Thomson Reuters, the technology and content conglomerate that owns the Reuters media agency but also owns and operates the investigative CLEAR database, fired a longstanding employee after they spoke out about the company selling data products to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday. The ...
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Google, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out, According to an Independent AuditGoogle, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out, According to an Independent Audit
An independent privacy audit of Microsoft, Meta, and Google web traffic in California found that the companies may be violating state regulations and racking up billions in fines. According to the audit from privacy search engine webXray, 55 percent of the sites it checked set ad cookies in a user’s ...
Airbnb Hosts Don’t Want to Talk to Guests Anymore, Are Outsourcing Messages to AIAirbnb Hosts Don’t Want to Talk to Guests Anymore, Are Outsourcing Messages to AI
An industry of tech companies is now selling AI-powered chatbot services to Airbnb hosts which reply to guests on their behalf. 404 Media started looking into the companies after one Airbnb host used AI to communicate with their guests, and when the guests seemingly realized, they tricked the chatbot into ...
WebinarTV Secretly Scraped Zoom Meetings of Anonymous Recovery ProgramsWebinarTV Secretly Scraped Zoom Meetings of Anonymous Recovery Programs
WebinarTV, a site that scrapes Zoom webinars without permission, has downloaded and posted Zoom Webinars for anonymous addiction recovery meetings, support groups for caregivers and people who suffer from chronic illness, and a meeting of nudists. WebinarTV’s Michael Robertson told me that the company asks every single person for permission ...
How the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips)How the Internet Became Hell (with Whitney Phillips)
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 ...
Hacker Compromises a16z-Backed Phone Farm, Tries to Post Memes Calling a16z the ‘Antichrist’Hacker Compromises a16z-Backed Phone Farm, Tries to Post Memes Calling a16z the ‘Antichrist’
A hacker has compromised a backend system for Doublespeed, an a16z-funded startup that uses a phone farm to flood social media with AI-generated TikTok accounts, and attempted to have those accounts post memes calling a16z the “antichrist,” according to screenshots seen by 404 Media. The hack is at least the ...
The Oldest Octopus Fossil Ever Isn’t An Octopus At All, Scientists DiscoverThe Oldest Octopus Fossil Ever Isn’t An Octopus At All, Scientists Discover
Welcome back to the Abstract! Here are the studies this week that were ritually sacrificed, kicked out of the galaxy, taxonomically revised, and wore many hats. First, scientists shed light on human sacrifice and cousin sex using ancient DNA from the bones of people who lived in fifth-century Korea. Then: ...
Behind the Blog: Smoking the Whole CartonBehind the Blog: Smoking the Whole Carton
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss gun violence and chatbots and acceptance of depravity. EMANUEL: It takes a lot for a post to shock me these days, especially ...
World’s Largest Group of Chimps Waging Deadly ‘Civil War,’ Scientists DiscoverWorld’s Largest Group of Chimps Waging Deadly ‘Civil War,’ Scientists Discover
🌘 Subscribe to 404 Media to get The Abstract, our newsletter about the most exciting and mind-boggling science news and studies of the week. Scientists have observed an extremely rare chimpanzee “civil war,” a conflict that has killed at least seven adults and 17 infants, and which sheds new light ...
FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification DatabaseFBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database
The FBI was able to forensically extract copies of incoming Signal messages from a defendant’s iPhone, even after the app was deleted, because copies of the content were saved in the device’s push notification database, multiple people present for FBI testimony in a recent trial told 404 Media. The case ...