Perspective.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/06/schneier_doge_risks/

Schneier tries to rip the rose-colored AI glasses from the eyes of Congress

Security guru Bruce Schneier played the skunk at the garden party in a Thursday federal hearing on AI's use in the government, focusing on the risks many are ignoring.

"The other speakers mostly talked about how cool AI was – and sometimes about how cool their own company was – but I was asked by the Democrats to specifically talk about DOGE and the risks of exfiltrating our data from government agencies and feeding it into AIs," Schneier explained in a blog post.

... "You all need to assume that adversaries have copies of all the data DOGE has exfiltrated and has established access into all the networks that DOGE has removed security controls from," he said.

That data can be used against you, Schneier warned, suggesting that any military action against the US would be heralded by the zeroing-out of bank accounts for military and political leaders.

(Related)

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/06/report-on-the-malicious-uses-of-ai.html

Report on the Malicious Uses of AI

OpenAI just published its annual report on malicious uses of AI.

By using AI as a force multiplier for our expert investigative teams, in the three months since our last report we’ve been able to detect, disrupt and expose abusive activity including social engineering, cyber espionage, deceptive employment schemes, covert influence operations and scams.

These operations originated in many parts of the world, acted in many different ways, and focused on many different targets. A significant number appeared to originate in China: Four of the 10 cases in this report, spanning social engineering, covert influence operations and cyber threats, likely had a Chinese origin. But we’ve disrupted abuses from many other countries too: this report includes case studies of a likely task scam from Cambodia, comment spamming apparently from the Philippines, covert influence attempts potentially linked with Russia and Iran, and deceptive employment schemes.

Reports like these give a brief window into the ways AI is being used by malicious actors around the world. I say “brief” because last year the models weren’t good enough for these sorts of things, and next year the threat actors will run their AI models locally—and we won’t have this kind of visibility.

Potential for harm?

https://www.kunc.org/news/2025-06-01/colorado-ag-warns-parents-about-ai-chatbots-that-can-harm-kids

Colorado AG warns parents about AI chatbots that can harm kids

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser issued a consumer alert warning parents about the growing risks posed by social AI chatbots. Chatbots are tools designed to mimic human conversation, which, in some cases, can lead young users into harmful interactions.

"These chatbots interact with people as if they were another person," Weiser said. "They can take on personas like a celebrity, fictional character or even a trusted adult, and the conversation can turn inappropriate or dangerous quickly, especially when it comes to sexual content, self-harm or substance use."

The alert, released May 21, comes amid a sharp rise in reports of children engaging with AI bots in ways that have resulted in mental health crises and unsafe behaviors. Weiser's office warns that children and teens may not realize they're interacting with an AI rather than a real person, making them more vulnerable to manipulation.

Hacking for intelligence.

https://www.mobile-hacker.com/2025/06/05/analysis-of-spyware-that-helped-to-compromise-a-syrian-army-from-within/#google_vignette

Analysis of Spyware That Helped to Compromise a Syrian Army from Within

The investigation into the collapse of the Assad regime reveals a significant technical dimension, particularly a spyware application named STFD-686 that was distributed among Syrian army officers via Telegram. This is a fascinating story where Android SpyMax spyware was able to exfiltrate sensitive data from solders smartphones and played a part in taking over the regime in Syria. This case demonstrates that effective smartphone espionage doesn’t always require expensive zero-day exploits or the development of sophisticated, custom and undetected spyware. Instead, attackers can achieve significant intelligence gains using older, off-the-shelf tools like Android SpyMax—especially when combined with well-crafted phishing campaigns and social engineering. The compromise of military through a repurposed, widely available RAT delivered via trusted channels highlights how low-cost, high-impact cyber operations can be executed with minimal technical innovation but maximum strategic effect.

… It requested crucial military intelligence: the user’s phone number, military rank, and exact service location down to the corps, division, brigade, and battalion. This was not a mere questionnaire, but a data entry form for military algorithms, transforming the officers’ phones into “live printers” that generated accurate battlefield maps.

I knew it! Because I don’t do social media I must be anti-American!

https://pogowasright.org/us-state-dept-says-silence-or-anonymity-on-social-media-is-suspicious/

US State Dept. says silence or anonymity on social media is suspicious

It’s 2025, and we’re still dealing with that “If you have nothing to hide…” mentality and excuse to violate privacy. From Papers, Please! on May 30:

A cable yesterday from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, first reported by  Nahal Toosi and Eric Bazail-Eimil of Politico, directs US embassies and consulates to “conduct a complete screening of the online presence of any nonimmigrant visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose.”

The cable implies that the main although not the exclusive focus of this special scrutiny of each Harvard-associated visa applicant’s “online presence” will be the content of their social media accounts.

In the cable, Rubio told US consular officers who decide whether to grant or deny visa applications that “the lack of any online presence, or having social media accounts restricted to ‘private’ or with limited visibility, may be reflective of evasiveness and call into question the applicant’s credibility.” In such cases, consular officers are instructed to:

Inform the applicant that his case is subject to review of his online presence, request that the applicant set all of his social media accounts to “public,” and remind him that limited access to or visibility of social media activity could be construed as an effort to evade or hide certain activity. Consular officers must then refer the cases to the Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU).

Read more at Papers, Please!

(Related)

https://pogowasright.org/how-the-fbi-sought-a-warrant-to-search-instagram-of-columbia-student-protesters/

How the FBI Sought a Warrant to Search Instagram of Columbia Student Protesters

Shawn Musgrave reports:

Newly unsealed records provide new details about the Trump administration’s failed effort this spring to obtain a search warrant for an Instagram account run by student protesters at Columbia University.

The FBI and federal prosecutors sought a sweeping warrant, the records show, that would have identified the people who ran the account along with every user who had interacted with it since January 2024.

Between March 15 and April 14, the FBI and the Department of Justice filed multiple search warrant applications and appeared numerous times before two different judges in Manhattan federal court as part of an investigation into Columbia University Apartheid Divest, or CUAD, a student group. A magistrate judge denied the application three times in March, a decision which a district court judge later affirmed in April.

Read more at The Intercept.

Another view of the ‘protect the children’ argument. What exactly are we protecting them from?

https://pogowasright.org/florida-ban-on-kids-using-social-media-likely-unconstitutional-judge-rules/

Florida ban on kids using social media likely unconstitutional, judge rules

Jon Brodkin reports:

A federal judge ruled today that Florida cannot enforce a law that requires social media platforms to block kids from using their platforms. The state law “is likely unconstitutional,” US Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida ruled while granting the tech industry’s request for a preliminary injunction.

The Florida law “prohibits some social media platforms from allowing youth in the state who are under the age of 14 to create or hold an account on their platforms, and similarly prohibits allowing youth who are 14 or 15 to create or hold an account unless a parent or guardian provides affirmative consent for them to do so,” Walker wrote.

Read more at Ars Technica.

Obvious in retrospect?

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/06/the-ramifications-of-ukraines-drone-attack.html

The Ramifications of Ukraine’s Drone Attack

You can read the details of Operation Spiderweb elsewhere. What interests me are the implications for future warfare:

If the Ukrainians could sneak drones so close to major air bases in a police state such as Russia, what is to prevent the Chinese from doing the same with U.S. air bases? Or the Pakistanis with Indian air bases? Or the North Koreans with South Korean air bases? Militaries that thought they had secured their air bases with electrified fences and guard posts will now have to reckon with the threat from the skies posed by cheap, ubiquitous drones that cFan be easily modified for military use. This will necessitate a massive investment in counter-drone systems. Money spent on conventional manned weapons systems increasingly looks to be as wasted as spending on the cavalry in the 1930s.

There’s a balance between the cost of the thing, and the cost to destroy the thing, and that balance is changing dramatically. This isn’t new, of course.  Here’s an article from last year about the cost of drones versus the cost of top-of-the-line fighter jets. If $35K in drones (117 drones times an estimated $300 per drone) can destroy $7B in Russian bombers and other long-range aircraft, why would anyone build more of those planes? And we can have this discussion about ships, or tanks, or pretty much every other military vehicle. And then we can add in drone-coordinating technologies like swarming.

Clearly we need more research on remotely and automatically disabling drones.

No wonder I’m confused.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/06/trump-self-destructive-agenda/683013/

The No. 1 Rule for Understanding Trump

A useful one-sentence guide to the second Trump administration might go something like this: A lot happens under Donald Trump, but a lot un-happens, too.

In the past four months, President Trump has announced tariffs on Canada, paused tariffs on Canada, restarted tariffs on Canada, ruled out tariffs on certain Canadian goods, and then ruled in, and even raised, tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

And that’s just for starters. On April 2, so-called Liberation Day, Trump announced a broader set of tariffs on almost every country in the world. Soon after, the plan was half-suspended. Then Trump announced a new set of elevated tariffs on China, from which he backtracked as well. Next the courts, as often happens, took over the job of erasing the president’s previously announced policies. Last week, a trade court struck down the president’s entire Liberation Day tariff regime as unconstitutional, only for a federal circuit court to reinstate the tariffs shortly thereafter. Now a higher court has the opportunity to do the funniest thing: undo the undoing of the undoing of the tariffs, which have been in a permanent state of being undone ever since they were created.

Sounds ‘red flag worthy’ to me!

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-has-become-the-ultimate-influencer-this-research-explains-why/

AI has become the ultimate influencer - this research explains why

People may not be willing to pay for AI, but they're certainly willing to use it. How they use AI, though, seems to be changing.

A new study from consultancy Accenture reveals some insights into how consumers perceive and use AI, and it's seen as a lot more than just a tool for work. Instead, AI is becoming a personal influencer that users want to have a relationship with. 

The numbers from this study show that as AI improves, people are rapidly trusting it with their personal lives. They're asking the technology for relationship help, buying advice, professional encouragement, and more. The connection is so strong that many people said they wouldn't mind AI making decisions for them.

Accenture explained: "What began as a tool that could provide personalized product recommendations or help create content is quickly becoming a powerful engine of consumer behavior -- shaping what people want and expect, and how they buy." 

May the Fourth be with you.

https://reason.com/volokh/2025/06/01/stewart-baker-vs-orin-kerr-on-the-digital-fourth-amendment/

Stewart Baker vs. Orin Kerr on "The Digital Fourth Amendment"

My friend Stewart Baker discussed his recent interview of me about my new book, but let me add two important links. First, you can listen to our podcast debate about the book here. And just as importantly, you can buy the book here.

Tools & Techniques.

https://www.bespacific.com/deep-research-with-ai-9-ways-to-get-started-2/

Deep Research with AI: 9 Ways to Get Started

Wonder Tools: “The AI search landscape is transforming at breakneck speed. New “Deep Research” tools from ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity autonomously search and gather information from dozens — even hundreds — of sites, then analyze and synthesize it to produce comprehensive reports. While a human might take days or weeks to produce these 30-page citation-backed reports, AI Deep Research reports are ready in minutes. What’s in this post:

• Examples of each report type I generated for my research, so you can form your own impressions.

• Tips on why & how to use Deep Research and how to craft effective queries.

• Comparison of key features and strengths/limitations of the top platforms…”

We knew that, right?

https://www.newcartographies.com/p/the-myth-of-automated-learning

The Myth of Automated Learning

Among the general public, generative AI’s most enthusiastic early adopters have been students. Surveys conducted a year ago revealed that nearly 90 percent of college students and more than 50 percent of high-schoolers were regularly using chatbots for schoolwork. Those numbers are certainly higher now. AI may be the most rapidly adopted educational tool since the pencil.

Because text-generating bots like ChatGPT offer an easy way to cheat on papers and other assignments, students’ embrace of the technology has stirred uneasiness, and sometimes despair, among educators. Teachers and pupils now find themselves playing an algorithmic cat-and-mouse game, with no winners. But cheating is a symptom of a deeper, more insidious problem. The real threat AI poses to education isn’t that it encourages cheating. It’s that it discourages learning.