Amie Stepanovich

"These are the times that try men's souls…Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

5 Acres of Residential Land with Home for Sale in Pilot, Virginia This rural residential 5-acre property for sale in Montgomery County, VA features mountainous terrain and can be your dream property with a 2,046 square foot house.

Does the idea of living in a beautiful house on top of a mountain in the Blue Ridge appeal to you? We're selling our home - 5 acres of peace, but close to all the conveniences you could want (restaurants, medical, grocery, etc). Tell all your friends: www.landsearch.com/properties/5...

The best thing is getting to spend time with friends who can just passively make your world better by being in it. Don’t settle for less than that.

“No cause is lost if there is but one fool left to fight for it” cc @joejerome.com

Hard same. I remember when @lorenzofb.bsky.social threw in the towel a few years ago and I’m still sitting on this hill.

Jordan Francis on LinkedIn: FPF Health Law Comparison Chart New York caused a stir last month when the legislature passed S929, the Health Information Privacy Act ("NYHIPA," or "HIPA" if you want to be maximally…

Check out this new comparison chart from me @baileysanchez.bsky.social and @keirlamont.bsky.social. We compare NYHIPA to two alternative frameworks—MHMD and the consumer health data protections in Connecticut's comprehensive privacy law.

Read it here: www.linkedin.com/posts/jordan...

I’ll be waking up early to attend!

Event happening in T-17 hours. So this is kinda your last call for ... a lovely conversation about how encryption helps protect kids and teens!

Image of Washington Post headline reading "UK orders Apple to let it spy on users' encrypted accounts."

There is no way to provide backdoors to encrypted data that does not put all users' info at risk. That includes government officials, companies, and individuals.

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

The reason this work is so hard at this exact moment is not just because a lot of shit is happening all at once, all over the government. It’s because the administration is hostile to journalists and to people who leak to them, so the stakes of any given story might be very high. We need to confirm information from sources who are in tricky situations, are actively being pressured to quit, are regularly threatened about the potential consequences of leaking or speaking to the press, and are giving us information at great personal risk. We often need to tell these people that what they’re telling us isn’t enough for us to report; we need multiple sources and specifics in order for us to feel comfortable publishing something, and so there are a lot of things we’ve heard but can’t actually publish because we don’t know for sure if it’s true, or because publishing it would almost definitely put a source at risk, etc. So for every article you see on the website, there are probably 10 more that we are trying to get at any given time, reporting lines we’ve had to abandon, and things like this. Add onto this that the District Attorney in DC is actively threatening journalists, the person we’re reporting on hates journalists, is the world’s richest man, and owns a massive social media platform filled with sycophants and uses it to directly threaten people who report on what he’s doing, and the whole endeavor is pretty high stakes and stressful. That’s to say nothing of Trump himself or Kash Patel or any of the other folks potentially involved here.

Instead of going to therapy we all wrote about trying to rise to the moment, how we do this work, why we do this work, etc:

www.404media.co/behind-the-b...

It's hard to believe this isn't the UK acting strategically during a period of turmoil, trying to slide in under the radar while folks have other things going on. But this is a big deal - more and bigger threats than ever mean the risks of undermining security are beyond understanding

U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts Secret order requires blanket access to protected cloud backups around the world, which if implemented would undermine Apple’s privacy pledge to its users.

And if you're looking for background on exactly what is happening, check out @joemenn.bsky.social excellent reporting at the Post: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

In case you are interested in maybe hearing a bit more about how encryption keeps everyone safe - including kids and teens - @futureofprivacy.bsky.social has this great event on Tuesday that you could tune in to: fpf.org/fpf-event/ho...

Looks like the UK is trying to mandate a back door into secure Apple products that will impact security for everyone. Strange that this is happening right before Safer Internet Day, because the result will definitely be a LESS safe internet.

EXCLUSIVE: Spyware firm behind new surveillance of journalists, civil society operates from the EU Paragon's establishment in Germany comes as places like Italy and Barcelona are becoming key European hubs for the spyware industry, attracting international hacking talent.

Paragon Solutions, the Israeli spyware vendor linked to new surveillance of journalists and civil society, has set up shop in the 🇪🇺EU’s most powerful country: 🇩🇪 Germany and thus gaining unrestricted access to the bloc.

My debut for @euractiv.bsky.social. 👇
www.euractiv.com/section/tech...

I just found out @kurtopsahl.bsky.social will be there so him of course!!

McCaul’s Crypto Commission: First, do no harm - Access Now However well-intended, a new Congressional commission on encryption may do more harm than good.

There was a Congressional proposal a few years back to put together a working group that seems like it would be really similar...my colleague at Access Now wrote about the organization's position on that: www.accessnow.org/mccauls-cryp...

Join FPF next week for a virtual event on how encryption keeps kids and teens safe and secure, and be among the first to access one of FPF's newest resources. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/how-encryp...

The folks at @abcaustralia.bsky.social did some very cool research into PIN commonality - big takeaway: if you're using a year or other date, stop (and while you're at it, kill all your other re-used passwords as well?): www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01...

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service.

“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

WatchCats | Noah Kunin and Julian Sanchez: Who watches the Watch DOGEs? | WatchCats #0 Noah Kunin and Julian Sanchez introduce the idea behind WatchCats!~~~Want to support the podcast? Join our Substack!--SOCIALS--XBlueSky

People of the Internet! A thing I am doing! The indefatigable @noahkunin.bsky.social and I have launched an occasional podcast called WatchCats to keep track of the inscrutable doings of the newly-christened DOGE. watchcats.transistor.fm/episodes/noa...

The thing about policymaking is that, within any given space, folks are rarely more than one person removed from one another.

If someone is saying something publicly rather than directly, it's to make a show. There may be good reasons to make a show, but it's good to keep that motivation in mind.

Who is your celebrity “Birthday Twin” (born same day as you)? Answer with pic or gif only.

Mine is DON'T GIVE AWAY PII IN ANSWERS TO STUPID SOCIAL MEDIA PROMPTS dot gif

Eek. I like to imagine that is still a long way away but I imagine we've already seen more than a few AI-drafted bills get introduced without even knowing.

2025 May be the Year of AI Legislation: Will We See Consensus Rules or a Patchwork? | TechPolicy.Press Future of Privacy Forum CEO Jules Polonetsky notes shared perspectives on artificial intelligence FPF has observed in working with state lawmakers.

Wondering where the US may go on AI legislation this year?
So is everyone else. Here is @julespolonetsky.bsky.social on the different paths we may take, and how state legislators are doing their homework on the topic www.techpolicy.press/2025-may-be-...

PSA to snow-impacted drivers: drive safe but also don’t be the jerk who doesn’t clean off the top of your car so that others get hit with giant slabs of ice. No one likes that person.

New employment opportunity at @futureofprivacy.bsky.social - fpf.org/policy-couns...