Michael A. Specter 👻

NOW STARTING: “Age Verifying the Internet.” Join @mikespecter.com, @sveawindwehr.bsky.social, Richard Gaines, + moderator @aliyabhatia.bsky.social to discuss what this means for privacy and anonymity online. 📩 Login info after registration: https://foso26.cdt.org/

We also bought EncroChat's original domain (encrochat.ch) --- it now hosts our paper and other info.

As funny as it is that they simply dropped frida.re on Encrochat devices, to me the two big Encrochat questions that still aren't resolved are:

Some important context: LA is the US's most populous county (9.6M), and as a result their elections are fascinating. They literally need helicopters fly ballots around. It's amazing. Anyway, that's why it takes so long. Hope this helps.

Voter files are largely public. In many states, political parties can buy them, or request them for free. My research team at Georgia Tech has gotten them from FL and GA for papers we've worked on. It's not shocking that China --- or any intelligence agency --- would get them.

I second this. I'm a professor, one that focuses on election security and disclosed vulns in real elections systems. A simple guide: Unhelpful: Relitigating 2020, the SAVE act. Helpful: Rebuild CISA, re-hire EAC commissioners, & fund elections research.

Our work on age verification on Georgia Tech's homepage! Led by my fantastic grad student @shreyasminocha.me, joint with @harryoppy.bsky.social, and @pearce.bsky.social

Someone at my university's licensing office posted a ton of flyers trying to get our students to file patents. An enterprising grad student took that personally and stuck a flyer advertising the GPL below _every_ one.

New feature digs into the age check tech that Discord endorsed following widespread backlash. Bottom line: On-device checks—if they work as they claim—are more privacy-preserving, but privacy advocates still don't think age verification laws are effective enough to justify any of it:

To the lawyers that came up with compliance training: I hope you step on a lego. Once a day, for all eternity.

Watch today's episode of #ElectionScienceOfficeHours with Host @rmichaelalvarez.bsky.social - Beyond the Hype: A Research Driven Look at Claims About New Voting - with guests Georgia Tech's @mikespecter.com & Delaney Gomen - on the @caltechlcssp.bsky.social's YouTube channel: youtu.be/tbL1dlFT0NM.

#ElectionGeeks: This will be a really interesting conversation on voting system usability and accessibility between @caltechlcssp.bsky.social Co-Director @rmichaelalvarez.bsky.social & Georgia Tech's @mikespecter.com, including discussion on Professor Specter's latest research.

The accepted talks for Real World Crypto 2026 are now online: rwc.iacr.org/2026/accepte... Thanks to everyone who submitted, and we look forward to the discussions at the symposium.

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

I will never forgive these AI companies for making em-dashes impossible to use without being accused of using AI. I miss the em-dash.

A team of researchers found that, by not encrypting the data broadcast by Tile tags, users could be vulnerable to having their location information exposed to malicious actors. www.wired.com/story/tile-t...

On Saturday, the United States Senate Parliamentarian determined that the proposed 10-year federal moratorium on enforcing state AI legislation contained in the budget bill has survived procedural scrutiny — known as the Byrd Rule — and will remain in the bill.

BREAKING: Judge denies NSF's 15% indirect rate plan. Like the DOE and NIH attempts, it too has now been rejected by courts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

[Exit King.]

Congratulations @lambda.bsky.social! Today @theguardian.com is launching a new way for whistleblowers to anonymously contact journalists, based on years-long research by Daniel and other colleagues. www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-of...

Harvard President's commencement welcome speech: "Welcome members of the class of 2025 -- members from down the street across the country and around the world. Around the world _just as it should be._" www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiT0...

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

"What anonymous source is going to go anywhere near me now? If you were some high-up whistleblower, the last thing you’d do is message a journalist on an app strongly associated with JD Vance."