NEW: Absolutely bonkers tale for @wired.com by @timmclaughlin3.bsky.social about Beijing spying on Chinese dissidents in the US, including Alysa Liu's father (and Alysa as a result): www.wired.com/story/the-we...
New: We found out how much money Nick Fuentes makes from "superchats": $900,000 since the start of Trump's second term. Here's the story of Kristine in Ohio, a food-truck operator who became his most frequent donor, despite not making much money herself: wapo.st/4mERkhv
A form which calculates an individual’s “income tax body count”, or the total number of conflict-related deaths they have caused through their income tax contributions to the U.S. government.
income-tax-body-count.lav.io
Also a reminder: keeping your phone powered off while traveling (like through airports) puts it in that “before first unlock” state, where a lot less data is accessible without a passcode. Turn off biometrics, and don’t reuse pins!
TIL: recent iOS updates are locking cops out of seized iPhones. For months now, forensic tools like Cellebrite haven’t been able to extract data from some of these devices
One workaround I’ve heard: police will subpoena jail phone systems to get defendants PINs…then try those codes on the phones
Come for the fun interview, stay for the experience of watching me struggle to form basic thoughts after several months of parental leave and no sleep.
NEW: The government tells Americans to use VPNs to protect their privacy. The government also automatically presumes communications of unknown origin are foreign. Foreign communications don't require a warrant to wiretap.
Lawmakers who've done the math want answers.
My latest @wired.com:
In part: “Relatedly, "audience segments" uploaded to one prominent U.S.-based marketing platform and available to other users - ostensibly for directed advertising purposes - included segments targeting consumers.”
continued: “…based on certain health conditions and financial hardship, as well as the likelihood that they were "US government employees who are considered decision makers working specifically in the field of national security" and "individuals who work at companies registered with the State Department to manufacture and export defense-related technologies.”
A letter by 17 state attorneys general urging Congress to close the data broker loophole enabling warrantless federal mass surveillance, citing an investigation into Google adtech last year by me & @dmehro.bsky.social (among other reporting):
oag.ca.gov/system/files...
Book launch day! “Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Policing in the Age of Self Surveillance” is out.
Bluesky friends, I would be so grateful if you would buy a copy. And if you can’t afford it, could you at least share this announcement. Thank you. #BookSky
politics-prose.com/search?q=You...
Scoop: DHS ousted multiple privacy officers at CBP after they questioned orders to purposely mislabel records about government surveillance to prevent their release under FOIA.
I'm so proud of the entire @wired.com team for four ASME nominations, including General Excellence. The most nominations for WIRED in at least a decade! Everyone here earned all of this and more, so today we brag!
In the final three months of 2025, one person in ICE custody was subjected to force-feeding, forced urinary catheterization, or blood draws.
ICE says seven people are currently on hunger strike — a number that feels inaccurately low, according to a Georgia-based immigration attorney I just asked.
He thinks it is named after the state www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
This ICE sniper-training contractor caught a gun-under-the-influence charge, per Lexis.
/ht @agordon.me
This is literally what CURRENT LAW requires. It’s in the Constitution! www.politico.com/news/2026/02...
I filed this FOIA after publishing this investigation into ICE agents abusing law-enforcement databases. www.wired.com/story/ice-ag....
Those records are here:
airtable.com/appxK2tDF0YA...
The spreadsheet covers roughly 5 years (ending 3/2023) and includes disciplinary outcomes tied to alleged unauthorized database access, improper use or disclosure of information, and stalking or harassment.
The records don’t include much context about the underlying misconduct
FOIA data shows ICE employees accused of harassment and abusing law-enforcement databases (including Palantir's systems) were often disciplined unevenly, with outcomes limited to verbal counseling, written reprimands, or short suspensions. The records are here:
Chuck Schumer Voice: ICE Death Cards must henceforth include both a phone and fax number
Pretty sure this one’s free to read per WIREDs policy on stories based on public records
In 2023, @wired.com analyzed ICE’s own subpoena-tracking database and found agents issued 1509 summonses more than 170,000 times from 2016–2022 — often for records unrelated to customs, including schools, abortion providers, election offices, nonprofits, and newsrooms.
Admin subpoenas are back in the spotlight. Worth remembering ICEs use of a similar tool: hundreds of thousands of warrantless “customs summonses,” often for non-customs cases sent for info about journalists, students, and abortion clinics, with no oversight.
wired.com/story/ice-1509-custom-summons/
Basically it’s just an internal alert cops use to tell each other to watch for this person or car. Stands for Be On The Look Out
Police used the city’s license plate readers to track a local writer’s movements, then issued a BOLO on him.
No charge, and he was the wrong suspect.
www.kcur.org/politics-ele...
Didn’t realize that, thanks. In the future i won’t summarize
I summarized the screenshot in the alt text instead of transcribing it…that was a mistake. I honestly didn’t know that was an incorrect way to use alt text.
But jumping straight to bad-faith accusations over an error is silly, unnecessary, and discouraging.
I humbly ask you to relax a bit.
In June, @dell.bsky.social and I wrote a story based on 911 calls from ICE detention centers. Not reported at the time were four calls that referenced hunger strikes.
One described a man on day 20 of a hunger strike in South Texas.
Another detail buried in the document:
ICE reports two people subjected to force feeding or other involuntary medical procedures, but only one appears in ICE’s patient-tracking system.
Not sure what to make of that.
ICE just quietly updated its hunger strike data.
From July 1 to Sept 30, 106 people went on hunger strike.
Two people in ICE custody were subjected to force-feeding or involuntary medical measures this summer
As of Dec 2, ICE reports 14 ongoing hunger strikes
www.ice.gov/doclib/deten...
