Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Resisting Demoralization
This week, we discuss history repeating itself, a phone wipe scandal, Meta's relationship with links and more.
News
The Government Just Made it Harder for The Public to Comment on Regulations
A critical piece of tech infrastructure that lets people talk to the government has been disabled.
The Abstract
A Strand of Hair Just Changed What We Know About the Inka Empire
A 500-year-old human hair in a rare khipu challenges the long-held idea that only elite men created these knotted records in the Inka empire.
The Abstract
A New Discovery Might Have Just Rewritten Human History
Long before modern supply chains, ancient hominins were moving stone across long distances, potentially reshaping what we know about our evolutionary roots.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Exercises in OSINT and Storage Pains
This week, we discuss OSINT for chat groups, Russell Crowe films, and storage problems.
News
Pentagon Funded Experiment Develops Robots that Change by ‘Consuming’ Other Robots
Researchers say this 'robot metabolism' is an early step in giving AI biological style bodies.
News
Trump Has Dropped a Third of All Government Investigations Into Big Tech
Tech companies spent $1.2 billion on political influence since 2024. It’s paid off.
News
ICE Adds Random Person to Group Chat, Exposes Details of Manhunt in Real-Time
The texts were sent to a group called “Mass Text” and show ICE using DMV and license plate reader data in an attempt to find their target, copies of the messages obtained by 404 Media show.
Media
4K Blu-Ray of 22-Year-Old 'Master and Commander' Is Sold Out Everywhere, Being Scalped on eBay
The cult classic 2005 film is selling for double the MSRP on the secondary market.
FOIA
Trump Administration Outlines Plan to Throw Out an Agency's FOIA Requests En Masse
The Department of Energy said it will close FOIA requests from last year unless the requester emails the agency to say they are still interested. Experts say it's an "attempt to close out as many FOIA requests as possible."
Immigration
ICE Propaganda Video That Used Jay-Z Song Hit With Copyright Takedown
A DHS sizzle reel that used "Public Service Announcement" got hit with a copyright takedown request and has been deleted off of X.
age verification
Wyoming and South Dakota Age Verification Laws Could Include Huge Parts of the Internet
By omitting the "one-third" provision that most other states with age verification laws have adopted, Wyoming and South Dakota are placing the burden of verifying users' ages on all sorts of websites, far beyond porn.
Podcast
Podcast: Why Are DHS Agents Wearing Meta Ray-Bans?
CBP's use of Meta Ray-Bans; the bargain that voice actors are having to make with AI; and how Flock tech is being essentially hacked into by the DEA.