Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Sinkholes and Site Seizures
This week, we discuss a ransomware gang, book bans, and infrastructure.
Features
How Lofi Girl Became a Chill Beats Empire
How the iconic looping video of a studying anime girl and stream of chill music became a big business.
HHS
HHS Asks All Employees to Start Using ChatGPT
The agency tells workers "we should all be vigilant against barriers that could slow our progress toward making America healthy again."
News
AI Darwin Awards Show AI’s Biggest Problem Is Human
The AI Darwin Awards is a list of some of the worst tech failures of the year and it’s only going to get bigger.
Tariffs
‘It's Just a Mess:' 23 People Explain How Tariffs Have Suddenly Ruined Their Hobby
"The real kick in the teeth is no matter how much manufacturing is brought back to the US these items will never be made in the USA. There is no upside."
girls do porn
Michael Pratt, GirlsDoPorn Ringleader, Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison
Michael James Pratt was sentenced to federal prison on charges of sex trafficking connected to the GirlsDoPorn crime ring. “He turned my pain into profit, my life into currency,” said one victim.
News
Instagram Account Promotes Holocaust Denial T-Shirts to 400,000 Followers
Meta decided to not ban the account and the vast majority of its racist posts even after 404 Media flagged them to the company.
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.