News of the Week; October 24, 2018

DIGITAL

1.  This Week’s Bomb Scares Are A Perfect Misinformation Storm
2. Twitter takes down more accounts affiliated with Alex Jones’s Infowars
3. Twitter plays whac-a-mole with Alex Jones, suspends 18 linked accounts
4. Bleacher Report’s House of Highlights Sets Twitter Live Talk Show Debut
5. Uber vice president resigns after sexual misconduct allegations
6. Microsoft making more of the Windows 10 built-in apps removable
7. Microsoft’s problem isn’t how often it updates Windows—it’s how it develops it
8. Microsoft posts a record $29.1 billion Q1. Same old, same old
9. eBay is going to war with Amazon over an alleged scheme to steal business that is ‘startling in breadth’
10. Why Netflix Features Black Actors In Promos To Black Users
11. Rideshare and Chill? Lyft Introducing a Spotify/Netflix-Inspired Subscription Service 
12. Establishing an AI code of ethics will be harder than people think: Ethics are too subjective to guide the use of AI, argue some legal scholars.
13. Novelists Have A Boring New Gimmick: Writing Dull Books With AI 
14. This Startup Is Paying Strangers To Train AI’s
15. The AI Cold War That Threatens Us All
16. Want to Keep Canadian AI Thriving?: Create a Copyright Exception for Informational Analysis (Michael Geist)
17. New Roundup Ranks The World’s Robots By Creepiness
18. An agnostic observation on machine-originated works and copyright
19. How Alibaba Used Big Data To Dream Up A Peppercorn Snickers Bar 
20. The HTC Exodus Blockchain Phone Comes Into Focus
21. Two Cryptocurrency Heavyweights Partner On A Dollar-Backed Stablecoin
22. FinCEN warns of Iran using virtual currencies to bypass sanctions
23. It’s Blockchain your Honour
24. Why A Blockchain-based DRM Has Always Been A Terrible Idea
25. Inside Facebook’s election war room: In a Menlo Park conference room, a global effort to fight misinformation comes together
26. Facebook’s War Room Is Definitely Managing at Least One Crisis
27. Facebook is using new software to identify and remove child nudity photos uploaded to the site 
28. Facebook May Buy A Cybersecurity Company To Prevent Another Major Hack
29. SoundCloud now lets you share songs to Instagram Stories
30. Hundreds of health crowdfunding campaigns are for sham treatments
31. Instagram just surpassed Snapchat as the most used app among American teens, according to a new Wall Street survey
32. Snapchat helped over 400,000 users register to vote: To combat historically low voter turnout 
33. Report: Amazon Tried To Sell Facial Recognition Tech To Ice
34. Microsoft making more of the Windows 10 built-in apps removable
35. Axios Ridiculously Calls For Newsrooms To Ban Journalists From Having Opinions Online
36. Trump Wants to Borrow Tech Workers From Amazon, Google, and Microsoft: Report
37. Google to charge Android OEMs as much as $40 per phone in EU 
38. Just As Expected: GDPR Has Made Google Even More Dominant In Europe
39. Google to Remove Deceptive Travel Ads
40. CEO Gets Nine Months In Prison For Forging Court Documents Ordering Google To Delist Negative Reviews
41. YouTube CEO Calls on Creators to Rally Against EU Copyright Legislation
42. GroupM: YouTube’s better at brand safety, but still has a ways to go
43. YouTube partners with Eventbrite to sell concert tickets below music videos
44. YouTube is investing $20M in educational content, creators: Including partnering with third-party studios and networks
45. YouTube Invests $20 Million In Its ‘YouTube Learning’ Initiative To Support Creators, Launches Channel To Curate Educational Content 
46. Susan Wojcicki Says YouTube Update This Quarter Improved Monetization Icon Accuracy By 10%
47. Susan Wojcicki Warns Article 13 Could Result In Shutdown Of Millions Of YouTube Channels In The EU
48. Rihanna Tries Her Hand At Being A Beauty Vlogger In New YouTube Series 
49. David Dobrik, Casey Neistat, ‘Escape The Night’ Lead 2018 Streamys Nominees; Awards To Air Oct. 22 On YouTube
50. YouTube Revamps Look Of Video Embeds, Adds New Shortcuts To Boost Channel Growth
51. PewDiePie Decries YouTube’s Release Of Logan Paul Movie While His Series Remains Shelved
52. 2018 Streamy Awards: Complete Winners List
53. Todd The Hero Dog Named First-Ever ‘Dog Of The Year’ At 8th Annual Streamys
54. Influencer Marketing – Three Golden Rules 
55. Warner Bros. Promptly Shutters K-Drama Streaming Destination DramaFever
56. Intel’s 5GHz i9 Processor Is Incredible for Hype and Pretty Good for Computing, Too 
57. IBM: Quantum Computers Could Be Useful, But We Don’t Know Exactly How
58. The Incredible Evolution of the Smartphone Notch: From Bezels to All Screen
59. This Gorgeous All-Screen Phone Shows How the Notch Dies
60. Streaming Exclusives Will Drive Users Back To Piracy And The Industry Is Largely Oblivious 
61. Bad Newspaper Photoshop: Manny Machado Apparently Needs Emergency Shoulder Surgery, Probably Not Worth $300M
62. Another Report Shows That FOSTA Increased (Not Decreased) Sex Trafficking; Where Is The Outrage?
63. As Predicted, Australian Government Looks To Creep Site Censorship Into Search Censorship
64. UK Refreshes Stupid Porn Filter Law, Making It Fresher But No Less Stupid
65. Interpol Alert Issued By Turkey For Exiled Journalists President Erdogan Wants To Toss In Jail
66. Vietnam Expands Decades Long Effort To Crack Down On Any Dissent Online By Demanding Data Be Kept In The Country
67. Mexico Reverses Ban On Selling Roku Hardware After Absurd Piracy Ruling 
68. 100 Websites That Shaped the Internet as We Know It
69. Section 230 Applies to Defend Trade Secret Act Claims–Craft Beer Stellar v. Glassdoor (Eric Goldman)
70. Making Sense of the Canadian Digital Tax Debate, Part 1: Digital Sales Taxes (Michael Geist) 

CREATIVITY

1. USMCA versus NAFTA: what’s changed and what it means for intellectual property in Canada
2. U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement: Business Insights on Intellectual Property Issues
3. Ninth Circuit Finds Bus Ads Protected by First Amendment
4. Photographers’ Claims Against the NFL Score a Touchdown
5. Appeals Court Says Of Course Georgia’s Laws (Including Annotations) Are Not Protected By Copyright And Free To Share
6. No Substantial Similarity Between TV Shows Empire and Cream
7. Supreme Court to Address Meaning of “Full Costs” as Used in Copyright Act
8. Too hyperbolic to be believed: How social media is transforming libel law 
9. Disney Wouldn’t Let Wreck-It Ralph 2 Joke About Kylo Ren
10. Internet Memes Are Making UK Children Fat, Say Researchers Who Don’t Understand Memes
11. Fake Products From Movies Become Awesome Pop Culture Posters
12. “Bank For Your Buck” – The Legal Implications of Banksy’s Destruction of “Girl with Balloon” 
13. Block Party? UK Government Considers New Ways of Clamping Down on Illegal Streaming 
14. Intellectual Property and the implications of a “No Deal” Brexit
15. It’s Blockchain your Honour

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Consumer Groups Say FCC Deregulatory Fever Harming Hurricane Michael Recovery
2. Ajit Pai killed rules that could have helped Florida recover from hurricane 
3. Ajit Pai, Telecom Lobbyists Are Now Coordinating Their Lies In Perfect Symmetry
4. Entire broadband industry sues Vermont to stop state net neutrality law
5. 3 states try to help the FCC kill net neutrality and preempt state laws
6. Broadband Industry Sues Vermont For Daring To Protect Consumers, Net Neutrality
7. CP24 re a news report about 4-20
and a panel discussion about the Ontario provincial election (CBSC Decision 17/18-1438)
8. Turner Axes Super Deluxe Following AT&T’s Time Warner Acquisition 
9. T-Mobile CEO Insists New Merger Will Create Jobs, Competition. Wall Street, History Disagree.
10. Big Bird Goes Digital: The FCC Undertakes to Modernize Children’s Television 
11. New Law Sets Up Federal-State Showdown Over Net Neutrality
12. NY’s AG Is Trying To Tie Major ISPs To Those Bogus Net Neutrality Comments

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. NYT: Chinese and Russian spies routinely eavesdrop on Trump’s iPhone calls
2. How Russia’s “influence operations” targeted the midterms (and how they still do)
3. Russia was likely behind dangerous critical infrastructure attack, report says
4. Russian trolls get DM from US Cyber Command: We know who you are. Stop it
5. Voltage Pictures and the Massive Mass Litigation Mess in Canada (Howard Knopf)
6. High Court blocks data privacy opt out group action against Google
7. Hack on 8 adult websites exposes oodles of intimate user data
8. Amazon, Super Micro Join Apple in Demanding Retraction of Bloomberg Story on Hacked Server Boards
9. Apple CEO Tim Cook calls on Bloomberg to retract its Chinese spy story
10. Apple Demands Retraction Of Bloomberg’s Big ‘Chip Infiltration’ Story; Bloomberg Has Some Explaining To Do
11. Apple CEO Tim Cook Calls for Tougher Privacy Laws
12. Tim Cook calls for strong US privacy law, rips “data-industrial complex”
13. Apple’s TV subscription service starts in 2019 to compete with Netflix, Amazon
14. Amazon pitched its facial recognition to ICE, released emails show [Updated]
15. This business card-sized Japanese phone bucks the giant-phone trend
16. Big Tech Splits Over Privacy Issues, at Least on the Surface: Big tech companies are paying lip service to online privacy, but their efforts are paper-thin.
17. Two new supply-chain attacks come to light in less than a week
18. California Passes First-Of-Its-Kind Law Focused on Internet of Things Cybersecurity 
19. Firefox 63 blocks tracking cookies, offers a VPN when you need one
20. Judge Says FOIA Isn’t Battleship; Requesters Don’t Need To Score Direct Hits To Obtain Documents

GAMES

1. Zombie Orpheus cancels contract with GOG over transphobia: JourneyQuest producers pull content, saying “We cannot do business with a company that doesn’t take human rights seriously”
2. Rockstar Games defends itself over working conditions claims
3. Rockstar allows employees to speak out on 100-hour week controversy: Tools programmer Vivianne Langdon kicks things off with assurances she’s never worked more than 50 hours a week, with paid overtime
4. Red Dead Redemption 2 Developers Speak Out After Rockstar Lifts Social Media Ban
5. The Red Dead Redemption 2 companion app can completely replace its HUD
6. Rockstar says average work week under 46 hours: “We will not stop working to improve in this area,” says co-head of Red Dead Redemption 2 developer
7. Independent game stores may get Red Dead Redemption 2 late: A number of smaller US stores have reported they may not have copies until 5-10 days after release
8. Rockstar developers speak out about “100-hour weeks” comment
9. Rockstar states overtime is ‘optional’ for studio that sometimes pulled 50-hour weeks
10. Rockstar Lincoln QA tester: “Overtime is NOT optional, it is expected” – Current employee describes “standard” crunch hours v. “true” crunch hours, new policy change making overtime optional
11. Rockstar Games clocks the average employee’s workweek at 42-45 hours  
12. Rockstar devs detail the company’s long and troubled relationship with crunch
13. Rockstar QA Studio Told That Overtime Is Now Optional After Workers Said It Felt Mandatory
14. Rockstar employees past and present offer mixed takes on company’s work culture: Extensive report shows uneven experiences across Rockstar studios and departments, including year-long crunch
15. Rockstar devs comment on work culture after 100-hours backlash
16. 100-hour weeks mean bad management, not passion: Rockstar may not be the hell it’s been portrayed as – but we need to stop lionising long overtime and start seeing it as a shameful sign of failure
17. Grand Theft Auto V hack exposed single-player games to malicious trolls
18. Six Foot lays off nearly one third of dev team followingDreadnought Steam launch
19. How Riot has been removing cheaters from League of Legends
20. Games as a service drives huge market value spike for EA, Activision
21. EA Origin Access includes more indie games in its repertoire 
22. Xbox sees earnings rise on the strength of third-party game sales  
23. Fan Translator Likely Finds His Work In Official Game Release And Is Totally Cool With It
24. Bethesda softens ground for “spectacular issues” with Fallout 76 launch
25. “Don’t give into fear and keep adding more features” – How not to overwork your employees: EA’s Criterion, one of the UK’s best places to work, on how it avoids crunching
26. How to avoid video game development crunch: “Teams who are having fun make better games and making games should be fun – otherwise, what’s the point?”
27. “I’ve seen sleep disorders, chronic stress fatigue, dissolved relationships, broken marriages…”: At Game Connect Asia Pacific, Keith Fuller detailed the fallout from crunch, and Kate Edwards said “we need to find our rage” in order to fight it
28. A post-mortem of Telltale Games: Speaking at Sweden Game Conference 2018, former Telltale narrative designer Emily Grace Buck says it’s time for a “really serious conversation about potentially starting a union”
29. Skybound “fully expect” third episode of The Walking Dead’s final season to launch this year: CEO Ian Howe said reuniting the Telltale team is difficult due to people moving on, and others not wanting to come back
30. Skybound CEO aims to finish out The Walking Dead with ‘100%’ former Telltalers
31. Six Foot lays off one third of development staff: Flagship game Dreadnought hampered by delays, slow sales, and mixed reviews
32. ‘Fortnite’ Developer Sues Two YouTubers For Using, Selling Cheat Codes
33. Epic Games to establish new office in Australia and New Zealand
34. Some Best Buy copies of Starlink are missing the game itself: Several people report receiving starter packs with all pieces except the game
35. Dota 2 now dynamically discloses loot box odds in-game
36. Valve publishes loot box odds for Dota 2: Chances of receiving a rare item from a bundle now disclosed in game, with escalating odds calculated
37. Discord updates terms of service to force arbitration over lawsuits
38. NPD: Marvel’s Spider-Man was the biggest PlayStation exclusive launch ever – The web-slinger’s latest outperformed the combined launch sales of all his previous adventures since 1995
39. A Nintendo-backed initiative aims to work Labo into classrooms  
40. Nintendo Labo heads to schools: Institute of Play program will bring the kits to 100 classrooms to integrate into curriculum
41. Common problems when translating games into Japanese
42. Steam reaches 90m monthly active users: Halt on new-game licenses in China buoy Steam’s market presence as Tencent continues to suffer
43. Steam surpasses 30 million domestic users in China
44. Steam’s Chinese audience grows to more than 30 million users: Dota 2 credited with driving Valve’s marketplace in the region as firm prepares for China-only version
45. China ends ‘green channel’ game approvals amid ongoing licensing freeze
46. China closes last remaining official game licensing process: ‘Green channel’ process reportedly shuttered while companies continue to wait for licensing to re-open
47. “More people have played Florence in Mandarin than in English”: At Game Connect Asia Pacific, Mountains founder Ken Wong emphasised the importance of Asian markets – for studios of all sizes
48. Call of Duty brings in $500 million in three days: Black Ops 4 sees launch weekend revenue in line with last year’s WWII, not quite up to Black Ops III’s $550 million
49. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 review: War games, now with battle royale!
50. Call of Duty Black Ops 4: Critical Consensus: Activision’s annual shooter ditches the campaign but critics say a standout battle royale mode is a fine reward
51. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 introduces special in-game items to support veterans
52. With Black Ops 4, Call Of Duty Takes Aim At A Fortnite World
53. Gamigo confirms acquisition of Trion Worlds
54. Significant layoffs at Trion Worlds following acquisition by Gamigo
55. Jade Raymond departs EA
56. EA Motive founder Jade Raymond departs EA
57. EA and Activision’s $79bn games-as-a-service growth: DFC reports shows both publishers’ values have surged since 2012 as they increase focus on live titles
58. Games as a service drives huge market value spike for EA, Activision
59. All eyes on Red Dead as UK games retail falters: LEGO, SoulCalibur and Starlink fail to lift physical sales in poor start to Q4
60. Splash Damage ends live development on Dirty Bomb two months after launch: Servers will remain up “as long as there are a meaningful number of players”
61. The average Football Manager 2018 player has over 285 hours of playtime: Nearly half of the game’s owners were still playing in September – almost a year after release
62. Unity dabbles in development with FPS Sample Game: VP of engineering Brett Bibby says undertaking will demonstrate the “best way to build a specific type of game”
63. Drake And Scooter Braun Join Nadeshot’s ‘100 Thieves’ Esports Startup, Which Has Raised $25 Million To Date
64. Abrams Artists Agency Onboards New Esports And Digital Branding Agents
65. Betting platform nabs license for cryptocurrency gambling on eSports
66. Green Man Gaming delays float due to ‘horrendous’ equity markets
67. Arena of Valor brings in $15 million lifetime player spending: International version of Honor of Kings sees strong September led by US spending
68. CCP CEO: “You can’t build a business” on current VR – Hilmar Veigar Pétursson says virtual reality has fallen far short of the Eve developer’s expectations
69. CCP Games CEO: “We expected VR to be two to three times as big”
70. SuperData: Mobile AR to generate more revenue than VR by 2021
71. VR and AR dev Resolution Games secures $7.5 million in funding
72. After five years of waiting, Sixense will refund its VR controller Kickstarter backers
73. A postmortem of Boyfriend Dungeon’s $272K Kickstarter
74. Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe leaves Facebook
75. Oculus Co-founder Departs Facebook Amidst Rumor of Rift 2 Cancellation
76. Facebook exodus continues as Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe leaves
77. Oculus Shut Down Movie Purchases & Rentals on Rift Toda
78. PSVR’s Weirdest Game ‘Accounting+’ Now Available on Vive & Rift with New Levels
79. UK magazines GamesTM and GamesMaster to close: Multiformat magazines axed
80. Phoenix Labs on walking the line between Dauntless and reckless: In the wake of its latest funding round, co-founder Jesse Houston talks about growing the studio and the game at a deliberate pace
81. What does it take to reach No.1 on mobile?: AppLovin’s Lion Studios shares its secrets of success as it pushes indie title Flip Trickster to the top of the charts
82. If less than 30% of players come back to your game on Day 2, fix it or kill it: But GameAnalytics’ mobile benchmarking reports shows that 40% retention rates for Day 1 mean a game is doing well
83. “Designing with marketing in mind” in Move or Die: At the Dev Play conference, Nicolae Berbece described taking Move or Die from a humble Flash game to an audience of over 500,000 people
84. Diddy Kong was my Dark Souls: Sumo Digital’s Jamie Smith says Rare’s N64 kart racer left the competition in the dust
85. Those painted sculptures in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey are true to history
86. Listen to history experts discuss Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
87. Intellivision joins the retro console space with new hardware coming in 2020: Formerly defunct console brand is re-imaged as Intellivision Amico

Jon