Nostr notes by Joseph Cox

New: Proton, the company behind ProtonMail, emailed staff to say ...

2026-10-26T20:17:30Z

New: Proton, the company behind ProtonMail, emailed staff to say it will be 're-interviewing' workers about how they use AI. The implication is, if you're not using AI, or won't learn, you may lose your job. “These re-interviews are consequential,” a leaked email seen by 404 Media reads.

https://www.404media.co/proton-to-re-interview-staff-about-ai-to-see-who-gets-to-keep-their-job/

New: we got leaked audio of Flock's CEO speaking at a police ...

2026-10-26T17:46:33Z

New: we got leaked audio of Flock's CEO speaking at a police conference. He said backlash to Flock isn't real (said it's bots and paid protesters; no evidence); his wife told him to never apologize; and he may never do media interviews again. Listen: https://www.404media.co/in-leaked-audio-flock-ceo-tells-cops-backlash-to-the-company-isnt-real/

ChatGPT keeps telling people all over the world that 404 Media ...

2026-10-26T16:03:18Z

ChatGPT keeps telling people all over the world that 404 Media can help with their tech support problems, and our inboxes are full of clearly AI-generated complaints about getting locked out of Instagram accounts. Make it stop https://www.404media.co/chatgpt-keeps-telling-people-404-media-can-solve-their-tech-support-problems/

New: AI is making it so much easier for hackers to discover ...

2026-10-22T14:34:13Z

New: AI is making it so much easier for hackers to discover serious vulnerabilities. This applies both to people with little skill, and researchers with a lot of expertise. If you can't accept AI is exceptional at finding critical bugs, you're not living in reality

https://www.404media.co/php2shell-black-october-ai-is-changing-everything-about-hacking-no-one-knows-what-happens-next/

New: court records show the DHS officials who tried to search the ...

2026-10-20T16:02:06Z

New: court records show the DHS officials who tried to search the man who wiped his GrapheneOS phone lied. They pushed him about having child abuse images. Documents reveal that was a pretext; he wasn't suspected of this at all. He's a Stop Cop City activist https://www.404media.co/dhs-said-they-searched-man-who-wiped-grapheneos-phone-for-child-abuse-material-they-lied/

A group of Texans believe they’ve discovered evidence that the ...

2026-10-19T21:41:28Z

A group of Texans believe they’ve discovered evidence that the state’s environmental regulatory agency has continued to issue permits to data centers despite Governor Greg Abbott’s call for it to stop.

https://www.404media.co/it-aint-right-texas-said-it-would-halt-data-center-permits-the-state-is-pushing-ahead-anyway/

New: Accenture has told employees it will only fund $29 per month ...

2026-10-15T16:48:17Z

New: Accenture has told employees it will only fund $29 per month of Claude use. Meaning that employees who often spend as much as $1,000 a month are now scrambling to find ways to keep access to the tool. A sign of the continuing crack down of AI https://www.404media.co/accenture-tells-employees-they-can-now-spend-only-29-on-claude-per-month/

OpenAI continues to enshittify ChatGPT: OpenAI allows advertisers ...

2026-10-15T13:28:44Z

OpenAI continues to enshittify ChatGPT: OpenAI allows advertisers — or really anyone, I tested myself in 5 minutes — upload raw phone numbers or email addresses to OpenAI to then target those specific people and inject specific ads into their ChatGPT session https://www.404media.co/how-chatgpt-targets-ads-to-you-based-on-your-prompts-phone-number-and-email/

Character[.]ai financials: - $13.8m on compute a month, then $10m ...

2026-10-13T21:14:28Z

Character[.]ai financials:

- $13.8m on compute a month, then $10m a month
- bringing in $2.8m in subscriptions, sometimes less than $1m
- revenue from all sources $5.3m a month

Its bankruptcy shows the economics of AI don't work: https://www.404media.co/character-ais-bankruptcy-documents-show-the-economics-of-ai-dont-work/

New: an AI company now lets cops identify specific houses, using ...

2026-10-13T12:24:58Z

New: an AI company now lets cops identify specific houses, using data from Zillow and Airbnb, based on a single photo. It's part of Raven, previously called Geospy. Company previously demoed its tools to catch people vandalizing Flock cameras or protesters

https://www.404media.co/ai-company-lets-cops-pinpoint-specific-houses-based-on-a-single-interior-photo/

This is huge: a judge ruled a Flock search was ...

2026-10-02T20:52:15Z

This is huge: a judge ruled a Flock search was 'indiscriminate mass surveillance' and unconstitutional. Says the search by a cop, who did it because a passing car had a plate from a different state, violated the driver's rights. Meaning, Flock should require a warrant https://www.404media.co/federal-judge-rules-a-flock-search-was-indiscriminate-mass-surveillance-and-unconstitutional/

New: iPhones have an automatic reboot feature which quietly ...

2026-10-01T13:07:16Z

New: iPhones have an automatic reboot feature which quietly reboots the phone after a certain time; cops were freaking out about this when we revealed it in 2024. Now, phone hackers have a way around it, according to a leaked video

https://www.404media.co/cops-can-bypass-iphone-automatic-inactivity-reboot-graykey/

People who believe LLMs are conscious are having one of the ...

2026-09-30T21:26:06Z

People who believe LLMs are conscious are having one of the biggest AI meltdowns yet because someone is running a Saw-like torture chamber for LLMs on GitHub. Just before we published, GitHub took it down. GitHub hasn't said why

https://www.404media.co/someone-torturing-llms-in-a-robot-prison-has-triggered-the-dumbest-debate-in-ai-yet/

New: USPS is to put cameras in its trucks that continuously ...

2026-09-30T16:16:14Z

New: USPS is to put cameras in its trucks that continuously record. This is to gather data on roads, signage, and to improve "community safety," the agency tells me. The cameras are marketed to capture passing license plates too, but don't run ALPR software
https://www.404media.co/usps-to-put-cameras-in-trucks-that-scan-roads-for-community-safety/

New from 404 Media: a surveillance company is telling cops it ...

2026-09-29T14:08:16Z

New from 404 Media: a surveillance company is telling cops it wants to add facial recognition to Flock cameras. Flock doesn't do face rec, but that doesn't stop other companies doing it. "This is the way the world is going, the way the world will have to be" https://www.404media.co/surveillance-company-tells-cops-it-wants-to-add-facial-recognition-to-flock-cameras/

New: from 404 Media. The catastrophic FBI hack also exposed the ...

2026-09-23T22:16:36Z

New: from 404 Media. The catastrophic FBI hack also exposed the FBI's own hacking unit. The Remote Operations Unit is a highly secretive part of the FBI, responsible for making tools to break into peoples' devices. Some of their names and addresses are in the data https://www.404media.co/fbi-hack-exposed-fbis-own-hacking-unit-remote-operations-shinyhunters/

Watch a woman get arrested and dragged away after quietly ...

2026-09-23T14:51:19Z

Watch a woman get arrested and dragged away after quietly speaking about Flock at a city council meeting. This comes just before experts will speak to the Senate today about ALPR

Read more here: https://www.404media.co/woman-arrested-after-city-council-denies-residents-right-to-speak-on-flock-cameras/

New from 404 Media: Meta announced Muse, its AI agent that can ...

2026-09-22T17:00:56Z

New from 404 Media: Meta announced Muse, its AI agent that can book restaurants for you. We've seen internal Meta messages showing Meta is actually testing having these calls being made by human beings in call centers. In those tests its not AI, it's just a person
https://www.404media.co/meta-tests-muse-ai-agent-calls-that-are-actually-made-by-humans-in-a-call-center/

New: hackers say they have personal data on all FBI employees and ...

2026-09-22T16:50:42Z

New: hackers say they have personal data on all FBI employees and spouses. I got a sample of 5,000 alleged employees, including name, physical address, phone number, and in some cases spouses. Could be a massive national security and counterintelligence risk https://www.404media.co/we-hacked-the-fbi-hackers-say-they-have-data-on-all-fbi-employees/

Flock taught cops how to monitor No Kings Protests, you can see ...

2026-09-03T16:38:41Z

Flock taught cops how to monitor No Kings Protests, you can see it in this video.

More here: https://www.404media.co/flock-taught-cops-how-to-surveil-no-kings-protesters/

New: ICE plans to spend millions of dollars on Boston Dynamics ...

2026-08-28T14:06:23Z

New: ICE plans to spend millions of dollars on Boston Dynamics dog robots. ICE says this is to improve "officer safety." The robots can open doors, pick up objects, have 360 cameras, infrared vision, etc. Boston Dynamics didn't respond to question on its stance on ICE https://www.404media.co/ice-plans-to-spends-millions-on-boston-dynamics-dog-robots/

New: in leaked audio, Flock's CEO Garrett Langley tells cops ...

2026-08-26T13:45:56Z

New: in leaked audio, Flock's CEO Garrett Langley tells cops that a story we wrote about Flock being used to track a woman who self-administered an abortion is "entirely false." He's lying. The audio shows how Flock speaks when doesn't think comments will be public

https://www.404media.co/flocks-ceo-is-lying-to-cops-about-404-medias-reporting-on-abortion-case/

A cop made a fake Flock camera with a 3D printer in his own time, ...

2026-08-25T16:53:28Z

A cop made a fake Flock camera with a 3D printer in his own time, then cops staked it out to catch someone who vandalized it. It was bait, a trap. Now facing charges of property damage of over $1,000. But... it's a piece of cheap plastic, it's basically worth nothing

https://www.404media.co/man-charged-with-3-felonies-for-breaking-3d-printed-decoy-flock-camera/

We spoke to Darth Vader ...

2026-08-25T14:32:16Z

We spoke to Darth Vader https://www.404media.co/darth-vader-flock-san-diego-city-council-interview/

New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive ...

2026-08-17T13:23:30Z

New from 404 Media: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI.

We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book https://www.404media.co/we-tracked-a-shipment-of-rare-books-it-ended-at-an-amazon-ai-training-facility/

New from 404 Media: Meta just published a patent showing what it ...

2026-08-14T14:19:58Z

New from 404 Media: Meta just published a patent showing what it might use for its AI smart glasses. Patent is to use facial recognition to identify specific people, record them, make a highlight reel of your night. Example given is clips from a dinner party.

https://www.404media.co/meta-patents-ai-glasses-to-use-facial-recognition-to-identify-people-make-highlight-reels-of-your-dinner-party/

New from 404 Media: here is the manual for ICE's electric ...

2026-08-12T20:41:41Z

New from 404 Media: here is the manual for ICE's electric shock gloves.

ICE plans to spend tens of millions on gloves that give electric shocks to incapacitate people. But I found the user manual online, and it says the gloves can contribute to "sudden death"

https://www.404media.co/heres-the-manual-for-ices-electric-shock-gloves/

New from 404 Media: ICE to spend millions to buy data from ...

2026-08-10T23:28:14Z

New from 404 Media: ICE to spend millions to buy data from LexisNexis to then feed into a Palantir system. ICE has long bought data from LexisNexis, which feds use to map out a person's addresses, location, assets, etc. But now explicitly want to use with Palantir https://www.404media.co/ice-to-pay-lexisnexis-millions-for-data-to-feed-to-palantir/

Software giant SAP stopped most hires and travel because of ...

2026-08-06T19:14:44Z

Software giant SAP stopped most hires and travel because of AI's soaring cost, and a current employee tells me those freezes are still in place a month later. That is, unless the travel or hires are to do with AI, of course.

https://www.404media.co/software-giant-sap-stops-most-travel-and-hiring-because-of-ais-soaring-cost/

New from 404 Media: Apple's 'Private Relay' is ...

2026-08-05T13:48:03Z

New from 404 Media: Apple's 'Private Relay' is exposing users' real IP addresses. Private Relay is supposed to protect all your browsing in Safari. But researchers found a bunch of issues that are exposing real IPs. I verified they do. Not fixed, a live issue

https://www.404media.co/apples-private-relay-is-exposing-users-real-ip-addresses/

New: Microsoft has introduced new limits to how much its ...

2026-08-04T16:46:04Z

New: Microsoft has introduced new limits to how much its engineers can spend on AI tools at work and told employees that maximizing AI use internally is not the company’s goal, according to an internal Microsoft email obtained by 440 Media.

https://www.404media.co/microsoft-tells-engineers-tokenmaxxing-is-not-what-we-are-optimizing-for/

New: we've obtained the guide Flock makes for police to try ...

2026-08-03T17:36:11Z

New: we've obtained the guide Flock makes for police to try to convince cities to buy Flock cameras, even when there is widespread opposition to it. Encourages police to "own the narrative before someone else does," need to have a "carefully scripted presentation"

https://www.404media.co/own-the-narrative-leaked-flock-guide-shows-how-it-teaches-cops-to-promote-its-tech/

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature ...

2026-07-31T16:06:40Z

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles.

This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused

https://www.404media.co/google-earths-new-ai-lets-anyone-fabricate-completely-bullshit-satellite-images/

New: LinkedIn just introduced a "seems like AI slop" ...

2026-07-30T14:36:41Z

New: LinkedIn just introduced a "seems like AI slop" button. That's literally what the button says.

The thought leaders are going to have a meltdown

https://www.404media.co/linkedin-introduces-a-seems-like-ai-slop-button/

New: I spoke to Samuel Tunick, the man the U.S. is charging with ...

2026-07-28T17:29:14Z

New: I spoke to Samuel Tunick, the man the U.S. is charging with allegedly wiping his GrapheneOS phone before CBP could search it.

“I hope people understand that the charges against me are meant to intimidate people against protecting their data and their privacy.” https://www.404media.co/the-government-hopes-to-set-a-precedent-an-interview-with-the-man-charged-for-allegedly-wiping-his-grapheneos-phone/

Substack introduced a feature that detects AI writing. Well, ...

2026-07-28T16:21:57Z

Substack introduced a feature that detects AI writing. Well, because a ton of people on Substack use AI to write their newsletters, they're now calling the feature a "witch hunt"

“I’m not going to apologize for using AI in the creation process.”

https://www.404media.co/substackers-say-new-ai-detection-tool-is-a-witch-hunt/

Tons of peoples' Claude chats are exposed on Google. ...

2026-07-27T13:49:57Z

Tons of peoples' Claude chats are exposed on Google. Cryptocurrency keys, API keys, login credentials, legal discussions, more.

This happened with ChatGPT last year. And Claude too. There's clearly an ongoing issue with search engines indexing peoples' AI chats https://www.404media.co/tons-of-peoples-claude-chats-and-creations-are-exposed-on-google/

"I first met the Luddites a week earlier in Tompkins Square ...

2026-07-27T13:12:25Z

"I first met the Luddites a week earlier in Tompkins Square Park, for a press conference hosted by their official spokesperson: a puppet made of garbage."

https://www.404media.co/luddite-events-nyc-off-tech-summer-of-ludd/

New from 404 Media: a leaked document shows the surveillance tech ...

2026-07-23T13:56:55Z

New from 404 Media: a leaked document shows the surveillance tech at ICE's fingerprints.

We obtained the document, called "ICE Wide Analytical Tools" and are publishing it in full here. It includes everything from phone location data, to facial rec, to tracking cars https://www.404media.co/leaked-document-shows-the-surveillance-tech-at-ices-fingertips/

Here is how Flock cameras are tracking people, not cars Watch ...

2026-07-22T14:00:40Z

Here is how Flock cameras are tracking people, not cars

Watch more and subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSes4VMVyo

You opened a credit card. ICE now knows where you live. ...

2026-07-22T13:19:34Z

You opened a credit card. ICE now knows where you live.

Here's how when you open a credit card your address leaves your bank, goes through middlemen companies, and ends up with ICE. ICE plans to use this data for immigration and 'voter fraud'. No warrant

More: https://www.404media.co/you-opened-a-credit-card-ice-now-knows-where-you-live/

New from 404 Media: a company is selling tons of old books ...

2026-07-21T15:35:16Z

New from 404 Media: a company is selling tons of old books specifically to AI companies and says they have a strong NDA to never reveal which AI company bought all of the books. They don't want headlines of 'we scanned and destroyed millions of books for AI'

https://www.404media.co/ai-companies-are-buying-tons-of-old-books-because-theyre-free-of-ai-slop/

New from 404 Media: ICE plans to pay Thomson Reuters $125 million ...

2026-07-17T15:37:47Z

New from 404 Media: ICE plans to pay Thomson Reuters $125 million for data to investigate what it calls 'voters fraud'. News comes day after Trump laying the groundwork to undermine the midterms. ICE says Thomson Reuters can continuously track millions of people.

https://www.404media.co/ice-to-pay-thomson-reuters-125-million-to-find-voter-fraud/

New: cops are using Flock to track people, not cars. We reviewed ...

2026-07-16T13:59:55Z

New: cops are using Flock to track people, not cars. We reviewed Flock search data and found many, many cases of cops searching for people based on their appearance, race, tattoos, etc. Some searches are so vague like "tall man" that innocent people likely swept up

https://www.404media.co/how-cops-use-flock-to-track-people-not-cars/

New: the highly controversial AI music generator Suno was hacked. ...

2026-07-15T14:06:10Z

New: the highly controversial AI music generator Suno was hacked. The hacker sent us Suno source code; it shows the company scraped YouTube Music, Deezer, and Genius. In all, Suno scraped *decades* worth of music from the internet. Obviously didn't pay artists https://www.404media.co/hack-reveals-suno-ai-music-generator-scraped-youtube-deezer-and-genius/

New from 404 Media: we've got leaks from Amazon, GitHub, ...

2026-07-02T12:28:10Z

New from 404 Media: we've got leaks from Amazon, GitHub, Adobe, Citi, and more. The big takeaway is that companies in all industries are suddenly throttling their employees' AI use because AI is actually too expensive. Cutting off access to some models entirely https://www.404media.co/companies-are-throttling-employees-ai-use-because-its-too-expensive/

This is how easy it is to poison Google's AI search with ...

2026-06-29T16:09:53Z

This is how easy it is to poison Google's AI search with Reddit comments

Watch here and subscribe for more of this every single week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uG8ohZHOD8

Watch: we got the bodycam footage from a data center community ...

2026-06-25T14:32:52Z

Watch: we got the bodycam footage from a data center community meeting where cops arrested a man for speaking slightly too long. We spoke to him too: “I continue to maintain that my arrest was retaliatory, as I was engaging in protected speech at a public meeting.”

https://www.404media.co/bodycam-footage-video-claremore-oklahoma-data-center-meeting/

New: here's how hackers broke into Madison Square Garden. As ...

2026-06-24T13:23:51Z

New: here's how hackers broke into Madison Square Garden. As I was going through the data, I noticed a lot came from a specific OneDrive. I found that employees identity in the dump, found their LinkedIn. They work at MSG. Hackers confirmed they voice-phished them https://www.404media.co/how-hackers-broke-into-madison-square-garden/

New: Salesforce's internal AI leaderboard has teams competing ...

2026-06-18T13:26:35Z

New: Salesforce's internal AI leaderboard has teams competing for little trophies. The dashboards we've seen also track each team's use of specific AI tools. Employees worried use of AI, or lack thereof, will be used in their performance reviews because execs pushing

https://www.404media.co/salesforces-internal-ai-leaderboard-has-teams-competing-for-little-trophies/

New: A tiny snippet of user-generated text as short as 13 words ...

2026-06-15T14:29:07Z

New: A tiny snippet of user-generated text as short as 13 words long is often enough to manipulate the AI agents that power tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI search. Shows trivially easy for companies/brands to manipulate ChatGPT results by posting on Reddit, Quora, etc https://www.404media.co/it-is-trivially-easy-to-use-reddit-to-manipulate-ai-search-research-suggests/

New: a software update to Amazon delivery vans is automatically ...

2026-06-11T19:39:21Z

New: a software update to Amazon delivery vans is automatically turning off the vans' AC after 10 minutes or even 30 seconds in certain cases. Just as summer arrives and temperatures are getting dangerously hot

https://www.404media.co/software-update-automatically-turns-off-amazon-delivery-drivers-ac-during-dangerous-summer-heat/

New: Flock exposed the license plate cops were searching for in ...

2026-06-11T15:22:54Z

New: Flock exposed the license plate cops were searching for in its system and the reason for doing so. The URLs of these lookups were then cached in search engines like DuckDuckGo and Bing, meaning anyone could see them

https://www.404media.co/flock-leaked-cops-license-plate-searches-via-duckduckgo-bing/

This is wild: essentially every LLM—ChatGPT, Claude, ...

2026-06-11T14:06:24Z

This is wild: essentially every LLM—ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini—keeps using the same character when asked to make up a story, a guy called 'Elias Thorne'. He appears so much it's impacting Google Trends data and the self-published book market. Now we might know why https://www.404media.co/elias-thorne-chatbots-llms-chatgpt-lighthouse-keeper-story/

Some really crazy cases in here - cop looked up ex-girlfriend and ...

2026-06-10T13:43:59Z

Some really crazy cases in here
- cop looked up ex-girlfriend and family in Flock 100+ times
- cop stalked wife giving "test" as reason
- cop searched one plate 395 times in 10 months; was later fired

Cops keep getting arrested for using Flock to stalk people

https://www.404media.co/cops-keep-getting-arrested-for-using-flock-to-stalk-people/

DHS just confirmed the plan to roll out a facial recognition app ...

2026-06-10T13:21:42Z

DHS just confirmed the plan to roll out a facial recognition app for local cops to scan peoples' faces to verify their immigration status. Agency said this is related to the 287(g) program; more than a thousand local and regional police departments are part of that https://www.404media.co/ices-plan-to-let-cops-around-the-country-scan-faces-to-verify-immigration-status/

New: the FCC is trying to ban burner phones by forcing all ...

2026-06-09T15:14:30Z

New: the FCC is trying to ban burner phones by forcing all telecoms to store ID information on all new and renewing customers. That includes a government issued ID number. Massive privacy-impacting change

“We never thought that would happen here,” the ACLU says https://www.404media.co/fcc-wants-to-kill-burner-phones-by-forcing-telecoms-to-get-all-customers-ids/

New: this company will add tech to track phones, AirPods, ...

2026-06-08T19:10:40Z

New: this company will add tech to track phones, AirPods, smartwatches, pet tags, and more to license plate readers. The idea is to link devices' identifiers to specific cars and where those people were. It "bridges [LPR] data with sensor-captured device identifiers" https://www.404media.co/this-company-will-add-phone-airpod-and-smartwatch-trackers-to-license-plate-readers/

New: Microsoft was compromised to deliver malware to users of AI ...

2026-06-08T15:52:23Z

New: Microsoft was compromised to deliver malware to users of AI coding agents like Claude and Gemini. In response, Microsoft took the highly unusual step of shutting down dozens and dozens of its own GitHub repos. The malware would steal login credentials from users

https://www.404media.co/microsoft-hacked-to-deliver-malware-to-claude-and-gemini-users/

This is an outrageous story. A farmer donated 87 acres to a small ...

2026-06-08T13:05:52Z

This is an outrageous story. A farmer donated 87 acres to a small Texas city on the condition it be used as a public park. Years later, the farmer has passed away, the city sold the land to a developer, and now it will be the site of a 135,000 square foot data center

https://www.404media.co/a-farmer-donated-land-to-turn-into-a-park-the-city-is-building-a-massive-data-center-instead/

We spoke to the creators of a repairable, no tech tractor, which ...

2026-06-03T19:08:45Z

We spoke to the creators of a repairable, no tech tractor, which is a direct response to agriculture giant John Deere making it essentially impossible for farmers to repair the tractors themselves. This puts power back in their hands

Watch more and subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqwdvFz1Xeo

New: Google has quietly been offering to buy access to code ...

2026-06-03T00:19:25Z

New: Google has quietly been offering to buy access to code written by developers who have released Android apps on the Play Store in order to help the company train its AI coding tools. Email offers chance to “join a confidential content offer pilot.”

https://www.404media.co/google-is-quietly-buying-code-from-play-store-developers-to-train-ai/

New from 404 Media: we've seen internal documents that show ...

2026-06-02T19:00:41Z

New from 404 Media: we've seen internal documents that show Microsoft is explicitly planning to "make people addicted" to its new AI assistant 'Scout' which the company just announced. It is a clear goal according to the documents, with addiction being the first phase https://www.404media.co/microsoft-wants-to-make-people-addicted-to-scout-its-new-ai-assistant-internal-documents-reveal/

New: Amazon had an internal leaderboard for tracking ...

2026-06-01T17:18:22Z

New: Amazon had an internal leaderboard for tracking employees' AI usage. We spoke to multiple Amazon employees who acknowledged they cheated to rise on the leaderboard; one did so after a manager said they weren't using AI enough. Amazon has now closed the rankings
https://www.404media.co/amazon-shuts-down-internal-ai-leaderboard-after-employees-cheated/

This is absolutely nuts: hackers are hijacking high-profile ...

2026-06-01T17:05:41Z

This is absolutely nuts: hackers are hijacking high-profile Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI chatbot to change the email on the account. Meta's AI does it, hacker gets password reset code, they're in. A staggering security issue

https://www.404media.co/hackers-simply-asked-meta-ai-to-give-them-access-to-high-profile-instagram-accounts-it-worked/

We've sued ICE and received documents about its $2 million ...

2026-06-01T15:04:34Z

We've sued ICE and received documents about its $2 million spyware contract. But there's more to come.

Read the documents here: https://www.404media.co/we-sued-ice-to-get-its-spyware-contract-the-agency-is-redacting-essentially-everything/

New: we sued ICE for its $2 million spyware contract. The agency ...

2026-06-01T14:01:18Z

New: we sued ICE for its $2 million spyware contract. The agency is redacting everything.

We've started getting docs from our lawsuit. While we have hundreds more to go, ICE is withholding why it bought spyware to remotely break into encrypted messaging apps https://www.404media.co/we-sued-ice-to-get-its-spyware-contract-the-agency-is-redacting-essentially-everything/

Today Oura announced the Ring 5, a nearly $500 wearable which ...

2026-05-28T14:41:19Z

Today Oura announced the Ring 5, a nearly $500 wearable which locks you into a monthly subscription fee to even really use the data generated about your own health. Or, you could use Cracked Oura, which someone made to bypass the need for a monthly sub https://www.404media.co/cracked-oura-can-you-use-oura-without-monthly-subscription/

Therapy platform Headway is forcing patients to scan their faces ...

2026-05-28T14:10:15Z

Therapy platform Headway is forcing patients to scan their faces to keep getting care. Is using Persona, the Peter Thiel funded company, to do the face scanning

https://www.404media.co/headway-therapy-facial-scan-biometric-data-identity-verification/

Here's how a company plans to turn school buses into roaming ...

2026-05-27T16:26:44Z

Here's how a company plans to turn school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles, constantly scanning the license plates of all vehicles they pass and make that searchable data available to law enforcement

Watch the full conversation and subscribe here: https://youtu.be/5bWevtJjlkc?si=pWW6mLb70OYkikh5

Ads everywhere. Usage limits. Frustrating guardrails. Less model ...

2026-05-27T16:24:37Z

Ads everywhere. Usage limits. Frustrating guardrails. Less model choice. Users of the Character.AI chatbot app are revolting after a series of changes they say have made the app worse. This is what the future of AI actually looks like https://www.404media.co/lobotomized-character-ai-is-showing-what-ai-enshittification-looks-like/

millions of people are using malware to spy on their ...

2026-05-26T15:34:39Z

millions of people are using malware to spy on their partners' phones. I spoke with nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq4fa9xltpmak4sm7lyu5t04masjldgwtkncxg7fujw7rqqzk8wq8qaxgvek (nprofile…gvek) about the truly staggering scale of the stalkerware/spouseware problem

Watch, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLb46310iLs

NEW: 'BusPatrol' put AI cameras in tens of thousands of ...

2026-05-26T13:51:56Z

NEW: 'BusPatrol' put AI cameras in tens of thousands of school buses to catch people who overtake parked buses. Now, according to leaked documents, BusPatrol plans to scan all license plates buses pass and give that data to law enforcement. Think, Flock on wheels https://www.404media.co/buspatrol-put-ai-cameras-in-tens-of-thousands-of-school-buses-now-they-want-to-give-cops-access/

NEW: we got the bodycam footage of the Cybertruck the drove ...

2026-05-22T21:04:44Z

NEW: we got the bodycam footage of the Cybertruck the drove intentionally into a lake. Hours of footage, authorities deployed jet skis, owner tried to get back into the car, claimed this is the third time he's got a Cybertruck stuck in water actually

https://www.404media.co/heres-the-bodycam-footage-of-the-cybertruck-that-drove-into-a-lake/

New from 404 Media: in December a freshman boy allegedly made AI ...

2026-05-21T14:55:00Z

New from 404 Media: in December a freshman boy allegedly made AI explicit videos of five 9th grade girls. Soon, the whole school had heard. Read this deeply reported account of how deepfakes tore a high school apart

“The entire school knows about it.”

https://www.404media.co/radnor-high-school-pennsylvania-ai-deepfakes-child-sexual-abuse-material/

The owner of an app that uses AI to scan peoples' poop is now ...

2026-05-20T15:31:26Z

The owner of an app that uses AI to scan peoples' poop is now trying to sell the database of peoples' poop

Watch, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE0EtqQLcgY

After a town banned Flock, a councilmember crashed out and said ...

2026-05-20T14:38:31Z

After a town banned Flock, a councilmember crashed out and said he would be introducing measures to ban cell phones, the internet, cameras, and nearly all technology in the town of roughly 900 people.

https://www.404media.co/after-town-bans-flock-councilmember-crashes-out-proposes-internet-and-phone-ban/

“I’m submitting my resignation effective May 29th. I can’t ...

2026-05-20T14:37:21Z

“I’m submitting my resignation effective May 29th. I can’t take it anymore. The threats. The ‘I’m gonna tar and feather you.’ I hope you get bit by ah […] it’s so disgusting,” treasurer Jennifer Zink said between sobs at the end of a two hour township meeting.

https://www.404media.co/township-leader-resigns-in-tears-over-openai-data-center-death-threats/

New from 404 Media: a realtime video deepfake app marketed to ...

2026-05-19T17:51:28Z

New from 404 Media: a realtime video deepfake app marketed to streamers lets them instantly turn into George Floyd, Jeffrey Epstein, and even other streamers. In this case, a streamer turned themselves into Mr. Beast and said “I love touching little boys’ pee pees.” https://www.404media.co/streamer-realtime-deepfakes-himself-into-mr-beast-says-he-loves-touching-little-boys/

The guy who sued 27 women, one man, and several platforms after ...

2026-05-19T14:01:12Z

The guy who sued 27 women, one man, and several platforms after users in a Facebook group called him “clingy” and “psycho” had his case against Meta dismissed after a judge suggested that his attorney filed AI-generated errors and non-existent citations 👍 https://www.404media.co/are-we-dating-the-same-guy-lawsuit-ai-attorney-nikko-dambrosio/

People are winning the fight against AI data centers Watch, ...

2026-05-18T18:36:52Z

People are winning the fight against AI data centers

Watch, subscribe here for more conversation like this every single week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5twr0EUo2YE

New from 404 Media: the FBI says it wants to buy nationwide ...

2026-05-18T18:21:15Z

New from 404 Media: the FBI says it wants to buy nationwide access to license plate readers. This would likely mean the FBI could track vehicles, and by extension people, without a warrant. FBI offering $36m. Only really two companies could do it: Flock and Motorola https://www.404media.co/the-fbi-wants-to-buy-nationwide-access-to-license-plate-readers/

New from 404 Media: researchers planned to stick cameras on ...

2026-05-18T13:21:22Z

New from 404 Media: researchers planned to stick cameras on preschool teachers to then train AI models. Cameras would capture everything the teacher saw, including, obviously, the children. Here's the document given to parents, left many questions, like how to opt out https://www.404media.co/researchers-wanted-preschool-teachers-to-wear-cameras-to-train-ai/

New from 404 Media: at a "private conference" tomorrow at ...

2026-05-15T21:18:31Z

New from 404 Media: at a "private conference" tomorrow at Uber headquarters, tech companies will discuss the future of Iran. The guest list also includes the son of Iran’s former leader who was deposed almost 50 years ago.

https://www.404media.co/tech-companies-to-discuss-irans-future-during-private-conference-at-uber-hq/

ArXiv is going to ban researchers for a year if they are caught ...

2026-05-15T16:06:44Z

ArXiv is going to ban researchers for a year if they are caught submitting AI slop. ArXiv told us it's a one strike rule: do it once, you're out.

https://www.404media.co/new-arxiv-rules-ai-generated-papers-ban/

Mayo Clinic is using AI to listen to emergency room visits. Spoke ...

2026-05-15T13:02:36Z

Mayo Clinic is using AI to listen to emergency room visits. Spoke to someone who recently took their elderly parent to hospital. Only later saw the disclosure on the wall: everything recorded so AI could take notes. It's opt-out, not opt-in, if you even see the notice https://www.404media.co/mayo-clinic-is-using-ai-to-listen-to-emergency-room-visits/

DOGE's impact: a new study looks at “the earliest evidence ...

2026-05-14T18:34:27Z

DOGE's impact: a new study looks at “the earliest evidence of the impact of cuts to USAID on the incidence of violent events” which suggests that “the radical cuts […] led to an increase in conflict in the regions that received the most aid from the United States.”

https://www.404media.co/doge-cuts-unleashed-a-deadly-wave-of-violence-across-africa-study-finds/

An app that uses AI to analyze photos of your poop and give a ...

2026-05-14T13:51:45Z

An app that uses AI to analyze photos of your poop and give a "daily gut health score" is now trying to sell that dataset of annotated photos of peoples' poop. Highlights the underground sale of highly sensitive, app-collected user data for AI training

https://www.404media.co/ai-poop-analysis-app-offered-to-sell-me-access-to-its-users-poops/

"The podcast is not going well. Watching a few minutes of ...

2026-05-13T17:44:30Z

"The podcast is not going well. Watching a few minutes of several of the videos immediately gave me flashbacks to the videos I was in at U.S. News, and served as a stark reminder that the executives running these media companies have zero clue what they’re doing." https://www.404media.co/washington-post-make-it-make-sense-opinion-podcast/

Fiber-optic cable has become a staple of drone war. Pilots are ...

2026-05-13T14:53:18Z

Fiber-optic cable has become a staple of drone war. Pilots are flying quadcopters with kilometer-long lengths of cable that stop the drone from being knocked from the sky. But now that cost of fiber-optic cable is going up

https://www.404media.co/war-and-data-centers-are-driving-up-the-cost-of-fiber-optic-cable/

All the developers 404 Media talked to were excited to try using ...

2026-05-13T13:43:05Z

All the developers 404 Media talked to were excited to try using LLMs at work at first, or were at least curious about them. Their feelings about the tools, based on their personal experience, are now overwhelmingly negative. AI is rotting their brains https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

This is what it's like seeing your own face on a deepfake, in ...

2026-05-13T13:14:27Z

This is what it's like seeing your own face on a deepfake, in realtime, on a video call.

Watch here for more on how we bought this software 'Haotian AI' and linked it to the ecosystem powering scam compounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_d1VxuBdAU

New from 404 Media: spoke to four people who attended a trade ...

2026-05-12T13:27:47Z

New from 404 Media: spoke to four people who attended a trade show where senior ICE officials spoke about how much Palantir is supercharging their arrests. List of 20 million people on ICE agents phones now; increased chance of successful arrest from 28 to 80% https://www.404media.co/ice-agents-have-list-of-20-million-people-on-their-iphones-thanks-to-palantir/

Jason sat down to write an article, and instinctively, ...

2026-05-11T14:18:50Z

Jason sat down to write an article, and instinctively, accidentally, did the “it’s not just x, it’s y” AI style of writing. He stopped typing, freaked out, deleted the sentence.

Your AI use is breaking our brains https://www.404media.co/your-ai-use-is-breaking-my-brain/

Speaking to graduating humanities students, a commencement ...

2026-05-11T13:08:14Z

Speaking to graduating humanities students, a commencement speaker said AI is the “next industrial revolution,” and was met with thousands of booing graduates.

https://www.404media.co/ucf-ai-commencement-speaker-booed/

Here I explain why we sometimes buy shady services from the ...

2026-05-08T16:20:54Z

Here I explain why we sometimes buy shady services from the digital underground. In this case Haotian AI, a Chinese-language piece of realtime video deepfake software. It cost a total of around $2,500. We won't make a 'profit' on this article. But that's not the point https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-storage-woes-and-rss/

Here I explain why we sometimes buy shady services from the ...

2026-05-08T16:13:46Z

The Canvas hack is "the biggest student data privacy disaster ...

2026-05-08T16:08:22Z

The Canvas hack is "the biggest student data privacy disaster in history." For years critics have been warning about the centralization of EdTech. Well, millions of students being locked out is what happens when you do exactly that https://www.404media.co/the-biggest-student-data-privacy-disaster-in-history-canvas-hack-shows-the-danger-of-centralized-edtech/

New from 404 Media: ICE plans to develop its own smart glasses to ...

2026-05-07T21:06:34Z

New from 404 Media: ICE plans to develop its own smart glasses to "supplement" its facial recognition app, according to a DHS official told about the plans in a meeting. A second person who attended a conference this week heard a senior ICE official discuss the plans https://www.404media.co/ice-plans-to-develop-own-smart-glasses-to-supplement-its-facial-recognition-app/

Recently I opened up Microsoft Teams and was greeted with a ...

2026-05-07T16:02:35Z

Recently I opened up Microsoft Teams and was greeted with a deepfaked version of my own face. Here's how we got the Chinese-language software being marketed to scammers, and which can be used on WhatsApp, Zoom, other platforms. This is where fraud is right now

More: https://www.404media.co/hello-boss-inside-the-chinese-realtime-deepfake-software-powering-scams-around-the-world/