DIGITAL
- It’s 11 p.m., do you know where your ads are?:
- B.C. businesses and schools hurry to distance themselves from controversial media organizations after activists raise alarm over advertising with Breitbart and others
- An open letter to Mr Bezos, Mr Pichai and Mr Zuckerberg to tear down Breitbart News
- New Whistleblowers Highlight How Russia’s Information War On U.S. Was Larger Than Initially Reported
- The mysterious group that wants to kill Breitbart’s ad revenue, one tweet at a time
- Amazon isn’t one of the 2,575 companies to pull ads from Breitbart
- Amazon Suspends Video Head Roy Price Over Sexual Harassment Claims
- Due to legal settlement, Amazon customers now get a few extra bucks: Ars staffers got as little as $0.76 and as much as $12.02. How much did you get?
- Memo To Facebook: How To Tell If You’re A Media Company
- Sheryl Sandberg’s Russia talk was an insult to our intelligence
- Did Facebook delete Russian bought ads because of a bug?
- Facebook apologizes for allowing Russian ads to interfere with 2016 campaign – COO: Company must “prevent everything we can from this happening on our platforms.”
- What Facebook Did to American Democracy: And why it was so hard to see it coming
- Facebook is testing a resume feature to take on LinkedIn
- How Facebook’s Ad System Works
- Man acquitted of felony charge over Facebook police parody page sues: Fake account said police would offer abortions and anybody could become a recruit.
- Court To Guy Who Sued News Stations Over His Facebook Live Video: Pay Their Legal Fees… And Maybe Sue Your Lawyers
- U.S. Supreme Court Rejects CFAA Appeal by Power Ventures against Facebook
- The Problem With #MeToo And Viral Outrage
- Nova Scotia introduces new Cyber-bullying Legislation
- Incentivizing Better Speech, Rather Than Censoring ‘Bad’ Speech
- Cheap Speech and What It Has Done (To American Democracy) (Richard Hasen)
- Ninth Circuit Upholds Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements in Click-Through Agreements
- Age of consent in the GDPR: updated mapping
- Ex-workers: Supervisors at Tesla factory routinely called us the n-word – Tesla slams such abuse but expresses doubts regarding the men’s claims.
- There’s Blood In The Water In Silicon Valley: The bad new politics of big tech.
- African rulers’ weapon against web-based dissent: the off switch
- Saskatchewan Court of Appeal confirms that emails can extend limitation periods under the Limitations Act
- China congress: How authorities censor your thoughts
- DOJ indicts Chinese fentanyl distributors selling to Americans online: “They use multiple identities to disguise their activities and their shipments.”
- Reddit’s unlikely first edit partner: Time magazine
- Supreme Court refuses to hear case questioning Google’s trademark: Lawsuit claimed “google” had become synonymous with “search the Internet.”
- Google Bombs Are Our New Normal
- Google Offers Help To Industries It Helps To Destroy
- Google’s Learning Software Learns To Write Learning Software
- Twitter Says It Will Finally Do Something About Those Hordes of Nazis
- Harvey Weinstein Is Hollywood’s Silicon Valley Moment
- Eight takes on sexual harassment and Harvey Weinstein
- Twitter Says Rose McGowan Account Was Suspended Over Phone Number in Tweet
- Twitter’s suspension of Rose McGowan epitomizes the site’s most infuriating problem: It’s a double standard at its most divisive.
- Women Are Boycotting Twitter Today in Solidarity with Rose McGowan
- Twitter CEO after Rose McGowan account suspension: ‘We need to be a lot more transparent’
- Rose McGowan back on Twitter
- @jeffbezos I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadn’t been proven. I said I was the proof. (rose mcgowan)
- Rose McGowan says Amazon knew Weinstein had raped her
- Silicon Valley Can’t Handle Its Own Toxic Culture. Is It Really Ready to Tackle Hollywood’s, Too?
- Black members of Congress push for more diversity in Silicon Valley hires – Rep. Barbara Lee: “Coding jobs will become the blue collar jobs of the future.”
- We should stop tech firms from screening extremist videos: Internet giants have a duty to help counter-terrorism efforts
- Another Ridiculous Lawsuit Hopes To Hold Social Media Companies Responsible For Terrorist Attacks
- The ‘Gawker Effect’ Is Chilling Investigative Reporting Across The US
- Inside The Weird World Of Social Media Marathon Cheating
- Dutch privacy regulator says Windows 10 breaks the law: Regulator says Microsoft doesn’t offer enough information to enable informed consent.
- Judge Agrees – YouTube Mockery Protected by Fair Use
- AT&T Researchers Share Map Depicting Top YouTube Channels In Each State
- Blame The Cord-Cutters For AT&T’s Sudden Drop In Share Price
- YouTube Revamps Website For Creators, Rolls Out ‘Master Class’ Video Advice Series
- Here’s Why YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Started Her Very Own Channel
- Casey Neistat: YouTube Doesn’t Do Enough To Take Care Of Creator Community
- Advertising Practices Land Tinder in Hot Water
- Snapchat Stories Usage Among Top Influencers Has Dipped 33% In 6 Months
- Influencers Sound Off on Why They Do Not Want to Disclose Sponsored Posts
- Vice Media To Launch Sub-Saharan African Operation In 2018
- Major Studios, Streamers Declare Legal War on TickBox: “What TickBox actually sells is nothing less than illegal access to Plaintiffs’ copyrighted content,” a lawyer for the studios and streamers says.
- Netflix, Amazon, movie studios sue over TickBox streaming device: TickBox TV says it’s a “100% legal” directory of everything ever made.
- Netflix Now Says It Will Spend Up To $8 Billion On Original Content Next Year
- Two months after Disney split, Netflix pledges $8B for original content: What’s cooler than spending $6 billion (in 2017) on original content?
- Another German decision questions reasonableness of GS Media presumption if generally applied
- Revealed: How copyright law is being misused to remove material from the internet – When Annabelle Narey posted a negative review of a building firm on Mumsnet, the last thing on her mind was copyright infringement
- Copyright Isn’t a Tool for Removing Negative Reviews
- Sorry, You Can’t Abuse Copyright Law To Make A Negative Review Disappear
- New Copyright Trolling Operation Lowers The Settlement Demands And Calls Them Fines To Improve Conversion Rate
- Native American tribe sues Amazon and Microsoft over patents: Can “patent trolls” advance their cause using Native American legal rights?
- Vladimir Putin: Russia Will Issue its Own Cryptocurrency
- Sweden’s Tax Authority Accepts Bitcoin As Settlement: The Swedish government agency responsible for the collection of taxes has, for the first time, accepted bitcoin from a debtor.
- The Difference between Blockchain and Bitcoin
- Waymo’s staggering settlement demand for Uber: $1 billion: Holding fast on massive cash demand suggests Waymo wants to cripple its competitor.
- Uber And Lyft Haven’t Revolutionized The American City—Yet
- The Crowdsourced Maps Guiding Puerto Rico’s Recovery
- New neural network teaches itself Go, spanks the pros: This time, the Go-playing algorithm didn’t need any human players to help it.
- Artificial Intelligence – With Very Real Biases: According to AI Now co-founder Kate Crawford, digital brains can be just as error-prone and biased as ours
- Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence
- Stunning AI Breakthrough Takes Us One Step Closer to the Singularity
- The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions: Mistaken extrapolations, limited imagination, and other common mistakes that distract us from thinking more productively about the future.
- AI Experts Want To End ‘Black Box’ Algorithms In Government
- Can we teach robots ethics?
- You Aren’t Ready For The Weirdness Of Working With Robots
- Love in the Time of Robots: Hiroshi Ishiguro builds androids. Beautiful, realistic, uncannily convincing human replicas. Academically, he is using them to understand the mechanics of person-to-person interaction. But his true quest is to untangle the ineffable nature of connection itself.
- Apple’s Tim Cook On iPhones, Augmented Reality, And How He Plans To Change Your World: In a wide-ranging interview, the CEO of the biggest tech company in the world explains how AR will change our lives, and why he thinks the world is actually getting better
- First iPhone X batch reportedly only contains 46,500 units: Apple’s TrueDepth camera may be holding things up.
- Apple and GE partner to make industrial analytics iOS-accessible: GE thinks the software will result in $12 billion in revenue by 2020.
- Udacity to focus on individual student projects
- Many patent-holders stop looking to East Texas following Supreme Court ruling: Can Delaware handle the incoming caseload?
- The Case for CASL: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (Michael Geist)
- First Circuit Rejects Copyright Workaround to Section 230–Small Justice v. Ripoff Report (Eric Goldman)
- Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?: More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis.
CREATIVITY
- Statute Of Limitations Has Run Out On Trump’s Bogus Promise To Sue The NY Times
- At Core of 5Pointz Trial: Is Graffiti Art Protected by Law?
- Will Recent Court Rulings Endanger the Future of Biopics and Documentaries?: A Lynyrd Skynyrd movie ban and Olivia de Havilland’s recent legal victory are causing Hollywood studios, press organizations and others to speak up, lest they lose that right.
- Disney: The Only Fun Allowed At Children’s Birthday Parties Is Properly Licensed Fun
- Internet Archives Liberates Old Books Using Never Used Before Provision Of Copyright Law
- Freedom of panorama: would it hurt architects? Survey among Italian-based architects says NO
- “Haters Gonna Hate, Hate . . . .” Can Taylor Swift “Shake it Off”?
- CEIPI Opinion on copyright limitations’ reform in the European Digital Single Market
- (The cult of) personality rights in Canada
- Guide to Doing Business in Canada: Intellectual property
- Prioritizing the Public Interest: My Submission on Copyright Board of Canada Reform (Michael Geist)
- NDAs: A Logistical and Legal Nightmare
MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- Trump’s threats amount to a First Amendment violation
- Trump May Not Be Serious About His NBC Threats… But He May Have Violated The First Amendment
- FCC Chair Ajit Pai’s Silence On Trump Tweets Speaks Volumes
- Tom Wheeler to Ajit Pai: “Why the silence” about Trump’s media threats? – Meanwhile, Trump continued attacks on NBC, media: “Sadly, they and others are Fake News.”
- FCC chair “refused” to rebuke Trump over threat to take NBC off the air: Lawmakers want Pai to “publicly disavow President Trump’s repeated threats.”
- Six days later, FCC chair says Trump can’t order FCC to revoke TV licenses: Pai response is “better than nothing,” but critics want stronger rebuke of Trump.
- FCC Republican says Trump is “rightfully venting” anger at the press: O’Rielly sympathizes with Trump but says “politics” shouldn’t affect TV licenses.
- Republican fight against municipal broadband heats up in Michigan; Michigan bill says no “federal, state, or local funds” can pay for broadband.
- FCC’s DDoS claims will be investigated by government: GAO will investigate after Democrats asked for evidence that attacks happened.
- ISPs don’t want to tell the FCC exactly where they offer Internet service: Better data collection could tell us which homes have broadband and which don’t
- Big ISPs Lobby To Kill Attempts At More Accurate Broadband Mapping
- Groups Battle Trump FCC’s Claim That One ISP In A Market Means There’s Effective Competition
- Charter accuses its employees of cutting cables 125 times during strike – Lawsuit: Tens of thousands of New Yorkers lost service because of vandalism.
- Comment Dates Set on FCC Proposal to Abolish Requirement for Paper Copies of FCC Rules
- DOJ Staffers: The T-Mobile Sprint Merger Will Reduce Competition And Should Be Blocked
- T-Mobile Dials Back Major ‘Un-carrier’ Perk
- AT&T Spent Hundreds Of Billions On Mergers And All It Got Was A Big Pile Of Cord Cutters
- Comcast found a way to raise other cable companies’ prices, rivals say: Comcast/NBC contract demands allegedly make it hard to sell basic TV package.
- Google Fiber Gives Up On Traditional TV, And Won’t Be The Last Company To Do So
- Weather Forecast Title Not Significantly Inaccurate, Says Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
- Ah Statism, how we love thee! (Timothy Denton)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Details Emerge Of World’s Biggest Facial Recognition Surveillance System, Aiming To Identify Any Chinese Citizen In Three Seconds
- Supreme Court to decide if US has right to data on world’s servers: Feds claim legal right to reach into the world’s servers with a valid US warrant.
- Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Case Involving US Demands For Emails Stored Overseas
- Justices to Hear DOJ Appeal on Microsoft Ruling: Is Email Stored Abroad Subject to a U.S. Warrant?
- Microsoft never disclosed 2013 hack of secret vulnerability database: Database contained details required to carry out highly advanced software attacks.
- Attack of the Hack Back: The worst idea in cybersecurity is back again.
- “OK, Google. Send a Letter to the CPSC.”: Privacy Groups Request Recall of Google Home Mini
- Judge shocked to learn NYPD’s evidence database has no backup: City says cash forfeitures not in flagship PETS system; police say PETS backed up.
- DreamHost Wins Challenge Against DOJ’s Overbroad Data Demands
- DOJ Continues Its Push For Encryption Backdoors With Even Worse Arguments
- There’s No Good Decision in the Next Big Data Privacy Case
- Could a child sue their parents for sharenting?
- Viral video of man being dragged from United flight gets officers fired: “Our cell phones are the best deterrent to ensure mistreatment becomes a rarity.”
- It Takes Just $1,000 To Track Someone’s Location With Mobile Ads
- Millions of high-security crypto keys crippled by newly discovered flaw: Factorization weakness lets attackers impersonate key holders and decrypt their data.
- Details around controversial surveillance unknown
- Equifax website borked again, this time to redirect to fake Flash update: Malware researcher encounters bogus download links during multiple visits.
- After second bungle, IRS suspends Equifax’s “taxpayer identity” contract
- Federal watchdog tells Equifax – no $7.25 million IRS contract for you: Equifax-IRS ordeal exposes the strangeness of the government contracting system.
- There’s No Good Decision in the Next Big Data Privacy Case
- Equifax rival TransUnion also sends site visitors to malicious pages: People visiting TransUnion’s Central American site redirected to potpourri of badness.
- Accenture The Latest To Leave Sensitive Customer Data Sitting Unprotected In The Amazon Cloud
- Don’t Panic, But Wi-Fi’s Main Security Protocol Has Been Broken
- How the KRACK attack destroys nearly all Wi-Fi security: Android 6.0 hit especially hard, but all devices are vulnerable.
- Serious flaw in WPA2 protocol lets attackers intercept passwords and much more: KRACK attack is especially bad news for Android and Linux users.
- The Flawed System Behind The Krack Wi-Fi Meltdown
- Why The Krack Wi-Fi Mess Will Take Decades To Clean Up
- Australian defense firm was hacked and F-35 data stolen, DOD confirms
- Australian Police Ran A Dark Web Child Porn Site For Eleven Months
- Australian Government Claims That Facial Recognition Systems Increase Privacy…
- Google’s ‘Advanced Protection’ Locks Down Accounts Like Never Before
- Google now offers special security program for high-risk users: The new opt-in program requires authentication with a physical security key.
- The search for painless Internet privacy gets another boost with InvizBox 2: Successor to Tor “travel router” focuses on protecting traffic from “harvesting” by ISPs.
- In 3-1 vote, LA Police Commission approves drones for LAPD – ACLU: new policy “fails to take into account public mistrust” of police surveillance.
- Would the United States Be Responsible for Private Hacking? (Kristen Eichensehr)
GAMES
- Blizzard takes Chinese dev to court over alleged mobile Overwatch clone
- Overwatch hits 35 million players: The player base continues to grow, but it’s slowing
- Activision patents matchmaking tech that can push players to buy upgrades
- Activision Patents Matchmaking That Encourages Players To Buy Microtransactions
- Patent that pushes microtransactions through multiplayer granted to Activision: The “exploratory” systems have not been implemented into any games as of yet, publisher says
- Activision’s patented method to drive microtransactions with matchmaking: Unused system could push newbies to “emulate the marquee player” in pairings.
- Activision Researched Using Matchmaking Tricks to Sell In-Game Items: In-game purchases are a multi-billion dollar business for Activision.
- Fortnite developer reportedly suing cheating players: Epic is looking to hit Fortnite cheaters hard.
- Epic Games sues alleged Fortnite cheaters over EULA violations
- Report: WB winding down Lego Dimensions ahead of schedule
- Lego Dimensions dropped – Report: Toys-to-life genre loses another player as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment pulls the plug a year earlier than planned
- PUBG has doubled total banned players in a month: BattlEye has banned 322,000 players, with as many as 13,000 banned every day
- Fortnite’s free-to-play battle royale mode passes 10M players
- Does anyone own the Battle Royale genre?: Current law gives developers little more than “a headstart” over potential imitators, says Harbottle & Lewis’ Kostyantyn Lobov
- Exclusive: Even Pokémon Go used by extensive Russian-linked meddling effort
- iLife wins $10.1 M from Nintendo
- Nintendo Reportedly Encouraging Mature Titles On Switch
- Why aren’t there more “Mature” games for Nintendo Switch?: Nintendo reportedly encouraging more adult fare but still won’t create it.
- Sony Music to publish games on Switch and PC through new Unties label
- Sony to publish Nintendo Switch games with new label Unties: Indie publisher operated by Sony Music Entertainment, first title Tiny Metal releases in November
- Nintendo Switch tiptoes toward letting users back up their data: Latest system update also enables video capture for… four games. Yes, four.
- Super Nt is a $190 FPGA, HDMI SNES (and probably other acronyms): High-end “clone” console could be hacked to support other classic systems.
- Ex-Naughty Dog dev levies sexual harassment allegation: Developer accuses studio of firing him after he spoke up; studio says it has no evidence he ever notified it of inappropriate conduct
- Naughty Dog responds to sexual harassment allegation
- CD Projekt Red responds to scathing Glassdoor reviews: After complaints of mismanagement, senseless crunch, and poor pay, Witcher studio says its approach to development “is not for everyone”
- CD Projekt Red talks company values in wake of employee complaints
- PC Shadow of War players cheat to get around loot box grind: Higher tier “Golden” chests still largely protected behind paywall.
- Thinking outside the loot box: Business model innovation is necessary despite the friction it causes – but the industry needs to recognise when it’s overstepping a line
- PEGI is leaving the verdict on loot boxes up to gambling commissions
- Loot boxes aren’t gambling – ESRB: European ratings board PEGI says it’s gambling commissions responsibilities to define loot box rules
- The Origin of Loot Boxes and why They are a Form of Gambling
- Loot box petitions have forced the UK government to respond
- Loot box petition prompts response from UK government: Department for Culture recognises risk and will keep matter under review
- UK government comments on rising loot box-related gambling concerns
- Loot boxes: Future of AAA or a monetisation misfire? – Developers discuss the reasoning behind the recent rise of microtransactions in full-price games
- EA Addresses Battlefront 2 Loot Crates, Shares Beta Feedback
- EA’s Access service is losing its first game, for undisclosed reasons
- EA is closing Visceral Games, changes direction of studio’s Star Wars game: It sounds like EA is pretty much starting over.
- EA closing Visceral Games and overhauling its Star Wars game
- EA shuts down Visceral, will reboot its Star Wars game due to “marketplace”: Dead Space’s creators are gone; outlook fuzzy on Amy Hennig’s single-player SW game.
- EA closing Visceral Games: Star Wars project delayed and moved to EA Vancouver as studio behind Dead Space, Battlefield Hardline shutters
- Big-budget, single-player gaming isn’t dead (yet): Despite industry pressures, the narrative adventure isn’t going anywhere.
- Battlegrounds becomes first Steam game to hit 2M concurrent users
- More games released on Steam this year than whole of 2016: Steam Direct fails to halt over population as total number of games expected to exceed 6,000
- Microsoft hooks up Minecraft to export buildings as 3D models
- Microsoft finally pledges to update Halo: Master Chief Collection… next year – Better incredibly late than never; will include Xbox One X functionality.
- Xbox chief wants Sony to explain its cross-platform play stance
- Xbox head says cross-platform talks with Sony go nowhere: Sony “should talk about what their view is,” says Spencer
- Xbox chief says Sony won’t allow cross-platform Minecraft, probably never will: Sony still doesn’t want to give up its platform lock-in.
- NIS America chief: Microsoft isn’t very supportive of Japanese devs: “Honestly speaking, Microsoft’s approach to Japanese games hasn’t been very supportive.”
- Gran Turismo Sport is extremely limited in offline mode: If servers or Internet are down, you’re stuck in “Arcade” mode with no saves.
- Gran Turismo Sport’s high-end bonuses: HDR is incredible, but VR is not
- Video: A game designer’s overview of the neuroscience of VR
- PUBG passes two million concurrent players milestone: Battle royale shooter’s record is now 700,000 players beyond Dota 2
- Football Manager 2018’s Medical Centre is the best thing to happen to injured players: Learn more about injuries and, crucially, how to avoid them.
- Broadcasting Dota 2
- NBA: “Esports is a massive industry, and we think we have a place in it” – The basketball league’s esports boss discusses decades-long plans for professional competitions with 2K Games
- How Rick Fox is changing the culture, strategy of eSports — at least at one team
- The New York Yankees are getting into the eSports business
- eSports on the Rise as Collegiate Sport
- Adidas Files Lawsuit Against ELEAGUE for Stealing Its “3 Stripes” Logo
- Adidas Opposes Turner Broadcasting’s ELEAGUE Logo Trademark Because Of Lines
- Real Life Soccer Player Besieged By Requests To Play For Foreign Team Due To Video Game Error
- Full scale of Apple’s patent loss to VirnetX is now clear: $440 million – Judge – Apple’s decision to sell after losing a 2012 trial was “unreasonably risky.”
- Apple asked to remove Philippines drug war games from App Store: Anti-drug organisation ANPUD demands an apology from Apple for handling “insensitive content”
- Apple CEO on AR Headsets: ‘We don’t want to be first, we want to be the best’
- Apple: “Quality” AR headsets aren’t possible with current tech – CEO Tim Cook believes “anything you would see on the market any time soon” won’t provide a good experience
- VR chasm of disappointment becoming more of an abyss?: Analysts weigh in on whether the latest Oculus announcements this week will move the needle for VR adoption
- John Carmack encourages VR devs to ’embrace the grind’
- Oculus Santa Cruz hands-on: The greatest trick the VR devil ever pulled
- New Blade Runner VR game foretells a Sega CD-styled story revolution: Technically impressive Oculus freebie has awful story, but it’s otherwise a must-play.
- Bought an Oculus Rift Just Before Last Week’s Price Cut? 5 Ways to Get a $100 Refund
- Eye Doctors Can Now Prescribe VR Lazy-eye Treatment for Home Use
- Magic Leap lands another $502 million: Startup’s series D funding round ends up roughly half the size previously reported
- Humble Bundle has been acquired by media giant IGN
- IGN buys Humble Bundle: Pay-what-you-want game storefront to retain office, staff, charitable focus as it joins consumer gaming site
- Humble Bundle: IGN deal’s value will be proved through action, not words – Humble co-founder John Graham and IGN’s Mitch Galbraith on balancing editorial integrity and commitment to charity
- Indiegogo opens digital marketplace for successfully crowdfunded projects
- How Bungie localized Destiny for the world
- Bungie Pulls Destiny 2 Emote After Players Discover Wall Glitch
- Hard games as a disempowerment fantasy: Bennett Foddy explains why he made his latest, Getting Over It, to hurt a certain kind of person
- Video Game Tutorials: How Do They Teach?
- 21 years later, original developer works to fix 16-bit Sonic: Downloadable mod aims to patch decades-old issues with Sonic 3D Blast.
- Japanese mobile market outgrows US three years in a row: RPGs account for 65% of mobile revenue in Japan, App Annie report shows
- Saving Japan’s Games
- Understanding the challenge facing Japan’s game preservationists
- Design approach in citizen science games, until EVE Online
- Brexit fears resurface at Westminster games panel: “We’re not getting a response from government that will prevent companies from deploying their contingency plans now”
- Two charities unite to help hospitalized disabled kids play games
- Google Play devs giving away IAP revenue to combat hunger crisis
- Google Play apps with as many as 2.6m downloads added devices to botnet – Your periodic reminder: Google is chronically unable to detect untrustworthy apps.
- IGDA Foundation grants the National Videogame Museum $4k to help pay for student visits
Jon