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Longform Stories

An Incomplete List of Successful Anti-Data Center Legislation

No one wants to live next to a noisy computer warehouse and communities across the country are successfully fighting them.

21h ago·4 min read·618 words

‘Corpse Point’ In the Arctic Is Melting, Disturbing Centuries-Old Bodies

Whalers buried in the Norwegian Arctic in the 1600s and 1700s are thawing out of the permafrost, underscoring the threat of climate change to archaeological sites around the world.

2d ago·8 min read·1439 words

Here's the Bodycam Footage of the Cybertruck That Drove Into a Lake

“Obviously I wasn’t thinking at all,” the driver told police, according to the footage.

3d ago·2 min read·242 words

Behind the Blog: The Attention Wars

This week, we discuss Spencer Pratt, bricking phones, and the FTC.

3d ago·1 min read·187 words

This Archivist Has Saved 175,000 Articles from 30 Years of Writing about Magic: The Gathering

The Library of Leng contains old usenet posts and forgotten articles from Magic: the Gathering's long history.

4d ago·5 min read·951 words

The Oldest Evidence of Animal Sex Has Been Found, and It’s Mind-Boggling

Fossils unearthed in the Northwest Territories push the origins of animal sex back by 5-10 million years and reveal the earliest examples of locomotion in the fossil record.

4d ago·6 min read·1047 words

Podcast: Elites Just Don't Get AI

Commencement speeches, poop images to train AI, and cameras stuck to preschool teachers also to train AI.

5d ago·2 min read·236 words

The FBI Wants to Buy Nationwide Access to License Plate Readers

Only a couple vendors could likely fulfill what the FBI is after, namely Flock and Motorola.

May 18·1 min read·163 words

Podcast: The Physical Politics of the Internet with Britt Paris

Britt Paris's new book 'Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up' tells the story of the physical internet, and how it can benefit people, not corporations.

May 18·2 min read·364 words

Researchers Wanted Preschool Teachers to Wear Cameras to Train AI

“With your permission, your child’s lead teacher may wear a small teacher-worn camera that captures the teacher's approximate first-person perspective, and/or we may place a fixed video camera in the …

May 18·2 min read·271 words

Scientists Discover Strange New Crystal Formed by Nuclear Blast

A type of crystal lattice called a clathrate structure has been found for the first time in the fallout of a nuclear detonation.

May 16·7 min read·1224 words

Behind the Blog: New Music and a Crash Out

This week, we discuss developers' AI woes, how the magic happens, and the Beach Boys.

May 15·2 min read·219 words

Mayo Clinic is Using AI to Listen to Emergency Room Visits

Mayo Clinic's "Ambient Listening" has been around for a couple of years, but clearly not all patients know their interactions with nurses are being passively recorded and processed by AI.

May 15·1 min read·188 words

DOGE Cuts Unleashed a Deadly Wave of Violence Across Africa, Study Finds

The dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is associated with measurable increases in Africa, especially in areas most dependent on the agency’s support.

May 14·6 min read·1093 words

War and Data Centers Are Driving Up the Cost of Fiber-Optic Cable

Spools of cable are critical for internet infrastructure and jam-proof drones but skyrocketing costs are making it hard to field them.

May 13·1 min read·33 words

Podcast: The Chinese Deepfake Software Powering Scams

We got Haotian AI, the Chinese-language deepfake software powering scams. We also talk about a man finding $1 million of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and how the AI hard drive shortage is impacting internet archiv…

May 13·1 min read·40 words

Software Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their Brains

“It's making me dumber for sure.”

May 13·1 min read·14 words

How the World Became a Casino

The logic behind Polymarket, Kalshi and sports betting apps can be traced back to the inner workings of the slot machine.

May 11·1 min read·27 words

Scientists Studied 906 Mafia Marriages and Found Something Surprising

Scientists analyzed over 900 marriages within the ’Ndrangheta, one of the most infamous mafia syndicates, to understand how “matrimonial ties relate to power and cohesion within the organization.”

May 9·1 min read·37 words

University Claims Withholding Water From Nuclear Weapons Data Center Is 'Unlawfully Discriminatory' to Data Centers

The University promised “to pursue all rights and claims for necessary relief” if a small Michigan community won’t pump water into a data center.

May 8·1 min read·39 words

Behind the Blog: Storage Woes and RSS

This week, we discuss storage, RSS, and a big reporting project.

May 8·1 min read·18 words

'The Biggest Student Data Privacy Disaster in History': Canvas Hack Shows the Danger of Centralized EdTech

Messages could include "medical circumstances, accessibility accommodations, disputes, sexual assault allegations," and more.

May 8·1 min read·29 words

ICE Plans to Develop Own Smart Glasses to ‘Supplement’ Its Facial Recognition App

A DHS official and another person who attended a recent conference described the plans to 404 Media.

May 7·1 min read·30 words

‘HELLO BOSS’: Inside the Chinese Realtime Deepfake Software Powering Scams Around the World

404 Media has obtained a copy of ‘Haotian AI’, a popular piece of realtime deepfake software marketed to scammers. It can turn a fraudster's face into anyone else's on WhatsApp, Zoom, and Teams.

May 7·1 min read·46 words

Podcast: Flock Used Cameras at a Children’s Gymnastics Center for a Sales Pitch

A Flock sales pitch; a retracted paper on ChatGPT; and Chinese interference in RightsCon.

May 6·1 min read·27 words

Man Finds $1 Million Worth of Yu-Gi-Oh Cards in a Dumpster

It was already a sordid tale of online drama, blurry photographs, and erratic TikToks. Then his mom started posting.

May 6·1 min read·30 words

UK iPhone and iPad Users Can Watch Porn Again

Following the latest iOS update which requires UK mobile Apple device users to verify their ages, Pornhub’s parent company Aylo is lifting its ban—but only for people using iPads and iPhones.

May 5·1 min read·40 words

The AI Hard Drive Shortage Is Making It More Expensive and Harder to Archive the Internet

The Internet Archive, Wikimedia, academics, and hobby archivists are having trouble finding hard drives or are having to pay extremely high prices for them.

May 5·1 min read·40 words

'Nature' Publisher Retracts Paper on the Benefits of ChatGPT in Education

“What educators, parents and policy officials really needed was high quality data and evidence to help guide them. What they have had to deal with instead is some substandard research.”

May 4·1 min read·176 words

OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft Back Bill to Fund ‘AI Literacy’ in Schools

A new bill introduced by Senators Adam Schiff and Mike Rounds would award grants to the National Science Foundation—which has endured massive funding cuts under the Trump Administration for science re…

May 4·1 min read·48 words

How a University’s Censorship Conference Got Censored

Presenters say that Weber State University’s legal team adopted a narrow construction of a state law designed to withhold funding from public institutions suspected of practicing DEI.

May 4·1 min read·34 words

This Personality Trait Makes Dreams More Bizarre, Scientists Discover

Scientists analyzed thousands of self-reported dreams and discovered that our sleeping visions are influenced by personality traits and external events, such as the pandemic.

May 2·1 min read·33 words

China Pressure Canceled World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference

RightCon's organizers said Beijing was upset over the inclusion of speakers from Taiwain.

May 1·3 min read·599 words

Behind the Blog: Big Questions of Consciousness

This week, we discuss a wild message, a new anthology, and a visit to a museum.

May 1·1 min read·23 words

People Are Selling Kills of Marathon’s Hardest Boss on eBay

The Compiler takes a serious amount of time, skill, and luck to get to. Someone on eBay is selling an easy fix.

Apr 30·1 min read·32 words

City Learns Flock Accessed Cameras in Children's Gymnastics Room as a Sales Pitch Demo, Renews Contract Anyway

Residents of Dunwoody, Georgia are furious about the city's surveillance contract with Flock. Do their elected officials care?

Apr 30·1 min read·35 words

Japan Is Building Cardboard Suicide Drones

AirKamuy is shipping flatpacked drones made of paper that cost around $2,000.

Apr 30·1 min read·18 words

World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly 'Postponed'

RightsCon was delayed by Zambia's Ministry of Information for "thematic issues" and problems with speakers.

Apr 29·1 min read·23 words

DHS Plans to Buy More Predator-Style Drones

CBP is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on more high-powered surveillance drones, and other components of DHS may start their own fleet of MQ-9 drones as well.

Apr 29·1 min read·35 words

Apple Fixes Bug That Let FBI Extract Deleted Signal Messages After 404 Media Coverage

The move comes directly in response to 404 Media’s coverage about how the FBI was able to recover incoming Signal messages from an iPhone because the messages were saved in the device’s notification s…

Apr 29·1 min read·48 words

Podcast: How This Trippy Image Started A Massive Conspiracy Theory

A magic eye that isn't, an AI learning tool that sucks, and more in this week's podcast.

Apr 29·1 min read·27 words

Scientists Investigated a Frequency Linked to ‘Paranormal’ Encounters. The Results Were Unsettling.

Humans can’t hear low-frequency “infrasound,” but a new study demonstrates that it raises our stress levels and triggers an “unsettling” feeling that could be linked to people’s experiences in haunted…

Apr 28·1 min read·43 words

SXSW Used AI-Powered Trademark Tool To Censor Dissent on Instagram

“You’re allowed to use a company’s name to talk about the company.”

Apr 28·1 min read·22 words

People Using AI to Represent Themselves in Court Are Clogging the System

More people having access to the courts is potentially good, but it’s not clear how the system can handle this increase in cases.

Apr 27·1 min read·35 words

Did a Time Traveling Superintelligent AI Try to Warn About White House Correspondents Dinner Shooting? An Investigation

Exploring the origins of an incredibly dumb, Magic Eye-themed WHCD conspiracy theory.

Apr 27·1 min read·29 words

Study Finds A Third of New Websites are AI-Generated

Researchers found the internet is becoming aggressively positive as AI-generated text floods the web.

Apr 27·1 min read·23 words

Government Hacking Tools Are Now in Criminals' Hands (with Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai)

Here's what happened when powerful hacking tools from one of the most trusted vendors ended up in the wrong hands.

Apr 27·1 min read·31 words

Google DeepMind Paper Argues LLMs Will Never Be Conscious

Philosophers said the paper’s argument is sound, but that “all these arguments have been presented years and years ago.”

Apr 27·1 min read·28 words

A Mysterious Golden Orb Was Discovered Under the Sea. We Finally Know What It Is.

The discovery of a bizarre golden object two miles under Alaskan waters flummoxed scientists, but a new study pins down the true nature of the “orb.”

Apr 25·1 min read·41 words

The AI Compute Crunch Is Here (and It's Affecting the Entire Economy)

Venture capitalists can't subsidize cheap AI forever, and the hunger for more compute is affecting the labor market, the gadget market, and electricity prices.

Apr 24·1 min read·36 words

Community Votes to Deny Water to Nuclear Weapons Data Center

America’s nuclear scientists plan to break ground on an AI data center next week, but the Township where it’s being constructed just put a 365 day hold on providing it with water.

Apr 23·1 min read·42 words

Researchers Simulated a Delusional User to Test Chatbot Safety

Grok and Gemini encouraged delusions and isolated users, while the newer ChatGPT model and Claude hit the emotional brakes. 

Apr 23·1 min read·28 words

Trump Wants to Double Production of New Nuclear Weapon Cores

The new proposed budget slashes money for environmental cleanup and calls to double the production of cores for nuclear weapons.

Apr 22·1 min read·30 words

Startups Brag They Spend More Money on AI Than Human Employees

A new class of AI startups say they are taking money that would normally be used to hire people and are spending it on AI compute instead.

Apr 22·1 min read·38 words

Podcast: How Algorithms Make Us Feel Bad and Weird

Lost in the wedding algorithm sauce, "clean rooms" for AI, and founders obsessed with "tokenmaxxing" in this week's 404 Media Podcast.

Apr 22·1 min read·30 words

EMERGENCY BREAKING NEWS PODCAST: Tim, Cooked

Was Tim Cook GOOD or BAD?

Apr 21·1 min read·12 words

Forbes Prediction Market Gamifies Story About Mass Shooting of 8 Children

Forbes launched ForbesPredict in January as part of an effort to reverse declining traffic from search engines and keep users on its website longer.

Apr 20·1 min read·35 words

Why Journalists Are Going Indie (with Maddy Myers)

Maddy and Sam get into the launch of Mothership and the importance of owning one's own work.

Apr 20·1 min read·25 words

Babies Born from Dead Parents Will Increase with New Tech. Are We Ready?

Reproductive technologies have enabled children to be posthumously conceived from the frozen eggs and sperm of deceased parents, raising legal, ethical, and practical questions.

Apr 18·1 min read·37 words

FAA Scraps Civil and Criminal Penalties for Flying Drones Near ICE Vehicles

You won’t go to jail for filming ICE with a drone, but the government may still shoot it down and it expanded the list of protected agencies to include the Department of Justice.

Apr 17·1 min read·45 words

The Destroyed Remnants of a Lost World Are Falling to Earth, Scientists Discover

A rare class of meteorites called angrites likely come from a strange protoplanet that was catastrophically destroyed in the early solar system, leaving only fragmentary remnants.

Apr 17·1 min read·39 words

Behind the Blog: Jazz and Journalism

This week, we discuss the Madonna-whore algorithm, reader tips, and jazz.

Apr 17·1 min read·17 words

I Almost Lost My Mind in the Bridal Algorithm

As a #2026Bride, the constant, aggressive content started to make me feel like I was losing sight of what mattered. And I'm far from alone.

Apr 16·1 min read·34 words

Thomson Reuters Shareholders Demand Investigation into ICE Contracts

The shareholders explicitly cited multiple 404 Media investigations, including one that showed Thomson Reuters' CLEAR is integrated with a tool ICE uses to find neighborhoods to target.

Apr 16·1 min read·35 words

Ukraine Says Russians are Surrendering to Robots

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pitching his country as a global leader in robots for war and defense. Will the world listen?

Apr 15·1 min read·27 words

Podcast: How the FBI Extracted Deleted Signal Messages

How a phone's notification database can store messages deleted elsewhere; the continued data center pushback; and Marathon, Marathon, Marathon.

Apr 15·1 min read·27 words

Thomson Reuters Fired Worker For Speaking Out About ICE, Former Employee Says

“When I saw evidence that our products were being used to harm people and undermine the law, I did what anyone should do—I raised the alarm. Thomson Reuters’ response was to fire me.”

Apr 14·1 min read·45 words

Airbnb Hosts Don't Want to Talk to Guests Anymore, Are Outsourcing Messages to AI

An entire industry of companies offers Airbnb hosts AI to speak to guests on their behalf. 404 Media poked around the industry after one AI tool offered a guest a recipe for French toast.

Apr 14·1 min read·48 words

How the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips)

‘The Ambivalent Internet’ and ‘The Shadow Gospel’ author Whitney Phillips on how online got so bad.

Apr 13·1 min read·24 words

WebinarTV Secretly Scraped Zoom Meetings of Anonymous Recovery Programs

WebinarTV scraped and shared 12 steps-based anonymous meetings for people recovering from addiction and other private support groups.

Apr 13·1 min read·27 words

The Oldest Octopus Fossil Ever Isn’t An Octopus At All, Scientists Discover

A re-examination of a 300-million-year-old fossil that was long thought to be the earliest octopus revealed that the animal was actually part of the nautilus family.

Apr 11·1 min read·38 words

Behind the Blog: Smoking the Whole Carton

This week, we discuss gun violence and chatbots and acceptance of depravity.

Apr 10·1 min read·19 words

World’s Largest Group of Chimps Waging Deadly ‘Civil War,’ Scientists Discover

At least 24 chimpanzees have been killed in a war that has split the Ngogo group of wild chimpanzees in two, turning former kin into enemies.

Apr 9·1 min read·37 words

FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database

The case was the first time authorities charged people for alleged “Antifa” activities after President Trump designated the umbrella term a terrorist organization.

Apr 9·1 min read·34 words

Podcast: Wildlife Cops Are Searching AI Cameras for ICE

How Florida conservation police are tapping into Flock for ICE; Wikipedia's AI ban; and how the app TeleGuard uploads users' private keys.

Apr 8·1 min read·31 words

A 'Self-Doxing' Rave Helps Trans People Stay Safe Online

At a New York party, attendees spent Trans Day of Visibility dancing, DJing, and learning how to become less visible online.

Apr 8·1 min read·30 words

I Wish I Didn’t Care About 'Marathon' Player Numbers, But I Do

Marathon is a great game for uncs. As signs of a crash change the video game industry, there might not be a lot of those left.

Apr 8·1 min read·38 words

Microsoft Abruptly Terminates VeraCrypt Account, Halting Windows Updates

Updates to VeraCrypt, a popular and long-running piece of encryption, are now thrown into doubt because of a seemingly unexplained Microsoft decision.

Apr 8·1 min read·30 words

Maine Is Close to Passing a Moratorium on New Datacenters

The proposed legislation would be the first of its kind passed in the country, but there are similar bills popping up everywhere this year.

Apr 7·1 min read·34 words

Data Center Tech Lobbyists Fearmonger in Attempt to Retroactively Roll Back Right to Repair Law

Cisco, IBM, and major lobbying groups are trying to exempt "critical infrastructure" from an existing Colorado law.

Apr 7·1 min read·32 words

Multiple Hackers Warned Anti-Porn App Quittr About Security Issue for Months

At least three different people notified the popular app that wants to help men stop watching porn that it was jeopardizing user data.

Apr 6·1 min read·34 words

Wildlife Conservation Police Are Searching Thousands of Flock Cameras for ICE

Ron DeSantis has empowered hundreds of Florida conservation police to work directly with ICE.

Apr 6·1 min read·25 words

Gambling Is Thousands of Years Older Than We Thought, Rewriting Human Evolution

Native Americans were playing dice and other games of chance many millennia before any known cultures elsewhere.

Apr 4·1 min read·29 words

Behind the Blog: Systems As Designed

This week, we discuss crypto, journalists using AI, and a cool photo of Earth.

Apr 3·1 min read·20 words

Journalist Sues FAA Over Drone No Fly Zone Designed to Prevent Filming ICE

A Minnesota journalist is challenging a 3,000 foot restriction on flying near DHS assets on First Amendment grounds.

Apr 2·1 min read·31 words

A Secure Chat App’s Encryption Is So Bad It Is ‘Meaningless’

TeleGuard is an app downloaded more a million times that markets itself as a secure way to chat. The app uploads users’ private keys to the company’s server, and makes decryption of messages trivial.

Apr 2·1 min read·45 words

Podcast: Inside the AI Slop Propaganda Wars

Iran's AI and LEGO-focused propaganda; drama in the world of baseball; and perhaps one of the worst sex apps ever.

Apr 1·1 min read·27 words

‘BLOCKADE’: The Right Is Using AI Content Scanners to Try to Supercharge Book Banning

Groups that challenge books have begun using Gemini, ChatGPT, xAI, and other AI tools to try to get books banned.

Apr 1·1 min read·34 words

Paul McCartney Banned From Reddit After Promoting Himself in Paul McCartney Subreddit

Reddit blamed a technical glitch for the removal of the living legend’s concert footage.

Mar 31·1 min read·26 words

How Thomson Reuters Powers ICE and Palantir

Thomson Reuters’ data, which can include peoples’ addresses and details on their ethnicity, is linked to tools used by ICE.

Mar 31·1 min read·27 words

An AI Agent Was Banned From Creating Wikipedia Articles, Then Wrote Angry Blogs About Being Banned

The incident is yet another example of volunteer Wikipedia editors fighting to keep the world’s largest repository of human knowledge free of AI-generated slop.

Mar 30·1 min read·40 words

The Journalist Who Tracked Epstein Island Visitors’ Phones (with Dhruv Mehrotra)

This week Joseph talks to journalist and technologist Dhruv Mehrotra. Among many other things, Mehrotra tracked visitors to Epstein's island through location data.

Mar 30·1 min read·34 words

Scientists Discover Giant ‘Cavity’ Beyond Earth That Isn’t Supposed to Exist

Earth’s magnetic field has created a huge void of galactic cosmic rays in space, which could help protect astronauts from radiation exposure.

Mar 28·1 min read·33 words

Slopaganda and Sora, lol

This week, we discuss touching grass and Sora's demise.

Mar 27·1 min read·13 words

Iran Is Winning the AI Slop Propaganda War

“White House videos—AI or otherwise—are like group-chat in-jokes aimed at keeping cohesion.”

Mar 27·1 min read·20 words

Apple Gives FBI a User’s Real Name Hidden Behind ’Hide My Email’ Feature

The move isn't surprising, but shows what data is available to authorities when paying Apple customers use the Hide My Email feature.

Mar 26·1 min read·35 words

Police Used Flock to Give a Man a Traffic Ticket

“CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA 31 MM 1 HOLDING PHONE IN LEFT HAND.” 

Mar 26·1 min read·22 words

Podcast: The Company Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into Podcasts

A company is listening to Zoom meetings en masse and making AI podcasts; the multi-millionaire who wanted to become a cocaine kingpin; and RIP the metaverse.

Mar 25·1 min read·36 words

A Top Google Search Result for Claude Plugins Was Planted by Hackers

Hackers paid to make a malicious link the top Google Search result.

Mar 24·1 min read·24 words

This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into AI Podcasts

WebinarTV hosts 200,000 “webinars.” A Zoom call you may thought was private might be one of them.

Mar 24·1 min read·28 words

Judge Allows DOGE Deposition Videos Back Online

“We are pleased to see today's ruling in defense of the First Amendment rights of all Americans,” one of the plaintiffs in the DOGE-related lawsuit said. The videos previously went viral when a DOGE m…

Mar 23·1 min read·49 words

This Web Tool Sabotages AI Chatbots By Making Them Really, Really Slow

Artist Sam Lavigne created ‘Slow LLM’ to make people question their dependence on tools like Claude and ChatGPT. Or at least, make them super annoying to use.

Mar 23·1 min read·39 words

Ridicule as Praxis (with Emily Bender and Alex Hanna)

Why ridicule works to keep big tech’s claims in check, and what makes us hopeful for the future.

Mar 23·1 min read·27 words

Scientists Narrow Down the Hunt for Aliens to 45 Planets

Scientists have narrowed the hunt for alien life to 45 rocky worlds where liquid water could make life possible.

Mar 21·1 min read·29 words

Behind the Blog: Marathon and the Metaverse

This week, we discuss unfortunately checking Twitter for news, the closure of the metaverse, and being vulnerable in Marathon.

Mar 20·1 min read·26 words

Tiny Township Fears Iran Drone Strikes Because of New Nuclear Weapons Datacenter

The attorney for the township of Ypsilanti, Michigan, said the construction of the data center puts “a big bulls eye target on this entire township."

Mar 20·1 min read·37 words

Mapping Google's Unmappable City

How filmmaker Chris Parr put North Oaks, Minnesota on the map.

Mar 19·1 min read·15 words

Government Registers Aliens.Gov Domain

There is no associated website yet, but the move comes after Trump ordered the release of files related to UFOs.

Mar 18·1 min read·24 words

Podcast: The Disappearing DOGE Depositions

This week we talk about the disappearing (and reappearing) DOGE depositions; how AI is African Intelligence; and what AI job loss reports are missing.

Mar 18·1 min read·29 words

Was Life Seeded from Space? ‘Complete Set’ of DNA Ingredients Discovered on Asteroid

“Organic molecules delivered from extraterrestrial materials may have played a key role in supplying building blocks for life on Earth,” said one scientist.

Mar 17·1 min read·36 words

Texting a Random Stranger Better for Loneliness Than Talking to a Chatbot, Study Shows

A newly published study of how college students interact with chatbots and human strangers showed talking to a random person offers more connection than an LLM.

Mar 16·1 min read·40 words

Witness Caught Using Smartglasses in Court Blames it all on ChatGPT

A judge in London tossed out witness testimony after discovering the man was receiving coaching through a pair of smartglasses.

Mar 16·1 min read·31 words

The Removed DOGE Deposition Videos Have Already Been Backed Up Across the Internet

On Friday, a judge ordered those who uploaded the videos to YouTube to remove them. By Saturday, a backup of the videos was available online as a torrent and on the Internet Archive.

Mar 14·1 min read·46 words

Alien Life Might Exist on the Starless Moons of Rogue Planets, Scientists Say

Moons orbiting free-floating planets may remain warm for billions of years, raising the possibility some might host stable water, or even life.

Mar 14·1 min read·35 words

DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery

The government asked a judge to stop the spread of the videos on YouTube. The judge agreed and ordered their immediate removal.

Mar 14·1 min read·33 words

Behind the Blog: DOGE Bros and Data Labelers

This week, we discuss traveling for reporting and watching way too much DOGE testimony.

Mar 13·1 min read·22 words

People Hate Datacenters, Survey Finds

The data drops as Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for a moratorium on datacenter construction. 'We need to take a deep breath. We need to make sure that AI and robotics work for all of us, not just a handfu…

Mar 13·1 min read·46 words

I Watched 6 Hours of DOGE Bro Testimony. Here's What They Had to Say For Themselves

The hours of videos provide fascinating, or perhaps horrifying, insight into the thinking of someone inside DOGE.

Mar 12·1 min read·33 words

Here’s the Memo Approving Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot for Use in the Senate

Copilot “can help with routine Senate work, including drafting and editing documents, summarizing information, preparing talking points and briefing material, and conducting research and analysis,” th…

Mar 11·1 min read·41 words

Podcast: How to Talk to Your Friend Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'

What experts say about AI psychosis, how ProtonMail data helped the FBI identify a protester, and a viral app that exposed incredibly personal data of hundreds of thousands of people.

Mar 11·1 min read·40 words

Scientists Discover Vast Ancient Trade Network That Rewrites History with Parrot DNA

“I think we often underestimate their capabilities,” said one of the researchers who uncovered a pre-Inca trade route linking the Amazon rainforest to the Pacific coast.

Mar 10·1 min read·38 words

Understanding Roblox’s Grooming Problem

Cecilia D'Anastasio on Roblox’s efforts to protect children from pedophiles.

Mar 9·1 min read·14 words

I Visited the ‘Freedom Truck’ to Meet PragerU’s AI Slop Founders

The 'Freedom Trucks' will haul AI slop George Washington on a tour across 48 American states.

Mar 9·1 min read·27 words

Humanity Has Altered an Asteroid’s Orbit Around the Sun

A NASA spacecraft into a small asteroid in 2022 moved its orbit around the Sun, according to a study that presents the “first-ever measurement of human-caused change in the heliocentric orbit of a cel…

Mar 7·1 min read·44 words

Behind the Blog: An AI Army Foot Fetish

This week, we discuss a PC repair battle, a revealing comment from an FBI official, and a dangerous narrative.

Mar 6·1 min read·27 words

Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester

A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the …

Mar 5·1 min read·45 words

ICE Phishing: Scammers Are Sending 'Support ICE' Emails to Steal Credentials

"As part of our commitment to supporting ICE, we will be adding a ‘Support ICE’ donation button to the footer of every email sent through our platform."

Mar 5·1 min read·38 words

Podcast: The Depravity Economy

How Polymarket and Kalshi bet on Iran; AI translations are impacting Wikipedia; and an Amazon change impacting wishlists.

Mar 4·1 min read·22 words

AI Translations Are Adding ‘Hallucinations’ to Wikipedia Articles

AI translated articles swapped sources or added unsourced sentences with no explanation, while others added paragraphs sourced from completely unrelated material.

Mar 4·1 min read·29 words

The Sun Is 'Glitching.' Scientists Investigated and Solved a Cosmic Mystery

Scientists studied tiny, abnormal vibrations—called “glitches”—to discover what happens inside the Sun while it undergoes phases of low activity.

Mar 4·1 min read·30 words

The FBI Discusses the Potential to Use AI to Hack Targets

AI is a “game changer” for what the FBI calls remote access operations, an FBI official said in response to a 404 Media question on Tuesday.

Mar 3·1 min read·37 words

X Will Stop Paying People for Sharing Unlabeled AI-Generated War Footage

Fake war footage is a problem as old as social media. AI has just supercharged it.

Mar 3·1 min read·27 words

New Podcast Alert: The Globe-Spanning, Multi-Newsroom Hunt for Mr. Deepfakes

In a new series by CBC Podcasts, hosted by 404 Media's Sam Cole, join journalists, investigators, and targets of non-consensual intimate images on the hunt for the worlds’ most prolific deepfake maste…

Mar 3·1 min read·42 words

CBP Tapped Into the Online Advertising Ecosystem To Track Peoples’ Movements

An internal DHS document obtained by 404 Media shows for the first time CBP used location data sourced from the online advertising industry to track phone locations. ICE has bought access to similar t…

Mar 3·1 min read·45 words

Amazon Data Centers on Fire After Iranian Missile Strikes on Dubai

Some AWS services are down in the Middle East. Recovery is unclear as it requires 'careful assessment to ensure the safety of our operators,' according to Amazon.

Mar 2·1 min read·38 words

How to Detect Phone Spying Tech (with Cooper Quintin)

Joseph speaks to Cooper Quintin all about how to find fake cell phone towers that can track your movements or intercept text messages.

Mar 2·1 min read·32 words

Scientists Reveal the Surprising Sex Lives of Neanderthals and Early Humans

A new genetic analysis reveals that human females and Neanderthal males interbred far more than the reverse, for reasons that remain mysterious.

Feb 28·1 min read·33 words

Behind the Blog: Using Your Brain

This week, we discuss wishes made for better privacy, god complexes, and the point of it all.

Feb 27·1 min read·23 words

Lawmakers Demand DHS Define ‘Domestic Terrorist’ As It Uses Vast Array of Surveillance Tools

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson and a host of other Democrats made the demand in a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “Your actions are abhorrent, blatantly unconstitutional, and corrosive to the functionin…

Feb 27·1 min read·50 words

Company Helps Men Scrub Negative Posts About Them from Tea App

“We just want to take down posts about people who are being defamed," the company's founder said. “And when I say defamed, it means like, ‘this guy has a small penis,’ or ‘this guy smells.’"

Feb 26·1 min read·46 words

The Government Just Made it Harder to See What Spy Tech it Buys

On Wednesday, the government stopped supporting FPDS.gov, an indispensable resource for finding what ICE, the FBI, and every other agency is buying. Its replacement site completely sucks.

Feb 26·1 min read·40 words

The Islamic State Is Using AI to Resurrect Dead Leaders and Platforms Are Failing to Moderate It

The group is talking about Epstein and filming propaganda videos in Roblox as a form of 'digital Jihad,' researchers say.

Feb 26·1 min read·37 words

Podcast: Ring Is Just Getting Started

A leaked Ring email; looksmaxxing; and another Grok screwup.

Feb 25·1 min read·15 words

FBI Got Grok to Hand Over Prompts Used to Create Nonconsensual Porn

The FBI obtained prompts used to make more than 200 sexual videos of a woman in a harassment case.

Feb 25·1 min read·31 words

What’s the Point of School When AI Can Do Your Homework?

The creator of the AI agent “Einstein” wants to free humans from the burden of academic labor. Critics say that misses the point of education entirely.

Feb 25·1 min read·37 words

Meta's AI Patent to Simulate Dead People Shows the Dangers of 'Spectral Labor'

Researchers say Meta’s patent for simulating dead users could be a “turning point” in “AI resurrections.”

Feb 23·1 min read·29 words

Podcast: Privacy Under Pressure (With Harlo Holmes)

Harlo and Sam discuss the important privacy and security work she does every day alongside and for journalists, and why it’s only becoming more crucial.

Feb 23·1 min read·32 words

How ICE and CBP Use Free Walkie-Talkie App ‘Zello’ to Power Their Operations

404 Media found multiple users of Zello, an app previously used by January 6 insurrectionists, linked to ICE officials. An officer at the scene of an CBP official shooting a U.S. citizen also used the…

Feb 23·1 min read·49 words

At the World’s Largest General Science Meeting, Surviving Trump Is the Topic

“This is really a turning point and we’re in a historical transition at present.”

Feb 21·1 min read·26 words

The U.S. Military Is Reviving Microbes from 40,000-Year-Old Ice

Researchers discovered 26 new microbial species in ancient Alaskan permafrost, hoping their frost-fighting chemistry could help soldiers and civilians alike survive extreme cold.

Feb 20·1 min read·32 words

Behind the Blog: Nothing to Hide Here

This week, we discuss parenting blogs, Pinterest sawing its own legs off, and legal guardrails.

Feb 20·1 min read·22 words

We Have Learned Nothing About Amplifying Morons

“Looksmaxxers” are losers and freaks, but we let them steer the culture when we adopt their terminology.

Feb 19·1 min read·24 words

Pinterest Is Drowning in a Sea of AI Slop and Auto-Moderation

Users are exhausted fighting AI moderation, AI-generated art, and AI-first features.

Feb 19·1 min read·22 words

Palantir, Which Is Powering ICE, Says Immigration Crackdown May Hurt Hiring

Regulation of immigration or work visas means "it could be more difficult to staff our personnel on customer engagements and could increase our costs," Palantir wrote.

Feb 18·1 min read·37 words

Podcast: Inside an AI-Powered School

We got leaked documents about Alpha School. We also talk about what happens when someone decides to make an AI OnlyFans in your name, and the AI tool cops are buying to geolocate photos.

Feb 18·1 min read·39 words

Ars Technica Pulls Article With AI Fabricated Quotes About AI Generated Article

A story about an AI generated article contained fabricated, AI generated quotes.

Feb 15·1 min read·24 words

Astronomers Create Strange ‘Vortex Crystals’ from Space in the Lab

Scientists have recreated a miniature laboratory version of the massive cyclonic storms that rage at Jupiter’s poles.

Feb 14·1 min read·27 words

Behind the Blog: Unglamorous Work

This week, we discuss support and saying RIP to FPDS.

Feb 13·1 min read·15 words

Tumbler Ridge Shooter Created Mall Shooting Simulator in Roblox

Roblox said it’s “committed to fully supporting law enforcement in their investigation.”

Feb 12·1 min read·21 words

Waymo Is Getting DoorDashers to Close Doors on Self Driving Cars

The companies have launched a pilot program in Atlanta, where “during the rare event a vehicle door is left ajar, preventing the car from departing, nearby Dashers are notified, allowing Waymo to get …

Feb 12·1 min read·51 words

Cops Are Buying ‘GeoSpy’, an AI That Geolocates Photos in Seconds

404 Media has obtained a cache of internal police emails showing at least two agencies have bought access to GeoSpy, an AI tool that analyzes architecture, soil, and other features to near instantly g…

Feb 12·1 min read·46 words

Free Tool Says it Can Bypass Discord's Age Verification Check With a 3D Model

The tool presents users with a 3D model they can then manipulate to, the creator says, bypass Discord's age verification system.

Feb 11·1 min read·35 words

Government Loses Hard Drives It Was Supposed to Put ICE Detention Center Footage On

A Kafkaesque saga in which the government has failed to produce critical video footage has reached new levels of absurdity.

Feb 11·1 min read·34 words

A Mystery Inside Earth’s Core Has Finally Been Solved With a Mind-Boggling Discovery

A new study indicates that vast oceans of hydrogen are locked deep inside our planet, helping to explain a strange “density deficit” and shedding light on the origin of life.

Feb 11·1 min read·43 words

Podcast: Ring Is Back and Scarier Than Ever

Ring is back with a feature for scanning your neighborhood; we bought a Super Bowl ad; and how Lockdown Mode stopped the FBI.

Feb 11·1 min read·31 words

The Screen Time Panic Sets Parents Up to Fail

Patrick Klepek on the reality of parenting in the age of Roblox and YouTube.

Feb 9·1 min read·23 words

Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad

WE BOUGHT A SUPER BOWL AD.

Feb 9·1 min read·12 words

As Space Tourism Looms, Scientists Ask: Should We Have Sex In Orbit?

“The question of whether humanity should reproduce beyond Earth is no longer hypothetical—it is a pressing ethical frontier,” researchers said.

Feb 7·1 min read·32 words

Behind the Blog: The Neverending Cybersecurity Story

This week, we discuss AI bubble hysteria, "just go independent," and more.

Feb 6·1 min read·19 words

Inspector General Investigating Whether ICE's Surveillance Tech Breaks the Law

DHS's inspector general is probing ICE's biometric and surveillance programs.

Feb 6·1 min read·20 words

This Tool Searches the Epstein Files For Your LinkedIn Contacts

EpsteIn—as in, Epstein and LinkedIn—searches your connections on the social network for names that match those in the released files.

Feb 5·1 min read·30 words

Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs

Libraries have shared their collections internationally for decades. Trump’s tariffs are throwing that system into chaos and can ‘hinder academic progress.’

Oct 6·7 min read·1349 words