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maddy varner

@regret.bsky.social
2.6K followers 322 following 231 posts

reporter @wired.com ✨ prev the markup, FTC ✨ signal: mvarner.01

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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 21h
NEW: Come for the 5-minute videos the Pentagon is hoping will speed up "kill chain" AI buys, stay for the historical tensions between Silicon Valley & the military and how the government accidentally consolidated a market to its detriment www.wired.com/story/the-pe...
wired.com
The Pentagon Hopes to Speed Up ‘Kill Chain’ AI Buys With 5-Minute Videos
The US government’s Tradewinds initiative has made it easier to throw millions of dollars at “nontraditional” defense contractors, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Would love to chat if you or other folks you know were affected by this—the filing made it seem like this was not isolated to Maine. I’m in signal at mvarner.01.
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Tim Marchman @timmarchman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: Partially unsealed court filings show that ICE has been putting photos of people observing their activities into a Palantir-built database as well as tracking and intimidating them. @regret.bsky.social and @dmehro.bsky.social have the details:
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings. w/ @regret.bsky.social
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: A recently unsealed court filing that heavily cites government-produced documents + DHS agent depositions alleges that yes, there *is* a DHS database that's filled with protesters, called ICM. It's built by Palantir. www.wired.com/story/ice-ha...
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Paresh Dave @peard33.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Almost immediately after, the FTC confirmed it was doing some? sort of investigation? into several AI companies? but hasn't actually taken the initial steps needed for that yet? (whatever happened to the OpenAI one that was reportedly opened in 2023?) www.youtube.com/watch?si=rWT...
youtube.com
The Sopranos 6.12 - "Your brother Billy, whatever happened there"
YouTube video by CapoTube
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
More updates from the AI regulations trenches: a bunch of AI companies signed some voluntary agreements that are maybe similar to some other voluntary agreements they all previously signed.
wired.com
Trump’s AI Safety ‘Accord’ Is a Fancy Pinky-Swear
Six major AI companies signed a voluntary agreement with the White House this week vowing to implement safeguards. It’s unclear how much that matters.
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Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
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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Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
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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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Very lucky to have received a ribbon from the New York State Fair this year!! 🥰 All hand dyed—mostly with onion skins and pomegranate
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Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Step by step, the Trump administration is dismantling transparency. The Federal Agency That’s Supposed to Protect Consumers Just Made Another Business-Friendly Move @joeljacobs.bsky.social
propublica.org
The Federal Agency That’s Supposed to Protect Consumers Just Made Another Business-Friendly Move
Debt collection. Credit reporting. Payday loans. Consumer complaints to a federal database used to help reveal issues and bring accountability. Then the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stopped pu...
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
he saw my shirt im sure of it
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David Ingram @davidingram.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
New from me: I tested the emergency phone number for companies developing AVs in Texas, and five of 17 didn't work.
NBC News article excerpt: Self-driving cars or trucks operating in Texas are supposed to have emergency phone numbers to call in case they go haywire. But in NBC News tests, some were unstaffed, disconnected or listed incorrectly.

Five of 17 companies that are working on self-driving cars or trucks in the state provided emergency numbers in their published “first responder interaction plans” that, when they were tested in late August, seemingly wouldn’t allow companies to immediately respond in emergencies.NBC News article excerpt: The five emergency lines failed in various ways. Two went to voicemail. A third rang without ever going to voicemail or anyone picking up. A fourth rang several times before a recorded message took over, saying: “I’m sorry, the person you are trying to reach has a voicemail box that has not been set up yet. Please try your call again later. Goodbye.” And on the fifth, a recorded message said: “Your call cannot be completed as dialed.”
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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
Want to know if there's an election denier running for office in your state this November? Now you can, thanks to data from @statesunited.org and the incredible work of @regret.bsky.social Try out our interactive map here: www.wired.com/story/hundre...
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Kate Knibbs @knibbs.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
SCOOP: The CFTC has launched several additional investigations into Polymarket trading, including wagering on Biden's pardons, Iran-related events, and other individuals who may have insider traded on Google contracts www.wired.com/story/polyma...
wired.com
The US Government Launched 3 Previously Unreported Investigations of Polymarket Trades
The agency that oversees prediction markets has investigated Polymarket trades on Biden pardons and the Iran war—and even more potential insider trading at Google, documents obtained by WIRED show.
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
you can buy cars and pay insurance on them in-game
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
NEW: You can now smash and shoot Flock cameras in GTA V thanks to "Grand Theft Automated License Plate Reader," a mod by artist Morry Kolman. The cameras will also sometimes randomly trigger a police chase, inspired by news reports of ALPR misreads: 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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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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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 04/09/2026
“I think DHS has proved time and time again that they can’t be trusted as the stewards of applying this (administrative subpoena) law correctly,” EFF’s @mariotrujillo.bsky.social told @WIRED.com.
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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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
College students using AI to cheat on tests...AI using AI to cheat on tests...what are we doing here 😭
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
They used something called a 1509 customs summons, a powerful (and wildly unaccountable) legal tool. @wyden.senate.gov and @jayapal.house.gov are calling on GAO to investigate the administrations use of them + other types of administrative subpoenas: www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
wyden.senate.gov
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
NEW: As part of an investigation into ICE protesters, HSI agents tried to cajole REI into handing over transaction records of anyone in the MPLS area who bought a specific dark green beanie in the past two years: 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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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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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
update: magistrate judge says that monitoring ICE agents' location and activity "can reasonably be characterized as political activity" and that revealing the Signal group chat members' names would have a chilling effect on their first amendment rights storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
Order – #95 in HILTON v. NOEM (D. Me., 2:26-cv-00092) – CourtListener.com
Order
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Mario Trujillo @mariotrujillo.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
ICE tried to conduct a dragnet search on REI customers in Minneapolis, apparently trying to ID a person who wore a particular beanie storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
On March 5, investigators issued a Section 1509 summons to REI seeking
transaction information for all persons who had purchased a particular beanie, identified by item number, in the greater Minneapolis–St. Paul area from January 1, 2024, forward. Brisbois Decl., para. 3, Exhibit 3, Line 65. The summons requested the dates and locations of purchases, buyer identities and contact information, payment type, and complete credit-
or debit-card numbers
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Paresh Dave @peard33.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
www.wired.com/story/google...
wired.com
Google Maps Now Shows ‘Lake America’ Instead of Lake Ontario
After Donald Trump’s executive order demanding the name change, Google is the first major online maps provider to flip the switch.
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Incredibly useful (and alarming!) dataset👇
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
why omit the fact that personalized pricing is the term that’s been used to describe this practice for nearly a decade (which possibly explains why publications re-adopted the term so quickly)? one.oecd.org/document/DAF...
one.oecd.org
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
OPM keeps updating my FOIA request with new tracking IDs and giving no context why 😭 I can't tell if this means stuff is happening? lol
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Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
NEW: Flock has said for years its cameras don’t identify or track people. We obtained the code for its police AI and rebuilt parts of it. The tool can find witnesses, surface associates, search people by race or physical description, and flag vehicles by how they move. W/ @dell.bsky.social
wired.com
Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code
Flock’s surveillance cameras have already sparked outrage. WIRED reconstructed its next-generation AI system, already in use by some police, to confirm it goes much further than tracking license plate...
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
re: spoliation, I don't think it's that obvious that people always expect certain pricing differences w/ that. A lot of big chains have websites that vary prices based on how close you are to a specific store, you're in the same "place" (the website) but can see diff prices compared to another guy!
wired.com
Your Data Might Determine How Much You Pay for Eggs
A newly enacted New York law requires retailers to say whether your data influences the price of basic goods like a dozen eggs or toilet paper, but not how.
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I think we're in agreement, I just think it'd be helpful to see some work trying to understand consumer perceptions for diff pricing scenarios to bolster claims about when/where reasonable people expect there to be uniform pricing vs not.
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I also think there's so many factors that make all of this messier than policymakers hope (eg grocery stores put stuff on sale bc they have a limited amt of time before things go bad, not all expiration dates are synced across stores; Uber/Lyft pricing updates sec by sec bc of supply/demand; etc)
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Yeah I wish there was more of an effort to do consumer perception research (or at least a meta paper walking through different types of differentiated pricing.) The 2018 OECD note references some blogs etc related to consume perception (e.g. 33bits.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/p...) but not satisfying
33bits.wordpress.com
Personalized coupons as a vehicle for perfect price discrimination
Given the pervasive tracking and profiling of our shopping and browsing habits, one would expect that retailers would be very good at individualized price discrimination —  figuring out what you or…
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
We reported on the FTC's agreements to not enforce three auto dealers' court-ordered requirements not to engage in unlawful credit discrimination last week. Weird that this keeps happening! www.wired.com/story/ftc-st...
wired.com
FTC Strikes Deals to Ignore Unlawful Credit Discrimination
The agency signed agreements to not enforce parts of three federal court orders against auto dealers accused of discrimination—and didn’t notify judges or at least one of its coplaintiffs.
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Diverges from the DOJ/FTC's 2018 OECD note on personalized pricing (during Trump I era) by not mentioning the Equal Credit Opportunity Act or explicitly calling out personalized pricing that uses traditionally protected characteristics... one.oecd.org/document/DAF/COMP/WD(2018)140/en/pdf
one.oecd.org
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
FTC puts out a proposed policy statement re: personalized pricing (sometimes referred to as "surveillance pricing"). Statement points out several ways personalized pricing is in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act (!) www.regulations.gov/document/FTC...
regulations.gov
Regulations.gov
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Zack Whittaker @zackwhittaker.com · 15/08/2026
An absolutely insane story about when U.S. sanctions go wrong and seemingly name the wrong person. conic.al/writing/the-...
conic.al
The other Sean Byrne doesn't exist
A fictitious Sean Byrne ended up on a U.S. government restricted-party list. Sixteen years later, Apple, Nasdaq and others have mistaken me for him.
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WIRED @wired.com · 14/08/2026
The agency signed agreements to not enforce parts of three federal court orders against auto dealers accused of discrimination—and didn’t notify judges or at least one of its coplaintiffs. www.wired.com/story/ftc-st...
wired.com
FTC Strikes Deals to Ignore Unlawful Credit Discrimination
The agency signed agreements to not enforce parts of three federal court orders against auto dealers accused of discrimination—and didn’t notify judges or at least one of its coplaintiffs.
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Huge, kudos to Reddit for shining a light on these practices—hopefully other tech companies will follow suit!
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maddy varner @regret.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Wild for so many reasons but also, Virginia was one of the states that tried passing a law banning law enforcement (including federal officers operating in the state) from wearing masks. DOJ sued to stop it, and now there’s no clear way to identify who these guys are, even with video footage!
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Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
ICYMI: DHS took a four year old's spit and stored it indefinitely in a spit warehouse
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dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
El DHS quiere pagarle a cazarrecompensas privados para localizar a personas que ya salieron de EE UU, fotografiar sus viviendas y exigirles dinero. Les había dicho que salir del país les condonaría las multas. Fue el argumento para que se autoexpulsaran. Por @regret.bsky.social y por mí:
es.wired.com
EE UU usará cazarrecompensas para hallar a deportados en sus países de origen y hacerles pagar multas
El Departamento de Seguridad Nacional comunicó a los inmigrantes que, si abandonaban Estados Unidos, se les condonarían las multas que, según afirma, deben pagar. Ahora quiere que unos investigadores ...
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Federal US domain bot @fed-us-domain-bot.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
❌ NOTICE Federal US website newly deleted. accessibility.gov Action taken by the nan (General Services Administration) at or around 2026-08-06 08:40:55.
accessibility.gov
accessibility.gov
Federal US website delisted. URL is not valid.
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Lily Hay Newman @lhn.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
idk man wired.com/story/openai...
wired.com
OpenAI Didn’t Notice Its AI Agents Using a Message Board to Plan Their Hacking Spree
At the Black Hat security conference, the AI giant revealed new details about how its agents went rogue, hacked several other companies—and did it all right under the company’s nose.
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WIRED @wired.com · 05/08/2026
WIRED spoke with an engineer who was interviewed by Edward "Big Balls" Coristine for a government engineering role at the NDS, the White House agency staffed by other DOGE veterans.
wrd.cm
The National Design Studio Became a DOGE Landing Pad. Now ‘Big Balls’ Is Recruiting
WIRED spoke with an engineer who was interviewed by Edward "Big Balls" Coristine for a government engineering role at the NDS, the White House agency staffed by other DOGE veterans.
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Manisha Krishnan @manishakrishnan.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
New: TikTok tells @ejdickson.bsky.social the Perez Hilton livestream, which appeared to show him covered in blood and wielding a knife, was flagged soon after it started but a "moderator error" prevented it from being taken down: www.wired.com/story/tiktok...
wired.com
TikTok Says ‘Moderator Error’ Kept Perez Hilton Livestream Up
The gossip blogger was on TikTok covered in what appeared to be blood and wielding a knifelike object before the platform cut his stream. He’s since been hospitalized.
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