• Customs and Border Protection officials have been adding data to a government database from as many as 10,000 phones, tablets and computers taken from travelers at U.S. airports, seaports and border crossings annually, according to details revealed in a letter to CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Agency officials also told congressional staff that the data can be accessed by CBP officers without a warrant and that the data is kept for 15 years. (The Washington Post)
• The Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 to approve a new policy statement saying that the agency will “use the full portfolio of laws it enforces” to protect gig workers from “unfair, deceptive, anticompetitive and otherwise unlawful practices.” The FTC will focus on companies that misrepresent an employee’s potential earnings, the wrongful use of artificial intelligence to gauge worker productivity and potential wage-fixing practices. (The Verge)
• President Joe Biden signed an executive order granting the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States more authority to scrutinize foreign investments and transactions related to U.S. supply chains, microelectronics and artificial intelligence. The committee will also review foreign acquisitions of companies to determine whether investors could slowly gain control of a sector or technology, as well as investments and foreign investors that pose cybersecurity and data privacy risks. (The Hill)
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed two bills that will require social media companies to implement safety guidelines for state residents under the age of 18 and publicize their content moderation policies. One bill will set new rules for online spaces frequented by children through measures such as limiting push notifications in the evening, while the second bill requires social media companies to report data on their enforcement actions against users. (Politico)

This map shows where Amazon is closing warehouses across the country

CNBC

Adobe buying design startup Figma for $20 billion

Dan Primack, Axios

Adobe agreed to buy Figma, a Palo Alto, California-based maker of an in-browser interface design platform, for around $20 billion.

NASA, FCC Address Growing Issue of Orbital Debris

Kirsten Errick, Nextgov

With more than 4,800 satellites in orbit as of the end of 2021, NASA and the Federal Communications Commission are separately addressing the growing issue of orbital debris through funding research and proposing new rules, respectively. 

White House Calls on US Regulators to Continue Crypto Crackdown

Lydia Beyoud, Bloomberg

The White House wants American financial watchdogs to do more to weed out fraud and abuse in crypto trading as the US inches ahead with plans for the asset class.

Elon Musk believes self-driving cars are the future, but most Americans are wary, new survey shows

Grace Kay, Insider

Tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk have said that self-driving cars will make regular vehicles obsolete, but most Americans are wary.

As Driverless Cars Falter, Are ‘Driver Assistance’ Systems in Closer Reach?

Lawrence Ulrich, The New York Times

With investigations and lawsuits over accidents adding skepticism toward fully driverless technology, car companies are betting on systems that take some, but not all, control.

Google launches $25 million A.I. sustainability effort with UN as company exec says firing A.I. ethics researcher was ‘unfortunate’

Jeremy Kahn, Fortune

James Manyika, a top Google executive tasked with weighing the impact of the firm’s technology on society, has a delicate load to balance with A.I. The Google SVP unveiled a new project Thursday to bring artificial intelligence to sustainable development efforts, as Google pushes forward with ambitious A.I. plans and tries to move past previous controversies — including Google’s firing one of a prominent A.I. ethics researcher in 2020.

Of God and Machines

Stephen Marche, The Atlantic

The future of artificial intelligence is neither utopian nor dystopian—it’s something much more interesting.

Frontier Airlines recently held talks with SpaceX about adding Starlink Wi-Fi

Leslie Josephs and Michael Sheetz, CNBC

Frontier Airlines “recently” held discussions with SpaceX about adding its Starlink satellite internet service to its planes and is more hopeful about adding such a product than in previous years, the carrier’s CEO told CNBC on Thursday.

Charter sees mobile as its new growth engine

Dan O’Shea, Fierce Telecom

Second quarter earnings results from cable TV companies suggested that mobile is the new video, rapidly becoming a core business for companies like Charter Communications, Comcast, and Altice USA. Speaking at a Goldman Sachs investor conference this week, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge reiterated that the bulk of his company’s mobile growth still lies ahead.

For Gen Z, TikTok Is the New Search Engine

Kalley Huang, The New York Times

Need to find a restaurant or figure out how to do something? Young people are turning to TikTok to search for answers. Google has noticed.

Uber Investigating Breach of Its Computer Systems

Kate Conger and Kevin Roose, The New York Times

Uber discovered its computer network had been breached on Thursday, leading the company to take several of its internal communications and engineering systems offline as it investigated the extent of the hack.

White House opens applications for $1B in cybersecurity funds

Sam Sabin, Axios

The Biden administration will start accepting applications today from state governments for a sliver of a new $1 billion cybersecurity grant program.

Office of the National Cyber Director to develop nationwide cyber workforce strategy ‘in the coming months’

John Hewitt Jones, FedScoop

The Office of the National Cyber Director at the White House will develop a new cyber workforce and education strategy “in the coming months”, according to a spokesperson.

Scams are showing up at the top of online searches

Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post

Searchers, beware: That Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo ad might be ‘malvertising’ — phishing campaigns and malware hiding behind legit-looking links.

FTC Joins Push for Rules on Trade of Smartphone Location Data

Jack Gillum and Brody Ford, Bloomberg Businessweek

Post-Roe, concerns that data broker services could be used to enforce anti-abortion laws have highlighted the lack of rules governing the industry.

Why ‘sharenting’ is sparking real fears about children’s privacy

Gianna Melillo, The Hill

“Children don’t get to choose to be on the internet, and what’s more, they don’t get to choose where online they show up.”

White House announces tech company efforts to combat violent extremism

Cat Zakrzewski, The Washington Post

The White House on Thursday announced that major companies would roll out a series of new policies and tools to combat the spread of extremism on their sites.

Elon Musk accuses Twitter of security lapses in court filing

Tom Hals, Reuters

Billionaire Elon Musk accused Twitter Inc. of fraud by concealing serious flaws in the social media company’s data security, which the entrepreneur said should allow him to end his $44 billion deal for the company, according to a Thursday court filing.

California’s new age rules for sites and apps raise a ruckus

Margaret Harding McGill, Axios

California’s new law aimed at improving online privacy and safety for children has the industry on edge and critics warning of disruptions to the internet — but advocates say most users won’t see big changes.

The Meta Oversight Board says Facebook’s automated image takedowns are broken

Adi Robertson, The Verge

Meta’s Oversight Board says the company should be more careful with automated moderation tools, criticizing it for removing a cartoon depicting police violence in Colombia. The decision arrived as the board took on a set of new cases, including a question about a video of sexual assault in India.

YouTube Opens More Pathways for Creators to Make Money on the Platform

Nico Grant, The New York Times

YouTube is expected to announce more opportunities for content creators to earn money on its video service, hoping to guard its role as a home to popular personalities and gain an edge against rival TikTok.

Instagram Trails TikTok and YouTube On Creator Satisfaction, Mosseri Tells Staff

Sylvia Varnham O’Regan and Kaya Yurieff, The Information

For the past couple of years, as Instagram has sought to better compete with TikTok, becoming more appealing to creators has been a top priority. But in a memo to staff a couple of weeks ago, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri made it clear the app still badly trails both TikTok and YouTube in satisfying creators.

Facebook groups are using the carrot emoji to hide anti-vax content from moderators

Alice Hearing, Fortune

Anti-vax groups on Facebook are using emojis to get around the platform’s algorithms that quash misinformation — and their emoji of choice is a carrot. 

TikTok’s C.E.O. Navigates the Limits of His Power

Ryan Mac and Chang Che, The New York Times

Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s chief executive, is balancing how to be an autonomous leader while juggling the demands of the app’s Chinese parent company.

What Elon Musk’s friends thought about his Twitter offer

Dan Primack and Erica Pandey, Axios

Several of Elon Musk’s friends privately counseled him against acquiring Twitter, once they realized that he wasn’t joking around, Axios has learned.

Google Cloud will unfreeze hiring in more areas across the org by October, but says it must fix its priorities in 2023: ‘We have too many Code Yellows and Purples’

Hugh Langley and Rosalie Chan, Insider Premium

Google Cloud will unfreeze hiring in more areas across the organization by October and plan its top priorities for next year, according to a memo sent to staff Wednesday and obtained by Insider.

Google Goes From Hot to Not With Startup Headhunters

Mark Matousek, The Information

Google employees were prized recruits for tech founders for much of the past two decades. But that’s changing.

We’ve Got Misinformation All Wrong

Karan Lala and Josh Krivoshein, The Information

Both advocacy groups and political leaders tend to assume that misinformation persists on social media because the platforms are unwilling to get rid of it—a gross and unhelpful oversimplification. Some of the largest technology companies in the world spend tens of billions of dollars each year to maintain the integrity of discourse on their platforms. So why does misinformation persist?

The FCC is working just fine without Gigi Sohn

James Erwin, The Hill

With control of such an important body on the line, the Senate should not feel pressured to rush through a deeply flawed nominee before January when the FCC is working just fine as it is. Sohn’s radical views have disqualified her from becoming an FCC commissioner, and Sohn’s nomination has languished since last summer with good reason. 

Smarter machines risk creating dumber humans

John Thornhill, Financial Times

The exciting and impressive use of new, powerful AI models could cause harm to individuals and society.