If you happen to be looking for bad redactions in a large set of data files today for some reason, there's an open source tool for that.

Today is a good day to pick up Micah's book. If you don't already have these skills, let me tell you they are going to be very useful in the near future.

My whole timeline is made up of folks watching a 60 Minutes report the Trump administration tried to kill and unredacting Epstein files that weren't supposed to have been posted yet. Can't stop the signal.

EFF obtained datasets representing more than 12 million searches logged by more than 3,900 agencies between 2024 and 2025. The data shows that agencies logged hundreds of searches related to the 50501, Hands Off, and No Kings protests, among other protests in between. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Just to recap: The TikTok ban? Bad. The SCOTUS ruling upholding the TikTok ban? Also bad. Trump choosing not to enforce the ban? More bad. The Trump-backed mostly-US consortium taking over US Tiktok? You guessed it...bad.

If you are so delicate that you cannot stand to hear me point out that the TikTok ban passed with bipartisan support because heaven forbid I should besmirch some Democrats by pointing out what they voted for, I have terrible news for you about all of my other opinions.

The push for the TikTok ban was bipartisan and stupid. But the Trump administration's goals for the ban have always been crystal clear: to place control of TikTok in the US in the hands of people chosen by and indebted to Trump.

Again. It would be cold comfort had TikTok been sold to Someone-Awesome rather than Ellison, Kushner, and Abu Dhabi. The doctrinal damage -- which we will tie up First Amendment challenges to bad speech laws for far longer than this thing called TikTok will be around -- was already done.

The US TikTok sale has been signed. The company will be controlled by a joint venture including Oracle, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Adding a UAE company really makes it clear that this was never about national security concerns. www.axios.com/2025/12/18/t...

This year I took my vacation in a war zone and I served on a jury in a domestic violence case and the deeply traumatic experience I would never want to repeat was jury duty.

Sometimes I love SF so much my eyes get suspiciously watery: The faith leaders, wearing religious garb from various denominations, had earlier stood in front of the courthouse doors, singing, “If you come for them, you’ll have to go through us.” missionlocal.org/2025/12/fait...

I can't believe I have to say this, but please do not take revolutionary OPSEC advice from YA novels Cory Doctorow wrote almost twenty years ago.

Now begins the time of year when I argue with my family of strict latke fundamentalists over what qualifies as a latka.

Analysis of my 2025 clothing spreadsheet indicates that I have purchased zero gowns this year, which I would normally consider to be a sign of deep distress. However, I did buy an extravagant vintage fox fur stole at a market in Berlin this spring, so I'm probably ok.

We live in the stupidest possible timeline. www.404media.co/unauthorized...

I'm trying to take a no strings attached attitude towards 2026: if I don't ask anything of it, it can't break my heart. But I have also purchased the bottle of champagne I am going to pop when that one guy dies.

NYT reports that the TSA is giving ICE a list of every person who's to be taking a domestic flight inside the US so ICE can run it through their database looking for targets. I'm not a lawyer, but I feel like the 4th Amendment has something to say about this. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...

Some days, the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man is simply not achievable and I must settle for the messy raccoon eye that can probably hurt your feelings.

The most *chef's kiss* part of this story is when Instacart says it's the stores that set the prices and then the stores point the finger right back at Instacart and say they don't set the prices on the platform. truthout.org/articles/ins...

"I used to think that the defining fight for our country was between the left and the right. Now, I am much more worried about the money at the top crushing everyone underneath." I continue to be an @bedoyausa.bsky.social fangirl. newrepublic.com/article/2011...

“Mr. Zuckerman was clearly hoping that if he laid low for a few years, everyone would forget about the reasons why the FTC issued a ban not only against the company, but against him specifically,” EFF’s @evacide.bsky.social told @TechCrunch.com. techcrunch.com/2025/12/08/...

Oh, you asked ChatGPT and it told you that an APT has compromised your phone? I will take that about as seriously as if you told me that you asked my cat or a passing pigeon.

You will be visited by three spirits.

I have spent many years training as an aerialist, which involves doing a lot of strict, slow pull-ups with full range of motion and perfect form. I am judging the hell out of these assholes.

In 2021, the FTC issued a ban on stalkerware-maker Spyfone and its CEO, Scott Zuckerman. Earlier this year, Zuckerman requested that the ban be vacated because it's inconvenient for him. The FTC has voted 2-0 to deny his request. Good. www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

As a person who has followed Iranian cyberespionage operations for more than a decade, this story is crazypants and you should read it: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

There is no sound sadder than the meow of my little monsters when they have been told that the two pounds of halibut I am cooking is not for them.

2025 Year In Review: Not feeling so great about the rule of law. Zero stars.

If you live in the US, you may be more concerned than ever about what happens when law enforcement shows up at a telco and demands information about your account.

I don't dress for the male gaze. I dress for a women who are old enough to be my mother, wear oversized jewelry, and say things like "I'd dye my hair that color."

It is an extremely important to time to support independent journalism. You may notice that I repost Techdirt's content all the damn time. That's because Mike Masnick is usually right and I think you should know about it.

Is it important to stay engaged in the present and focus on the problems my community has right now? Yes. Is there stuff from a dozen years ago that I'm gonna die mad about? Also yes. I contain multitudes.

It's not a coincidence that when Tor wanted to get rid of Jacob Appelbaum, they shuffled him off to academia, where he's been ever since.

Sometimes the good guys win.

When it is time to do the year-end wrap up, inside you there are two wolves: One says "HOW DARE YOU?" and recites your achievements like Daenerys Targaryen about to burn a city. One says "Oh, nevermind. I have no memory of anything I have accomplished. Truly, I have achieved nothing this year."

I'm re-reading The Big Con, by David Maurer, because I love the argot of early 20th century confidence men, but also because a book about how grifting works holds great explanatory power generations after it was written.

Had a good chat with @jasonkoebler.bsky.social for the @404media.co podcast. Got a chance to talk about how tech companies main pitch changed from “you exchange some surveillance for services” to “we get to spy on you all the time and it’s good, actually.”

Finally, Elon has made a change to his social media platform that I approve of: www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Age verification is not the way to keep kids safe on the internet. CDT has some thoughts about what kind of child safety policies and features might actually be effective: cdt.org/insights/wha...

I get these. I also get emails from people who tell me they taught themselves malware reversing and forensics with ChatGPT and they have discovered incredibly sophisticated malware on their phone that could only have been put there by a state actor. They send me their chat logs as "evidence."

I don't usually indulge in "The cost of living has gone up" discourse, but I just paid $120 to repair the soles on a pair of boots and I am ready to storm the Bastille.

What do we say when the government comes asking for data it's not entitled to? Fuck you, make me. www.autonomynews.co/doj-subpoena...

Control of your own devices is temporary, but surveillance is forever.

I gave a talk about fascism at a conference and the first reply to the conference's post on X with a photo of me in front of my slides is a rando word-vomiting about how Hitler was working for the Zionists, in case you're wondering how that place is going.

Brennan Lee Mulligan with Josh on Mythical Kitchen, eating his perfect last meal and being interviewed for more than an hour, is so wholesome and life-affirming: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLVd...

Eva, it's a holiday, so what are you doing? Reading this academic article about electronic surveillance.

After two trips to the hardware store and approximately $25 in bits and bobs that did not work, I fixed the catch on my antique dresser cabinet with a single screw.

NSO's new executive chairman is a Trump former official, in case you're wondering how hard the company is gunning for those sweet, sweet US government contracts. www.wsj.com/tech/israeli...

This is very clearly the direction in which things are headed, especially since so many of the people who built and maintained the tools the US IC has developed-in house have been fired or have left.

cyberinsider.com/precise-loca... This #databrooker business must be stopped. FYI @carissaveliz.bsky.social