Hackers Say They Have Personal Data of Thousands of NSA and Other Government Officials

404 Media: “A hacking group that recently doxed hundreds of government officials, including from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has now built dossiers on tens of thousands of U.S. government officials, including NSA employees, a member of the group told 404 Media. The member said the group did …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Government Documents, Privacy

AI-generated news sites spout viral slop from forgotten URLs

NiemanLab: “A new generation of content farms are harnessing AI to spin out clickbait — and they’re getting help from Google….AI-generated news sites have proliferated in the last two years. One study published by NewsGuard in May tallied nearly 1,300 AI-generated news sites across 16 languages. Some sites churn out AI-generated local news; Oregon Public …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Image Scrubber

Gizmodo: “he EFF suggests Image Scrubber as a software tool for obscuring faces, and also stripping out the identifying metadata attached to your photos — which can include your location and sometimes even your name…”  “This is a tool for anonymizing photographs taken at protests. It will remove identifying metadata (Exif data) from photographs, and …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

What You Should Know About Russ Vought, Trump’s Shadow President

ProPublica and via YouTube: “Russell Vought is the architect of Trump’s broader plan to fire civil servants, freeze government programs and dismantle entire agencies, and he’s a big reason the second Trump administration has been more effective at accomplishing its goals than the first. In the video shared by Trump, Vought appeared as the scythe-wielding …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Education, Financial System, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

Judiciary Democrats Launch Resources Page to Empower Whistleblowers to Continue Reporting Government Corruption

“In an effort to cover up waste, fraud, and corruption in government, on October 1, the White House shut down websites for at least 28 Offices of the Inspector General (OIGs)—federal government watchdogs that root out waste, fraud, and corruption in the federal government and save taxpayers more than $50 billion every year. By shutting …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 18, 2025

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, October 18, 2025 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

Ring cameras are about to get increasingly chummy with law enforcement

Ars Technica: “Law enforcement agencies will soon have easier access to footage captured by Amazon’s Ring smart cameras. In a partnership announced this week, Amazon will allow approximately 5,000 local law enforcement agencies to request access to Ring camera footage via surveillance platforms from Flock Safety. Ring cooperating with law enforcement and the reported use …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Internet, Privacy

openwebcamdb

“Discover remarkable views in real time, curated from verified cameras across the globe. 2,138 live streams · 59 countries watched daily by explorers, travellers, and locals. The world, in real time. Stream skylines, mountain passes, and cultural moments as they unfold. Every feed is hand-checked for quality so you can drop in without a second …

Subjects: Internet

If you only do one thing to keep your phone healthy

“Experts including Kyle Wiens, chief executive of the repair organization iFixit, said that we should have our phone batteries replaced every two to three years.” Apple.com: “Learn about the built-in software and hardware system that iPhone 11 models and later use to reduce performance effects as your battery chemically ages. About performance as batteries age …

Subjects: Internet

Over 50% of New Online Articles Are Being Cranked Out by AI

Vice: “About a year ago, AI began outpacing human writers on the internet. For every one article written by a real-life, blood-bag of a meat puppet, slightly more than one was written by a machine. Don’t get all twisted up about “slightly more than one” article; it’s fractions, my friends. The news was broken when …

Subjects: AI, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Microsoft