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.
‘Find My Parking Cops’ Tracks Officers Handing Out Tickets All Around San Francisco
"Find My Parking Cops" pins the near-realtime locations of parking officers all over the city, and shows what they're issuing fines for, and how much.
The Abstract
A Vast ‘Cosmic Web’ Connects the Universe—Really. Now, We Can Emulate It.
An emulator called Effort.jl can drastically reduce computational time without sacrificing accuracy, which could help solve longstanding mysteries about the cosmos.
Podcast
Podcast: We're Suing ICE. Here's Why
Our lawsuit against ICE; the rise of AI 'workslop'; Steam's malicious game problem; and Silk Song.
AI Slop
AI ‘Workslop’ Is Killing Productivity and Making Workers Miserable
AI slop is taking over workplaces. Workers said that they thought of their colleagues who filed low-quality AI work as "less creative, capable, and reliable than they did before receiving the output."
age verification
Florida Sues Hentai Site and High-Risk Payment Processor for Not Verifying Ages
Florida's attorney general claims Nutaku, Spicevids, and Segpay are in violation of the state's age verification law.
FOIA
CBP Flew Drones to Help ICE 50 Times in Last Year
The drone flight log data, which stretches from March 2024 to March 2025, shows CBP flying its drones to support ICE and other agencies. CBP maintains multiple Predator drones and flew them over the recent anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.
News
Steam Hosted Malware Game that Stole $32,000 from a Cancer Patient Live on Stream
Scammers stole the crypto from a Latvian streamer battling cancer and the wider security community rallied to make him whole.
Announcements
We’re Suing ICE for Its $2 Million Spyware Contract
404 Media has filed a lawsuit against ICE for access to its contract with Paragon, a company that sells powerful spyware for breaking into phones and accessing encrypted messaging apps.
News
AI-Generated YouTube Channel Uploaded Nothing But Videos of Women Being Shot
YouTube removed a channel that posted nothing but graphic Veo-generated videos of women being shot after 404 Media reached out for comment.
The Abstract
A Breakthrough Prehistoric Discovery May Rewrite Early Human History
More than 100 artifacts on Turkey’s Aegean coast hints that humans and Neanderthals may have crossed a vanished bridge now submerged beneath the sea.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Debriefing on Two Trips
This week, we discuss San Diego and Costa Rica reporting trips.
News
Contractor Used Classified CIA Systems as ‘His Own Personal Google’
Dale Britt Bendler “earned approximately $360,000 in private client fees while also working as a full-time CIA contractor with daily access to highly classified material that he searched like it was his own personal Google,” according to a court record.