Notices by Martin (mshelton@mastodon.social)

Just remembering one time when a guy jumped into my mentions to defend Elon after I shared recall data. I think the guy turned out to be the president of a Tesla owners club.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also responsible for issuing safety recalls. The Cybertruck alone had seven in 2024.
https://apnews.com/article/musk-trump-autonomous-selfdriving-doge-auto-safety-99b369c5e3ccd3e7c09b6951604b3a0a
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/every-tesla-cybertruck-recall-thats-happened-so-far/

Reminder: It's always a good time to download updates. https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/russia-targeting-signal-messenger

We train journalists to use Advanced Data Protection to better secure their iCloud accounts. What the U.K. is proposing is to make journalists (also… you know, everyone) less secure. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/02/07/apple-encryption-backdoor-uk/

"Reporters and editors at national newspapers are increasing their reliance on encrypted communications to help shield themselves and their sources from potential federal leak investigations and subpoenas." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/business/trump-media-threats.html

I'm quite proud of the work @davisa and I did on this one. I'm hoping people in our communities will take advantage of it. The time is now. https://freedom.press/digisec/blog/journalists-digital-security-checklist/

"OpenAI expects about $5 billion in losses on $3.7 billion in revenue this year, CNBC confirmed in September. Those numbers are increasing rapidly."

So… The business model is to train models on everyones' data without paying them, then lose a billion dollars.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/27/openai-needs-more-capital-than-wed-imagined-moves-to-for-profit.html

Admitting "I don't know" is one of the best things in the world. Once I know what I don't know, and need to know to protect myself or the people around me, it's one of the most helpful compasses.

The information we have itself can also be overwhelming. So here's a fun meta thing: Doing all of this without doomscrolling, listening to pundits who game this stuff out too far into an unpredictable future, grasping at straws. Monitor the situation, but enough information needs to be enough.

After zeroing in on the things we need to prioritize, determine what can be done about it with the resources we have. This looks different for everyone, but it really does help to concretize what's necessary, and think through the tradeoffs of doing so. It's hard, but helps make decisions.

It's easy to be overwhelmed gaming out the bad things that can happen. Instead, we have to use the information we have to figure out what we think is most consequential, and most likely to happen, which may change over time. Stay on top of that, and put the rest aside.

Finding myself using the risk assessment I teach in security trainings as a mental health tool, AMA.

It's back! @micahflee Semiphemeral tool for removing your data from Twitter is now Cyd. https://cyd.social/

Ever since the welcome rollout of @signalapp usernames and phone number privacy options, we've gotten some questions about Signal's many new types of identifiers. Here are the differences between each one. https://freedom.press/training/blog/signal-identifiers/

Always
Be
Clicking
'Download update'
https://www.securityweek.com/apple-confirms-zero-day-attacks-hitting-intel-based-macs/

Want to try Proton Mail? Note:
-Proton Mail is encrypted between Proton / PGP users. Otherwise it's normal email. E.g., when you email Gmail, it's not private
-Subject lines are not encrypted
-Not anonymous https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/
-Unfortunately it's still email
https://freedom.press/digisec/blog/protonmail-pro/

We often talk to journalists about likely attacks from trolls. One of the most common ways trolls get your personal data (e.g., email, phone number) is through data brokers. If you haven't already, it's a very good time to invest in a data broker opt-out service (e.g., DeleteMe, Optery).

The best time to set up secure communication channels was a long time ago. The next best time is now. Here's a short list of guides to check out to get started: https://freedom.press/digisec/guides/secure-communication/

Something concrete we can do right now to protect journalists and their sources in 2025: Tell your reps to pass the PRESS Act.

Nationwide, the PRESS Act expands protections for journalists from government requests on forcibly giving up confidential sources. We can pass this! Contact your reps here: https://go.peoplepower.org/letter/congress-press-act#

This sounds simple, but the implications of Signal usernames can't be understated. No one knows who you are unless you tell them, or they have your number already. This underscores the importance of building networks of trust. You still need established channels for people to prove who they are.