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Before yesterdayWIRED

OpenAI’s Custom Chatbots Are Leaking Their Secrets

By Matt Burgess
Released earlier this month, OpenAI’s GPTs let anyone create custom chatbots. But some of the data they’re built on is easily exposed.

A Civil Rights Firestorm Erupts Around a Looming Surveillance Power Grab

By Dell Cameron
Dozens of advocacy groups are pressuring the US Congress to abandon plans to ram through the renewal of a controversial surveillance program that they say poses an “alarming threat to civil rights.”

Section 702 Surveillance Reauthorization May Get Slipped Into ‘Must-Pass’ NDAA

By Dell Cameron
Congressional leaders are discussing ways to reauthorize Section 702 surveillance, including by attaching it to the National Defense Authorization Act, Capitol Hill sources tell WIRED.

Private and Secure Web Search Engines: DuckDuckGo, Brave, Kagi, Startpage

By Boone Ashworth, David Nield, Matt Burgess
What you look for online is up to you—just make sure no one else is taking a peek.

Secretive White House Surveillance Program Gives Cops Access to Trillions of US Phone Records

By Dell Cameron, Dhruv Mehrotra
A WIRED analysis of leaked police documents verifies that a secretive government program is allowing federal, state, and local law enforcement to access phone records of Americans who are not suspected of a crime.

Cybersecurity Industry Baffled by FBI’s Lack of Action on Ransomware Gang

By Andy Greenberg, Andrew Couts
Plus: Hackers reveal flaws in crypto wallets holding $1 billion, a massive breach of Danish electric utilities, and more.

US Congress Report Calls for Privacy Reforms After FBI Surveillance 'Abuses'

By Dell Cameron
A new report by an oversight committee in the US House of Representatives says the FBI has routinely violated rules governing FISA’s Section 702 surveillance program and must be reined in.

Running Signal Will Soon Cost $50 Million a Year

By Andy Greenberg
Signal’s president reveals the cost of running the privacy-preserving platform—not just to drum up donations, but to call out the for-profit surveillance business models it competes against.

A Spy Agency Leaked People's Data Online—Then the Data Was Stolen

By Matt Burgess
The National Telecommunication Monitoring Center in Bangladesh exposed a database to the open web. The types of data leaked online are extensive.

Asian Americans Raise Alarm Over ‘Chilling Effects’ of Section 702 Surveillance Program

By Dell Cameron
More than 60 groups advocating for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are pushing the US Congress to reform the Section 702 surveillance program as Senate leaders move to renew it.

US Privacy Groups Urge Senate Not to Ram Through NSA Spying Powers

By Dell Cameron
An effort to reauthorize a controversial US surveillance program by attaching it to a must-pass spending bill has civil liberties advocates calling foul.

Senate Leaders Plan to Prolong NSA Surveillance Using a Must-Pass Bill

By Dell Cameron
Top senate officials are planning to save the Section 702 surveillance program by attaching it to a crucial piece of legislation. Critics worry a chance to pass privacy reforms will be missed.

Police Use of Face Recognition Is Sweeping the UK

By Matt Burgess
Face recognition technology has been controversial for years. Cops in the UK are drastically increasing the amount they use it.

Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2023 Seeks to End Warrantless Police and FBI Spying

By Dell Cameron
The Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2023 pulls from past privacy bills to overhaul how police and the feds access Americans’ data and communications.

YouTube's Ad Blocker Detection Believed to Break EU Privacy Law

By K.G. Orphanides
A complaint filed with the EU’s independent data regulator accuses YouTube of failing to get explicit user permission for its ad blocker detection system, potentially violating the ePrivacy Directive.

What a Bloody San Francisco Street Brawl Tells Us About the Age of Citizen Surveillance

By Lauren Smiley
When a homeless man attacked a former city official, footage of the onslaught became a rallying cry. Then came another video, and another—and the story turned inside out.

This Cheap Hacking Device Can Crash Your iPhone With Pop-Ups

By Matt Burgess
Plus: SolarWinds is charged with fraud, New Orleans police face recognition has flaws, and new details about Okta’s October data breach emerge.

The New Era of Social Media Looks as Bad for Privacy as the Last One

By Vittoria Elliott
The slow-motion implosion of Elon Musk’s X has given rise to a slew of competitors, where privacy invasions that ran rampant over the past decade still largely persist.

This Cryptomining Tool Is Stealing Secrets

By Lily Hay Newman
Plus: Details emerge of a US government social media-scanning tool that flags “derogatory” speech, and researchers find vulnerabilities in the global mobile communications network.

The Destruction of Gaza’s Internet Is Complete

By Matt Burgess
As Israel increases its ground operation in Gaza, the last remaining internet and mobile connections have gone dark.

The AI-Generated Child Abuse Nightmare Is Here

By Matt Burgess
Thousands of child abuse images are being created with AI. New images of old victims are appearing, as criminals trade datasets.

A Controversial Plan to Scan Private Messages for Child Abuse Meets Fresh Scandal

By Vas Panagiotopoulos
An EU government body is pushing a proposal to combat child sexual abuse material that has significant privacy implications. Its lead advocate is making things even messier.

A Powerful Tool US Spies Misused to Stalk Women Faces Its Potential Demise

By Dell Cameron
Though often viewed as the “crown jewel” of the US intelligence community, fresh reports of abuse by NSA employees and chaos in the US Congress put the tool's future in jeopardy.

The 23andMe User Data Leak May Be Far Worse Than Believed

By Andrew Couts
Plus: IT workers secretly funnel money to North Korea, a court in the US upholds keyword search warrants, and WhatsApp gets a passwordless upgrade on Android

Citing Hamas, the US Wants to Treat Crypto "Mixers" as Suspected Money Launderers

By Andy Greenberg
With a new emphasis on the Hamas attacks on Israel, the US Treasury has proposed designating foreign cryptocurrency “mixer” services as money launderers and national security threats.

They Supported Air Strike Victims. Then They Were Doxed and Arrested

By Matt Burgess
Myanmar’s military junta is increasing surveillance and violating basic human rights. The combination of physical and digital surveillance is reaching dangerous new levels.

Deepfake Porn Is Out of Control

By Matt Burgess
New research shows the number of deepfake videos is skyrocketing—and the world's biggest search engines are funneling clicks to dozens of sites dedicated to the nonconsensual fakes.

US House Republicans Had Their Phones Confiscated to Stop Leaks

By Matt Laslo
In an attempt to wrest control from raucous far-right hardliners amid the fight for a new House speaker, Republican Party leaders are instituting phone bans to keep backroom deals secret.

The UN Risks Normalizing Internet Censorship

By Justin Ling
The United Nations' top internet governance body will allegedly host its next two annual meetings in countries known for repressive internet policies and human rights abuses.

Israel's Failure to Stop the Hamas Attack Shows the Danger of Too Much Surveillance

By Matt Burgess, Lily Hay Newman
Hundreds dead, thousands wounded—Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel shows the limits of even the most advanced and invasive surveillance dragnets as full-scale war erupts.

Apple's Encryption Is Under Attack by a Mysterious Group

By Andrew Couts
Plus: Sony confirms a breach of its networks, US federal agents get caught illegally using phone location data, and more.

The Team Helping Women Fight Digital Domestic Abuse

By Matt Burgess
Location-enabled tech designed to make our lives easier is often exploited by domestic abusers. Refuge, a UK nonprofit, helps women to leave abusive relationships, secure their devices, and stay safe.

How Neuralink Keeps Dead Monkey Photos Secret

By Dell Cameron, Dhruv Mehrotra
Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup conducted years of tests at UC Davis, a public university. A WIRED investigation reveals how Neuralink and the university keep the grisly images of test subjects hidden.

Predictive Policing Software Terrible at Predicting Crimes

By Aaron Sankin, Surya Mattu
A software company sold a New Jersey police department an algorithm that was right less than 1 percent of the time.

How to Tell When Your Phone Will Stop Getting Security Updates

By David Nield
Every smartphone has an expiration date. Here’s when yours will probably come.

Chinese Hackers Are Hiding in Routers in the US and Japan

By Lily Hay Newman, Matt Burgess
Plus: Stolen US State Department emails, $20 million zero-day flaws, and controversy over the EU’s message-scanning law.

US Justice Department Urged to Investigate Gunshot Detector Purchases

By Dell Cameron, Dhruv Mehrotra
A civil liberties group has asked the DOJ to investigate deployment of the ShotSpotter gunfire-detection system, which research shows is often installed in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Your Boss’s Spyware Could Train AI to Replace You

By Thor Benson
Corporations are using software to monitor employees on a large scale. Some experts fear the data these tools collect could be used to automate people out of their jobs.

The US Congress Has Trust Issues. Generative AI Is Making It Worse

By Matt Laslo
Senators are meeting with Silicon Valley's elite to learn how to deal with AI. But can Congress tackle the rapidly emerging tech before working on itself?

The Twisted Eye in the Sky Over Buenos Aires

By Karen Naundorf
A scandal unfolding in Argentina shows the dangers of implementing facial recognition—even with laws and limits in place.

AI Chatbots Are Invading Your Local Government—and Making Everyone Nervous

By Todd Feathers
State and local governments in the US are scrambling to harness tools like ChatGPT to unburden their bureaucracies, rushing to write their own rules—and avoid generative AI's many pitfalls.

Mozilla: Your New Car Is a Data Privacy Nightmare

By Dhruv Mehrotra, Andrew Couts
Plus: Apple patches newly discovered flaws exploited by NSO Group spyware, North Korean hackers target security researchers, and more.

Top US Spies Meet With Privacy Experts Over Surveillance 'Crown Jewel'

By Dell Cameron
Civil rights groups say efforts to get US intelligence agencies to adopt privacy reforms have largely failed. Without those changes, renewal of a post-911 surveillance policy may be doomed.

Axon's Ethics Board Resigned Over Taser-Armed Drones. Then the Company Bought a Military Drone Maker

By Ese Olumhense
The CEO’s vision for Taser-equipped drones includes a fictitious scenario in which the technology averts a shooting at a day care center.

How to Use Proton Sentinel to Keep Your Accounts Safe

By David Nield
If you want the highest possible level of protection, this is it.

2 Polish Men Arrested for Radio Hack That Disrupted Trains

By Andy Greenberg, Andrew Couts
Plus: A major FBI botnet takedown, new Sandworm malware, a cyberattack on two major scientific telescopes—and more.

Apple's Decision to Kill Its CSAM Photo-Scanning Tool Sparks Fresh Controversy

By Lily Hay Newman
Child safety group Heat Initiative plans to launch a campaign pressing Apple on child sexual abuse material scanning and user reporting. The company issued a rare, detailed response on Thursday.

This Tool Lets Hackers Dox Almost Anyone in the US

By Dhruv Mehrotra
The US Secret Service’s relationship with the Oath Keepers gets revealed, Tornado Cash cofounders get indicted, and a UK court says a teen is behind a Lapsus$ hacking spree.

Donald Trump's Mug Shot Matters in a World of Fakes

By Amanda Hoover
The first booking photo of a US president stands out among a sea of photoshops and AI-generated images online.

Why The Chainsmokers Invest in—and Party With—Niche Cybersecurity Companies

By Lily Hay Newman
Musician Alex Pall spoke with WIRED about his VC firm, the importance of raising cybersecurity awareness in a rapidly digitizing world, and his surprise that hackers know how to go hard.

The Internet Is Turning Into a Data Black Box. An ‘Inspectability API’ Could Crack It Open

By Surya Mattu
Unlike web browsers, mobile apps increasingly make it difficult or impossible to see what companies are really doing with your data. The answer? An inspectability API.

The Most Popular Digital Abortion Clinics, Ranked by Data Privacy

By Kristen Poli
Telehealth companies that provide abortion pills are surging in popularity. Which are as safe as they claim to be?

Leaked Yandex Code Breaks Open the Creepy Black Box of Online Advertising

By Matt Burgess
As the international tech giant moves toward Russian ownership, the leak raises concerns about the volume of data it has on its users.

How to Automatically Delete Passcode Texts on Android and iOS

By David Nield
Here’s one simple way to reduce your security risk while logging in.

The Senate’s AI Future Is Haunted by the Ghost of Privacy Past

By Matt Laslo
The US Congress is trying to tame the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. But senators’ failure to tackle privacy reform is making the task a nightmare.

How AI May Be Used to Create Custom Disinformation Ahead of 2024

By Thor Benson
Generative AI won't just flood the internet with more lies—it may also create convincing disinformation that's targeted at groups or even individuals.
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