Private texts aren't as private as you think (Just ask Alex Jones)
We suddenly find ourselves in a news environment where text messages play a central role. Here's what you need to know about truth, lies and messaging.
Toxic, lying, racist, antisemitic, sexist hater and conspiracy monger Alex Jones got pwned in court yesterday.
Jones was on the stand defending himself in a $150 million defamation lawsuit filed by parents of slain children in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, which Jones’ said on his InfoWars show was faked, causing his lunatic fans to stalk and harass the parents.
The trial has featured a litany of self-owns by both Jones and his incompetent lawyers. But the pièce de résistance: Jones’ own lawyers accidentally sent lawyers for the other side two years worth of Jones’ text messages, providing evidence Jones lied under oath.
Now both the January 6 committee and Jones’ ex-wife, Kelly Jones, say they’ll subpoena the messages to catch Jones in other lies about the insurrection attempt and also in legal battles with his ex-wife.
The exposure of Jones’ text messages takes place against the backdrop of new revelations that the Pentagon, and not just Homeland Security and the Secret Service, deleted communications related to the January 6 insurrection attempt.
An organization called American Oversight filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Defense Department and the Army to get January 6-related records from former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, former chief of staff Kash Patel, and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy and others.
The January 6 committee had specifically asked the Pentagon to preserve all such documents related to the insurrection.
The Washington Post reported that the messages exchanged on January 6 by acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli were also deleted as part of a phone reset during the transition from Trump to Biden administrations.
And, of course, the Secret Service told the committee last month that they were unable to recover deleted texts related to the January 6 seditionist mob attack.
All three agencies claim that deletions were the result of standard procedures.
Suddenly we find ourselves living in a world of messaging coverups and failed coverups.
Jones, as a private citizen, has and should have the right to conceal and delete his text messages. He was just too dumb to do that, and his lawyers were too incompetent not to share them with opposing counsel.
But the Secret Service and Pentagon does not and should not have the right to conceal or delete their messages.
Why these stories don’t make sense
This is what the public understands: The January 6 committee and the Department of Justice need messages sent by high-ranking officials and eye-witness agents before, during and after the January 6 insurrection attempt so they can figure out who is to blame, who is part of the conspiracy and who is criminally liable — but all three agencies deleted all messages they are seeking for totally normal reasons.
But this understanding is false, and here’s why:
The deletions weren’t “normal.” All communications by all persons of interest in these cases are covered by the Federal Records Act, as well as the Privacy Act, which means the communications must be archived as a matter of federal law. So either there’s a cover-up or criminal negligence.
The Secret Service claim that messages were deleted as part of an agency-wide phone reset is very hard to believe, given that (reportedly) only messages exchanged on January 5 and January 6 were apparently deleted, and everything else may have been retained.
While Secret Service messages were apparently wiped, metadata was retained on the messages sent and received by at least 10 members of the Secret Service. That means the committee and DOJ can know who sent a message to whom and when. The investigation can individually interrogate each participant in those conversations to ask them what was messaged.
The way investigations work is that you ask multiple people the same pointed questions individually, then zero in on areas where they tell different stories. The probability that both public servants who serve more than one administration and also political appointees would all choose to risk their own backsides to lie about communications is close to zero. And the exposed liars can face criminal penalties.
The way messaging works is that each participant in a thread has individual control over what happens to the thread. Each can choose to back up, screenshot or share the contents therein. The probability that 100% of the individuals involved in this historic series of events did not capture the content of these conversations in other ways is very low.
Everybody was not using the same messaging platform. According to reports, some used Apple iMessage. Others used Signal. And probably other platforms were involved, including via personal devices. It’s hard to believe that all messages on all platforms are irretrievably gone.
Even if agencies chose to violate the Federal Records Act, the probability that they would just assume there would be no investigation about an attempted coup, a violent riot inside the nation’s capital and a disruption of the Constitutional election process, is zero. Whomever chose to delete records must have known they were deleting evidence of the highest import.
In summary, the deletions of these messages is extremely suspicious, summaries of contents therein are largely recoverable through other means and in an environment where it’s difficult to successfully prosecute slippery political actors, it may be easier to prosecute them for deliberately hiding evidence.
It’s easier to nail them on the coverup than the crime. This will turn out to be one of the most interesting stories, both for politics and technology, as further details unfold.
Mike’s List of Brilliantly Bad Ideas
1. This site lets you combine any two emojis to create a new emoji
Emoji Kitchen created a site that lets you take any two emojis and instantly combine them to make a brand new emoji.
2. A.I. is NOT ready to illustrate children’s books
A lab called Midjourney opened its text-to-image AI engine to beta testers, and Dutch artist Joris Bax plugged in the text for the children’s story, “Good Night Moon” to horrifying effect.
3. Desk pillow blows air at your face while you sleep. Why, Japan? Why?
From the country that brought you stand-up office nap coffins comes portable desk pillows! The chief innovation of the Desk Nap Pillow from Japan’s Thanko is an adjustable fan. You can point the fan from the outside blowing at your side-turned face or aim the fan from the center blowing up through the hole directly at your down-turned face. (I sense that these gadgets, which provide slight relieve to the totally exhausted, are not getting at the root of Japan’s overwork crisis.)
4. The “metaverse” is boring
Somebody with way too much time on their hands re-created a detailed Kmart in virtual reality. Even the P.A. system works, so you can announce specials. Some 3,000 people occasionally work or shop there via their avatars, for some reason. You can literally be anyone and do anything in virtual reality, and people choose to be Kmart employees? The fake store has a real website and Twitter account.
5. This Japanese bento box comes with it’s own grill and matches
A bento box restaurant in Hong Kong called Bento-Yaki is selling this bento box that comes with its own tiny grill and charcoal, plus a book of matches for starting the fire and a bag of water to put it out. It’s the perfect lunch for dining in at your cubicle.
Mike’s List of Shameless Self Promotions
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CURRENT LOCATION: Oaxaca, Mexico
