News of the Week; June 6, 2018

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada: CRTC Reports On CanCon in the Digital World
2. Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada (CRTC)
3. Regulate Everything: The CRTC Goes All-In on Internet Taxation and Regulation (Michael Geist)
4. Math Not Magic: If Melanie Joly Mandates Internet Taxes, Consumers Will Foot the Bill (Michael Geist)
5. The 1980s CRTC: The Commission Turns Back the Clock with Old-Style Regulation and Privileged Insider Access (Michael Geist)
6. Government’s Telecom/Broadcast Review Sets Up Internet Taxes and Regulation As a 2019 Election Issue (Michael Geist)
7. Court Of Appeal Affirms Punitive Damages Must Be Proportionate To Gravity Of Breach: Vidéotron v Girard, 2018 QCCA 767
8. CASL Compliance Becomes More Complex
9. Chicago streaming video tax does not violate federal and state law
10. E-Mails Show FCC Made Up DDOS Attack To Downplay The ‘John Oliver Effect’
11. FCC accused of “spreading lies” about DDoS hitting comment system
12. Trump grants Democrats’ request for a new FCC commissioner
13. California Senate Approves Bill to Restore Net Neutrality Rules Repealed by FCC 
14. California’s Tough New Net Neutrality Law Takes Another Step Forward
15. FCC Claims Perfectly-Timed Regulatory Handout To Sinclair Is Just Quirky Happenstance
16. FCC Wants Ebay, Amazon To Crack Down On Kodi-Based Pirate TV Boxes
17. Sprint says merger with “fiercest rival” will “create robust competition”
18. Trump administration could block T-Mobile/Sprint merger, AT&T CEO says
19. AT&T wants to settle with FTC to avoid unlimited data throttling lawsuit
20. AT&T Ends Quest To Erode FTC Authority Over Broadband Providers
21. Comcast drops bid for “gigabit” tax cut that was created for Google Fiber
22. Google Fiber Broadband Hype Replaced By Delays And Frustration
23. Thanks To No Competition, Broadband Satisfaction Scores Plummet
24. Fox News Shows Eagles Players Praying, Falsely Implies They Were Protesting During Anthem
25. Sheriffs Are Raking In Millions In Prison Phone Fees And Some Really Don’t Want To Talk About It

DIGITAL

1. Canada Introduces New Influencer Disclosure Guidelines
2. Russian State TV Photoshops an Awkward Smile on Kim Jong Un’s Face
3. VPNFilter malware infecting 500,000 devices is worse than we thought: Malware tied to Russia can attack connected computers and downgrade HTTPS.
4. Former Cambridge Analytica CEO Faces His Ghosts In Parliament
5. Craigslist Sex Sting Prosecution Rejected as “Outrageous Misconduct”–Washington v. Solomon (Eric Goldman)
6. Egyptian Gov’t Arrests Journalist Who Exposed Brutality; Will Use Social Media Suspensions As Evidence Against Him
7. Has Facebook Merely Been Exploited By Our Enemies? Or Is Facebook Itself The Real Enemy?
8. YouTube is the preferred platform of today’s teens: And Facebook continues to fall, according to Pew Research Center
9. Facebook Accused of Giving Users’ Personal Data To Every Major Device Maker
10. Insights: Has Facebook Already Lost The Next Generation Of Users?
11. Judge OKs Class Action Status For Illinoisans Claiming Facebook Violated State Privacy Law
12. Facebook will remove the Trending topics section next week
13. Following Licensing Pacts, Facebook Will Let Users Add Music To Their Personal Videos
14. Man posts morel mushrooms on Facebook, gets a visit from the cops
15. State Court Says Cop Posing As A Facebook Friend To Snag Criminal Evidence Isn’t A 4th Amendment Violation
16. Chrome and Firefox leaks let sites steal visitors’ Facebook names, profile pics
17. Not Fake News: Facebook Watch Funds Shows From CNN, Fox News, ABC News
18. Uganda Is Taxing WhatsApp and Facebook, Because Users “Gossip”
19. Social Media as a Weapon to Harass Women Academics
20. Language-Policing AI Will Suggest A Polite Alternative to Online Hate Speech
21. School Can’t Take A Joke; Turns Student Over To Cops For Listing The School For Sale On Craigslist
22. Telegram CEO: Apple has “prevented” app updates globally since April
23. Apple’s Plans To Bring Artificial Intelligence To Your Phone
24. You Can’t Make This Stuff Up: Amazon Warehouse Robots Slipped On Popcorn Butter
25. Amazon is reportedly upping its investment in India by $2 billion
26. Amazon Disconnects From Australia After Government Hits It With 10% Tax On All Imported Items 
27. Amazon scores Premier League TV rights to stream 20 games next season: Amazon secures all the Boxing Day games in the UK
28. The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: Teens Still Love YouTube, Snapchat
29. Lenovo’s all-screen smartphone was all talk
30. As Pride Month Begins, YouTube Faces Criticism For Allegedly Demonetizing The World “Transgender”
31. YouTube Draws More Flak From Queer Creators As Anti-LGBTQ+ Ads Appear On Videos
32. ‘The Washington Post’ Launches Second-Ever YouTube Channel, A Science Brand For Kids
33. YouTube Co-Founder Who Posted The Site’s First Video May Return With More
34. Lawsuit Over Cancer-Curing Honey Ads Still Sucks–Abid v. Google (Eric Goldman)
35. Washington State Is Suing Facebook And Google For Violating Election Advertisement Laws
36. Google reportedly won’t renew controversial drone imaging program
37. Google Ditches Department of Defense, Updates Its Code of Ethics
38. Google To Publish Artificial Intelligence Ethical Guidelines
39. Google Announces Programmatic Buys of Audio Ads – Looking at Legal Issues with Programmatic Sales 
40. Type ‘the1975..com’ Into Your Google App to See a Weird Bug in Action
41. 9-Year-Old Trash-Talker Lil Tay Has Wiped Her Instagram And YouTube Accounts
42. Instagram might soon let you post videos up to an hour long: A ‘new feature’ would allow for much longer vertical videos
43. Instagram Eyeing Push Into Long-Form Vertical Video With 1-Hour Clip Limits 
44. Patreon To Launch Merch Service For Creators Following Acquisition Of Ecommerce Startup ‘Kit’
45. Cheddar Forms Third News Brand, ‘CheddarU’, For Distribution Across College Campuses
46. Why Music Video Hosting Service Vevo Is Joining Mediaocean’s Spectra Platform
47. Microsoft killing off the Groove Music apps for iOS and Android
48. Microsoft snaps up GitHub for $7.5 billion
49. Microsoft has acquired GitHub for $7.5B 
50. Microsoft acquires GitHub for $7.5 billion: Windows and Xbox maker says software development platform will continue to operate independently and support any OS, cloud, or device
51. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says $7.5 billion GitHub deal shows, ‘We are all in on open source’
52. Everyone complaining about Microsoft buying GitHub needs to offer a better solution
53. We know you hate the Internet of Things, but it’s saving megafauna from poachers
54. Hulu’s Live TV Offering Reaches 800K Subs in First Year
55. Hulu CEO Says His Company’s Live TV Service Has 800,000 Subscribers One Year After Launch
56. Hulu Loses Chief Content Officer, SVPs Of Partnerships And Experience Amid Sweeping Reorganization
57. Hulu in Major Exec Shakeup: Content Chief Joel Stillerman, Two SVPs Are Out – Under reorg, Tim Connolly and Ben Smith will depart; company hires new CTO and first chief data officer
58. Netflix is becoming a global media phenomenon, says analyst: Mark Mahaney, RBC Capital Markets lead internet analyst, explains his latest research note on Netflix highlighting the streaming giant’s international business.
59. Netflix and Governance Transparency
60. Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada (CRTC)
61. A Hacker Hijacked the Buffalo Wild Wings Twitter Account and Revealed Its ‘Secret Recipe’ 
62. TWiT’s Trademark Lawsuit Against Twitter Sent Back to the Drawing Board
63. Twitter Reorgs Content-Partnerships Group, Folds Live-Video Team Into Regional Structure
64. Twitter’s Top Live Video Exec Exits Amid Organizational Restructuring
65. Court Not At All Impressed By Chuck Johnson’s Silly Lawsuit Against Twitter, Plans To Grant Anti-SLAPP Win To Twitter
66. Cops Perform Guns-Drawn Raid Of Chelsea Manning’s Home Because Someone Reported Her Suicidal Tweets
67. Can You Fire Someone For Racist Tweets? 
68. AI Can Now Manipulate People’s Movements In Fake Videos
69. MIT scientists created a “psychopath” AI by feeding it violent content from Reddit
70. There’s Now A Religion Based On the Blockchain. Yes, Really.
71. Understanding the Effect of Wyoming’s Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Legislation
72. Gumi launches $30 million cryptocurrency investment fund: Gumi Cryptos aims to help organizations struggling to connect with Japanese markets
73. Hackers Commandeered 3 Cryptocurrency Networks, Stole Millions 
74. WME Secures New Branded Content Opportunities By Investing In Marketing Platform Influential
75. After Arduous Fundraising Process, Crowdfunding Platform Seed & Spark Lands $2 Million Seed Round
76. Software and stealth: how carmakers hike spare parts prices
77. More Bad News for Uber’s Contract Formation–Ramos v. Uber
78. After dispute on freeway, Uber driver shot his passenger, who died soon after
79. San Francisco to Uber, Lyft: If your drivers aren’t employees, prove it
80. Report: Turkish President Erdogan Claims Uber’s Turkey Business Is ‘Over’
81. As Uber and Tesla struggle with driverless cars, Waymo moves forward
82. Waymo announces 7 million miles of testing, putting it far ahead of rivals
83. Contract Law or Copyright Law – What’s the Confusion?
84. Uncle Sam wants you to join the United States Digital Service
85. FOSTA Supporters Come Out Swinging Against Critics
86. Highlights From Former Rep. Chris Cox’s Amicus Brief Explaining The History And Policy Behind Section 230 
87. From Westworld to Best World for the Internet of Things (Jonathan Zittrain)
88. Censorship in the Age of Large Cloud Providers (Bruce Schneier)

CREATIVITY

1. Court Allows “Battery by GIF” Claim to Proceed – Eichenwald v. Rivello
2. Star Wars And The Battle Of The Ever-More-Toxic Fan Culture
3. Is the NFL’s anthem policy constitutional? Not in some states, law prof argues
4. Annual Also-Ran Buffalo Bills File Trademark For “Respect The Process”
5. S Is For Streisand: Sesame Street Decides To Offer Free Promotion To R-Rated Muppet Satire By Filing Trademark Claim
6. San Diego Comic-Con Petitions Judge To Have Salt Lake Comic Con Pay Its Attorney’s Fees, Bar It From Calling Itself A ‘Comic Convention’
7. Naruto the Macaque’s 3 year legal journey has come to an end in a San Francisco Court of Appeals 
8. Ninth Circuit to PETA: Stop Monkeying Around with Copyright Claims 
9. Media pirates walk the plank: extraordinary remedies against copyright infringers in Canada
10. Fast fashion and IP regulation: will fast fashion kill the golden goose?
11. Study Shows That Wartime Program To Abolish Copyright On German Science Books Brought Significant Benefits To US
12. The case for quarantining extremist ideas: When confronted with white supremacists, newspaper editors should consider ‘strategic silence’
13. Why the Government’s Copyright Board Plans Threaten to Spark Another Lobbying Battle (Michael Geist)
14. Recording Industry Hypocrisy On Full Display In Continuing To Push The CLASSICS Act That Expands Copyright
15. EU Parliament Members Play Hardball On Terrible Copyright Policies, Article Highlighting Sketchy Tactics Magically Disappears

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Glassdoor ordered to turn over user information
2. Settlement Of Alleged CASL Violation – Text Messages Sent Without Consent Or Prescribed Information
3. Mobile Phone Maker Reaches Settlement with FTC Over Deceptive Privacy and Data Security Claims 
4. FTC Reminder: Websites and Online Services Subject to COPPA Must Honor Data Deletion Requirements 
5. Paul Manafort Learns That Encrypting Messages Doesn’t Matter If the Feds Have a Warrant to Search Your iCloud Account
6. In seconds, we faked our way into a political campaign, got unsecured voter data
7. With possible summit approaching, North Korean espionage hacks continue
8. DHS found evidence of cell phone spying near White House
9. Three months later, a mass exploit of powerful Web servers continues
10. Appeals Court Rolls Its Eyes At Goverment’s Attempt To Dodge FOIA Litigation By Pretending It Didn’t Know Who Was Seeking Documents
11. This Filter Makes Your Photos Indecipherable to Facial Recognition Software
12. Governor’s office is “stonewalling” lawsuit over Confide use, lawyer tells judge
13. Another Report Highlights How Wireless SS7 Flaw Is Putting Everyone’s Privacy At Risk
14. 11th Circuit Says No Reasonable Suspicion Needed For Invasive Device Searches At The Border
15. 30,000 Cameras Can’t Be Wrong: Chicago Banks On Surveillance To Solve Violence Problem
16. Data protection laws are shining a needed light on a secretive industry: Regardless of where we live, we all benefit from data protection laws – companies must us show how they profit off our information (Bruce Schneier)
17. ICANN’s Pre-emptive Attack On The GDPR Thrown Out By Court In Germany
18. Websites in the US are definitely “turning off” Europe
19. 92 million MyHeritage users had their data quietly swiped

GAMES

1. PUBG vs Fortnite: Let the market decide – A court case in South Korea revives the old question of whether a game concept deserves legal protection – but ‘clone wars’ should be settled in the market, not the courtroom
2. PUBG Corp. Sues Epic Games In S. Korea Over Gameplay Similarities That Probably Aren’t Copyrightable
3. Winner winner copycat dinner – IP protection of battle royale game mechanics 
4. Flight-sim maker threatens legal action over Reddit posts discussing DRM
5. Panic at 30,000 virtual feet: Controversial flight sim aircraft maker threatens reddit mods with libel legal action, mods hit back.
6. An open letter to Flight Sim Labs
7. FlightSimLabs Installs More Questionable Stuff On Users’ Machines, Then Threatens Reddit
8. UK ad regulator hits out at gambling site for game ads of ‘particular appeal to children’
9. Popular Twitch Streamer Makes An Example Of Her Harassers
10. Bury Me, My Love and MyoBeatz among 2018 Games for Change Awards nominees
11. Twitch To Promote LGBTQ+ Streamers, Launch Rainbow Emotes In Honor Of Pride Month
12. We’re experimenting with Twitch content to catch up on zillions of video games
13. Twitch promotes Pride Month, raises money for Human Rights Campaign: Throughout June, Twitch will spotlight LGBTQ+ creators and celebrate diversity across its platform
14. One-third of UK women gamers report abuse or discrimination from male gamers: Bryter survey shows many women avoid online play or identification as gamers due to fear of abuse
15. Video: A postmortem look at Rocket League’s language ban system
16. Ex-Microsoft exec J Allard speaks to the game industry’s inherent burnout problem
17. Microsoft Studios head: ‘It’s really important to think about the longevity of a game’
18. Using AI to take the “emotional work” out of community management – Spirit AI’s Dr Mitu Khandaker: “We are trying to make the lives of community managers and moderators easier”
19. Fear the reaper: Activision sunsetting Guitar Hero TV later this year
20. Guitar Hero Live goes offline in December, making 92% of songs unplayable
21. New iOS App Store guidelines ok timed demos but put the kibosh on the Steam Link App
22. Steam updates game-content guidelines, will include “something that you hate”
23. Steam “might have killed our business”: Developers behind mature visual novels describe the “chilling effect” of ad hoc game removals and Valve’s radio silence
24. Valve: We shouldn’t be choosing what you’re allowed to create or play
25. Australian gamers could face throttled data usage
26. Asus’ insane gaming phone has 3 USB ports, clip-on cooling fan
27. Indiegogo working with debt collectors to refund Sinclair ZX Vega+ backers 
28. Indiegogo confirms debt collectors will recoup crowdfunding money for ZX Spectrum Vega+: Crowdfunding platform says Retro Computers Ltd failed to meet requirements for mid-June extension
29. Free-to-play Pokemon Quest passes 1M downloads on Switch
30. Fortnite among the Switch ports reportedly coming to E3
31. GameStop’s Q1 earnings can’t match last year’s Switch-driven highs
32. 56% of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon’s 100k week-one sales were on Switch
33. Square Enix now has a dev group devoted to making Switch games
34. Citing the declining premium mobile market, Square Enix backs away from Go series
35. Square Enix Montreal abandons Go series, will continue work on mobile: Studio head cites rising quality of free mobile games, shrinking audience for pay-up-front titles
36. Nier: Automata has shipped 3M copies worldwide
37. Why Codemasters is finally ready to float: Ten years on from its aborted IPO, the UK racing specialist discusses how games-as-a-service and the push to mobile will secure its future
38. Onrush: The shooter-inspired racer that saved the Evolution team – Two years on from Sony’s shock decision to close the Driveclub developer, the team is back with a title that aims to reinvent the genre
39. A host of new security enhancements is coming to iOS and macOS
40. App Store devs have made $100B in revenue since store launched
41. iOS developers have made $100 billion since App Store launched: 20 million companies now registered as developers for Apple’s mobile platform
42. Games account for 75% of App Store spending: 66 per cent of iOS games spending comes from APAC territories alone
43. Analyst: 77% of the 4.5M apps on iOS are games, down from past years
44. Porting iOS games to MacOS should be easier next year, says Apple
45. Developers can now offer free trials on the App Store
46. New App Store Review Guidelines also clarify rules around multi-platform apps like Steam Link
47. Blog: The perks of soft-launching your game on Itch.io before Steam
48. Why Platinum Games may never work with a publisher again: Co-founders Hideki Kamiya and Atsushi Inaba discuss the acclaimed studio’s self-funded future and determination to own its IP
49. Jack Tretton’s indie investment fund will target UE4 projects: Interactive Gaming Ventures will make up to 21 investments in projects using Epic’s engine
50. Bungie nets $100M+ from China’s NetEase, aims to create ‘new worlds’
51. Bungie gets more than $100 million investment from NetEase: As Destiny studio sells minority stake, CEO Pete Parsons discusses the incubation process for its next new world and the possibility of self-publishing
52. The Elder Scrolls: Legends development switched to Sparkypants Studios – Transition away from Dire Wolf Studios will include new client, UI, and visuals, same game design
53. Paradox Interactive to acquire Battletech dev Harebrained Schemes
54. Paradox: “If a game can’t be played for 500 hours we probably shouldn’t be publishing it” – Paradox Interactive’s management team on moving beyond “premium plus DLC” to a more flexible future
55. How Minit’s team found creativity through limitations: The indie title’s four developers discovered freedom within its restrictions, and made a game “without stressing the hell out”
56. World Cup fever propels FIFA 18 back to No.1 in UK charts – But Detroit: Become Human, Far Cry 5 and God of War still manage to fend off retro-centric new releases
57. Battlefront II developer EA Motive expands with Vancouver opening
58. Evolve’s dedicated servers are being switched off in September
59. Evolve servers to shut down in September: Publisher 2K confirms end for AAA game turned free-to-play
60. Don’t Miss: Looking back at how Evolve was retrofitted for accessibility
61. Activision ending Guitar Hero TV in December: iOS version already removed from the App Store
62. Bethesda stream for new Fallout game pulls 2m unique viewers: “We have had over two million unique visitors to this stream to watch, I don’t know what, nothing,” said Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard
63. The Elder Scrolls: Legends is swapping devs one year after launch
64. Fig nabs blockchain outfit Ownage to help create new digital publishing platform
65. Fig acquires blockchain startup Ownage Ltd: UK company will help build the “Shard” decentralized publishing platform
66. Indiegogo extends deadline for ZX Spectrum Vega+ as June shipping date announced: Retro Computers Ltd “still determined to deliver the Vega+” despite ongoing dispute with former project leads
67. Intellivision returns with new console, president: Tommy Tallarico and veteran team plan ’80s revival as Intellivision Entertainment
68. VR title Beat Saber hits 100,000 sales in a month – Update: Hyperbolic Magnetism’s rhythm game nears estimated $2 million in first month revenue
69. New XRDC Healthcare Report offers insight into how AR/VR/MR is shaping medicine
70. Arc System Works introduces ‘non-negotiable’ streaming guidelines: Developer threatens breaches with potential channel strike or account suspension
71. Riot Games donating 100% of ‘Dark Star Cho’Gath’ skin sales to charity
72. Riot Games donating all proceeds from limited edition skin to charity: Skin designed with League of Legends fan through The Make-A-Wish Foundation
73. Activision Blizzard sells out Barclays Center for esports championship
74. Overwatch League™ Grand Finals Sells Out Barclays Center: Fans purchased more than 20,000 tickets to the esports championship in Brooklyn, New York – The largest esports event ever slated at Barclays Center sold out within two weeks of its public on-sale
75. High school esports firm PlayVS raises $15 million
76. Arena of Valor tournament will mark Tencent’s E3 debut: Partnership with ESL will see playoffs hosted in Los Angeles ahead of next month’s $550,000 World Cup
77. Ubisoft tests limited revenue sharing for Rainbow Six Pro League: Pilot program to see 11 teams take portion of in-game item sales for one year before revenue sharing introduced for entire league
78. Ubisoft CEO: ‘There will be one more console generation … after that, we will be streaming’
79. Deep UX: The last “Here Be Dragons” area of modern game development – IT Territory’s Alexsandr Enin on embracing negative, emotional feedback to boost HAWK’s already high retention
80. Americans largely won’t pay to win a video game – but Chinese gamers will
81. One man is auctioning off 40 years of gaming history today
82. Blog: The evolution of boss design in video games
83. The original Doom, one of 64 Objects that shaped video game history
84. Rare Japanese games rediscovered after 67GB folder leaks online
85. Early Pokemon Gold and Silver demo uncovers scrapped content
86. The great video game exodus
87. Ted Dabney, a Founder of Atari and a Creator of Pong, Dies at 81

Jon