COMMUNICATIONS
- TELUS Corporation obtains court order to hold virtual-only shareholder meeting
- California AG Announces Settlement Agreement with T-Mobile and Sprint
- US Cable Companies Lost 5 Million Paying Customers Last Year Alone
- AT&T waives data cap during coronavirus; Comcast keeps charging overage fees
- US ISPs Drop Usage Caps, Pledge To Avoid Kicking Users Offline During Coronavirus
- Comcast and T-Mobile upgrade everyone to unlimited data for next 60 days
- Comcast’s Broadband Market Domination Continues To Grow
- Charter engineer quits over “reckless” rules against work-from-home
- Amid pandemic, T-Mobile gets emergency access to Dish’s 600MHz spectrum
- AT&T CEO pay rose to $32 million in 2019 while he cut 20,000 jobs
- Patient Distancing: The Critical Role Telehealth Will Play During the Coronavirus Pandemic
- President Trump Signs Legislation to Enhance Efforts to Secure U.S. Telecommunication Networks
- President Trump Signs Huawei/ZTE Replacement Funding Legislation; FCC Pushes for Necessary $1 Billion Appropriations Bill
- FCC’s 2018 Abolition of Main Studio Rules Means Broadcast Studios Do Not Need to Be Open to the Public During Coronavirus Outbreak
- After deregulatory blitz, FCC scrambles to prevent ISP abuse during pandemic
- President renominates FCC commissioner O’Rielly
- Data From Italy, China Suggests The US Internet Isn’t Likely To Choke On COVID-19 Broadband Usage Spike
DIGITAL
- Law Commission of Ontario recommends sweeping changes to law of defamation to address challenges of internet age
- LCO recommends new regime for online defamation
- French antitrust watchdog hits Apple with its biggest fine ever: $1.2 billion
- SoftBank Owned Patent Troll, Using Monkey Selfie Law Firm, Sues To Block Covid-19 Testing, Using Theranos Patents
- The Internet is drowning in COVID-19-related malware and phishing scams
- Capitalism’s Addiction Problem: The biggest, best-known companies in the digital economy are getting their users hooked on their products – and undermining the pillars of America’s market economy.
- Why Tech Might Actually Be The Solution To Capitalism’s Addiction Problem
- Online Harms Part 1: The new regulatory framework requiring businesses to protect online users against harm
- Another Troubling Courtroom Loss for Online Marketplaces–Massachusetts Port Authority v. Turo (Eric Goldman)
- Online Platforms Sidestep Claims over User Content Decisions and Social App Functions
- As Politicians Are Still Looking To Destroy The Internet, Covid-19 Reminds Us Why Social Media Is Not Just Good, But Saving Lives
- Burning The Ladder: Match.com Supports Burning Section 230 To The Ground, Despite Relying On It To Exist
- TikTok Moderation Guidelines Show Users Were Punished For Political Content, Being “Ugly” Or “Slummy”
- Invisible Censorship: TikTok Told Moderators to Suppress Posts by “Ugly” People and the Poor to Attract New Users
- As Legal Dispute Intensifies, Early ‘Hype House’ Star Looks To Launch Rival TikTok Group
- Insights: Taking TikTok Hype Houses Mainstream—What Could Go Wrong?
- 80% of TikTok’s Ad Spend is Dedicated to Snapchat, Reports MediaRadar
- New York Attorney General Continues Aggressive Enforcement Over Coronavirus Claims
- The Tort of Conversion in the Electronic Age: A Case Study
- Social Media Promised To Block Covid-19 Misinformation; But They’re Also Blocking Legit Info Too
- People In Kashmir Can’t Access Coronavirus Information Because The Government Is Crippling The Internet
- Why is Meetup helping people organize meetings during a pandemic?
- Major tech platforms say they’re ‘jointly combating fraud and misinformation’ about COVID-19
- How Wikipedia Prevents the Spread of Coronavirus Misinformation: A group of hawk-eyed experts operate on a special track to monitor medical information on the site.
- Android surveillanceware operators jump on the coronavirus fear bandwagon
- Verily’s COVID-19 screening site goes live, is already over capacity
- Facebook was marking legitimate news articles about the coronavirus as spam due to a software bug
- Reputable sites swept up in FB’s latest coronavirus-minded spam cleanse [Updated]
- Facebook Pledges $100 Million To Small Businesses Affected By Coronavirus, Partners With WHO To Remove False COVID-19 Content
- Here’s how social media can combat the coronavirus ‘infodemic’: Facebook and Twitter are major sources of Covid-19 news. They’re also where misinformation thrives. How can platforms step up?
- Facebook is shutting down MSQRD, the AR selfie app it acquired in 2016
- Instagram’s IGTV Reaching Out To “Emerging” Creators For Ad-Share Tests This Spring
- Facebook announces $100 million program for small businesses impacted by coronavirus
- Facebook unleashes the legal hounds against deceptive web domain names
- It’s Not Just the Content, It’s the Business Model: Democracy’s Online Speech Challenge
- Apple Music Signs New Licensing Deals With Majors
- Apple Music reaches new deals with major labels sans “Apple Prime” bundle agreement
- Apple’s WWDC is happening this year after all—but it has a new format
- Apple’s WWDC to take place entirely online: Conference will be held in June with online keynote and sessions
- There Are No Plans To Cancel Or Postpone VidCon, Organizers Say
- Social Media Influencer Marketing and FTC Enforcement
- Spotify Patents A Voice Assistant That Can Read Your Emotions
- Google and Verily clarify their roles in the US coronavirus response [UPDATED 3/15]
- YouTuber Loses Lawsuit Over Channel Termination–Mishiyev v. Alphabet
- YouTube Closes Some Content Moderation Offices Due To Coronavirus, Warns Creators It’s Temporarily Relying On Automated Systems
- YouTube Warns Video Takedowns Could Be Higher During Coronavirus Crisis
- YouTube Warns That, Thanks To Covid-19, It’s Handing Over More Content Moderation To The Machines And They Might Suck
- Here’s Why Google Broke Out YouTube’s Ad Revs For The First Time Last Quarter
- YouTube Officially Removing ‘Trending’ Tab From Mobile App In Favor Of ‘Explore’
- Top 50 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide • Week Of 3/16/2020
- Will Wall Street Get In The Way Of Jack Dorsey’s Lofty Plans To Turn Twitter Into A Protocol?
- Fox Sells Stake In Roku To Purchase Ad-Supported Streamer Tubi For $440 Million
- Snapchat Introduces DIY Augmented Reality Tool for Brands: Advertisers can customize Lens Web Builder with logos, images
- Snapchat joins forces with WHO to combat coronavirus misinformation
- Twitter Will Increase Its Use of Automation Tools as It Looks to Ensure Accuracy in COVID-19 Discussion
- World Health Organization Launches Daily Livestreamed Concert Series With Coldplay, John Legend, More
- Amazon Music launches analytics for artists with a mobile app
- What it’s like to own Vancouver’s last two video stores during a pandemic
- Amazon hiring 100,000 warehouse workers amid coronavirus boom
- Coronavirus Is Speeding Up the Amazonification of the Planet: As restaurants, bars, and local shops close down, platform-based monoliths are vacuuming up customers and jobs
- World Health Organization Launches Daily Livestreamed Concert Series With Coldplay, John Legend, More
- Netflix Suspends All Scripted Productions In U.S., Canada
- Netflix Party lets you have movie night while social distancing
- Coronavirus Shutdowns Could Increase Viewers’ Content Consumption By 60%, Per Nielsen Data
- Competition Law and Online Sales Restrictions: UK Court of Appeal Judgment in Ping
- Online casino fined £3 million for “systemic” AML failings
- Sonos Backs Off Plan To Brick Older, Still Functioning Speakers
- Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board
- Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board of directors: Corporation’s co-founder will focus more on his philanthropic activities
- Bitcoin loses 21 percent of its value in broad cryptocurrency rout
A.I.
- AI is an Ideology, Not a Technology: At its core, “artificial intelligence” is a perilous belief that fails to recognize the agency of humans.
- Gabe Newell on Brain-computer Interfaces: ‘We’re way closer to The Matrix than people realize’
- How can machine learning be applied to game development?
- Coronavirus: Social giants police web with AI as staff sent home
- “High-risk AI”: A European approach to excellence and trust
- The challenges of Artificial Intelligence in the field of IP
- Who owns AI creations? Comment on WIPO’s ‘Draft Issues Paper on Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence’ (Guido Noto La Diega)
- Identifying the Legal and Business Risks of Disinformation and Deepfakes: What Every Business Needs to Know
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Volunteers 3D-Print Unobtainable $11,000 Valve For $1 To Keep Covid-19 Patients Alive; Original Manufacturer Threatens To Sue
- Industry Committee Recommends Adding Digital Lock Exception to USMCA Copyright Provisions (Michael Geist)
- False Start for Paparazzi in Copyright Suit
- Cruz v. Cox Media Group: District court holds Cox Media Group liable for copyright infringement due to publication of bystander’s photograph of 2017 terrorist attack in conjunction with news story, finding no fair use.
- LinkedIn Appeals Important CFAA Ruling Regarding Scraping Public Info Just As Concerns Raised About Clearview
- After A Long Climb, Led Zeppelin Prevails In The Stairway To Heaven Copyright Battle
- Is “This Land is Your Land” in the Public Domain?
- The Freewheeling, Copyright-Infringing World of Custom-Printed Tees: Print-on-demand companies allow anyone to upload designs for T-shirts, mugs & other items. But many images violate I.P. rights.
- Cofemel decision applied for the first time by UK court
- The Philadelphia Phillies Are Phighting for Their Rights to the Phanatic
- March Madness Trademarks: Avoiding a Foul Call from the NCAA (2020 Update – Part 1)
- March Madness Trademarks: Avoiding a Foul Call from the NCAA (2020 Update)(Part 2 – Even if the Tournament is Off)
- Google’s Servers Hosted by Third Parties Do Not Establish Patent Venue
- Failure to Mark Can Put Damages Underwater
- Protecting Trade Secrets During a Pandemic
- Natural Language Processing
- Former Refrigerator Manufacturer Says Companies Using Open Source, Royalty-Free Video Technology Must Pay To License 2,000 Patents
- Patent Marking – Federal Circuit Clarifies Noncompliance is not Cured by Ceasing to Sell Products or by Willful Infringement
- 2020: A Busy Year for CRISPR Patents at the EPO
- Firm wielding Theranos patents asks judge to block coronavirus test [Updated]
- After Theranos suit, Fortress makes patents available on royalty-free basis for COVID-19 tests
- Softbank-Owned Patent Troll Now Promises To Grant Royalty-Free License For Covid-19 Tests; Details Lacking
- True or false: testing limits of comparative advertising
- Patent-Eligible Improvements to Computer Functionality Must Be Directed to an Improvement of the Computer or Network Platform
- Claims Using Naturally-Occurring Phenomenon in Method of Preparation Found Patent Eligible
- Choosing Advocacy over Candor Renders Patent Unenforceable
- Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court – Is it all over or is there a Plan B?
- The Growing Importance of International Arbitration for Intellectual Property Disputes
- Intellectual property law: a year in review
- As Congress Explore New Awful Copyright Plans, Maximalists Look To Rewrite The History Of SOPA/PIPA
PRIVACY
- Why the Coming Battle Over Canadian Privacy Reform Starts at Home (Michael Geist)
- Housebound Blues: Considering the Privacy and Data Security Consequences of Remote Work
- Clearview Was A Toy For Billionaires Before It Became A Toy For Cops
- Best Practices for Maintaining Employee Privacy Regarding Covid-19
- The government might want your phone location data to fight coronavirus. Here’s why that could be okay.: Privacy advocates want restrictions on how much phone location data the government gets from tech companies.
- How China built facial recognition for people wearing masks
- Since The FBI Can’t Be Bothered To Do It, Motherboard Has Compiled A Database Of Attempts To Access Encrypted IPhones
- We need privacy and data laws to tackle this global pandemic
- TikTok Says New ‘Transparency Center’ Will Invite Outside Experts To Observe Its Content, Data Practices
- What industries utilize opt-in cookie banners the most, and the least?
- High-stakes security setups are making remote work impossible
- Study ranks the privacy of major browsers. Here are the findings
- Local Government Employee Fined For Illegally Deleting Item Requested Under Freedom Of Information Act
CREATIVITY
- Eighth Circuit Serves Another Round of First Amendment Protection for Alcohol Advertising
- China Expels U.S. Journalists
- Insane: China Expels American Journalists In Ridiculous, Unhelpful Spat About Covid-19
GAMES
- The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a rise in online gaming in the U.S.
- Gaming Usage Up 75 Percent Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Verizon Reports: Video streaming has also seen a bump, up 12 percent during peak usage hours.
- Crunching devs share the human cost of development at Naughty Dog
- Dreams dev testing the waters of letting players monetize their work
- F1 drivers and other pros switch to esports in the age of the coronavirus
- Board finds that Nintendo Joy-Cons don’t infringe on Gamevice controller patents
- Nintendo wins patent dispute against Gamevice: Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidates all 19 of mobile accessories maker’s claims against platform holder
- Nintendo tells employees to self-quarantine: Measure taken after employee in Redmond, Washington offices tests positive for novel coronavirus
- Nintendo staff working from home after employee tests positive for coronavirus
- Ittle Dew 2+ returns to Nintendo Switch: Former publisher Nicalis denies allegations it attempted to re-publish title without permission
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons review: A quarantined life has never been cuter
- Nexon to close down MapleStory 2 global servers this spring
- Gaming and live streaming rise globally amid COVID-19 crisis: Games industry in a strong position to weather pandemic, say analysts
- A short history of banned games in Germany: Beiten Burkhardt’s Andreas Lober explores Germany’s fractious relationship with video games — and the age rating issues that still lie ahead
- The developer of Journey bucks the trend of “predatory” monetisation
- What a WoW virtual outbreak taught us about how humans behave in epidemics
- Call of Duty: Warzone crosses 15 million players in four days
- Call of Duty: Warzone surpasses 6 million players in 24 hours
- Call of Duty: Warzone hits six million users in 24 hours – Activision’s free-to-play battle royale launch dwarfs competition
- Free press advocates unveil new library of censored works — in Minecraft
- Reporters Without Borders builds censorship-free zone in Minecraft: The press freedom group will publish articles censored in their country of origin via in-game books
- Samsung is discontinuing its PC-to-phone game streaming app PlayGalaxy Link
- Samsung scraps PlayGalaxy Link streaming service: Games streaming service canned after five-month beta trial period, ends March 27
- Why culturalisation matters as much as localisation: Kate Edwards discusses how to approach culturalisation, and how to navigate sensitive themes so your game can reach wider markets
- The four pillars of good representation: GDC 2020 – Proletariat’s Tori Schafer offers key considerations for studios including LGBT+ representation in their games
- Forza creative director on the hardest part of fostering inclusivity: Dan Greenwalt talks about the never-ending work of creating a workplace where developers feel safe to call out mistakes
- GameStop cancels in-store events indefinitely in response to COVID-19: But employees reportedly struggle with lack of cleaning supplies or emergency sick leave
- 505 Games, Activision, Nintendo 2019’s Best Publishers Says Metacritic, Sony Not in Top 20
- February US sales down 29%, says NPD: Tracking firm reports no new releases cracked the top 20 as every platform saw hardware sales drop year-over-year
- UK Monthly Report: GTA V reigns again as The Division 2 bounces back in February: Software market drops more than 15% and console sales continue to tumble
- Niantic updates Pokémon Go in effort to limit coronavirus spread
- Niantic just made it easier to play Pokemon Go in self-isolation
- Pokémon Home grosses $2.6m in first month: US leads in player spend and installs as total downloads exceed 2.3 million
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne ships 5m units: Series lifetime sales exceed 62 million as Iceborne expansion maintains strong performance
- Doom Eternal is a masterful twitch shooter symphony with one sour note
- Doom Eternal: Critical Consensus: Id Software’s latest shows brilliance in its bombast, but dabbles in platforming and world building with less success
- Google details what you need to play Stadia games in 4K on the web: Mac users need not apply.
- Blog: Nvidia’s brilliance, Google’s foresight, and the necessity of adding something new
- UK Charts: Nioh 2 takes No.1 as Mario Kart 8 races up the charts
- Assassin’s Creed Unity was one of the best-selling games in the world last month: Latest EMEAA charts puts Ubisoft’s 2014 title at No.1
- Lego teams up with Nintendo for Super Mario brick-based game
- Lego Super Mario toys announced: New line incorporates interactive electronic character with traditional building block elements
- Pokimane, DrDisrespect sign multi-year Twitch exclusivity deals: Two top streamers opt to remain while other popular names move to YouTube, Mixer, Facebook
- Twitch Indefinitely Bans Lifestyle Streamer Kaceytron For Coronavirus Comments
- Ubisoft, EA, Bethesda, and more enact remote working policies due to COVID-19
- Twitch Partners With Measurement Firm Comscore To Amp Up Ad Data
- Coronavirus-induced school and office closures have been great for Twitch streamers
- Esports: how can travel businesses take advantage of this exciting new market?
- EA, Rockstar, others shift to remote working amid pandemic: FIFA publisher also cancels all live events until global situation improves
- Square Enix warns of Final Fantasy VII Remake shipping delays: Worldwide release still set for April 10, but publisher says it’s “increasingly likely” that copies may be delayed in delivery
- Genvid Technologies secures $33m in Series B funding round: Interactive streaming developer backed by Samsung, Huya and NTT Docomo
- Miniclip acquires UK mobile studio Eight Pixels Square
- Miniclip acquires Eight Pixels Square: UK mobile developer joins Swiss development and publishing outfit
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Critical Consensus: Kind, community escapism just when we needed it
- Overwatch League cancels all March and April live events in response to COVID-19: Scheduled matches will still be played and broadcast online
- Call of Duty League cancels all scheduled live events due to COVID-19: All planned matches will go forward online-only, with live broadcasts
- Fullscreen’s Dustin Glass Exits To Head Gaming For Digital Video-Focused Reach Agency
- Twitch Dives Into Exclusive Livestreaming Deal With Dr DisRespect
- Back-end engine developer Pragma closes $4.2m seed round; LA-based startup provides “back-end as a service” solution set to launch later this year
- Making remote work work: Two developers from Endless’ global workforce focus on communication, trust, and culture in distributed development
- GDC 2020 virtual talks, awards streaming for free all week! Here’s the lineup
- Microsoft Build conference, DOTA and League of Legends esports among latest events to be cancelled
- Microsoft drops full Xbox Series X tech specs, reveals ‘storage expansion cards’
- Xbox Series X specs revealed, aims for “a minimum doubling” over Xbox One X: Microsoft’s upcoming console will also dramatically improve the performance of current and previous gen games
- Xbox announces, retracts Thanksgiving 2020 launch for Series X: Larry Hryb says Microsoft is “committed to launching holiday 2020”
- The new Xbox Wireless Controller will reduce latency and allow instant sharing
- Going for speed: The load-busting, lag-limiting tech of the Xbox Series X
- Sony details PlayStation 5 tech specs in extensive ‘deep dive’
- 5 highlights from PlayStation’s big PS5 system architecture deep dive
- Sony lays out more PS5 details: Mark Cerny talks about the promise of system’s 825GB SSD and Tempest 3D Audio Tech, offers details on backwards compatibility and expanded storage
- PlayStation’s switch to a SSD for the PS5 aims to ‘give the game designer freedom’
- Sony details PS5’s fast SSD, variable clock rates, 3D audio tech [Updated]
- Ex-Vainglory devs raise $2.5m for Bazooka Tango: Seed funding will help new studio create debut title set in Vainglory universe, built in Super Evil Megacorp’s engine
- A year without E3 is a chance to take stock | Opinion: The ESA’s show has failed to articulate what function it will serve to the modern industry — this year’s cancellation will force that discussion to happen
- Epic Games acquires facial animation tech studio Cubic Motion
- Epic acquires Cubic Motion: Unreal Engine maker picks up the company behind facial animation tech in God of War and Hellblade – Senua’s Sacrifice
- Manticore Games is building a “truly level playing field” for game development: CEO Frédéric Descamps hopes to disrupt game creation in the way that YouTube and Twitch did broadcasting
- Deca Games acquires DragonVale following Backflip Studios closure
- Stuck at home? Binge on some “War Stories” gaming videos!
- Don’t Miss: Neo Cab and the effort to make an empathetic game about gamification
- Don’t Miss: The story behind Remedy’s viral dog mocap star
- Don’t Miss: A 2012 look at CDPR’s Cyberpunk plans, and lessons learned from The Witcher
- Don’t Miss: Evolving the combat design of id Software’s Doom Eternal
- Don’t Miss: Naughty Dog’s Jak and Daxter: the Precursor Legacy postmortem
- Video: Making better games by understanding human error
- Report: AR Startup Magic Leap is Looking for a Buyer
- Magic Leap looks for buyers
- Report: AR headset maker Magic Leap exploring a sale at $10 billion valuation
- Games industry raised over $5.5m for Australian bushfire relief; Humble Bundle, Call of Duty DLC and Bungie T-shirts lead fundraising efforts
- Red Magic 5G gaming smartphone has 144hz display, internal cooling fan
- Video Gaming/E-Gaming Law Update
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,314: System and method for providing continuous gameplay in a multiplayer video game through an unbounded gameplay session
- BAFTA opts for online-only game awards as COVID-19 concerns grow
- Untitled Goose Game nabs Game of the Year at the 2020 Game Developers Choice Awards!
Jon