Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Paywall Jumping and Smart Glasses
This week, we discuss archiving to get around paywalls, hating on smart glasses, and more.
Starship
Delivery Robot Knocked Over Pedestrian, Company Offered ‘Promo Codes’ to Apologize
When a Starship employee talked to the police, the report says, he asked for the employee’s information “so he could contact her and offer their insurance information for her injuries and ‘promo codes.’”
News
Criminals Keep Hacking Themselves, Letting Researchers Unmask Them
Infostealer malware is often hidden in pirated or cracked software, and hackers then post the harvested credentials and other data online. Criminals have been infected too.
News
Homemade Porn Site Promises Not to Train AI on Performers
Lustery, a site for consent-based homemade porn, has added a new clause to its contract promising not to replace human performers with AI without consent.
News
LinkedIn Is Training AI on User Data Before Updating Its Terms of Service
Multiple LinkedIn users on Wednesday noticed a setting that showed LinkedIn was using user data to improve its generative AI. LinkedIn told 404 Media it will update its terms of service “shortly.”
Podcast
Podcast: Hezbollah's Exploding Pagers
Some expertise on batteries and how that relates to the exploding pagers in Lebanon; an AI-powered surveillance dystopia that is already here; and how Snapchat reserves the right to serve you ads with your own AI likeness.
News
Police Hack Into ‘Ghost’, An Encrypted Platform for Criminals
Operation Kraken is a sign that organized criminals are moving away from larger encrypted phone companies to a decentralized collection of smaller players and consumer access apps that the rest of us use.
Lebanon
Experts: Lebanon Pager Explosions Likely Not Lithium Batteries Alone
Lithium-ion battery fires are dangerous, but small batteries alone don't usually cause this much damage.
News
Snapchat Reserves the Right to Use AI-Generated Images of Your Face in Ads
Snapchat’s “My Selfie” by default reserves the right to use your likeness in ads.
Oracle
Larry Ellison's AI-Powered Surveillance Dystopia Is Already Here
"Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on."
News
Google Serves AI Slop as Top Result for One of the Most Famous Paintings in History
A Google Search for “Hieronymus Bosch” returned an AI-generated version of The Garden of Earthly Delights pulled from an AI slop blog.
FOIA
The Air Force Is Researching a ‘MAD.AI’ That Would Adapt Drones to New Environments
The Air Force has contracted with a company called Qylur, whose tool is designed to continuously improve the AI systems of autonomous devices such as drones and UAVs.
News
Neanderthals Would Rather Die than Talk to You
Welcome to The Abstract, a new weekly column from 404 Media about new, mind blowing scientific studies.
