DIGITAL
- Feds take down dark web index and news site Deep Dot Web
- How Chinese Spies Got the N.S.A.’s Hacking Tools, and Used Them for Attacks
- A mysterious hacker gang is on a supply-chain hacking spree: Group of likely Chinese hackers has poisoned software of at least six companies.
- China Stole NSA Cyberweapons And Used Them Against Us Allies
- Putin signs “Internet sovereignty” bill that expands censorship
- Canadian Billionaire Sues Twitter For Nasty Things Twitter Users Said About Him
- Why a Republican senator wants the FTC to throw the book at Facebook
- FBI And Half The World Bust Operators Of A Site That Made The Dark Web Searchable
- Mark Zuckerberg has to go. Here are 25 reasons why
- Alex Jones was banned from Facebook, but an hour later he was back on Facebook livestreaming
- Facebook And Instagram Permaban Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer For Posting Hate Content
- 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.
- Facebook Rolls Out Broad Changes To How Its Algorithm Will Rank Videos
- Facebook will change video ranking to prioritize original content: It will prioritize videos that holds viewers’ attention.
- Report: Facebook looking to disrupt credit cards with cryptocurrency
- Facebook’s cryptocurrency might work like loyalty points
- 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.
- Amazon discriminates against pregnant women, seven lawsuits have said
- Amazon’s “Zero” Tolerance for Counterfeiting
- Wisconsin Supreme Court Fixes a Bad Section 230 Opinion—Daniel v. Armslist (Eric Goldman)
- New Essay: The Complicated Story of FOSTA and Section 230 (Eric Goldman)
- It’s One Thing For Trolls And Grandstanding Politicians To Get CDA 230 Wrong, But The Press Shouldn’t Help Them
- The Ninth Circuit Broke The Internet. So We Asked Them To Unbreak It.
- Twenty-one States Inadvertently Tell The DC Circuit That The Plaintiffs Challenging FOSTA Have A Case
- The Human Cost Of FOSTA
- Content Moderation is Broken. Let Us Count the Ways.
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: Facebook Still Can’t Figure Out How To Deal With Naked Breasts
- Global regulation threatens to take a bite out of the FAANGs
- Instagram Planning AI-Powered Pop-Ups To Ratchet Down Anti-Vaccination Content
- The Legislation That Targets the Racist Impacts of Tech: A proposed law would make big companies determine whether their algorithms discriminate
- 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
- Google unveils auto-delete for location, Web activity, and app usage data
- 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
- FBI Reports An Increasing Rate Of Internet-Facilitated Crime
- Fourth Circuit Rejects “Good Faith” as Defense to Copyright Infringement
- “Please don’t stop the music”: Peloton Files Counterclaims Against Music Publishers in Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
- #1 app YOLO Q&A is the Snapchat platform’s 1st hit
- 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
- Disney Writes Off Its Vice Stake in Latest Sign of Trouble
- 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.
- Netflix Has Propelled The ‘Fab 5’ From ‘Queer Eye’ Into Bonafide Social Media Stars
- Open Source Makes Kodi Add-ons Proliferate — And Hard To Eradicate
- YouTube Now Has 2 Billion Monthly Users, Who Watch 250 Million Hours on TV Screens Daily
- More Than 250 Million Hours Of YouTube Content Are Watched On TV Screens Every Single Day
- More Than 500 Hours Of Content Are Now Being Uploaded To YouTube Every Minute
- YouTube Copyright Filters Suck: The ‘Beat Saber’ And ‘Jimmy Fallon’ Edition
- Ex-YouTube engineer reveals how video site worked to kill off Internet Explorer 6
- YouTube’s Always Wanted TV Ad Dollars. But At This Year’s Brandcast, Execs Upped The Intensity Of The Pitch.
- YouTuber Austin Jones Sentenced To 10 Years Behind Bars For Child Pornography
- Pornhub wants to buy Tumblr and restore site to former porn-filled glory
- Justin Bieber Pacts With YouTube for Project Premiering in 2020
- YouTube Renews Kevin Hart Comedy Series, Sets Maluma and Paris Hilton Documentaries, Lollapalooza Live-Streaming Deal
- Kris Jenner, Gary Vaynerchuk Talk Life And Business With 120 YouTubers At The Site’s ‘Top Creator Summit’
- YouTube Plays A Major Role In Google’s Plans To Revamp Ecommerce Arm
- Bad Influence: Complying with FTC’s Endorsement Guide
- FTC Warns Ukraine Company: You Can’t Let Kids Use Your Dating Apps
- Dating Apps Warned of Potential COPPA and FTC Act Violations Removed from App Stores
- Liza Koshy, James Charles, And Lilly Singh Got Coveted Invites To The Met Gala
- Police Investigating Alleged Drugging Of Guest At Jake Paul-Hosted House Party
- After Streamlining Web Presence, Vice Reportedly Raises $250 Million In Debt Funding
- Vice Media Gets $250 Million in Debt Funding From George Soros, Other Investors
- ‘Game Of Thrones’ Videos Are Collecting Nearly 100 Million Views A Day
- CatCon Partners With Cats Of Instagram To Celebrate The Internet’s Greatest Cat Videos
- Sock Startup Bombas Says YouTube Yields More First-Time Orders Than Any Other Ad Platform
- Instagram’s In-App Shopping Feature ‘Checkout’ Helped Boost Adidas’ Online Sales By 40%
- Instagram Planning AI-Powered Pop-Ups To Ratchet Down Anti-Vaccination Content
- The Comedian Is In The Machine. AI Is Now Learning Puns
- Can AI Fairness Be Regulated?
- How to prepare students for the rise of artificial intelligence in the workforce
- The impact of intellectual property on artificial intelligence
- Blockchain, zero-code machine learning coming to Azure
- Blockchain Technology Embraced by Maryland Legislature
- Binance exchange hackers steal bitcoins worth $41m
- 3D-printing and IP rights
- Microsoft joins Climate Leadership Council: Company becomes first tech organization to join controversial group pursuing carbon fees, legal immunity for oil giants
- This Year’s Biggest NewFronts Buzzwords Were “Audio” And “Brand Safety”, Says Mindshare’s Christine Peterson
- Man Wins Legal Battle Over Traffic Ticket By Convincing Court A Hash Brown Is Not A Phone
COMMUNICATIONS
- CRTC Issues Its First Penalty Against a CEO for Violating Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation
- CRTC ups the CASL liability ante for directors and officers
- More Than 100 CNN Staffers Take Buyouts as AT&T Pares Debt
- CMS Finalizes Rule Requiring Disclosure of Drug Prices in TV Ads
- Verizon Media Said to Be Looking for Tumblr Buyer
- US Bandwidth Consumption Surges As Usage Caps Pose A Looming Threat
- Charter squeezes more money out of Internet users with new cancellation policy
- Megamergers Can’t Help Charter Spectrum As Cord Cutting Exodus Continues
- FCC Fixes Giant Error Over-Stating Broadband Availability… Then Doubles Down On Bogus Claims
- Ajit Pai refuses to investigate Frontier’s horrible telecom service
- The Super ‘Transparent’ Pai FCC Is Still Trying To Hide Details On Those Fake Net Neutrality Comments
- The FCC Hasn’t Done A Damn Thing To Seriously Police Wireless Location Data Scandals
PRIVACY
- Student Files $1 Billion Lawsuit Against Apple Over Supposedly Faulty Facial Recognition Tech That Falsely Accused Him Of Theft
- Refunds for 300 million phone users sought in lawsuits over location-data sales
- Does Canadian Privacy Law Matter if it Can’t be Enforced? (Michael Geist)
- How Mass Surveillance Works in Xinjiang, China: ‘Reverse Engineering’ Police App Reveals Profiling and Monitoring Strategies
- Chinese Spies Intercepted NSA Malware Attack, Weaponized It Against Targets Around The World
- “RobbinHood” ransomware takes down Baltimore City government networks
- Smart Lock Vendors Under Fire For Collecting Too Much Private Data
- Massachusetts Judge Says ATF Can Apply A Suspect’s Fingerprints To Unlock An IPhone
- Latest ODNI Transparency Report Shows Steep Spike In Unmasking Requests For US Person Caught In NSA Collections
- Unless you want your payment card data skimmed, avoid these commerce sites
- Google Is Finally Copying Apple’s Approach to Privacy: New features will help keep your data on your device
- Google’s Sundar Pichai snipes at Apple with privacy defense: ‘Privacy cannot be a luxury good’
- 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
- Canada Border Services seizes lawyer’s phone, laptop for not sharing passwords
- $3 Million Settlement for Exposure of and Latent Response to Exposure of 300,000 Patients’ Protected Health Information
- Accused CIA Leaker Files Complaint Against The Government Seeking $50 Billion In Damages
- Governments are deploying spyware on killers, drug lords – and journalists
- Schools Are Safer Than Ever, But That’s Not Stopping Schools From Buying Social Media Monitoring Software
- First GDPR fine issued!
- GDPR, ePrivacy and cookies: an update
- GDPR Penalties Prove Why Compliance Isn’t Enough—And Why Companies Need Clarity
- Senator Markey Announces ‘Privacy Bill of Rights’
- 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?
- Spot the not-Fed: A day at AvengerCon, the Army’s answer to hacker conferences
CREATIVITY
- Infringement Plagues Pharaoh’s Fortune
- Artist’s trash is treasure
- Saatchi Gallery decides to cover up artworks dubbed “blasphemous”
- The male torso: Is it distinctive?
- UMG Fails To Get Trademark For ‘As Heard On TV’ In A Remarkably Sane Ruling From The TTAB
- Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Inc. Keeps Telling Licensees Its Trademarks Are Valid While Courts Keep Insisting They Are Not
- The Russo Brothers Break Down the Biggest Marvel Moments
- Unsurprisingly, Larry Klayman’s Veiled Threats And Insulting Of Judges Isn’t Helping Roy Moore’s $95 Million Defamation Lawsuit
- 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.
- Just Because The Rest Of The World Doesn’t Have A 1st Amendment, Doesn’t Mean It Can Trample Online Speech
- Federal Judge Says Flashing Headlights To Warn Drivers Of Hidden Cops MIGHT Be Protected Speech
GAMES
- Riot Games employees organize walkout over forced arbitration
- 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
- Riot Games walkout sees 150 developers protest forced arbitration
- 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
- Riot agrees to scrap mandatory arbitration, but only for new employees
- 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
- US Senator introducing legislation banning loot boxes in games aimed at minors
- U.S. Senator Introduces Bill To Ban Loot Boxes And Pay-To-Win Microtransactions
- Senator Wants to Ban Loot Boxes and Pay-to-Win Aimed at Kids
- Senator Hawley announces bill banning loot boxes, pay-to-win mechanics: “Game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction,” Mo. Republican says.
- Proposed legislation aims to ban loot boxes in the United States
- Senator Hawley To Introduce Legislation Banning Manipulative Video Game Features Aimed At Children
- Blog: Complying with China’s new loot box rules
- Don’t Miss: Pay-To-Flay: Examining microtransactions inMortal Kombat X
- Bethesda’s latest Elder Scrolls adventure taken down amid cries of plagiarism
- Don’t Miss: How a ragtag band of modders restored Star Wars KOTOR II
- Game Devs Trolling Pirates Goes All The Way Back To At Least The Playstation Days With Spyro 2
- Video: Legal experts discuss the law’s impact on game dev in 2019
- Tencent shuts down PUBG Mobile in China following approval struggles
- China Replaces PUBG With Bizarre, Propaganda-Filled Clone
- Tencent pulls blockbuster game PUBG in China, launches patriotic alternative
- 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
- China remains a massive PC game market despite regulation hiccups
- 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
- Niko Partners: Chinese mobile gaming revenue up 29% last year despite license freeze
- Germany considers new youth protection guidelines for mobile monetisation: Deliberately broad draft guidelines leave questions hanging around enforcement
- Pitchford promises no “free-to-play junk” for Borderlands 3
- WHO gaming disorder could cost South Korean economy over $9bn: Korean culture ministry writes to World Health Organisation protesting ICD-11 draft
- 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”
- Claptrap voice actor accuses Gearbox CEO of assault, underpayment
- 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”
- 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
- 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
- Bandai Namco’s long-running Tales series has crossed 20 million lifetime sales
- World War Z has topped 320,000 sales on the Epic Games Store
- 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
- Watch Close To The Sun’s developers talk launching on the Epic Game Store
- Risk of Rain 2 crosses 1 million sales in first month
- Mordhau sells 500,000 copies in one week
- Live service roster helps Zynga deliver record mobile revenue and bookings
- Apple’s first new game in 10 years is Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard
- Xbox’s new Code of Conduct: yes to “get wrecked,” “potato aim,” no to hate
- Gameloft to bring Xbox Live features to 3 mobile games
- 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
- Anthem fell short of EA’s sales expectations
- Revenue drops at Electronic Arts despite strong digital bookings
- EA Access is launching on PlayStation 4
- 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
- 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
- EA in ‘advanced negotiations’ to bring Apex Legends to China and mobile
- 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
- 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
- Key franchises help Capcom to record profits for second consecutive year
- Capcom’s full-year results boosted by software strength: Devil May Cry, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter drive profit to record levels
- Supercell invests $3.8 million into Swedish studio Luau Games
- Activision Blizzard quarterly revenues take a dip
- 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”
- The Call of Duty series has sold over 300 million games
- 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
- 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”
- Creators Going Pro: ‘Fortnite’ Creative Expert Swiftor Doesn’t Just Make Content For His 3 Million Subscribers — He Makes Content With Them
- Former Fortnite UX lead digs into ethical game design
- 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
- 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
- Nintendo says 3DS demand ‘stable’ despite notable declines
- Pokémon characters have their own pea-sized region in brain, study finds
- United devs stand, divided they crunch | Opinion: Management doesn’t need to mandate excessive overtime when it has developers policing each other
- CEO and co-founder Emily Greer departs Kongregate
- Former temps claim NetherRealm has long history of exploitation and abuse
- 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
- 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”
- Mortal Kombat 11 review: Great gameplay, excessively packaged
- 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
- 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.
- What responsibility do leaders have to their developers?
- 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
- Kerbal Space Program’s Breaking Ground DLC adds robotics and more experiments
- After 32-bit purge, GameClub raises $2.5M to bring back classic iOS games
- GameClub raises $2.5m for premium mobile game development: Studio is currently working to revitalize and update over 50 classic titles
- Phoenix Games has acquired UK studio Well Played Games
- Phoenix Games’ first acquisition is UK developer Well Played Games
- Echo developer Ultra Ultra closes down
- 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
- Google’s current VR plan is more about services than new hardware
- 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
- Location-based VR Attraction ‘Hologate’ Celebrates 2 Million Player Milestone
- Microsoft announces HoloLens 2 Development Edition
- HoloLens 2 dev kits: $3,500, or $99/month, with Azure credits, Unity trials
- Developer’s edition of HoloLens 2 launches today at $3,500: Alternatively, studios can pay $99 per month for access to the kit
- ‘High Fidelity’ Refocuses on Enterprise Market, Lays off 25% of Staff
- The Terrawurm experiment: Can indies work together on multiple games?
- 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
- 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
- Ubisoft and Genba aim to thwart key resellers with silent key activation
- 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
- Sindiecate founders go AWOL, owing staff and contractors over €30,000: Spanish indie publisher collapses without answers after founders cultivate toxic work environment
- How Denuvo is tackling cheaters who think outside the box: Publishers face an uphill battle as cheats get more sophisticated and harder to detect
- BlizzCon 2019 tickets revolve around invasive, poorly reviewed smartphone app: And, lo, did fans sarcastically reply, “You guys all have phones, right?”
- After trailer outcry, Sonic the Hedgehog director tells fans to expect “changes”
- 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
- Blog: What is ‘live support’ and how does it fit into the games industry?
- Blog: Transitioning from desktop to mobile game development
- Blog: Tips for finding and working with a publisher
- Blog: Creating music and SFX for games
- Blog: A mini-postmortem of the hero theme
- Don’t Miss: Analyzing how friendly AI ‘cheats’ in Ghost Recon Wildlands
- U.S. Patent No. 8,814,677: Using real-time constructive solid geometry to provide painting and thinning game mechanics
- Evil Video Games Great At Detecting Early Dementia In People
- 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
- Nordic Game Discovery Contest reveals 15 finalists for 2019: Finalists were picked during heats at 15 global games events
- Marvel Strike Force and Shadowgun Legends honored at 2019 Google Play Awards
- Windows Solitaire inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame
- Mortal Kombat, Microsoft Solitaire, and more join World Video Game Hall of Fame
- 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
- Take a look at some of the earliest designs for Plants vs. Zombies
Jon