News of the Week; July 29, 2015

GAMES 

1. ESL cracking down on ‘performance enhancing drug’ use in league events

+ World’s largest e-sports group to start drug testing in wake of Adderall scandal

+ Winners can’t use drugs: Anti-doping tests are coming to eSports: Various leagues move toward policing use of pills like Adderall.

2. Razer buys out Ouya

+ Report: Ouya ‘Free the Games’ indie funding scheme abandoned

+ Indie devs say Ouya still owes thousands in unpaid “Free the Games Fund” earnings

+ Razer says it will pay what Ouya owes to indie devs

3. Industry must adapt to gamers as performers, not consumers – Outpost

4. Editorial: everything you know about boys, video games, and surveys might be wrong

5. Pokémon In Unreal 4 Looks Fantastic

6. China finally lifts 15-year ban on manufacture and sale of games consoles: Strict censorship and approval process for games is still in place, though.

7. Xbox committed to slow growth in China

8. Research: Australians spend 88 minutes a day playing games

9. Nintendo is closing TVii service for good

10. NetEase investing millions in mobile indies

11. Lessons from Zynga: Data is essential, but it shouldn’t rule your world

12. EA’s Söderlund on Star Wars: “There’s been a lot of guidelines and rules that you need to follow”

13. DIGRA ’15 – Proceedings Of The 2015 DIGRA International Conference – 37 Articles Or Papers

14. ‘Pixels’ is somehow even worse than I thought it could be

15. Analyzing a Dataset of Game Releases

16. The giants hiding a growing problem – Video games on Kickstarter on the first half of 2015

DIGITAL

1. The Rhetoric of Copyright Extremism

2. Anatomy of a Copyright Coup: Jamaica’s Public Domain Plundered

3. PSA: Twitter hasn’t just started removing stolen jokes

+ Conan O’Brien Targeted in Lawsuit Claiming He Lifted Jokes from Twitter

4. Study Of Spain’s ‘Google Tax’ On News Shows How Much Damage It Has Done

5. So far, WordPress denied 43% of DMCA takedown requests in 2015: To the site’s ire, many came from third-party services using automated bots.

+ WordPress Takes A Stand Against Abusive DMCA Takedown Notices; Others Should Pay Attention

6. Bill C-51 not in keeping with Canada’s international obligations: UN

7. NSA ordered to destroy phone records it collected illegally

8. German regulator orders Facebook to allow pseudonyms

+ Germany fights Facebook over real names policy: Hamburg data protection authority says that site cannot demand photo ID from users – and says company has to ‘play by our rules’ to operate in the country

9. Campaign calls for children’s ‘right to be forgotten’

10. 5 key takeaways about Canada’s amended privacy laws

11. Clickwrap agreement available only through hyperlink enforceable under New York law

12. Canada orders large ISPs to make fiber available to competitors: Fiber sharing requirement to boost choice for high-speed Internet, Canada says.

+ In a win for Canadians, CRTC promises fair rules to increase independent choice and affordability for fiber Internet access

+ Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-326: Review of wholesale wireline services and associated policies

+ Mapping Out the CRTC Blueprint for Universal, Affordable Internet Access (Michael Geist)

13. EU hits Sky and Hollywood with antitrust complaint over pay-TV geoblocking: Commission doesn’t like that Sky is required to block access to films outside UK.

14. Dueling Lawsuits Threaten The NFL, DirecTV’s Annoying Sunday Ticket Exclusive

15. FCC approves AT&T – DirecTV merger

+ FCC Approves AT&T’s $69 Billion DirecTV Merger, Announces It Late Friday And Hopes Nobody Notices

16. 4Channers Attempt to Scam Feminists With “FemCon2015,” Fail Miserably

17. Online rapper must face the music, stand trial for threatening lyrics: “I said go and get the Feds. ‘Cause you’re gonna end up dead.”

18. Hologram performance shut down by police at hip-hop festival: City officials said rapper’s digital appearance “posed a significant public safety risk.”

19. Google Giving Away Some Of Its Patents To Startups To Help Protect Startups From Trolls

20. Fiat Chrysler recalls 1.4 million cars over remote hack vulnerability: Uconnect bug can shut down engine and brakes, take over steering.

21. Philip K. Dick Theorizes The Matrix in 1977, Declares That We Live in “A Computer-Programmed Reality”

CREATIVITY

1. Filmmakers fighting “Happy Birthday” copyright find their “smoking gun”: A 1927 kids’ songbook proves “conclusively the song is in the public domain.”

+ Happy Birthday Copyright Bombshell: New Evidence Warner Music Previously Hid Shows Song Is Public Domain

2. State Of Georgia Sues Carl Malamud For Copyright Infringement For Publishing The State’s Own Laws

3. Chilling Effects: UK Police Admit To Investigating Journalists For Covering Snowden Leaks

4. NAD finds Dollar Shave Club ads did not falsely disparage competitors’ products 

5. Doobie Brothers Vs. The Doobie Decimal System In Trademark Battle

jon