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  New: iPhones have an automatic reboot feature which quietly reboots the phone after a certain time; cops were freaking out about this when we revealed it in 2024. Now, phone hackers have a way around it, according to a leaked video https://www.404media.co/cops-can-bypass-iphone-automatic-inactivity-reboot-graykey/

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  Rachel is a ferocious shark of a lawyer, and it's awesome 1) she gets recognition like this, and 2) she quashes stupid subpoenas we get that try to unmask anonymous sources. We were subpoenaed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for my reporting on Google's internal privacy database, and Rachel solved it, as this article lays out https://www.amny.com/law/free-press-rachel-strom-media-law/

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  Wrote about how tips I get in my email inbox from ordinary ppl are increasingly AI generated. words like "evidence packet". I think this is how ChatGPT/Claude *thinks* journalists talk, but it's not. Because most tips to journos are not public so can't be scraped https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-freaking-out/

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  This is huge: a judge ruled a Flock search was 'indiscriminate mass surveillance' and unconstitutional. Says the search by a cop, who did it because a passing car had a plate from a different state, violated the driver's rights. Meaning, Flock should require a warrant https://www.404media.co/federal-judge-rules-a-flock-search-was-indiscriminate-mass-surveillance-and-unconstitutional/

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  New: in the immediate lead up to Muse's launch, Meta scrambled to fix multiple serious vulnerabilities in the AI agent, including a VM escape that could have let a hacker break out of Muse and into Meta's own sensitive databases. It was escalated to Zuckerberg https://www.404media.co/meta-rushed-to-fix-muse-vm-escape-vulnerability-immediately-before-launch/

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  We spoke to the family that made the AI avatar of a killed man. They said the point of the video was to sway the judge. “Isn’t that what you want human connection to be?” The convicted man in the case is now being resentenced because of the use of the AI video https://www.404media.co/her-ai-generated-video-swayed-the-judge-the-court-said-it-carried-undue-emotional-weight/

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  Law enforcement investigation in two people with magazines saying "I hate the police" and "Are we free yet." Cops also found dozens of 3D printed pistol frames and 3D printed grenade housings. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28726530-usa-v-sealed-complaint-alnd-526-mj-01180/

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  Cops are able to break into locked iPhones, including those that have been rebooted by Apple's own reboot security feature Watch more, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpzCH0mXh2c

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  We got the bodycam and in-car footage related to the Flock search that a judge ruled was "indiscriminate mass surveillance" and unconstitutional. Ton of wild stuff in here More here: https://www.404media.co/watch-footage-of-the-flock-search-a-judge-ruled-unconstitutional/

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  New: an AI company now lets cops identify specific houses, using data from Zillow and Airbnb, based on a single photo. It's part of Raven, previously called Geospy. Company previously demoed its tools to catch people vandalizing Flock cameras or protesters https://www.404media.co/ai-company-lets-cops-pinpoint-specific-houses-based-on-a-single-interior-photo/

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  HSI tried to plant a tracker on a Tesla but were unable to due to the Tesla's "security protocols," according to a warrant we saw https://www.404media.co/teslas-security-protocols-stopped-dhs-from-installing-a-tracking-device/

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  Character[.]ai financials: - $13.8m on compute a month, then $10m a month - bringing in $2.8m in subscriptions, sometimes less than $1m - revenue from all sources $5.3m a month Its bankruptcy shows the economics of AI don't work: https://www.404media.co/character-ais-bankruptcy-documents-show-the-economics-of-ai-dont-work/

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  OpenAI continues to enshittify ChatGPT: OpenAI allows advertisers — or really anyone, I tested myself in 5 minutes — upload raw phone numbers or email addresses to OpenAI to then target those specific people and inject specific ads into their ChatGPT session https://www.404media.co/how-chatgpt-targets-ads-to-you-based-on-your-prompts-phone-number-and-email/

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  New: Accenture has told employees it will only fund $29 per month of Claude use. Meaning that employees who often spend as much as $1,000 a month are now scrambling to find ways to keep access to the tool. A sign of the continuing crack down of AI https://www.404media.co/accenture-tells-employees-they-can-now-spend-only-29-on-claude-per-month/

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  A video game reverse engineering community is shutting down entirely because AI has completely hollowed out the community. What used to take talented decompilers many weeks or months of work is now done immediately by AI https://www.404media.co/video-game-reverse-engineering-community-shuts-down-because-ai-has-made-it-too-easy/

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  Here's how exactly Telegram provides user data to U.S. authorities. A letter recently filed in court shows how Telegram transfers that data, such as IP address and phone number. More: https://www.404media.co/heres-what-telegram-giving-data-to-the-u-s-government-looks-like/

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  Cops used AI images to pose as a kid to lure out a suspected child predator. Was done by a unit called the Livonia Undercover Resistance to Exploitation Unit, or LURE. https://www.404media.co/undercover-cops-using-ai-generated-child-arrest/

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  Authorities say the wife of Alfozan, the OpenAI employee who allegedly bugged an OpenAI exec conference room, was to leave the U.S. on one flight, then a "member of the Saudi military booked and paid" for another one-way flight to Saudi Arabia for the wife and son.

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  New: Chinese hackers broke into Staples. Staples has an internal customer support tool called Nexus, Chinese hackers got into that, issued millions of dollars of gift cards for Target etc. Mules then went on a spending spree across the U.S. Gang made $100 million+ https://www.404media.co/how-a-massive-chinese-crime-ring-hacked-staples-to-steal-millions/

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  A group of Texans believe they’ve discovered evidence that the state’s environmental regulatory agency has continued to issue permits to data centers despite Governor Greg Abbott’s call for it to stop. https://www.404media.co/it-aint-right-texas-said-it-would-halt-data-center-permits-the-state-is-pushing-ahead-anyway/

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  New from 404 Media: the group that hacked the FBI and stole data on "all FBI employees" says it won't publish the data. The group gave the FBI a one week countdown. Now says won't publish at all. Still represents a massive national security/counterintelligence risk https://www.404media.co/fbi-hackers-say-they-wont-publish-massive-trove-of-fbi-employee-data/

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  New from 404 Media: humans are reading ChatGPT conversations. OpenAI has hired an army of contractors who read real ChatGPT users' chats. I've seen internal docs, the review system, and real user prompts. Sometimes they contain very personal and sensitive information https://www.404media.co/inside-project-lily-the-humans-reading-your-chatgpt-chats/

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  New: from 404 Media. The catastrophic FBI hack also exposed the FBI's own hacking unit. The Remote Operations Unit is a highly secretive part of the FBI, responsible for making tools to break into peoples' devices. Some of their names and addresses are in the data https://www.404media.co/fbi-hack-exposed-fbis-own-hacking-unit-remote-operations-shinyhunters/

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  New from 404 Media: Meta announced Muse, its AI agent that can book restaurants for you. We've seen internal Meta messages showing Meta is actually testing having these calls being made by human beings in call centers. In those tests its not AI, it's just a person https://www.404media.co/meta-tests-muse-ai-agent-calls-that-are-actually-made-by-humans-in-a-call-center/

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  New: hackers say they have personal data on all FBI employees and spouses. I got a sample of 5,000 alleged employees, including name, physical address, phone number, and in some cases spouses. Could be a massive national security and counterintelligence risk https://www.404media.co/we-hacked-the-fbi-hackers-say-they-have-data-on-all-fbi-employees/

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  OpenAI and Microsoft admitted LLMs are predatory tech built on “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” and the “largest theft of labor in human history.” An internal Microsoft document said AI has created a “doom loop” that is killing “the entire web.” https://www.404media.co/doom-loop-openai-and-microsoft-admits-llms-are-destroying-the-web-and-built-on-theft/

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  New from 404 Media: Georgia State has rescinded a job offer given to Samuel Tunick, the activist who allegedly wiped his GrapheneOS phone before DHS could search it. Tunick says the case is "textbook political repression". Now can't study or work at the university https://www.404media.co/university-rescinds-job-offer-to-activist-who-allegedly-wiped-phone-before-dhs-could-search-it/

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  Cops are searching thousands of Flock cameras for very important law enforcement investigations, with given reasons like "LMAO," "IDK," and "Hehe." https://www.404media.co/cops-search-thousands-of-flock-cameras-for-reasons-of-lmao-idk-hehe-and-asdfg/

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  New from 404 Media: Apple's 'Private Relay' is exposing users' real IP addresses. Private Relay is supposed to protect all your browsing in Safari. But researchers found a bunch of issues that are exposing real IPs. I verified they do. Not fixed, a live issue https://www.404media.co/apples-private-relay-is-exposing-users-real-ip-addresses/

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  New: Microsoft has introduced new limits to how much its engineers can spend on AI tools at work and told employees that maximizing AI use internally is not the company’s goal, according to an internal Microsoft email obtained by 440 Media. https://www.404media.co/microsoft-tells-engineers-tokenmaxxing-is-not-what-we-are-optimizing-for/