Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Feeling Smart Along the Way
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss cheating in job interviews, "scary good" surveillance tech, and prudes in payment processing.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Foolishness and Breaking Through
This week, we discuss getting fooled, the 'one big story' of the week, and Ghibli.
News
How the FBI Tracked, and Froze, Millions Sent to Criminals in Massive Caesars Casino Hack
A new court document shows the FBI raced to stop hackers moving the ransom Caesars paid, with authorities freezing much of the extortion payment.
pikachu
Pikachu Spotted Fleeing Police Crackdowns During Turkey Protests
As a real video of someone in a Pikachu suit at a protest goes viral, an AI-generated “photo” is fooling a lot of people.
News
Hayao Miyazaki, Who Said AI Is ‘Insult to Life Itself,” Reduced to AI-Generated Meme by OpenAI
The internet is flooded with AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli, whose founder said “I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”
AI
AOL’s AI Image Captions Terribly Describe Attempted Murder
“A couple smiling on a beach at sunset, associated with Hawaii doctor incident.”
Signal
When Your Threat Model Is Being a Moron
No phone, no app, no encryption can protect you from yourself if you send the information you’re trying to hide directly to someone you don’t want to have it.
News
You Need to Use Signal's Nickname Feature
Encryption can’t protect you from adding the wrong person to a group chat. But there is also a setting to make sure you don’t.
Podcast
Podcast: The DNA of 15 Million People Is For Sale
What the 23andMe bankruptcy means for privacy; the website doxing Tesla owners; and that crazy Signal group chat story.
AI
'Brainrot' AI on Instagram Is Monetizing the Most Fucked Up Things You Can Imagine (and Lots You Can't)
The hottest use of AI right now? Dora the Explorer feet mukbang; Peppa the Pig Skibidi toilet explosion; Steph Curry and LeBron James Ahegao Drakedom threesome.
age verification
Texans Might Soon Have to Show Photo ID to Buy a Dildo Online
A new bill introduced by Angela Paxton, wife of Texas AG Ken Paxton, would impose privacy-invading age verification requirements on online sex toy retailers.
News
Viral Audio of JD Vance Badmouthing Elon Musk Is Fake, Just the Tip of the AI Iceberg
AI-generated audio of Vance saying Musk is “cosplaying as a great American leader” has been played more than 2 million times on TikTok alone.
23andMe
DNA of 15 Million People for Sale in 23andMe Bankruptcy
There is no way to know what a buyer will want to do with the reams of genetic information it has collected. Customers, meanwhile, still have no way to change their underlying genetic data.