‘Nightmare Scenario’: Zero-Click Spyware Infecting Phones via Targeted Ads

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‘Nightmare Scenario’: Zero-Click Spyware Infecting Phones via Targeted Ads (Maria)

The author writes, “On Thursday, researchers from The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto revealed a worst-case scenario found in the wild: spyware silently infecting targets as they browse past ads. Dubbing the attacks ‘AdFection,’ the researchers documented a campaign where an Israeli-registered advertising firm allegedly connected to servers linked to a spyware company and infected dozens of devices with malware. … Zero-click hacks are a holy grail for attackers and catastrophic for victims because they can automatically install malware without requiring interaction with or missteps by the target.”

How Homeland Security Infiltrated Anti-ICE Organizations During Operation Metro Surge (Dana)

From The Minnesota Reformer: “The Signal username ‘peanutbutterjelly’ blended in among the silly monikers used by fellow members of Minneapolis chats dedicated to protesting immigration agents during the government’s aggressive winter deportation campaign. She attended an ‘upstander’ training and anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement planning meetings and regularly messaged with others doing the same. … But peanutbutterjelly wasn’t interested in advancing the group’s aims. She was actually undercover agent 9843, a Department of Homeland Security officer ingratiating herself into the world of anti-ICE activists, looking for evidence of crimes.” 

Texas Woman Sues Kristan Hawkins Over Abortion-Pill Stunt (Bethany)

From Mother Jones: “In March, two Mother Jones videographers and I stood outside the Space Center Houston and watched Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, order abortion pills online. We were shadowing Hawkins through Texas for a profile, documentary, and radio story about her role overseeing one of the anti-abortion movement’s most influential organizations, which now claims 1,700 chapters nationwide. On that spring day, we watched as Hawkins … attempted to show just how easy it was to obtain abortion pills in Texas, despite its stringent laws, in the hopes that state and federal officials would do more to stop the pills. Now, Hawkins has been sued over the stunt, under a 2025 ‘bounty hunter’ law she and her team publicly lobbied for that was meant to target abortion providers and advocates.” 

They War-Gamed Dimming the Sun. It Went Even Worse Than You Think (Reader Jim)

The author writes, “Solar geoengineering could buy humanity time against climate change — or trigger a dangerous new arms race. A first-of-its-kind simulation offered a glimpse of what happens when geopolitics takes the wheel.”

A ‘Freaked Out’ US Food Industry Is Hitting Back at MAHA — With Social Media Influencers (Russ)

From Documented and The Guardian: “Some of the biggest food and agriculture corporations in the US are funding a campaign that pays social media influencers to combat elements of Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again platform, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project.” 

‘You Can See Everything’ Review: Elizabeth Holmes Doc Is Utterly Fascinating (Reader Steve)

The author writes, “OK, let’s just start with what I do not know. Because I am not Elizabeth Holmes, I do not know what is going on inside the head of the former biotech superstar convicted in 2022 on four counts of fraud and conspiracy after the much-vaunted blood-testing technology of her company, Theranos, turned out to be mostly smoke and mirrors. I do not know why Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, invited two filmmakers … into their home to film Holmes’ final days of freedom before beginning an 11-year federal prison sentence in 2023. But I do know this: You Can See Everything, the resultant documentary, is utterly fascinating — a three-hour labyrinth that leaves you wondering what is truth, what is performance and what lies somewhere in between.”