DIGITAL
- Indian Supreme Court finds 150-day Internet blackout in Kashmir illegal
- India’s Supreme Court Declares Country’s 5 Month Internet Blackout Illegal
- Instagram is taking down posts supporting slain Iranian general Soleimani
- Instagram Now Placing Warnings Over Posts Deemed To Contain “False Information”
- China: Privacy, Security and Content Regulation to Increase in 2020
- Brazil supreme court sides with Netflix over gay Jesus comedy
- On Russian Troll Journalism
- Fake News as a Tool of Populism in Turkey: The Pastor Andrew Brunson Case
- ‘On the Shoulders of Giants’, Analysis of a Social Network of Intellectual Influence
- Website Denied Section 230 for No Good Reason, Wins the Case Anyways–DF Pace v. Baker-White
- Academic Journals In Russia Retract Over 800 Papers Because Of Plagiarism, Self-Plagiarism And ‘Gift Authorship’
- Gambling on Browsewrap: Casino App Loses Huuuge Bet on Enforcing Terms of Use
- Facebook Says (Again) That It Won’t Limit Political Ads
- Facebook Not Fact-Checking Candidate Ads – Looking at the Contrast Between Online Political Ads and Those Running on Broadcast and Cable
- Malware Marketer NSO Group Looks Like It’s Blowing Off Facebook’s Lawsuit
- Misleading political ads are the user’s problem to avoid, Facebook says: Rather than ban lies or microtargeting, the company’s putting the onus on users.
- Instagram adds new tools to Boomerang feature to catch up with competitors: Users can now choose where the loop starts and ends
- On Novel Grounds, Philadelphia Judge Rejects Uber’s Bid to Arbitrate Passenger’s Personal Injury Claim
- William Gibson: ‘I was losing a sense of how weird the real world was’ – The writer who invented ‘cyberspace’ – and possibly the most influential living sci-fi author – on the challenges of a reality even stranger than fiction
- FBI arrests man suspected of orchestrating dozens of “swatting” calls
- New Feature Alert: Twitter to Allow Users to Limit or Block Replies Completely
- Deleting WhatsApp chats during dawn raids may cost you dearly
- Mozilla lays off 70 people as non-search revenue fails to materialize
- Google gives Chrome OS Apps a shutdown date
- Inside Google’s Quest for Millions of Medical Records: The company has struck deals that grant it access to troves of patient data; ‘We want to be helpful’
- Chrome’s Move To Stomp Out Third Party Cookies? Good For Privacy, Good For Google’s Ad Business… Or Both?
- When YouTubers Cry: Prince Concert Videos Deemed Not Fair Use
- Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible: YouTube Says That Frank Capra’s US Government WWII Propaganda Violates Community Guidelines
- YouTube To Stream Coachella For 10th Year Running, Announces Doc About Festival
- YouTube Studio Adds New ‘Restrictions’ Column, Ability to Manually Insert Mid-Roll Ads, More
- ASA rules that Betway YouTube video breached the CAP Code
- YouTube App Introduces New Subscription Feed Filters For ‘Unwatched’, ‘Live’ Videos, More
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 1/12/2020
- Beauty Creator NikkieTutorials Thwarts Apparent Blackmail Attempt By Coming Out As Trans
- Justin Bieber Faces “Yummy” Backlash After Posting Guide Showing How To Game Billboard Charts
- ‘RackaRacka’ Prankster Appears In Court After Arrest For Underwater Car Prank
- Olay Spokesmodel Lilly Singh To Star In Brand’s Super Bowl Commercial
- Instagram Creator Behind ‘House Of Highlights’ Tapped By ESPN To Helm Social Content, Strategy
- Tell the Whole Story – New Rules for Influencer Marketing under the Competition Act
- Casper Flags Its Use of Influencers as a Risk
- The Israeli Chipmunk Emoji Mystery Resolved! (Eric Goldman)
- Golden Globes Piloted Facebook’s ‘Collaborative Stories’ Feature At 77th Awards (Exclusive)
- Snapchat was overtaken by Pinterest in US users last year. But the real threat is coming from China’s TikTok and no one knows how fast it’s growing.
- WME Signs TikTok Luminary Chase Hudson And His Creator Collective ‘The Hype House’
- Spotify Makes Push Into Sports Podcasting
- Spotify is now making playlists for your pets
- Spotify, Warner Music Sign Global Deal, Ending Dispute in India
- Amazon lifts ban on FedEx for third-party marketplace sellers
- Amazon Sets Cast For ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series, Production To Start Next Month
- Amazon asks court to block US/Microsoft contract because of Trump interference
- New Bluetooth standard copies best features of Apple, Qualcomm’s proprietary tech
- Apple launches replacement program for iPhone battery cases
- ECJ toughens the requirements for the use of cookies: Active consent of users required
- How online sales of food pose a regulatory challenge in the EU
- Tax on digital advertising introduced in Maryland Senate
- Maryland Proposes (French) Tax on Advertising – Digital Platforms and Advertisers Beware!
- New Trend Developing? Another Digital Advertising Tax Proposal
- Anti-SLAPP Laws Work: Tennessee Doctor Suing Patient Over Negative Review Drops Lawsuit
- Dear Larry Lessig: Please Don’t File SLAPP Suits
- SEC Staff Issues Guidance on Technology, Data and Intellectual Property Risks in International Operations
- NIST Solicits Comments on Revised Draft IoT Cybersecurity Device Guidance
- Tesla is now worth more than Ford and GM—combined
- Linus Torvalds says “Don’t use ZFS”—but doesn’t seem to understand it
- The Way We Train Doctors Is Backward – And Cyberpatient Has The Treatment
- Notes on the networked psyche: Exploring online hyper-sensibilities
- Digital Transformation is a matter of survival
- An Oral History of Rickrolling: From the pages of 4chan to the White House, the story behind the meme that’s never going to give you up
- Shifting Capitalist Critiques: The Discourse about Unionisation in the Hi-Tech Sector (Eran Fisher & Ben Fisher)
- Turf wars: Using social media network analysis to examine the suspected astroturfing campaign for the Adani Carmichael Coal mine on Twitter (Hanna Della Bosca, David Schlosberg & Chao Sun)
- To-Do Is to Be: Foucault, Levinas, and Technologically Mediated Subjectivation (Jan Peter Bergen & Peter-Paul Verbeek)
- Digital Platform Policy and Regulation: Toward a Radical Democratic Turn (Bart Cammaerts & Robin Mansell)
A.I.
- Technology Can’t Fix Algorithmic Injustice: We need greater democratic oversight of AI not just from developers and designers, but from all members of society.
- Chinese court rules AI-written article is protected by copyright
- Chinese Court Says AI-Generated Content Is Subject To Copyright Protection
- Evolution of IP Protection for Artificial Intelligence in France
- “Alexa, Can You Receive a Patent?”: Chris Mammen Discusses AI as Inventors in MIT Technology Review Article
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Machine can be an Inventor? EPO says NO!!!
- AI Update: WIPO Begins Public Consultation Process on Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Policy
- Ad Delivery Algorithms: The Hidden Arbiters of Political Messaging
- Do androids dream of product liability?
- Creating the ever-improvising text adventures of AI Dungeon 2
- What is AI-Based Contract Management?
- Insights: Deepfake Videos Go Commercial! In Election Season! WCGW?
- The line between deepfake legislation and deeply fake legislation
- How Google researchers used neural networks to make weather forecasts
- Principled Artificial Intelligence: Mapping Consensus In Ethical And Rights-Based Approaches To Principles For AI (Jessica Fjeld, Nele Achten, Hannah Hilligoss, Adam Christopher Nagy, Madhulika Srikumar)
- From a ‘Race to AI’ to a ‘Race to AI Regulation’ – Regulatory Competition for Artificial Intelligence (Nathalie Smuha)
- Addressing the Growing Need for Algorithmic Transparency (Hugh J. Watson & Conner Nations)
- ‘Move Fast and Break Things’: Law, Technology, and the Problem of Speed (Simon Chesterman)
COMMUNICATIONS
- Don’t trust the US gov’t, states tell court in T-Mobile/Sprint merger case
- US may subsidize Huawei alternatives with proposed $1.25 billion fund
- PIRATE Act Passes Senate, and Now on to the President for Signature – Provides for Big Fines and Enforcement Sweeps in Big Markets
- Congress Adopts New Cable Operator Advertising and Billing Requirements Affecting Both Video and Broadband Internet Offerings
- FCC Fines Noncommercial Broadcaster $76,000 for Airing Commercial Advertisements
- Ajit Pai Hits CES… To Make Up Some Stuff About Net Neutrality
- FCC Kicks Off 2020 by Establishing the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
- Some FCC Subsidized Low Income Phones Are A Chinese Malware Shitshow
- Verizon’s great FiOS offer to me: Pay $50 extra for slower Internet
- Verizon offers no-tracking search engine, promises to protect your privacy
- FCC will pay ISPs to deploy broadband with 250GB monthly data cap
- Washington And Oregon Fine CenturyLink For Completely Bogus Broadband Fees
- Scripps Broadcasting Agrees to Pay $1,130,000 to Settle Investigation of Tower Violations
- ISP settles with two more states over hidden fees and false advertising, agrees to pay $15 million
- AT&T TV Service Goes Dark On Roku As The Streaming Wars Get Stupid
- Bipartisan Senators Introduce 5G Bill Pushing Non-Chinese Vendors
- China Isn’t the Only Problem With 5G: The network has plenty of other security weaknesses, including ones the United States doesn’t want to fix since they help its own surveillance efforts.
- New Law Bans ISPs From Charging You A ‘Rental’ Fee For Hardware You Already Own
- President Signs Sweeping New Robocall Legislation
- Dissolving privacy, one merger at a time: Competition, data and third party tracking (Reuben Binns & Elettra Bietti)
PRIVACY
- Attorney General William Barr Says Apple Isn’t Doing Enough To Let The DOJ Check Out A Dead Man’s Phones
- Bill Barr: Apple Is Holding Up This Investigation. Apple: You Waited A Month To Tell Us You Needed More Help
- Unable to unlock gunman’s iPhones, the FBI (once again) asks for Apple’s help (updated)
- San Bernardino 2.0: FBI Asking Apple To Crack Encryption On Phones Owned By Pensacola Naval Station Gunman
- The broken record of breaking encryption skips again in Florida shooter case
- Exploit that gives remote access affects ~200 million cable modems
- Advocates ask colleges to avoid facial recognition as surveillance grows
- Google plans to drop Chrome support for tracking cookies by 2022
- Patch Windows 10 and Server now because certificate validation is broken
- Windows 7: “I’m not dead yet!” – Over half of businesses still haven’t finished move to Windows 10; zombie systems flourish.
- Failure to Apply Recent Microsoft Patch May Create Legal Liabilities
- Critical Windows 10 vulnerability used to Rickroll the NSA and Github
- Senator Wyden Wants Paid Ad Blocking Whitelists Investigated
- Grindr shares personal data with ad companies in violation of GDPR, complaint alleges: A Norwegian nonprofit has filed three complaints against the company
- Amazon’s Ring fired at least four employees for snooping on user videos
- Shocking Absolutely No One, Ring Admits Employees Improperly Accessed Customers’ Data
- Ring Throws A Moist Towelette On Its Dumpster Fire With A Couple Of Minimal Security Tweaks
- It’s 2020. American elections are still “frighteningly easy” targets
- Ninth Circuit Doubles Down on Bad Ruling That Undermines Cybersecurity–Enigma v. Malwarebytes (Eric Goldman)
- Iranian hackers have been “password spraying” the US grid
- US Government-funded Android phones come preinstalled with unremovable malware
- The Deadline for Registration of “Data Brokers” in California Is Near: Are You Ready?
- Data From Smartwatch Help Investigators Solve The Case Of The Stabbing That Never Happened
- Amazon takes a swipe at PayPal’s $4 billion acquisition: Holiday shoppers warned that Honey, a popular browser extension, was a “security risk.”
- Paul Krugman’s no good, very bad Internet day
- Company Sells Surveillance Cameras Hidden In Tombstones, Threatens Websites For Talking About Its Tombstone Cameras
- Unpatched Citrix vulnerability now exploited, patch weeks away
- January 2020 Survey of Fortune 500 Companies’ Privacy Representations
- Are you protected against phishing email? What the Court of Appeal said in insurance matters
- Federal Privacy Law – Is It About to Change?
- Federal Privacy Law – Is It About to Change: Part Deux?
- Towards a Transatlantic Concept of Data Privacy (Erdem Büyüksagis)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Appeals Court Makes The Right Call Regarding Non-Commercial Creative Commons Licenses
- Notable Works Entering the Public Domain in 2020
- Life + 70 Years: Copyrighted Works That Have Entered into the Public Domain in 2020 – Economic Rights Gone with the Wind
- Harry and Meghan seek global trademark for ‘Sussex Royal’ brand: Filings suggest plans for items and activities from clothing to ‘emotional support groups’
- Can Booking.com Trademark Its Company Name? How Will the U.S. Supreme Court Resolve Whether a Generic Term Plus a Top-Level Domain Is Protectable?
- Carve It All Up: Compumark Report Shows Trademark Registrations, Claims Of Infringement Both Rising Fast
- Smartphone Apps for Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram declared patent infringing by German Court – The End of Social Networks?
- Who owns the ink? Reproduction of tattoos in film, photographs and video games
- Wells Fargo Twice Found Guilty of Willfully Infringing Patents on Remote Check Depositing Technology
- Non-Prior Art Evidence May Be Used to Prove Inherency
- When Merger Clauses Don’t Merge
- A Different Analysis for Manufacturing Method Patents under the 35 U.S.C. § 271 (e)(1) Safe Harbor Provision?
- Biosimilar Litigation Trends and Lessons Learned in 2019
- Athena Diagnostics v. Mayo Collaborative Services
- The EU should not contemplate abandoning the Unified Patent Court system
- 2019 Will Go Down in History as “The Year of Change” in Canadian Trademark Law
- 2019 Will Go Down in History as “The Year of Change” in Canadian Trademark Law Part II
- Key Patent Decisions of 2019
- Who Holds the Right to Exclude for Machine Work Products? (Garry Gabison)
CREATIVITY
- The Rorshach Test Of The Covington Catholic Boy’s DC Encounter Now Extends To Bogus Lawsuits And Confidential Settlements
- Professor Removed From Teaching For Sharing A Downfall Parody Video
- Former “Bachelor” Contestant’s $1 million Fantasy Football Win Under Investigation
- Defamation and Wrongful Termination Claims Against the Los Angeles Times Were Properly Dismissed
- Sober ad campaign leaves brewery with an unwanted hangover.
- Beer Institute Says Modelo Commercials with Athletes Don’t Violate its Advertising Guidelines
- Don’t Oversell It – False or Misleading Advertising
- Marvel Studios’ ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Receives Oscar Nomination: The film also took home two Critics’ Choice Awards!
- How Years Of Copyright Maximalism Is Now Killing Pop Music
- The Revolutionary Sixties: Poetry and Social Change (Viviane Carvalho da Annunciação)
- Video Screen Interfaces as New Sites of Media Circulation Power (David Hesmondhalgh, Amanda D. Lotz)
- Impact of Censorship on Translating and Publishing Virginia Woolf During the 1930s in Italy (Anna Maria Cipriani)
- Popular Music and the State: The British Honours System and its Treatment of Popular Musicians (Emma-Jayne Reekie)
GAMES
- Report: China to further regulate online games and streaming to curb addiction
- China reveals new mental health initiative that may further limit violence in games: “Healthy China 2030” includes crackdown on games considered violent, pornographic, or promoting gambling
- Japanese prefecture considers restrictions on gaming time for minors: Proposed ordinance in Kagawa Prefecture would limit those under 18 to one hour of gaming per day
- How Game Companies Use Credits To Reward, Or Punish, Developers
- How can Rio Ferdinand help protect kids from inappropriate video games?: UKIE CEO Dr Jo Twist on why spending time gaming with children is just as important as using parental controls
- Nintendo Escapes Vice Grip in ITC Challenge
- Inside TASBot’s semi-secret, probably legal effort to control the Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo Switch was best-selling console in France last year: Lifetime sales exceed expectations to reach 3.3 million, Switch Lite outsells Xbox One
- Super Nintendo World to focus on “interactive experiences”: New details about the Osaka theme park were revealed ahead of its summer opening
- Nintendo looking at ‘interesting’ ways it can use AR technology
- In a series first, Pokemon Sword and Shield will offer an expansion pass
- Game Dev Torrents Its Way To More Sales, Not Less
- Analyst: With $894 million in revenue, 2019 marked Pokemon Go’s best year so far
- 2019 was Pokemon Go’s best year ever: Niantic’s location-based game brought in $894 million last year, even more than its 2016 launch year
- Microsoft first-party titles to be cross-compatible between Xbox One, Xbox Series X
- Xbox Series X won’t have next-gen exclusives for a while
- Xbox won’t kick off the Series X generation with next-gen exclusives
- Xbox still plans to attend E3 2020
- Phil Spencer confirms Xbox will be at E3 2020: Platform holder responds to Sony’s decision to ditch major games showcase for a second consecutive year
- Sony’s skipping E3 again in 2020
- PlayStation will not participate in E3 2020: The company will instead attend ‘hundreds of consumer events across the globe’
- On eve of PS5, Sony confirms it will skip E3 for second year in a row
- Is PlayStation right to skip E3?: Sony does not need to go to LA to get people excited for PS5
- Sony’s PS5 marketing strategy does away with convention | Opinion: E3 absenteeism is just the latest example of a company paying little heed to conventional wisdom, but will that help or hurt it?
- Call of Duty, Beat Saber, and Apex Legends led PlayStation downloads in 2019
- SIE boss: The ‘biggest, more unique’ PS5 features have yet to be revealed
- Square Enix is shutting down Mobius Final Fantasy after four years
- Final Fantasy VII Remake delayed: Hotly-anticipated remake of beloved PlayStation classic pushed back by one month for polish
- Square Enix Delays Final Fantasy VII Remake And Avengers
- Call of Duty and GTA V dominated PlayStation Store downloads in 2019
- ‘Beat Saber’ Takes Top Spot as PSVR’s Most Downloaded Game of 2019
- HTC permanently trims $200 off Vive Pro price tag
- Report: Valve Index headset sold out globally as Half-Life: Alyx nears launch
- Valve Index out of stock around the globe ahead of Half-Life Alyx launch: Prospect of VR exclusive Half-Life drives sales of high-end hardware, despite $999 price tag
- Riot Games launches new tabletop division
- Riot Games sets up Riot Tabletop to take another stab at board games
- Subscriptions will “unlock the market to weirder things,” says Outer Wilds dev
- Look at how digital changes the UK charts: Call of Duty retains No.1, but Uno, The Sims 4 and Rainbow Six make the Top Ten
- Growth of mobile gamers slows while revenue continues rising – Research firm finds number of US and Canada mobile users playing games was up just 2% last year, but revenues jumped 24% to more than $11.82 billion
- FIFA 2020 enjoys sixth consecutive week at No. 1 in EMEAA charts: Both Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Luigi’s Mansion 3 make appearance in top ten despite Nintendo not reporting digital sales figures
- GameStop says its unexpectedly low holiday sales follow an industry-wide trend
- GameStop holiday sales down 27.5% in 2019: CEO lowers full-year guidance again, maintains declining sales are reflective of market trends
- GameStop stock tumbles by 16 percent following poor holiday sales
- GAME threatens to close 40 UK stores unless rents are cut: Retailer says ‘landlords need to work with us’
- Subnautica has surpassed 5 million sales worldwide
- Subnautica has sold over 5m copies: Unknown Worlds founder Charlie Cleveland comments on milestone reached nearly two years after game’s full launch
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s PC release pushes it past 4 million shipped
- Don’t Miss: How Monster Hunter: World’s director breathed new life into the series
- Call of Duty Mobile reached 180m downloads in launch quarter
- Video: How Call of Duty handles automated testing and profiling
- Comical career sim Job Simulator has crossed 1 million sales
- Terry Cavanagh has released the source code for VVVVVV on Github
- YouTuber Extortion? MxR Plays v. Jukin – Real Law Review // LegalEagle
- YouTube signs on exclusive streaming deals with 3 big gaming creators: LazarBeam, Muselk and Valkyrae
- YouTube Signs Creators LazarBeam And Muselk, Poaches 100 Thieves Member Valkyrae From Twitch
- Twitch Reportedly Fell Short Of Ad Revenue Projections Last Year
- Twitch is launching Hype Train this afternoon, which means you’ll get emotes for going off in chat
- Researchers find 17 Google Play apps that bombard users with battery-draining ads
- Google Stadia is like the early days of Steam, says Tequila Works CEO: Developer of Stadia-exclusive Gylt believes platform hasn’t reached its potential yet, but that game streaming services will only get better
- Analyst: Facebook Gaming saw sizable growth in viewers and stream time during 2019
- Facebook Gaming streaming market share sees end-of-year rise: In December 2019, Facebook held 8.5% of the market, compared to 3.1% a year prior
- Mobile gaming projected to surpass $100b in spend in 2020: Mobile games now bring in more spending than all other game types combined
- 32 notable mobile games released in December 2019 you may have missed
- Mobius Final Fantasy shutting down after five years: Japanese version of the game has already ended; global service to conclude in June 2020
- GTA IV unavailable on Steam because Rockstar can no longer generate keys
- Rockstar says defunct Games for Windows Live to blame for GTA IV delisting
- Analyzing the top Steam tags
- Steam’s year in graphs: An in-depth 2019 breakdown
- Exclusives helped the Epic Games Store earn $680 million during 2019
- Epic Games Store tops $680 million in player spending: Storefront touts 108 million PC customers a little over a year after launch, extends weekly free game promotion through 2020
- Ninja’s Getting His Own ‘Fortnite’ Skin, Epic Games Says More Creator Skins To Come
- In 2019, video game projects on Kickstarter held steady: Ico Partners – Though tabletop drove segment’s rise, video games saw only minute growth in funded projects, money raised
- Overwatch League addresses on-air talent departures: Activision Blizzard’s esports outfit will “evolve” its broadcast after losing five hosts and casters in the past month
- BT becomes first major UK brand to sponsor an esports team: Excel Esports signs multi-year partnership with British telecom giant
- Professional gaming… Are there investment opportunities in esports?
- UK retailer GAME likely to close 40 stores amid ‘challenging retail market’
- This simulator company reverse-engineered the Tesla Nürburgring lap
- The tiniest controller we’ve ever tested is a lot better than you might think
- The Witcher’s Netflix success: How three timelines somehow became cohesive
- RuneScape saw 1.1 million paid subscriptions in 2019, an all-time high
- The RuneScape franchise reached a record peak of 1.1m paid subscribers in 2019: Old School RuneScape on mobile also achieved a new milestone of 8m installs
- Kansas Game Invest rebrands as Amplifier after THQ Nordic acquisition
- Phoenix Games acquires Promotion Software and Emergency dev Sixteen Tons
- Hamburg creates $2.2 million fund to support local game developers
- Designing user interfaces for visually impaired players
- Blog: A condemnation of time
- Blog: A Kirby Super Star retrospective
- Blog: The importance of the new player’s experience
- Blog: A TILTit postmortem (or how to not publish a game in today’s market)
- Blog: What I learned making 12 games in one year
- Blog: A conversational Touring Karts postmortem
- Blog: Kickstarter and games in 2019
- Blog: How monster design influences player behavior and level design
- Control and Death Stranding lead nominations for 2020 DICE Awards
- Control, Death Stranding each receive eight DICE 2020 nominations, including Game of the Year: Disco Elysium and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare honored with six nominations
- Jägermeister’s indie game soundtrack competition returns for second year
- Super Crate Box: Elegant, frantic, and unapologetically small
- GDC YouTube Top 5: Mipumi Games’ Eline Muijres
- Ubisoft, Bungie join ranks of devs raising funds for those affected by Australian fires
- Infinity Ward, Bungie and Ubisoft join Australian bushfire relief efforts: Modern Warfare DLC, Destiny 2 T-shirt sales and AUS$30,000 donation all go towards charities and emergency services
- Awesome Games Done Quick 2020 raises a record $3.13 million for charity
- Australian developers organising global fundraising auction for fire services: Game Devs For Firies calls on industry to help encourage donations to bushfire relief by offering signed games, services and more
- Toward a Critical History of Touch Feedback in Video Games (David Parisi)
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