News of the Week; August 22, 2018

DIGITAL

1. Will the Canadian Voltage Reverse Class Action Now Fizzle?
2. Twitter Gets Powerful Win in “Must-Carry” Lawsuit–Taylor v. Twitter
3. Appeals Court Says Of Course Twitter Can Kick Racists Off Its Platform
4. As Press Freedom Dies In Turkey, Twitter Is There To Help Dig Its Grave
5. Dutch Government Prosecuting Dutch Citizen For Insulting Turkish President Recep Erdogan
6. EU Commission Moving Forward With Legislation Demanding One Hour Removal Of ‘Terrorist Content’
7. Section 230 Survives to Fight Another Day Following California Supreme Court Decision
8. Automated ‘Content Protection’ System Sends Wave Of Bogus DMCA Notice Targeting Legitimate URLs
9. Automated Filter Removed Parliament Member’s Article Warning About Censorship By Automated Filters
10. 3D-printed gun activists set to face numerous US states in court
11. Microsoft shuts down phishing sites, accuses Russia of new election meddling
12. Man sues over Google’s “Location History” fiasco, case could affect millions
13. Google reportedly plans flagship retail store (again), this time in Chicago
14. After employee revolt, Google says it is “not close” to launching search in China
15. Apple complies with China’s rules again, pulls gambling apps from App Store
16. Apple Store Shoppers Tackle Suspects in $18,000 MacBook Grab-and-Dash Heist
17. Huawei was caught using a pro camera to fake smartphone photos (again)
18. UK Consumer Watchdog Is Monitoring Social Influencers Who May Be Failing To Disclose Paid Promotions
19. Couple behind “prolific” dark net fentanyl sales busted by DOJ
20. The Internet is making us stupid (Andres Guadamuz)
21. Facebook: Iran has been posting hundreds of fake pages since 2011
22. Facebook removed hundreds of pages from Iran and Russia as part of ongoing investigation into platform abuse
23. Facebook begins rating users on how trustworthy they are at flagging fake news
24. Facebook Helps Landlords Discriminate Against Minorities, Says U.S. Government
25. DOJ Asking Court To Force Facebook To Break Encryption On Messenger Voice Calls
26. ‘Facebook What?’ Half of Users Have Never Heard of Facebook’s Watch Video Service
27. The Media Tried To Game The Machines and You’ll Never Guess What Happened Next (Facebook Won)
28. Elon Musk Explains Why He Quit Instagram: ‘I Didn’t Like It’ [Updated]
29. Brands Are Reaching Out To Young Teens On Instagram To Negotiate Cheap Product Endorsement
30. Laura Lee Apologizes For Racist Tweets Amid Loss Of 240,000 Subscribers In Roughly 1 Week
31. Once Again, Court Rejects Silly Claims That YouTube Provided Material Support For Terrorists
32. Rutgers University Study Warns Against Glut Of Misleading Plastic Surgery Videos On YouTube
33. “Re-Inspired” Kandee Johnson Returns To YouTube After Months-Long Absence
34. YouTube Millionaires: MacDoesIt Says YouTube Has “Made A Home” For Him And Other Marginalized Creators
35. Philip DeFranco Testing New Show Format To Avoid “Suppressed” YouTube Videos
36. YouTuber True Geordie, The Commentator For KSI And Logan Paul’s Match, Launches Mobile Boxing Game
37. YouTube Premium Is Readying 50 Originals For 2019. Here’s The Kind Of Content It’s Looking For.
38. YouTube Outlines Originals Strategy in Europe, Middle East, Africa
39. YouTube Music Signs American Music Awards Two-Year Title Sponsorship Deal
40. YouTube Music Inks Two-Year Sponsorship Deal With The American Music Awards
41. Ariana Grande Using Snapchat to Launch ‘Sweetener’ Merchandise via a Shoppable Selfie Lens
42. Viacom Lays Off A Number Of AwesomenessTV Employees
43. Walmart’s Streaming Video Service Plans Coming Into Focus, Will Launch Late 2018
44. Relax, binge watchers. Netflix is not adding commercials
45. Netflix will now interrupt series binges with video ads for its other series
46. Netflix Is Testing Personalized “Surfacing Recommendations” — AKA Ads — Between Episodes
47. 35% Of Millennials and 42% Of Gen Z Share Their Streaming Service Passwords (Study)
48. Study Finds Streaming Service Usernames And Passwords For Sale On Dark Web
49. 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.
50. Vice Media signs long-term content deal with Bell: Move comes after Rogers walked away from previous $100M pact
51. Amazon Apparently Wants to Destroy TiVo Now
52. 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
53. Giphy Adds Curated Stories to Desktop, Mobile Web
54. AT&T Sued After SIM Hijacker Steals $24 Million in Customer’s Cryptocurrency
55. Ouch, These Stories From the Crypto Crash Are Hard to Stomach
56. The blockchain bonanza is over for graphics card makers
57. NVIDIA cryptocurrency revenues fall 82% below $100m estimate for last quarter: Revenues up but OEM segment declines 54 per cent with crypto shortfall
58. 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
59. To Build Trust In Artificial Intelligence, IBM Wants Developers To Prove Their Algorithms Are Fair
60. To Lead in AI, House of Lords Urges UK to stay nimble, focus on ethics, and look to Canada
61. AI-Generated Art Will Go On Sale Alongside Human-Made Works This Fall
62. A realistic look at AI in science fiction
63. The Viral Robot Video That’s Freaking Everyone Out Is Totally Fake
64. A Robot Will Become A Real-Life Movie Star
65. Baseball Players Are Sick of Fallible Umpires. Robots Should Make Calls Instead.
66. The gig economy and the law
67. Massachusetts gives workers new protections against noncompete clauses
68. Prenda Scam Boss, Paul Hansmeier, Pleads Guilty
69. Paul Hansmeier finally cops to being a porn troll, after a years-long saga
70. Bitmovin Takes A Scorched Earth Approach To Patent Troll, Who Limps Away Quickly
71. Before You Talk About How Easy Content Moderation Is, You Should Listen To This
72. 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.
73. Bill Gates Says We Need New Economic Models That Take Tech Into Account
74. These 3,800-Year-Old Peruvian Carvings Look Like Modern Emoji 

CREATIVITY

1. Only 12% Of Music Revenue Goes To Actual Artists
2. Stan Lee Has Been Granted a 3-Year Restraining Order Against His Former Manager and Guardian
3. Kevin Spacey’s new movie might make less than $500 this weekend
4. Kelly Marie Tran Speaks Out Against Racist Star Wars Fans With Some Powerful Words
5. Movie Company Sues Post-Production Studio For $5 Million For Leaking ‘Kickboxer’ Film That Grossed $5k Domestically
6. Museum Visitor Falls Into Giant Hole That Looks Like a Cartoonish Painting on the Floor
7. Judge In Broward County Documents Case Decides The First Amendment Doesn’t Cover These Public Records
8. Elected Official Files Business, Trademark Registrations Using Name Of Website That Frequently Criticized Her
9. In-N-Out Sends Punny Cease And Desist Over Fairly Clear Trademark Infringement
10. Heaven Hill Distillery Knocks On Bob Dylan’s Door Over His Heaven’s Door Whiskey For Trademark Infringement
11. As Academic Publishers Fight And Subvert Open Access, Preprints Offer An Alternative Approach For Sharing Knowledge Widely

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Telus class action case heads to the SCC
2. 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)
3. Email Marketing In Canada (CASL)
4. Maximum Mudslinging: How Powerful Lobby Groups Are Working to Sideline Civil Society Voices on Digital Policy (Michael Geist)
5. ‘Oversight’ Hearing Fails Utterly To Hold FCC Accountable For Lying To Congress About Fake DDOS Attack
6. Ajit Pai Knew FCC Cyberattack Was Fake for Seven Months but Kept Quiet
7. Ajit Pai knew DDoS claim was false in January, says he couldn’t tell Congress
8. Ajit Pai Opposes Effort To Update The Definition Of Broadband
9. A Senator Says U.S. Broadband Maps ‘Stink.’ Here’s Why Nobody Wants To Fix Them.
10. ISPs say they can’t expand broadband unless gov’t gives them more money
11. 23 Attorneys General Urge Appeals Court To Restore Net Neutrality
12. Verizon Throttled The ‘Unlimited’ Data Plan Of A Fire Dept. Battling Wildfires
13. Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” data during Calif. wildfire
14. Verizon Throttled Fire Department’s ‘Unlimited’ Plan While They Were Fighting Mendocino Complex Fire
15. Verizon Is Wrong. Throttling Emergency Responders’ Data Is Definitely About Net Neutrality.
16. Fire dept. rejects Verizon’s “customer support mistake” excuse for throttling
17. AT&T/TIME Warner DOJ Smack Down: You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows
18. A Victory for Introductory Offer and Subscription Advertisers: FTC Fails to Prove Deception Against DIRECTV
19. DirecTV beats $4B lawsuit that alleged it tricked customers into paying more 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Canadian Privacy Commissioner says public profiles are private
2. FBI Tried To Get Google To Turn Over Identifying Info On Hundreds Of Phone Owners
3. FBI Warning: Data Security Issues Posed by the Internet of Things
4. Just say no: Wi-Fi-enabled appliance botnet could bring power grid to its knees
5. The limits of intelligence collection 
6. Toward defining privacy expectations in an age of oversharing: Our digital data deserves protection, writes Margot Kaminski, a law professor 
7. Voting Machine Vendors, Election Officials Continue To Look Ridiculous, As Kids Hack Voting Machines In Minutes
8. Researcher Says Police Body Cameras Are An Insecure Mess
9. Let’s Retire the Phrase ‘Privacy Policy’: People assume it means their information will be kept private. Nothing could be further from the truth.
10. Teen Hangout Site Shuttered for COPPA Violations
11. Recent Developments Regarding the California Consumer Privacy Act

GAMES

1. Liftoff: Women make in-app purchases at a 79% higher rate than men – iOS user acquisition more expensive, but also more lucrative than Android
2. Analyst: More players are making in-app purchases (with less nudging)
3. 2K tweaks loot boxes in NBA 2K to comply with new Belgian gambling laws
4. Loot Box Regulation: The State of Play
5. 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?
6. Games of Skill v. Games of Chance – The Legal Analysis
7. Indictment: Congressman spent campaign funds on $1,500 in Steam games [Updated]
8. U.S. judge blocks sale of GTA Online cheat programs
9. 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
10. Judge Stanton grants preliminary injunction against creator of “grand theft Auto V” cheat software
11. Game dev suffers broken teeth, skull fracture after trying to film arrest
12. 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
13. Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against ‘League of Legends’ Developer Riot Games
14. Riot Games exec Greg Street promises change to sexist culture
15. Video: How Riot partners with players to positively impact the world
16. How Not Tonight went from workplace sim to twisted Brexit vision
17. Video: How to foster diversity in games 
18. Developers of adult games on Steam should “assume months” before game approval
19. Valve makes Windows games playable on Linux with Steam Play update
20. Steam Play update makes Windows-only games playable on Linux: Valve rolls out new open source compatibility tool Proton, complete with Vulkan support
21. “No school shooters”: Robot Cache promises more curation than Steam – CEO says every game submitted will be reviewed for content on blockchain-based marketplace
22. THQ Nordic team-up brings select Microsoft Studios games to Steam
23. Judge Orders Alleged EA Games Hacker to Pay $750,000 Bail in Cryptocurrency
24. ROM sites are falling, but a legal loophole could save game emulation
25. FTC Approves Changes to Video Game Industry’s Safe Harbor Program Under COPPA
26. 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
27. Please Don’t Download Fortnite for Android From Sketchy Places
28. Impostor Fortnite Android Apps Are Already Spreading Malware
29. Pokémon Go file check opens new front in war on rooted Android phones
30. 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
31. PUBG Mobile surpasses 100 million downloads since launch 
32. PUBG Mobile hits 100 million downloads: Battle royale’s mobile version also reaches 14 million daily active users
33. Capcom has shipped 10M copies of Monster Hunter: World
34. Assassin’s Creed to skip major release in 2019: Ubisoft avoids spin-off titles as well, focusing on support of Odyssey
35. Minigame integrated into EVE Online helps scientists understand cells
36. EVE Online players further scientific research using pattern-matching minigame
37. Blog: Making the first game containing Nazi symbols in Germany
38. How Six Ages builds a game around the power of myth
39. Steam’s content-driven freeze on game approvals expected to last for months
40. Valve accidentally unveils Steam.tv broadcasting platform
41. Valve launches streaming platform Steam TV: Quiet launch of new broadcasting arm gives Twitch and YouTube gaming a new competitor
42. Some Twitch Users’ Private Messages Were Exposed To Other Users. Here’s How To Check If You’re One Of Them.
43. Twitch Prime Will Rescind Ad-Free Viewing Beginning Next Month
44. Pay now or kiss Twitch Prime’s no-advertising perk goodbye starting Sept 14
45. Mad Machines to debut as a “First on Discord” game: Rocket League-like robot spike hockey game will be exclusive to Discord at launch
46. Blog: Honest reflections on Patreon from a game media creator
47. Sony Finally Gets A Little Weird With Its New DualShock 4 Colors
48. Citing ‘Sony’s plans to discontinue the Vita,’ Bloodstaineddev cancels port
49. Bloodstained Vita release canceled due to “Sony’s plans to discontinue” handheld: Kickstarter update delays game to 2019, offers refunds to Vita backers
50. PlayStation VR Passes 3 Million Units Sold
51. Worldwide PlayStation VR sales have topped 3 million
52. PlayStation VR hits 3 million sold: Sony says PSVR software sales approaching 22 million; Skyrim tops the list of most-played PSVR games
53. VR’s slow growth ideal for indies – Moss dev
54. EA Respawn’s Unannounced Oculus Exclusive Characterized as a “AAA VR Shooter”
55. EA, Unity, Epic, and others unite to promote best practices for HDR
56. Inside Two Bit Circus, LA’s new VR and arcade amusement park
57. Zynga to develop a Star Wars mobile game following Disney partnership
58. Zynga’s NaturalMotion studio partners with Disney for new Star Wars game: Publisher will also take over mobile tower defense game Star Wars Commander
59. Microsoft’s Moon Studios, Activision Blizzard stand out in Gamescom Awards: Koch Media, Nintendo also take home multiple honors
60. Microsoft prepares to kill the Windows 8 store: No new apps from November
61. Microsoft, Sony, other major publishers form HDR Gaming Interest Group: Group aims to specify and share public guidelines to improve HDR gaming
62. Minecraft: Education Edition is coming to iPad
63. Keywords Studios acquires Studio Gobo for £26m: Technical services provider continues spending spree with eighth acquisition this year
64. 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
65. 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
66. Despite millions of downloads, publishers won’t sign the sequel to Velocity 2X
67. 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
68. Gameseek founder returns with toy and video games retailer: Just three months since the website entered administration leaving customers out of pocket
69. OK Fine, Maybe Nintendo’s on to Something With the Labo Vehicle Kit
70. InkyPen brings comics, graphic novels to Nintendo Switch: Comic subscription service’s debut marks first worldwide media app of its kind on the console
71. Nintendo’s Switch has been hiding a buried “VrMode” for over a year
72. 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
73. 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
74. Scammers are still trying to snag free games from indie devs 
75. 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
76. In Octopath Traveler, jobs define more than just gameplay mechanics
77. Playne: Encouraging mindfulness through video games – Developer Krish Shrikumar on using video games to break down stigma against meditation and mindfulness
78. The creators of the Nintendo 64 GoldenEye have officially ruled: Oddjob is cheating
79. Developing GoldenEye 007 when the technology didn’t exist 
80. F1 2018: More than a great game, it’s an interactive history lesson
81. Don’t Miss: Devs reflect on the impact and legacy ofBurnout Paradise
82. Shenmue I & II impressions: A gaming history lesson, but it feels like school
83. Ubisoft’s once-yearly Assassin’s Creed series is skipping a 2019 release
84. Don’t Miss: The physics of trains in Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate
85. Dontnod’s Vampyr picked up for TV adaptation by Fox21
86. 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
87. Ustwo Games’ Monument Valley picked up for film adaptation
88. Lakers, Timberwolves, Nets, and Hawks Join NBA 2K League’s Second Season
89. Valve’s nearly $25M The International prize pool sets esports-wide record
90. The International brings record-breaking prize pool: Dota 2 tournament’s $24.8 million pool once again largest in esports history
91. 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
92. NASCAR Team Properties extends gaming license through 2029, expands Esports initiatives.
93. As Esports Race to Turn Pro, Madden NFL Stays Open to All Gamers
94. This Is The Longest Madden Glitch I’ve Ever Seen And It Keeps Getting Stranger
95. Facebook removes its revenue share from Instant Games on Android
96. 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
97. Amazon removes its 20 percent preorder discount on games
98. Amazon Prime eliminates 20% discount on game pre-orders
99. GAME’s full-year revenues expected to suffer slight decline
100. NVIDIA Demo Shows Off Real-time Ray Tracing Capabilities of RTX Cards
101. ‘Battlefield V’ Shows What NVIDIA RTX Ray Tracing Means for the Future of Gaming
102. What Will Quantum Computer Games Be Like?  
103. Rules of the game (part 1): Copyright protection of video games in Canada
104. Raytracing explained: Nvidia, Microsoft lead the way in revolutionizing gaming graphics

Jon