We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

Probably the best troll paper of the year: “Replication of Quantum Factorisation Records with an 8-bit Home Computer, an Abacus, and a Dog” eprint.iacr.org/2025/1237.pdf

I will never forgive these AI companies for making em-dashes impossible to use without being accused of using AI. I miss the em-dash.

A team of researchers found that, by not encrypting the data broadcast by Tile tags, users could be vulnerable to having their location information exposed to malicious actors. www.wired.com/story/tile-t...

Today, my research group @ Georgia Tech released a paper on vulnerabilities in Tile --- the second largest device finding network after Apple's AirTags. You can read about it in Wired, reporting by @kimzetter.bsky.social! www.wired.com/story/tile-t...

“Sorry, we temporarily lost part of the constitution via an erroneous merge conflict. Habeas Corpus will be restored shortly”

On Saturday, the United States Senate Parliamentarian determined that the proposed 10-year federal moratorium on enforcing state AI legislation contained in the budget bill has survived procedural scrutiny — known as the Byrd Rule — and will remain in the bill.

BREAKING: Judge denies NSF's 15% indirect rate plan. Like the DOE and NIH attempts, it too has now been rejected by courts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

[Exit King.]

Congratulations @lambda.bsky.social! Today @theguardian.com is launching a new way for whistleblowers to anonymously contact journalists, based on years-long research by Daniel and other colleagues. www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-of...

Harvard President's commencement welcome speech: "Welcome members of the class of 2025 -- members from down the street across the country and around the world. Around the world _just as it should be._" www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiT0...

"What anonymous source is going to go anywhere near me now? If you were some high-up whistleblower, the last thing you’d do is message a journalist on an app strongly associated with JD Vance."

This paper confirms all of my biases: Apparently the effort required for one top-tier paper in security and privacy == three ML papers. arxiv.org/pdf/2503.16623

Interesting chart.

Law professor here: Things are F-U-C-K-E-D up.

Key lesson: No amount of encryption can save you from clown-level opsec. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

I am a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. Earlier today, the president attempted to illegally fire me. This is corruption, plain and simple. I will see the president in court. My full statement:

We are thrilled to welcome Mary Ellen Callahan, former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD) to SCP as a professor of the practice! www.cc.gatech.edu/news/former-...

Tech has _always_ been intrinsically connected to questions about democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. @mmasnick.bsky.social (and TechDirt) is awesome for explicitly acknowledging that fact.

Once again, the quiet/lawsuits/don't rock the boat publicly strategy is a category mistake in this moment & R1 university presidents need to be out in front of microphones, now, in DC, collectively & loudly speaking out against the existential threat to 🇺🇸 higher education: bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Apple has officially pulled E2EE backup in the UK in response to a secret (leaked) order. This will make users less secure, chill business adoption of E2EE, and embolden other governments that do not respect the rule of law to do the same. Awful news. www.macrumors.com/2025/02/21/a...

Vance says the US will dominate AI. Meanwhile his administration is kneecapping the source of AI talent and emboldening China to move in Taiwan, a major source of superconductors in the US. I guess this makes sense if one thinks Grok is the peak of AI?

Upon learning that yesterday would be my last day as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, I shared this parting message with my colleagues. The next few months will be frenetic and stressful for them. Here are some things that you can do to help them with the mission ahead. (1)

"If you don't fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately. So I think it's a cost benefit ratio. The more that we put into the state department's diplomacy, hopefully the less we have to put into a military budget" -- Sec. Def. Mattis www.c-span.org/clip/senate-...

BREAKING: We are suing DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management to stop the brazen and illegal data sharing of federal employee data with the “government efficiency” group.

Consumer Reports warns that gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will harm working families, leaving them vulnerable to fraud and abusive financial practices.

What tech company will be the first to stand up and say that gutting the NSF is bad actually? The economic argument seems pretty clear Less NSF --> fewer PhD students --> fewer researchers --> smaller AI tech pipeline --> slower progress --> less competitive globally

Big news! The ACM has recognized SCP Chair Michael Bailey for his contributions to the field of computing! Congrats Bailey!! 🥳 www.cc.gatech.edu/news/acm-rec... #cybersecurity #academia #georgiatech #acm #research

Fantastic to see my department join bluesky! @gatechcyber.bsky.social

DHS has terminated the memberships of everyone on its advisory committees. This includes several cyber committees, like CISA's advisory panel and the Cyber Safety Review Board, which was investigating Salt Typhoon. That review is "dead," person familiar says. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

Shout out to the best sticker from Shmoocon '25:

This might’ve been referring to me. And yes, this is a problem.

Ever want to know how often the FTC has relied on external analysis (eg reverse engineers) for their cases? @sellars.bsky.social and I just released a preliminary dataset, check it out! ftcreverse.engineering

Happy to share that @mspecter.bsky.social and I will be speaking at ShmooCon in January! We've been working on a piece for while now on how software reverse engineering informs the work of the FTC and other algorithmic regulators. We're excited to share our findings. (Draft paper posting soon!)

Too real.

A few years ago, some colleagues set up a public FTP where they uploaded mp3s of themselves reading random strings of numbers in obscure languages. It worked: a whole subreddit popped up with a community of people convinced they discovered a numbers station and were trying to derive meaning.

Goddamn right: "CALEA Was a National Security Disaster Waiting to Happen" Susan Landau at Lawfare https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/calea-was-a-national-security-disaster-waiting-to-happen

Do you work in Trust and Safety? My research team at Georgia Tech would like to chat! Our study's goal is to better understand challenges across trust and safety roles, common tools & techniques, and general barriers to effectiveness.

Do you work in Trust and Safety? My research team at Georgia Tech would like to chat! Our study's goal is to better understand challenges across trust and safety roles, common tools & techniques, and general barriers to effectiveness.

Just in time for hacker summer camp, Sunoo Park and I have released an updated guide to legal risk for security researchers, co-published with the NYU Tech Clinic and @eff.org! Blog post: clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/2024/08/02/c... The guide: clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/wp-content/u...

A giant thank you to the many many folks who have provided input and guidance on this, among them @mspecter.bsky.social @sellars.bsky.social @riana.bsky.social @joebeone.bsky.social @tarah.bsky.social the lawyers at EFF, and many others who I do not have easy Bluesky handles for.

New! An updated version of the Google-official Android Security Model paper: arxiv.org/abs/1904.05572. 
This new version includes updates for clarity, documentation of changes to Android from the 2019 version, and more!

Hello World: I have two slots open for CS PhD students in my lab @ Georgia Tech! 
I hack on projects in cryptography, systems security, and privacy, with a focus on work that is relevant to public policy. Drop me a line or check out my bio for more info!

It’s only been a few months of exploring ATL, but I’m already a huge fan. Atlanta has an awesome art scene!

This semester I'm teaching a course in Security, Privacy, & Democracy at Georgia Tech. 
It's a survey research seminar with a set of broad themes -- voting systems, encryption & surveillance, censorship, and free & open communication. 
Check it out! mspecter.github.io/CS8803/sched...

Personal News 🎉 
I’ve joined Georgia Tech as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Computer Science! 
I’m looking for CS PhD students interested in the intersection of computer security, privacy, and democracy!