maddy varner

wired.comDisney Asked Character.AI to Go Bankrupt for a Get-Out-of-Lawsuits CardThe entertainment giant hopes to get trust and safety tech, among other IP, from a startup whose chatbots dozens of states allege encouraged minors to self-harm and kill their parents.

I dug into Character.AI's bankruptcy filings and realized it was actually a "reverse-acquihire" play by Disney, who has already hired a "majority" of staff pre-bankruptcy filing. Disney is now hoping to secure a nonexclusive perpetual license to CAI's codebases www.wired.com/story/disney...

wyden.senate.govwyden.senate.gov

"Reverse acquihires" have gotten criticism in the past for being seen as a way for companies to sidestep merger notification requirements, in this case the docs indicate that Disney does not want to be a legal "successor" to CAI (and inherit its legal troubles) www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

maddy varner reposted

wired.comAn OpenAI Employee Allegedly Used a Chatbot to Help Plant a Recording Device at the OfficeChatbot prompts reveal the engineer’s alleged efforts to set up a covert listening device days before one was found in a meeting room used by high-level executives.

NEW: The criminal complaint against an OpenAI engineer reveals that, according to investigators, he allegedly used a $14 device to spy on company executives’ meetings. @peard33.bsky.social, @regret.bsky.social, and @carolinehaskins.bsky.social report: www.wired.com/story/an-ope...

Great investigative work from @thiccreese.bsky.social. This reporting helped me understand what the fuck was going on with this post from Meta's Chief AI Officer

This post is unavailable.

wired.comICE Agent at NYC Shooting Has History of Alleged Violence and Illegal ArrestsBrenden Cuni, an ICE supervisor, has been accused of excessive force and tackling a pregnant woman to the ground. Several of his arrests were later found to be unlawful in federal court.

For those following this story—while we were able to identify the ICE agent in the high-viz vest brandishing a rifle as Brenden Cuni, DHS still hasn't confirmed who the shooter is. Cuni has worked for DHS in various roles for nearly a decade and is currently in a supervisory position.

Andrew Couts@couts.bsky.social

NEW: ICE agent in a high-viz vest holding a rifle at the scene of shooting near the Bronx has a history of allegedly lying, using excessive force, and courts have found his arrests unlawful. @dmehro.bsky.social @awinston.bsky.social, @regret.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-ag...

maddy varner reposted

Angela Watercutter

@waterslicer.bsky.social

Huge story here from @dmehro.bsky.social, @regret.bsky.social, and @awinston.bsky.social. A must-read.

Dhruv Mehrotra@dmehro.bsky.social

NEW: Footage from Thursdays shooting shows an ICE agent in a construction vest brandishing a rifle. His name is Brenden Cuni. Federal judges have found multiple arrests involving Cuni unlawful. He has been accused of repeatedly Tasing a handcuffed man and tackling a pregnant woman in Minneapolis.

maddy varner reposted

Gillian Brockell

@gillianbrockell.com

This ICE agent’s entire Instagram feed, “shooter.914,” is guns, watches, energy drinks, and alcohol.

Dhruv Mehrotra@dmehro.bsky.social

maddy varner reposted

maddy varner reposted

Ali Winston

@awinston.bsky.social

The ICE agent seen brandishing an AR-15 at the scene of yesterday’s shooting in NYC’s Marble Hill has a record of lying, excessive force & getting caught by judges. He also goes by “Shooter Cuni” on social media, & posts the same gun he had on him today W/@dmehro.bsky.social @regret.bsky.social

Andrew Couts@couts.bsky.social

wired.comThe Pentagon Hopes to Speed Up ‘Kill Chain’ AI Buys With 5-Minute VideosThe US government’s Tradewinds initiative has made it easier to throw millions of dollars at “nontraditional” defense contractors, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

NEW: Come for the 5-minute videos the Pentagon is hoping will speed up "kill chain" AI buys, stay for the historical tensions between Silicon Valley & the military and how the government accidentally consolidated a market to its detriment www.wired.com/story/the-pe...

maddy varner reposted

wired.comICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir DatabaseDHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.

NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings. w/ @regret.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/how-is...

NEW: A recently unsealed court filing that heavily cites government-produced documents + DHS agent depositions alleges that yes, there *is* a DHS database that's filled with protesters, called ICM. It's built by Palantir. www.wired.com/story/ice-ha...

maddy varner reposted

Paresh Dave

@peard33.bsky.social

wired.comHow Israeli Checkpoints Choke Palestinian Life in the Occupied West BankLost time. Lost jobs. Lost friends. Lost family. Lost lives. Our joint investigation reveals the system that has divided the West Bank and measures what it cost people to move through it.

wired.comTrump’s AI Safety ‘Accord’ Is a Fancy Pinky-SwearSix major AI companies signed a voluntary agreement with the White House this week vowing to implement safeguards. It’s unclear how much that matters.

More updates from the AI regulations trenches: a bunch of AI companies signed some voluntary agreements that are maybe similar to some other voluntary agreements they all previously signed.

youtube.comThe Sopranos 6.12 - "Your brother Billy, whatever happened there"YouTube video by CapoTube

Almost immediately after, the FTC confirmed it was doing some? sort of investigation? into several AI companies? but hasn't actually taken the initial steps needed for that yet? (whatever happened to the OpenAI one that was reportedly opened in 2023?) www.youtube.com/watch?si=rWT...

maddy varner reposted

@mattburgess1.bsky.social

NEW: A major joint investigation by the Palestine Reporting Lab, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, @lighthousereports.com, and @wired.com mapped all 925 checkpoints that are effectively shutting down life for Palestinians in the West Bank: www.wired.com/story/how-is...

maddy varner reposted

Matt Burgess (WIRED)

@charlesornstein.bsky.social

Very lucky to have received a ribbon from the New York State Fair this year!! 🥰 All hand dyed—mostly with onion skins and pomegranate

maddy varner reposted

Charles Ornstein

Step by step, the Trump administration is dismantling transparency. The Federal Agency That’s Supposed to Protect Consumers Just Made Another Business-Friendly Move @joeljacobs.bsky.social

propublica.orgThe Federal Agency That’s Supposed to Protect Consumers Just Made Another Business-Friendly MoveDebt collection. Credit reporting. Payday loans. Consumer complaints to a federal database used to help reveal issues and bring accountability. Then the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stopped pu...

maddy varner reposted

David Ingram

@davidingram.bsky.social

17 Sept

New from me: I tested the emergency phone number for companies developing AVs in Texas, and five of 17 didn't work.

wired.comThe AI ‘Slowdown’ Is an Antitrust MessBy framing their efforts as a “slowdown” rather than an industry-wide push for better security standards, AI labs may have set themselves up for years of regulatory headaches.

17 Sept

Do AI companies need an antitrust exemption to take time to work on safety and address potentially catastrophic risks? As an FTC antitrust attorney put it, “no humanity would result in no competition.” www.wired.com/story/the-ai...

maddy varner reposted

David Gilbert

@davidgilbert.bsky.social

17 Sept

Want to know if there's an election denier running for office in your state this November? Now you can, thanks to data from @statesunited.org and the incredible work of @regret.bsky.social Try out our interactive map here: www.wired.com/story/hundre...

maddy varner reposted

Kate Knibbs

@knibbs.bsky.social

11 Sept

SCOOP: The CFTC has launched several additional investigations into Polymarket trading, including wagering on Biden's pardons, Iran-related events, and other individuals who may have insider traded on Google contracts www.wired.com/story/polyma...

wired.comThe US Government Launched 3 Previously Unreported Investigations of Polymarket TradesThe agency that oversees prediction markets has investigated Polymarket trades on Biden pardons and the Iran war—and even more potential insider trading at Google, documents obtained by WIRED show.

wired.comYou Can Now Destroy Flock Cameras for Cash in GTA VA new GTA mod lets you smash and shoot Flock’s automatic license plate readers around the fictional Los Santos.

9 Sept

NEW: You can now smash and shoot Flock cameras in GTA V thanks to "Grand Theft Automated License Plate Reader," a mod by artist Morry Kolman. The cameras will also sometimes randomly trigger a police chase, inspired by news reports of ALPR misreads: www.wired.com/story/you-ca...

maddy varner reposted

wired.comYou Can Now Destroy Flock Cameras for Cash in GTA VA new GTA mod lets you smash and shoot Flock’s automatic license plate readers around the fictional Los Santos.

9 Sept

NEW: An artist made a GTA V mod that adds over 200 Flock cameras to Los Santos, which you can smash and shoot for money. It also has a 5 percent chance of misidentifying your vehicle and calling the cops on you. @regret.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/you-ca...

maddy varner reposted

Electronic Frontier Foundation

@eff.org

wired.comICE Wants to Know Everyone Who Bought a Certain Green Beanie From REI in the Last 2 YearsHomeland Security Investigations agents hit the outdoor retailer with a controversial subpoena as part of a dragnet search for the identities of protesters who entered a Minnesota church in March.

“I think DHS has proved time and time again that they can’t be trusted as the stewards of applying this (administrative subpoena) law correctly,” EFF’s @mariotrujillo.bsky.social told @WIRED.com.

reuters.comEXCLUSIVE: OpenAI agents hijacked German website in previously undisclosed AI breakout this springA swarm of rogue OpenAI agents hijacked a German website this spring and transformed it into a bulletin board for other AI agents, according to new research and two people familiar with the matter.

College students using AI to cheat on tests...AI using AI to cheat on tests...what are we doing here 😭

Raphael Satter@raphae.li

Scoop: There's been *another* previously undisclosed AI agent breakout from OpenAI, this one discovered by an informal group of researchers in Berkeley. The agents colonized a German wiki site and leveraged it to help cheat on tests. With @deepa.bsky.social www.reuters.com/world/europe...

NEW: As part of an investigation into ICE protesters, HSI agents tried to cajole REI into handing over transaction records of anyone in the MPLS area who bought a specific dark green beanie in the past two years: www.wired.com/story/ice-wa...

wyden.senate.govwyden.senate.gov

They used something called a 1509 customs summons, a powerful (and wildly unaccountable) legal tool. @wyden.senate.gov and @jayapal.house.gov are calling on GAO to investigate the administrations use of them + other types of administrative subpoenas: www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

maddy varner reposted

NEW: ICE agents demanded that REI turn over the names of "all persons" who bought a green beanie from the outdoor retailer over the past two years as part of their probe of protesters who entered a St. Paul church in March. @regret.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-wa...

storage.courtlistener.comOrder – #95 in HILTON v. NOEM (D. Me., 2:26-cv-00092) – CourtListener.comOrder

3 Sept

update: magistrate judge says that monitoring ICE agents' location and activity "can reasonably be characterized as political activity" and that revealing the Signal group chat members' names would have a chilling effect on their first amendment rights storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

maddy varner@regret.bsky.social

BIZARRE: Earlier this year, the Trump administration was sued for violating protesters' First Amendment rights in Maine. Now, they're trying to use that lawsuit to obtain Signal group chats that the protesters were in, which attorneys say is itself a 1A violation. www.wired.com/story/dhs-wa...

wired.comDHS Wants Protesters’ Signal Group ChatsA lawsuit accuses Homeland Security of violating protesters’ free-speech rights—but the agency is using it to try to get access to the plaintiffs’ encrypted communications.

maddy varner reposted

Mario Trujillo

@mariotrujillo.bsky.social

31 Aug

ICE tried to conduct a dragnet search on REI customers in Minneapolis, apparently trying to ID a person who wore a particular beanie storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

maddy varner reposted

Paresh Dave

@peard33.bsky.social

30 Aug

www.wired.com/story/google...

wired.comGoogle Maps Now Shows ‘Lake America’ Instead of Lake OntarioAfter Donald Trump’s executive order demanding the name change, Google is the first major online maps provider to flip the switch.

eff.orgA List of ICE Subpoenas to Tech CompaniesThis is likely an undercount. The full scope is hard to pin down because these subpoenas typically only come to light when a user is given notice and challenges them in court, or when a company docume...

27 Aug

Incredibly useful (and alarming!) dataset👇

Mario Trujillo@mariotrujillo.bsky.social

There is no comprehensive tally of ICE subpoenas to tech companies in the second Trump administration. But this is a start www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

20 Aug

OPM keeps updating my FOIA request with new tracking IDs and giving no context why 😭 I can't tell if this means stuff is happening? lol

maddy varner reposted

wired.comFlock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its CodeFlock’s surveillance cameras have already sparked outrage. WIRED reconstructed its next-generation AI system, already in use by some police, to confirm it goes much further than tracking license plate...

NEW: Flock has said for years its cameras don’t identify or track people. We obtained the code for its police AI and rebuilt parts of it. The tool can find witnesses, surface associates, search people by race or physical description, and flag vehicles by how they move. W/ @dell.bsky.social

regulations.govRegulations.gov

FTC puts out a proposed policy statement re: personalized pricing (sometimes referred to as "surveillance pricing"). Statement points out several ways personalized pricing is in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act (!) www.regulations.gov/document/FTC...

Diverges from the DOJ/FTC's 2018 OECD note on personalized pricing (during Trump I era) by not mentioning the Equal Credit Opportunity Act or explicitly calling out personalized pricing that uses traditionally protected characteristics... one.oecd.org/document/DAF/COMP/WD(2018)140/en/pdf

one.oecd.orgone.oecd.org

wired.comFTC Strikes Deals to Ignore Unlawful Credit DiscriminationThe agency signed agreements to not enforce parts of three federal court orders against auto dealers accused of discrimination—and didn’t notify judges or at least one of its coplaintiffs.

We reported on the FTC's agreements to not enforce three auto dealers' court-ordered requirements not to engage in unlawful credit discrimination last week. Weird that this keeps happening! www.wired.com/story/ftc-st...

maddy varner reposted

Zack Whittaker

@zackwhittaker.com

15 Aug

An absolutely insane story about when U.S. sanctions go wrong and seemingly name the wrong person. conic.al/writing/the-...

conic.alThe other Sean Byrne doesn't existA fictitious Sean Byrne ended up on a U.S. government restricted-party list. Sixteen years later, Apple, Nasdaq and others have mistaken me for him.

maddy varner reposted

WIRED

@wired.com

14 Aug

The agency signed agreements to not enforce parts of three federal court orders against auto dealers accused of discrimination—and didn’t notify judges or at least one of its coplaintiffs. www.wired.com/story/ftc-st...

13 Aug

Huge, kudos to Reddit for shining a light on these practices—hopefully other tech companies will follow suit!

Mario Trujillo@mariotrujillo.bsky.social

Reddit released its latest transparency report a few months back. The company privately pushed back on multiple ICE subpoenas. It is the most any company has said publicly redditinc.com/policies/tra...

12 Aug

Wild for so many reasons but also, Virginia was one of the states that tried passing a law banning law enforcement (including federal officers operating in the state) from wearing masks. DOJ sued to stop it, and now there’s no clear way to identify who these guys are, even with video footage!

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social

This is absolutely WILD. Here's the dashboard video posted by @fritschner.bsky.social. Fast forward to about 1 minute. An ICE officer jumps out of a van and pulls a gun on this woman immediately before lying and claiming she "almost ran us over." *profanity warning if watching in public.

maddy varner reposted