Martin Shelton

Our agreement with the Department of War Details on OpenAI’s contract with the Department of War, outlining safety red lines, legal protections, and how AI systems will be deployed in classified environments.

OpenAI is saying, here are the laws that make this decision okay. Then they go on to list a series of laws that creative lawyers are taking advantage of to enact surveillance both internationally, and domestically. I'm not sure this is the kind of defense they think it is. openai.com/index/our-ag...

OpenAI's deal with the DoD definitely looks like it's okay with existing dubious domestic surveillance loopholes.

This includes the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Under Section 702, the FBI has been running warrantless searches on Americans' data 'incidentally' collected along the way.

Our agreement with the Department of War Details on OpenAI’s contract with the Department of War, outlining safety red lines, legal protections, and how AI systems will be deployed in classified environments.

OpenAI is saying, here are the laws that make this decision okay. Then they go on to list a series of laws that creative lawyers are taking advantage of to enact surveillance both internationally, and domestically. I'm not sure this is the kind of defense they think it is. openai.com/index/our-ag...

OpenAI is basically saying, here are the laws that make this decision okay. Then they go on to list a series of laws that creative lawyers are taking advantage of to enact surveillance both internationally, and domestically. I'm not sure this is the kind of defense they think it is.

OpenAI's deal with the DoD definitely looks like it's okay with existing dubious domestic surveillance loopholes.

This includes the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Under Section 702, the FBI has been running warrantless searches on Americans' data 'incidentally' collected along the way.

User Chris: What was the core difference why you think the DoW accepted OpenAI but not Anthropic Sam Altman: I can't speak for them, but to speculate with the best understanding of the situation. *First, I saw reporting that they were extremely close on a deal, and for much of the time both sides really wanted to reach one. I have seen what happens in tense negotiations when things get stressed and deteriorate super fast, and I could believe that was a large part of what happened here. *We believe in a layered approach to safety--building a safety stack, deploying FDEs and having our safety and alignment researcher involved, deploying via cloud, working directly with the DoW. Anthropic seemed more focused on specific prohibitions in the contract, rather than citing applicable laws, which we felt comfortable with. We feel that it it's very important to build safe system, and although documents are also important, I'd clearly rather rely on technical safeguards if I only had to pick one. *We and the DoW got comfortable with the contractual language, but I can understand other people would have a different opinion here. *I think Anthropic may have wanted more operational control than we did

I saw some folks asking what the difference was between what OpenAI signed with the DoD and what Anthropic said they wanted, and Sam more or less admits here the key point: OpenAI's deal requires them to trust the NSA. Anthropic's contract had real safeguards.

Just when I thought I had enough reasons to walk waaaaaay around these guys.

Registration: FPF's J-school digital security training program Register here for Freedom of the Press Foundation’s free, virtual training program designed to help you directly deliver critical content from our U.S. J-school digital security curriculum. Led by FPF...

If you are a journalism instructor and want to get started teaching digital security for your students, we'd love to show you how. Sign up for our training for journalism educators. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Registration: FPF's J-school digital security training program Register here for Freedom of the Press Foundation’s free, virtual training program designed to help you directly deliver critical content from our U.S. J-school digital security curriculum. Led by FPF...

If you are a journalism instructor and want to get started teaching digital security for your students, we'd love to show you how. Sign up for our training for journalism educators. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Five security lessons from the FBI’s Washington Post raid Court documents show how investigators can track digital activities, and reveal ways to harden journalists’ devices

Investigators tried to make a forensic extraction of Hannah Hatanson's phone. They said it didn't work because Lockdown Mode for iPhone was enabled. But they did still manage to unlock her laptop and take photos and recordings of her Signal messages. Read our analysis. freedom.press/digisec/blog...

Judge says government may not search devices seized from Post reporter The ruling suggested that the federal judge in Virginia did not trust the government to conduct a narrow search of Hannah Natanson’s devices.

Good news for once. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Four Reasons FISA 702 Still Needs a Warrant Rule for US Person Queries Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA 702”) is controversial because it is a warrantless surveillance authority that collects Americans’ private communications. Although targ...

First and most importantly, it requires a warrant for US person queries. The FBI has systematically abused 702 to snoop on protesters, lawmakers, Congressional staff, campaign donors, and journalists.

You can read more from CDT about why adding a warrant rule for queries is an essential measure:

Now also a certain subset of AIs.

The 2026 journalist’s digital security checklist Our digital security training team's checklist to help journalists secure their digital life.

In tumultuous times, we believe in being prepared, not scared.

We’ve distilled the advice our trainers have shared with thousands of journalists over the years into the actionable, concrete steps in our 2026 journalist’s digital security checklist:

Judge who allowed FBI to search Washington Post reporter’s home rips into Justice Department | CNN Politics A federal judge ripped into the Justice Department on Friday for failing to inform him of the applicability of a law intended to protect journalists from government searches and seizures when it asked...

The Justice Department seems like they are having a very difficult time keeping their facts straight with judges, part eleventy thousand. www.cnn.com/2026/02/20/p...

The Forbes 30 Under 30 is kind of like, “Hey, all of these people are driving 180 in a 65”

If you're a journalist who covers law enforcement, don't let their claims about slick and effective technology go unchallenged.

This thing better be able to play Doom

Five security lessons from the FBI’s Washington Post raid Court documents show how investigators can track digital activities, and reveal ways to harden journalists’ devices

We've been taking a close look at court documents on the FBI's raid on a Washington Post reporter's home. There's a lot journalists can learn from this incident. freedom.press/digisec/blog...

I think I just assumed Meta would make more terrible surveillance tech. But I did not expect them to make a statement almost designed to draw more scrutiny from civil society groups.

Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses

In an internal memo in May, Meta laid out its plans to release facial recognition in its smart glasses, to the blind first, & then to the general public.

“Civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...

DHS calls leaks a threat. Here’s what we wouldn’t know without them Recent leaks have exposed DHS’s warrantless home invasions, targeting of protesters, surveillance overreach, and propaganda campaigns

DHS calls whistleblowers a “threat to national security.”

But without leaks to the press, the public wouldn’t know ICE is entering homes without warrants, labeling protesters “domestic terrorists,” building surveillance tools, or pushing propaganda.

this explains the complete herbs with 32 followers that have been replying to me lately.

Five security lessons from the FBI’s Washington Post raid Court documents show how investigators can track digital activities, and reveal ways to harden journalists’ devices

Court documents detailing a recent FBI raid on a Washington Post reporter offer some important insights into risks to journalists and potential sources, and what can be done in response.

Three panel comic. Panel 1: baby monkeys in overalls jumping on a bed, having fun. Panel 2: one of the monkeys falls over the edge of the bed, reaching out as he falls. Panel 3: one of the other monkeys, now looking super buff and badass, grabs him by the arm to save him heroically. “Monkey Stronger Together.”

Five security lessons from the FBI’s Washington Post raid Court documents show how investigators can track digital activities, and reveal ways to harden journalists’ devices

We've been taking a close look at court documents on the FBI's raid on a Washington Post reporter's home. There's a lot journalists can learn from this incident. freedom.press/digisec/blog...

NEW: “CBS Evening News” producer Alicia Hastey sends a bombshell farewell note:

Stories are “evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of ideological expectations.”

Exclusive: Hacktivist scrapes over 500,000 stalkerware customers' payment records More than half-a-million people who bought access to phone surveillance and social media snooping apps had their email address and partial payment card numbers published online.

A hacktivist has scraped more than half-a-million payment records from a provider of consumer-grade stalkerware apps, because stalkerware makers don't give a shit about the security of their products.

techcrunch.com/2026/02/09/h...

The FBI seized her devices, forced her to unlock her computer with her fingerprint, then took photos of her Signal messages. Our digital security team is putting together an analysis of the court docs on this case as well. Look out for that shortly. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...