News of the Week; May 8, 2019

DIGITAL

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

COMMUNICATIONS  

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

PRIVACY

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

CREATIVITY

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

GAMES

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

Jon