TLDR: The Department of Justice is continuing its push for tech companies to undermine their users’ security by building in intentional vulnerabilities. In the latest spat between Apple, Attorney General William Barr is claiming that the company is not helping officials unlock two iPhones belonging to the shooter in last month’s deadly shooting at a Florida naval air base, despite the fact that the older model devices can likely be accessed and Apple has already turned over the relevant data in its possession.

TLDR: Later this year, the Supreme Court will weigh in on a long-standing copyright dispute between Oracle and Google over the permissible use of application programming interfaces, or APIs. APIs are software interfaces that startups rely on to promote interoperability and reduce costs. If they were eligible for copyright protection, then companies that own the API copyrights would be able to prevent others from using those APIs without paying for a license. This week Engine filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, arguing that APIs should not be eligible for copyright protection, and in particular that extending copyright protections to APIs is an attempt to evade patent law in a way that would unduly harm startups and entrepreneurs.

A key House panel is holding a hearing tomorrow morning to examine the dangers of online misinformation, deception, and deepfakes. Lawmakers are rightfully concerned about the spread of misinformation across the Internet, but they have largely failed to offer solutions that would not stifle startups and other platforms’ ability to moderate troublesome—but otherwise legal—content.

As the year draws to a close, we wanted to highlight some of the main policy issues that have affected the startup community this year, and what we’ve done to advance the goals of the entrepreneurial community.

This year, Engine focused on a number of critical policy issues impacting entrepreneurs and technology startups across the United States. Guided by the startup community’s concerns, we stood up for strong net neutrality rules, highlighted the importance of intermediary liability protections, called for a federal data privacy framework that works for both consumers and startups, and much more.

As the year draws to a close, we wanted to highlight some of the main policy issues that have affected the startup community this year, and what we’ve done to advance the goals of the entrepreneurial community.

This morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “encryption and lawful access.” While the hearing largely focused on the ways large tech companies use encryption—Apple and Facebook testified—companies of all sizes, especially startups, rely on increased privacy and security protections to gain and keep user trust as well as to differentiate themselves from larger competitors.