1）据venturebeat报道，Facebook位于爱尔兰都柏林的国际总部因保存用户已删除的数据，违反了爱尔兰数据信息保护法，将面临13.8万美元（10万欧元）的罚款。

facebook-privacy-level-profile(from tyvm.eu)

该事件起源于一名奥地利法律学生Max Schrems，他在撰写一篇关于隐私法的论文时，请求Facebook提供所有关于他的个人数据，随后就收到了一个CD光盘，上面有多达1200页信息，所涉内容包括他自己都没注意到的好友请求以及早已删除的信息。

Facebook的爱尔兰总部服务于欧洲、中东和非洲的所有用户，其非北美公司分部要受到爱尔兰数据保护委员会的监管（游戏邦注：Facebook美国、加拿大用户权益则受不同法律体系的保护）。

Schrems发现Facebook掌握了自己的海量信息后，就联合其他21名学生向爱尔兰数据保护委员会投诉Facebook，声称Facebook擅自创建了关于所有用户和非Facebook用户的“灰色资料”，并发起一场“欧洲 vs Facebook”的运动，指导非北美地区的用户向Facebook要回自己个人数据，据称Facebook现已收到大量此类用户要求。观察者认为，13.8万美元罚款对身价达800亿美元的Facebook来说并非重大打击，但这一事件对该公司所造成的影响却不容忽视。

2）据日经新闻报道，日本社交平台GREE正准备再度起诉竞争对手DeNA（游戏邦注：GREE在2009年9月曾起诉DeNA某款游戏剽窃了自己的产品），声称后者限制用户访问出自第三方开发者之手的游戏。

GREE vs DeNA

观察者表示，在2010年12月，DeNA东京工作室也遭遇日本公平贸易委员会（JFTC）的调查，原因是DeNA向某些社交游戏开发商施压，要求后者只能在Mobage平台发布游戏。

GREE现在正与其他社交游戏公司联手，将于下个月向东京地方法院提起诉讼，有可能向DeNA索赔“数十亿日元”（目前10亿日元可兑换1300万美元）的损失费用。

3）据彭博社报道，Capcom首席执行官Kenzo Tsujimoto在最新的媒体采访中表示，他认为社交游戏的崛起为整个游戏产业带来“惊天动地”的变化，并称其影响堪比80年代弹球机出击街机游戏市场的情形。

Kenzo Tsujimoto(from napavalleyregister.com)

他称社交游戏业务目前占公司营业利润的6.6%，预计未来数年这一比例将上升至30%。

Capcom旗下已有一家专门开发社交游戏的子公司Beeline工作室，目前在GREE平台运营的社交游戏《Biohazard Outbreak Survive》本月用户已突破100万大关。

4）GREE日前宣布收购东京初创企业Mind Palette公司8.3%的股份。Mind Palette成立于2010年11月（已获得CyberAgent Ventures投资），主要产品是基于分享照片的社交网站Snapeee，该网站目前仅运行于iOS平台，用户超过50万。

GREE-photo-sharing(from serkantoto)

GREE计划通过Snapeee开放暂时命名为GREE Deco的照片分享应用，向智能手机平台的GREE用户开放这项服务。

5）日本社交平台Mixi近日在Mixi Pages添加一项新功能，支持用户追踪自己页面的访问数量、独立访问用户、粉丝、评论以及“赞”的数量。

该公司称这些数据目前仅限PC端的Mixi平台，但今后也会向其他设备的用户开放服务（游戏邦注：Mixi Pages目前支持PC、功能性手机、Mixi Touch、智能手机浏览器平台）。

Mixi-PC(from serkantoto)

Mixi-mobile(from serkantoto)

除此之外，Mixi还将Pages功能添加到PC、移动和智能手机版本的主导航菜单中（如上图所示）。

6）Rovio北美总经理Andrew Stalbow在不久前的TechCrunch Disrupt大会表示，《愤怒的小鸟》目前下载量已达4亿次，MAU为1.3亿，DAU是3000万，用户每天玩游戏时间达3亿分钟，最值得一提的是，该游戏直到现在用于获取用户的市场营销预算仍然为0。

angry-birds-costumes(from craziestgadgets.com)

7）在最近的Web 2.0峰会上，Google+主管Vic Gundotra表示，Goolge+将支持用户使用假名登录系统，但并没有宣布Google+推出非实名制政策的具体时间表。

Google+(from trickvilla.com)

8）埃及开发商Nezal Entertainment最近通过阿拉伯Ideavelopers和Tamkeen Capital公司，在A轮融资中筹得100万美元，将利用这笔钱面向中东和北美市场开发游戏。Nezal目前仅向Facebook发布一款塔防游戏《Defender of Arabia》。

9）立陶宛开发商Yummi Apps将推出一款基于现实世界与社交平台的GPS新游戏《Wizardia》，支持玩家在Facebook创建自己的王国，然后通过该游戏的智能手机应用在现实世界中完成任务，打败竞争对手。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Facebook accused of retaining deleted user data, could face fines

Heather Kelly

Facebook’s international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland is facing an audit this month for keeping users’ deleted data. The company could face a $138,000 (€100,000) fine if it does not comply with Irish data protection laws.

The audit was triggered by an Austrian law student named Max Schrems, who requested a copy of all of his personal data from Facebook while writing a paper on privacy laws. What he received was a CD containing 1,200 pages of information on everything from his ignored friend requests to deleted messages.

Facebook’s international headquarters in Dublin supports all Facebook users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Because of its location, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner has jurisdiction over the non-U.S. and Canada segment of the company. Users in the U.S. and Canada, however, have contracts with Facebook Inc. in Calif., and their rights are covered under different laws.

After seeing the breadth of information on him, Schrems and 21 other students filed complaints against Facebook with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, alleging the company is creating “shadow profiles” of its members, and even non-Facebook users, without their consent or knowledge. The Irish Data Protection Commissioner then decided to do its own audit of Facebook.

According to the complaints, Facebook is illegally holding on to information on members and non-members, including phone numbers and email addresses. Schrems says Facebook scrapes this information from the data its users synch with their profiles, say from a mobile phone or email account. The group has also started the Europe vs Facebook group, which includes instructions on how to request your own data from Facebook (for users outside of the U.S. and Canada only). Facebook has already received an influx of requests.

A $138,000 fine isn’t likely to harm a company valued at over $80 billion, but the real result of the audit will be increased attention to the issue and a requirement to comply with the law.（source:venturebeat）

2）Gree And Others To Sue DeNA [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

GREE is again preparing to take legal action against DeNA, following a lawsuit from September 2009 (when GREE accused its competitor of copying one of their hit games). This time, GREE says DeNA is blocking access to games made by third-party developers.

The accusation isn’t really new: in December 2010, authorities raided DeNA’s office in Tokyo, following reports that the company has pressured Japanese social game developers to release titles exclusively on Mobage. In June, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC)  issued a cease and desist order in that matter.

According to The Nikkei, GREE and other companies in the Japanese social gaming industry are now ready to file a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court next month. The companies are said to seek damages totaling “several billion yen” (one billion yen converts to US$13 million currently).（source:serkantoto）

3）Capcom Sees Bright Future In Social Games [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Japanese video game makers are increasingly going social games, and Capcom hasn’t been an exception. It’s the maker that boasts the most international exposure in the mobile (social) gaming field, thanks to titles like Smurf’s Village and others.

In an interview with Bloomberg Japan, Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto now said that the rise of social games had an “earth-shattering” effect on the gaming industry as a whole. He likened this shift to the time when pinball machines were pushed out of the market by arcade machines in the 1980s.

For his company, Tsujimoto expects the 6.6% that social games currently contribute to the operating profit will balloon to about 30% “in a few years”.

Capcom has just established Beeline, a sub-brand specifically for social games. Biohazard Outbreak Survive, a social game Capcom is currently offering on GREE, passed the one million user mark earlier this month.（source:serkantoto）

4）GREE Buys Into Startup Mind Palette, To Offer Photo Sharing [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

GREE has announced it bought a 8.3% stake in Mind Palette, a Tokyo-based startup that was established just in November 2010 (and is backed by CyberAgent Ventures).

Mind Palette is focusing on one product at the moment: Snapeee, a picture-based social network that lets users add cute and funny “decorations” to pictures. Snapeee is currently available only on iOS, where it has over 500,000 users (I covered this company on TechCrunch US in July).

The plan is now to use Snapeee to develop GREE Deco (tentative name), a new photo sharing app that will be offered for GREE for smartphones and enables users to share “decorated” photos with each other.（source:serkantoto）

5）Mixi Starts Offering Analytics For Mixi Pages [Social Networks]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Mixi announced it added a new feature to Mixi Pages, its version of Facebook pages for individuals, companies or celebrities to broadcast information and promote themselves (Mixi introduced the feature in September).

Owners of sites can now track the number page views, unique users, followers, comments, and “likes”.

Mixi says that this data can only be accessed through PCs for now, but that they will make it possible to view all data on other devices later, too (Mixi Pages themselves are available through the PC, feature phones and Mixi Touch, Mixi’s smartphone browser site).

In addition, Mixi also added the Pages feature to its main navigation menu, as you can see below. Mixi rarely does this, meaning they are set to push the feature going forward.

Mixi Pages added (from top to bottom) on the navigation of the PC, mobile, and smartphone versions.（source:serkantoto）

6）After 400 Million Downloads, Angry Birds Introduces New Bird; Movie Confirmed

Rip Empson

Well, Rovio doesn’t need much of an introduction: It’s the company behind the now ubiquitous game that features everybody’s favorite affronted and chafed birds. Back in September, a whopping month and a half ago, Rovio’s North American General Manager Andrew Stalbow revealed some brand growth stats at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, peeling back the curtain a bit.

As a testament to how quickly Rovio is growing, thanks to Angry Birds, today at Web 2.0 Stalbow was back on stage, firing off some stats that give us a fresh glimpse into recent growth. At Disrupt, Stalbow said that Angry Birds had pulled in 350 million cumulative downloads across platforms (and was selling 1 million t-shirts and plush toys a month, god help us); and today, Angry Birds is already grown to 400 million cumulative downloads. Not bad for a month of angry squawking.

What’s more, Angry Birds Stalbow said that the game is currently seeing 130 million monthly users, 30 million daily active users, and 300 million minutes of game play each and every day. And perhaps what’s so impressive about these crazy growth numbers is that customer acquisition really hasn’t been aided by much marketing spend on Rovio’s behalf — at all. That’s right, to date, the total marketing budget is $0.

Yet, perhaps most importantly for Angry Birds fans — and as we’ve just seen, there are quite a few of those out there (including myself) — Stalbow confirmed today that there is in fact a new bird coming to the game for Halloween. Today, fans may have noticed that Rovio leaked this photo on their Facebook page, which immediately led to speculation over whether or not Rovio would be sling-shotting a new flapper into the game, and according to Stalbow, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

He did not give details, so we’re not sure what the bird will look like, what it’s ammunition will be (detachable beaks?), but judging by the photo, it looks like the avian bomber will be orange. At least in part.（source:techcrunch）

7）Fake Names OK on Google+ – In a presentation at the Web 2.0 Summit, Google+  boss Vic Gundotra said the social network will soon allow users to go by their online handles if they choose, but did not give a firm timeline as to when pseudonyms would be integrated into the network.（source:insidesocialgames）

8）Egyptian Social Startup Gets $1 Million in Funding – Egyptian developer Nezal Entertainment has received $1 million in series A funding from Arab firms Ideavelopers and Tamkeen Capital to develop games for the growing Middle East and North African market. Nezal has released one game for Facebook thus far, tower defense title Defender of Arabia.（source:insidesocialgames）http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2011/10/21/social-gaming-news-roundup-google-rovio-and-toyota/

9）Wizardia to Make Social Games More Social – Lithuanian developer Yummi Apps is hoping that their upcoming game Wizardia, a GPS based game for both Facebook and smartphones will bridge the gap between the social and real worlds. In Wizardia, users build their kingdom on Facebook, but will also need to complete quests and track down opponents for battle in the real world using the game’s mobile app.（source:insidesocialgames）