Joseph Menn
@joemenn.bsky.social
Washington Post reporter covering hacking, disinformation and what’s left of privacy. Author of books on the Cult of the Dead Cow, organized criminal hacking, and Napster. Pulitzer co-finalist 2024. Signal joemenn.01
Pinned
Better picture. Sorry for the redundancy, this is a big day for me.
I will give CBS this much: It takes some balls as a news organization in this era to call out the big problem as too much expertise.
January 3, 2026 at 12:12 AM
I will give CBS this much: It takes some balls as a news organization in this era to call out the big problem as too much expertise.
I will give CBS this much: It takes some balls as a news organization in this era to call out the big problem as too much expertise.
January 3, 2026 at 12:09 AM
I will give CBS this much: It takes some balls as a news organization in this era to call out the big problem as too much expertise.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
"There is no reckoning with whether a ceasefire that permits one side to continue killing can be called a ceasefire at all."
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
January 2, 2026 at 8:38 PM
"There is no reckoning with whether a ceasefire that permits one side to continue killing can be called a ceasefire at all."
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
just gonna drop some links to a few papers of mine about AI-CSAM and the law here, for no particular reason
cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/news/ai-csam... (May 2025)
partnershiponai.org/hai-research... (November 2024)
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/addr... (February 2024)
cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/news/ai-csam... (May 2025)
partnershiponai.org/hai-research... (November 2024)
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/addr... (February 2024)
January 2, 2026 at 7:49 PM
just gonna drop some links to a few papers of mine about AI-CSAM and the law here, for no particular reason
cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/news/ai-csam... (May 2025)
partnershiponai.org/hai-research... (November 2024)
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/addr... (February 2024)
cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/news/ai-csam... (May 2025)
partnershiponai.org/hai-research... (November 2024)
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/addr... (February 2024)
Reposted by Joseph Menn
I reviewed a very good book, and got some thoughts out of my system. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/b...
January 2, 2026 at 5:24 PM
I reviewed a very good book, and got some thoughts out of my system. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/02/b...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Exclusive: ICE officials plan to spend $100 million in one year to recruit gun-rights supporters and military enthusiasts through online influencers and a geo-targeted advertising campaign, according to an internal document reviewed by The Post. https://wapo.st/494l0Q8
January 2, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Exclusive: ICE officials plan to spend $100 million in one year to recruit gun-rights supporters and military enthusiasts through online influencers and a geo-targeted advertising campaign, according to an internal document reviewed by The Post. https://wapo.st/494l0Q8
Happy birthday to all my friends in cybersecurity!
January 1, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Happy birthday to all my friends in cybersecurity!
Reposted by Joseph Menn
5 million-plus kindergartners now live in counties where schools don’t have “herd immunity” for measles, Washington Post reporters found.
WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county.
Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al.
(Gift link.)
WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county.
Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al.
(Gift link.)
U.S. vaccination rates are plunging. Look up where your school stands.
Take a look to see what the kindergarten measles vaccination rates are in your area.
wapo.st
January 1, 2026 at 2:46 AM
5 million-plus kindergartners now live in counties where schools don’t have “herd immunity” for measles, Washington Post reporters found.
WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county.
Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al.
(Gift link.)
WaPo also built a tool to look up your own county.
Exceptional, and alarming work by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social et al.
(Gift link.)
May there be more love and fur in your life.
January 1, 2026 at 3:25 AM
May there be more love and fur in your life.
Happy end of year news dump to all who celebrate
BREAKING: The House Judiciary Committee has released Jack Smith's 255-page deposition transcript: judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-su...
December 31, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Happy end of year news dump to all who celebrate
Reposted by Joseph Menn
orcas have the chance to do the funniest thing
December 31, 2025 at 5:25 PM
orcas have the chance to do the funniest thing
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Yikes.
The Alt National Park Service has a new hobby, and it's more upsetting than I could have imagined.
AltNPS thought the real terror and suffering of people being targeted by ICE just wasn't juicy enough, so they decided to punch things up a little.
You can read more here:
AltNPS thought the real terror and suffering of people being targeted by ICE just wasn't juicy enough, so they decided to punch things up a little.
You can read more here:
The Alt National Park Service Can't Stop Posting ICE Raid Fanfiction
To AltNPS, real-world brutality is just fuel for the Content Machine.
open.substack.com
December 31, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Yikes.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Over on Xitter the Attorney General is pointing to a study that only goes through last year to claim she's fixed the fentanyl crisis.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
December 30, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Over on Xitter the Attorney General is pointing to a study that only goes through last year to claim she's fixed the fentanyl crisis.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Breaking news: Tatiana Schlossberg, environmental journalist and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, died of cancer. She was 35.
Tatiana Schlossberg, journalist and granddaughter of JFK, dies at 35
In November, she announced her terminal cancer diagnosis in a New Yorker essay that took aim at one of her cousins, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 30, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Breaking news: Tatiana Schlossberg, environmental journalist and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, died of cancer. She was 35.
Time to tap our country’s strategic Clooney reserve.
December 30, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Time to tap our country’s strategic Clooney reserve.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Exclusive: A year after Tenet Media was busted for funneling Russian money to MAGA pundits like Benny Johnson and Tim Pool, a Trump administration effort involving State and the FBI has welcomed Tenet's founders back into the US. @thebulwark.com: www.thebulwark.com/p/lauren-che...
Trump Admin Scores Visa for Founder of Russian Propaganda Outlet
Tenet Media’s Lauren Chen is back—even though the illegal-influence and money-laundering investigation remains open.
www.thebulwark.com
December 30, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Exclusive: A year after Tenet Media was busted for funneling Russian money to MAGA pundits like Benny Johnson and Tim Pool, a Trump administration effort involving State and the FBI has welcomed Tenet's founders back into the US. @thebulwark.com: www.thebulwark.com/p/lauren-che...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
So many lies in this story... DHS agents shot an unarmed man with his hands up. They claimed self-defense and charged him with assault. All charges against him are now dismissed with prejudice after DHS refused to turn over the footage to the defense.
December 29, 2025 at 8:32 PM
So many lies in this story... DHS agents shot an unarmed man with his hands up. They claimed self-defense and charged him with assault. All charges against him are now dismissed with prejudice after DHS refused to turn over the footage to the defense.
Also? Generally not seen as the good guy.
“Buy our home security package named after someone who was utterly destroyed by a back door break-in he didn’t see coming because he was focused solely on the front door.”
Sauron is appearing on the scene as concerns rise about crime among the most wealthy.
December 29, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Also? Generally not seen as the good guy.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
"In what data the government has so far released, covering the first half of the blitz, a Tribune analysis found only about 1.5% of those detained for immigration-related reasons had been convicted of a violent felony or sex crime."
Chicago resisted. Protests came with a price. Bruises from pepper balls and fits of sickness from the tear gas. But also the shattering of illusions and loss of faith that what they witnessed could not happen in America. It did and is happening in America www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...
64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz
President Donald Trump’s federal immigration enforcement operation led to most surreal autumn in Chicago history. What happened during those 64 days will be remembered for a long time.
www.chicagotribune.com
December 28, 2025 at 3:09 PM
"In what data the government has so far released, covering the first half of the blitz, a Tribune analysis found only about 1.5% of those detained for immigration-related reasons had been convicted of a violent felony or sex crime."
U.S. and Ukraine agree to three-nation summit on how to spell Zelensky’s name.
December 28, 2025 at 10:21 PM
U.S. and Ukraine agree to three-nation summit on how to spell Zelensky’s name.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Trump's DOJ was monitoring all the movements of the Miami Herald reporter who was covering the Epstein case.
December 28, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Trump's DOJ was monitoring all the movements of the Miami Herald reporter who was covering the Epstein case.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
45 years of John Young's papers and the Cryptome archive have been added to Stanford's archive and is available for researchers to request access to:
searchworks.stanford.edu/view/in00000...
searchworks.stanford.edu/view/in00000...
John Young papers and Cryptome archive, circa 1980-2025 in SearchWorks catalog
Stanford Libraries' official online search tool for books, media, journals, databases, government documents and more.
searchworks.stanford.edu
December 28, 2025 at 12:01 AM
45 years of John Young's papers and the Cryptome archive have been added to Stanford's archive and is available for researchers to request access to:
searchworks.stanford.edu/view/in00000...
searchworks.stanford.edu/view/in00000...
Reposted by Joseph Menn
NEW: Meet the folks at AccessNow's Digital Security Helpline, who have been investigating government spyware for more than a decade, helping journalists and dissidents all over the world.
I spoke to Hassen Selmi, who heads the incident response team, to learn how his team fights spyware abuses.
I spoke to Hassen Selmi, who heads the incident response team, to learn how his team fights spyware abuses.
Meet the team that hunts government spyware
For years, Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline has been aiding journalists and dissidents who have been targeted with government spyware. This is how they operate.
techcrunch.com
December 27, 2025 at 6:52 PM
NEW: Meet the folks at AccessNow's Digital Security Helpline, who have been investigating government spyware for more than a decade, helping journalists and dissidents all over the world.
I spoke to Hassen Selmi, who heads the incident response team, to learn how his team fights spyware abuses.
I spoke to Hassen Selmi, who heads the incident response team, to learn how his team fights spyware abuses.
Reposted by Joseph Menn
Nothing could better sum up where we are as a culture
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Nothing could better sum up where we are as a culture