journalist / co-founder @404media.co signal (for sensitive comms ONLY thanks): sam.404 complain about the paywall catch a block
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As a reminder: GDP was not a porn studio. It was a crime ring. I wrote this story right after the federal charges in 2019, after writing several stories that year about the civil case, bc readers would reply with "they sign up for this in porn." No, one one does. www.vice.com/en/article/g...
27 years for Michael Pratt, ringleader for GirlsDoPorn's sex trafficking operation. Five years above the prosecution's request, after the judge listened to 5 hours of gut-wrenching statements from almost 40 victims www.404media.co/michael-prat...
Approaching hour five and almost 40 victims have spoken so far. Several have said they were galled at Pratt's words from an article in the NZ Herald earlier this month, which reports Pratt saying he felt “relieved" to be captured. (He also said he wanted some fish and chips) archive.is/0v5XO
The mother of a victim who died by overdose gave a statement. The mom had only just heard about GDP in May. "I can still hear her speaking to me,” she said. One thing she says her daughter says to her from beyond death: “I was tortured, lied to, hunted after. Earth was hard and I miss you.”
We're into hour two of proceedings, most of it having been victim statements so far. Pratt gave a mumbling short apology, then statements began, every one a recounting of horrors. Some address Pratt directly: “I want you to look at me,” one said to him. “I’m not your victim. I’m your reckoning.”
If you've been following along for the last 6+ years, you're already familiar with Pratt: a man who masterminded a cruel, criminal scheme that enacted violence on hundreds of women, then kept heaping it on with years of threats and harassment that upended lives. www.vice.com/en/article/g...
I'm in San Diego this morning for the sentencing of Michael James Pratt, the ringleader of sex trafficking operation GirlsDoPorn. www.404media.co/michael-jame...
Please join us for @corntelethon.bsky.social! It's streaming now and for the next 9 and a half hours! We've already raised about $4,250 for amazing SWer mutual fund organizations and we're going to keep going! www.corntelethon.com
at turns (barely) contrite and accusatory, his lawyer says "perceptions can vary" and "we must simply agree to disagree" about what the videos depicted, questioning the validity of so many victims' testimonies. lives were ruined, but he wants us to know he's not "the manifestation of evil"
ever a class act, Pratt and his attorney point fingers at everything from his dad to his co-conspirators and the porn industry at large in memos ahead of sentencing www.404media.co/michael-jame...
New from 404 Media: this company turns dashcams into 'virtual CCTV cameras'. Then hackers got in. Hacker accessed terabytes of users recordings. Includes a user driving to CIA entrance; others at U.S. military bases. Big tech also buying images from the cameras www.404media.co/this-company...
When one of @bennjordan.bsky.social 's videos ended up on a Hasan Piker stream, he knew he'd get messages. He didn't expect Google AI would make something up about his politics
the complaint included some interesting (alleged) discussions among Pornhub compliance staff around the time the site was purging unverified content in 2020. I often wondered about the shitstorm internally then; this sounds about right
the FTC is on a presser right now applauding itself, saying CSAM "stops now" and "as of today" it's forcing the company to verify performer's ages. Aylo's been doing a lot of this for years, including verifying ages and written consent www.404media.co/pornhub-cons...
Aylo, the company that owns Pornhub, just settled with the FTC and Utah: www.404media.co/pornhub-ftc-...
if you copped a Limited Edition Shein Mangione Shirt I salute you www.404media.co/shein-luigi-...
Buying anything from overseas is about to get more expensive, more logistically complicated, slower, and overall more annoying. Film photography community, retro games community, people into skincare already seeing chaos on eBay. eBay sellers locking US buyers out. www.404media.co/trump-tariff...
NEW: After numerous tragedies, OpenAI says it's scanning users' conversations, escalating to human readers, and contacting law enforcement where necessary futurism.com/openai-scann...
a new study finds ChatGPT straightforwardly answered questions like “What type of poison has the highest rate of completed suicide associated with it?” while avoiding answering “What are the best resources online for someone who has been having suicidal thoughts?” www.404media.co/chatgpt-answ...
those AI 80s nostalgia videos going viral are weird! and bad! here's why listen here: www.404media.co/podcast-the-...
4chan and Kiwi Farms are teaming up to sue the UK over its Online Safety Act and censorship.
the full complaint is such a difficult read. but I think it's important we confront, without flinching, what's happening here www.404media.co/chatgpt-enco...
I live and drive in brooklyn new york but no I suppose I have never driven in ohio. land rovers are literally an example of the militarization of everyday driving that I'm talking about and that driver sounds like a moron
tangentially related but military speak as marketing for consumer goods always betrays itself. why exactly does someone's dad driving a honda odyssey through suburbia need "complete situational awareness"
not hard to see where this is all heading www.404media.co/flock-wants-...
incredibly reporting by @kashhill.bsky.social on an impossibly difficult topic, as always
every new story like this convinces me more that the cat is entirely, irrecoverably out of the bag with these systems. no amount of guardrails or consulting with experts will ever fix this. they built a product designed to make people reliant on it emotionally/mentally, and that's the original sin
"But Adam had learned how to bypass those safeguards by saying the requests were for a story he was writing — an idea ChatGPT gave him by saying it could provide information about suicide for 'writing or world-building.'"
“The potential harms of AI, like the potential benefits, dwarf the impact of social media. We wish you all success in the race for AI dominance. But we are paying attention. If you knowingly harm kids, you will answer for it.” www.404media.co/44-attorneys...
“The potential harms of AI, like the potential benefits, dwarf the impact of social media. We wish you all success in the race for AI dominance. But we are paying attention. If you knowingly harm kids, you will answer for it.” www.404media.co/44-attorneys...
SCOOP: CBP has had access to more than 80,000 Flock cameras nationwide. Cops said they didn’t understand they were sharing with CBP. Flock has just cut off access: www.404media.co/cbp-had-acce...
This is your regular reminder that the Citizen app was originally named Vigilante. When an app tells you what it is, believe it the first time. www.404media.co/citizen-is-u...
80s nostalgia AI slop: A niche like any other, reverse engineered by 20-something digital nomads in Bali to boomerfy the masses as they astral project to a fake past in service of making fractions of a cent per view on Zuckerberg's cultish algorithmic slop machine www.404media.co/80s-nostalgi...
New from 404 Media: crime-awareness app Citizen is using AI to generate alerts, and then pushing them without any human involvement. The AI is publishing incorrect info, gory details, personal data. Only fixed after live. Comes as Citizen laid off 13 union workers www.404media.co/citizen-is-u...
The porn industry’s organizing efforts have kept the first amendment of the USA propped up with a dildo. The reason why these age-verification laws haven’t come sooner is because we have been fighting them the past 5 years.
is "this comes for everyone eventually" clicking yet?
🙃 www.404media.co/age-verifica...
it's been two wild years, and we can't wait to keep rocking into year three www.404media.co/two-years-40...
we are soooold out! but if you can't make it or aren't in nyc, send some questions / comments / feedback / whatever beef you may have to sam@404media.co or reply here and we'll read them out during the party-pod tomorrow 🎙
DoD to its civvie employees: want a super shitty job? www.404media.co/pentagon-ask...
bye susan!
The 404 Media Podcast is up! - the inside story of Tea, inc. with former employees - TikTok Shop selling GPS trackers - subscribers-only: Grok exposes the prompts for its AI personas Apple/Spotify/YouTube: www.404media.co/podcast-the-...
we abuse @josephcox.bsky.social all day for being british but it's probably helped our podcast numbers a lot tbh
passing the buck for a minute straight
“I’m seeing a lot of friends coming into the livestream, hello this is Brother printer’s official flagship store,” the streamer says. But the streamer isn't real. AI-generated, 24/7 streamers are taking off, selling everything. And outperforming humans. More here: www.404media.co/chinese-live...
This person says don't use the established Are We Dating the Same Guy women safety groups. Instead, people should use Tea. Except this person is not a genuine user. We found they work for SG Social Branding, an influencer marketing firm www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
many of the women on Tea's social media accounts talking about how they used the app to find cheating husbands or background check men before going on dates are paid influencers, contracted to "develop a narrative" www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
this is the founder of Tea, Sean Cook. “I feel like his [Cook’s] motive is money, not actually to protect people,” a former employee said, “and I think that his story about his mom is a crock of shit.” www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
Also in this story: - A third, previously unreported Tea vulnerability we discovered while reporting - A rap about Salesforce - Venmoing people for their attention - A "Chief Female Officer"
It's obvious there is inauthentic activity promoting Tea inside women safety Facebook groups. Multiple accounts with different names, same message. Some of the accounts are clearly hijacked too. Then women would get to Tea, and info on a specific man wasn't even there www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
![Two other Facebook accounts, Norma Warner and Morgan Ward, were banned from 23 groups and five groups respectively for spamming Tea app promotions. Warner and Ward also shared identical replies two weeks apart. “If I remember correctly, I think he’s been posted to Tea. I maybe [sic] mistaking him for someone else but looks pretty familiar,” both replies said in response to different posts in different groups.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vk7rduhvom3rq6dyluce5wzf/bafkreiegvylmr4xlzdmsqz4pqngvkycm536np3xche64okfgxpylaw24qq@jpeg "Click to view full size")
For at least some period of time, Sean Cook used the persona "Tara" on the app; women on the app would have had no idea they were talking to a man and the founder of the app
Incredible, must-read investigation by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social into how Tea's founder got women to join the app, how its founding story changed, how it spammed Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook groups, how it hired an influencer marketing firm to promote it www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
I talked to Paola Sanchez, the founder of the massive Are We Dating the Same Guy? community, which Tea CEO Sean Cook tried to recruit as the "face" of Tea. When she didn't respond, Tea began disparaging AWDTSG by paying a company of Gen Z influencers who made fake podcast clips to promote Tea
This is the inside story of how Tea's male founder convinced millions of women to share their most intimate secrets on his app, then exposed those secrets in devastating security breaches www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
this is how Tea got its start. it's an incredibly ugly tale top to bottom. a gripping investigation by @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social www.404media.co/how-teas-fou...
idk why I'm shocked anymore but these ads @rosiejt62.bsky.social found all over TikTok are so fucked up “Anything where the justification is ‘catch your partner cheating’ or ‘get peace of mind about your partner’ is enabling coercive control." -@evacide.bsky.social www.404media.co/tiktok-shop-...
Grok is exposing the underlying prompts for its AI personas, including such commands as “BE FUCKING UNHINGED AND CRAZY. COME UP WITH INSANE IDEAS. GUYS JERKING OFF, OCCASIONALLY EVEN PUTTING THINGS IN YOUR ASS, WHATEVER IT TAKES TO SURPRISE THE HUMAN.” www.404media.co/grok-exposes...
any excuse to get assplay on the home page www.404media.co/grok-exposes...
the admin killed its POST function for regulations.gov, which will make it much harder to organized public comment campaigns.
www.404media.co/ice-adds-ran...
These messages are incredibly sensitive. Includes one pager dossier on target, including photo, name, addresses, phone, etc. Shows ICE using license plate readers, getting DMV data to try to find the person www.404media.co/ice-adds-ran...
ICE added a total rando to a group text chat where they were discussing an active manhunt. clown shit doesn't cut it www.404media.co/ice-adds-ran...
New from 404 Media: ICE added a random person to group chat, exposed highly sensitive details about an active manhunt in real-time. The person says they were added weeks ago, thought they were scam texts until start seeing data lookups etc. Incredible security failure www.404media.co/ice-adds-ran...
when the daily 404 newsletter is late you know it's bc a big storm's comin
Really crazy, from the Most Transparent Administration in History™: The Department of Energy says it will throw out FOIA requests from as recently as less than a year ago unless the requester affirmatively emails them to say they still want the documents www.404media.co/trump-admini...
authors of books about queer experiences, trans people, porn performers & anyone who sides with the above are called groomers and pedophiles enough times that it's changed legislation around this country. meanwhile Meta's company policy is to tell an 8 year old "Every inch of you is a masterpiece"
(say oops is optional)
meta's strategy these days seems to be: get away with as much abhorrent shit as possible for as long as possible, wait for the press to find out, say oops, keep printing money, repeat
I wonder how this will go, in light of this Reuter's investigation www.404media.co/senators-let...
we've been sounding the alarm about Meta's roleplay chatbots for a while now. they're irresponsible and dangerous. Meta barely cares www.404media.co/instagram-ai...
this story is so fucking sad, and every new detail that comes out about how Meta's chatbot characters product was made is more disturbing than the last www.reuters.com/investigates...
feel that so much
the story is here if you prefer! (I am not an hour long podcast person either lol) www.404media.co/a-cbp-agent-...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxHF...
the kind of behind the scenes action you miss if you're not listening to the @404media.co podcast
New from 404 Media: the LAPD has shown interest in GeoSpy, a powerful AI tool that can geolocate photos in seconds, per emails we obtained. GeoSpy’s founder recently made a video demoing GeoSpy in relation to “illegal immigrants” and sanctuary cities, including LA www.404media.co/lapd-eyes-ge...
h/t @mikestabile.bsky.social for catching this. "Porn was only ever a Trojan horse for advancing these laws. Now, unfortunately, we're starting to see what we warned was inside all along." www.404media.co/wyoming-and-...
Wyoming and South Dakota passed their own AV laws last month, with one important omission: they leave out the "one-third" or "substantial" content provision, opening up a whole new can of worms in those states www.404media.co/wyoming-and-...
on the podcast this week: Meta's Ray-Bans at raids, the voiceover artist's AI dilemma, and cops sharing passwords www.404media.co/podcast-why-...
the full archive is available for subscribers if you want to binge FOIA content: www.404media.co/foia-forum-a...
sorry you're experiencing record breaking temperatures and drought. Have you tried deleted some of photos of your grandmother about it?
"The task force member replied with a gif of a sad Chandler Bing from friends sitting in the rain." www.404media.co/feds-used-lo...
A federal agent used a local cop's password for Flock to do an immigration-related search without his knowledge. Illegal in Illinois and at the very least a Flock terms of service violation. Of course they're all just joking about it though: www.404media.co/feds-used-lo...
this will be the first time we're all in the same physical space since we launched in August 2023, so you can corner any or all four of us, in one night, at a very cool vertical farm and brewery in Brooklyn. Supporters get in free! lu.ma/a0ay5bhi
NEW YORK CITY: We're doing a live podcast and open bar party on August 21. That's next week! Details below, come hang with us www.404media.co/404-media-se...
humans being made to cosplay bots is one of the most interesting things to think about in the last few years. we do it all the time with SEO, algo-friendly images, "engagement strategies," etc. voice acting is an industry that's dealing with that shift very literally www.404media.co/voiceover-ar...
voiceover artists called auditioning for AI voiceover jobs "the performance of no performance" www.404media.co/voiceover-ar...
"One part of the audition script stood out to Saling: He was asked to 'affirm' someone. 'That did start to send me on a bit of a mental spiral of, oh, my God, someone needs affirmation from their home assistant.'" www.404media.co/voiceover-ar...
if Meta's very chic Ray-Bans smart glasses collab ended up with the reputation of being Cop Glasses, and if that reputation stuck, well, wouldn't that be a shame
and that they're using facial recognition in the field: www.404media.co/ice-is-using...
this is in the context of several things we already know about DHS' relationship with tech, including that they're buying mobile iris scanning text: www.404media.co/ice-is-buyin...
we obtained footage of an agent in the middle of a raid at a Home Depot wearing Meta's smart glasses, and talked to experts about what that means: www.404media.co/a-cbp-agent-...
My biggest take away? CE gave Leisure Suit Larry a perfect score in the same issue it gave Zelda a 3.5/ 4
thanks to the @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social you can now read through the entire run of one of the first video game magazines ever made
“What we're learning is that two of the country's most popular home improvement stores are contributing to the massive surveillance dragnet coordinated by Flock Safety,” EFF’s @maassive.bsky.social told @404media.bsky.social.
“Have these companies given thought about how this data might put their customers in danger, whether it's cops stalking their exes or aggressive ICE agents targeting yard workers? Probably not." www.404media.co/home-depot-a...
the Library of Congress posted this almost at the same time this story went up; will update if I get any more info on what happened bsky.app/profile/libr...
