Top Stories

  • During his annual speech at the World Economic Forum, billionaire George Soros said without providing evidence that he believes that Facebook Inc. and President Donald Trump have an “informal mutual assistance operation or agreement” to help the president get re-elected and protect the company. Soros added that Facebook’s only guiding principle is to “maximize your profits irrespective of what harm it may do to the world;” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said Soros’ allegations are “just plain wrong.” (Bloomberg)
  • European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she is a “strong supporter” of individual countries pushing their own digital tax proposals as a way to add pressure to negotiations for an international policy, saying that “it is very important that we keep up the momentum.” The comments come despite Trump’s threats to apply retaliatory tariffs against European countries, including France and the United Kingdom, if they pursue such a tax. (The Guardian)
  • Uber Technologies Inc. said it will start mapping Washington, D.C., in preparation for an expected pilot of its autonomous vehicles in the city later this year. Three mapping vehicles will drive around the city over the next few weeks to collect data on how its vehicles would respond to the city’s infrastructure, and this would be the fourth city Uber has mapped after Dallas, San Francisco and Toronto. (CNN)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

01/24/2020
NIST’s Identity Management & Access Control in Multiclouds Workshop and Conference
01/27/2020
FCC’s Arizona and New Mexico Rural Tour
FTC’s workshop on voice cloning technologies 12:30 pm
01/28/2020
State of the Net Conference 2020
FCC’s Arizona and New Mexico Rural Tour
01/29/2020
FCC’s Arizona and New Mexico Rural Tour
View full calendar

Special Report: The State of Consumer Trust

As the new decade begins, Morning Consult’s The State of Consumer Trust report is the first look at how today’s societal forces are shaping a new era of trust. Based on interviews with thousands of consumers, the report provides actionable intelligence into how companies can earn and deepen trust with customers.

Download the full report.

General

New U.S. Limits on Huawei Suppliers Coming Soon, Ross Says
Jenny Leonard and Ian King, Bloomberg

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said new rules are coming soon that will put more limits on U.S. companies supplying China’s telecommunications leader Huawei Technologies Co. Huawei was blacklisted last year as a security threat by the administration of President Donald Trump.

Tulsi Gabbard asked Twitter’s Jack Dorsey to hold a fundraiser for her. He said no.
Theodore Schleifer, Recode

Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard approached Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about hosting a fundraiser on her behalf, Recode has learned. Dorsey, who has given money to Gabbard’s campaign, ended up turning her down.

Uber Failed to Flag Complaints of Assault to London Regulator
Giles Turner, Bloomberg

London’s main transportation regulator has released a scathing document detailing why it moved to ban Uber Technologies Inc. from operating in the city. The regulator lists several safety concerns, including the charge that it didn’t receive proper notification of alleged sexual assaults involving the platform.

Jobs, Cook, Ive—Blevins? The Rise of Apple’s Cost Cutter
Tripp Mickle, The Wall Street Journal

To understand Apple Inc.’s evolving place in the tech world, consider that one of its most important executives today is a guy whose job is badgering suppliers to get costs down. Tony Blevins, vice president of procurement, will stop at little to get a favorable deal.

Tech CEOs in Davos Dodge Issues by Warning Audiences About AI
Amy Thomson and Natalia Drozdiak, Bloomberg

Technology’s most influential leaders have a new message: It’s not us you need to worry about — it’s artificial intelligence. Two years ago big tech embarked on a repentance tour to Davos in response to criticism about the companies’ role in issues such as election interference by Russia-backed groups; spreading misinformation; the distribution of extremist content; antitrust violations; and tax avoidance.

Bird exec: The scooter ‘is really just the beginning’ of sustainable mobility
Chris Teale, Smart Cities Dive

In the few years since dockless bikes and scooters hit U.S. markets, cities have already seen their potential to cut vehicle emissions. A November 2019 report from the City of Santa Monica, CA found that nearly 50% of shared mobility trips replaced car trips in one year, while a separate Bird-funded report found light electric vehicles (EVs) could account for 21% of all trips in Paris around 2030, up from about 1% today.

Stocks Jump, Futures Rise as Virus Fears on Hold: Markets Wrap
Constantine Courcoulas, Bloomberg

Stocks jumped in Europe while U.S. index futures edged higher as investors digested the latest corporate news and economic data, setting aside for now fears over a deadly virus spreading from China. Oil fell for a fourth day.

Intellectual Property and Antitrust

Apple warns EU call for common charger could stifle innovation
Emily Birnbaum, The Hill

Apple is pushing back against the European Union’s calls to require one charger that works for every phone, arguing that such a move could stifle innovation and harm consumers around the world. The company’s statement on Thursday marks its first public response to an EU campaign to mandate a “common charger,” which would require smartphone makers to produce one charger for all mobile devices in the region.

Facebook’s Patent Chief Joins Patent Office Advisory Committee
Ian Lopez, Bloomberg Law

Facebook Inc.’s head of patents has joined a government advisory group on patent policy and budget matters, one of several recent appointments to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office public advisory committees. Jeremiah Chan, director and associate general counsel for the social network, is a new member of the Patent Public Advisory Committee.

Tech companies are ‘too big, and we’ve allowed them to exercise monopoly power,’ says House Antitrust chairman David Cicilline
Nilay Patel, The Verge

Last week, the House Antitrust Subcommittee held a unique hearing where executives from Sonos, Tile, Basecamp, and PopSockets laid out the challenges of working and competing with big tech companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon. It felt like a turning point in the conversation about big tech platforms and the power they have over competition, something PopSockets CEO David Barnett called “bullying with a smile.”

Where U.S. presidential candidates stand on breaking up Big Tech
Elizabeth Culliford, Reuters

In the run-up to the U.S. 2020 presidential election, many Democratic White House contenders have argued in favor of either breaking up or tightening regulation of companies such as Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Amazon.com Inc.

Telecom, Wireless and TV

CenturyLink, Frontier took FCC cash, failed to deploy all required broadband
Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica

CenturyLink and Frontier Communications have apparently failed to meet broadband-deployment requirements in numerous states where they are receiving government funding to expand their networks in rural areas. CenturyLink notified the Federal Communications Commission that it “may not have reached the deployment milestone” in 23 states and that it hit the latest deadline in only 10 states.

Risky to shut out any 5G provider completely: Merkel
Paul Carrel, Reuters

Diversification is crucial to ensuring a country’s security in the rollout of 5G mobile technology and shunning one supplier altogether risks being counterproductive, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday. Merkel’s government has been wrangling for weeks over how strict security requirements for Germany’s 5G rollout should be, and whether they should effectively shut out Chinese technology giant Huawei from the network.

Broadcom signs deals to supply wireless chips to Apple
Steven Musil, CNET

Chipmaker Broadcom said Thursday that it’s entered into multiyear deals to supply Apple with wireless components used in its products. The deals could generate $15 billion for Broadcom, the company said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

New internet customers boost Comcast 4th-quarter profit
The Associated Press

Comcast continued adding internet customers in the fourth quarter, helping lift its net income 26%. The Philadelphia company, which owns NBCUniversal and European broadcaster Sky as well as a providing cable and internet service in the U.S., has been focusing on broadband as more people quit traditional cable.

How Race to 5G in U.S. Hit Speed Bump Called C-Band
Todd Shields, Bloomberg Businessweek

From ovens to refrigerators, automobiles to surgeon’s tools, more and more items are connected wirelessly to the internet. As use of such devices soars, so does the demand for airwaves to carry all that data.

Mobile Technology and Social Media

QAnon Supporters And Anti-Vaxxers Are Spreading A Hoax That Bill Gates Created The Coronavirus
Ryan Broderick, BuzzFeed News

A false rumor that the coronavirus outbreak is a plot by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is being spread by supporters of the pro-Trump QAnon movement and the anti-vax community. A QAnon YouTuber named Jordan Sather warned his followers on Tuesday that the coronavirus was a “new fad disease” and claimed the release of the virus that causes it was “planned.”

Panic and Criticism Spread on Chinese Social Media Over Coronavirus
Daniel Victor, The New York Times

Chinese citizens are overcoming a lack of reporting on the crisis in the state-run media by sharing their own videos and information about the coronavirus outbreak.

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Bezos phone breach escalates fears over Saudi hacking
Maggie Miller and Chris Mills Rodrigo, The Hill

The alleged hacking of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s phone by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has alarmed members of Congress and experts, raising fresh concerns about the kingdom’s cyberspace powers. It is also bringing new questions over the U.S. security relationship with the Saudis, a relationship that has already been strained by the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

FDA issues cybersecurity warning on GE medical equipment that monitors patients
Kate Fazzini, CNBC

The Food and Drug Administration released a warning on Thursday to health-care providers, facilities and consumers about a vulnerability in certain electronic health care data equipment made by General Electric. The flaw affects some GE health-care Clinical Information Central Stations and Telemetry Servers, the regulator said Thursday.

That text you got about a package isn’t from FedEx. It’s a scam.
Taylor Telford, The Washington Post

If you get a text about setting up delivery preferences for a package, think twice before you click. It’s not a surprise or a holiday straggler — it’s a scam. Several people have reported receiving texts that purport to be from FedEx, asking them to set up delivery preferences, complete with a fake tracking code.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

A scary new facial recognition tool underlines the urgent need for privacy laws
Editorial Board, The Washington Post

Privacy doomsayers have always said the failure to regulate surveillance technology would result in the end of anonymity. But we didn’t realize doom might come this soon.

DNA Collection at the Border Threatens the Privacy of All Americans
Daniel I. Morales et al., The New York Times

What if the United States government took the DNA of vast numbers of Americans for use without their consent? The Trump administration has just brought us one step closer to that dystopia.

America’s Innovators Need Clear Patent Laws
Paul R. Michel and Matthew J. Dowd, The Wall Street Journal

America is the world’s leader in technological innovation, and that’s unlikely to change. But in the global economy, information and investments flow instantaneously, and America’s most important asset—intellectual property—is easily copied and counterfeited.

Don’t Break Up Big Tech
Zachary Karabell, Wired

It won’t protect small businesses, it won’t preserve our data privacy, and it won’t help promote democracy.

Research Reports

Report: 250 million Microsoft customer service and support records exposed on the web
Paul Bischoff, Comparitech

Over the New Year, Microsoft exposed nearly 250 million Customer Service and Support (CSS) records on the web. The records contained logs of conversations between Microsoft support agents and customers from all over the world, spanning a 14-year period from 2005 to December 2019.

Morning Consult