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235 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Inside Proton’s AI Reckoning
4 november 2026 · 1 uur
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We start this week with Joseph’s investigation into Proton’s culture of fear and the company’s massive push towards AI. A lot to unpack there. After the break, Sam tells us about the AO3 outage and its fallout. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains: we’re not tech support.
Manifestos, Fear, and ‘Loser Thinking’: Inside Proton’s AI Reckoning
‘Wake Up Call:’ Fanfiction Writers and Readers React to AO3 Outage
ChatGPT Keeps Telling People 404 Media Can Solve Their Tech Support Problems
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Can Data Center Development Be Stopped?
2 november 2026 · 53 min
Big tech didn’t expect the community pushback around data centers. Developers accustomed to building whatever they want with minimal oversight are facing hard questions about land use, water rights, electricity bills, and noise. To push back on local activism, data center builders are using an old playbook pioneered by the nuclear power and oil industry. Lees meer
On this episode of the 404 Media podcast, Kyle Keeler and Nate Otjen talk with Matthew about how big tech is trying to take control of the narrative around data centers. Keeler is a professor of environmental sciences and studies at Lafayette College. Otjen is a professor of sustainability and environmental studies at Ramapo College.
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/hK_aIf9GEd4
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Leaked Audio: Flock CEO Says the Backlash Isn’t Real
28 oktober 2026 · 44 min
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We start this week with Jason and Joseph’s article about leaked audio from a private police conference. In that audio, Flock’s CEO made all sorts of wild claims about the backlash to his company not being real, and his wife’s advice to never apologize. After the break, Sam tells us why former Yahoo CEO Marrisa Mayer can’t keep pretending ‘gender doesn’t matter.’ In the subscribers-only section, Joseph tells us about a woman who is facing years in prison because someone else opened a CashApp account in her name.
In Leaked Audio, Flock CEO Tells Cops Backlash to the Company Isn’t Real
Marissa Mayer Can’t Keep Pretending 'Gender Doesn't Matter'
Someone Opened a CashApp In Her Name. She Faces Years in Prison
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Is the AI Boom a Bubble?
26 oktober 2026 · 56 min
This week on the pod we’re joined by Mike Isaac a tech reporter who has been at the New York Times for more than a decade and who just recently announced he’s joining The Atlantic. Isaac also is the author of Super Pumped, a book about Uber that was adapted into a TV show. Isaac and 404 Media cover the same companies and technologies but we come at them from pretty different angles. He has a very deep background in business reporting and he’s also very well sourced in the valley. We spent a lot of time talking about how the AI race looks right now from his perspective, the challenges in covering it, and also the reemergence of Uber’s founder, Travis Kalanick. Lees meer
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/1sNBtPRo87s
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‘Reverse-Engineer Anything’ Is the Next Wave of AI Slop
21 oktober 2026 · 42 min
We start this week with Jason’s article about how everyone is apparently reverse-engineering everything. After the break, Joseph tells us about a big AI shakeup at consulting giant Accenture. In the subscribers-only section, Sam and Jason discuss the Character[.]ai bankruptcy. Lees meer
‘Reverse-Engineer Anything’ Is the New Wild West of AI
Accenture Tells Employees They Can Now Spend Only $29 on Claude Per Month
Character[.]ai Bankruptcy Is First AI Bubble Domino to Fall
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Data Centers Are Worse Than You Thought
19 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 4 min
Big tech is rushing to build hundreds of data centers across the planet to keep up with the computing demand of artificial intelligence. The tech companies are promising the massive buildings will bring jobs and prosperity when they’re built, but communities across the country aren’t buying it and they’re fighting back. People are concerned about water, noise, pollution, and the rising cost of electricity. Anyone who already lives next to a data center knows those fears are well founded. Lees meer
To talk through this, Matthew spoke to Paris Marx. He’s a tech critic, the host of Tech Won’t Save Us and the author of the new book Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires.
Buy Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/PRf8ZtpSqAg
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Cops Can Use AI to Pinpoint Your Home with Just One Photo
14 oktober 2026 · 47 min
We start this week with Joseph’s article about Raven, previously known as Geospy. This is an AI tool that can geolocate photos, and now says it can pinpoint a specific house based just on one photo taken inside. After the break, Jason explains why a judge ruled a particular Flock search as unconstitutional. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about the wild AI video that has derailed a manslaughter case. Lees meer
AI Company Lets Cops Pinpoint Specific Houses Based on a Single Interior Photo
Watch Footage of the Flock Search a Judge Ruled Unconstitutional
Her AI-Generated Video Swayed the Judge. The Court Said it Carried 'Undue Emotional Weight'
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The Social Reckoning’s Real-Life Whistleblower
9 oktober 2026 · 56 min
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Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen became one of the most important tech whistleblowers in 2021, when she exposed how Facebook’s algorithm was pushing people toward hate groups, showed Instagram was making teen girls feel worse about themselves, and showed that the company knew about its detrimental impacts on society. Haugen’s story is the basis for Aaron Sorkin’s new movie ‘The Social Reckoning,’ which follows her evolution from model employee to leaker to formal whistleblower. Jason and Frances discuss what the movie got right about journalist-source relationships and how AI is supercharging privacy concerns.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/oB3IxwCfP7M
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Leak Show Cops Can Break into Locked iPhones
7 oktober 2026 · 40 min
We start this week with a story from our old friend Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, about how cops can bypass the inactivity reboot on iPhones. After the break, Jason tells us how people are losing their minds over an LLM ‘torture’ prison. In the subscribers-only section, Sam explains what happened in a wild ChatGPT case in New Mexico. Lees meer
Cops Can Bypass iPhone’s Automatic Reboot to Get Into Locked Phones, Leaked Video Claims
Someone ‘Torturing’ LLMs in a Robot Prison Has Triggered the Dumbest Debate in AI Yet
Lawyer Cites ChatGPT-Invented Fake Witnesses in Murder Appeal
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404 Media Live! The Three Year Anniversary Show
6 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 15 min
Thank you to DeleteMe for helping make this night possible. They're offering 20% off a privacy protection plan for friends of 404 Media. Use code 404M20 at checkout. Lees meer
404 Media just turned three years old, and to celebrate, we hosted a night of chatting about what we’ve accomplished with your support, what’s next for us, and whether or not we’re all going to be okay. We also threw in some weird bugs and community resistance for good measure. Don’t miss us pulling audience questions out of the mystery AMA box!
Live from WNYC’s Greene Space, you can also watch the entire show on 404 Media’s YouTube channel.
We Are Going to Be Okay: A Three Year Anniversary Events Recap
Our Zine About ICE Surveillance Is Here
Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/t_VjNAopjhI
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AI Companies Scraped the Web and Are Destroying the Human Internet
6 oktober 2026 · 44 min
Jason Kint, the CEO of Digital Content Next, has kept a close eye on some of the biggest tech antitrust and copyright court cases. Kint has a knack for finding particularly incriminating court records in complex ongoing lawsuits. We talk to Kint about the pressures that human creators are under in an AI world, the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI, and why Meta's Cambridge Analytica scandal is relevant again. Lees meer
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/knlbTd5Pij4
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The FBI Was Hacked. We’ve Seen the Data
30 september 2026 · 42 min
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We start this week with Joseph’s stories on the massive FBI hack. 404 Media broke this news and continued to cover the breach of data on all FBI employees and their spouses. After the break, Jason tells us how a surveillance company is telling cops it wants to add facial recognition tech to Flock camera data. In the subscribers-only section, Jason and Joseph chat all about Muse, Meta’s new agentic AI, and how humans are actually behind some of the tasks. Because of course.
‘We Hacked the FBI:’ Hackers Say They Have Data on All FBI Employees
FBI Hack Exposed FBI’s Own Hacking Unit
FBI Hackers Say They Won’t Publish Massive Trove of FBI Employee Data
Surveillance Company Tells Cops It Wants to Add Facial Recognition to Flock Cameras
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The End of Privacy Is Here (with Kashmir Hill)
28 september 2026 · 42 min
Facial recognition is everywhere now. It’s in surveillance cameras; it’s soon going to be in Meta’s RayBan pervert glasses, and some students already did that. You now have massively viral accounts that take clips of people, run them through facial recognition software, and then post their name and other personal info for everyone to see. We haven’t fully come to terms with what it means to live in a world where anyone can basically dox anyone else now. Lees meer
To talk through this, Joseph spoke to Kashmir Hill. She’s a reporter at the New York Times, and the author of Your Face Belongs to Us: A Tale of AI, a Secretive Startup, and the End of Privacy.
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YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/aUFnQPtxJ9o
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OpenAI Admits AI is Killing the Internet
23 september 2026 · 46 min
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We start this week with Jason’s story about OpenAI and Microsoft’s big admissions from court records that they are destroying the internet in all sorts of ways, and stealing intellectual property on an unprecedented scale. He admit it. After the break, Emanuel explains how he hijacked a real band’s Spotify page with AI-generated slop. In the subscribers-only section, we hear all about iLands, the AI agent platform that is basically just spam.
Is Your City Using Axon License Plate Cameras? We Need Your Help
‘Doom Loop’: OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft
I Hijacked a Real Artist's Spotify with AI Music. It Was Disturbingly Easy
AI Agent Platform Reinvents Spam, Floods Inboxes Worldwide
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Is AI Making Us Less Human?
21 september 2026 · 50 min
When chatbots become our closest “friends,” what happens to our capacity to care? Lees meer
This week I'm joined by Professor Sherry Turkle. Sherry is a licensed clinical psychologist, the founding director of MIT's Initiative on Technology and Self, and the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT. She's a the New York Times bestselling author of multiple books including Alone Together, Reclaiming Conversation, and The Empathy Diaries.
Her latest book, Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines, comes out on September 29. In it, Turkle explores how conversational chatbots have changed the ways we relate to other humans, empathize with each other, and what that could mean for our future.
“The progression is: First we talk to each other, then we talk to each other through machines, and now we drop the middleman and we're happy to just talk to machines,” she said in our conversation.
We get into what happens when people stop placing importance on emotionally connecting with other people, and whether it’s too late to pull back from the path we’re on.
Artificial Intimacy: Who We Become When We Talk to Machines
Instagram's AI Chatbots Lie About Being Licensed Therapists
How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'
Researchers Simulated a Delusional User to Test Chatbot Safety
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/whqDsYhCl0s
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404 Media x The Intercept LIVE: How AI Is Used to Surveil and Kill
18 september 2026 · 52 min
In this bonus collaboration with our friends at The Intercept, 404 Media's Jason Koebler and the Intercept's Sam Biddle and Akela Lacy discuss the ways AI is already used to empower private surveillance companies that filter data to the government, how AI is used in war, and the prospect of an AI apocalypse. This podcast was recorded live in Los Angeles at The Loved One on September 12. Lees meer
Check out The Intercept Briefing podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and find a full transcript of this pod here.
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Humans Are Reading Your ChatGPT Conversations
16 september 2026 · 51 min
We start this week with Joseph’s story about the people who are reading real ChatGPT users’ prompts and conversations. He got a bunch of documents all about these contractors and saw real prompts himself. After the break, Sam tells us all about the Automattic CEO getting kicked out. Then coming back again. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel tells us why a16z thinks enshittification is not real. Lees meer
Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Put on 'Leave of Absence'
Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg Claims He’s Back 'In Control'
Sources say Automattic’s board is out after failed attempt to oust CEO Matt Mullenweg
A16z Says You Actually Love Social Media, Enshittification Isn’t Real
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/AyPuYrjLk1E
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Fighting for the Future of Libraries (With Jennie Rose Halperin)
14 september 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
This week we’re joined by Jennie Rose Halprein. Jennie is the executive director of Library Futures, a non-profit that advocates for a fair digital future for libraries and the communities they serve. We have written a bunch of stories about libraries over the years, and I have talked to Jennie a few times for those stories. I always have really interesting conversations with her, but a lot of what we talk about never makes it into a story. That’s why I wanted to share one of those conversations with you today. We of course touch upon censorship but also many other subjects, so I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Lees meer
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/mS0xofGW2hE
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DHS’ Secretive ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit Pulling People Over
9 september 2026 · 43 min
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We start this week with Joseph’s story about the secretive predictive policing units inside DHS that are analyzing Americans’ financial data and having local cops pull them over. After the break, Jason tells us about the funky shirt designed to fool AI-camera systems. In the subscribers-only section, we talk all about our third anniversary events.
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/o0AG6A5MIRg
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A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over
This 'Digital Camouflage' Shirt Confuses AI-Powered Surveillance Cameras
We Are Going to Be Okay: A Three Year Anniversary Events Recap
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This Innocent Woman Spent 13 Days in Jail Because of a False Flock Hit
7 september 2026 · 37 min
This week Jason talks to Lindsey Isaacs and her lawyer, Patrick McGeehan. Last year, Lindsey was falsely arrested and imprisoned after authorities used Flock’s license plate reader system to pull over the wrong person in a hit-and-run that killed three people. Lindsey spent 13 days in jail because of this screwup. Lees meer
This all happened because authorities were looking for a black dodge Durango, and used Flock’s freeform search to look for a black SUV. Lindsey happened to be driving a black dodge Durango 3 miles west of where the crash happened a few minutes beforehand. Lindsey was arrested even though there was no damage to her car. She again, spent 13 days in jail before the charges against her were dropped. This is one of the worst cases of Flock-related policing screwups we’ve ever seen, and an innocent person had their life upended because of it. We spoke to Lindsey and Patrick about what happened, the case, Flock surveillance, and their lawsuit against the police who did this to her.
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We Spoke to an Amazon Worker Destroying Books for AI
2 september 2026 · 41 min
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We start this week with Emanuel’s follow-up to his Amazon book scanning story, in which he spoke to someone who worked in the Amazon warehouse which destroys books to train Amazon’s AI products. After the break, Emanuel and Sam tell us about the same few names appearing in LLM output over and over again. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph tells us why ICE is buying loads of data about ‘voter fraud’.
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Inside the Warehouse Where Amazon Scans and Destroys Books for AI Training
The AI ‘Ghosts’ Contaminating Academic Publishing
ICE Plans to Spend Millions on Boston Dynamics Dog Robots
ICE Wants the Country’s Voter Data
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/PcNdLnLF7mo
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How Cyber Sleuths Tracked Down a Nigerian Scammer
31 augustus 2026 · 42 min
This week Joseph talks to Paul Raffile, a cybercrime researcher, and Erin West, founder of Operation Shamrock. The pair recently traveled to Nigeria to track down a scammer and meet a bunch more. This conversation is some fascinating insight into how scammers live, how they can be identified, and platforms like Meta’s responsibility. Lees meer
I Hunted the Men Who Blackmail Children Online
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/973m4leS25c
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Cops Are Making Fake Flock Cameras and Amazon Packages
26 augustus 2026 · 33 min
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We start this week with Jason’s piece on a cop making a fake Flock camera to catch a vandal. How can you be charged with destroying expensive property if… the camera wasn’t real? After the break, Sam tells us about how Darth Vader loves Flock. In the subscribers-only section, we talk a bit about three years of 404 Media.
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Man Charged With 3 Felonies For Breaking 3D-Printed ‘Decoy’ Flock Camera
The Man Behind the Anti-Flock Darth Vader Mask Wants to Know: 'When Will This End?'
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/rYCvhAOGAjM
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Your AI Companion Doesn’t Love You with Bridget Todd
24 augustus 2026 · 47 min
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Tech companies want you to believe that the chatbots they profit from are the always ready, never judgemental, constantly affirming friend in our pockets. But are the people using them as companions under some kind of deep self-delusion? Or are they seeking something else?
This week I’m joined by Bridget Todd. Among many other projects and accomplishments, Bridget is the creator and host of the award winning podcast There Are No Girls on the Internet, is a Fellow at the MacArthur Foundation, and an affiliate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Her new audiobook, Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy, launched in July with coauthor Michael Amato.
We talk about her work interviewing people who use chatbots to fill an emotional need, how people who engage in romantic, intimate and erotic roleplay with LLMs are mocked for it, and how tech companies are implicated in all of this. In her new book, you’ll hear from experts in the field of AI companionship, but also from people who have nuanced, interesting interactions with chatbots every day. Bridget’s book is her most vulnerable work yet: She unpacks and critiques her own use of ChatGPT during a crisis, and reveals what she learned about herself, her friendships and real-life relationships, and what it means to maintain human connections in a world where tech companies are constantly trying to exploit our innermost worlds.
Love at First Prompt: AI and the Future of Intimacy
New Study Reveals the Manipulative ‘Dark Patterns’ of AI Chatbots
‘It’s Hurting Like Hell’: AI Companion Users Are In Crisis, Reporting Sudden Sexual Rejection
ChatGPT’s Hail Mary: Chatbots You Can Fuck
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/qCk-7r7lp8Y
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Amazon is Destroying Rare Books to Train AI
19 augustus 2026 · 53 min
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We start this week with Emanuel’s big story about Amazon buying, and destroying, masses of books to train AI. After the break we talk about a couple of wild cases where people are using AI. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about Meta’s new smart glasses patent and research into how perverts are using them.
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
‘Show How 3M Is 0% at Fault:’ Expert Witness Used ChatGPT to Write Report Defending Company in Deadly Explosion Lawsuit
Person Hides Prompt Injection in Legal Filing Telling AI to Side With Them
Meta Patents AI Glasses to Use Facial Recognition to Identify People, Make Highlight Reels of Your Dinner Party
Researchers Show How Meta's 'Pervert Glasses' Are Used to Harass Women
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/_sf2VoKvxBk
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The Future of Deepfakes and the Decline of Reality with Hany Farid
17 augustus 2026 · 46 min
The past, present, and future of deepfakes, as seen by the world’s leading expert on synthetic media. Lees meer
I think we’re pretty good at telling the difference between an AI generated image and a real photograph, but when I need help I call Hany Farid.
Farid is the cofounder of GetReal, a company that specializes in detecting deepfakes and other AI-generated images, and is the developer of PhotoDNA, a perceptual hashing algorithm that helps companies automatically detect and remove some of the worst images that exist online, and that is now being used by every serious internet platform in the world.
We started talking to Hany regularly in 2017, when Sam first reported on deepfakes. As that technology evolved and changed how we perceive reality, so have our conversations. I wanted to talk to him today on the podcast so you could hear of those conversations, and so that Hany and I could zoom out, reflect on the past few years, and speculate about where we might be headed.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/0xVxK5o4P48
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Mark Zuckerberg’s 'Superintelligent' AI Future That No One Wants
12 augustus 2026 · 49 min
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We start this week with Jason’s article about Mark Zuckerberg’s plan for Meta’s AI agents. They don't sound fun at all. After the break, Emanuel tells us how a company offering “100% human-written” medical research is actually all AI. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains why some cities are ditching Flock then immediately replacing those cameras with Axon ones.
Mark Zuckerberg Posts Deranged 6,500-Word Essay About Giving Everyone AI Superintelligence
Company Offering ‘100% Human-Written, Never AI’ Peer Review Is Entirely AI
Cities Are Ditching Flock, Immediately Replacing It With Axon License Plate Readers
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How to Surveil the Police (with William Gude)
10 augustus 2026 · 53 min
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This week, we talk to William Gude, who runs Film the Police LA. Film the Police LA is a YouTube channel, Instagram account, and Twitter account where William does exactly what it says in the name: He films police in Los Angeles to hold them accountable. William has been doing this for years, and has captured a series of police abuses during what are supposed to be routine traffic stops or other encounters that don’t need to be so tense.
What I like about William’s work is that it’s a mix of very serious accountability journalism mixed with some humor—William is a funny guy whose rapport with cops in the videos he makes often palpably brings the tension down between the police and the people they have pulled over. William also documents surveillance in Los Angeles, and has taken to filming and talking to the Serve delivery robots in and around Hollywood as they often screw up, get stuck, or are messed with. We talk about the utility of filming the police, how people can get into police watching, what he’s learned over the years, the state of the LAPD, the spread of surveillance, and what it means to surveil the police right back.
This week, we talk to William Gude, who runs Film the Police LA. Film the Police LA is a YouTube channel, Instagram account, and Twitter account where William does exactly what it says in the name: He films police in Los Angeles to hold them accountable. William has been doing this for years, and has captured a series of police abuses during what are supposed to be routine traffic stops or other encounters that don’t need to be so tense.
What I like about William’s work is that it’s a mix of very serious accountability journalism mixed with some humor—William is a funny guy whose rapport with cops in the videos he makes often pal…
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This Man Might Go to Prison for Wiping His Phone
5 augustus 2026 · 50 min
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We start this week with Joseph’s article about Samuel Tunick, the man charged with allegedly wiping his phone before DHS officials could search it. It’s a wild case with a lot to unpack. After the break, Jason tells us all about a TikTok Shop scheme powered by AI. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about possibly the dumbest AI tool ever made.
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‘The Government Hopes To Set a Precedent’: An Interview With the Man Charged for Allegedly Wiping His GrapheneOS Phone
Inside an AI TikTok Shop Slop Factory That Shills Supplements Recalled By the FDA
Google Earth’s New AI Lets Anyone Fabricate Completely Bullshit Satellite Images
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/lmikqHw1lX8
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Former Flock Employee Speaks Out: Says He Was ‘Lied To’
3 augustus 2026 · 50 min
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This week Joseph speaks to Jonathan Paz, a former Flock employee and now candidate for Congress in Massachusetts’ 5th District. They talk all about Paz’s work at Flock, how he was tasked with trying to convince cities to buy Flock cameras, and when he ultimately quit the company. It’s a rare peek inside a company that so many people are talking about.
ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/BKYYpLC9u5I
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Flock Came to My Town. Here’s What I Did
29 juli 2026 · 52 min
We start this week with Matthew’s experience of what happened when Flock came to his small town. It’s a microcosm of what is happening all across the United States. After the break, Sam tells us about a bunch of no phone Luddite events. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains why anti-Flock influencers making up BS are bad, actually. Lees meer
Our New FOIA Forum! 7/30, 1PM ET
What Happened When Flock Came to My Town
Being a Luddite Is Fun Again
The Rise of Anti-Flock Influencers Who Make Things Up for Clout
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/C0Sb0HqPXBI
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This Man Bought Phone Location Data from Around the World
27 juli 2026 · 42 min
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This week Joseph talks to Mike Yeagley. As you’ll hear, he is a very interesting guy. He introduced parts of the government to the whole idea of commercially sourced location data. He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying the data, and showing what could be done with it. It’s a fascinating conversation.
- How the Pentagon Learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find Its Targets—and Vladimir Putin
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Flock is Tracking People, Not Just Cars
22 juli 2026 · 47 min
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We start this week with Joseph’s story on how cops are using Flock to track actual people, not just cars, with searches like “male with tattoos.” After the break, Emanuel tells us all about the company that is explicitly selling mountains of books to AI companies and promising to keep the sales a secret. In the subscribers-only section, Jason tells us how he learned about the Suno hack and what it showed us.
You're Invited: 404 Media's Third Anniversary Live Podcast and Party!
How Cops Use Flock to Track People, Not Cars
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop
Hack Reveals Suno AI Music Generator Scraped YouTube, Deezer, and Genius
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/6xSes4VMVyo
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404 Media Live: How AI Is Destroying the Internet
20 juli 2026 · 1 uur 2 min
404 Media teamed up with the Los Angeles Public Library's LA Made to do a live show at the LA Central Library at the end of May. Jason, Sam, and our friends Dexter Thomas and Gita Jackson talked about the ways AI is threatening workers in all industries, changing how we consume the internet, and slopifying Hollywood, video games, social media, and art. Lees meer
Support Gita's work: www.aftermath.siteSupport Dexter's work: https://www.youtube.com/@dexdigi
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/-wLUJEjCCQE
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We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’
15 juli 2026 · 46 min
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We start this week with Jason’s story about the ChatGPT flyer pandemic. They’re everywhere! Thank you to the readers and listeners who sent in their own examples. After the break, Sam tells us how Waymo snitched on kids and drove them to a group of waiting cops. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains why he bought a $3,000 suit that electrocutes your muscles. Yep.
We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’
Cops Say Waymo Snitched on Teens for Allegedly Drinking and Shooting a Toy Gun
I Bought the $3,000 Fitness Suit That Electrocutes You. I’m Sending It Back
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/Pc_uE7JF63k
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Liberation, Eroticism, and Sex in Public (with Angela Jones)
13 juli 2026 · 54 min
Is your sex life as private and personal as you think it is? Or is it shaped by – and constantly shaping, in turn – the society and systems you exist in? Lees meer
This week we’re joined by Dr. Angela Jones, who asks these questions and much more in her new book, Sex in Public. Angela is a professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Stony Brook University. In addition to scholarly works published in many distinguished journals including Porn Studies and The Black Scholar, she's the author, co-author and/or editor of several books, including Black Lives Matter: A Reference Handbook and Camming: Money, Power, and Pleasure in the Sex Industry which came out in 2020 and advanced and informed a lot of my own understanding of the online adult industry especially.
Her latest book, Sex in Public: The Transformative Social Power of Our Erotic Lives, just launched this month. As Angela writes: “Revolutionizing how we talk about sex means thinking not just about what a single solitary person should or shouldn't do in bed.”
We get into the history of sexology, how sex toys complicate our understanding of what counts as sex, whether sex needs a definition at all, what happened when she bought and used a sex doll, and why the most vulnerable moments in their book are also the ones everyone wants to discuss.
Sex in Public: The Transformative Social Power of Our Erotic Lives
Cash/Consent by Lorelei Lee
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How Influencers Fake Being Rich
8 juli 2026 · 51 min
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This week, we talk about Jason's dive into the world of LARPing, where hustlebros and influencers use fake YouTube, OnlyFans, and Stripe dashboards as "proof" that they're rich in order to sell low-quality get-rich-quick courses in pyramid schemes. We show how easy it is to pretend like you're rich, and how these strategies are used all over social media.
How I Bought a Private Jet By Selling $10 Subscriptions to 404 Media
Inside Cannes, the Advertising Industry’s Biggest Party
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/Tmsayhy94RE
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Is the Best Game of the Year a Failure?
6 juli 2026 · 1 uur 40 min
Remap Radio’s Rob Zacny and Emanuel dive deep into their current favorite game, Marathon, and what its middling success says about the future of games. Lees meer
If you listen to the 404 Media podcast by now you probably realized that Joe and I are a little obsessed with a game called Marathon. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve played it for almost 300 hours since it was released in March.
But as much as we’re enjoying it, and there are thousands of players who feel the same, Marathon so far has failed to find the audience we’d expect from the developer that made Halo, Destiny, and which a few years ago acquired by PlayStation for more than $3 billion. It’s bad news for Marathon fans and a good sign for how much the video game business has changed over the years.
I wanted to have Remap Radio host Robert Zacny on the podcast because much like me and Joe, he’s been obsessed with Marathon as well. One of Rob’s greatest skills is dissecting how and why games get their hooks into us, and what a game’s popularity, or lack thereof in Marathon’s case, might reveal about the state of the industry and culture more broadly.
Remap Radio: https://remapradio.com/
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The Tokenpocalypse Is Here
1 juli 2026 · 43 min
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We start this week with Joseph’s story about the Tokenpocalypse, which is companies scrambling to stop spending so much on AI after providers started charging per AI token. After the break, Joseph and Emanuel tell us about the ways companies are trying to do this, including using a tool to make their LLMs talk like cavemen. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel explains how entirely fake AI-generated flowers are all over eBay, Etsy, and Amazon.
The Tokenpocalypse Is Here: Companies Are Scrambling To Stop Spending So Much on AI
Companies Are Making Claude and Codex Talk Like Cavemen to Stop
AI’s Soaring CostsScammers Sell Seeds for Exotic AI-Generated Flowers That Don’t Exist
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/Sia4LZGNkVs
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How Brands Use Reddit to Poison AI Search
29 juni 2026 · 42 min
This week, we're doing a deep dive into how marketing companies are poisoning AI search results by manipulating Reddit. You may remember when Google’s AI search results first launched, it recommended that people put glue on their pizza. Well that happened because it scraped a 10 year old Reddit comment. We’ve learned over the last year or so that this sort of thing can be done on purpose, and brands are taking advantage of it. There’s been the rise of AEO or GEO, which stands for AI Engine Optimization or Generative Engine Optimization. Basically this is trying to get mentions of your brand into web content that’s likely to be scraped by AI tools. It’s the new version of SEO and lots of marketers and companies are trying to do it. Lees meer
The most reliable, easiest way to do this appears to be by putting brand mentions onto Reddit. Reddit’s volunteer mods have noticed an increase in bot accounts and entire sequencing efforts—where a post and its comments are all basically done as a stealth ad—intended to boost brands. I wrote an article about this a few weeks ago, about r/biohackers banning mentions of peptides, which were a popular promoted class of product. After we wrote that article, researchers from Cornell University reached out to me about a new study they had just done.
The research is called “Deep-research agents can be poisoned via user-generated content,” which provides a mechanism for the ways reddit, wikipedia, and other sites that allow users to post are being attacked by brands doing AEO: "We show that a tiny snippet—just 13 words—of retrieved text on a UGC website like Reddit, Wikipedia, Quora, or Facebook can change AI agents to output spam / scam content pretty consistently," the study says.
We spoke to two of the researchers, Hal Triedman and Tingwei Zhang, about this problem and what, if anything can be done about it.
Deep-Research Agents Can Be Poisoned via User-Generated Content: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24245
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/…
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If AI Is Sentient Then So Is ‘Age of Empires II
24 juni 2026 · 42 min
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We start this week with Matthew’s story about a fascinating paper that argues if LLMs are sentient, then by those metrics so is the classic game Age of Empires II. After the break, Matthew tells us about a wild story out of Texas with a data center being built on land that was donated to be a park. In the subscribers-only section, we talk hacking and basketball.
If AI Is Sentient Then So Is ‘Age of Empires II’
A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead
Hackers Publish Knicks and Madison Square Garden Data Online
Madison Square Garden Made Dossier on Activists Who Opposed Facial Recognition
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/LlWJTM18z3E
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Stopping Tech Company Censorship (with Jake Hanrahan)
22 juni 2026 · 44 min
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This week Joseph speaks to Jake Hanrahan, creator of the independent conflict-focused media company Popular Front. They talk all about conflict journalism and how to get your journalism out there when platforms like YouTube make it all that much harder, sometimes.
Popular Front
Away Days
Plastic Defence: Secret 3D Printed Guns in Europe
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/Yf51H5IuRcM
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The Government Wants to End Anonymity on Phones
17 juni 2026 · 50 min
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We start this week with Joseph’s story about the FCC’s wild proposal to require peoples’ government ID numbers to even get a phone plan. The FCC is doing it to curb robocalls, but also said it would be useful for a bunch of other stuff. After the break, Jason tells us all about cops abusing Flock to stalk girlfriends and other people. In the subscribers’ only section, Emanuel explains how a software update is impacting Amazon drivers.
FCC Wants to Kill Burner Phones By Forcing Telecoms to Get All Customers’ IDs
Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People
Software Update Automatically Turns off Amazon Delivery Drivers’ AC During Dangerous Summer Heat
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/hP53hSJSsSU
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Meet Me at the Opsec Rave (with Imani Thompson)
15 juni 2026 · 53 min
This week, I’m thrilled to be joined by Imani Thompson. Imani is a digital security trainer and host of a series of events called Cache Me Outside, where she and partner orgs help people understand their personal security, divest from big tech platforms, and learn how to stay safe online. She recently hosted a “de-Googling” party and a self-doxxing rave. Lees meer
We get into how platforms have tried to make surveillance cute, why that damn Duolingo owl emotionally manipulates you, and why learning about privacy best practices when surrounded by community works.
Follow Imani on Instagram
A 'Self-Doxing' Rave Helps Trans People Stay Safe Online
Now you can break up with big tech at a bar: ‘cybersecurity disguised as a party’
Fix It With Piggy
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/C4WVYBEIgzM
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Google Employees Meme About How Bad Their AI Is
10 juni 2026 · 35 min
We start this week with Emanuel’s story about the internal memes Google employees are making all about AI. Definitely check out some of the examples in the article or on YouTube. After the break, Jason tells us how Microsoft explicitly wants to “make people addicted” to its new AI assistant, according to an internal document. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains how companies are using Reddit to manipulate AI search results and big LEGO drama. Lees meer
Google Employees Internally Share Memes About How Its AI Sucks
Microsoft Wants to 'Make People Addicted' to its New AI Assistant, Internal Documents Reveal
Companies Are Using Reddit to Manipulate ChatGPT and Google AI Search
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It’s So Not Over for Hollywood (with Devindra Hardawar)
8 juni 2026 · 1 uur 1 min
Emanuel talks to Devindra Hardawar about AI in Hollywood and the state of the movie industry. Lees meer
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I didn’t plan it this way, but it’s a good coincidence that my interview with Devindra Hardawar is coming out on the week that the first Star Wars movie in years is being crushed at the box office by two low budget horror movies. Something is extremely off at Hollywood, or at least the old studio executives and streamers who control most of the money that funds movies.
This week we’re joined by Devindra Hardawar. Devindra is a senior editor at Engadget and a co-host of The Filmcast, a podcast about film I’ve been listening to for 15 years. We’ve covered the intersection of the movie industry and AI here and there on 404 Media, but Devindra lives at that intersection. He’s the perfect person to talk to about AI and film, but also the state of the industry more broadly, how to fit movies into your life in the age of the infinite scroll, how to introduce kids to film, and more.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/imCSQkhFkoM
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Hackers Asked Meta AI To Let Them In. It Worked
3 juni 2026 · 39 min
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We start this week with Jason’s story about one of the wildest hacking stories in a while. Hackers simply asked Meta’s AI to change the email address on a target Instagram account, and the chatbot did so. Insane. After the break, Emanuel tells us about Amazon’s internal leaderboard for tracking AI usage and how it was cheated. In the subscribers-only section, we provided an update on our lawsuit against ICE.
Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked
Amazon Shuts Down Internal AI Leaderboard After Employees Cheated
We Sued ICE to Get Its Spyware Contract. The Agency Is Redacting Essentially Everything
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A Repairable, No-Tech Tractor
1 juni 2026 · 39 min
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Ursa Ag is an Alberta, Canada-based company that is selling a repairable, no tech tractor. It’s not often we have companies on this podcast, but listeners of the show will know we have been covering the right to repair movement for years. One of the things I’ve written about most is the frustration that farmers feel with agriculture giant John Deere, which has made their tractors very difficult to repair by loading it up with tech, lobbying against right to repair legislation, and making parts and diagnostic tools and repair guides hard to access. When we write about right to repair, people often say - why don’t people just vote with their dollars and buy something else? Well, all the major tractor companies have more or less done the same thing Deere has done - add software locks, sensors, and digital rights management to their tractors. There wasn’t any other alternative.
Doug Wilson of Ursa Ag has built an alternative. Ursa Ag is selling a repairable dumb tractor specifically to provide an alternative in the market. We spoke with Doug about how one creates a tractor company, how it all works, and what the response has been.
00:00 Doug Wilson Introduction
00:02:05 Why IRSA Ag Exists
00:04:24 Modern Tractors & Repair Locks
00:07:40 Demand for Older Tractors
00:08:46 The $800K Tractor Story
00:09:37 Building a Repairable Tractor
00:12:56 Precision Ag vs Simplicity
00:20:45 Starting a Tractor Company
00:22:52 AI & Everyday Farm Work
00:27:21 Viral Response & Demand
00:28:52 Expansion Plans
00:31:56 Why Farmers Want Simpler Machines
00:34:11 Farm Consolidation
00:35:48 Tech Overload Beyond Farming
00:36:57 What’s NextYouTube Version: https://youtu.be/wYM4Ho-Ma9w
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How Deepfakes Destroyed a High School
27 mei 2026 · 51 min
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We start this week with Sam’s deeply reported story on how deepfakes rocked a high school, and how those kids were failed at each step. After the break, Joseph tells us about BusPatrol, a company that plans to turn school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains why a councilmember crashed out over Flock.
LA Made x 404 Media Presents: How AI is Threatening the Future of Media
How Deepfakes Tore a High School Apart
‘BusPatrol’ Put AI Cameras in Tens of Thousands of School Buses. Now They Want to Give Cops Access
After Town Bans Flock, Councilmember Crashes Out, Proposes Internet and Phone Ban
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Millions of People Are Installing Malware on Their Partners’ Phones
25 mei 2026 · 50 min
This week Joseph speaks to Zack Whittaker, an editor at TechCrunch. Zack has been leading coverage into the spouseware or stalkerware industry. This is malware sold to ordinary people, which they then often install on their girlfriend’s or someone else’s phone. Zack talks about the crazy scope of this problem. Lees meer
Behind the stalkerware network spilling the private phone data of hundreds of thousands
Spyzie stalkerware is spying on thousands of Android and iPhone users
Stalkerware tag on TechCrunch
This Week In Security Newsletter
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/BLb46310iLs
Subscribe at 404media.co
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