Features
Inside the Underground Trade of ‘Flipper Zero’ Tech to Break into Cars
“Kia Boys will be Flipper Boys by 2026,” one person in the reverse engineering community said.
Podcast
Podcast: The Inside Story of Tea
The inside story of how Tea undercut women's safety groups to get people to join its app; GPS trackers sold on TikTok; and Grok exposes its prompts.
News
Grok Exposes Underlying Prompts for Its AI Personas: ‘EVEN PUTTING THINGS IN YOUR ASS’
The website for Elon Musk's Grok is exposing prompts for its anime girl, therapist, and conspiracy theory AI personas.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Exercises in OSINT and Storage Pains
This week, we discuss OSINT for chat groups, Russell Crowe films, and storage problems.
News
ICE Adds Random Person to Group Chat, Exposes Details of Manhunt in Real-Time
The texts were sent to a group called “Mass Text” and show ICE using DMV and license plate reader data in an attempt to find their target, copies of the messages obtained by 404 Media show.
Podcast
Podcast: Why Are DHS Agents Wearing Meta Ray-Bans?
CBP's use of Meta Ray-Bans; the bargain that voice actors are having to make with AI; and how Flock tech is being essentially hacked into by the DEA.
FOIA
LAPD Eyes ‘GeoSpy’, an AI Tool That Can Geolocate Photos in Seconds
Emails obtained by 404 Media show the LAPD was interested in GeoSpy, an AI tool that can quickly figure out where a photo was taken.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Speculation, Distraction, and Smart Glasses
This week, we discuss Wikipedia's ethos and zooming in on a lot of pictures of cops' glasses.
Impact
Congress Launches Investigation into Flock After 404 Media Reporting
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi's office said this was “a formal investigation into Flock Group Inc. over its role in enabling invasive surveillance practices that threaten the privacy, safety, and civil liberties of women, immigrants, and other vulnerable Americans.”
News
It Looks Like a School Vape Detector. A Teen Hacker Showed It Could Become an Audio Bug
The Halo 3C is a vape detector installed in schools and public housing. A young hacker found it contains microphones and that it can be turned into an audio bug, raising privacy concerns.
News
More than 130,000 Claude, Grok, ChatGPT, and Other LLM Chats Readable on Archive.org
The issue of publicly saving shared LLM chats is bigger than just Google.
News
ICE Is Buying Mobile Iris Scanning Tech for Its Deportation Arm
MORIS and I.R.I.S. was designed for Sheriff's Offices to identify known persons with their iris. Now ICE says it plans to buy the tech.