Former IGN Reviewer Responds To Plagiarism Allegations: ‘Not At All Intentional’
- IGN Pulls Ex-Editor’s Posts After Dozens More Plagiarism Accusations Surface
- IGN pulls all of writer’s work after plagiarism scandal: Further evidence of former employee’s wrong-doing prompts gaming site to scrub him from the archives
- Germany relaxes regulations on Nazi imagery in video games
- Germany relaxes stance on Nazi symbols in video games: Like films, games featuring “unconstitutional” symbols can now be submitted for age-rating in Germany
- “Flooding the market with Nazi symbols is not something we want”: Game MD Felix Falk on the long struggle to allow games tackling Nazism and its imagery to be rated in Germany, and the responsibility of being part of “the social discourse”
- Germany says games with Nazi symbols can get “artistic” exception to ban
- Video Games In Germany Can Now Maybe Kinda Sometimes Have Swastikas
- “Games need to take more responsibility”: Nick Button-Brown talks about making kids games when 11-year-olds are playing Grand Theft Auto, and how the industry needs to embrace its social responsibility
- Ready at Dawn shuts down Deformers servers
- Growth of Chinese market slows to a crawl amid halt on government-issued licences: Market growth down to five per cent for first half of 2018, compared to nearly 30 per cent the year prior
- New initiative aiming to boost diversity among games industry speakers
- Over a year later, South Korean devs still aren’t allowed to publish games in China
- Korean devs have been unable to publish in China since March 2017: Meanwhile, Chinese developers continue to push aggressively into Korea
- China has quietly stopped approving new games for release
- Monster Hunter: World pulled from sale in China – WeGame cites “large number of complaints” though FT report suggests “bureaucratic infighting”
- Tencent has pulled Monster Hunter: World from sale in China
- Monster Hunter World PC release pulls in record number of concurrent Steam users
- Monster Hunter: World debuts on PC, becomes Steam’s biggest new launch of 2018
- Mobile-focused Tencent is reportedly on the outs with Riot
- Tencent reports decrease in PC and mobile revenue despite rising DAUs
- Discord turns retailer with beta launch of game storefront
- Publishing platforms need policies around not-for-profit game devs
- Games4EU launches, highlights Brexit’s negative impact on UK games industry
- Anti-Brexit group Games4EU launches campaign: Grassroots movements aims to demonstrate the damage leaving the European Union will do to the UK games industry
- Culture clash: Why Arena of Valor is struggling in America – Mintegral’s Jeff Sue sees the Western version of Tencent’s Honor of Kings as a game “lost in translation”
- Tencent’s mobile games revenues drop, but daily users are on the rise
- Fortnite Didn’t Do Anything New. That’s Why It Will Shape The Future Of Gaming.
- Fortnite devs working to segregate keyboard/mouse players
- Proposed Fortnite changes aim to group mouse-and-keyboard players together
- Google Play warns searchers that Fortnite “is not available”
- Google Play searches now warn that Fortnite isn’t hosted in the store
- Fortnite on Android gets off to a bumpy, Samsung-only start, lags behind PUBG
- Jagex launches publishing arm: “We’ve already seen 100 games”: Jagex Partners will focus on ‘a handful’ of live games to begin with
- RuneScape dev forms Jagex Partners to take on publishing live games
- EA’s chief design officer Patrick Soderlund is stepping down
- Patrick Söderlund leaves Electronic Arts after 12 years: Publisher reshuffling teams as long-serving exec makes surprise departure
- Madden NFL franchise reaches 130m lifetime sales: EA reports “strong opening weekend” for Madden 19
- Pete Hines says cross-platform play a necessity for The Elder Scrolls: Legends: Bethesda VP calls feature “essentially non-negotiable” in bringing the game to new platforms
- ZeniMax-owned Escalation Studios is now Bethesda Game Studios Dallas
- Fallout 76 avoiding Steam so Bethesda can form ‘direct relationships’ with players
- Jam City’s Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery clears $50 million in revenue
- Sensor Tower: Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery revenue surpasses $55m – First-time downloads continue to rise noticeably through July
- Phoenix Point crowdfunding breaks $2 million – here’s how it was done: Snapshot Games explains how $250,000 on advertising drove almost $1.2 million in revenue
- DLC: Can games change people’s minds? – Developers behind Wolfenstein The New Colossus, Night in the Woods, and Katamary Damacy share whether their message-laden games impacted the audience
- PlayStation consoles surpass 500 million sold worldwide: And Sony is celebrating with a fancy PS4
- Ubisoft quietly ends development on planned Steep Switch release
- Steep canceled on Nintendo Switch: Ubisoft to focus on “new live content and challenges” for current platforms
- Diablo III’s Switch version leaked ahead of official unveil, coming “2018” [Updated]
- Nintendo narrows down Switch Online launch to the ‘second half of September’
- Nintendo Switch Online coming in “the second half” of September: The Switch’s delayed online service gets its most specific launch window to date
- Nintendo Switch ‘Test VR Mode’ Reportedly Uncovered by Modders
- Nintendo has sold over 700 million total hardware units: Switch sales inch closer to 20 million, 3DS nears 73 million units
- Nintendo Using Copyright To Erase Video Game History
- GameMaker Studio 2 now offers Switch support in open beta
- One month in, Pokemon Quest has brought in over $8 million on mobile
- Cuphead sells over 3M copies nearly a year after launch
- Paradox Interactive’s record Q2 revenues marred by declining profits: Royalty payments to third-party devs and two cancelled projects dragged on the Swedish publisher’s bottom line
- Midnight Hub shuts down: Swedish studio calls it quits after Lake Ridden sees sluggish sales despite “the best launch imaginable”
- Sekai Project hit by significant layoffs: CEO confirms “many” of its staff have been let go, employee reports suggest entire LA office has been closed
- Sumo: “Constraining Eve Valkyrie devs to VR would be the wrong thing to do”
- Magic Leap One Hands-on Suggests a Headset That’s a Lot Like HoloLens
- Valve seems to be working on tools to get Windows games running on Linux
- Valve tells Dota 2 teams not to take on gambling sponsors: Professional teams competing in The International 2018 advised to end existing long-term contracts
- Inaugural Overwatch League final pulls in nearly 11m viewers: OWL final sets precedent as first live esports event to be aired on prime time ESPN
- Overwatch League reportedly adding Toronto team for $35 million: Splyce to partner with OverActive Media, Pittsburgh Penguins investor
- The Strong museum’s eGameRevolution exhibit now features a Wargaming collection
- Twitch Unveils “Several Big Discovery Changes,” Nixes Playlist-Like ‘Communities’ Feature
- Twitch Is Approaching Top YouTube Stars With Exclusive Livestreaming Deals Potentially Worth Millions (Report)
- How IGN is using Fortnite and Marvel to grow on Snapchat Discover
- GOG: Streaming is another layer of DRM – Head of global communication Lukasz Kukawski says streaming won’t take over game distribution, talks about storefront’s approach to discoverability and audience expansion
- Whole new worlds: Improbable’s tech lets smaller studios think big – With Mavericks and Seed, Automaton and Klang Games are using SpatialOS to redefine what it means to be massively multiplayer
- This isn’t a game: We try out a professional driver-in-the-loop simulator
- After 14 years, the biggest obstacle for World of Warcraft is time, not technology: Blizzard technical director Patrick Dawson on overcoming the challenges of continued development on an ageing MMO
- Rockstar reveals first Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay details
- Publisher Tilting Point sets up Barcelona studio to support live mobile games
- Tilting Point opens new Barcelona studio: Mobile firm’s new outfit will focus on publishing, art and user acquisition
- Crystal Dynamics opening Washington studio: Bellevue-based Crystal Northwest formed with Wargaming Seattle veterans, set to work on tech development for upcoming Avengers game
- Epic Games launches new learning platform providing free video tutorials
- Unreal Engine Online Learning becomes new, free hub for learning Unreal: Epic Games launches platform to help train developers of all skill levels in its engine
- Slow online checkouts drive over a quarter of gamers to abandon their orders: Developers may be willing to sacrifice sales revenue for the reliability of subscription services, says SuperData
- How Neopets has influenced a generation of game developers
Jon
News of the Week; August 8, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- FCC lied to Congress about made-up DDoS attack, investigation found
- Here’s the Internal Report Proving the FCC Made Up a Cyberattack
- That Hack of the FCC’s Comment Section Last Year? It Never Actually Happened, Agency Admits
- Ajit Pai Throws His Employees Under The Bus After Investigation Proves FCC Made Up DDOS Attack
- Ajit Pai admits FCC lied about “DDoS,” blames it on Obama administration
- Trump admin asks Supreme Court to re-kill already-dead net neutrality rules
- Trump Admin Hopes Kavanaugh Supreme Court Delivers The Killing Blow To Net Neutrality
- Report Highlights How U.S. Telcos Abandoned Rural American Broadband
- ISPs’ listed speeds drop up to 41% after UK requires accurate advertising
- FCC sides with Google Fiber over Comcast with new pro-competition rule
- Verizon lied about 4G coverage—and it could hurt rural America, group says
- FCC Tackles “Slamming and Cramming”
- Charter CEO Apparently Unaware He Runs One Of The Most Despised Companies In America
- Will The “Real Journalists” At Fox News Please Stand Up?: It’s time for the Shep Smiths of Fox News to speak out against the pro-Trump propagandists like Hannity, Carlson, and Pirro.
- AT&T Acquires The Chernin Group’s Stake In Otter Media In Reported $1 Billion Deal
- $50 a month for 1Mbps: How AT&T and Verizon rip off DSL customers
- Behind Ryerson’s Support for Site Blocking: Bell Reviewed Draft Submission, Was Warned It Did Not Represent Faculty View
- “One of Our Key Hiring Companies”: The Missing Link in the George Brown College Support for Bell’s Site Blocking Plan
- Aiding by Omission in CASL? Good Enough, CRTC Says
DIGITAL
- How bots amplify hoaxes and propaganda on social media: Zignal Labs CEO Josh Ginsberg says consumers and companies need to know what’s bot-generated and what’s not so they can make informed decisions about things like elections.
- ‘It’s our time to serve the Motherland’ How Russia’s war in Georgia sparked Moscow’s modern-day recruitment of criminal hackers
- As ‘DNC Hacked Itself’ Conspiracy Theory Collapses, Key Backer Of Claim Exposed As UK Troll
- Bill Says US Tech Companies Must Let The Feds Know When Foreign Companies Poke Around In Their Source Code
- Court Says Comey And Other DOJ Officials Must Answer BuzzFeed’s Questions About The Steele Dossier
- The Expensive Education of Mark Zuckerberg and Silicon Valley: They have weaponized social media, and we are all paying the price.
- Alex Jones’ Infowars Channels Scrubbed From YouTube, Facebook, Apple, And Spotify
- YouTube bans Alex Jones, following Facebook and Apple’s lead
- YouTube Bans InfoWars Following Removals From Apple, Facebook, and Spotify
- Alex Jones hit with bans from Facebook and Apple
- Alex Jones podcast episodes yanked from Spotify over “hate content”
- Alex Jones Is Shirtlessly Screaming Into the Void on Popular Social Network Google+
- Filling the void Alex Jones left behind: YouTube’s attempt to burst the (far-)right bubble is a chance for Fox News
- Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Explains Why Twitter Isn’t Banning Alex Jones
- Op-ed: Alex Jones is a crackpot—but banning him from Facebook might be a bad idea [Updated]
- How journalists should not cover an online conspiracy theory: The QAnon narrative shows the need for better practices in reporting on baseless claims and hoaxes. Here’s how the media can take action
- Online Hate Is Rampant. Here’s How To Keep It From Spreading
- Report: Feds investigating whether Musk’s buyout tweet broke the law
- In Germany, a news site is pairing up liberals and conservatives and actually getting them to (gasp) have a civil conversation
- Saudi State Media Posted a Photo That Sure Looks Like a Threat to Attack Toronto
- Senators Demand Answers on Google’s Reported Plans for Censored Search Engine in China
- BBC Migrates Everything To HTTPS, Immediately Finds Itself Blocked By The Chinese Government
- Apple becomes first US public company worth $1 trillion: Q3 earnings report bolsters stock to record amount, maintained to market close
- That’s trillion with a T—Apple hits market value of $1 trillion
- Apple Kills App Affiliate Program In Pointless Move
- Apple shuts App Store affiliate program, imperiling recommendation sites
- Sensing Blood In The Water, All Major Labels Sue Cox For ‘Ignoring’ Their DMCA Notices
- Indian Court Grants PepsiCo’s Takedown Request Targeting Thousands Of ‘Disparaging’ Social Media Posts
- Yet Another Study Shows You Beat Piracy Through Innovation, Rather Than Enforcement
- SESTA, FOSTA, And How To Make Sense Of The Acronym Soup
- Evidence Mounts: UK Study Shows Better Legal Alternatives Pushing Pirates To Become Customers
- The War On Fan-Subtitles Comes To Australia in The Form Of Site-Blocking
- Microsoft adding support for Movies Anywhere, giving away free X-Men movie
- Amazon’s Head Of Unscripted TV Out After Investigation Into Inappropriate Comments (Report)
- Wells Fargo Admits ‘Computer Glitch’ May Have Contributed to 400 Foreclosures
- Only a small percentage of users buys stuff through Alexa, report claims
- Report: Almost Nobody Is Using Amazon’s Alexa to Actually Buy Stuff
- Amazon launches grocery pickup at Whole Foods for Prime members
- Facebook Faces Another Consequence of Its Privacy Problems: Shareholder Lawsuits
- Facebook Wanted Us to Kill This Investigative Tool
- Facebook Is Asking Banks to Share Data on Customers’ Spending Habits
- Facebook: We’re not asking for financial data, we’re just partnering with banks
- This Facebook Feature Shouldn’t Exist
- Facebook Asked To Change Terms Of Service To Protect Journalists
- ‘People You May Know:’ A Controversial Facebook Feature’s 10-Year History
- YouTube Set To Overtake Facebook As Second Largest Website In America
- YouTube is about to pass Facebook as the second biggest website in US, according to new study: Facebook’s web traffic has declined by nearly half in the last two years, while YouTube is climbing.
- YouTube Premium Announces First Spanish-Language Slate With Gael García Bernal, Maluma, Sofia Niño de Rivera
- Go90 or bust: How AwesomenessTV’s fate was tied to Verizon
- Easier streaming services put dent in illegal downloading
- Fight Over Virginia Tech Sportswriter’s Twitter Account: Who Owns Employees’ Social Media Accounts?
- Warner Music Group Acquires UPROXX: The 10-year-old online hub and video production house aimed at youth boasts a reach of 40 million people.
- Warner Music Group Sells Its Entire Stake in Spotify
- Spotify’s $30 billion playlist for global domination
- Bytedance Nixes Musical.ly Brand As Short-Form Video Site Merges Into Sister Platform ‘TikTok’
- Music Streaming Service Deezer Raises $185 Million
- Crowd-Sauce: How Memes Are Helping Rappers Reach Number One
- Why Fitness Is The New Hot Marketing Platform And Revenue Stream For Music
- Snapchat Made $262 Million During Q2 But Lost 3 Million Daily Active Users
- Roku Exceeds Q2 Earnings Expectations, Brings Free Streaming Service To Web
- Why Did Anyone Think MoviePass Could Have Worked?: The company had deep-pocketed backers and a plan. It just overlooked a few important details.
- Katzenberg’s WndrCo Confirms $1 Billion Raise For Shortform Subscription Service, Doesn’t Plan To Compete With Netflix, Hulu
- Warner Bros. And DC Comics’ ‘DC Universe’ Streaming Service Launching In Beta This Month
- Disney Will Shuttle Marvel Cinematic Universe To Its Own Streaming Service Starting With ‘Captain Marvel’ In 2019
- Peloton Raises $550 Million As It Builds “A Media Company Akin To Netflix,” Says CEO
- Researchers Inadvertently Discover Crypto Scam Involving 15,000 Twitter Bots
- Some Traders Are Talking Up Cryptocurrencies, Then Dumping Them, Costing Others Millions
- America Needs a Blockchain Strategy ASAP
- 3D-printed (and CNC-milled) guns: Nine questions you were too afraid to ask
- New in School: AI-Driven Gun Detection Systems
- The Algorithm That Could Save Vulnerable New Yorkers From Being Forced Out of Their Homes
- Uber driver who struck, killed young girl is convicted of vehicular manslaughter
- Patreon Creators See Dip In Earnings Due To Payments Being Mistakenly Marked As Fraudulent, Company Says
- Silicon Valley Writes A Playbook To Help Avert Ethical Disasters
- The Free-Market Fraud: Tech Innovation and Alternatives
- New open source effort: Legal code to make reporting security bugs safer
- Is there such a thing as Internet politics? (Andres Guadamuz)
CREATIVITY
- Some Notes About Recent Developments at the Copyright Board of Canada (Howard Knopf)
- When Copying Isn’t Infringement
- Court Awards $12,500 For ‘Emotional Harm’ From Bogus Copyright Lawsuit
- Alvin Toffler Investigated by FBI for Communist Activities According to Newly Released Files
- Moneyballing the Movies: How the Box Office Became a Sport – Every weekend, new releases are graded on their box office returns. How did covering the movie business become a haven for statheads?
- Warner Bros. Is Finally Realizing Supergirl Should Be the Center of the DC Universe
- Is This the End of the TV Writers’ Room as We Know It?
- ‘Anything For A Hit’ Exclusive Book Excerpt: Atlantic Records in the ’80s Was Like Plunging Into ‘A Circus Mixed with an Orgy’
- MPAA: To Save Free Speech, We Must Broadly Censor Free Speech
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Does the Canada Border Services Agency Have the Authority to Search Your Electronic Devices?
- The Pentagon Tells Soldiers To Stop Sharing Their Locations With Apps
- Pentagon tells troops: Turn off fitness tracker GPS when you head to warzones
- Facebook Granted ‘Unprecedented’ Leave To Appeal Over Referral Of Privacy Shield Case To Top EU Court
- FTC Asks Whether to Expand Enforcement Power over Corporate Privacy Practices
- ICANN Loses Yet Again In Its Quixotic Quest To Obtain A Special Exemption From The EU’s GDPR
- China’s influence on digital privacy could be global
- Cramming Software With Thousands of Fake Bugs Could Make It More Secure
- Unixiz Agrees to Settle Charges Under COPPA and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act
- The Legal Paradox of Commoditizing Athlete Data Trade Secrets
- How to win (or at least not lose) the war on phishing? Enlist machine learning
GAMES
- Tired of legal threats, emulation hub EmuParadise drops its ROM library
- Inside The Culture Of Sexism At Riot Games
- Current and former Riot employees discuss the toxic feedback culture of the studio
- Riot Games responds to sexist work culture exposé: “We haven’t lived up to our own values,” says League of Legends developer as criticism mounts in wake of damning report
- Minecraft boss says US work culture needs more “off-ramps” for employees: Employees should be able “immerse themselves in their life experiences” without damaging their careers, says Helen Chiang
- SNK artist discusses discrimination in the Japanese games industry
- EA issues apology after removing Kaepernick’s name from song in Madden 19 [Updated]
- EA says mistake led to censorship of Colin Kaepernick’s name in Madden 19’s soundtrack
- EA made “unfortunate mistake” removing Colin Kaepernick’s name from Madden 19 song: Company issues official statement on omission after it was discovered in early copies
- GameFly to axe video game streaming service in August
- BioWare is still exploring new projects outside of Anthem
- “Netflix of games” a threat to developers: If subscription streaming services take off, creators likely to lose leverage in dealing with platform holders
- IGN Pulls Review After Plagiarism Accusations
- IGN drops Dead Cells reviewer after plagiarism investigation
- Fallout 76 won’t be launching on Steam
- War changes: Fallout 76 is series’ first in a decade to skip Steam
- Fallout Shelter surpasses $90M in lifetime mobile revenue
- ZX Spectrum and Sinclair trademark holder to pull branding rights from Vega+
- EmuParadise removes ROMs: Users won’t be able to download games from long-running site any more; “It’s not worth it for us to risk potentially disastrous consequences”
- Facebook introduces AR games to group chats
- Fake apps find a way to Google Play!
- Confirmed: Fortnite on Android will drive its bus past Google’s 30% cut [Updated]
- “30% store tax is a high cost,” says Sweeney as Fortnite skips Google Play: Epic Games CEO explains studio’s decision to aim for direct downloads, praises openness of Google’s platform
- Epic Games is bypassing the Google Play Store forFortnite’s Android release
- Google not at fault for clones and unsanctioned apps on Google Play, says Epic CEO
- Analyst: Fortnite streams have racked up over 600M hours viewed in 2018
- The battle royale boom helped Turtle Beach achieve a record quarter
- Gamefly ends video game streaming service
- Faeria: The CCG that abandoned free-to-play and went premium
- New Unity report suggests 67% of indies plan to self-publish
- Unity survey shows over half of indie studios working in mobile, 40% in VR or AR: Top-ranking studios by revenue and DAU showed a preference for mobile and freemium models
- Unity partners with Google to introduce AdMob integration for mobile games
- Minecraft’s studio head says devs and studios benefit from generous time off policies
- Netmarble’s Lineage 2: Revolution has seen $1.3 billion in player spending – Sensor Tower data indicates the importance of the mobile RPG to Netmarble’s business
- Crackdown and confidentiality: Sumo Digital’s approach to AAA development – The UK studio discusses handling coveted IP and why it’s not afraid of missing out on the limelight
- Nexon withholds shareholder dividends to “review and execute effective investments”: Korean games firm sees simultaneous two per cent revenue increase and profit decline
- Sony and Nintendo’s strategies converge: Bumper results for both platform holders point to a similar key to success – seeing themselves as game creators first and foremost
- WarioWare Gold: A fine example of Nintendo’s weird “end of life” history
- How do you pronounce “NES”? Nintendo throws a wrench in the debate
- You Can’t Compete With Free Meets Its Ultimate Counterexample In The NES Classic
- With $400M+ revenue, Fire Emblem Heroes reigns as Nintendo’s big mobile earner
- Octopath Traveler has shipped 1M copies worldwide
- Elon Musk adding Atari classics to Tesla software, wants original games for car display: Billionaire reveals Tempest, Missile Command and Pole Position coming in next four week – with the latter controlled by steering wheel
- Mobile revenue failed to meet Square Enix’s expectations this quarter
- Square Enix sees revenue and profit tumble in quiet Q1 for games
- Bandai Namco sees flat first quarter with little help from game sales
- Game sales and revenue down at Bandai Namco
- Game revenue down at Sega despite increase in physical sales
- Sega Sammy net sales down 35.8% in latest financial report: Entertainment contents arm suffers least with only 10.5% decline
- Capcom: “We’d prefer a game that got a 9 and sold less, than a 6 but sold more.” – Publisher on its fear over Resident Evil 2’s E3 reveal, the Monster Hunter gamble and new IP
- Harmonix signs multiplatform publishing deal with NCSoft
- Take-Two expects GTA Online sales to ‘moderate’ as it beats estimates again: Publisher anticipates international growth for NBA2K, too
- Digital sales drive Take-Two’s rising profits ahead of Red Dead Redemption 2
- NBA 2K18 reaches ten million units sold: Lifetime franchise sales exceed 80 million
- Activision Blizzard exceeds Q2 revenue goals thanks to in-game spending
- Activision Blizzard exceeds second quarter outlook despite headwinds: Call of Duty season, record Hearthstone pre-purchases drove $1.64 billion in net revenue
- Activision Blizzard: Tech issues will halt wide adoption of streaming in the near term
- Blizzard confirms “multiple Diablo projects” in production, news by end of 2018
- Spyro Reignited Trilogy only has one game on the disc: Activision warns that second and third instalments will need to be downloaded after purchase
- Tencent and Activision bringing Call of Duty to mobile in China
- Fire Emblem Heroes earns $400 million globally: Mobile game nearly ten time more profitable than Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
- Fallout Shelter surpasses $90m lifetime revenue
- China’s “enormous opportunity” for Eve Online
- CCP partners with NetEase to grow Eve Online in China: Major local publisher takes over Serenity server following collaboration on mobile spin-off Eve Project Galaxy
- Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins Becomes First Creator In Twitch History To Amass 10 Million Followers
- Fortnite powers Ninja to become first Twitch streamer with 10m followers
- No Man Sky scores biggest Twitch numbers since launch
- With NEXT update, No Man’s Sky finally brings it all together
- After two years, is No Man’s Sky everything Hello Games originally promised?: Hello Games’ procedurally generated creation is better than ever after two years of persistent updates
- Opinion: Battle for Azeroth and the death of nuance
- Frostkeep Studios is serious about making “the game that players want” with Rend
- PUBG developers launch “Fix PUBG” campaign
- PUBG dev launches ‘Fix PUBG’ website to address longstanding bug complaints
- Elon Musk-funded Dota 2 bots spank top-tier humans, and they know how to trash talk
- Newzoo: Esports viewership will continue to bear greater resemblance to traditional sports
- Overwatch League adds new teams in Guangzhou and Atlanta
- Kakao Games sinks $16.8M into esports studio Neptune
- Esports Business Projected to Reach $1.5 Billion in Revenue by 2020
- EA: Diversity and engagement key to growing FIFA eWorld Cup – FIFA competitive gaming commissioner shares how the game’s accessibility will lead to success across a wider swath of media
- Inside Magic Leap’s Quest To Remake Itself As An Ordinary Company (With A Real Product)
- After years of hype, Magic Leap starts selling $2,300 AR headset
- Inside Magic Leap: How it works and what it means for game devs
- Oculus Removes Handful of Fake Game Reviews, Says They’re Uncommon
- Facebook introduces AR games to Messenger
- Augmented Reality Recreates A New York City Not Seen for Centuries
- Innovation Report: 1 in 3 AR/VR/MR devs are making a platform exclusive
- Metaari: Game-based learning market will reach $17 billion by 2023 – Improved VR, AR, and AI technology will drive further investment, development opportunity
- Halo TV series confirmed for a 2020 release
- Digital collectable card games will generate $1.5 billion revenue in 2018: SuperData report forecasts global rise to $2 billion by 2020
- Blog: What men and women consider hardcore gaming are not the same
- Tips and best practices for localizing licensed IPs
- Book Excerpt: Tips on negotiating key legal agreements in games
- Real Estate Developer Found Using Video Game Footage In Marketing Material… Which Is Pretty Cool!
Jon
News of the Week; August 1, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- CRTC Truthiness: New Docs Reveal New Story About Bell Meetings with the Commission on Website Blocking
- Trump Throws His FCC Under The Bus For Pointing Out Sinclair May Have Lied During Its Merger Sales Pitch
- Ajit Pai Lies (Again) To Congress With Claim Net Neutrality Killed Broadband Investment
- FCC Chairman Will Not Recuse Himself From Investigation Into Former Client Securus Technologies
- Cord Cutting Accelerates Faster Than Expected, As Cable Still Refuses To Compete On Price
- The Fairfax and Nine merger is the disruption of digital media arriving to Australia in a big way
- NY threatens to kick Charter out of the state after broadband failures
- New York State Votes To Kick Charter Out Of The State For Poor Service, Failing To Meet Merger Conditions
- NY orders Charter out of state, says it must sell Time Warner Cable system
- Comcast installed Wi-Fi gear without approval—and this city is not happy
- Comcast, Charter dominate US; telcos “abandoned rural America,” report says
DIGITAL
- Facebook Loses $120 Billion in Market Value, as Stock Slides on Fears Growth Is Hitting a Wall
- YouTube comes down on Alex Jones for hate speech, child endangerment content
- Alex Jones hit with 30-day Facebook suspension for bullying and hate speech: Only Jones’ personal profile is affected, not his official channels, including InfoWars
- Facebook, Following YouTube’s Lead, Takes Action Against InfoWars And Alex Jones
- Alex Jones slammed with 30-day ban from Facebook for hateful videos [Update]
- Ted Cruz Bravely Defends Alex Jones Against Facebook’s Temporary Internet Jail
- Twitter Responds to Claims of ‘Shadow Banning’
- Insights: Twitter, Facebook Investors Find No Upside In Doing The Right Thing
- Facebook Just Shut Down Dozens of Fake Pages
- Facebook’s latest meddling disclosure: “We expected the organization to evolve”
- ‘We Are Not Bots’: Facebook Censors U.S. Activists After Falsely Claiming They ‘Unwittingly’ Planned Protest
- MPs slam Facebooks serious failings in report identifying the misuse of personal data as threatening our democracy.
- Facebook Settles with the Washington Attorney General Over Ad Targeting Practices
- Facebook’s “downvote” system begins rolling out wider in US—here’s how it works
- Facebook Starts Showing You How Much Time You Waste on Facebook
- Facebook And Instagram Add Tools To Help Users Not Get Addicted To Facebook And Instagram
- Cops Lose Qualified Immunity After Arresting Man For A Snarky Facebook Comment
- A Cautionary Tale of Sarcasm in Social Media–Ross v. City of Jackson
- Ignorant Hysteria Over 3D Printed Guns Leads To Courts Ignoring The First Amendment
- Universal Right Back At It Issuing A DMCA For A Reporter’s Video Of Prince Fans Singing ‘Purple Rain’
- Universal Retracts DMCA On Journalist Video Of Prince Fans Singing Purple Rain
- Website User Held to Arbitration Provision Despite Renewing Subscription in Wife’s Name
- Embedding preview images is not copyright infringement, says German court
- 3D-printed gun website yanks CAD files after federal judicial order
- You Can’t Legally 3D Print Guns Quite Yet
- The Battle Over 3D-Printed Guns Is Getting Serious
- 8 states take aim at 3D gun company, sue to get files off the Internet
- Is Code Free Speech?
- Inside the Unabomber’s angsty, odd and furious online revival: A TV drama has rekindled interest in anti-technology terrorist Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber. Ironically enough, his followers now congregate online
- How they did it (and will likely try again): GRU hackers vs. US elections: Latest Mueller indictment offers excruciating details to confirm known election pwnage.
- On Conspiracy Theories and Election Hacking
- Why We’re Sharing 3 Million Russian Troll Tweets
- My short life as (the face of) a Russian disinformation troll
- Daily Beast: Russian hackers targeted Democrat facing tough 2018 election
- Russian Government Decides To Stamp Out ‘Fake News’ At Home, Presumably Leaving Export Operations Unaffected
- DOJ announces arrest of 3 men allegedly behind notorious FIN7 hacking group
- Report: Julian Assange’s Thin Ice at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London Could Be About to Break
- The age of cyberwar is here. We can’t keep citizens out of the debate
- Senator Mark Warner Lays Out Ideas For Regulating Internet Platforms
- Microsoft invests $500,000 in coding and tech training for students of colour: Firm’s support will open Seattle chapter for Black Girls Code and boost Technology Access Foundation’s STEM program
- Windows 10 will try not to reboot when you’re just grabbing a cup of coffee
- Twitter’s One Step Closer to Figuring Out Why It Sucks
- Twitter is funding college professors to audit its platform for toxicity
- On Amazon Prime Day warehouse workers around the world took action against the company. We hear about some of the organizing going on in fulfillment centers from Germany to New Jersey.
- Amazon’s Rekognition messes up, matches 28 lawmakers to mugshots
- Amazon’s Face Recognition Falsely Matched 28 Members of Congress With Mugshots
- Amazon Rekognition Falsely Matched 28 Members of Congress to Mugshots
- Amazon wrongly IDed 28 members of Congress, and they’re not happy about it
- Congress Members Want Answers After Amazon’s Facial Recognition Software Says 28 Of Them Are Criminals
- Congress Members Demand Answers From, Investigation Of Federal Facial Rec Tech Users
- Amazon: Cops should set confidence level on facial recognition to 99%
- The Value Of Public Shaming
- The future role of AI in fact checking
- Data’s day of reckoning: We can build a future we want to live in, or we can build a nightmare. The choice is up to us.
- Why Westerners Fear Robots And The Japanese Do Not
- The “Biometric Mirror” Judges You The Way We’ve Taught It To: With Bias
- Contractual considerations in Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence outsourcing
- AI Coaches Are Here To Unleash Your Inner LeBron
- Canadian Developments in AI and Technology: Ethical Considerations for Innovators
- Neural network implemented with light instead of electrons
- Regulation-bot: the rise of AI legislation
- The Rise of the Last-Mile Exchange: Keeping up with the growing volume of e-commerce will require delivery companies to disrupt their long-standing business model.
- Report: Google is preparing to cave to Chinese search censorship
- Google’s Censored Chinese Search Engine Shows It’s No Longer Afraid of U.S. Backlash
- Google Developing Censored Search Engine For China: Report
- Disappointing: Google Makes Plan To Return To China With Censored Search Engine
- Google Glass Is Back, And May Have Finally Found A Place It Belongs
- YouTube Will Bring Original Programming To Germany, Japan, Mexico, France, And India
- YouTube In Hot Water Again After Search Results For Tom Hanks Lead To Conspiracy Theories
- YouTube’s Second Demi Lovato Documentary Is In Production But On Hold After Apparent Overdose
- YouTube Premium’s Fall Slate To Feature Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr., Kirsten Dunst
- YouTube Music Is Seriously Bulking Up Its Senior Leadership On A Global Scale
- Indian PM Narendra Modi Surpasses One Million Subscribers, Will Soon Be Top World Leader On YouTube
- Jimmy Kimmel Enlists Goddaughter To Teach Him About YouTube Beauty Tutorials
- Casey Neistat Is “Just Getting Started” After Surpassing 10 Million Subscribers
- Casey Neistat Challenges Logan Paul In Testy Interview: “All That Really Matters Is What Transpired”
- Will Smith To Casey Neistat: “Let’s Get To Creatin’”
- Alisha Marie Returns From Two-Month Hiatus, Looks To Normalize Breaks For YouTube Stars
- Huda Kattan, Lele Pons Are Instagram’s Top-Paid Digital Influencers At $33,000 Per Post (Report)
- “Kidtech” Company Superawesome Launches Video Player For Family-Friendly Publishers
- CBS Announces Plans For 24/7 Streaming Local News Services, Launching First In New York
- Viacom confirms Awesomeness TV acquisition
- Viacom To Acquire Digital Media Company AwesomenessTV For Rumored Price “Below $300 Million”
- Viacom announces it’s buying Awesomeness: Viacom announced it’s buying Awesomeness for a price well under $300 million – Awesomeness was owned by NBCUniversal, Verizon, and Hearst.
- Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo Raises Additional $200 Million, For $1 Billion In Total Funding (Report)
- Spotify Hits 83 Million Premium Subs in Q2 as Net Loss Doubles: CEO Daniel Ek says direct-licensing deals with artists don’t make Spotify a record label
- Spotify is now streaming Archie motion comics
- Spotify Debuts ‘Archie’ Motion Comic Amid Pivot To Audio-Visual Content
- Penske Media Makes Strategic Investment in BuzzAngle Music: Key PMC brands, including Rolling Stone and Variety, will utilize the platform’s data, analysis and consumption charts.
- Snapchat To Act As Matchmaker For Creators And Advertisers Via ‘Storytellers’ Initiative
- NFL Renews Snapchat Deal for Two Years, Will Flood the Zone for Sunday Games
- Snapchat launches new Lenses that respond to your voice
- Snapchat’s Latest Lenses Are Speech-Activated With Words Like “Love” And “Wow”
- MoviePass Is Jacking Up Its Prices as It Tries to Survive
- MoviePass, AMC, and the Era of Cinema Subscriptions
- Mission: Impossible’s Box Office ‘Failure’ Shows Why We Need MoviePass
- The strange story of how MoviePass’ owner was created by an Indian company accused of massive fraud
- WhatsApp Rightly Refuses Indian Government’s Silly Demand To Break Encryption
- Loyalty vs. Freedom of Expression: Who Wins the Battle in the Social Media Ring
- OSC Cryptocurrency Survey Reveals Public’s Uncertainty About Blockchain Issues
- Cryptomining Malware Is Infecting Corporate Networks Worldwide
- Hackers find creative way to steal $7.7 million without being detected
- The Rise Of An “Assassination Marketplace” Shows The Dark Side of Decentralized Networks
- NFLPA Bets on Blockchain-Backed Social Streaming Platform SportsCastr
- California Federal Court Denies Preliminary Injunction In “Blockchain” Dispute
- Up to Two-Thirds of Bitcoin Transactions Have No Economic Value
- Inside Ecobee’s plans to outsmart Nest: The smart-thermostat maker wants to remodel our houses for the digital age — if Google’s Nest doesn’t squash it first.
- How Software Ate the Point of Sale: Or, why paying for stuff is so complicated now
- Services drove Apple’s best third quarter ever, but iPhone sales aren’t growing
- Growing Up Jobs: Steve Jobs and Chrisann Brennan were 23 when their daughter was born. Lisa Brennan-Jobs remembers the pride and pain of a childhood spent navigating the vastness between her struggling single mom and Apple’s mercurial founder.
- Happy Birthday To Us! Wired Turns 25
CREATIVITY
- Inequality in 1,100 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBT & Disability from 2007 to 2017 (Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, Dr. Katherine Pieper, Ariana Case, & Angel Choi)
- In the era of #MeToo, is it still OK to laugh at ‘Animal House’?
- Stephen Colbert swallows hard and addresses boss Les Moonves’ #MeToo mess
- Assaults in dressing rooms. Groping during lessons. Classical musicians reveal a profession rife with harassment.
- Down for what?: Every rapper wants a woman who will do anything, except be her own person.
- The Sex-Trafficking Case Testing the Limits of the First Amendment: How a couple of crusading journalists made a fortune selling adult escort ads and in the process became unlikely and widely reviled First Amendment advocates.
- Why Are We Still So Worried About Watching Porn?: Decades of fearmongering almost got porn addiction added to the International Classification of Diseases. Thankfully, the World Health Organization got it right.
- Staircases in Space: Why Are Places in Science Fiction Not Wheelchair-Accessible?
- “Known but not discussed”: Low-income people aren’t getting quality news and information. What can the industry do about it?
- How music has responded to a decade of economic inequality: Popular music has always delivered social critique. But it’s struggled to grapple with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
- The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+
- Sony Finds Itself In Court After Bullying Film Studio Over Supposed ‘Slender Man’ Copyright Infringement
- Better by design: significant changes coming to Canada’s industrial design legislation
- Are headline and title writers getting too cocky about their IP rights?
- Fox Shareholders Have Agreed to the Disney Deal, and the X-Men Are Coming Back to Marvel
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- GDPR Compliance for Canadian Organizations
- How GDPR is affecting the kidtech biz: The EU’s new data protection and privacy regulations went into effect in May, but experts say the kids industry is not prepared for the potential fines.
- UK Tribunal Says GCHQ Engaged In Illegal Telco Collection Program For More Than A Decade
- Inspector General Says NSA Still Hasn’t Implemented Its Post-Snowden Internal Security Measures
- Court Rejects Evidence From Warrantless Search Of Phone Six Years After The Gov’t Seized It
- Cops Slowly Wise Up To The SIM Hijacking Trend Carriers Don’t Want To Seriously Address
- EU And Japan Agree To Free Data Flows, Just As Tottering Privacy Shield Framework Threatens Transatlantic Transfers
- Sir Cliff Richard v The BBC: Blurring the lines between libel and privacy law
- Freedom of expression: On a Cliff edge?
- Hold on to Your Coins! Understanding Sextortion Scam Emails and What You Should Do
- Click on this iOS phishing scam and you’ll be connected to “Apple Care”
- Password breach teaches Reddit that, yes, phone-based 2FA is that bad
- New Spectre attack enables secrets to be leaked over a network
- Shipping company’s networks in the Americas crippled by ransomware attack
- Bringing the Fourth Amendment into the Digital Age: Implications of Carpenter v. United States
- New Report Says The Feds’ Focus On Device Encryption Is Holding Local Law Enforcement Back
- Burglar wakes up couple to ask to use their Wi-Fi network
GAMES
- Detroit dev Quantic Dream loses in court case brought by ex-employee
- Former Quantic Dream employee wins court case against developer: Court rules in favour of employee who quit due to circulation of offensive photoshopped images
- SimCity 2000 remake removed by EA for using copyrighted assets
- EA shuts down open source SimCity 2000 over lifted assets: “The current audio visual output of the repository creates content that infringes on Electronic Arts copyright,” says publisher
- EA financials show quiet Q1 reflective of few releases: Net revenue of $1.137 billion nonetheless above estimates ahead of packed Q2
- FIFA Mobile’s debut in China brings EA its highest grossing day for a mobile game
- EA open to cross-platform playability for Battlefield, other key franchises: Publisher also eyeing Fortnite’s success as a model for future free-to-play mobile releases
- Area 35 ends legal dispute over Kickstarter embezzlement claims in settlement
- Area 35, ex-employee settle defamation suit: Tariq Lacy retracts embezzlement accusations against studio CEO Hiroaki Yura
- Abstractism removed from Steam store for ‘cryptojacking’: Game disguised as indie platformer installed programs to mine cryptocurrency using players’ computers
- Valve removes Steam game after allegations of hidden cryptocurrency miner [Updated]
- Valve adds safeguards to Steam to address concerns over fake item scams
- Steam sees surprising, significant usage dip in 2018
- Prominent Denuvo hacker arrested for breaching anti-piracy tech
- Denuvo investigation reportedly leads to arrest for games pirate Voksi: However, Bulgarian cracker claims he voluntarily went to police, reached out to DRM firm for “peaceful solution”
- An overlooked line of code led to slow performance forWarhammer Online
- Daily Mirror paid interview subject of Fortnite hit piece: “Fortnite made me a suicidal drug addict” author offered £300 for case study
- Fortnite mobile earned average of $3.47 per install 90 days after launch – SensorTower: Battle royale ranked #6 most-downloaded app in the US for Q2 despite iOS exclusivity
- Analyst estimates put Fortnite at more than 100M downloads on iOS
- Fortnite mobile breaks 100m downloads and $160m IAP revenue: PUBG not expected to reach 100 million milestone for another 206 days
- Fortnite cosmetics possibly taking revenue from top console games
- Dutch Dota 2 players can now see the contents of their next loot box: Valve’s attempts to comply with loot box regulations continue apace
- Forza Motorsport 7 will not feature loot boxes
- Forza Motorsport 7 removes prize crates, avoids paid tokens: Microtransaction system from prior Forza games will not appear in Forza Horizon 4, either
- Gran Turismo Sport gets microtransactions in July update: Polyphony Digital adds ability to purchase in-game cars for real money
- Gran Turismo Sport, revisited: More tracks, more cars, more everything
- Spectrum ISP kicked out of NY for allegedly throttling online games and streams
- New York shows Spectrum ISP the door, in part for throttling League of Legends: State public service commission revokes approval of Charter, Time Warner merger due to “various instances of misconduct”
- One Week Later, Blizzard Still Doesn’t Know WhyWorld Of Warcraft’s Leveling System Is Borked
- Nintendo barely improves conflict minerals sourcing over two years: One-fourth of company’s smelters and refiners aren’t following protocols to prevent human rights abuses
- NPD: NES Classic was the highest unit-selling platform for June – Retro consoles help lead 52% YOY hardware sales growth
- Nintendo has sold nearly 20M Switch systems and 87M Switch games
- Switch sales lead Nintendo’s first quarter while 3DS and mobile income stagnate
- Increased profits and $1.5bn sales kick off Nintendo’s financial year: Platform holder maintains forecast as Switch lifetime sales reach 19.7 million consoles, 86.93 million games
- Nintendo stock increase trips up hedge fund’s $400 million bet: Melvin Capital’s months-long short position in Switch maker suffers setback, may still prove profitable
- Nintendo’s next Labo kit coming in Sept, looks like next-gen Pilotwings
- The Sinclair ZX Vega+ is finally being shipped to Indiegogo backers
- Sales up at Sony as PS4 software exceeds expectations
- Worldwide PlayStation 4 shipments have topped 80 million
- PlayStation drives $17.9 billion Q1 for Sony: Higher-than-expected software sales and 43% digital ratio among financial highlights
- The business case for a streaming Xbox
- Zynga Q2 sees bookings jump 12%: Social publisher beats guidance with $233.9 million in non-GAAP sales, net losses of just over $900,000
- Glu Mobile narrows losses with record Q2 bookings
- Zynga’s mobile ‘forever franchises’ contribute to Q2 growth
- Sega capitalizing on foreign exchange with Yakuza, Total War: Sega Europe exec John Clark says audiences in Asia and the West are increasingly interested in games from the other region’s developers, but for different reasons
- Sea of Thieves has attracted over 5 million players
- Sea of Thieves reaches five million players as Cursed Sails expansion launches: Plus, 40 million hours broadcast on Twitch but it’s still unclear how player count translates to sales due to Game Pass inclusion
- Live Streams Of A Chinese Robot-Fighting Tournament Are Getting Millions Of Views On Twitch
- No Man’s Sky Next reaches over 50,000 concurrent players: Hello Games’ space exploration game sees resurgence after a 200k+ concurrent user peak at launch
- No Man’s Sky hit almost 100,000 concurrent players on Steam this past weekend
- Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle revenue tops $1B after two years
- Dragon Ball Z mobile title reaches estimated $1 billion revenue: Sensor Tower data indicates Bandai Namco’s Dokkan Battle has hit major milestone after two years
- MapleStory M achieves three million downloads in first week: Mobile version of hugely popular Korean MMO tops highest grossing charts in key Asian markets
- Monster Hunter: World helps Capcom to record-breaking first quarter
- Monster Hunter: World passes 8m sold in strong Q1 for Capcom – Game revenue increased 79 per cent year-on-year on the strength of Monster Hunter and Street Fighter
- $2.65m Binding of Isaac card game Kickstarter smashes target by over 5,000%: Almost 40,000 backers successfully funded tabletop spin-off of popular indie roguelike
- From failed Kickstarter to career-defining success: The story of Pony Island: Daniel Mullins discusses how he bounced back from failure to create “the smartest game of 2016”
- The art of failing: What 11 bit Studios learnt from Beat Cop – Marketing director Patryk Grzeszczuk – “We were too far away from the times and the culture that were depicted in the game”
- Mail.ru took a $27m impairment charge on Armored Warfare development in Q2: The charge was related to the game’s recent poor performance, in a quarter that saw revenues rise but profits halve
- Paradox Interactive chooses development over stagnation with CEO switch
- Paradox: “We’ve released crappy games in the past… I don’t want to do that anymore”
- Dead Cells dev hopes to challenge exploitation with equal pay model
- Dead Cells dev Motion Twin touts equal pay system: All 11 employees at French studio have identical salary, same say in project direction
- Empires & Puzzles: Disrupting the biggest market with the smallest team – CEO Timo Soininen discusses the importance of mid-development marketing and defying the “so-called industry experts”
- Steam user count has decreased 17 percent since January
- Steam active users on unusual decline throughout 2018: Steep decrease after January surge may reflect popularity of PUBG, then Fortnite
- Steam game accused of covertly mining for cryptocurrency
- Lessons learned and questions raised in bringing a game from console to Steam
- Worldwide digital spending up 15% in June – Superdata: PUBG bolstered by Steam sale with second-best month of all time by unit sales
- PUBG Mobile’s revenue reaches $30 million: Users globally spending about $650k daily over the last month, nearly triple the amount for the previous month
- Valve adds pop-ups to Community Market warning of potential scams: Dialogue boxes warn users if they attempt to purchase items for a game they don’t own, or a new release
- Valve’s first new game in 5 years, Artifact, coming in November, starting at $20
- How League of Legends Went From Idea to Esport
- Why Competitive Gaming Is Starting To Look A Lot Like Professional Sports: Can an FPS compete with the NFL?
- How mobile can unlock esports for a casual audience: nWay CEO Taehoon Kim on the success of Power Rangers Legacy Wars and how it’s helping grow mobile esports
- Overwatch League franchise spots for next season could be worth up to $60m: London Spitfires crowned Season 1 champions as Activision Blizzard prepares to open up six new spots globally
- Making the piracy problem worse – 10 Years Ago This Month: Some publishers look at the recording industry’s disastrous reaction to file-sharing and basically copy it
- Pokémon Go brushes off competition from Jurassic World and The Walking Dead: Apptopia co-founder and COO Jonathan Kay explains why Pokémon Go thrives as its competitors flounder
- HTC Pushes Back On Reports of Declining Headset Sales
- HTC defends lack of data when disputing VR “tailspin”: Headset manufacturer claims its leading position shows health of market – despite failing to demonstrate with sales figures
- HTC, amidst a major revenue decline, brags about its VR revenue
- PlayStation VR co-creator Richard Marks has swapped Sony for Google
- Samsung Odyssey Drops to $400 and HP to $200 as Steep Discounts Continue for Windows VR Headsets
- New XRDC Innovation Report reveals Vive still devs’ top target as AR rises
- The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Artificial intelligence, with Chet Faliszek
- Elon Musk to video game devs: Help me put “super fun games” on Tesla screens
- Why did licensed games get better?
- Defy Media Sells Off Another Property — Its ‘Escapist Magazine’ Gaming News Site
- The Escapist relaunches with “no politics” pledge
- FoxNext to join Disney after $71.3 billion Fox deal approved by shareholders: 21st Century Fox games division one of the “key assets” acquired by Disney
- Disney’s purchase of Fox moves FoxNext into the House of Mouse
- iOS game collection aims to spotlight pre-mobile handheld games
- Blog: Meet The mobile puzzlers from a century ago
Jon
News of the Week; July 25, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Court Rules Quebec Plan for Mandated ISP Blocking of Online Gambling Sites is Unconstitutional
- A $250,000 Reminder that “CASL” is Not Just an AntiSpam Law
- CRTC Issues Penalties to Middle Men Under CASL to Combat Malware Installation
- Audio Bulletin – CRTC Issues Penalties to Middle Men Under CASL to Combat Malware Installation
- How far will the FCC pursue Sinclair Broadcasting’s “misrepresentations” now that Trump has intervened?
- FCC votes against Sinclair/Tribune merger, likely dooming deal
- FCC Confirms Sinclair Misled Agency To Try And Get Its Megamerger Approved
- Trump tweets anger at FCC after Pai blocks Sinclair/Tribune merger
- Comcast Drops Its Bid to Buy Fox, Meaning There’s Nothing Stopping the Disney Deal Now
- Comcast admits defeat in bidding war for Fox, clearing path for Disney
- Ajit Pai gets message from his hometown ISP: Don’t hurt us small ISPs
- Viacom in Talks to Buy AwesomenessTV
- Viacom In Advanced Talks To Acquire AwesomenessTV (Report)
- Verizon Took A $658 Million Hit “Mainly Related To The Discontinuation” Of Go90
- FCC will now take your comments on whether to allow T-Mobile/Sprint merger
- Wireless Carriers Have A SIM Hijacking Problem They Don’t Want To Talk About
- Massachusetts Just The Latest State To Embrace Net Neutrality
- India Embraces Full Net Neutrality As The U.S. Runs The Opposite Direction
- NYC Will Stop Gouging Incarcerated New Yorkers For Calling Home
- Personal liability for directors over nuisance calls
- Sen. Ron Wyden On Breaking Up Facebook, Net Neutrality, And The Law That Built The Internet
- Survey: 5.4 Million Americans Will Cut The Cable TV Cord In 2018
DIGITAL
- Microsoft exec: We stopped Russia from hacking 3 congressional campaigns
- Yes, Russians Hacked U.S. Electric Companies, Homeland Security Confirms
- Breaking With 30 Years Of Traditional Opacity, DOJ Releases FISA Warrant Applications For Surveillance Of Carter Page
- Wikileaks Refused To Publish Manafort Family Texts, So Someone Else Did
- Digital age reinforces the need for judiciary to act as a bulwark against tyranny
- The ‘Guerrilla’ Wikipedia Editors Who Combat Conspiracy Theories
- How Silicon Valley Turned Evil: What Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and Elon Musk can learn from their predecessors – before they destroy the world.
- Is Any Press Really Good Press? California Supreme Court Rules on Fate of Defamatory Yelp Reviews
- Facebook stock dives nearly 20% on warning of slow revenue growth
- Facebook Just Learned The True Cost Of Fixing Its Problems
- Facebook Sets Up China Subsidiary to Build Local Innovation Hub
- After a single day, Facebook is pushed out of China again
- Facebook follows SpaceX and OneWeb into high-speed satellite broadband
- Senators Wyden & Rubio Ask Google And Amazon To Bring Back Domain Fronting
- Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Twitter partner for ambitious new data project: An open-source collaboration for ‘the future of portability’
- Study: Analysis of top Facebook pages covering American political news – Study of 463 leading Facebook pages shows that partisan pages have roughly equal engagement, but right-wing pages drastically outnumber left-wing pages
- Facebook bows to WA state pressure to remove “discriminatory” ad filters
- Facebook’s Fight Against Fake News Keeps Raising Questions
- Departing Facebook Security Officer’s Memo: “We Need To Be Willing To Pick Sides”: In a brutally honest note about his departure, Facebook’s Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos calls on his colleagues “to intentionally not collect data where possible”
- Listen To Stephen Fry Perfectly Analogize The Moral Panics Around Facebook To The Ones Over The Printing Press
- Should Your Family Be Able to Inherit Your Facebook Messages?
- Appeals Court Won’t Yet Review Awful District Court Decision That Says Embedding Could Be Infringement
- Does the Public Have a First Amendment Right to Post Comments on a Public Official’s Twitter Feed? First Amendment Challenges to Social Media Access in the 21st Century
- Twitter courted comedians, then the opposition: How jokes became ammo during the social media platform’s shift from distraction to political warzone
- Was It Ethical For Dropbox To Share Customer Data With Scientists?
- The Internet Apologizes …:Even those who designed our digital world are aghast at what they created. A breakdown of what went wrong – from the architects who built it.
- Cyberbullying
- Leaders Who Pledged Not To Build Autonomous Killing Machines Are Ignoring The Real Problem
- U.S. Department of Defense Established A Center To Better Integrate AI
- ‘The discourse is unhinged’: how the media gets AI alarmingly wrong
- We Need Transparency in Algorithms, But Too Much Can Backfire
- Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary
- Advertiser’s Suit Against Google Loses for Third (and Final) Time–Abid v. Google
- Google Wants You to Use Physical Security Keys So Bad It’s Willing to Sell You One
- Google launches “Shielded VMs” to protect cloud servers from rootkits, data theft
- Big News: Big Internet Platforms Making It Easy To Move Your Data Somewhere Else
- Science Fiction Is Not Social Reality: The tech industry is inspired to create our world from linear, scripted science fiction stories.
- Delete your account: It’s a “great shame,” says Silicon Valley insider Jaron Lanier, that so much of big tech’s AI has been aimed at manipulating you.
- Brainwashing your wife to want sex? Here is adtech at its worst
- Resale Price Maintenance, Pricing Algorithms and Monitoring Software: a Recipe for Disaster
- DARPA Is Funding Research Into AI That Can Explain What It’s “Thinking”
- Robots And Racism (Bartneck, C., Yogeeswaran, K., Ser, Q. M., Woodward, G., Sparrow, R., Wang, S., & Eyssel, F.)
- Influence and responsibility: New Canadian influencer marketing guidelines emerge
- The Database: A Look At The Growing World Of Streaming And Over-The-Top Video
- Mozilla Exec Says YouTube Runs Five Times Slower Than Chrome On Firefox, Offers Solution
- YouTube Streams Over 180 Million Hours to TV Screens Every Day
- YouTube Deletes Videos Posted by Infowars, Suspends Alt-Right Channel From Live-Streaming
- YouTube Issues Another Strike Against InfoWars For Hate Speech, Child Endangerment
- Documentary Series ‘Best Shot,’ Co-Produced By Lebron James, Tips Off On NBA YouTube Channel
- YouTube Will Distribute Grants To Education-Focused Channels Via ‘YouTube Learning’ Fund
- YouTube shuts down FamilyOFive channel over ‘child endangerment’ concerns
- YouTube Finally Terminates Channels Belonging To Notorious ‘DaddyOFive’ Parents
- YouTube Blocks ‘FamilyOFive’ Account of Parents Convicted of Child Neglect
- Carrie Hope Fletcher Urges Boycott Of Fellow YouTuber Alex Day’s Upcoming Book
- Ahead Of Boxing Match, Deji Olatunji Says He’s Being Sued For Greg Paul Press Conference Assault
- Logan Paul And KSI Have Launched A Pay-Per-View YouTube Channel Dedicated To Their Upcoming Boxing Match
- YouTube Is Reportedly Combatting Instagram’s IGTV By Cutting Six-Figure Checks To Creators
- YouTube Experimenting With ‘Explore’ Tab To Expose Viewers To Broader Video Variety
- What would you do if your teenager became an overnight Instagram sensation?
- Mac ’n Cheese bubbles over in Instagram copyright dispute
- GoDaddy & Instagram Avoid Liability for Users’ Photos of Knockoff Goods–Franklin v. X Gear 101
- Insights: As Subscriptions Drain Wallets, Ad-Supported Online Services Find New Fans
- Netflix Launches Its First European Production Hub in Madrid
- Shonda Rhimes’ Eight-Show Netflix Slate Has A Some Romance, Some History, Some Intrigue
- Petition To Halt Release Of Netflix Series ‘Insatiable’ Garners 123,000 Signatures
- Netflix Will Enable Subscribers To Use Its Popular Characters As Their Profile Icons
- Sony Looking To Sell Stake In Crackle And Onboard Strategic Partner (Report)
- Musical.ly Reportedly Shut Down Live.ly Because Its Owner Didn’t Want A LiveMe Competitor
- How radio found new life on the internet and changed music discovery forever
- Twitch Launches Creator Camp Channel To Help Its Users Become Better Streamers
- Snapchat Opens A Private Marketplace For Brands To Buy Ads In Discover Shows
- Snapchat and Nielsen Partner to Integrate Offline Data For Audience Targeting
- Snapchat is shutting down Snapcash
- Snapchat starts to syndicate video shows on Discover
- Snapchat Is Launching A Show Where Parents Look At Their Kids’ Dating App Profiles
- Sony’s Monstrous New Smartphone Camera Sensor Could Make Us Care About Megapixels Again
- Research Confirms The Anecdotal Evidence: Internet Content Filters Are A Waste Of Money
- ‘Piracy Audiences Are Untapped Pools of Wealth’
- Chinese Citizens Are Using Blockchain to Warn Each Other of Unsafe Vaccines
- CSA reinforces position that securities laws apply to cryptocurrency offerings, confirms regulatory scrutiny for industry participants
- Hacker Exposes Security Vulnerability in Popular Cryptocurrency Site Etherscan
- The Role of IP in the Crypto Bubble
- Declining cryptocurrency prices are making graphics cards affordable again
- Behold This Disastrously Bad Op-Ed Calling for Amazon to Replace Libraries
- Amazon Studios’ Top Film Executive Is Departing Amid Strategic Shift
- Best Buy Should Be Dead, But It’s Thriving in the Age of Amazon: The big-box retailer doesn’t just want to sell you electronics. It wants its in-home consultants to be “personal chief technology officers.”
- Amazon’s Face Recognition Falsely Matched 28 Members of Congress With Mugshots
- Can We Make Non-Racist Face Recognition?
- For One Last Night, Make It a Blockbuster Night: Everything is 10 years behind in Alaska—including the way people see movies.But now, the late fees are finally coming due, and the end of the Blockbuster era is upon us.
- Click-wraps the way of the future ‒ but make sure they’re legal
- A new digital divide: Young people who can’t use keyboards
CREATIVITY
- The value of a copyrighted photograph is not necessarily in the eye of the beholder
- When Does “All” Mean All?
- Tesla clears the air with “farting unicorn” artist after copyright stink
- Au Revoir, Droit de Suite—9th Circuit Narrows California Resale Royalty Act to a Single Year’s Sales
- South Africa’s Proposed Fair Use Right In Copyright Bill Is Surprisingly Good — At The Moment
- False Advertising in a Movie Trailer?
- Who owns the Roger Federer RF monogram trade mark?
- Ecuador Will Imminently Withdraw Asylum for Julian Assange and Hand Him Over to the UK. What Comes Next?
- The View From Somewhere: The Press Needs To Be Anti-Partisan, Not Bi-Partisan
- Cambodian Government Latest To Stifle Press With ‘Fake News’ Legislation
- The Daily News Was Superman’s Paper – Tronc Fed It Kryptonite: The owners fired half the paper’s staff Monday in a savage move that not only guts the newspaper, but also drastically diminishes the reporting of New York City.
- Tronc Is Incompetent, but Gutting Newsrooms Is Just Normal Capitalism
- If You’re A Journalist Hiring Lawyers To Intimidate Publishers Into Killing Stories About Your Misdeeds, You’re A Hypocrite
- Disney confirms Guardians director fired over years-old tweets
- James Gunn Will No Longer Direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in the Wake of Appalling Tweets
- Hollywood’s Zero-Tolerance on Racism, Sexism Is the New Normal
- The US Army Gets Armistice With NHL Team Over ‘Golden Knights’ Trademark
- Four ways President Trump is changing prime time TV
- The Propaganda Films That Saved Walt Disney’s Cartoon Empire
- Marvel Offers Grief Counseling at Comic-Con for Fans Traumatized by the End of Infinity War
- Art technicians: The industry’s dirty secret, or all part of the process?
- The Standard Consent Agreement That Protects Sacha Baron Cohen
- The death of Don Draper: Advertising, once a creative industry, is now a data-driven business reliant on algorithms. The implications are deeply sinister – not only for the consumer but for democracy itself.
- How The Global Music Copyright Business Grew By $1.5bn In 2016 (And Why That’s Amazing News Today)
- Blurred Lines Between Inspiration and Infringement: Ninth Circuit Holds “Blurred Lines” Infringes Copyright
- You Don’t Need to Be a Musician to Get a Record Deal in 2018: Streaming has upturned music’s status quo – and labels are looking farther afield for truly fresh talent
- Trying to protect – and expand – Cuba’s undiscovered musical legacy
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Canadian Court Affirms Citizens Still Have An Expectation Of Privacy In Devices Being Repaired By Third Parties
- Toronto Approves Gunshot-Detecting Surveillance Tech Days After Mass Shooting: Rattled by a string of gun violence this year, Toronto just approved ShotSpotter, a US-based audio surveillance system that purports to detect the sound of gunshots.
- Public Facebook Profiles Not Equivalent to Public Information Under PIPEDA
- Texas Judges Continue To Turn Expungement Orders Into ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ Requests
- Snoopware installed by 11 million+ iOS, Android, Chrome, and Firefox users
- Decade-old Bluetooth flaw lets hackers steal data passing between devices
- Today’s the day that Chrome brands plain old HTTP “not secure”
- In the Internet of Things, Opportunities Abound for Class Action Litigation
- UK Court Rules a Suspect in a Criminal Investigation has Reasonable Expectation it will be Kept Private
- UK Judge Says Accurate Journalism Is An Invasion Of Privacy In Cliff Richard Case
- Congratulations and Celebrations to Sir Cliff Richards in High Court Privacy Success
- Sir Cliff Richard wins landmark privacy battle against the BBC
- Privacy Cliff’s courageous battle with the BBC brings the right outcome
- Federal Judge Blasts FBI, Agent For Breaking The Law When Seeking Stingray Warrants
- 24 people have now been sentenced in India-based phone-scam case
- This school scans classrooms every 30 seconds through facial recognition technology
- Uber, Lyft driver booted after newspaper reveals he was livestreaming passengers
- Venmo’s terrible idea
- British Airways asked customers to post personal information on Twitter ‘to comply with GDPR’
- Irish Lawmakers Realizing The GDPR’s Consent Requirements Seem A Bit Onerous, Want To ‘Infer’ Consent
- Demonstrating Compliance with both GDPR and CCPA
- Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Protection Alert: California Consumer Privacy Act
- Once Again…California Sets the Tone for U.S. Data Privacy
- California Passes Groundbreaking Data Privacy Law with an Expansion of Consumers’ Privacy Rights
- A First (But Very Incomplete) Crack at Inventorying the California Consumer Privacy Act’s Problems
- The World Economy Runs on GPS. It Needs a Backup Plan: The small satellite network, which keeps global computer systems from freaking out, is shockingly vulnerable to all kinds of interference.
- Ars on your lunch break: The consequences of a government genetic database
GAMES
- Two Researchers Challenged a Scientific Study About Violent Video Games – and Took a Hit for Being Right: How two researchers paid a price for challenging a retracted study about violent video games.
- Nintendo files lawsuit against two popular ROM websites
- Nintendo to ROM sites: Forget cease-and-desist, now we’re suing
- Nintendo files copyright infringement lawsuit against two console ROM websites: LoveROMs and LoveRETRO are “among the most open and notorious online hubs for pirated video games” says platform holder
- Roblox: “Our work on safety is never-ending” – Developer behind popular kids game responds to recent gang rape incident, reiterates that hacker behind it has been banned
- Roblox on track to pay in-game devs $70M in 2018, more than double 2017’s payout
- Blind Mind Studios releases source code for Star Ruler 2
- PUBG Corp apologizes, removes offensive Japanese mask from game
- PUBG developer apologies after controversial World War II references found in game: Purchasable mask and AI bot caused offence across Korea and China with allusions to Imperial Japan
- Video chat with PUBG creator: “We could put battle royale in everything”
- PUBG Mobile reaches $30M in revenue 4 months after launch
- How Landfall accidentally struck a vein with a joke battle royale game
- Valve bans over 90,000 Steam accounts in one week
- 90,000 Steam accounts banned in Valve’s biggest anti-cheat purge to date: Just under 30,000 cheaters dealt with on Wednesday, followed by a record-breaking 60,000 yesterday
- Psyonix shares Rocket League loot box drop rates ahead of progression overhaul
- Dota 2 loot boxes now reveal contents ahead of purchase for Dutch players
- Niantic introduces three-strike policy for cheaters inPokémon Go
- Niantic outlines Pokemon Go cheating policy: Developer offers clarity on three-strike disciplinary system as ban waves ramp up
- Guiding children towards healthy gaming: “We have amazing materials for parents, we need to shout about them much more,” says Andy Robertson
- For the record: Report on Saudi Arabia ban of 47 games inaccurate
- Rebuilding MidBoss – Interim CEO and creative director discuss trying to save the 2064: Read Only Memories studio after sexual harassment and employee mistreatment scandal
- Gaming’s toxic men, explained: Experts tackle the phenomenon of angry men, trolls, racists and misogynists who hover around the video game industry
- The GamesIndustry.biz Careers Survey 2018: Lower pay but less crunch
- Studio Pixel Punk: Getting diversity right means going beyond “good intentions”
- 2K’s light slate belies bigger ambitions: President David Ismailer discusses publisher’s plans to grow, how it evaluates development partners, and thoughts on esports betting
- International Olympic Committee hosts forum to discuss esports: Riots Games CEO hopes forum might lead to esports “being more legitimised the world over”
- Esports Could Enter The Olympics Fray By The 2024 Summer Games In Paris (Report)
- James Ohlen: Anthem failure won’t mean the end of BioWare – Long-serving designer also disputes “conspiracy theories” that EA is driving studio away from story-driven RPGs
- Bandai Namco: “We want 50% of our games to be new IP” – Digital and marketing VP Hervé Hoerdt details how the Japanese publisher plans to create new brands that yield movies, toys and more
- Bandai Namco Amusement Lab Inc. established for VR arcade development
- Bandai Namco establishes new development team for VR, AR, MR: Bandai Namco Amusement Lab Inc. will focus on XR experiences primarily for arcades
- This VR Horror Game Is Exactly as Scary as Your Body Can Handle
- The Magic Hustle: Magic Leap not so Magical – Silicon Valley Global News SVGN.io
- Unity: “Games wouldn’t see the light of day” without asset stores – Asset Store boss Peter O’Reilly on the misconception around “asset flips”, and why Unity won’t match the Unreal Marketplace’s 88/12 revenue split
- Minecraft most downloaded Switch game in Japan so far this year: Retail version beats out all other packaged software for 2018 after less than one month on store shelves
- Blog: Breath of the Wild and the Montessori method
- Octopath Traveler impresses in European charts
- Square Enix bets on game streaming with Blacknut partnership
- Square Enix partners with Blacknut for cloud gaming: Partnership will bring Lara Croft Go, Hitman Go, more to Blacknut-supported devices
- UK Charts: Crash Bandicoot holds No.1 as Xbox exclusives dominate Top Ten
- Microsoft’s streaming Xbox will split up games to keep latency low
- Forward-box: Xbox Adaptive Controller’s packaging is a good Microsoft move
- Designing accessible packaging for the Xbox One Adaptive Controller
- Candy Crush Saga revenue spikes 18% in Q2 to over $200m: King’s six-year-old game ranked No. 7 for global app spending and No. 6 for games
- Next Games looks to The Walking Dead for growth after €7m H1 loss
- Layoffs at OnRush developer after racer fails to gain traction
- Onrush struggles lead to Evolution layoffs: Driveclub director Paul Pustchynsky among those who have been made redundant as Codemasters “decapitates” studio
- Raiders of the Broken Planet going free-to-play less than a year after launch: MercurySteam’s online shooter also rebranding as Spacelords as of August 23rd, director says episodic model “didn’t work as planned”
- Apple promotes iPhone gaming performance with new ad
- Analyst: Fortnite now rakes in $2 million per day on iOS alone
- Fortnite daily mobile revenue reaches $2m: Launch of Season 5 sets new record of $3 million revenue in a single day
- Why the world loves “Fortnite” and I don’t
- Epic releases postmortem for Fortnite’s playground mode
- How Fortnite Captured Teens’ Hearts and Minds: The craze for the third-person shooter game has elements of Beatlemania, the opioid crisis, and eating Tide Pods.
- Video: The unconventional launch of Fortnite
- Report: Epic’s net worth could rise to $8B thanks toFortnite
- Breaking down Azeroth’s gates: Nostalgia is a powerful force for millions of former WoW players; but to convince them that they can re-engage without facing a time-sink, Blizzard needs to innovate once more
- In A New Game Available On YouTube, Video URLs Are Hidden Inside Puzzles
- YouTube Stars Kristopher London, Jesser Play ‘NBA 2k19’ With The Lakers, Get Scanned Into The Game
- Matthew Patrick Announces The Passing Of Game Theorists Editor Ronnie “Oni” Edwards
- Halo devs not working on battle royale mode for Infinite
- Rockfish: Live Steam broadcasting will change the game for indie marketing – Valve’s store page streaming beta helped Everspace to its highest ever single-day revenue, says CEO Michael Schade
- Blog: Being a solo indie in a post-Steam Greenlight world
- Oculus Go supporting otherwise faltering VR headset market: Q2 shipments show waning interest in VR as Pokemon Go continues to popularize AR
- No Man’s Sky Next update attracts over 40,000 players on Steam
- Bethesda unlikely to use external developers in future
- Bethesda’s growth makes it ‘less likely’ it’ll let external devs tackle its IP
- Google Play continues to widen global download gap with iOS: Android storefront saw over 20 billion app downloads in Q2, iOS downloads around 8 billion
- Microsoft ends fiscal year with $10 billion in games revenue, more Xbox Live users
- Microsoft annual gaming revenue tops $10 billion: Xbox maker’s full-year results show year-over-year growth in sales, Xbox Live active users
- Jurassic World Evolution hits one million sales
- Jurassic World Evolution has sold over 1 million copies
- Defiance 2050 developer Trion Worlds lays off 15 staff
- Trion Worlds eliminates 15 positions post-Defiance 2050 launch: MMO studio says round of layoffs necessary to enable continued development on upcoming projects
- UK tax breaks have helped finance 480 video games: In fact, more games have benefitted from tax relief than TV productions
- How piracy led to GOG encouraging DRM-free releases
- Muriel Tramis becomes second-ever game designer awarded the Legion of Honour
- Understanding the human cost of creating No Man’s Sky
- Writers discuss the evolving role narrative has in game development
- Former BioWare dev James Ohlen discusses creative freedom and burnout
- A quick word on which versions of Mega Man X Legacy Collection to get—or avoid
- The Game Outcomes Project: How teamwork, leadership and culture drive results
Jon
News of the Week; July 18, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Canada: A $250,000 Reminder that “CASL” is Not Just an Anti-Spam Law
- AG’s False Advertising Suit Challenging Broadband Claims Not Preempted
- Bill to save net neutrality gets first Republican vote in US House
- The Cable TV & Broadband Sector Has A Nasty Billing Fraud Problem
- The FCC’s Sneaky Plan To Make It Easier To Ignore ISP Complaints
- Ajit Pai Pretends To Care About Identity Fraud That Plagued Net Neutrality Repeal
- Ajit Pai’s Cure For The ‘Digital Divide’ Looks Suspiciously Like A Giant Middle Finger
- Ajit Pai finalizes vote to limit FCC reviews of customer complaints
- Ajit Pai deals major setback to Sinclair/Tribune merger
- The FCC Mysteriously Retreats From Sinclair Cronyism, Potentially Dooming Controversial Merger
- FCC Seeks “Large Step” Toward Advancing Broadband Infrastructure Goals With Draft One-Touch Make-Ready Order
- Trump administration appeals court loss in AT&T/Time Warner case
- After AT&T Jacks Up Prices Post Merger, DOJ Decides To Appeal Court Loss
- Charter Spectrum’s New ‘Unlimited’ Wireless Service Bans HD Video Entirely
DIGITAL
- 3D-printed gun lawsuit ends after 3+ years—in gun publisher’s favor
- “Content is fire, Social Media is gasoline” – Court of Appeal considers the challenges for interim injunctions in the digital age
- EU: Google illegally used Android to dominate search, must pay $5B fine
- EU Fines Google $5 Billion for Stifling Android’s Competition
- Here’s Why Google Just Got Hit With a Record $5 Billion Fine
- How Google’s Safe Browsing Helped Build A More Secure Web
- Some Thoughts On The EU’s Latest $5 Billion Google Antitrust Fine
- Businesses Cannot Contractually Ban “Abusive” Consumer Reviews
- Trolling the Internet for Photos Creates Copyright Headaches for Ad Agency (and the Advertiser)–Laspata v. Rimowa
- Executives From YouTube, Facebook, Twitter To Testify Before Congress Regarding Political Bias
- Shadow Politics: Meet The Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News – Buried in media scholar Jonathan Albright’s research was proof of a massive political misinformation campaign. Now he’s taking on the the world’s biggest platforms before it’s too late.
- 12 Russian intel officers indicted for hacking the DNC and Clinton campaign
- Russia Indictment 2.0: What to Make of Mueller’s Hacking Indictment
- Indicting 12 Russian Hackers Could Be Mueller’s Biggest Move Yet
- Bitcoin, malware and ‘spearphishing’ helped Russian agents hack Democratic Party computers in 2016 election
- Cryptocurrency’s Criminal Revolution: The Unsavory Cast Of Bitcoin’s Biggest Beneficiaries
- Suspect behind bitcoin exchange that “catered to criminals” ordered to France
- The SIM Hijackers: Meet the hackers who flip seized Instagram handles and cryptocurrency in a shady, buzzing underground market for stolen accounts and usernames. Their victims’ weakness? Phone numbers.
- Apple Updates Crypto Currency Aspects of App Store Review Guidelines
- AI & Blockchain: An Introduction
- Coty gets green light for online platform ban
- Instagram Model Attacked By Shark While Attempting To Snap The Perfect Shot
- Study: Instagram leads as influencer marketing platform
- California Supreme Court Ruling Immunizes Yelp from Defamatory Content Removal
- ‘Smart’ TVs Remain The Poster Child For Dismal Privacy, Transparency & Security Standards
- States prevail over e-commerce companies in Battle for sales taxes
- Magic Leap Finally Demoed Its Headset And It Is… Disappointing
- Magic Leap’s Disappointing Demo Could Be A Death Knell For AR
- Much of the excitement and cool factor around Magic Leap is now gone
- The best augmented reality I saw this year was live theater funded by a liquor company: Whiskey-sponsored immersive theater. Snickers escape rooms. Immersive branding is just getting started.
- ‘Rick & Morty VR’, ‘Coco VR’, ‘Blade Runner 2049 VR’ & More Nominated for Emmys
- DOJ Tells Ron Wyden About The Times It Has Collected Journalists’ Communications; Leaves Some Facts Out
- Why the Craig behind Craigslist gave big bucks to a journalism program: His philanthropy funds veterans, women, voter protection and trustworthy journalism.
- Copyright As Censorship: FIFA’s Overaggressive Copyright Takedowns Target Fans Celebrating And Pussy Riot Protesting
- Trump revealed as Facebook’s biggest political advertiser
- Media – both on the left and right – are pressing Facebook to define what journalism is
- Notification: Facebook – you have a £500,000 fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office
- Why is InfoWars allowed on Facebook? Zuckerberg: Because it doesn’t cause “harm”
- Here’s What It Takes to Get Kicked off Facebook (Hint: It’s A Lot)
- Facebook says it will begin removing misinformation that leads to violence
- How We Can ‘Free’ Our Facebook Friends
- Inside Facebook, Twitter and Google’s AI battle over your social lives: From stamping out trolls to removing fake bot accounts, here’s how social networks are waging war using AI weapons.
- UK: ICO announces intention to fine Facebook £500,000 and publishes data analytics investigation update
- A FOSTA Of One’s Own: UK Parliament Members Looking To Punish Websites, Push Traffickers Underground
- Digital Ads Are Starting To Feel Psychic: Targeted advertising has become so uncanny, it feels like we’re being surveilled. Two artists want to hear these stories.
- How publishers and advertisers can balance privacy and monetization
- DeepMind Created a Test to Measure an AI’s Ability to Reason
- New Quantum Computer Milestone Would Make Richard Feynman Very Happy
- D-Wave’s quantum computer successfully models a quantum system
- The quantified heart: Artificial intelligence promises ever more control over the highs and lows of our emotions. Uneasy? Perhaps you should be
- A new hope: AI for news media
- Artificial Intelligence Is Automating Hollywood. Now, Art Can Thrive.
- Top AI Experts Vow They Won’t Help Create Lethal Autonomous Weapons
- Netflix Scores 112 Emmy Nominations, Beating Out HBO’s 108
- Netflix to Launch Comedy Radio Channel on SiriusXM
- For First Time In Two Years, Netflix Falls Short Of Quarterly Growth Expectations
- Investors are worried that Netflix is getting as big as it can get
- Netflix Can Either Become the Dominant Media Monopoly of the 21st Century or Go Bust
- Netflix Is King No More as Disney Retakes Media-Company Crown
- Netflix CEO Proclaims The Death Of Net Neutrality Is No Big Deal
- Will Smith Collects $20,000 In Two Days By Selling Merch On YouTube’s New Teespring Shelf
- Shawn Mendes To Kick Off Year-Long Partnership Between YouTube Music, Rolling Stone
- Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” Becomes Oldest Music Video To Reach One Billion YouTube Views
- Female Science-Focused YouTubers Face Inordinate Amount Of Criticism, Study Finds
- YouTube TV Gifts Subscribers Week Of Free Service To Apologize For World Cup Outage
- Progress Isn’t Linear: YouTube TV’s World Cup Flub Threatens Public’s Trust For Sports Streaming
- Tickets For The First-Ever VidCon London Are On Sale Now
- Talent Firm ‘Addition’ Signs Lifestyle Creators Aaryn Williams, Ally Chen, And Jennifer Zhang
- Racial Discrimination Complaint Against The Young Turks Leads To A Lawsuit
- Insights: Purging – It’s Not Just For Twitter Anymore (Or At Least It Shouldn’t Be)
- A Serial Twitter Follow/Unfollower Explains Himself: “I’m just trying to get eyes on me. It’s a big attention game online… the end goal for me is just be on as many screens as I can.”
- Unfollowing Everybody (Anil Dash)
- The 10 Most Difficult-To-Defend Online Fandoms
- Creators Are Making As Much As $50,000 With Music Video App Triller’s New Monetization Feature
- Kid-Friendly Network Pocket.watch Raises $15 Million Series B Round Led By Viacom
- Original Shows From DeStorm, Lil Tay Lead The Way As New SVOD Service Zeus Launches
- Do Subscription Models Work with Apps?: Thoughts on Setapp – subscription-based collection for Mac apps
- Reddit Reinvents The Chat Room With Community Chat
- Don’t Feed The Trolls, And Other Hideous Lies: The mantra about the best way to respond to online abuse has only made it worse
- The “Intellectual Dark Web” Is Nothing New
- PC market appears to have grown for the first time since 2012
- Microsoft finally gives Teams what it needs to take on Slack: A free version
- Early Amazon Prime Day Sales Were Up Over 50% Despite Website Crashes and Worker Strikes
- Uber faces new probe over alleged gender discrimination in hiring practices
- Elon Musk could face lawsuit for calling cave rescuer a “pedo guy”
- Antarctic Exploration Vessel Which Should Be Named Boaty McBoatface But Tragically Isn’t Launches
CREATIVITY
- All’s Fair in Whoville: Dr. Seuss Parody is Fair Use
- DeLorean Estate Alleges ‘Back to the Future’ Royalties Were Improperly Distributed
- Green v. Harbach
- The first rule of copyright reform: Don’t mess with free speech and net neutrality (Michael Geist)
- Guy In Charge Of Pushing Draconian EU Copyright Directive, Evasive About His Own Use Of Copyright Protected Images
- Did The Ninth Circuit’s “Blurred Lines” Ruling Just Quietly Move To Kill Off The So-Called Inverse Ratio Rule?
- Court Won’t Rehear Blurred Lines Case, Bad News For Music Creativity
- Is the press regulator subject to judicial review? – Coulter v Independent Press Standards Organisation CIC (IPSO)
- The MAGA Trolls Have Met Their Match In Sacha Baron Cohen And “Who Is America?”
- Congressman Introduces Legislation To Criminalize Protesting In A Mask
- When Black Performers Use Their ‘White Voice’
- Court to Kanye Plaintiff: Imma Let You Finish
- Kanye’s Tweet Could Be False Advertising, New York Court Rules
- Pussy Riot has a wake up call for America’s youth in the Trump era
- State Appeals Court Tosses Defamation Suit Against Lawyer Who Wrote About Teen Driver Who Injured His Client
- How A US Burger Chain Brought ‘Ruby Tuesday’ Full Circle Through Trademark Bullying
- Eighth Grade’s R rating deters actual 8th-graders from seeing it. What a shame.: The MPAA ratings system and its very specific hang-ups are keeping teens away from the movies they need most.
- Disruption, Consolidation, Uncertainty: Welcome to Hollywood’s Age of Anxiety
- Why Did American Music Festivals Almost Disappear in the 1970s and ’80s?
- There Is Now Just One Blockbuster Left in the US
- Alaska’s last two Blockbusters are shutting down, leaving one in US
- The Simpsons Wouldn’t Exist Without Yellow Submarine: How the Beatles classic changed the future of animation.
- Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 5 (Potpourri) (Eric Goldman)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Supreme Court of Canada affirms privacy protections in tobacco health-data case
- B.C. wins SCC appeal on production of health-care databases in Big Tobacco case
- PIPEDA at 20: Time for PIPEDA 2.0 (Michael Geist)
- US v. Microsoft Litigation Update: Supreme Court Dismisses Case as Moot After Congress Amends Stored Communications Act
- Shocker: DOJ’s Computer Crimes And Intellectual Property Section Supports Security Researchers DMCA Exemptions
- Judge slams FBI for improper cellphone search, stingray use
- Oregon Supreme Court Sets Up New Limits For Digital Device Searches
- Florida Man Jailed for Failing to Unlock His Phone
- Guy Gets Tossed In Jail For Contempt Charges Because Cops Say They Need To Unlock His Phones To Get Evidence Of Drug Possession
- State Appeals Court Says Exigency Beats A Warrant Requirement If A Phone Has A Passcode
- Walmart Patents Tech for Eavesdropping on Workers
- Our Data, Ourselves: How to stop tech firms from monopolizing our personal information.
- Microsoft President Calls For Government Rules For Facial Recognition Technology
- How Facial Recognition Could Tear Us Apart: Will the new tech create a safer society – or a dystopian panopticon?
- Smart TVs are invading privacy and should be investigated, senators say
- ‘Smart’ TVs Remain The Poster Child For Dismal Privacy, Transparency & Security Standards
- Should we have any expectation of privacy in public spaces? (Andres Guadamuz)
- Obtained Documents Show The DEA Sold Compromised Phones To Suspected Drug Dealers
- Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You – And It Could Raise Your Rates
- The most ambitious browser mitigation yet for Spectre attacks comes to Chrome
- California’s Data Privacy Law: What It Is and How to Comply (A Step-By-Step Guide)
- Can the Privacy Shield survive? What’s next for exports of personal data to the US?
- European Parliament Turns Up The Pressure On US-EU Privacy Shield Data Transfer Deal A Little More
GAMES
- Tencent awarded $2.9M in case against dev of allegedLeague of Legends clone
- Tencent awarded $2.89 million in lawsuit against Mobile Legends CEO: Riot Games parent company wins non-compete suit in China
- Capcom Wins Judgement to Uphold Patent in Lawsuit to Rescind Decision for its Patent #3295771
- Star Citizen backer loses court case for $4,500 refund: Arbitration clause in end-user license agreement protects developer RSI from refund claims in court
- Court denies Star Citizen backer’s $4,500 refund lawsuit
- EPIC Bravely Defeats 14 Year Old’s Mom In Court To Continue Lawsuit Against Her Son For Cheating In Fortnite
- Saudi Arabia appears to ban 47 video games after deaths of children
- Credit card thieves reportedly using Clash of Clans to launder money
- Coming soon? German courts ban vague release dates on pre-orders
- Germany bans vague pre-order release dates: Retailers no longer to pre-sell games that are “coming soon”, courts have ruled
- NetEase moves to dismiss PUBG Corp lawsuit: Knives Out developer calls complaint a “shameless attempt” to monopolize a genre
- As PUBG-like contenders emerge, Islands of Nyne might already have them beat: While we wait for Battlefield, Call of Duty, awesome sci-fi twist is already here.
- Nintendo lawsuit against Colopl won’t block developer’s Switch release: Platform holder says ongoing patent dispute and defendant’s games business are “completely separate matters”
- Tempest 4000 finally lives after delays, legal threats—but what’s up on PC?
- Social features have cut down on toxic behavior inOverwatch
- Toxicity in Overwatch down by over a quarter following new measures from Blizzard: Game director promises further improvement along with exploration and implementation of new systems
- Ubisoft is now insta-banning toxic Rainbow Six Siegeplayers
- Rainbow Six Siege instantly bans players for using slurs: Bans last nearly half an hour for the first offense, with possible permanent bans after the third
- Amazon may have allowed sales of pirated games: Retailer says “We strictly prohibit the sale of counterfeit products, and these games have been removed”
- Amazon claims to be spiking listings for pirated games
- The ArenaNet Catastrophe Has The Whole Game Industry Rethinking Harassment Policies
- Opinion: It’s past time to get serious about social media policies
- Over half of UK parents let kids play 18+ rated games
- How Bossa relied on players to help build its skyfaring MMO Worlds Adrift
- Jade Raymond on applying lessons from Assassin’s Creed to her new project at EA: The original game was designed as a “sandbox for creatives” with the intention to “hand off the keys to other professionals”
- Madden lead Carlos Guerrero dismissed from EA: Senior producer departs after only two months due to company policy violation
- Valve brings trading back to CS:GO in the Netherlands, though loot boxes remain blocked
- Valve locks Counter-Strike loot boxes for Dutch and Belgian players: Steam item trading returns, but CS:GO’s containers are now locked
- Valve is temporarily withholding adult games from Steam
- Valve temporarily halting new adult game releases on Steam: Company isn’t approving updates or new games until planned filter is in place
- Valve updates “Upcoming” tab on Steam to focus on user interests: Suggestions based on past purchases and pre-release interest will replace chronological listing
- Blog: The three ages of Steam distribution
- Actor Nathan Fillion Just Created A YouTube Fan Film Of Video Game ‘Uncharted’
- Uncharted fan film, starring Nathan Fillion, beats Sony to live-action punch
- Nathan Fillion Is Finally Playing Nathan Drake in This Uncharted Fan Film
- Nathan Fillion Made An Uncharted Fan-Film, And It’s Excellent
- Fallout 76 and the thrill of ‘stranger danger’: Bethesda’s Pete Hines discusses how the publisher’s previous RPGs have been cheating players – and how its next title resolves this
- Blizzard does away with World of Warcraft Battle Chest pricing
- Blizzard makes WoW base game and expansions free to subscribers: New subs now only have to pay an extra fee for the latest expansion, Battle For Azeroth
- Colonial Marines modder finds big AI fix by changing one letter of code
- A years-old, one-letter typo led to Aliens: Colonial Marines’ weird AI
- A One-Letter Typo is (in Part) the Reason Aliens: Colonial Marines Sucked
- Nintendo showcases DIY games made with Labo’s Toy-Con Garage
- Hands-on with Nintendo’s weirdest, and maybe rarest, classic console yet
- The Makers Of Nintendo’s Latest Hidden Gem Worry People Missed It
- Nintendo hid a load-your-own NES emulator inside a GameCube classic
- What’s behind Nintendo’s falling stock price?: Nintendo has lost almost a quarter of its valuation in recent months – but its strategy and line-up remains sound despite investor jitters
- Milan court applies Nintendo v Big Ben in fast fashion lawsuit against ZARA
- Modders revamp Super Mario Odyssey on hacked Switch hardware
- Japan is taking steps to legalize paid esports tournaments
- The Most Important Video Game on the Planet: How Fortnite became the Instagram of gaming.
- Fortnite has collected $1 billion from in-game purchases
- Fortnite has earned $1 billion from in-game purchases alone: Revenue has only continued to rise month by month since game’s battle royale debut
- ‘Fortnite’ Streamer Ninja Helped Florida’s GuardianCon Raise $2.7 Million For St. Jude
- Dan Bull’s Epic Collaboration Brings Together 100 Creators For ‘Fortnite’ Rap Battle
- Encouraging collaboration among players in Sea of Thieves
- Despite Its Best Efforts, NBA 2K League Can’t Beat The Real Thing
- App Store and Google Play spending hits $34.4B during first half of 2018
- Mobile game spending up 19 per cent in H1 2018 – Sensor Tower: Tencent’s Honor of Kings led mobile spending on Google Play and the App Store, PUBG Mobile led downloads
- Marvel Strike Force brings in over $25 million since launch: Turn-based mobile RPG accumulates 10 million installs over four months
- NetEase’s Identity V downloaded over 100 million times: Asymmetrical multiplayer horror game’s downloads doubled upon global release
- The Crew 2 activity “in line” with The Crew 1: Ubisoft sees open-world racing sequel following in the tracks of its predecessor, hoping continued support leads to continuous sales over coming years
- Back catalog games continue to drive growth for Ubisoft as Q1 sales hit $466M
- Ubisoft net bookings ahead of projections in Q1: Company reports $466 million in sales for the quarter, remains on track for full-year estimates
- Ubisoft Berlin granted $1.84M in subsidies from city senate for expansion
- Ubisoft Berlin approved for $1.85m subsidy from city government: Studio plans to use money to expand, creating around 150 new jobs
- Epic increases revenue split for Unreal Engine Marketplace sellers
- Epic Games adjusts Unreal Engine Marketplace share in favor of creators: Developer/store split changed to 88/12% from 70%/30%, applied retroactively
- Epic ups Unreal Marketplace creators’ pay well above industry standard
- Vampyr sells 450,000 copies in first month
- Hangar 13: Diversifying your team protects you from blind spots – The Mafia III developer on “walking a tightrope” with the game’s narrative and how the risks it took shaped the new Brighton studio
- Tropico publisher Kalypso acquires rights to Commandos series
- Tropico publisher acquires Commandos franchise among others – Kalypso Media: “We see it as our responsibility to want to revive and further develop these beloved games for the fans around the world”
- Pokemon Go developer Niantic acquires Seismic Games
- Niantic acquires VR and mobile developer Seismic Games
- VR rivals come together to develop a single-cable spec for VR headsets
- Facebook spends $88M on Oculus permits in Seattle to expand VR headquarters
- Facebook invested $88.3 million to expand its Redmond Oculus HQ this year: Company spent $106 million on construction and permits over the last three years
- Octi raises $7.5 million in seed funding: AR startup’s app can discern human movement in videos, outline people and add effects
- AppLovin’ takes $400 million investment: KKR & Co investment is based on a $2 billion valuation of the mobile marketing firm
- Video game Kickstarters have raised almost $10m so far in 2018: Total money pledged reaches three-year high, but number of campaigns drops to six-year low and success rate remains steady
- Blog: Crowdfunding and video games in 2018 – A mid-year update
- Earn while you play start-up Blast secures $12m seed funding: “If you can attach a positive outcome to something that people already do and love, like gaming, you can change lives”
- Klang Games raises $8.75m for AI-driven space colonization MMO: Spotify-backer firm Northzone leads Series A funding round
- “There will be more IPOs”: Rebuilding trust in the UK games industry
- “Real innovation is coming from emerging markets in many spaces – game development is one of them”
- Ovosonico: Games will be “like the Netflix button on your remote – that easy” – CEO Massimo Guarini on preparing for the horizontal expansion of the industry, and the Italian studio’s pivot into indie AAA
- Taking stock after five years of ID@Xbox: Chris Charla talks about the program’s biggest successes, pain points, and the conventional wisdom on when to announce and release independent games
- The Washington Post Is Now Streaming The News On Twitch
- The Twitch Streamers Who Spend Years Broadcasting To No One
- Top YouTube Gamer Jacksepticeye, Citing Mental Health, Is On A Break
- Don’t Miss: Fight or flight – Exploring the neuroscience of survival horror
- Video: How devs can apply the 5 domains of play to develop empathy
- Ninja Theory dominates the Develop Awards
- French game designer Muriel Tramis awarded Legion of Honor
- Challenging videogame music tropes: “Music doesn’t exist for a passive viewer… it’s the player’s emotional reality,” says composer James Hannigan
- The 20 JRPGs You Must Play
- Video Game Deep Cuts: Octopath’s DOS Demake
- Watch a Guy Build a Brand New, Completely Obsolete Gaming PC With 20-Year-Old Parts
Jon
News of the Week; July 11, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Government Memo Suggests Netflix Outspends Canadian Private Broadcasters on Canadian English Scripted Programming (Michael Geist)
- The State of Canadian Wireless in One Chart: No One Has Carriers That Generate More Revenue With Less Usage (Michael Geist)
- Ajit Pai’s FCC Doesn’t Want to Hear Your Complaints Unless You Pay Them $225
- “This is bonkers”: FCC wants to stop reviewing most complaints about ISPs
- FCC stands by decision to raise broadband prices on American Indians
- FCC Refuses to Back Down From Plan to Strip Phone and Internet Subsidies for American Indians
- Ajit Pai finally gets around to fighting fraud in FCC comment system
- Second Circuit Follows D.C. Circuit’s Reasoning in Vacating FCC’s Interpretation of an Autodialer
- SCOTUS Nominee Kavanaugh Bought Verizon’s Silly Argument That Breaking Net Neutrality Is A 1st Amendment Right
- CRTC Issues $250,000 in Penalties for Malware Distribution
- CASL Enforcement Action – $250,000 in Penalties for Aiding the Distribution of Malvertising
- Net neutrality makes comeback in California; lawmakers agree to strict rules
- Yes, Privacy Is Important, But California’s New Privacy Bill Is An Unmitigated Disaster In The Making
- Ten Reasons Why California’s New Data Protection Law is Unworkable, Burdensome, and Possibly Unconstitutional
- DOJ’s Challenge to Vertical AT&T/Time Warner Merger Experiences Failure to Launch
- Magic Leap grabs investment from AT&T as it sets up US distribution deal
- Echoing Apple’s iPhone Launch, Magic Leap Taps AT&T for Exclusive US Distribution
- AT&T wants to overhaul HBO, says it isn’t profitable enough
- After Backlash To AT&T Chicanery, California Salvages Tough Net Neutrality Law
- Streaming Video Sees Wave Of Price Hikes In Apparent Bid To Mimic Cable & Embolden Piracy
- Two years after buying, Univision wants to sell its Gawker, Onion portfolios
- Charter launches mobile service, throttles all video to 480p
- US forces smartphone giant ZTE to fire its CEO and leadership team
- Comcast’s Wireless Service Will Charge You More To Stream HD Video
DIGITAL
- NZ court rules Kim Dotcom can be extradited to US on copyright charges
- Kim Dotcom Loses Latest Round In Extradition Fight, Will Try To Appeal Again
- Technoleviathan: China, Silicon Valley, and the rise of the global surveillance state.
- Spy For Us – Or Never Speak To Your Family Again: China is using its huge digital surveillance system, and the threat of sending family members to reeducation camps, to pressure minorities to spy on their fellow exiles.
- China producing x86 chips nearly identical to AMD server processors
- iPhone crashing bug likely caused by code added to appease Chinese gov’t
- Uganda Bans VPNs To Prevent Users From Dodging Its Absurd New Social Media Tax
- A Numerical Exploration Of How The EU’s Article 13 Will Lead To Massive Censorship
- EU sends controversial internet copyright reforms back to the drawing board: It’s a strong rejection of the legislation in its current form, but not the end of the battle
- European Parliament rejects discussions on controversial copyright law
- EU Parliament Votes To Step Back From The Abyss On Copyright For Now
- EU copyright law sent back for a rethink
- Don’t Believe Those Who Wish To Diminish Digital Rights By Falsely Implying It’s All Big Tech Lobbying
- What can the Copyright Directive vote tell us about the state of digital rights? (Andres Guadamuz)
- Movie Industry Denies Lawsuit Strategy Despite Proliferation of Legal Actions and Settlement Demands Against Thousands of Canadians (Michael Geist)
- Lawyer loses appeal, fails to expand internet privileges
- Trump’s Supreme Court pick: ISPs have 1st Amendment right to block websites
- Online Review Website Cannot Be Forced To Remove Defamatory Posts
- Section 230 Immunity Protects Yelp from Injunction Order to Remove Defamatory Posts
- Section 230 Helps Facebook Defeat Pro Se Defamation Suit–Jefferson v. Facebook
- Amazon Again Avoids Liability for Defective Marketplace Item–Fox v. Amazon
- Over The Top Sports Streaming Comes To Europe With Amazon’s Deal With The Premier League
- Court Rejects Evidentiary and CFAA Vagueness Challenges to Conviction for Botnet Hacking Scheme
- Sales tax in the digital era : major impacts for retailers in the United States
- How Facebook’s Rise Fueled Chaos And Confusion In Myanmar: The social network exploded in Myanmar, allowing fake news and violence to consume a country emerging from military rule.
- Facebook Says It’s Sorry for Removing a Part of the Declaration of Independence That Includes a Racial Slur
- Facebook Runs Full-Page Ads in Indian Newspapers to Fight Fake News
- Blaming The Messenger (App): WhatsApp Takes The Blame In India Over Violence
- Fake News Is A Meaningless Term, And Our Obsession Over It Continues To Harm Actual News
- Fining Facebook: ICO issues £500,000 fine following data breach
- Facebook could face legal claims totalling ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’
- When a Facebook Like Lands You in Jail: NYPD’s Social Media Monitoring Raises Civil Liberties Issues
- Sex, Beer, And Coding: Inside Facebook’s Wild Early Days – When the young Mark Zuckerberg moved to Palo Alto in 2004, he and his buddies built a corporate proto-culture that continues to influence the company today.
- Cory Doctorow: Zuck’s Empire of Oily Rags
- Regulation coming for Facebook
- Facebook Watch May Pay Upwards Of $10 Million For Cristiano Ronaldo Reality Series
- Facebook will broadcast live Premier League games in Asia: The £200 million deal helps Facebook’s push into the world of sports.
- Facebook To Launch News Programming On July 16, Will Organize ‘Watch’ With New Categories
- Reddit CEO tells user, “we are not the thought police,” then suspends that user
- More Than Half of ICO-Funded Startups Fail Within 4 Months, Study Says
- Are the UK’s intellectual property laws ready for AI?
- Google Applies More Machine Learning To Increase The Reach Of Ads Across Its Properties
- “Google Was Not A Normal Place”: Brin, Page, And Mayer On The Accidental Birth Of The Company That Changed Everything
- Inside X, The Moonshot Factory Racing To Build The Next Google: Seven years after its secretive launch, X is starting to spawn mind-blowing companies – and show us what an ever expanding Google means for the world.
- Despite Chrome’s pending “mark of shame,” 3 major news sites aren’t HTTPS
- What Soda Taxes And Lead Paint Have To Do With Internet Regulation
- Malaysian Government Decides To Dump Its Terrible Anti-Fake News Law
- YouTube, Whose Users Promoted Fraudulent Cryptocurrency Bitconnect, Is Added As Defendant In Lawsuit
- After Losing NCAA Scholarship Due To YouTube Channel, Donald De La Haye Gets A Win In Court
- YouTube to fight fake news with links to real news and context
- YouTube Tweaks Site Design, Dedicates $25 Million to Combat “Fake News”
- YouTube Pledges $25 Million To News Organizations As It Continues Fight Against Fake News
- YouTube Launches Initiative to Fight Fake News, Pledges $25 Million to Support News Orgs
- YouTuber in row over copyright infringement of his own song
- YouTube Guitarist Claims He Got A Copyright Strike For Infringing Upon His Own Song
- YouTube Rolling Out ‘Copyright Match’ Tool To Creators With More Than 100,000 Subs
- YouTube to Launch Tool to Detect Re-Uploaded Videos Automatically: New Copyright Match tool initially will roll out to channels with more than 100,000 subscribers
- YouTube TV Outages Draw Ire From World Cup Viewers
- Two Co-Creators Of Travel YouTube Channel High On Life Die After Waterfall Accident
- Constitutional Challenge Against FOSTA Filed–Woodhull v. US
- More Police Admitting That FOSTA/SESTA Has Made It Much More Difficult To Catch Pimps And Traffickers
- Preparing for the Next Phase of Influencer Marketing – The CGI Influencer
- Jake Paul’s Team 10 Involved In Yet Another Lawsuit For Trashing Rental Property
- Logan Paul Is Filming A Documentary About “What Actually Happened” During Suicide Video Scandal
- Hank Green Apologizes To Tana Mongeau For VidCon Slight, But Calls TanaCon “Inexcusable And Terrifying”
- Twitter is Suspending More Than One Million Accounts Per Day in Latest Purge
- Twitter Users To Lose Tens Of Millions Of Followers After Company Excludes ‘Locked’ Accounts
- Twitter Sheds $3.1 Billion After Suspending Millions of Questionable Accounts
- These are the ‘invisible’ challenges that make it harder for Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter to grow
- Snap and Amazon Are Reportedly Working on a Visual Search Feature for Snapchat
- Tinder Users Can Now Upload Two-Second Looping Videos On Their Profiles
- Are You Ready for Even More Expensive Netflix Options?
- Netflix To Create A Digital Comedy Festival By Releasing 47 Specials At Once
- Netflix Is Shutting Down User Reviews This Summer
- Netflix is killing off user reviews
- European Networks Are Joining Forces to Take On Netflix and Amazon
- HBO must ‘change direction’ to flourish, says its new boss: User engagement must be increased to make HBO into a perennial product.
- AT&T Is Very Excited To Try And Ruin HBO
- Here are all of the future TV shows that Apple has signed deals for
- Feds arrest Apple employee for stealing self-driving project secrets
- Woman who once bought bitcoins for $300,000 cash in paper bags sent to prison
- ‘It’s not just video games’: Concordia partners with Ubisoft on VR: The initiative will focus on a set of technologies called extended reality, or XR.
- Ubisoft Opens XR:MTL An Innovation Factory Focused On XR Technologies At Concordia University – The Factory’s focus will be on developing applications that have market potential.
- 10 Projects That Have Us Excited About the Next Generation of VR & AR
- VR Treatment, Even Without a Therapist, Helps People Overcome Fear of Heights
- Driving Without a Smartphone: A new law in Georgia discourages drivers from even touching a screen. Whether or not it improves safety, it could help break people’s phone habits.
- How Music Fans Built The Internet
- What I’ve learned from nearly three years of enterprise Wi-Fi at home
- Strategies for the Shadows: Protecting your Company’s IP Rights on the Dark Web
- A Field Guide to “Social Engineering” Cyber Scams
- How will 3D-printing challenge IP rights?
- A Landmark Legal Shift Opens Pandora’s Box For DIY Guns: Cody Wilson makes digital files that let anyone 3-D print untraceable guns. The government tried to stop him. He sued—and won.
- Wait—the RateMyProfessors.com “hotness” chili was about attractiveness?
- Hulu Hit ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Bafflingly Launches Wine Line
- How Wattpad Is Rewriting the Rules of Hollywood
- What the Russian Revolution would have looked like on social media
- The AI revolution has spawned a new chips arms race
- Understanding Media and Information Quality in an Age of Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Algorithms and Machine Learning (Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, Hal Roberts & Nikki Bourassa)
- Algorithms and Justice (Christopher Bavitz & Kira Hessekiel)
- Global Governance and Inclusion: Reframing the Global Debate Around AI (Ryan Budish, Urs Gasser & Amar Ashar)
- Designing frameworks that allow for Intentions, Commitments and Exuberance in AI (Bobi Rakaova)
- The Industrial Era Ended, and So Will the Digital Era
- Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 4 (Social Media, Section 230, Defamation) (Eric Goldman)
- Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 3 (Privacy, Advertising, E-Commerce) (Eric Goldman)
CREATIVITY
- Unpacking Canada’s IP Strategy: Countering IP Abuse, Addressing IP Administration and Removing IP Barriers to Innovation (Michael Geist)
- No, you can’t patent the ability to pause a lesson recording, EFF says
- Lombardo v. Dr. Seuss Enterprises L.P.
- Selling Items with Political Messages? What about “Impeach 45”?
- President Trump Sends North Korean Dictator a CD of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ Because Our World is Just One Big Joke
- Girl Arrested in Iran for Posting Videos of Herself Dancing on Instagram
- How Warner Brothers Resisted a Hollywood Ban on Anti-Nazi Films in the 1930s and Warned Americans of the Dangers of Fascism
- Free Speech Doesn’t Protect Nazis. It Protects Us From Nazis
- Ninth Circuit Recently Slams PETA Over Monkey Selfie Lawsuit
- Post Office owes $3.5M for using wrong Statue of Liberty on a stamp
- Police Union Upset Not All Books Paint Cops As Heroes, Calls For Removal Of Titles From School’s Reading List
- You Can Only Listen To Jaden Smith’s New Album On Instagram
- Hobbyists Lose Fight to Escape the FAA’s Toy Drone Rules
- Why local US newspapers are sounding the alarm
- 54 newsrooms, 9 countries, and 9 core ideas: Here’s what two researchers found in a yearlong quest for journalism innovation: “Our angle on the current state of journalism is this: The crisis of journalism and legacy news media is structural.”
- Cortés-Ramos v. Martin-Morales
- What You Need to Know About Toronto’s New Arts and Culture Property Tax Subclass
- Keep on moving: the bizarre dance epidemic of summer 1518 – Five centuries ago, the world’s longest rave took place in Strasbourg – a ‘plague’ of dancing that was fatal for some. What caused it? Art, poetry and music of the time can provide some clues
- Creative types all go through hot streaks of superior production
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Court Compares Car Crash Data To CSLI, Cellphone Contents; Tells Cops Best Bet Is To Always Get A Warrant
- “Stylish” extension with 2M downloads banned for tracking every site visit
- Stolen certificates from D-Link used to sign password-stealing malware
- German Court Issues First GDPR Ruling
- CARU Protects Privacy for Child Karaoke Stars
- California Passes Consumer Privacy Act With “GDPR-Like” Provisions
- European Parliament Votes to Suspend EU-U.S. Privacy Shield
- Don’t Misrepresent Your U.S. – E.U. Privacy Shield Status: FTC Brings An Enforcement Action
- California Corporation Settles FTC Complaint Regarding U.S.-EU Privacy Shield Compliance Claim
- Police Chief Tries To Blame Newspaper Shooting On The Loss Of Social Media Monitoring Tool, But It Doesn’t Add Up
- For $80 Million, Yahoo! Settles Shareholder Class Action Claiming Stock Price Losses from Data Breaches
- What we buy can be used to predict our politics, race or education – sometimes with more than 90 percent accuracy
- DOD seeks classification “Clippy” to help classify data, control access
- Year-old router bug exploited to steal sensitive DOD drone, tank documents
- Tech-support scammers know EVERYTHING about my computer, Dell customer says
GAMES
- Nintendo, Valve, Sony, and EA reported in Norway for breaching European consumer law – UPDATE: NCC reports Nintendo to German authorities after dropping other complaints
- We need parents on board if we want to protect their children: Following news of a sexual assault in Roblox and ‘addiction’ to Fortnite, parents want to cut kids off from these games – but that will only make the problem worse
- Video Game Deep Cuts: Livestreaming Your Fortnite Addiction
- The Truth About ‘Video Game Addiction’
- French gambling regulator concerned by loot boxes, but won’t take legal action
- How Journey eliminated online toxicity with a simple ping
- Fighting a toxic Steam community – and winning: Creative Assembly’s Grace Carroll said the “visible presence of moderation” was enough to turn around a toxic Steam forum in just a week
- Valve quickly shuts down developer method for estimating Steam sales: Steam API suddenly altered after The End Is Nigh co-dev uses achievements data as SteamSpy alternative
- Valve swiftly removes new method for estimating Steam sales
- Valve highlights the best selling and most played Steam games of 2018
- Valve leaks Steam game player counts; we have the numbers
- Team Fortress 2 leads as biggest player counts on Steam revealed
- Steam Spy and the need for numbers: For indie developers in need of metrics Steam Spy is imperfect, “but the other option is absolutely nothing”
- Launching a successful indie game in 2018: TheMoonlighter story
- Guild Wars 2 writers dismissed after Twitter spat with streamer
- ArenaNet cuts ties with Guild Wars 2 writers after Twitter spat: “Their attacks on the community were unacceptable,” says ArenaNet president
- ArenaNet sends all the wrong messages: Guild Wars 2 studio terminating employees after backlash discourages fan interaction, encourages player outrage
- ArenaNet “promised me that I wouldn’t have to check my identity at the door”: Fired writer says Guild Wars studio has damaged its reputation, but ArenaNet maintains that Jessica Price “attacked” community over a “perceived slight”
- ArenaNet firings inspire IGDA to remind devs: Ask about harassment protection
- IGDA asks studios to “clarify the guidelines and expectations around social media use”: ArenaNet firings show how “interacting with people as a game developer can jeopardize someone’s job and career”
- ArenaNet president: Fired devs ‘could have chosen not to engage’ on social media
- Women in Games launches strategy on improving gender diversity in esports: Encouraging women to participate in the industry is critical for the commercial success of the industry, says advocacy group
- Blizzard’s Pink Mercy event raised over $12 million for a breast cancer charity
- ESPN, Disney XD, and Blizzard pen deal to bring Overwatchmatches to primetime TV
- Blizzard and Disney partner to bring Overwatch League to ESPN, other networks: ESPN, Disney XD, ABC, related networks will broadcast the competition’s inaugural season
- Todd Howard: Games as a service ‘doesn’t mark the future’
- ESA president: Crunch “hasn’t been a significant issue” for ten years: Industry body’s leader Mike Gallagher also believes call for unions is “in its infancy”
- ESA: Strong wages and opportunities keep unionization from being a ‘significant issue’
- Disney’s ‘Moana’ production assets now available for the public
- RuneScape generates $800M in lifetime revenue during its 17 years online
- RuneScape has brought in over $800 million in lifetime revenue: After 17 years and three iterations, Jagex’s MMO has over 250 million player accounts and continues to grow
- Xbox: Accessible games can “mean the difference between existing and living” for disabled people – But platform holder’s Tara Voelker urges developers to add more accessibility options to their titles
- Monster Hunter World concerns trigger 13% drop for Capcom shares: US analyst predicts “significant risk of sales decline” as console version slows ahead of PC launch
- Supercell becomes first publisher to operate two multi-billion-dollar mobile games: Clash Royale breaks $2 billion lifetime revenue
- Durham College embraces eSports with construction of gaming arena
- ‘The Unspoken’ VR League eSports Final is Cancelled & Not Coming to Oculus Connect 5 After All
- Valve: Monthly Active VR Users on Steam Are Up 160% Year-over-year
- “There is no magic formula” for getting noticed on Steam
- Jurassic World already one of Steam’s 2018 top sellers: Frontier’s dino park management sim rubbing elbows with Grand Theft Auto 5, Far Cry 5 after less than a month on sale
- The Sims Mobile has amassed $15M in revenue in four months
- The Sims Mobile brings in over $15 million in four months: Popular life sim game was only EA’s eighth highest earning mobile game in June
- The Sims Mobile brings in over $15 million in four months: Popular life sim game was only EA’s eighth highest earning mobile game in June
- EA acquires Industrial Toys: Midnight Star development studio brings mobile expertise to EA Worldwide Studios
- id Software: Avoiding cannibalization in the post-apocalypse – Tim Willits on the role of Fallout 76 in Rage 2’s pre-E3 reveal, and why id no longer uses its tech to sell its games
- Nexon and EA cancel Asia-exclusive Titanfall Online
- Asia-focused Titanfall Online canceled: Nexon, EA, Respawn collaboration abandoned after over three years of development
- Electronic Arts snaps up Alex Seropian’s studio Industrial Toys
- THQ Nordic acquires German developer and publisher HandyGames
- Coming out from under Grand Theft Auto’s shadow: For years, Take-Two’s other games have lingered in the shadow of Rockstar’s series, but GTA V’s monumental status means it’s pointless to compare it to the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2
- Todd Howard: Service-based Fallout 76 doesn’t mark the future direction of Bethesda – “Anyone who has ever said ‘this is the future and this part of gaming is dead’ has been proven wrong every single time”
- “Millions of people” are still playing Skyrim every month – Todd Howard on the many Skyrim ports: “If you want us to stop releasing it, stop buying it.”
- How do companies like Nintendo and CD Projekt Red approach crunch?
- ‘Gatcha’ is a good fit for Fire Emblem, but it isn’t Nintendo’s standard for mobile
- Many more indie games will be coming to Switch if Nintendo has its way
- Nintendo aiming for 20 to 30 Switch indie releases per week
- NPD: Nintendo Switch on track to be the best-selling console of Q4, and all of 2018 – Industry analyst predicts all three current generation consoles will sell at least 4m units total this year in the US
- Nintendo reportedly rolls out hardware patch following Switch exploit
- Nintendo reportedly rolling out new, more hack-resistant Switch hardware
- Ideally, Nintendo wants 20 to 30 new indies to hit the Switch per week
- GameStop says Nintendo Switch sales doubled following E3
- Pokemon Quest nabs 7.5M downloads across Switch and mobile
- Analyst: Two years in, Pokemon Go crosses $1.8B lifetime revenue
- Pokemon GO has brought in $1.8 billion since launch: Pokemon’s foray into augmented reality sees players spending $2 million per day
- Pokémon Quest downloads pass 7.5 million: Free-to-play mobile and Switch game gets off to a strong start
- Niantic’s Ingress to get Netflix animated series later this year: Series based on Pokémon Go forebear will be used to introduce upcoming sequel Ingress Prime
- The Binding of Isaac card game raises $1 million in a week on Kickstarter
- Games account for 94% of Google Play revenue in South Korea: Messaging and communication apps only bring in 2.2%, even less from social media and dating apps
- Newzoo: Taiwanese gamers expected to spend $1.3 billion in 2018 – With 14.5 million players, Taiwan is the world’s 15th largest gaming market
- Warner Bros. acquires mobile platform Plexchat to improve social features in its games
- Tencent to publish Game of Thrones mobile game in China: Yoozoo is developing Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming through a partnership with Warner Bros
- Tencent going global with WeGame digital marketplace as Steam targets China
- The negativity of Keita Takahashi: The developer behind Wattam and Katamari Damacy has spent his career trying to show the potential of games, but doesn’t think he’s been successful
- The European TV channel making documentaries with video games: Arte project manager Adrien Larouzée tells us why games are the perfect storytelling media to spread culture from the continent
- The video games of Ecuadorean fishing village Santa Marianita: We take another look at how people find ways to play games everywhere
- Shuhei Yoshida reflects on the PS2 launch: “We were awfully unprepared”: President of SIE Worldwide Studios discusses what went wrong and what went right for PlayStation over the years
- Levine on BioShock: ‘I don’t think I was conscious of how Jewish it was until afterwards’
- Meet the dev making his first DOS game — in 2018
- Time bandits: Check out the ’80s and ’90s titles still going strong
- The 80s and 90s PC games still unbelievably being updated today
- Blog: Retro games as a revivalist movement
Jon
News of the Week; July 4, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Comments about Indigenous Women Breached Broadcast Codes, Says Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
- Talk Show’s Sexual Discussions Not Too Explicit, Says Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
- The Consequences of High Wireless Costs: OECD Data Confirms Canadians Lag Behind in Data Usage (Michael Geist)
- Effort To Save Net Neutrality Via Congressional Review Act Appears Stuck In Neutral
- Verizon Finally Puts Its Sad, Unloved Streaming TV Service to Rest
- Verizon To Shut Down Mobile-Friendly Video Platform Go90
- Verizon is shutting down its original video app Go90: Go90 died so Oath can live
- How Verizon Could Fix Its Streaming Video Strategy After Shutting Down Go90
- Comcast starts throttling mobile video, will charge extra for HD streams
- Fresh Off Its Merger, AT&T Jacks Up Price Of Streaming Video Service
- AT&T Begins Testing Its Power In The Wake Of Merger Mania & The Death Of Net Neutrality
- AT&T’s low-cost TV streaming service WatchTV goes live
- AT&T promised lower prices after Time Warner merger—it’s raising them instead
- Internet TV packages are getting pricier — including AT&T’s
- How AT&T could use Time Warner shows and movies to compete with Disney and Netflix
- AT&T removed HBO from an unlimited data plan after buying Time Warner: AT&T alters unlimited plans and makes the cheapest one $5 more expensive.
DIGITAL
- “Dancing Baby” lawsuit finally settles, baby is now a middle-school student: Universal says it now has a “fair and tempered process for… potential takedowns.”
- The Monkey Selfie Case Continues, But The Dancing Baby One Does Not
- California Court Not Yet Ready To Undermine The Entire Internet; Rules Yelp Can’t Be Forced To Delete A Review
- EFF Launches Lawsuit To Stop FOSTA/SESTA
- EFF sues to kill FOSTA, calling it “unconstitutional Internet censorship law”
- The “CREEPER Act” Would Be Yet Another Unconstitutional Law from Congress
- Facebook reveals it gave 61 companies access to widely blocked user data: Company tells Congress it provided Nike, Spotify, a dating app and other services with special rights to information
- Facebook Stock Drops on Report of Wider U.S. Probe of Cambridge Analytica Scandal
- How Facebook Punked and then Gut Punched the News Biz
- Facebook patent would turn your mic on to analyze how you watch ads: Application hints to proximity to a “broadcasting device” before your mic turns on.
- You Can Now See All The Ads Facebook Is Running Globally
- Facebook Creates a Process of Review for Previously-Banned Cryptocurrency Ads
- Facebook Will Once Again Allow Ads Promoting Cryptocurrencies
- Fig: Digital currency won’t be what makes blockchain go mainstream – Crowdfunding site’s head of blockchain strategy discusses the pitfalls and potential of decentralisation
- Digital token ruled a security under the Howey Test, for now
- Really dumb malware targets cryptocurrency fans using Macs
- The California Supreme Court Didn’t Ruin Section 230 (Today)–Hassell v. Bird (Eric Goldman)
- First Amendment Doesn’t Prevent Probationer Condition Restricting the Display of Illegal Activity on Social Media–In re Jawan S. (Eric Goldman)
- The Digest: Uganda Is Now Forcing Citizens to Pay a Tax to Use Social Media
- Copyright Industries Reveal Their Ultimate Goal: An Internet Where Everything Online Requires A License From Them
- Snapchat Partners With Kylie Jenner To Launch Ecommerce Capabilities For Influencers
- Snapchat Launches Augmented Reality Experiences in Disneyland, Universal Studios
- The Rise of CGI Influencers
- Instagram Stories Hits 400 Million Daily Users — More Than Twice As Many As Snapchat
- Instagram is reportedly testing a ‘questions’ feature for Stories
- Netflix Is No. 1 Choice for TV Viewing, Beating Broadcast, Cable and YouTube (Study)
- Sony tries to upload movie trailer to YouTube, posts entire movie instead
- Goofballs at Sony Accidentally Upload Entire Film to YouTube Instead of the Trailer
- Creators are making longer videos to cater to the YouTube algorithm
- Studio71 Brings YouTube Creators Into Podcasting World
- Michelle Phan’s Latest Startup Helps Creators Find Free Music For Their YouTube Videos
- YouTube Is Conducting ‘A Small Experiment’ With Auto-Generated Thumbnails, And Creators Aren’t Happy
- YouTube thumbnail experiment may impact millions of users, frustrating creators
- You Can Watch The Last 2018 World Cup Games On YouTube, Hulu, DirecTV
- YouTube Apologizes To LGBTQ+ Creators On Last Day Of Pride Month
- Google Is Investing in the Not-Quite-So-Smart Smartphone Market
- Defamation Update: Google under fire again
- Google researchers created an amazing scene-rendering AI: A neural network from Google’s DeepMind has impressive spatial reasoning skills.
- Google reveals how DeepMind AI learned to play Quake III Arena like a pro
- StyleHaul CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski Exits RTL-Owned Company: CFO Jeremiah Bates also leaving the fashion, beauty and lifestyle digital media company
- StyleHaul’s CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski And CFO Jeremiah Bates Have Left The Company
- Dwayne Johnson Teams With Fine Brothers Entertainment To Show Off His Action Movie Knowledge
- Social media follies: watch your step
- Philo, A Skinny Bundle For Non-Sports Viewers, Raises $40 Million From AMC, Discovery, Viacom
- A Twitter Leak Scuttled An NBA Draft Day Trade This Year
- Twitter gets a re-org and new product head
- Twitter Will Show Who Pays for Ads and How Much They Spend
- Amazon Needs More Delivery Companies and Wants You to Start Them
- Amazon Makes $1 Billion Splash in Health Care, Buying PillPack
- Amazon buying online pharmacy with nationwide reach; drug store stocks dive
- IPG Confirms $2.3 Billion Deal to Acquire Data Marketing Company Acxiom
- The New DC Universe Streaming Service Will Bundle Superhero Comics and TV Shows All in One Place
- Why Adult Content Creators Are Mad at Patreon
- How The Startup Mentality Failed Kids In San Francisco: Huge contributions from tech titans, a STEM-packed curriculum, gadgets everywhere: Willie Brown Middle School was supposed to set the bar. Then it opened.
- The Delicate Art Of Creating New Emoji
- Hey New York Times, Welcome to Writing About Pop Culture on the Internet
- It Just Wasn’t Meant to Be, Batman
- New York Times Writer Regrets Spoiling Batman’s Wedding in Headline
- A Vows Feature Spoiled a Comic Book Ending, and You Weren’t Happy
- Mandatory Internet filtering and The War on Memes (Andres Guadamuz)
- EU Copyright Proposal That Would Destroy Internet Memes Being Protested With Internet Memes
- EU Parliament’s Legislative Affairs Committee Is Now Misleading Members Of Parliament In Effort To Fundamentally Alter The Internet
- Would you pay $700, plus a monthly fee, for a digital license plate?
- “Inventor of email” appeals ruling that tossed his libel suit against Techdirt
- 1990, meet 2018: How far does 20MHz of Macintosh IIsi power go today?
CREATIVITY
- USPS Ordered to Pay $3.5 Million After Putting Artist’s Weird ‘Sexier’ Lady Liberty on Stamps
- Appeals Court Says You Can Copyright A Collection Of Facts… If You Leave Out A Few
- Owner of “Let’s Get It On” Copyright Sues Ed Sheeran for $100 Million
- DJ Khaled Files Suit to Protect Son’s Name
- Judge Dismisses Plagiarism Lawsuit Against The Girls Author Emma Cline
- Music Industry’s Nonsense ‘Myth Busting’ About EU’s Censorship Machines Is Basically Saying ‘Nuh-uh’ Repeatedly
- Latest Text Of EU Copyright Directive Shows It’s Even Worse Than Expected: Must Be Stopped
- NY Times, Winner Of A Key 1st Amendment Case, Suddenly Seems Upset That 1st Amendment Protects Conservatives Too
- Modernizing Canada’s Industrial Design Regime: Top 10 Changes
- Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 1: Trademarks and Other IP (Eric Goldman)
- Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 2: Copyright (Eric Goldman)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Facebook patents ’emotion detecting’ selfie filters
- Facial recognition found Capital Gazette suspect among 10M photos
- Facial Recognition Company Says It Won’t Sell To Law Enforcement, Knowing It’ll Be Abused
- Judge slams Tacoma for not releasing stingray records
- NSA Extends Its Streak Of Surveillance Violations To Fourteen Years With Its Latest Announcement
- NSA: Sorry, Sorry, Trying to Delete
- California approves privacy rules opposed by ISPs and tech companies: Law will give people some control over collection and sale of private data.
- California Enacts Sweeping Consumer Privacy Law
- California Enacts Sweeping Privacy Law; Will Other States Follow?
- The Digest: California Cracks Down on the Companies Harvesting Your Data
- California Consumer Privacy Act Of 2018 – GDPR Lite?
- Over 60 Organizations Want Sanctions For EU Nations’ Failure To Repeal ‘Invalid’ Data Retention Laws
- A Bug in Samsung’s Default Texting App Is Sending Random Pics to Other People
- LTE wireless connections used by billions aren’t as secure as we thought
GAMES
- Bethesda Suing Warner Bros. For ‘Blatant Rip-Off’ Of Fallout Shelter
- Warner Bros. calls Bethesda lawsuit against Westworld game ‘baseless’
- Warner Bros is READY TO FIGHT over “Baseless Accusations”
- Warner Bros surprised by Bethesda’s “baseless accusation” in Westworld lawsuit: Publisher claims developer Behaviour Interactive has confirmed allegations are untrue
- Blog: The Westworld fallout – A discussion on work-for-hire
- In Contrast To PUBG’s Silliness, Bethesda’s Copyright Suit Against Warner Bros. Is All About Copyrightable Source Code
- We Hardly Knew Ye: PUBG Drops Lawsuit Against Epic Over Fortnite Similarities
- Ex-hatemonger confirms white supremacists recruit in Minecraft, Fortnite
- After initial refusal, We Happy Few granted R 18+ rating in Australia
- We Happy Few wins appeal for reclassification in Australia: After initial denial, game will see Australian release with a rating of R18+
- Roblox bans players who ‘gang raped’ a seven-year-old’s avatar: Developer stresses it has a “zero tolerance” policy for this behaviour as US mother complains about in-game assault
- Judge halves ZeniMax’s $500M Oculus payout, declines to block Rift sales
- Penalty in ZeniMax v. Oculus Reduced to $250M, Motion to Halt Headset Sales Rejected
- US Judge halves ZeniMax’s $500m win in Facebook Oculus legal battle: Also denies Bethesda parent’s request for sales ban on Rift headsets
- Bethesda implies Sony is preventing cross-play in Fallout 76
- Bethesda: “Sony is not as helpful as everyone would like” on cross-play – There will be no cross-play in Fallout 76, Todd Howard says – and Microsoft is not the problem
- EA Sports VP Daryl Holt on loot boxes: “Our model is sustainable” – Publisher’s sports division reacts to loot box controversy with disclosure of pack odds in FIFA Ultimate Team
- Amy Hennig, who was hired to make an EA Star Wars game, has left EA: Timeline of Hennig’s departure, full Star Wars game pivot is fleshed out in interview.
- French gambling regulator criticizes loot boxes, stops short of regulation: ARJEL refrains from fully defining loot boxes as gambling but will continue to investigate effect on consumers
- Leaks, riots, and monocles: How a $60 in-game item almost destroyed EVE Online
- International Olympic Committee to host esports forum: Representatives from the worlds of esports, gaming, and the Olympic movement will meet to discuss future collaboration
- Kotaku Compete shuts down: Esports coverage hub closes due to Univision budget cuts
- OpenAI teaching neural networks to compete with Dota 2 professionals: Team of five neural networks has already beaten multiple amateur human teams
- AI achieves “human-level performance” in Quake III Arena: Google’s DeepMind teaches AI to play competitively both with and against human players
- OpenAI to level up Dota 2 neural networks with live Twitch demo
- Twitch Prime’s “free game every day” for half of July adds up to a ton
- Forza Horizon 4’s stream-to-earn function is Microsoft’s latest attempt to push Mixer: Players will earn in-game currency purely by streaming their gameplay session to platform holder’s Twitch rival
- Microsoft is working on AI-driven, platform-level Xbox Live cheat detection
- Google reportedly planning streaming platform, gaming hardware: Rumored gaming initiatives could include developer partnerships or outright acquisitions
- Report: Google courting developers for coming game-streaming service – “Project Yeti” would also include game-focused hardware component.
- Blog: Changes to the Google Play Store are putting thousands of indie devs at risk
- Vlambeer’s Ismail sees promise in the hybrid of triple-A and indie dev
- Failbetter Games spearheads ‘Love Indies Week’ for elevating devs and communities
- 15 indie games highlighted in Smithsonian SAAM Arcade event
- Blog: 10 lessons from making 100 games in five years
- French startup Oh BiBi nets $21M to build out mobile shooter
- Fortnite mobile has half the downloads of PUBG, but five times the revenue: PUBG gains ground but can’t compete with Fortnite’s $92 million gross lifetime revenue
- Rash of Fortnite cheaters infected by malware that breaks HTTPS encryption
- Streaming platform devs take down Fortnite adware, chide Epic for not doing it itself
- Clash of Clans iOS players have spent over $4 billion: Popular mobile strategy game is the highest grossing iOS title over last nine years
- Our Uncertain Streaming Future: The idea of streaming games from the cloud was a hot topic again at E3 – but no matter how close to that ideal the tech is coming, the business case remains a mess
- 2K Games banks on Carnival Games to recreate Wii success on Switch: Multi-million selling mini-game franchise returns as efforts to attract a mainstream audience to Nintendo’s new console continue
- Super Mario Run surpasses $60m revenue after two years: Remains the lowest-earning Nintendo mobile game by a considerable margin
- Hollow Knight has sold over 250,000 copies on Switch
- Hollow Knight sold 250,000 in two weeks on Nintendo Switch: Lifetime sales of Team Cherry’s game now far exceed 750,000
- Switch version of Fox N Forests outsells PlayStation 4 by 4:1 – Director Rupert Ochsner – “[The] Switch is our best platform to date”
- Nintendo says the Switch is played as much docked as it is portably
- Nintendo: Docked and undocked play time for Switch is “about even” – Online telemetry data varies heavily by individual game and player, though.
- Switch pirates don’t want you to pirate their piracy-enabling firmware: But anti-piracy hackers are hacking the piracy hack for themselves.
- Reggie Fils-Aime: ‘Vibrant’ 3DS remains a key part of Nintendo armory
- Reggie Fils-Aimé: The 3DS “continues to be a vibrant system” – Handheld console “absolutely” remains a focus of Nintendo, serving as a “gateway” to the Switch
- Shuntaro Furukawa has been officially appointed Nintendo president
- New Intellivision console will have all new games, all exclusives, disc controller: Company president Tommy Tallarico says console will cost “way under $200,” but release date is still far off
- Take-Two: “We don’t believe in Red Dead Redemption 2 success until we deliver it” – CEO Strauss Zelnick discusses expectations for Rockstar’s next epic and the publisher’s muted E3 presence
- NeverEnding Story: Ubisoft keen to move away from ‘finite’ experiences
- Ubisoft VP says company moving away from “finite experiences”: For games like Assassin’s Creed, line between content updates and sequels grows “fuzzier and fuzzier”
- Frontier: “We want to become a third-party publisher” – CEO David Braben and CCO Jonny Watts on publishing, Tencent and the return of the British games industry
- Incoming Paradox CEO wants more acquisitions and mobile expansion
- Paradox turns its eye to M&A and mobile development: Incoming chief executive Ebba Ljungerud wants ten per cent of game sales to come form mobile by 2020
- Valve is working on its own ‘more accurate and more useful’ Steam Spy-like tools
- Valve working on “more accurate” replacement for Steam Spy’s sales data
- Steam Direct sees 180 game releases per week, over twice as many as Greenlight did
- Blog: The surprising effect of Steam Sales on non-discounted games
- Blog: Using achievement stats to estimate sales on Steam
- Amy Hennig: Atomised development, not crunch, will lead to games industry unions – The outspoken critic of crunch culture says it’s driven by passion, and it’s up the management to protect developers
- The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Fighting Ageism, with Kate Edwards – Ex-IGDA director discusses how the industry is neglecting experienced professionals and ignoring new perspectives
- Pokemon Quest nets $3M in revenue during first week on mobile
- Pokémon Quest generates $3m in first week on mobile: Becomes No. 1 most downloaded free game on Japanese App Store
- Niantic acquires machine learning company Matrix Mill
- Niantic acquires Matrix Mill: Pokemon Go creator picks up computer vision start-up building neural networks to infer 3D models of surroundings from cameras
- Niantic previews AR tech designed to create ‘meaningful’ interactions
- Niantic Offers Tantalizing Peek at Upcoming AR Tech, Announces New Platform for Third-party Devs
- ISS Astronaut Uses Oculus Rift in Experiment to Understand How Space Effects Hand-eye Coordination
- Snapchat Is Reportedly Planning to Follow WeChat by Launching an In-App Gaming Platform
- Snapchat reportedly launching a gaming platform: Photo messaging app may already have one game publisher on board
- Second Life creator’s VR platform High Fidelity secures $35M investment
- High Fidelity Raises $35M Series D Financing to Further Develop Social Platform & Blockchain Tech
- Jonathan Blow: “C++ is a weird mess” – The Witness developer on his new programming language that could increase productivity by 50 to 80 per cent
- Will Wright’s Proxi Art Challenge Winners
- Breadcrumbs Interactive embraced Slavic folklore to find Yaga’s unique voice: The Romanian studio drew from the country’s culture for its debut, and won the Nordic Discovery Contest in the process
- Summer Games Done Quick raises record-breaking $2.1M for charity
- For The First Time, The Video Game Speedrunners Of Summer Games Done Quick Raise Over $2 Million
- Summer Games Done Quick raises $2.1m for Doctors Without Borders: Week-long charity speedrunning marathon brings organisation’s cumulative fundraising to over $16 million
- Making the most of voice talent: Voice actors talk about the challenges of working in games and share tips for getting the best possible performances out of them
- E3 2018 has GameStop “looking forward to an incredible Q4”: Leading retailer shares pre-order reactions to the biggest announcements, and how publishers will benefit from a wider spread of releases
- Resident Evil 2 Remake wins Best of Show at the E3 2018 Game Critic Awards: BioWare and Insomniac receive two awards apiece for Anthem and Spider-Man
- Remake of Resident Evil 2 wins ‘Best of E3’ from Game Critics Awards
- Life is Strange: Before The Storm wins big at Games for Change Awards
- The best, craziest speedruns from this year’s Summer Games Done Quick
- Blog: A brief history of murder in Ultima Online
- 343 and Showtime team up to produce 10-episode Halo TV series
- Halo TV show going into production in early 2019: There were plans to make a Halo TV show as long ago as 2013.
- Halo TV series gets green light at Showtime: Cable network orders 10 episodes for series; Mind Games creator Kyle Killen named showrunner
- Immersion cited as top motivator for playing games
Jon
News of the Week; June 20, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- The CRTC’s Vision of the Future
- Government of Canada Looks to Modernize Telecommunications and Broadcasting Legislation for the Digital Age
- CRTC Rebuked: Government Signals Frustration With the Commission Prioritizing Carriers Over Consumers (Michael Geist)
- How Did George Brown College Come to Support the FairPlay Site Blocking Plan? Docs Show Bell Lobbied the School’s President (Michael Geist)
- A CRTC focused on the public interest?
- Too punitive: Québec Court of Appeal cuts award of punitive damages down to size
- Court Rejects DOJ Challenge to AT&T/Time Warner Vertical Merger
- Federal Judge Approves AT&T-Time Warner Merger; Deal Closes
- AT&T Closes $85 Billion Time Warner Deal
- What to expect now that AT&T officially owns Time Warner
- Time Warner Is Getting A Rebrand To Avoid Confusion
- New York threatens to revoke Charter’s purchase of Time Warner Cable
- Wireless Carriers Hope You Won’t Notice Their Location Data Scandal Makes The Facebook, Cambridge Fracas Look Like Amateur Hour
- ISPs Lobbying California Lawmakers In Bid To Weaken State’s Looming Net Neutrality Law
- Ajit Pai Now Trying To Pretend That Everybody Supported Net Neutrality Repeal
- Charter Spectrum Claims The Death Of Net Neutrality Will Magically Provide Better, Faster Broadband
- How AT&T and Comcast are trying to kill California’s net neutrality bill
- Net Neutrality And The Broken Windows Fallacy
- AT&T, Time Warner, and the Need for Neutrality
- AT&T is already planning more acquisitions, days after buying Time Warner
- Following AT&T’s Lead, Comcast Makes A $65 Billion Bid For Fox
- Comcast Offers $65 Billion for Twenty-First Century Fox
- Disney Ups Fox Bid to $71.3 Billion, Outflanking Comcast
- Sorry, Comcast: Fox and Disney sign new merger deal, rejecting Comcast bid
- Disney’s Plan to Acquire Fox Is Back On, Thanks to a New $70 Billion Deal
- Net Neutrality And The Broken Windows Fallacy
- California Net Neutrality Bill Was ‘Hijacked,’ Lawmaker Says
- FCC Seeks Public Comment On Proposals To Streamline
- FAA v. FCC On Drone Enforcement
- FCC, Big Telcos Take Aim At Line Sharing Rules In Bid To Further Hamstring Broadband Competition
- Sprint, T-Mobile to FCC: Our Job Killing, Competition Eroding Megamerger Will Create Jobs & Competition
- Verizon’s New Phone Plan Proves It Has No Idea What ‘Unlimited’ Actually Means
- Verizon and AT&T will stop selling your phone’s location to data brokers
- South Carolina’s New State Telemarketing Law
DIGITAL
- Where does the internet happen? The Supreme Court of Canada tackles the thorny issue of which law applies to defamation claims
- Libel Tourism and Forum Shopping: The Supreme Court of Canada Applies the Van Breda Test to an Internet Defamation Claim
- Biohacker Who Implanted Transit Chip in Hand Evades Fine
- Lessons From Making Internet Companies Liable For User’s Speech: You Get Less Speech, Less Security And Less Innovation
- Dear EU Parliament: Why Are You About To Allow US Internet Companies To Decide What EU Citizens Can Say Online?
- EU Parliamentary Committee Votes To Put American Internet Giants In Charge Of What Speech Is Allowed Online
- Jury awards Apple $533 million in damages
- Apple snags Oprah Winfrey in original content deal
- Oprah Winfrey, Apple Ink Multi-Year Development Deal
- Huge Apple Maps outage prevents all users from searching, getting directions
- Apple Pulls Plug On Phone-Cracking Tech Vendors, Will Prevent Data Transfer From Locked Phones
- A New Tech Manifesto: Six demands, from a citizen to Big Tech
- Microsoft Employees Up in Arms Over Cloud Contract With ICE
- Microsoft staff call on company to end ICE contract
- Microsoft condemns separation of families at US border
- Microsoft’s new diverse avatar editor represents more body types, disabilities
- It Turns out All Kinds of Tech Companies Are Working With ICE
- FBI recovers WhatsApp, Signal data stored on Michael Cohen’s BlackBerry
- The Making of an Online Moral Crisis: How the many-chambered heart of the internet turned the Trump administration’s family-separation policy into a different kind of scandal.
- Trump Stokes Outrage In Silicon Valley—But It’s Selective
- Senate rejects Trump’s plan to lift ZTE export ban
- Welcome To Blaine, The Town Amazon Prime Built
- How Alt-Right Twitter Tricks The Media Into Panicking: @thebradfordfile has been cited as evidence of the rise of the alt-right, but its popularity is faked through power-engagement groups and networks of sockpuppets.
- From billboards to Twitter, why the aesthetics of protest matters more today
- When Do the Perils of Programmatic Advertising Undermine Its Value?
- Data Nationalization in the Shadow of Social Credit Systems (Frank Pasquale)
- Inside The Crypto World’s Biggest Scandal: Arthur and Kathleen Breitman thought they held the secret to building a new decentralized utopia. On the way, they plunged into a new kind of hell. A crypto-tragedy in three acts.
- US ethics body tells government employees to declare crypto holdings
- What does a Bitcoin taste like?
- Europe advances copyright law that could filter the Internet
- Europe on the verge of voting nefarious digital publishing right (Andres Guadamuz)
- Norwegian Court Orders Website Of Public Domain Court Decisions Shut Down With No Due Process
- Critical Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights
- DOJ Lets Cops Know SESTA/FOSTA Is For Shutting Down Websites, Not Busting Sex Traffickers
- Catching Up on FOSTA Since Its Enactment (A Linkwrap) (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Can’t Save Snapchat From Lawsuit Involving Its ‘Speed Filter’
- The End of All That’s Good and Pure About the Internet
- Tanzania Forces ‘Unregistered Bloggers’ To Disappear Themselves
- Andy Serkis Thinks Performance Capture Will Just Be How All Actors Work in 100 Years
- The enabled landscape is the future of augmented reality
- Europe’s GDPR Is Killing Email Marketing, to the Disappointment of No One
- Think The GDPR Only Regulates Big Internet Companies? The EU Says It Regulates You Too.
- Google Maps removes Uber integration
- Google’s New Podcast App Could Turbocharge The Industry
- Boston Globe Posts Hilarious Fact-Challenged Interview About Regulating Google, Without Any Acknowledgement Of Errors
- Users Watch Over 180 Million Hours Of YouTube Content On TV Screens Daily
- French Political Party Voting For Mandatory Copyright Filters Is Furious That Its YouTube Channel Deleted By Filter
- YouTube Announces Creative Suite For Brands, Lets Them Live Experiment With Ads
- Head Of YouTube Music Has “Largest Marketing Plan In YouTube’s History” For The Service
- ‘Cobra Kai’ Producers Reveal How They Helped YouTube Create Its Very Own ‘House Of Cards’
- YouTube Announces Creative Suite For Brands, Lets Them Live Experiment With Ads
- YouTube Premium And YouTube Music Roll Out To 12 More Countries Including U.K., Canada
- Struggling Fitbit now has 5 ex-employees who face criminal charges
- With IGTV, Instagram Takes Aim At YouTube
- Instagram Launches Long-Form Video Service Called IGTV
- Instagram Announces IGTV, An Entertainment Hub With Hour-Long Videos And Content From Social Stars
- Facebook used less for news as youngsters turn to WhatsApp: Reuters Institute
- The “Facebook Nevers”
- What Facebook can learn from academia about protecting privacy
- Facebook Communications Head Elliot Schrage Is Leaving
- Facebook Expands Monetization With Branded Content Marketplace, More Ad Breaks
- Facebook Adds New Ways To Gamify Video, Will Incorporate Non-Episodic Clips Into ‘Watch’ Hub
- Facebook will air live PGA Tour coverage on its Watch tab
- Florida frat bros sued over Facebook revenge porn
- In nearly 500 pages of answers, Facebook stonewalls some senators’ questions
- Data Propria, run by Cambridge Analytica alumni, working on Trump 2020 campaign
- Man who allegedly gave Vault 7 cache to WikiLeaks busted by poor opsec
- As Market Cheers Spotify’s Direct Deals With Artists and Managers, Labels Mull Their Options
- Streaming Threatens to Dethrone Traditional TV for World Cup
- Streaming Services Jump Into the Unscripted Series Game
- Fullscreen Has Quietly Offered 360-Degree Talent Management For 2 Years — And Its Client Roster Is Growing Fast
- Jon Cozart, Marla Catherine, CJ Perry Sign With Management Firm Expand Entertainment
- Whistle Sports Signs Deal With NBA Comedian ‘Famous Los’ For Original Content, Events
- Influencers Must Disclose Who Is Influencing Them
- More Than 80 Creators, Including Casey Neistat And Miranda Sings, Confirmed For Tana Mongeau’s VidCon Alternative
- Insights: VidCon Navigates An Industry’s Stormy Season With New Owner, Influx Of Brands And Platforms
- What would it mean for AI to have a soul?
CREATIVITY
- Music Canada at the Copyright Review: “Illegal Content is Drifting Away” (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Music Industry Pitches ‘You Must Be A Pirate’ Tax On Smartphones
- Danish Anti-Piracy Lawyers Jailed For Real, Actual Stealing From Copyright Holders
- The Gawker Case Has Become More Interesting
- Dear Journalists: Stop being loudspeakers for liars
- Minnesota’s Vague Ban On ‘Political’ Wear At Polling Places Shut Down By The Supreme Court
- Broadway Producers Denied Motion to Set Aside Damages Verdict against Former Publicist
- Judge Cock(y)blocks Author Faleena Hopkins’ Demand Other Authors Stop Using The Word ‘Cocky’ In Their Titles
- Star Trek, Dr. Seuss Mash-Up, Continues to Make Law
- Seeing red – Louboutin’s trademark victory at the ECJ
- Oakley Denies Validity of Graffiti Copyright: Calling artist-duo’s works unoriginal and “generic.”
- Hold the presses: contempt of court
- Terry Gilliam Has Lost the Rights to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
- European Citizens: You Stopped ACTA, But The New Copyright Directive Is Much, Much Worse: Speak Up
- UN Free Speech Expert: EU’s Copyright Directive Would Be An Attack On Free Speech, Violate Human Rights
- Following Allegations of Abuse, Chris Hardwick Has Been Pulled from AMC Programming and San Diego Comic-Con
- World Cup Advertising Fever – but don’t overstep the mark!
- Propaganda or news: Should media publish government’s child-detention photos?
- The MoviePass Effect Is Here to Stay – Even if MoviePass Isn’t
- How Swiss news publisher NZZ built a flexible paywall using machine learning
- Warner Bros. Turns Harry Potter Fan Events Into Events For The Franchise That Must Not Be Named
- Is an audio recording on magnetic tape a technological document?
- How John Mayer Helped Me Become a Better Therapist: Using song lyrics is a form of expressive arts therapy, which can help people tap into their emotions and invoke personal change.
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Geolocation phone apps to track children come under scrutiny by the FTC
- China Is Rolling Out A Mandatory Program That Puts Tracking Chips In Every Car
- China-based hackers burrow inside satellite, defense, and telecoms firms
- China’s Latest Censorship Crackdown Target: Videos Of Women Rubbing, Kissing And Licking Binaural Microphones
- NY Senate Passes Bill That Would Make It A Crime To Publish Photos Of The Elderly Without Their Consent
- Decades-old PGP bug allowed hackers to spoof just about anyone’s signature
- EU Politicians Tell European Commission To Suspend Privacy Shield Data Transfer Framework
- Hackers who sabotaged the Olympic games return for more mischief
- Reminder: macOS still leaks secrets stored on encrypted drives
- Tesla sues employee alleged to have stolen gigabytes of data
GAMES
- A Claim of Epic Proportions: Epic Games Hits Back in Suit Against 14-Year-Old
- ‘Gaming Disorder’ officially listed in World Health Organization diagnostic doc
- WHO makes ‘gaming disorder’ diagnosis official: Final version of World Health Organization’s 11th International Compendium of Diseases includes gaming addiction for the first time
- Games industry trade bodies concerned by ‘gaming disorder’ classification
- Industry trade bodies from around the globe unite to condemn ‘gaming disorder’ decision: WHO classification will create moral panic, says international trade body coalition
- Ukie: WHO gaming disorder diagnosis is based on “highly contested evidence”
- Former Telltale CEO and co-founder Kevin Bruner is suing the studio
- Former Telltale CEO sues developer over alleged breach of contract: Kevin Bruner claims Telltale failed to fulfil its obligations to him after he stepped down in 2017
- HitRecord “has to draw a line somewhere” on payment for Beyond Good & Evil assets: Only work used in the game will be compensated, says founder Joseph Gordon-Levitt
- Reverse-engineered Diablo source code released on GitHub
- Blog: How much protection does Fair Use really offer?
- Nintendo boss says loot boxes have ‘gotten a bit of a bad rap’
- Nintendo: Loot boxes “have gotten a bit of a bad rap” – Reggie Fils-Aime says loot boxes “can be interesting” as long as players have other options
- Citing Dutch law, Valve drops trading CS:GO and Dota 2items in the Netherlands
- Valve disables CS:GO and DOTA 2 item trading in Netherlands after legal warning – “We still don’t understand or agree with the [Dutch Gaming Authority’s] legal conclusion,” says Valve
- Valve continues its fight against “fake games” on Steam: Games that haven’t reached Steam’s “confidence metric” will be restricted from user achievements and game counts
- Valve introduces limits for new games to prevent ‘fake’ ones from gaming Steam
- Review manipulators aren’t as sneaky as they think they are, warns Valve
- Following App Store rejection, Valve cuts game purchasing from iOS Steam Link app
- Valve continues work on rejected iOS Steam Link app: After initial rejection by Apple, TestFlight version of Steam companion app updates to curb ability to purchase new games
- Following GDPR, Steam now discloses a ton of collected account data to users
- Studios commit to removing Red Shell due to player complaints: Dead by Daylight, Elder Scrolls Online and other Steam games will remove alleged spyware that tracked advertisement efficacy
- The GamesIndustry.biz E3 Award Winners
- Editor roundtable: What did E3 2018 mean for game developers?
- E3 2018: Starting next-gen hype early is bad for business – Casual references toward next-gen consoles and games risks overshadowing the huge releases coming in 2018
- Analyst: 66% of console players still prefer physical games over digital
- E3 2018: Microsoft finally comes out of its “self-imposed damage control position” – Industry analysts on Sony’s muted E3 briefing, and why it’s too soon to know if Microsoft’s studio acquisitions will be proved “smart or dumb”
- E3 2018: Cyberpunk 2077 astounds, but so do the crowds – Dispatches from the show floor, where E3 continues to struggle with delivering a satisfying show for the public
- E3 attendance reaches highest point since 2005: 2018 event was “an enormous success” says organiser as nearly 70,000 people descend on LA Convention Centre
- The top ten games from E3 2018
- Stick or Twitch? How streaming is hurting single-player games
- Is single-player dead? Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick ‘doesn’t buy it’
- Netflix and Telltale partner on Minecraft TV show, Stranger Things game: Minecraft Story Mode will be an interactive five-episode series, but Netflix doesn’t have “any plans to get into gaming”
- Microsoft is making changes to its Xbox app to better reflect PC users
- Streaming could be key to Xbox reclaiming the lead from PlayStation
- PlayStation 4 sale transforms EMEA games charts: Vampyr debuts at No.2 as FIFA 18 holds top spot
- Sony revives greatest hits program for PS4 games as PlayStation Hits
- PlayStation briefing a response to “shallow” E3 press conferences: Sony Worldwide Studios’ Michael Denny addresses disappointment over this week’s more focused showcase
- Sony is locking Fortnite accounts to PS4, and players are mad
- Sony issues evasive response to Fortnite cross-platform controversy
- PlayStation 4 owners can’t access Fortnite accounts on Switch: Sony issues response, side-steps complaints around lack of cross-play and inability to access saved progress
- Fortnite racks up two million downloads on Switch in a single day: Despite releasing late last year, Fortnite has been featured prominently throughout E3 2018
- Fortnite revenue tops $100M on iOS after 90 days
- Rare official arcade versions of Donkey Kong, Sky Skipper headed to Switch
- Nintendo and Disney join forces for a Switch-themed game show
- Is Nintendo Switch in trouble?: After a slight E3 showcase, investors and analysts are concerned over Switch sales. But are they right?
- After a strong start, Nintendo wants Labo to reach a broader demographic
- Inside Nintendo’s “perfect” method for detecting online Switch piracy
- Following hardware exploit, Nintendo bans Switch consoles with pirated games
- Xbox and Nintendo speak out against Fortnite PS4 stalemate: Phil Spencer and Reggie Fils-Aime both want their customers to play with and across other consoles
- Dev taps blockchain tech to make Pokemon playable on Twitch — for a price
- Fortnite breaks record for concurrent Twitch viewers – Battle Royale smash hit outperforms previous record holder Counter-Strike: GO
- Fortnite hits $100m revenue in its first 90 days on iOS: Meanwhile, PUBG on iOS has grossed just $5.2 million in 60 days
- How useful errors and evolving player skills shape Fortnite’s UX
- PUBG dev says store-bought assets help teams ‘work smart’
- PUBG Corp. defends the use of asset stores as the only way to “work smart”: PUBG is no “asset flip”, says PUBG Corp., but store-bought assets are necessary when building maps
- Ubisoft won’t whitewash Ancient Greece with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: “We really felt like it was a nice opportunity for us to have a deep dive into the culture of Greece,” says audio director Lydia Andre
- In Defense Of Ubisoft: Crowdsourcing Game Content Creation Is Actually Fun And Non-Exploitive
- Editor Roundtable: How does Ubisoft’s HitRecord partnership impact devs?
- THQ Nordic raises $168 million for future acquisitions
- THQ Nordic completes share issue worth $168m: Major acquisition plans afoot with flash sale of 7.7 million shares
- Keemstar, ItsAlexClark, Bart Baker Among YouTube Stars Featured In New Mobile Game
- BBTV Interactive Launches Squad Rivals
- HitRECord founder responds to backlash over crowdsourcing assets for Beyond Good and Evil 2
- Avalanche EP: livestreaming ‘can’t not’ influence game development now
- Naughty Dog’s Last Of Us games have sold over 17M copies in 5 years
- Unity moving entire infrastructure to Google Cloud for ‘connected games’
- Unity unveils new augmented reality extension MARS
- Sales from Fallout 76 ‘Country Roads’ cover will be donated to charity
- Critical Force nets $6.3m investment to scale esports operation: Business Finland backs mobile developer as flagship title hits 40 million downloads
- Blog: Are battle royale titles the next big esport?
- FIFA is a Better Esport Than Other Sports Simulation Games
- Sea of Thieves hit three month target in a single day
- Naughty Dog marks The Last of Us’ fifth birthday with 17m copies sold: Combined sales of The Last of Us and the Uncharted series are now pushing 60 million units
- Phones within phones: Simulating real apps to explore real issues: Lost Phone and Bury Me, My Love developers discuss the intimate impact of games that behave like mobile interfaces
- After Rumors Swirl, Nintendo Says Talks To Bring Video Services To Switch Are “Ongoing”
- Why Unravel Two is not on Nintendo Switch: Coldwood Interactive tells us how the console’s simpler hardware would have delayed the surprise launch by six months
- Does cyber insurance make us more (or less) secure?: Underwriting cyber risk remains more art than science, but in the absence of regulation, cyber insurance might still be the best hope for improving cybersecurity practices across the board – at least fo
- Unity and Google Cloud announce partnership to create multiplayer development suite: Alliance aims to create server hosting, matchmaking tools to ease multiplayer game development in Unity
- GameStop in buyout talks, reports Reuters
- Celebrating experience and tackling ageism: 50 Over 50 industry list revealed – List conceived to “counter the trend of glossing over ageism,” says Game Advocacy
- Educational app TinyTap raises $5M toward accessible learning
- How ARKit 2 works, and why Apple is so focused on AR
Jon
News of the Week; June 13, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Government of Canada launches review of Telecommunications and Broadcasting Acts
- Broadcasting And Telecommunications Legislative Review: Terms of Reference
- The CRTC’s fundamental mistake: It thinks it can regulate the internet (Michael Geist)
- The CRTC’s Fundamental Flaw: Broadcasting May Be the Internet, but the Internet is Not Broadcasting (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Government Responds to Parliamentary Committee’s Recommended Changes and Clarifications to Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)
- Ajit Pai’s FCC lied about “DDoS” attack, ex-chair’s statement indicates
- Senators Wyden and Schatz Wants To Know Why The FCC Made Up A DDOS Attack
- Oddly The Trump FCC Doesn’t Much Want To Talk About Why It Made Up A DDOS Attack
- ‘Transparent’ FCC Doesn’t Want To Reveal Any Details About Ajit Pai’s Stupid Reese’s Mug
- Ajit Pai says you’re going to love the death of net neutrality
- What Ajit Pai Should Have Said About Killing Net Neutrality… And Why It Still Would Have Been Wrong
- Net neutrality will be repealed Monday unless Congress takes action
- Net Neutrality Rules Die Today, But The Backlash Is Just Getting Started
- First state net neutrality law took effect today, countering FCC repeal
- AT&T Defeats DOJ In Merger Fight, Opening The Door To Some Major Competitive Headaches
- Trump administration fails to block AT&T/Time Warner merger
- AT&T Cleared to Buy Time Warner in Blow to Trump Administration
- AT&T wins: Judge clears $85 billion bid for Time Warner with no conditions
- AT&T imposes another $5 price hike on grandfathered unlimited data plans
- AT&T/Time Warner Merger Could Create Giant Player for Sports Rights
- Comcast, AT&T, Verizon say they have no paid prioritization plans
- Comcast offers $65 billion for Fox, says government won’t stop merger
- Comcast disabled throttling system, proving data cap is just a money grab
- FTC Files Lawsuit for Widespread Telemarketing Law Violations
DIGITAL
- Mobile Viewing to Overtake TV Viewing by Next Year
- That Merkel Photo Is More Like a Meme Than a Renaissance Painting
- OFAC sanctions Russian entities and individuals for cyber activities connected to FSB
- Cambridge Analytica director ‘met Assange to discuss US election’: Brittany Kaiser also claims to have channeled payments and donations to WikiLeaks
- Apple bans developers from creating, selling user Contacts databases
- Facebook privacy goof makes posts by 14 million users readable to anyone
- Facebook let select companies have “special access” to user data, per report
- Facebook Answered Congress’s Questions About Data Privacy. Here Are 5 Surprising Ways They Track You
- Facebook Announces New Feature That Aggregates Old Memories
- Latest Privacy Fracas Drops Facebook In The Middle Of Anti-Huawei Hysteria
- Facebook may now ban bad businesses from advertising
- Insights: It’s Game On As Facebook Takes On Twitch And YouTube For Live-Streaming Primacy
- Mueller checks witnesses’ phones for secure messaging apps, per report
- How Pro-Eating Disorder Posts Evade Filters On Social Media
- UKSC judgment in Cartier – who pays for website blocking orders?
- Confirmed: ZTE to reopen after $1 billion fine, new leadership
- Republican senators move to block Trump’s deal to revive ZTE
- Top German Publisher Says: ‘You Wouldn’t Steal A Pound Of Butter… So We Need A Snippet Tax’
- Inventor says Google is patenting work he put in the public domain
- Hey Google: Stop Trying To Patent A Compression Technique An Inventor Released To The Public Domain
- Encyclopædia Britannica Wants To Fix False Google Results
- Google: JK, We’re Going To Keep Working With The Military After All
- New law forces Google to suspend political ads in Washington state
- YouTube Takes Down Anti-LGBTQ Ad After Multiple Creator Complaints
- YouTube Complicit In Copyright Infringement Of News Station’s Content
- Austrian court ruling could hold YouTube liable for copyright infringing content
- YouTube’s World Cup coverage includes near-live highlights in Spanish
- Reggaeton Singer Ozuna Is Most Viewed Artist On YouTube This Year
- During The Upcoming World Cup, YouTube Will Be Stocked With Highlights And Athlete Vlogs
- YouTube Stars Joe Sugg, Caspar Lee Form IMG-Backed Digital Talent Management Agency
- Ad Standards Introduces New Influencer Disclosure Guidelines
- Walking the Line with Influencers: How to Satisfy the FTC without Your Influencers Becoming Employees in California
- Appeals Court Curbs FTC’s Enforcement of Security Standards–LabMD v. FTC
- IoT Device Companies: The FTC is Monitoring Your COPPA Data Deletion Duties and More
- Yet Another Study Shows The Internet Of Things Is A Privacy And Security Dumpster Fire
- Circuit Court of Cook County Upholds City of Chicago’s Imposition of Amusement Tax on Internet-Based Streaming Services
- Unpublished Censorship Guidelines Lay Bare The Deepest Fears Of The Chinese Government
- Snapchat Wants To Help Popular Music Artists Make AR Lenses
- Instagram Rolls Out Ecommerce In Stories, As Snapchat Tests Shoppable Ads
- Snapchat’s Speed Filter Not Protected by Section 230–Maynard v. Snapchat (Eric Goldman)
- Reddit Announces Native Auto-Play Video Ads For Select Brands
- Amazon Prime Video Secures Premier League Streaming Rights
- Twitter is putting more live news events in your timeline and notifications
- Twitter Isn’t a Shopping Mall for First Amendment Purposes (Duh)–Johnson v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
- Musical.ly To Fold Live Streaming Service Live.ly Into Its Primary App
- Canadian Music Industry Wants Government to Pay Copying Fee for Every Smartphone Sold in Canada (Michael Geist)
- Microsoft’s plan for GitHub: “Make GitHub better at being GitHub”
- Three Takes On Microsoft Acquiring Github
- IAB Says U.S. Podcast Ads Generated $314 Million Last Year, Pegs 2020 Tally At $659 Million
- The EU’s Copyright Proposal is Extremely Bad News for Everyone, Even (Especially!) Wikipedia
- EU Publishers Freak Out Now That People Are Realizing Just How Messed Up Their Link Tax Really Is
- EU Commission Violates GDPR; Claims That It’s Exempt From The Law For ‘Legal Reasons’
- EU Explores Making GDPR Apply To EU Government Bodies… But With Much Lower Fines
- UK Security Minister Says Only A Drivers Licence For The Internet Can Bring Back Online Civility
- America should borrow from Europe’s data-privacy law: The GDPR’s premise, that consumers should be in charge of their own personal data, is the right one
- GDPR’s Impact on the Use of Blockchain to Facilitate International Trade
- Blockchain: Game changer or game over?
- The rise of the “Crypto Czar,” the fall of a “blockchain evangelist,” and other crypto developments
- Bitcoin has lost more than half its value since last year’s all-time high
- Bitcoin Price Plunges After Hack of South Korean Exchange, Down 53 Percent Since December
- Bitcoin prices continue to fall as yet another exchange reports a breach
- Bitcoin’s 2017 Surge Was the Result of Manipulation, Experts Say
- Another SEC Enforcement Action against Allegedly Fraudulent ICO
- Recent Virtual Currency Actions by the CFTC and State Regulators
- Brain-Based Circuitry Just Made Artificial Intelligence A Whole Lot Faster
- AI is a very surprising tech, which makes its future hard to predict: Bruce Schneier
- This wild, AI-generated film is the next step in “whole-movie puppetry”: Results are admittedly limited due to a 48-hour crunch—but hint at a wild future.
- Artificial intelligence and human development
- People Are Paying Insane Amounts of Real Money for “Virtual Real Estate”
- Tech Addiction And The Paradox Of Apple’s ‘Screen Time’ Tools
- Apple No Longer Allows Crypto Mining On Its Devices. That’s Good For Users.
- Apple just banned cryptocurrency mining on iOS devices
- Apple clamps down on developers sharing data on users’ friends: “When someone shares your info as part of their address book, you have no say in it, and you have no knowledge of it,” says privacy expert
- For almost 11 years, hackers could easily bypass 3rd-party macOS signature checks
- Popular Spanish Soccer Mobile App Has Been Turning Users Into Piracy-Spotters Via Mobile Devices
- Ordering Food via Touchscreen Is so Fun You Spend More Money When You Do It
- White nationalists, Nazis find new space for racism
- Dark Web vendor “OxyMonster” turns out to be a Frenchman with luscious beard
- In a blow to e-voting critics, Brazil suspends use of all paper ballots
- How emoji can kill: As gangs move online, social media fuel violence
- Options for Reacting to Negative Online Comments, Reviews, and Defamation
- SCC Stays Internet Defamation Case, Urges Fairness and Efficiency
- Canada’s Supreme Court Is Preserving Every Website Mentioned In Its Rulings: The country’s top court is publicly archiving every single hyperlink in its decisions, so they aren’t lost.
CREATIVITY
- Trump Admits He Calls All Negative News ‘Fake’
- French President Pushing ‘Fake News’ Bill That Would Demand Decisions From Judges In 48 Hours
- Unsettling Comments from the Ontario Courts re the Settled Law of Trademarks and Parallel Importation (Howard Knopf)
- Off the Rails: How the Canadian Heritage Copyright Hearings Have Veered Badly Off-Track (Michael Geist)
- Ending The Memes: EU Copyright Directive Is No Laughing Matter
- Illegal memes? Weak Safe Harbor? Unpacking the proposed EU copyright overhaul
- CJEU rules that Louboutin red sole mark does NOT fall within absolute ground for refusal (Eleonora Rosati)
- Viacom Possesses Trademark Rights in ‘Krusty Krab’ Based on Its Central Role in the SpongeBob Universe – Viacom v. IJR
- Stephen Colbert Cut a Star Wars Trailer to Dunk on Kelly Marie Tran’s Harassers
- FBI Hoovered Up Two Years Of A Journalist’s Phone And Email Records To Hunt Down A Leaker
- Fahmy v. Jay-Z
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- NY Times reporter’s email records seized by Justice Dept. in leak case
- China Hacked a Navy Contractor and Stole 600GB of Data
- A Chip in the Windshield: China’s Surveillance State Will Soon Track Cars
- Global Russian-Linked Router Malware Even Worse Than Originally Stated
- Backdoored images downloaded 5 million times finally removed from Docker Hub
- Court Says German Intelligence Agency Can Continued To Deploy Its Dragnet On World’s Largest Internet Hub
- New Data Breach Notification Laws Spring 2018: What You Need to Know
- Stymied by browsers, attackers embed Flash 0-day inside MS Office document
- Security Companies Want To Use Facial Recognition To Stop School Shootings
- It’s Now Scary to Be A White Hat Hacker Thanks to the US Government
- How did hacker Adrian Lamo die? Medical examiner couldn’t figure it out
- Vermont Takes Aim at Data Brokers
GAMES
- Valve removes AIDS Simulator, other controversial games from Steam Store: Games taken down offer slight clarification on what company means by “straight up trolling”
- AIDS Simulator kicked off Steam as Valve grapples with “trolling” definition
- Valve clarifies what games count as ‘straight up trolling,’ sort of
- Op-ed: Valve takes a side by not “taking sides” in curation controversy
- Valve Decides To Get Out Of The Curation Business When It Comes To ‘Offensive’ Games
- Itch.io founder brands Valve’s open-door Steam policy ‘ridiculous’
- Valve’s new policy on Steam games splits opinions among devs
- By 2019, Steam will no longer run on Windows XP or Vista
- Valve launching Steam China with Perfect World: Partnership likely means leading PC marketplace will be free from the threat of long-rumoured government block
- Valve partners with Perfect World to bring Steam to China
- Battletech developer let go after sexual harassment allegations
- Cyberpunk dev: QA can absolutely help your team prevent offensive moments
- Harebrained Schemes parts ways with designer accused of sexual harassment: Battletech developer conducted internal investigation after multiple women came forward
- ‘This is not okay’: EA minces no words on backlash against women in Battlefield
- EA CEO’s damage control speech: “We want to be better”: Andrew Wilson stresses that publisher does not want to give paying players unfair advantages following last year’s loot box fiasco
- EA touts “profound impact” of streaming and subscription, announces Origin Access Premier: New PC service gives players instant access to Battlefield and FIFA 19 at launch, with publisher promising streaming option in future
- EA adds new releases to Origin Access via $100 Premier membership tier
- EA’s Impressive New PC Subscription Service Won’t Degrade Its Old One
- EA’s Patrick Soderlund talks Anthem, loot boxes, and women in Battlefield
- Anthem deep dive, Jedi: Fallen Order and EA Originals lead publisher’s E3 2018 showcase – Surprise launch of Unravel Two and tease for Respawn’s long-awaited Star Wars project break up usual round of sports titles
- FIFA 18 tops European charts with combined digital and retail sales: Results are in for Europe’s first sales charts to include digital data
- EA at E3: BioWare confirms Anthem in Feb 2019, Madden returns to PC
- We Are initiative hopes to connect and inspire women in games
- Game Advocacy introduces ’50 Over 50′ list to combat industry ageism
- ESA Foundation launches “We Are” diversity initiative: Red Bull Media House is partner on an initiative that will launch at E3 and continue into 2019
- Cool Event Alert: Loot Boxes: Video Game Gambling, Paying to Win, and the Question of Game Design, Talk by Drs. Mark R. Johnson and Tom Brock
- E3 Roundtable: Microsoft’s first-party intent, EA’s loot box lament – Microsoft’s flurry of studio acquisitions lit up E3’s opening weekend, Bethesda showed every ace in its hand, and EA promised to do better
- E3 Roundtable: PlayStation disappoints on a day short on surprises – Known quantities were front and centre at Sony and Ubisoft’s briefings, but Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Ghost of Tsushima still managed to delight
- E3 Roundtable: E3 2018 showed an industry on the brink of change – Games-as-a-service drained life out of the show floor, while the major publishers all gestured toward streaming and the next generation
- Ubisoft CEO: Cloud gaming will replace consoles after the next generation
- This app in Google Play wants to use phone mics to enforce copyrights
- Nintendo Direct shows off packed release schedule for 2018: Super Smash Bros. takes focus, but publisher offers up host of exclusive, third-party, and downloadable content
- Fortnite comes to Switch, though with slightly limited cross-platform play
- One day in, Fortnite attracts 2 million downloads on Switch
- Fortnite to launch for Nintendo Switch today: Epic’s battle royale shooter will be free to everyone, and is now on every major gaming platform
- PlayStation 4 owners can’t access Fortnite accounts on Switch
- Playing Fortnite on PS4 blocks players from logging in on Switch
- Fortnite uses the Switch hardware for voice chat, not the Switch mobile app
- Super Mario Party introduces a mode that links two Switch displays together
- Epic Games announces 2019 Fortnite World Cup as game reaches 125m players
- Ninja And Marshmello Win $1 Million For Charity At Fortnite’s First Celeb Pro-Am Tournament
- Fortnite has attracted 125M players in under a year
- Analyst report: Xbox One install base at 39M as of March 2018
- Xbox has everything to prove at E3: The E3 playing field has rarely been so uneven; Sony’s strong position means it needs to do very little, while Microsoft arrives in LA with a heavy weight of expectation
- Microsoft’s next-gen gaming plan: A new Xbox, and streaming for everyone else
- Microsoft “Andromeda” this year, new HoloLens in 2019, and the next Xbox in 2020
- Report: Microsoft to launch next Xbox console in 2020
- Microsoft teases Halo Infinite at E3 2018
- Halo Infinite, Gears trio and Cyberpunk 2077 lead Xbox’s E3 2018 line-up
- Microsoft pushes exclusives, premieres at pre-E3 press conference
- Microsoft adds five game studios to first-party stable
- Microsoft super-sizes first-party studio system: Xbox One maker acquires Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Compulsion Games, and Undead Labs, establishes new studio The Initiative
- Xbox’s evolving first-party strategy: Chief marketing officer Mike Nichols explains Microsoft’s “forward-leaning pivot” in how it has viewed its game studios this generation, and why it just added five more to the operation
- Ninja Theory bosses explain decision to join Microsoft Studios: “We want to take bigger creative risks, and create genre-defining games without constant threat of annihilation,” says creative lead Tameem Antoniades
- Ninja Theory joined Microsoft to ‘fly without the threat of falling down’
- Playground Games: “Our best is yet to come” thanks to Microsoft acquisition – Creative director Ralph Fulton believes transition from third-party to first-party studio can empower his team to do more
- Phil Spencer on Microsoft’s commitment to the traditional console experience: It’s important to support players of old games on new hardware, says Xbox head
- Xbox using machine learning to load Game Pass titles ‘twice as fast’
- Microsoft boosts Xbox Game Pass with better third-party support – Phoenix Point and Warhammer: Vermintide 2 will hit the service day-and-date, all games to launch “twice as fast” through machine learning
- Xbox Boasts Investment in Future Tech, But Still Silent on VR After Backpedaling
- PlayStation E3 Keynote Puts Blockbusters Center Stage, Relegating VR to the Sidelines
- Ethics Emerging: the Story of Privacy and Security Perceptions in Virtual Reality
- Even Assassin’s Creed is a live service now
- The Elder Scrolls VI, Starfield close out Bethesda E3 briefing: Doom and Wolfenstein sequels, Elder Scrolls: Blades for mobile, new VR efforts added to evening anchored by Fallout 76
- Bethesda at E3: Elder Scrolls VI, Starfield confirmed for “next generation”
- With Tencent’s help, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot opens new game studio
- Bad Robot, Tencent team up to open new dev studio: Bad Robot Games will create ‘large and indie-scale original games’ for PC, consoles, mobile; WBIE on board as minority investor
- Two weeks in, Detroit: Become Human surpasses 1M sold
- Detroit: Become Human hits one million sales faster than any Quantic Dream game – Co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumière confirms Detroit reached the milestone after two weeks
- Quantic Dream patches over one of Detroit’s most emotional moments
- Devs say no Friday the 13th DLC due to copyright dispute
- Facebook Is Launching A Video Destination Dedicated To Its Gaming Content
- Facebook launches new program for gaming streamers just starting out
- No Fuchs Given: Christian Fuchs Starts First EPL Player-Backed Esports Team
- New Jersey bans esports betting with new, unclear legislation
- E-Sports: A football World Cup with 20 million participants
- EON Foundation raises $5 million for blockchain game publishing: Cherubic Ventures among the investors for startup with goal to be “the number one blockchain game publisher in the world”
- Trendy Entertainment eyeing blockchain-based rewards for Dungeon Defenders II
- Supercell invests $5M in Redemption Games, marking its first US investment
- Blog: Making video game worlds in Yellowknife
- Sunset for LawBreakers as shooter prepares to go offline after only a year
- LawBreakers shutting down in September following Boss Key closure
- VidCon Organizers Insist Event Won’t Differ For Attendees After Viacom Acquisition
- VidCon 2018 vs. VidCon 2010: How The Convention Has Evolved Over The Years
- Telltale is bringing Minecraft: Story Mode to Netflix
Jon
News of the Week; June 6, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada: CRTC Reports On CanCon in the Digital World
- Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada (CRTC)
- Regulate Everything: The CRTC Goes All-In on Internet Taxation and Regulation (Michael Geist)
- Math Not Magic: If Melanie Joly Mandates Internet Taxes, Consumers Will Foot the Bill (Michael Geist)
- The 1980s CRTC: The Commission Turns Back the Clock with Old-Style Regulation and Privileged Insider Access (Michael Geist)
- Government’s Telecom/Broadcast Review Sets Up Internet Taxes and Regulation As a 2019 Election Issue (Michael Geist)
- Court Of Appeal Affirms Punitive Damages Must Be Proportionate To Gravity Of Breach: Vidéotron v Girard, 2018 QCCA 767
- CASL Compliance Becomes More Complex
- Chicago streaming video tax does not violate federal and state law
- E-Mails Show FCC Made Up DDOS Attack To Downplay The ‘John Oliver Effect’
- FCC accused of “spreading lies” about DDoS hitting comment system
- Trump grants Democrats’ request for a new FCC commissioner
- California Senate Approves Bill to Restore Net Neutrality Rules Repealed by FCC
- California’s Tough New Net Neutrality Law Takes Another Step Forward
- FCC Claims Perfectly-Timed Regulatory Handout To Sinclair Is Just Quirky Happenstance
- FCC Wants Ebay, Amazon To Crack Down On Kodi-Based Pirate TV Boxes
- Sprint says merger with “fiercest rival” will “create robust competition”
- Trump administration could block T-Mobile/Sprint merger, AT&T CEO says
- AT&T wants to settle with FTC to avoid unlimited data throttling lawsuit
- AT&T Ends Quest To Erode FTC Authority Over Broadband Providers
- Comcast drops bid for “gigabit” tax cut that was created for Google Fiber
- Google Fiber Broadband Hype Replaced By Delays And Frustration
- Thanks To No Competition, Broadband Satisfaction Scores Plummet
- Fox News Shows Eagles Players Praying, Falsely Implies They Were Protesting During Anthem
- Sheriffs Are Raking In Millions In Prison Phone Fees And Some Really Don’t Want To Talk About It
DIGITAL
- Canada Introduces New Influencer Disclosure Guidelines
- Russian State TV Photoshops an Awkward Smile on Kim Jong Un’s Face
- VPNFilter malware infecting 500,000 devices is worse than we thought: Malware tied to Russia can attack connected computers and downgrade HTTPS.
- Former Cambridge Analytica CEO Faces His Ghosts In Parliament
- Craigslist Sex Sting Prosecution Rejected as “Outrageous Misconduct”–Washington v. Solomon (Eric Goldman)
- Egyptian Gov’t Arrests Journalist Who Exposed Brutality; Will Use Social Media Suspensions As Evidence Against Him
- Has Facebook Merely Been Exploited By Our Enemies? Or Is Facebook Itself The Real Enemy?
- YouTube is the preferred platform of today’s teens: And Facebook continues to fall, according to Pew Research Center
- Facebook Accused of Giving Users’ Personal Data To Every Major Device Maker
- Insights: Has Facebook Already Lost The Next Generation Of Users?
- Judge OKs Class Action Status For Illinoisans Claiming Facebook Violated State Privacy Law
- Facebook will remove the Trending topics section next week
- Following Licensing Pacts, Facebook Will Let Users Add Music To Their Personal Videos
- Man posts morel mushrooms on Facebook, gets a visit from the cops
- State Court Says Cop Posing As A Facebook Friend To Snag Criminal Evidence Isn’t A 4th Amendment Violation
- Chrome and Firefox leaks let sites steal visitors’ Facebook names, profile pics
- Not Fake News: Facebook Watch Funds Shows From CNN, Fox News, ABC News
- Uganda Is Taxing WhatsApp and Facebook, Because Users “Gossip”
- Social Media as a Weapon to Harass Women Academics
- Language-Policing AI Will Suggest A Polite Alternative to Online Hate Speech
- School Can’t Take A Joke; Turns Student Over To Cops For Listing The School For Sale On Craigslist
- Telegram CEO: Apple has “prevented” app updates globally since April
- Apple’s Plans To Bring Artificial Intelligence To Your Phone
- You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: Amazon Warehouse Robots Slipped On Popcorn Butter
- Amazon is reportedly upping its investment in India by $2 billion
- Amazon Disconnects From Australia After Government Hits It With 10% Tax On All Imported Items
- Amazon scores Premier League TV rights to stream 20 games next season: Amazon secures all the Boxing Day games in the UK
- The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: Teens Still Love YouTube, Snapchat
- Lenovo’s all-screen smartphone was all talk
- As Pride Month Begins, YouTube Faces Criticism For Allegedly Demonetizing The World “Transgender”
- YouTube Draws More Flak From Queer Creators As Anti-LGBTQ+ Ads Appear On Videos
- ‘The Washington Post’ Launches Second-Ever YouTube Channel, A Science Brand For Kids
- YouTube Co-Founder Who Posted The Site’s First Video May Return With More
- Lawsuit Over Cancer-Curing Honey Ads Still Sucks–Abid v. Google (Eric Goldman)
- Washington State Is Suing Facebook And Google For Violating Election Advertisement Laws
- Google reportedly won’t renew controversial drone imaging program
- Google Ditches Department of Defense, Updates Its Code of Ethics
- Google To Publish Artificial Intelligence Ethical Guidelines
- Google Announces Programmatic Buys of Audio Ads – Looking at Legal Issues with Programmatic Sales
- Type ‘the1975..com’ Into Your Google App to See a Weird Bug in Action
- 9-Year-Old Trash-Talker Lil Tay Has Wiped Her Instagram And YouTube Accounts
- Instagram might soon let you post videos up to an hour long: A ‘new feature’ would allow for much longer vertical videos
- Instagram Eyeing Push Into Long-Form Vertical Video With 1-Hour Clip Limits
- Patreon To Launch Merch Service For Creators Following Acquisition Of Ecommerce Startup ‘Kit’
- Cheddar Forms Third News Brand, ‘CheddarU’, For Distribution Across College Campuses
- Why Music Video Hosting Service Vevo Is Joining Mediaocean’s Spectra Platform
- Microsoft killing off the Groove Music apps for iOS and Android
- Microsoft snaps up GitHub for $7.5 billion
- Microsoft has acquired GitHub for $7.5B
- Microsoft acquires GitHub for $7.5 billion: Windows and Xbox maker says software development platform will continue to operate independently and support any OS, cloud, or device
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says $7.5 billion GitHub deal shows, ‘We are all in on open source’
- Everyone complaining about Microsoft buying GitHub needs to offer a better solution
- We know you hate the Internet of Things, but it’s saving megafauna from poachers
- Hulu’s Live TV Offering Reaches 800K Subs in First Year
- Hulu CEO Says His Company’s Live TV Service Has 800,000 Subscribers One Year After Launch
- Hulu Loses Chief Content Officer, SVPs Of Partnerships And Experience Amid Sweeping Reorganization
- Hulu in Major Exec Shakeup: Content Chief Joel Stillerman, Two SVPs Are Out – Under reorg, Tim Connolly and Ben Smith will depart; company hires new CTO and first chief data officer
- Netflix is becoming a global media phenomenon, says analyst: Mark Mahaney, RBC Capital Markets lead internet analyst, explains his latest research note on Netflix highlighting the streaming giant’s international business.
- Netflix and Governance Transparency
- Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada (CRTC)
- A Hacker Hijacked the Buffalo Wild Wings Twitter Account and Revealed Its ‘Secret Recipe’
- TWiT’s Trademark Lawsuit Against Twitter Sent Back to the Drawing Board
- Twitter Reorgs Content-Partnerships Group, Folds Live-Video Team Into Regional Structure
- Twitter’s Top Live Video Exec Exits Amid Organizational Restructuring
- Court Not At All Impressed By Chuck Johnson’s Silly Lawsuit Against Twitter, Plans To Grant Anti-SLAPP Win To Twitter
- Cops Perform Guns-Drawn Raid Of Chelsea Manning’s Home Because Someone Reported Her Suicidal Tweets
- Can You Fire Someone For Racist Tweets?
- AI Can Now Manipulate People’s Movements In Fake Videos
- MIT scientists created a “psychopath” AI by feeding it violent content from Reddit
- There’s Now A Religion Based On the Blockchain. Yes, Really.
- Understanding the Effect of Wyoming’s Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Legislation
- Gumi launches $30 million cryptocurrency investment fund: Gumi Cryptos aims to help organizations struggling to connect with Japanese markets
- Hackers Commandeered 3 Cryptocurrency Networks, Stole Millions
- WME Secures New Branded Content Opportunities By Investing In Marketing Platform Influential
- After Arduous Fundraising Process, Crowdfunding Platform Seed & Spark Lands $2 Million Seed Round
- Software and stealth: how carmakers hike spare parts prices
- More Bad News for Uber’s Contract Formation–Ramos v. Uber
- After dispute on freeway, Uber driver shot his passenger, who died soon after
- San Francisco to Uber, Lyft: If your drivers aren’t employees, prove it
- Report: Turkish President Erdogan Claims Uber’s Turkey Business Is ‘Over’
- As Uber and Tesla struggle with driverless cars, Waymo moves forward
- Waymo announces 7 million miles of testing, putting it far ahead of rivals
- Contract Law or Copyright Law – What’s the Confusion?
- Uncle Sam wants you to join the United States Digital Service
- FOSTA Supporters Come Out Swinging Against Critics
- Highlights From Former Rep. Chris Cox’s Amicus Brief Explaining The History And Policy Behind Section 230
- From Westworld to Best World for the Internet of Things (Jonathan Zittrain)
- Censorship in the Age of Large Cloud Providers (Bruce Schneier)
CREATIVITY
- Court Allows “Battery by GIF” Claim to Proceed – Eichenwald v. Rivello
- Star Wars And The Battle Of The Ever-More-Toxic Fan Culture
- Is the NFL’s anthem policy constitutional? Not in some states, law prof argues
- Annual Also-Ran Buffalo Bills File Trademark For “Respect The Process”
- S Is For Streisand: Sesame Street Decides To Offer Free Promotion To R-Rated Muppet Satire By Filing Trademark Claim
- San Diego Comic-Con Petitions Judge To Have Salt Lake Comic Con Pay Its Attorney’s Fees, Bar It From Calling Itself A ‘Comic Convention’
- Naruto the Macaque’s 3 year legal journey has come to an end in a San Francisco Court of Appeals
- Ninth Circuit to PETA: Stop Monkeying Around with Copyright Claims
- Media pirates walk the plank: extraordinary remedies against copyright infringers in Canada
- Fast fashion and IP regulation: will fast fashion kill the golden goose?
- Study Shows That Wartime Program To Abolish Copyright On German Science Books Brought Significant Benefits To US
- The case for quarantining extremist ideas: When confronted with white supremacists, newspaper editors should consider ‘strategic silence’
- Why the Government’s Copyright Board Plans Threaten to Spark Another Lobbying Battle (Michael Geist)
- Recording Industry Hypocrisy On Full Display In Continuing To Push The CLASSICS Act That Expands Copyright
- EU Parliament Members Play Hardball On Terrible Copyright Policies, Article Highlighting Sketchy Tactics Magically Disappears
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Glassdoor ordered to turn over user information
- Settlement Of Alleged CASL Violation – Text Messages Sent Without Consent Or Prescribed Information
- Mobile Phone Maker Reaches Settlement with FTC Over Deceptive Privacy and Data Security Claims
- FTC Reminder: Websites and Online Services Subject to COPPA Must Honor Data Deletion Requirements
- Paul Manafort Learns That Encrypting Messages Doesn’t Matter If the Feds Have a Warrant to Search Your iCloud Account
- In seconds, we faked our way into a political campaign, got unsecured voter data
- With possible summit approaching, North Korean espionage hacks continue
- DHS found evidence of cell phone spying near White House
- Three months later, a mass exploit of powerful Web servers continues
- Appeals Court Rolls Its Eyes At Goverment’s Attempt To Dodge FOIA Litigation By Pretending It Didn’t Know Who Was Seeking Documents
- This Filter Makes Your Photos Indecipherable to Facial Recognition Software
- Governor’s office is “stonewalling” lawsuit over Confide use, lawyer tells judge
- Another Report Highlights How Wireless SS7 Flaw Is Putting Everyone’s Privacy At Risk
- 11th Circuit Says No Reasonable Suspicion Needed For Invasive Device Searches At The Border
- 30,000 Cameras Can’t Be Wrong: Chicago Banks On Surveillance To Solve Violence Problem
- Data protection laws are shining a needed light on a secretive industry: Regardless of where we live, we all benefit from data protection laws – companies must us show how they profit off our information (Bruce Schneier)
- ICANN’s Pre-emptive Attack On The GDPR Thrown Out By Court In Germany
- Websites in the US are definitely “turning off” Europe
- 92 million MyHeritage users had their data quietly swiped
GAMES
- PUBG vs Fortnite: Let the market decide – A court case in South Korea revives the old question of whether a game concept deserves legal protection – but ‘clone wars’ should be settled in the market, not the courtroom
- PUBG Corp. Sues Epic Games In S. Korea Over Gameplay Similarities That Probably Aren’t Copyrightable
- Winner winner copycat dinner – IP protection of battle royale game mechanics
- Flight-sim maker threatens legal action over Reddit posts discussing DRM
- Panic at 30,000 virtual feet: Controversial flight sim aircraft maker threatens reddit mods with libel legal action, mods hit back.
- An open letter to Flight Sim Labs
- FlightSimLabs Installs More Questionable Stuff On Users’ Machines, Then Threatens Reddit
- UK ad regulator hits out at gambling site for game ads of ‘particular appeal to children’
- Popular Twitch Streamer Makes An Example Of Her Harassers
- Bury Me, My Love and MyoBeatz among 2018 Games for Change Awards nominees
- Twitch To Promote LGBTQ+ Streamers, Launch Rainbow Emotes In Honor Of Pride Month
- We’re experimenting with Twitch content to catch up on zillions of video games
- Twitch promotes Pride Month, raises money for Human Rights Campaign: Throughout June, Twitch will spotlight LGBTQ+ creators and celebrate diversity across its platform
- One-third of UK women gamers report abuse or discrimination from male gamers: Bryter survey shows many women avoid online play or identification as gamers due to fear of abuse
- Video: A postmortem look at Rocket League’s language ban system
- Ex-Microsoft exec J Allard speaks to the game industry’s inherent burnout problem
- Microsoft Studios head: ‘It’s really important to think about the longevity of a game’
- Using AI to take the “emotional work” out of community management – Spirit AI’s Dr Mitu Khandaker: “We are trying to make the lives of community managers and moderators easier”
- Fear the reaper: Activision sunsetting Guitar Hero TV later this year
- Guitar Hero Live goes offline in December, making 92% of songs unplayable
- New iOS App Store guidelines ok timed demos but put the kibosh on the Steam Link App
- Steam updates game-content guidelines, will include “something that you hate”
- Steam “might have killed our business”: Developers behind mature visual novels describe the “chilling effect” of ad hoc game removals and Valve’s radio silence
- Valve: We shouldn’t be choosing what you’re allowed to create or play
- Australian gamers could face throttled data usage
- Asus’ insane gaming phone has 3 USB ports, clip-on cooling fan
- Indiegogo working with debt collectors to refund Sinclair ZX Vega+ backers
- Indiegogo confirms debt collectors will recoup crowdfunding money for ZX Spectrum Vega+: Crowdfunding platform says Retro Computers Ltd failed to meet requirements for mid-June extension
- Free-to-play Pokemon Quest passes 1M downloads on Switch
- Fortnite among the Switch ports reportedly coming to E3
- GameStop’s Q1 earnings can’t match last year’s Switch-driven highs
- 56% of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon’s 100k week-one sales were on Switch
- Square Enix now has a dev group devoted to making Switch games
- Citing the declining premium mobile market, Square Enix backs away from Go series
- Square Enix Montreal abandons Go series, will continue work on mobile: Studio head cites rising quality of free mobile games, shrinking audience for pay-up-front titles
- Nier: Automata has shipped 3M copies worldwide
- Why Codemasters is finally ready to float: Ten years on from its aborted IPO, the UK racing specialist discusses how games-as-a-service and the push to mobile will secure its future
- Onrush: The shooter-inspired racer that saved the Evolution team – Two years on from Sony’s shock decision to close the Driveclub developer, the team is back with a title that aims to reinvent the genre
- A host of new security enhancements is coming to iOS and macOS
- App Store devs have made $100B in revenue since store launched
- iOS developers have made $100 billion since App Store launched: 20 million companies now registered as developers for Apple’s mobile platform
- Games account for 75% of App Store spending: 66 per cent of iOS games spending comes from APAC territories alone
- Analyst: 77% of the 4.5M apps on iOS are games, down from past years
- Porting iOS games to MacOS should be easier next year, says Apple
- Developers can now offer free trials on the App Store
- New App Store Review Guidelines also clarify rules around multi-platform apps like Steam Link
- Blog: The perks of soft-launching your game on Itch.io before Steam
- Why Platinum Games may never work with a publisher again: Co-founders Hideki Kamiya and Atsushi Inaba discuss the acclaimed studio’s self-funded future and determination to own its IP
- Jack Tretton’s indie investment fund will target UE4 projects: Interactive Gaming Ventures will make up to 21 investments in projects using Epic’s engine
- Bungie nets $100M+ from China’s NetEase, aims to create ‘new worlds’
- Bungie gets more than $100 million investment from NetEase: As Destiny studio sells minority stake, CEO Pete Parsons discusses the incubation process for its next new world and the possibility of self-publishing
- The Elder Scrolls: Legends development switched to Sparkypants Studios – Transition away from Dire Wolf Studios will include new client, UI, and visuals, same game design
- Paradox Interactive to acquire Battletech dev Harebrained Schemes
- Paradox: “If a game can’t be played for 500 hours we probably shouldn’t be publishing it” – Paradox Interactive’s management team on moving beyond “premium plus DLC” to a more flexible future
- How Minit’s team found creativity through limitations: The indie title’s four developers discovered freedom within its restrictions, and made a game “without stressing the hell out”
- World Cup fever propels FIFA 18 back to No.1 in UK charts – But Detroit: Become Human, Far Cry 5 and God of War still manage to fend off retro-centric new releases
- Battlefront II developer EA Motive expands with Vancouver opening
- Evolve’s dedicated servers are being switched off in September
- Evolve servers to shut down in September: Publisher 2K confirms end for AAA game turned free-to-play
- Don’t Miss: Looking back at how Evolve was retrofitted for accessibility
- Activision ending Guitar Hero TV in December: iOS version already removed from the App Store
- Bethesda stream for new Fallout game pulls 2m unique viewers: “We have had over two million unique visitors to this stream to watch, I don’t know what, nothing,” said Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard
- The Elder Scrolls: Legends is swapping devs one year after launch
- Fig nabs blockchain outfit Ownage to help create new digital publishing platform
- Fig acquires blockchain startup Ownage Ltd: UK company will help build the “Shard” decentralized publishing platform
- Indiegogo extends deadline for ZX Spectrum Vega+ as June shipping date announced: Retro Computers Ltd “still determined to deliver the Vega+” despite ongoing dispute with former project leads
- Intellivision returns with new console, president: Tommy Tallarico and veteran team plan ’80s revival as Intellivision Entertainment
- VR title Beat Saber hits 100,000 sales in a month – Update: Hyperbolic Magnetism’s rhythm game nears estimated $2 million in first month revenue
- New XRDC Healthcare Report offers insight into how AR/VR/MR is shaping medicine
- Arc System Works introduces ‘non-negotiable’ streaming guidelines: Developer threatens breaches with potential channel strike or account suspension
- Riot Games donating 100% of ‘Dark Star Cho’Gath’ skin sales to charity
- Riot Games donating all proceeds from limited edition skin to charity: Skin designed with League of Legends fan through The Make-A-Wish Foundation
- Activision Blizzard sells out Barclays Center for esports championship
- Overwatch League™ Grand Finals Sells Out Barclays Center: Fans purchased more than 20,000 tickets to the esports championship in Brooklyn, New York – The largest esports event ever slated at Barclays Center sold out within two weeks of its public on-sale
- High school esports firm PlayVS raises $15 million
- Arena of Valor tournament will mark Tencent’s E3 debut: Partnership with ESL will see playoffs hosted in Los Angeles ahead of next month’s $550,000 World Cup
- Ubisoft tests limited revenue sharing for Rainbow Six Pro League: Pilot program to see 11 teams take portion of in-game item sales for one year before revenue sharing introduced for entire league
- Ubisoft CEO: ‘There will be one more console generation … after that, we will be streaming’
- Deep UX: The last “Here Be Dragons” area of modern game development – IT Territory’s Alexsandr Enin on embracing negative, emotional feedback to boost HAWK’s already high retention
- Americans largely won’t pay to win a video game – but Chinese gamers will
- One man is auctioning off 40 years of gaming history today
- Blog: The evolution of boss design in video games
- The original Doom, one of 64 Objects that shaped video game history
- Rare Japanese games rediscovered after 67GB folder leaks online
- Early Pokemon Gold and Silver demo uncovers scrapped content
- The great video game exodus
- Ted Dabney, a Founder of Atari and a Creator of Pong, Dies at 81
Jon
News of the Week; May 30, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- A Matter of Trust: What Is Happening at the CRTC? (Michael Geist)
- Who Needs an iPhone Tax: Canadian Music Industry Instead Calls for $40 Million Annual Handout (Michael Geist)
- Wireless Carrier Abuse Of Location Data Makes The Facebook, Cambridge Scandal Look Like Amateur Hour
- ESPN Analysts Routinely Told Execs Not To Worry About Cord Cutting
- No, Counting The Number Of Patent Infringement Lawsuits Is Not A Good Way To Quantify A Company’s IP Ethics
- No, The FTC Is Not Going To Do A Good Job Policing Net Neutrality
- Trump hits campaign trail to endorse key foe of net neutrality rules
- Shockingly, Streaming Providers Are Dominating Cable At Customer Satisfaction
- Comcast may soon control what you pay to watch your favorite sports teams
- Comcast Exposes Customer WiFi SSIDs and Passwords For Customers Paying To Rent A Comcast Router
- California Senate defies AT&T, votes for strict net neutrality rules
- FCC Republican asks Amazon and eBay to boost crackdown on pirate TV boxes
- Charter Claims NY Lawsuit Over Crappy Broadband Speeds Just An Evil, Netflix ‘Cabal’
- Submission of Civil Society Coalition at WIPO SCCR 36 on Broadcasters’ Rights Treaty
DIGITAL
- Google Fails To Amend Canadian De-Indexing Injunction Despite California Court Order: Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Jack, 2018 BCSC 610
- Court Says It’s Unconstitutional For Trump To Block People On Twitter, But Doesn’t Actually Order Him To Stop
- U.S. District Court Rules President Trump Can’t Block Critical Followers
- President Trump Violated the First Amendment by Blocking Users @realdonaldtrump
- Six or Seven Things Social Media Can Do For Democracy
- Nurse Disciplined for Unprofessional Posts on Social Media Loses Appeal
- Cloud-based quantum computer takes on deuteron and wins
- Should Bots Have a Right to Free Speech? This Non-Profit Thinks So.
- Personalized, Brainwave-Guided Movies Are Cool, As Long As You’re The One Steering
- DHS Fusion Center Gets Request For Documents On Extremists, Decides To Hand Over Mind Control Docs Instead
- NHL Aims to Debut ‘Smart Puck’ Tech in 2019
- Alibaba’s Youku to Stream World Cup Soccer in China
- YouTube Confirms Test Of Subscriptions Feed Driven By Algorithm And Not Chronology, Angering Creators
- YouTube Premium To Launch Travel Soccer Series With Trickster Duo F2 Freestylers
- YouTube’s Live Stream Of The Recent Royal Wedding Drew 11.2 Million Total Viewers
- Spanish YouTube Star El Rubius Says He Has “Hit A Wall,” Announces Break From YouTube
- YouTube Has Deleted 30 ‘Drill’ Music Videos For Fueling Gang Violence In The U.K.
- Egyptian Government Set To Ban YouTube For One Month Six Years After Release Of Anti-Muslim Video
- YouTube Music will replace Google Play Music but won’t kill user uploads
- Two 18-Year-Olds Arrested In Paris For VEVO Hacks Of Top YouTube Videos Like “Despacito”
- Vevo Is Killing Off Its Mobile Apps, Website to Refocus on YouTube
- Vevo To Shut Down Website, Apps In Order To “Remain Focused On Engaging The Biggest Audiences”
- Vevo Flop Shows, Once Again, How Badly The Record Labels Underestimate Technology
- Insights: Between ‘Solo’ Misfire And Comcast Pitch, Is Disney’s Streaming Strategy Still A Winner?
- Barack Obama Reveals General Content Plans For New Netflix Deal
- Netflix stocks hit record high making it more valuable than Disney – but only for a few hours: The streaming giant also surpassed estimations on subscriber growth, with a total of 125 million worldwide
- Hulu Orders BuzzFeed-Produced Documentary About R. Kelly’s Alleged History Of Sexual Abuse
- Facebook Tools Are Used to Screen Out Older Job Seekers, Lawsuit Claims
- Facebook Will Label Political Ads, Reveal Who Paid For Them, And Show Who They Targeted
- Wherein Facebook Messes Up Elections By Trying Not To Mess Up Elections
- ‘FacePause’ Desktop Extension Automatically Halts YouTube Videos Upon An Averted Gaze
- Facebook Funds Comedy Series From Sarah Silverman and Group Nine’s JASH
- Your Worst Alexa Nightmares Are Coming True
- Amazon confirms that Echo device secretly shared user’s private audio
- Amazon Alexa Instantaneously Justifies Years Of Surveillance Paranoia
- Don’t Freak Out About That Amazon Alexa Eavesdropping Situation
- Google Just Turned a Huge Corner in the Smart Speaker Game
- Google zooms by Amazon in smart speaker shipments, report says
- Yelp’s Newest Campaign: Asking Google To Do The Right Thing
- Court docs show Apple knew about the bendiness of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus
- 187 Things The Blockchain Is Supposed To Fix
- A Scottish Clinic Will Now Treat “Cryptocurrency Addiction”
- The DoJ is reportedly probing the murky world of bitcoin trading
- Sanctions: Iran, Russia, OFAC and cryptocurrencies
- Russian unit, GRU officer linked to 2014 shoot-down of airliner over Ukraine
- Uber’s Self-Driving Car Saw The Woman It Killed, Report Says
- NTSB: Uber’s sensors worked; its software utterly failed in fatal crash
- Tesla Agrees to Settle Class Action Suit Over ‘Essentially Unusable’ Autopilot Feature
- Snapchat Launches ‘Yellow’, A $1.5 Million Accelerator Program For Mobile Content Creators
- Forget The GDPR, The EU’s New Copyright Proposal Will Be A Complete And Utter Disaster For The Internet
- The Demise Of Copyright Toleration
- Why Is This Happening? The internet is terrible now, and Tim Wu knows why: Chris Hayes asks professor Tim Wu what created the conditions for the current angst surrounding our online experience.
- The Collapse of UN Talks on the Application of International Law in Cyberspace: Why It Matters to U.S. Businesses
CREATIVITY
- Harmonizing Tariff Regimes and Statutory Minimum Damages: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? (Howard Knopf)
- Batiste v. Lewis
- Cabell v. Zorro Productions, Inc.
- Monkey-Selfie Case Returns – To Court & (Maybe) a Theater Near You
- The Monkey Selfie Lawsuit Will Never, Ever Die: Appeals Court Judge Wants A Do Over
- Use of “sound-alike” music in advertising ‒ key legal issues
- Who owns an idea?: It’s a question the law can struggle to answer, particularly when it comes to fiction
- Canadian Copyright, Fair Dealing and Education, Part Three: Exploring the Impact of Site Licensing at Canadian Universities (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Copyright, Fair Dealing and Education, Part Four: Fixing Fair Dealing for the Digital Age (Michael Geist)
- Woof: The Prosecco People Successfully Oppose A Pet-Treat Company’s ‘Pawsecco’ Trademark Application
- On Graffiti, Public Art and Snoopy
- Copyright Term: When Does a Work Enter the Public Domain?
- Amanda Palmer: Hands Up! I Have a Picture of a Toddler, and I’m not Afraid to Use it
- The right of communication to the public … in a chart (Eleonora Rosati)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Guidance on Consent and Inappropriate Data Practices issued by Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
- Open Letter To Francisco Partners: Request For Follow Up On Apparent Misuse Of Sandvine Technology And Sale Of NSO Group To Verint Systems (Citizen Lab)
- U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses U.S. v. Microsoft as Moot After CLOUD Act Signed Into Law: Court Declares That There is No Longer a Live Controversy Over a Warrant Requiring Microsoft to Disclose Customer Data Stored Overseas
- DOJ, FBI Issuing Corrections To Statements, Testimony Containing Bogus Uncracked Device Numbers
- Apple’s Latest Transparency Report Shows Gov’t Still Not All That Interested In Seeking Warrants
- A trip to the ER with your phone may mean injury lawyer ads for weeks
- Yahoo hacker whose work compromised 500M accounts sentenced to 5 years
- SS7 routing-protocol breach of US cellular carrier exposed customer data
- Amazon confirms that Echo device secretly shared user’s private audio
- FBI tells router users to reboot now to kill malware infecting 500k devices
- Report On Milwaukee PD Body Cams Show Fewer Complaints, Fewer Stops, But No Reduction In Use Of Force
- ICE Trying To Deport Journalist For Reporting On Abusive ICE Behavior
- Europe’s New Data Protections Will Affect You Too. Here’s How.
- Dozens of American News Sites Blocked in Europe as GDPR Goes Into Effect Today
- The GDPR: Ghastly, Dumb, Paralyzing Regulation It’s Hard To Celebrate
- EU Parliament’s Own Website Violates The GDPR
- GDPR jokes to help ease the pain
- Two States Are Trying To Give People Control Over Their Online Data
GAMES
- PUBG Corp files copyright lawsuit against Epic Games: Korean developer began proceedings in January, alleging Fortnite plagiarises PUBG
- PUBG Corp. files copyright infringement lawsuit against Fortnite dev Epic Games
- Fortnite sold 5 million battle passes on the first day of Season 3: Analyst Michael Pachter relates success, predicts more games moving to cosmetics as a result
- Fortnite, God of War break monthly revenue records – Superdata: Epic’s battle royale makes $296 million in April; God of War becomes fastest-selling PS4-exclusive
- Interactive Gaming Ventures and Epic Games team up to fund UE4 indies
- Gamers involved in December’s “swatting” death just got indicted
- Charity calls on Valve to remove ‘school shooting simulator’ from Steam store: Game described as “horrendous” by Infer Trust
- Valve removes mass shooting game and its ‘troll’ dev from Steam
- School Shooting Game Angers Steam Users, Developer ‘Likely’ Changing It
- Valve removes school shooting game, along with developer’s entire catalogue: Creator of Active Shooter identified as previously banned ‘troll’ developer Ata Berdiyev
- Opinion: So, you want to talk about porn on Steam
- Valve’s Steam Link app blocked by Apple due to ‘business conflicts’
- Apple has rejected iOS version of Steam Link app, Valve says
- Steam Link app rejected by Apple: Valve’s appeal has been denied; Android version already in beta
- Syrian refugee games developer denied UK visa ahead of awards ceremony: Path Out co-creator Abdullah Karam feels “sad and mistreated” as his misses out on Indie Prize ceremony
- Honesty contributed to Subsurface Circular’s 2 percent refund rate
- US has the largest gender pay gap for video game streamers: Half of US women streamers go unpaid despite country’s higher-than-average spending on influencer support
- DICE GM pushes back against Battlefield V anger: “Player choice and female playable characters are here to stay,” says Oskar Gabrielson after complaints over game’s inclusion of women
- Battlefield V ditches season pass and loot boxes, takes on Red Dead Redemption 2: Electronic Arts plans to monetise upcoming blockbuster shooter with live service and cosmetics after its arrives on October 19th
- Battlefield V Shows How The Video Game Industry Is Turning On Loot Boxes
- Trade group prez: Loot box regulation “challenges our freedom to innovate”
- ESA: We can’t go to the “lowest common denominator of government” on loot boxes – Mike Gallagher warns against “over-reactions” to loot boxes influencing the industry
- Op-ed: Game companies need to cut the crap – loot boxes are obviously gambling – Much as game companies try to deny it, the truth is plain to see.
- Sony’s PlayStation 5 hints confirm an eight-year PS4 lifespan: Rejecting hardware updates in favour of a full generational refresh, Sony implies a PS4 successor will come in 2021 – but how big a leap can that offer?
- Hacker gets Super NES games running on unmodified NES
- Nintendo offers dockless Switch in Japan: The reduced-price ‘2nd Unit Set’ is being marketed to households that already own a Switch
- Nintendo starts selling cheaper, dock-free Switch, but only in Japan
- The first Pokemon RPG on the Switch takes cues from Niantic’s Pokemon Go
- Pokémon’s first Switch game launches in November, connects to Pokémon Go
- Game Freak & Nintendo debut a phone-friendly Pokemongame on the Switch
- Pokémon’s new evolution was inevitable: With two generations of fans, The Pokémon Company has made some big changes
- Pokémon profits down nearly 50% in company’s second most profitable year: Pokémon Go, Sun, and Moon accounted for the 2016 spike and subsequent fall-off
- Pokemon Company annual profits drop to a mere $80.8 million
- Zynga acquires mobile game dev Gram Games for $250 million
- Zynga splashes $250 million on Gram Games acquisition: But Frank Gibeau tells GamesIndustry.biz recovering firm is “not on a buying spree”, pips Merge Dragons as new “forever franchise”
- Hacker gets Super NES games running on unmodified NES
- The NES Classic Is Back – Here’s How To Make Sure You Get One
- Detroit Become Human: Critical Consensus –
- Quantic Dream has sued journalists for negative coverage, but judging from the reviews for the studio’s Detroit Become Human, the media isn’t holding it against the studio.
- Detroit: Become Human review: Robotic in all of the wrong ways
- ‘Detroit: Become Human’ dehumanizes everything it touches
- Wolfenstein 2 accounted for speedrunners in its design
- H1Z1 gains early F2P traction on PlayStation 4
- Caffeine rolls out stream monetization program, complete with payouts for devs
- Mixer rolls out MixPlay, a tool for creating interactive stream overlays
- US has the largest gender pay gap for video game streamers: Half of US women streamers go unpaid despite country’s higher-than-average spending on influencer support
- Battle royale players are among the most engaged gamers, report finds – Newzoo: 88 per cent of battle royale players spend money in-game, compared to 75 per cent of traditional competitive game players
- Kids On YouTube Keep Making Videos About Scamming Fortnite V-Bucks From Their Parents
- ESPN+ to Live-Stream ‘League of Legends’ Esports Events Under New, Non-Exclusive Pact
- Minecraft reaches 100 million downloads in China: Approaching 250 million downloads worldwide
- How premium PC games continue to rise, surprise in China
- Media Molecule: Avoiding the “soul tax” of making games – At the Nordic Game Conference, Siobhan Reddy offered advice on protecting people and culture against the pressures of development
- Echo and Little Nightmares clean up at 2018 Nordic Game Awards: Ultra Ultra’s sci-fi adventure wins three categories, including Game of the Year, while Tarsier Studios’ dark title takes two
- Former Dragon Age director reflects on the ups and downs of development
- Mobile dev Voodoo secures an estimated $200M investment from Goldman Sachs
- YoYo Games opens publishing division to elevate GameMaker Studio 2 projects
- Wargaming reportedly closes Seattle studio: Formerly Gas Powered Games, the studio employed around 150 people
- Just Cause dev Avalanche Studios acquired by Nordisk Film
- UK indie chain Games Centre enters liquidation: Another games retailer disappears from the High Street
- After 3+ decades as a private firm, UK dev Codemasters is going public
- Codemasters valued at £280m as it prepares to go public: Developer expected to raise £15 million for expansion into mobile
- Voodoo secures $200m Goldman Sachs investment: French mobile developer looks to double its staff by year’s end
- Andrew Maximov: “Technology is actually going to make us better artists” – Industry veterans say artificial intelligence will enable artists, not replace them
- Video: How inequality (both real and virtual) shapes player behavior
- Carmack: New 5K × 5K Mobile VR Playback Tech Will ‘set the bar for VR video quality’
- Qualcomm launches a new chip specifically for standalone AR and VR devices
- Revenue expected to double this year for augmented and mixed reality: Virtual reality revenue will fall behind AR/MR by 2021, says SuperData
- HTC Announces Strategic Partnerships With MLB & McLaren Formula One Team
- How the BattleTech devs built an engrossing tactics game on a budget
- Video: What game designers really want out of AI
- Researchers teach AI to play ‘hard’ games by showing it YouTube videos
- Video: Unproven game AI techniques that might just work
- Nintendo, Microsoft and EA Veterans Join to Create the Future of Blockchain Gaming
- Players get credit for evolution–and stagnation–of gaming narrative: What Remains of Edith Finch developer Ian Dallas says the market is pushing the medium forward in some ways, tying its hands in others
- Insights: We Have Influencers And Games, But Why Not More Games From Influencers?
- What does GDPR mean for PR?: Leading UK games agencies tell us how new privacy regulations are refining their processes and better relationships with press
- GDPR changes prompt Torn Banner Studios to shut downMirage: Arcane Warfare
- A Critical Analysis of Kinect Star Wars’ “I’m Han Solo” Song, the Definitive Text on the Character
Jon
News of the Week; May 23, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Judge For Yourself: Bell Says It Didn’t Meet CRTC to Review the FairPlay Application, But Here’s the Slide Presentation (Michael Geist)
- Rupert Murdoch Believes In The Free Market… Until His Company Is Struggling: Then He Wants To Regulate Competitors
- Disney’s Plans to Buy Fox Just Hit a Major Snag and Its Name Is Comcast
- Comcast confirms plan to buy 21st Century Fox and control of Hulu
- Comcast bug made it shockingly easy to steal customers’ Wi-Fi passwords
- Comcast Found To Be Charging $90 Installation Fees At Homes Where Comcast Is Already In Use
- TV regulation in a digital age
- Senators Demand FCC Answer for Fake Comments After Realizing Their Identities Were Stolen
- Senators Ask FCC Why It Did Nothing To Stop Their Names From Being Fraudulently Used During Net Neutrality Repeal
- FCC is hurting consumers to help corporations, Mignon Clyburn says on exit
- Net Neutrality Is Just A Gateway To The Real Issue: Internet Freedom (Susan Crawford)
- Charter Uses Net Neutrality Repeal To Claim States Can’t Hold It Accountable For Shoddy Service, Failed Promises
- ISPs and Ajit Pai are really sad about Senate’s vote for net neutrality
- A preview of the FTC’s role in monitoring broadband markets following the FCC’s adoption of the Restoring Internet Freedom Order
- FTC Commissioner calls for stricter penalties and structural remedies against recidivist companies that violate consent orders
- T-Mobile should stop claiming it has “Best Unlimited Network,” ad group says
- Supreme Court Strikes Down Law against Sports Betting – But Broadcasters Need to Proceed with Caution
- Website leaked real-time location of most US cell phones to almost anyone
- Nearly Everyone In The U.S. And Canada Just Had Their Private Cell Phone Location Data Exposed
- FCC investigates site that let most US mobile phones’ location be exposed
- Verizon Begins ‘Testing’ DSL Usage Caps It Refuses To Call Usage Caps
- The ‘Race To 5G’ Is Largely Just Marketing Nonsense
DIGITAL
- Media can’t be an arm of the police, Vice lawyer tells Supreme Court hearing: Reporter Ben Makuch challenging ruling he must hand over info on terrorists to RCMP
- Trump’s Twitter blocking violates First Amendment, court rules: The “interactive space” around Trump tweets is a public forum, judge rules.
- Trump feels presidential smartphone security is “too inconvenient”
- President Trump Thinks Basic Phone Security Is Simply Too Inconvenient
- New Malaysian Prime Minister Who Promised To Kill ‘Fake News’ Law Decides It Might Be Useful Now That He’s In Power
- Turkish President Visits UK To Remind Everyone He Still Wants To Punish Critical Speech
- FBI seizes domain Russia allegedly used to infect 500,000 consumer routers
- Hackers infect 500,000 consumer routers all over the world with malware: VPNFilter can survive reboots and contains destructive “kill” function.
- All of Mugshots.com’s alleged co-owners arrested on extortion charges: Mugshots.com is a “business permeated with fraud,” California AG says.
- Mugshots.com Operators Arrested For Letting Money Influence Editorial Decisions
- North Korea-tied hackers used Google Play and Facebook to infect defectors
- Cambridge Analytica files for bankruptcy amidst “siege” of negative attention
- What Happened To Facebook’s Grand Plan To Wire The World?: Five years ago Mark Zuckerberg debuted a bold, humanitarian vision of global internet. It didn’t go as planned – forcing Facebook to reckon with the limits of its own ambition.
- Mark Zuckerberg Played Parliament for Fools and They’re Pissed
- Facebook Is Testing Its Own Influencer Marketing Platform
- Facebook Moderation Ramps Up In Germany And Everything Keeps Getting Worse For Its Users
- Instagram Finally Rolls Out ‘Mute’ Button, 3 Years After Twitter Unveiled Feature
- There Is No Magic Bullet For Moderating A Social Media Platform
- Fed Up With Apple’s Policies, App Developers Form A ‘Union’
- Small group of iOS devs form “The Developers Union” to request App Store changes: There’s little in the way of organization, but some notable names are attached.
- Apple cracks down on CallKit-enabled apps in China’s App Store
- Apple, VW sign driverless car deal for Apple campus shuttles, NY Times sources say
- An Overview of Political Advertising Policies for Google, Twitter, and Snapchat
- Snapchat’s Parent Launches ‘Yellow’ Incubator Program for Mobile-Content Creators
- How Google-happy jurors are derailing Ontario trials
- Does Google’s Duplex violate two-party consent laws?
- Google Removes ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Clause From Its Code of Conduct
- Pretty Much All Tech Demos Are Fake as Hell
- Morgan Stanley Pegs YouTube’s Valuation At $160 Billion, Above Disney, Comcast, And Netflix
- Netflix and other online video are killing cable in customer satisfaction
- YouTube Red Renamed ‘YouTube Premium’, Price Upped From $10 To $12 Monthly
- New YouTube Music Premium costs $9.99 monthly, add $2 to get all Red perks
- Google announces YouTube Music and YouTube Premium: Goodbye, YouTube Red; hello, new premium services
- The Long, Checkered History Of YouTube’s Attempt To Launch A Music Service
- YouTube TV Channels For The Young Turks, Tastemade Now Live With 9 New Shows
- Rising NBA Star Jayson Tatum Learned Some Of His Best Moves From YouTube
- Lilly Singh Launches Inaugural Campaign As UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador To End Child Violence
- 89 Years After Popeye’s Introduction, The Sailor Man Is Coming To YouTube
- Twitch’s Longest TV Marathon So Far Will Include More Than 500 Episodes Of ‘Doctor Who’
- In New Video, Elle Mills Talks Mental Health, A Break From Social Media, And Being “Burnt Out At 19”
- Here’s How You Can Turn On The New YouTube Feature That Reminds You To Take A Break
- Magazine publishers with video ambitions see YouTube as safer bet than Facebook
- New Version Of YouTube Music Ready To Launch, Will Feature Smart Recommendations, Context-Based Search
- Barack And Michelle Obama Ink Multi-Year Content Partnership With Netflix
- How The Record Labels Screwed Up The Music Industry, And The Tech Industry Saved Them
- How The Recording Industry Hid Its Latest Attempt To Expand Copyright
- Minimize harmfulness of bots but don’t ban them
- Cross-sector code of conduct for AI – a solution with substance?
- New Requirements for Legal Analytics & Artificial Intelligence Under the GDPR
- Many Of Those Desperate GDPR Emails You’ve Been Getting Are Violating A Different EU Regulation
- Buyer Beware: Hundreds of Bitcoin Wannabes Show Hallmarks of Fraud – A Wall Street Journal analysis of 1,450 cryptocurrency offerings reveals rampant plagiarism, identity theft and promises of improbable returns
- Bitcoin Is Going To Use As Much Electricity As Austria By The Year’s End
- New study quantifies bitcoin’s ludicrous energy consumption
- “We have built the world that they told us existed”: Did the rise of young, white “Internet reporting” bolster the alt-right?
- Who Is Arthur Chu?: When Jeopardy ended, the real puzzles of online life began – Airing on PBS, new doc explores ups and downs of growing up – and growing in stature – online.
- The Balkanization Of The Internet (Andres Guadamuz)
CREATIVITY
- District Court in California recognizes plausible trademark rights over fictional Star Wars board game
- Congress’ Latest Move To Extend Copyright Protection Is Misguided (Lawrence Lessig)
- Who Needs a Copyright Small Claims Court? Evidence from the U.K.’s IP Enterprise Court
- Copyright fair use – “transformative” revisited: has the Second Circuit gone too far?
- Copyright Being Used To Prevent Actress From Showing Her Own Demo Reel
- Copyright Once Again Hiding Important Cultural Artifacts
- HBO Wins Stupid Copyright, Trademark Lawsuit Brought By Graffiti Artist Over 2 Seconds Of Background Scenery
- EPA boots reporters from meeting on chemicals called a PR disaster
- EPA’s War On Journalists Is Not A Good Look
- Fox News Staffers Reportedly Freaking Out Over New Workplace Rules
- And then, they took her cellphone
- This Video Explores the Experimental History of Scifi Book Covers
- Canadian Copyright, Fair Dealing and Education, Part Two: The Declining Value of the Access Copyright Licence (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Copyright, Fair Dealing and Education, Part One: Making Sense of the Spending (Michael Geist)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- ICE Abandons Efforts for Social Media Vetting Algorithm
- ICE Drops Extreme Vetting Software Plan After Discovering No One Could Possibly Deliver What It Wants
- Judge Allows Fourth Amendment Challenge Of Warrantless Device Searches At The Border To Continue
- Michigan Takes On The NSA With New Law, But Probably Won’t Have Much Of An Impact
- Senators to DOJ: Reveal your secret paragraph-long explanation of stingrays
- Not Paying Attention in Class?: China’s “Smart Eye” Will Snitch on You
- Illinois Users’ Face-Scanning Privacy Lawsuit Against Facebook Headed to Trial
- Police Surveillance Is Getting a Helping Hand from…Amazon!
- ACLU Obtains Documents Showing Amazon Is Handing Out Cheap Facial Recognition Tech To Law Enforcement
- Police use of Amazon’s face-recognition service draws privacy warnings
- Report Confirms Deep Flaws Of Automated Facial Recognition Software In The UK, Warns Its Use In The US Is Spreading
- FBI exaggerated the number of phones it can’t unlock by up to 550 percent
- FBI Admits It’s Been Using A Highly-Inflated Number Of Locked Devices To Push Its ‘Going Dark’ Narrative
- EFF Asks FBI, DOJ To Turn Over Details On Thousands Of Locked Phones The FBI Seems Uninterested In Cracking
- Blunder burns unicorn attack that exploited Windows and Reader
- Warning: the Federal Trade Commission will prosecute companies over consumer data breaches – its recommendations should be heeded
- As the Web moves toward HTTPS by default, Chrome will remove “secure” indicator
GAMES
- Judge Rules Copyright Lawsuit Over Tattoo Use in Video Game Can Proceed: What Might This Mean for the Video Game Industry and Virtual Sports Betting?
- Opinion: Illuminating the shadowy group celebrating Valve’s latest censorship drive
- Valve threatens to pull games now deemed ‘sexually explicit’ from Steam
- Valve advises sexualized anime-themed titles to censor content or be removed from Steam: HuniePop, Mutiny!!, Tropical Liquor and more received warnings today for “pornographic content”
- Steam games warned for “pornographic content” have warnings dismissed, subject to re-review
- Crunch can put devs at odds with their own mental health, warns Blizzard dev
- With Steam Link app, your smartphone can be an imperfect gaming monitor
- We Happy Few refused classification by Australian ratings board
- We Happy Few denied classification in Australia
- ADL partners with Global Game Jam, NYU’s Game Center to reduce hate in games
- UK government takes aim at online games in Internet Safety Strategy response
- Lack of oversight led to use of Overwatch art in Paladins Strike ad, says dev
- Overwatch art used in Paladins Strike ad due to “not much oversight”
- Overwatch to get Lego sets and Nerf merch: Activision Blizzard Consumer Products Group reveals new projects as it pursues more partners at Licensing Expo
- Chinese Overwatch League team practices for twelve hours, six days a week: Team with the “most intensive training scheme” in the league has so far not won a single game
- ‘We can launch games whenever we’re ready and whenever we want,’ says Guillemot
- Less AAA competition makes delays easier – Ubisoft: CEO Yves Guillemot says “we can launch games whenever we are ready,” with digital content, live services, new markets offsetting any loss in revenue from smaller slate
- Far Cry 5 and Assassin’s Creed Origins lead to record profit and sales for Ubisoft
- Capcom bringing Resident Evil 7 to Switch with experimental pricing
- Capcom experiements with streaming and new pricing in Resident Evil 7 for Switch: Cloud version of acclaimed horror title will be streamed via wifi, costs just £13 / $18 for six-month ‘play ticket’
- Capcom requires high-speed streaming to play Resident Evil 7 on Switch
- Owlboy turned profit on Nintendo Switch within 24 hours of release: Switch success “bodes really well for funding our future projects” says D-Pad CEO Jo-Remi Madsen
- Nintendo is selling a dock-free ‘Second Set’ Switch bundle in Japan
- Hearts of Iron IV sells one million copies
- GTA V has sold over 95 million copies worldwide
- Gameloft revenues fell 13% in Q1
- Ubisoft posts record sales, delays Skull & Bones: Original IP pushed to next fiscal year as publisher sees pace of digital shift picking up, eyes expansion in PC, mobile, and China
- iOS gamers are more loyal than Android, suggests Priori Data
- Rovio sees profits rise amid strong revenues from Angry Birds 2
- Rovio doubles down on Angry Birds with new content roadmap: Multimedia strategy includes stage shows, location-based events, and long form animated series
- Paradox Q1 profits up 270% – despite only one new game release: Outgoing CEO Fred Wester says quarter shows the value of retaining loyal players with expansions and more
- Paradox: “People were coming to us in droves asking if we could make board games” – And the Swedish publisher is now licensing its biggest IPs to do just that
- Less management, more success: Inside Supercell’s ‘upside-down’ organization
- Tencent acquires majority stake in Path of Exile dev Grinding Gear
- EA acquires talent, tech from GameFly’s cloud gaming service
- EA acquires GameFly subsidiary for cloud gaming: Israel-based team and technology will expand EA’s ability to offer its games across multiple devices
- FIFA and Call of Duty driving viewer growth in console esports: 20 million hours of console events watched in 2018 so far, but still only a fraction of esports’ overall viewership
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 won’t have a single-player campaign but will offer battle royale
- Black Ops 4 ditches single-player campaign, adds battle royale mode
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 ditches Steam in favor of Battle.net
- Analysis: Player interest in Call of Duty’s campaigns is cratering
- Gamelynx raises $1.2 million to develop esports games on mobile
- Gamelynx raises $1.2 million for mobile esports development: Investors include Riot Games, Y Combinator, and Skycatcher Fund
- NBA 2K League announces State Farm sponsorship
- Microsoft partnership brings video game event to Special Olympics USA Games
- One hundred meeeeellion dollars: Epic dumps serious cash into Fortnite esports
- Epic Games to provide $100 million prize pool for Fortnite esports this year
- Epic Games puts up $100M for Fortnite esports prize pool
- Fortnite Developer’s $100,000,000 Prize Pool Is Great News For Streamers
- ‘Fortnite’-Branded Products In The Works Following Pact Between Epic Games, IMG
- Battlegrounds mobile attracting over 10 million daily active users
- Oculus & ESL Partner on eSports VR League with $220,000 in Prizes, Including ‘Echo Combat’
- HTC Says Watching ‘Ready Player One’ Boosts VR Purchase Intent in China
- Oculus adds DLC support for mobile VR apps: Beta test opens up a new revenue stream, with Rift DLC support still to come
- Crowdfunded 3D Headphone Startup OSSIC is Shutting Down, 99% of Orders Go Undelivered
- Microsoft launches Xbox Adaptive Controller to make games more accessible
- Microsoft’s next Halo game is an arcade cabinet
- Minecraft surpasses 100M users in China on PC and mobile
- Eurogamer scoops multiple awards at first-ever Games Media Brit List
- ESRB points devs toward IARC ratings as it looks to phase out short-form option
- ESRB dropping short form ratings for digital games in June: Developers will still be able to get rated at no cost via IARC
- God of War helps PlayStation smash records in April NPD stats: Kratos’ return was best ever launch for a PlayStation exclusive, PS4 game sales reaches new high for the month
- Sony: PlayStation 4 is entering ‘final phase’ of its lifecycle
- Sony prepares for the “final phase” of PlayStation 4’s life-cycle
- Sony: Next PlayStation is at least three years off
- Sony: The next PlayStation is another three years away
- Reassessing the legacy of PlayStation Vita: As software production ends, it’s a good moment to reassess Sony’s handheld – its commercial failure looms large, but its innovations remain hugely influential
- PlayStation Vita game production will continue in Japan: Sony confirms physical games will still be released in home market beyond March 2019
- Sony: PS4 Enters “final phase of life cycle,” Next PlayStation to Come in 3 Years
- Sony takes a page from Microsoft by licensing customizable PS4 gamepad
- The future of PlayStation may be portable, says Sony exec
- Portable gaming shouldn’t be separate from consoles – PlayStation head: Newly appointed John Kodera says company is considering portable gaming options, signalling a change from previous management’s thinking
- Jagex shutting down RuneScape Classic after 17 years
- Jagex shutting down RuneScape Classic: Problems with community safety, botting, and bugs led to the decision to shut down the 17-year-old game
- Wargaming Seattle is shutting down
- Cultural approaches to horror game design
Jon
News of the Week; May 16, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Fair Play for FairPlay?: Bell Presented Its Site Blocking Plan to the CRTC Months Before It Became Public (Michael Geist)
- House of Commons Ethics Committee Recommends Rejecting Bell Coalition Website Blocking Plan (Michael Geist)
- Not So Fast: Digging into MEI’s Report on the State of Canadian Wireless Services (Michael Geist)
- AT&T Continues Fight To Gut FTC Authority Over Broadband Monopolies
- AT&T says hiring Trump lawyer was “big mistake,” forces top lobbyist out
- AT&T Chief Says It Made a ‘Big Mistake’ Hiring Michael Cohen
- Democrats demand answers on AT&T’s $600,000 payment to Trump’s lawyer
- AT&T Cans Exec Over Cohen Payment Kerfuffle, Pretends This Kind Of Influence Peddling Isn’t Perfectly Routine
- Trump vows to reopen smartphone giant ZTE to save Chinese jobs
- Trump eliminates national cyber-coordinator job, gives Bolton keys to the cybers
- Senate Votes To Save Net Neutrality, But Hurdles Remain
- Senate Approves First Step In Uphill Effort To Restore Net Neutrality
- Senate votes to overturn Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal
- Net neutrality to die on June 11, as Ajit Pai blasts “special interests”
- Senate Will Vote Wednesday To Try And Save Net Neutrality
- Defying Republicans, Senate Democrats schedule vote to save net neutrality
- This Is Ajit Pai, Nemesis Of Net Neutrality
- US Senate forces vote to restore net neutrality: If it passes, the vote goes to the House of Representatives, followed by the President’s desk
- Net neutrality officially ends June 11: Challenges to the change are unlikely to take forceful effect in time, though reversal remains possible
- FCC Boss Celebrates As Net Neutrality Gets An End Date: June 11
- Here’s the Name of Every Senator Who Voted Against Net Neutrality—and When to Vote Them Out
- Comcast charges $90 install fee at homes that already have Comcast installed
- Comcast Still Makes A Killing, Even When You Cut The Cord
- T-Mobile Hires Ex-FCC Commissioner To Claim Its Competition-Killing Merger Will Be Really Great For…Farmers
- Settlement of Alleged CASL Violations – Messages Sent without Compliant Unsubscribe Mechanism
DIGITAL
- It’s Over: The Podcast Patent Troll’s Patent is Officially And Completely Dead
- Supreme Court declines to hear “podcasting patent” case, handing win to EFF
- Here are the Russian-made Facebook ads that tried to shake American politics
- 7 Takeaways from the Latest Batch of Russian-Bought Facebook Ads: House Democrats released over 3,000 Facebook and Instagram ads purchased by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency. Here’s what we learned.
- It’s Begun: Facebook Just Banned 200 Apps For Abusing User Data
- Facebook suspends ~200 suspicious apps out of “thousands” reviewed so far
- How Facebook Can Better Fight Fake News: Make Money Off the People Who Promote It
- California Gov’t Thinks It Might Be Able To Regulate Fake News Sometime Before 2020
- How Facebook Binds – And Shatters – Communities
- Facebook Watch To Spend Up To $10 Million Per Series Amid News Programming Push (Report)
- New Commissioner Says FTC Should Get Tough on Companies Like Facebook and Google: Citing lax treatment of corporate malefactors, Rohit Chopra calls for the FTC to impose more significant penalties when companies violate its orders.
- Could Cambridge Analytica happen again?
- Iran’s President Comes Out Against His Country’s Ban On Telegram
- Spotify’s Ban on Hateful Content and Conduct Is ‘Too Subjective’ and ‘Dangerous,’ Experts Say
- Merlin Sells All of Its Spotify Shares for an Estimated $125 Million-Plus
- Apple Music Passes 50 Million Subscribers, Including Free Trials
- Online Ad Targeting Does Work – As Long As It’s Not Creepy
- Minnesota Judges Refuse To Unmask Defendants For Copyright Troll Strike 3
- Danish ISPs That Teamed Up To Beat Back Copyright Trolls Get Huge Legal Win
- Japan’s Largest Cable Provider Pacts With Fullscreen To Launch Local Digital Network
- The revamped Google News app is now available on iPhones and iPads
- Area Man, Obscure Sidekick Asked to Leave Google Fiber’s Austin Office by the Police
- Google Employees Resign in Protest Against Pentagon Contract
- A dozen Google employees quit over military drone project
- Could Google’s creepy new AI push us to a tipping point?
- Brave new world: some legal considerations in using AI and IoT Systems
- Robots Behaving Badly: Legal Responsibility In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence (Andres Guadamuz)
- Robot U: The First American A.I. Undergrad Program is Here, and Already Incredibly Elite
- Can This AI-Powered Baby Translator Help Diagnose Autism?
- Stop Using Discriminatory AI, Human Rights Groups Say
- All the Rage in Sweden: Embedding Microchips Under Your Skin
- The Next Blockchain Revolution? Crypto-Powered Beer Vending Machines
- When The Blockchain Skeptic Walked Into The Lions’ Den
- Blockchain Reaction
- Blockchain as a Content Distribution Technology: Copyright Issues Abound
- Could Blockchain Disrupt How We Protect Our Intellectual Property?
- FedEx Wants To Track Packages On The Blockchain, So You’ll Know Exactly Who Dropped Your Stuff
- Can you trust blockchain?
- AI trained to navigate develops brain-like location tracking
- Tech Firms Move To Put Ethical Guard Rails Around AI
- What do AI and blockchain mean for the rule of law?
- Bing Prohibits Cryptocurrency Advertising
- Cryptocurrency has been great for GPU makers—that might change soon
- Report: Bitcoin money laundering suspect spared from prison poison plot
- Man who claims he created bitcoin committed perjury, lawsuit says
- Goldman Sachs Just Launched A New Cryptocurrency
- Crypto Is “Taking us Back to the 1830s?” Here’s What That Fed Branch President Means.
- Apple Slapped With Class Action Lawsuit Over Faulty MacBook Pro Keyboards
- Amazon Prime members to get new discounts at Whole Foods
- Twitter will hide more bad tweets in conversations and searches: Another move to reduce abuse
- Klout is out—social media mojo-ranking service to shutter
- Who Pays The Most, And Least, In Silicon Valley?
- YouTube Defeats Another Remove-and-Relocate Lawsuit–Song Fi v. Google
- Cambodian YouTubers In Legal Jeopardy For Skinning, Eating Endangered Animals On Film
- Cisco Announces YouTube Ad Boycott, Citing Fear Of A “Brand-Tarnishing Experience”
- YouTube Adding Songwriter, Label, And Publisher Credits To All Official And User-Generated Music Videos
- Incognito Mode May Soon Bring More Privacy To Users Of YouTube’s Mobile App
- YouTube Launches Upgraded Charts
- Ahead Of Royal Wedding, Meghan Markle Videos Have Received 94 Million Views On YouTube In 2018
- Jeffrey Katzenberg Raises $800 Million To Develop YouTube-Length Shows On Netflix-Sized Budgets
- As Her Channel Turns 10, Alisha Marie Announces Brief Break Due To Creative Burnout
- YouTube’s new ‘take a break’ notifications are part of Google’s focus on your digital well-being: If YouTube eats up too much of your time, perhaps the notifications will be helpful
- Robert Downey Jr. To Bring Series About Artificial Intelligence To YouTube Red
- Can we stop technology from amplifying society’s inequalities? Perhaps, if we act now.
- ‘Cobra Kai’: YouTube Red’s ‘Karate Kid’ Sequel Outperforms Netflix, Hulu Shows
- Netflix To Allocate 85% Of Upcoming Content Spend On Original Series And Films
- Formula 1 finally launched its livestream—and it was a total mess
- Materially and Substantively Modifying Online Articles Restarts the Clock in NJ Defamation Claims
- What does GDPR mean for journalists?: From 25 May 2018, General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, will be enforced by regulators across Europe.
- GDPR will pop the adtech bubble
- Companies Respond To The GDPR By Blocking All EU Users
- Bittersweet DMCA Safe Harbor Defense Win in Ninth Circuit–Ventura v. Motherless
- Venture Beat Reporter Abuses DMCA To Silence A Critic
- As Intermediary Liability Is Under Attack, Stanford Releases Updated Tool To Document The State Of Play Globally
- A DMCA Section 512(f) Case Survives Dismissal–ISE v. Longarzo
- Jails are replacing visits with video calls—inmates and families hate it
- The True History Of ‘Yanny’ And ‘Laurel’
- The Fundamental Nihilism Of Yanny vs. Laurel
CREATIVITY
- The Man with the Tiger Tattoo
- The Ninth Circuit STILL Thinks Keyword Metatags Matter in 2018–Adidas v. Skechers
- When Plaid Goes Bad – Burberry Files Infringement Suit Against Target Over Burberry’s Iconic Plaid Design
- What Artists Can Teach Us About Making Technology More Human
- Gynecologist Dr. Drai can use name, even if Dr. Dre doesn’t like it, judge says
- Rap or Pap? Dr. Dre Loses Trademark Battle With Dr. Drai, A Gynecologist
- For the Love of God, Stop Asking the Black PantherCast to Do the ‘Wakanda Forever’ Salute
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Shining A Light On The Encryption Debate: A Canadian Field Guide
- Ad Software Dev Doesn’t Like Being Called Out For Privacy Violations ; Sends Threatening Letter To Researchers Who Exposed It
- Email No Longer a Secure Method of Communication After Critical Flaw Discovered in PGP
- Critical PGP and S/MIME bugs can reveal encrypted emails – uninstall now
- It has been a bad week for encrypted messaging and it’s only Wednesday
- Encrypted Email Has A Major, Divisive Flaw
- Ex-CIA employee ID’d but not charged in Vault 7 leak of hacking tools
- Georgia Governor Vetoes Terrible Cybersecurity Law That Would Have Criminalized Security Research
- “Like stealing candy from a baby,” arrested teen says of his phishing efforts
- The LAPD’s Terrifying Palantir-Powered Policing Algorithm Was Just Uncovered and Yes It’s Basically ‘Minority Report’
- How a “location API” allows cops to figure out where we all are in real time
- Company used by police, prisons to find any mobile device breached (again)
- Prison Phone Monopoly Securus Under Fire Again, This Time For Doling Out Everybody’s Private Phone Location Data
- Forget scanning license plates; cops will soon ID you via your roof rack
- Malicious Chrome extensions infect 100,000-plus users, again
- Inside The Takedown Of A Notorious Malware Clearinghouse
GAMES
- Belgian Gaming Commission recommends criminal prosecution over illegal loot boxes: Commission lays groundwork for prosecution as Belgian justice minister meets with stakeholders to find an alternative
- Twitch files counter-complaint against banned CS:GOstreamer
- Twitch counter-sues streamer banned for gambling, inappropriate conduct: James Varga, aka “Phantoml0rd”, sued Twitch over the ban last month
- ‘Saturday Night Live’ 48-Hour Marathon to Stream on Twitch
- Twitch To Stream 48-Hour-Long ‘Saturday Night Live’ Marathon Ahead Of Sketch Show’s Season Finale
- Supreme Court lifts ban on (e)sports gambling, allowing state-by-state legalization
- Supreme Court lifts ban on sports gambling, including esports: DraftKings to implement sports, esports betting on its fantasy sports platform
- Supreme Court Ruling Opens Door for Legalized Sports Betting
- Take-Two CEO: Legal (e)sports gambling ‘meaningfully positive’ for games
- Satirical game used to push back against German ban on Nazi symbols
- Unprecedented move by German prosecutors over Nazi imagery in satirical game: Game serves “both the arts and civic enlightenment” says PPO
- Kingsleys unleash ire of independent author community with Rebellion trademark: But CEO Jason Kingsley assures that ‘Rebellion’ will only be used for relevant services, is investigating ‘overreaching’ application
- Video: A lawyer’s guide to practical IP law for indies
- Hackers find PSP emulator in PS4 remaster of PaRappa the Rapper: PlayStation 4 version of cult classic rhythm game just an emulation of the 2007 PSP re-release
- Pay-To-Flay: Examining microtransactions inMortal Kombat X
- Making microtransactions work for players in Guild Wars 2
- Gran Turismo franchise has sold 80M units in two decades
- Gran Turismo franchise tops 80 million sold: Polyphony Digital racing sim series reaches mark a little over 20 years after initial debut
- Sony and Nintendo update warranty policies in response to FTC warning: Both companies’ customers now have more freedom to use third party products and services
- Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft update warranty policies in response to FTC warning: Customers now have more freedom to use third party products and services
- Nintendo shuts down debut mobile app Miitomo
- Nintendo still won’t commit to online services: “Netflix for retro games” would be a huge selling point for the Switch – but Nintendo’s reticence to commit to online services will stop it happening
- Nintendo’s $20 charging stand fixes one of the Switch’s biggest problems
- Nintendo Labo tests, part one: Robot Kit’s cardboard stomps are fun but shallow
- A year ago, the NES Classic flew off the shelves—now it’s coming back
- LawBreakers dev Boss Key Productions shuts down
- Pokemon Go dev Niantic wants to build AR maps with data from players
- Clearing up misconceptions around motion sickness in VR
- Microsoft enables digital game and DLC gifting on PC: This follows the addition of Xbox One digital game, DLC, and subscription gifting last year
- Xbox One may be indies’ least popular platform, survey suggests: Indies love the Switch, but PC wins out for accessibility despite marketplace overcrowding
- Leaked photo shows new, accessible Xbox One controller
- In the lab with Xbox’s new Adaptive Controller, which may change gaming forever
- How the DualShock 4’s share button came to be
- Sony winding down production of physical PlayStation Vita titles
- Sony announces end of Vita GameCard production: Production of physical Vita games will cease by end of March 2019
- ModDB parent launches cross-platform API mod.io:v New tech makes it easier for developers to add modding tools to their games
- Mobile games continue to drive rising online game revenue for Tencent
- Konami breaks profit records thanks to domestic mobile market
- Konami shows record operating profits: Fourth straight year of bottom line growth helps publisher surpass previous 2012 high point; no word on Metal Gear Survive performance
- Packaged software driving profits in Sega’s games division
- Sega’s game profits rose 30% last year: Japanese publisher delivered increased operating profit despite launching fewer games than expected
- Japanese devs reflect on the recent renaissance of Japanese games
- Take-Two’s fortunes on the rise ahead of Red Dead Redemption 2 debut
- Devs share the most memorable things they’ve had to cut from games
- Bigben Interactive acquires Styx developer Cyanide for $24M
- Bigben acquires Cyanide for €20 million: WRC publisher broadens development focus with Styx: Shards of Darkness creator
- Campo Santo retains freedom, flexibility under Valve
- Development on In the Valley of Gods will continue as before, but with more support
- Valve debuts public bug bounty board in an effort to improve security
- Steam services expand to mobile with new apps: Steam Link and Steam Video will launch in the coming months
- Polish studio Acram Digital banned from Steam for review tampering
- Steam Yanks Another Developer’s Games Over Fake Reviews Posted By Employee
- Acram Digital games removed from Steam after rogue staffer manipulates reviews: “This is my individual, bad behaviour, not the team, so I would like to blame me, not the devs,” says Grzegorz Kubas
- From zero to 15 million: The story of Outlast – Red Barrels’ Philippe Morin on turning a $1.4 million budget into a $64 million franchise with 15 million sales
- Mod.io API aims to help developers create mod-friendly games
- Balancing Hearthstone: Metrics help the team understand what’s happening, but designer Dean Ayala says most changes in the Blizzard card game are made due to player perception
- Universal “committed to games”, disputes free labour concerns over IP contest: Hollywood firm determined to build final product from Unity-partnered competition, stresses unsuccessful entrants retain rights to ideas
- Daybreak insists it has no connection to parent company: H1Z1 developer now says it was never owned by Columbus Nova after investment firm’s owner sees assets frozen by US government, claims it has no impact on its business
- Eidos Montreal: “We have to try new models for single-player games” – Shadow of the Tomb Raider dev on making $135 million narrative projects work
- Discord now boasts 130M users, 85M more than one year ago
- Discord triples users to 130 million in one year: The gaming chat platform just closed a $50 million round, which valued the company at $1.65 billion
- Nexon doubles revenue in US following Pixelberry acquisition
- Nexon more than doubled profits in Q1: Pixelberry acquisition boosted North American revenue, but Korea remains Nexon’s source of strength
- BioShock Remastered studio lays off 10% of workforce after project cancellation: Blind Squirrel Games confirms 13 redundancies, affected staff seeking help via Twitter hashtag
- Kongregate looking to court indie devs with new Canada office
- Kongregate opens Montreal office: Digital publisher’s first Canadian branch looks to capitalize on the local indie development scene
- “The era of ‘break-out indie success’ is long dead”: Indie developers share their thoughts on the greatest challenges facing the industry in 2018
- Looking back on our first year as an indie studio
- Runescape creator Jagex raises $300K for mental health charities
- Little Orbit acquires GamersFirst online game portal andAPB Reloaded
- Online retailer Gameseek goes into liquidation: UK company left many orders unfulfilled when it hit the wall
- GameStop boosted by billionaire hedge fund: Bridgewater Associates ups stake in troubled games retailer, plus new investment from quant firm Renaissance
- Niantic to build a 3D augmented reality world map with Pokémon Go data: “We want players to build out the game board they want to play on,” says CEO
- Nvidia posts record Q1 revenues as profits soar by 145%: Meanwhile, GPU prices “beginning to normalise” following cyrptocurrency surge
- THQ Nordic saw more sales in 3 months than all of 2017, thanks to Koch Media
- THQ Nordic posts 673% revenue increase following acquisition of Koch Media: Excluding Koch Media revenue, THQ Nordic still up 64 per cent
- NCSoft profits up by 585% to $110m in Q1 2018: Mobile revenue spikes by 1,028 per cent amid mixed overall games performance
- German mobile game revenue growth surpasses whole market growth in 2017: Mobile sales rose 21% year over year, while the country’s overall market revenue rose 15%
- Appealing to the West by focusing on the East: Spike Chunsoft CEO Mitsutoshi Sakurai says there’s a growing global audience for the “very Japanese” games his company publishes
- Cliff Bleszinski’s Boss Key Productions shuts down after three years
- Saying Goodbye To The Fan Game That Recreated A Decade-Old Classic
- Researchers teach AI the art of ‘interesting’ level design
- The Race To Stop The Best Mario Kart 64 Player From Securing Every World Record
- Sonic the Hedgehog devs explain how competing with Mario influenced development
- How Fortnite, A ‘Gamer’s Game,’ Took Over The World
- Fortnite mobile has earned $50M in under two months
- How Epic’s Fortnite rose from the ashes of Paragon’s failure
- An analysis of building in Fortnite
- Silverman: Is Fortnite habit the cause of David Price’s injury?
- Red Sox starter David Price denies carpal tunnel related to gaming, but plans to scale back
- Blog: How does multiplayer impact replayability?
- Madden NFL could go in “new direction” following departure of creative director: Former Overwatch producer Carlos Guerrero takes over series following Rex Dickson’s depature
- How EA Sports games are designed for blind players
- Nordisk Film continues investment spree with $18M Star Stable deal
- Google Chrome no longer breaks Web games, but the fix won’t last
- Chrome temporarily rolls back audio-muting update so devs can prep for the change
- How we increased our review score from mid 60’s to 80
- The risky business of creating an introspective blockbuster
- Blog: The myth of the hero’s journey
- Opinion: Neo Cab and the effort to make an empathetic game about gamification
- John Carmack recalls “frustrating” arguments with Apple’s Steve Jobs
- 100,000 Video Game Players Helped Scientists Prove Einstein Wrong
Jon
News of the Week; May 9, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- World’s Worst Wireless Pricing?: Report Finds Canadian Wireless Broadband Pricing Offers Least Bang for the Buck in Developed World (Michael Geist)
- Why one man’s victory against Bell won’t resolve telecom’s customer-service problems
- Bell Backroom Pressure: Internal Documents Reveal How a Brock University Executive Came to Provide Support for Website Blocking (Michael Geist)
- Text “Y” to confirm your subscription! Companies agree to $100,000 payment for alleged CASL violations
- AT&T Stumbles As It Tries To Explain Why It Paid $200K To Cohen’s Shady Shell Company
- AT&T’s Estimated Payment to Trump’s Lawyer Rises to $600,000 as Investigations Ramp Up
- AT&T explains why it blocked Cloudflare DNS: It was just an accident
- AT&T/Verizon lobby asks FCC to help raise prices on smaller ISPs
- AT&T will ask Supreme Court to cripple the FTC’s authority over broadband
- The Sprint And T-Mobile Merger Will Test The Department Of Justice’s Mettle
- Sprint announces highest profit ever after saying it needs T-Mobile merger
- T-Mobile pays ex-FCC commissioner to lobby for Sprint merger
- T-Mobile CEO Hallucinates Competitors In Bid To Sell Competition-Killing Sprint Merger
- Comcast preparing hostile bid for Fox properties—and control of Hulu
- Your Favorite Websites Are Rallying In A Last-Ditch Effort To Save Net Neutrality
- Senate will vote to kill or keep net neutrality rules by June 12
- Facebook Quietly Backs Away From Its Net Neutrality Killing ‘Free Basics’ Program Overseas
- Cord Cutting Is The Obvious Result Of A 70% Spike In Cable TV Prices Since 2000
DIGITAL
- New Québec “Netflix / Amazon Tax” Will Affect Non-Canadian Businesses
- Report: Chinese government is behind a decade of hacks on software companies
- As Iran Joins Russia’s Block On Telegram, The Echoes Of The Arab Spring Begin To Sound
- House Democrats Release 3,500 Russia-Linked Facebook Ads
- Facebook security analyst is fired for using private data to stalk women
- Facebook’s New Focus On ‘Community’ Might Actually Depress You
- German Politician Decries Censorship, Follows It Up By Suing Facebook To Have A Critical Comment Deleted
- Irish Judge Slaps Down Facebook’s Attempt To Halt EU’s Top Court Examining The Legality Of Sending Personal Data To US
- UN Celebrates World Press Freedom Day By Suppressing Presentation Of Turkey Suppressing Press
- Artificial intelligence will sharpen the East-West divide
- Four days at the wild, AI-filled Collision Conference—before it bails for Canada
- DeepMind has trained an AI to unlock the mysteries of your brain: While it seems like second nature, what goes on in your brain when you navigate between two places is surprisingly complex.
- Ars ex machina: artificial intelligence, the artist
- Microsoft continues its quest to bring machine learning to every application
- With Timeline and Your Phone, Microsoft makes a PC the phone’s second screen
- Sorry Elon Musk, there’s no clear evidence Autopilot saves lives
- Elon Musk hung up on NTSB chief during call about Tesla crash probe
- Report: Software bug led to death in Uber’s self-driving crash
- Ai Isn’t A Crystal Ball, But It Might Be A Mirror
- Everyone Is Flipping Out About Google’s AI Assistant That Just Booked A Haircut On The Phone
- How Google’s Eerie Robot Phone Calls Hint At Ai’s Future
- Google’s ML Kit offers easy machine learning APIs for Android and iOS
- The Price Of Google’s New Conveniences? Your Data
- Android Things 1.0 launches, Google promises 3 years of updates for every device
- Google And The Rise Of ‘Digital Well-Being’
- The Research Behind Google’s New Tools For Digital Well-Being
- Google News gets Material Design look, better personalization with AI
- Google releases open source framework for building “enclaved” apps for cloud
- Google Maps unveils its first-ever augmented reality interface
- Microsoft Charts Its Own Path On Artificial Intelligence
- Apple reportedly removing apps that share location data with third parties
- Signal’s “disappearing messages” live on in macOS notifications
- Want To Prove Your Business Is Fair? Audit Your Algorithm
- Section 230 Doesn’t Provide a Basis To Remove Cases to Federal Court–A.R.K. v. Grindr
- Airbnb, Homeaway, And The Importance Of Holding The Line On Section 230
- Another Convicted Fraudster Attempts To Manage His Reputation With Bogus DMCA Takedown Notices
- GoDaddy has shut down Richard Spencer’s white supremacist site
- Nigerian Email Scammers Are More Effective Than Ever
- Reserve Bank of India reins in cryptocurrency
- Hundreds of big-name sites hacked, converted into drive-by currency miners
- YouTubers Are Mad Again After YouTube Deletes Videos With Paid Promos for Academic Cheating
- Over a 5th of the world’s population is logging in to YouTube—despite scandals
- More Than 250 Creators Get Into Hot Water For Promoting Academic Essay-Writing Service EduBirdie
- YouTube Removes Hundreds Of Videos To Quash Advertisements From “Academic Aid” EduBirdie
- YouTube Announces New Ad-Supported Originals From Stars Like Will Smith, Priyanka Chopra
- YouTube TV Enters Streaming Pact With Third Major League Soccer Club
- Amid Growth To 1.8 Billion Logged-In Users, YouTube CEO Vows To Remain “On The Right Side Of History”
- Google News And New VR180 Camera App To Add YouTube Integrations
- Google News to be revamped, incorporate YouTube videos and magazines
- YouTube investing $5 million on 47 creators trying to make platform more positive: Creators for Change program looks to tell stories about important topics
- YouTube and Vevo have struck a new ad deal
- Did YouTube Phenomenon Poppy Steal Her Style From Another Star?
- Philip DeFranco Launches Interactive Website And App Dubbed ‘DeFranco Now’ In Partnership With Snakt
- Lele Pons Drops Debut Music Video, Clocking 10 Million Views In 4 Days
- Patreon Has Paid Out $350 Million To Creators Since Its Founding 5 Years Ago
- Racing needs new fans—and paywalls and geoblocking aren’t helping
- The Media’s Paywall Obsession Will End In Disaster For Most
- Snapchat, Despite Redesign Woes, Keeps Adding Media Partners – Including Disney’s ‘Star Wars’
- Spotify Ends First Quarter as a Public Company With 75 Million Paying Subscribers
- Instragram, In Continued Quest For Social Video Domination, Will Launch Video Chat
- Digital Media Company Popsugar Lays Off 19 Amid Financial Struggles
- Hulu Hits 20 Million Subscribers, Picks Up ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ For Third Season
- Hulu will soon offer offline viewing and episode downloads
- Following Facebook, Verizon Quietly Backs Off Opposition To Modest California Privacy Rules
- Facebook Canada’s Hard Questions Series Turns to Privacy (Michael Geist)
- $2-Billion Class Action Commenced Against Facebook
- An Overview of Facebook’s Election-Related Disclosure Program for Advertisers
- Facebook to release “clear history” tool
- Facebook Dating Looks A Whole Lot Like Hinge
- Why Facebook Won’t Put Ads on Its Dating App
- Facebook Adds New Live Stream Tools, One Like Twitch Co-Streams
- What’s The Deal With Facebook And The Blockchain?
- Facebook Wants To Explore Blockchain Technology. Here’s What They Might Be Up To.
- The Second Coming Of Vine Is On Indefinite Hold
- V2, The Planned Successor To Vine, Postponed Indefinitely Due To “Financial Hurdles”
- How Collab Built A Digital Talent Network And Rights Management Powerhouse Six Seconds At A Time
- ESPN To Launch Daily Edition Of ‘SportsCenter’ On Redesigned Mobile App
- Conan O’Brien’s TBS Show Trimmed To 30-Minute Episodes Amid Digital Pivot
- What Ecologists Can Learn From Memes
- CLOUD Act – clever acronym or real certainty for Cloud Service providers?
- A short primer on applicable US eSignature laws
- EU Commission Asks Public To Weigh In On Survey About Just How Much They Want The Internet To Be Censored
- The Sinar Project shines light on Malaysian Internet Censorship
- The First Amendment in the Second Gilded Age – The 2018 Mitchell Lecture (Jack Balkin)
CREATIVITY
- The fake news Russians hear at home
- Then they came for Peppa Pig
- Malaysian ‘Fake News’ Law Claims Its First Victim
- Maybe InfoWars defense will be – “Hey nobody believe us anyway”
- First Amendment Doesn’t Protect Encouraging Readers to Make Anti-Semitic Attacks–Gersh v. Daily Stormer
- Monkey See, Monkey Do: Ninth Circuit Declines to Go Bananas over “Monkey Selfie” Copyrights
- ‘Monkey Selfie’ Film in the Works at Conde Nast
- Olivia de Havilland Looks to Revive ‘Feud’ Defamation Suit
- Duke Administrator Gets Baristas Fired For Listening To Rap Music
- Dispute over rap song leads to protest at Duke and apology from coffee shop owner
- Nike, Great Protectors Of IP, Found To Be Infringing On Copyright And Refusing To Pay After Software Audit
- Raging Bull and Fearless Girl – moral rights in copyright
- New Report Shines Much-Needed Light On Shadow Libraries Around The World
- Romance Novelist Secures Trademark For Word ‘Cocky,’ Begins Beating Other Novelists Over The Head With It
- Springer Nature Opens Up on Educational Publishing: “E-Piracy” Sites Do Not Replace Traditional Subscription Services, Business Risks Primarily Stem from Marketplace Changes (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Publisher on the Term of Copyright: Life Plus 50 Years is “Already Too Long” (Michael Geist)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Once more unto the breach: Canada’s PIPEDA breach notification and reporting regulations in force November 1, 2018
- Police Drop Charges Filed Against 19-Year-Old Who Downloaded Public Documents From Gov’t FOI Portal
- Oakland passes “strongest” surveillance oversight law in US: “They are even being exploited by the federal government to fuel mass deportations.”
- Oakland Residents Now Protected By The ‘Strongest’ Surveillance Oversight Law ‘In The Country’
- Georgia governor vetoes cyber bill that would criminalize “unauthorized access”
- Facial Recognition Tech Is Creepy When It Works – And Creepier When It Doesn’t
- UK police say 92% false positive facial recognition is no big deal
- Not Ready For Prime Time: UK Law Enforcement Facial Recognition Software Producing Tons Of False Positives
- Privacy Group Files Legal Complaint Over UK Law Enforcement’s Warrantless Phone Searches
- You Can’t Opt Out Of Sharing Your Data, Even If You Didn’t Opt In
- Equifax breach exposed millions of driver’s licenses, phone numbers, emails
- FTC settles with cellphone manufacturer over data security issues
- We Don’t Need a National Data Center of the Poor: The many, many ways the food-stamp database proposed by House Republicans could go wrong.
- Change Your Twitter Password Right Now
- Twitter alerts users: Please change your passwords, we’ve seen them
- Yahoo Fined $35 Million for Failing to Report Data Breach
- Welsh Police Used Face Scanning Software That Incorrectly Flagged Thousands
- Virginia Supreme Court Says License Plate Readers Collect Personal Data; Suggests Use Violates State Law
- Smart Doorbells That Call The Police Are Going to Endanger Some Innocent People
GAMES
- Gamevice v Nintendo – Let’s try this again, at the ITC: Certain Portable Gaming Console Systems with Attachable Handheld Controllers and Components Thereof – International Trade Commission, Inv. No. 337-TA-1111 -and- Gamevice, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.
- NBA 2K Tattoo Copyright Dispute Blocked
- Man sentenced to prison over 2010 World of Warcraft DDoS attack
- Don’t Miss: How a band of modders restored Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
- Free-to-play game Loadout ending service in wake of GDPR regulation
- GDPR spells closure for free-to-play shooter Loadout: Developer says new regulations are a “major burden” for small studios doing business in EU
- Gaming Industry And Game Consumers On A Collision Course Over Loot Boxes
- EA will continue to use loot boxes that are ‘transparent, fun, and fair’
- EA adamant loot boxes aren’t gambling: Publisher pushes back after Belgian Gaming Commission finds fault with FIFA 18, talks game-streaming plans and Fortnite/PUBG phenomenon
- EA experiences growth in revenue from digital downloads and live services
- EA celebrates a record year, forecasts another: Full game downloads and physical game sales drop as booming live services now make up 40% of publisher’s income
- EA: ‘Innovators’ like Fortnite can benefit the entire games industry
- Madden NFL creative director Rex Dickson departs EA
- Madden NFL could go in “new direction” following departure of creative director: Rex Dickson leaves EA after 12 years with publisher
- Vulcan debuts new Holodome shared immersive reality platform
- Analyst: Mobile to make up over half of worldwide game revenue in 2018
- An in-depth breakdown of how mobile game media coverage fared in 2016
- New Nintendo president targets ¥100bn mobile business: Incoming chief Shuntaro Furukawa believes a Pokémon Go-style hit will transform the platform holder’s fortunes on smart devices
- Mobile Now Makes Up Majority Of Gaming Sales And Nintendo’s New President Wants To Get The Company On Board
- Switch online service will introduce cloud saves and NES multiplayer
- Nintendo courts families with Switch Online service: Eight-person membership available, alongside cloud saves and free NES games
- Nintendo says Switch won’t get Virtual Console classic game downloads
- Virtual Console Is Not Coming To Switch, Nintendo Says
- Nintendo drops Virtual Console model in favor of subscriptions: Focus turns to the Nintendo Switch Online service for future monetization of classic games
- Nintendo introduces Switch cloud saves as part of paid online subscription
- Nintendo starts moving to a Wii-like “non-gamer” strategy for the Switch
- Push the button: Steam now supports the Switch Pro Controller
- Hackers find “official,” usable PSP emulator hidden in PS4’s PaRappa
- PS4 expands its sales lead, now 71% of “two-console” market with Xbox One
- Future Minecraft updates won’t come to last-gen consoles
- Top 25 companies made up 77% of global games market in 2017 – Newzoo: Market intelligence firm points to industry consolidation as largest companies solidify positions
- Supercell: Meet the industry’s “least powerful CEO”: Ilkka Paananen on the value of leaving power in the hands of developers, and Supercell’s ambition to create a “truly global” mobile hit
- Google Play Instant leaves closed beta, now open to all developers
- Report: Google has quietly opened a new game studio called Arcade
- Google confirms new social gaming startup: Arcade is an “experiment” that will reportedly release its first game this summer
- Chrome update auto-mutes audio on many web-based games
- Google breaks HTML5 games with latest Chrome update: Efforts to mute autoplay video ads have unexpectedly affected browser-based web games
- Google slams “for-profit bail-bond providers,” won’t let them advertise
- God of War sold 3.1M copies in three days
- God of War tops 3.1 million sold in three days: Sony says PS4-exclusive game is the fastest-selling first-party game on the system to date
- Sony updates warranty terms following FTC warning
- FTC Calls Out Nintendo, Microsoft, And Sony For Their Illegal ‘Warranty Void If Removed’ Stickers
- Capcom sees improved profits from sales of Monster Hunter: World
- Monster Hunter: World drives Capcom’s most profitable year ever – Fantasy action game has now sold 7.9 million units, offsetting “worsened conditions” in amusement market
- Xbox One sales up by 15% for 2018: Record-setting start to the year for platform holder
- The Kinect lives on through Microsoft’s new project for Azure
- Twitch tries ‘Bounty Board’ approach to setting streamers up for sponsored streams
- Zynga posts $5.6m profit last quarter after predicting $9.5m loss: Meanwhile, company founder Mark Pincus reduces personal voting power from 70 per cent to ten per cent
- The Curious Case Of The Fortnite Cheater: Is it illegal to cheat in a video game?
- Fortnite pulls in fives times more revenue than PUBG on iOS: First week of monetisation for PUBG Mobile sees combined platform revenue reach only one third of Epic Games’ offering
- Why do mobile games get a ‘free’ pass?: The mainstream media launches attacks on Fortnite’s business model, but ignores more egregious behaviour in mobile – does this reflect a bias?
- Activision Blizzard sees new Q1 records, though share prices still falter
- Activision shows PC some love, plans “significant” resources for Call of Duty
- Activision is feeling the heat from battle royale titles
- Activision Blizzard jumping on battle royale bandwagon: Executives say Fortnite and PUBG have expanded the industry; publisher is “very quick to figure out how to capture inspiration from innovation”
- Battlegrounds item trading shut down due to marketplace abuse
- Fortnite Is Getting An Avengers: Infinity War Crossover
- “The reason we’re killing ourselves isn’t because we love what we’re doing”: Night in the Woods’ Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry discuss unionizing in games and what to do about indie devs crunching themselves
- Why the Campo Santo team hung up their indie spurs and joined Valve
- Tequila Works’ Raul Rubio on the dangers of building on stereotypes: “If you look at games made in Spain, you will notice a shocking lack of bullfighters”
- DDoS attack against Blizzard lands Romanian man in US federal prison: Calin Mateias extradited to face charges over 2010 cyber attack
- Pink Mercy skin comes to Overwatch, all proceeds go to charity
- Blizzard to donate more than $250,000 to Breast Cancer Research Foundation: Overwatch’s Pink Mercy charity skin will drive fundraising, alongside livestreams and more merchandise
- ‘Overwatch’ Esports League Launches Social VR Experiences With Sansar
- UK Charts: God of War beats Donkey Kong to No.1: Nintendo Labo slips down the charts in a quiet week for games retail
- Chinese games market expected to reach $42bn revenue by 2022: Increase in number of female users puts China on path to 720 million gamers
- Activision Blizzard posts record Q1 – Call of Duty: WWII helps drive Activision business even as engagement metrics drop for King and Blizzard
- Activision share price wounded following “extraordinary error” by Dow Jones: Confusion overshadowed record Q1 revenue for publisher; stock value down 2.3 per cent by market close
- PUBG most downloaded mobile game last quarter, but revenue flags: Sensor Tower Data Digest: Mobile game downloads up to 2.4 billion on iOS and 7.23 billion on Android
- Google’s ARCore 1.2 enables multiplayer AR across Android and iOS
- Ninja Hits 10 Million YouTube Subscribers, Gaining 3 Million Subs Over The Past Month
- Hi-Rez Studios announces new esports production company: Studio co-founder and COO to head up Skillshot Media as president
- Digi-Capital: Combined Asian markets could deliver over half of AR/VR revenue by 2022: “Western companies might need to adopt a ‘we try harder’ approach to compete at the same level,” says investment bank
- Oculus Go to ship 1.8 million this year – Superdata: Market intelligence firm expects new stand-alone offering to lead all premium headsets in shipments this year, downgrades overall VR projections
- Oculus: “We don’t want exclusivity. We want VR to thrive” – At Reboot Develop, Oculus’ Matt Conte urged developers to make the most of a small market by shipping on every VR platform possible
- Facebook changes an Oculus division’s name, invents term “Facebook Reality”
- ‘I AM A MAN’ Puts You At The Heart Of The Civil Rights Struggle, Now Available On Rift
- Square Enix reports decreased sales, increased profits: Dragon Quest XI publisher only takes a 2.5% hit to revenues despite 32% dip in software unit sales
- Rising revenues in US and Europe drive profits for Bandai Namco
- Bandai Namco sees game sales up 14%: Company’s full-year results show strong gains in revenues, units sold over previous year
- Inside Bandai Namco’s Innovation Department: Why the Pac-Man publisher is turning to Alexa and other emerging technologies
- Tencent partners with UK government’s cultural and creative industries
- Harmonix denies association with Columbus Nova
- Steam reviews study suggests ‘bad design,’ not bugs, irks players most
- Players less concerned by bugs than bad game design, study finds: Study of over 10 million Steam user reviews unearths valuable data for developers
- New Steam Link app allows players to stream Steam games to mobile
- Valve will soon let you stream Steam games to phones and tablets
- Using Steam reviews to estimate sales: A game dev guide
- Early Access effort Conan Exiles surpassed 1M sales ahead of launch
- Analyzing the financial impact of 2 years spent on Early Access
- Blog: A marketing perspective on trademarking
- Game streaming service Utomik has officially launched
- Jagex shutting down online game portal FunOrb after ten years: Advancements in technology have made it “increasingly difficult to access and play the games”
- Artificial Intelligence Is Making Video Game Levels So Good That Even Other AI Thinks They’re Man-Made
- Why pseudo-localization is essential
- In blocking autoplay videos, Chrome is breaking many Web-based games
- Attentat 1942 wins a top honor at A MAZE Berlin, remains banned in Germany
- Episode, Old Man’s Journey, and Empires & Puzzles win at 2018 Google Play Awards
- Empires and Puzzles wins Best Breakthrough Hit at Google Play Awards: Best Android apps and games announced at award ceremony ahead of Google I/O 2018
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the risk of making an introspective AAA game
- Spacewar!, Tomb Raider, and others join World Video Game Hall of Fame
- Devs share personal touches they’ve hidden in games
- Republican politician and lobbyist runs for election in EVE Online: “Maybe 20 years ago this would be weird, but given how mainstream gaming has become…how can anyone say ‘You’re throwing your life away playing these games?'”
- Blog: 10 negotiation tips from a video game lawyer (Pete Lewin)
Jon
News of the Week; May 2, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Customer takes Bell to court and wins, as judge agrees telecom giant can’t promise a price, then change it: Contract law expert says Ontario case could be grounds for class-action lawsuit
- FCC Republican gets official warning after pushing for Trump’s re-election: O’Rielly broke government ethics law; could be punished if he does it again.
- Small ISPs Like Sonic Join The Legal Battle To Preserve Net Neutrality
- Marsha Blackburn Wants ISPs To Sell ‘Fast Lanes’ Like ‘TSA Pre-Check’
- AT&T’s least favorite net neutrality bill takes another step forward: California’s tough net neutrality bill clears second Senate committee in a week.
- California net neutrality bill that AT&T hates is coming to New York, too: Bill is moving through Calif. Senate and will be submitted in NY legislature.
- The Sprint/T-Mobile Merger Is Huge – But A Lot Of Questions Remain
- Sprint, T-Mobile Try To Sell The Public On A Job-Killing, Competition Eroding Megamerger
- T-Mobile and Sprint don’t need to merge for 5G – they said so two months ago: AT&T made the same claims – about 4G – when it tried to buy T-Mobile in 2011.
- While Facebook Gets All The Hate, Verizon Continues To Show It’s No Better, And Potentially Much Worse For Privacy
- Verizon Signs Deal to Place the Saddest, Most Pathetic Bloatware on Samsung Devices
- Some Comcast Customers Won’t Get The Latest Broadband Upgrades Without Buying Cable TV
- FCC Approves 100% Mexican Ownership of Radio Stations in California and Arizona – Further Showing Foreign Ownership Limitations Less Significant in Today’s Broadcast World
- At Least One Japanese ISP Gets A Jump Start On The Government’s Unconstitutional Site-Blocking Plans
- Japanese Lawyer Sues NTT For Voluntarily Blocking ‘Pirate Sites’
DIGITAL
- Equustek again: BC Supreme Court upholds injuction despite US refusal to enforce
- Google worldwide injunction will not change
- Foreign Broadcaster Infringed US Copyright Through Online Streaming
- Man Fined $60,000 For Streaming Live Sports Illegally
- Another Court Says Competitive Keyword Advertising Doesn’t Cause Confusion
- Iranian activist awarded defamation damages after anonymous web harassment
- Iran blocks Telegram, pushes replacement with “Death to America” emoji
- FOSTA/SESTA Was Passed Based On Made Up Stats About Sex Trafficking
- Germany’s Supreme Court Confirms That Adblocking Is Legal, In Sixth Consecutive Defeat For Publishers
- Firefox will show sponsored content that’s personalized but private: Sponsored content will use technology from Pocket, which Mozilla acquired last year.
- Pornography Dispute Sheds Light on DMCA Safe Harbor Defense
- Recapping a Year’s Worth of Section 230 Cases That Got Stuck in My Blogging Queue
- Federal Circuit overturns fair use ruling in Oracle v Google
- Insights: Alert Google’s Use of Oracle’s APIs Not Fair Use Under U.S. Copyright Law
- FTC Obtains Court Order Banning Marketer from Negative-Option Sales
- France seizes France.com from man who’s had it since ‘94, so he sues
- Facebook begins asking if every post you see is hate speech
- Mark Zuckerberg Says It Will Take 3 Years To Fix Facebook
- Mark Zuckerberg announces Facebook Dating
- After data “clash” report, WhatsApp founder says he’s leaving Facebook
- Hollywood Front Groups Decide To Kick Facebook While It’s Down, Advocate For More Internet Regulations
- Facebook building a “simple way to clear your cookies and history”
- Cambridge Analytica shuts down after Facebook user data scandal
- Cambridge Analytica shutting down, says it’s been ‘vilified’ in Facebook scandal: Investigations continue into firm at centre of Facebook privacy scandal
- Facebook Launches A New Ad Campaign With An Old Message
- Facebook’s New ‘Dating’ Feature Could Crush Apps Like Tinder
- Private Facebook Posts Could Be Fair Game For Discovery
- Facebook And Google Finally Take First Steps On Road To Transparency About Content Moderation
- Facebook Ranking News Sources By Trust Is A Bad Idea… But No One At Facebook Will Read Our Untrustworthy Analysis
- Health Secretary calls for social media giants to stop “turning a blind eye”
- New York Enhances Disclosure of Online Political Ads and Requires Online Platforms to Create Archives
- CGI ‘Influencers’ Like Lil Miquela Are About To Flood Your Feeds
- Could Artificial Intelligence Predict The Next Avengers: Infinity War?
- Discrimination through artificial intelligence banned
- USPTO Suggests That AI Algorithms Are Patentable, Leading To A Whole Host Of IP And Ethics Questions
- Don’t Be Surprised if the iPhone X Goes Away
- Apple exits Wi-Fi game, AirPort routers discontinued after stock sells out
- Why Snap Needs Its Spectacles
- Snap Launches Second Edition Of Spectacles With New Colors, Water-Resistance, Quicker App Transfer
- Snapchat To Follow YouTube With Unskippable, Six-Second Ads
- YouTube May Bring An Abbreviated Version Of Its Content ID Copyright Tool To The Masses
- YouTube Is Becoming One Of Fox News’ Favorite Talking Points
- Logan Paul Ceases Daily Vlog To “Exercise His Creativity In Different Ways”
- YouTube Invites Advertisers To Target TV Viewers, Will Add YouTube TV To Google Preferred Lineup
- YouTube Exec Says Three-Month-Old Brand Safety Measures Have Been “99% Effective”
- Pandora Learns The Cost Of Ads, And Of Subscriptions
- Twitter is promoting more news links in your timeline
- Twitter’s Niche Moves Into Non-Branded Content With Josh Peck, Miel Bredouw, More
- Twitter To Double Video Output In 2018, Including Pacts With NBCUniversal, Disney, Viacom
- Actress-Influencer Bella Thorne Gets $65,000 Per Instagram Post, Says Social Media Paid For Her House
- Comedy Central’s New Web Series Is “A ‘Daily Show’ For The Internet”
- Amazon blocks domain fronting, threatens to shut down Signal’s account
- After Strong First Quarter, Amazon Raises Price Of Prime By $20 Per Year
- Amazon will raise the price of Prime by $20 in a few weeks
- Amazon to open new Vancouver office, create 3,000 jobs
- NFL Renews Thursday Night Football Streaming On Amazon Prime Video
- 11 NFL Games Will Stream Live On Twitch This Fall
- Hulu passes 20 million US subscribers, says offline downloads are coming
- Conde Nast Entertainment Is Launching Individual OTT Channels For Brands Like Wired
- Creators For Good: Ricky Dillon Asks Teens To #BeMore In Building A Kind, Inclusive World
- Companies Are Cashing In On Reality TV For Tots
- A Short History Of Blaming ‘Hackers’ For Pretty Much Everything
- New court ruling could force Uber, Lyft to convert drivers to employees: California Supreme Court: It’ll be tougher for firms to not have bona fide employees.
- Disney’s New Food Video Brand Partners With The Tastemade Network To Get Cooking
- How Microsoft Convinced Clueless Judges To Send A Man To Jail For Copying Software It Gives Out For Free
- Why the man who tried to sell Windows recovery discs will go to prison: Eric Lundgren paid a company in China to print thousands of Dell-branded recovery CDs.
- Microsoft Defends Putting A Computer Recycler In Jail With Misleading Statement
- iTunes is finally in the Microsoft Store
- Even Windows revenue is up in Microsoft’s $26.8 billion 3Q18
- IPO’s consultation on domestic enforcement of the EU Portability Regulation
- Understanding the Regulatory Concerns of Cryptocurrency Exchange Registration
- Is Bitcoin a Security? Definitely Maybe
- Section 17(b) of the Securities Act in Crowdfunding and Token Sales
- I Spent a Weekend With Cyborgs, and Now I Have an RFID Implant I Have No Idea What to Do With
- Canadian Government Provides Details of First Ever National IP Strategy
- Canadian Government’s IP Strategy Seeks to Boost Innovation, Increase IP Literacy, and Rein-in Patent Trolls
- Supreme Court Says Of Course The Patent Office Can Admit It Made A Mistake And Dump Bad Patents
- Swedish Pirate Party Declares War On Copyright Trolls
- Emojis in the Workplace – A Cautionary Tale
- Declining Majority Of Online Adults Say The Internet Has Been Good For Society
- A Magna Carta for the digital age
- Thousands Of Academics Pledge To Boycott Springer’s New Machine Learning Title In Support Of Long-Established Open Access Journal
CREATIVITY
- House of Representatives Passes Music Modernization Act – Looking for Clarity on Mechanical Royalties, Pre-1972 Sound Recordings and Other Music Rights Issues
- House Unanimously Passes Music Modernization Act – Paves the Way for Major Updates to Digital Music Royalty Ecosystem
- SCOTUS Released Same-Day Oral Argument Audio. Guess What Happened Next?: There is no reason not to release same-day audio for all oral arguments at the Supreme Court.
- Blurred Lines Songwriters Have Got to Give It Up for the Gaye Family
- Fox News v. TVEyes Shows Fair-Use Defense Remains Risky Business
- Copyright Is No Monkey Business, Rules the Ninth Circuit
- Monkeys Lack Standing to Sue for Copyright Infringement
- Nicassio v. Viacom International, Inc.
- Gayle v. Home Box Office, Inc.
- Westworld Has to Acknowledge the Racist Appeal of Shōgun World
- The New York Times Is Turning Its Hit Podcast, ‘The Daily’, Into A TV Show
- Tackling IP Misuse: Canada Takes the Lead in Combating the Dark Side of Intellectual Property Protection (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Music Industry Seeks New Fees, Content Blocking, and Right to Renegotiate Deals Despite Generating Record Digital Revenues (Michael Geist)
- Theater Accidentally Plays Horror Movie Trailer Before Peter Rabbit, Families Run Out Screaming
- Kardashian Gets Political to Highlight Lack of Regulations over Cosmetics Industry
- Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah embroiled in ‘serious issue’ over Egypt image rights
- Lessons From Picasso’s Copyrights: Pleading, Proving and Arguing Foreign Law in U.S. Courts
- The Royal Wedding: What’s the IP etiquette?
- Tackling IP Misuse: Canada Takes the Lead in Combating the Dark Side of Intellectual Property Protection (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Music Industry Seeks New Fees, Content Blocking, and Right to Renegotiate Deals Despite Generating Record Digital Revenues (Michael Geist)
- Less Than 1%: Canadian Publisher Data Points to Tiny Impact of Access Copyright Royalty Decline (Michael Geist)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- High Court Says UK Government Can No Longer Collect Internet Data In Bulk
- Another Federal Court Says Compelled Decryption Doesn’t Raise Fifth Amendment Issues
- Phone maker settles charges it let partner collect customers’ text messages
- Are Google And Facebook Undermining Europe’s Privacy Rules?
- International Standards Body Rejects Weakened IOT Encryption Methods Pushed By The NSA
- Cops Follow Up Officer-Involved Shooting By Heading To Funeral Home To Apply Dead Man’s Fingers To His Locked Phone
- Device Detects Drug Use Through Fingerprints, Raising A Host Of Constitutional Questions
- Alabama Rolls with Tide as Last State to Adopt Breach Notification Law
- EU Government Looking To Expand, Standardize Whistleblower Protections
- As two Koreas shake hands, Hidden Cobra hackers wage espionage campaign
GAMES
- Chinese police arrest 15 ‘major’ Battlegrounds cheat suspects
- Daybreak Games denies reported links to sanctioned Russian oligarch
- Epic Games continues pursuing lawsuit against 14-year-old Fortnite player: Parent’s move to dismiss the case met with resistance from Fortnite developer
- Epic Decides To Double Down On Copyright For Cheating Lawsuit Against 14 Year Old By Taking On Mom
- Fortnite earned $223 million in March – Superdata: Research firm calls Epic Games survival shooter “the largest free-to-play console game of all time” in revenue generated and monthly users
- Mobile gaming cements its dominance, takes majority of worldwide sales
- Nintendo reports jump in profits as Switch tops 15M sales
- Lifetime Switch sales have surpassed 17M units
- Switch is selling well, but Nintendo thinks it can sell even better
- Nintendo hasn’t achieved ‘satisfactory profit’ on mobile
- Nintendo credits its mobile push for rise in Switch sales in Asia, Middle East
- Nintendo’s new president wants to turn mobile into $900M business
- With new leadership incoming, Nintendo aims to keep collaboration front and center
- As Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze comes to Switch, it disappears from Wii U eShop
- Nintendo under investigation for patent infringement over Switch design
- Nintendo Switch targeted by Gamevice patent lawsuit (again): Wikipad manufacturer attempting to block console sales in the US over detachable controller dispute
- U.S. agency to probe Nintendo systems after rival’s complaint
- US will consider blocking imports of Nintendo Switch: The International Trade Commission is investigating Nintendo.
- Nintendo Switch drives staggering 500 percent profit jump
- Nintendo profits spike as Switch approaches 18m sales: Mario Odyssey breaks 10m sales barrier
- Nintendo still has plans for the 3DS through ‘2019 and beyond’
- Nintendo bringing new IP exclusively to mobile: Platform holder acquires five per cent stake in development partner Cygames
- Nintendo yet to achieve “satisfactory” profit on mobile says company president: Games continue to perform well, but still fall below Nintendo’s expectations
- Nintendo partners with Japanese dev Cygames on new mobile title
- Breath of the Wild is now the best-selling Zelda game to date
- Nintendo shifting away from individual leadership: Incoming president Shuntaro Furukawa to continue a trend moving away from the style of long-time leader Hiroshi Yamauchi
- Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft among those warned by FTC – Report: Federal Trade Commission gave console makers, HTC, ASUS, and Hyundai 30 days to correct illegal warranty practices
- Norwegian customer watchdog calls out Nintendo, Sony, EA and Valve
- Nintendo, Valve, Sony, and EA reported in Norway for breaching European consumer law: Digital games “do not exist in a lawless vacuum” says Norwegian Consumer Council director of digital services
- PS4 software fueling growth at Sony as hardware stalls
- With the PlayStation 4 at 73M sold, Sony braces for sales to slow
- Sony brings PS2 titles to PS Now streaming service
- PUBG Corp. says 15 hackers arrested, fined $5.1 million: Some PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds cheat programs were said to contain viruses to scan users’ PCs, steal information
- Lohan Loses (Yet Another) Publicity Rights Suit
- Self-regulate loot box mechanisms – while you still can: As European states begin ruling against loot boxes, this is the industry’s last chance to prove it can be trusted to regulate itself
- Self-regulating loot boxes is harder than it sounds: Supposing publishers even want to rein in the monetization scheme driving their bottom lines, how are they supposed to go about doing that?
- USA: New Loot Box Bill Introduced…Again
- Loot Box Saga Continues
- Despite backlash, loot boxes could be essential to gaming’s future: Analysis sees loot box spending ballooning 62 percent, to $47 billion, by 2022.
- Loot boxes expected to drive games market to $160 billion by 2022: Juniper Research also predicts Switch-driven console revival, with revenues to reach $33.2 in four years
- Tencent to publish Freejam’s Robocraft in China: Deal announced one week after UK studio pledged to remove all loot boxes from the game
- WarpPortal blocks access to game catalogue in Europe: Ragnarok Online and more will be restricted from May 25 – the date that GDPR takes effect
- Blizzard now selling community-made maps for StarCraft II: Revenue spilt “favours content creators” says StarCraft II production director
- Global games market to hit $137.9 billion this year – Newzoo: Market intelligence firm expects industry revenues to be just over 50% mobile, 25% console, 24% PC
- What separates China and the West in mobile?: GameRefinery compares the traits of the top 100 grossing mobile games in China and America, including one feature found in 29% of top Chinese games completely absent in the US
- PlayStation 4 sales pass 75m in another strong year for Sony: Software sales and PS Plus subs were both up, but Sony is preparing for hardware decline in the coming year
- Xbox earnings on the rise thanks to third-party games and services
- Third-party sales boosted Microsoft Gaming revenue in Q3: Gaming revenue was up 18%, Xbox Live users up 13% to 59 million
- Starting in June, Xbox live rewards will transition to Microsoft rewards
- Microsoft shuts down popular Halo mod ElDewrito: Streamers attract tech giant’s ire as multiple DMCA takedowns issued
- Bungie will finally release Destiny companion album Music of the Spheres
- “If anybody is going to pick a fight with Steam or create an alternative, the time is now”: At Reboot Develop, Rami Ismail and Robin Hunicke argued that existing digital platforms are not doing enough to represent the diversity and artistry of developers
- SteamSpy creator develops new algorithm to keep service alive: “It’s still possible that Valve will make another move to shutdown the service, but until that happens, SteamSpy will continue to operate,” says Galyonkin
- Steam Spy isn’t dead, but it’s not back at 100% yet either
- An era of “triple-I” development is almost here: Ninja Theory, Frostkeep Studios and Private Division discuss a coming wave of games that combine indie creativity with triple-A production values
- Frostpunk has surpassed 250K sales in 66 hours
- PC Building Simulator sells 100,000 copies in a month: The Irregular Corporation’s latest release had a strong opening month in Early Access
- Sumo Digital transformed £52.2m debt into £12.4m cash balance in 2017: Crackdown 3 developer buoyant in first financial results following last year’s IPO
- Techland picks up Call of Juarez publishing rights from Ubisoft
- Call of Juarez publishing rights return to Techland following Ubisoft partnership – Critically acclaimed Call of Juarez: Gunslinger reappears on Steam after being delisted last month
- How to stop big publishers breaking your business: During this year’s Reboot Develop, Ninja Theory’s Nina Kristensen detailed the rights studios should fight for
- The anti-Brexit game turning controversy into opportunity
- Snapchat launches “Snappables” series of AR games: Snap Inc commits to releasing new mini-games on a weekly basis
- FC Bayern Munich Joins Esports World With NBA 2K Team
- The Highs And Lows From Day One Of The NBA 2K League
- Your One-Stop Interactive Guide To The NBA 2K League
- How Esports Leagues Model Traditional Sports To Build Stability, Thwart Competition
- The Growth Of Esports Minor Leagues
- Imagine Dragons invest in esports agency RektGlobal and Team Rogue: Members from award-winning band joined by music producer Steve Aoki in ownership of esports team
- Don’t Miss: How Blizzard designed StarCraft II with esports in mind
- The Doomy Gloomy Revival Of Old-School First-Person Shooters
- Super Monday Night Combat shutting down due to new data protection regs
- GDPR prompts Super Monday Night Combat shutdown: Developer Uber Entertainment says cost of rewriting back-end too high to warrant compliance
- Implementing The Eu General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): An Overview For Digital Entertainment Businesses
- The ESA hits a low point – 10 Years Ago This Month: Self-regulation helps fend off threatened legislation, but mismanagement of E3 has members jumping ship
- In-app purchases now available on Facebook’s instant games platform
- Facebook rolls out in-app purchases to Instant Games platform: IAP currently available on Android and Facebook.com
- Facebook Needs To Stop Bad VR Apps Before They Start
- Oculus Reveals 140 Degree VR Headset Prototype with Varifocal Displays
- Oculus Go standalone headset launches at $199: Oculus VR promises “the best optics of any VR system we’ve built” from new standalone hardware
- Analyst: How education, age, and even degree levels can affect video game spending
- The Heartbeat Symposium: Exploring love, sex, and intimacy in games
- Life in (virtual) pit lane: The war stories of video game car design
- Blog: Developing games in non-developed territories – Part 1
- Flashpoint is archiving Flash games before they disappear forever
- Blog: Looking back at the trailblazing Atari RPG,Dragonstomper
- Blog: Why Atari’s infamous E.T. tie-in isn’t half bad
Jon
News of Week; April 25, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- F-Word in Live Sports Broadcasts Should be Avoided, Says Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
- Discussion about Sex Shops Was Acceptable Before 9:00 pm, Says Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
- Wait for it: Government to clarify anti-spam law – eventually
- Government Response to CASL Report Released
- Government Response Suggests No Appetite for Canadian Anti-Spam Law Reform (Michael Geist)
- Another Survey Shows Massive Bipartisan Opposition To Net Neutrality Repeal
- Ajit Pai hasn’t finalized net neutrality repeal – here’s a theory on why: Pai’s delayed repeal could let Congress pass weaker law while ISPs behave.
- No, Net Neutrality Isn’t Officially Dead (Yet), And The FCC Is Stalling For A Reason
- AT&T, Verizon face DOJ investigation for allegedly trying to lock eSIMs: Carriers reportedly sought ability to lock eSIMs to networks; Apple complained.
- DOJ Investigating AT&T, Verizon for Making It Harder To Switch Wireless Carriers
- NYC blasts broadband competition shortage as it pursues suit against Verizon: Two-thirds of NYC homes have only one or two broadband options, city report says.
- ISPs should charge for fast lanes – just like TSA Precheck, GOP lawmaker says: GOP’s Marsha Blackburn wants Internet service to be just like airport security.
DIGITAL
- Google Fails to Amend Canadian De-indexing Injunction Despite California Court Order
- B.C. Court Leaves Google Global Takedown Order Intact Pending Full Trial (Michael Geist)
- U.S. Falls To 45th On Press Freedom Index, Trump Labeled ‘Media-Bashing Enthusiast’
- Michael Cohen Drops Ridiculous Lawsuit Against Buzzfeed After Buzzfeed Sought Stormy Daniels’ Details
- It’s Spreading: Lindsey Graham Now Insisting ‘Fairness Doctrine’ Applies To The Internet
- WikiLeaks, Russia, Trump Jr. named in new DNC hacking lawsuit: “It’s more than a shot over the bow, it’s a shot into the hull of the ship.”
- Trump’s cell phone use is security “nightmare” waiting to happen, lawmakers say – New letter: “Does the President use encryption when he makes phone calls…?”
- Verizon says Yahoo users must waive class-action rights – or stop using Yahoo: Yahoo, facing data breach lawsuits, starts enforcing mandatory arbitration.
- Google disables “domain fronting” capability used to evade censors: A “long-planned” change happens to coincide with a new wave of state censorship in Russia.
- Judge Agrees: Perfectly Fine For Google To Deny Ad Placement For ‘Honey Cures Cancer’ Claims
- Russia and China take Big Brother to absurd new levels
- Internet Watch Foundation publishes its Annual Report
- LA councilman asks city attorney to “review possible legal action” against Waze: “They say the crises of congestion they cause is the price for innovation.”
- Are our smart devices starting to outsmart us?
- The next big battle over internet freedom is here: Congress just passed a law to combat sex trafficking. Now the future of the free internet is in danger.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The Risk of Ceding Online Content Monitoring to Internet Giants (Michael Geist)
- Sweeping the Internet for Netsweeper
- Calling Facebook A Utility Would Only Make Things Worse
- What’s Not Included In Facebook’s ‘Download Your Data’
- How academic at centre of Facebook scandal tried – and failed – to spin personal data into gold: The story of Aleksandr Kogan’s business ventures reveals a world where companies traded in the currency of personal information
- Man behind Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook data mining says he’s sorry: Aleksandr Kogan, if he’d known survey would upset many: “I would’ve never done it.”
- The Security Risks Of Logging In With Facebook
- Delete Your Account: On the Theory of Platform Capitalism
- Minds Is The Anti-Facebook That Pays You For Your Time
- Here’s What Facebook Won’t Let You Post
- For the first time, Facebook clearly tells its users what’s allowed: Social network not saying why it took 14 years to release this document.
- Facebook removes 1.5 billion users from protection of EU privacy law: In anticipation of the EU’s new GDPR rule, Facebook limits its legal umbrella.
- Facebook Publishes Internal Content Moderation Guidelines For The First Time
- Imposing Regulations on Online Technology Giants
- Meet the Professor Who’s Warning the World About Facebook and Google
- FOSTA/SESTA Passed Thanks To Facebook’s Vocal Support; New Article Suggests Facebook Is Violating FOSTA/SESTA
- Sex Workers Set Up Their Own Social Network In Response To FOSTA/SESTA; And Now It’s Been Shut Down Due To FOSTA/SESTA
- Authorities May Charge Pennsylvania Juvenile Who Threatened Second YouTube Shooting
- Exclusive: YouTube ran ads from hundreds of brands on extremist channels
- 300 Companies Ran Ads On YouTube Channels Promoting Nazism, Pedophilia, Conspiracies (Report)
- YouTube CEO To Discuss Brand Safety On Conference Call With 30 Top Advertisers (Report)
- YouTuber Convicted Of Hate Crime For Teaching Nazi Salute To Dog Raises £118,366 For Legal Appeal
- YouTube Deleted 8.3 Million Objectionable Videos Last Quarter, Thanks Mostly To Machines
- ‘Deadpool’ Writers To Serve As Executive Producers For Upcoming YouTube Red Series
- New Footage Of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” Receives One Million Views In First Day On YouTube
- YouTube Gives Creators With At Least One Million Subscribers A Space On The Trending Tab
- YouTube Kids Amplifies Parental Controls, Including Ability To Whitelist All Videos, Channels
- P&G Resumes YouTube Spend After 13-Month Boycott — As New Ad Controversy Looms
- Proposed US Consumer Internet Privacy Legislation Threatens Digital Advertising
- Texas Revenge Porn Laws Loses Battle With First Amendment
- Cheddar Joins Hulu’s Live TV Lineup 1 Day After Being Added To YouTube TV
- The Roku Channel gets live news thanks to ABC, Cheddar, and other partners: But it won’t replace all live news broadcasts.
- Flipboard’s Answer To Fake News: More Human Curation
- We’re underestimating the mind-warping potential of fake video: Doctored photos can easily create false memories. What happens when there’s fake video?
- Fullscreen, Concerned About Inappropriate Content, Cuts About 160 Partners From Its Network
- DJ Khaled Alcohol Endorsements Exposed, Says TINA
- Citing Tepid Crowdfunding Results, Neill Blomkamp Cancels Plans To Adapt Digital Short Into Feature
- Snapchat’s Stock Tumbles As Company Confirms It’s Testing Yet Another Redesign
- Hollywood is Wrong: Netflix is the Future of Film
- Netflix Is Launching A Podcast That Breaks Down Its Original Documentary Shows And Films
- BuzzFeed Pacts With Netflix For Short-Form Docuseries About Its Journalists
- Netflix Again Raising $1.5 Billion In Debt Financing Amid Aggressive Content Push
- Netflix, Amazon, and major studios try to shut down $20-per-month TV service: It’s the third lawsuit against TV box makers filed by Netflix and film studios.
- Jeff Bezos Says Video Has Helped Drive 100 Million Amazon Prime Members
- It’s Thanks To The Pirate Community That Amazon’s Attempt To Degrade Its Streaming Service Is Now Public
- Amazon Key expands to deliver packages inside your car: Another option for those skeptical about in-home deliveries.
- Amazon made an Echo Dot for kids, and it costs $30 more than the original: New parental controls and FreeTime Unlimited subscription coming soon, too.
- Twitter’s Bet on Video Is Starting to Pay Off: The company is doing as good a job as anyone figuring out live streaming, a medium that has been slow to take off in the U.S
- In Earnings Report, Twitter Says Video Ads Now Make Up More Than Half Of Its Ad Revenue
- State Appeals Court Upholds Criminal Conviction For Twitter Harassment Targeting An Autistic Student
- How Twitter Suspended The Account Of One Of Our Commenters… For Offending Himself?
- Vevo Announces Layoffs After The Departure Of Its CTO
- Backlash prompts Eventbrite to drop demand to crash events, record them: “We’ve heard some concerns from our customers,” company says, over perpetual copyright grab.
- Ben Makuch of Vice takes on police in Supreme Court: The refusal of a journalist to hand over communications with a terror suspect has raised fundamental questions about press freedoms and national security.
- Vice Media Launches Local Operations in India
- Spotify Just Gave You a Pretty Good Reason Not to Pay for Spotify
- Spotify Exec Jabs YouTube Amid Launch Of Redesigned App With More Free Feature
- Spotify Bolsters Free Service In Defense Against Apple Music
- Tim Cook on merging macOS and iOS: “I don’t think that’s what users want”: Apple’s CEO appeared to debunk speculation that the company seeks a unified OS.
- Apple offers free battery replacements for select MacBook Pro models: Only some newer 13-inch MacBook Pros without Touch Bars have been affected.
- Apple Sued An Independent Norwegian Repair Shop In Bid To Monopolize Repair — And Lost
- ABKCO Music, Inc. v. William Sagan
- The ‘Terms and Conditions’ Reckoning Is Coming: Everyone from Uber to PayPal is facing a backlash against their impenetrable legalese.
- Robot Showboat: Now Even Our Celeb Feuds Are Automated
- Your Next Job Interview Could Be with a Racist Bot: Companies are using AI-powered cameras and chatbots to screen applicants. And that could unintentionally make employers even more discriminatory than before.
- Some Startups Use Fake Data To Train AI
- Ready Lawyer One: Virtual Reality Is Coming To Courtrooms
- Augmented Reality Is Transforming Museums
- Coinbase Reportedly Shuts Down Wikileaks Store, Assange Calls for Boycott in Response
- Silicon Valley’s Latest Revolution: Cutting Out Wall Street
- The Selfie As We Know It Is Dead
- Why So Many People Make Their Password ‘Dragon’
- Reinventing the Internet via blockchain
- New hacks siphon private cryptocurrency keys from airgapped wallets: Beware of smartphones and cameras around wallets storing your digital coin.
- Icelandic bitcoin heist suspect arrested in Amsterdam after leaving prison
- “Secondary Sales” of Private Securities (And Tokens) in Crowdfunding
- Suspicious event hijacks Amazon traffic for 2 hours, steals cryptocurrency: Almost 1,300 addresses for Amazon Route 53 rerouted for two hours.
- ‘We’ve Lost 10 Years of Innovation. This Decade Has Been Boring for the Web.’: A conversation with Ethan Zuckerman, media scholar and inventor of the pop-up ad, on the original sin of advertising and the web’s lost decade.
- Want To Blog In Tanzania, Or Read Social Media In Uganda? Pay The Government, Please
CREATIVITY
- 9th Circuit rules that Naruto has no standing under US Copyright Act
- Naruto v. Slater
- Monkey has no standing to assert copyright infringement in selfie case, 9th Circuit rules
- Monkey-selfie lawsuit finally ends: Court affirms adorable macaque can’t sue: PETA claimed to be a friend to Naruto but “failed” at doing so, 9th Circuit finds.
- We Interrupt The News Again With Hopefully The Last Update From The Monkey Selfie Case
- Grumpy Cat Limited v. Grenade Beverage LLC, et al.
- U.S. Court of Appeals Finds That the Lines Remain Blurred
- Music publishers score major victory in closely watched copyright case
- Kimberley v. Penguin Random House
- Silberstein v. Fox Entertainment Group, Inc.
- Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC v. Ren Ventures Ltd
- Fearless Girl to be moved due to … viability concerns
- Astronaut’s Right-of-Publicity Case Won’t Timeout
- LeBron James hit with trademark suit over his barbershop-based web series
- When Your Trademark Is A False Advertisement
- Supreme Court upholds patent review process, dealing trolls a blow: A key part of the 2011 America Invents Act is constitutional, high court rules.
- Brexit and copyright law: will the English courts revert to the ‘old’ test for originality?
- The CASE Act – A Noble but Toothless Gesture Toward Fair Copyright Enforcement
- Of Course The RIAA Would Find A Way To Screw Over The Public In ‘Modernizing’ Copyright
- Publisher Helps To Keep Sci-Hub In The Public Eye By Trying To Bully It Into Submission Using Ineffectual Legal Remedies
- This band is storing their best-selling album in DNA
- Following Questionable Election, Honduran Government Debuts New Censorship Law
- Hate Speech Laws In India
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Australian Gov’t Scooped Up Tons Of Cell Site Location Data To Track Citizens’ Movements
- High Court establishes ‘right to be forgotten’ in English law
- Company obtains cyber injunction under the protection of anonymity
- SEC issues $35 million fine over Yahoo failing to disclose data breach
- Supreme Court Dismisses Microsoft Appeal as Moot After Passage of the CLOUD Act
- Framed For Murder By His Own DNA
- Florida Police Allegedly Crash Funeral Home to Unlock Phone With Slain Man’s Fingerprints
- Hackers Designed a ‘Master Key’ to Unlock Millions of Hotel Room Doors
- When you go to a security conference, and its mobile app leaks your data: RSA Conference attendee contact data extracted using hard-coded API data.
- Cracking The Crypto War: Ray Ozzie thinks he has an approach for accessing encrypted devices that attains the impossible: It satisfies both law enforcement and privacy purists.
- Jaywalking in China Can Get You Hit with a Stream of Water
- Atlanta Spent $2.6m To Recover From A $52,000 Ransomware Scare
- Batten down the hatches: The GDPR wind is about to blow
GAMES
- Loot boxes in leading games violate Dutch gambling legislation: Developers have eight weeks to change their loot box mechanics or face prohibition
- Netherlands pushes for EU-wide loot box legislation: Loot box ruling from Dutch government body could set precedent in Europe against certain iterations of the mechanic
- Loot boxes with real-world value deemed unlawful in The Netherlands
- Four publishers must change in-game loot boxes to avoid Dutch gambling laws: Study determines randomized items that have a “market value” violate the law.
- Belgian Gaming Commission declares loot boxes illegal
- Video game loot boxes are now considered criminal gambling in Belgium: FIFA, Overwatch, Counter-Strike: GO could face fines and prison penalties.
- EA, Activision Blizzard, and Valve found in breach of Belgian gambling laws: Loot boxes in FIFA 18, Overwatch, and CS:GO violate gambling legislation, says Belgian Gaming Commission
- Tattoo artist takes aim at WWE and video game maker
- Tattoo artist sues WWE in Southern Illinois, says her designs were copied in video games
- Terminal Reality is suing Microsoft over shadow and lighting patents
- Microsoft accused of ‘egregious and wilful’ patent infringement: Terminal Reality and Infernal Technologies file lawsuit against tech giant for infringing patent with multiple games
- A fan-made Halo PC patch meets Microsoft’s legal muscle – and apparently survives: Lawyers arrive after Halo Online “ElDewrito” patch explodes – but no C&D yet.
- 343 clarifies Halo modding policy as fan-led Halo Onlinerevival gets the axe
- Blizzard brings paid mods to StarCraft II with ‘Premium Arcade’ initiative
- The Gaming Industry is Susceptible to ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuits
- Ragnarok Online shutting down European servers after 14 years
- GOG is getting more Steam-like with addition of new social features
- Australian High Court orders Valve to pay $2.4M fine over misleading refund policy
- Valve fined $3m over breach in Australian law with misleading Steam refund policy: Steam operator’s appeal denied by High Court of Australia
- Valve acquires Firewatch creator Campo Santo
- Valve acquires Firewatch developer Campo Santo: Yet another sign Valve might be interested in making new games again.
- Detroit developer sues French press over “toxic culture” reports: Developer goes to court to fight what it calls a “smear campaign.”
- Quantic Dream takes legal action against French media for negative press
- Quantic Dream sues press over reports of toxic workplace – Report: Detroit Become Human studio takes legal action against two of the three outlets who unearthed allegations of harassment and discrimination
- Maxis renames The Sims 4’s in-game ‘insane’ trait to ‘erratic’
- EA Maxis renames The Sims’ “insane” character trait: Switch to “erratic” is a reflection of how “language evolves”, EA says
- Studio apologizes for delay by pledging 90+-hour work weeks: NeoCoreGames says it was joking when it promised crunch as atonement for pushing full launch of Early Access game Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr back three weeks
- The Red Flag of Passion: How a seemingly harmless word is used to put a happy face on some of the industry’s biggest problems
- Fortnite breaks $25 million in first month on mobile: Revenue could pass $500 million this year, Sensor Tower suggests
- Fortnite streamer peaks at 667,000 concurrent viewers, breaking own record: Las Vegas Esports Arena inaugural event becomes record-breaking Twitch stream
- Thanks to a cosmetic change, Epic accidentally rebalancedFortnite’s shotguns
- Tencent investing $15M to help establish Fortnite in China
- Tencent will invest $15 million in Fortnite’s rollout in China: Seeding an esports community for Epic’s game will be a focus of the investment
- As PUBG-like contenders emerge, Islands of Nyne might already have them beat: Rumors swirl around Battlefield, Call of Duty, but awesome sci-fi twist is already here.
- First major PUBG tournament launches this summer with $2m prize pool on the line: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Global Invitational set to take place this year in Berlin, Germany
- Twitch starts beta for new monetisation system: Viewers can now spend virtual currency in Extensions, with revenue divided between streamer and developer
- Twitch Has Expanded Monetization To 220,000 Affiliates 1 Year After Program’s Launch
- TheWaveVR secures $6M for its social VR platform
- CCP chief: EVE dev’s move to leave VR due to risk, not loss of faith
- Oculus overhauls privacy policy and terms of service
- UK God of War launch is the biggest in the series history: Same for the new Yakuza, too
- God of War Director’s Review Reaction Is A Reminder That Games Are Made By Humans
- Sony’s studios continue their winning streak: The success of the PS4’s excellent first-party experiences belie the commercial challenges single-player titles still face
- The infamous FMV game Night Trap is headed to the Nintendo Switch after all
- Nintendo Switch hardware exploits cannot be patched out
- The “unpatchable” exploit that makes every current Nintendo Switch hackable: Newly published Tegra bootROM exploit could be a big headache for Nintendo and others.
- Behind the scenes with the hackers who unlocked the Nintendo Switch: “The best way to get a chip security audited is to put it in a game console”
- Nintendo Labo belongs in the classroom
- Review: Nintendo Labo (Variety And Robot Kits – Nintendo’s big gamble on cardboard and imagination pays off.
- How to make your old Game Boy as good as (or better than) new: Why wait for a “Game Boy Classic” when you can fix up your old stuff instead?
- How Squidlit’s devs authentically recreated a Game Boy game in 2018
- Sonic Mania surpasses 1M sold worldwide
- Capcom scrapping Puzzle Fighter to focus on Dead Rising
- Italian games market hits $1.8 billion in 2017: The latest wave of GSD data is released for Europe
- Steam sales, store pages and the art of selling games: At Reboot Develop, Rockfish, Vlambeer and 11 bit take very different views on the value of cutting prices
- Kartridge announces new dev-friendly revenue terms
- Kartridge offers developers 100% of revenue up to $10,000: Exclusive games will also get 90% up to $40k, in new terms aimed at “smaller developers”
- How indie publishers stand out – and why they need your game to help them: Speaking at Reboot Develop, Devolver Digital, Paradox Interactive and Raw Fury reflect on their role in a game’s success and offer advice on pitching to them
- “We just want to keep the IP” – Why Swery is banking on crowd-funding: The Good Life approaches its last stretch on Kickstarter
- How Space Ape eschewed convention to make its most profitable game – Simon Hade and Nicolas Boulay discuss growing Fastlane: Road to Revenge from $5,000 ad revenue a day to $45,000 in four months
- Ubisoft launches second season of start-up incubator program: “Ubisoft is proud of its roots and has not forgotten that its very own adventure began as a start-up,” says program sponsor
- Darwin Project goes free-to-play after six weeks in Early Access: Scavengers Studio cites players’ “difficulty finding matches” as motivation for the change
- Crossfire developer Smilegate closes Berlin studio
- Smilegate to close Berlin office just over a year after it opened: Crossfire developer shuts down European base as part of new business strategy
- “What’s your plan to not destroy yourself as you’re stepping into this career path?”: At Reboot Develop, Devolver and Good Shepherd co-founder Mike Wilson discussed the need for unions, mental burnout, and dealing with online toxicity
- Better than reality: New emulation tech lags less than original consoles: “LAGFIX” fast-forwards through “hidden” frames for near-instant response times.
- The Sentinel stands alone: Why I Love: Quantum Soup’s Chris Payne remembers Geoff Crammond’s purely innovative, rarely imitated classic
- Rovio and Sony confirm a new Angry Birds movie for 2019: The first film earned $352 million since it opened two years ago
- Wolfenstein II has five nominations at the Nordic Game Awards 2018: But Ultra Ultra’s Echo leads the pack with six, Tarsier Studios’ Little Nightmares and Image & Form’s SteamWorld Dig 2 close behind
- Three years out, Final Fantasy VII remake still seems a long way off: Despite 2015 announcement, ambitious overhaul effort appears to be in early stages.
- Death Road to Canada devs delay release out of respect for recent tragedy
- Reboot Develop expands with Canada conference in 2019: Spring conference will remain in Dubrovnik alongside new student event, Canadian debut to be held in autumn next year
- Social media ‘fair game’ in admissions process: But survey finds less than a third of colleges actually look at social media profiles when making admissions decisions
- GDPR: Frequently Asked Questions – In the final part of their GDPR guide, Purewal & Partners’ Jas Purewal and Peter Lewin tackle the industry’s most common concerns
- Blog: How the Rubik’s Cube inspired a laid-back Atari puzzler
- Video: We force kids to confront ’80s technology – Youngsters struggled to understand why the TV must be on channel 3 to play games.
Jon
News of the Week; April 18, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Former FCC Broadband Advisory Panel Chair Arrested For Fraud
- Ajit Pai’s ex-broadband advisor arrested on charge of forging fiber contracts: Ex-CEO and committee chair accused of defrauding investors with fake contracts.
- Broadband adviser picked by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai arrested on fraud charges: Elizabeth Pierce allegedly tricked investors into pouring $250 million into a fiber optic scheme by forging revenue agreements
- Ajit Pai refuses Democrats’ request to revoke Sinclair broadcast licenses: Pai springs into action – and much faster than when Trump wanted to punish NBC.
- Bad news for AT&T and Comcast: Calif. Senate panel OKs net neutrality bill – AT&T, cable lobbyists can’t convince Calif. senators to scrap net neutrality.
- AT&T and cable lobby are terrified of a California net neutrality bill: ISPs hate California bill even more than the FCC rules they helped kill.
- T-Mobile deceived customers with “false ring tones” on failed phone calls: FCC fines T-Mobile $40M for rural call failures but requires no refunds.
- FCC to Look at the KidVid Rules in a Formal Proceeding Soon
- ACLU: If Americans Want Privacy & Net Neutrality, They Should Build Their Own Broadband Networks
- The FCC’s ‘Broadband Advisory Council’ Keeps Losing Members Due To Cronyism
- Commissioner Clyburn to Leave the FCC
- The FCC loses a fierce consumer advocate as Mignon Clyburn resigns: Clyburn, the “conscience” of FCC, advocated for net neutrality
DIGITAL
- Teen charged in Nova Scotia government breach says he had ‘no malicious intent’: 19-year-old says he believed documents were ‘free to just download’ from province’s FOIPOP web portal
- Digital Disruption: How Should Canadian Regulators Respond?
- 19-Year-Old Canadian Facing Criminal Charges For Downloading Publicly-Accessible Documents
- Facebook must face class action over facial recognition, judge rules
- Judge Clears Way for Major Class Action Suit Against Facebook Over Face Recognition
- Facebook’s Potential $70 billion Legal Challenge
- Facebook Is Steering Users Away From Privacy Protections
- Facebook Stops Funding Opposition to California Privacy Focused Ballot Act
- Why dictators love Facebook
- Congress Never Wanted to Regulate Facebook. Until Now
- Facebook data transfers to be examined by EU court, Irish judge rules – Activist: “US law requires Facebook to help the NSA…and EU law prohibits just that.”
- After Cambridge Analytica, Privacy Experts Get to Say ‘I Told You So’
- This plan would regulate Facebook without going through Congress: How to rein in data collection without going through Congress
- Zuckerberg’s New Hate Speech Plan: Out With the Court and In With the Code
- As Zuckerberg Smiles To Congress, Facebook Fights State Privacy Laws
- Tens of thousands of Facebook accounts compromised in days by malware: Professionally developed trojan posing as a stress reliever infects 40,000 PCs.
- “Not too fond of Facebook”: A dating app removes its linked-profile requirement – Could be the first of many apps to dump FB requirements in wake of recent disclosures.
- The problems with Facebook are inherent in its design, but that can change
- Inverting The Expected Order Of Things, German Court Orders Facebook To Reinstate ‘Offensive’ Content
- Is Facebook a Community? Digital Experts Weigh In
- What Comes After The Social Media Empires: “Maybe we’ve reached the point where it’s not even possible to have Facebook in common.”
- ‘One Has This Feeling of Having Contributed to Something That’s Gone Very Wrong’: A conversation with VR pioneer Jaron Lanier on Silicon Valley’s politics, being quoted by Mark Zuckerberg, and what went wrong with the internet.
- This isn’t the first time a tech boom has interfered with democracy
- Watch Obama, Voiced By Jordan Peele, Warn Against Fake News In BuzzFeed Video
- Singaporean Government Creates Fake News To Push Fake News Legislation
- Stealing Your Online Face – Online Truth Suffers Another Blow
- Actually, Social Media Isn’t An Echo Chamber
- At-Home Dental Appliance Company Sues Website For Having Opinions About Its Products
- Despite Repeated Evidence That It’s Unnecessary And Damaging, Trump Signs SESTA/FOSTA
- Amended Complaint Filed Against Backpage… Now With SESTA/FOSTA
- Backpage CEO pleads guilty to conspiracy, money laundering: Carl Ferrer agreed to end Backpage and help prosecution of his former co-workers.
- Apple may debut its own news subscription service within the next year: An upgraded Apple News app could be home to the company’s trusted news sources.
- Apple’s Infringement In $502M Security IP Row Willful: Jury
- Apple memo warning employees about leaking gets leaked: Apple warns leakers that “they’re getting caught faster than ever.”
- Apple’s Internal Memo Warning Employees Not To Leak To The Press Leaks To The Press
- Apple plans to kill 32-bit app support on MacOS in the near future
- U.S. iPhone users spent an average of $58 on apps and IAPs in 2017
- The Wired Guide To Internet Addiction: Everything you ever wanted to know about screen time, likes, and pull-to-refresh.
- Congress Enacts Law Creating a Sex Trafficking Exception From the Immunity Provided by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
- Ted Cruz Demands A Return Of The Fairness Doctrine, Which He Has Mocked In The Past, Due To Misunderstanding CDA 230
- Scott Pruitt has “at least four” official email addresses, senators say: According to The Washington Post, one of them is sooners7@epa.gov.
- Court upholds clickwrap agreement, reiterating that general principles of contract apply
- How Android Phones Hide Missed Security Updates From You
- LA Official Is Starting to Get Fed Up With Waze’s Habit of Directing Drivers Down a Death Slalom
- A crummy drop-down menu appeared to kill dozens of mothers in Texas: This doesn’t mean maternal mortality in Texas or the US is OK. It’s still horrific.
- Artificial intelligence and copyright
- Algorithmic Accountability: A Primer
- A.I. Engineers Must Open Their Designs To Democratic Control: When it comes to A.I., we need to keep humans in the loop.
- AI Tool Helps Law Enforcement Find Victims of Human Trafficking
- Lawmakers Want You to Be Able to Sue Robots
- IKEA Furniture Tests Your Relationship, Also Robots
- A Robot Does The Impossible: Assembling An Ikea Chair Without Having A Meltdown
- Google works out a fascinating, slightly scary way for AI to isolate voices in a crowd: Google researchers try to replicate the “cocktail party effect” for computers.
- Beyoncé Leads YouTube To Record-Setting 41 Million Viewers On Coachella Streams
- Barcelona-Based YouTuber Faces Prison For Pranking Homeless Man With Doctored Oreos
- Lawsuit Alleges That YouTube Star Poppy’s Shtick Was Stolen From Another Creator
- Stupid Copyright: MLB Shuts Down Twitter Account Of Guy Who Shared Cool MLB Gifs
- YouTube tackling creator monetisation issues new pilot scheme: Self certification “will make the monetisation process much smoother with fewer false positive demonetisations,” says YouTube CEO
- YouTube demonetized my tuba videos (also, I make tuba videos): YouTube can’t decide if I can make money off my 10-year-old Legend of Zelda video or not.
- Ex-YouTube Engineer Builds Site To Figure Out What Content The Video Site’s Algorithm Recommends
- Citing Viewership Suppression, Philip DeFranco Again Says New Shows Won’t Be Distributed YouTube-First
- YouTube’s Restrictions On Firearms Content Has Led A Gun Manufacturer To Sue A Creator
- YouTube TV Adds Cheddar, Cheddar Big News To Lineup, Marking First Digital-Native Channels
- YouTube TV brings two Cheddar digital-only shows to its lineup: The financial media company will offer its finance and general news channels to YouTube’s live TV service.
- Google Staffer’s Scrappy Design Becomes Healing Symbol After YouTube Shooting
- Google refuses to fix Waze so it won’t route people on 32%-grade road
- Hulu Keeps Pace With YouTube TV By Sponsoring NBA Playoffs
- Sports Illustrated Launches SVOD Service On Roku, iOS, Android, And The Web
- Formula 1’s streaming service goes live with the Spanish GP in May: You’ll need a browser to watch it at first, but mobile and TV apps are coming
- Sports-Centric Skinny Bundle FuboTV Raises $75 Million From Fox, AMC, Sky
- The Digital Afterlife is Open for Business. But It Needs Rules.
- Beautycon Launches Content Pact With BET Ahead Of Sold-Out New York Event
- FouseyTube To Enter Rehab For Addiction, Depression, And Bipolar Disorder
- Ja Rule’s catastrophic Fyre Festival gets a documentary series on Hulu
- Hulu Nabs Docuseries About The Infamous Fyre Festival Scam
- 80% Of Netflix Viewership Comes From Licensed Content, Not Originals (Study)
- Despite October 2017 Price Hike, Netflix Added 7.4 Million New Customers In Q1 2018
- Netflix Bows Out Of Cannes After Festival Tells Streaming Services To Get Off Its Lawn
- Netflix Sees Itself As The Anti-Apple
- Comcast To Sell Netflix Subscriptions In False Belief This Will Slow Cord Cutting
- Amazon and Best Buy team up to sell TVs, but it’s a risky move for Best Buy: Best Buy will carry TVs with Amazon software and will sell TVs on Amazon.com.
- House of Lords issues report on digital advertising market
- $2 Million Allegedly Stolen From Cryptocurrency Vlogger in the Middle of His Livestream
- Bitcoin heist suspect reportedly walked out of low-security prison, onto flight: Sindri Thor Stefansson had been arrested over theft of 600 bitcoin-mining computers.
- New York’s Attorney General Begins Inquiry Into Cryptocurrency Practices
- New York Attorney General Launches Inquiry into Cryptocurrency Exchanges
- Microsoft’s bid to secure the Internet of Things: Custom Linux, custom chips, Azure – This is Redmond’s first-ever Linux distribution.
- Microsoft claims to make Chrome safer with new extension: A purported Edge advantage is now available in Chrome.
- Welcome To The Wikipedia For Terms Of Service Agreements
- Online-Transactions can trigger Specific Jurisdiction of U.S. Courts
- Canada’s Tough Anti-Piracy Copyright Law: Federal Court Awards Millions in Damages Against Unauthorized Streaming Site (Michael Geist)
- Digital Trends and Initiatives in Education: The Study the Association of Canadian Publishers Tried To Bury (Michael Geist)
CREATIVITY
- The monkey selfie lawsuit lives: PETA and the photographer settled last year, but the Ninth Circuit will be issuing a ruling anyway
- Citing monkey business, court refuses to toss simian selfie lawsuit
- We Interrupt Today’s News With An Update From The Monkey Selfie Case
- Oracle wins in US copyright case: consequences for EU software market?
- Plaintiff Torpedoed with Attorneys’ Fees for “Objectively Unreasonable” Copyright Claim
- Broadway Producers Offer to Perform “To Kill a Mockingbird” in Court to Prove Faithfulness to Novel
- Barreau du Québec files bombshell motion: A motion filed by the Barreau du Québec and the Montreal Bar, argues that all of the province’s laws are illegal because they were drafted and adopted in French only.
- “Weight Loss” vs. “Weight Management”: Vitamin Shoppe Sidesteps False Advertising Suit
- From East Coast to West Coast: Actresses Lose Right of Publicity Cases as Courts Rule in Favor of the First Amendment Rights of Content Creators
- Three Parents of Sandy Hook Victims File Defamation Lawsuits Against InfoWars’ Alex Jones
- Sean Hannity was very concerned about conflicts of interest — until he had one
- Sean Hannity’s Ties to Two More Trump-Connected Lawyers: The Fox News host denies that Michael Cohen was ever his lawyer—but Hannity was represented by a pair of legal advisers who also have close links to the president.
- Time for Fox News to investigate Sean Hannity
- “You Only Hire Cohen For One Reason”: Inside Fox News, Sean Hannity’s Michael Cohen Disclosure Stokes A Crisis As Murdoch Wavers On Trump – The revelation that Trump’s lawyer offered legal advice to Fox News’s biggest name was shocking
- Fox News ‘surprised’ by Hannity’s relationship with Cohen, but stands by him
- Levi’s Has Filed Trademark Suits Against Just About Everyone
- NCAA In Tune with Dancing With the Stars
- Putting It In Writing: The Return Of The Morality Clause In The Age Of #MeToo And Time’s Up (Part I)
- Putting It In Writing: The Return of The Morality Clause In The Age of #MeToo and Time’s Up (Part II)
- New Hampshire Court: First Amendment Says You Can Call A Patent Troll A Patent Troll
- The Scientific Importance of Free Speech
- Against Copyright Balance: Canadian Heritage Officials Say It’s Time “To Move Beyond the Notion of Balance” (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Music Industry Confirms Once More That For Copyright Companies, Enough Is Never Enough
- The Music Industry Now Wants To Creep Past Site-Blocking Into App-Blocking
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Bad News For ‘Privacy Shield’: As Expected, EU’s Top Court Will Examine Legality Of Sending Personal Data To US
- California Bill Could Introduce A Constitutionally Questionable ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ In The US
- Court Orders Google to Remove Results for Man’s Criminal Record Under “Right to be Forgotten”
- Google attempted end run around Canadian courts fails, rules BC Judge in Equustek case
- UK High Court Hands Win To Claimant In Right To Be Forgotten Case
- If Trump Is So Worried About Protecting Attorney-Client Privilege, He Should End The NSA’s Bulk Surveillance (And CPB Device Seizures)
- How Government Pressure Has Turned Transparency Reports From Free Speech Celebrations To Censorship Celebrations
- Gmail.com redesign includes self-destructing emails: Set expiration dates and password requirements on your sensitive emails.
- In Trying To Ban Telegram, Russia Breaks The Internet
- “Privacy is not for sale,” Telegram founder says after being banned in Russia: Russian authorities are demanding a universal key. Telegram says it doesn’t exist.
- In effort to shut down Telegram, Russia blocks Amazon, Google network addresses: Russian censors up ante in effort to block secure chat by political opposition.
- Russian hackers mass-exploit routers in homes, govs, and infrastructure: The hacks steal passwords and clear the way for future attacks, officials warn.
- Inside the Decade-Long Russian Campaign to Infiltrate the NRA and Help Elect Trump: Femme fatales, lavish Moscow parties and dark money – how Russia worked the National Rifle Association
- Open Letter On Ending Attacks On Security Research
- Apps Are Illegally Stealing Children’s Privacy Data
- FTC tightens reins around Uber following 2016 breach: Ride-hailing service waited a year to disclose hack that stole data of 25 million.
- App Permissions Don’t Tell Us Nearly Enough About Our Apps
- A Casino Was Hacked Thanks To The Internet Of Broken Things & A Fish Tank Thermometer
- Cloudflare’s Plan To Protect The Whole Internet Comes Into Focus
- What does GDPR do?: Purewal & Partners’ Jas Purewal and Peter Lewin provide an overview of the imminent EU data protection regulation
- What does GDPR mean for digital entertainment businesses?: In the second part of their GDPR guide, Purewal & Partners’ Jas Purewal and Peter Lewin offer advice and ten key tips for games companies
- When Can Law Enforcement Look at Your Devices? A Definitive List
- Inside The Unnerving Supply Chain Attack That Corrupted CCleaner
- Facebook exits anti-privacy alliance it formed with Comcast and Google: Facebook gave $200K but will stop fighting CA law to restrict sale of user data.
- Public Attention Forces Facebook To Retreat From Anti-Privacy Alliance With ISPs In California
GAMES
- Cop won’t be charged in “swatting” death of Kansas man: Victim’s family is “devastated” by the decision, their lawyer says.
- Blog: A legal analysis of the NetEase vs. PUBG lawsuit
- In-Game Currency Triggers State Gambling Laws, Rendering Mobile Game “Illegal Gambling”
- Patrick Soderlund: EA “can’t afford” another loot box controversy with Anthem – Newly promoted chief design officer promises publisher has learned from mistakes with Star Wars debacle
- Loot boxes, skins gambling to hit $50 billion by 2022: Juniper Research “strongly recommends regulation for skin trading and gambling” in report covering growth of practices
- Microsoft & other game companies win out in camera patent lawsuit
- Patent lawsuit against Microsoft, EA, and Nintendo quashed at appeal: Federal court finds patent holder’s argument “unconvincing”
- FTC warns that, yes, those warranty-voiding stickers on consoles are illegal
- FTC warns about illegal warranties, likely including Nintendo and Sony: Federal Trade Commission states that companies are not allowed to force users to use specific service providers
- Sophisticated APT surveillance malware comes to Google Play: Attackers pushing mobile surveillance-ware are stepping up their game.
- Google Play under investigation by South Korea’s FTC over market abuse
- Google Play faces allegations of market abuse in South Korea: South Korean FTC begins survey of mobile companies to uncover alleged abuses
- Female game devs in South Korea are being harassed for feminist beliefs
- Cliff Bleszinski accuses Epic Games of stealing staff: Boss Key co-founder believes there is plenty of room in Battle Royale genre as Radical Heights gains momentum
- SteamSpy creator warns PC market is once again open to abuse: “Imagine signing a basketball player without knowing his past performance,” posits Sergey Galyonkin
- Valve’s SteamSpy snub will only hurt smaller developers: And thus begins a rant about digital data
- Valve’s move against SteamSpy isn’t such a big deal, says No More Robots founder – Mike Rose: “There’s no doubt people right now are making games because they thought SteamSpy told them to”
- Eugen Systems developers call an end to strike: “We have stopped striking… after more than a month a half, to conserve our resources for the future”
- How Dlala survived the loss of a $3m Disney deal: CEO AJ Grand-Scrutton shares the cautionary tale of a studio whose life-changing game was scrapped without warning
- Hollywood Should Make Movies That Grapple with Gamergate
- Cheater! Billy Mitchell stripped of scores, banned from premiere scoreboard: Full investigation shows King of Kong star used emulators, not real hardware.
- Billy Mitchell says he’s “not going to stop now” after scoreboard ban: Disgraced score-chaser promises witnesses, documents will redeem his name.
- Devs can now pitch crowdfunded games based on D&D co-creator’s unpublished work
- Estate of Dungeons & Dragons creator teams with crowdfunding/investment site for video game project
- The accidental relevance of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus – MachineGames creative director Jens Matthies on when he realized his Nazi-killing game was going to be politically topical, and dealing honestly with Nazi ideology
- God of War (2018): How to reinvent a beloved series without ruining what works – Kratos’ son avoids Scrappy-Doo syndrome amid more strategic melee brawling.
- Reversing the sunk cost fallacy: Devs recount what shouldn’t have been cut
- Win Mazda’s new iRacing challenge to get a test in an MX-5 race car: The winners of online and at-track rounds will compete at Daytona in 2019 for the test.
- Spending On Games Up By 13% Among US Iphone Users: Games Account For Largest Share Of Apps Installed On Average User’s Device
- Iron Harvest most successful video game Kickstarter in nearly a year: King Art Games’ crowdfunded project the first to break $1 million in 2018
- Do gamers really care about cross-platform play?: GameTrack survey of European gamers shows indifference to the trend, and a lack of influence on purchasing decisions
- With 2 million units sold, Shovel Knight generated the most income from Switch sales
- Shovel Knight earns more revenue from Switch sales than any other platform: Yacht Club Games’ signature title sells faster on Switch than any other console
- Nintendo seeking startups to improve Switch hardware: Platform holder teams up with Scrum Ventures to source new add-ons and technology for hybrid console
- Nintendo soliciting pitches from startups for innovative Switch tools and tech
- Nintendo seeking startups to improve Switch hardware: Platform holder teams up with Scrum Ventures to source new add-ons and technology for hybrid console
- Sega entering micro-console biz with Mega Drive Mini
- Sega reveals Mega Drive Mini: Publisher’s entry into the mini console market begins with Japan-only release
- Ex-PlayStation boss points to streaming as gaming’s next “inflection point”: Andrew House also sees emerging markets keeping physical media alive and console life-cycles long
- EA shakes up executive team to ‘sharpen focus’ on creative core
- Firing the middlemen: How blockchain can reshape digital distribution – Korrobox CEO Benjamin Huang discusses how the platform intends to eliminate costs of payment handling and fraud
- Pro Evolution Soccer loses UEFA Champions League license: Konami ends its partnership with European tournament after a decade
- Yoko Taro: We don’t need to think globally to sell globally – Nier Automata director and PlatinumGames lead designer Takahisa Taura discuss developing for Western tastes, 3D action games, and the dilemma of multiple endings
- Dwarf Fortress is giving its dwarves the ability to form (and dwell on) memories
- Hellblade wins big at 2018 BAFTAs as Edith Finch takes top honor
- What Remains of Edith Finch beats out AAA giants to win the BAFTA for Best Game
- A Way Out has sold over 1 million copies in two weeks
- A Way Out sells 1 million in two weeks: Hazelight Studios’ EA Originals co-op prison break game wastes no time hitting milestone
- Rainbow Six Siege has pulled in 30 million players
- Rainbow Six Siege reaches 30 million registered players: Ubisoft’s multiplayer shooter goes from strength to strength
- Life is Strange dev Dontnod headed toward an IPO
- Terraria spin-off canned after three years in development
- Counter-Strike pro player suspended over racist comment: Remarks “went beyond something being a genuine joke” says Faceit Pro League rep
- Naomi Kyle Joins WatchMojo’s Gaming Channel With New Let’s Play Series
- Twitch takes 82% of viewership hours for the top streaming titles in Q1: Esports content generated 11 per cent of all viewership hours across Twitch and YouTube
- Twitch reportedly affected by IP address bans in Russia
- Twitch Revamps Channel Analytics Dashboard As Part Of Yearlong Effort
- Twitch signs multi-year deal with NBA 2K League: First media rights deal for the NBA and Take-Two’s esports endeavor will see up to 199 games aired live on streaming site
- Battle Royale threatens a repeat of the MOBA bloodbath: With around a dozen Battle Royale titles set for release by the end of this year, developers need to be realistic about their chances of wresting market share from PUBG and Fortnite
- Blog: Why Fortnite will fall, but battle royale will rise on mobile
- Fortnite studio called out by Gears of Wardirector over hiring practices: Asks Epic to “please stop trying to hire away my team” – after major December defection.
- Fortnite mobile nabbed $25M in revenue during its first month
- Activision Blizzard enlists Nielsen for esports valuation: Tracking firm to assess value of sponsorship packages to see if brands are getting their money’s worth
- Unikrn sets up cryptocurrency esports betting platform with acquisition of ChallengeMe.gg: “This is a big deal for me, for Unikrn and, honestly, for the entire gaming ecosystem,” says Unikrn CEO
- Augmented and virtual reality consumer content market hits $3.2bn: Virtual reality install base expected to reach 75.7 million by 2021
- How psychological experiments influenced the design of Vault 11 in Fallout: New Vegas
- Blog: Understanding the role of music in VR
- The Young And The Reckless: A gang of teen hackers snatched the keys to Microsoft’s videogame empire. Then they went too far.
- V&A Museum: Video games are approaching a cultural tipping point – Curator Marie Foulston discusses how the industry can help a wider range of people understand our full impact and potential, and get them to look beyond the blockbusters
- A (slightly) different way to think about games and art
- Communications Accessibility In Games: What Game Developers Need To Know
- Crazy racing mash-up: Gamer vs driver in real cars, but with video-game views – Identical Ford Mustangs with the windows blacked out and an external camera to see.
- Video: How the classic arcade game NBA Jam was designed
- How Xbox got its start — and its name
- Exploring the rise and eventual fall of Xbox’s early teenage hacker
Jon
News of the Week; April 11, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Canadian Internet Providers Warn of Site Blocking Consequences: Threat to Affordable Internet Access and Market Competition (Michael Geist)
- CRTC Website Blocking Submissions Confirm Over-Blocking Risks: “Every Blocking Technique Suffers from Over-blocking and Under-blocking” (Michael Geist)
- Broken Record: Why the Music Industry’s Secret Plan for iPhone Taxes, Internet Tracking and Content Blocking is Off-Key (Michael Geist)
- The Competition-Killing Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Nobody Asked For Is Back On The Menu
- Oregon finalizes net neutrality law despite likelihood that ISPs will sue: Oregon governor signs net neutrality bill today.
- Oregon passes its own net neutrality laws, but not for home users: “The internet has democratised knowledge and is an invaluable tool. It’s so important that it remains open and accessible”
- Massachusetts Legislature Issues Net Neutrality Report, Recommends Legislation
- More Colorado Towns Vote Down A Comcast State Law Hamstringing Broadband Competition
- Ex-Obama FTC Boss Now Lobbying For Comcast, Trying To Prevent States From Protecting Consumers
- Ajit Pai’s “Harlem Shake” video preparations must remain secret, FCC says: It’s the second time FCC refused to release emails about an Ajit Pai comedy skit.
- FCC Withholds Ajit Pai’s Emails Regarding The Infamous ‘Harlem Shake’ Video
- FCC Commissioner Says Her Agency Is Now Just A Giant Rubber Stamp For Sinclair Broadcasting
- Trump and the idiot box: White House aides will try to get guests to make their points on Fox News shows because President Trump “will listen more when it is on TV.”
- The crisis in journalism that’s helping Trump: Did the collapse of local journalism help give us Donald Trump?
- When You Merge The Message With The Medium, You Make A Messium
- What’s Next for the FCC’s Radio Ownership Rules? – Do Changes in the Audio Marketplace Justify Changes in Ownership Limits?
- AT&T’s 5G trials produce gigabit speeds and 9ms latency: AT&T boasts about millimeter-wave 5G as it prepares for late 2018 launch.
- CenturyLink Tries To Dodge Broadband Billing Lawsuit By Claiming It Technically Has No Subscribers
DIGITAL
- Was Facebook’s Work With the Trump Campaign Illegal?
- The Questions Zuckerberg Should Have Answered About Russia
- Facebook admits Zuckerberg wiped his old messages – which you can’t do: Ordinary Facebook users can’t delete their messages from recipients’ inboxes.
- Facebook Admits Mark Zuckerberg and Top Execs Have Deleted Their Sent Messages Remotely
- Hours after Zuck deletion scandal, Facebook announces new unsend feature: How stupid does Facebook think we are?
- Facebook sent a doctor on a secret mission to ask hospitals to share patient data
- Facebook can’t catch a break: Medical data-sharing plan halted
- Watch Zuckerberg Struggle to Answer Sharp, Uncomfortable Questions About Peter Thiel’s Creepy Company
- A Hard Transparency Choice: What is WikiLeaks?
- Zuckerberg: Failing to identify Russian misinformation one of his ‘greatest regrets’: Mark Zuckerberg called Facebook’s failure to identify the influence of Russian information operations on the 2016 U.S. election one of his “greatest regrets.”
- Data firm that worked on Brexit suspended by Facebook: But the company says all allegations are untrue.
- “Facebook Doesn’t Sell Your Data. It Sells You”: Zeynep Tufekci on How Company’s Profit Really Works
- Steve Wozniak drops Facebook: “The profits are all based on the user’s info” – Apple cofounder – “Apple makes its money off of good products, not off of you.”
- Zuckerberg: regulation of social media firms is ‘inevitable’
- As Zuck testifies to Senate, Democrats propose tough opt-in privacy law: Democrats propose opt-in privacy rules for Facebook, Google, and other websites.
- Facebook urged to make GDPR its “baseline standard” globally
- Mark Zuckerberg Answers To Congress For Facebook’s Troubles
- CEO Zuckerberg apologizes for Facebook’s privacy failures
- It’s not just America: Zuckerberg has to answer for Facebook’s actions around the world
- Why Zuckerberg’s 14-Year Apology Tour Hasn’t Fixed Facebook
- What were the failures of Mark Zuckerberg pre-Facebook?
- 1 million UK Facebook users could have compensation claims for misuse of their personal information
- From Mark Zuckerberg to Harvey Weinstein, founder CEOs can become too big to fail
- Facebook isn’t too big to fail
- Mark Zuckerberg’s Testimony Birthed An Oddly Promising Memepocalypse
- Congress Is Unearthing Facebook’s Terrible Power
- Facebook And The Price Of Tech Utopia
- Facebook Imposes New Restrictions On Ads And Popular Pages
- Facebook: If you want to buy a political ad, you now have to be “authorized” – “We know we were slow to pick-up foreign interference in the 2016 US elections.”
- Facebook’s surveillance is nothing compared with Comcast, AT&T and Verizon: Comcast, AT&T and Verizon pose a greater surveillance risk than Facebook – but their surveillance is much harder to avoid
- MIT Civic Media Director: Facebook’s Apologies Are ‘Long Overdue’
- Mark Zuckerberg’s Privacy Shell Game
- Facebook CEO puts on suit and a smile to try to seduce, assuage senators – Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT): “Your business model is to maximize profit over privacy.”
- Cambridge Analytica Could Have Also Accessed Private Facebook Messages
- How To Check If Cambridge Analytica Could Access Your Facebook Data
- How to Find Out If Your Facebook Data Was Stolen by Cambridge Analytica
- Data Lords: The Real Story of Big Data, Facebook and the Future of News
- Broadband Industry Aims To Use Facebook Fracas To Saddle Silicon Valley With Crappy New Laws
- Yep, Russian trolls hit Reddit, too—on /r/funny and elsewhere – CEO: “We still have a lot of room to improve, and we intend to remain vigilant.”
- Here’s why tech companies abuse our data: because we let them (Brett Frischmann)
- The Rise Of Platform Authoritarianism
- Court Shuts Down Yet Another Lawsuit Against Social Media Companies Over Terrorist Attacks
- Cali Lawmakers Pushing For 72-Hour Bot Removal Requirements For Social Media Companies
- Court Says Kentucky Governor Free To Block Critics Using Official Social Media Accounts
- FOSTA Signed into Law, Amends CDA Section 230 to Allow Enforcement against Online Providers for Knowingly Facilitating Sex Trafficking
- Trump signs bill to shut down websites that facilitate prostitution: FOSTA becomes law—sex work forums were already shutting down to prepare.
- Ted Cruz Gets Section 230 All Wrong, While Zuck Claims He’s Not Familiar With It
- Backpage domains seized by feds, co-founder’s Arizona home raided: Notorious site had used Section 230 as a shield against state prosecution.
- Backpage execs indicted on federal prostitution, money laundering charges – AG: “Backpage.com existed as the dominant marketplace for illicit commercial sex.”
- DOJ Seizes And Shuts Down Backpage.com (Before SESTA Has Even Been Signed)
- “Erotic Review” blocks US Internet users to prepare for government crackdown: Sex work review site censors itself in US before SESTA is signed into law.
- Politicians Who Said SESTA Was Needed To Takedown Backpage Claim Victory Over Backpage Takedown… Without SESTA
- Federal Backpage Indictment Shows SESTA Unnecessary, Contains Zero Sex Trafficking Charges
- Japanese Government Seeks To Circumvent Its Own Constitution To Censor ‘Pirate’ Sites
- Studio71 Launches Brand Safety Tool To Help Its Partners Advertise Securely
- Right to be forgotten and online information removal under debate: Privacy commissioner may face challenges with the law
- Canadian Government Leaning Towards A Right To Be Forgotten It Can Enforce Anywhere In The World
- Vimeo Copyright Infringement Case Still Going Nearly A Decade Later, With Another Partial Win For Vimeo
- Latest EU Copyright Plan Would Ban Copyright Holders From Using Creative Commons
- Apple Must Pay $502.6 Million to VirnetX, Federal Jury Rules
- Apple ordered to pay $502.6M to VirnetX after jury finds patent infringement: Suing over patents hasn’t paid off: VirnetX lost over $75M from 2015 through 2017.
- Patent Troll Sues Spotify, SoundCloud And Deezer Over Patent On A ‘Music Organizer And Entertainment Center’
- Apple has begun notifying macOS users of coming 32-bit app incompatibility: Warnings have started, but 32-bit support will likely continue for many months.
- Amazon customers take to social media after mysterious account closures
- Most Links To Popular Sites On Twitter Come From Bots
- Instagram Testing ‘Nametags’ Feature That’s Essentially A Snapcodes Clone
- One Woman Got Facebook To Police Opioid Sales On Instagram
- ‘Mister Rogers’ Fan Film Battles Copyright Claim On YouTube
- After “Horrific Act Of Violence,” YouTube Will Tighten Security “At All Of Our Offices Worldwide”
- Google Staffer Launches $24,000 GoFundMe Campaign For YouTube Shooting Hero
- Groups Allege YouTube Is Violating Law That Protects Kids
- Advocacy Groups, Citing Children’s Privacy Laws, Ask FTC To Investigate YouTube
- Unite the Right? How YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Connects The U.S. Far-Right
- YouTube TV To Launch Linear Channels With Cheddar, Tastemade, The Young Turks
- Philip DeFranco Answers Sean Evans’ Burning Questions About YouTube On ‘Hot Ones’
- ‘Study With Me’ YouTube Videos Are Finding Massive Audiences In Japan
- YouTube To Stream Coachella For Eighth Year, Including Headliner Beyoncé
- YouTube Kids Is Going To Release A Whitelisted, Non-Algorithmic Version Of Its App: YouTube will approve all channels allowed to post, a source told BuzzFeed News, giving parents a firewall against an algorithm that’s often proved lacking.
- Google Turns To Users To Improve Its AI Chops Outside The US
- Again, Algorithms Suck At Determining ‘Bad’ Content, Often To Hilarious Degrees
- BroadbandTV Unveils ‘VISO’ Platform To Help Creators Collaborate, Optimize Uploads, More
- Netflix Reportedly Threatens Cannes Boycott After Its Films Are Banned From Competition
- The Military Wants to Make AI That Mimics the Human Brain. Experts Know There’s a Better Way.
- A Brain-Boosting Prosthesis Moves From Rats To Humans
- A New AI “Journalist” Is Rewriting the News to Remove Bias
- A lawyer’s guide to artificial intelligence
- China Now Has the Most Valuable AI Startup in the World
- Artificial Intelligence, Fair Use, and Using AI to Create New Works
- President Trump Announces Trade Actions Targeting Chinese Tech and Intellectual Property Policies
- Mozilla Diagnoses The Health Of The Global Internet
- The Internet has serious health problems, Mozilla Foundation report finds: Consolidation of control, “fake news,” IoT security weakness are symptoms of larger problems.
- More Governments Granting Themselves Extra Censorship Powers With ‘Fake News’ Laws
- Indian Government Enacts, Abandons ‘Fake News’ Law In Less Than 24 Hours
- Mt. Gox ex-CEO, who may profit from site’s fall, says he “doesn’t want this”
- Beijing Higher Court Affirms Grant of Injunction in IWNComm v. Sony
- The Never-Ending Self-Driving Car Project
- China Now Has the Most Valuable AI Startup in the World
- 10 Hidden URLs to Help You Rule the Web
- Quebec Digital Sales Tax Plan Shows It Is Easier Said Than Done (Michael Geist)
CREATIVITY
- Public policy and offensive trademarks
- Strong Shield Law Protections for Journalists in California and Across the Country
- RIAA Gets To Move Forward In Case That Tries To Force ISPs To Help Copyright Trolls
- MPAA Report Shows How The Internet Is Saving The Film Industry, Not Destroying It
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- The NYPD Wants Everyone’s Licenses for Facial Recognition. How Concerned Should You Be?
- DHS defends media-monitoring database, calls critics “conspiracy theorists”: Says only wearers of “tinfoil hats” have issues with “standard practice monitoring.”
- Thousands of hacked websites are infecting visitors with malware: Unusually advanced campaign infects people visiting a variety of poorly secured sites.
- Another Company Blows Off Breach Notification For Months, Lies About Affected Customers When It’s Exposed
- DC’s Stingray Mess Won’t Get Cleaned Up
- DHS Says Rogue Stingrays Are In Use In Washington, DC; Also Says It Hasn’t Done Anything About It
- How to keep your ISP’s nose out of your browser history with encrypted DNS: Using Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1, other DNS services still require some command-line know-how.
- Cyberinsurance Tackles The Wildly Unpredictable World Of Hacks
- Striking the Balance: Privacy and Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age (Michael Geist)
- Data Rules in Modern Trade Agreements: Toward Reconciling an Open Internet with Privacy and Security Safeguards (Michael Geist)
- Practical passwordless authentication comes a step closer with WebAuthn: Microsoft, Mozilla, and Google are all implementing the new standard.
GAMES
- GTA V producer hits speed bump in $150M lawsuit against Rockstar
- Former GTA producer suffers setback in $150m lawsuit against Take Two: Court finds profit sharing agreement unambiguous, but Benzies could still be compensated
- GTA V is the most profitable entertainment product of all time: 90 million sales and $6 billion in revenue means nothing comes close to Rockstar’s biggest hit
- Court Dismisses Lohan’s Invasion of Privacy Suit
- Grand Theft Auto 5 Has Many Different Characters, But Lindsay Lohan Is Not One of Them
- Appeals Court Rules That GTA5 Didn’t Infringe On Lindsay Lohan’s Likeness Rights
- Lawsuit Filed Against PUBG Mobile Clones
- PUBG Corp takes NetEase to court over alleged mobilePUBG copycats
- PUBG creators finally decide a copycat game has gone too far, file suit: What gets PUBG lawyers’ attention? A 25-strong list that includes chicken dinners.
- PUBG Corp. files lawsuit against NetEase for alleged copyright infringement: Look and feel of both mobile games “closely mimic” PUBG, says developer
- CliffyB’s Radical Heights is a new low for cashing in on the PUBG craze: What happens when a game studio is late to a hot trend twice in a row?
- Microsoft & other game companies win out in camera patent lawsuit
- Ubisoft to prioritize ‘toxicity management’ in Rainbow Six: Siege
- Ubisoft cracking down on hate speech, team-killing in Rainbow Six: Siege – “Egregious offenders” can now earn a permanent ban “without warning.”
- “You’re a__ is about to get swatted,” swatting suspect tweets from jail: A software glitch in a Kansas jail temporarily gave the suspect Internet access.
- Pokémon Go Producers Attacked by Strange Plaintiff-Beasts
- Korean companies fined $950K for deceptive loot box practices
- Nexon and Netmarble fined for loot box practices: Korean FTC hands out almost $1 million in fines, the majority to Nexon
- Korean FTC Issues Fines Over Loot Box Advertising
- FTC: Warranty-voiding language like Nintendo’s and Sony’s is illegal – FTC warns companies to stop voiding warranties for unauthorized repairs.
- Online gaming could be stalled by net neutrality repeal, ESA tells court: Entertainment Software Association fights FCC’s net neutrality repeal in court.
- The Video Game Industry Joins The Lawsuit To Save Net Neutrality
- Public UK wage database showcases game industry’s gender pay gap
- Exploring the pay gap: What does the data really say about the industry’s gender imbalance? – Full analysis reveals important questions about female representation across all industry levels
- Gender pay gaps: Here’s how we fix them – Amiqus’ Liz Prince believes this week’s revelations should compel the industry to address how it recruits, retains and promotes women
- Indie collective Juegos Rancheros dismisses co-founder Boyer
- Brandon Boyer dismissed from Juegos Rancheros: Austin indie game organization removes co-founder and former IGF chair from board of directors over conduct concerns
- Blog: Recapping the IGDA’s localization roundtable from GDC
- Altered Ventures launches $36M fund to help devs succeed in emerging markets
- How long should game devs spend working on just one game?
- BossKey backing away from active LawBreakers development
- Lawbreakers “failed to find an audience,” dev officially admits FPS defeat: Implies that game won’t receive an end-of-life transition to free-to-play, either.
- Ubisoft opens Winnipeg studio to develop world building tech
- Ubisoft opening Winnipeg studio: Far Cry 5 producer Darryl Long named managing director of new co-development studio focused on tools and tech for publisher’s AAA open-world brands
- Nightdive shares source code for System Shock on Mac
- Far Cry 5 has more than doubled Far Cry 4’s first week sales
- Insights: Fortnite’s Pop Culture Breakthrough May Last More Than Two Weeks
- Fortnite mobile revenue tops $15M after less than a month
- Fortnite mobile daily revenue peaks at $1.8m since lifting invite-only requirement: Total revenue surpasses $15 million in less than a month
- Resident Evil 7 has surpassed 5.1M sales worldwide
- With 2 million units sold, Shovel Knight generated the most income from Switch sales
- Nintendo warns against using substandard Switch charging cables
- Overwatch League team drops player: Boston Rising terminates contract of Jonathan “DreamKazper” Sanchez after allegation of sexual communications with a minor
- What Is The Copyright Status In eSports Casts?
- Esports and gambling
- Blizzard looking to grow Overwatch League with All-Access Pass
- Video Game Deep Cuts: A WiLD eSports Mario Approaches
- NBA’s Adam Silver Welcomes ‘New Generation Of Athletes’ With NBA 2K League
- Video games can create beneficial social connections and take on real issues
- Wadjet Eye: Streamers “pushed me to make the game that I’ve always wanted to play” – With Unavowed, founder Dave Gilbert aimed to make a point and click adventure game that can’t be spoiled by YouTube videos
- I got occupational burnout – and you might, too: Will Luton on a “scarily ubiquitous” problem in the games industry, but one that can be identified and prevented
- ‘VRChat’ is the Closest VR Experience Available Today to ‘Ready Player One’s’ OASIS
- Group Behind JPEG Unveils New ‘visually lossless’ Compression Standard for VR/AR and More
- Leap Motion reveals open-source North Star AR headset
- Trade marks: How much do you really need to protect?: As the Star Control legal battle extends to alien race names, Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostya Lobov offers advice on striking a balance
- “Most developers think of funding as fixing their problem”: But VC investors care about opportunities and not problems, says Jason Della Rocca, and this year’s Nordic Game Conference will feature an event to show the difference
- Steam privacy tweaks spell the end for services like Steam Spy
- Steam Spy announces it’s shutting down, blames Valve’s new privacy settings: Sales-estimate service, born from an Ars data project, says goodbye to its best source.
- SteamSpy shutting down after Steam privacy update: Switch to default hidden game libraries cuts off primary source of tracker’s data
- Blog: Early Access without Steam? Let’s break down the numbers
- Blog: A history of game analytics platforms
- iOS App Store shrinks as number of new apps falls for first time ever
- Razer sets up shop as a PC game retailer
- Myst creators launch Kickstarter to bring every game in the series to Windows 10: Most of the games are already available, but there are some collector’s items.
- The ESA has joined the fight to save net neutrality
- ESA joins battle for net neutrality: E3 organiser and games lobbying group files to participate in lawsuit against Federal Communications Commission
- Humble is selling a huge gaming history ebook collection for $15: MIT Press combines 18 of its incredibly wonky game design studies books for cheap.
- How game writers craft meaningful romances in games
- Blog: The importance of knowing your inheritance, as a game dev
- V&A Museum to highlight game design innovations in coming exhibit
- Video Games: Design/Play/Disrupt arrives at Victoria and Albert Museum this autumn: “Exhibition will provide a compelling insight into one of the most important design disciplines of our time,” says V&A director
- Take a gander at how the very first arcade video games were advertised
Jon
News of the Week; April 4, 2018
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression: Website Blocking Plan “Raises Serious Inconsistencies” With Canada’s Human Rights Obligations (Michael Geist)
- Conservative MP on Bell Site Blocking Plan: “Canadians Should be Concerned” (Michael Geist)
- Telus’ Website Blocking Submission: No Copyright Expertise Needed and No Net Neutrality Violation if Everyone is Doing It (Michael Geist)
- My CRTC Submission on the Bell Coalition Site Blocking Plan: Why it is Disproportionate, Harmful, and Inconsistent With Global Standards (Michael Geist)
- Aussie Rightsholders Look To Feature Creep Site-Blocking To Search-Blocking, Because Of Course They Are
- Canadian Ownership Rules in Telecom and Broadcasting
- Supreme Court to Hear Appeal on Interaction between Arbitration Clauses and Class Proceedings: TELUS Communications Inc. v. Avraham Wellman
- Sinclair forced TV anchors to criticize “fake” news – and Trump loved it: Sinclair echoes Trump’s “fake news” claims while seeking US approval of a merger.
- Ex-Fox News contributor: I was silenced on Russia because I didn’t back Trump
- Ex-Fox News contributor says he was kept off air because he wouldn’t ‘unswervingly support President Trump‘
- I was not allowed to be the voice of sanity on Russia at Fox News. I had to quit
- One of Rachael Ray’s Companies Has Pulled Its Ads From Laura Ingraham’s Show
- A day after Laura Ingraham faced boycotts over taunting a Parkland survivor, she’s apologizing
- Advertisers Continue Exodus After Parkland Survivor Rejects Laura Ingraham Apology: “#ShutUpAndBeObjective”
- Laura Ingraham’s advertisers aren’t buying her apology, either
- Fox News Host Laura Ingraham Is Going on ‘Vacation’ As Advertisers Bail
- How America’s Largest Local TV Owner Turned Its News Anchors Into Soldiers In Trump’s War On The Media
- This San Diego Radio Station Has Existed For A Month And Is Already A Disaster
- Federal Court Curbs FCC Robocall Restrictions
- FCC Continues War on Pirate Radio – Seizes Equipment of Boston Stations While New Legislative Tools May Be on the Way
- Ajit Pai faces heat over proposal to take away poor people’s broadband plans: Pai offered no evidence that plan will boost network investment, Democrats say.
- FCC Boss Under Fire For Facts-Optional Attack On Low-Income Broadband Programs
- Super-Local Broadband May Be The Best Way to Preserve Net Neutrality
- Telecom Lobbyists: We’ll Fight State Efforts To Protect Net Neutrality For A ‘United And Connected Future’
- Comcast supports ban on paid prioritization – with an exception: Instead of total ban, Comcast wants exception for specialized services.
- Comcast’s Top Lobbyist Is Pushing A Net Neutrality ‘Compromise’ That Isn’t
- FCC approves SpaceX plan to launch 4,425 broadband satellites
- Charter fails to prove that its employees purposely caused cable outages: Charter lawsuit against union dismissed by judge as strike enters second year.
- CenturyLink fights billing-fraud lawsuit by claiming that it has no customers: CenturyLink operates via subsidiaries that enforce mandatory arbitration clauses.
DIGITAL
- Trump admin wants to track 14 million US visitors’ social media history
- Republican governor forced to stop blocking Facebook users who criticize him: Maryland gov. settled free speech lawsuit – Trump is still fighting a similar suit.
- US Might Start A Nuclear War… Because Iranians Wanted Access To Academic Papers Locked Behind A Paywall?
- Facebook: It wasn’t 50M hit by Cambridge Analytica breach, but rather 87M – Also, Facebook will now delete all call and SMS logs older than one year.
- Facebook Exposed 87 Million Users To Cambridge Analytica
- Facebook executive defends memo saying connecting people online is good even if ‘someone dies in a terrorist attack’
- Facebook Executive Defends Leaked Memo saying Growth Is Good Even If ‘Domeone Dies In A Terror Attack’
- Influencers are getting long-term contracts that treat them more like traditional talent: In a 2016 memo, Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth wrote “Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies.” Thursday, he renounced the statements.
- With GDPR Decision, Zuckerberg Proves Yet Again He Has Learned Absolutely Nothing From the Cambridge Analytica Scandal
- The Case For A Zuck-Free Facebook
- Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress next week: Members of Congress want answers about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
- Tim Cook Says Apple Would Never Have a Scandal Like Cambridge Analytica
- A Short History Of Facebook’s Privacy Gaffes
- Don’t Just Delete Facebook — Delete Well
- Report: Facebook Staff Suddenly Concerned About Privacy, Specifically Theirs
- CEO says Facebook will impose new EU privacy rules “everywhere”: “We have to ensure that everyone in our ecosystem protects people’s information.”
- Mark Zuckerberg Hints Most Facebook Users Won’t Benefit From New Privacy Rules
- Computer science faces an ethics crisis. The Cambridge Analytica scandal proves it.
- Cambridge Analytica’s processing of Facebook’s users’ data for predictive psychological profiling and voter micro targeting: The 2018 ICO investigation against Cambridge Analytica’s practices on Facebookc – An international wake-up call
- How Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook targeting model really worked
- Facebook and Cambridge Analytica (Bruce Schneier)
- Facebook’s New Data-Sharing Policies Are Crashing Tinder
- Can Social Media Be Saved?
- It Took All Of Three Hours To Code A Plugin That Makes News Comments More Civil
- Four problems for news and democracy: Here are some “buckets” for making sense of why: addiction, economics, bad actors and known bugs (Ethan Zuckerman)
- Oracle America, Inc. v. Google LLC
- Court Shows SESTA Is Not Needed: Says Backpage Can Lose Its CDA 230 Protections If It Helped Create Illegal Content
- Yet Another Court Says Victims Don’t Need SESTA/FOSTA To Go After Backpage
- Sex Workers Fighting Back Against SESTA/FOSTA With Their Own Social Network… And Plan To Expose Politicians
- Yet Another Case Highlights Yet Another Constitutional Infirmity With The DMCA
- Judge Blocks Iowa Town From Shutting Down Or Suing Resident Over His Critical Website
- Court Says PACER System Is Illegally Using Fees
- Lawyer Behind Failing Sham To Protect Sketchy Patents Sends Bogus Copyright Cease & Desist To Blogger
- Conservative Wingnuts Celebrate Easter by Complaining About Google Doodles, Like Jesus Would
- Google employees revolt, say company should shut down military drone project: Project applying Google’s image recognition to military drone footage causes uproar.
- Court Tosses Dennis Prager’s Silly Lawsuit Against YouTube, Refuses His Request For Preliminary Injunction
- Michigan State University Reportedly Spent $500k To Monitor The Social Media Accounts Of Larry Nassar’s Accusers And Journalists
- YouTube Shooting Spree Injures 4, Kills 1
- Police confirm one dead, three wounded after shooting at YouTube HQ
- 4 Wounded, Suspect Dead Following Shooting At YouTube’s San Bruno Headquarters
- YouTube Shooter Nasim Aghdam Complained The Company Ruined Her Life
- Police Say YouTube Policies Motivated Shooter
- YouTube shooter IDed as woman angry at site’s “age-restricted” policies
- Tragic YouTube shooting casts new light on creators’ “adpocalypse” complaints: Alleged shooter left a video behind with complaints about revenue. What’s going on?
- What We Know About YouTube Shooter Nasim Aghdam
- Livid over site’s policies, YouTube shooter trained for attack, shot randomly
- As YouTube Cracks Down On Firearm Videos, Niche Video Platforms Look To Seize An Opportunity
- Film Critic Chris Stuckmann Calls Out Universal For Abusing YouTube’s Copyright-Claiming System
- Jake Paul Planning Talk Show For YouTube Red
- Influencers are getting long-term contracts that treat them more like traditional talent
- Luis Fonsi And Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” Is The First YouTube Video To Receive Five Billion Views
- Fullscreen Acquires Influencer-Marketing Firm Reelio
- DramaFever Names Rena Liu GM, Acquires Select ‘Bachelorette’ Streaming Rights
- Quixotic Approaches To Circumventing Censorship, Using Books And Music
- The Inside Story Of Reddit’s Redesign: Goodbye, dystopian Craigslist. There’s a new Reddit, and it’s all grown up.
- Snapchat Lays Off Roughly 100 Staffers For The Second Time This Month
- Snapchat Tries Explaining Itself To The Masses In First TV Commercial
- Snapchat Expands Video Chats To Include 16 People At Once
- Spotify And The Triumph Of The Subscription Model
- Disney To Launch $5 Monthly ESPN+ Streaming Service On April 12
- ESPN To Combat Cord-Cutting By Putting Once Kinda Free Content Behind A New Paywall
- Twitter to live stream weekly MLB games in renewed deal
- Twitter To Air Weekly MLB Games In Renewed Streaming Pact
- NBA To Experiment With Cheap 4th Quarter Only Streaming Options
- Uber Settles with Family of AV Crash Victim
- Amazon Lost $53 Billion in One Day Because Trump Has Opinions
- Here’s how President Trump could go after Amazon
- Photographing A Robot Isn’t Just Point And Shoot
- Russia Debuts Postal Drone, Which Immediately Crashes Into Wall
- Emmanuel Macron Talks To Wired About France’s AI Strategy
- Not Everything Needs Copyright: Lawyers Flip Out That Photos Taken By AI May Be Public Domain
- Artificial Intelligence Rules More of Your Life. Who Rules AI?: Tech companies are working on standards for the field, though critics see their efforts as attempts to stave off government oversight
- AI Engineers Must Open Their Designs To Democratic Control
- Mini Brains Just Got Creepier – They’re Growing Their Own Veins
- A Cruise self-driving car got a traffic ticket – GM says it did nothing wrong: Cruise says its car never came within 10 feet of a pedestrian.
- Uber settles with family of woman killed by self-driving car, avoids lawsuit: Uber and family settle out of court after self-driving car hit pedestrian.
- Tesla says Autopilot was active during fatal crash in Mountain View: Tesla argues the data still show Autopilot makes its cars safer.
- What Can The Law Do About `Deepfake’?
- How Grubhub Analyzed 4,000 Dishes To Predict Your Next Order
- Elon Musk’s April Fools’ Prank Totally Backfired
- JFK And The Right Of Publicity
- When You Can Make ‘JFK’ Say Anything, What’s Stopping Him From Selling Doritos?
- FTC Targets Cryptocurrency Pyramid Schemes
- Google Bans All Cryptomining Extensions From The Chrome Store
- Google bans cryptomining Chrome extensions because they refuse to play by the rules: Google continues to try to keep its browser running smoothly in spite of others’ efforts.
- Banning cryptocurrency ads is “short-sighted”
- Cryptocurrency Pays Price for Alleged Harm With Ad Ban
- Two founders of cryptocurrency offering arrested, charged with fraud – Centra Tech’s lawyer said last year: “It’s certainly not a scam.”
- Blockchain caught in regulatory crossfire: Without clearly defined regulations for products based on blockchain technology, the future of this industry remains uncertain
- Ethical Obligations and Blogging: ABA Opinion Serves as Reminder
- The Condom Snorting Challenge Is Tide Pods’ Final Revenge
- Witches, Frog-Gods, And The Deepening Schism Of Internet Religions
- Reporting Sexual Harassment In The Digital Age
- Apple Music update fills the void left by MTV with exclusive music videos
- Insights: Apple Just Launched Its MTV, So When Will It Launch Its Netflix?
- RIAA Reports Music Industry Is Making All The Money Just As New Study Says Piracy Has Never Been More Widespread
- Hated Science Publisher Elsevier To Help EU Monitor Open Science – Including Open Access
- The Wired Guide To Memes: Everything you ever wanted to know about Nyan Cat, Doge, and the art of the Rickroll.
- Canadian Internet Law Update – 2017
CREATIVITY
- Details announced for statutory review of Canada’s Copyright Act. Phased review projected to be completed in 2019.
- Canadian Copyright Law Review Takes Shape: Report Not Expected Until 2019 (Michael Geist)
- Storytellers and Artists May Continue To Rejoice – Feud: Bette and Joan Is Fully Protected By The First Amendment
- Malaysian Government Pushes ‘Fake News’ Bill Aimed At Curb-Stomping Reporting About Its Corruption
- Court Says Scraping Websites And Creating Fake Profiles Can Be Protected By The First Amendment
- School Sells Out Students’ First Amendment Rights, Apologizes And Deletes Article Containing Controversial Images
- Judge Tosses Charges Against Journalist Who Published Docs Leaked To Her By A Police Officer
- Report Alleges Ren & Stimpy Creator John Kricfalusi Took Advantage of Underage Girls Interested in Animation
- Me Too Is Changing Even The Smarmiest Advertisers
- Report: Dumb Beer Ad Phrase Banned From The Masters
- How Do You Know You Are Reading This?
- Levi v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.
- De Becdelievre v. Anastasia Musical LLC
- Despite Podcast’s Popularity, “SERIAL” Trademark Registration Denied as Generic
- University Of Illinois Attempts To Trademark Bully An Alumnus After Failing To Stop His Trademark Registration
- Copyright – 2017 Year in Review
- Black Panther Has Beaten Titanic to Become the Third Highest Grossing US Theatrical Release of All Time
- 2001: A Space Odyssey predicted The Future – 50 Years Ago
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Yahoo! Cyber breach settlement gives shareholders cause for cheer
- DOJ Asks Supreme Court To Dump Microsoft Case, Let It Use New CLOUD Act To Demand Overseas Data
- If You Jaywalk in China, Facial Recognition Means You’ll Walk Away With A Fine
- Grindr won’t share users’ HIV status with app contractors after outcry
- It’s Grindr’s Turn In The Barrel As America Finally Decides To Care About Consumer Privacy
- Truckers Take On Trump Over Electronic Surveillance Rules
- Appeals Court Has No Problem With Cops Using E911 Services To Perform Warrantless, Real-Time Tracking
- Feds: There are hostile stingrays in DC, but we don’t know how to find them – There’s also “anomalous activity” – probably stingrays – in other US cities, too.
- Want to hack a voting machine? Hack the voting machine vendor first: How password reuse and third-party breaches leave voting machine vendors vulnerable to attack.
- The Billion-Dollar Hacking Group Behind A String Of Big Breaches
- Beware The Academic Vanity Honeypot: How a hacker weaponized flattery and took over my Twitter account.
- What Happens When You Track Your Boyfriend On Strava
- Hacking your brain(scan): security bugs in EEG software open hospitals to attack – Cisco Talos reveals “multiple vulnerabilities” in hardware common at hospitals.
- Finally extradited from Europe, suspected LinkedIn hacker faces US charges
- Coming Soon (or at least by November): Government Sets a Date for Data Breach Disclosure Rules To Take Effect (Michael Geist)
- Practical Approaches to Big Data Privacy Over Time (Micah Altman, Alexandra Wood, David R. O’Brien and Urs Gasser)
GAMES
- Lindsay Lohan loses Grand Theft Auto V lawsuit on appeal: It’s game over for the actress, as an appeals court finds a game character Lohan called her “unequivocal” likeness is rather a “generic … twentysomething woman.”
- Lindsay Lohan’s GTA 5 Lawsuit Rejected Again: “We conclude…that the subject images are not recognizable as plaintiff.”
- Court rejects Lindsay Lohan’s appeal in GTA V likeness lawsuit
- Loot box latest: Big Fish Casino decision reversed by US Court
- Big Fish Casino constitutes illegal gambling under Washington law
- Monolith removes loot boxes from Middle-earth: Shadow of War – Mechanic “risked undermining the heart of our game,” says developer
- Developer removes randomized loot boxes from Middle-Earth: Shadow of War – Monolith says paid market “compromises” the game “even if you don’t buy anything.”
- Shadow of War is being completely stripped of microtransactions
- Social Casino Game Found to Be Illegal Gambling
- Judge Refuses to Dismiss Copyright Lawsuit Over LeBron James Tattoo in ‘NBA 2K’: Take-Two attempted to argue that its use of LeBron James’ tattoo was de minimis or fair use.
- Judge Swain: Discovery Necessary to Determine “Fair Use” of NBA Tattoos in Video Game
- Take-Two Fails To Get NBA2K Tattoo Copyright Lawsuit Dismissed
- Niantic settles Pokemon Go class action lawsuit for $1.5M
- Niantic pays $1.6 million settlement over failed Pokemon Go event: Attendees can get reimbursed for incurred travel expenses.
- Niantic settling Pokemon Go Fest lawsuit for $1.6 million – Report: Resolution will see developer reimburse travel costs for attendees of last year’s disastrous Chicago event
- “Patent troll” doubles down, now accuses Clicker Heroes maker of libel – Lawyer for Playsaurus: “Stop sending baseless letters with draconian demands.”
- IGF Award-winning Baba Is You cloned before it was even released
- Eugen Systems devs hit out at management after six weeks on strike
- Eugen Systems striking devs going to labour court: Employees initiating proceedings against Steel Division – Normandy 44 studio after six weeks with no progress in negotiations
- Ageism: The issue never gets old – Veteran game developers share thoughts on how big a problem age discrimination actually is, and how to get around it
- 69% of large UK games firms have bigger gender pay gap than national average: King and Rockstar added to database, based on businesses with 250 or more employees
- Ubisoft’s plans to tackle toxicity in Rainbow Six: Siege – Permanent bans, mute text chat, chat filtering and team kill detection all in the works
- To prevent toxicity, design games with community management in mind
- Blog: It’s not me. It’s you – surviving a toxic workplace
- Blizzard experiments with machine learning to fight Overwatch toxicity
- Blog: Working on controversial shooter Six Days in Fallujah
- China’s Tencent Proves You Can Make A Decent Profit From Online Publishing — If You Have A Platform With A Billion Users
- Twitch Streamer Ninja Draws Backlash For Using N-Word During ‘Fortnite’ Stream
- Citing “Adjustments,” Twitch Lays Off Approximately 25 Employees
- Twitch undergoes layoffs: Streaming site confirms “team adjustments in some departments,” plans to increase headcount by 30% this year
- Research reveals most popular esports on Twitch: Nearly three times as many MOBA streamers than any other genre
- Superdata: Fortnite has more monthly active users than GTA Online – Battle Royale game earned more additional content revenue than any other console title in February – except Call of Duty
- Fortnite is taking over the sports world
- World’s largest esports organisations sign up for Clash Royale League: 36 teams from North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America to compete in $1 million World Final
- Gearing up for e-sport: Seizing opportunities and tackling legal issues
- Competitive sniping game SpyPartyfinally hitting Steam after eight years: Could an indie game about psychological stare-downs truly emerge as an esports star?
- It’s more than luck: what devs should keep in mind when creating an ‘indie hit’
- Blog: Some notes on indie publishing
- The Rise Of Vsports: A New Category Of Sport Powered By Video Technology
- A look at EA Sports’ push for more accessible sports games
- Premium mobile game Hitman Sniper passes 10M players
- Hitman Sniper passes 10m players: Mobile spin-off likely the best-selling entry in the series to date
- The Nintendo Switch has surpassed 4M sales in Japan
- Nintendo Switch reaches four million sold in Japan – report: Famitsu numbers put Nintendo’s console two weeks behind the Wii in hitting the milestone
- Ni No Kuni developer Level-5 bringing all future main titles to Switch
- Blog: How Breath of the Wild brings maturity to Nintendo’s game design
- Ubisoft Extends IBM Watson Support for ‘Bridge Crew’ Through 2018
- Far Cry 5 UK launch is the biggest in Far Cry history: Strong Easter sales all round for the boxed games market as Ubisoft ends March on a high
- Anime Streaming Service Crunchyroll Releases Its First Game
- Amazon officially benches Breakaway: Fantasy sports game no longer in active development as team focuses on other projects
- Apple’s clones crackdown leads to App Store shrinking: Number of new iOS releases drops for the first time since marketplace launched in 2008
- Steam Spy: $20 games took biggest share of Steam’s total revenue in 2017 – Sergey Galyonkin questions the power of $10 “sweet spot” for Steam prices
- Valve: ‘Steam Machines aren’t exactly flying off shelves’
- Valve says it’s “still working hard” on Linux gaming: SteamOS maker admits that “Steam machines aren’t exactly flying off the shelves.”
- Valve hasn’t given up on Steam Machines: Company admits sales are slow, but says ‘store delisting’ is nothing more than routine cleanup
- Valve quietly dials back Steam Machine presence on Steam
- SteamSpy: $20 and $60 were the top-earning Steam game prices last year
- Surviving a decade in indie dev: What’s kept Mommy’s Best Games going for 11 years? Nathan Fouts details 21 things that helped the Pig Eat Ball outfit get by, and might help others as well
- Why is early stage funding tough to find for game start-ups?: Makers Fund founding partner Jay Chi wants to solve a shortage of Series A support in the market; portfolio includes Bossa, Typhoon, Tiny Build, Superdata, and more
- “I’m not sure that games like this one can continue to be made…”: Where the Water Tastes Like Wine developer Johnnemann Nordhagen reflects on his game’s surprising commercial struggles
- Asymmetric smashed West of Loathing sales target by halving launch price: Original $20 price tag would have discouraged impulse buys, says founder Zack Johnson
- Indie comics platform Tapas Media embarks on major games push: Digital publisher keen to share its IP and fictional universes with developers across all platforms.
- Assassin’s Creed’s New Discovery Mode Is What Museums Will Look Like In The Future
- Everything you missed from GDC 2018: #1ReasonToBe, artificial intelligence, and the latest from Unreal and Unity were the hot topics in San Francisco this year
- Despite faltering profits, hardware and software sales rise at GameStop
- GameStop annual income down by $300m due to fourth quarter “asset impairment”: Sales up 7.2 per cent to $9.2 billion with net income of $34.7 million
- 10 Years Ago This Month: A swath of studio closures suggests how significantly the HD era upended the status quo
- Record-breaking VR/AR start-ups raised over $3.6bn in last 12 months: Video games one of only two sectors to secure more than 10% of investment deals
- Virtual reality could encourage pro-social behaviour and empathy in children: Parents aren’t convinced however, and just 38 per cent agree
- HTC launching $1,100 starter kit to trim $150 off Vive Pro buy-in
- New Vive Pro bundle cuts headset price by $100: HTC marks VR device’s second anniversary with new offer to clarify upgrade confusion
- HTC Vive Pro review: Eye-popping VR, with a price that’s a little too real: Is a $799 upgrade price (or $1,099 brand-new) justified for this jump in quality?
- Blockchain is games’ new tech obsession: Early tech adoption is part of the essence of the games industry – but proposals to integrate blockchain into companies’ businesses, not just their games, should give us pause
- GDPR-K: How the kids data privacy law affects games publishers everywhere – SuperAwesome MD Max Bleyleben explains why it’s not enough to look for GDPR compliance – in the kids’ space, you also need GDPR-K compliance
- PC Building Simulator is (most of) the fun of building a PC—without pricey GPUs: It’s not very challenging, but it nails the basics of building gaming PCs.
- Experimental Controllers Could Change Gaming For Good
- Warner Bros. steps up as Hitman publisher
- Don’t Miss: How Slime Rancher succeeds through emergent storytelling
- An actual gaming Easter egg was unlocked on an Atari Jaguar cartridge today: Modern-day publisher AtariAge confirmed secret has been hidden on carts for a year.
- More than ‘Orcs in Space’: Devs measure the enduring influence of StarCraft
- Ready Player One’s film adaptation isn’t even good enough as a kids movie: Everything here – character development, CGI, geek-cred references – disappoints.
- Ready Player One Is A Virtually Empty Good Time
- Blog: A postmortem on my game design degree
Jon
