New: Tesla said it didn't have critical data in a fatal crash. Then a hacker found it. "For any reasonable person, it was obvious the data was there."

The story of white hat hacker @greentheonly's role in the case the led to a $243 million verdict against Tesla. After a Tesla driver using Autopilot plowed into a young Florida couple in 2019, killing a 22-year-old woman, crucial data detailing how the wreck unfolded was missing. A hacker found it and Tesla said in court it had been on its own servers all along.

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New: Musk is presiding over DOGE from the Secretary of War's suite in the Eisenhower Building, using a gaming computer (plugged into a power strip in middle of the room) and keyboard with rainbow LEDs. The Wifi settings were recently changed to better accommodate personal devices Some DOGE representatives enter federal agencies with their personal laptops. They seek immediate access to data. If they face pushback they'll put Elon Musk or his deputy Steve Davis on the phone. They aim to "get to the core" of systems too quickly for bureaucrats to react.

NEW: Elon Musk was working unlawfully when he built the startup that made him a millionaire in the 1990s, according to interviews, documents and records obtained by The Washington Post. Board members found out and mobilized to fix it: "We don't want our founder being deported."🧵 Musk, who has emerged as the foremost critic of "open borders," has described his immigration status at the time as a "gray area." But Zip2's one-time CEO Derek Proudian said Musk's status "was not what it should be" in order "to be legally employed running a company in the U.S."

NEW: The final 11 seconds of a fatal Tesla Autopilot crash. The Post reconstructed the moments leading up to a deadly wreck that was set to go to trial this week. It shows how Jeremy Banner’s 2018 Tesla Model 3 barreled toward a semi truck at nearly 70mph
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Banner died instantly when his car plowed into the truck in 2019, shearing off the roof as it slid under the trailer. It continued on for another 40 seconds after the crash, nearly 1680 feet, before coasting to a stop. via @TrishaThadani @rachelerman + mewashingtonpost.com/technology/int…

NEW: Elon Musk sent a Signal message ordering his staff to aid in the Twitter Files: "please give Bari [Weiss] full access to everything at Twitter. No limits at all.”

That triggered a frenzy inside Twitter, which was under a decade-old FTC order.

washingtonpost.com/technology/202… IT staff refused to onboard Weiss, worried if she was granted the full access Musk requested Twitter would be breaking the law. The order was a response to previous privacy concerns.

To some, it was unclear if Musk had read it.

washingtonpost.com/technology/202…

NEW: Elon Musk said he would cut nearly 75 percent of Twitter's staff if he takes control, far deeper cuts than the company's current leadership has proposed. The initial cuts would target lower performers, who scored less than a 3 on performance reviews. washingtonpost.com/technology/202… One prospective investor likened the approach to a private equity takeover, the leveraged buyout that leaves companies gutted. Some expressed concern about Twitter's ability to police its platform without staff. “What’s he gonna replace it with, AI?” washingtonpost.com/technology/202…