Top Stories

  • President Donald Trump threatened to veto an annual bill authorizing about $1 trillion in defense spending if it doesn’t include a repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, tweeting that if the “very dangerous & unfair Section 230 is not completely terminated” as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, he “will be forced to unequivocally VETO the Bill.” A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s assertion that Section 230 “is a serious threat” to national security and election integrity. (The Washington Post)
  • Attorney General William Barr said in an interview that the Department of Justice has found no evidence of “fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” noting that both the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security “haven’t seen anything to substantiate” allegations that “machines were programmed essentially to skew election results” — effectively refuting claims from attorney Sidney Powell that election systems have been changing votes and that major U.S. election software was created in Venezuela “at the direction of Hugo Chavez,” who died in 2013, to secure favorable election results. (The Associated Press)
  • Salesforce.com Inc. said it has reached a $27.7 billion deal to acquire Slack Technologies Inc. in a cash-and-stock transaction that will be the company’s largest acquisition ever and position it to better compete with its significantly bigger rival Microsoft Corp., which has its own Slack-esque chat functionality as part of its Teams software suite. Salesforce also reported earnings for the quarter ending Oct. 31, with sales of $5.42 billion, up from $4.51 billion during the year-ago period, and net income of $1.08 billion. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • Facebook’s independent Oversight Board has selected its first six cases of removed content to review after considering more than 20,000 submissions, with the chosen ones covering a range of issues that marked the posts for deletion, including reported violations of hate speech, violence and nudity rules. After the board arrives at a decision on a case, Facebook, which said it is focused on issues that have “the potential to affect lots of users” globally, will have up to 90 days to act on the ruling. (The Hill)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

12/02/2020
FORTUNE Brainstorm Tech Virtual
APCO Emerging Technology Forum – virtual
Silicon Flatirons’ virtual event government AI use 9:00 am
Senate Commerce vote on Nathan Simington’s nomination to be an FCC Commissioner 10:00 am
Washington Post event with Christopher Krebs, former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency 11:00 am
Institute for Security and Technology’s virtual event on Biden’s cybersecurity agenda 11:30 pm
FCBA’s inaugural webinar for the connected and autonomous vehicles committee 12:15 pm
12/03/2020
APCO Emerging Technology Forum – virtual
FCC North American Numbering Council Meeting 9:30 am
Brookings Institution’s virtual conversation with Jamie Merisotis on automation’s and artificial intelligence’s impact on the workforce 10:30 am
Wilson Center’s virtual event assessing the AI agenda for the 117th Congress 11:00 am
USTelecom’s virtual Broadband Investment Forum feat. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), AT&T Communications CEO Jeff McElfresh and more 1:00 pm
12/04/2020
Washington Post event with AT&T CEO John Stankey on bridging the broadband gap 2:00 pm
12/07/2020
Center for Democracy and Technology’s Future of Speech Online virtual forum 11:00 am
View full calendar

Special Report: The State of the 2020 Holiday Shopper

A new Morning Consult report brings together our latest data and research into how consumer spending and shopping needs and habits are changing this holiday season, and what brands can do to navigate this landscape as it evolves.

Download the report.

General

To boost voter-fraud claims, Trump advocate Sidney Powell turns to unusual source: The longtime operator of QAnon’s Internet home
Drew Harwell, The Washington Post

In her legal quest to reverse the reality of last month’s election, President Trump’s recently disavowed attorney Sidney Powell has gained a strange new ally: the longtime administrator of the message board 8kun, the QAnon conspiracy theory’s Internet home.

Government should take bigger role in promoting U.S. technology or risk losing ground to China, commission says
Jeanne Whalen, The Washington Post

Advocates of the U.S. government taking a bigger role in industrial policy got a boost Tuesday from a bipartisan commission on China, which said the government should consider getting more involved in promoting U.S. technology or risk losing its edge to Chinese products.

China Panel Calls for More Federal Trade Commission Authority in Approving Mergers Involving Foreign Money
Yuka Hayashi, The Wall Street Journal

An influential bipartisan commission on China recommended Tuesday Congress expand the Federal Trade Commission’s authority, which would allow it to examine the influence of foreign government subsidies earlier in the process of considering large mergers and acquisitions involving foreign companies.

Google, Facebook and Amazon Gain as Coronavirus Reshapes Ad Spending
Suzanne Vranica, The Wall Street Journal

For the first time, more than half of U.S. advertising spending is set to go to digital platforms such as Google and Facebook, the world’s largest ad buyer said, a reflection of marketers’ strategy shift as the coronavirus pandemic pummeled the industry this year.

Chinese state-backed funds invest in US tech despite Washington curbs
Mercedes Ruehl et al., Financial Times

Groups strike deals in sensitive sectors even as new rules enacted over security concerns.

Uber completes $2.65 billion Postmates acquisition
Rebecca Klar, The Hill

Uber completed its $2.65 billion acquisition of delivery platform Postmates, the companies announced Tuesday. The announcement came about five months after Uber said it reached an agreement to acquire Postmates in an all-stock deal. 

Facebook-backed Libra Association has been renamed Diem
Jessica Bursztynsky, CNBC

Libra Association, a Facebook-backed digital payment group, said Tuesday it’s transitioning to the name “Diem.”

Showdown looms over digital services tax
Ashley Gold, Axios

A fight over foreign countries’ efforts to tax big American tech companies’ digital services is likely to come to a head in January just as Joe Biden takes office.

Amazon and Apple Are Powering a Shift Away From Intel’s Chips
Don Clark, The New York Times

For close to a decade, supporters of the chip technology that powers mobile phones vowed to shake up the market for computers. For the most part, they made little headway. Now that finally seems to be changing, in a potential power shift over the direction of the computer industry.

Tech Companies Won Big in California, but the Gig Worker Battle Isn’t Over
David Bradley Isenberg, The Markup

It was expensive—about $205 million, the most ever spent on a ballot initiative—and certainly unconventional, but Uber, Lyft, and Instacart gladly paid the price for passing Proposition 22, which classifies app-based drivers as contractors, an exemption to California’s law that would otherwise require that they receive full employee benefits. Emboldened, tech company executives have already started talking about how to cement a non-employee status for gig workers across the country and even the world. 

Tesla whistleblower Martin Tripp ordered to pay $400,000 to settle hacking case
Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge

Martin Tripp, the former Tesla worker who has been embroiled in a bitter legal battle with CEO Elon Musk for over two years, was ordered to pay his former employer $400,000 after admitting to leaking confidential information to a reporter.

Intellectual Property and Antitrust

Amazon Is Laying the Groundwork for Its Own Quantum Computer
Yaacov Benmeleh, Bloomberg

Amazon.com Inc. is laying the groundwork for a quantum computer, deepening efforts to harness technology that can crunch in seconds vast amounts of data that take even the most powerful supercomputers hours or days to process.

Telecom, Wireless and TV

Roku Hires Apple’s Former Chief Siri Architect for Software Role
Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Brian Pinkerton has joined the Los Gatos, California-based maker of TV set-top-boxes and software where he will focus on “technical innovation and strategic software development across the platform,” the company said on Tuesday.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Tanium Move Headquarters Out of California
Nick Wingfield, The Information

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a cloud software and services company that split off from its namesake parent company in 2015, said in an earnings announcement that it decided to relocate its headquarters to Houston because it is an “attractive market to recruit and retain future diverse talent.”

Mobile Technology and Social Media

Pinterest shareholders sue over ‘toxic’ work culture
Zoe Schiffer, The Verge

Pinterest shareholders are suing the company’s top executives, including CEO Ben Silbermann, for allegedly enabling a culture of discrimination. The toxic work environment has hurt the company’s reputation, leading to a user boycott and financial harm, the complaint alleges.

Apple sued in Europe over software update that slowed old iPhones
Patrick McGee, Financial Times

Legal action comes after company agreed to $500m settlement in US over similar claims.

Ads Inc. Shut Down, But The Tools It Used To Trick People On Facebook Have Lived On
Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed News

In the fall of 2019, Facebook sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ads Inc., a San Diego marketing firm that bought over $50 million in Facebook ads that used the images of celebrities without their permission to trick people into enrolling in difficult-to-cancel monthly subscriptions.

In 2020, Apple redesigned the parts of iPhones and Macs you can’t see
Ian Sherr, CNET

If you look at Apple’s new lineup of iPhones and Macs, you’ll probably struggle to see the difference from last year’s models. They’re roughly the same size and shape. This year’s iPhone 12 family is a bit boxier than 2019’s iPhone 11, though there is a new, smaller iPhone 12 Mini. The same goes for Mac exteriors. It’s hard to pinpoint changes. But inside, Apple has made some of the most significant alterations to its devices in years. And Apple watchers believe they’ll have lasting repercussions.

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Homeland Security Watchdog to Probe Department’s Use of Phone Location Data
Byron Tau, The Wall Street Journal

The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog said it would open an investigation into the use of mobile-phone surveillance technologies to track Americans without a warrant, the latest salvo in a debate within the U.S. government over the legality of such techniques.

North Korean Hackers Are Said to Have Targeted Companies Working on Covid-19 Vaccines
Andrew Jeong, The Wall Street Journal

North Korean hackers have targeted at least six pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea working on Covid-19 treatments, according to people familiar with the matter, as the regime seeks sensitive information it could sell or weaponize.

Trump Campaign’s Unproven Vote Claims Lead to Cyber Staff Exodus
Alyza Sebenius, Bloomberg

The recent departure of a spate of high-profile U.S. cybersecurity officials resulted from their insistence that the presidential election was legitimate while President Donald Trump’s campaign peddled false claims of widespread fraud, according to one of the officials who was forced out.

Former CISA deputy details ouster, condemns violent threat from Trump campaign
Sean Lyngaas, CyberScoop

The former deputy of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday faulted the Trump campaign for politicizing election security and condemned a violent threat from a campaign lawyer toward his former boss, Chris Krebs, in his first public comments since leaving the agency.

Massachusetts lawmakers pass state-wide police ban on facial recognition
Mariella Moon, Engadget

Massachusetts could make history as the first state to issue a ban on the use of facial recognition by law enforcement. The state’s House and Senate lawmakers have approved a police reform bill that would prohibit police departments and other public agencies from using facial recognition systems. As Forbes notes, there will be exceptions, such as if cops can secure a warrant to use facial recognition against someone’s driver’s license. Officers can also write a request to be able to use the technology if they can show evidence that it’s needed to prevent serious injury or death.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

When Is Success Illegal?
Joe Kennedy, Morning Consult

There is a sea change underway in U.S. antitrust policy, and it has the potential to wreak havoc on corporations and harm consumers in the process.

Trump fired me for saying this, but I’ll say it again: The election wasn’t rigged
Christopher Krebs, The Washington Post

On Nov. 17, I was dismissed as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a Senate-confirmed post, in a tweet from President Trump after my team and other election security experts rebutted claims of hacking in the 2020 election. On Monday, a lawyer for the president’s campaign plainly stated that I should be executed. I am not going to be intimidated by these threats from telling the truth to the American people.

Ajit Pai Bids Adieu
The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal

The leadership of regulatory agencies usually turns over with the change of federal administrations, so it’s no surprise that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced Monday that he will step down after four years in the job. He leaves a notable legacy, especially after the mess he inherited from the Obama era.

Research Reports

Running in Circles: Uncovering the Clients of Cyberespionage Firm Circles
Bill Marczak et al., The Citizen Lab

Circles is a surveillance firm that reportedly exploits weaknesses in the global mobile phone system to snoop on calls, texts, and the location of phones around the globe. Circles is affiliated with NSO Group, which develops the oft-abused Pegasus spyware.

Morning Consult