News of the Week; September 5, 2018

MEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS & NET NEUTRALITY

1.  Court Rules It’s Fine If FCC Wants To Deem Just One Available ISP As ‘Competition’
2. Millions could lose cheap phone service under FCC’s overhaul of Lifeline
3. FCC Criticized for Surrendering Power to Punish Verizon After Firefighters Got Throttled During Wildfire
4. Verizon’s Oath Will Still Scan Your E-mail For Advertising Purposes Because Hey, It’s Verizon
5. Ajit Pai Coddles Big Telecom, Demonizes Silicon Valley
6. Ajit Pai Is Suddenly Very Concerned About Whether Tech Companies Are Censoring Conservatives
7. Man who threatened to kill Ajit Pai’s children pleads guilty, faces prison
8. T-Mobile/Sprint merger will bring higher prices, small carriers tell FCC
9. California Is Now Inches Away From Restoring Net Neutrality
10. California Shakes Off ISP Lobbyists, Embraces Real Net Neutrality
11. “Gold standard” state net neutrality bill approved by California Assembly
12. Calif. Senate approves net neutrality rules, sends bill to governor
13. Comcast Is Trying To Ban States From Protecting Broadband & TV Consumers
14. That Time Telco Lobbyists Sent Me All Their Talking Points About Trying To Shift The Blame To Internet Companies
15. RTL CEO Bert Habets on Record Results, ‘American Idol’ Reboot and Taking on Netflix in Europe
16. AT&T’s Top Anti-Net Neutrality Lobbyist In California Doesn’t Register As A Lobbyist
17. AT&T and Verizon Are Making Very Different Bets on What 5G Will Mean for Consumers and Content: Next generation of wireless tech promises to make carriers more competitive with traditional TV providers
18. Telecoms privacy and data security provisions in the USA

DIGITAL

1. DOJ: We will examine social media firms that “may be hurting competition”
2. We Shouldn’t Want Internet Giants Deciding Who To Silence; But They Should Let Users Decide Who To Hear
3. Netflix and Other Streaming Services May Soon Be Legally Required to Make Content for Europe
4. Netflix and Amazon will have to make more European content by law: A quota on local shows and movies will likely become official in December.
5. Amazon’s valuation briefly surpassed $1 trillion
6. Amazon achieved a market value of $1,000,000,000,000
7. Amazon hits $1 trillion market cap one month after Apple: Online giant becomes second ever company to reach the milestone
8. Amazon’s ad-supported video service faces many hurdles, but the upside is huge
9. IP Address Subscriber Isn’t Liable for Copyright Infringement by Users Sharing That IP Address–Cobbler v. Gonzales (Eric Goldman)
10. Copyright in Data Compilations Is Thin
11. Wikimedia Warns: EU Copyright Directive Could Drastically Change The Internet We Know And Love
12. YouTube’s Robert Kyncl Urges Creators To Speak Out Against Proposed EU Copyright Law
13. California Lawmakers Want a Study of Fake News (If Someone Else Pays for It) (Eric Goldman)
14. There’s A Reason That Misleading Claims Of Bias In Search And Social Media Enjoy Such Traction
15. A Federal Anti-SLAPP Law Would Make CDA 230 More Effective
16. Louisiana Police Appear To Be Using A Hoax Antifa List Created By 8Chan To Open Criminal Investigations
17. Jack Dorsey Woos Irate Republicans by Calmly Explaining Twitter Is Indeed Messed Up
18. How a Twitter account convinced 4,000 companies to stop advertising on Breitbart: Sleeping Giants founder tells Recode that he wants to be “the source of some kind of conscience” for social media.
19. Facebook and Twitter’s Biggest Problems Follow Them to Congress
20. How Trump Could Trigger Armageddon With a Tweet
21. The President v. Tech
22. How Trump’s Pressure on Google Threatens Government Manipulation of Search Results
23. Censorship and Collateral Damage: Analyzing the Telegram Ban in Iran
24. Google turns 20: how an internet search engine reshaped the world – The biggest moments, product launches, and acquisitions throughout Google’s two-decade history
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26. Google Reportedly Bought Your Banking Data in Secret, and That’s Not Even the Bad News
27. Google: Sorry professor, old Beethoven recordings on YouTube are copyrighted
28. Why I Can’t Quit Chrome
29. 6 Ways Google Chrome Changed the Way We Web
30. Senator to FTC: You guys really should look at Google one more time
31. Google celebrates a decade of Google Chrome, launches major redesign
32. Google wants to get rid of URLs but doesn’t know what to use instead
33. And Here Come The Completely Ridiculous Lawsuits Over Internet Company ‘Bias’
34. How Duterte Used Facebook To Fuel the Philippine Drug War
35. Facebook is building a ‘war room’ for the midterm elections: The company is taking a ‘laser-focused’ approach to ‘the bad actors.’
36. Instagram is coming after Amazon with plans to launch a standalone shopping app
37. The state of advertising on Instagram Stories in five charts
38. YouTube banned Alex Jones, but it’s letting white supremacist content thrive: Creators are profiting off hateful content
39. YouTube is fighting for a slice of the premium-video market
40. YouTube Exec Says Using All Caps Titles Causes Videos To Perform Worse
41. You Can Now Watch The KSI And Logan Paul Fight For Free On YouTube
42. Nerd City Video Raises Question: Does Jake Paul Hawking Merch To Kids Cross Legal Lines?
43. Here’s Exactly How Much Money One YouTuber Made Off His First Million Views
44. Popular YouTuber ‘The Fitness Marshall’ Breaks Down His Four-Year Ad Earnings
45. How Do Viral Videos Make Money? YouTubers Share Their Secrets
46. Hello Kitty Is The Latest Beloved Fictional Character To Become A YouTube Vlogger
47. Philanthropic YouTube Star Lilly Singh To Headline Mashable’s 9th Annual ‘Social Good Summit’
48. Claire Wineland, Who Chronicled Her Cystic Fibrosis Battle On YouTube, Has Passed Away At 21
49. ‘Live With Kelly And Ryan’ To Welcome Digital Stars All Week As Part Of ‘LIVEtember’ Initiative
50. YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Roll Out To 4 More Countries, Bringing Tally To 21
51. 21st Century Fox Tenders $100 Million Investment In Buzzy Livestreaming Platform Caffeine
52. 21st Century Fox sinks $100M into social streaming platform Caffeine
53. 21st Century Fox invests $100m into streaming startup Caffeine: Newly-formed Caffeine Studios’ will use Fox Sports’ experience to create esports and games programmes for new broadcasting platform
54. Lawyer in trouble with LSO for tweets
55. $400,000 Raised for Homeless Man on GoFundMe Is Completely Gone, Lawyer Says
56. The Mystery Of Columbia Pictures DMCAing Its Own Leaked Promotional Posters For Its ‘Holmes And Watson’ Movie
57. Disney Fixes Its Sketchy DVD Rental License, Wins Injunction Against Redbox Over Digital Downloads
58. Disney Enterprises Inc. v. Redbox Automated Retail LLC
59. Researchers show Alexa “skill squatting” could hijack voice commands
60. Microsoft is finally going to make the Skype UI good for the things people use
61. “How can they be so good?”: The strange story of Skype
62. The Scunthorpe Problem, And Why AI Is Not A Silver Bullet For Moderating Platform Content At Scale
63. New Artificial Intelligence Does Something Extraordinary – It Remembers
64. Engineering tour de force births programmable optical quantum computer
65. Special Report: In Venezuela, new cryptocurrency is nowhere to be found
66. Crunch Time in the NAFTA Negotiations: What’s at Play for Canada on Digital Policy (Michael Geist)
67. The Rise of the Cyber-Mercenaries: What happens when private firms have cyberweapons as powerful as those owned by governments?
68. Illusion of control: Why the world is full of buttons that don’t work
69. I Invented the iPhone’s Autocorrect. Sorry About That, and You’re Welcome
70. Between Cintiq and streaming, animation is thriving—ask Titmouse’s Chris Prynoski 

CREATIVITY

1. Ontario Court of Appeal decision answers ‘big legal questions’ on SLAPP suits
2. More On Mass Copyright Litigation in Canada – Part II (Howard Knopf)
3. Tanksley v. Daniels
4. Ninth Circuit Stops Monkeying Around And Denies En Banc Review Of The Monkey Selfie Case
5. LEGO built a drivable Bugatti Chiron out of a million pieces of Technic: It’s the first-ever life-size drivable car made from technic bricks.
6. How Not To Freak Out When Someone Copies Your Product
7. Are campaigns running on infringement?
8. Listen: ‘The Business of Television’ Author Reveals How Peak TV Shook Up Studio Dealmaking
9. Reading the Star Wars: Episode IX Script Has Made Domhnall Gleeson Paranoid
10. How ‘Fake News’ Was Born at the 1968 DNC: The madness of the 1968 Democratic National Convention pushed conservatives’ distrust of ‘the establishment’ into overdrive.
11. Pottery Barn Is Going to Bankrupt Harry Potter Fans Wanting to Redecorate Like Hogwarts

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

1. Canada’s privacy deficit
2. Cheese danish shipping, warrantless GPS trackers, and a border doctrine challenge
3. Apple will require all apps to have a privacy policy as of October 3
4. Five Eyes Surveillance Agencies Say Encryption Is Good, Except When It Keeps Them From Looking At Stuff
5. DHS Continues Facial Recognition Deployment With An Eye On Expanding Program To All Domestic Travelers
6. How Location Tracking Actually Works on Your Smartphone
7. The Physical Security Key That Keeps Google Employees From Getting Phished Is Now Available
8. Indian Police Adding Pre-Crime Software To Their Long List Of Snooping Tools
9. Australian Gov’t Likes Intrusive Border Device Searches Just As Much As The US Does
10. Unpatched routers being used to build vast proxy army, spy on networks

GAMES

1. Jacksonville Shooting Victim Sues EA And Venue
2. Madden NFL 19 shooting victim sues EA, claiming negligence
3. Jacksonville shooting survivor files lawsuit against EA and others for negligence
4. Jacksonville shooting victim suing EA for negligence: Also seeking damages from seven other defendants, including tournament venue Chicago Pizza and Jacksonville Landing mall
5. EA donates $1 million to newly established Jacksonville Tribute fund
6. EA donates $1m to victims of Jacksonville shooting: Publisher sets up Jacksonville Tribute fund in support of those affected
7. Electronic Arts Delays Popular Video Game, Sinking Stock
8. EA Bioware commits to free story DLC for Anthem: “We want people to be able to experience the same stories so none of that is going to be locked”
9. Battlefield V pushed back from Call of Duty and Red Dead Redemption release window: EA stock drops as DICE delays until November to make “final adjustments to the core gameplay”
10. FIFA 18 sells over 24 million copies: FIFA franchise overall totals 260 million copies sold; FIFA Mobile reaches 193 million installs
11. Battlefield 5 Dev Says It’s A “Shame” Battlefield 1 Didn’t Initially Include Women: “I don’t think it’s a bandwagon thing…it’s about gamers wanting to express themselves in different ways.”
12. NBA 2K producer: Microtransactions are ‘unfortunate reality’ of modern games
13. Microtransactions “an unfortunate reality in modern gaming” – NBA 2K19 dev: Every game tries to get additional revenue from players in some way, says senior producer Rob Jones in wake of NBA 2K18 criticism
14. And Now Comes The Pushback As One ROMs Site Is Challenging Nintendo’s Takedown Of ROM Sites
15. Switch sales nearing 5 million units in Japan
16. Nintendo Switch nears 5m sales in Japan: Only 2m behind lifetime sales of PlayStation 4
17. Nintendo’s big mobile earner Fire Emblem Heroes had a bumper summer
18. Diablo 3, Untitled Goose Game lead PAX West’s Nintendo Switch lineup
19. Gallery: Exploring Nintendo’s flagship New York City store
20. Let’s Sing 2019 heading to PS4, Xbox One, and… the Nintendo Wii?
21. “Aren’t you a little too old for that?” Two decades of playing Pokémon
22. Congressional Candidate Fights Boston Globe’s Use of Gamer Photo
23. Tencent suspends community manager following sexual harassment accusations
24. Tencent suspends global community manager after multiple sexual harassment claims: Full investigation pending as Arena of Valor CM accused of sending inappropriate messages to women
25. Tencent’s value drops by $20 billion following new Chinese regulations: Company has lost more than $160 billion in value this year, falling behind rival Alibaba Group
26. China to crack down on children’s video gaming time amid fears over addiction
27. China increasing video game restrictions to combat myopia in children
28. Chinese Ministry of Education recommends fewer game approvals to combat myopia: Also encourages regulations for screen time and introduction of age ratings for video games in China
29. Riot’s struggle with toxicity turns inwards: After years of focusing on toxicity in its player base, Riot Games faces up to unpleasant revelations about its own work culture – and the industry at large should take note
30. Riot responds to controversy over women and non-binary PAX workshops: “No matter how heated a discussion, we expect Rioters to act with respect”
31. YouTube Orders Pilot For Comedy Series ‘It’s A Man’s World’ About Sexism In Gaming
32. PewDiePie On Track To Be Overtaken As YouTube’s Most-Subscribed Channel In October
33. CCP Games: ‘We’re not interested in [harassers] being part of our community’
34. How Mulaka reflects a culturally respectful development process
35. European ratings board adding in-game purchase label to boxed games
36. PEGI adds in-game purchase warning to boxed games: Descriptor will be added to physical releases by the end of the year
37. Social gaming and gambling advertising, how to deal with them?
38. No esports in Olympics because ‘killer games’ promote violence: “They, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted”
39. F1 2018 dominates EMEA charts: But Rainbow Six tops the digital rankings
40. UK Charts: PES launch sales drop 42% year-on-year – F1 2018 retains pole position
41. Nazi tattoos scrubbed from Scum days after Early Access debut
42. Devolver removes neo-Nazi tattoos from Scum: Imagery was included to emphasise ‘prison culture’, review being conducted to check for other potentially offensive content
43. Video Game Industry Plays for FTC Approval of COPPA Program
44. BioWare: “Anthem is not a departure, it’s the continued evolution of our craft” – Game director Jon Warner discusses the terror and excitement of leading BioWare’s new flagship IP
45. How Nicki Minaj and a Drag Race superstar inspiredMonument Valley
46. Sony scrapping PS2 aftercare service in Japan
47. Sony Japan Is Finally Saying Goodbye To The PS2
48. Sony CEO says limited cross-platform play provides the ‘best user experience’
49. No Fortnite PS4 cross-play because ‘PlayStation is the best place to play’: It’s all about the user experience, says Sony CEO
50. CEO: PS4 blocks cross-console play to provide “best user experience”
51. Ten surprising things battle royale can teach us: Will Luton reflects on the lessons developers and publishers can learn from the rise of Fortnite, PUBG and their rivals
52. Rocket League takes a page from Fortnite with new limited-time Rocket Pass
53. Markiplier And Pokimane Will Battle It Out In Twitch ‘Fortnite’ Stream To Benefit ‘Stand Up 2 Cancer’
54. Rainbow Six Siege takes after Fortnite by offering in-game reward for using 2FA
55. Anthem isn’t charging for story DLC in an effort to keep its audience undivided
56. More competition means players won’t always stay for DLC, warns Anthem dev
57. YouTube Taps Gamers To Use New ‘YouTube Giving’ Tools In Fundraising Partnership With St. Jude
58. How Paradox combines business strategy and game dev
59. Square Enix and Tencent want to make triple-A games together
60. Square Enix to create AAA original IP with Tencent: ‘Strategic alliance’ between two firms will also see the creation of a new joint-venture company
61. Valve is making Counter-Strike: Global Offensive free to play, sort of
62. Valve: Creating Artifact is not a “zero-sum game” – How the company is keeping its focus narrow for the upcoming online trading card game
63. Final Fantasy XIV surpasses 14 million lifetime registered players
64. Green Man Gaming’s £100m IPO: “We’ve grown between 25 to 30% every year”
65. Skipping Steam: Why Jason Rohrer independently distributes One Hour, One Life 
66. Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end – 10 Years Ago This Month: Microsoft announces Ensemble’s closing time months before it wraps development on Halo Wars
67. ‘Minecraft’ Competitor ‘Roblox’ Raises $150 Million At $2.5 Billion Valuation
68. Roblox closes on $150 million Series F funding round: Company’s largest funding round to date will go toward continued international expansion
69. QC Games: “We may make terrible calls, but at least they’re ours” – Why the Breach developers left BioWare and EA for life as a AAA independent
70. The video game creator turning his grief into art: Indie developer Dan Hett talks us through the therapeutic power of games development after the loss of his brother in the Manchester Arena bombing
71. Blog: Why academics can no longer compete in game AI competitions
72. Marvel’s Spider-Man Understands the Amazing Fantasy of Becoming Peter Parker 
73. Spider-Man PS4 review: Does whatever a spider can—and then some
74. Games intelligence firm SuperData acquired by analytics company Nielsen
75. SuperData acquired by Nielsen Holdings: Major industry market intelligence company joins analytics group to bolster digital gaming, esports data
76. Book Excerpt: Understanding video games as culture
77. Check out Rolling Stone’s 1972 coverage of Spacewar!

Jon