The threats facing our nation are domestic terrorism, not the report by Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic.
Did Mike Waltz have Goldberg in his contacts list? Did he coordinate with The Atlantic before? - Goldberg could have leveraged this to his advantage in another way.
Walz claims he did NOT include Goldberg in the Signal group. Spoofing attacks could involve changing contact information on Waltz's phone which could in theory then make an outsider who was not originally invited to a group privy to the private information within that group.
Did the number of users in the group change at any time?
Was Jamieson Greer included on the active group list?
Is anybody going to ask about the domestic terror attacks and the apps used to plan organize and execute those events at Tesla dealerships, on social media platforms, etc? When is somebody going to leak the names of the ICE leakers?
A 2019 study by the Columbia Journalism Review found that 62% of investigative reporters admitted to using "passive observation" techniques, a broad category that includes overhearing conversations in public spaces or monitoring online forums. More direct eavesdropping, such as intercepting private calls or messages, is less common due to legal risks but not unheard of, particularly in tabloid journalism or high-stakes national security reporting.
Goldberg’s situation differs in that he didn’t seek out the chat; it landed in his lap. Yet his decision to stay, observe, and publish raises parallels to deliberate eavesdropping. “I assumed it was a hoax at first,” Goldberg told NPR’s Ailsa Chang on March 24, 2025, “but once the strikes happened, I realized I’d stumbled into a massive security breach.” Critics argue he exploited a mistake rather than reporting it, a choice that mirrors the ethical dilemmas faced by journalists who overhear sensitive information in a bar or hack a poorly secured server. Legally, under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), his actions appear defensible—he was invited, implying consent from at least one party—but the incident underscores how technology amplifies the reach and risk of eavesdropping in journalism.
AI’s Eavesdropping Evolution: Training on the User
As journalists like Goldberg navigate these fault lines, a parallel technological shift is reshaping their craft: the rise of AI. Artificial intelligence doesn’t just assist reporting—it often relies on a form of digital eavesdropping to function and grow. AI systems, particularly large language models (LLMs) like those powering tools such as ChatGPT or my own framework, learn by ingesting vast datasets of human communication—emails, social media posts, transcripts, and more. This process, while not real-time interception, mirrors eavesdropping in its essence: silently absorbing what users say to refine its capabilities.
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