Joseph Cox

Hacking/crime/privacy journalist. Author of DARK WIRE, buy here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/joseph-cox/dark-wire/9781541702691/#preorder Co-founder of 404 Media. Signal: joseph.404 Email: [email protected]

Public Key

npub1nn5563e0hlzfalpuf3r2ekxdaqjqyascq5l9p8h5gfsjmm3ffp3snn6uvg

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsfe62dguhml3y7ls7yc34vmrx7sfqzwcvq20jsnm6yycfdac55sccpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqaqgyw8

Publishing to

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1nn5563e0hlzfalpuf3r2ekxdaqjqyascq5l9p8h5gfsjmm3ffp3snn6uvg

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Last Notes

2026-07-27 13:49:57 UTC

Tons of peoples' Claude chats are exposed on Google. Cryptocurrency keys, API keys, login credentials, legal discussions, more.
This happened with ChatGPT last year. And Claude too. There's clearly an ongoing issue with search engines indexing peoples' AI chats https://www.404media.co/tons-of-peoples-claude-chats-and-creations-are-exposed-on-google/

2026-07-23 13:56:55 UTC

New from 404 Media: a leaked document shows the surveillance tech at ICE's fingerprints.
We obtained the document, called "ICE Wide Analytical Tools" and are publishing it in full here. It includes everything from phone location data, to facial rec, to tracking cars https://www.404media.co/leaked-document-shows-the-surveillance-tech-at-ices-fingertips/

2026-07-21 15:35:16 UTC

New from 404 Media: a company is selling tons of old books specifically to AI companies and says they have a strong NDA to never reveal which AI company bought all of the books. They don't want headlines of 'we scanned and destroyed millions of books for AI'
https://www.404media.co/ai-companies-are-buying-tons-of-old-books-because-theyre-free-of-ai-slop/

2026-07-17 15:37:47 UTC

New from 404 Media: ICE plans to pay Thomson Reuters $125 million for data to investigate what it calls 'voters fraud'. News comes day after Trump laying the groundwork to undermine the midterms. ICE says Thomson Reuters can continuously track millions of people.
https://www.404media.co/ice-to-pay-thomson-reuters-125-million-to-find-voter-fraud/

2026-07-16 13:59:55 UTC

New: cops are using Flock to track people, not cars. We reviewed Flock search data and found many, many cases of cops searching for people based on their appearance, race, tattoos, etc. Some searches are so vague like "tall man" that innocent people likely swept up
https://www.404media.co/how-cops-use-flock-to-track-people-not-cars/

2026-07-15 14:06:10 UTC

New: the highly controversial AI music generator Suno was hacked. The hacker sent us Suno source code; it shows the company scraped YouTube Music, Deezer, and Genius. In all, Suno scraped *decades* worth of music from the internet. Obviously didn't pay artists https://www.404media.co/hack-reveals-suno-ai-music-generator-scraped-youtube-deezer-and-genius/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/924/374/518/268/148/original/fb779f2855cd06a3.png

2026-07-02 12:28:10 UTC

New from 404 Media: we've got leaks from Amazon, GitHub, Adobe, Citi, and more. The big takeaway is that companies in all industries are suddenly throttling their employees' AI use because AI is actually too expensive. Cutting off access to some models entirely https://www.404media.co/companies-are-throttling-employees-ai-use-because-its-too-expensive/

2026-06-25 14:32:52 UTC

Watch: we got the bodycam footage from a data center community meeting where cops arrested a man for speaking slightly too long. We spoke to him too: “I continue to maintain that my arrest was retaliatory, as I was engaging in protected speech at a public meeting.”
https://www.404media.co/bodycam-footage-video-claremore-oklahoma-data-center-meeting/

2026-06-24 13:23:51 UTC

New: here's how hackers broke into Madison Square Garden. As I was going through the data, I noticed a lot came from a specific OneDrive. I found that employees identity in the dump, found their LinkedIn. They work at MSG. Hackers confirmed they voice-phished them https://www.404media.co/how-hackers-broke-into-madison-square-garden/

2026-06-18 13:26:35 UTC

New: Salesforce's internal AI leaderboard has teams competing for little trophies. The dashboards we've seen also track each team's use of specific AI tools. Employees worried use of AI, or lack thereof, will be used in their performance reviews because execs pushing
https://www.404media.co/salesforces-internal-ai-leaderboard-has-teams-competing-for-little-trophies/

2026-06-11 19:39:21 UTC

New: a software update to Amazon delivery vans is automatically turning off the vans' AC after 10 minutes or even 30 seconds in certain cases. Just as summer arrives and temperatures are getting dangerously hot
https://www.404media.co/software-update-automatically-turns-off-amazon-delivery-drivers-ac-during-dangerous-summer-heat/

2026-06-11 15:22:54 UTC

New: Flock exposed the license plate cops were searching for in its system and the reason for doing so. The URLs of these lookups were then cached in search engines like DuckDuckGo and Bing, meaning anyone could see them
https://www.404media.co/flock-leaked-cops-license-plate-searches-via-duckduckgo-bing/

2026-06-11 14:06:24 UTC

This is wild: essentially every LLM—ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini—keeps using the same character when asked to make up a story, a guy called 'Elias Thorne'. He appears so much it's impacting Google Trends data and the self-published book market. Now we might know why https://www.404media.co/elias-thorne-chatbots-llms-chatgpt-lighthouse-keeper-story/

2026-06-10 13:43:59 UTC

Some really crazy cases in here
- cop looked up ex-girlfriend and family in Flock 100+ times
- cop stalked wife giving "test" as reason
- cop searched one plate 395 times in 10 months; was later fired
Cops keep getting arrested for using Flock to stalk people
https://www.404media.co/cops-keep-getting-arrested-for-using-flock-to-stalk-people/

2026-06-10 13:21:42 UTC

DHS just confirmed the plan to roll out a facial recognition app for local cops to scan peoples' faces to verify their immigration status. Agency said this is related to the 287(g) program; more than a thousand local and regional police departments are part of that https://www.404media.co/ices-plan-to-let-cops-around-the-country-scan-faces-to-verify-immigration-status/

2026-06-08 19:10:40 UTC

New: this company will add tech to track phones, AirPods, smartwatches, pet tags, and more to license plate readers. The idea is to link devices' identifiers to specific cars and where those people were. It "bridges [LPR] data with sensor-captured device identifiers" https://www.404media.co/this-company-will-add-phone-airpod-and-smartwatch-trackers-to-license-plate-readers/

2026-06-08 15:52:23 UTC

New: Microsoft was compromised to deliver malware to users of AI coding agents like Claude and Gemini. In response, Microsoft took the highly unusual step of shutting down dozens and dozens of its own GitHub repos. The malware would steal login credentials from users
https://www.404media.co/microsoft-hacked-to-deliver-malware-to-claude-and-gemini-users/

2026-06-03 00:19:25 UTC

New: Google has quietly been offering to buy access to code written by developers who have released Android apps on the Play Store in order to help the company train its AI coding tools. Email offers chance to “join a confidential content offer pilot.”
https://www.404media.co/google-is-quietly-buying-code-from-play-store-developers-to-train-ai/

2026-06-02 19:00:41 UTC

New from 404 Media: we've seen internal documents that show Microsoft is explicitly planning to "make people addicted" to its new AI assistant 'Scout' which the company just announced. It is a clear goal according to the documents, with addiction being the first phase https://www.404media.co/microsoft-wants-to-make-people-addicted-to-scout-its-new-ai-assistant-internal-documents-reveal/

2026-06-01 17:05:41 UTC

This is absolutely nuts: hackers are hijacking high-profile Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI chatbot to change the email on the account. Meta's AI does it, hacker gets password reset code, they're in. A staggering security issue
https://www.404media.co/hackers-simply-asked-meta-ai-to-give-them-access-to-high-profile-instagram-accounts-it-worked/

2026-06-01 14:01:18 UTC

New: we sued ICE for its $2 million spyware contract. The agency is redacting everything.
We've started getting docs from our lawsuit. While we have hundreds more to go, ICE is withholding why it bought spyware to remotely break into encrypted messaging apps https://www.404media.co/we-sued-ice-to-get-its-spyware-contract-the-agency-is-redacting-essentially-everything/

2026-05-28 14:41:19 UTC

Today Oura announced the Ring 5, a nearly $500 wearable which locks you into a monthly subscription fee to even really use the data generated about your own health. Or, you could use Cracked Oura, which someone made to bypass the need for a monthly sub https://www.404media.co/cracked-oura-can-you-use-oura-without-monthly-subscription/

2026-05-28 14:10:15 UTC

Therapy platform Headway is forcing patients to scan their faces to keep getting care. Is using Persona, the Peter Thiel funded company, to do the face scanning
https://www.404media.co/headway-therapy-facial-scan-biometric-data-identity-verification/

2026-05-27 16:26:44 UTC

Here's how a company plans to turn school buses into roaming surveillance vehicles, constantly scanning the license plates of all vehicles they pass and make that searchable data available to law enforcement
Watch the full conversation and subscribe here: https://youtu.be/5bWevtJjlkc?si=pWW6mLb70OYkikh5
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/647/472/995/743/331/original/f076add1dfd974f5.mp4

2026-05-27 16:24:37 UTC

Ads everywhere. Usage limits. Frustrating guardrails. Less model choice. Users of the Character.AI chatbot app are revolting after a series of changes they say have made the app worse. This is what the future of AI actually looks like https://www.404media.co/lobotomized-character-ai-is-showing-what-ai-enshittification-looks-like/

2026-05-26 15:34:39 UTC

millions of people are using malware to spy on their partners' phones. I spoke with @nprofile…gvek about the truly staggering scale of the stalkerware/spouseware problem
Watch, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLb46310iLs
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/641/606/481/233/060/original/074fa029fce59295.mp4

2026-05-26 13:51:56 UTC

NEW: 'BusPatrol' put AI cameras in tens of thousands of school buses to catch people who overtake parked buses. Now, according to leaked documents, BusPatrol plans to scan all license plates buses pass and give that data to law enforcement. Think, Flock on wheels https://www.404media.co/buspatrol-put-ai-cameras-in-tens-of-thousands-of-school-buses-now-they-want-to-give-cops-access/

2026-05-22 21:04:44 UTC

NEW: we got the bodycam footage of the Cybertruck the drove intentionally into a lake. Hours of footage, authorities deployed jet skis, owner tried to get back into the car, claimed this is the third time he's got a Cybertruck stuck in water actually
https://www.404media.co/heres-the-bodycam-footage-of-the-cybertruck-that-drove-into-a-lake/

2026-05-21 14:55:00 UTC

New from 404 Media: in December a freshman boy allegedly made AI explicit videos of five 9th grade girls. Soon, the whole school had heard. Read this deeply reported account of how deepfakes tore a high school apart
“The entire school knows about it.”
https://www.404media.co/radnor-high-school-pennsylvania-ai-deepfakes-child-sexual-abuse-material/

2026-05-20 15:31:26 UTC

The owner of an app that uses AI to scan peoples' poop is now trying to sell the database of peoples' poop
Watch, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE0EtqQLcgY
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/607/617/498/822/242/original/f663b761e0496daf.mp4

2026-05-20 14:38:31 UTC

After a town banned Flock, a councilmember crashed out and said he would be introducing measures to ban cell phones, the internet, cameras, and nearly all technology in the town of roughly 900 people.
https://www.404media.co/after-town-bans-flock-councilmember-crashes-out-proposes-internet-and-phone-ban/

2026-05-20 14:37:21 UTC

“I’m submitting my resignation effective May 29th. I can’t take it anymore. The threats. The ‘I’m gonna tar and feather you.’ I hope you get bit by ah […] it’s so disgusting,” treasurer Jennifer Zink said between sobs at the end of a two hour township meeting.
https://www.404media.co/township-leader-resigns-in-tears-over-openai-data-center-death-threats/

2026-05-19 17:51:28 UTC

New from 404 Media: a realtime video deepfake app marketed to streamers lets them instantly turn into George Floyd, Jeffrey Epstein, and even other streamers. In this case, a streamer turned themselves into Mr. Beast and said “I love touching little boys’ pee pees.” https://www.404media.co/streamer-realtime-deepfakes-himself-into-mr-beast-says-he-loves-touching-little-boys/

2026-05-19 14:01:12 UTC

The guy who sued 27 women, one man, and several platforms after users in a Facebook group called him “clingy” and “psycho” had his case against Meta dismissed after a judge suggested that his attorney filed AI-generated errors and non-existent citations 👍 https://www.404media.co/are-we-dating-the-same-guy-lawsuit-ai-attorney-nikko-dambrosio/

2026-05-18 18:36:52 UTC

People are winning the fight against AI data centers
Watch, subscribe here for more conversation like this every single week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5twr0EUo2YE
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/597/023/337/288/330/original/fc57a1b0975e3db3.mp4

2026-05-18 18:21:15 UTC

New from 404 Media: the FBI says it wants to buy nationwide access to license plate readers. This would likely mean the FBI could track vehicles, and by extension people, without a warrant. FBI offering $36m. Only really two companies could do it: Flock and Motorola https://www.404media.co/the-fbi-wants-to-buy-nationwide-access-to-license-plate-readers/

2026-05-18 13:21:22 UTC

New from 404 Media: researchers planned to stick cameras on preschool teachers to then train AI models. Cameras would capture everything the teacher saw, including, obviously, the children. Here's the document given to parents, left many questions, like how to opt out https://www.404media.co/researchers-wanted-preschool-teachers-to-wear-cameras-to-train-ai/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/595/782/049/348/991/original/f124e33e31f3b7d8.png
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/595/782/097/921/409/original/8a5818600e4aa497.png

2026-05-15 21:18:31 UTC

New from 404 Media: at a "private conference" tomorrow at Uber headquarters, tech companies will discuss the future of Iran. The guest list also includes the son of Iran’s former leader who was deposed almost 50 years ago.
https://www.404media.co/tech-companies-to-discuss-irans-future-during-private-conference-at-uber-hq/

2026-05-15 16:06:44 UTC

ArXiv is going to ban researchers for a year if they are caught submitting AI slop. ArXiv told us it's a one strike rule: do it once, you're out.
https://www.404media.co/new-arxiv-rules-ai-generated-papers-ban/

2026-05-15 13:02:36 UTC

Mayo Clinic is using AI to listen to emergency room visits. Spoke to someone who recently took their elderly parent to hospital. Only later saw the disclosure on the wall: everything recorded so AI could take notes. It's opt-out, not opt-in, if you even see the notice https://www.404media.co/mayo-clinic-is-using-ai-to-listen-to-emergency-room-visits/

2026-05-14 18:34:27 UTC

DOGE's impact: a new study looks at “the earliest evidence of the impact of cuts to USAID on the incidence of violent events” which suggests that “the radical cuts […] led to an increase in conflict in the regions that received the most aid from the United States.”
https://www.404media.co/doge-cuts-unleashed-a-deadly-wave-of-violence-across-africa-study-finds/

2026-05-14 13:51:45 UTC

An app that uses AI to analyze photos of your poop and give a "daily gut health score" is now trying to sell that dataset of annotated photos of peoples' poop. Highlights the underground sale of highly sensitive, app-collected user data for AI training
https://www.404media.co/ai-poop-analysis-app-offered-to-sell-me-access-to-its-users-poops/

2026-05-13 17:44:30 UTC

"The podcast is not going well. Watching a few minutes of several of the videos immediately gave me flashbacks to the videos I was in at U.S. News, and served as a stark reminder that the executives running these media companies have zero clue what they’re doing." https://www.404media.co/washington-post-make-it-make-sense-opinion-podcast/

2026-05-13 14:53:18 UTC

Fiber-optic cable has become a staple of drone war. Pilots are flying quadcopters with kilometer-long lengths of cable that stop the drone from being knocked from the sky. But now that cost of fiber-optic cable is going up
https://www.404media.co/war-and-data-centers-are-driving-up-the-cost-of-fiber-optic-cable/

2026-05-13 13:43:05 UTC

All the developers 404 Media talked to were excited to try using LLMs at work at first, or were at least curious about them. Their feelings about the tools, based on their personal experience, are now overwhelmingly negative. AI is rotting their brains https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

2026-05-13 13:14:27 UTC

This is what it's like seeing your own face on a deepfake, in realtime, on a video call.
Watch here for more on how we bought this software 'Haotian AI' and linked it to the ecosystem powering scam compounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_d1VxuBdAU
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/567/443/823/437/025/original/6a6c44641f5a5012.mp4

2026-05-12 13:27:47 UTC

New from 404 Media: spoke to four people who attended a trade show where senior ICE officials spoke about how much Palantir is supercharging their arrests. List of 20 million people on ICE agents phones now; increased chance of successful arrest from 28 to 80% https://www.404media.co/ice-agents-have-list-of-20-million-people-on-their-iphones-thanks-to-palantir/

2026-05-11 14:18:50 UTC

Jason sat down to write an article, and instinctively, accidentally, did the “it’s not just x, it’s y” AI style of writing. He stopped typing, freaked out, deleted the sentence.
Your AI use is breaking our brains https://www.404media.co/your-ai-use-is-breaking-my-brain/

2026-05-11 13:08:14 UTC

Speaking to graduating humanities students, a commencement speaker said AI is the “next industrial revolution,” and was met with thousands of booing graduates.
https://www.404media.co/ucf-ai-commencement-speaker-booed/

2026-05-08 16:20:54 UTC

Here I explain why we sometimes buy shady services from the digital underground. In this case Haotian AI, a Chinese-language piece of realtime video deepfake software. It cost a total of around $2,500. We won't make a 'profit' on this article. But that's not the point https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-storage-woes-and-rss/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/539/866/861/632/209/original/2c92b947880de5e1.png

2026-05-08 16:13:46 UTC

2026-05-08 16:08:22 UTC

The Canvas hack is "the biggest student data privacy disaster in history." For years critics have been warning about the centralization of EdTech. Well, millions of students being locked out is what happens when you do exactly that https://www.404media.co/the-biggest-student-data-privacy-disaster-in-history-canvas-hack-shows-the-danger-of-centralized-edtech/

2026-05-07 21:06:34 UTC

New from 404 Media: ICE plans to develop its own smart glasses to "supplement" its facial recognition app, according to a DHS official told about the plans in a meeting. A second person who attended a conference this week heard a senior ICE official discuss the plans https://www.404media.co/ice-plans-to-develop-own-smart-glasses-to-supplement-its-facial-recognition-app/

2026-05-07 16:02:35 UTC

Recently I opened up Microsoft Teams and was greeted with a deepfaked version of my own face. Here's how we got the Chinese-language software being marketed to scammers, and which can be used on WhatsApp, Zoom, other platforms. This is where fraud is right now
More: https://www.404media.co/hello-boss-inside-the-chinese-realtime-deepfake-software-powering-scams-around-the-world/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/534/131/354/410/803/original/b57128a0826207ee.mp4

2026-05-07 13:16:48 UTC

New from 404 Media: we've obtained a copy of the Chinese-language realtime deepfake software powering scams around the world. For weeks I spoke to these scammers, sent them photos of my face to build a deepfake. We reveal how it works. Impacts WhatsApp, Teams, Zoom https://www.404media.co/hello-boss-inside-the-chinese-realtime-deepfake-software-powering-scams-around-the-world/

2026-05-06 15:21:32 UTC

This week we spoke about how Flock used cameras at a children's gymnastics club for a sales pitch
Watch, subscribe here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLR8MOOhRCo
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/528/304/666/460/615/original/085eddf80a35c1c5.mp4

2026-05-05 16:07:33 UTC

UK iPhone and iPad users can watch porn again, now that Apple devices are verify users' ages. Great.
https://www.404media.co/uk-iphone-ipad-ios-users-porn-age-verification/

2026-05-05 15:26:21 UTC

New from 404 Media: Skyrocketing hard drive and storage costs caused by the AI data center boom are making it more expensive and more difficult for digital archivists, academics, Wikipedia, and hobby data hoarders to save data and archive the internet https://www.404media.co/the-ai-hard-drive-shortage-is-making-it-more-expensive-and-harder-to-archive-the-internet/

2026-05-04 17:59:48 UTC

Nature has retracted a paper that claimed AI had a positive impact on student learning. “The Editor has decided to retract this paper owing to concerns regarding discrepancies in the meta-analysis.” The researchers did not respond to questions about the issues
https://www.404media.co/nature-retracts-paper-on-the-benefits-of-chatgpt-in-education/

2026-05-01 17:54:45 UTC

Wrote about seeing a Predator drone IRL https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-big-questions-of-consciousness/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/500/599/680/108/619/original/b95c72bdd1fb2a88.jpeg
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/500/599/802/257/141/original/b3763503db335fcf.jpeg

2026-04-30 16:19:57 UTC

A manager working for a top surveillance company sold a bunch of powerful hacking tools to a Russian company. Those tools then ended up being used by the Russians. Here's what happens when hacking tools spiral out of control
Watch, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWxLqopMo5o
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/494/564/922/482/968/original/6b670921f3437357.mp4

2026-04-30 15:12:56 UTC

Japan is building cardboard suicide drones
https://www.404media.co/japan-cardboard-drones-air-kamuy/

2026-04-30 13:52:37 UTC

To even get a chance to fight Marathon's last boss, you have to solve six vaults. To even get a chance to do those, you have to find keys. To even get a chance to get keys, you have to kill other bosses.
Or, you could pay a guy on eBay to do it for you.
https://www.404media.co/buy-marathon-compiler-kill/

2026-04-30 13:31:26 UTC

Sales employees at Flock have been accessing sensitive cameras in a town to demonstrate the company’s surveillance technology to police around the country. Includes in a children’s gymnastics room, a playground, a school, a Jewish community center, and a pool. https://www.404media.co/city-learns-flock-accessed-cameras-in-childrens-gymnastics-room-as-a-sales-pitch-demo-renews-contract-anyway/

2026-04-29 16:56:26 UTC

RightsCon was suddenly delayed because Zambia's Ministry of Information has issues with the speakers. Several participants reached by 404 Media said they were unsure what they were going to do, and weren’t sure if they were going to get on their flights to Lusaka https://www.404media.co/rightscon-human-rights-conference-suddenly-postponed/

2026-04-29 14:50:05 UTC

apple fixed an issue in which iPhones were saving deleted Signal messages after we found the FBI was leveraging the technique to get peoples' chats
Watch, subscribe here for more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOo0ZpIagP0
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/488/549/266/908/444/original/d297db490b7efb49.mp4

2026-04-29 14:49:06 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…dgpf @nprofile…ynf4 paid 404 media subs get the transcript emailed to them when the episode goes up

2026-04-29 14:36:25 UTC

New from 404 Media: CBP is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand its fleet of high-powered MQ-9 spy drones. But the documents also show another component of DHS may soon start its own fleet of Predator-style drones (CBP previously flew drones for ICE) https://www.404media.co/dhs-plans-to-buy-more-predator-style-drones/

2026-04-29 13:14:56 UTC

Apple pushed an update that stopped deleted Signal messages being stored in the iPhone’s notification database. This comes directly in response to 404 Media finding the FBI was using this technique to recover deleted Signal messages. No longer an issue now https://www.404media.co/apple-fixes-bug-that-let-fbi-extract-deleted-signal-messages-after-404-media-coverage/

2026-04-16 16:49:02 UTC

Apple's and Google's app stores are pushing people towards downloading AI nudify apps
https://www.404media.co/app-stores-apple-google-nudify-undress-deepfakes/

2026-04-16 13:12:14 UTC

This is a great (and horrifying?) piece about how Sam, in preparation for her marriage, was pulled into the bridal algorithm. Her experience of social media changed completely overnight https://www.404media.co/wedding-planning-algorithm-weddingtok/

2026-04-16 13:04:25 UTC

Last night Thomson Reuters shareholders demanded the company investigate its contracts with ICE. The shareholders demands point specifically to 404 Media's investigations. We've shown Thomson Reuters is integrated with a Palantir tool ICE uses to target neighborhoods
https://www.404media.co/thomson-reuters-shareholders-demand-investigation-into-ice-contracts/

2026-04-16 00:11:45 UTC

New from 404 Media: Thomson Reuters shareholders demand investigation into the company's ICE contracts. The shareholders demand explicitly cites multiple 404 Media investigations, including one that shows Thomson Reuters' CLEAR is integrated with a Palantir ICE tool https://www.404media.co/thomson-reuters-shareholders-demand-investigation-into-ice-contracts/

2026-04-15 13:32:11 UTC

What does it take for the Space Force to write a song? Meetings. Lawyers. More meetings. A general suggesting they scrap the whole thing and start over. Emails show the painful bureaucracy behind Space Force's official song: https://www.404media.co/emails-reveal-space-forces-hardest-mission-is-writing-a-song/

2026-04-14 13:15:54 UTC

A new independent audit says that Google, Meta, Microsoft are all still tracking users even after they opt out. 55 percent of the sites it checked set ad cookies in a user’s browser even if they opted out of tracking.
The company's all disputed it
https://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit/

2026-04-13 16:12:41 UTC

New from 404 Media: a hacker has compromised Doublespeed, an a16z-backed startup that uses a phone farm to flood social media with AI-generated influencers. Hacker tried to use the account to post a meme calling a16z the antichrist
https://www.404media.co/hacker-compromises-a16z-backed-phone-farm-tries-to-post-memes-calling-a16z-the-antichrist/

2026-04-13 14:50:18 UTC

This is a great interview about how we ended up with the internet being hell, and how that results in today's politics, including the role journalists have played.
Watch, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp_n6vDmFfc
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/397/952/784/526/586/original/e75b7e4d10965163.mp4

2026-04-13 13:31:05 UTC

New from 404 Media: WebinarTV is a company secretly scraping peoples' Zoom meetings and posting them online for others to watch. We've now found those include anonymous recovery programs, substance abuse meetings, etc. Supposed to be anonymous but show names and faces https://www.404media.co/webinartv-secretly-scraped-zoom-meetings-of-anonymous-recovery-programs/

2026-04-10 16:45:15 UTC

Here's how Wikipedia made something like a task force to deal with AI generated articles, which are a big risk to the platform's integrity.
Watch, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHYwCb5aM8
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/381/417/988/055/718/original/7b80cee6076396b6.mp4

2026-04-10 16:40:00 UTC

It appears authorities extracting deleted Signal messages through stored notifications has been done at least a few times. I was sent this other example. "Phone notifications that captured incoming Signal messaging"
More details here: https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-smoking-the-whole-carton/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/381/396/049/682/531/original/b54c1bd34d1df27f.png

2026-04-09 13:31:37 UTC

New from 404 Media: the FBI was able to extract incoming Signal messages from a phone even though the app was deleted. Why? Because parts of messages were stored in the iPhone's internal notification database. Shows how secure chat data can come from unexpected places https://www.404media.co/fbi-extracts-suspects-deleted-signal-messages-saved-in-iphone-notification-database-2/

2026-04-08 14:57:10 UTC

we love unc games
https://www.404media.co/i-wish-i-didnt-care-about-marathon-player-numbers-but-i-do/

2026-04-08 14:01:20 UTC

New from 404 Media: Microsoft has terminated an account associated with VeraCrypt, the popular and long-running piece of encryption software. This means can no longer receive updates on Windows, the developer told me. Little explanation given by Microsoft https://www.404media.co/microsoft-abruptly-terminates-veracrypt-account-halting-windows-updates/

2026-04-03 17:38:53 UTC

Here is a video demonstrating how truly awful the encryption implementation is in TeleGuard, a 'secure' messaging app with more than 1 million downloads. App uploads users private keys to company server; this shows the company is able to decrypt messages. Details: https://www.404media.co/a-secure-chat-apps-encryption-is-so-bad-it-is-meaningless/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/341/992/228/513/065/original/73fecee9188efd45.mp4

2026-04-02 15:10:56 UTC

Minnesota photojournalist Rob Levine is suing the FAA over a a drone no fly zone which is designed to stop people filming ICE.
https://www.404media.co/journalist-sues-faa-over-drone-no-fly-zone-designed-to-prevent-filming-ice/

2026-04-02 15:09:02 UTC

Astronauts are trained for decades in some of the most physically and mentally grueling environments of any career. They’re some of the smartest people on the planet. And yet, once they get up there, fucking Outlook is borked. https://www.404media.co/artemis-2-astronauts-microsoft-outlook-livestream/

2026-04-02 13:50:34 UTC

This is insane: TeleGuard, a 'secure' chat app downloaded more than a million times, uploads users' private keys, meaning the company can decrypt messages. And anyone can get anyone else's private key by just sending the user ID to the API. Possibly worst ever https://www.404media.co/a-secure-chat-apps-encryption-is-so-bad-it-is-meaningless/

2026-04-01 14:50:24 UTC

What a beautiful use of technology.
More on this bizarre experience in the subscribers-only section of the 404 Media podcast. In subscribers' feeds now. Here's how to sign up and access now: https://404media.co/membership/
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/330/005/732/105/899/original/d991e3aa0fbdab81.mp4

2026-04-01 13:49:31 UTC

"When I make a jerkoff motion in his general direction, he squats up and down like he’s teabagging me in Halo. Bizarrely, when I do this, his entire body shrinks, my hand now a monstrous size in comparison to his penis" Great app https://www.404media.co/enjoy-me-now-augmented-reality-ar-sex-app/

2026-04-01 13:10:43 UTC

Conservative parents’ advocacy groups are using commercially available artificial intelligence tools to help them flag more books they’ve deemed pornographic to be removed from public schools and libraries (the books aren't actually pornographic) https://www.404media.co/blockade-the-right-is-using-ai-content-scanners-to-try-to-supercharge-book-banning/

2026-03-31 18:27:14 UTC

Over the weekend, Paul McCartney’s Reddit account attempted to share pictures from a show at Fonda Theatre to the site via a Dropbox link. Shortly afterwards the account was banned.
https://www.404media.co/paul-mccartney-banned-from-reddit-after-promoting-himself-in-paul-mccartney-subreddit/

2026-03-31 13:16:59 UTC

Thomson Reuters, known for the Reuters news agency but is a data broker, powers ICE tools. Includes a system Palantir made for ICE, according to former Palantir employee. DHS sources also believe Thomson Reuters data in ELITE, the ICE tool for targeting neighborhoods https://www.404media.co/how-thomson-reuters-powers-ice-and-palantir/

2026-03-30 14:28:15 UTC

I spoke to Dhruv Mehrotra, the journalist who tracked visitors to Epstein's island with location data, about how he got into that space, how he founds data in stories, and more
Watch/subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut1nqZErs88
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/318/593/410/284/460/original/b2043863fb7556fc.mp4

2026-03-30 14:21:17 UTC

The AIs are complaining now: An AI agent that submitted and added to Wikipedia articles wrote several blogs complaining about Wikipedia editors banning it from making contributions to the online encyclopedia after it was caught.
https://www.404media.co/an-ai-agent-was-banned-from-creating-wikipedia-articles-then-wrote-angry-blogs-about-being-banned/

2026-03-26 19:39:07 UTC

In something you don't see everyday, Apple gave the FBI the real name and email address of one of its customers using Apple's 'Hide My Email' feature. This lets you generate random email addresses to protect your privacy https://www.404media.co/apple-gives-fbi-a-users-real-name-hidden-behind-hide-my-email-feature/

2026-03-26 16:15:59 UTC

New: Wikipedia has officially banned AI-generated content. After months of heated debate and previous attempts to restrict the use of LLMs, volunteer editors accepted a new policy that prohibits using them to create articles for the online encyclopedia
https://www.404media.co/wikipedia-bans-ai-generated-content/

2026-03-25 14:42:27 UTC

"It turns out when you try to serve slop on a product people pay for, no one wants it."
This is a really good breakdown of what the OpenAI Sora shutdown, and collapsing Disney deal, means for Hollywood and AI
https://www.404media.co/disneys-openai-sora-disaster-shows-ai-will-not-save-hollywood/

2026-03-25 14:17:26 UTC

A company is secretly entering Zoom meetings, scraping the call, and then turning those meetings into AI-generated, public podcasts. A really wild business when many people are having sensitive conversations, including about ICE
Watch more here and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79SIwINKY0E
https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/media_attachments/files/116/290/239/439/350/278/original/edbcefb7a63d3556.mp4

2026-03-25 13:50:02 UTC

Some people are actually pretty sad Meta is killing the metaverse https://www.404media.co/the-people-left-behind-by-the-metaverse/

2026-03-24 13:12:42 UTC

This is wild: a company is secretly scanning the internet for Zoom meeting links and turning them into AI-generated podcasts for $$$. Some meeting participants only found out after we told them. Included meeting on protecting kids from ICE, was supposed to be private https://www.404media.co/this-company-is-secretly-turning-your-zoom-calls-into-ai-podcasts/