Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 15h

Google Calls ICE Agents a Vulnerable Group, Removes ICE-Spotting App ‘Red Dot’

The move comes as Apple removed ICEBlock after direct pressure from U.S. Department of Justice officials and signals a broader crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 4d

Just as everything is getting more expensive, Microsoft plans to pull support for Windows 10 on Oct. 14, 2025.

The good news: There are free alternatives. Our digital security team talks through some options.

Warning: Time to move away from Windows 10

With Windows dropping support for Windows 10, you’ll need to upgrade — or consider another operating system entirely!

freedom.press

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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 16d

📲 So you want to back up your phone, but don’t want cloud providers to be able to see the photos and videos you back up.

We hear you!

Our latest digital security advice column by @mshelton.bsky.social walks through your options.

Ask a security trainer: How do I get secure phone backups?

Explore some options for backing up your phone privately and securely.

freedom.press

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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: In May, a Texas police department said they used the powerful Flock surveillance network against a woman who had an abortion "for her safety"

Newly obtained court records show it was a 'death investigation,' and they considered charging her with a crime

www.404media.co/police-said-...

Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime

Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.

www.404media.co

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Ryan O'Horo @redteamwrangler.bsky.social · 4d

Fun fact! You can pay for news you don't read. Many do!

Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · Jun 23

I work in press freedom. The news is bleak, and I know journalists feel it too.

I hope you will support the news in whatever way you can to ensure they can do the work. It’s not their fault things suck, they’re just working their asses off to help get you fact checked information. Get them paid.

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · Jun 23

I work in press freedom. The news is bleak, and I know journalists feel it too.

I hope you will support the news in whatever way you can to ensure they can do the work. It’s not their fault things suck, they’re just working their asses off to help get you fact checked information. Get them paid.

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 4d

The White House continues to innovate…
On new ways to accidentally leak your end-to-end encrypted Signal messages to journalists www.startribune.com/trump-offici...

Screenshot from a news article which reads, "Anthony Salisbury, a deputy to White House top policy adviser Stephen Miller, sent the texts over the private messaging app Signal while traveling in Minnesota and in clear view of others. Troubled by seeing sensitive military planning discussed so openly, a source contacted the Star Tribune and allowed a reporter to review images of the texts."

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 4d

This is some LinkedInfluencer nonsense

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Zack Whittaker @zackwhittaker.com · 5d

Discord said late on Friday that hackers stole users' government-issued IDs (passports and driver's licenses) from one of its customer support databases.

I wrote a few words about the risks of age verification laws, and why collecting people's government IDs is bad for security and privacy.

Discord says users' government IDs used for age checks stolen by hackers

Thanks to age verification laws, expect more data breaches of users' government-issued passports and driver's licenses.

this.weekinsecurity.com

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 6d

ICE is buying a location tracking tool that harvests data from hundreds of millions of phones a day. Protect your location data by updating a few settings on your phone 🧵 (1/4): www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-...

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day

Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.

www.404media.co

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 8d

OpenAI employees are very excited about how well their new AI tool can create fake videos of people doing crimes and have definitely thought through all the implications of this

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 7d

Note that Apple is already very compliant with legal requests in the UK, in many cases in higher percentages than in the U.S. www.apple.com/legal/transp...

Privacy - Government Information Requests - Apple (GB)

www.apple.com

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 7d

The UK is once again trying to push Apple to backdoor iCloud, this time for British users specifically. Apple already pulled Advanced Data Protection in the country, so this doens't make much sense; submit a valid legal request like everyone else. techcrunch.com/2025/10/01/u...

UK government tries again to access encrypted Apple customer data: Report | TechCrunch

The U.K. Home Office is seeking access to Apple users’ encrypted iCloud backups for a second time, after an earlier attempt failed earlier this year.

techcrunch.com

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jenbmiller.bsky.social @jenbmiller.bsky.social · 11d

Smart move by two young upstate NY reporters: they filed a FOIA for body cameras worn by the sheriff’s deputies at an ICE raid. These are almost always civil raids so there’s no ongoing criminal investigation that would require that footage to stay confidential. Replicable by any media outlet.

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 11d

“They’re, they’re animals anyway. That’s what I would tell my kids all the time,” said the ICE agent, according to body cam footage. spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-...

Man detained in Cato ICE raid wrongfully deported, separated from his family

Body camera footage released from the raid shows agents referring to immigrants as 'animals.'

spectrumlocalnews.com

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 9d

This headline feels vaguely threatening www.wired.com/story/how-to...

Where Do Your Passwords Go When You Die?

Your logins will live on after you pass on. Make sure they end up in the right hands.

www.wired.com

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 10d

I think of this article far too often. theonion.com/no-way-to-pr...

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

ISLA VISTA, CA—In the days following a violent rampage in southern California in which a lone attacker killed seven individuals, including himself, and seriously injured over a dozen others, citizens ...

theonion.com

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 10d

Stephanie is *the* person to talk to if you want to call attention to press freedom violations in the United States. Don't hesitate to reach out.

Stephanie Sugars @stephaniesugars.bsky.social · Jul 22

If you're a journalist who has experienced an arrest, assault or other aggression, @pressfreedomtracker.us can document your experience anonymously. Contact me through Signal at ssugars.01.

U.S. Press Freedom Tracker @pressfreedomtracker.us · Jul 22

Journalists are often encouraged not to make themselves the story when their rights are infringed. But staying silent about press freedom violations allows aggressors to act with impunity.

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Stephanie Sugars @stephaniesugars.bsky.social · Jul 22

If you're a journalist who has experienced an arrest, assault or other aggression, @pressfreedomtracker.us can document your experience anonymously. Contact me through Signal at ssugars.01.

U.S. Press Freedom Tracker @pressfreedomtracker.us · Jul 22

Journalists are often encouraged not to make themselves the story when their rights are infringed. But staying silent about press freedom violations allows aggressors to act with impunity.

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 11d

I sort of regret having sold so many over the years. Now I have to buy a bunch back again. Still, this is often cheaper than getting newer games.

Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 11d

I've been seeing a lot of gaming chatter about how expensive new games and systems are, and the desire to revisit older games. I'm on board. It's been fun getting my old games to work on new devices.

Keep your old games, archive them, and tinker with them. There's never been a better time.

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 12d

This looks like something the Batmobile would do

Daniel @streicher.io · 13d

Cool new way for cars to kill people

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 13d

If forced memes were a product

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 19d

“A reporter who publishes only what the government ‘authorizes’ is doing something other than reporting,” said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University @katiefallow.bsky.social

Scott Nover @scottnover.bsky.social · 19d

NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com

Pentagon demands journalists pledge to not obtain unauthorized material

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is imposing strict new rules that would severely limit the ability of journalists to report on the Pentagon.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Martin @mshelton.bsky.social · 14d

In which I get way too excited about Apple's new Memory Integrity Enforcement features, which will make mercenary spyware that much harder to deploy on new iPhones. (Subscribe!) freedom.press/digisec/blog...

iPhone 17’s killer feature: Memory safety

Apple’s new phone series has a secret superpower that will make mercenary spyware much harder to deploy

freedom.press

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yomna @rival-elf.bsky.social · 16d

Really amazing news today, Egyptian-British software engineer and blogger Alaa Abd El-Fattah is finally free from prison! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaa_Ab...

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