dmehro.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Just a word on this @wired.com team — I work with these folks and even with one foot in from the outside, I’m astounded at how many impactful scoops are flying out of the joint left and right. Subscribe, support, buy the merch — do what you gotta do, but this is a fuckin’ good place for your dollar

submitted 2 days ago • 5 comments

The DOGE website claims it was last updated on February 17. But in the past 24 hours, they apparently quietly removed two USAID contracts worth $655M a piece. The site still claims $55B in savings. Contracts: www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_I... www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_I...

submitted 2 days ago • 4 comments

NEW: DOGE put a $1 spending limit on government employee credit cards. Employees say overspending and fraud in the program was exceedingly rare. www.wired.com/story/doge-g...

submitted 2 days ago • 107 comments

New @wired.com story: “This is exactly the kind of seemingly obscure data that would pique a foreign adversary's interest,” says Justin Sherman, CEO of Global Cyber Strategies, and author of the upcoming book Navigating Technology and National Security. www.wired.com/story/google...

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

NEW: Microsoft hosted around 150 explicit non-consensual images of startup founder Breeze Liu on its Azure servers. It took Microsoft eight months to remove the images, despite pleas piling up. The company just didn't respond to one NGO working with Liu Story with @peard33.bsky.social

submitted 2 days ago • 4 comments

When asked to explain why Google had not detected segments with descriptions such as “Individuals likely to have a Cardiovascular condition,” or “Parents of children likely to have a respiratory disease, like Asthma,” it did not respond.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: A @wired.com investigation into Google’s ad ecosystem found that users of its DV360 platform can—despite Google's rules against it—target ads based on highly sensitive traits like medical issues or financial hardship. @dell.bsky.social & @dmehro.bsky.social report: www.wired.com/story/google...

submitted 2 days ago • 8 comments

My latest: DOGE's stated aim is making the govt more efficient. Yet even one of USAID's most forthrightly efficiency-focused programs—Few Net, a famine warning system that uses AI and other tools to precisely allocate food aid—is now down because of its cuts. www.wired.com/story/usaid-...

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

SpaceX engineers were brought on as senior advisers at the FAA. They were hired under a rule letting managers “hire persons with disabilities without requiring them to compete for the job.” By @telliotter.bsky.social & @aarianmarshall.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/faa-do...

submitted 3 days ago • 16 comments

Love it when my lightbulb app asks for microphone access.

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

New from me + @aarianmarshall.bsky.social: SpaceX engineers were said to be simply touring the FAA on Monday. In fact, some were already being onboarded at the agency under a policy designed to increase “employment opportunities for people with disabilities.” www.wired.com/story/faa-do...

submitted 3 days ago • 38 comments

Do you work at HHS? Are your career plans changing because of RFK's confirmation? Are you like "Hell no, I'm staying, it is he who sucks?" Are you thrilled with the whole thing? In any case, my username on Signal is annamerlan.30 and I would love to chat with you on non-work devices.

submitted 9 days ago • 4 comments

The senator is @wyden.senate.gov

submitted 9 days ago • 3 comments

NEW: A Florida data broker sold data that lets spies & terrorists track US military and intelligence Pressed by a senator, they named their source: a small Lithuanian adtech firm That firm denies wrongdoing—but it shows how sensitive data trades hands with no oversight W/ @josephcox.bsky.social

submitted 9 days ago • 7 comments

I did a Q+A with Francesco Cancellato, an Italian investigative journalist whose phone was targeted with Paragon spyware. Attacks on civil society targets alarm him. "It affects my ability to do my job. I don't know how many people will rely on me from now on." therecord.media/italian-jour...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: Your next Hinge or Tinder date could have a history of sexual assault, but the company behind these dating apps isn’t telling you that. What our investigation found, with @pulitzercenter.bsky.social, @us.theguardian.com and @19thnews.org: themarkup.org/investigatio...

submitted 9 days ago • 4 comments

If the DOGE news is getting too much to keep track of, we have the thing for you—the newest episode of our Uncanny Valley podcast, digging into all things DOGE. Let @katie-drummond.bsky.social and @leahfeiger.bsky.social get you up to speed: swap.fm/l/wired-uv-q1QKdt

submitted 10 days ago • 9 comments

SCOOP: DOGE has started gutting a key US technology agency. At least dozens of workers at the Technology Transformation Service were fired on Wednesday, a day after similar sudden cuts at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

submitted 10 days ago • 33 comments

A Lithuanian adtech firm sold sensitive U.S. intelligence and military worker location data to a dodgy and unregulated Florida data broker, who then sold access to any nitwit with two nickels to rub together. @wired.com (and @wyden.senate.gov 's office) continue to do amazing work on this stuff:

submitted 10 days ago • 7 comments

I had missed DOJ's final rule (re: selling bulk sensitive data) cites our reporting into the commercial surveillance of military & intelligence personnel + Chinese black markets. page 11/421! reporting by @dmehro.bsky.social + @agreenberg.bsky.social + me. also @suzannesmalley.bsky.social! ☺️

submitted 10 days ago • 3 comments

Good morning, new followers from the polling and data starter pack! I don’t work in the industry anymore but spent 10 years as a pollster/campaign consultant for Democratic candidates and causes. These days I’m in law school, hoping to practice labor law, but still post about polling regularly-ish.

submitted 156 days ago • 4 comments

NEW: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is firing dozens of employees right now. @makenakelly.bsky.social and @dmehro.bsky.social with the scoop www.wired.com/story/dozens...

submitted 11 days ago • 6 comments

NEW: Tonight, dozens of Consumer Finance Protection Bureau employees were fired via a hastily written email. Some affected employees were addressed as “[EmployeeFirstName][EmployeeLastName], [Job Title], [Division].” W/ @makenakelly.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/dozens...

submitted 11 days ago • 81 comments

Today, Alan Filion was sentenced to 48 months in prison. www.justice.gov/opa/pr/calif...

submitted 11 days ago • 6 comments

my first ever interview is up @bigechoscifi.bsky.social where i go deep on my upcoming short story collection ANOTHER WORLD ISN'T POSSIBLE www.bigecho.org/brendan-byrn...

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

SCOOP: FBI director nominee Kash Patel disclosed he received up to $5M in shares of a mysterious entity in the Cayman Islands called Elite Depot. Elite Depot is a parent organization of fast-fashion giant Shein, according to corporate records I reviewed www.wired.com/story/kash-p...

submitted 15 days ago • 174 comments

New from me + @leahfeiger.bsky.social: An internal analysis at Treasury found that DOGE was “the single biggest insider threat risk the Bureau of the Fiscal Service has ever faced.” @wired.com www.wired.com/story/treasu...

submitted 15 days ago • 30 comments

Haven't updated in a while - its been crazy here, but economicinclusion.gov, isotope.gov, and nscai.gov are dead If you are interested in this, GSA scans gov domains weekly—an incredible resource and another example of the overlooked work federal employees do github.com/GSA/site-sca...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

Elez has resigned after making racist posts unearthed by WSJ: “You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” the account wrote on X in September....“Normalize Indian hate,” the account wrote the same month. www.wsj.com/tech/doge-st...

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

Several people have asked me this, and yes, we are coming up with a way for those who want to pay more for WIRED can pay more. Or you can keep paying what you paid! We appreciate the support.

submitted 16 days ago • 15 comments

A 19 year old known online as Big Balls and working for DOGE has access to sensitive government systems WIRED found that a Telegram handle tied to him solicited a cyberattack-for-hire service www.wired.com/story/edward... By: @agreenberg.bsky.social @lhn.bsky.social @davidgilbert.bsky.social

submitted 16 days ago • 10 comments

NOAA was ordered to give a former Tesla engineer from the DOGE task force access to all of the agency’s sites by the end of business today. Nothing in his background suggests any expertise relevant to his role. www.wired.com/story/doge-e... @timmarchman.bsky.social and @hudsongiles.bsky.social

submitted 17 days ago • 4 comments

This is the nicest thing ever. Thank you @parkermolloy.com! www.readtpa.com/p/when-it-co...

submitted 17 days ago • 19 comments

"If you would have asked me a week ago, I'd have told you that this kind of thing would never in a million years happen. But now, who the fuck knows."

submitted 18 days ago • 7 comments

NEW: A 25-year-old engineer tied to Elon Musk now has direct access (admin privileges) to a Treasury Department system that controls Social Security payments, tax returns, and more. W/ @telliotter.bsky.social, @leahfeiger.bsky.social, @timmarchman.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

submitted 18 days ago • 12 comments

This evening these sites appear to be down: acc.gov, americanclimatecorps.gov, climatecore.gov, climatecore.gov, climatecorp.gov, climatecorp.gov, climatecorps.gov (all pointing to 13.107.246.40)

submitted 19 days ago • 4 comments

Tool detected that visforvaccinated.gov and goodjobs.gov, have gone offline. It is currently unclear when they went down or for what reason. Updating as we learn more and reach out for comment

submitted 19 days ago • 2 comments

When we wrote this guide two months ago, it seems like we did not overestimate the chaos and the vindictiveness to come. Hope it’s useful.

submitted 20 days ago • 10 comments

Here's the roster of youths carrying out Elon Musk's government takeover. Recent high school grads and interns from SpaceX, Palantir, Meta, Neuralink, and xAI, and an engineer for a high-frequency trading firm. By @telliotter.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

submitted 20 days ago • 49 comments

give @dmehro.bsky.social a follow. he built this tool. and he’s been working with me on an unrelated investigation for the last 3 weeks straight, so i’m not even sure how he found the time. guy’s just a total badass.

submitted 20 days ago • 8 comments

If you work in government IT, or just generally have some insight into whats happening on a technical level at these agencies please reach out! @dmehro.89 on Signal

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments