Yael Writes

Stuff I Wrote: March-August

Yael Grauer — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 05:07:31 +0000

How To Shut Stalkers Out Of Your Tech (Consumer Reports) People facing domestic abuse can take these steps to lock down their devices and eliminate stalkerware.

A Digital Guide to Breaking Up: How to Reclaim Your Online Accounts After a Relationship Ends (Consumer Reports) Social media and streaming accounts can serve up painful reminders of relationships that have ended. Here’s how to ease the burden.

What To Do After A Data Breach (Consumer Reports) Follow these steps to secure your personal information

How To Filter Out Twitter Trolls by Using Block Party (Consumer Reports) This anti-harassment tool automatically filters out certain tweets and lets you review them later.

New Open Source Project Automates Data Deletion Requests by Email (Consumer Reports’ Digital Lab) A blog post about Privacy Bot.

How To Delete Your Old Tweets (Consumer Reports) These third-party services make it much easier to remove some or all of the tweets on your timeline

Should You Buy Refurbished Electronics? (Consumer Reports) Pre-owned smartphones, laptops, tablets, and headphones can be a great deal—if you know what to look for

How to Use ‘Have I Been Pwned’ To See If Your Data Was Compromised (Consumer Reports) The site can reveal whether your log-in credentials, financial data, or other details have been stolen or leaked online, and send email alerts about new data breaches

What To Do With Your Old Laptop (Consumer Reports) Instead of letting it sit idle in your home, why not try one of these four options?

Which Cloud Backup and Storage Options Are Right For You? (Consumer Reports) These services can help you protect your important files

How To Recycle Old Electronics (Consumer Reports) 3 smart, responsible tactics for getting rid of unwanted laptops, phones, and more

Why Email Providers Scan Your Emails (Consumer Reports) Even if your messages aren’t scanned for ads, companies may scan, read, and even share them with third parties.

Quotables

I was quoted in Angela Lashbrook’s piece, The Best Password Managers, According to Security Experts, in the Strategist. My recently updated Big Ass Data Broker Opt Out List was cited in The Hill in a piece titled Klobuchar, Murkowski urge FTC to protect domestic abuse victims’ data. My reporting on the massive surveillance of China’s Uyghur minority was cited in an Amnesty International report titled Like We Were Enemies In A War: China’s Mass Internment, Torture and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang. I also spoke in a CSN & Trend Micro panel titled Internet of Things: Staying Secure When We’re All Connected. And I’m super excited my extremely tiny role earned me a mention in the thank-yous of a truly amazing project, Freedom of the Press Foundation’s U.S. Journalism School Digital Security Curriculum. My reporting on Zoom with Micah Lee was also cited widely in a lawsuit which recently led to an $850 million settlement.

Stuff I Wrote: January – February 2021

Yael Grauer — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 05:31:17 +0000

Every time I round up all my articles for the month/quarter/whatever, I’m amazed that this blog is still up because I keep taking steps to getting the site redesigned (which is also why I haven’t fixed the image security). Still, I know that people rely on this to keep an eye on my work because I get emails every time I send this out, and I appreciate you guys!

And, of course, none of my work would be possible without sources that trust me to tell their stories or explain difficult concepts they’re far more well-versed in, researchers and fact-checkers and editors that put up with me obsessing about and sometimes debating every word, art/graphics departments, and so much more, so this is one way to try to spread the shine. So here’s yet another roundup; perhaps the last one of its kind.

Revealed: Massive Chinese Police Database (The Intercept)

Millions of leaked police files detail suffocating surveillance of China’s Uyghur minority. For this story, I was also interviewed for the Intercepted podcast, Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Digital Security and ROMS twitch stream, Talk East Turkestan, and Ahkbar in the UAE. If this article moves you to make a donation, I would recommend donating to the Xinjiang Victims Database or Human Rights Watch rather than The Intercept, which badly mishandled the project on the ~3 years I worked on it, including sitting on drafts for as long as 4.5 months and laying off almost the entire research team, who were absolutely pivotal to the project.) Special thanks goes to Darren Byler, who I interviewed over a dozen times because of massive delays on the part of The Intercept.

How one hacker’s push to secure the internet became a crucial part of Mac, Linux, and Windows operating systems (Business Insider)

I was thrilled to profile security researcher and WireGuard creator Jason A. Donenfeld, though it was a little bit out of my comfort zone since I do almost entirely investigative tech reporting and service journalism. Still, I wrote a little blurb about WireGuard for PopSci’s annual Best of What’s New feature, and there was so much more to the story. I’m posting the Yahoo! News link because of the paywall, but this was originally published on Business Insider. (You can donate to WireGuard here, if you’re so inclined.)

How To Use WhatsApp Privacy Settings (Consumer Reports)

The messaging app, which is owned by Facebook, may be sharing more information than you realize. I did a little breakdown of what settings you may want to change and why. (I also did a little Insta Reel for this piece, which was way out of my comfort zone. You can check it out here if you promise not to laugh too hard.)

How to Use Clubhouse, The Audio-Only, By Invite App, Without Giving Up All of Your Data (Consumer Reports)

The popular social media platform has sparked concern from privacy and security experts. I spoke to hacker Brian Pak, privacy attorney Whitney Merrill, and subreddit mod Bryant Zadegan about some of the issues and what people should consider when deciding how or whether to use the app.

Worst of Cybersecurity Reporting

Each year, David Huerta and I do a little CactusCon talk breaking down the biggest tech media fails of the prior year. I’m starting to feel a little weird about this because as much as journalists often make major errors when covering tech, a lot of technologists, too, are in a bit of a bubble where they throw out wild accusations about journalists fabricating sources, making up information and even deliberately misrepresenting things. It’s far more likely that unnamed sources got things wrong or that it was just an honest mistake. Still, misleading news articles can cause real harm, and it’s important to learn from other people’s mistakes. So here’s a video of us discussing the worst cybersec reporting in 2020, followed by Q&A.

March is Here

Since I’m writing this in early March, here’s a sneak peek to a story that’ll be in the next roundup, if I do one: How to Shut Stalkers Out of Your Tech. I also have a video with very poor lighting that I’m going to try to talk myself into sharing, and am working on some stories I hope will be out by the end of the month.

All the Mr. Robot Content in One Spot

Yael Grauer — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 04:39:45 +0000

Someone asked me if my Mr. Robot coverage was all in one place, and, well, it is now!

Season 1: WIRED

My first piece was a roundup of the tools and apps used in Season 1. My husband came up with the headline.

A Peek Inside Mr. Robot’s Toolbox

Season 2: Forbes Roundtables

Then I “graduated” to writing blog posts for Forbes, which were paywalled, mostly unedited, and very underpaid. I’m adding a . after forbes.com in the links so you can still read them even after hitting the limit for free articles. If that stops working, my contract allows me to repost the full text anywhere, so I can always do that here.

Episode 1: Society’s OPSEC Is Lacking

Episode 2: Ransomware, Burner Phones, And Setting Cash On Fire

Episode 3: Stolen Bitcoin, Exploding Computers, And More Bad Opsec

Episode 4: When the FBI And Dark Army Are On Your Trail…

Episode 5: 5/9 Truth: Wake Up, Sheeple!

Episode 6: Angela Moss Becomes A Skiddie

Episode 7: What Is Real?

Episode 8: Darlene Takes Off The Heart-Shaped Glasses

Episode 9: Rubber Duckie, You’re The One

Episode 10: The Chickens Come Home To Roost

Episode 11: Twin Peaks Edition

Episode 12: The Grand Finale

I also got to interview writer and tech producer (and former network security analyst) Kor Adana, which was a lot of fun.

Meet Kor Adana, The Man Who Keeps Mr. Robot’s Hacks on Point

Seasons 3: Motherboard

Then I moved onto Motherboard, which paid better, actually has editors, and stopped me from getting dozens of complaints from hackers about Forbes’ ad blocker blocker (even though they were uniquely qualified to circumvent said ad blocker blocker). I enjoy getting emails about more interesting concerns, so this was a good move. I also didn’t have to edit out any weird URL tags from these, which is nice.

Season 3, Episode 1

Season 3, Episode 2

Season 3, Episode 3

Season 3, Episode 4

Season 3, Episode 5

Season 3, Episode 6

Season 3, Episode 7

Season 3, Episode 8

Season 3, Episode 9

Season 3, Episode 10

Season 4: Motherboard

I got to stay at Motherboard for Season 4, which was a lot of fun because I got to work with an amazing editor named Janus Rose. We also managed to get early access to episodes, which was really fun to share with all of the amazing people joining these roundtables. They’re a bit more focused on just the tech and less on the plot for the final season.

Season 4, Episode 1

Season 4, Episode 2

Season 4, Episode 3

Season 4, Episode 4

Season 4, Episode 5

Season 4, Episode 6

Season 4, Episode 7

Season 4, Episode 8

Season 4, Episode 9

Season 4, Episode 10

Season 4, Episode 11

Season 4, Episode 12

Stuff I Wrote: October through December

Yael Grauer — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 07:47:49 +0000

How to Use Consumer Reports Security Planner to Stay Safer Online (Consumer Reports). Thrilled to finally announce the relaunch of Security Planner, which I’d been quietly working on for six months alongside a talented team. CR Security Planner is a free, easy-to-use guide to staying safer online. It provides personalized recommendations and expert advice on topics such as keeping social media accounts from being hacked, locking down smart speakers and home security cameras, and reducing intrusive tracking by websites. This tool builds upon the work of the Citizen Lab, which originally launched and managed the project. You can also check out the tool directly at https://securityplanner.consumerreports.org/.

The Most Significant Security Innovations of 2020 (Popular Science) Along with Purbita Saha, I helped draw attention to some cool new tech for Popular Science, as part of the larger 100 Greatest Innovations of 2020 list.

Why It’s Smart to Use Authentication Apps for Multifactor Security (Consumer Reports) The apps generate short-lived codes to use along with a password. That can be safer than having codes texted to you.

I was a guest on Freedom of the Press Foundation’s podcast. And at HasGeek, along with Ginny Hahs, I gave a talk on Data Brokers and Consequences for Personal Data.

11 Freelance Tips from 11 Years of Freelancing

Yael Grauer — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 01:56:24 +0000

It’s December 1st, which means that I have been freelancing full-time for 11 years, can you believe it?! Normally I celebrate with a day pass at the nicest coworking space I can find and break bread (well, cupcakes) and sometimes bubbly with strangers, but it’s still a pandemic! Instead, today, I enjoyed Wicked Good Cupcakes at home and tweeted out 11 pieces of unsolicited advice I’ve gleaned in my freelance journey. I wanted to post those here, too.

11. My first piece of counterintuitive advice is… don’t meet with every editor who asks. Especially if they just want to vaguely discuss stories they might consider assigning you or another 10 writers. (Unless you just want to grab coffee or something; that’s okay, too.) People often take these meetings with bright hopes but sometimes it’s editors feeling out your best ideas that they don’t end up using, AKA two hours of your time that should have been a rejection email.

10. Another counterintuitive piece of advice: carve out time for yourself unabashedly. It’s one of the few perks you get as a freelancer that you’ve exchanged institutional support, a steady paycheck, benefits, etc. for and you should use it. For a year I would go to the gym in the morning and was in the best shape of my life. (My coach tried to convince me that walking barefoot pulls free electrons from the Earth into the body and wanted to talk about my attitude when I called bullshit, but whatever.) I literally was gone from 9am to noon, the best work hours of the day, three days a week, because I could. I recommend this level of self-care, or something like it. Also, people for the most part don’t notice if you stop working 12-hour days, or whatever.

9. Any organization that is shocked (shocked!) that you want to discuss a bad contract provision is one you don’t want to be working for. They may not make changes, but they should at least check. It’s a serious red flag when they lose their shit simply because you brought it up.

8. This is a no-brainer, but I don’t think you can really push yourself as a freelancer without constantly seeking out education even when it doesn’t seem to directly tie into your beat. Think MOOCs, video courses, conferences, in-person classes (for credit or not), coaching, eading industry books, watching panel discussions and screenings (like this one!) and just soaking up knowledge. If you’re sick of your beat, find an interesting new angle to explore or switch beats.

7. I was lucky in that I didn’t get this pushed on me until after I’d already been freelancing for a while, but you don’t have to pretend to be neutral or hide details of who you are or default to the lived, white, cis, male, American experience that’s considered “objective.” Fairness and accuracy are important. Pretending that something abhorrent or factually inaccurate deserves equal consideration is not. And I don’t think responding to bad faith accusations of bias by doubling down on blandness and feigned neutrality is the solution.

There’s actually some pretty amazing writing about this from people like Wesley Lowery and Lewis Raven Wallace and others that I’m happy to share with anybody who has a pulse and is interested. Find organizations that share your values or have missions you support. And not just on paper. (Yes, easier said than done, but they are out there.)

6. No matter what editors tell you, simultaneous submissions are the norm and nobody will get mad at you. (Well, one person got mad at me in 11 years). If I pitched and waited for each story idea, I’d write one piece a quarter and be well below the poverty line. I mean, I’ll give editors who respond quickly and who I have a relationship with first dibs sometimes, but after that it’s a matter of trying to place a story and what I think is the best and quickest way to do that.

5. People tell you not to be friends with your sources, which is generally good advice, but it’s…complicated. Having trusted contacts who can share key pieces of information or point you in the right direction is not something any editor will complain about. It’s complicated, but personally I would much rather have to tell an editor I’m not the best person to write a piece now and again if I’m too close to it than try to sequester myself rather than being part of a brilliant community.

4. This one ties into what I wrote about carving out time for yourself but I really think hobbies that have nothing to do with journalism or with your beat are so, so important. (For me that’s been guitar and hiking and jiu-jitsu and weightlifting and cooking and baking… I also take nature photos that are unrelated to work, have done random TV podcasts, want to get really good at stargazing and I play a lot of board games. I read books about philosophy…., etc.) If you must find a way to tie a hobby into work to justify it to yourself, realize that it can help improve your observation skills, give you a way to connect with sources, give you new ideas, etc. For me it’s given me desperately needed perspective. I went through years where I would literally eat, sleep and breathe work and I’m really glad they’re over… sometimes the first step is going on a walk or picking up a novel or watching a documentary about trains.

3. Trust your instincts. I can come up with a million stories about this but a recent one was when a Pulitzer prize winning professor told me I spent too much time thinking about security, which would negatively impact my career and stop me from getting scoops and stories… About 60-70% of my income in 2020 was related in some way to security. And I can’t count on both hands the number of times an editor rejected a story that was published (by me or someone else) and did tremendously well. Advice is good, but sometimes you’re best to ignore it.

2. Keep pushing. Push yourself and push the industry. Join groups like IWW FJU, NWU, and even Study Hall, groups that who have a vision and a dream of what the industry could look like. But also push yourself to do and learn more than you ever thought possible. That means to stop bragging about how you’re “bad at math” or “bad at scheduling” or “bad at showing up to meetings when you say you’re going to” or “bad at spelling.” But it also means to really work on your areas of weakness in a serious way. Take a statistics class and a data journalism class if you’re “bad at numbers.” Take a narrative writing class if you’re better at reporting than the craft of writing (hand raised). Don’t settle for mediocre or get too comfortable; this isn’t an industry where you can coast. This can also be about pushing yourself to collaborate more meaningfully or to build community or to humanize the team you’re working with. (I send holiday cards and gifts to editors every year, and it’s one of my favorite traditions.) We all know what we need to improve.

1. And my final piece of advice before I go back to demolishing this Wicked Good Cupcake and trying to think of what perfect mid-day cocktail I should whip up to accompany it might be… Keep pushing for your dream byline or dream job. There are always organizations you’d drop everything to work with, whether it’s freelance or staff or some other arrangement altogether. I’m sure you can think of a few…I’ve been lucky to write for or work with many of my dream organizations (honestly too long to list here) over the past 11 years but I still have The Markup, ProPublica, etc. in my sights. Dream big and reach for the stars.

Stuff I Wrote: July through September

Yael Grauer — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 05:51:46 +0000

A friend recently pointed out that I haven’t updated this blog in a while. Part of this is because I’m way overdue to revamp this website, and don’t pay much as much attention to it as I should. Beyond that, I’ve been working on some long-term projects which launch in October, December/January and an undetermined future date. (I also helped with a podcast that’ll be out later this month, so I’ll update this post when it is.) That said, I do have five posts and a few odds and ends to share! Here’s a smattering of things I worked on over the past few months.

Huge fleets of Chinese boats have been hiding in North Korean waters (Wired UK)

A combination of satellite tech and AI has helped uncover more than 900 Chinese vessels that might be illegally fishing in North Korean waters. Also, here’s the U.S.-based Wired version of the same story.

The Best VPN Service (Updated!) (Wirecutter, a New York Times company)

This is an update of a piece I did about a year ago, and we have a new top pick and runner-up, and some information on what VPNs are and what they do and don’t do.

How to Delete Your Information From People Search Sites (Consumer Reports)

This accompanied a beautiful narrative feature by Mara Hvistendahl. It’s also a good complement to my Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List, which is out now on Github!

Following the DevOps Career Arc From Beginner to Top Tier (Dice Insights)

Cybersecurity Expert Careers: Skills to Embrace, Pitfalls to Avoid (Dice Insights)

I was also quoted in a story about Mozilla’s new VPN in Daily Dot by Ana Valens and was one of many amazing guests on Freedom of the Press Foundation’s really fun podcast on Twitch, which you should totally be listening to. Additionally, I did some background research and writing for EFF’s post about predictive policing: Technology Can’t Predict Crime, It Can Only Weaponize Proximity to Policing by Matthew Guariglia. Also, I was able to cross “being cited in not one, but two amicus briefs to the Supreme Court” off my bucket list. (While you’re here, see this letter in response to Voatz’s recent SCOTUS brief advocating a broad interpretation of the CFAA.)

Stuff I Wrote: January – June 2020

Yael Grauer — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 01:25:31 +0000

It’s been an eventful couple of quarters, to say the least. With the world in such turmoil, I wanted to extend my warmest wishes for you and your family. Some of the posts below were written in response to the pandemic and its unique challenges. With working from home becoming more and more prevalent, digital security is as important as ever, whether that’s securing your accounts or just figuring out what your bosses have access to during a video meeting. And, of course, there are unscrupulous companies trying to take advantage of the pandemic to promote insecure voting technology.

I also shared tips on working from home in a time where we’re all dealing with distraction, and on keeping freelance incomes as steady as possible amidst economic turmoil. And I wrapped up with some awards I’ve recently won as well as some speaking engagements. Hopefully some of this is helpful.

Freelancing in the Time of Coronavirus

Do You Have COVID-19 or Something Else? (Lifehacker)

Staying Focused While Working From Home (Reynolds)

Freelancing? Here’s How To Keep Your Income Steady During the Pandemic (Reynolds) No matter who you are, it’s hard not to panic in the midst of massive change. Here’s what to do to feel steady in the storm.

Digital Security Tips

The Best Security Key for Multi-Factor Authentication (Wirecutter)

Slack, Zoom, Google Hangouts: Are Your Remote Work Apps Spying on You? (OneZero) It’s time to double-check your settings.

8 Ways To Protect Your Privacy From Alexa (Reviewed) If you own an Echo or Alexa speaker, you’ll want to adjust these settings.

Investigations

Why Is the Healthcare Industry Still So Bad at Cybersecurity? (Ars Technica) This demanded a cross-industry summit—so now medical, security pros attend CyberMed.

Zoom Meetings Aren’t End-to-End Encrypted, Despite Misleading Marketing (The Intercept) Co-written with Micah Lee. You can also read it in Portuguese.

Safe Harbor, or Thrown to the Sharks by Voatz? (Cointelegraph) This piece was linked to by Mother Jones, Fortune, the Verge

Voatz Blockchain App Used in U.S. Elections Has Numerous Issues, Says Report (Cointelegraph)

Internet Voting is ‘Not Secure’ and Blockchain Won’t Help, Warns Scientific Body (Coindesk)

Tips for Journalists

How to Read a 10K (Reynolds)

How to Read a Sec Form D (Reynolds)

How to Cover Mutual Aid Networks (Reynolds)

Applying for a Journalism Award as a Cooperative Can Be Frustrating: Here’s How You Can Plan Ahead (Center for Cooperative Media)

Freelancing in the Time of Coronavirus

Do You Have COVID-19 or Something Else? (Lifehacker)

Staying Focused While Working From Home (Reynolds)

Speaking

In February, I testified in front of the Arizona House of Representatives Committee on Technology on ways to strengthen proposed biometrics legislation. I also spoke on ways to strengthen proposed data privacy legislation.

In April, I spoke about freelance journalism in the time of COVID-19 with Yale Privacy Lab founder Sean O’Brien ahead of the Flatten the Curve Summit.

And in May, I spoke about security concerns surrounding remote work on a panel at the virtual summit Futureproof IT, alongside with Amelie Koran of Splunk and Shrav Metha of Secureframe, moderated by journalist Rob Pegoraro.

Awards

I picked up some awards for group projects I worked on while completing my grad school degree. “State of Emergency,” News21’s group investigation on disaster recovery that I participated in, won the IRE Student (At Large) awards. The judges said, “This team’s work had a lot of scope, sweep and polish that’s admirable for a student project. They did an excellent job finding real stories, real people and bringing a nationwide focus to an issue that’s critical to so many communities in a vulnerable time of need. What could have been a boring data story about communities coping with smaller disasters was transformed into a compelling multimedia experience.” This same project also won the prestigious 2020 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the College Journalism category.

An investigation I helped with about Arizona’s grazing fees won an honorable mention in SABEW’s 2019 Best in Business awards in the Student Journalism — Stories for Professional Media Outlets category. This same piece was also a finalist in SPJ’s Region 11 Mark of Excellence Awards in the General News Reporting (Large) 10,000+ Students category.

Stuff I Wrote: December 2019

Yael Grauer — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 23:11:45 +0000

I rounded out the year with the final Mr. Robot episode discussions and one piece for Slate.

Episode 9: Conflict
Episode 10: Gone
Episode 11: eXit
Series Finale
Arizona Now Has a Task Force Focused on Countering Disinformation (Slate/Future Tense)

Stuff I Wrote: September, October, November

Yael Grauer — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 08:59:24 +0000

Tiny Little Pieces of Plastic are Getting into Everything (Thrive) Beth Polidoro and her ASU SWAT lab set out to make the oceans and the seafood we eat safe from microplastics and other pollutants

How to Fact-Check Your Business Story (Reynolds Center) Verifying information in your stories is more important than ever

How to Read IRS Form 990 Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 (Reynolds Center) You can find out a lot about non-profit organizations from this form, but only if you know where to look.

What Does a VPN Security Audit Really Prove? (PC Mag) Knowing which VPNs you can trust is hard for experts, let alone consumers. Can security audits help the situation? Maybe, but only if you understand how to interpret them.

How to Skim a Privacy Policy (Lifehacker) You just downloaded the hottest new app, and now you have to click through…

Hackers Dissect ‘Mr. Robot’ Season 4: Episode 1: Unauthorized, 2: Payment Required, 3: Forbidden, 4: File Not Found, 5: Method Not Allowed, 6: Not Acceptable, 7: Proxy Authentication Required, 8: Request Timed Out

Podcast:

I spoke about my ALPR articles on The Show: https://theshow.kjzz.org/content/1157091/how-some-traffic-cameras-are-tracking-your-license-plate

Stuff I Wrote: August 2019

Yael Grauer — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 07:31:02 +0000

August was the month that I finished coursework for my Masters degree in Mass Communication, the month I spent a week at DEF CON playing Open CTF and connecting with friends, new and old, and the month my husband and I escaped to Minnesota to see family and go on a bit of a vacation. August also saw the culmination of two projects I’d put a considerable amount of time into, as well as a very important post I put together quite quickly. It’s also the month I’ve been building up business again after a year of working overtime—so if you are in need of an investigative tech reporter, please get in touch.

The Best VPN Service (Wirecutter)

I spent months researching and testing VPNs, and these are the results. I was hesitant to take on this project after penning a post on how you couldn’t meaningfully rank VPNs back in 2016, but couldn’t pass the opportunity to write for one of my favorite sites. Luckily, I had a handful of technical experts who answered countless questions as I worked through what data I could find in an incredibly opaque industry. In particular, Dan Guido, cofounder and CEO of Trail of Bits, spent two hours talking me through the ins and outs of security audits and their limitations, security challenges I was unaware of, and other considerations that hadn’t crossed my mind. And, of course, my editors and the entire team at Wirecutter were also amazing. Sarah Jeong linked to this piece in The New York Times’ Privacy Project newsletter, which was pretty cool.

FEMA Still Struggles With Post-Disaster Planning (News21)

This piece, written in collaboration with Harrison Mantas and Kailey Broussard, is the culmination of 10 weeks of reporting on how FEMA still struggles with coordination and communication during disasters, even after years of reforms and reorganizations. It was done for News21, as part of a larger project on disaster recovery called State of Emergency. This piece was picked up by NonDoc in Oklahoma, which was neat since my fellowship (and Harrison’s!) was funded by the Oklahoma-based Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Facebook Insists No Security ‘Backdoor’ Is Planned for WhatsApp (OneZero)

The company is fighting back against rumors that it would scan messages on users’ phones prior to encryption… and I delved into some of the ways we could tell if this wasn’t the case. For this piece, I interviewed a WhatsApp spokesperson and Steve Weis, a fellow at the Aspen Tech Policy Hub and former software engineer at Facebook.

Coming Up

It’s been a weird month since I was on vacation for half of it and business is just revving up again now that I’m done with school, and I’m still working on some long-term projects that may or may not be up in September. At the very least, you can look forward to a profile of a marine toxicologist this month. And in October, Mr. Robot is returning…