Crime
Someone Opened a CashApp In Her Name. She Faces Years in Prison
Amanda Smith is charged with computer fraud due to a scam CashApp account being in her name. But in a Kafkaesque situation, CashApp won't provide her any information because she can't prove she is the owner.
AI
There’s a 100% Chance AI Agents Are Already Ruining the Internet
“AI agents” now have enough power and permission to be extremely annoying online.
Deepfakes
New York Seizes 12 Celebrity Deepfake Websites
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a press conference on Monday that the sites included 1,200 people’s likenesses in “hyper-realistic” sexual imagery.
Flock
Cops Search Thousands of Flock Cameras for Reasons of ‘LMAO,’ ‘IDK,’ ‘Hehe,’ and ‘asdfg’
The EFF found cops writing “idiot,” “WEIRD KID,” "blah," "leave me alone," and button mashing in Flock's 'reason' box.
Podcast
Fighting for the Future of Libraries (With Jennie Rose Halperin)
Censorship, AI, and the role of librarians in a country with crumbling public institutions.
Privacy
Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats
Humans are reading ChatGPT users’ prompts to improve OpenAI’s models, and those chats can include sensitive, personal information, according to leaked internal documents and real prompts seen by 404 Media.
The Abstract
Mercury Is Shrinking Way Faster Than We Thought, Scientists Discover
The planet’s radius may have shrunk by between four and six miles since it was formed due to global cooling, a contraction that is up to 30 percent larger than previously estimated.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: How to Talk About AI Doom
We discuss AI doomers, 9/11 posting, and Barbie.
wordpress
Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg Claims He’s Back 'In Control'
Workers at Automattic, which owns WordPress.com and several other platforms, have said the company has endured years of chaotic leadership decisions.
News
‘We Did Not Invite You.’ Citizens Rage at Town Hall Over Proposed Nuclear AI Data Center
The University of Michigan is partnering with Los Alamos National Labs to build a massive data center in a small Michigan township. The residents say they were never consulted.
wordpress
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Put on 'Leave of Absence'
Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress, wrote in a company-wide Slack messages on Wednesday, viewed by 404 Media, that board members "conspired" behind his back to vote to put him on leave.
News
Doctor Doom Thanked Seattle for All the Surveillance Cameras
‘We must work to crush any dissent to Doom’s vision of public safety,’ the Marvel supervillain told the city as it considered multiple surveillance proposals.
The Abstract
The Remnants of a Lost ‘Supercontinent’ Just Rewrote the History of Life on Earth
A team discovered that Gondwana, an ancient landmass that formed more than 500 million years ago, was in fact large enough to be deemed a supercontinent, a finding that sheds light on the “explosion” of ancient Cambrian life.