New Group Attacking iPhone Encryption Backed by U.S. Political Dark-Money Network
A new, well-funded pressure group is fighting to get Apple to weaken iPhone privacy protections in the name of catching child predators.
Technology
Pentagon’s Budget Is So Bloated That It Needs an AI Program to Navigate It
Codenamed GAMECHANGER, an AI program helps the military make sense of its own “byzantine” and “tedious” bureaucracy.
New York Times Doesn’t Want Its Stories Archived
The Times blocked a bot that had given the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine huge troves of websites.
Tech Companies and Governments Are Censoring the Journalist Collective DDoSecrets
X and Reddit prevent users from sharing links to Distributed Denial of Secrets. Russia and Indonesia are also blocking access.
Vice Pulled a Documentary Critical of Saudi Arabia. But Here It Is.
Vice’s hard-nosed coverage on Saudi Arabia changed after investment deals with the repressive kingdom. A deleted documentary is not completely gone, however.
U.S. Spy Agency Dreams of Surveillance Underwear It’s Calling “SMART ePANTS”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is throwing $22 million in taxpayer money at developing clothing that records audio, video, and location data.
Meta Overhauls Controversial “Dangerous Organizations” Censorship Policy
In an internal update obtained by The Intercept, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company admits its rules stifled legitimate political speech.
Voices
AI Isn’t Banning Books in Iowa Schools. Republicans Are.
Overstating the power of algorithmic systems only serves to benefit the tech companies behind them.
A Pro-Putin Facebook Network Is Pumping French-Language Propaganda Into Africa
The pages promote Russia’s line on the war in Ukraine to more than 4 million followers, casting doubt on Meta’s pledge to combat foreign influence campaigns.
The Online Christian Counterinsurgency Against Sex Workers
Evangelical military vets are using “counterterror” internet surveillance techniques to help police get search warrants against sex workers.