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.
Features
Inside the Discord Community Developing Its Own Hair Loss Drugs
HairDAO is a “decentralized autonomous organization” trying to cure hair loss.
Podcast
Podcast: ICE's 'Backdoor' Into a Nationwide AI Surveillance Network
How ICE is accessing data from Flock cameras; a new invasive surveillance product; and the radical changes made at AI platform Civitai.
News
Civitai Ban of Real People Content Deals Major Blow to the Nonconsensual AI Porn Ecosystem
Citing pressure from payment processors and new legislation, a critical resource for producing nonconsensual content bans AI models depicting the likeness of real people.
FOIA
ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows
Flock's automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras are in more than 5,000 communities around the U.S. Local police are doing lookups in the nationwide system for ICE.
News
The CIA Secretly Ran a Star Wars Fan Site
The site, starwarsweb.net, was a covert CIA communications tool. It has pictures of Yoda and C-3PO on it.
The Abstract
Penguin Poop Helps Antarctica Stay Cool
Penguin guano helps clouds form in coastal Antarctica, making these birds an important factor in the region’s climate.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Feeling Wowed, Getting Cozy
This week, we discuss the benefits of spending 14 hours a day on the internet, getting cozy for AI slop, and a what a new law in Sweden means for the rest of us.
News
Authors Are Accidentally Leaving AI Prompts In their Novels
‘I’ve rewritten the passage to align more with the J. Bree style’ appeared in the middle of a tense scene with a scaled dragon prince.
apps
Pocket, One of the Only Apps I Ever Liked, Is Shutting Down
Pocket, the app for saving articles to read later, announced it is shutting down on July 8.
News
Hacker Conference HOPE Says U.S. Immigration Crackdown Caused Massive Crash in Ticket Sales
One scheduled speaker has also pulled out of the New York-based event and specifically pointed to Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
News
Why Does Google’s New Veo 3 AI Video Generator Love This Dad Joke?
“I went to the zoo the other day, there was only one dog in it…”
sex work
Sweden Expands Anti-Sex Work Law to Criminalize Paying for Custom OnlyFans Clips and Camming
The Nordic Model criminalizes buyers of sex in multiple European countries (and Maine). Sweden just voted to expand its reach to the internet.