Thomas Brewster
@thomasbrewster.bsky.social
980 followers 94 following 140 posts
Forbes senior writer, covering privacy, surveillance and cybercrime. Editor of The Wiretap newsletter, featuring all of the above.
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thomasbrewster.bsky.social
🚨NEW🚨 Amazon has been developing drone surveillance tech for American cops, from gun detection to repurposing Twitch's streaming code.

It's also pushing all manner of surveillance tools, including Flock car tracking and AI that constantly monitors all prison calls.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI
www.forbes.com
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
Also the search was two weeks after she'd gone missing.

The claim they were suddenly concerned about her safety is a stretch.
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
This may come as a surprise to some people, but reality exists and if you just put your screens away you might find it.
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
techmeme.com
Apple removes ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE official sightings, from the App Store; AG Pam Bondi says the DOJ requested its removal (Ashley Oliver/Fox Business)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
forbes.com
Already understaffed and now further diminished, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is scrambling to investigate a spate of cyber attacks. The lapse of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act has made it even harder.
Government Shutdown Leaves US Cyber Defenses Weaker, Insiders Say
Already understaffed and now further diminished, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is scrambling to investigate a spate of cyber attacks. The lapse of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act has made it even harder.
www.forbes.com
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
NEW - CISA insiders tell me about "chaos" in the agency since the shutdown began, exacerbated by major leadership departures and the expiration of the Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Act.

“It's just a matter of time before something major happens,” says one.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Government Shutdown Leaves US Cyber Defenses Weaker, Insiders Say
Already understaffed and now further diminished, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is scrambling to investigate a spate of cyber attacks. The lapse of the Cybersecurity Information ...
www.forbes.com
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
ICYMI from yesterday. Amazon's previously unknown work boosting AI surveillance for cops (and schools).
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
🚨NEW🚨 Amazon has been developing drone surveillance tech for American cops, from gun detection to repurposing Twitch's streaming code.

It's also pushing all manner of surveillance tools, including Flock car tracking and AI that constantly monitors all prison calls.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI
www.forbes.com
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
artificialbodies.net
Sloppy scary shit enabled by Amazon:
Al software that can help write police reports from startups Abel Police and Mark43;
Various technologies from Veritone, a $444 million market cap business that makes AI that can identify and track individuals in surveillance footage or video posted to social media;
Leo Technologies' Verus product, which constantly monitors and transcribes prison inmate calls in "near-real time" for Al-powered analysis.
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
hypervisible.blacksky.app
“At conferences and parties with local and federal law enforcement, it’s [Amazon] been promoting its own products and an expanding array of partner surveillance tools that run on its vast cloud infrastructure…”
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI
www.forbes.com
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
chatter.techmeme.com
This post appeared under this Techmeme headline:
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
🚨NEW🚨 Amazon has been developing drone surveillance tech for American cops, from gun detection to repurposing Twitch's streaming code.

It's also pushing all manner of surveillance tools, including Flock car tracking and AI that constantly monitors all prison calls.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI
www.forbes.com
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
aohnsman.bsky.social
Sad news today. Honored to have met her a week ago at #ForbesSustainabilitySummit:

“We are the most intellectual species to walk the planet, but we’re not intelligent. If you’re intelligent you don’t destroy your only home.” youtu.be/RCbcF-ePDzA?...
Dr. Jane Goodall's Urgent Call To Action: 'We've Been Stealing Our Children's Future'
YouTube video by Forbes
youtu.be
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
This was all found in hundreds of emails obtained via public records requests for comms between various police departments and Amazon's law enforcement and school safety lead, an ex-cop himself.

Yes, Amazon has also been pushing AI surveillance at schools.
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
🚨NEW🚨 Amazon has been developing drone surveillance tech for American cops, from gun detection to repurposing Twitch's streaming code.

It's also pushing all manner of surveillance tools, including Flock car tracking and AI that constantly monitors all prison calls.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI
www.forbes.com
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
🚨NEW🚨 Amazon has been developing drone surveillance tech for American cops, from gun detection to repurposing Twitch's streaming code.

It's also pushing all manner of surveillance tools, including Flock car tracking and AI that constantly monitors all prison calls.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI
www.forbes.com
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
The wheels of justice now turning even slower thanks to the gov shutdown...
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
ebakerwhite.bsky.social
My TikTok book is out in stores today!

Why should you read it? Because 1 in 5 Americans now get their news from this thing. We should all understand how it works.

It was inevitable that strongmen would seek to control a tool this powerful. The book is the story of what happened when they did.
wwnorton.com
The rise of the most effective attention-algorithm ever invented, and the superpower struggle to control it.

EVERY SCREEN ON THE PLANET: THE WAR OVER TIKTOK by Emily Baker-White.

In Stores 9.30.25.
wwnorton.com/books/every-...
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
This was all found in hundreds of emails obtained via public records requests for comms between various police departments and Amazon's law enforcement and school safety lead, an ex-cop himself.

Yes, Amazon has also been pushing AI surveillance at schools.
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
🚨NEW🚨 Amazon has been developing drone surveillance tech for American cops, from gun detection to repurposing Twitch's streaming code.

It's also pushing all manner of surveillance tools, including Flock car tracking and AI that constantly monitors all prison calls.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI
www.forbes.com
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
🚨NEW🚨 Amazon has been developing drone surveillance tech for American cops, from gun detection to repurposing Twitch's streaming code.

It's also pushing all manner of surveillance tools, including Flock car tracking and AI that constantly monitors all prison calls.

www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI Surveillance
Inside Amazon’s Aggressive Push To Get Cops Using AI
www.forbes.com
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
josephcox.bsky.social
New from 404 Media: ICE to buy tool that tracks locations of hundreds of millions of phones every day. Billions of pieces of location data. ICE previously stopped using data remotely harvested from smartphones. Now it's buying it again. Usually used w/o warrant
www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...
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
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
rashis.bsky.social
SCOOP: Legal AI startup Legora is in talks to raise funding at $1.8 billion valuation, multiple sources told Forbes. The startup is raising between $100 million to $150 million, one of the sources said. With @iainmartin.bsky.social.
www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...
Legal AI Startup Legora Is In Talks To Raise Funding At A $1.8 Billion Valuation
Just four months after its Series B funding round, the Stockholm-based legal AI startup is picking up more capital.
www.forbes.com
Reposted by Thomas Brewster
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
Not exactly the remote hacking you think it would be from the name.
thomasbrewster.bsky.social
Right, to clear up this 'FBI hacked Telegram' narrative.

Here's the snippet from the warrant that shows it's using access to the subject device and the relevant passwords to get info from the account.

cc @seamushughes.bsky.social @vxundergroundre.bsky.social @zackwhittaker.com