Annie Jacobsen

When federal agents kicked in his door one icy morning last November, Joerg Arnu was still asleep. Roused by deafening bangs and shouts, the 60-year-old retired software developer stumbled out of bed to find a crowd of unfamiliar men in military gear standing in his foyer. At least one of the half dozen men, he remembers, was visibly armed and pointing a gun in his direction. Another was holding a riot shield. “This is the FBI,” one yelled. “Put your hands against the wall!” Less than a minute later, Arnu was being…

Image: Gizmodo/GettyGizmodo is 20 years old! To celebrate the anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the most significant ways our lives have been thrown for a loop by our digital tools.If you’ve spent any time reading Gizmodo over the past twenty years, there’s probably one governmental agency responsible for more, “wait, really?” headlines than all the others combined. That uneasy accolade, of course, goes to DARPA.Known more formally as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon’s sci-fi R&D…