Matt Burgess (WIRED)

Unmanned police helicopter tested in UK for first time Unmanned helicopters that can stay airborne for up to 12 hours are being tested near Bristol.

‘Helicopter’ is *really* pushing it here

“Claude Code has become the go-to choice for coders everywhere, and so it was no surprise to learn OpenAI's own technical staff were also using our coding tools ahead of the launch of GPT-5,” Anthropic spokesperson Christopher Nulty said in a statement to WIRED. “Unfortunately, this is a direct violation of our terms of service.” According to Anthropic’s commercial terms of service, customers are barred from using the service to “build a competing product or service, including to train competing AI models” or “reverse engineer or duplicate” the services. This change in OpenAI’s access to Claude comes as the ChatGPT-maker is reportedly preparing to release a new AI model, GPT-5, which is rumored to be better at coding.

Scoop: Anthropic revoked OpenAI’s API access to its models on Tuesday, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell WIRED. OpenAI was informed that its access was cut off due to violating the terms of service. www.wired.com/story/anthro...

Tech giants blocking some Ukraine and Gaza posts under new online rules Tech companies are restricting debates of public interest to comply the Online Safety Act, analysis shows.

"Another post restricted on X shared an image of Francisco de Goya's 19th-century painting entitled Saturn Devouring His Son."

Palantir Is Extending Its Reach Even Further Into Government Palantir has become one of the few winners in the Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts, offering other contractors a lifeline while consolidating its own reach and power.

NEW: After massive contract terminations for consulting giants like Accenture, Booz Allen, and Deloitte, Palantir has emerged ahead. Now the data analytics firm is partnering with those companies—offering them a lifeline while consolidating its own power.

www.wired.com/story/palant...

The Kremlin's Most Devious Hacking Group Is Using Russian ISPs to Plant Spyware The FSB cyberespionage group known as Turla seems to have used its control of Russia's network infrastructure to meddle with web traffic and trick diplomats into infecting their computers.

Microsoft found Turla, Russia's elite FSB cyberespionage group, hacking foreign embassies' staff in Moscow by directly meddling with ISP traffic to infect targets with spyware that silently stripped away encryption on their communications and credentials. www.wired.com/story/russia...

Google is indexing ChatGPT conversations, potentially exposing sensitive user data Thousands of shared ChatGPT chats—including deeply personal details about mental health, relationships, and trauma—are appearing in Google search results, raising major privacy concerns.

NEW: ChatGPT allows Google to index chats users share using the Share functionality - presumably misinterpreting "make this chat discoverable". The result? Frank admissions about sex lives and drug dependencies. My latest for @fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.com/91376687/goo... tip @techmeme.com

They will really lag behind in the getting punched in the face game

Ofcom investigates 34 porn sites under new age-check rules

Online Safety Act latest:

UK comms regulator Ofcom says it has opened investigations into whether 34 porn websites (owned by 4 companies) have deployed age verification measures.

The websites, Ofcom says, have 9 million unique monthly UK visitors

www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...

Scientists Say New Government Climate Report Twists Their Work A new Department of Energy report “fundamentally misrepresents” climate research and leaves out key context, multiple scientists cited in the report tell WIRED.

NEW: i spoke to nine (!) scientists across several disciplines whose work was cited in the new Department of Energy report that downplays the severity of climate change. all of them say their work was misrepresented, cherry picked, and/or lacked context —

AI Bunnies on Trampoline Causing Crisis of Confidence on TikTok People failing to identify a video of adorable bunnies as AI slop has sparked worries that many more people could fall for online scams.

Bunnygate catastrophe currently occurring on TikTok www.404media.co/ai-bunnies-o...

How Edward ‘Big Balls’ Coristine and DOGE Got Access to a Federal Payroll System That Serves the FBI Hundreds of pages of records reviewed by WIRED show just how quickly DOGE gained access to systems at the Small Business Administration—and through it, a USDA system that handles payroll for federal l...

SCOOP: We filed a Freedom of Information Act Request and received hundreds of pages of documents about the system access DOGE members Edward Coristine and Donald Park received at the Small Business Administration. But nested in there was something even bigger...

www.wired.com/story/edward...

The Washington Post published the 18,500 known names of children killed by Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

UK Users Need to Post Selfie or Photo ID to View Reddit's r/IsraelCrimes, r/UkraineWarFootage “If visibility of r/IsraelCrimes is being restricted under the Online Safety Act, it’s only because the state fears accountability,” moderators say.

Reddit is blocking access to content regarding Gaza and Ukraine, thanks the restrictions in the Online Safety Act.

In order to access news on war crimes, you now have to surrender your age / identity / biometrics.

Positively dystopian.

Big Tech Asked for Looser Clean Water Act Permitting. Trump Wants to Give It to Them New AI regulations suggested by the White House mirror changes to environmental permitting suggested by Meta and a lobbying group representing firms like Google and Amazon Web Services.

SCOOP from me: Trump's AI action plan released last week makes a specific set of recommendations around loosening Clean Water Act permits for data centers — recommendations mirrored in letters sent to the administration by Big Tech lobbyists earlier this year:

Sex toy maker Lovense caught leaking users' email addresses and exposing accounts to takeovers | TechCrunch A security researcher went public after the sex toy maker asked for more than a year to fix the vulnerabilities, which leak users' private email addresses and allow for accounts to be hijacked.

New by me: Sex toy maker Lovense has failed to fix two security flaws that allows anyone to reveal the email address of any other user, and takeover anyone else's account.

I verified the email disclosure bug w/ the researcher, who said they went public after Lovense claimed it needed a year to fix.

Today US senator Margaret Wood Hassan has written to Elon Musk—citing WIRED's investigation below—demanding answers about why Starlink is still being used in huge scam compounds in Southeast Asia

Letter from Hassan here: www.hassan.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

A Second Tea Breach Reveals Users’ DMs About Abortions and Cheating The more than one million messages obtained by 404 Media are as recent as last week, discuss incredibly sensitive topics, and make it trivial to unmask some anonymous Tea users.

New from 404 Media: a second data breach at Tea has exposed more than a million direct messages between users that we obtained. Discussions of abortions, cheating. The other data was older. This is as recent as *last week*. Hard to overstate how sensitive this data is www.404media.co/a-second-tea...

Image of first portion of letter sent from Senator Margaret Hassan to Elon Musk: Dear Mr. Musk: According to an October 2024 report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, transnational criminal groups have used Starlink, a satellite internet serviced owned by SpaceX, to facilitate fraud against individuals in the United States.1 The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has warned that these groups have caused billions of dollars in losses for Americans.2 In addition, since November 2022, the Secret Service has received more than 8,000 complaints related to digital asset scams, many with traces to scam networks in Southeast Asia.3 Given the significant financial consequences for Americans, I write today to request information about SpaceX’s efforts to prevent the misuse of Starlink in transnational fraud. Experts have stated that scam networks in Southeast Asia turn to Starlink for its portability, decentralized infrastructure, and independence from national telecom networks.4 In one example, a Wired investigation found that across eight scam compounds in Myanmar, at least

Today US senator Margaret Wood Hassan has written to Elon Musk—citing WIRED's investigation below—demanding answers about why Starlink is still being used in huge scam compounds in Southeast Asia

Letter from Hassan here: www.hassan.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

And there’s a whole lot more. Subscribe to WIRED!

www.wired.com/v2/offers/wi...

How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border Customs and Border Protection has broad authority to search travelers’ devices when they cross into the United States. Here’s what you can do to protect your digital life while at the US border.

We’ve updated privacy and security guides to protecting yourself from US government surveillance, both for citizens and those crossing the border

www.wired.com/story/how-to...

www.wired.com/story/the-wi...

Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Keeping Modern Slavery Compounds Online A WIRED investigation reveals that criminals who make billions from scam compounds in Myanmar—where tens of thousands of people are enslaved—are using Starlink to get online.

And I’ve revealed how Musk’s Starlink is powering modern slavery scam compounds in Southeast Asia

www.wired.com/story/starli...

And how Microsoft repeatedly failed to remove explicit non-consensual images of a startup founder for months:

www.wired.com/story/deepfa...

The School Shootings Were Fake. The Terror Was Real The inside story of the teenager whose “swatting” calls sent armed police racing into hundreds of schools nationwide—and the private detective who tracked him down.

There’s @agreenberg.bsky.social's harrowing read on the teenager who swatted hundreds of schools, sending armed cops into classrooms

www.wired.com/story/school...

'No Kings’ Protests, Citizen-Run ICE Trackers Trigger Intelligence Warnings Army intelligence analysts are monitoring civilian-made ICE tracking tools, treating them as potential threats, as immigration protests spread nationwide.

@dell.bsky.social has revealed how army intelligence analysts are monitoring crowdsourced tools to track ICE.

www.wired.com/story/no-kin...

Plus how rules to protect Americans from data brokers have quietly been killed

www.wired.com/story/cfpb-q...

Low-Cost Drone Add-Ons From China Let Anyone With a Credit Card Turn Toys Into Weapons of War Chinese ecommerce giants like Temu and AliExpress sell drone accessories like those used by soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

@lhn.bsky.social exposed how Temu and AliExpress are selling cheap drone parts that could turn cheap quadcopter into war-ready drones

www.wired.com/story/drone-...

DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Sexy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems.

@agreenberg.bsky.social and @lhn.bsky.social revealed how DOGE staffer “Big Balls” worked at a startup that hired convicted hackers

www.wired.com/story/edward...

WIRED’s new premium subscription is $2 per month and includes exclusive newsletters, video AMAs, and more.

But there’s also access to all of the WIRED Security team’s incredible journalism, from @agreenberg.bsky.social, @lhn.bsky.social, @dell.bsky.social, (and me).

🧵 Here’s a taster from 2025

VPN use has soared in the UK as Brits look to find a way round the UK’s new online safety act that requires an age check on sites offering adult content, as well as social media apps https://on.ft.com/3H2jcvF

The First Planned Migration of an Entire Country Is Underway The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu could be submerged in 25 years due to rising sea levels, so a plan is being implemented to relocate its population to Australia.

The first planned migration of an entire country due to climate change is happening! Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation, is at risk of being submerged under rising sea level, so it has signed an agreement with Australia to allow 280 Tuvaluans to settle in Australia as permanent residents each year.

Screenshot of the newsletter Made in China, showing the faces of the authors Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis, and some preview content of the first edition: "This week in Made in China, we take you inside ReelShort, one of the most successful global entertainment companies to come out of China. Plus, the Duolingo owl gets married.   How Chinese Short Dramas Conquered the World Hi, this is Zeyi Yang, WIRED’s senior China reporter. Welcome to the inaugural edition of Made in China!"

Welcome to the 1st edition of WIRED's Made in China newsletter: How Chinese Short Dramas Conquered the World, aka "The Secret Life of My Not-Billionaire BF Who's Addicted to Vertical Soap Operas."

To get more like this from @lmatsakis.bsky.social and me, sign up here: www.wired.com/newsletter/e...