Joseph Menn
@joemenn.bsky.social
Washington Post reporter covering hacking, disinformation and what’s left of privacy. Author of books on the Cult of the Dead Cow, organized criminal hacking, and Napster. Pulitzer co-finalist 2024. Signal joemenn.01
Pinned
Joseph Menn
@joemenn.bsky.social
· Dec 22
Better picture. Sorry for the redundancy, this is a big day for me.
MS Now sounds like the opposite of Mr. Right.
February 18, 2026 at 8:02 PM
MS Now sounds like the opposite of Mr. Right.
The deputy prisons director did what?
"Before he left, Hernández was allowed to use [a] government phone to talk to the federal prison system’s deputy director, Joshua Smith, who was convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy before Trump pardoned him in 2021." www.propublica.org/article/trum...
Amid Mass ICE Arrests, Trump Pardon Recipient Juan Orlando Hernández Given Special Treatment
After the former Honduran president was pardoned, ICE dropped its detainer on him, and he was whisked away to a luxury hotel in New York City.
www.propublica.org
February 18, 2026 at 5:08 PM
The deputy prisons director did what?
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Good to know!
www.semafor.com/article/02/1...
www.semafor.com/article/02/1...
February 17, 2026 at 11:39 PM
Good to know!
www.semafor.com/article/02/1...
www.semafor.com/article/02/1...
I pretty much keep up with the news, so where was the coverage laying this out?
The DOJ has asked states to agree to sign a secret agreement “in connection w/ handing over their full voter files.” The agreement says that “the DOJ will ‘test, analyze, & assess states’ [voter rolls]’ & send each participating state a list of voters who must be removed within 45 days.” 2/5/26 …1/
“Confidential” Agreements Show Trump Administration’s Plans for States’ Voter Data
At least 10 states have handed over their full voter files to the Justice Department.
www.brennancenter.org
February 17, 2026 at 3:59 AM
I pretty much keep up with the news, so where was the coverage laying this out?
Reposted by Joseph Menn
come for brendan carr. stay for matt murray.
February 17, 2026 at 3:50 AM
come for brendan carr. stay for matt murray.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
NEW: Read this terrific piece @virginiaheffernan.bsky.social for @thenerve.news in which she unpicks Edge.org, the hugely influential 'salon' funded by Epstein & threaded through with race science & eugenics.
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www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
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www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science
Edge - Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon - was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds, writes Virginia Heffernan. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-lo...
www.thenerve.news
February 15, 2026 at 11:18 AM
NEW: Read this terrific piece @virginiaheffernan.bsky.social for @thenerve.news in which she unpicks Edge.org, the hugely influential 'salon' funded by Epstein & threaded through with race science & eugenics.
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www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
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www.thenerve.news/p/epstein-bi...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
"In at least 4,421 cases, more than 400 federal judges ruled since the beginning of October that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding people illegally as it carries out its mass-deportation campaign."
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped.
The decisions amount to a huge legal rebuke, one the administration has ignored.
www.reuters.com
February 15, 2026 at 5:53 PM
"In at least 4,421 cases, more than 400 federal judges ruled since the beginning of October that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding people illegally as it carries out its mass-deportation campaign."
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
The Department of Homeland Security has had to correct information provided to at least five states after its SAVE voter tool misidentified some voters as noncitizens, according to correspondence between state and federal officials.
With @texastribune.org
With @texastribune.org
“Not Ready for Prime Time.” A Federal Tool to Check Voter Citizenship Keeps Making Mistakes.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed out the revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.
www.propublica.org
February 15, 2026 at 2:00 AM
The Department of Homeland Security has had to correct information provided to at least five states after its SAVE voter tool misidentified some voters as noncitizens, according to correspondence between state and federal officials.
With @texastribune.org
With @texastribune.org
Terrific reporting on the chaos atop DHS. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
A Pilot Fired Over Kristi Noem’s Missing Blanket and the Constant Chaos Inside DHS
Secretary faces fire for confrontational immigration crackdown and self-promotional style; White House to wind down Minnesota operations.
www.wsj.com
February 14, 2026 at 7:21 PM
Terrific reporting on the chaos atop DHS. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Wake Forest practically has Woke in it’s name.
UPDATE: Hegseth has included VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY on a list of schools off limits for tuition assistance for military officers as part of his campaign against schools he describes as “biased” against the US military.🤔 www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/p...
February 14, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Wake Forest practically has Woke in it’s name.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Happy Friday... PATCH YO' IOS (EXPLOITATION ITW)
Apple security releases - Apple Support (SA) m.cje.io/4bTDrc3.
Apple security releases - Apple Support (SA) m.cje.io/4bTDrc3.
Apple security releases - Apple Support (SA)
This document lists security updates and Rapid Security Responses for Apple software.
m.cje.io
February 14, 2026 at 2:54 AM
Happy Friday... PATCH YO' IOS (EXPLOITATION ITW)
Apple security releases - Apple Support (SA) m.cje.io/4bTDrc3.
Apple security releases - Apple Support (SA) m.cje.io/4bTDrc3.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Olympic village apparently ran outta condoms after 3 days so congrats to the next generation of elite athletes
February 13, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Olympic village apparently ran outta condoms after 3 days so congrats to the next generation of elite athletes
Do not let the fact that some hackers are sketchy overwhelm the reality that a few of them are much, much worse than that. Speaking generally. techcrunch.com/2026/02/12/h...
Hacker linked to Epstein removed from Black Hat cyber conference website | TechCrunch
Emails published by the Justice Department revealed cybersecurity veteran Vincenzo Iozzo emailed, and arranged to meet, Jeffrey Epstein multiple times between 2014 and 2018.
techcrunch.com
February 12, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Do not let the fact that some hackers are sketchy overwhelm the reality that a few of them are much, much worse than that. Speaking generally. techcrunch.com/2026/02/12/h...
For those of you keeping score at home, the actual cut to the Post newsroom was 45%, not the widely reported one third. Remaining journalists are a bit over 400, down from around 1100 four years ago and 580 when Bezos bought the place.
February 12, 2026 at 6:49 PM
For those of you keeping score at home, the actual cut to the Post newsroom was 45%, not the widely reported one third. Remaining journalists are a bit over 400, down from around 1100 four years ago and 580 when Bezos bought the place.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Court battle over surveillance footage at the Broadview ICE detention center reaches new levels of kafkaesque absurdity: The DOJ claimed it *couldn't afford* hard drives to put video footage on. Plaintiffs bought THE US GOVERNMENT hard drives. ICE "lost" them.
www.404media.co/government-l...
www.404media.co/government-l...
Government Loses Hard Drives It Was Supposed to Put ICE Detention Center Footage On
A Kafkaesque saga in which the government has failed to produce critical video footage has reached new levels of absurdity.
www.404media.co
February 11, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Court battle over surveillance footage at the Broadview ICE detention center reaches new levels of kafkaesque absurdity: The DOJ claimed it *couldn't afford* hard drives to put video footage on. Plaintiffs bought THE US GOVERNMENT hard drives. ICE "lost" them.
www.404media.co/government-l...
www.404media.co/government-l...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Exclusive: Senators Durbin and Lee plan to revive a reform measure for Section 702 of FISA tomorrow, two people familiar say. The legislation adds a warrant requirement for US person queries + clarification on definition of providers that must comply w/ program:
www.nextgov.com/policy/2026/...
www.nextgov.com/policy/2026/...
Senators to revive reform effort for controversial spying law
The proposed changes to Section 702 of FISA would mandate warrants for searches of U.S. person communications and revisit a 2024 provision that critics say widened the government’s surveillance reach.
www.nextgov.com
February 11, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Exclusive: Senators Durbin and Lee plan to revive a reform measure for Section 702 of FISA tomorrow, two people familiar say. The legislation adds a warrant requirement for US person queries + clarification on definition of providers that must comply w/ program:
www.nextgov.com/policy/2026/...
www.nextgov.com/policy/2026/...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Prosecutors have confirmed for the first time that Peter Williams, who ran L3Harris' Trenchant unit (which makes hacking tools for the U.S. govermment and its allies), sold the company's exploits to a Russian broker that were capable of accessing "millions of computers and devices" around the world.
DOJ says Trenchant boss sold exploits to Russian broker capable of accessing 'millions of computers and devices' | TechCrunch
The former boss of the L3Harris-owned hacking and surveillance tools maker Trenchant faces nine years in prison for selling several exploits to a Russian broker, which counts the Russian government am...
techcrunch.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Prosecutors have confirmed for the first time that Peter Williams, who ran L3Harris' Trenchant unit (which makes hacking tools for the U.S. govermment and its allies), sold the company's exploits to a Russian broker that were capable of accessing "millions of computers and devices" around the world.
This math is awesome, I could quit today and be sharp as a tack at age 140.
February 10, 2026 at 1:03 AM
This math is awesome, I could quit today and be sharp as a tack at age 140.
Oops I did a measles.
5 months ago
February 9, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Oops I did a measles.
Everything going great at the newly svelte Washington Post.
February 9, 2026 at 2:09 AM
Everything going great at the newly svelte Washington Post.
Hope it counts if I have my Super Bowl ferments in liquid form.
RFK Jr on what he'll eat during the Super Bowl: "I am on a carnivore diet so I just eat meat and ferments, and I'm very happy with that. So I'm probably going to have yogurt."
February 8, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Hope it counts if I have my Super Bowl ferments in liquid form.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
DHS ramps up its use of a secretive legal weapon, administrative subpoenas, which allow federal agencies to obtain your data without a judge’s order. Tech reporter @joemenn.bsky.social warns, “We are so awash in data now that an immense amount can be compiled without you ever knowing.” #Velshi
DHS is using administrative subpoenas to retaliate against dissenters
The Department of Homeland Security is using a little-known legal weapon, targeting dissenters with administrative subpoenas. MSNOW Legal Analyst Melissa Murray says the Trump administration isn’t using them “to fight crime or enhance public safety, but to minimize public dissent.” Tech reporter Joseph Menn warns, “This isn’t an isolated case.”
www.ms.now
February 8, 2026 at 7:04 PM
DHS ramps up its use of a secretive legal weapon, administrative subpoenas, which allow federal agencies to obtain your data without a judge’s order. Tech reporter @joemenn.bsky.social warns, “We are so awash in data now that an immense amount can be compiled without you ever knowing.” #Velshi
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Please join me @velshimsnow.bsky.social 10a-1p w/
@leahgreenberg.bsky.social
Rev. Al Sharpton
@postbaron.bsky.social
@joemenn.bsky.social
@profmmurray.bsky.social
Ray Suarez
@paoramos.bsky.social
@calebsilver.bsky.social
#velshi
1/2
@leahgreenberg.bsky.social
Rev. Al Sharpton
@postbaron.bsky.social
@joemenn.bsky.social
@profmmurray.bsky.social
Ray Suarez
@paoramos.bsky.social
@calebsilver.bsky.social
#velshi
1/2
February 8, 2026 at 12:31 PM
Please join me @velshimsnow.bsky.social 10a-1p w/
@leahgreenberg.bsky.social
Rev. Al Sharpton
@postbaron.bsky.social
@joemenn.bsky.social
@profmmurray.bsky.social
Ray Suarez
@paoramos.bsky.social
@calebsilver.bsky.social
#velshi
1/2
@leahgreenberg.bsky.social
Rev. Al Sharpton
@postbaron.bsky.social
@joemenn.bsky.social
@profmmurray.bsky.social
Ray Suarez
@paoramos.bsky.social
@calebsilver.bsky.social
#velshi
1/2