I Applied For a Job At Tesla

You should too---and schedule a test drive

Good Evening:

I applied for a job at Tesla.

I encourage you to do the same.

The estimable

Eve gaumond

created 1,000 fake people who also want to apply for jobs there. You can help them.

Then, and most importantly, a not so real version of me signed up to test-drive a Tesla at 10:00 am this morning:

You can do the same here. I wouldn’t not encourage others to schedule a test drive and then not show up.

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A lot of dumb questions from New York Times headline writers to respond to.

Of course he can. Toddlers wear what you dress them in. The real question is whether you should dress your toddler in a dress for your sister’s wedding. Answer: Sure.

She already does.

Because people like him.

Hiding.

Hiding.

Some of us always did.

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Friday on #DogShirtTV, Alicia Wanless and I welcomed the estimable Raluca Csernatoni to discuss European responses to our developing techno-plutocratic hellscape. The estimable Eve Gaumond co-hosted, and the estimable Jonathan Rauch showed up to tell the key joke of our time at the end.

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The Situation: Our Tempestuous Day

In my The Situation column on Friday, I reflect on the parallels between the state of English government in 1819—as expressed in a sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley—and the actions of the U.S. government today:

Indeed, I have no better description of a Senate that would vote to confirm any presidential nominees while the president is busy dismantling federal agencies authorized and funded by Congress, impounding appropriated federal funds, and firing career civil servants. Except perhaps these: “Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know/But leechlike to their fainting country cling/Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow.”

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Today On Lawfare

DOGE Betrays Foundational Commitments of the Privacy Act of 1974

Danielle Citron warns that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a clear threat to privacy and democracy and a manifestation of the dangers the 93rd Congress anticipated when passing the Privacy Act of 1974:

Musk and his team’s access to agency computerized records is an affront to the purpose, spirit, and words of the Privacy Act of 1974. Musk’s staffers may not have been subject to any vetting, let alone the rigorous vetting necessary for government consultants or employees. The Privacy Act does permit the “routine use” of protected information if such use (including sharing) would be compatible with the reason the information was collected in the first place. In connection with the Privacy Act’s commitments, the Treasury Department and OPM have given notice about situations under which agency employees can share records with outside parties and agencies. Were those recognized “routine uses” at play when Musk’s team accessed agency systems of sensitive personal records? What if Musk’s team retrieved people’s records to assess their loyalty to the Trump agenda? What will Musk’s team do with the personal data stored in these highly sensitive systems of records? Will those records be used to carry out retribution that the President has promised? Retribution or loyalty tests have nothing to do with the purpose for which agencies collected that data.

DeepSeek Is a Win for Chinese Hackers

In this week’s Seriously Risky Business newsletter, Tom Uren highlights that Chinese cyber espionage actors may use DeepSeek models to enhance their attacks. Uren also discusses a paper on what constitutes an “unforgivable” vulnerability and the European Union’s announcement of sanctions on 2020 intelligence collection operations:

However, rather than presenting an insurmountable geopolitical or economic risk, the real danger here is more mundane—that DeepSeek models will be used by malicious threat actors to accelerate their campaigns. So far at least, it appears the safety and security features of DeepSeek models aren't up to the standard of other companies developing LLMs. Cisco, for example, found that all of its techniques to "jailbreak" DeepSeek R1 to elicit malicious behavior were successful.

A Multistakeholder Model of Cyber Peace

Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Olivia Grinberg, and Jason Healey argue that major technology companies are best poised to create a sustainable model of cyber peace and recommended collaboration between states, international organizations, and the private sector:

Any model for cyber peace must rely on major technology companies, which have both the relevant ability and the means to either stop the spread of cyber conflict or create meaningful barriers between adversaries. Ideally, this capability would be structured into multilateral institutions.

The Changing Landscape of European Privacy Enforcement

Kenneth Propp discusses legal challenges to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework in European courts, including privacy class action litigation and litigation about the transfer of personal data from the EU to the United States. Propp suggests that continued legal conflict on data transfer could make it an issue of geopolitical importance:

Privacy litigation involving data transfers to the United States has not gone away, however, and indeed seems destined to expand. One privacy activist’s challenge to the DPF is due to be taken up by an EU court soon, and rumors of a second case are becoming more concrete. In addition, European privacy nongovernmental organizations are poised to take advantage of new procedural possibilities for class-action-style litigation and for enhanced damages recovery, as detailed in the sections below. Europe’s changing privacy enforcement landscape could thus emerge as a significant policy issue during Trump’s and von der Leyen’s second terms.

Podcasts

On Lawfare Daily, Anna Hickey speaks to Nayna Gupta about the Laken Riley Act becoming law and its impact on the immigration detention system:

Videos

On Lawfare Live, I speak to Anna Bower and Roger Parloff about various lawsuits targeting President Donald Trump’s executive actions, including DOGE’s recent actions, the deferred resignation program, and the attempt to fire FBI agents and employees:

Documents

Caroline Cornett shares a lawsuit filed by two federal employee unions seeking injunctive and declaratory relief in the face of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development.

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Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is a moray eel with preferences:

Video Source

Today’s Beast is of the opinion that every day should be Mackerel Day. Mackerel today, mackerel tomorrow, mackerel forever! And today’s Beast is correct.

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Reading The Comments

“Don’t read the comments” is one of those pieces of inherited wisdom that everyone knows to be correct, but no one ever follows. Like “it won’t get better if you pick at it.” Or “he’s just not that into you.” You know you shouldn’t read the comments, but the comments are just there, waiting to be read. And hey, maybe this time they’ll be full of interesting, useful commentary which will provoke thoughtful conversation and inform our future content!

They aren’t. They never are. But, sometimes, they’re funny, so I (EJ Wittes) read them anyway:

Wow. That’s so beautifully deranged. I’m kind of in awe. What other things should all politicians read as guidelines on how to behave and serve the people? I’m thinking—Mein Kampf, Robespierre’s speech on virtue and terror, and of course Qaddafi’s unparalleled short story “Suicide of the Astronaut”