Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Putting the Puzzle Together
This week, we discuss the staying power of surveillance coverage, the jigsaw of reporting, and eyestrain.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Putting the Puzzle Together
This week, we discuss the staying power of surveillance coverage, the jigsaw of reporting, and eyestrain.
News
There’s a Lootbox With Rare Pokémon Cards Sitting in the Pentagon Food Court
Frowned upon in video games, loot boxes are back in real life–and one’s in the Pentagon.
ICE
‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid
Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activities on the ground.
Impact
New Legislation Would Rein In ICE’s Facial Recognition App
The proposed law would force DHS only use the app, called Mobile Fortify, at ports of entry; delete all photos of U.S. citizens taken by the app; and effectively kill the local law enforcement of the app.
The Abstract
Strange ‘Little Red Dots’ in Space Have a Mind-Boggling Explanation, Scientists Discover
Scientists have debated the origin of the dots for years. Now, researchers say they’re “cocoons” for the youngest black holes we’ve ever seen.
News
How One Guy Crowdsourced More Than 500 Dashcams for Minneapolis to Film ICE
‘We have to make sure people are watching. We have to make sure we’re keeping track of our community members.’
Flock
Cop Used Flock to Wrongfully Accuse a Woman Then Refused to Look at Evidence That Exonerated Her, Body Camera Shows
"Nothing gets in or out of the town without us knowing about it," the cop told her.
Podcast
Podcast: The ICE Tool That Tracks Entire Neighborhoods
We talk all about Webloc, ICE's tool for monitoring phone locations; the continuing Grok abuse wave; and how police unwittingly revealed millions of Flock surveillance targets.
News
Instagram AI Influencers Are Defaming Celebrities With Sex Scandals
Fake images of LeBron James, iShowSpeed, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and even Nicolás Maduro show them in bed with AI-generated influencers.
Flock
Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error
Flock is going after a website called HaveIBeenFlocked.com that has collated public records files released by police.
podcasts
How Benn Jordan Discovered Flock's Cameras Were Left Streaming to the Internet
Jason interviews YouTuber Benn Jordan about his security research on Flock.
AI
'Shame Thrives in Seclusion:' How AI Porn Chatbots Isolate Us All
"Sex is human, sex is animal, sex is social," porn historian Noelle Perdue writes in her analysis of AI-powered erotic chatbots.
