404 Media and The Intercept talk about how private companies empower government surveillance, and how AI is used in warfare.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
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404 Media is an independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox.
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404 Media
• Samantha Cole
Behind the Blog: Eating the Internet
This week, we discuss just doing it, machines that eat the internet, and an eavesdropping watch.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft
"Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models ‘hoovering up’ all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions."
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
‘Flock City PD:’ The Fake Flock-Owned ‘Police Department’ That Searched Real Cameras for Real People
Flock ran searches for “coexist bumper sticker,” “white truck with a trump sticker,” and “Star of David,” apparently to demonstrate what cops shouldn't search for.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
University Rescinds Job Offer to Activist Who Allegedly Wiped Phone Before DHS Could Search It
Samuel Tunick allegedly wiped his GrapheneOS phone before CBP officials could search it, in what has become a high profile civil liberties case. Now Georgia State University has rescinded a job offer to him.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
Contest to Open for Ed Sheeran Flooded With Free Palestine Videos and Fart Memes
Guitar Center's 'Open for Legends' contest page was seemingly unmoderated for hours on Wednesday.
404 Media
• Emanuel Maiberg
I Hijacked a Real Artist's Spotify with AI Music. It Was Disturbingly Easy
A glaring loophole in digital music distribution makes it very easy to piggyback on the talent of real artists with AI generated music.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Podcast: Humans Are Reading Your ChatGPT Conversations
The contractors reading real ChatGPT users' prompts; the big out-and-back-in around Automattic; and a16z thinks enshittification isn't real.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Hackers Stole Flock’s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks Cars and People
While people around the U.S. are tearing down Flock cameras, one group of hackers went a step further: extracting the camera's software too.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
AI Agent Platform Reinvents Spam, Floods Inboxes Worldwide
iLands and its AI agents are doing completely useless tasks, then begging for money.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
Charges Against Man Who Destroyed 3D-Printed ‘Decoy’ Flock Camera Drastically Reduced After State Admits It Was Not Very Valuable
Three felonies have suddenly become two second-degree misdemeanors.
404 Media
• Becky Ferreira
A Digital Fly Brain Has Taken Over the Internet
How to make a fly play Doom, Minecraft, Beat Saber, parallel park, trade bitcoin, cut doner kebab, and more.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
There’s a 100% Chance AI Agents Are Already Ruining the Internet
“AI agents” now have enough power and permission to be extremely annoying online.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
New York Seizes 12 Celebrity Deepfake Websites
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a press conference on Monday that the sites included 1,200 people’s likenesses in “hyper-realistic” sexual imagery.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
Cops Search Thousands of Flock Cameras for Reasons of ‘LMAO,’ ‘IDK,’ ‘Hehe,’ and ‘asdfg’
The EFF found cops writing “idiot,” “WEIRD KID,” "blah," "leave me alone," and button mashing in Flock's 'reason' box.
404 Media
• Emanuel Maiberg
Fighting for the Future of Libraries (With Jennie Rose Halperin)
Censorship, AI, and the role of librarians in a country with crumbling public institutions.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats
Humans are reading ChatGPT users’ prompts to improve OpenAI’s models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 Media.
404 Media
• Becky Ferreira
Mercury Is Shrinking Way Faster Than We Thought, Scientists Discover
The planet’s radius may have shrunk by between four and six miles since it was formed due to global cooling, a contraction that is up to 30 percent larger than previously estimated.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
Behind the Blog: How to Talk About AI Doom
We discuss AI doomers, 9/11 posting, and Barbie.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg Claims He’s Back 'In Control'
Workers at Automattic, which owns WordPress.com and several other platforms, have said the company has endured years of chaotic leadership decisions.
404 Media
• Matthew Gault
‘We Did Not Invite You.’ Citizens Rage at Town Hall Over Proposed Nuclear AI Data Center
The University of Michigan is partnering with Los Alamos National Labs to build a massive data center in a small Michigan township. The residents say they were never consulted.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Put on 'Leave of Absence'
Mullenweg, co-founder of Wordpress, wrote in a company-wide Slack channel on Wednesday that board members "conspired" behind his back to vote to put him on leave.
404 Media
• Matthew Gault
Doctor Doom Thanked Seattle for All the Surveillance Cameras
‘We must work to crush any dissent to Doom’s vision of public safety,’ the Marvel supervillain told the city as it considered multiple surveillance proposals.
404 Media
• Becky Ferreira
The Remnants of a Lost ‘Supercontinent’ Just Rewrote the History of Life on Earth
A team discovered that Gondwana, an ancient landmass that formed more than 500 million years ago, was in fact large enough to be deemed a supercontinent, a finding that sheds light on the “explosion” of ancient Cambrian life.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
Smear Campaign Says Anti-Flock Movement Is Chinese Propaganda
Sinclair Broadcasting is pushing the idea that China and the No Kings protesters are the reason people don't like Flock.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Podcast: DHS’ Secretive ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit Pulling People Over
Secretive predictive policing units; a funk shirt designed to fool AI; and our third anniversary party.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
First ‘Take It Down Act’ Sentencing Puts Man Behind Bars for 15 Years
James Strahler was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “cybercrimes that included both real and AI-generated sexually explicit images and threats of violence to numerous victims.”
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
'Tell Everyone:' A Man Died by Suicide After Talking to ChatGPT. His Former Partner Wants to Warn the World About AI
After allegedly becoming emotionally reliant on ChatGPT, Austin died at 40 years old, leaving behind family and friends who loved him. Megan wants everyone to know what happened.
404 Media
• Matthew Gault
The Man on a Quest to Digitally Preserve America’s Public Restrooms
The Restroom Archive is a museum-style repository of 3D scans of the world's restrooms.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Channel 5 Gave Hunter Biden a List of Its Subscribers’ Emails for Some Reason
A data protection lawyer told 404 Media the sharing was likely illegal, and Channel 5’s own privacy policy explicitly says it won't give subscribers’ emails away to people for marketing purposes.