Kurt Opsahl

A New Spy Radio Signal Has Appeared. It's Broadcasting in Farsi. A new shortwave numbers station appeared the day the bombs fell. Nobody knows who's running it.

Numbers stations are back! Um. open.substack.com/pub/theicema...

#1 in Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War (N.D. Cal., 3:26-cv-01996) – CourtListener.com COMPLAINT for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against All Defendants ( Filing fee $ 405, receipt number ACANDC-21731347.). Injunction against the US government/official or APA vacatur requested. Fil...

Here's the Anthropic complaint against basically every federal agency

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

We are aware of recent reports regarding targeted phishing attacks that have resulted in account takeovers of some Signal users, including government officials and journalists. We take this very seriously. 1/7

Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protestor A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the ...

New from 404 Media: Proton Mail, the privacy-focused email service, gave authorities data that let the FBI unmask an anonymous 'Stop Cop City' protester. It was payment data linked to the anonymous email account. From that, FBI ID'd them, then tracked their movements www.404media.co/proton-mail-...

TikTok says it won't encrypt DMs claiming it puts users at risk TikTok tells the BBC it won't join rival platforms such as WhatsApp and Messenger in using end-to-end encryption.

TikTok announces that they’re not going to deploy “controversial privacy tech” that’s actually the same end-to-end encryption most other providers use to protect users’ DMs. www.bbc.com/news/article...

These things have always been true:
1. The ability to generate buggy code has never been greater.
2. The ability to find bugs in code has never been greater.
3. The ability to fix bugs in code has never been greater.
4. Many, many more people want to do 1 or 2 than 3.

Now scale this with AI.

USENIX Security '26 Enigma Track Call for Participation USENIX Security brings together researchers, practitioners, system programmers, and others to share and explore the latest advances in the security and privacy of computer systems and networks.

USENIX Enigma has published its CFP for 2026: www.usenix.org/conference/u...

Submissions are due March 31, 2026. Looking forward to seeing many of you this year.

Congratulations to Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey and my former firm, Perkins Coie.

The Government's Word Games When Talking About NSA Domestic Spying Government officials have made many statements about the warrantless surveillance since it became public in 2005. They’ve done so in court, in Congress, and in the media. Unfortunately, their words ha...

Here are some words or phrases to watch closely:
* Terrorist Surveillance Program or TSP
* Surveillance
* Targeted
* Collection or Collect
* Content
* Conversations and Communications
www.eff.org/nsa-spying/w...

The NSA has a long history of word games, and it woukd be best to understand them before taking reassurances at face value. From 2013. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

This is a bombshell: "the Pentagon wanted the company to allow for the collection and analysis of unclassified, commercial bulk data on Americans, such as geolocation and web browsing data"

This kind of agenda echoes the defunded Total Information Awareness effort, post-9/11

New AirSnitch attack breaks Wi-Fi encryption in homes, offices, and enterprises That guest network you set up for your neighbors may not be as secure as you think.

Excellent article on the work by @dangoodin.bsky.social: arstechnica.com/security/202...

I'd say we bypass Wi-Fi encryption, in the sense that we can bypass client isolation. We don't break Wi-Fi authentication or encryption. Crypto is often bypassed instead of broken. And we bypass it ;)

Under India’s pressure, Facebook let propaganda and hate speech thrive Facebook has retreated from its professed ideals in India under pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

Here we go. Free, no-reg versions of favorite stories from my four years at the Washington Post. First, three pieces from our Pulitzer-finalist series on how India's ruling party coerced U.S. tech giants into violating their own policies. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/0...

Large-scale online deanonymization with LLMs We show that large language models can be used to perform at-scale deanonymization. With full Internet access, our agent can re-identify Hacker News users and Anthropic Interviewer participants at hig...

And right on schedule: there goes pseudonymity on the Internet. arxiv.org/abs/2602.16800

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.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec... The order: www.washingtonpost.com/documents/82...

At @defcon.bsky.social last summer, hackers of all kinds convened to share #cyber research. The Hackers’ Almanack translates this work into plain language to give policymakers a window into the latest in offensive AI, cybercrime, critical infrastructure vulnerabilities & more.
➡️ Read the Almanack:

This App Warns You if Someone Is Wearing Smart Glasses Nearby The creator of Nearby Glasses made the app after reading 404 Media's coverage of how people are using Meta's Ray-Bans smartglasses to film people without their knowledge or consent. “I consider it to ...

NEW: A hobbyist has created Nearby Glasses, an app that warns you if someone close by is wearing smart glasses. 404 Media spoke to the creator who said he was inspired by our coverage that uncovers how men are wearing Meta's Ray-Bans to covertly film massage parlor workers.

I'm joining the #wonksquad on the DEF CON Policy Review Board for DC34 - There are a bunch of different time-slots, formats, and topics available, so if is something you've been thinking about or working on, don't be shy!

DEF CON® 34 Hacking Conference - Call for Policy papers m.cje.io/4auEApg

Hackers Expose Age-Verification Software Powering Surveillance Web Three hacktivists tried to find a workaround to Discord’s age-verification software. Instead, they found its frontend exposed to the open internet.

Hacktivists tried to find a workaround to Discord’s age-verification software, Persona. Instead, they found its frontend exposed to the open internet, and that was just the beginning.

www.therage.co/persona-age-...

Job Announcement: Registrar of Voters - County of Alameda Introduction

Alameda County, California is searching for a new Registrar of Voters. This is a vital leadership role responsible for managing elections and ensuring every voice is heard. If you or someone you know is qualified, please apply here:

😬

Totally. I expect better from NYT

Trademark is designed to protect consumers so they know a branded product is from that brand, and allows the public nominative and other fair uses.

Copyright protects authors and artists ‘ creative expression, by proving exclusive rights for a limited time, and helps the public with fair use and eventually the public domain.

Donald J. Trump International Airport? The President’s Company Trademarked It.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/u...

While it may seem pedantic, copyright and trademark protect different interests for different policy reasons. They are not interchangeable.

Every muppet everywhere all at once.

Hacking conference Def Con bans three people linked to Epstein | TechCrunch The Def Con hacking conference banned hackers Pablos Holman and Vincenzo Iozzo, as well as former MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito, from attending the annual conference after their reported connectio...

NEW: Def Con banned hackers Pablos Holmes and Vincenzo Iozzo, as well as former MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito, from attending the conference based on their links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Holmes and Iozzo exchanged emails with Epstein for several years.

Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand ‘Search Party’ Surveillance Beyond Dogs Ring's CEO told staff the feature is “first for finding dogs,” indicating a plan to expand.

Yeah, if you haven't turned on E2EE for Ring you might want to: "Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand ‘Search Party’ Surveillance Beyond Dogs"

Pictures of the hotels with DEF CON room blocks

Good news, everyone!

The #DEFCON34 room blocks are live! While supplies last, you can get a special room rate at the Fontainebleau, Sahara,Wynn and Encore, and Circus Circus.

The links are all on defcon.org.

We’re halfway there. #DEFCON 34 will be upon us before you know it.

See you soon!