Yup. #TikTok is actively surveilling us and remains tangled with a foreign adversary (China). #Anthropic is getting banned by the government for refusing to actively surveil us. That... is disturbing. If you care about #privacy and #freedom, let your favorite politicians know we actually appreciate tech companies that take anti-surveillance stands. #AI #DepartmentOfWar #DoD https://x.com/Scholars_Stage/status/2027529280092074056

The madness continues …

#OpenAI reaches deal to deploy #AI models on US Department of #Defense #classified network

#SamAltman said Friday OpenAi reached an agreement with the #DoD.

"In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety & a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome," Altman posted on X using the #Trump admin’s BS name for the DoD.

#law #tech #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #privacy #security #InfoSec #military
https://www.reuters.com/business/openai-reaches-deal-deploy-ai-models-us-department-war-classified-network-2026-02-28/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

Alt...

Altman post: Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network. In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome. AI safety and wide distribution of benefits are the core of our mission. Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems. The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement. We also will build technical safeguards to ensure our models behave as they should, which the DoW also wanted. We will deploy FDEs to help with our models and to ensure their safety, we will deploy on cloud networks only. We are asking the DoW to offer these same terms to all AI companies, which in our opinion we think everyone should be willing to accept. We have expressed our strong desire to see things de-escalate away from legal and governmental actions and towards reasonable agreements. We remain committed to serve all of humanity as best we can. The world is a complicated, messy, and sometimes dangerous place.

…The ultimate winner could now prove to be Elon #Musk’s #xAI [great /s], which #defense ofcls say has already agreed to the #Pentagon’s terms for working on #classified systems. The entrepreneur jumped on Emil Michael’s social media Friday [the DoD’s technology chief] saying “#Anthropic hates Western Civilization.” [ridiculous idiot.]

#Trump #RevengePolitics #law #AI #tech #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #SupplyChainRisk #privacy #security #InfoSec #military

Earlier in the week, Jeff Dean, #Google’s chief #AI scientist, said he was opposed to the #technology being used for #surveillance & repeated his long-standing opposition to #AutonomousWeapons.

#SamAltman, #OpenAI’s chief executive, said Friday that it was important for AI companies to find ways to work with the #Pentagon but that he had concerns similar to those of his rival #Amodei.

#Trump #RevengePolitics #law #Anthropic #tech #SupplyChainRisk #privacy #security #InfoSec #military

The #Pentagon did not explain the #legal reasoning behind its claim [there is none] that it could compel #military contractors to immediately cease work with Anthropic.

…Experts said the #Trump admin’s dramatic intervention Friday is likely to have ramifications for more than just the #US govt’s relationship with #Anthropic, potentially complicating the admin’s work with other #AI developers, especially in relation to #defense work.

#RevengePolitics #law #tech #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons

…Many researchers & engineers working on #AI have long harbored concerns about their #technology being used to power #weapons or #surveillance. The battle between #Anthropic & the #Pentagon has reawakened those concerns across the industry.

By Friday afternoon, >550 employees at #Google & #ChatGPT maker #OpenAI signed an open letter in support of Anthropic’s position & calling on their bosses to stand up to the Pentagon.

#Trump #RevengePolitics #law #AutonomousWeapons
https://notdivided.org/

…The #SupplyChainRisk designation issued by #Hegseth late Friday was an extraordinary escalation, ranking a leading #US #AI company alongside the likes of Chinese & Russian firms seen as a danger to the #UnitedStates.

It was unclear how easy it would be for government departments to move away from #Anthropic’s #technology, or for the company’s partners that do business with the #Pentagon to cut ties.

#Trump #RevengePolitics #law #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #privacy #security #military

The company wrote that, “Designating #Anthropic as a supply chain risk would be an unprecedented action—one historically reserved for US adversaries, never before publicly applied to an American company.” The unsigned blog post added: “We are deeply saddened by these developments.”

#Trump #RevengePolitics #law #AI #tech #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #privacy #security #InfoSec #military

#Anthropic said it would fight the blacklisting in court. In a blog post late Friday, the company said that it believed the wide-reaching ban #Hegseth described was not permitted by federal #law & that the designation of the company as a #SupplyChainRisk was “legally unsound.” [pretty good bet]

#Trump #RevengePolitics #law #AI #tech #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #privacy #security #InfoSec #military

Late Friday, #Defense Secy Pete #Hegseth followed #Trump’s unhinged post, saying in his own post that he was declaring #Anthropic a #SupplyChainRisk. “Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic,” Hegseth wrote.

#RevengePolitics #law #AI #tech #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #privacy #security #InfoSec #military

So much for holding back. GMAFB.

#Pentagon declares #Anthropic a threat to #NationalSecurity

#Defense Secretary Pete #Hegseth declared Anthropic a “#SupplyChainRisk,” blocking all federal agencies & contractors from doing business with the company.

#Trump #RevengePolitics #law #AI #tech #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #privacy #security #InfoSec #military
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/27/trump-anthropic-claude-drop/

The setback comes as #AI leader #Anthropic raced to sell novel #technology to #business & #government, particularly for #NationalSecurity, ahead of its widely expected #IPO.

At the same time, the battle over #tech #guardrails had raised concerns that the #DoD would follow #US #law [certainly not this one] but little other constraint when deploying AI for national-security missions, regardless of #safety or #ethics service terms embraced by the technology's developers.

#Trump #surveillance

Can we all please recognize that this idea, inverted to its opposite, is what is driving the frenzy towards AI?

"Management" including battlefield management, "non-lethal" crowd-control management

Immigration management, insurance management, medical management, education management

#uspol #ai #hegseth #fascism

Alt...

Famous IBM slide from 1979: "A COMPUTER CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE THEREFORE A COMPUTER MUST NEVER MAKE A MANAGEMENT DECISION"

‘#Trump orders all federal agencies to stop using #anthropic technology over #AI limits dispute.

Writing on his social media platform, Trump said that he is ordering all federal agencies stop using Anthropic’s technology, after the company refused to allow the defense department to use it AI product, #claude for mass domestic surveillance or in autonomous weapons systems that can kill people without human input.’

Guardian Live

Yesterday’s report:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/26/anthropic-pentagon-claude

If you've requested automated service in Spanish when you call the Washington state Department of Licensing, you get an AI-generated voice speaking English with a Spanish accent. Here's the story from @AssociatedPress, including a recording.

https://flip.it/wsCA4w

#USNews #Tech #AI #Language #Spanish

#Anthropic had sought guarantees that its #AI would not be used for fully #AutonomousWeapons or for mass #domestic #surveillance - applications in which the #Pentagon claimed it had no interest [wink wink nudge nudge].

#law #privacy #security #InfoSec #Trump #fascism

Trump's decision stopped short of #threats issued by #Hegseth & the #Pentagon, including that it could invoke the Defense Production Act to require Anthropic's compliance. The Pentagon had also said it considered designating #Anthropic a #SupplyChain risk, a step previously only used against businesses tied to foreign adversaries.

But #Trump vowed further action if Anthropic did not cooperate with the phaseout.

#law #AI #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #privacy #security #InfoSec

Just like all #rapists, #Trump really doesn’t like being told no.

Trump says he is directing federal agencies to cease use of #Anthropic #technology in a petty whiny social media post.

#law #AI #surveillance #AutonomousWeapons #privacy #security #InfoSec
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-is-directing-federal-agencies-cease-use-anthropic-technology-2026-02-27/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement

Alt...

Trump post: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS! That decision belongs to YOUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, and the tremendous leaders I appoint to run our Military. The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY. Therefore, I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic's technology. We don't need it, we don't want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic's products, at various levels. Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow. WE will decide the fate of our Country - NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left Al company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Anthropic rejects Pentagon’s revised AI deal, saying terms still risk enabling mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. ⚖️

The $200M contract would make Claude the first AI model in classified defense networks—now stalled over ethical limits and state control. 🧭

🔗 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/26/tech/anthropic-rejects-pentagon-offer

#TechNews #AI #Ethics #Privacy #Accountability #Defense #Policy #Anthropic #Security #Transparency #BigTech #Surveillance #Freedom #Governance #Innovation #Pentagon #US #USA #Trump #Weapons #Claude

President Trump bars federal agencies from using Anthropic AI technology as the firm refuses to lift safeguards on the military's use of its model, Claude, due to its concerns about the use of AI for mass domestic surveillance and the development of weapons.

. Read more from @Axios@flipboard.com:

https://flip.it/CK6TQM

#News #Trump #Anthropic #Tech #AI #USA #USNews

AI is reshaping careers. As AI moves into production, demand is rising for skills in Linux, cloud native, orchestration, and security.

Join the free webinar “AI Runs on Open Source and Real Humans” on March 11 to explore where AI careers grow and how infra expertise creates real leverage.

Register: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/webinars/ai-runs-on-open-source-and-real-humans?hsLang=en

#AI #CloudNative #Linux #OpenSource

@alien8 - Yeah, I figure any statement by Duo will absolutely push the whole "its not enabled by default" and its the client's decision to use it.

Which ignores the core point - the employees (once a client enables it) have no say. By even offering this, they put so many people in the position of "accept this or quit" which is not consent.

Especially in the US where one's job is tied to access to healthcare and where many live paycheck to paycheck and if they quit or get fired, they run the real risk of going hungry or losing their house.

#Duo #Persona #AI #infosec #privacy #discord

Anthropic refuses to bend to Pentagon on AI safeguards as dispute nears deadline.

@AssociatedPress reports: "Anthropic said it sought narrow assurances from the Pentagon that Claude won’t be used for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons." Apparently those assurances did not come.

https://flip.it/TEKIyW

#Anthropic #Pentagon #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #News #Tech

Inb4 Duo responds and makes the statement:

"These Persona services are opt-in by the client as additional features. We do not integrate them into our core product."

to which the answer to that response is:

"Yeah, the CLIENT opts in, meaning the COMPANY opts in... the employees have no say. The *employees*, all of us, can only opt out by being fired."

(Edit to revert to original post)

#Duo #Persona #Privacy #AI #infosec #Discord

"Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei publicly rejected the Pentagon’s demand that his company allow unrestricted military use of its artificial intelligence system, saying some applications of AI could 'undermine, rather than defend, democratic values.' Amodei (opposed the use of AI for) two uses: mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons" saying “Mass domestic surveillance is incompatible with democratic values”:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/anthropic-ceo-rejects-pentagon-21944308.php
#privacy #tech #NationalSecurity #AI

So Duo (the multifactor authentication service that #infosec loves) has integrated with Persona (the privacy destroying, Peter Thiel backed, AI-linked, facial scanning and mapping "identity verification" software)

You know the recent Discord snafu that received such massive pushback and caused so many people to leave Discord that they've dropped their identity verification?

Yeah, that Persona.

Duo integrates it into Duo Premier, Duo Advantage, and even Duo Essentials...

...which means many working class folks will have no option but to be enrolled into and use Persona...

...or be fired.

https://duo.com/docs/identity-verification

#Duo #Persona #Privacy #Discord #AI

Alt...

Identity Verification Last updated: January 23rd, 2026 Overview To help protect organizations from the ever-growing threat of social engineering attacks, Duo integrates with Persona to offer integrated identity verification (IDV) workflows which provide high-assurance of user identities before allowing critical workforce user lifecycle actions in your organization. Identity verification is part of the Duo Premier, Duo Advantage, and Duo Essentials plans.

This week I've been mainly reading, 284.

Marge Piercy's SciFi tale Body of Glass (1992) makes an explicit parallel between Jewish tales/myths of the Golum & the construction of a sentient android. Self-avowedly feminist SciFi this is an intriguing take of cyber & real space after global calamity & the triumph of a cadre of multinational corporations. It touches on many themes around AI that seem, over thirty years after it was written, highly prescient! A VG read!

#books @books #SciFi #AI

Daily Digest | 27 February 2026

Your daily dose of Privacy, Data Protection, AI & Cybersecurity news.

5 stories you should not miss.

Read more: https://www.nicfab.eu/daily-digest/

#Privacy #AI #GDPR #Cybersecurity #TechLaw

"ESET researchers uncovered the first known case of Android malware abusing generative AI for context-aware user interface manipulation. While machine learning has been used to similar ends already – just recently, researchers at Dr.WEB found Android.Phantom, which uses TensorFlow machine learning models to analyze advertisement screenshots and automatically click on detected elements for large scale ad fraud – this is the first time we have seen generative AI deployed in this manner. Because the attackers rely on prompting an AI model (in this instance, Google’s Gemini) to guide malicious UI manipulation, we have named this family PromptSpy. This is the second AI powered malware we have discovered – following PromptLock in August 2025, the first known case of AI-driven ransomware.

While generative AI is deployed only in a relatively minor part of PromptSpy's code – that responsible for achieving persistence – it still has a significant impact on the malware's adaptability. Specifically, Gemini is used to analyze the current screen and provide PromptSpy with step-by-step instructions on how to ensure the malicious app remains pinned in the recent apps list, thus preventing it from being easily swiped away or killed by the system. The AI model and prompt are predefined in the code and cannot be changed. Since Android malware often relies on UI navigation, leveraging generative AI enables the threat actors to adapt to more or less any device, layout, or OS version, which can greatly expand the pool of potential victims.

The main purpose of PromptSpy is to deploy a built-in VNC module, giving operators remote access to the victim’s device. This Android malware also abuses the Accessibility Service to block uninstallation with invisible overlays, captures lockscreen data, records video. It communicates with its C&C server via the VNC protocol, using AES encryption."

https://www.welivesecurity.com/en/eset-research/promptspy-ushers-in-era-android-threats-using-genai/

#CyberSecurity #PromptSpy #AI #GenerativeAI #Android #Malware

Amodei said #Anthropic understands that the #Pentagon, “not private companies, makes #military decisions.” But “in a narrow set of cases, we believe #AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values.” In the case of mass #surveillance & #AutonomousWeapons are “outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely & reliably do.”

#Trump #Hegseth #law #privacy #InfoSec #ContractLaw #democracy

#Anthropic said in a statement that the #Pentagon’s new language was framed as a compromise but “was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will.” [shocker]

In a lengthy blog post Thursday, Amodei wrote: “I believe deeply in the existential importance of using #AI to defend the #UnitedStates & other democracies, & to defeat our autocratic adversaries.”

#Trump #Hegseth #law #privacy #InfoSec #ContractLaw #military #surveillance #democracy

#Defense Secretary #PeteHegseth told #Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Tuesday that if Anthropic does not allow its #AI model to be used “for all lawful purposes” [as if that’s what they plan to use it for], the #Pentagon would cancel Anthropic’s $200 million contract. In addition to the #contract cancellation, Anthropic would be deemed a “supply chain risk,” a classification normally reserved for companies connected to foreign adversaries, #Hegseth said.

#Trump #law #privacy #InfoSec #ContractLaw

#Anthropic is rejecting the Pentagon’s latest offer to change their contract, saying the changes do not satisfy the company’s concerns that #AI could be used for mass #surveillance or in fully #AutonomousWeapons.

The #Pentagon & Anthropic are at odds over restrictions the company places on the use of #Claude, the first #AI system to be used in the #military #classified network.

#Trump #Hegseth #law #privacy #InfoSec #ContractLaw
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/26/tech/anthropic-rejects-pentagon-offer?cid=ios_app

"Imagine a border agent who has just opened a box of shark-like fins or a shipment of live parrots and needs to know whether the particular species is one that can legally be captured and transported."

Matthew Ponsford for MIT Technology Review: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/02/24/1132760/conservationists-making-rhinos-radioactive/

#Longreads #Wildlife #Conservation #AI #Technology #Trafficking #Poaching

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has rejected the Pentagon's "final offer" in negotiations over allowing the Department of War to use the Claude model as it sees fit. "The contract language we received overnight from the Department of War made virtually no progress on preventing Claude's use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons," Anthropic said in a statement. Here's more from @AxiosNews.

https://flip.it/rhrTxb

#Technology #Tech #AI #USMilitary

#Tech Companies Shouldn’t Be Bullied Into Doing #Surveillance
#DepartmentofDefense (#DoD)has reportedly threatened to label Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” in retribution for not lifting restrictions on how their technology is used.
#Anthropic #AI should stick by their principles and refuse to allow their #technology to be used in the two ways they have publicly stated they would not support: autonomous weapons systems and surveillance. - #EFF
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/tech-companies-shouldnt-be-bullied-doing-surveillance

Google has launched the latest version of Nano Banana 2, the image generation model that promises to more quickly create more realistic images than its predecessors. Read more from @Techcrunch:

https://flip.it/8R8WrS

#Tech #AI #Google #NanoBanana2

I ask Claude how Michel Foucault might consider the parable of the 2 valleys.

👉 https://philosophics.blog/2026/02/26/comrade-claude-7-foucault/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

I also realise that I lose at least an hour a day just managing my blog posts and social media, as I'd regained that time recently due to spotty internet connectivity owing to a snowstorm in New England.

#philosophy #psychology #Foucault #power #politics #parable #ai #claudeai #blog #podcast #institutions #selfregulation #metaphor #panopticon #truth #society #language #freedom #change

"Why do these artificial companions lead us down such dangerous paths? One AI scholar recently argued that what happens when a human and a chatbot engage in conversation should be understood as co-hallucination." —Kristen French for Nautilus

https://nautil.us/why-youre-more-likely-to-develop-ai-psychosis-than-to-join-a-cult-1270352/ ?src=longreads

#longreads #AI #mentalhealth #hallucination #chatbots #writing #reading

Ohhh, *that's* what the "Kent" #AI comments were about.

Edit: s/Kevin/Kent/ a mistake I keep making.

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/25/bcachefs_creator_ai/

Police arrested a man for a burglary in a city he had never visited after face scanning software deployed across the UK confused him with another person of south Asian heritage.

#AI #FacialRecognition #Racism #Policing

Facial recognition error prompts police to arrest Asian man for burglary 100 miles away | Facial recognition | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/25/facial-recognition-error-prompts-police-to-arrest-asian-man-for-burglary-100-miles-away