maddy varner

Meta Is Blocking Users From Sharing Website Listing ICE Agents Users of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads can no longer share links to ICE List, a website listing what it claims are the names of thousands of DHS employees.

NEW: Instagram, Threads, and Facebook are blocking links to ICE List, which lists thousands of what it says are DHS employees; a Meta spokesperson claims it's because the site violated a policy about soliciting PII. @davidgilbert.bsky.social has the scoop:

The State-Led Crackdown on Grok and xAI Has Begun At least 37 attorneys general for US states and territories are taking action against xAI after Grok generated a flood of nonconsensual sexual images of women and minors.

New from @regret.bsky.social and me: 35 state and territory AGs signed a letter demanding xAI remove all nonconsensual sexual images created by Grok and arguing that the company is treating them as a "selling point." www.wired.com/story/the-st...

OpenPayrolls - The Largest Nationwide Salary Database OpenPayrolls.com is the largest searchable nationwide public salary database consisting of over 100 million salary records from employers nationwide. Easily find employee salaries for federal agencies...

Some of the pages on ICEList attribute their information to a website called openpayrolls.com that FOIAs for payroll information!

He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive A source trapped inside an industrial-scale scamming operation contacted me, determined to expose his captors’ crimes—and then escape. This is his story.

I honestly don’t know what to say about @agreenberg.bsky.social’s latest other than that it is much stranger than fiction and that I very much hope you take some time with it:

He Leaked the Secrets of a Southeast Asian Scam Compound. Then He Had to Get Out Alive A source trapped inside an industrial-scale scamming operation contacted me, determined to expose his captors’ crimes—and then escape. This is his story.

Human trafficking to scam compounds in SE Asia is a catastrophe for forced laborers and their scam victims worldwide. One individual, Red Bull, gave @agreenberg.bsky.social incredible insight into the situation over months from inside. Then he attempted an escape www.wired.com/story/he-lea...

Pope Leo’s top U.S. ally — Cardinal Joseph Tobin — calls on Congress to defund ICE.

ICE Asks Companies About ‘Ad Tech and Big Data’ Tools It Could Use in Investigations A new federal filing from ICE demonstrates how commercial tools are increasingly being considered by the government for law enforcement and surveillance.

NEW: Amid it all, ICE is seeking information from companies about ad-tech and big data tools—potentially gaining access to information in ways that constitutional experts say circumvents the Fourth Amendment. @carolinehaskins.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-as...

Hi there, if you're in law enforcement, a legal observer, a government worker, or a tech worker and you're in MN/or have any info about what's happening now with ICE and law enforcement operations, you can reach me at Vittoria89.82.

We can speak anonymously.

The Honorable Steven M. Colloton January 23, 2026 Page 3 Unfortunately, we had to postpone our bench meeting at the request of the United States Marshal because of security concerns created by the presence of both the Vice President of the United States and the Attorney General of the United States in Minneapolis yesterday and by the initial appearances of two of the leaders of the invasion of Cities Church (who had been arrested pursuant to arrest warrants signed by Judge Micko) in St. Paul. We are scheduled to meet over lunch on Tuesday, January 27. I have informed the U.S. Attorney that I will make a decision about the warrant application immediately after that meeting. This, however, was not satisfactory to the Department of Justice. It has claimed that there is a national-security emergency. As the Department sees it, if I do not issue warrants for the five additional suspects, "copycats" will invade churches and synagogues this weekend and disrupt religious services. Apparently, the government believes that the arrests of the leaders of the Cities Church invasion- whose arrests have received widespread international attention - will not deter copycats, but arresting five additional suspects will. The government has also argued that I must accept this as true because they said it, and they are the government. And that is where things stand. The five people whom the government seeks to arrest are accused of entering a church, and the worst behavior alleged about any of them is yelling horrible things at the members of the church. None committed any acts of violence. The leaders of the group have been arrested, and their arrests have received widespread publicity. There is absolutely no emergency. The government could have sought indictments from a grand jury on Tuesday, January 20, Wednesday, January 21, or Thursday, January 22, but chose not to do so. The government can still take its case to a grand jury any time it wishes. Instead, the government is insisting…

The Honorable Steven M. Colloton January 23, 2026 Page 4 petition filed by the government seeks an order from the Eighth Circuit forcing me to decide today -instead of Tuesday —whether to issue arrests warrants for the five protestors, I respectfully suggest that the petition is frivolous. Sincerely, Patrick J. Schiltz Chief Judge

“The government has also argued that I must accept this as true because they said it, and they are the government…I respectfully suggest that the petition is frivolous.”

Apologies, wrong link in the first post (there are two letters).

Correct link here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I suggest reading in full…it’s really something. The judge, by the way, is a Bush appointee and two-time Scalia clerk.

bsky.app/profile/anna...

Star Tribune confirms the man shot by ICE this morning is dead. ICE reportedly tried to order MPD to leave the scene but the chief of police refused and preserved the scene. BCA reportedly en route.

ICE Agents Are ‘Doxing’ Themselves The alleged risks of being publicly identified have not stopped DHS  and ICE employees from creating profiles on LinkedIn, even as Kristi Noem threatens to treat revealing agents' identities as a crim...

NEW! ICE seems to have taken to complaining about "doxing" any time an officer is publicly named. Meanwhile, like everyone else, people who work for ICE are on LinkedIn. Make it make sense!!: www.wired.com/story/ice-ag...

ICE Agents Are ‘Doxing’ Themselves The alleged risks of being publicly identified have not stopped DHS  and ICE employees from creating profiles on LinkedIn, even as Kristi Noem threatens to treat revealing agents' identities as a crim...

ICE complains about 'doxing' any time one of their officers is identified. Meanwhile at least 1,000 of them are apparently putting ICE right there in their LinkedIn profiles. from
@regret.bsky.social

ICE Agents Are ‘Doxing’ Themselves The alleged risks of being publicly identified have not stopped DHS  and ICE employees from creating profiles on LinkedIn, even as Kristi Noem threatens to treat revealing agents' identities as a crim...

NEW: ICE agents wear masks, and federal officials threaten to treat revealing their identities as a crime, due to the alleged threats posed by doxing. But as @regret.bsky.social reports, the best sources of information on the identities of ICE agents are the enthusiastic LinkedIn users of ICE:

ICE Agents Are ‘Doxing’ Themselves The alleged risks of being publicly identified have not stopped DHS  and ICE employees from creating profiles on LinkedIn, even as Kristi Noem threatens to treat revealing agents' identities as a crim...

NEW: The ICE List website listing thousands of ICE employees cites LinkedIn as the source of much of its info about ICE agents. Despite DHS's threat to treat revealing agents' identities as a crime, it's trivial to find their profiles. @regret.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-ag...

Grok floods X with sexualized images of women and children — Center for Countering Digital Hate | CCDH CCDH found that Grok floods X with sexualized images after launching a one-click editing feature in an 11-day period.

New research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate claims to put into context the number of sexualized images Grok created:

"Grok produced an estimated 3 million sexualized images including 23,000 of children"

What We Know About the Winter Storm About to Hit the US—and What We Don’t A huge portion of the United States is going to be hit with snow or freezing rain this weekend. Exactly where, what, and how much remains uncertain.

hi are you as freaked out by the big scary winter storm maps peppering the internet? i wrote a little guide:

i do think company-branded bench press plates are a good swag idea

Arizona is now investigating X over the creation and distribution of "potentially illegal and harmful content, including child sexual abuse imagery"

The AG's announcement links to WIRED's reporting about Grok Imagine videos, by me and @regret.bsky.social

WIRED story: www.wired.com/story/grok-i...

Showing 3000 immigration officers to 2482 officers from the ten largest metro forces

The Star Tribune had an insane graphic about the presence of immigration enforcement in Minneapolis. There are more immigration officers in the metro right now than local police officers.

Hundreds of Millions of Audio Devices Need a Patch to Prevent Wireless Hacking and Tracking Flaws in how 17 models of headphones and speakers use Google’s one-tap Fast Pair Bluetooth protocol have left devices open to eavesdroppers and stalkers.

CAREFUL: Hundreds of millions of audio devices using Google's Fast Play protocol are vulnerable to hijacking; there are updates available for many devices, but who patches their headset? (You, after reading this and looking into things.) @agreenberg.bsky.social and @lhn.bsky.social have the details:

Attorney General Bonta Launches Investigation into xAI, Grok Over Undressed, Sexual AI Images of Women and Children Potential victims of xAI can file a complaint at oag.ca.gov/report OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced opening an investigation into the proliferation of nonconsensual sexu...

California has opened an investigation in Grok's creation of sexualized deepfakes of women and children

“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking," Attorney General Bonta says

Senior Editor, Science WIRED is where a better future is imagined. For three decades, we have been the indispensable guide to a world in constant transformation. We cover humanity’s biggest challenges, from climate change t...

Hey! @wired.com is doing a bunch of hiring. Here we go with a thread of five great jobs, with a few more coming shortly:

1) We are hiring a senior editor for our science desk, which means you get to work with geniuses like @timmarchman.bsky.social @mollytaft.com and @emilymullin.bsky.social

Fun Fact: If you've ever seen one of our videos of something on fire in the lab (Christmas trees, turkey fryers, etc.), Andy was the guy in charge of all the people who put those demos together. They were run like the Navy because, before his time at CPSC, Andy spent 10 years working on nuke subs.

DOJ has occasionally claimed that it needs to search reporters' records to find the source of a security leak.

But that's pretty obviously not what they were doing when they searched the Post reporter's house. They arrested a suspect days ago, after more or less catching him in the act.

Since the FTC announced its proposed consent order last year, several state AGs have taken their own actions, including Nebraska, Arkansas and Indiana: ago.nebraska.gov/attorney-gen...

arkansasag.gov/news-release...

indianacapitalchronicle.com/briefs/india...

FTC Finalizes Order Settling Allegations that GM and OnStar Collected and Sold Geolocation Data Without Consumers’ Informed Consent The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order with General Motors and OnStar settling allegations that they collected, used, and sold consumers’ precise geolocation data and driving behavior data

Nearly a year after it was first announced, the FTC's consent agreement with General Motors over its collection and sharing of drivers' location and driving behavior data has been finalized: www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

Trump just nominated WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil for FTC commissioner. His expertise seems to be on Made In USA claims (his company spent $4M on a Super Bowl ad touting its domestic manufacturing practices) chiefexecutive.net/manufacturer...

The complaint is difficult reading, but if you need a condensed timeline of events in Minneapolis... I think I missed this incident entirely:

www.courtlistener.com/docket/72132...