WIRED Roundup: Satellite data leaks, cybertrucks, and politicized federal workers

Zoe Schiffer: Yeah, I mean, I was talking to someone before these recent layoffs, who had worked at the CDC previously and was very much involved in efforts to study the impact of certain diseases or epidemics on pregnant populations specifically, and this person told me a while ago, the whole team was gone. They don’t have a lot of people anymore who can look at particularly vulnerable populations from a health perspective, which I found very sad and upsetting, but now, I mean, it’s getting worse. It’s getting worse.

Jake Lahout: And Russell Foote seems pretty happy with every additional copy of this that keeps coming out, so.

Zoe Schiffer: right. Yes. We’ll talk more about these federal layoffs and how they affected other agencies as well in the next part. But before we go to the break, I’ve got a fun, super tech scoop for you, Cybertrucks.

Jake Lahout: Yes. Honestly, I should have paid you to be on the show today, Zoe, so tell me more about it.

Zoe Schiffer: Yes. Well, I found this story so fascinating because our features director, Rehan, said, “Let’s do a photo essay for Cybertruck owners.” I said, “I’m volunteering as a tribute.” I really want to do this.” So I called a bunch of people, and I was actually driving around, and when I saw Cybertrucks, I was leaving little notes on their car. And no one ever responded to me, I was like,

Jake Lahout: Stalker behavior.

Zoe Schiffer: “Okay, okay.” But eventually I connected with this guy who runs Cybertrucks Only Owners, which is a 50,000-person Facebook group that’s really active. And while he was very skeptical of the media, like many Cybertrucks owners he was saying, “I’m having fun. If you come to Palm Springs this weekend, we can have a Cybertrucks meet and you can meet people, you can take pictures and interview them.” I love reporting that your original thesis is completely invalidated while reporting, and Cybertrucks owners truly consider themselves victims of this campaign. They are spit on, they are targeted, and people scream that they are Nazis. For many people I spoke to, they don’t see buying this car as political at all. They say, “I absolutely love the car. It’s a great car, it’s fun and all these crazy liberals are yelling at me all day. I have my kids in the car and they’re chasing me and calling me a Nazi.” The article came out today, and there are some really cool photos. I’m curious to hear what you thought.