General
Huawei Boosted Research Spending at Berkeley Before Sanctions, Documents Show Matt Drange, The Information
Huawei sharply increased its spending on research projects at the University of California, Berkeley last year and this year, immediately before the university cut ties with the Chinese telecom manufacturer amid U.S. government sanctions, according to documents obtained by The Information.
Senators Want Answers About Listings for Unsafe Merchandise on Amazon.com Alexandra Berzon et al., The Wall Street Journal
Three U.S. senators wrote a letter to Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos asking him to take action to stop the sale of unsafe items and to ensure accurate warning labels on his company’s giant sales platform. The letter, signed by Senate commerce committee members Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and Ed Markey (D., Mass.), along with Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), detailed on Thursday the findings from an article The Wall Street Journal published last week and asked for a response from Mr. Bezos.
Defense Department Awards Its Other Multibillion Cloud Contract Aaron Boyd, Nextgov
While the Pentagon and Oracle continue to fight over the JEDI cloud, the Defense Department and General Services Administration announced the award of the department’s other multibillion-dollar cloud contract, the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions. The potential $7.6 billion contract to provide back-office tools like email, word processing, spreadsheets and file-sharing was awarded to a team led by CSRA, a managed affiliate of General Dynamics Information Technology.
The Trump administration stands up US Space Command as fate of Space Force is still undecided Loren Grush, The Verge
Today, the Trump administration stood up a new unified combatant command within the military that will be entirely focused on space. Aptly named the US Space Command, the organization will be run by a four-star general, and it will be responsible for setting the US’s military agenda and doctrine for space in the years to come.
Internal data shows Uber’s reputation hasn’t changed much since #DeleteUber Faiz Siddiqui, The Washington Post
Uber has a reputation problem. The ride-hailing giant launched a half-billion dollar marketing campaign last year to rebuild its image.
China Studying Tech Companies’ Exposure to U.S. Suppliers Yoko Kubota, The Wall Street Journal
China is studying technology companies’ reliance on American suppliers, according to people familiar with the matter, an apparent attempt to assess their ability to withstand further trade-war shocks, even as Beijing prepares to roll out a retaliatory blacklist of foreign businesses.
The Long-Term Stock Exchange raises $50 million in new funding Kia Kokalitcheva, Axios
The Long-Term Stock Exchange has raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Founders Fund, with new investors joining existing ones like Andreessen Horowitz, Obvious Ventures, and Initialized Capital.
How Amazon’s Shipping Empire Is Challenging UPS and FedEx Sebastian Herrera and Vanessa Qian, The Wall Street Journal
Amazon.com Inc.’s recent breakup with longtime shipping partner FedEx Corp. shows how far the e-commerce giant has come in creating its own delivery network. Over the years, Amazon has played down its ambitions.
Stocks Rise, Treasuries Slip to End Volatile Month: Markets Wrap Laura Curtis, Bloomberg
U.S. equity futures climbed alongside European stocks and Asian shares rallied on the final trading day of a tumultuous month dominated by the trade war. Treasuries retreated.
Intellectual Property and Antitrust
Inside the media industry’s struggle to take on Silicon Valley Nancy Scola and Margaret Harding McGill, Politico
Executives from some of the biggest U.S. news organizations met with a British economist last fall at Washington’s exclusive Metropolitan Club to strategize on a mutual obsession: getting their industry out from under the thumb of Google and Facebook.
Telecom, Wireless and TV
FTC Narrows Focus to Advertising Practices In Probe of Largest ISPs Christopher Stern, The Information
The Federal Trade Commission’s probe of the nation’s largest Internet Service Providers is narrowing its focus to the privacy practices of their advertising operations, the agency signaled today. In an unusual move, the FTC announced that it is dropping its requests for information from Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc., but now wants documents and other materials from their advertising divisions.
AT&T tees up 24 GHz for drive tests Monica Alleven, FierceWireless
AT&T is asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a Special Temporary Authority (STA) to conduct drive testing in the 24 GHz band in order to calibrate its propagation models for 5G deployments. AT&T Spectrum Frontiers, an affiliate of AT&T, was the high bidder in Auction 102 and walked away with 831 licenses covering 383 partial economic areas (PEAs).
Mobile Technology and Social Media
Facebook Said It Aced Brazil Elections. Internally, There Were Doubts. Deepa Seetharaman and Jeff Horwitz, The Wall Street Journal
Facebook Inc. executives last year publicly touted their efforts ahead of Brazil’s presidential election as evidence of the company’s progress in combating misinformation on its platforms. Inside Facebook, the picture was more complicated.
Users of a Major Online Trump Hub Expect They’ll Be Kicked off Reddit—and They Don’t Know Where to Go Ali Breland, Mother Jones
For years, Reddit had hesitated to take action against one of its most prominent toxic communities: r/The_Donald, which in addition to being the site’s fan club for supporters of President Trump, has become a noxious hotbed of hate speech and bigotry.
YouTube Reinstated A Prominent European White Nationalist After He Appealed His Removal Mark Di Stefano, BuzzFeed News
YouTube removed and then swiftly reinstated the channels of two prominent Europe-based far-right YouTubers — white nationalist activist Martin Sellner and British YouTuber the Iconoclast — raising new questions about how the video platform takes action against such material.
Cracked iPhone screen? You’ll have more places to fix it Michael Liedtke, The Associated Press
Apple is loosening its grip on how its products are repaired to give customers more options for fixing cracked screens and other defects on their older iPhones. Under the new policy announced Thursday, Apple will begin selling its tools and parts to more independent phone-repair shops in the U.S. Apple will expand that to other countries later.
New Miami Hurricane Hazard: Dockless Scooters as Projectiles Jonathan Levin, Bloomberg
Florida is facing its first major storm in the age of dockless scooters. Miami — home to a large proportion of them — isn’t taking any chances. The city has told all rental services to get their conveyances off the streets by Friday lest they fly perilously through the air when Dorian reaches land over the Labor Day weekend, according to Ken Russell, a municipal commissioner.
Apple Announces Sept. 10 Launch Event to Unveil the Latest iPhones Mark Gurman, Bloomberg
Apple Inc. announced the date for unveiling its next iPhones and potentially a slew of other products. The launch event will take place on Sept. 10 in the Steve Jobs Theater at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, according to an invitation Apple sent out.
Cybersecurity and Privacy
Tech giants want rules on facial recognition, but critics warn that won’t be enough Ryan Browne, CNBC
It almost comes naturally to many smartphone users today. You can just take out your iPhone — or Android equivalent — and hold it up to your face to unlock the device.
Google Says Malicious Websites Have Been Quietly Hacking iPhones for Years Joseph Cox, Motherboard
In what may be one of the largest attacks against iPhone users ever, researchers at Google say they uncovered a series of hacked websites that were delivering attacks designed to hack iPhones. The websites delivered their malware indiscriminately, were visited thousands of times a week, and were operational for years, Google said.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
Superior Space Launch Security Required to Stand Up to China Peter Huessy, Morning Consult
Very large and unprecedented protests have recently occurred within the Hong Kong International Airport, the world’s eighth busiest flight destination. Hong Kong protesters have canceled hundreds of international flights to raise awareness about the creeping state of China’s authority over the region.
California’s War on Gigs The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal
California gave birth to the so-called gig economy with startups like Uber, Lyft and Postmates that are used by millions. But now Golden State Democrats are trying to smother their babies, and the progressives running for President want to help.
The Election Watchdog That Can’t Bark The Editorial Board, The New York Times
The United States is headed into what promises to be among the most contentious and expensive campaign cycles in modern history — with foreign and domestic actors eager to make mischief — without the chief elections cop on the beat.
What we can learn from video game violence Anna Goshua, The Washington Post
In the aftermath of mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, President Trump blamed violence in video games for the “glorification of violence in our society.” It’s an old refrain, and gamers and their allies typically respond by pointing to the facts.
Research Reports
OEA Releases Data on Voice Telephone Services as of December 2017 Office of Economics and Analytics, Federal Communications Commission
The Commission has used FCC Form 477 to collect subscribership information from providers of voice telephone services – the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), and mobile voice providers – since December 1999.
McAfee Labs Threats Report August 2019 McAfee
Ransomware attacks grew by 118%, new ransomware families were detected, and threat actors used innovative techniques.
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