404 Media

404media.co

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npub14akyzfynsanvcjlevy4ls936cuzz224puykv306tl6frl4kv8jsq0272mq

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404mediaco_at_mastodon.social@mostr.pub

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nprofile1qqs27mzpyjfcwekvf0ukz2lczcavwpp992s7ztxgha9lay3l6mxregqefp8qv

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npub14akyzfynsanvcjlevy4ls936cuzz224puykv306tl6frl4kv8jsq0272mq

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Last Notes

2024-08-26 19:50:11

Conservatives have been championing Telegram as a more ideologically aligned alternative to Signal, and so they are trying to paint Durov's arrest as being politically motivated. To be clear, Telegram is much less secure than Signal (!!)
https://www.404media.co/how-telegrams-founder-pavel-durov-became-a-culture-war-martyr/

2024-08-26 14:58:46

New: We got the pitch dek for the company that wants to target ads by listening to your devices. Google has cut them off in response to our reporting:
https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-listening-ad-targeting/

2024-07-23 13:36:18

There is a real, measurable backlash against indiscriminate AI scraping that can be seen in the robots.txt files of websites.
~28% of the most actively updated sites now restrict scraping. 5% of all sites block scraping, up from ~1% last year
https://www.404media.co/the-backlash-against-ai-scraping-is-real-and-measurable/

2024-07-19 14:44:40

Affected by CrowdStrike outage? Simply try rebooting 15 consecutive times, Microsoft suggests
https://www.404media.co/to-fix-crowdstrike-blue-screen-of-death-simply-reboot-15-straight-times-microsoft-says/

2024-07-16 16:48:31

BROOKLYN!!!
404 Media is having a First Anniversary party September 5 at The Woods. Open Bar!
Free for paying subscribers.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/404-medias-first-anniversary-tickets-939033152437

2024-07-16 13:55:54

HR software companies are not only pitching the idea of "AI employees" who work with humans, are given performance reviews, and are onboarded and managed via their software ... they're also shoving dehumanizing AI management features into their software
https://www.404media.co/ai-employees-managed-through-hr-software-is-a-capitalist-fever-dream/

2024-07-12 19:57:48

NEW: 404 Media has learned that an American hacker in Turkey is linked to the AT&T breach, and we've seen a section of hacked data, which can be used to build a profile of someone's life. Gives an idea of how bad this hack actually is:
https://www.404media.co/american-hacker-in-turkey-linked-to-massive-at-t-breach/

2024-07-09 23:26:38

Beloved Apple blog TUAW was shut down in 2015, sold to private equity, then sold to a company in Hong Kong. It recently relaunched as an AI content farm using the stolen identities and bylines of its former human staff. A nightmare:
https://www.404media.co/a-beloved-tech-blog-tuaw-is-now-publishing-ai-articles-under-the-names-of-its-old-human-staff/

2024-07-08 14:34:25

Ticket scalpers have reverse-engineered how Ticketmaster generates the revolving barcodes for its tickets. They are now able to generate authentic tickets on their own infrastructure, which removes resale restrictions and lets them sell
https://www.404media.co/scalpers-are-working-with-hackers-to-liberate-non-transferable-tickets-from-ticketmasters-ecosystem/

2024-06-20 23:06:14

Olivia Rodrigo presale broke Ticketmaster. This is almost definitely a function of the fact that
1) she has lots of fans
2) scalpers now use specialized, $500-per-month browsers designed to hit the virtual waiting room hundreds of times per computer
https://www.404media.co/ticketmaster-crashes-during-olivia-rodrigo-presale-heres-why/

2024-06-11 16:08:48

New: Hackers embedded malware in a Stable Diffusion extension hosted on GitHub and have been hacking people generating AI images
"You have committed one of our sins: Art Theft"
https://www.404media.co/hackers-target-ai-users-with-malicious-stable-diffusion-tool-on-github/

2024-06-11 13:31:45

Adderall and Ozempic are getting so hard to find that a startup will let you pay $50 and their workers in the Philippines will call pharmacies until they find one with your meds in stock
https://www.404media.co/people-in-the-philippines-are-calling-us-pharmacies-to-help-americans-find-adderall/

2024-06-03 13:37:34

We obtained an internal database of employee-reported privacy incidents at Google that shows the huge breadth of data it has and the run-of-the-mill and spectacular ways it mishandles it all the time
https://www.404media.co/google-leak-reveals-thousands-of-privacy-incidents/

2024-05-28 13:30:57

Google's own researchers now say AI is a top vector of disinfo, in a paper that severely and obviously undercounts the problem
https://www.404media.co/google-says-ai-now-leading-disinformation-vector-and-is-severely-undercounting-the-problem/

2024-05-22 18:32:12

New: Amazon killed three shareholder proposals that would have required transparency about AI-powered robots in the warehouse, efforts to kill union drives, and on workplace safety. Amazon Board claimed it doesn't need any of those things:
https://www.404media.co/amazon-kills-shareholder-proposals-on-worker-treatment-transparency/

2024-05-12 13:42:29

Scoop: Solar storm is causing farmers' tractor GPS systems to go haywire. Many have shut down planting altogether during a critical period. A Deere dealer said accuracy is "extremely compromised"
https://www.404media.co/solar-storm-knocks-out-tractor-gps-systems-during-peak-planting-season/

2024-04-17 14:02:28

One of the most influential (often in a bad way) AI research institutes is shutting down, blames Oxford: https://www.404media.co/institute-that-pioneered-ai-existential-risk-research-shuts-down/

2024-04-17 13:47:53

A spy site is scraping users' Discord messages and activity across servers and selling them to anyone with $5:
https://www.404media.co/a-spy-site-is-scraping-discord-and-selling-users-messages/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/286/870/084/020/550/original/4a398d9b8d015b79.jpg

2024-04-09 13:56:27

Everyone say hi to @npub12uf…8tw4
https://www.404media.co/introducing-the-first-404-media-fellow-jules-roscoe/

2024-04-09 13:45:32

The chicken shop that outsourced its cashier job to a woman on Zoom in the Philippines has the Zoom meeting ID and password taped to a computer on the front desk, facing everyone:
https://www.404media.co/sansan-chicken-zoom-cashier/

2024-04-02 17:43:56

New: Google banned one of the most destructive deepfake/nudify apps, which was masquerading as a normal face swap app on the store but was advertising itself as a deepfake porn app on porn sites
This follows our reporting on damage these apps are doing
https://www.404media.co/google-bans-face-swap-app-for-advertising-deepfakes-on-porn-sites/

2024-04-01 16:13:38

Independent and DIY car repair is a cornerstone of American culture and has been largely protected from manufacturer monopoly until very recently. But new DRM and dealer-only diagnostic equipment is threatening that:
https://www.404media.co/the-car-repair-apocalypse-could-soon-be-upon-us/

2024-03-30 19:30:27

The Xz backdoor highlights all of the good things about open source projects and also all of the vulnerabilities and weirdness associated with relying on essentially random volunteers to build software that huge parts of the internet use
https://www.404media.co/the-xz-backdoor-highlights-the-vulnerability-of-open-source-software-and-its-strengths/

2024-03-27 20:35:02

New: Oregon's gov has signed the strongest right to repair law ever passed, which forbids Apple's "parts pairing" regime for iPhones. this is a v big deal
https://www.404media.co/oregon-passes-right-to-repair-bill-that-would-make-apple-redesign-the-iphone/

2024-03-27 01:05:45

- reply

the fact that we've gotten 19 replies and almost all of them are recommending different readers helps us know that supporting RSS was definitely the right decision, so you can read us wherever you want!
I (jason) am going to try out feeeed

2024-03-27 00:48:48

- reply

so …… what are your favorite RSS readers these days??

2024-03-26 13:42:24

We are very very excited to announce that 404 Media now has full text RSS feeds for our paying subscribers!!! Get your feed link here and learn more about why and how we did this:
https://www.404media.co/404-media-now-has-a-full-text-rss-feed/

2024-03-25 14:10:22

"The legislators passing these bills are doing so under the guise of protecting children, but what’s actually happening is a widespread rewiring of the scaffolding of the internet."
https://www.404media.co/age-verification-laws-will-drag-us-back-to-the-dark-ages-of-online-porn/

2024-03-21 14:44:01

We bought the documents for the DOJ's lawsuit against Apple and we're making it available for free here:
https://www.404media.co/us-government-antitrust-case-against-apple-documents/

2024-03-18 16:44:06

AI generated scientific papers and papers that have language copy-pasted from ChatGPT are increasingly finding their way into real journals:
https://www.404media.co/scientific-journals-are-publishing-papers-with-ai-generated-text/

2024-03-11 15:29:58

“Sydney Sweeney” has been trending on Twitter for a week and if you click through it’s just hundreds of scam accounts advertising a “leak” that is just malware
https://www.404media.co/sydney-sweeney-leak-malware-is-all-over-twitter/

2024-03-07 21:47:00

NEW: The NY Times has filed a copyright takedown against hundreds of Wordle variants, including foreign language variants, completely different games, and a Wordle clone where the answer is always "CHUNK"
https://www.404media.co/nytimes-files-copyright-takedowns-against-hundreds-of-wordle-clones/

2024-03-07 14:48:34

The safeguards ElevenLabs put in to prevent people from cloning politician voices ahead of the election can be bypassed in 2 seconds, which we did accidentally and then were able to repeat over and over
https://www.404media.co/elevenlabs-block-on-cloning-bidens-voice-easily-bypassed/

2024-03-06 19:00:14

Our survey of Nextdoor users absolutely losing their minds over the idea that people in Los Angeles want more bike lanes (a measure to add more bike lanes overwhelmingly passed Tuesday)
https://www.404media.co/nimbys-in-shambles-after-la-overwhelmingly-votes-for-new-bike-lanes/

2024-02-28 14:40:40

many many AI-generated Kara Swisher biographies, including "KARA SWISHER BOOK" are flooding Amazon if you search "Kara Swisher" the week that her own book comes out
https://www.404media.co/ai-generated-kara-swisher-biographies-flood-amazon/

2024-02-27 18:26:33

NEW: Tumblr and Wordpress are preparing to sell user data to Midjourney and OpenAI, according to internal documentation we've reviewed
https://www.404media.co/tumblr-and-wordpress-to-sell-users-data-to-train-ai-tools/

2024-02-27 14:24:06

A bunch of ghost kitchens are advertising food on DoorDash and Grubhub with AI-generated images that create impossible dishes
https://www.404media.co/ghost-kitchens-are-advertising-ai-generated-food-on-doordash-and-grubhub/

2024-02-15 18:43:10

A police report we obtained shows that HS students are using widely available apps promoted all over every social media platform to "nudify" and harass their underage classmates. Schools, police, platforms, laws deeply unprepared to handle this
https://www.404media.co/what-was-she-supposed-to-report-police-report-shows-how-a-high-school-deepfake-nightmare-unfolded/

2024-02-15 16:37:33

University of Michigan is selling student papers and audio of lectures, study groups, and office hours to train AI: https://www.404media.co/university-of-michigan-sells-recordings-of-study-groups-and-office-hours-to-train-ai/

2024-02-14 15:14:02

I filed a request for documents about how gov Kim Reynolds handled the Satanic Temple's holiday display at the Iowa Capitol, which has become a huge mess.
Her admin redacted 27 pages of documents, citing a privilege that experts say doesn't exist
https://www.404media.co/administrative-hell-iowa-governor-redacts-public-documents-about-satanic-temple-display/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/930/483/476/567/589/original/3fc6daf435d71ad6.mp4

2024-02-09 16:54:00

NEW: Apple is lobbying against right to repair, six months after lobbying for right to repair. This is the first time an Apple exec has publicly testified; in the past everything happened behind the scenes:
https://www.404media.co/apple-is-lobbying-against-right-to-repair-again/

2024-01-24 19:18:44

TIL Iceland is having its own AI George Carlin moment after the national broadcaster there deepfaked a beloved comedian for a New Year's Eve comedy show. The country is now considering a ban on deepfaking the dead w/o family permission:
https://www.404media.co/iceland-considers-laws-against-deepfaking-the-dead-after-ai-resurrects-beloved-comedian/

2024-01-24 18:10:31

New from @npub1ffs…cxj7:
An investigation into Israeli company called 'Patternz,' a government surveillance firm that tracks billions of phone profiles using ads in phone apps
https://www.404media.co/inside-global-phone-spy-tool-patternz-nuviad-real-time-bidding/

2024-01-16 18:31:29

a new, year-long study found Google Search really has gotten worse, and top-ranking sites are "on average more optimized, more monetized with affiliate marketing, and they show signs of lower text quality" Also evidence of AI-generated top-ranking results
https://www.404media.co/google-search-really-has-gotten-worse-researchers-find/

2024-01-16 16:38:03

Google explains one of the reasons it now supports right to repair: YouTube comments about how important independent repair is
https://www.404media.co/youtube-commenters-and-the-grassroots-movement-pushed-google-to-support-right-to-repair/

2024-01-16 14:43:05

New: We've obtained a scraped list of every town and city in the US that is using FUSUS, which are networked, AI-powered surveillance cameras. Have mapped them here:
https://www.404media.co/fusus-ai-cameras-map-local-police/

2024-01-11 16:12:15

NEW: An AI hiring chatbot used by fast food franchises got hacked, allowing hackers to hire or reject fast food workers and revealed chat logs and personal data
https://www.404media.co/hackers-break-into-hiring-ai-chat-bot-chattr/

2024-01-09 17:12:19

NEW: A sealed federal indictment obtained by 404 Media details the charges against a man who admitted to hacking and selling customer data of 40 million T-Mobile customers
https://www.404media.co/sealed-indictment-hacker-who-admitted-to-hacking-t-mobile-john-erin-binns/

2023-12-21 18:57:13

Incredible last-minute Christmas gift idea: Gift Subscription to 404 Media:
https://www.404media.co/404-media-gift-guide-a-gift-subscription-to-404-media/

2023-12-19 14:21:15

“Verizon royally fucked up, There’s no way around it”
Verizon gave a woman’s data to an armed stalker posing as a police officer. Verizon told the woman that they are victims too: “Whoever this is also victimized us”
https://www.404media.co/verizon-gave-her-data-to-a-stalker-this-has-completely-changed-my-life/

2023-12-13 14:16:06

The Polish hackers who heroically fixed a series of NEWAG passenger trains that the manufacturer had artificially bricked with DRM are now being threatened with lawsuits from NEWAG. NEWAG has also filed a complaint with Polish authorities and has demanded the trains be removed from service.
Hackers fixed the trains *with permission from the trains' owner*
Repair expert told us this is "classic OEM bullshit," just on a train this time
https://www.404media.co/polish-hackers-repaired-trains-the-manufacturer-artificially-bricked-now-the-train-company-is-threatening-them/

2023-12-05 14:22:39

New investigation: Leaked Slacks show users of a16z funded AI startup are generating images that its compute provider believes "could be categorized as child pornography"
The Slacks show OctoML, which has $132 million in funding and provides compute for a16z-funded Civitai, determining that Civitai is largely used for nonconsensual porn, then learning that some of its generated content is likely CSAM, then talking itself into continuing to provide compute
https://www.404media.co/a16z-funded-ai-platform-generated-images-that-could-be-categorized-as-child-pornography-leaked-documents-show/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter

2023-10-26 14:34:29

Elon Musk broke all of the tools that historians use to archive Twitter during conflicts.
Basic facts about deleted tweets from government sources in Israel/Gaza war are already in dispute or are possibly unknowable. This matters as long as every politician/government agency continues to use Twitter
https://www.404media.co/elon-musk-broke-all-the-tools-historians-need-to-archive-tweets-about-israel-gaza-war/

2023-10-19 14:12:56

Hackers are targeting a company that vets police data requests for tech giants. Cops can make emergency requests for customer data with no warrant.
Now, hackers are targeting platform that handles those requests themselves. This includes sensitive companies like Meta, Fidelity, Coinbase
https://www.404media.co/hackers-target-kodex-accounts-edrs/

2023-09-29 16:10:22

Behold, the worst gadget we have ever tested: An HDMI cord that demands your location, browsing data, and spams you with ads.
Really amazing
https://www.404media.co/i-tested-an-hdmi-adapter-that-demands-your-location-browsing-data-photos-and-spams-you-with-ads/

2023-09-28 17:10:39

The food delivery robots that are zipping across Los Angeles are also providing camera footage they capture to the LAPD. https://www.404media.co/serve-food-delivery-robots-are-feeding-camera-footage-to-the-lapd-internal-emails-show/

2023-09-28 13:57:58

A study of 20,000 computer vision papers and patents show the technology is mostly developed to do one thing: surveillance of human bodies. The authors of the study also found that it’s common for AI researchers to use language that obfuscates what the technology actually does, like “object detection,” which literally dehumanizes people.
https://www.404media.co/how-the-surveillance-ai-pipeline-literally-objectifies-human-beings/

2023-09-25 14:30:50

A Taylor Swift fan account on TikTok with millions of views is doxing completely random people who have done nothing wrong using Pimeyes and other off-the-shelf facial recognition tech, showing you can no longer exist in public without potentially getting doxed for no reason at all
https://www.404media.co/the-end-of-privacy-is-a-taylor-swift-fan-tiktok-account-armed-with-facial-recognition-tech/

2023-09-13 13:25:55

Payment processor Stripe bans sex work of any kind, but is currently allowing companies that sell tools that people use to make nonconsensual AI-generated porn to use its platform:
https://www.404media.co/stripe-forbids-sex-work-but-profits-from-non-consensual-porn/

2023-09-13 01:36:11

Game devs are calling the new pricing structure the "enshittification of Unity," and it's hard to argue with them:
https://www.404media.co/unity-new-fees-prices/