Alle afleveringen
235 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Boo-sters
20 mei 2026 · 45 min
We start this week with Sam telling us all about the commencement speeches where speakers have been praising AI, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. That did not go down well! After the break, Jason tells us how he was offered the chance to buy a bunch of images of poop to train AI (really). In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains how researchers planned to stick cameras onto preschool teachers to train AI. Lees meer
Students Boo Commencement Speaker After She Calls AI the ‘Next Industrial Revolution’
Internet of Shit: AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users' Poops
Researchers Wanted Preschool Teachers to Wear Cameras to Train AI
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/VE0EtqQLcgY
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The Physical Politics of the Internet with Britt Paris
18 mei 2026 · 38 min
This week, I’m delighted to be joined by Britt Paris. Britt is a critical informatics scholar and Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information. Her work focuses on Internet infrastructure, artificial intelligence-generated information objects, digital labor, civic data, and social epistemology. She’s also a fellow with AI Now. Her book Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up just came out in February. Lees meer
Britt tells us about how her great-great-great uncle started a telecommunications cooperative in rural Missouri before the city even had connection, how examples like NEMR show us an alternative to monopolies that provide internet access and let people decide how they want their internet to work for them, and what’s giving her hope as she helps bargain for educators’ rights at Rutgers.
Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up
The American Association of University Professors on AI
University Professors Disturbed to Find Their Lectures Chopped Up and Turned Into AI Slop
Community Votes to Deny Water to Nuclear Weapons Data Center
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/5twr0EUo2YE
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The Chinese Deepfake Software Powering Scams
13 mei 2026 · 1 uur 4 min
We start this week with Joseph’s story about how we obtained Haotian AI, a sought-after piece of realtime video deepfake software that lets you turn into anyone else during Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, or Zoom calls. After the break, Matthew tells us about some insane Yu-Gi-Oh trading card drama. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains how the hard drive shortage is impacting those archiving the internet. Lees meer
‘HELLO BOSS’: Inside the Chinese Realtime Deepfake Software Powering Scams Around the World
Man Finds $1 Million Worth of Yu-Gi-Oh Cards in a Dumpster
The AI Hard Drive Shortage Is Making It More Expensive and Harder to Archive the Internet
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/O_d1VxuBdAU
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How the World Became a Casino (With Natasha Schüll)
11 mei 2026 · 49 min
The logic behind Polymarket, Kalshi and sports betting apps can be traced back to the inner workings of the slot machine. Lees meer
How did we get to a point where it’s legal for anyone to bet on anything? Be it the results of a baseball game or a land war in Europe, if you have access to a credit card and a computer you can try to predict the outcome of anything that’s happening in the world and win a little bit of money if you’re right. If we know that gambling can lead to high rates gambling addiction and financial ruin, why does it seem like our culture has suddenly embraced it?
For years, anyone who has reported on our increasing addiction to technology has found their way to Natasha Natasha Dow Schüll’s book Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas. The book is an ethnography of slot machines. It is based on many interviews with the people who make them and play them, a deep investigation of how they work, and how they fit into the larger context of casinos, Las Vegas, and gambling more broadly.
Since it was published more than a decade ago, the logic of slot machines has extended far beyond Las Vegas. Every notification on our phone, trading platforms like Robinhood, the crypto craze, and now prediction markets, can be understood through the lens of slot machine design and Schüll work. That’s why I was incredibly happy she agreed to come on the podcast this week to discuss our current gambling-obsessed culture.
https://www.natashadowschull.org
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/2kRAXeKhzNY
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Flock Used Cameras at a Children’s Gymnastics Center for a Sales Pitch
6 mei 2026 · 58 min
This week we start with Jason's story about Flock accessing cameras in a children's gymnastics room as a sale pitch demo. After the break, Emanuel tells us why Nature retracted a paper about the alleged benefits of ChatGPT in education. In the subscibers-only section, we talk all about the cancellation of RightsCon after pressure from the Chinese government. Lees meer
City Learns Flock Accessed Cameras in Children's Gymnastics Room as a Sales Pitch Demo, Renews Contract Anyway
'Nature' Retracts Paper on the Benefits of ChatGPT in Education
OpenAI, Google, aÍnd Microsoft Back Bill to Fund ‘AI Literacy’ in Schools
World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly Canceled
China Pressure Canceled World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/hLR8MOOhRCo
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The New Luddites: Why People Are Destroying Surveillance and AI Infrastructure
4 mei 2026 · 53 min
This week, we talk to Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, about a rash of people physically destroying AI and surveillance infrastructure. Brian puts this wave of attacks in the historical context of the Luddites, who are notoriously misunderstood and fought for worker protections against automation during the Industrial Revolution. Over the last few months, we have seen people in San Francisco and Los Angeles torch Waymos, bash delivery robots with baseball bats, destroy Flock cameras, and threaten AI data centers and the politicians championing them. This type of political violence doesn’t and cannot occur in a vacuum, it happens because people feel they are being taken advantage of and that their representatives aren’t listening to them. Given the current state of things, we can likely expect more of these sorts of attacks to occur. Lees meer
Blood In The Machine
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/1Z4k_vDovbY
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How This Trippy Image Started A Massive Conspiracy Theory
29 april 2026 · 47 min
This week, Jason explains the conspiracy theory circulating behind a trippy stock image that went viral after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner—was it sent here by a time traveler? (Spoiler: It was not.) Then Sam unpacks what’s happening at Arizona State University with a messy rollout of a new AI-powered tool that generates lessons by scraping professors’ lectures without their knowledge. In the second for subscribers at the Supporter level, Emanuel gets philosophical with a discussion about the question of machine consciousness and how it relates to a new paper from a Google-affiliated scientist. Lees meer
University Professors Disturbed to Find Their Lectures Chopped Up and Turned Into AI Slop
Did a Time Traveling Superintelligent AI Try to Warn About White House Correspondents Dinner Shooting? An Investigation
Google DeepMind Paper Argues LLMs Will Never Be Conscious
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/VOo0ZpIagP0
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Government Hacking Tools Are Now in Criminals' Hands (with Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai)
27 april 2026 · 51 min
This week Joseph talks to Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, a journalist at TechCrunch. Lorenzo has possibly the deepest understanding of one of the wildest cybersecurity stories in years: how an employee of Trenchant, a government malware vendor that is supposed to only sell to the ‘good’ guys, secretly sold a bunch of hacking tools to a Russian company. Those tools, it looks like, then ended up with the Russian government and possibly Chinese criminals too. It’s a really insane story about how powerful hacking tech can fall into the wrong hands. Lees meer
Inside the story of the US defense contractor who leaked hacking tools to Russia
US military contractor likely built iPhone hacking tools used by Russian spies in Ukraine
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/MWxLqopMo5o
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How Algorithms Make Us Feel Bad and Weird
22 april 2026 · 58 min
This week Sam unpacks how social media algorithms manipulate our emotions around everything from engagement rings to wedding dresses to babies, and what it feels like getting lost in the #Weddingtok sauce, and Emanuel breaks down a satirical but functional AI tool that rips off open source software. There’s a long history in “clean room” software that’s really interesting. In the section for subscribers at the Supporter level, Jason walks us through “tokenmaxxing” and startups obsessed with spending as much money as possible on AI—and as little as possible on humans. Lees meer
Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.
I Almost Lost My Mind in the Bridal Algorithm
This AI Tool Rips Off Open Source Software Without Violating Copyright
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/-NEjEaOp1tI
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Why Journalists Are Leaving Big Media (with Maddy Myers)
20 april 2026 · 55 min
This week, Sam is joined by Maddy Myers, editor-in-chief of Mothership. She’s also a co-host of the video games podcast Triple Click. Lees meer
Maddy launched Mothership with co-founder Zoë Hannah in January. It’s a queer and women-owned independent publication that focuses on gender and games. They discuss Maddy’s early days of games journalism via a (print!) alt-weekly in Boston and then at the Mary Sue, how she and Zoë decided it was time to quit Polygon and launch their own indie outlet, and the importance of owning your own work as a journalist.
Subscribe to Mothership
Why I’m launching a feminist video games website in 2026 - The GuardianMothership and a History of Women in Games Media - the Post Games podcast
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/sQUqYKXW3fE
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How the FBI Extracted Deleted Signal Messages
16 april 2026 · 45 min
We start this week with Joseph’s story on the inherent friction between secure chat apps like Signal and the phone they’re running on. Incoming message content can be stored in a phone’s internal notification database. After the break, Matthew tells us the latest about the data center pushback. Then in the subscribers’ only section, Emanuel tells us all about Marathon and its player numbers. Lees meer
(00:00) Intro
(01:21) FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database
(26:01) Maine Is Close to Passing a Moratorium on New Datacenters
(33:21) Farmer Arrested for Speaking Too Long at Datacenter Town Hall Vows to Fight
Subscriber's Story: I Wish I Didn’t Care About 'Marathon' Player Numbers, But I Do
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How the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips)
13 april 2026 · 1 uur 5 min
‘The Ambivalent Intent’ and ‘The Shadow Gospel’ author Whitney Phillips on how online got so bad Lees meer
Why does the internet feel like it’s getting worse every single day, and why does it feel like the political landscape is getting worse in response? The answer might seem obvious, especially if you read 404 Media on a regular basis, where we’ve been documenting this decline, but it’s important to occasionally zoom out and ask the big questions.
That’s why this week on the podcast I’m joined by Whitney Phillips. Phillips is the author of several books about internet culture and ethics, including This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things and The Ambivalent Internet. She’s a professor of information politics and media ethics at the University of Oregon, and also one of my favorite people to talk to and listen to because she’s a genius when it comes to the kind of internet culture and platform dynamics we report on every day at 404 Media.
I wanted to talk to Whitney today because it’s been a few years since we talked in depth about the state of the internet and so much has changed in that time, sadly for the worst, and I really wanted some help in understanding the current state of things, as bad as they are. We also spent quite a bit of time talking about her upcoming book, The Shadow Gospel: How Anti-liberal Demonology Possessed U.S. Religion, Media, and Politics.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/gp_n6vDmFfc
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Wildlife Cops Are Searching AI Cameras for ICE
8 april 2026 · 50 min
This week we start with Jason’s story about how wildlife cops are doing Flock lookups for ICE. It shows that ICE is gaining access to this sort of information through pretty unexpected ways. After the break, Emanuel tells us all about the AI ban at Wikipedia. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph breaks down a set of vulnerabilities in the ‘secure’ chat app TeleGuard. Lees meer
Wildlife Conservation Police Are Searching Thousands of Flock Cameras for ICE
Wikipedia Bans AI-Generated Content
An AI Agent Was Banned From Creating Wikipedia Articles, Then Wrote Angry Blogs About Being Banned
Subscriber's Story - A Secure Chat App’s Encryption Is So Bad It Is ‘Meaningless’
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/YrHYwCb5aM8
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The Lawyer Fighting Government Surveillance for 30 Years (With EFF's Cindy Cohn)
6 april 2026 · 55 min
This week Jason brings you an interview he did with The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s executive director Cindy Cohn, who recently announced she would be stepping down from the legendary digital rights nonprofit after decades of service. Cindy's new book “Privacy’s Defender,” is a memoir of her work to protect Americans’ privacy and fight government surveillance.Privacy’s Defender weaves Cindy’s life story through three incredibly important court cases. Rather than being a dry recounting of three complicated and technical cases, Cindy recounts her strategies in each case, the trials and tribulations she was going through during each period, and the stakes of each case. A quick backgrounder — the cases are Bernstein vs Department of Justice, decided in 1996, which established code and encryption as protected speech under the first amendment, a lasting decision that became critical in Apple’s lawsuit against the FBI in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shooting. It also follows EFF’s lawsuit against AT&T for building a secret backdoor in its internet data centers that gave data to the NSA for warrantless surveillance against American citizens, a case that was built in part around testimony and documents shared by Mark Klein, who showed schematics and design documents for secret surveillance rooms in AT&T’s offices. And finally it follows the Alphabet Cases, which were lawsuits against FBI gag orders for national security letters, which are secret demands for customer information that came with gag orders against internet companies that prevented them from disclosing the fact that the FBI approached them for information. Those cases concerned both Cloudflare and a telecom company called CREDO, and went on for many years. Lees meer
Our interview with Cindy shows that the fight for privacy happens in fits and spurts, and is rarely linear.
Cindy's Book Privacy Defender: https://www.eff.org/Privacys-Defender
Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/2OwH_XyfEhs
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Inside the AI Slop Propaganda Wars
1 april 2026 · 53 min
This week Matthew Gault joins us to discuss his article about Iran’s AI slop and LEGO-focused propaganda, and why the creators chose LEGO. After the break, Jason tells us all about the new automated system in baseball and the drama it’s causing. In the subscribers-only section, Sam walks us through perhaps one of the worst sex apps of all time. Lees meer
Iran Is Winning the AI Slop Propaganda War
'You Can't Defeat the Robots!': Baseball's AI Strike Zone Is Must-Watch Television
Subscriber's Story - I Tried to Find the ‘Arousal Intelligence’ In An Animated, Augmented Reality Porn Star
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/_4buUas3tGs
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The Journalist Who Tracked Epstein Island Visitors’ Phones
30 maart 2026 · 45 min
This week Joseph talks to Dhruv Mehrotra, a journalist and technologist at Bloomberg. Before that, Dhruv was at WIRED, where you probably saw a ton of his interesting work. Dhruv sits in a very unusual space in journalism: he is able to both write technical tools to dig through data, or collect information, or really anything else, and is also able to just write a damn good story. That is a very unique blend. The pair chat about Dhruv’s entry into journalism, how computational journalism has changed over the years, and how Dhruv uses AI too. Lees meer
Jeffrey Epstein’s Island Visitors Exposed by Data Broker
‘They're Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls
Epstein’s Inbox
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The Company Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into Podcasts
25 maart 2026 · 47 min
This week we start with Emanuel’s crazy story about WebinarTV, a company that is secretly recording Zoom meetings and turning them into AI-powered podcasts. It’s nuts. After the break, Joseph tells us about the eccentric billionaire who tried to become a cocaine kingpin. In the subscribers-only section, we lament the lose of the metaverse. Lees meer
1:06 - This Company Is Secretly Turning Your Zoom Meetings into AI Podcasts
25:58 - An Adrenaline Junkie Millionaire’s Quest to Become a Cocaine Kingpin
Sub's Story: RIP Metaverse, an $80 Billion Dumpster Fire Nobody Wanted
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The Marketing Tricks of "Artificial Intelligence"
23 maart 2026 · 50 min
This week, Sam talks to Emily Bender and Alex Hanna about the marketing ploys of “artificial intelligence,” why ridicule works to keep big tech’s claims in check, and what makes them hopeful for the future. They’re the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want.Dr. Alex Hanna is a writer and sociologist of technology, labor, and politics. She’s the Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) and a Lecturer in the School of Information at the University of California Berkeley. Lees meer
Dr. Emily M. Bender is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington where she is also the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master of Science program and affiliate faculty in the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Information School.They also host the The Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 podcast which “deflates AI hype and draws attention to the real harms of the automation technologies we call ‘artificial intelligence’.”
Flood of AI-Generated Submissions ‘Final Straw’ for Small 22-Year-Old Publisher
The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want
Emily’s cartoon
Questioning the Normalization of Surveillance by the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown
You Are Not a Parrot at NY Mag
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/UwBZiuH-1QY
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The Disappearing DOGE Depositions
18 maart 2026 · 47 min
This week we start with Joseph’s series of articles about the DOGE depositions. He watched hours and hours of them, then a judge ordered them removed from YouTube. But, they’ve already been archived all over the web. After the break, Jason tells us about the AI data labelers who are fighting back. In the subscribers-only section, Jason breaks down what’s wrong with all the AI job loss research at the moment. Lees meer
0:00 - Intro
0:51 - Google Street View's Unmappable City
3:40 - I Watched 6 Hours of DOGE Bro Testimony. Here's What They Had to Say For Themselves
13:24 - DOGE Deposition Videos Taken Down After Judge Order and Widespread Mockery
18:58 - The Removed DOGE Deposition Videos Have Already Been Backed Up Across the Internet
28:32 - 'AI Is African Intelligence': The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting BackSUB'S STORY - AI Job Loss Research Ignores How AI Is Utterly Destroying the Internet
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/xtMniLj_yzQ
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Google Street View's Unmappable City
16 maart 2026 · 17 min
There's only one city in America that isn't on Google's Street View. Documentary filmmaker Chris Parr set out to map it, using North Oak, Minnesota's byzantine rules and the help of a drone. His experience shows who gets privacy in America, and who doesn't. Lees meer
'I Mapped Google’s ONLY SECRET CITY'
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/3iGvHBr0mJw
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How to Talk to Your Friend Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'
11 maart 2026 · 44 min
This week we start with Sam’s story discussing something that has come up a lot but no one has really answered: how do you speak to your friend or family member falling into AI psychosis? After the break, Joseph breaks down what happened when the FBI wanted data from ProtonMail. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel tells us about the viral developers behind an app called Quittr, and how they exposed very sensitive data of hundreds of thousands of users. Lees meer
1:21 - 'How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'
27:33 - Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester
SUBSCRIBER'S STORY: Viral 'Quittr' Porn Addiction App Exposed the Masturbation Habits of Hundreds of Thousands of Users
'How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'
Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester
Viral 'Quittr' Porn Addiction App Exposed the Masturbation Habits of Hundreds of Thousands of Users
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/oRiJHLIYkkw
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Understanding Roblox’s Grooming Problem
9 maart 2026 · 48 min
Cecilia D’Anstasio on Roblox efforts to protect children from pedophiles. Lees meer
Roblox is one of those games that is more popular than you can imagine, but unless you are of a certain age group and live in that world, you’ll rarely hear about it unless it makes the news for some terrible reason. More recently, for example, we wrote about the Tumbler Ridge shooter who created a mass shooting simulator in Roblox.
But what is Roblox, how big is it exactly, and why does it seem like it's so frequently embroiled in controversy? This week we’re joined by Cecilia D’anstasio in an attempt to answer all of these questions.
This week we’re joined by Cecilia D’Anstasio. Cecilia reports about video games at Bloomberg, and has written many important articles about the business and controversies of one of the biggest games in the world, Roblox. A few weeks ago we had Patrick Klepek on to discuss Roblox from a parent’s perspective, but today we’re going to hear about it from the perspective of a great investigative reporter and for my money the most knowledgeable journalists about Roblox.
404 Media is a journalist-founded company and needs your support. To subscribe, go to 404media.co. As well as bonus content every single week, subscribers get access to additional episodes where we respond to their best comments. Subscribers also get early access to our interview series. Gain access to that content at 404media.co.
Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
Become a paid subscriber for early access to these interview episodes and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast pla…
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The Depravity Economy
4 maart 2026 · 57 min
This week we discuss our coverage of the U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran, specifically how Polymarket and Kalshi are letting people profit from death, and that Amazon data centers were on fire after missiles hit Dubai. Then Emanuel talks about how AI translations are adding 'hallucinations' to Wikipedia articles. In the subscribers-only section, Sam tells us about a change with Amazon wishlists that may expose your address. Lees meer
0:00 - Intro
1:32 - With Iran War, Kalshi and Polymarket Bet That the Depravity Economy Has No Bottom
29:07 - AI Translations Are Adding Hallucinations To Wikipedia Articles
SUBSCRIBER'S STORY - Amazon Change Means Wishlists Might Expose Your Address
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/paHMe9kFf0w
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How to Detect Phone Spying Tech (with Cooper Quintin)
2 maart 2026 · 55 min
Joseph speaks to Cooper Quintin, a security researcher and senior public interest technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Quintin is one of the people behind Rayhunter, an easy to install tool that can detect nearby IMSI-catchers. This tech, sometimes known as Stingrays, poses as a fake cellphone tower to track a phone’s location, intercept calls and texts, and can sometimes even deliver malware. Lees meer
Rayhunter GitHub: https://github.com/EFForg/rayhunter
YouTube: https://youtu.be/vEFPPaOn0ts
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Ring Is Just Getting Started
25 februari 2026 · 53 min
This week we start with Jason’s follow up to Ring launching its ‘Search Party’ feature. It turns out, according to a leaked email he got, the feature is only starting with finding lost dogs. After the break, Emanuel explains why we’ve learned nothing about amplification when it comes to the recent looksmaxxing trend. In the subscribers-only section, Sam explains how Grok produced the real name of a sex worker who performs pseudonymously. Lees meer
1:11 - Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand ‘Search Party’ Surveillance Beyond Dogs
30:26 - We Have Learned Nothing About Amplifying Morons
Grok Exposed a Porn Performer’s Legal Name and Birthdate—Without Even Being Asked
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/IEq8dlnLP8o
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Privacy Under Pressure (With Harlo Holmes)
23 februari 2026 · 45 min
In this week’s interview, Sam is joined by Harlo Holmes. Harlo is the Chief Security Programs Officer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. She’s a media scholar, software programmer, and activist. Lees meer
Harlo and Sam discuss the important work she does every day, and why it’s only becoming more crucial. They also get into how to fight back against privacy nihilism, digital security practices everyone can be implementing regardless of their threat model, and the recent arrests and raids of journalists in the U.S.
Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you’re a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.
404 Media and Freedom of the Press Foundation Sue DHS
FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled
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Inside an AI-Powered School
18 februari 2026 · 1 uur
This week we start with Emanuel’s wild story about Alpha School, a very hyped AI-powered school. Emanuel got leaked documents and spoke to former employees. After the break, Sam tells us what happens when someone decides to make an AI nudify OnlyFans with your likeness. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph tells us about the agencies buying GeoSpy, an AI that can geolocate photos in seconds. Lees meer
2:49 - Understood: Deepfake Porn Empire
5:47 - 'Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs:' Inside an AI-Powered Private School
40:01 - 'The Most Dejected I’ve Ever Felt:' Harassers Made Nude AI Images of Her, Then Started an OnlyFans
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/fy-38hIhykQ
Understood: Deepfake Porn Empire
'Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs:' Inside an AI-Powered Private School
'The Most Dejected I’ve Ever Felt:' Harassers Made Nude AI Images of Her, Then Started an OnlyFans
Cops Are Buying ‘GeoSpy’, an AI That Geolocates Photos in Seconds
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What It’s Like to Be a Data Labeler Training AI
16 februari 2026 · 50 min
I recently traveled to Kenya for a journalism and AI conference. While I was there, I really wanted to meet with Michael Geoffrey Asia, the secretary general of the Data Labelers Association. Data Labeling is a huge job in Kenya. Data labelers are the people who train AI, and who also work on ensuring the outputs are accurate. In some cases, data labelers are themselves pretending to be AI, in order to train AI. Often, data labelers don’t know exactly what they’re working on, because the work usually goes through a platform, a subcontractor, or a combination of both. So basically they can be presented with a backend where they’re asked to perform tasks or answer questions; in some cases their answers may be presented in real time as AI. Lees meer
Data labeling is notoriously brutal and underpaid work. Workers sometimes earn as little as a few dollars a day, work under algorithmic management, and, because they’re sometimes trying to train AI what not to do or show, they are often shown graphic, violent, or sexual content for hours at a time. It’s kind of similar to content moderation jobs, and lots of people do both data labeling and content moderation, or switch back and forth between the industries. It’s such a big thing in Kenya that I mentioned it to the driver who took me to meet Michael for this interview, and she told me that she too was a data labeler, as are many of her friends.
Michael has since become critical at the Data Labelers Association, a group that is fighting to organize people who do data labeling work and who is advocating for better working conditions, higher pay, and more protections for data labelers. I met Michael at a coworking space in Nairobi in a very tiny room, so I’m not on camera after this, but here’s my conversation with Michael.
The Emotional Labor Behind AI Intimacy by Michael Geoffrey Asia
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/QH654YPxvEE
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Ring Is Back and Scarier Than Ever
11 februari 2026 · 50 min
We start this week with exciting news: we bought a Super Bowl ad! For… $2,550. We explain how. After the break, Jason tells us about Ring’s recently launched Search Party feature, and gives us a very timely reminder of what Ring really is and how we got here. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph breaks down Lockdown Mode and how it kept the FBI out of a Washington Post reporter’s phone. Lees meer
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:49 - Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad
27:29 - With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet:
SUBSCRIBER'S STORY - FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/0JK-VSrtlWwWatch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad
With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet
FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled
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The Screen Time Panic Sets Parents Up to Fail
9 februari 2026 · 1 uur 26 min
Patrick Klepek on the reality of parenting in the age of Roblox and YouTube. Lees meer
I listened to hours of podcasts about how screen time affects kids of all ages and how parents should manage screen time but I still felt completely unprepared for this challenge when I had a kid.
I think the reason for that is that there’s a lot of reporting about how screens are impacting kids, and a lot of reporting about the research into this subject, but rarely did I encounter a conversation between parents that talks about how any of that information can be realistically applied in the real world.
This week on the podcast we’re joined by Patrick Klepek in order to have the kind of conversation I wish I heard before I became a parent, but I think there’s something here for everyone. Patrick is the cofounder of Remap, a website and one of my favorite podcasts about video games, and the writer behind Crossplay, a newsletter about the intersection of parenting and games. Patrick is also my former colleague at Vice, back when I worked at Motherboard and he at Waypoint. Patrick has been reporting about video games for most of his life, is a wonderful writer, and a parent. I find his perspective on many of these issues—screen time, parental controls, YouTube, Roblox—extremely useful and interesting, and I hope you do as well.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/LjK1Swsm1m4
Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
Become a paid subscriber for early access to these interview episodes and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.
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The Latest Epstein Dump is a Disaster
4 februari 2026 · 55 min
We start this week with Sam and Emanuel’s article about the latest Epstein dump, and how it’s really a disaster in a lot of ways. After the break, Matthew runs us through Moltbot and its terrible security. After the break, Emanuel breaks down his two recent stories about a fundamental issue exposing a bunch of very sensitive data. Lees meer
0:00 - Intro
2:19 - DOJ Released Unredacted Nude Images in Epstein Files
25:08 - Silicon Valley’s Favorite New AI Agent Has Serious Security Flaws
34:55 - Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/gDcOOP_Y9cU
DOJ Released Unredacted Nude Images in Epstein Files
Silicon Valley’s Favorite New AI Agent Has Serious Security Flaws
Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site
App for Quitting Porn Leaked Users' Masturbation Habits
Massive AI Chat App Leaked Millions of Users Private Conversations
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How Identity Literally Changes What You See (with Samuel Bagg)
2 februari 2026 · 50 min
This week Joseph talks to Samuel Bagg, assistant professor of political science at the University of South Carolina. Bagg recently wrote a fascinating essay, linked below, about how the problem with lots of things might be knowledge-based (people believing stuff that’s wrong or dangerous) but the solution is not more knowledge. It’s all about social identity. This is an incredibly interesting discussion, and definitely check out more of Bagg’s writing. Lees meer
The Problem is Epistemic. The Solution is Not
The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/lNKOqp-rZL8
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Creators Worry Porn Platform Is Falling Into ‘AI Psychosis’
28 januari 2026 · 50 min
We start this week with Sam’s piece about ManyVids, and how some creators believe its CEO, and the person who controls their livelihood, may be experiencing ‘AI psychosis’. After the break, Jason gives us an update on some mysterious disappearing ICE footage. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about Flock and what police are being told to do: not describe what they’re using the AI cameras for. Lees meer
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:41 - Aliens and Angel Numbers: Creators Worry Porn Platform ManyVids Is Falling Into ‘AI Psychosis’; Amid Backlash, Massive Porn Platform ManyVids Doubles Down on Bizarre, AI-Generated Posts
32:12 - DHS Says Critical ICE Surveillance Footage From Abuse Case Was Actually Never Recorded, Doesn't MatterYouTube version: https://youtu.be/EFv0rD9F9es
Aliens and Angel Numbers: Creators Worry Porn Platform ManyVids Is Falling Into ‘AI Psychosis’
DHS Says Critical ICE Surveillance Footage From Abuse Case Was Actually Never Recorded, Doesn't Matter
Police Told to Be ‘as Vague as Permissible’ About Why They Use Flock
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Exposing the People Behind Deepfake Porn Sites with Bellingcat Investigator Kolina Koltai
26 januari 2026 · 52 min
This week, Sam is in conversation with Kolina Koltai. Kolina is an investigator, senior researcher and trainer at Bellingcat. Her investigations focus on the people and systems behind AI companies and platforms that peddle non-consensual deepfake explicit imagery. They discuss how she found herself in this field, her recent investigation uncovering the man behind two deepfake porn sites, and how it feels to watch these sites go down after exposing the people running them. Lees meer
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/CbmUwwVGaf4
Stories discussed:
Profiting From Exploitation: How We Found the Man Behind Two Deepfake Porn Sites
Behind a Secretive Global Network of Non-Consensual Deepfake Pornography
Unmasking MrDeepFakes: Canadian Pharmacist Linked to World’s Most Notorious Deepfake Porn Site
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Here’s What Palantir Is Really Building
21 januari 2026 · 45 min
We start this week with Joseph’s article about ELITE, a tool Palantir is working on for ICE. After the break, Emanuel tells us how AI influencers are making fake sex tape-style photos with celebrities, who can’t be best pleased about it. In the subscribers-only section, Matthew breaks down Comic-Con’s ban of AI art. Lees meer
0:00 - Intro
2:16 - ‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid
22:45 - Instagram AI Influencers Are Defaming Celebrities With Sex Scandals
Subscriber's Story: Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/b-QHWpqjD-E
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How Wikipedia Will Survive in the Age of AI (With Wikipedia’s CTO Selena Deckelmann)
19 januari 2026 · 55 min
The Wikimedia Foundation’s chief technology and product officer explains how she helps manage one of the most visited sites in the world in the age of generative AI. Lees meer
Wikipedia is turning 25 this month, and it’s never been more important.
The online, collectively created encyclopedia has been a cornerstone of the internet decades, but as generative AI started flooding every platform with AI-generated slop over the last couple of years, Wikipedia’s governance model, editing process, and dedication to citing reliable sources has emerged as one of the most reliable and resilient models we have.
And yet, as successful as the model is, it’s almost never replicated.
This week on the podcast we’re joined by Selena Deckelmann, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia. That means Selena oversees the technical infrastructure and product strategy for one of the most visited sites in the world, and one the most comprehensive repositories of human knowledge ever assembled. Wikipedia is turning 25 this month, so I wanted to talk to Selena about how Wikipedia works and how it plans to continue to work in the age of generative AI.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/39LR9ouJR3c
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Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
Wikipedia’s value in the age of generative AI
The Editors Protecting Wikipedia from AI Hoaxes
Wikipedia Pauses AI-Generated Summaries After Editor Backlash
Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors
Jimmy Wales Says Wikipedia Could Use AI. Editors Call It the 'Antithesis of Wikipedia'
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The ICE Tool That Tracks Entire Neighborhoods
14 januari 2026 · 43 min
We start this week with Joseph’s article about Webloc, a tool ICE bought that can monitor phones in entire neighborhoods. After the break, Emanuel and Sam talk about their recent coverage of Grok. In the subscribers-only section, Jason explains how police inadvertently unmasked millions of their surveillance targets through a Flock redaction error. Lees meer
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:50 - First Story
23:00 - Second StoryYouTube version: https://youtu.be/rurJo6vPhUY
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
DHS Is Lying To You
Inside the Telegram Channel Jailbreaking Grok Over and Over Again
Masterful Gambit: Musk Attempts to Monetize Grok's Wave of Sexual Abuse Imagery
Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error
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How Benn Jordan Discovered Flock's Cameras Were Left Streaming to the Internet
12 januari 2026 · 39 min
This week, Jason is talking to YouTuber Benn Jordan, who has done some of our favorite reporting on Flock, the automated license plate reader surveillance company. A couple months ago, he found vulnerabilities in some of Flock’s license plate reader cameras. I have been following Benn’s work for a while, and soon after that video came out, he reached out to me to tell me he had learned that some of Flock’s Condor cameras were left live-streaming to the open internet. In this episode, we discuss how he discovered the issue and what happened next. Lees meer
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/tSd0nXolnIs
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The People Tracking America's AI Data Centers
7 januari 2026 · 51 min
We start this week with Matthew’s story about an organization tracking the location of AI data centers around the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. After the break, Jason tells us all about what Grok got up to over the holiday break, and we ruminate on what the breakdown in the information ecosystem means. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about how we bought 404media.com! Lees meer
Timestamps:
1:38 - Researchers Are Hunting America for Hidden Datacenters
25:58 - Grok's AI CSAM Shitshow
Subscriber's Story: We Bought 404media.com
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/zT9lEyHnZIk
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REPLAY: Pornhub Exec Alexzandra Kekesi Discusses Pulling Out of the South, Trad Wives, and Feet Pics
5 januari 2026 · 57 min
On this special guest episode of the 404 Media Podcast, Sam talks to Alexzandra Kekesi, VP of Brand and Community at Pornhub. Kekesi started in her current role in August 2023, after working for Pornhub and its parent company for more than a decade. She joined us from Montreal, where Pornhub is headquartered. They discuss the stigma facing the adult industry, Luigi Mangione porn, the trad wife to feet pics pipeline, and algorithms that shut you down for showing side boob. Kekesi also breaks down Pornhub’s choice to pull out of states in more than a third of the U.S., following regressive age verification laws. Lees meer
Pornhub Sees Surge of Interest in Tradwife Content, ‘Modesty,’ and Mindfulness
Pornhub Is Now Blocked In Almost All of the U.S. South
Age Verification Laws Drag Us Back to the Dark Ages of the Internet
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REPLAY: Signal's Meredith Whittaker on Backdoors and AI
31 december 2025 · 49 min
This is a special interview episode with Meredith Whittaker, the president of the Signal Foundation. I'm sure you all know, and maybe even use, the Signal messaging app. Here we sat down with Whittaker to talk all about the state of Signal today, the threat of AI to end-to-end encryption, what backdoors actually look like, and much more. This is a wide-ranging discussion where one of the few journalists who has revealed new details about backdoors (Joseph) gets to speak to one of the most important people in the world of encryption (Whittaker). Definitely take a listen. Paid subscribers got access to this episode early by the way. Lees meer
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/kconAXZgsxg
Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever
Signal page on government data requests
Microsoft Will Switch Off Recall by Default After Security Backlash
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov interview
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The Shifting World of OSINT (with Craig Silverman)
29 december 2025 · 46 min
Joseph speaks to Craig Silverman, one of the co-founders of Indicator. Indicator is a new, independent media company that Craig runs with Alexios Mantzarlis. For years Craig has covered the world of ad fraud and disinformation using all sorts of open source intelligence (OSINT) techniques. Definitely check out Indicator at Indicator.media. The site publishes its own investigations but also tips and tricks you can use yourself. Lees meer
Indicator’s site: https://indicator.media
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We Tracked Ourselves with Exposed Flock Cameras
24 december 2025 · 54 min
We start this week with Jason’s story about Flock exposing a bunch of AI-powered cameras. These cameras zoom in on people as they walk by, sometimes so closely you can read what’s on their phone screen. After the break, we talk about some of our biggest stories this year. In the subscribers-only section, we give some of our personal recommendations of games, other reporting, or just a more chill life. Lees meer
Timestamps:0:00 - Intro00:54 - Gift a 404 Media subscription2:27 - Flock Exposed Its AI-Powered Cameras to the Internet. We Tracked Ourselves26:34 - Anyone Can Push Updates to the DOGE.gov Website29:52 - Mike Waltz Accidentally Reveals Obscure App the Government Is Using to Archive Signal Messages34:29 - How Tea’s Founder Convinced Millions of Women to Spill Their Secrets, Then Exposed Them to the World44:59 - Half of the US Now Requires You to Upload Your ID or Scan Your Face to Watch Porn
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/DrGVGphD2L0
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Landing Big Scoops as an Indie Journalist (with Marisa Kabas)
22 december 2025 · 44 min
Marisa Kabas is the founder of The Handbasket, an independent newsletter and website that has been breaking stories left and right about government workers, the media business, and Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Jason and Marisa share notes Marisa about doing journalism without a big newsroom, how the media business has changed over the last decade, and why sources often prefer to talk to journalists who don’t work for mainstream media. Lees meer
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/e73spvZnc9s
The Handbasket: https://www.thehandbasket.co
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Is Wiping a Phone a Crime?
17 december 2025 · 48 min
Joseph had to use a different mic this week, that will be fixed next time! We start this week talking about a very unusual case: someone is being charged for allegedly wiping a phone before CBP could search it. There are a lot of questions remaining, but a super interesting case. After the break, we talk about Matthew’s article on an Anthropic exec forcing AI onto a queer gamer Discord. In the subscribers-only section, we all chat about the Disney and OpenAI deal. Lees meer
Timestamps:
00:48 - Man Charged for Wiping Phone Before CBP Could Search It
23:02 - Anthropic Exec Forces AI Chatbot on Gay Discord Community, Members Flee
Man Charged for Wiping Phone Before CBP Could Search It
Anthropic Exec Forces AI Chatbot on Gay Discord Community, Members Flee
Disney Invests $1 Billion in the AI Slopification of Its Brand
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/tOpIpReZPoM
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Why Are We Obsessed With Aliens? (With Becky Ferreira)
15 december 2025 · 1 uur 6 min
Humanity has talked about aliens throughout recorded history, and obsession that has changed science, faith, and media. Lees meer
The past few years have been very exciting for those who want to believe. The U.S. government has released tantalizing videos and held several gripping hearings showing and discussing UFOs. People who always thought the government was hiding evidence of alien life from the general population saw it as proof that what they’ve said was happening all along. Skeptics have made compelling arguments for why all these revelations could be anything but aliens.
But this debate and humanity’s obsession with aliens goes as far back as recorded history. In her book, First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession with Aliens, 404 Media’s science reporter and author of The Abstract newsletter Becky Ferreira delves deep into this history, what it teaches us about humans, and what the near and far future of the search for alien life looks like.
I had a great time reading Becky’s book and an even better time discussing it with her on the podcast. It’s a great conversation that unpacks why these stories get so much attention, and a perspective on aliens in the news and pop culture that’s rooted in history and science.
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/QToByEeq2vU
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Zines Are Back
10 december 2025 · 42 min
We start this week with news of our zine! We’re printing it very soon, and walk you through the process. Independent media is turning back to physical zines as a way to subvert algorithms. After the break, Emanuel tells us about some very weird Instagram changes. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains ICEBlock’s lawsuit against the U.S. government. Lees meer
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/lseEXc-ZzsQ
Timestamps:
1:37 - 1st Story - 404 Media Is Making a Zine; buy the zine here
28:01 - 2nd Story - Instagram Is Generating Inaccurate SEO Bait for Your Posts
SUBSCRIBER'S STORY - ICEBlock Creator Sues U.S. Government Over App’s Removal
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How AI Porn Isolates Us with Noelle Perdue
8 december 2025 · 56 min
This week Sam is in conversation with Noelle Perdue. Noelle is a writer, producer, and internet porn historian whose works has been published in Wired, the Washington Post, Slate, and more, and you’re probably familiar with her work if you’ve been paying attention to the plot in your favorite pornographic films. She’s writing on Stubstack so look her up there! Lees meer
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/9eqMXBwWtkA
Noelle and Sam discuss everything from sexbots and AI porn to censorship, age verification legislation, and their favorite parody porn flicks.
Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.
Noelle Perdue on Substack
Michigan Lawmakers Are Attempting to Ban Porn Entirely
New Bill Would Make All Pornography a Federal Crime in the U.S.
OpenAI Catches Up to AI Market Reality: People Are Horny
ChatGPT’s Hail Mary: Chatbots You Can Fuck
The Egg Yolk Principle: Human Sexuality Will Always Outsmart Prudish Algorithms and Hateful Politicians
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This Podcast Will Hack You
3 december 2025 · 41 min
We start this week with Joseph’s very weird story about Apple Podcasts. The app is opening by itself, playing random spirituality podcasts, and in one case directing listeners to a potentially malicious website. After the break, Matthew tells us how it sure looks like a map of Ukraine was manipulated in order to win a bet on Polymarket. In the subscribers-only section, Sam breaks down how half of the U.S. now requires a face or ID scan to watch porn. Lees meer
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/V4QCJh-imPM
Timestamps:2:00 - Story 1 - Someone Is Trying to ‘Hack’ People Through Apple Podcasts24:40 - Story 2 - 'Unauthorized' Edit to Ukraine's Frontline Maps Point to Polymarket's War Betting
SUBSCRIBER'S STORY - Half of the US Now Requires You to Upload Your ID or Scan Your Face to Watch Porn
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Inside the Biggest Sting Operation Ever (with Michael Bobbitt)
1 december 2025 · 51 min
Joseph speaks to Michael Bobbitt, a former FBI official who worked directly on Operation Trojan Shield. In this operation the FBI secretly ran its own encrypted phone company for organized crime, backdoored the phone, and collected tens of millions of messages. Michael and Joseph discuss how Michael handled intelligence sourced from the phones, how to navigate an operation that complex, and its fallout. Lees meer
YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/bLeueG5V4QY
Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever
Podcast: Signal's President Meredith Whittaker on Backdoors and AI
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