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Andrew Couts

@couts.bsky.social
61K followers 3K following 1.2K posts

Security & Investigations Director at @WIRED.com. Send tips and/or dog pics. Signal: couts.01

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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 2h
NEW: A major joint investigation by the Palestine Reporting Lab, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, @lighthousereports.com, and @wired.com mapped all 925 checkpoints that are effectively shutting down life for Palestinians in the West Bank: www.wired.com/story/how-is...
wired.com
How Israeli Checkpoints Choke Palestinian Life in the Occupied West Bank
Lost time. Lost jobs. Lost friends. Lost family. Lost lives. Our joint investigation reveals the system that has divided the West Bank and measures what it cost people to move through it.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 22h
NEW: OpenAI just got hit with the first-known lawsuit over the Hugging Face hack its agents carried out over the summer. @lhn.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/openai...
wired.com
OpenAI Gets Sued Over the Hugging Face Hack
A nonprofit in California is doing what Hugging Face has not, and attempting to hold OpenAI legally accountable for the actions of its agents.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Excellent @truth.bsky.social investigation into Meta Muse’s ability to dox people, including people in at-risk communities hntrbrk.com/breaking-new...
hntrbrk.com
Dox for Me, O Muse
Muse AI can leverage Facebook data to build lists of people in vulnerable groups on request for ordinary users.
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WIRED @wired.com · 24/09/2026
Starting soon! Join our livestream about women and tech at noon ET / 9am PT. Our panel will answer WIRED subscribers' questions. buff.ly/pJyuoX3
buff.ly
Submit Your Questions: Why Is Silicon Valley Still a Boys’ Club?
How are women really faring in Silicon Valley? Submit your questions to our panel and we'll give you the scoop on September 24.
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William Turton @williamturton.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
NEW STORY: Susan Collins Dismissed Our Reporting as Old News. Some of Her Claims Aren’t True. www.propublica.org/article/debu...
propublica.org
ProPublica Debunks Susan Collins’ Claims About FBI Anti-Corruption Probe
ProPublica revealed that the FBI was circling Sen. Collins over a defense contractor’s donations — until President Trump gutted the unit in charge. Collins has since mustered a defense with a series o...
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
NEW: Cisco Talos researchers built a tool to ID malware that integrates AI tools. It quickly found a command-and-control server for malware that is entirely directly by AI to plan its attack methods. @lhn.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/a-tool...
wired.com
A New Tool Found Malware That’s Guided by an AI Hive Mind—No Humans in Sight
Cisco Talos researchers created a new framework for identifying malware and hacking tools that rely on AI chatbots—and quickly discovered something unusual.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
NEW: If you wanted to design a system for monetizing people’s secrets, you’d be hard pressed to make something better than an AI chatbot. Here’s how to use these tools without giving up the intimate details of you life. @agreenberg.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/how-to...
wired.com
How to Use AI With Your Privacy Intact
Your conversations with AI chatbots are both highly personal and deeply vulnerable to surveillance. Here’s how you can protect yourself.
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William Turton @williamturton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
In 2024 the former CEO of a defense contractor made a stunning confession to two FBI agents. He alleged that was the ringleader of a massive pay-to-play operation, bribing senators with campaign contributions in exchange for govt contracts. www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...
propublica.org
The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way
After the FBI caught a defense contractor’s CEO making illegal campaign contributions, it sought to launch a sweeping political bribery probe involving Collins and others. Then the second Trump admini...
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
feels like we’re 3 days from some company announcing that their “misaligned” AI agents published the contents of every user’s cloud drives on a Pokémon-themed website because someone made a chatbot test called “doit 4 da lulz”
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
NEW: Flock is offering employees "generous" buyouts as communities across the US push back against the surveillance camera network, @wired.com has learned. @peard33.bsky.social and @dmehro.bsky.social with the scoop: www.wired.com/story/flock-...
wired.com
Flock Offers Employees Buyouts as Customers Flee
As dozens of cities end contracts for its controversial license plate readers, Flock is rolling out a voluntary severance program, WIRED has learned.
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Jason Leopold @jasonleopold.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
HUGE EXCLUSIVE from @bloomberg.com Inside the US ‘Kill Chain’ That Destroyed an Iranian School Pentagon investigators discovered that flawed intel, outdated imagery & overreliance on AI contributed to a missile strike that killed 123 children in Minab 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
bloomberg.com
Inside the US ‘Kill Chain’ That Destroyed an Iranian School
Pentagon investigators have discovered that flawed intelligence, outdated imagery and an overreliance on AI contributed to a missile strike that killed 123 children in Minab.
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 18/09/2026
BREAKING: President Trump says he is banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House over their coverage.
bit.ly
Trump says he is banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House
President Donald Trump says he is banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House due to what he called unfavorable coverage, and threatens that more such prohibitions of media outlets could follow.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Absolutely horrific: Thanks to a false intelligence "generated with the help of artificial intelligence," the US military nearly carried out an operation aboard a Chinese ship because the incorrect intelligence said it was carrying nukes, according to @cnn.com. edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
edition.cnn.com
Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics
The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
NEW: A Google researcher snuck into the group chat of TeamPCP, the hacker gang responsible for the worst-ever supply chain hacking spree, allowing the company to disrupt the group's attacks. @agreenberg.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/an-und...
wired.com
An Undercover Google Analyst Infiltrated a Notorious Supply Chain Hacking Gang
TeamPCP pulled off the worst-ever software supply chain hacking spree and breached thousands of companies. Now Google’s threat intelligence group has revealed it had a mole inside the hackers’ inner c...
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Kenn White @kennwhite.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This is terrific. Some of the best security journalism in the world.
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Leah Feiger @leahfeiger.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I want to talk to you about an article @wired.com's @telliotter.bsky.social published yesterday that should be getting a LOT more attention than it currently is -- It's all about how the US Census Bureau is overrun with staffers from a notable MAGA think tank.
wired.com
The Census Bureau Is Overrun With Staffers From a MAGA Think Tank
The US Census is home to vast troves of sensitive data on nearly every person living in the country, which is used for apportioning and drawing congressional districts as well as allocating federal fu...
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
We’re launching a new @wired.com Security newsletter! First edition sends tomorrow morning. Get it while it’s hot (it will always be hot tho tbh)!
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“Saudi Aramco told at least two oil refining customers in Europe that they will be allocated no crude oil next month after the kingdom’s key pipeline to the Red Sea was attacked…”
bloomberg.com
Saudis Tell European Refiners They’ll Get No Crude Next Month
Saudi Aramco told at least two oil refining customers in Europe that they will be allocated no crude oil next month after the kingdom’s key pipeline to the Red Sea was attacked, people informed of the...
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Do AI companies need an antitrust exemption to take time to work on safety and address potentially catastrophic risks? As an FTC antitrust attorney put it, “no humanity would result in no competition.” www.wired.com/story/the-ai...
wired.com
The AI ‘Slowdown’ Is an Antitrust Mess
By framing their efforts as a “slowdown” rather than an industry-wide push for better security standards, AI labs may have set themselves up for years of regulatory headaches.
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David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
EXCLUSIVE: New data shared with @wired.com by @statesunited.org shows that 197 election deniers will contest congressional and statewide races in the midterms. Critically, 33 of them will be in races for positions that will have oversight of the 2028 election... www.wired.com/story/hundre...
wired.com
Hundreds of Election Deniers Will Be on the Ballot This November
197 election deniers are running for Congress or statewide office in 43 states. Many of them are seeking roles that would put them in charge of voting for the 2028 presidential election.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Good 🧵 from Micah here!
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Jacob Bogage @jacobbogage.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
📬 SCOOP: US Postal Service chief told associates he wants to quit, sources say Long running frustrations over USPS finances boiled over after a June Senate hearing, sources tell me. The postmaster general previously aired thoughts of quitting. Then postal industry execs took golfing with Trump.
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: US Postal Service chief told associates he wants to quit, sources say
The head of the U.S. Postal Service ​has told confidants that he is deeply discouraged by his job and wants to resign, according to four people familiar with his thinking, as the ‌agency comes under s...
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Brian Barrett @brbarrett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Chipotle is now working with Palantir to track food safety. This comes after America’s turbo diarrhea summer, and a long history of ICE—maybe the most high-profile Palantir partner—targeting Chipotle’s workforce.
wired.com
Chipotle Is Working With Palantir to Track Food Safety Risks
The burrito chain has enlisted Palantir for a platform that monitors pest incidents, employee illnesses, and other factors. The partnership comes after a nightmare summer for food safety across the US...
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Hey, look at that—we have an app now! I've been testing it for the past while, and really is the best way to access our journalism. And we appreciate all the support!
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Raphael Satter @raphae.li · 16/09/2026
New: OpenAI's rogue agents probed Hugging Face on May 13, two months before major hack www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: OpenAI's rogue agents probed Hugging Face for weaknesses two months before major hack
Rogue AI agents hijacked Hugging ​Face user accounts and probed the site itself for vulnerabilities as early as May, nearly two months before the July breach of the ‌open-source repository drew global...
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
NEW: When @dmehro.bsky.social at @wired.com and @josephcox.bsky.social at @404media.co both got handed the full contents of a Flock camera, we worked together to figure out what it revealed. (WIRED’s below, 404’s version here: www.404media.co/hackers-stol...)
wired.com
Hackers Got Inside a Flock Camera. Its Data Shows How the System Really Works
A hacker collective pulled down a Flock camera and dumped its data. The files included thousands of videos and logs showing that the device captured 1.6 million images of 50,000 vehicles in 21 days.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
NEW: how is this real life? @timmarchman.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/the-fb...
wired.com
The FBI Doubles Down on Easing ‘Bestiality’ Hiring Standards
FBI director Kash Patel claimed to US senators that the removal of a bar on hiring people who had engaged in bestiality was aimed at protecting sexual assault survivors.
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Jessica Valenti @jessicavalenti.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The EPA will test America's drinking water for abortion medication & birth control—caving to a years-long pressure campaign from anti-abortion extremists.
jessica.substack.com
BREAKING: EPA Will Test Drinking Water for Abortion Pills & Contraception
The federal agency just caved to years of anti-abortion pressure
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NEW: The Manhattan DA's office has taken down 12 celebrity deepfake "porn" sites in what's believed to be the largest legal action ever against these predatory websites. @mattburgess1.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/new-yo...
wired.com
New York Seizes a Dozen Celebrity Deepfake Websites
In the biggest-ever legal action against harmful deepfake websites, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has seized 12 sites that collectively targeted around 1,200 victims.
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Ej Dickson @ejdickson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
There is a corner of the internet I had never heard of before I started reporting this story. It’s called the “burnerverse”: a network of anon burner accounts ostensibly discussing college sports. But they have another goal: destroying young girls’ lives.🧵: www.wired.com/story/burner...
wired.com
A College Girl Was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Men Got to Work
Maddie Kowalski is one of countless young women who’ve had their lives destroyed by the burnerverse, a loosely connected online community of sports fans. Now she’s fighting back.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
NEW: Meta is being sued in a proposed class action, which claims the company illegally trained its AI image makers and unreleased NameTag face-recognition system on people FB and Insta photos. @dmehro.bsky.social reports below. Our June report the suit cites here: www.wired.com/story/meta-s...
wired.com
Meta Sued Over Training Data for Its AI and Face-Recognition Systems
The proposed class action alleges Meta illegally harvested people’s Facebook and Instagram photos to train its AI image-generation models and to build its unreleased “NameTag” face recognition feature...
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Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Few rightly recognize one of the most important and pernicious impacts of 9/11: how it changed our society’s very understanding and relationship to facts and truth. My new @wired.com essay: www.wired.com/story/conspi...
wired.com
How 9/11 Made Everyone a Conspiracy Theorist
Crackpot theories were once the stuff of shortwave radio, but September 11 unleashed the Age of Alex Jones.
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Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
NEW: Clearview AI built an AI tool designed to turn a face search into an automated investigation of a person’s life online — and tested it with a model from xAI, maker of Grok. The prototype could hunt for associates, social accounts, employers, addresses, and more. www.wired.com/story/clearv...
wired.com
Clearview AI Is Testing an AI Tool That Would Let Cops Unearth Your Life Online
InquiryIQ, a previously unreported prototype, tested a model from xAI, maker of Grok, to surface associates, social accounts, and other information about people identified through Clearview.
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Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
NEW: The San Francisco City Attorney has hit Meta with a cease-and-desist telling it to stop publishing ads with AI-generated child sexual abuse. The letter asks Meta why the same ads keep running. Meta says the ads didn’t run in San Francisco and they are outside the city attorney's jurisdiction
wired.com
San Francisco Orders Meta to Stop ‘Allowing’ AI Child Abuse Ads
The City Attorney’s Office has asked Meta to explain how the harmful ads repeatedly ran on Facebook and Instagram. The company claims the ads are not under the city’s jurisdiction.
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WIRED @wired.com · 09/09/2026
Turning Point will spend tens of millions on ads and turnout, sources say, with a focus on New Hampshire, Arizona, and Nevada. www.wired.com/story/a-year...
wired.com
A Year After Charlie Kirk's Death, Turning Point Plans to Spend Big on the Midterms
Turning Point will spend tens of millions on ads and turnout, sources say, with a focus on New Hampshire, Arizona, and Nevada.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
NEW: The new Apple Watches double as AI-powered listening bugs for generating convo "recaps" or transcripts of any previous 15 seconds. But fear not, Apple says, this data isn't sent to Apple/gets encrypted, speakers aren't ID'd, and there's a chime for the 15-second thing. @lhn.bsky.social reports:
wired.com
Apple Doesn’t Want You to Worry About the New Apple Watch’s Listening Features
The new Apple Watch includes several “intelligent” listening features that have privacy and security baked in. But the protections can’t change the facts of what the tools do.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
NEW: An artist made a GTA V mod that adds over 200 Flock cameras to Los Santos, which you can smash and shoot for money. It also has a 5 percent chance of misidentifying your vehicle and calling the cops on you. @regret.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/you-ca...
wired.com
You Can Now Destroy Flock Cameras for Cash in GTA V
A new GTA mod lets you smash and shoot Flock’s automatic license plate readers around the fictional Los Santos.
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David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
EXCLUSIVE We are entering the Slop Jihad era where gen AI tools are being used to create memes, anime, fan cams and more to promote islamic terror ideologies and radicalize young people on TikTok www.wired.com/story/gen-ai...
wired.com
Gen AI Tools Are Now Being Used to Push ‘Slop Jihad’
A new generation of Islamic terror supporters are using AI to spread ‘Slop Jihad’ to new audiences on TikTok.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
NEW: Meta published hundreds of AI child abuse ads after its filters failed to catch them. Some included images of real children, a teenage member of a European royal family among them. @mattburgess1.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/meta-f...
wired.com
Meta Failed to Catch Hundreds of AI Child Abuse Ads. Some Included Images of Real Kids
Images of real children—including a member of a European royal family—were used to create some of the 350 ads containing child sexual abuse. Lawmakers say they plan to investigate.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
NEW: ICE agents demanded that REI turn over the names of "all persons" who bought a green beanie from the outdoor retailer over the past two years as part of their probe of protesters who entered a St. Paul church in March. @regret.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-wa...
wired.com
ICE Wants to Know Everyone Who Bought a Certain Green Beanie From REI in the Last 2 Years
Homeland Security Investigations agents hit the outdoor retailer with a controversial subpoena as part of a dragnet search for the identities of protesters who entered a Minnesota church in March.
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Brian Barrett @brbarrett.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
One of the DOGE kids tried to get college credit for his role in dismantling the federal government. from @telliotter.bsky.social
wired.com
DOGE Affiliate Asked for College Credits for Participating in Takeover
According to new documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, an undergraduate working with DOGE requested that his work for HUD count towards his University of Chicago degree.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
NEW: You’ve probably heard of police officers accused of abusing Flock searches to stalk exes and romantic interests. We got the code for Flock’s latest search tool, figured out how it works, and recreated it for all to see. @dell.bsky.social and @dmehro.bsky.social w/ the scoop:
wired.com
This Is Flock’s AI Search Tool for Cops
WIRED rebuilt Flock’s latest search tool from code the company sends to a police officer’s browser. Its AI can keep watch across multiple cameras for anyone fitting a written description.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
NEW: ICE is creating a national voter database to "support Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) fraud detection and data segmentation activities," according to documents reviewed by @wired.com. @davidgilbert.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/ice-pl...
wired.com
ICE Plans to Pay $5 Million to Create National Voting Database
As part of a broader DHS surge to investigate alleged voter fraud, ICE has announced it plans to pay up to $5 million to create what amounts to a federal voter database.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
everyone is doing great rn www.reuters.com/world/us-off...
reuters.com
US officials backpedal on claims that government agencies were hacked by Chinese, now say they were targets
U.S. officials ‌are backpedaling on claims that several government agencies were hacked by Chinese spies, now saying that ​the organizations were among the hackers' ​targets.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
NEW: Documents obtained by @wired.com reveal how a small city like Alpharetta, GA, can become a hub in Flock’s sprawling surveillance network. @carolinehaskins.bsky.social w/ the scoop. No paywall bc FOIA: www.wired.com/story/how-an...
wired.com
How an Atlanta Suburb Ended Up Sharing Flock Data With More Than 2,000 Organizations
Alpharetta, Georgia, cops share data with thousands of Flock users, ranging from federal agencies to a fish and wildlife commission. The reasons why show how vast—and invasive—the network has become.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
NEW: A patrolman in Alpharetta, GA, resigned this month after an internal investigation found he’d abused Flock access to track his ex and another man (both cops). The saga shows how routine this kind of Flock misuse can be. @carolinehaskins.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/a-geor...
wired.com
A Georgia Cop Used Flock to Track 2 Other Cops: His Ex and Her Friend
After an affair with a fellow police officer ended, a Georgia cop used Flock to track her movements—and those of a man whose vehicle often showed up near hers, internal investigation records show.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
NEW: A @wired.com review of OpenAI code on Github shows that the company is working on a “persistent” feature for its AI agent Codex. Maxwell Zeff has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/openai...
wired.com
OpenAI Is Developing a ‘Persistent’ AI Agent
Code reviewed by WIRED reveals the company is developing a feature that enables Codex to continue working proactively until it is “put to sleep.”
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David at FOIAball @foiaball.com · 26/08/2026
Wanna know something I think would be crazy? It would be crazy if XX-XY Athletics, the apparel firm stoking outrage against the WNBA, had a secret, Koch brothers-aligned, oil rich family fortune behind it. But that would be crazy, right??? www.foiaball.com/p/xx-xy-athl...
foiaball.com
The oil money lurking behind the WNBA outrage
XX-XY Athletics has an interesting paper trail.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
NEW: China’s state-backed hacking campaigns against the US, which the DOJ says included hijacking VPNs used to get around Chinese censorship to hide malicious traffic, have been disrupted. @agreenberg.bsky.social reports:
wired.com
FBI Disrupts Chinese Proxy Tools Used in Mass Hacking of US Agencies and Infrastructure
China’s hacking campaign targeted NASA, the Federal Reserve, the US Senate, the Justice Department, and more, according to the DOJ.
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