Public relations experts who have experience grooming CEOs for congressional testimony have pointers for Mark Zuckerberg as he prepares to face lawmakers over Facebook's data controversy, AP reports.
Why it matters: "CEOs testifying in Washington have lost jobs, faced perjury investigations and otherwise endured public humiliation. It’s not comfortable for anyone in a position of power to essentially kowtow to Congress in a televised setting," AP writes.
Amazon and Google, the leading sellers of digital assistants like Alexa, have each "filed patent applications that outline an array of possibilities for how devices like these could monitor more of what users say and do," the N.Y. Times reports.
Why it matters: "That information could then be used to identify a person’s desires or interests, which could be mined for ads and product recommendations."
Big Tech has lost $278 billion in stock-market value since the Facebook data-harvesting revelations two weekends ago, per the Financial Times (subscription):
By the numbers: Facebook: $75 billion ... Amazon: $61 billion ... Apple: $54 billion ... Alphabet, parent of Google: $62 billion ... Microsoft $26 billion.
In a fascinating interview with Wired's Nicholas Thompson, French president Emmanuel Macron explains why he is making big investments to bring France into the "winner takes all" race with the U.S. and China on artificial intelligence.
One key quote: "At some point, as citizens, people will say, 'I want to be sure that all of this personal data is not used against me, but used ethically, and that everything is monitored. I want to understand what is behind this algorithm that plays a role in my life.'”
Why it matters: A source told Axios' Jonathan Swan that the "whole post office thing" has been "explained to [Trump] in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon." Amazon pays the same bulk rate as other shippers, and USPS is legally required to avoid shipping at a loss.
P.S. ... Newspapers are not required to register as lobbyists. But Trump has singled out the Post for being owned by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. Back in July, the president called WaPo a "lobbyist weapon" for Amazon.
