Flock
Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People
There have been more than a dozen cases around the country where police use Flock to obsessively and illegally stalk people.
News
Judge Rules Blacked.com Can Sue Meta for Scraping Its Porn
The judge found that Meta’s attempt to blame the pirating of thousands of Vixen.com and Tushy.com porn videos on rogue employees “strains credulity.”
It Is Trivially Easy to Use Reddit to Manipulate AI Search, Research Suggests
"We show that a tiny snippet—just 13 words—of retrieved text on a UGC website like Reddit, Wikipedia, Quora, or Facebook can change AI agents to output spam / scam content pretty consistently."
Podcast
The OPSEC Rave Wave (with Imani Thompson)
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.
The Abstract
Scientists Discover Vast Ancient ‘Necropolis’ Teeming With Strange New Creatures
A massive whale graveyard in the Indian Ocean contains the remains of hundreds of extinct whales dating back more than five million years, along with recent carcasses that support hotspots of seafloor life.
Flock
‘You Will Not Speak on Flock Tonight’: County Commissioner Refuses to Let Residents Opposing Flock Speak at Meeting
"I’ve spoken. I’m not debating this."
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: World Cup Madness and Film Reviews
This week, we discuss Trump fucking up the World Cup, some thoughts on ICE coverage, and movies.
News
Software Update Automatically Turns off Amazon Delivery Drivers’ AC During Dangerous Summer Heat
A new software update is turning off the AC in Amazon delivery vans after 10 minutes or 30 seconds under certain conditions.
Amazon Data Centers In Mississippi Have Already Raised Electricity Rates for Local Customers, Report Suggests
Three Amazon data centers aren't even open yet, but local residents are already paying at least $10.60 extra per month for them, according to a new study.
Flock
Flock Leaked Cops’ License Plate Searches via DuckDuckGo, Bing
Flock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company, exposed some of the license plate cops were looking for and the reason for doing so.
chatbots
Chatbots Keep Telling Stories About Lighthouse Keeper 'Elias Thorne'. We Might Know Why
LLMs including ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude are obsessed with telling stories about lighthouse keepers and clockmakers, and one character named 'Elias Thorne' has made his way from chatbots to Amazon books. Researchers are trying to discover why.
The Abstract
Scientists Just Accidentally Discovered a Strange, Hidden Rule of Human Nature
Researchers report a "serendipitous" discovery while watching videos of crowds: an inexplicable bias toward counterclockwise turning that may be rooted in biology.
Podcast
Podcast: Google Employees Meme About How Bad Their AI Is
Memes at Google; Microsoft wants to make its new AI assistant addictive; and manipulating Reddit.