Peter J. Fry

Saudi entourage for US visit may include official implicated in Twitter spy plot Senior aide to Mohammed bin Salman allegedly led campaign to identify users who were posting critically about Saudi regime

My latest. The infiltration of Twitter led to the imprisonment of one human rights activists who poked fun at the royal family and execution of another journalist: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Tech giants vow to defend users in US as spyware companies make inroads with Trump administration Apple and WhatsApp say they will keep warning users if their phones are targeted by governments using hacking software against them

The spyware that is now in ICE's hands has been (by another government) against journalists and activists in Italy, as well as a top CEO, and a political consultant. Matteo Renzi, Italy's former prime minister, calls it the Italian Watergate. Now it's landed here: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The fact that Apple decided to comment at all here (company usually just doesn't say anything) it's interesting on its own.

Screenshot of a tweet from Joyce Carol Oates posted on Sunday, November 9th that reads "so curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates--scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. in fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. the poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the "most wealthy person in the world."

Found the tweet that Joyce Carol Oates bodied Elon Musk with and it's so beautiful in its eloquent, simple take down. So much so he's crashing out trying to prove he reads books now. Put this in the Louvre.

"Technologies purchased by ICE in recent weeks include spyware that can hack into smartphones remotely and cellphone location software that can enable the tracking of a phone’s movements without a court warrant..."

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Trump commutes former Rep. George Santos' prison sentence The former New York congressman had been sentenced to seven years in prison. In a social media post, Trump said his commutation would release Santos from prison "immediately."

For my friends, everything. For my enemies, the law

www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...

The war zone in Portland is out of control.

“I love America more than any other country in the world, and exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

~James Baldwin

A C.I.A. Secret Kept for 35 Years Is Found in the Smithsonian’s Vault

Ugly end to Kryptos saga. Two people found the solution to the last encrypted portion of famed Kryptos sculpture at CIA headquarters. They found it in Smithsonian archive. They contacted artist who made sculpture, who is preparing to auction off solution; he threatened to sue them if they reveal it

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you We uncovered a massive data trove. It revealed the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.

1/Stop everything and read/watch/bookmark this massive investigation between @motherjones.com @lighthousereports.com Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Paper Trail Media a vast global surveillance empire used to target politicians, journalists, tech CEOs, and... Jared Leto.
ow.ly/2LUF50Xb7KE

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you We uncovered a massive data trove. It revealed the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.

EXPOSED: @lighthousereports.com uncovered a vast surveillance empire whose untraceable tech has been used to target people in more than 100 countries, including the US.

It has operated under the radar for decades. Until now.

BREAKING: Trump Admin 'Seriously' Considering Using the Insurrection Act, Reports NBC President Trump is "seriously" considering invoking the Insurrection Act in order to more easily deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of crime crackdown, NBC reported on Wednesday

Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.

Just to recap, the actual president found an AI-generated video of a fake news report depicting a fake announcement about an imaginary healthcare system based on a technology that doesn’t exist and posted it on his official social media account

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

Secret Service traced swatting threats against officials. They found 300 servers capable of crippling New York’s cell system | CNN A Secret Service unit set out to unmask the layers of burner phones, changing phone numbers and SIM cards that were swatting American officials. It ended with the largest seizure of SIM servers and ca...

This is best story by far about the SIM farm uncovered in New York by Secret Service. The intent of the farm is not, as suggested by other stories, to disrupt Secret Service protection of dignitaries attending the UN or taking out mobile service for all NY but about managing criminal enterprises

The aging, latent police reporter in me can't help put pause to remark on the unforced error of the SAC in Salt Lake's FBI field office making the unforced error of announcing they have recovered a “footwear impression.” A shout-out to toss or destroy those shoes, ASAP.

That's a detail you keep.

Ice obtains access to Israel-made spyware that can hack phones and encrypted apps Trump administration to move ahead with contract with Paragon Solutions, giving Ice access to one of the most powerful stealth cyberweapons

A new tool at ICE's disposal and - experts and history tell us - a new threat to civil liberties www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Fuck this.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu:

“Silence in the face of oppression is not an option. The U.S. Attorney General asked for a response by today. So here it is…Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration's failures.”

A flirty Meta AI bot invited a retiree to meet. He never made it home. Impaired by a stroke, a man fell for a Meta chatbot originally created with Kendall Jenner. His death spotlights Meta’s AI rules, which let bots tell falsehoods.

I miss a lot of excellent colleagues and editors at the WSJ, but am really grateful I got to write this one under the
@reuters.com investigative editing structure. There seems to be room for a bit more narrative.

www.reuters.com/investigates...

YouTube video by Micah Lee "We are currently clean on OPSEC": The Signalgate Saga (DEFCON 33)

I'm enjoying @micahflee.com's talk so much

youtu.be/KFYyfrTIPQY?...

A Fish Falls From the Sky and Sparks a Brush Fire in British Columbia

For a medieval monastic chronicler, a headline to die for

California Professor Accused of Throwing Tear Gas Canister at ICE Agents During Raid

goose: where'd he get the canister?

goose: where'd he get the canister, motherfucker?

Was very excited when Last Week Tonight asked @404media.co to help out with research/fact checking for an AI Slop segment that ran last night. I thought it turned out very good! Here's a few mentions of our reporting, and the full segment: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpg...

Truth Social Crashes as Trump Live-Posts Bombing Iran The social network started experiencing global outages within minutes of Donald Trump posting details of a US military strike on Iran.

Good idea not to break news about the needless world wars you start on Truth Social:

www.wired.com/story/truth-...

A Saudi journalist tweeted against the government – and was executed for ‘high treason’ The death of Turki al-Jasser was the first high-profile killing of a journalist since the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

My favorite protest sign so far.

🔥

NO KINGS!

Of all the industries Vance could have picked to show how Americans don’t need help from immigrant experts, he picked the early space program. Now I have to turn off the internet for the weekend.

Opinion | Beware: We Are Entering a New Phase of the Trump Era

In which I have the sinking feeling of boredom. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/o...