AI
Reddit Issuing 'Formal Legal Demands' Against Researchers Who Conducted Secret AI Experiment on Users
Reddit called it an "improper and highly unethical experiment" and said it did not know it was happening.
AI
Researchers Secretly Ran a Massive, Unauthorized AI Persuasion Experiment on Reddit Users
The researchers' bots generated identities as a sexual assault survivor, a trauma counselor, and a Black man opposed to Black Lives Matter.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Feeling Smart Along the Way
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss cheating in job interviews, "scary good" surveillance tech, and prudes in payment processing.
Data Hoarding
Sales of Hard Drives for the End of the World Boom Under Trump
PrepperDisk is a mini internet box that comes preloaded with offline backups of some of the content that is being deleted by the administration.
PSA
How 404 Media Is Navigating 'Economic Headwinds'
The economy is bad. Here's how we're doing, and how you can help us.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Chat, Are We Cooked?
This week, we discuss Palantir scoops, coping mechanisms, and feeling God in this Samsung television.
podcasts
AI Slop Is Breaking the Internet as We Know It (404 Media Live at SXSW)
Here's our live panel and podcast from SXSW!
FOIA
This ‘College Protester’ Isn’t Real. It’s an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops
Massive Blue is helping cops deploy AI-powered social media bots to talk to people they suspect are anything from violent sex criminals all the way to vaguely defined “protesters.”
LAPD
LAPD Publishes Crime Footage It Got From a Waymo Driverless Car
Police are starting to realize they can demand footage from driverless cars.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: The Economy, Robot Umpires, and Monsters
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together.
Interviews
How a $2,000 'Made in the USA' Phone Is Manufactured
"You could count the number of skilled electronics engineers on US soil, and there's probably a million in Shenzhen alone."
ICE
Inside a Powerful Database ICE Uses to Identify and Deport People
The database allows filtering according to hundreds of different categories, including visa status, “unique physical characteristics (e.g. scars, marks, tattoos),” “criminal affiliation,” license plate reader data, and more.