News of the Week; July 20, 2016

By Jon Festinger on July 25, 2016

GAMES

  1. Valve lawyers send cease-and-desist letters to Counter-Strike gambling sites: CSGOLotto, CSGOLounge among those told to cease “commercial use” of Steam accounts.
  2. Valve calls on 23 Counter-Strike gambling hubs to cease & desist
  3. 23 Skin Gambling Sites, Spanning Casino And Sports Betting, Targeted With Cease And Desist From Valve
  4. Are ‘Provably Fair’ CS:GO Skin Gambling Sites As Fair And Safe As They Claim?
  5. Seven Questions Raised By Valve’s Skin Betting Announcement
  6. Twitch pulls the plug on CS:GO gambling broadcasts
  7. Twitch Bans Top Counter-Strike Gambling Streamer
  8. Robert Yang calls out Twitch for “humiliating and dehumanising treatment”: Radiator 2 is the third Yang release to be banned by Twitch for its sexual content
  9. Fallout 4 DLC Quest Resembles New Vegas Mod; Bethesda Denies Copying It – “We love our mod community and would never disrespect them,” Bethesda says.
  10. Nintendo Breaks Stock Market Records Thanks To Pokemon: A whole lot of shares were traded in Japan.
  11. Pokemon GO drives Nintendo market cap past Sony: Nintendo’s value has doubled, approaching $40 billion, thanks to Niantic’s Pokemon mobile game
  12. Measuring the quotable pop culture impact of Pokémon Go
  13. Pokémon Go Maker Is Facing a Privacy Lawsuit Threat in Germany
  14. Pokémon Go Craze Brings New “Augmented Reality” Legal Issues Into Light (Michael Geist)
  15. I hired a Pokémon Go chauffeur and played in ultimate luxury
  16. Pokémon Go is barely a week old and Hillary Clinton is already using it to register voters
  17. T-Mobile’s Pokémon Go freebie data bad for net neutrality, cry activists: Gotta zero-rate ’em all if you want to preserve the open Internet.
  18. Fake Pokémon Go app on Google Play infects phones with screenlocker
  19. What can you do when Pokémon Go decides your house is a gym?: Augmented reality and private spaces don’t mix
  20. Pokémon Go in the Workplace: Oh Look There’s a Pikachu! 
  21. Providing for your Pokémon in your Will:  Everyone is talking about Pokémon Go but no one is asking the most important question of all – what happens to your Pokémon when you die?
  22. ‘Incredibly dangerous’ Pokemon Go stunt draws ire of TTC
  23. Sex offender arrested, accused of playing Pokémon Go with kids: Probation agent saw offender playing game with kids outside agency’s office.
  24. Nintendo Cracking Down On Pokemon Go ‘Pirates’ Despite The Game Being Free
  25. Pokemon GO is now the biggest US mobile game ever: Niantic’s insta-hit has topped Twitter’s daily users and sees more engagement than Facebook
  26. Pokemon GO is the perfect marriage of IP and technology
  27. The past and future of location based AR games like Pokemon Go
  28. Sales double at GameStops that are now PokeStops, says company chief
  29. What ‘Pokémon Go’ Could Be Like if it Was Really Augmented Reality
  30. Pokémon Go Ushers in a New, Augmented World of Legal Liability Concerns 
  31. Defense Department Issues Opsec Guidelines For Safe And Secure Pokemon Hunting
  32. Pokemon Go players: you have 30 days from signup to opt out of binding arbitration
  33. How hackers are revealing the hiddenPokemon Go monsters all around you: Deciphered server data provides precise locations in a handy Google Map.
  34. What Pokémon, Japanese Schoolgirl Punks, and Cocaine Have in Common: There wouldn’t be Pikachu without kawaii, Japan’s highly addictive cult of cuteness.
  35. Microsoft’s games revenue slips due to declining Xbox console sales
  36. The Call For Diverse Representation In Gaming: A Win In ‘Mirror’s Edge Catalyst’
  37. Shooter Raw Data becomes first VR title to top Steam charts
  38. VR “kind of scares me as an investor” – Lasky
  39. Pro-skier Matilda Rapaport dies whilst filming footage for Steep: Extreme sports star killed by avalanche during Ubisoft project
  40. Ubisoft’s sales climb 44% as Vivendi increases stake in publisher: Vivendi now holds over 20% of the voting rights in Ubisoft
  41. South Korean prosecutor arrested over ’05 purchase of Nexon stock
  42. Unity Raises $181 Million Series C in Anticipation of VR/AR Growth: Company reportedly valued at $1.5 billion
  43. The law in the world’s largest mobile gaming market has changed
  44. China overtakes US in iOS game revenues – App Annie
  45. Twitch viewers more likely to buy within 24 hours of stream
  46. eSports growth slowing but market to pass $1bn in 2017 – SuperData
  47. TV networks show they are ready to commit to esports
  48. Why sports teams are recruiting video gamers
  49. eSports’ “Wild West” period is drawing to a close
  50. Ubisoft’s fortunes rise thanks to strong Q1 sales of digital goods
  51. TIGA wants improved Game Tax Relief following Brexit
  52. TIGA issues ten-point report on preparing for Brexit
  53. Spanish games companies have “multiplied by a factor of 8” since 2005
  54. Breeding Season’s Patreon campaign turns sour: When sex and farming sims go wrong
  55. Hideo Kojima on Leaving Metal Gear Behind and Starting Anew
  56. Can ‘Minecraft’ Really Change the Way Teachers Teach?
  57. Matt Damon Would Love to Be in a Video Game, But No One’s Asked Him Yet

DIGITAL

  1. Google’s ad business “breaches” EU rules, says antitrust chief: Price comparison charges “reinforced,” fresh charges against ad practices coming.
  2. Alleged founder of world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site arrested: US prosecutors allege Artem Vaulin illegally distributed over $1 billion in IP.
  3. Twitter stirs debate as ‘troll’ banned over racist abuse
  4. Milo Yiannopoulos, rightwing writer, permanently banned from Twitter: Breitbart writer, who tweeted as @Nero, handed permanent suspension after claims he fanned flames of social media attack on Ghostbusters’ Leslie Jones
  5. Twitter vows to act more swiftly after banning Leslie Jones abuser: Twitter bars Milo Yiannopoulos for good after Jones quit the network following tweets that left her in ‘personal hell’
  6. Twitter opens up account verification, bans Breitbart editor over abuse
  7. Police Step Up Arrests For ‘Threatening’ Social Media Posts In The Wake Of The Dallas Shooting
  8. Paris Court Says Search Engines Don’t Need To Block Torrent Searches
  9. Google, Microsoft can’t be forced to censor “torrent” searches: Court disapproved of plaintiff’s attempt to use “torrent” as a badge of dishonor.
  10. Sideloading Service Defeats Copyright Infringement Claims–BWP v. Polyvore (Eric Goldman)
  11. Yelp Isn’t Liable For User-Submitted Photos Of Businesses–Albert v. Yelp (Eric Goldman)
  12. California Appeals Court Reaffirms Section 230 Protections In Lawsuit Against Yelp For Third-Party Postings
  13. Twitter May Be Liable for Sending Texts to Recycled Cellphone Numbers–Nunes v. Twitter
  14. Most of what you do online is illegal. Let’s end the absurdity: A hopelessly outdated law can criminalise things like using chat clients, playing games or watching sports. Worse, it make research into discrimination illegal
  15. Could Donald Trump Block Hillary Clinton’s Campaign From Visiting His Website Via The CFAA?
  16. Courts Approve Terms of Service-Based Arbitration Clauses for Uber and Groupon
  17. Does Snapchat’s Lenses feature violate Illinois’ biometrics law?: 2008 law warns “full ramifications of biometric technology are not fully known.”
  18. TOS agreements require giving up first born—and users gladly consent: Study says participants also agreed to allow data sharing with NSA and employers.
  19. A Binding “Clickwrap Agreement” From Paper?
  20. Turkey Blocks Wikileaks After It Dumps Nearly 300,000 Turkish Gov’t Emails
  21. As Erdogan Faces Turkish Coup, The Guy Who Once Banned Social Media Sites, Forced To Address Nation Via Facetime & Twitter
  22. Ninth Circuit Panel Backs Away From Dangerous Password Sharing Decision—But Creates Even More Confusion About the CFAA (EFF)
  23. Is It Really Illegal to Share Your Netflix Password?: The confusion over the 30-year-old Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
  24. Plagiarism claims against BuzzFeed Video: a complicated tale of originality on the internet
  25. Google deletes artist’s blog and a decade of his work along with it
  26. When Tragedy Strikes Who Should Cash In on Viral Video?
  27. Pam Geller Sues The US Gov’t Because Facebook Blocked Her Page; Says CDA 230 Violates First Amendment
  28. Kim Dotcom to reboot Megaupload half a decade after FBI shut it down: File-sharing mogul still fighting against extradition to US.
  29. Facebook isn’t trying hard enough to increase its diversity: It’s blaming schools, not itself.
  30. Yahoo may not have “screwed Tumblr up,” but it has haemorrhaged money
  31. YouTube Is Becoming Many YouTubes to Keep Its Video Crown
  32. YouTube Pays Billions, But the Music Industry Says It’s Not Enough
  33. Owner Steve Ballmer shares his vision for an online streaming service run by the Clippers
  34. Twitter Live-Stream Of Two Original NBA Shows Is Huge For Basketball Fans
  35. Twitter Signs NBA Deal to Stream New Shows: Partnership won’t include digital rights to stream actual games
  36. Nick Denton Says Giving Up on Reader Comments Is a Big Mistake
  37. Unionizing the Digital Newsroom
  38. A European perspective on robot law: Interview with Mady Delvaux-Stehres
  39. Virtual Reality Gave Me My Brain Back
  40. Why Google DeepMind wants your medical records
  41. Here’s Why Google Is Open-Sourcing Some Of Its Most Important Technology
  42. Windows 10 to miss its target of being on 1 billion devices by 2018
  43. Newt Gingrich: Merely Visiting An ISIS Or Al Qaeda Website Should Be A Felony
  44. Major Tech Leaders Pen Brutal Condemnation Of Donald Trump – “We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation.”
  45. How the internet was invented: In 40 years, the internet has morphed from a military communication network into a vast global cyberspace. And it all started in a California beer garden 

CREATIVITY

  1. Melania Trump’s RNC Speech: Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement, or Both?
  2. Was Melania Trump’s Plagiarism Also Copyright Infringement?
  3. Queen want Donald Trump to stop using their music. But the law might be on Trump’s side.
  4. Ted Cruz Campaign Infringed On Copyright, But Will Probably Be Treated With Kid Gloves Just Because
  5. Why Is The UK’s Intellectual Property Office Praising National Portrait Gallery’s Copyfraud Claims Over Public Domain Images?
  6. Just As Open Competitor To Elsevier’s SSRN Launches, SSRN Accused Of Copyright Crackdown
  7. Treaty For The Blind Comes Into Force… But US Refuses To Ratify Because Publishers Association Hates Any User Rights
  8. More Copyright Law ≠ Less Copyright Infringement (EFF)
  9. Copyright small claims: an update on legislation
  10. Boilerplate: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  11. A Day In The Life of Fair Use: A Different Kind of Superhero at Comic-Con
  12. Digital domination? YouTube, Vimeo Crackle and more receive Emmy nods
  13. B.C. ruling means journalist must hand over notes
  14. How the CIA Hoodwinked Hollywood: Since its inception, the agency has wooed filmmakers, producers, and actors in order to present a rosy portrait of its operations to the American public.
  15. British teachers caught up in Turkey crackdown as Erdogan bans academics from leaving country and orders those overseas to return
  16. Trans-Pacific Partnership Would Harm User Rights and the Commons
  17. Here are 6 reasons why newspapers have dropped their paywalls: Sometimes it’s a response to a public emergency; sometimes it’s just to build audience.
  18. A Fan’s Case For Putting Batman & Superman In The Public Domain
  19. Featuring Someone’s Property in a Commercial Advertisement 
  20. Canadian copyright laws have been amended to make works more accessible to people with print disabilities
  21. American Medical Association Claims False Copyright Over President Obama’s Journal Article
  22. Julia Child Foundation Sues Airbnb for Using Her Name
  23. The Pleads Of The Many: 50 Years of Star Trek Lawsuits
  24. You As A Brand: A Legal History
  25. What can a crime drama teach us about justice?
  26. The new science of cute: Kumamon, a cartoon bear created to promote tourism in an overlooked part of Japan, has become a billion-dollar phenomenon. Now, a new academic field is trying to pinpoint what makes things cute – and why we can’t resist them
  27. An Art Historical Perspective on the Baton Rouge Protest Photo that Went Viral
  28. New Measures Initiated to Remedy the Surprising Pitfalls of Collecting Video Art
  29. Goold on Copyright Infringement as a Group of Torts
  30. Ginsburg on the Right to Be Recognized as Author of One’s Work
  31. Copyright infringement claim is dismissed after the Court finds the applicant is not the author and owner of the works

COMMUNICATIONS & BROADCASTING

  1. Sources: Megyn Kelly Told Murdoch Investigators That Roger Ailes Sexually Harassed Her
  2. Roger Ailes Petitions to Compel Arbitration of Gretchen Carlson’s Sex Discrimination Claims 
  3. Murdoch Brothers’ Challenge: What Happens Next at Fox News?
  4. Cable Industry’s False Copyright Claims Are Killing Cable Box Reform Efforts
  5. Set Top TV Boxes in the Eye of the Storm Over Copyright Claims
  6. FCC Chairman Announces No Changes in Good Faith Negotiation Standards for Retransmission Consent Agreements Between TV and MVPDs 
  7. Cable blackouts of “free” TV channels won’t be stopped by FCC: FCC won’t expand oversight of contract disputes that cause TV blackouts.
  8. BT’s poor customer record, failure to invest in fibre attacked by MPs
  9. Tim Berners-Lee slams “manipulative tactics” of telcos on net neutrality
  10. Mobile carriers aren’t doing enough to fight robocalls, senators say
  11. FCC will let jails charge inmates more for phone calls: Court rejected rate caps of 11¢ to 22¢ per minute.
  12. $700,000 to Be Paid By Media General to End Inquiry on its Attempts to Enforce a JSA – What are the Limits on the Enforceability of a Contractual Restriction on an FCC Licensee’s Sale of its Station? 

SURVEILLANCE & PRIVACY

  1. Our search warrant case: An important decision for people everywhere
  2. Microsoft win is a victory for privacy rights: A US court has ruled that Microsoft does not have to hand over data from an email account to the US authorities because the data is held on a server in Ireland.
  3. Second Circuit Holds That U.S. Cannot Compel By Warrant Microsoft’s Production of Emails Stored Outside of U.S., Citing The Stored Communications Act’s Privacy Protections and Lack of Extraterritorial Effect 
  4. Microsoft wins: Court rules feds can’t use SCA to nab overseas data – Outlook.com e-mail on Irish servers not covered by Stored Communications Act.
  5. In the Matter of Microsoft: Why It Matters
  6. The Microsoft Ireland Case and the Future of Digital Privacy (Jennifer Granick)
  7. DOJ Pushes Out Legislation Proposal To Undercut Microsoft Case Decision About Overseas Searches
  8. For The First Time, A Federal Judge Has Suppressed Evidence Obtained With A Stingray Device
  9. For The Third Time, Whatsapp Blocked (And Then Unblocked) By Brazilian Judges For Failing To Decrypt
  10. EU-U.S. Privacy Shield: Should You Sign Up?
  11. Five Ways that Privacy Shield is Different from Safe Harbor and Five Simple Steps Companies Can Take to Prepare for Certification
  12. A Québec Perspective on the “Right to be Forgotten” and the Removal of Personal Information Online
  13. Federal Court of Appeal Comments on New Tort of “Publicity Given To Private Life”, Overturns Certification Order
  14. Kim Kardashian v Taylor Swift: privacy on Snapchat and the legal gray areas
  15. Kim Broke The Internet. Did Kanye Break The Law? An Expert On Taylor Swift’s Case To Sue
  16. Former STL Cardinals Scouting Director Gets Jail Time For Illegally Accessing Astros Scouting Database
  17. The email, data and privacy implications of Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn

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