OUR PICKSInside the Biggest FBI Sting Operation in History | Biden Issues Order Allowing Temporary Border Closure to Migrants | AI Employees Warn of Technology’s Dangers, and more
· Inside the Biggest FBI Sting Operation in History
When a drug kingpin named Microsoft tried to seize control of an encrypted phone company for criminals, he was playing right into its real owners’ hands
· How Donald Trump Could Weaponize US Surveillance in a Second Term
Donald Trump has vowed to go after political enemies, undocumented immigrants, and others if he wins. Experts warn that he could easily turn the surveillance state against his targets
· In Shift, Biden Issues Order Allowing Temporary Border Closure to Migrants
The move shows how drastically immigration politics have shifted in the United States. The American Civil Liberties Union said it planned to challenge the order in court
· Garland Rebukes Attacks on Justice Dept.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland warned Republicans that their attacks were feeding “heinous” threats against career agents and prosecutors
· Arizona Weighs Texas-Inspired Law Allowing Cops to Enforce Immigration Law
The legislature is expected to greenlight a referendum that could have broad implications for the 2024 election
· AI Employees Warn of Technology’s Dangers, Call for Sweeping Company Changes
A letter signed by current and former OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind employees asked firms to provide greater transparency and whistleblower protections
Inside the Biggest FBI Sting Operation in History (Joseph Cox, Wired)
Sometime after midnight on May 26, 2020, a sleek black-and-white speedboat darted through the sea’s waves off the coast of Sweden. The two men on board were barreling toward a set of coordinates in the darkness, armed with navigation equipment, night vision goggles, and fishing rods. The Donousa, a black and red, 225-meter-long cargo ship, was sitting motionless in the water around 17 kilometers ahead.
On its way from Brazil to Poland, the Donousa had made this unofficial stop in the North Sea so that some corrupt sailors could throw nets holding 400 kilograms of cocaine—a quantity with a street value of about $39 million—into the water. Then the ship would light up the area “like a disco in the middle of the sea,” a member of the drug gang wrote in a text message. And with that, the speedboat crew would reel in the nets and whisk the drugs to docks on Swedish soil.
That was the plan as the courier understood it, anyway. Stationed onshore in a white van, his job was to wait for the speedboat to return, then transport its payload to a warehouse, all while fielding minute-by-minute commands from the operation’s mastermind and two other higher-ups. In an encrypted group chat, they peppered him with orders in Swedish: Stay calm, avoid looking shady, melt into traffic when the time comes. “You’ll drive slow as fuck.” The four men were all using Sky phones—pricey, customized devices that not only sent encrypted messages like Signal or WhatsApp did, but could also be remotely wiped on demand if they fell into the hands of law enforcement. By 2020, phones made by Sky and a handful of competitors had become a widespread and sophisticated part of the drug trafficker’s toolkit. For the truly paranoid, some brands even removed the GPS, camera, and microphone from their devices.
How Donald Trump Could Weaponize US Surveillance in a Second Term (Thor Benson, Wired)
Every president of the United States has within their grasp the power of a vast surveillance state that has grown significantly over the past few decades and has beaten back any real effort to rein it in. (Cont.)
