Cops Used Flock to Track a Man Across State Lines to Create Pretext to Search His Car for Weed

"The vehicle travels to Michigan frequently which is a known source state for marijuana as it is legal there," a probable cause justification reads.

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Podcast: This Man Might Go to Prison for Wiping His Phone

The case of Samuel Tunick allegedly wiping a phone before DHS could search it; inside an AI-powered TIkTok Shop; and Google Earth's dumb AI tool.

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Apple's ‘Private Relay’ Is Exposing Users’ Real IP Addresses

Researchers found a group of issues that mean Private Relay isn't actually protecting users' real IP addresses. 404 Media verified the issues do expose IP addresses.

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The SCREEN Act is a Christian Nationalist Nightmare

Mike Lee's SCREEN Act, which heads to Senate Commerce Committee for markup on Wednesday, would expand age verification requirements to a nearly limitless scope of websites, and is supported by the architects of Project 2025.

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Microsoft Tells Engineers ‘Tokenmaxxing Is Not What We Are Optimizing For’

Microsoft is introducing budget limits for AI use but says it still wants to be an ‘AI-first’ company.

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‘DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE’: How Cops Are Trying to Hide Their Use of Flock

“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE TO THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE. DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT."

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The SEC Bought Airline Data to Monitor Flights Worldwide

The SEC bought access to worldwide airline ticketing records. Airlines including Delta, United, and American sold the data.

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‘Own the Narrative’: Leaked Flock Guide Shows How It Teaches Cops to Promote Its Tech

"This document shows a coordinated effort from Flock Safety to compel law enforcement agencies to convince our elected leaders to represent their interests as a company rather than the interests of concerned citizens."

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Why a Flock Worker Quit: ‘They Lied’

Jonathan Paz’s job was to convince cities to buy Flock cameras. After initially being enthusiastic about the company, he started to get disillusioned.

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We Need to Quarantine Aliens on the Moon, Scientists Propose

Researchers argue that a lunar biocontainment facility for extraterrestrial samples could prevent “the potential ecological devastation of an invasive extraterrestrial organism.”

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Behind the Blog: Silent Retreat

This week, we discuss going into the woods, a "he admit it" moment, and a tofu sandwich.

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Google Earth’s New AI Lets Anyone Fabricate Completely Bullshit Satellite Images

"Tonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put refugees near the Mexican border. Then I planted a nuclear plant in Iran. Then I put a fatal crash on a street in Amsterdam."

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YouTube Bans Popular ASMR Artists, Accusing Them of Making 'Sexually Gratifying' Videos

YouTube told ASMR artists including Bunnii, Slight Sounds, Rose, and others that their content broke the platform's sex and nudity policy. Creators say these bans are unfair and potentially life-altering.

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Company Offering Printed Books to Train AI Stops After 404 Media Coverage

Citing backlash, ISBNdb removed its webpages about training AI, denied ever buying, scanning, or selling a book for AI training, and said the site was a "test of market interest."

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A Hidden 'Dark Dimension' Could Rewrite Our Understanding of the Universe

The nature of dark matter and dark energy are among the biggest mysteries in science. Scientists think an extra “dark dimension” could explain both, and they are putting the idea to the test.

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Inside an AI TikTok Shop Slop Factory That Shills Supplements Recalled By the FDA

How a company called Rosabella used AI content to market its supplements: "If you’re trying to sell health products to a 50-year-old, well, make your avatar 50 years old."

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LinkedIn Introduces a 'Seems Like AI Slop' Button

Following 404 Media's reporting on how LinkedIn is full of AI slop, the platform is giving users a chance to report it when they see it.

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“Clapping Is a First Amendment Right:” An Interview With the Person Arrested for Clapping at a Data Center Meeting

"I have a right to speak. I'm here to speak. I have a right to clap, and if you want me out, you're going to have to drag me out."

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Podcast: Flock Came to My Town. Here’s What I Did

What happened when Flock came to Matthew's town; the rise of no phone Luddite events; and the influencers just making up BS about Flock.

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Data Centers Are Easy to Build. Powering Them Is Complicated, Slow, and Expensive

A new AI data center can be up and running in a year. Building new energy infrastructure to power it could take a decade.

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‘The Government Hopes To Set a Precedent’: An Interview With the Man Charged for Allegedly Wiping His GrapheneOS Phone

The U.S. government has charged Samuel Tunick with allegedly typing in a passcode to wipe his phone before officers could search it. “I hope people understand that the charges against me are meant to intimidate people,” he said.

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'I Would Never Do This To You:' Protesting Flock, Arizona Man Presents Plan to Surveil Government Officials

“They didn't understand it was satire in the beginning until the end,” Casa Grande, Arizona resident Jacob Petrosky told 404 Media. “They were not happy, they were very upset.”

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Substackers Say New AI Detection Tool Is a ‘Witch Hunt’

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

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Apple’s iMessage Scanning Flagged a Video of My Friend's Dog as Nudity

Apple’s Sensitive Content Warning is supposed to protect users from unwanted nude images. It accidentally blurred my friend’s dog video.

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Wikimedia Will Not Voluntarily Recognize Union a Supermajority of Its Workers Want

The Wikimedia Foundation waited until immediately after its largest annual conference to say it wouldn't voluntarily recognize its workers' union.

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Person Opposing Data Center Arrested for Clapping at City Meeting

Police refused to release the arrest report, saying it could "could interfere with ongoing investigative efforts."

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This Man Bought Phone Location Data from Around the World (with Mike Yeagley)

Joseph speaks to Mike Yeagley about how he bought the world's location data, and what that means for everyone's privacy and security.

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Tons of Peoples’ Claude Chats and Creations are Exposed on Google

Claude users are creating public share links, but probably don't realize that means their chats are now ending up in Google searches where anyone can dig through them.

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Spotify's AI Problem Is So Bad Random People Are Stepping In to Track the Slop

Spotify doesn’t label AI music on its platform, so websites like SoullessMusic.com and SlopTracker.org do it instead.

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Being a Luddite Is Fun Again

As tech backlash hits the mainstream, the ‘Summer of Ludd’ proves we don’t need social media to hang out and have a good time.

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