Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Resisting Demoralization
This week, we discuss history repeating itself, a phone wipe scandal, Meta's relationship with links and more.
News
ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’
Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move,” the developer said.
News
Earth Is Getting Darker, Literally, and Scientists Are Trying To Find Out Why
For decades, scientists assumed that symmetry between the reflectivity of Earth’s hemispheres was a “fundamental property” of our planet. Now, that’s changed.
News
Red Hat Investigating Breach Impacting as Many as 28,000 Customers, Including the Navy and Congress
A hacking group called the Crimson Collective says it pulled data from GitLab repositories connected to Red Hat's consulting business. Red Hat has confirmed it is investigating the compromise.
Immigration
Government Shutdown Causes Even More Confusion for U.S. Visa Applicants
Some services needed for immigration applications, like H-1B and E3 visas, no longer have funding, while others are still operational — for now.
News
AI-Generated Biography on Amazon Tries to Capitalize on the Death of a Beloved Writer Kaleb Horton
‘I cannot overstate how disgusting I find this kind of AI dog shit in the first place, never mind under these circumstances.’
OpenAI
OpenAI’s Sora 2 Copyright Infringement Machine Features Nazi SpongeBobs and Criminal Pikachus
The main use of Sora appears to generate brainrot of major beloved copyrighted characters, to say nothing of the millions of articles, images, and videos OpenAI has scraped.
Photography
Kodak Is Selling Its Own Film Again for the First Time in a Decade
Kodak announced two new types of film that it will sell directly to photography stores, sidestepping a bizarre distribution agreement that has been in place since its bankruptcy.
Announcements
404 Media and Freedom of the Press Foundation Sue DHS
Both organizations are seeking a copy of a data sharing agreement that is giving the personal data of nearly 80 million Medicaid patients to ICE.
Podcast
Podcast: Landlords Demand Your Workplace Logins to Scrape Paystubs
How companies working for landlords are scraping data inside corporate environments; lawyers explain why they used AI (after getting caught); and all the Ruby drama.
News
ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day
Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.