A horrific new era of ultrarealistic, AI-generated, child sexual abuse images is now underway, experts warn. Offenders are using downloadable open source generative AI models, which can produce images, to devastating effects. The technology is being used to create hundreds of new images of children who have previously been abused. …
Read More »They Cracked the Code to a Locked USB Drive Worth $235 Million in Bitcoin. Then It Got Weird
At 9:30 am on a Wednesday in late September, a hacker who asked to be called Tom Smith sent me a nonsensical text message: “query voltage recurrence.” Those three words were proof of a remarkable feat—and potentially an extremely valuable one. A few days earlier, I had randomly generated those …
Read More »A Controversial Plan to Scan Private Messages for Child Abuse Meets Fresh Scandal
Danny Mekić, an Amsterdam-based PhD researcher, was studying a proposed European law meant to combat child sexual abuse when he came across a rather odd discovery. All of a sudden, he started seeing ads on X, formerly Twitter, that featured young girls and sinister-looking men against a dark background, set …
Read More »A Powerful Tool US Spies Misused to Stalk Women Faces Its Potential Demise
The federal law authorizing a vast amount of the United States government’s foreign intelligence collection is set to expire in two months, a deadline that threatens to mothball a notoriously extensive surveillance program currently eavesdropping on the phone calls, text messages, and emails of no fewer than a quarter million …
Read More »The Hamas Threat of Hostage Execution Videos Looms Large Over Social Media
For the past decade, social media platforms have struggled to stop the spread of extremist violence livestreamed on their platforms. Now they face a much different problem: This time, they know what’s coming. In the days after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, the group’s military wing said it would …
Read More »The Dangerous Mystery of Hamas’ Missing ‘Suicide Drones’
When Hamas launched its attacks against Israel on October 7, it unleashed a flood of rockets as cover, while militants streamed through holes in the fence surrounding the Gaza strip. One particular clip released by Hamas, played on news stations the world over, provoked a particular bit of paranoia: video …
Read More »The 23andMe User Data Leak May Be Far Worse Than Believed
With the Israel-Hamas war intensifying by the day, many people are desperate for accurate information about the conflict. Getting it has proven difficult. This has been most apparent on Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, where insiders say even the company’s primary fact-checking tool, Community Notes, has been a source of …
Read More »Citing Hamas, the US Wants to Treat Crypto Anonymity Services as Suspected Money Launderers
Hamas’ attacks Against Israel on October 7 have shifted the geopolitical landscape and triggered a looming Israeli ground assault in the Gaza Strip. Now the ripple effects are reaching the cryptocurrency industry, where they’ve become the United States Department of the Treasury’s rallying cry for a crackdown on cryptocurrency anonymity …
Read More »Who’s Responsible for the Gaza Hospital Explosion? Here’s Why It’s Hard to Know What’s Real
Yesterday evening around 7 pm local time, an explosion rocked the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. Within minutes, information about what had happened was distorted by partisan narratives, disinformation, and a rush to be first to post about the blast. Add in mainstream media outlets parroting official statements without …
Read More »They Supported Air Strike Victims. Then They Were Doxed and Arrested
Since taking power in a coup two years ago, Myanmar’s military junta has suppressed people's rights, cracked down on opposition, and used deadly force against civilians. To enable this, officials have clamped down on people’s communications and rolled out extensive digital surveillance systems. Now, new evidence shows how people are …
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