The 404 Media Podcast

Big tech is rushing to build hundreds of data centers across the planet to keep up with the computing demand of artificial intelligence. The tech companies are promising the massive buildings will bring jobs and prosperity when they’re built, but communities across the country aren’t buying it and they’re fighting back. People are concerned about water, noise, pollution, and the rising cost of electricity. Anyone who already lives next to a data center knows those fears are well founded. To talk through this, Matthew spoke to Paris Marx. He’s a tech critic, the host of Tech Won’t Save Us and the author of the new book Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires. Buy Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/PRf8ZtpSqAg Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start this week with Joseph’s article about Raven, previously known as Geospy. This is an AI tool that can geolocate photos, and now says it can pinpoint a specific house based just on one photo taken inside. After the break, Jason explains why a judge ruled a particular Flock search as unconstitutional. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about the wild AI video that has derailed a manslaughter case. AI Company Lets Cops Pinpoint Specific Houses Based on a Single Interior Photo Watch Footage of the Flock Search a Judge Ruled Unconstitutional Her AI-Generated Video Swayed the Judge. The Court Said it Carried 'Undue Emotional Weight' Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sponsor: Take back control today: go to incogni.com/404media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's incogni.com/404media, promo code 404MEDIA—risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen became one of the most important tech whistleblowers in 2021, when she exposed how Facebook’s algorithm was pushing people toward hate groups, showed Instagram was making teen girls feel worse about themselves, and showed that the company knew about its detrimental impacts on society. Haugen’s story is the basis for Aaron Sorkin’s new movie ‘The Social Reckoning,’ which follows her evolution from model employee to leaker to formal whistleblower. Jason and Frances discuss what the movie got right about journalist-source relationships and how AI is supercharging privacy concerns. YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/oB3IxwCfP7M Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start this week with a story from our old friend Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, about how cops can bypass the inactivity reboot on iPhones. After the break, Jason tells us how people are losing their minds over an LLM ‘torture’ prison. In the subscribers-only section, Sam explains what happened in a wild ChatGPT case in New Mexico. Cops Can Bypass iPhone’s Automatic Reboot to Get Into Locked Phones, Leaked Video Claims Someone ‘Torturing’ LLMs in a Robot Prison Has Triggered the Dumbest Debate in AI Yet Lawyer Cites ChatGPT-Invented Fake Witnesses in Murder Appeal Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you to DeleteMe for helping make this night possible. They're offering ⁠20% off a privacy protection plan⁠ for friends of 404 Media. Use code 404M20 at checkout. 404 Media just turned three years old, and to celebrate, we hosted a night of chatting about what we’ve accomplished with your support, what’s next for us, and whether or not we’re all going to be okay. We also threw in some weird bugs and community resistance for good measure. Don’t miss us pulling audience questions out of the mystery AMA box! Live from WNYC’s Greene Space, you can also watch the entire show on 404 Media’s YouTube channel. We Are Going to Be Okay: A Three Year Anniversary Events Recap Our Zine About ICE Surveillance Is Here Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/t_VjNAopjhI Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Kint, the CEO of Digital Content Next, has kept a close eye on some of the biggest tech antitrust and copyright court cases. Kint has a knack for finding particularly incriminating court records in complex ongoing lawsuits. We talk to Kint about the pressures that human creators are under in an AI world, the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI, and why Meta's Cambridge Analytica scandal is relevant again. YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/knlbTd5Pij4 Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don’t sleep on [@ultrapouches]. New customers get 15% Off with code 404MEDIA at takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad We start this week with Joseph’s stories on the massive FBI hack. 404 Media broke this news and continued to cover the breach of data on all FBI employees and their spouses. After the break, Jason tells us how a surveillance company is telling cops it wants to add facial recognition tech to Flock camera data. In the subscribers-only section, Jason and Joseph chat all about Muse, Meta’s new agentic AI, and how humans are actually behind some of the tasks. Because of course. ‘We Hacked the FBI:’ Hackers Say They Have Data on All FBI Employees FBI Hack Exposed FBI’s Own Hacking Unit FBI Hackers Say They Won’t Publish Massive Trove of FBI Employee Data Surveillance Company Tells Cops It Wants to Add Facial Recognition to Flock Cameras Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facial recognition is everywhere now. It’s in surveillance cameras; it’s soon going to be in Meta’s RayBan pervert glasses, and some students already did that. You now have massively viral accounts that take clips of people, run them through facial recognition software, and then post their name and other personal info for everyone to see. We haven’t fully come to terms with what it means to live in a world where anyone can basically dox anyone else now. To talk through this, Joseph spoke to Kashmir Hill. She’s a reporter at the New York Times, and the author of Your Face Belongs to Us: A Tale of AI, a Secretive Startup, and the End of Privacy. Take back control today: go to incogni.com/404media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's incogni.com/404media, promo code 404MEDIA—risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/aUFnQPtxJ9o Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Jason’s story about OpenAI and Microsoft’s big admissions from court records that they are destroying the internet in all sorts of ways, and stealing intellectual property on an unprecedented scale. He admit it. After the break, Emanuel explains how he hijacked a real band’s Spotify page with AI-generated slop. In the subscribers-only section, we hear all about iLands, the AI agent platform that is basically just spam. Is Your City Using Axon License Plate Cameras? We Need Your Help ‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft I Hijacked a Real Artist's Spotify with AI Music. It Was Disturbingly Easy AI Agent Platform Reinvents Spam, Floods Inboxes Worldwide Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…

When chatbots become our closest “friends,” what happens to our capacity to care? This week I'm joined by Professor Sherry Turkle. Sherry is a licensed clinical psychologist, the founding director of MIT's Initiative on Technology and Self, and the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT. She's a the New York Times bestselling author of multiple books including Alone Together, Reclaiming Conversation, and The Empathy Diaries. Her latest book, Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines, comes out on September 29. In it, Turkle explores how conversational chatbots have changed the ways we relate to other humans, empathize with each other, and what that could mean for our future. “The progression is: First we talk to each other, then we talk to each other through machines, and now we drop the middleman and we're happy to just talk to machines,” she said in our conversation. We get into what happens when people stop placing importance on…

In this bonus collaboration with our friends at The Intercept, 404 Media's Jason Koebler and the Intercept's Sam Biddle and Akela Lacy discuss the ways AI is already used to empower private surveillance companies that filter data to the government, how AI is used in war, and the prospect of an AI apocalypse. This podcast was recorded live in Los Angeles at The Loved One on September 12. Check out The Intercept Briefing podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and find a full transcript of this pod here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start this week with Joseph’s story about the people who are reading real ChatGPT users’ prompts and conversations. He got a bunch of documents all about these contractors and saw real prompts himself. After the break, Sam tells us all about the Automattic CEO getting kicked out. Then coming back again. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel tells us why a16z thinks enshittification is not real. Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Put on 'Leave of Absence' Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg Claims He’s Back 'In Control' Sources say Automattic’s board is out after failed attempt to oust CEO Matt Mullenweg A16z Says You Actually Love Social Media, Enshittification Isn’t Real YouTube version: https://youtu.be/AyPuYrjLk1E Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re joined by Jennie Rose Halprein. Jennie is the executive director of Library Futures, a non-profit that advocates for a fair digital future for libraries and the communities they serve. We have written a bunch of stories about libraries over the years, and I have talked to Jennie a few times for those stories. I always have really interesting conversations with her, but a lot of what we talk about never makes it into a story. That’s why I wanted to share one of those conversations with you today. We of course touch upon censorship but also many other subjects, so I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/mS0xofGW2hE Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Joseph’s story about the secretive predictive policing units inside DHS that are analyzing Americans’ financial data and having local cops pull them over. After the break, Jason tells us about the funky shirt designed to fool AI-camera systems. In the subscribers-only section, we talk all about our third anniversary events. YouTube version: https://youtu.be/o0AG6A5MIRg RSVP: Killer Technology With 404 Media A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over This 'Digital Camouflage' Shirt Confuses AI-Powered Surveillance Cameras We Are Going to Be Okay: A Three Year Anniversary Events Recap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Jason talks to Lindsey Isaacs and her lawyer, Patrick McGeehan. Last year, Lindsey was falsely arrested and imprisoned after authorities used Flock’s license plate reader system to pull over the wrong person in a hit-and-run that killed three people. Lindsey spent 13 days in jail because of this screwup. This all happened because authorities were looking for a black dodge Durango, and used Flock’s freeform search to look for a black SUV. Lindsey happened to be driving a black dodge Durango 3 miles west of where the crash happened a few minutes beforehand. Lindsey was arrested even though there was no damage to her car. She again, spent 13 days in jail before the charges against her were dropped. This is one of the worst cases of Flock-related policing screwups we’ve ever seen, and an innocent person had their life upended because of it. We spoke to Lindsey and Patrick about what happened, the case, Flock surveillance, and their lawsuit against the police who did this to her. Subscribe at…

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Emanuel’s follow-up to his Amazon book scanning story, in which he spoke to someone who worked in the Amazon warehouse which destroys books to train Amazon’s AI products. After the break, Emanuel and Sam tell us about the same few names appearing in LLM output over and over again. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph tells us why ICE is buying loads of data about ‘voter fraud’. You're Invited: 404 Media's Third Anniversary Live Podcast and Party! Inside the Warehouse Where Amazon Scans and Destroys Books for AI Training The AI ‘Ghosts’ Contaminating Academic Publishing ICE Plans to Spend Millions on Boston Dynamics Dog Robots ICE Wants the Country’s Voter Data Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/PcNdLnLF7mo Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices.…

This week Joseph talks to Paul Raffile, a cybercrime researcher, and Erin West, founder of Operation Shamrock. The pair recently traveled to Nigeria to track down a scammer and meet a bunch more. This conversation is some fascinating insight into how scammers live, how they can be identified, and platforms like Meta’s responsibility. I Hunted the Men Who Blackmail Children Online Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/973m4leS25c Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Jason’s piece on a cop making a fake Flock camera to catch a vandal. How can you be charged with destroying expensive property if… the camera wasn’t real? After the break, Sam tells us about how Darth Vader loves Flock. In the subscribers-only section, we talk a bit about three years of 404 Media. You're Invited: 404 Media's Third Anniversary Live Podcast and Party! RSVP: Killer Technology With 404 Media Man Charged With 3 Felonies For Breaking 3D-Printed ‘Decoy’ Flock Camera The Man Behind the Anti-Flock Darth Vader Mask Wants to Know: 'When Will This End?' YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/rYCvhAOGAjM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media or use code 404Media at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark! Tech companies want you to believe that the chatbots they profit from are the always ready, never judgemental, constantly affirming friend in our pockets. But are the people using them as companions under some kind of deep self-delusion? Or are they seeking something else? This week I’m joined by Bridget Todd. Among many other projects and accomplishments, Bridget is the creator and host of the award winning podcast There Are No Girls on the Internet, is a Fellow at the MacArthur Foundation, and an affiliate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Her new audiobook, Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy, launched in July with coauthor Michael Amato. We talk about her work interviewing people who use chatbots to fill an emotional need, how people who engage in romantic, intimate and erotic roleplay with LLMs are mocked for it, and how tech companies are…

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go tohttps://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA athttps://incogni.com/404Media We start this week with Emanuel’s big story about Amazon buying, and destroying, masses of books to train AI. After the break we talk about a couple of wild cases where people are using AI. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about Meta’s new smart glasses patent and research into how perverts are using them. We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility ‘Show How 3M Is 0% at Fault:’ Expert Witness Used ChatGPT to Write Report Defending Company in Deadly Explosion Lawsuit Person Hides Prompt Injection in Legal Filing Telling AI to Side With Them Meta Patents AI Glasses to Use Facial Recognition to Identify People, Make Highlight Reels of Your Dinner Party Researchers Show How Meta's 'Pervert Glasses' Are Used to Harass Women YouTube Version:…

The past, present, and future of deepfakes, as seen by the world’s leading expert on synthetic media. I think we’re pretty good at telling the difference between an AI generated image and a real photograph, but when I need help I call Hany Farid. Farid is the cofounder of GetReal, a company that specializes in detecting deepfakes and other AI-generated images, and is the developer of PhotoDNA, a perceptual hashing algorithm that helps companies automatically detect and remove some of the worst images that exist online, and that is now being used by every serious internet platform in the world. We started talking to Hany regularly in 2017, when Sam first reported on deepfakes. As that technology evolved and changed how we perceive reality, so have our conversations. I wanted to talk to him today on the podcast so you could hear of those conversations, and so that Hany and I could zoom out, reflect on the past few years, and speculate about where we might be headed. YouTube Version:…

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to ⁠https://incogni.com/404Media⁠ and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at ⁠https://incogni.com/404Media⁠. We start this week with Jason’s article about Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for Meta’s AI agents. They don't sound fun at all. After the break, Emanuel tells us how a company offering “100% human-written” medical research is actually all AI. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains why some cities are ditching Flock then immediately replacing those cameras with Axon ones. Mark Zuckerberg Posts Deranged 6,500-Word Essay About Giving Everyone AI Superintelligence Company Offering ‘100% Human-Written, Never AI’ Peer Review Is Entirely AI Cities Are Ditching Flock, Immediately Replacing It With Axon License Plate Readers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's https://surfshark.com/404Media. This week, we talk to William Gude, who runs Film the Police LA. Film the Police LA is a YouTube channel, Instagram account, and Twitter account where William does exactly what it says in the name: He films police in Los Angeles to hold them accountable. William has been doing this for years, and has captured a series of police abuses during what are supposed to be routine traffic stops or other encounters that don’t need to be so tense. What I like about William’s work is that it’s a mix of very serious accountability journalism mixed with some humor—William is a funny guy whose rapport with cops in the videos he makes often palpably brings the tension down between the police and the people they have pulled over. William also documents surveillance in Los Angeles, and has taken to filming and talking…

Get 15% off OneSkin with the code 404 at https://oneskin.co/404 We start this week with Joseph’s article about Samuel Tunick, the man charged with allegedly wiping his phone before DHS officials could search it. It’s a wild case with a lot to unpack. After the break, Jason tells us all about a TikTok Shop scheme powered by AI. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about possibly the dumbest AI tool ever made. You're Invited: 404 Media's Third Anniversary Live Podcast and Party! ‘The Government Hopes To Set a Precedent’: An Interview With the Man Charged for Allegedly Wiping His GrapheneOS Phone Inside an AI TikTok Shop Slop Factory That Shills Supplements Recalled By the FDA Google Earth’s New AI Lets Anyone Fabricate Completely Bullshit Satellite Images Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/lmikqHw1lX8 This is a production of 404 Media, a journalist-owned tech website. Learn more and subscribe at: htttps://404media.co Listen to our weekly podcasts: Apple Podcasts:…

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go tohttps://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA athttps://incogni.com/404Media This week Joseph speaks to Jonathan Paz, a former Flock employee and now candidate for Congress in Massachusetts’ 5th District. They talk all about Paz’s work at Flock, how he was tasked with trying to convince cities to buy Flock cameras, and when he ultimately quit the company. It’s a rare peek inside a company that so many people are talking about. ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/BKYYpLC9u5I This is a production of 404 Media, a journalist-owned tech website. Learn more and subscribe at: htttps://404media.co Listen to our weekly podcasts: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-404-media-podcast/id1703615331?ref=404media.co Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F3oY47l2XgoBMaAmIaw29?ref=404media.co Google…

We start this week with Matthew’s experience of what happened when Flock came to his small town. It’s a microcosm of what is happening all across the United States. After the break, Sam tells us about a bunch of no phone Luddite events. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains why anti-Flock influencers making up BS are bad, actually. Our New FOIA Forum! 7/30, 1PM ET What Happened When Flock Came to My Town Being a Luddite Is Fun Again The Rise of Anti-Flock Influencers Who Make Things Up for Clout YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/C0Sb0HqPXBI This is a production of 404 Media, a journalist-owned tech website. Learn more and subscribe at: htttps://404media.co Listen to our weekly podcasts: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-404-media-podcast/id1703615331?ref=404media.co Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F3oY47l2XgoBMaAmIaw29?ref=404media.co Google Podcasts:…

Go to https://⁠surfshark.com/404Media⁠ to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's https://⁠surfshark.com/404Media⁠. This week Joseph talks to Mike Yeagley. As you’ll hear, he is a very interesting guy. He introduced parts of the government to the whole idea of commercially sourced location data. He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying the data, and showing what could be done with it. It’s a fascinating conversation. - How the Pentagon Learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find Its Targets—and Vladimir Putin This is a production of 404 Media, a journalist-owned tech website. Learn more and subscribe at: htttps://404media.co Listen to our weekly podcasts: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-404-media-podcast/id1703615331?ref=404media.co Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F3oY47l2XgoBMaAmIaw29?ref=404media.co Google Podcasts:…

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to https://incogni.com/404Mediaand use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at https://incogni.com/404Media Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at https://WarbyParker.com/404 — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad We start this week with Joseph’s story on how cops are using Flock to track actual people, not just cars, with searches like “male with tattoos.” After the break, Emanuel tells us all about the company that is explicitly selling mountains of books to AI companies and promising to keep the sales a secret. In the subscribers-only section, Jason tells us how he learned about the Suno hack and what it showed us. You're Invited: 404 Media's Third Anniversary Live Podcast and Party! How Cops Use Flock to Track People, Not Cars AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop Hack Reveals Suno AI Music…

404 Media teamed up with the Los Angeles Public Library's LA Made to do a live show at the LA Central Library at the end of May. Jason, Sam, and our friends Dexter Thomas and Gita Jackson talked about the ways AI is threatening workers in all industries, changing how we consume the internet, and slopifying Hollywood, video games, social media, and art. Support Gita's work: www.aftermath.siteSupport Dexter's work: https://www.youtube.com/@dexdigi YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/-wLUJEjCCQE This is a production of 404 Media, a journalist-owned tech website. Learn more and subscribe at: htttps://404media.co Listen to our weekly podcasts: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-404-media-podcast/id1703615331?ref=404media.co Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F3oY47l2XgoBMaAmIaw29?ref=404media.co Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5hY2FzdC5jb20vcHVibGljL3Nob3dzL3RoZS00MDQtbWVkaWEtcG9kY2FzdA?ref=404media.co Become a paid subscriber for access to bonus…

Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's https://surfshark.com/404Media. Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at https://WarbyParker.com/404 — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad We start this week with Jason’s story about the ChatGPT flyer pandemic. They’re everywhere! Thank you to the readers and listeners who sent in their own examples. After the break, Sam tells us how Waymo snitched on kids and drove them to a group of waiting cops. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains why he bought a $3,000 suit that electrocutes your muscles. Yep. We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’ Cops Say Waymo Snitched on Teens for Allegedly Drinking and Shooting a Toy Gun I Bought the $3,000 Fitness Suit That Electrocutes You. I’m Sending It Back YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/Pc_uE7JF63k This is a…

Is your sex life as private and personal as you think it is? Or is it shaped by – and constantly shaping, in turn – the society and systems you exist in? This week we’re joined by Dr. Angela Jones, who asks these questions and much more in her new book, Sex in Public. Angela is a professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Stony Brook University. In addition to scholarly works published in many distinguished journals including Porn Studies and The Black Scholar, she's the author, co-author and/or editor of several books, including Black Lives Matter: A Reference Handbook and Camming: Money, Power, and Pleasure in the Sex Industry which came out in 2020 and advanced and informed a lot of my own understanding of the online adult industry especially. Her latest book, Sex in Public: The Transformative Social Power of Our Erotic Lives, just launched this month. As Angela writes: “Revolutionizing how we talk about sex means thinking not just about what a single solitary person should or shouldn't do in…

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at incogni.com/404Media. This week, we talk about Jason's dive into the world of LARPing, where hustlebros and influencers use fake YouTube, OnlyFans, and Stripe dashboards as "proof" that they're rich in order to sell low-quality get-rich-quick courses in pyramid schemes. We show how easy it is to pretend like you're rich, and how these strategies are used all over social media. How I Bought a Private Jet By Selling $10 Subscriptions to 404 Media Inside Cannes, the Advertising Industry’s Biggest Party YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/Tmsayhy94RE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Remap Radio’s Rob Zacny and Emanuel dive deep into their current favorite game, Marathon, and what its middling success says about the future of games. If you listen to the 404 Media podcast by now you probably realized that Joe and I are a little obsessed with a game called Marathon. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve played it for almost 300 hours since it was released in March. But as much as we’re enjoying it, and there are thousands of players who feel the same, Marathon so far has failed to find the audience we’d expect from the developer that made Halo, Destiny, and which a few years ago acquired by PlayStation for more than $3 billion. It’s bad news for Marathon fans and a good sign for how much the video game business has changed over the years. I wanted to have Remap Radio host Robert Zacny on the podcast because much like me and Joe, he’s been obsessed with Marathon as well. One of Rob’s greatest skills is dissecting how and why games get their hooks into us, and what a game’s popularity, or lack…

Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's surfshark.com/404Media. We start this week with Joseph’s story about the Tokenpocalypse, which is companies scrambling to stop spending so much on AI after providers started charging per AI token. After the break, Joseph and Emanuel tell us about the ways companies are trying to do this, including using a tool to make their LLMs talk like cavemen. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel explains how entirely fake AI-generated flowers are all over eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. The Tokenpocalypse Is Here: Companies Are Scrambling To Stop Spending So Much on AI Companies Are Making Claude and Codex Talk Like Cavemen to Stop AI’s Soaring CostsScammers Sell Seeds for Exotic AI-Generated Flowers That Don’t Exist Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/Sia4LZGNkVs This is a production of 404 Media, a journalist-owned tech website. Learn more and subscribe at:…

This week, we're doing a deep dive into how marketing companies are poisoning AI search results by manipulating Reddit. You may remember when Google’s AI search results first launched, it recommended that people put glue on their pizza. Well that happened because it scraped a 10 year old Reddit comment. We’ve learned over the last year or so that this sort of thing can be done on purpose, and brands are taking advantage of it. There’s been the rise of AEO or GEO, which stands for AI Engine Optimization or Generative Engine Optimization. Basically this is trying to get mentions of your brand into web content that’s likely to be scraped by AI tools. It’s the new version of SEO and lots of marketers and companies are trying to do it. The most reliable, easiest way to do this appears to be by putting brand mentions onto Reddit. Reddit’s volunteer mods have noticed an increase in bot accounts and entire sequencing efforts—where a post and its comments are all basically done as a stealth ad—intended to boost…

Take control of your data footprint risk-free with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Go to incogni.com/404Media and use code 404MEDIA for 60% off an annual plan. That's code 404MEDIA at incogni.com/404Media. Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at WarbyParker.com/404 — and using our link helps support the show. We start this week with Matthew’s story about a fascinating paper that argues if LLMs are sentient, then by those metrics so is the classic game Age of Empires II. After the break, Matthew tells us about a wild story out of Texas with a data center being built on land that was donated to be a park. In the subscribers-only section, we talk hacking and basketball. If AI Is Sentient Then So Is ‘Age of Empires II’ A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead Hackers Publish Knicks and Madison Square Garden Data Online Madison Square Garden Made Dossier on Activists Who Opposed Facial Recognition YouTube Version:…

Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, with the reassurance of a 30-day money-back guarantee, or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout. That's surfshark.com/404Media. Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at WarbyParker.com/404 — and using our link helps support the show. This week Joseph speaks to Jake Hanrahan, creator of the independent conflict-focused media company Popular Front. They talk all about conflict journalism and how to get your journalism out there when platforms like YouTube make it all that much harder, sometimes. Popular Front Away Days Plastic Defence: Secret 3D Printed Guns in Europe Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/Yf51H5IuRcM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! We start this week with Joseph’s story about the FCC’s wild proposal to require peoples’ government ID numbers to even get a phone plan. The FCC is doing it to curb robocalls, but also said it would be useful for a bunch of other stuff. After the break, Jason tells us all about cops abusing Flock to stalk girlfriends and other people. In the subscribers’ only section, Emanuel explains how a software update is impacting Amazon drivers. FCC Wants to Kill Burner Phones By Forcing Telecoms to Get All Customers’ IDs Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People Software Update Automatically Turns off Amazon Delivery Drivers’ AC During Dangerous Summer Heat YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/hP53hSJSsSU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, I’m thrilled to be joined by Imani Thompson. Imani is a digital security trainer and host of a series of events called Cache Me Outside, where she and partner orgs help people understand their personal security, divest from big tech platforms, and learn how to stay safe online. She recently hosted a “de-Googling” party and a self-doxxing rave. We get into how platforms have tried to make surveillance cute, why that damn Duolingo owl emotionally manipulates you, and why learning about privacy best practices when surrounded by community works. Follow Imani on Instagram A 'Self-Doxing' Rave Helps Trans People Stay Safe Online Now you can break up with big tech at a bar: ‘cybersecurity disguised as a party’ Fix It With Piggy YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/C4WVYBEIgzM Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start this week with Emanuel’s story about the internal memes Google employees are making all about AI. Definitely check out some of the examples in the article or on YouTube. After the break, Jason tells us how Microsoft explicitly wants to “make people addicted” to its new AI assistant, according to an internal document. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains how companies are using Reddit to manipulate AI search results and big LEGO drama. Google Employees Internally Share Memes About How Its AI Sucks Microsoft Wants to 'Make People Addicted' to its New AI Assistant, Internal Documents Reveal Companies Are Using Reddit to Manipulate ChatGPT and Google AI Search Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emanuel talks to Devindra Hardawar about AI in Hollywood and the state of the movie industry. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code 404MEDIA at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/404media I didn’t plan it this way, but it’s a good coincidence that my interview with Devindra Hardawar is coming out on the week that the first Star Wars movie in years is being crushed at the box office by two low budget horror movies. Something is extremely off at Hollywood, or at least the old studio executives and streamers who control most of the money that funds movies. This week we’re joined by Devindra Hardawar. Devindra is a senior editor at Engadget and a co-host of The Filmcast, a podcast about film I’ve been listening to for 15 years. We’ve covered the intersection of the movie industry and AI here and there on 404 Media, but Devindra lives at that intersection. He’s the perfect person to talk to about AI and film, but also the state of the industry more broadly, how to fit…

Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! We start this week with Jason’s story about one of the wildest hacking stories in a while. Hackers simply asked Meta’s AI to change the email address on a target Instagram account, and the chatbot did so. Insane. After the break, Emanuel tells us about Amazon’s internal leaderboard for tracking AI usage and how it was cheated. In the subscribers-only section, we provided an update on our lawsuit against ICE. Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked Amazon Shuts Down Internal AI Leaderboard After Employees Cheated We Sued ICE to Get Its Spyware Contract. The Agency Is Redacting Essentially Everything Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to https://surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! Ursa Ag is an Alberta, Canada-based company that is selling a repairable, no tech tractor. It’s not often we have companies on this podcast, but listeners of the show will know we have been covering the right to repair movement for years. One of the things I’ve written about most is the frustration that farmers feel with agriculture giant John Deere, which has made their tractors very difficult to repair by loading it up with tech, lobbying against right to repair legislation, and making parts and diagnostic tools and repair guides hard to access. When we write about right to repair, people often say - why don’t people just vote with their dollars and buy something else? Well, all the major tractor companies have more or less done the same thing Deere has done - add software locks, sensors, and digital rights management to their tractors. There wasn’t…

Sponsor: Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code 404MEDIA at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/404media We start this week with Sam’s deeply reported story on how deepfakes rocked a high school, and how those kids were failed at each step. After the break, Joseph tells us about BusPatrol, a company that plans to turn school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains why a councilmember crashed out over Flock. LA Made x 404 Media Presents: How AI is Threatening the Future of Media How Deepfakes Tore a High School Apart ‘BusPatrol’ Put AI Cameras in Tens of Thousands of School Buses. Now They Want to Give Cops Access After Town Bans Flock, Councilmember Crashes Out, Proposes Internet and Phone Ban Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Joseph speaks to Zack Whittaker, an editor at TechCrunch. Zack has been leading coverage into the spouseware or stalkerware industry. This is malware sold to ordinary people, which they then often install on their girlfriend’s or someone else’s phone. Zack talks about the crazy scope of this problem. Behind the stalkerware network spilling the private phone data of hundreds of thousands Spyzie stalkerware is spying on thousands of Android and iPhone users Stalkerware tag on TechCrunch This Week In Security Newsletter YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/BLb46310iLs Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We start this week with Sam telling us all about the commencement speeches where speakers have been praising AI, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. That did not go down well! After the break, Jason tells us how he was offered the chance to buy a bunch of images of poop to train AI (really). In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains how researchers planned to stick cameras onto preschool teachers to train AI. Students Boo Commencement Speaker After She Calls AI the ‘Next Industrial Revolution’ Internet of Shit: AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users' Poops Researchers Wanted Preschool Teachers to Wear Cameras to Train AI YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/VE0EtqQLcgY Subscribe at 404media.co Don’t sleep on Ultra Pouches. New customers get 15% Off with code 404MEDIA at takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, I’m delighted to be joined by Britt Paris. Britt is a critical informatics scholar and Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information. Her work focuses on Internet infrastructure, artificial intelligence-generated information objects, digital labor, civic data, and social epistemology. She’s also a fellow with AI Now. Her book Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up just came out in February. Britt tells us about how her great-great-great uncle started a telecommunications cooperative in rural Missouri before the city even had connection, how examples like NEMR show us an alternative to monopolies that provide internet access and let people decide how they want their internet to work for them, and what’s giving her hope as she helps bargain for educators’ rights at Rutgers. Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up The American Association of University Professors on AI…

We start this week with Joseph’s story about how we obtained Haotian AI, a sought-after piece of realtime video deepfake software that lets you turn into anyone else during Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, or Zoom calls. After the break, Matthew tells us about some insane Yu-Gi-Oh trading card drama. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains how the hard drive shortage is impacting those archiving the internet. ‘HELLO BOSS’: Inside the Chinese Realtime Deepfake Software Powering Scams Around the World Man Finds $1 Million Worth of Yu-Gi-Oh Cards in a Dumpster The AI Hard Drive Shortage Is Making It More Expensive and Harder to Archive the Internet YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/O_d1VxuBdAU Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code 404MEDIA at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/404media Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The logic behind Polymarket, Kalshi and sports betting apps can be traced back to the inner workings of the slot machine. How did we get to a point where it’s legal for anyone to bet on anything? Be it the results of a baseball game or a land war in Europe, if you have access to a credit card and a computer you can try to predict the outcome of anything that’s happening in the world and win a little bit of money if you’re right. If we know that gambling can lead to high rates gambling addiction and financial ruin, why does it seem like our culture has suddenly embraced it? For years, anyone who has reported on our increasing addiction to technology has found their way to Natasha Natasha Dow Schüll’s book Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas. The book is an ethnography of slot machines. It is based on many interviews with the people who make them and play them, a deep investigation of how they work, and how they fit into the larger context of casinos, Las Vegas, and gambling more broadly. Since…

This week we start with Jason's story about Flock accessing cameras in a children's gymnastics room as a sale pitch demo. After the break, Emanuel tells us why Nature retracted a paper about the alleged benefits of ChatGPT in education. In the subscibers-only section, we talk all about the cancellation of RightsCon after pressure from the Chinese government. City Learns Flock Accessed Cameras in Children's Gymnastics Room as a Sales Pitch Demo, Renews Contract Anyway 'Nature' Retracts Paper on the Benefits of ChatGPT in Education OpenAI, Google, aÍnd Microsoft Back Bill to Fund ‘AI Literacy’ in Schools World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly Canceled China Pressure Canceled World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/hLR8MOOhRCo Subscribe at 404media.co Go to surfshark.com/404Media to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…