• Huawei Technologies Co. in a press release today alleged that the United States government is “using every tool at its disposal” to target the company’s business, such as cyberattacks and “sending FBI agents to the homes of Huawei employees” to pressure them into spying on the company. Huawei did not provide specific evidence to support its claims. (The Wall Street Journal)

• President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign plans as part of its core strategy to focus on allegations of bias at social media companies via ads, speeches and other sustained attacks against Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., according to officials. One top Republican operative likened the attacks on social media platforms to the deteriorating trust in legacy media organizations, which Trump tackled in his 2016 campaign. (Axios)

• Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey was “SIM swapped,” or had his mobile phone number taken over by a hacker, on Friday afternoon, according to a source familiar with the situation, resulting in a slew of tweets including racist slurs and a bomb threat coming from Dorsey’s official Twitter account. The company, which removed the tweets within roughly 20 minutes, would not explicitly confirm if this was how a hacker gained access to the account, but said the account’s phone number “was compromised due to a security oversight by the mobile provider.” (BuzzFeed News)

Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery System Has Brought Chaos And Carnage To America’s Streets — But The World’s Biggest Retailer Has A System To Escape The Blame
Caroline O’Donovan and Ken Bensinger, BuzzFeed News

Valdimar Gray was delivering packages for Amazon at the height of the pre-Christmas rush when his three-ton van barreled into an 84-year-old grandmother, crushing her diaphragm, shattering several ribs, and fracturing her skull.

U.S.-China Trade War’s Global Impact Grows
Ruth Simon et al., The Wall Street Journal

The escalating trade war between the U.S. and China is rippling through the global economy, hurting confidence among U.S. small businesses, crimping trade among industrial giants in Asia and hitting export-oriented factories in Europe.

California advances bill that would ‘lead the world’ on gig worker rights
Kari Paul, The Guardian

A bill that would fundamentally change the way tech giants – such as Lyft and Uber – engage with workers has passed a major hurdle in the California legislature. Assembly Bill 5 would change the way businesses classify employees and dramatically expand protections for gig workers.

The World’s First Ambassador to the Tech Industry
Adam Satariano, The New York Times

Denmark appointed him to approach Silicon Valley as if it were a global superpower. His challenges show how smaller countries struggle to influence giant corporations.

Google contractors in Pittsburgh say a majority are unionizing
Colin Lecher, The Verge

A group of Google contractors in Pittsburgh is moving to unionize, according to a statement released on August 29th. About 90 employees work at a tech contractor for Google in the area called HCL, according to the statement, and 66 percent have signed union cards, indicating support for the plan.

Why Republicans (and even a couple of Democrats) want to throw out tech’s favorite law
David Ingram and Jane C. Timm, NBC News

When Twitter locked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign account in early August, demanding that he remove a video of profane protesters threatening violence outside his home, an arcane war erupted. The company said they took the action because the video violated their community rules, while Republicans launched a reinvigorated assault on what they claim is ongoing bias by Big Tech against conservatives.

Coming Soon To The Battlefield: Robots That Can Kill
Zachary Fryer-Biggs, Center for Public Integrity

Wallops Island — a remote, marshy spit of land along the eastern shore of Virginia, near a famed national refuge for horses — is mostly known as a launch site for government and private rockets. But it also makes for a perfect, quiet spot to test a revolutionary weapons technology.

Stocks Slide; Pound Sinks on Brexit Brinkmanship: Markets Wrap
Todd White, Bloomberg

U.S. stocks were poised to drop at the open as Wall Street resumes trading after the long weekend, while equities in Europe and Asia also declined as investors weighed receding chances for fresh China talks this month. Treasuries advanced, while the pound sank against the dollar as Brexit brinkmanship raised the possibility of an early election in the U.K.

No Relief for Big Tech Under New EU Leadership
Valentina Pop, The Wall Street Journal

The leadership of the European Union is changing over the next few months, but the organization’s scrutiny of U.S. tech companies likely isn’t. The incoming head of the EU executive arm is promising new laws on artificial intelligence and the use of big data within 100 days of taking office on Nov. 1, as the bloc’s antitrust enforcer gathers evidence in its probes into the practices of companies including Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

T-Mobile cites Sprint’s ‘huge debt load’ in arguments for merger
Monica Alleven, FierceWireless

Lawyers representing T-Mobile and Sprint earlier this week responded to allegations from states in the lawsuit trying to block the merger, with T-Mobile arguing the merger will increase competition, and that Sprint is not likely to “play a meaningful competitive role as a standalone company in the years to come.”

AT&T, union reach agreement after strike
Rachel Frazin, The Hill

AT&T and a union representing its workers in the southeastern United States have reached a five-year tentative agreement after a four-day strike, according to the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

FCC helping wireless carriers prepare for Hurricane Dorian
Steven Musil, CNET

The Federal Communications Commission has been working with wireless carriers in the southeast to prepare for emergency situations as Hurricane Dorian nears Florida. The Category 4 storm unleashed massive flooding in the Bahamas on Monday, with sustained winds hitting as high as 185 mph.

U.S. and Poland urge tougher checks on foreign influence over 5G networks
Alan Charlish and Marcin Goclowski, Reuters

The United States and Poland believe suppliers of 5G network equipment should be rigorously evaluated for foreign government control, a joint declaration signed on Monday said, as Washington pressures allies to exclude China from 5G networks.

Big Telecom’s sweet summer of revenge
Kim Hart, Axios

One byproduct of the techlash: After years of frustration that Silicon Valley companies seemed to get special treatment in Washington, telecom giants are finally gaining the upper hand.

Now Facebook says it may remove Like counts
Josh Constine, TechCrunch

Facebook could soon start hiding the Like counter on News Feed posts to protect users’ from envy and dissuade them from self-censorship. Instagram is already testing this in 7 countries including Canada and Brazil, showing a post’s audience just a few names of mutual friends who’ve Liked it instead of the total number.

Biden campaign launches new digital ads in Iowa
Marianna Sotomayor, NBC News

oe Biden’s campaign is releasing a series of new digital ads Tuesday that will target Iowans watching videos on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Hulu in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

China’s Twitter Disinformation Ops Have Been Going on for Years
Shelly Banjo, Bloomberg

A state-backed disinformation campaign used by China to sow political discord and discredit pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong is more widespread than previously thought, according to a new report released Monday.

Facebook’s Open Source Community Is Reckoning With Toxicity and Harassment
Arielle Gordon, Motherboard

Developers of Facebook’s ReactJS framework, which powers much of the web, has a bro culture that isn’t welcoming to traditionally underrepresented groups.

Another US visa holder was denied entry over someone else’s messages
Zack Whittaker, TechCrunch

It has been one week since U.S. border officials denied entry to a 17-year-old Harvard freshman just days before classes were set to begin. Ismail Ajjawi, a Palestinian student living in Lebanon, had his student visa canceled and was put on a flight home shortly after arriving at Boston Logan International Airport.

Key Republican lawmaker introduces legislation to defend state, local governments against cyberattacks
Maggie Miller, The Hill

Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) introduced legislation Friday designed to help state and local governments defend against cyberattacks on the heels of debilitating ransomware attacks across the country. The State and Local Government Cybersecurity Improvement Act would direct the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) cybersecurity agency to create a “resource guide” to assist state and local government officials in preparing for, defending against and recovering from a cyberattack.

U.S. Unleashes Military to Fight Fake News, Disinformation
Pete Norman, Bloomberg

Fake news and social media posts are such a threat to U.S. security that the Defense Department is launching a project to repel “large-scale, automated disinformation attacks,” as the top Republican in Congress blocks efforts to protect the integrity of elections. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants custom software that can unearth fakes hidden among more than 500,000 stories, photos, video and audio clips.

Getting Your Medical Records Through an App? There’s a Catch. And a Fight.
Natasha Singer, The New York Times

Americans may soon be able to get their medical records through smartphone apps as easily as they order takeout food from Seamless or catch a ride from Lyft. But prominent medical organizations are warning that patient data-sharing with apps could facilitate invasions of privacy — and they are fighting the change.

Behind the Rise of China’s Facial-Recognition Giants
Tom Simonite, Wired

Megvii, one of four highly valued Chinese facial-recognition startups, has filed for an IPO. Most of its revenue comes from surveillance and security systems.

Pinterest takes the right step toward curbing misinformation on vaccines
The Editorial Board, The Washington Post

How to explain that one of the most effective medical innovations of all time is experiencing a crisis of confidence? That’s the situation with vaccines, which save millions of lives every year and especially help children fight disease.

Broadband in minority and rural communities — waiting for government won’t work
Harry Alford and William L. Kovacs, The Hill

With campaign season comes promises that are forgotten after an election. This campaign, like campaigns past, candidates promise billions of dollars to rural and minority communities to deploy broadband. These communities still wait.

When It Comes to Voting, You Can’t Phone It In
Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg

A lot of people are excited about recent research suggesting that mobile voting would mean more voters casting ballots. No doubt the premise is correct.

Threat Spotlight: Government Ransomware Attacks
Fleming Shi, Barracuda

Cybercriminals are targeting state and local governments across the United States with ransomware. Barracuda researchers have identified more than 50 cities and towns attacked so far this year.