Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 8h

openai to finally acknowledge what has been driving the AI boom for years and years but no one really wants to admit: chatbots you can fuck www.404media.co/chatgpt-erot...

ChatGPT’s Hail Mary: Chatbots You Can Fuck

As recent reports show OpenAI bleeding cash, and on the heels of accusations that ChatGPT caused teens and adults alike to harm themselves and others, CEO Sam Altman announced that you can soon fuck t...

www.404media.co

28 72 260

Reposted by Joseph Cox

Cynthia Brumfield @metacurity.com · 11h

A great opening sentence from @mjgault.bsky.social: "During a cruel presidency where many people are in desperate need of hope, the inflatable frog stepped into the breach."

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 11h

"A frog [..] standing up to ICE covered in weapons and armor is absurd, and that’s part of why it’s hitting so hard. But the frog is also a practical piece [..] in an age of mass surveillance, police brutality, and masked federal agents disappearing people"
www.404media.co/the-surreal-...

The Surreal Practicality of Protesting As an Inflatable Frog

Say goodbye to the Guy Fawkes masks and hello to inflatable frogs and dinosaurs.

www.404media.co

1 5 35

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 11h

"A frog [..] standing up to ICE covered in weapons and armor is absurd, and that’s part of why it’s hitting so hard. But the frog is also a practical piece [..] in an age of mass surveillance, police brutality, and masked federal agents disappearing people"
www.404media.co/the-surreal-...

The Surreal Practicality of Protesting As an Inflatable Frog

Say goodbye to the Guy Fawkes masks and hello to inflatable frogs and dinosaurs.

www.404media.co

1 25 130

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 14h

A lawyer was explaining to court why he used AI when he was then caught using AI in that explanation of why he was using AI (earlier)

www.404media.co/lawyer-using...

Lawyer Caught Using AI While Explaining to Court Why He Used AI

The attorney not only submitted AI-generated fake citations in a brief for his clients, but also included “multiple new AI-hallucinated citations and quotations” in the process of opposing a motion fo...

www.404media.co

1 19 56

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 16h

A man who works for the people overseeing America’s nuclear stockpile has lost his security clearance after he uploaded 187,000 pornographic images to a Department of Energy (DOE) network. Included AI-generated robot porn.

www.404media.co/man-stores-a...

Man Stores AI-Generated Robot Porn on His Government Computer, Loses Access to Nuclear Secrets

A man who works for the people overseeing America’s nuclear stockpile has lost his security clearance after he uploaded 187,000 pornographic images to a Department of Energy (DOE) network. As part of ...

www.404media.co

72 250 800

Reposted by Joseph Cox

404 Media @404media.co · 1d

For months we followed what happened when a company forced AI into the world of craft beer. Legal threats, people quitting, and beer judges in revolt over being told to use AI.

"It is attempting to solve a problem that wasn’t a problem before AI showed up" www.404media.co/what-happene...

What Happened When AI Came for Craft Beer

A prominent beer competition introduced an AI-judging tool without warning. The judges and some members of the wider brewing industry were pissed.

www.404media.co

8 61 250

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 1d

For months I've been following what happened when a company forced AI into the world of craft beer. Legal threats, people quitting, and beer judges in revolt over being told to use AI.

"It is attempting to solve a problem that wasn’t a problem before AI showed up"
www.404media.co/what-happene...

What Happened When AI Came for Craft Beer

A prominent beer competition introduced an AI-judging tool without warning. The judges and some members of the wider brewing industry were pissed.

www.404media.co

10 55 160

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 4d

Wrote about the seizure of Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters' site that was apparently going to dump data from Salesforces customers including Disney/Hulu, FedEx, Toyota, UPS, more

www.404media.co/behind-the-b...

Behind the Blog: Sinkholes and Site Seizures

This week, we discuss a ransomware gang, book bans, and infrastructure.

www.404media.co

6 18

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 4d

Along with Freedom of the Press Foundation, we're also suing DHS for its data sharing agreement that will result in the personal data of nearly 80 million Medicaid patients being given to ICE

www.404media.co/404-media-an...

404 Media and Freedom of the Press Foundation Sue DHS

Both organizations are seeking a copy of a data sharing agreement that is giving the personal data of nearly 80 million Medicaid patients to ICE.

www.404media.co

13 40

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 4d

Details on the lawsuit and how to support us here www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

We’re Suing ICE for Its $2 Million Spyware Contract

404 Media has filed a lawsuit against ICE for access to its contract with Paragon, a company that sells powerful spyware for breaking into phones and accessing encrypted messaging apps.

www.404media.co

1 14 41

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 4d

I spoke to Slate about why 404 Media is suing ICE for its $2 million spyware contract. The company ICE contracted with can remotely break into phones without the target even clicking a link slate.com/podcasts/wha...

The People Suing ICE

What kind of spyware is ICE working with—and what government agencies are collaborating?

slate.com

1 37 89

Reposted by Joseph Cox

Lizzie O'Leary @lizzieohreally.bsky.social · 4d

Today’s show: I talked to @josephcox.bsky.social about why @404media.co is suing ICE and DHS. slate.com/podcasts/wha...

The People Suing ICE

What kind of spyware is ICE working with—and what government agencies are collaborating?

slate.com

8 16

Reposted by Joseph Cox

404 Media @404media.co · 4d

NEW: an internal Meta message we obtained tells employees on its metaverse team that they should be using AI to “go 5x faster”. That's 5 times faster, not 5 percent more www.404media.co/meta-tells-w...

Meta Tells Workers Building Metaverse to Use AI to ‘Go 5x Faster’

Meta says that its coders should be working five times faster and that it expects "a 5x leap in productivity."

www.404media.co

34 32 190

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 4d

New from 404 Media: an internal Meta message we obtained tells employees on its metaverse team that they should be using AI to “go 5x faster”. That's 5 times faster, not 5 percent more.

www.404media.co/meta-tells-w...

Meta Tells Workers Building Metaverse to Use AI to ‘Go 5x Faster’

Meta says that its coders should be working five times faster and that it expects "a 5x leap in productivity."

www.404media.co

33 39 170

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 5d

They're animating the law enforcement seizure notices now. This was just uploaded to the Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters site that was threatening to dump Salesforce customer data. The dark web version remains online.

13 14 93

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 5d

Updated with Discord statement: “we will not reward those responsible for their illegal actions.”

www.404media.co/the-discord-...

The Discord Hack is Every User’s Worst Nightmare

A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...

www.404media.co

1 1 29

Reposted by Joseph Cox

404 Media @404media.co · 5d

BREAKING: A catastrophic breach has impacted Discord user data including selfies and identity documents uploaded as part of the app’s verification process, email addresses, phone numbers, approximately where the user lives, and much more.

🔗 www.404media.co/the-discord-...

The Discord Hack is Every Users’ Worst Nightmare

A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...

www.404media.co

87 1.6K 2.5K

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 5d

the discord hack is every user's worst nightmare www.404media.co/the-discord-...

6 67 170

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 5d

New from 404 Media: a data hoarder created a searchable data of Epstein files. "This is a public service project. All documents are from public releases. This archive makes them more accessible and searchable."

www.404media.co/data-hoarder...

Data Hoarder Uses AI to Create Searchable Database of Epstein Files

The open source project has been mirrored as a torrent file and represents one of the easiest ways to navigate a messy data dump.

www.404media.co

5 86 230

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 5d

New from 404 Media: the Discord hack is every users' worst nightmare. Yesterday the hackers started posting Discord users' selfies, identity documents, email addresses, phone numbers, more. I watched in real time. This is risk of tech storing ID for age verification
www.404media.co/the-discord-...

The Discord Hack is Every Users’ Worst Nightmare

A hack impacting Discord’s age verification process shows in stark terms the risk of tech companies collecting users’ ID documents. Now the hackers are posting peoples’ IDs and other sensitive informa...

www.404media.co

26 920 1.7K

Reposted by Joseph Cox

Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 6d

This is an absolutely cracking book. Highly recommended.

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 6d

Today's the day: DARK WIRE, my book on how the FBI secretly ran a tech company for criminals and wiretapped the world, coming to paperback. Updated with many more details. An Economist and FT book of the year. 404 Media subs: you just got 20% to your email www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/josep...

4 19

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 5d

A former National Guardsman planned an American Caliphate on Discord and shipped more than 100 3D printed machine gun conversion kits to what he believed was Al Qaeda (it was the FBI) www.404media.co/national-gua...

National Guardsman Planned American Caliphate on Discord, Sent 3D Printed Guns to Al Qaeda, Feds Say

‘We don’t want democracy lol. We want caliphate.’ According to court records, an Oklahoma guardsman with a security clearance gave 3D printed firearms to an FBI agent posing as an Al Qaeda contact.

www.404media.co

8 8 67

Reposted by Joseph Cox

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 6d

very interesting what is not allowed these days. in this case, basic archiving of real videos

www.404media.co/apple-banned...

Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses

Eyes Up's purpose is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." But it has been swept up in Apple's crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

12 200 460

Reposted by Joseph Cox

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 6d

As I told @josephcox.bsky.social for this piece, if DHS is concerned that the actions of their own officers might inflame public opinion against the agency, they should work to increase oversight and accountability at the agency — rather than seek to have the evidence banned.

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 6d

New: Apple banned an app that simply archived videos of ICE abuses. Rather than other apps that record ICE official's real-time location, Eyes Up is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." Videos from TikTok etc. Every submission manually reviewed

www.404media.co/apple-banned...

Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses

Eyes Up's purpose is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." But it has been swept up in Apple's crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.

www.404media.co

11 180 580

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 6d

Updated with comment from @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social www.404media.co/apple-banned...

1 15 83