With help from Rebecca Kern, John Hendel and Mark Scott
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Tech wont publish from Friday, Dec. 24-Friday, Dec. 31. Well be back on our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 3.
Editors Note: Morning Tech is a free version of POLITICO Pro Technology's morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the days biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.
Life after BBB: Here are the tech and telecom provisions that could survive the wreckage of the Build Back Better Act, congressional aides told us amid Sundays chaos.
Looking to the new year: The digital ads industrys major trade group wants to get more vocal, and has hired an Amazon public policy executive to help.
Amazons ties to FBI and DOJ: The e-commerce giant has increasingly tipped off the Justice Department to investigate alleged fraud by the sellers using its platform and even Amazons own employees.
HAPPY MONDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING TECH! Im your guest host, Emily Birnbaum. Ill be filling in during this unexpectedly busy week drop me a line if theres something you think we should cover before Christmas!
You can reach out via @birnbaum_e or [emailprotected]. Got an event for our calendar? Send details to [emailprotected]. Anything else? Team info below. And dont forget: Add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.
A message from Save Our Standards:
Technical standards like 5G and Wi-Fi have the power to transform industries, fuel the economy, and create high-quality jobs. But that only happens if owners of patents essential to standards honor their commitments to license all innovators to use those patents on fair and reasonable terms. A new draft Administration statement restores the balance vital to standards adoption and job creation. Support the Administration to promote American manufacturing and limit product bans on standard-essential patents.
WHATS LEFT FOR TECH Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) stunned the White House and sent many in Washington scrambling on Sunday by crushing Democrats chances of passing the House version of President Joe Bidens massive social spending bill. Now Senate Democrats are scheming about what elements might survive if they can assemble a more Manchin-friendly bill. Among the possibilities for the bills tech provisions:
FTCs new privacy bureau: Democrats are hopeful they can still use a pared-down legislative package to provide $500 million for creating an Federal Trade Commission data privacy bureau, one senior aide told MT on Sunday.
Though some Republicans have warned against an expansion of the agencys authority especially under Bidens FTC chair, Lina Khan lawmakers have shown some bipartisan interest in firming up the FTCs ability to respond to concerns like data breaches and tech companies privacy practices. Manchin has not weighed in publicly on the issue, but he has previously supported privacy legislation.
$1 billion for antitrust enforcement: The BBB called for splitting an influx of antitrust funding evenly between the Justice Department and the FTC. Both agencies are cash-strapped but are pursuing major cases against Google and Facebook, with suits against Apple and Amazon under consideration.
Another senior Democratic aide told MT on Sunday that its very likely that upcoming packages including the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which has passed the Senate and passed out of committee in the House will include additional funds for the agencies, though that figure may not be $1 billion.
FTC penalty authority: The commission has long sought the ability to fine companies that deceive consumers by lying about their privacy or data security practices. A provision granting this authority was tucked into the House bill, though the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and top Republicans like Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi oppose it. Its unlikely that the civil penalty authority will make it through any future vehicle amid intensifying opposition.
Broadband investments: The House-passed bill included $1.15 billion for broadband internet, a pot of money meant to supplement the $65 billion in broadband spending included in the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by Biden this year. The BBBs proposals included $300 million for bolstering remote-learning subsidies and a $280 million pilot program on urban broadband affordability. Manchin has not stated a clear position on these provisions.
$470 million to upgrade 911 call centers: Democrats urgently hope to upgrade the countrys 911 system for the digital age. This money in the BBB a fraction of the billions lawmakers originally proposed would enable emergency call centers to receive text messages, video and photos, not just phone calls. Manchin has not weighed in on this proposal, either.
FIRST IN MT: A NEW CHAPTER FOR IAB The Interactive Advertising Bureau, a massive trade group that represents companies on all sides of the digital ads ecosystem, is about to get a whole lot more involved in tech policy discussions on Capitol Hill.
IAB has tapped Lartease Tiffith, an Amazon public policy executive and former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, to lead its policy shop. And he plans to make the groups presence known.
IABs challenges: The group has faced serious disagreements among its roughly 700 members, who include both the big tech platforms such as Google, Meta and Amazon as well as smaller publishers and brands that feel exploited by those companies control over the digital ads ecosystem. IAB too often advocates on behalf of the biggest tech companies.
Tiffith believes it will be his job to find consensus among IABs diverse membership, he said in an interview. His top priorities include lobbying for federal privacy legislation that preempts state laws and against digital services taxes. The digital advertising ecosystem is one that our country relies on, Tiffith said.
He added that he is absolutely in touch with the vice president and her close aides, and said he intends to advocate particularly on behalf of the small- and medium-sized businesses that benefit from digital ads. I do think there will be some opportunities to be more vocal about what we do and dont do, Tiffith said. We want to make sure people know where IAB stands.
What IABs CEO says: Chief executive David Cohen said the trade group tries to not focus itself on Google or Meta or Amazon or anyone. We are industry-focused. Thats why it has stayed out of the congressional antitrust battles the tech giants are facing so far, though Cohen said IAB reserves the right to change our perspective on that.
If there are individual member companies doing things that are harmful to the industry at large there are other forums, like courts and judicial systems, that would be better suited than a trade association to weigh in on that, Cohen said.
AMAZONS TIES TO THE FEDS: The federal government has indicted 20 people for crimes related to Amazon in the past year and a half a number that exceeds indictments related to other comparably large retail and logistics companies like Walmart and FedEx, according to a POLITICO report from your host and Daniel Lippman. In many of those cases, Amazon either tipped off the government or cooperated closely with the investigations, according to public disclosures. The crimes relate to a range of issues including fraud and counterfeits.
While federal officials have discretion over which criminal cases they choose to pursue, Amazon has invested significant resources into pushing prosecutors and investigators to take on cases it wants them tos.
And the company appears to be getting results. This looks like a huge and powerful company attempting to generate goodwill and appear to be cooperative with the government, said J. Kelly Strader, an academic focused on how companies deal with the government when they handle white-collar crime.
Amazons response: Amazon says its referrals to law enforcement show that it is taking forceful action against criminal activity.
We take our responsibility seriously to protect our customers and selling partners from fraud and abuse, said Amazon spokesperson Jodi Seth. We are proud of the industry-leading investments weve made in technology and human expertise to prevent criminal activity and deter bad actors.
Amazons revolving door: As part of its efforts to get closer to the feds, Amazon has hired people with deep ties to federal law enforcement. The company employs at least 21 former federal prosecutors and at least 49 former FBI employees, according to a review of LinkedIn pages of current Amazon employees.
TODAY: LIGHTBOX TO UNVEIL BROADBAND MAPPING TOOLS LightBox, a company known for crunching reams of real estate data, is today announcing what it is calling a SmartFabric, a newly enriched and customizable map of location data that it hopes states will tap to guide their broadband funding decisions.
We have a state that is already signed up, LightBox CEO Eric Frank told John, though he declined to say which state. They've also asked us to do all the work so were actually collecting the ISP data, were building the map, mapping the ISP data to location data, doing the gap analysis, identifying service versus non-serviceable and building the public website so the public can interrogate it. Watch for more details soon, Frank said.
And LightBox still wants that bigger nationwide FCC contract: The company is in the middle of a challenge to the FCCs November decision to award a $45 million location fabric contract to a rival company known as CostQuest Associates, which had worked with USTelecom to run a mapping pilot effort in two states in 2019.
Todays announcement is another sign of LightBoxs ongoing broadband ambitions. Other customers using LightBoxs location data include internet service providers like AT&T and Charter Communications, tech giants like Google and Microsoft and real estate companies Zillow and Redfin.
The Government Accountability Office has up to 100 days to review the FCC contract decision, meaning the agency may not be able to proceed with a key part of its federal mapping efforts until sometime in February.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel has complained of the associated delays and suggested Congress may want to intervene. If Congress wishes to identify a legislative way to
expedite this process, the agency will provide whatever further information is necessary to assist, she assured lawmakers in a letter unveiled Friday.
FACEBOOK GRAPPLES WITH ISLAMIC EXTREMISM: Supporters of the Islamic State and the Taliban continue to sidestep the social networks content moderation rules, despite the companys claims to be clamping down on extremist material. In multiple open Facebook groups at least one of which had more than 100,000 members jihadist groups posted beheading videos, propaganda and violent hate speech, according to a report by POLITICOs Mark Scott, who conducted a review of months of social media activity
Refresher: Internal Facebook documents, made public by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen earlier this year, showed the companys own researchers had repeatedly raised concerns that hate speech targeting war-torn countries like Iraq and Afghanistan was avoiding detection by the platforms moderators.
A message from Save Our Standards:
Eva Berneke was appointed CEO of telecom company Eutelsat. She was previously CEO of IT company KMD.
International scamming: The New York Times conducted an investigation into an enormous online scam involving Harvard and several prominent media personalities in India.
Not just Meta: How TikTok inundates teens with videos to encourage eating disorders, via The Wall Street Journal.
ICYMI: We recommend this fabulous POLITICO piece by Nancy Scola about how Republican Colorado Rep. Ken Buck tries to avoid using products from Google, Amazon, Twitter and Apple.
Revolving door hits Kanter: Advocacy groups say Googles attack on DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter is far-fetched, according to Motherboard.
ICYMI: Critics say businesses regularly exploit H-1B visa holders, paying them below market wages, POLITICOs Rikha Sharma Rani writes.
A message from Save Our Standards:
Support US Jobs. Stop SEP Abuse.
A new draft policy statement on standard-essential patents (SEPs) committed for licensing on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms was released jointly by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Justice. The draft statement provides guidance on appropriate remedies in cases involving the use of these patents, and presents an approach to SEPs that strives to balance the interests of patent holders with the broad range of U.S. industries that use standards to protect the future of innovation.
Save Our Standards is a broad-based coalition working to end abusive practices in SEP licensing. We welcome the draft statement and support the Biden Administration for their leadership protecting U.S. competitiveness in charting out this balanced approach. Comments are being accepted through February 4. Support the Biden Administration to stop SEP abuse.
Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Bob King ([emailprotected]), Heidi Vogt ([emailprotected]), Emily Birnbaum ([emailprotected]), John Hendel ([emailprotected]), Rebecca Kern ([emailprotected]), Alexandra S. Levine ([emailprotected]) and Leah Nylen ([emailprotected]). Got an event for our calendar? Send details to [emailprotected]. And don't forget: Add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.
TTYL!
Read more from the original source:
Biden's big bill is dead. What tech provisions might live on? - Politico
- Report Sounds Alarm Over Growing Role of Big Tech in US Military-Industrial Complex - Common Dreams - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big Tech's ad transparency tools especially X's are failing at their jobs, report finds - Mashable - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big Tech Taps AI Agents to Drive Revenue Growth - PYMNTS.com - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- National privacy standard eyed by Congress for data harvested by big tech companies Nebraska Examiner - Nebraska Examiner - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big Tech is on a generative AI hiring spree - Fast Company - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Disruptive Innovation in the Era of Big Tech - HBR.org Daily - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Betting on US Big Tech? Top Earnings Reports to Watch in the Coming Week - FX Empire - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big Tech Earnings Are Just Around the Corner - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) - Benzinga - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- WATCH LIVE: Will Cain holds panel to discuss Big Tech and Trump trial - Fox News - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Google fires 28 workers in aftermath of protests over big tech deal with Israeli government - The Bakersfield Californian - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big Tech offices are getting smaller and that spells trouble for landlords - Quartz - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Asking Big Tech to police AI is like turning to 'oil companies to solve climate change,' AI researcher says - Fortune - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big Tech Comes to Small Town: A Bitcoin Mining Story in Spur - CoinDesk - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big Tech loses its appetite for office space, adding to landlords woes - Inman - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Google restructure leads to job cuts - Mobile World Live - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- FTC's Lina Khan talks big tech monopolies on The Daily Show - The Ticker - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Digital public infrastructure will drive the future, not big tech: Amitabh Kant - BusinessLine - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big tech is downsizing work space in another blow to office real estate | Mint - Mint - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- UK Plans Talks With Big Tech to Limit Online Harm for Teens - Bloomberg - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Canada to Start Taxing Tech Giants in 2024 Despite US Complaints - Bloomberg - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- US quarterly earnings to feature big growth in tech-related companies - Reuters - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Our View: Big Tech: Google continues to harm news groups for its own profit - Mankato Free Press - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Deepfake victims must punish Big Tech because Congress wont - The Hill - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Big tech kneecaps anyone researching it. The online harms bill needs to remove barriers to analysis - Policy Options - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Global future will not be driven by big tech but by India's DPI: Amitabh Kant - Moneycontrol - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Kids Code bills prompt epic showdown between regulators, activists and big tech firms - Biometric Update - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Tech Firms Retreating From Office Market - The Real Deal - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- UKs antitrust enforcer sounds the alarm over Big Techs grip on GenAI - TechCrunch - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- Time for government to regulate big tech - ACS - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- UK Markets Authority Warns of AI Market Capture by Big Tech - BankInfoSecurity.com - April 18th, 2024 [April 18th, 2024]
- 2023 Boosts Big Techs AI monopoly? Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, and others wield money power - HT Tech - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Shows Power of Ads Over Subscriptions - Bloomberg - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- Looking Beyond The 'Magnificent 7' Analysts Just Upgraded These Three Large-Cap Stocks - Anheuser-Busch - Benzinga - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- Mapping the Biggest Tech Talent Hubs in the U.S. and Canada - Visual Capitalist - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- Google, Meta, other tech giants slash DEI-related jobs, resource groups in 2023: Report - Fox Business - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- South Koreas proposed tech regulations would be a gift to China - The Hill - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- Outlook 2024: Big changes to expect in personal tech - The Indian Express - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- Big Tech Dumped $17 Billion Into AI Companies in 2023 Despite Frozen Market - The Messenger - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- Why OpenAI signals the start of the post-Christensen startup world - Tech.eu - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- Opinion | Lindsey Graham and Elizabeth Warren: When It Comes to Big Tech, Enough Is Enough - The New York Times - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- Globe editorial: Canada can't tackle Big Tech on its own - The Globe and Mail - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- July jobs report and more Big Tech earnings are in the week ahead after markets notch historic run for Dow - CNBC - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- A Setback in the F.T.C.'s Fight Against Big Tech - The New Yorker - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- Be strong in the fight against Big Tech, Canada - Canada's National Observer - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- Decoding volatility: Are big tech stocks as stable as we think? - CryptoSlate - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- Patients think their health data will be leaked and don't trust big tech ... - Contemporary Pediatrics - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Big Tech Earnings Season - Fagen wasanni - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- The problem with Big Tech's voluntary AI safety commitments - Emerging Tech Brew - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- How the Crypto Market Prepares Ahead of Big Tech Earnings ... - BeInCrypto - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- Tony Anscombe: It's Misleading to Ask if Big Tech Wants to Read ... - BroadbandBreakfast.com - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- The Week Ahead: Fed, ECB and BoJ set rates, and Big Tech ... - Financial Times - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- China's Big Tech making a comeback with Beijing offering fresh ... - The Straits Times - July 29th, 2023 [July 29th, 2023]
- Montgomery County school district sues Big Tech over youth mental ... - Washington Times - June 18th, 2023 [June 18th, 2023]
- Big Tech knows most Brits don't know how to protect their online ... - TechRadar - June 18th, 2023 [June 18th, 2023]
- The time for talk is over is time for action on data privacy - The Hill - June 18th, 2023 [June 18th, 2023]
- Meet the man calling out Big Techs climate hypocrisy - Corporate Knights Magazine - June 18th, 2023 [June 18th, 2023]
- Letter: UK watchdog's tough stance on Big Tech should reassure MPs - Financial Times - June 18th, 2023 [June 18th, 2023]
- Peter Thiel on Big Tech: A Throwback Lecture - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - June 18th, 2023 [June 18th, 2023]
- Big Tech Is Big Tobacco - The Lever - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- Graham fires warning shot at Big Tech: Were going to unleash the courtrooms of America on you - Fox News - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- Experts weigh the current cost of anticompetitive behavior in Big ... - NYU Law - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- Big Tech lobbying on AI regulation as industry races to harness ... - Center for Responsive Politics - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- 'Big Tech is knowingly fueling a mental-health crisis in this country ... - Morningstar - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- EY's Abandoned Split Exposes Obstacles to Big Tech Consulting - Bloomberg Tax - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- Apple CEO Tim Cook calls mass layoffs a last resort, as the company avoids the giant job cuts of its Big Tech peers - Yahoo Finance - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- Big Tech stocks are flying! Which ones are the best buys today? - Motley Fool UK - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- Why Indian start-ups have accused the Internet and Mobile Association of India of spreading Big Tech propaganda - The Indian Express - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- Intimate Images Protection Update Big Tech Warned To Be Ready ... - BC INJURY LAW - May 6th, 2023 [May 6th, 2023]
- Apple Stock and Big Tech Are Winners. Why Cathie Wood's ARK Is Still a Loser. - Barron's - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- White House officials will meet Big Tech CEOs as President Biden looks to tackle AI safety concerns - Yahoo Canada Finance - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- The top 10 buzziest companies Gen Z wants to work fornone of them are in Big Tech, says new report - CNBC - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- Apple Reports Earnings Today. What to Expect. - Barron's - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- Big Tech Earnings: Time to Take Another Bite of Apple? - Yahoo Finance - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- Vibe Check: Big Tech Is Losing Its 'Luster' For The Class Of 2023 Amid Mounting Layoffs And An Uncertain Economy - Forbes - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- Lindsey Graham says Big Tech will kill online child safety bill, teases plan with Elizabeth Warren - Washington Times - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- 'Break them open' new EU rules coming for Big Tech - TNW - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- EY's Abandoned Split Exposes Obstacles to Big Tech Consulting - Bloomberg Law - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- Open Source Communities Need More Than Funding From Big Tech - DevOps.com - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- Night School, Class 3: Big Tech vs the insurgents - Financial Times - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]
- MM View: The Big Tech monster is coming for you - but only if you let it - Money Marketing - May 4th, 2023 [May 4th, 2023]