POLICY

What’s Next?

The chaos in Washington Wednesday overshadowed news in the Peach State, where Democrats won both runoff races to regain control of the Senate. A Democrat-controlled Congress likely means a more seismic shakeup for the tech policy status quo. 

Let’s start with the elephants in the room

Antitrust legislation maybe sees the light of day. Even more likely: a privacy/data protection bill and increased funding for watchdogs that rhyme with F-Me-C and D-O-Hey. Biden and Co. have also called for an overhaul of Section 230, the “twenty-six words that created the internet” and which shield online platforms from liability for user-generated content. 

Wednesday’s insurrection could lead to more immediate and heightened congressional scrutiny of social platforms. For all the content moderation duties delegated to AI, the most important choices still land at the feet of the CEOs, and those execs’ eleventh-hour, crisis-driven decisions on Wednesday may not cut it for the Democrats. 

• “They bear major responsibility for ignoring repeated red flags and demands for fixes….these events will renew and refocus the need for Congress to reform Big Tech,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told WaPo. 

If those were the headwinds, here are the tailwinds

Wall Street’s reaction to a Democrat-controlled Congress was relatively muted. Tech futures fell Wednesday, but stocks bounced back and then some. 

On the policy front, the Biden administration will likely roll back high-skill immigration restrictions that were panned by Big Tech. And beyond Silicon Valley, we anticipate more R&D funding for AI, new-energy vehicles, and other emerging technologies. Expect more funds earmarked for tech infrastructure: EV charging networks, rural high-speed internet, etc.

Before we wrap up...

...Some new faces to familiarize yourself with: 

• Yesterday, Biden’s transition team named Gina Raimondo as presumptive commerce secretary. Currently Rhode Island Governor and formerly a VC, Raimondo will have plenty of tech geopolitical matters on her plate from day one.

David Recordon has been tapped for White House Director of Technology, which sets the government’s science and tech agendas. He’s an open-source developer and the former engineer director at Facebook. 

DATA PRIVACY

Gimme, Gimme More (Data)

“The future is private.”—Mark Zuckerberg in April 2019, announcing a new focus for his company.

That vision may have been short-lived. WhatsApp, the world’s most popular mobile messaging app, announced yesterday that users must agree to share data with Facebook, its parent company. 

...How much data?

Under the new privacy policy, WhatsApp will be able to collect a user’s phone number, location, transaction info, usage activity and duration, contacts’ names and phone numbers, unique identifiers for other Facebook-owned products associated with the user's device or account, and more. According to Facebook, the update is largely aimed at business messaging. 

Users who don’t agree will lose access to WhatsApp on Feb. 8. The newly-minted richest man in the world (Elon Musk), among others, is urging WhatsApp users to abandon ship for Signal. 

• Signal doesn’t link data to your identity, and Telegram, another encrypted messaging app, links only some. 

Across the pond: Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), WhatsApp’s data-sharing policies in Europe won’t change, so this new info won’t be collected there. 

SPONSORED BY PANASONIC

THINK FAST

Whoa, nice reflexes. 

Reminds us of someone else we know in the game of quick thinking: Panasonic.

Not only was Panasonic on their toes all of 2020 (and seemingly impervious to charley horse cramping), they’ve been innovating and creating new technologies that move the world forward for over 100 years.

So it should come as no surprise that their virtual CES 2021 event is simply packed with all the ways Panasonic continues to think fast, move at sonic speeds, and turn extenuating circumstances into extraordinary opportunities.

Everything from smart mobility and supply chain innovations to immersive entertainment, sustainability, and lifestyle advancements are on board this Panasonic rocket ship, and you’ve got a free ticket to ride.

The event kicks off in just—THINK FAST—three days.

Tune in January 11th and witness the world push forward with Panasonic.

VC

Fundraising During Covid-19: Q4 Ed.

Here are the big-ticket funding items that caught our attention in Q4 2020. 

Chips: Graphcore, the U.K.-based chipmaker, raised a $222 million Series E—increasing its reported valuation to $2.77 billion. 

• And Horizon Robotics, a Chinese chipmaker and Nvidia rival, raised a $150 million Series C. 

Robotics: Flexiv, a Chinese adaptive robotics company, raised a $100+ million Series B with an aim to expand beyond the manufacturing sector. 

Space: Relativity Space, the 3D-printed rocket startup based in Long Beach, California, raised a $500 million Series D. 

Autonomous vehicles: TuSimple, the self-driving truck startup, raised a $350 million Series E. Investors included major players in U.S. rail, retail, and freight. 

Electric vehicles: (This one’s technically Q1 2021, but we’ll let it slide.) Rivian, the electric truck manufacturer that’s partnering with Amazon on electric delivery vans, will reportedly close a funding round soon that should value it at $25 billion. 

BITS & BYTES

Stat: The total market cap of cryptocurrencies topped $1 trillion for the first time on Thursday.

Quote: “Can deepfakes, as such, be prohibited under American law? Almost certainly not.”—Cass Sunstein, a Harvard legal scholar, in WSJ Opinion. 

Read: Jim Keller designed Apple’s A4 and A5 chips and Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” chip. He’s the new CTO at Tenstorrent, an AI chip design company, per AnandTech. Definitely a startup to keep tabs on... 

SPONSORED BY UBS

Ready your portfolio for a year of renewal. UBS sees 2021 as a year of recovery and revival—AKA the day spa the world needs right about now. To better understand what that means for your portfolio, UBS recently sat down with Dr. John Whyte, Chief Medical Officer at WebMD, to discuss the impacts of a Covid-19 vaccine and the world returning to normal. Watch the replay here.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• SolarWinds hired Chris Krebs, the former top U.S. cyber official, and Alex Stamos, FB’s former chief security officer, as advisers. 
• Apple has scooped up Tesla vets for its electric autonomous car project, which is at least half a decade away, Bloomberg reports. 
• Hyundai is in early talks with Apple to collaborate on a self-driving car. Maybe Boston Dynamics will actually just build a robot to physically drive the car?
• Waymo ditched the term “self-driving” for autonomous driving instead, saying that the former term could mislead the public. 
• The State Department has established the Bureau of Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies.
• Looking Glass Factory will release a cloud-based service that converts 2D images into 3D holograms.
• HBD, Wikipedia. 

GOING PHISHING

Four of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. Kia unveiled its new logo in Incheon, South Korea, using 303 pyrotechnic drones and fireworks. 
2. Robinhood is considering selling shares directly to users when it IPOs. 
3. You can now bet on drone racing on DraftKings in five U.S. states.
4. Two autonomous tugboats tried to pull each other simultaneously, after a software malfunction on one of the vessels.  
5. Mercedes-Benz revealed a 56-inch, door-to-door touchscreen console called Hyperscreen.

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• Inside the new Alphabet Workers Union 
• What to expect at the first all-virtual CES 
• Emerging Tech Brew’s year in review

TECH THROWBACK

In 1972, the first home video game console launched on the market. The Magnavox Odyssey was based on a prototype by Ralph Baer, the “Father of Video Games,” and we’re coming up on that 50-year anniversary. To celebrate, Hayden’s getting Ryan to teach her how to properly aim a green shell in Mario Kart. 

GOING PHISHING ANSWER

Autonomous tugboats didn't try simultaneously pulling each other. But wouldn't that be a sight to behold?