Overnight Tech: Clinton email probe fallout | Startups push to be heard in encryption fight | Comcast, Netflix make a deal

LEDE: Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said at a dramatic Tuesday press conference that the agency wouldn’t recommend charges against Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Comey also said they had found no evidence that Hillary Clinton’s email while at the State Department had been hacked, but couldn’t rule out the possibility entirely.

{mosads}Comey said that the commercial email accounts of people she was corresponding with had been breached and said that even if Clinton had been hacked, it was likely that there wouldn’t be evidence left behind for investigators to find. “She also used her personal e-mail extensively while outside the United States, including sending and receiving work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries,” he said.

“Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal email account.”

MORE ON WHAT THE FBI FOUND: The Hill’s Julian Hattem has a great rundown of the seven major revelations from Comey’s remarks. Read it here.

IN CASE YOU WERE STILL UNPLUGGED FROM THE LONG WEEKEND: The bottom line of Comey’s remarks was that while Clinton’s decision to use a personal email account for State Department business was “extremely careless,” the agency will not be recommending that the Justice Department charge her with a crime. Though Clinton dodged the major political hit that would have come with an indictment, Republicans are still likely to use Comey’s condemnation against her. Click here for the FBI director’s statement. Republicans were quick to lash out at the FBI over its decision.

HERE FIRST: STARTUPS WEIGH IN ON ENCRYPTION DEBATE: Forty startups united under the advocacy group Engine used a Tuesday letter, first reported here, to encourage congressional leaders to consider encryption issues from their perspective. “While much of the dialogue on cybersecurity has focused on whether the government can and should enlist large technology companies to assist in decrypting information for law enforcement purposes, there has been little discussion of the impact that legislation relating to encryption would have on the startups that are responsible for all new net job growth in this country,” they said. “Encryption is at the heart of many of our products and services. Without the security and confidence that encryption provides, it would be difficult or impossible for us to find customers and investors, and ultimately, grow our businesses.”

They argued that small startups are not in a good position to deal with an increase in cybercrime that would come with weakening encryption or equipped to handle compliance with some of the proposals floated by lawmakers. Signatories to the letter include GitHub, Foursquare and Mapbox. The letter went to the top Republicans in both the House and the Senate. Read the whole letter here.

Please send your tips, comments and stray observations to David McCabe (dmccabe@digital-staging.thehill.com) and Mario Trujillo (mtrujillo@digital-staging.thehill.com) and follow us on Twitter: @dmccabe, @_mariotrujillo and @HilliconValley.

TWITTER’S CHINESE USER BASE: TechCrunch says, based on a source inside the company, that Twitter has about 10 million users inside China despite being blocked there. The company has, however, worked to sell its advertising products to Chinese companies, much like Facebook. China is a potentially explosive market for tech companies, but many have struggled to adapt to the government’s strict rules.

ROLODEX UPDATE — SCHATZ TO U.S. TELECOM: Amy Schatz, most recently an editor at Politico and a former Wall Street Journal and Recode reporter, is heading to U.S. Telecom as their new vice president of media affairs.

THE DEAL EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT: Recode reports that Netflix and Comcast have reached a deal to make Netflix’s service available on the cable giant’s X1 operating system. That means that Comcast’s more than 22 million customers will be able to access the streaming service through their set-top boxes. “Comcast and Netflix have reached an agreement to incorporate Netflix into X1, providing seamless access to the great content offered by both companies,” the companies told the outlet. “We have much work to do before the service will be available to consumers later this year.”

BROUGHT TO YOU (NOT) LIVE: PBS was forced to respond early Tuesday morning after receiving criticism over its Fourth of July broadcast.

People on social media realized they were not seeing live images of the fireworks during the network’s broadcast in D.C. Because of the weather — rain and fog — the broadcast network decided to “intercut fireworks footage” from previous years, but it did not make that immediately apparent. “We apologize for any confusion this may have caused,” it said in a statement.

COURT WON’T REHEAR TENNIS CHANNEL’S COMCAST COMPLAINTS: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ended a long running case in which the Tennis Channel accused Comcast of unlawful discrimination by giving preferential treatment to its own networks in the channel lineup. The FCC originally sided with the Tennis Channel, but the court reversed the decision in 2013 and sent it back down to the FCC. The Tennis Channel has since appealed the FCC’s new decision that found in favor of Comcast. The court on Tuesday declined the Tennis Channel’s new appeal.

ON TAP:

Wednesday is the reply comment deadline on the FCC’s broadband privacy item.

At 2:00 p.m., the House Small Business Committee holds a hearing on foreign cybersecurity threats.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

A federal appeals court issued a ruling Tuesday under an anti-hacking law that advocates warn could make it easier for the government to bring criminal charges against people who share online passwords.

Apple will give iPhone users a way to register as an organ donor, straight from the smartphone’s operating system.

The European Union is cracking down on prepaid credit cards and bitcoin to “tackle terrorism financing, tax avoidance and money laundering.”

Federal officials may not use private email accounts to get around public records laws, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

The tech industry is pressing Donald Trump to “get into the game” after Hillary Clinton released a wide-ranging platform that touched on internet connectivity, cybersecurity and computer science education.

Airbnb is taking its hometown to court in an unprecedented lawsuit for the popular home-sharing service.