Barton Gellman

Senior advisor @BrennanCenter | Author 'Dark Mirror' & 'Angler' | ex-Atlantic & Wash Post | Contact:

[John Scott-Railton @jsrailton]

UPDATE: Israeli company we caught delivering zero-click infections is #1 bidder on Starlink ads in 105 countries.

Data from @trendai_RSRCH suggests worldwide surveillance op targeting @Starlink users. 1/

By @razhael
https://t.co/uWFzemhgnL

[Daniel I. Weiner @DanWeiner329]

We have a second new @BrennanCenter analysis out this morning, from @eepetry. How megadonors are shaping the most competitive governor races: https://t.co/U5OVscK6sS

[Brennan Center @BrennanCenter]

The Supreme Court’s rulings have left us with a broken campaign finance system that allows corporations to dominate our politics. We have solutions to fix this.

[ProPublica @propublica]

New: Conservative powerbroker Cleta Mitchell has raised a grassroots army to transform American voting systems and worked closely with the administration to enact her plans. No one besides Trump himself has done more to overhaul elections. https://t.co/2qlBI2Wh7r

[Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan on 🟦☁️) @BrendanNyhan]

LOLOL

[Eric Tucker @etuckerAP]

A dramatic hearing for two former FBI officials accused of making false statements about Hunter Biden’s laptop. A judge tore into DOJ at length and an FBI agent who worked it said it was launched immediately after a Trump speech on election security

https://t.co/s4iHg1AQKm

[Peter Baker @peterbakernyt]

Good news: For a limited time, all midterm election coverage is free in The New York Times app.

[Just Security @just_security]

A domestic deployment around an election seen as politically motivated would do lasting damage to the U.S. military's standing with the public, write @amprog's Dan Herman, Devon Ombres and Sadhana Mandala.

[Joseph Cox @josephfcox]

We got leaked audio of Flock's CEO talking at a private police conference, including the "never apologize" line.

Watch more of it here, and subscribe: https://t.co/es2acVEDd2

[Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney]

A federal judge found that an immigration court bond hearing was so egregiously stacked against an ICE detainee that he may simply order the release of ICE detainees, rather than bond hearings, from now on.

https://t.co/5MxnTYB9iX

[Brennan Center @BrennanCenter]

The top 40 donors in this year’s midterms gave $2.5 billion by mid-October, more than eight times the $308 million that the top 40 donors gave by mid-October in the 2014 midterm cycle (the first full midterm cycle after Citizens United). https://t.co/mXQlje4DGS

[Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel]

Meta had an internal PR plan to try and discredit Jon Haidt because he was a critic of social media.

Meta was going to recruit academics, like Andrew Gelman, to write take down pieces. They were trying to turn academics against one another through a "whisper strategy".

This is a very serious problem for open academic debate. If academics who share negative evidence about a platform are targeted by campaigns to smear our credibility, we are in deep, deep trouble.

This creates a very serious conflict of interest for anyone who is paid to do this.

https://t.co/5Zxfm1h8Db

[Brennan Center @BrennanCenter]

It’s far too easy to get AI to create fake photos meant for election disinformation. See for yourself the images generated by Meta AI, Google’s Gemini, and others: https://t.co/0ZWGU9I2bi

[Wendy Weiser @WendyRWeiser]

Time asked us to write a piece on whether ICE belongs at the polls. The answer is emphatically no. That would be flatly illegal. There are many safeguards and choices to ensure all Americans can vote safely and with confidence.
https://t.co/JowHf9wPCj

[Wendy Weiser @WendyRWeiser]

Right before adjourning, Judge Carter made the following rebuke: "This court believes that it would be wise for any threats to state and county elected employees cease immediately." Powerful statement. Tragic that it was necessary.

[Wendy Weiser @WendyRWeiser]

In today's arguments in DOJ's case seeking to set aside 20K mail ballots in CA, DOJ counsel repeatedly threatened that if election officials allow ballots cast by potential noncitizens on their list to be counted, they would be committing a crime. This is false and abusive.

[Brennan Center @BrennanCenter]

Do you remember your first time voting? Whether it's your first ballot or your fiftieth, your vote matters. Make a plan to vote.

Check out our resource for important voting deadlines and dates: https://t.co/PR1NH6akBS

[Barton Gellman @bartongellman]

This is a good checklist to protect digital privacy at international borders.

[Freedom of the Press Foundation @FreedomofPress]

Border searches of phones and laptops are at a record high.

Here’s how journalists can protect their devices, and their sources, when entering the U.S.

A guide from FPF and @EFF:
https://t.co/L76KCdbZWD

[Katie Robertson @katie_robertson]

NEW: Life magazine is coming back, with its first quarterly print issue out next month. I spoke with the team behind it https://t.co/N48Ni3Sr6e

[Barton Gellman @bartongellman]

"It’s hard to fathom what the Attorney General tells himself as he grossly abuses the power of the Department of Justice at the behest of his Article II master."

[Jack Goldsmith @jacklgoldsmith]

The “criminal information” the Department of Justice filed on Oct. 5 against former FBI Director James Comey is legally flawed. The problem is not just that two sets of prosecutors in the Trump 1.0 Justice Department investigated this matter and declined to bring charges. The more immediate problem is that the Trump 2.0 Justice Department waited too long to bring the case.

https://t.co/Thwi7yqQtD