Derek B. Johnson
@derekbjohnson.bsky.social
Reporter and knowledge broker at CyberScoop, covering privacy, AI and elections. Priors at Federal Computer Week and SC Media. Send tips, leaks and well-wishes to [email protected] or DM for Signal.
A decent part of why we're here today is because many of the people you would expect to provide ideological + political pushback against the Trumpist project were, as recently as 2024, still showing their asses and lack of curiosity about the real world.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/o...
January 13, 2026 at 1:33 PM
A decent part of why we're here today is because many of the people you would expect to provide ideological + political pushback against the Trumpist project were, as recently as 2024, still showing their asses and lack of curiosity about the real world.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/o...
Source made a similar point to me last week about some of the Maduro-related deepfakes that were circulated after his capture - in that they're less about being really convincing and more about aligning the latest news event X with your pre-existing emotional "truth."
cyberscoop.com/ai-voting-ma...
cyberscoop.com/ai-voting-ma...
January 12, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Source made a similar point to me last week about some of the Maduro-related deepfakes that were circulated after his capture - in that they're less about being really convincing and more about aligning the latest news event X with your pre-existing emotional "truth."
cyberscoop.com/ai-voting-ma...
cyberscoop.com/ai-voting-ma...
I had to tap out at this part.
December 22, 2025 at 2:35 PM
I had to tap out at this part.
While we're on the topic on Lincoln, I just watched Death By Lightning and read up more about James Garfield. He was awesome in many respects (early abolitionist, Union hero, anti-corruption) but he apparently thought VERY little of Lincoln at the time.
December 19, 2025 at 3:01 PM
While we're on the topic on Lincoln, I just watched Death By Lightning and read up more about James Garfield. He was awesome in many respects (early abolitionist, Union hero, anti-corruption) but he apparently thought VERY little of Lincoln at the time.
In this exchange, Susie Wiles says concerns that Trump will deploy military to cities to suppress the vote it's "categorically false" and "will not happen." Then immediately concedes it's reasonable for people to be concerned because they think he might be "too wrapped up in what happened in 2020."
December 16, 2025 at 3:39 PM
In this exchange, Susie Wiles says concerns that Trump will deploy military to cities to suppress the vote it's "categorically false" and "will not happen." Then immediately concedes it's reasonable for people to be concerned because they think he might be "too wrapped up in what happened in 2020."
When a reporter (not me!) is trying to get that knock out quote/analogy and the interview subject is like "Yeah no."
December 16, 2025 at 1:59 PM
When a reporter (not me!) is trying to get that knock out quote/analogy and the interview subject is like "Yeah no."
Just an incredible passage here about the administration's stated preference for non-intervention, coming at the same time the US is blowing boats out of the water in the Caribbean to provoke Venezuela into a war.
December 5, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Just an incredible passage here about the administration's stated preference for non-intervention, coming at the same time the US is blowing boats out of the water in the Caribbean to provoke Venezuela into a war.
At a Center for American Progress event, Sen. @captmarkkelly.bsky.social says US "needs AI to be successful, not only for the promises that we could get out it and the technology we could get out of it, we also need it to be successful because of the amount of money that's already invested in it."
December 4, 2025 at 4:11 PM
At a Center for American Progress event, Sen. @captmarkkelly.bsky.social says US "needs AI to be successful, not only for the promises that we could get out it and the technology we could get out of it, we also need it to be successful because of the amount of money that's already invested in it."
So when I asked Anthropic this question, their answer was basically that jailbreaking is not going to be solved by them and other LLMs anytime soon and that they rely on detection and monitoring from outside tools to spot jailbreaking attempts from users:
cyberscoop.com/anthropic-cl...
cyberscoop.com/anthropic-cl...
December 3, 2025 at 4:54 PM
So when I asked Anthropic this question, their answer was basically that jailbreaking is not going to be solved by them and other LLMs anytime soon and that they rely on detection and monitoring from outside tools to spot jailbreaking attempts from users:
cyberscoop.com/anthropic-cl...
cyberscoop.com/anthropic-cl...
I appreciate the irony of this otherwise excellent story on AI overviews destroying the online recipe world having a Bloomberg AI overview of the article at the top.
November 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I appreciate the irony of this otherwise excellent story on AI overviews destroying the online recipe world having a Bloomberg AI overview of the article at the top.
FWIW I am thus far unable to reproduce this output from Grok on the X page or the Grok tab. In both instances, Grok pretty affirmatively states that Biden won the 2020 election and casts doubt on claims of mass voter fraud.
November 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
FWIW I am thus far unable to reproduce this output from Grok on the X page or the Grok tab. In both instances, Grok pretty affirmatively states that Biden won the 2020 election and casts doubt on claims of mass voter fraud.
What you don't see the value in graphs like this, showing that the cost of breakfast items are - incontrovertibly - down? (p.s. the report defines a basic breakfast as "three eggs, a glass of milk, a bagel and an avocado" which is weird in its own right.)
November 11, 2025 at 7:46 PM
What you don't see the value in graphs like this, showing that the cost of breakfast items are - incontrovertibly - down? (p.s. the report defines a basic breakfast as "three eggs, a glass of milk, a bagel and an avocado" which is weird in its own right.)
h/t @politico.com's Morning Tech team for initially flagging the post.
November 5, 2025 at 1:45 PM
h/t @politico.com's Morning Tech team for initially flagging the post.
When people say "This person's terrible act should be written on their headstone," this is how their obituaries should start:
November 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
When people say "This person's terrible act should be written on their headstone," this is how their obituaries should start:
The extent to which this person just will not stop incriminating himself, to anyone in earshot willing to listen about how many crimes he's doing, is somewhat impressive.
First image from a story I did earlier this year on U.S. charges unsealed against him, second from Emma's story today.
First image from a story I did earlier this year on U.S. charges unsealed against him, second from Emma's story today.
November 4, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The extent to which this person just will not stop incriminating himself, to anyone in earshot willing to listen about how many crimes he's doing, is somewhat impressive.
First image from a story I did earlier this year on U.S. charges unsealed against him, second from Emma's story today.
First image from a story I did earlier this year on U.S. charges unsealed against him, second from Emma's story today.
October 9, 2025 at 5:57 PM
I actually like Bill Burr, and put him in a somewhat separate category than most of the other Riyadh crew, but he has not reacted well to criticism.
Ex. These are all shallow, empty, consumer parts of US culture. The good stuff - like constitutional rights & free speech - are entirely absent.
Ex. These are all shallow, empty, consumer parts of US culture. The good stuff - like constitutional rights & free speech - are entirely absent.
October 8, 2025 at 4:34 PM
I actually like Bill Burr, and put him in a somewhat separate category than most of the other Riyadh crew, but he has not reacted well to criticism.
Ex. These are all shallow, empty, consumer parts of US culture. The good stuff - like constitutional rights & free speech - are entirely absent.
Ex. These are all shallow, empty, consumer parts of US culture. The good stuff - like constitutional rights & free speech - are entirely absent.
September 22, 2025 at 11:18 PM
This whole dissent is short but very straightforward and to the point: The law clearly says the president can't do this, and the Supreme Court might change that, but it hasn't done so yet. It accuses the court of using the emergency docket to fundamentally restructure our separation of powers.
September 22, 2025 at 7:57 PM
This whole dissent is short but very straightforward and to the point: The law clearly says the president can't do this, and the Supreme Court might change that, but it hasn't done so yet. It accuses the court of using the emergency docket to fundamentally restructure our separation of powers.
The minority, in dissent, writes that while everybody on the court seems to agree there is actually no legal basis for firing Slaughter in this instance under current law, the majority insists POTUS' illegal firing must be upheld while they decide whether to overturn the law that makes it illegal.
September 22, 2025 at 7:45 PM
The minority, in dissent, writes that while everybody on the court seems to agree there is actually no legal basis for firing Slaughter in this instance under current law, the majority insists POTUS' illegal firing must be upheld while they decide whether to overturn the law that makes it illegal.
If you're an American citizen or immigrant, you really have to watch what you say these days. If you're a foreign intelligence service, the federal government and State Department now considers your "so-called disinformation" campaign to be something that "promotes freedom of expression."
September 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM
If you're an American citizen or immigrant, you really have to watch what you say these days. If you're a foreign intelligence service, the federal government and State Department now considers your "so-called disinformation" campaign to be something that "promotes freedom of expression."
Request an invitation? Buddy, you're emailing ME.
September 15, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Request an invitation? Buddy, you're emailing ME.