Jon Keegan

Investigative Data Journalist

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Oct 24, 2024

Sherwood News

Why countries are seeking to build “sovereign AI”

By Jon Keegan

Nvidia’s CEO says nations can’t afford to miss out on this technology, but an AI created and controlled by the government could be dangerous.

Oct 15, 2024

Sherwood News

The crash test dummies for new AI models

By Jon Keegan

In the absence of actual regulation, AI companies use "adversarial testers" to check their new models for safety. Does it actually work?

Oct 2, 2024

Sherwood News

The biggest barrier to the mass adoption of electric vehicles is charging them

By Jon Keegan

The US is many, many miles away from its goal of installing 500,000 chargers by 2030.

Sept. 20, 2024

Sherwood News

These are the AI companies that the CIA is investing in

By Jon Keegan

You can’t spell CIA without AI

Spet. 13, 2024

Sherwood News

But how risky are OpenAI's new models, really?

By Jon Keegan

Well, it can help experts plan biological threats and it’s really good at tricking people.

Sept. 4, 2024

Sherwood News

Corporate surveillance technology is out of control

By Jon Keegan

A new report details the disturbing ways your employer can monitor your life even out of the office.

Aug 27, 2024

Sherwood News

Threads’ chaotic “For You” feed quantified

By Jon Keegan

How old are the posts Threads are recommending to its users?

Aug 23, 2024

Sherwood News

Big Tech's onslaught of bots forces publishers to play an impossible game of Whac-A-Mole

By Jon Keegan

Jul 17, 2024

The Markup

Everyone Is Judging AI by These Tests. But Experts Say They’re Close to Meaningless

By Jon Keegan

Benchmarks used to rank AI models are several years old, often sourced from amateur websites, and, experts worry, lending automated systems a dubious sense of authority

Jul 25, 2024

Sherwood News

Just four companies are hoarding tens of billions of dollars worth of Nvidia GPU chips

By Jon Keegan

Each Nvidia H100 can cost up to $40,000, and one big tech company has 350,000 of them.

Mar 16, 2024

The Markup

I Used ChatGPT as a Reporting Assistant. It Didn’t Go Well

By Jon Keegan

The AI tool ignored basic instructions about sourcing and citations. But it’s a pretty good newsroom coding partner.

February 23, 2024

The Markup

What Happens to Your Sensitive Data When a Data Broker Goes Bankrupt?

By Jon Keegan

Data on sensitive locations, such as abortion clinics, could be sold off, raising alarms.

February 13, 2024

The Markup

Use Our Game Safety Buddy to Protect Your Kids and Yourself on Gaming Consoles

By Jon Keegan

Our tool and advice can help you navigate the overwhelming number of settings on today’s game platforms.

Jan 29, 2024

Beautiful Public Data

FAA Aviation Maps

By Jon Keegan

Among all of the visual information published by the U.S. government, there may be no product with a higher information density than the Federal Aviation Administration’s aviation maps.

January 27, 2024

The Markup

How To Handle the Growing Flood of Leaked Data

By Jon Keegan

An interview with Micah Lee, author of a new book on analyzing datasets that were leaked, hacked, or just accidentally left in the open.

January 26, 2024

The Markup

How Abortion Ruling Spurred Federal Action Against the Location Data Industry

By Jon Keegan

Nearly a quarter of the 47 location data companies we identified in 2021 have faced Congressional scrutiny or regulatory enforcement actions.

January 17, 2024

The Markup

Each Facebook User is Monitored by Thousands of Companies

By Jon Keegan

A new study looks at who is sending information about your online activity to Facebook.

January 11, 2024

The Markup

Federal Trade Commission Sanctions Location Data Broker X-Mode

By Jon Keegan

The company is prohibited from selling sensitive location data and is ordered to put consumer privacy protections in place.

Nov 27, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

Government Comic Books

By Jon Keegan

Government comics have taught Americans how to prevent forest fires, survive a nuclear blast, and how soldiers should handle homosexuality in the military.

November 27, 2023

The Markup

Kroger Sued for Sharing Sensitive Health Data With Meta

By Jon Keegan

Two proposed federal class action lawsuits, filed in the wake of a Markup investigation, accuse the grocer of disclosing private data through its online store and pharmacy.

November 11, 2023

The Markup

Meet Nightshade—A Tool Empowering Artists to Fight Back Against AI

By Jon Keegan

Meet Nightshade—A Tool Empowering Artists to Fight Back Against AI A newly released research paper outlines a tool artists can use to make their work act like “poison” if it is ingested by an AI image generator.

Oct 17, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

Wild Horses

By Jon Keegan

The Bureau of Land Management wants to pay you $1,000 to adopt a wild horse. But the program has been criticized by animal rights advocates and subject to scrutiny by Congress.

October 16, 2023

The Markup

Twitter Is Throttling Patreon Links, Creators Say It Undermines Their Livelihood

By Jon Keegan and Dan Phiffer

Markup readers helped uncover the link delays, which also affect WhatsApp and Messenger.

Oct 4, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

The Army and Navy Style Guides

By Jon Keegan

These fascinating Army and Navy brand style guides define the look, feel and voice of our armed forces.

Sep 21, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

Nuclear Weapon Test Films

By Jon Keegan

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories has an archive of an estimated 10,000 films of nuclear weapons tests from the 1940's - 1960's.

Sept. 15, 2023

The Markup

Twitter is Still Throttling Competitors’ Links—Check for Yourself

By Jon Keegan, Dan Phiffer and Joel Eastwood

Loading links to Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and Substack takes far longer than to other sites. We built a tool so you can check any domain you like

Aug 21, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

All of the 8,331 License Plates in America

By Jon Keegan

States now offer a vast menu of personalized plate options for a dizzying array of organizations, professions, sports teams, causes and other groups.

August 3, 2023

The Markup

How to Quickly Get to the Important Truth Inside Any Privacy Policy

By Jon Keegan and Jesse Woo

An investigative data journalist and a former tech lawyer teach you how to spot tricks and hidden disclosures within these interminable documents—and even how to claw back some privacy

July 1, 2023

The Markup

What Are “Data Clean Rooms”?

By Jon Keegan

The dirt on data brokers’ latest privacy buzzword

June 23, 2023

The Markup

How Your Attention Is Auctioned Off to Advertisers

By Joel Eastwood, Gabriel Hongsdusit, and Jon Keegan

In mere milliseconds, online advertisers scrutinize your personal data and bid for your eyeballs

June 13, 2023

The Markup

Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook

By Colin Lecher and Jon Keegan

The Markup found many sites tied to the national mental health crisis hotline transmitted information on visitors through the Meta Pixel

June 8, 2023

The Markup

From “Heavy Purchasers” of Pregnancy Tests to the Depression-Prone: We Found 650,000 Ways Advertisers Label You

By Jon Keegan and Joel Eastwood

A spreadsheet on ad platform Xandr’s website revealed a massive collection of “audience segments” used to target consumers based on highly specific, sometimes intimate information and inferences

June 1, 2023

The Markup

Life360 Sued for Selling Location Data

By Jon Keegan

A proposed class-action lawsuit cites Markup reporting and claims the family-tracking app did not get user consent to sell location data

May 23, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

Mapping Volcano Eruptions With Drones

By Jon Keegan

Drones have become an essential tool to map, measure and observe the extremely dangerous environments surrounding volcanic eruptions.

May 2, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

Here’s All the Rocks We Hauled Back From the Moon

By Jon Keegan

The 12 human beings who walked on the Moon collected, catalogued and returned 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil. Each sample has been meticulously documented in NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.

Apr 10, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

1,000 Photos of Dolphin Fins

By Jon Keegan

Scars, scratches and wounds abound in these photos as encounters with unknown creatures and boat propellers leave their marks, imprinting a story of close escapes and cheating death.

Mar 27, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

The Mirror Fusion Test Facility

By Jon Keegan

A decade-long effort to build a machine to unlock the promise of nuclear fusion fell victim to budget constraints and competing science, and was shut down the day it was dedicated. It was never turned on.

Mar 18, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

Special Database 18: 3,248 Mugshots Used for Training Image Recognition Systems

By Jon Keegan

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has maintained a dataset of mugshot photos of 1,573 people for decades, including 175 minors, until we asked about them.

February 16, 2023

The Markup

Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You

By Jon Keegan

When you use supermarket discount cards, you are sharing much more than what is in your cart—and grocery chains like Kroger are reaping huge profits selling this data to brands and advertisers.

Feb 13, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

Pilot Manual for a 1940's U.S. Navy Blimp

By Jon Keegan

This 122 page manual contains all of the operating instructions and technical details needed to pilot this sleek, silver, 250 foot long, weaponized anti-submarine dirigible.

Feb 6, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

The United States Frequency Allocation Chart

By Jon Keegan

This crazy, beautiful chart illustrates the incredible complexity of managing one of our nation’s most crucial – and invisible – national assets: the radio spectrum.

Jan 9, 2023

Beautiful Public Data

The Style Guide for America’s Highways: The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices

By Jon Keegan

Driving across America, you will encounter a wide variety of cultures, landscapes, people and animals. But the one consistent thing that will stay the same from Maine to California are the signs you pass on the highway. That is because America’s roads and highways have a big, fat style guide.

Dec 29, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

Mapping the Sea Floor

By Jon Keegan

USGS research vessels equipped with cameras, sonar and scanners created a map of 125 square miles of the sea floor off Cape Ann, MA.

Nov 26, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

Vehicle Crash Test Films from the 1970's and 1980s

By Jon Keegan

Deep in the public archives of the NHTSA, there are thousands of films of some classic (and some ugly) 70’s and 80’s cars being smashed into smithereens.

November 8, 2022

The Markup

How Political Campaigns Use Your Phone’s Location to Target You

By Jon Keegan

Before you got in line on Election Day, the emerging and largely unregulated political tracking industry was able to trace your movements.

Nov 7, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

Visualizing Rivers and Floodplains with USGS Data

By Jon Keegan

Using USGS elevation data to visualize stunning views of the flow of water through rivers and floodplains.

Oct 20, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

A Rover's First 590 Days* on Mars

By Jon Keegan

I downloaded 60,000 images to experience what NASA's Perseverance rover has been seeing since landing there in Feb. 2021.

Oct 3, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

Utah Highway LiDAR Scans

By Jon Keegan

Utah's Department of Transportation uses state-of-the-art 3-D laser scanners to capture the surfaces and area surrounding 15,000 miles of its roads.

Sep 27, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

The GOES-16 Weather Satellite

By Jon Keegan

Satellites used to observe weather are so ubiquitous it is easy to take them for granted. GOES-16 is worthy of your attention.

Sep 19, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

The Pillbox Database

By Jon Keegan

The National Library of Medicine's Pillbox dataset contained 8,693 photographs of pills, with an accompanying database of drug information. It was built to help with the identification of unknown pills.

Sep 15, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

Photologging Vans

By Jon Keegan

These sequences are from New York and Connecticut’s state photolog archives, which I obtained through public records requests. Almost every state’s highway departments had highway photolog programs, some dating back as early as 1961. These sequences were captured by specially tricked out vans. The earliest used 16mm film,

Sep 10, 2022

Beautiful Public Data

Highway Photologs

By Jon Keegan

Highway departments all around the country had "photolog" programs, some dating back as early as 1961. Each year, specially tricked out vans would drive each mile of state road snapping photos to document the status of roadways.

July 27, 2022

The Markup

Who Is Collecting Data from Your Car?

By Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng

A firehose of sensitive data from your vehicle is flowing to a group of companies you’ve probably never heard of

July 15, 2022

The Markup

Planned Parenthood Data Found on Another Location Data Dashboard

By Jon Keegan

A free trial dashboard from INRIX listed Planned Parenthood as a “chain,” with at least 71 locations in 35 states.

July 1, 2022

The Markup

Online Abortion Pill Provider Hey Jane Used Tracking Tools That Sent Visitor Data to Meta, Google, and Others

By Jon Keegan and Dara Kerr

Personal information from reviewers was also exposed until The Markup’s inquiry.

June 13, 2022

The Markup

New York State’s “Right to Repair” Law Could Have a Ripple Effect

By Jon Keegan

The passage of the bill could result in a national policy shift.

April 1, 2022

The Markup

Following Markup Investigation, U.S. Regulators Questioned Life360’s Data Practices

By Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng

The family safety company was approached by regulators about its data sales.

March 21, 2022

The Markup

Lawsuit Highlights How Little Control Brokers Have Over Location Data

By Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng

The case suggests this loosely regulated industry can’t deliver on its promises of privacy.

February 24, 2022

The Markup

Who Is Policing the Location Data Industry?

By Alfred Ng and Jon Keegan

Google and Apple have tried to crack down, but location data brokers are moving to a new way to collect your whereabouts that’s much harder to detect

February 17, 2022

The Markup

Family Safety App Touting Digital Security Leaves Its Own Users’ Sensitive Data at Risk

By Alfred Ng and Jon Keegan

Former employees said Life360 executives knew about security gaps

January 27, 2022

The Markup

Life360 Says It Will Stop Selling Precise Location Data

By Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng

Life360 Says It Will Stop Selling Precise Location Data The announcement comes after The Markup identified the family tracking app as one of the largest sources of raw data for the location data industry

January 27, 2022

The Markup

Gay/Bi Dating App, Muslim Prayer Apps Sold Data on People’s Location to a Controversial Data Broker

By Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng

The Markup identified 107 apps that sold data to X‑Mode in 2018 and 2019

December 6, 2021

The Markup

The Popular Family Safety App Life360 Is Selling Precise Location Data on Its Tens of Millions of Users

By Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng

The app is a major source of raw location data for a multibillion-dollar industry that buys, packages, and sells people’s movements

September 30, 2021

The Markup

There’s a Multibillion-Dollar Market for Your Phone’s Location Data

By Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng

A huge but little-known industry has cropped up around monetizing people’s movements.

August 6, 2021

The Markup

Anti-Semitic Merchandise Persists on Pinterest, Despite Restrictions

By Jon Keegan

The Markup found dozens of pins containing hateful content, which raises fresh questions about the platform’s content moderation strategy.

July 9, 2021

The Markup

Facebook Got Rid of Racial Ad Categories. Or Did It?

By Jon Keegan

Our Citizen Browser project found an array of proxies through which advertisers can target Black Facebook users, among otherdemographics.

March 24, 2021

The Markup

We Ran Tests on Every State’s COVID-19 Vaccine Website

By Jon Keegan and Colin Lecher

The results, measuring accessibility and privacy protections, were not always great.

February 16, 2021

The Markup

Trump’s False Posts Were Treated with Kid Gloves by Facebook

By Jon Keegan, Colin Lecher, and Corin Faife

Data from Citizen Browser shows how rare it is for a post to be called “false”—especially if you’re the president.

January 14, 2021

The Markup

Biden and Trump Voters Were Exposed to Radically Different Coverage of the Capitol Riot on Facebook

By Colin Lecher and Jon Keegan

Data from The Markup’s Citizen Browser project shows the different realities Americans inhabited on Facebook surrounding the seige of the U.S. Capitol.

October 20, 2020

The Markup

Why Can’t I Fix My Own Phone, Toaster, or Tractor?

By Jon Keegan

Manufacturers in a broad range of industries have a monopoly on who repairs machines—and when devices are deemed unfixable. Here's a look at the Right to Repair movement and the effort to codify such a right in law.

September 17, 2020

The Markup

Labeled “Research” Chemicals, Doping Drugs Sold Openly on Amazon.com

By Jon Keegan and Annie Gilbertson

Amazon bans injectable drugs, but enforcement failures have led to a swell of listings for unproven performance enhancing peptides.

July 21, 2020

The Markup

Is This Amazon Review Bullshit?

By Jon Keegan

Spotting the fakes isn’t always possible, but here are some tips.

June 18, 2020

The Markup

Amazon’s Enforcement Failures Leave Open a Back Door to Banned Goods—Some Sold and Shipped by Amazon Itself

By Jon Keegan and Annie Gilbertson

The online giant bans products related to drugs, spying and weapons, but we found plenty for sale; one of the items bought on the site left a grim trail of overdoses.

March 12, 2020

The Markup

What Are My Photos Revealing About Me?

By Jon Keegan

You may be accidentally sharing personal information in your photos.

December 18, 2018

Medium

I Analyzed 122 Hours of Holiday Radio

By Jon Keegan

I set out to answer some questions I had about Christmas songs and 24/7 holiday radio playlists. Was there a golden age of Christmas music? Is it all just covers of old classics? Here are my findings.

November 20, 2018

Medium

I Audited Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood’s Twitter Accounts

By Jon Keegan

I was asked to audit @kairyssdal and @mollywood’s Twitter accounts looking for signs of an echo chamber. I spoke with them on their podcast and I wrote up my findings.