News of the Week; July 1, 2020

DIGITAL

  1. New commission exploring impact of digital media on democracy includes McLachlin, Dodek
  2. YouTube Bans 6 White Supremacist Channels, Including David Duke, Richard Spencer, Stefan Molyneux
  3. Lawsuit by Black YouTubers against YouTube faces “uphill battle”
  4. Twitter’s Least-Bad Option for Dealing With Donald Trump: Every plausible configuration of social media in 2020 is unpalatable.
  5. Bogus Ideas Have Superspreaders, Too
  6. Twitter not liable in Devin Nunes’ beef with cow account, judge rules
  7. Facebook will label rule violations as Coke, Pepsi, Starbucks join ad “pause”
  8. Verizon joins growing Facebook advertiser boycott
  9. Facebook executive admits to “trust deficit” on call with advertisers
  10. Reddit bans pro-Trump /r/The_Donald for “rule-breaking content”
  11. Twitch And Reddit Ramp Up Their Enforcement Against ‘Hateful’ Content
  12. Reddit bans r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse as part of a major expansion of its rules
  13. You Purged Racists From Your Website? Great, Now Get to Work
  14. Filmmakers and Others Take on the U.S. Government Over Social Media Surveillance
  15. Three cops fired after accidental dashcam activation captures racist rants
  16. Running Geotargeted Advertising Confers Personal Jurisdiction–UMG Recordings v. Kurbanov (Eric Goldman)
  17. hiQ Files Opposition Brief with Supreme Court in LinkedIn CFAA Data Scraping Dispute
  18. Confusion Over Plug-Ins, Cookies and Wiretapping…Will Facebook Petition the Supreme Court, and What To Do In the Interim
  19. How the ‘Karen Meme’ Confronts the Violent History of White Womanhood
  20. Ken and Karen are White Supremacists
  21. Doomscrolling is slowly eroding your mental health
  22. Jenna Marbles Announces Indefinite YouTube Hiatus, Privates Videos With 2 Billion Views After Apologizing For Past Racist Clips
  23. Shane Dawson Apologizes For Blackface, Pedophilia Jokes, And Willow Smith’s Family Isn’t Having It
  24. Liza Koshy Apologizes For ‘Perpetuating Racist Ideas’, Cultural Appropriation With Past Character Creations
  25. David Dobrik Apologizes For Any Past Videos That Made Viewers Feel Unwelcome, Uncomfortable
  26. YouTube Has Suspended Monetization On All 3 Of Shane Dawson’s Channels
  27. An embattled group of leakers picks up the WikiLeaks mantle
  28. DOJ Proposes Curb to Antitrust Immunity Under Communications Decency Act of 1996
  29. Section 230 Protects Twitter from the “Devin Nunes’ Cow” Lawsuit–Nunes v. Twitter (Eric Goldman)
  30. Another Day, Another Bad Bill To Reform Section 230 That Will Do More Harm Than Good
  31. Senator Loeffler’s New Section 230 Reform Bill Would Threaten Encryption And Pressure Websites To Keep Spam & Porn
  32. ‘But Without 230 Reform, Websites Have No Incentive To Change!’ They Scream Into The Void As Every Large Company Pulls Ads From Facebook
  33. My Interview With Mathew Ingram Regarding Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
  34. Author Of Section 230 Chris Cox Says All The Critics Are Wrong About The History And Intent Of 230
  35. I’d Bet Ted Cruz Will Start Supporting Section 230 Once He Realizes He’s On The Hook For Parler’s Legal Expenses
  36. As Predicted: Parler Is Banning Users It Doesn’t Like
  37. Just Like Every Other Platform, Parler Will Take Down Content And Face Impossible Content Moderation Choices
  38. Parler Speedruns The Content Moderation Learning Curve; Goes From ‘We Allow Everything’ To ‘We’re The Good Censors’ In Days
  39. Knight Foundation Grant To Copia To Research Content Moderation, Governance, Rules & Norms For Internet Infrastructure
  40. Brands and influencers beware: UK and Netherlands zooming in on fake likes and reviews
  41. Brazil’s Proposed ‘Fake News’ Law Says Internet Users Are Guilty Until Proven Innocent, Demands Constant Logging From ISPs
  42. New Section 301 investigations into digital services taxes involving multiple countries
  43. Millions of Americans Depend on Libraries for Internet. Now They’re Closed: From big cities to tiny towns, librarians are getting scrappy to meet the need
  44. Court Upholds Formation of a Lengthy Contract Presented on a Mobile Device–Hidalgo v. AAU (Eric Goldman)
  45. Facebook Expands Fan Subscriptions To Creators In 7 Regions, Introduces Live Stream Ads And More Video Analytics
  46. Fintech Startup ‘Karat’ Raises $4.6 Million To Launch Credit Card Exclusively For Digital Creators
  47. Social Video Views Climbed for Latin American Creators During Quarantine
  48. Netflix Embraces YouTube, TikTok, And Instagram For ‘Pride’ Event
  49. YouTube Users Watch 450 Million Hours Of Content On TV Screens Each Day
  50. Top 50 Most Viewed US YouTube Channels • Week Of 6/29/2020
  51. Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 6/29/2020
  52. YouTube TV jumps 30% in price effective immediately
  53. YouTube TV Hikes Subscription Price To $65 After Adding Suite Of ViacomCBS Channels
  54. At Brandcast, YouTube Renews Originals From James Charles, MrBeast, Markiplier, And Marques Brownlee
  55. YouTube Cancels Its Longest-Running Original—Joey Graceffa’s ‘Escape The Night’
  56. After A Decade, Ingrid Nilsen Emotionally Closes Chapter On Her YouTube Career
  57. Tati Westbrook Accuses Shane Dawson, Jeffree Star Of Coercing Her Into James Charles Takedown Video
  58. At NewFronts, TikTok Brings Ad Offerings To The Fore With New ‘TikTok For Business’ Platform
  59. Spotify Duo for couples is cheaper than the standard family plan
  60. New domain name dispute resolution policies for .AC, .IO and .SH
  61. Microsoft’s “new approach” to retail stores: Closing them forever
  62. Microsoft closing its retail stores: Xbox maker closing 82 Microsoft Store locations, will run “Microsoft Experience Centers” in London, New York, Syndey, and Redmond
  63. Cutting off tech’s nose to spite the West’s strategic face?
  64. Three cops fired after accidental dashcam activation captures racist rants
  65. Search engine startup asks users to be the customer, not the product
  66. Chinese bank requires foreign firm to install app with covert backdoor
  67. Lessons from China – The Formation of a Social Credit System: Profiling, Reputation Scoring, Social Engineering (Paul Langer)
  68. COVID-19 spread 4X faster in one Amazon warehouse than local area
  69. Amazon pays $1.2 billion for self-driving startup Zoox
  70. Uncovered: 1,000 phrases that incorrectly trigger Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant

A.I.

  1. Detroit police chief cops to 96-percent facial recognition error rate
  2. Facial Recognition Software Finally Gets Around To Getting An Innocent Person Arrested
  3. Tesla driver blames Autopilot for crash, faces negligent driving charge
  4. Voicemod raises $8m for AI-powered ‘voice avatars’: Technology enables players to alter their voice and apply effects that match the in-game action

COMMUNICATIONS

  1. FCA Upholds Constitutionality of CASL CEM Provisions and CRTC Approach to B2B Exemption and Conspicuous Publication Implied Consent
  2. FCC helps Charter avoid broadband competition
  3. New Bill Would Kill State Laws Blocking Broadband Competition
  4. Small ISPs “stunned” by FCC move to ban Huawei/ZTE gear during pandemic
  5. AT&T Ditches $15 TV Service It Used As Regulator Bait To Seal Time Warner Merger
  6. Comcast’s data cap and overage fees return tomorrow after 3-month break
  7. ISPs To Bring Back Usage Caps After Brief Pandemic Hiatus
  8. T-Mobile Is Already Trying To Wiggle Out Of Its Sprint Merger Conditions
  9. Dish buys Boost prepaid biz from T-Mobile, finally enters wireless market
  10. Telehealth Use Surges Around the World Amid COVID-19
  11. Landmark EU General Court ruling on Hutchinson-Telefónica UK merger reframes the threshold for proving competitive harm
  12. $100 billion “universal fiber” plan proposed by Democrats in Congress

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  1. Access Copyright and York University File Leave to Appeal Material in the Supreme Court of Canada (Howard Knopf)
  2. Copyright Board Activity in 2020: Launch of Twitter Account and Guidelines for Economic Evidence (Howard Knopf)
  3. Florida Law Will Allow College Athletes to Profit from Name, Image, and Likeness Starting Summer 2021
  4. Can copyright law help Brompton ride out an IP storm?
  5. Zindel v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc.: Ninth Circuit reverses dismissal of copyright claims against The Shape of Water film, ruling that dismissal on pleadings was premature because additional evidence could aid.
  6. The fair remuneration provisions in the new Copyright Directive
  7. Copyright: Hyperlinks and the Communication to the Public Right
  8. John Bolton Doesn’t Need Copyright Protection
  9. Companies Issuing Bogus Copyright Claims To Hide Police Training Materials From The Public
  10. Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Benchslapped And Sanctioned AGAIN In A Massive Filing Detailing Pages Upon Pages Of Him Lying Under Oath
  11. Supreme Court says generic domains like booking.com can be trademarked
  12. Prosecco People Move On From Bullying Puns Over Trademark To Bullying Portmanteau Over Trademark
  13. Captain Tom Moore – a positive pandemic trade mark story
  14. Vegan food fight: Does Nestlé’s Incredible Burger infringe Impossible Burger?
  15. EU law on the “technical result” and “substantial value” exclusions for shape marks
  16. Where Claimed Points of Novelty Have Primarily Functional Purpose, They Fail “Ornamental Design” Patentability Requirement
  17. Federal Circuit Affirms Use of Common Sense for Obviousness Determination
  18. Falling short of a sufficient disclosure
  19. Patent claim ambiguities and their interpretations
  20. Upheaval for patent law of sufficiency from the UK Supreme Court
  21. Patents diary June 2020: UK Supreme Court holds Regeneron’s transgenic mice patents invalid
  22. Supreme Court Decision: Regeneron v Kymab
  23. Territorial licensing: “start at the end before you begin”

PRIVACY

  1. Tim Hortons Mobile App Under Investigation For Data Privacy Concerns
  2. Tim Hortons scaling back data collection as four privacy watchdogs announce joint investigation into app: Probe by federal, Alberta, Quebec & B.C. commissioners comes after report on coffee chain’s data collection practices
  3. Contact Tracing Apps in Canada: Province of Alberta launches, and Federal Government Announces Nationwide Initiative
  4. The Most Important Privacy Case You’ve Never Heard Of
  5. Foreign adversaries likely to try exploiting critical networking bug, US says
  6. TikTok and 32 other iOS apps still snoop your sensitive clipboard data
  7. UK Information Commissioner Says Police Are Grabbing Too Much Data From Phones Owned By Crime Victims
  8. Indiana Supreme Court Says Compelled Decryption Of Smartphones Violates The Fifth Amendment
  9. Instagram Users, Beware Of Copyright Infringement Warning You May Receive In DMs
  10. Insights: Apple’s Latest Privacy Push Further Complicates Competitors’ Data Handling
  11. Does the CCPA apply to cookies that are used for data analytics?
  12. Moral Data Markets: Human-Centric Data Protection
  13. Two record DDoSes disclosed this week underscore their growing menace
  14. Comcast And Mozilla Partner Up To Help Encrypt DNS
  15. Privacy Questions Raised By Distance Learning

CREATIVITY   

  1. Charles Harder Tries And Fails To Censor Another Book About His Most Famous Client, The President
  2. NY Judge Apparently Unaware Of The Supreme Court’s Ban On Prior Restraint: Puts Temporary Restraining Order On Trump’s Niece’s Book
  3. Goldman Sachs Created A Font, But You Are Forbidden By Its License To Critique Goldman Sachs Using It
  4. German Minister Files Criminal Complaint Against A Journalist Who Said Police Officers Are ‘Trash People’

GAMES

  1. Newzoo: There will be over 3 billion gamers by 2023
  2. Report: Games market to generate $159 billion in 2020 (Newzoo)
  3. Global games market value to reach $159bn in 2020: Revenue and audience growth booms in Africa, Middle East, and Latin America
  4. Roblox hacked by Trump supporters: More than a thousand users’ profiles changed, telling kids to ask their parents to re-elect US president
  5. Pokemon Go Developer Niantic Wins Battle Over 3D Virtual Thematic Environment Patent
  6. Niantic partners with immersive theatre company Punchdrunk: Sleep No More creators to work with AR developers on multiple, unannounced projects
  7. Confederate flag and other “notorious iconography” banned in Forza: Anti-police brutality phrases such as a ACAB and FTP also banned
  8. Cyberpunk 2077 will be censored in Japan: Sexual references, nudity and dismemberment to be toned down
  9. Cyberpunk 2077’s big summer trailer: Braindance your way into Keanu
  10. Twin Galaxies says Billy Mitchell “flirts with perjury” in high-score case
  11. Are Loot Boxes Considered Gambling? UK Needs More Evidence
  12. Global Game Jam in turmoil following Black Lives Matter silence: Bullying allegations surface after resignation of executive committee member over refusal to issue statement on BLM
  13. IGDA criticizes industry for ignoring harassment allegations: Developer group says it will compile resources for studio leaders to create safe and positive company cultures
  14. Ubisoft reportedly places executives on leave amid abuse investigation: Tommy François and Maxime Béland each face at least three claims of misconduct
  15. Ubisoft to investigate rampant sexual assault and harassment accusations
  16. Report: Ubisoft suspends two executives accused of sexual and physical abuse
  17. Ubisoft CEO sanctions formation of ‘multidisciplinary working group’ to tackle abuse
  18. The Ubisoft paradox: How the publisher enabled a culture of abuse and control
  19. Leaders, members, sponsors depart top WoW guild amid assault, abuse allegations: Multiple people allege that Method protected member accused of sexual assault and preying on minors
  20. Abuse in the industry isn’t down to a few “bad apples” | Opinion: The story can’t end with the outing of individual abusers — ending predation in the games industry requires cultural and institutional change
  21. EA pledges to investigate allegations of abuse and support victims
  22. Twitch suspends Donald Trump’s channel for hateful conduct: Streaming platform cites the president’s comments portraying Mexicans as criminals
  23. Twitch Temporarily Bans Donald Trump, Citing Newly Reviewed Policies Against Hateful Conduct
  24. Twitch Executive Hassan Bokhari Accused Of Sexual Assault As Platform Begins Permabanning Alleged Abusers
  25. Twitch addresses sexual abuse allegations with permanent ban pledge
  26. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director steps down after misconduct allegations
  27. DrDisrespect banned from Twitch again: Guy Beahm’s latest ban is reportedly permanent, but reason for the punishment remains unclear
  28. Dr. DisRespect Was (Probably) Not Permabanned For Trying To Develop A Twitch Competitor
  29. Twitch will issue permanent suspensions to abusers on its platform: Investigation is ongoing as Twitch takes additional steps to combat abuse and hate within its communities
  30. EA urges employees to come forward with experiences of abuse: Publisher offers resources for both its staff and community members who may have experienced harassment or abuse
  31. Avast finds 17 Trojan gaming apps still available on Google Play: Online security firm reported 47 Trojan gaming apps to Google, which have been downloaded 15 million times
  32. The Last of Us Part 2 sells 4 million: Naughty Dog sequel tops Spider-Man to become fastest-selling first-party PS4 exclusive over first three days
  33. The Last of Us Part II sold over 4 million copies in three days
  34. 3DS, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Last of Us Part 2 lead UK Charts: Stock clearance sees cult 3DS RPG Bravely Second take No.2
  35. Roblox player spending passes $1.5bn on mobile: May was the game’s biggest month ever with revenue of over $100 million
  36. Amazon’s latest PC game to be delisted from Steam after less than two months
  37. Amazon’s Crucible retreats into closed beta: Following rocky launch, competitive free-to-play shooter will close its doors to new players
  38. Sonic the Hedgehog film producer snaps up Disco Elysium screen rights
  39. Plans revealed for Disco Elysium TV series: Adaptation will be produced by DJ2 Entertainment, which is run by Sonic The Hedgehog movie’s co-producer
  40. Starbreeze seeks $26m to fund ongoing development of Payday 3: COVID-19 lockdown interrupted publisher negotiations for the next Payday game
  41. Discord is pivoting away from games to become ‘your place to talk’
  42. Discord raises $100m to further expand beyond games: Communications platform redesigned to be more accessible to non-gamers, company reportedly valued at $3.5 billion
  43. Admix raises $7m in funding for “non-intrusive” ads: London-based startup allows developers to place programmatic advertising space within their games
  44. Sinespace dev partners with Unity to let Asset Store creators sell models in-game 
  45. European retailers can no longer sell download codes for Nintendo-published titles
  46. Microsoft reportedly stops advertising on Facebook: But Xbox firm is still redirecting Mixer users to the social network
  47. Microsoft exiting the retail store business, closing 83 locations
  48. Report: Latest Xbox Lockhart rumors point towards an August announce
  49. Microsoft plans to reveal Xbox Lockhart model in August
  50. Mixer just saw its second-best quarter ever – Streamlabs: Twitch smashed viewership records in Q2 2020, with over 5 billion hours watched
  51. Mixer Shuts Down, Showing Again Why You Don’t Need To Freak Out By Copycat Competitors
  52. Descenders’ weekly sales increased five times thanks to Xbox Game Pass: No More Robots says subscription service has “elevated the game to heights we couldn’t have imagined”
  53. Nintendo Switch game sales: the three biggest misconceptions
  54. Nintendo reportedly stops sale of digital download codes for EMEA retailers: Third-party digital titles, add-on content, and eshop funds will still be available in stores
  55. Report: Apple scraps deals with some Apple Arcade devs in pursuit of more engagement
  56. Apple reportedly ending some Arcade contracts, seeking higher retention: Tech giant said to be honing in on titles that will keep users subscribed to its service past the free trial
  57. Gaming on Apple platforms is set for some big changes—here are a few
  58. New hack runs homebrew code from DVD-R on unmodified PlayStation 2
  59. PlayStation now has a dedicated initiative for indie games: PlayStation Indies
  60. Why this month’s PC port of Death Stranding is the definitive version
  61. Tencent starts US studio to make AAA games for next-gen consoles: Led by Rockstar veteran Steve Martin, LightSpeed LA will debut with an open world game for PS5 and Xbox Series X
  62. Harmonix’s Fuser wants to make you a DJ… but only up to a point – Preview: Successor to DropMix succeeds where DJ Hero failed, but is that enough?
  63. Crysis Remastered delayed for additional polish: Development team acknowledges mixed feedback to trailer leak
  64. How to navigate the modern world of games publishing
  65. Gamers more trusting of brands than non-gamers, says Gameloft: Report from mobile publisher’s advertising arm finds gamers see elevated benefits from companies like Tesla, Amazon, and Lexus
  66. Focus Home Interactive acquires Lords of the Fallen dev Deck13 for $7.9M
  67. Keywords buys development engineering provider Coconut Lizard for $2.47M
  68. PlayBrain raises $6m to grow Japanese esports events infrastructure: Bitkraft Esports Ventures leads investment, bringing total funding to $8 million
  69. Guild Esports launches with David Beckham as co-owner
  70. Guild Esports breaks cover with David Beckham as co-owner: Startup is also backed by Blue Star Capital, with Overwatch League exec Carleton Curtis at the helm
  71. Pressure Mounts for Xbox’s Missing VR Strategy as PSVR Revenue Exceeds $2 Billion
  72. Facebook Says It Has Developed the ‘Thinnest VR display to date’ With Holographic Folded Optics
  73. How holographic tech is shrinking VR displays to the size of sunglasses
  74. Google Glass 3.0? Google acquires smart glasses maker North
  75. Google Acquires North, the Startup Behind ‘Focals’ Smartglasses
  76. Google gives Android depth sensing and object occlusion with ARCore 1.18
  77. Ken Levine: “You don’t come up with amazing things by being completely normal” – Founder of Ghost Story Games discusses the difficult balance between creativity and efficiency in game development
  78. A Neverwinter Nights intro to game design | Why I Love: Little Chicken Game Company’s Erik Kors shares how the world of Faerûn led him to the world of game development
  79. Umurangi Generation’s approach to modernizing cyberpunk: Naphtali Faulkner talks about the inspirations and intentions behind his sci-fi photography game
  80. Shawn Layden: COVID-19 is an opportunity to build a better industry: “If we don’t take something positive from this extended period of quarantine, we’ve really squandered the opportunity”
  81. You should play Namco’s lost arcade-action classic, Mr. Driller DrillLand
  82. The astronomical challenge of recording The Outer Worlds: How did Obsidian handle voice work for a game with almost 350 characters, 40 voice actors, and recording studios in different countries?
  83. Kongregate shuts off game submissions as Flash’s final days approach
  84. Super Nintendo World park opening reportedly delayed due to COVID-19: Universal Studios Japan reopened just over a week ago with special safety restrictions
  85. How to move your role-playing game nights online
  86. The Last of Us Part II is PlayStation Studios’ fastest-selling PS4 game
  87. Prioritizing accessibility early on was vital for The Last of Us Part 2’s robust features
  88. Don’t Miss: The evolution of CD Projekt’s quest design for Cyberpunk: 2077
  89. Don’t Miss: Blizzard’s postmortem of Diablo II
  90. Don’t Miss: Designing CrossCode to stand out in the retro RPG market
  91. Don’t Miss: Incorporating level design in melee combat systems
  92. Video: Devs share their experiences going from corporate to indie and back again
  93. Video: An architectural approach to video game level design
  94. Video: The mechanics of explosive growth in Roblox

Jon