ICE
Hackers and Trolls Target Wave of ICE Spotting Apps
Hackers have targeted a spread of apps or sites that aim to track ICE activity, in one case even sending push notifications to users in an attempt to intimidate them.
News
ICE Spends Millions on Clearview AI Facial Recognition to Find People ‘Assaulting’ Officers
A new contract with Clearview AI explicitly says ICE is buying the tech to investigate "assaults against law enforcement officers."
The Abstract
The Biological Rulebook Was Just Rewritten—by Ants
Iberian harvester ant queens clone males of a different species in a never-before-seen case of reproduction and domestication.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Sleeping With Slop
This week, we discuss slop in history, five-alarm fires, and AI art (not) at Dragon Con.
girls do porn
Ahead of Sentencing, GirlsDoPorn Ringleader Michael Pratt Attempts to Seem Reformed
In sentencing memos and exhibits, Pratt's attorney paints of picture that points at Pratt's abusive father, his ADHD, his co-conspirators, the entire pornography industry, and the victims themselves.
News
This Company Turns Dashcams into ‘Virtual CCTV Cameras.’ Then Hackers Got In
A hacker has compromised Nexar, which turns peoples' cars into "virtual CCTV cameras" that organizations can then buy images from. The images include sensitive U.S. military and intelligence facilities.
Impact
Congress Pushes DHS for Details on ICE’s New Facial Recognition App
404 Media first revealed ICE’s new app, called Mobile Fortify, in June. Now members of a congressional committee are pressing DHS for more information, including ICE's legal basis for using the app inside the U.S.
News
Google AI Falsely Says YouTuber Visited Israel, Forcing Him to Deal With Backlash
YouTuber Benn Jordan has never been to Israel, but Google's AI summary said he'd visited and made a video about it. Then the backlash started.
pornhub
Pornhub Will Pay $5 Million Over Allegations of Hosting Child Sexual Abuse Material
Pornhub's parent company Aylo and its affiliates settled a lawsuit with the FTC and Utah that alleged the company "deceived users" about abuse material on the site.
AI
AI Generated 'Boring History' Videos Are Flooding YouTube and Drowning Out Real History
"These AI videos are just repeating things that are on the internet, so you end up with a very simplified version of the past."
Luigi Mangione
Shein Used Luigi Mangione’s AI-Generated Face to Sell a Shirt
United Healthcare CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione is not, in fact, modeling floral button-downs for Shein.
The Abstract
They Were Some of Earth’s Last Stable Glaciers. Now, They’re Melting.
Glaciers in Central Asia have remained intact even as other parts of the world have seen rapid glacial loss. A new study shows that may be changing.
Podcast
Podcast: Trump Take LEGO
How Trump's tariffs are impacting all sorts of hobbies; how OnlyFans piracy is ruining the internet for everyone; and ChatGPT's reckoning.