News of the Week; October 10, 2018

DIGITAL

1. Libel by Tweet: Ontario Court of Appeal Upholds Dismissal of Twitter Libel Claim under Anti-SLAPP Legislation 
2. Setting the Standard?: How the USMCA Quietly Reshapes Global Digital Trade Agreements (Michael Geist)
3. Why the USMCA Will Enhance Online Free Speech in Canada (Michael Geist)
4. How Canada Surrendered Policy Flexibility for Data Localization Rules in the USMCA (Michael Geist)
5. USMCA: Four Important Changes to Intellectual Property Rights
6. H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies
7. Boof!: Pro-Kavanaugh “Robo-Texts” Trigger Potentially Massive TCPA Class Action against Faith and Freedom Coalition, Inc. in Florida 
8. Government Moves To Seize All Backpage Assets Prior To Securing Convictions
9. Facebook, Whose Support Made FOSTA Law, Now Sued For Facilitating Sex Trafficking Under FOSTA 
10. Facebook Glitch Stopped Some Users With Lots of Posts From Deleting Their Accounts
11. Facebook Launches a Camera for Your Home—What Could Possibly Go Wrong
12. Facebook unveils smart displays, promises not to snoop on your video calls 
13. Insights: Should You Give Facebook Another Portal Into Your Life?
14. Facebook Watch Sets Series Adaptation Of ‘Limetown’ Podcast With Jessica Biel
15. Google Successfully Amends Its AdWords TOS to Add Arbitration Clause–Trudeau v. Google (Eric Goldman)
16. Google Drops Bid for Massive Military Cloud Computing Contract Amid Employee Pressure
17. Google Call Screening: A personal robot that talks to, hangs up on spam calls 
18. Google+ shutting down after data leak affecting 500,000 users
19. Google Didn’t Report Its Data Leak Till Months Later. Now It’ll Face the Consequences.
20. Google+ users, upset over data leak, sue Google
21. Blogger Defeats Defamation Claims Over Posts Claiming a “Scam”–RainSoft v. MacFarland  (Eric Goldman)
22. Augmented Retail – The Use of Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality to Enhance the Customer Shopping Experience 
23. This Brain-Analyzing AI Could Kill Your Dream Of Being A Professional Athlete
24. Would a BDSM Sex Robot Violate Asimov’s First Law of Robotics?
25. Here are the top ways people die while taking selfies and “being cool”
26. Thanks To Copyright, We Already Know How Aggressive Content Moderation Works: And It’s A Disaster
27. 8% Of People Admit To Watching YouTube Videos While Driving, As Vlogging Behind The Wheel Runs Rampant
28. YouTube TV Adds Ability To Fast-Forward Through Ads On DVR’d Shows
29. YouTube To Net $3.4 Billion In U.S. Ad Revenues This Year (Study) 
30. Indian Children’s Channel ChuChu TV, Which Has 20 Billion Views, Readies Global Licensing Push
31. After Scandal, Manny MUA Plots YouTube Return With Self-Produced Docuseries
32. Top YouTubers Are Taking Heat For Their Deals With A Controversial Mental Health App
33. YouTube To Collaborate With Joseph Gordon-Levitt On Hourlong TV Special
34. Vox To Debunk Misconceptions About The News In Ad-Supported YouTube Original
35. Vice Media to Launch First Series on Instagram’s IGTV, Slates YouTube and Snapchat Programming
36. Viacom Announces New Awesomeness, MTV, Comedy Central TV Shows To Premiere On YouTube, Twitter, Hulu
37. CAP releases a new guide for social media influencers 
38. Team 10 Ex-COO Nick Crompton Claims Jake Paul’s Pranks Are Fake In Dawson Docuseries
39. Jukin Launches New Ad Tool That Creates 6-Second Spots With User-Generated Content
40. TiVo Bolt OTA review: For would-be cord-cutters with great antenna reception 
41. Snapchat is collaborating with Hollywood producers and writers to add scripted shows to the app amid user decline
42. Snapchat turns its attention to India as it battles Instagram to win users
43. Insights: Should Amazon Snap Up Struggling Snapchat?
44. New Amazon Minimum Wage Is Below Median Pay in Most Areas
45. Leaked Whole Foods Email Clarifies How Amazon’s Pay Raises Will Work
46. Amazon Has a Massive New Division—and No One’s Paying Attention to It
47. Amazon built an AI tool to hire people but had to shut it down because it was discriminating against women
48. Amazon’s Secret AI Hiring Tool Reportedly ‘Penalized’ Resumes With the Word ‘Women’s’
49. California’s War On ‘Bots’ Could Be A Steep Uphill Climb
50. Netflix Released Record-High 676 Hours of Original Programming in Q3
51. Netflix Is In Final Negotiations To Purchase Its First Production Studio, Will Bring 1,000+ Jobs Per Year To New Mexico
52. Bloomberg: Super Micro motherboards used by Apple, Amazon contained Chinese spy chips
53. How The Us Forced China To Quit Stealing – Using A Chinese Spy: For years, China has systematically looted American trade secrets. Here’s the messy inside story of how DC got Beijing to clean up its act for a while. 
54. Apple, Amazon Deny China Installed Tiny Spy Microchips on Their Servers, but We’re Still Freaked Out
55. Bloomberg stands by Chinese chip story as Apple, Amazon ratchet up denials
56. Apple to Congress: Chinese spy-chip story is “simply wrong”
57. Apple Watch Series 4 Review: A Giant Leap
58. I take back every bad thing I ever said about the Apple Watch
59. How Jamal Khashoggi’s Apple Watch Could Solve His Disappearance
60. Data-deletion bug forces Microsoft to suspend rollout of Windows 10 update
61. Microsoft promises to defend—not attack—Linux with its 60,000 patents
62. Vogue launches a Spanish-language edition on Snapchat Discover
63. Snapchat Envisions TV For The Mobile Era With Slate Of A Dozen ‘Snap Originals’
64. Fox News Unveils Long-Form Programs for Fox Nation Streaming Service
65. Why Are Tech Companies Pouring Money Into Instant Translators?: Do we *really* need to speak every language on earth? Tech companies seem to think we do.
66. Now Twitter’s ‘Report’ Function Being Used To Disappear Complaint About GDPR Being Used To Disappear Public Court Document 
67. Federal Court Dumps Another Lawsuit Against Twitter For Contributing To Worldwide Terrorism
68. Elon Musk isn’t on his Twitter leash yet, so he’s taunting the SEC
69. SEC’s Action Against Elon Musk Highlights the Importance of Care in Tweeting Corporate Information
70. Elon Musk, Tesla, and the Perils of Social Media
71. Fake Elon Musks Clutter Twitter with Crypto Scams: The scammers stay one step ahead of the platform, which isn’t great news for the midterms.
72. Elon Musk Is Making Good on His Promise to Pay for Flint’s Clean Water
73. Tim Berners-Lee Moves Forward With His Big Plan To Fix The Web By Bringing Back Its Original Decentralized Promise
74. The Internet’s keepers? “Some call us hoarders—I like to say we’re archivists”
75. We’ll Soon Know Exactly How Terrible The Internet Is For Our Mental Health
76. Domain names: Seven “dirty words” now acceptable in .US 
77. Creative Commons Continues To Try To Help Courts Understand What Its NonCommercial License Means
78. The Internet’s keepers? “Some call us hoarders—I like to say we’re archivists”
79. Dark Web vendor with totally amazing beard sentenced to 20 years in prison 

CREATIVITY

1. Taylor Swift Causes Surge in Voter Registration After Endorsing Democrats on Instagram
2. State Street Escalates Policy on Board Gender Diversity and Touts Impact of its “Fearless Girl” Campaign 
3. Ninth Circuit Extends Tam 1st Amendment Protections to Advertising
4. Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin
5. Ronnie Van Zant Inc. v. Cleopatra Records, Inc.
6. Full Speed Ahead for Graffiti Artist’s Suit Against GM
7. Banksy booby-trapped one of his paintings to “self-destruct” at auction, and that’s actually pretty funny
8. Spanish Court Moves Forward With Prosecution Of Man Who Offended A Bunch Of Religious Lawyers
9. Bangladesh government to discuss tough new media law with journalists
10. Most Chinese Patents Are Being Discarded By Their Owners Because They Are Not Worth The Maintenance Fees To Keep Them
11. A ‘No Deal Brexit’ and its Affects on IP 
12. USMCA (NAFTA 2.0): What’s New for Intellectual Property in Canada
13. Recording proceedings in the lower courts – are televised trials likely in the future? 
14. Ousted Guardians of the Galaxy director switches camps, tied to new DC Comics film

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. Major US telecom was infiltrated by backdoored Supermicro hardware, Bloomberg says
2. AT&T-Time Warner appeal: How liberal judges could help the DOJ’s case
3. HBO, CNN, DC Comics, and more could join a streaming video service under AT&T
4. Ajit Pai’s 5G plans make it harder for small ISPs to deploy broadband
5. Ajit Pai faces rare criticism from GOP senator on rural broadband failures
6. Justice Department, ISPs File Suit against California Net Neutrality Law
7. Robocallers “evolved” to sidestep new call blocking rules, AGs tell FCC
8. 35 States Tell the FCC to Get Off Its Ass and Do Something About Spoofed Robocalls
9. Wi-Fi 6 Is Coming: Here’s Why You Should Care
10. Hate your Comcast broadband? Verizon might sell you 5G home Internet
11. After throttling firefighters, Verizon praises itself for “sav[ing] lives” 
12. New Verizon Ad Hopes To Make You Forget It Throttled Firefighters For No Reason
13. AT&T Claims It Wants Meaningful Privacy Rules…After Just Lobbying To Kill Meaningful Privacy Rules

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Russian spies hacked officials to protect doping athletes, US charges
2. As Everyone Knows, In The Age Of The Internet, Privacy Is Dead — Which Is Awkward If You Are A Russian Spy
3. Travelers To New Zealand Now Face $3,000 Fines If They Don’t Give Their Device Passwords To Customs Agents
4. Feds to judge: We still think we can put GPS trackers on cars entering US
5. Free Law Project Takes A Stand Against Attempt To Use GDPR To Disappear A Public Court Docket
6. Instagram is testing the ability to share your precise location history with Facebook: Revealed just weeks after Instagram’s co-founders left the company 
7. Now Instagram might let Facebook spy on your location
8. Lawyers for Vizio Smart TV owners propose final deal, around $20 per person
9. Vizio Agrees to $17M Settlement to Resolve Smart TV Class Action Suit 
10. California’s new data privacy law: What you need to know
11. California Passes First Cybersecurity Law Regulating IoT Devices
12. California’s IoT Security Law is Well-Intentioned, but a Comprehensive Federal Law is Needed (Eric Goldman)
13. Equifax Inc 2017 US data breach generates fines for Equifax Ltd in the UK

GAMES

1. Sony sues hacker for manufacturing and distributing jailbroken PS4s: Defendant’s actions “were knowing, deliberate, willful and in complete disregard of SIE’s rights,” Sony claims
2. Sony confirms PlayStation 5 (but doesn’t call it PlayStation 5): CEO Kenichiro Yoshida says it’s “necessary to have a next-generation hardware”
3. PlayStation users will be able to change PSN ID starting 2019
4. Sony confirms PSN name change feature: Long-requested ability to change PlayStation Network IDs will roll out early next year, will cause problems with some games
5. Sony CEO claims next-gen hardware is ‘necessary’ 
6. Change that embarrassing PlayStation account name starting next year
7. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., Plaintiff, – against – David Zipperer (United States District Court Southern District Of New York, August 16, 2018)
8. Microsoft Announces Xbox Game Streaming Service
9. Microsoft unveils Project xCloud game streaming technology
10. Microsoft announces Project Xcloud—Xbox game streaming for myriad devices
11. Microsoft details game streaming service Project xCloud: Public trials begin next year, Xbox One developers apparently able to bring games across “with no additional work”
12. Microsoft in talks to buy Obsidian – Report: Xbox outfit closing in on a deal for Pillars of Eternity developer with one source telling Kotaku it’s “a matter of when, not if”
13. Mojang is making some Minecraft libraries open source
14. EA “closely monitoring” Ronaldo rape investigation: FIFA 19 cover athlete downplayed in promotional materials as police look into allegations
15. FIFA 19 scores at launch on top of EMEAA charts: Forza Horizon 4 launch just misses capturing Spider-Man
16. EA partners with the Premier League for new esports competition
17. EA announces partnership with English Premier League: Landmark deal “carves a critical path forward” for FIFA esports
18. Jacksonville victims to be honoured with charity Madden tournament tomorrow: Muthead League scraps plans for season six in favour of raising money for tribute fund
19. South Korean network OGN bringing esports programming to North America with $100m investment: Esports producer to partner with PUBG Corp to livestream and broadcast upcoming National PUBG League
20. NHL Team Institutes ‘No Video Game’ Policy For Players Due To Fortnite ‘Addiction’
21. Infinite Esports & Entertainment lays off 19 employees, replaces president: “We think we grew too fast” says new president Ryan Musselman
22. Industry staff protest working conditions with Twitter storm: IGDA exec Jen MacLean issues statement on #AsAGamesWorker protest
23. A closer look at the malware that masquerades as Fortnitecheats
24. Fortnite season 6 trailer gets a copyright strike from… Epic Games?: Well, at least the players seem to be having a laugh
25. Epic is bringing a physical Fortnite bundle to store shelves for the holidays
26. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey sales out-perform rest of series on current console generation: Physical, digital, and “player recurring investment” in first few days top Origins, Syndicate, or Unity
27. Google’s Project Stream: That’s really a full Assassin’s Creedin my browser
28. UK retailer GAME selling Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 early: Extra time agreed upon with Activision so players can download 50GB day one patch
29. Declaration of gambling regulators on their concerns related to the blurring of lines between gambling and gaming
30. Loot Boxes: Gaming or Gambling? 
31. Report: Telltale Games lays off remaining ‘skeleton crew’
32. Remaining Telltale staffers laid off: Former narrative designer confirms her “skeleton crew” lost their jobs, but “there are still good people at the company”
33. Report: Telltale wants another studio (and ex-The Walking Dead devs) to finish the game
34. Skybound’s Walking Dead finale hasn’t secured original devs yet: Company says the intent is to use ex-Telltale developers to finish the story, but “there are a lot of moving parts”
35. Opinion: Will Telltale’s fate be a catalyst for industry reform?
36. Skybound to complete development of Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Walking Dead parent company steps in
37. Skybound vague on future of Telltale partnership
38. Skybound Games will finish work on Telltale’s The Walking Dead
39. Pixel Toys embraces games-as-a-service with Warhammer: Realm War
40. “We aren’t curing cancer. There’s a human cost to making games”
41. Blizzard to champion diversity at BlizzCon 2018
42. Jagex investigates streamer following allegations of abusive behaviour: Ali “Gross Gore” Larson accused of sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and physical violence during RuneFest 2018
43. SuperData launches media measurement tool SuperData Arena: Dashboard will allow users to track multiple metrics related to game streaming and videos across major content platforms
44. Games industry contributes £2.87bn to UK economy, supports nearly 50,000 jobs: 2016 screen industries report also shows every £1 invested via tax relief adds £4 to economy
45. Leaked Video Seems To Show Open-World Harry Potter Game
46. Developers weigh in on “cold reality” check for indies: Responses to John Warner’s sobering article came from a range of indie devs, both with and without AAA experience
47. Indie dev’s “honest mistake” inadvertently revives dying game: HyperReuts sees average player count explode from one, to an all-time peak of over 170,000
48. War Stories: Serious Sam almost didn’t happen—until crates saved the day
49. Com2uS: “We were just shocked” by audience response to Summoners War esports – CEO Casey Lee discusses stumbling into mobile esports as a way to engage and grow its existing community
50. Romanian government boosts games industry with €94 million tech fund: A huge new fund was revealed at Dev.Play 2018 today, pointing to a bright future for the country’s game developers
51. Homescapes emulates Gardenscapes with reported $420m first year revenue: Sensor Tower’s data suggests another massive hit for Playrix
52. GOG Celebrates 10 Years Of Competing With Piracy And Being DRM Free By Saying So
53. Epic Games acquires game security and player service outfit Kamu
54. Epic Games acquires game security and anti-cheat firm Kamu: Helsinki specialist has already been working on Fortnite, will continue to work will all other customers
55. Epic to launch “Support-A-Creator” Fortnite initiative: Creators will receive $5 for every 10k in-game currency spent by individual players until the end of the year
56. CD Projekt Red partners with Digital Scapes on Cyberpunk 2077: Vancouver-based studio to bring BioWare, Radical Entertainment, Relic veterans to work on upcoming open-world RPG
57. Sensor Tower: Fortnite on iOS earns $300m in 200 days: $20m of the total was earned in the past week after the launch of Season 6
58. Wavedash lays off the majority of its staff: Studio says loss of investor support prompted layoffs, offers to introduce hiring developers to former staff
59. Blog: Why one size doesn’t fit all in virtual reality
60. Nintendo Could Be Fixing the Switch’s Biggest Flaw
61. Report: Nintendo to launch updated Switch console in 2019
62. Report: New Nintendo Switch Model Coming In 2019
63. Nintendo planning new Switch for 2019 – Report: Wall Street Journal says an improved model is set for late next year
64. Nintendo gives Switch subscribers decked-out NES Zeldasave file
65. Nintendo hacks The Legend of Zelda to make it more accessible
66. Dragalia Lost is a turning point for Nintendo: After focusing on mobile games based on established IPs, Nintendo’s launch of an original IP unashamedly focused on the Japanese market is a major departure
67. Nintendo has patented a Game Boy case for smartphones
68. Nintendo patents Game Boy phone controller/case: Filing invites speculation of a new way for Mario maker to monetize its legacy games on smartphones
69. My.com: “Launching on console is shaping how the whole company looks at games”
70. Making games is just the beginning for Media Molecule’s Dreams: Siobhan Reddy tells us why the upcoming title aims to transform everyone into a game developer, filmmaker, musician, artist and more
71. NFTS secures £10m funding to run national centre for immersive storytelling
72. Blog: Using artificial intelligence to generate game content
73. Stuxnet Documentary ‘Zero Days VR’ Wins an Emmy
74. Borderlands 2 getting full-scale PlayStation VR port December 14
75. Magic Leap announces grant program for indie developers 
76. ‘Beat Saber’ is Now the 7th Best Rated Steam Game of All Time
77. How Early Access shaped the narrative structure of We Happy Few
78. Mega Man is the next game franchise headed to The Big Screen
79. Capcom announces live-action Mega Man movie: Japanese publisher working with Planet of the Apes production company Chernin Entertainment
80. Netflix’s Witcher Series Has Cast 2 of Its Most Important Female Characters
81. Paul W. S. Anderson’s Monster Hunter movie slated for production: Film will feature two protagonists from different worlds battling big beasties in order to survive
82. Redundant translations in video games and anime
83. How to choose what game to make next
84. Blog: How ‘design thinking’ can help create good games
85. Don’t Miss: 6 ways that the Final Fantasy series continues to influence devs
86. Brian Fargo kicks off ten-part Video Game MBA video series tomorrow
87. Here’s A Candid Breakdown Of Exactly How Much Money Twitch Streamers Earn Per Month
88. Hands-on: Fallout 76 lets you bring some company to the Apocalypse
89. Ars on your lunch break: Repairing your brain with video games

Jon