MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY
- A Matter of Trust: What Is Happening at the CRTC? (Michael Geist)
- Who Needs an iPhone Tax: Canadian Music Industry Instead Calls for $40 Million Annual Handout (Michael Geist)
- Wireless Carrier Abuse Of Location Data Makes The Facebook, Cambridge Scandal Look Like Amateur Hour
- ESPN Analysts Routinely Told Execs Not To Worry About Cord Cutting
- No, Counting The Number Of Patent Infringement Lawsuits Is Not A Good Way To Quantify A Company’s IP Ethics
- No, The FTC Is Not Going To Do A Good Job Policing Net Neutrality
- Trump hits campaign trail to endorse key foe of net neutrality rules
- Shockingly, Streaming Providers Are Dominating Cable At Customer Satisfaction
- Comcast may soon control what you pay to watch your favorite sports teams
- Comcast Exposes Customer WiFi SSIDs and Passwords For Customers Paying To Rent A Comcast Router
- California Senate defies AT&T, votes for strict net neutrality rules
- FCC Republican asks Amazon and eBay to boost crackdown on pirate TV boxes
- Charter Claims NY Lawsuit Over Crappy Broadband Speeds Just An Evil, Netflix ‘Cabal’
- Submission of Civil Society Coalition at WIPO SCCR 36 on Broadcasters’ Rights Treaty
DIGITAL
- Google Fails To Amend Canadian De-Indexing Injunction Despite California Court Order: Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Jack, 2018 BCSC 610
- Court Says It’s Unconstitutional For Trump To Block People On Twitter, But Doesn’t Actually Order Him To Stop
- U.S. District Court Rules President Trump Can’t Block Critical Followers
- President Trump Violated the First Amendment by Blocking Users @realdonaldtrump
- Six or Seven Things Social Media Can Do For Democracy
- Nurse Disciplined for Unprofessional Posts on Social Media Loses Appeal
- Cloud-based quantum computer takes on deuteron and wins
- Should Bots Have a Right to Free Speech? This Non-Profit Thinks So.
- Personalized, Brainwave-Guided Movies Are Cool, As Long As You’re The One Steering
- DHS Fusion Center Gets Request For Documents On Extremists, Decides To Hand Over Mind Control Docs Instead
- NHL Aims to Debut ‘Smart Puck’ Tech in 2019
- Alibaba’s Youku to Stream World Cup Soccer in China
- YouTube Confirms Test Of Subscriptions Feed Driven By Algorithm And Not Chronology, Angering Creators
- YouTube Premium To Launch Travel Soccer Series With Trickster Duo F2 Freestylers
- YouTube’s Live Stream Of The Recent Royal Wedding Drew 11.2 Million Total Viewers
- Spanish YouTube Star El Rubius Says He Has “Hit A Wall,” Announces Break From YouTube
- YouTube Has Deleted 30 ‘Drill’ Music Videos For Fueling Gang Violence In The U.K.
- Egyptian Government Set To Ban YouTube For One Month Six Years After Release Of Anti-Muslim Video
- YouTube Music will replace Google Play Music but won’t kill user uploads
- Two 18-Year-Olds Arrested In Paris For VEVO Hacks Of Top YouTube Videos Like “Despacito”
- Vevo Is Killing Off Its Mobile Apps, Website to Refocus on YouTube
- Vevo To Shut Down Website, Apps In Order To “Remain Focused On Engaging The Biggest Audiences”
- Vevo Flop Shows, Once Again, How Badly The Record Labels Underestimate Technology
- Insights: Between ‘Solo’ Misfire And Comcast Pitch, Is Disney’s Streaming Strategy Still A Winner?
- Barack Obama Reveals General Content Plans For New Netflix Deal
- Netflix stocks hit record high making it more valuable than Disney – but only for a few hours: The streaming giant also surpassed estimations on subscriber growth, with a total of 125 million worldwide
- Hulu Orders BuzzFeed-Produced Documentary About R. Kelly’s Alleged History Of Sexual Abuse
- Facebook Tools Are Used to Screen Out Older Job Seekers, Lawsuit Claims
- Facebook Will Label Political Ads, Reveal Who Paid For Them, And Show Who They Targeted
- Wherein Facebook Messes Up Elections By Trying Not To Mess Up Elections
- ‘FacePause’ Desktop Extension Automatically Halts YouTube Videos Upon An Averted Gaze
- Facebook Funds Comedy Series From Sarah Silverman and Group Nine’s JASH
- Your Worst Alexa Nightmares Are Coming True
- Amazon confirms that Echo device secretly shared user’s private audio
- Amazon Alexa Instantaneously Justifies Years Of Surveillance Paranoia
- Don’t Freak Out About That Amazon Alexa Eavesdropping Situation
- Google Just Turned a Huge Corner in the Smart Speaker Game
- Google zooms by Amazon in smart speaker shipments, report says
- Yelp’s Newest Campaign: Asking Google To Do The Right Thing
- Court docs show Apple knew about the bendiness of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus
- 187 Things The Blockchain Is Supposed To Fix
- A Scottish Clinic Will Now Treat “Cryptocurrency Addiction”
- The DoJ is reportedly probing the murky world of bitcoin trading
- Sanctions: Iran, Russia, OFAC and cryptocurrencies
- Russian unit, GRU officer linked to 2014 shoot-down of airliner over Ukraine
- Uber’s Self-Driving Car Saw The Woman It Killed, Report Says
- NTSB: Uber’s sensors worked; its software utterly failed in fatal crash
- Tesla Agrees to Settle Class Action Suit Over ‘Essentially Unusable’ Autopilot Feature
- Snapchat Launches ‘Yellow’, A $1.5 Million Accelerator Program For Mobile Content Creators
- Forget The GDPR, The EU’s New Copyright Proposal Will Be A Complete And Utter Disaster For The Internet
- The Demise Of Copyright Toleration
- Why Is This Happening? The internet is terrible now, and Tim Wu knows why: Chris Hayes asks professor Tim Wu what created the conditions for the current angst surrounding our online experience.
- The Collapse of UN Talks on the Application of International Law in Cyberspace: Why It Matters to U.S. Businesses
CREATIVITY
- Harmonizing Tariff Regimes and Statutory Minimum Damages: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing? (Howard Knopf)
- Batiste v. Lewis
- Cabell v. Zorro Productions, Inc.
- Monkey-Selfie Case Returns – To Court & (Maybe) a Theater Near You
- The Monkey Selfie Lawsuit Will Never, Ever Die: Appeals Court Judge Wants A Do Over
- Use of “sound-alike” music in advertising ‒ key legal issues
- Who owns an idea?: It’s a question the law can struggle to answer, particularly when it comes to fiction
- Canadian Copyright, Fair Dealing and Education, Part Three: Exploring the Impact of Site Licensing at Canadian Universities (Michael Geist)
- Canadian Copyright, Fair Dealing and Education, Part Four: Fixing Fair Dealing for the Digital Age (Michael Geist)
- Woof: The Prosecco People Successfully Oppose A Pet-Treat Company’s ‘Pawsecco’ Trademark Application
- On Graffiti, Public Art and Snoopy
- Copyright Term: When Does a Work Enter the Public Domain?
- Amanda Palmer: Hands Up! I Have a Picture of a Toddler, and I’m not Afraid to Use it
- The right of communication to the public … in a chart (Eleonora Rosati)
SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY
- Guidance on Consent and Inappropriate Data Practices issued by Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
- Open Letter To Francisco Partners: Request For Follow Up On Apparent Misuse Of Sandvine Technology And Sale Of NSO Group To Verint Systems (Citizen Lab)
- U.S. Supreme Court Dismisses U.S. v. Microsoft as Moot After CLOUD Act Signed Into Law: Court Declares That There is No Longer a Live Controversy Over a Warrant Requiring Microsoft to Disclose Customer Data Stored Overseas
- DOJ, FBI Issuing Corrections To Statements, Testimony Containing Bogus Uncracked Device Numbers
- Apple’s Latest Transparency Report Shows Gov’t Still Not All That Interested In Seeking Warrants
- A trip to the ER with your phone may mean injury lawyer ads for weeks
- Yahoo hacker whose work compromised 500M accounts sentenced to 5 years
- SS7 routing-protocol breach of US cellular carrier exposed customer data
- Amazon confirms that Echo device secretly shared user’s private audio
- FBI tells router users to reboot now to kill malware infecting 500k devices
- Report On Milwaukee PD Body Cams Show Fewer Complaints, Fewer Stops, But No Reduction In Use Of Force
- ICE Trying To Deport Journalist For Reporting On Abusive ICE Behavior
- Europe’s New Data Protections Will Affect You Too. Here’s How.
- Dozens of American News Sites Blocked in Europe as GDPR Goes Into Effect Today
- The GDPR: Ghastly, Dumb, Paralyzing Regulation It’s Hard To Celebrate
- EU Parliament’s Own Website Violates The GDPR
- GDPR jokes to help ease the pain
- Two States Are Trying To Give People Control Over Their Online Data
GAMES
- PUBG Corp files copyright lawsuit against Epic Games: Korean developer began proceedings in January, alleging Fortnite plagiarises PUBG
- PUBG Corp. files copyright infringement lawsuit against Fortnite dev Epic Games
- Fortnite sold 5 million battle passes on the first day of Season 3: Analyst Michael Pachter relates success, predicts more games moving to cosmetics as a result
- Fortnite, God of War break monthly revenue records – Superdata: Epic’s battle royale makes $296 million in April; God of War becomes fastest-selling PS4-exclusive
- Interactive Gaming Ventures and Epic Games team up to fund UE4 indies
- Gamers involved in December’s “swatting” death just got indicted
- Charity calls on Valve to remove ‘school shooting simulator’ from Steam store: Game described as “horrendous” by Infer Trust
- Valve removes mass shooting game and its ‘troll’ dev from Steam
- School Shooting Game Angers Steam Users, Developer ‘Likely’ Changing It
- Valve removes school shooting game, along with developer’s entire catalogue: Creator of Active Shooter identified as previously banned ‘troll’ developer Ata Berdiyev
- Opinion: So, you want to talk about porn on Steam
- Valve’s Steam Link app blocked by Apple due to ‘business conflicts’
- Apple has rejected iOS version of Steam Link app, Valve says
- Steam Link app rejected by Apple: Valve’s appeal has been denied; Android version already in beta
- Syrian refugee games developer denied UK visa ahead of awards ceremony: Path Out co-creator Abdullah Karam feels “sad and mistreated” as his misses out on Indie Prize ceremony
- Honesty contributed to Subsurface Circular’s 2 percent refund rate
- US has the largest gender pay gap for video game streamers: Half of US women streamers go unpaid despite country’s higher-than-average spending on influencer support
- DICE GM pushes back against Battlefield V anger: “Player choice and female playable characters are here to stay,” says Oskar Gabrielson after complaints over game’s inclusion of women
- Battlefield V ditches season pass and loot boxes, takes on Red Dead Redemption 2: Electronic Arts plans to monetise upcoming blockbuster shooter with live service and cosmetics after its arrives on October 19th
- Battlefield V Shows How The Video Game Industry Is Turning On Loot Boxes
- Trade group prez: Loot box regulation “challenges our freedom to innovate”
- ESA: We can’t go to the “lowest common denominator of government” on loot boxes – Mike Gallagher warns against “over-reactions” to loot boxes influencing the industry
- Op-ed: Game companies need to cut the crap – loot boxes are obviously gambling – Much as game companies try to deny it, the truth is plain to see.
- Sony’s PlayStation 5 hints confirm an eight-year PS4 lifespan: Rejecting hardware updates in favour of a full generational refresh, Sony implies a PS4 successor will come in 2021 – but how big a leap can that offer?
- Hacker gets Super NES games running on unmodified NES
- Nintendo offers dockless Switch in Japan: The reduced-price ‘2nd Unit Set’ is being marketed to households that already own a Switch
- Nintendo starts selling cheaper, dock-free Switch, but only in Japan
- The first Pokemon RPG on the Switch takes cues from Niantic’s Pokemon Go
- Pokémon’s first Switch game launches in November, connects to Pokémon Go
- Game Freak & Nintendo debut a phone-friendly Pokemongame on the Switch
- Pokémon’s new evolution was inevitable: With two generations of fans, The Pokémon Company has made some big changes
- Pokémon profits down nearly 50% in company’s second most profitable year: Pokémon Go, Sun, and Moon accounted for the 2016 spike and subsequent fall-off
- Pokemon Company annual profits drop to a mere $80.8 million
- Zynga acquires mobile game dev Gram Games for $250 million
- Zynga splashes $250 million on Gram Games acquisition: But Frank Gibeau tells GamesIndustry.biz recovering firm is “not on a buying spree”, pips Merge Dragons as new “forever franchise”
- Hacker gets Super NES games running on unmodified NES
- The NES Classic Is Back – Here’s How To Make Sure You Get One
- Detroit Become Human: Critical Consensus –
- Quantic Dream has sued journalists for negative coverage, but judging from the reviews for the studio’s Detroit Become Human, the media isn’t holding it against the studio.
- Detroit: Become Human review: Robotic in all of the wrong ways
- ‘Detroit: Become Human’ dehumanizes everything it touches
- Wolfenstein 2 accounted for speedrunners in its design
- H1Z1 gains early F2P traction on PlayStation 4
- Caffeine rolls out stream monetization program, complete with payouts for devs
- Mixer rolls out MixPlay, a tool for creating interactive stream overlays
- US has the largest gender pay gap for video game streamers: Half of US women streamers go unpaid despite country’s higher-than-average spending on influencer support
- Battle royale players are among the most engaged gamers, report finds – Newzoo: 88 per cent of battle royale players spend money in-game, compared to 75 per cent of traditional competitive game players
- Kids On YouTube Keep Making Videos About Scamming Fortnite V-Bucks From Their Parents
- ESPN+ to Live-Stream ‘League of Legends’ Esports Events Under New, Non-Exclusive Pact
- Minecraft reaches 100 million downloads in China: Approaching 250 million downloads worldwide
- How premium PC games continue to rise, surprise in China
- Media Molecule: Avoiding the “soul tax” of making games – At the Nordic Game Conference, Siobhan Reddy offered advice on protecting people and culture against the pressures of development
- Echo and Little Nightmares clean up at 2018 Nordic Game Awards: Ultra Ultra’s sci-fi adventure wins three categories, including Game of the Year, while Tarsier Studios’ dark title takes two
- Former Dragon Age director reflects on the ups and downs of development
- Mobile dev Voodoo secures an estimated $200M investment from Goldman Sachs
- YoYo Games opens publishing division to elevate GameMaker Studio 2 projects
- Wargaming reportedly closes Seattle studio: Formerly Gas Powered Games, the studio employed around 150 people
- Just Cause dev Avalanche Studios acquired by Nordisk Film
- UK indie chain Games Centre enters liquidation: Another games retailer disappears from the High Street
- After 3+ decades as a private firm, UK dev Codemasters is going public
- Codemasters valued at £280m as it prepares to go public: Developer expected to raise £15 million for expansion into mobile
- Voodoo secures $200m Goldman Sachs investment: French mobile developer looks to double its staff by year’s end
- Andrew Maximov: “Technology is actually going to make us better artists” – Industry veterans say artificial intelligence will enable artists, not replace them
- Video: How inequality (both real and virtual) shapes player behavior
- Carmack: New 5K × 5K Mobile VR Playback Tech Will ‘set the bar for VR video quality’
- Qualcomm launches a new chip specifically for standalone AR and VR devices
- Revenue expected to double this year for augmented and mixed reality: Virtual reality revenue will fall behind AR/MR by 2021, says SuperData
- HTC Announces Strategic Partnerships With MLB & McLaren Formula One Team
- How the BattleTech devs built an engrossing tactics game on a budget
- Video: What game designers really want out of AI
- Researchers teach AI to play ‘hard’ games by showing it YouTube videos
- Video: Unproven game AI techniques that might just work
- Nintendo, Microsoft and EA Veterans Join to Create the Future of Blockchain Gaming
- Players get credit for evolution–and stagnation–of gaming narrative: What Remains of Edith Finch developer Ian Dallas says the market is pushing the medium forward in some ways, tying its hands in others
- Insights: We Have Influencers And Games, But Why Not More Games From Influencers?
- What does GDPR mean for PR?: Leading UK games agencies tell us how new privacy regulations are refining their processes and better relationships with press
- GDPR changes prompt Torn Banner Studios to shut downMirage: Arcane Warfare
- A Critical Analysis of Kinect Star Wars’ “I’m Han Solo” Song, the Definitive Text on the Character
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