New from 404 Media: Google just removed seven years of political advertising history from 27 countries. Google's Ad Transparency Center no longer shows political ads from any countries in the EU. Much harder for accountability now.
404 Media
Google Just Removed Seven Years of Political Advertising History from 27 Countries
Ahead of the European Union's Regulation on Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising, Google's Ad Transparency Center no longer shows po...
People pinging me about the FBI applying for 'remote access' to hack Telegram: I read the document itself last week (via CourtWatch) and it’s just a warrant to use the person’s phone to log into their Telegram account. Good and normal. 'Remote access’ makes it sound more interesting than it is.
New from 404 Media: we've closely been following the wave of lawyers getting caught using AI. But now we know why: here 18 lawyers explain why they used AI. They blame IT, family emergencies, their own poor judgment, their assistants, illness, and more.
404 Media
18 Lawyers Caught Using AI Explain Why They Did It
Lawyers blame IT, family emergencies, their own poor judgment, their assistants, illness, and more.
New from 404 Media: Reddit mods sued by YouTuber Ethan Klein are fighting a subpoena designed to unmask their real identities. They fear "sexual violence, extortion, fans showing up to their home, and endless years of harassment," asking judge to not grant it
404 Media
Reddit Mods Sued by YouTuber Ethan Klein Fight Efforts to Unmask Them
Klein has attempted to subpoena Discord and Reddit for information that would reveal the identity of moderators of a subreddit critical of him. The...
New from 404 Media: landlords are demanding potential tenants hand over employer login credentials so a tool can verify their income. I was sent screenshot of the tool, Argyle, downloading much more data than necessary to approve the renter. Opt-out means no housing
404 Media
Landlords Demand Tenants’ Workplace Logins to Scrape Their Paystubs
Screenshots shared with 404 Media show tenant screening services ApproveShield and Argyle taking much more data than they need. “Opt-out means no...
New from 404 Media: here is the story of how Ruby went off the rails. 3000 words on developers suddenly locked out, corporate pressure, and claims of a "hostile takeover" of one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure for the internet we all rely on everyday
404 Media
How Ruby Went Off the Rails
What happened to RubyGems, Bundler, and the Open Source drama that controls the internet infrastructure.
In this week's Behind the Blog, I wrote more about our lawsuit with ICE seeking access to its $2 million spyware contract. The language used, what exactly we're seeking, etc. And why it's been a long time coming filing a lawsuit like this
404 Media
Behind the Blog: Behind 404 Media's ICE Lawsuit
This week, we discuss being journalism dorks, our new lawsuit against ICE, and working on bullshit.
On this week's episode of the 404 Media Podcast we went into more detail about why we're suing ICE. Listen here on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, etc:
404 Media
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.
Mods of the Twin peaks subreddit opened the doors to users uploading AI images related to the show. So users did just that... and flooded the sub with AI images. Subreddit now banned AI.
404 Media
Pissed-off Fans Flooded the Twin Peaks Reddit With AI Slop To Protest Its AI Policies
Moderators reversed course on its open door AI policy after fans filled the subreddit with AI-generated Dale Cooper slop.
Those SIM farms the Secret Service seized? They're also popular with another group in particular: ticket scalpers. “Our SMS gateway devices support up to 512 SIM cards, ensuring you never miss a verification code,” one ad to ticket scalpers says for example.
404 Media
The SIM Farm Hardware Seized by the Secret Service Is Also Popular With Ticket Scalpers
The tech the Secret Service claims can be used to "disable cell phone towers" is very commonly used by ticket scalpers to game Ticketmaster.