News of the Week; August 1, 2018

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1. CRTC Truthiness: New Docs Reveal New Story About Bell Meetings with the Commission on Website Blocking 
2. Trump Throws His FCC Under The Bus For Pointing Out Sinclair May Have Lied During Its Merger Sales Pitch
3. Ajit Pai Lies (Again) To Congress With Claim Net Neutrality Killed Broadband Investment
4. FCC Chairman Will Not Recuse Himself From Investigation Into Former Client Securus Technologies
5. Cord Cutting Accelerates Faster Than Expected, As Cable Still Refuses To Compete On Price
6. The Fairfax and Nine merger is the disruption of digital media arriving to Australia in a big way
7. NY threatens to kick Charter out of the state after broadband failures
8. New York State Votes To Kick Charter Out Of The State For Poor Service, Failing To Meet Merger Conditions
9. NY orders Charter out of state, says it must sell Time Warner Cable system
10. Comcast installed Wi-Fi gear without approval—and this city is not happy
11. Comcast, Charter dominate US; telcos “abandoned rural America,” report says 

DIGITAL

1. Facebook Loses $120 Billion in Market Value, as Stock Slides on Fears Growth Is Hitting a Wall
2. YouTube comes down on Alex Jones for hate speech, child endangerment content
3. Alex Jones hit with 30-day Facebook suspension for bullying and hate speech: Only Jones’ personal profile is affected, not his official channels, including InfoWars
4. Facebook, Following YouTube’s Lead, Takes Action Against InfoWars And Alex Jones
5. Alex Jones slammed with 30-day ban from Facebook for hateful videos [Update]
6. Ted Cruz Bravely Defends Alex Jones Against Facebook’s Temporary Internet Jail
7. Twitter Responds to Claims of ‘Shadow Banning’
8. Insights: Twitter, Facebook Investors Find No Upside In Doing The Right Thing
9. Facebook Just Shut Down Dozens of Fake Pages
10. Facebook’s latest meddling disclosure: “We expected the organization to evolve”
11. ‘We Are Not Bots’: Facebook Censors U.S. Activists After Falsely Claiming They ‘Unwittingly’ Planned Protest
12. MPs slam Facebooks serious failings in report identifying the misuse of personal data as threatening our democracy.
13. Facebook Settles with the Washington Attorney General Over Ad Targeting Practices
14. Facebook’s “downvote” system begins rolling out wider in US—here’s how it works
15. Facebook Starts Showing You How Much Time You Waste on Facebook
16. Facebook And Instagram Add Tools To Help Users Not Get Addicted To Facebook And Instagram
17. Cops Lose Qualified Immunity After Arresting Man For A Snarky Facebook Comment
18. A Cautionary Tale of Sarcasm in Social Media–Ross v. City of Jackson
19. Ignorant Hysteria Over 3D Printed Guns Leads To Courts Ignoring The First Amendment
20. Universal Right Back At It Issuing A DMCA For A Reporter’s Video Of Prince Fans Singing ‘Purple Rain’
21. Universal Retracts DMCA On Journalist Video Of Prince Fans Singing Purple Rain
22. Website User Held to Arbitration Provision Despite Renewing Subscription in Wife’s Name 
23. Embedding preview images is not copyright infringement, says German court
24. 3D-printed gun website yanks CAD files after federal judicial order
25. You Can’t Legally 3D Print Guns Quite Yet
26. The Battle Over 3D-Printed Guns Is Getting Serious
27. 8 states take aim at 3D gun company, sue to get files off the Internet
28. Is Code Free Speech?
29. Inside the Unabomber’s angsty, odd and furious online revival: A TV drama has rekindled interest in anti-technology terrorist Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber. Ironically enough, his followers now congregate online
30. How they did it (and will likely try again): GRU hackers vs. US elections: Latest Mueller indictment offers excruciating details to confirm known election pwnage.
31. On Conspiracy Theories and Election Hacking 
32. Why We’re Sharing 3 Million Russian Troll Tweets
33. My short life as (the face of) a Russian disinformation troll
34. Daily Beast: Russian hackers targeted Democrat facing tough 2018 election
35. Russian Government Decides To Stamp Out ‘Fake News’ At Home, Presumably Leaving Export Operations Unaffected
36. DOJ announces arrest of 3 men allegedly behind notorious FIN7 hacking group
37. Report: Julian Assange’s Thin Ice at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London Could Be About to Break
38. The age of cyberwar is here. We can’t keep citizens out of the debate
39. Senator Mark Warner Lays Out Ideas For Regulating Internet Platforms
40. Microsoft invests $500,000 in coding and tech training for students of colour: Firm’s support will open Seattle chapter for Black Girls Code and boost Technology Access Foundation’s STEM program
41. Windows 10 will try not to reboot when you’re just grabbing a cup of coffee
42. Twitter’s One Step Closer to Figuring Out Why It Sucks
43. Twitter is funding college professors to audit its platform for toxicity
44. On Amazon Prime Day warehouse workers around the world took action against the company. We hear about some of the organizing going on in fulfillment centers from Germany to New Jersey.
45. Amazon’s Rekognition messes up, matches 28 lawmakers to mugshots
46. Amazon’s Face Recognition Falsely Matched 28 Members of Congress With Mugshots
47. Amazon Rekognition Falsely Matched 28 Members of Congress to Mugshots
48. Amazon wrongly IDed 28 members of Congress, and they’re not happy about it
49. Congress Members Want Answers After Amazon’s Facial Recognition Software Says 28 Of Them Are Criminals
50. Congress Members Demand Answers From, Investigation Of Federal Facial Rec Tech Users
51. Amazon: Cops should set confidence level on facial recognition to 99%
52. The Value Of Public Shaming
53. The future role of AI in fact checking
54. Data’s day of reckoning: We can build a future we want to live in, or we can build a nightmare. The choice is up to us.
55. Why Westerners Fear Robots And The Japanese Do Not
56. The “Biometric Mirror” Judges You The Way We’ve Taught It To: With Bias
57. Contractual considerations in Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence outsourcing
58. AI Coaches Are Here To Unleash Your Inner LeBron
59. Canadian Developments in AI and Technology: Ethical Considerations for Innovators
60. Neural network implemented with light instead of electrons
61. Regulation-bot: the rise of AI legislation
62. The Rise of the Last-Mile Exchange: Keeping up with the growing volume of e-commerce will require delivery companies to disrupt their long-standing business model.
63. Report: Google is preparing to cave to Chinese search censorship
64. Google’s Censored Chinese Search Engine Shows It’s No Longer Afraid of U.S. Backlash
65. Google Developing Censored Search Engine For China: Report
66. Disappointing: Google Makes Plan To Return To China With Censored Search Engine
67. Google Glass Is Back, And May Have Finally Found A Place It Belongs
68. YouTube Will Bring Original Programming To Germany, Japan, Mexico, France, And India
69. YouTube In Hot Water Again After Search Results For Tom Hanks Lead To Conspiracy Theories
70. YouTube’s Second Demi Lovato Documentary Is In Production But On Hold After Apparent Overdose
71. YouTube Premium’s Fall Slate To Feature Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr., Kirsten Dunst
72. YouTube Music Is Seriously Bulking Up Its Senior Leadership On A Global Scale
73. Indian PM Narendra Modi Surpasses One Million Subscribers, Will Soon Be Top World Leader On YouTube
74. Jimmy Kimmel Enlists Goddaughter To Teach Him About YouTube Beauty Tutorials
75. Casey Neistat Is “Just Getting Started” After Surpassing 10 Million Subscribers
76. Casey Neistat Challenges Logan Paul In Testy Interview: “All That Really Matters Is What Transpired”
77. Will Smith To Casey Neistat: “Let’s Get To Creatin’”
78. Alisha Marie Returns From Two-Month Hiatus, Looks To Normalize Breaks For YouTube Stars
79. Huda Kattan, Lele Pons Are Instagram’s Top-Paid Digital Influencers At $33,000 Per Post (Report)
80. “Kidtech” Company Superawesome Launches Video Player For Family-Friendly Publishers
81. CBS Announces Plans For 24/7 Streaming Local News Services, Launching First In New York
82. Viacom confirms Awesomeness TV acquisition
83. Viacom To Acquire Digital Media Company AwesomenessTV For Rumored Price “Below $300 Million”
84. Viacom announces it’s buying Awesomeness: Viacom announced it’s buying Awesomeness for a price well under $300 million – Awesomeness was owned by NBCUniversal, Verizon, and Hearst.
85. Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo Raises Additional $200 Million, For $1 Billion In Total Funding (Report)
86. Spotify Hits 83 Million Premium Subs in Q2 as Net Loss Doubles: CEO Daniel Ek says direct-licensing deals with artists don’t make Spotify a record label
87. Spotify is now streaming Archie motion comics
88. Spotify Debuts ‘Archie’ Motion Comic Amid Pivot To Audio-Visual Content
89. Penske Media Makes Strategic Investment in BuzzAngle Music: Key PMC brands, including Rolling Stone and Variety, will utilize the platform’s data, analysis and consumption charts.
90. Snapchat To Act As Matchmaker For Creators And Advertisers Via ‘Storytellers’ Initiative
91. NFL Renews Snapchat Deal for Two Years, Will Flood the Zone for Sunday Games 
92. Snapchat launches new Lenses that respond to your voice
93. Snapchat’s Latest Lenses Are Speech-Activated With Words Like “Love” And “Wow”
94. MoviePass Is Jacking Up Its Prices as It Tries to Survive
95. MoviePass, AMC, and the Era of Cinema Subscriptions
96. Mission: Impossible’s Box Office ‘Failure’ Shows Why We Need MoviePass
97. The strange story of how MoviePass’ owner was created by an Indian company accused of massive fraud
98. WhatsApp Rightly Refuses Indian Government’s Silly Demand To Break Encryption
99. Loyalty vs. Freedom of Expression: Who Wins the Battle in the Social Media Ring
100. OSC Cryptocurrency Survey Reveals Public’s Uncertainty About Blockchain Issues
101. Cryptomining Malware Is Infecting Corporate Networks Worldwide
102. Hackers find creative way to steal $7.7 million without being detected
103. The Rise Of An “Assassination Marketplace” Shows The Dark Side of Decentralized Networks
104. NFLPA Bets on Blockchain-Backed Social Streaming Platform SportsCastr
105. California Federal Court Denies Preliminary Injunction In “Blockchain” Dispute 
106. Up to Two-Thirds of Bitcoin Transactions Have No Economic Value
107. Inside Ecobee’s plans to outsmart Nest: The smart-thermostat maker wants to remodel our houses for the digital age — if Google’s Nest doesn’t squash it first.
108. How Software Ate the Point of Sale: Or, why paying for stuff is so complicated now
109. Services drove Apple’s best third quarter ever, but iPhone sales aren’t growing
110. Growing Up Jobs: Steve Jobs and Chrisann Brennan were 23 when their daughter was born. Lisa Brennan-Jobs remembers the pride and pain of a childhood spent navigating the vastness between her struggling single mom and Apple’s mercurial founder.
111. Happy Birthday To Us! Wired Turns 25 

CREATIVITY

1. Inequality in 1,100 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBT & Disability from 2007 to 2017 (Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, Dr. Katherine Pieper, Ariana Case, & Angel Choi)
2. In the era of #MeToo, is it still OK to laugh at ‘Animal House’?
3. Stephen Colbert swallows hard and addresses boss Les Moonves’ #MeToo mess
4. Assaults in dressing rooms. Groping during lessons. Classical musicians reveal a profession rife with harassment.
5. Down for what?: Every rapper wants a woman who will do anything, except be her own person.
6. The Sex-Trafficking Case Testing the Limits of the First Amendment: How a couple of crusading journalists made a fortune selling adult escort ads and in the process became unlikely and widely reviled First Amendment advocates.
7. Why Are We Still So Worried About Wat­­ching Porn?: Decades of fearmongering almost got porn addiction added to the International Classification of Diseases. Thankfully, the World Health Organization got it right.
8. Staircases in Space: Why Are Places in Science Fiction Not Wheelchair-Accessible?
9. “Known but not discussed”: Low-income people aren’t getting quality news and information. What can the industry do about it?
10. How music has responded to a decade of economic inequality: Popular music has always delivered social critique. But it’s struggled to grapple with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
11. The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+
12. Sony Finds Itself In Court After Bullying Film Studio Over Supposed ‘Slender Man’ Copyright Infringement
13. Better by design: significant changes coming to Canada’s industrial design legislation
14. Are headline and title writers getting too cocky about their IP rights?
15. Fox Shareholders Have Agreed to the Disney Deal, and the X-Men Are Coming Back to Marvel

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. GDPR Compliance for Canadian Organizations
2. How GDPR is affecting the kidtech biz: The EU’s new data protection and privacy regulations went into effect in May, but experts say the kids industry is not prepared for the potential fines.
3. UK Tribunal Says GCHQ Engaged In Illegal Telco Collection Program For More Than A Decade
4. Inspector General Says NSA Still Hasn’t Implemented Its Post-Snowden Internal Security Measures
5. Court Rejects Evidence From Warrantless Search Of Phone Six Years After The Gov’t Seized It
6. Cops Slowly Wise Up To The SIM Hijacking Trend Carriers Don’t Want To Seriously Address
7. EU And Japan Agree To Free Data Flows, Just As Tottering Privacy Shield Framework Threatens Transatlantic Transfers
8. Sir Cliff Richard v The BBC: Blurring the lines between libel and privacy law
9. Freedom of expression: On a Cliff edge?
10. Hold on to Your Coins! Understanding Sextortion Scam Emails and What You Should Do
11. Click on this iOS phishing scam and you’ll be connected to “Apple Care”
12. Password breach teaches Reddit that, yes, phone-based 2FA is that bad
13. New Spectre attack enables secrets to be leaked over a network
14. Shipping company’s networks in the Americas crippled by ransomware attack
15. Bringing the Fourth Amendment into the Digital Age: Implications of Carpenter v. United States
16. New Report Says The Feds’ Focus On Device Encryption Is Holding Local Law Enforcement Back
17. Burglar wakes up couple to ask to use their Wi-Fi network

GAMES

1. Detroit dev Quantic Dream loses in court case brought by ex-employee
2. Former Quantic Dream employee wins court case against developer: Court rules in favour of employee who quit due to circulation of offensive photoshopped images
3. SimCity 2000 remake removed by EA for using copyrighted assets
4. EA shuts down open source SimCity 2000 over lifted assets: “The current audio visual output of the repository creates content that infringes on Electronic Arts copyright,” says publisher
5. EA financials show quiet Q1 reflective of few releases: Net revenue of $1.137 billion nonetheless above estimates ahead of packed Q2
6. FIFA Mobile’s debut in China brings EA its highest grossing day for a mobile game
7. EA open to cross-platform playability for Battlefield, other key franchises: Publisher also eyeing Fortnite’s success as a model for future free-to-play mobile releases
8. Area 35 ends legal dispute over Kickstarter embezzlement claims in settlement
9. Area 35, ex-employee settle defamation suit: Tariq Lacy retracts embezzlement accusations against studio CEO Hiroaki Yura
10. Abstractism removed from Steam store for ‘cryptojacking’: Game disguised as indie platformer installed programs to mine cryptocurrency using players’ computers
11. Valve removes Steam game after allegations of hidden cryptocurrency miner [Updated]
12. Valve adds safeguards to Steam to address concerns over fake item scams
13. Steam sees surprising, significant usage dip in 2018
14. Prominent Denuvo hacker arrested for breaching anti-piracy tech
15. Denuvo investigation reportedly leads to arrest for games pirate Voksi: However, Bulgarian cracker claims he voluntarily went to police, reached out to DRM firm for “peaceful solution”
16. An overlooked line of code led to slow performance forWarhammer Online
17. Daily Mirror paid interview subject of Fortnite hit piece: “Fortnite made me a suicidal drug addict” author offered £300 for case study
18. Fortnite mobile earned average of $3.47 per install 90 days after launch – SensorTower: Battle royale ranked #6 most-downloaded app in the US for Q2 despite iOS exclusivity
19. Analyst estimates put Fortnite at more than 100M downloads on iOS
20. Fortnite mobile breaks 100m downloads and $160m IAP revenue: PUBG not expected to reach 100 million milestone for another 206 days
21. Fortnite cosmetics possibly taking revenue from top console games
22. Dutch Dota 2 players can now see the contents of their next loot box: Valve’s attempts to comply with loot box regulations continue apace
23. Forza Motorsport 7 will not feature loot boxes
24. Forza Motorsport 7 removes prize crates, avoids paid tokens: Microtransaction system from prior Forza games will not appear in Forza Horizon 4, either
25. Gran Turismo Sport gets microtransactions in July update: Polyphony Digital adds ability to purchase in-game cars for real money
26. Gran Turismo Sport, revisited: More tracks, more cars, more everything
27. Spectrum ISP kicked out of NY for allegedly throttling online games and streams
28. New York shows Spectrum ISP the door, in part for throttling League of Legends: State public service commission revokes approval of Charter, Time Warner merger due to “various instances of misconduct”
29. One Week Later, Blizzard Still Doesn’t Know WhyWorld Of Warcraft’s Leveling System Is Borked
30. Nintendo barely improves conflict minerals sourcing over two years: One-fourth of company’s smelters and refiners aren’t following protocols to prevent human rights abuses
31. NPD: NES Classic was the highest unit-selling platform for June – Retro consoles help lead 52% YOY hardware sales growth
32. Nintendo has sold nearly 20M Switch systems and 87M Switch games
33. Switch sales lead Nintendo’s first quarter while 3DS and mobile income stagnate
34. Increased profits and $1.5bn sales kick off Nintendo’s financial year: Platform holder maintains forecast as Switch lifetime sales reach 19.7 million consoles, 86.93 million games
35. Nintendo stock increase trips up hedge fund’s $400 million bet: Melvin Capital’s months-long short position in Switch maker suffers setback, may still prove profitable
36. Nintendo’s next Labo kit coming in Sept, looks like next-gen Pilotwings
37. The Sinclair ZX Vega+ is finally being shipped to Indiegogo backers
38. Sales up at Sony as PS4 software exceeds expectations
39. Worldwide PlayStation 4 shipments have topped 80 million
40. PlayStation drives $17.9 billion Q1 for Sony: Higher-than-expected software sales and 43% digital ratio among financial highlights
41. The business case for a streaming Xbox
42. Zynga Q2 sees bookings jump 12%: Social publisher beats guidance with $233.9 million in non-GAAP sales, net losses of just over $900,000
43. Glu Mobile narrows losses with record Q2 bookings
44. Zynga’s mobile ‘forever franchises’ contribute to Q2 growth 
45. Sega capitalizing on foreign exchange with Yakuza, Total War: Sega Europe exec John Clark says audiences in Asia and the West are increasingly interested in games from the other region’s developers, but for different reasons
46. Sea of Thieves has attracted over 5 million players
47. Sea of Thieves reaches five million players as Cursed Sails expansion launches: Plus, 40 million hours broadcast on Twitch but it’s still unclear how player count translates to sales due to Game Pass inclusion
48. Live Streams Of A Chinese Robot-Fighting Tournament Are Getting Millions Of Views On Twitch
49. No Man’s Sky Next reaches over 50,000 concurrent players: Hello Games’ space exploration game sees resurgence after a 200k+ concurrent user peak at launch
50. No Man’s Sky hit almost 100,000 concurrent players on Steam this past weekend
51. Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle revenue tops $1B after two years
52. Dragon Ball Z mobile title reaches estimated $1 billion revenue: Sensor Tower data indicates Bandai Namco’s Dokkan Battle has hit major milestone after two years
53. MapleStory M achieves three million downloads in first week: Mobile version of hugely popular Korean MMO tops highest grossing charts in key Asian markets
54. Monster Hunter: World helps Capcom to record-breaking first quarter
55. Monster Hunter: World passes 8m sold in strong Q1 for Capcom – Game revenue increased 79 per cent year-on-year on the strength of Monster Hunter and Street Fighter
56. $2.65m Binding of Isaac card game Kickstarter smashes target by over 5,000%: Almost 40,000 backers successfully funded tabletop spin-off of popular indie roguelike
57. From failed Kickstarter to career-defining success: The story of Pony Island: Daniel Mullins discusses how he bounced back from failure to create “the smartest game of 2016”
58. The art of failing: What 11 bit Studios learnt from Beat Cop – Marketing director Patryk Grzeszczuk – “We were too far away from the times and the culture that were depicted in the game”
59. Mail.ru took a $27m impairment charge on Armored Warfare development in Q2: The charge was related to the game’s recent poor performance, in a quarter that saw revenues rise but profits halve
60. Paradox Interactive chooses development over stagnation with CEO switch
61. Paradox: “We’ve released crappy games in the past… I don’t want to do that anymore”
62. Dead Cells dev hopes to challenge exploitation with equal pay model
63. Dead Cells dev Motion Twin touts equal pay system: All 11 employees at French studio have identical salary, same say in project direction
64. Empires & Puzzles: Disrupting the biggest market with the smallest team – CEO Timo Soininen discusses the importance of mid-development marketing and defying the “so-called industry experts”
65. Steam user count has decreased 17 percent since January 
66. Steam active users on unusual decline throughout 2018: Steep decrease after January surge may reflect popularity of PUBG, then Fortnite
67. Steam game accused of covertly mining for cryptocurrency
68. Lessons learned and questions raised in bringing a game from console to Steam
69. Worldwide digital spending up 15% in June – Superdata: PUBG bolstered by Steam sale with second-best month of all time by unit sales
70. PUBG Mobile’s revenue reaches $30 million: Users globally spending about $650k daily over the last month, nearly triple the amount for the previous month
71. Valve adds pop-ups to Community Market warning of potential scams: Dialogue boxes warn users if they attempt to purchase items for a game they don’t own, or a new release
72. Valve’s first new game in 5 years, Artifact, coming in November, starting at $20
73. How League of Legends Went From Idea to Esport
74. Why Competitive Gaming Is Starting To Look A Lot Like Professional Sports: Can an FPS compete with the NFL?
75. How mobile can unlock esports for a casual audience: nWay CEO Taehoon Kim on the success of Power Rangers Legacy Wars and how it’s helping grow mobile esports
76. Overwatch League franchise spots for next season could be worth up to $60m: London Spitfires crowned Season 1 champions as Activision Blizzard prepares to open up six new spots globally
77. Making the piracy problem worse – 10 Years Ago This Month: Some publishers look at the recording industry’s disastrous reaction to file-sharing and basically copy it
78. Pokémon Go brushes off competition from Jurassic World and The Walking Dead: Apptopia co-founder and COO Jonathan Kay explains why Pokémon Go thrives as its competitors flounder
79. HTC Pushes Back On Reports of Declining Headset Sales
80. HTC defends lack of data when disputing VR “tailspin”: Headset manufacturer claims its leading position shows health of market – despite failing to demonstrate with sales figures
81. HTC, amidst a major revenue decline, brags about its VR revenue
82. PlayStation VR co-creator Richard Marks has swapped Sony for Google
83. Samsung Odyssey Drops to $400 and HP to $200 as Steep Discounts Continue for Windows VR Headsets
84. New XRDC Innovation Report reveals Vive still devs’ top target as AR rises
85. The GamesIndustry.biz Podcast: Artificial intelligence, with Chet Faliszek
86. Elon Musk to video game devs: Help me put “super fun games” on Tesla screens
87. Why did licensed games get better?
88. Defy Media Sells Off Another Property — Its ‘Escapist Magazine’ Gaming News Site
89. The Escapist relaunches with “no politics” pledge
90. FoxNext to join Disney after $71.3 billion Fox deal approved by shareholders: 21st Century Fox games division one of the “key assets” acquired by Disney
91. Disney’s purchase of Fox moves FoxNext into the House of Mouse
92. iOS game collection aims to spotlight pre-mobile handheld games
93. Blog: Meet The mobile puzzlers from a century ago 

Jon