Federal Agencies Target 'Anti-Tech Extremists,' Pesticides Linked to Brain and Organ Damage, Phone-Free Events
June 10, 2026

Federal intelligence agencies and domestic law enforcement are circulating reports with a new domestic target in mind: anti-technology extremists. More than 1,000 pages of unpublished reports from the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and fusion centers ... show a national shift taking place to surveil this new and worryingly broad category of people and activities. This new effort follows President Donald Trump's National Security Presidential Memo 7, which instructs the Department of Justice to target anyone holding “anti-American,” “anti-Christian,” and "anti-capitalism” beliefs. these Trump administration directives have commandeered the domestic surveillance apparatus to surveil and criminalize speech and assembly that challenges the ideology of the White House. A new focus on anti-technology extremism adds an unreported category to already public designations. A New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau report ... warns of widespread upheaval in response to AI adoption. Of particular note is a novel term for what the bureau purports to be an emerging extremism threat. "The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent AI technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas," the report reads. The term "anti-tech violent extremism" does not appear in any publicly available DHS or FBI domestic extremism reports or guides

Americans speaking out against artificial intelligence data centers on social media are falling under police surveillance, a confidential law enforcement bulletin ... reveals. A fusion center in Philadelphia combed through spicy internet comments from AI critics and concluded there is a growing risk of physical violence against data centers from “domestic violent extremists,” ranging from white supremacists to anarchists. “Domestic violent extremists (DVEs) are likely interested in targeting artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, posing a physical and cyber threat to infrastructure in the Philadelphia regional area,” the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center wrote in a December alert. The fusion center, housed inside the Philadelphia Police Department, warned that “disruptive First Amendment activity” is an “indicator” of risk from “Domestic Violent Extremists,” an expansive term favored by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Longtime Philadelphia civil rights lawyer Paul Hetznecker said he was troubled by the fusion center’s association of AI skeptics with terrorists. “Those are legitimate, popular political concerns that are raised by local communities,” Hetznecker said. “This particular report from [the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center] reflects a very dangerous attempt to characterize that protected First Amendment activity — activity which is fundamental to our democracy — as ... a breeding ground for something more sinister.”

Some of the largest data-collecting companies in the United States—including major AI vendors, data brokers, defense contractors, and dating apps—rely on deceptive methods to keep consumers from opting out of the sale and sharing of their personal information. Researchers at [the Electronic Privacy Information Center] audited the opt-out processes of 38 major data companies and documented at least eight distinct categories of manipulative design: Opt-out forms that don't actually let users opt out of the sale of their data. Links that are buried in fine print and missing from homepages. Consumers routed through multiple separate forms to complete a single request. And requirements that users create accounts or pay for subscriptions before opting out at all, among others. Major companies offering large language models, such as Google, Meta, and OpenAI, fail to clearly link their opt-out forms from their homepages or privacy policies, according to the report, and several require consumers to submit multiple separate forms to complete a single request. OpenAI's form, when a consumer finds it, does not offer a way to opt out of the sale or transfer of personal data. What it offers instead is an option to “remove personal information from ChatGPT responses,” which EPIC says is a filter on the chatbot's output, not the removal of any underlying data. Researchers found that the people-search brokers they audited—Spokeo, Whitepages, and National Public Data—do not offer consumers a way to opt out of the sale or transfer of their data at all. Instead, the companies offer a process for removing individual listings by URL, one at a time, with no commitment to stop selling that same person's information in the future.

A push to restrict agricultural pesticides appears to be stalling, and a draft of a report obtained by ABC News does not signal any intention to eliminate them. This comes as a separate landmark study links negative effects of certain pesticides on children's brains. Pesticides are ubiquitous in our food supply. Numerous studies over the years have shown the detrimental effects of various chemicals on neuro development, but this is the first study to follow a large sample of children from pregnancy and get precise brain measurements. For the first time, researchers can tell you exactly how pesticides can cause harm in the offspring of exposed pregnant women. CHLA and Columbia University researchers said pesticides trigger inflammation and oxidative stress, which harms neurons and slows down how energy flows through the brain. "So that would be evident in things like penmanship, and spelling, and motor speed, performance," said [study author Dr. Bradley] Peterson. Researchers studied 270 children from birth up to 14 years old. Their mothers had been exposed to pesticides from having their homes fumigated and from using commercial sprays, but researchers say these moms were also exposed to chemicals in the produce and grains they ate. Peterson ... recommends more eco-friendly ways to eliminate pests and eating organic produce and grains when possible. "If you're able to afford it and can find it, we would recommend that," he said.

Jacquie Sullivan, the longest serving member of the City Council in Bakersfield history, is now in retirement, battling a foe tougher than any she faced in seven elections: Parkinson’s disease. Kern County [is] the largest consumer of the deadly herbicide Paraquat in California. Over a five year period, 2017 to 2021, Kern County farmers sprayed 1.2 million pounds of the stuff on local ag land, along with tons of other herbicides. No wonder Kern County is also No. 1 in the state for Parkinson’s disease, an incurable neurodegenerative disorder. Loss of smell and shoulder pain are among the early symptoms. Tremors, slowing of movement, difficulty sleeping and stiffness can come later. Then in more advanced stages, loss of cognitive ability. An estimated 117,000 Californians are living with the disease — the highest per capita level in the country. Those who work directly with certain chemicals, including herbicides, face even higher risks, up to 400% higher. But you don’t have to be in direct contact with the spray to suffer harmful exposure. Drinking well water in certain agricultural areas increases risk by 70 to 90%. In 2024, the State Assembly approved a “moratorium” on paraquat use that would have taken effect this past January, giving state regulators an opportunity to reevaluate paraquat and potentially reapprove the chemical with or without new restrictions. But state Senate amendments killed all the restrictions.

Vermont is the first US state to ban the weedkilling pesticide paraquat, backed by lawmakers who cited concerns about research showing the chemical substantially increases the risk of the incurable brain ailment known as Parkinson’s disease. Phil Scott, the governor, signed the legislation on Tuesday. The new law takes effect on 1 November, though it contains a provision allowing state regulators to issue special permits for paraquat use on fruit-producing tree orchards, berries and other “small fruit” crops up until 31 December 2030. Early versions of the law pointed to multiple studies by the National Institutes of Health have demonstrated that paraquat exposure substantially increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease in those exposed to the herbicide. Lawmakers also noted that other NIH studies have linked paraquat to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and childhood leukemia. Ray Dorsey, a neurologist who directs research into environmental causes of brain diseases at Atria Health and Research Institute, said Vermont’s action was “another step toward preventing this largely man-made disease”. He said that many countries had banned paraquat and said it “is long overdue for the US to do the same”. Numerous scientific studies have found that paraquat damages cells in the brain in ways that can lead to Parkinson’s, and more than 8,000 lawsuits are pending in US courts over the Parkinson’s allegations.

For decades, regulators viewed chlorpyrifos — a pesticide widely used in the U.S. and around the world — primarily as a neurotoxin that disrupts signaling in the brain and nervous system. Growing evidence suggests chlorpyrifos may damage the brain, hormones, liver, gut microbiome, muscles, reproductive organs, and bones. Studies also link the pesticide to DNA damage and lasting changes in gene activity that may increase the risk of chronic disease. Together, the findings portray chlorpyrifos as what the reviewers call a “multi-system toxicant” that poses a more significant threat to public health than previously understood. It suggests the pesticide acts on the body in ways far beyond disrupted nerve signaling or obvious poisoning. Pregnancy and early childhood are especially sensitive periods for chemical exposure. “What has genuinely evolved over time is our understanding that chlorpyrifos causes harm in ways that go beyond its effects on the nervous system including damage to DNA, changes in how genes are switched on or off, interference with hormones, and disruption of the healthy bacteria that live in the gut,” said Dr. Dana Boyd Barr. current regulatory systems may not fully capture the complexity of chlorpyrifos’ dangers to the body. Many occur at levels too low to be detected by current safety testing, which looks for the disruption of an enzyme involved in nerve cell communication.

Many people don’t think of pesticides when they look at a bouquet of flowers. But they’re full of them. Buying from your local supermarket won’t necessarily put you at risk, say experts – that falls to the growers and florists who handle what the charity describes as “toxic bombs”. Chemicals protect flowers from disease and pests and, as customers want perfect blooms year-round, keep them looking uniform. But research shows they can easily be absorbed through skin contact or inhalation by people exposed for hours every day. Unlike food, there is no upper limit on pesticide residue levels in flowers in the EU, UK or US. Handling flowers every day may well have consequences we don’t yet understand. “There’s a whole group [of pesticides] that cause cancer, or are recognised to probably cause cancer, and [florists] are probably being exposed to them. There’s a whole group that affects reproductive health. They’re probably being exposed to them too,” says [clinical toxicology professor Michael] Eddleston. “What I would worry about as a florist is long-term chronic exposure to multiple pesticides … which are simply not being controlled and that can’t be safe.” Many florists only hear about the risks through word of mouth. Roisin Taylor ... who has mostly worked with locally grown stems, says the chalky film that covers her hands when she touches imported flowers is obvious. And she knows to wash her hands thoroughly before she eats lunch.

Members of Gen Z and Millennials are attending phone-free experiences 567% more often across the globe, signaling a major shift in how people want to gather. Eventbrite data shows that the generations having grown up with limited to no social media and smartphone use, and which then lead the charge to its ubiquitous adoption, is now leading the world back—away from constant connectivity. These events now span the full calendar year, signaling a shift from temporary reset to sustained behavior. The momentum is most pronounced in the US and UK, though each market reflects a distinct pattern of growth. The United Kingdom has emerged as the global leader for phone-free socializing, with events growing by 1,200% and attendance increasing by 1,441%. Of course the previous amount will have been very small, and ... the overall number of phone-free events will still be low in comparison to others. There is a strong focus in the UK on countering loneliness and social isolation. In the United States, the offline or analog movement is defined by expansive participation. While event volume grew by 388%, attendance jumped by 913%. The growth is already accelerating. In just the first three months of 2026, phone-free experiences have reached over a third of last year’s global event volume, signaling that this is no longer a fringe behavior, but a mainstream way of gathering.

Almost two decades after the first iPhone was released, a trend for lower tech devices appears to be taking shape, with a growing minority swapping their smartphones for “dumb phones”. With new models such as the Boring Phone, the trend is partly being fuelled by young people’s suspicion of the data- and attention-harvesting tech they have grown up with, as well as a bid to live more offline. And while smartphones are the obvious target for this trend, the “newtro” (a portmanteau of “new” and “retro”) movement is heralding a revival of analogue media, including cassettes and fanzines, against the backdrop of the enduring, and much-heralded, vinyl boom. While Jess Perriam, 39, had become exhausted by her Instagram feed, she knew she wanted to keep a window into the lives of others. So she turned to Postcrossing, a site that connects people who want to send and receive postcards from strangers around the world. “I still wanted to have that connection with people and learn more about different cultures, but not necessarily while being aggressively marketed at,” she said, adding that she receives “stacks of reading recommendations” through the post. The community has more than 800,000 members across 207 countries, with 77 million postcards received since it launched in 2005. As well as writing to people she has never met, she also corresponds with an old friend in the US. “It forces me to sit down and think, what do I want to communicate to my friend?”

Kenya’s highest court recently struck down as unconstitutional a law that forbade seed sharing, a long practiced traditional means of diversifying crop production and resilience. The law, whether inadvertently or by design, made Kenya another country within the network of those whose seed industry is virtually controlled by a small group of international conglomerates like Bayer—or Monsanto before it was bought out. Advocates on behalf of small-scale farmers and indigenous communities in Kenya said the 2016 Seeds and Plant Varieties Act infringed on their rights to practice indigenous activities, while advocates for seed-saving and seed-sharing say that the practice produces drought-resistant, pest-resistant crops better suited to local areas that don’t require as many imported agrochemicals to grow. In November, Kenyan High Court Justice Rhoda Rutto ruled that by limiting “access to traditional and indigenous seeds, contrary to the Constitution,” the law violated “the petitioners’ and small-scale farmers’ cultural rights” and eroded “the cultural distinctiveness of Kenya’s indigenous peoples.” “This judgment rightly recognizes that seed sharing is not a crime, but a fundamental element of peasants’ identity, resilience and contribution to national food systems,” said the Working Group on Peasants. Like many traditional farming cultures, Kenyan farmers share and exchange seeds after the growing season, and over time this has led to millions of genetically distinct crops.

A large chunk of the world’s plant diversity lies safely tucked away underground for future generations. By the numbers, the Millennium Seed Bank holds over 2 billion seeds from over 40,000 species, collected by scientists and volunteers from 279 organizations spanning over 100 countries. It’s likely the largest seed vault on Earth, with the other contender being located on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Located at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew facility in Wakehurst, seeds from all over the world are carefully cleaned, dried, and stored in walk-in freezers at -20°C, or about -4°F. For 25 years, the work has been carried out by experts who have developed the skills not only to store the seeds, but also to wake them up again, often using bespoke protocols for seed germination. “Within species there is incredible genetic diversity, which protects against disease, climate change and other threats,” Dale Sanders, biologist and former director of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, told AP. “Maintaining that diversity is essential if we want to preserve the diversity of life itself.” For all the archiving and record keeping and preservation, the MSB is hardly just a storehouse. To the contrary, it’s always growing something: funds for ecosystem restoration or botanical research, young scientists looking to begin a career in plant conservation, or plans to restore existing ecosystems by leveraging the vault’s vast reserves.

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