What are the big tech companies lobbying for this election?

Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google have priorities ranging from taxes to trade and national security in this year's elections

When US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump take the stage at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, for their first formal, head-to-head debate on Monday night, they will undoubtedly be watched carefully by senior executives of - and lobbyists for - the country's largest technology companies.

Both candidates have been vocal on some key issues near and dear to the hearts of technology companies - such as global trade. As Dean Garfield, president and CEO of the Washington DC-based technology industry advocacy group the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), points out, it is unusual for trade agreements such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) to take center stage in a presidential election.