Below are posts associated with the “404media.co” source.

🔗 linkblog: AI Slop Is a Brute Force Attack on the Algorithms That Control Reality


The “brute force” metaphor is helpful here, and the article also draws attention to the vulnerability of algorithmic media to generative AI brute forcing.

🔗 linkblog: NASA, Yale, and Stanford Scientists Consider 'Scientific Exile,' French University Says'


I mean, I’ve always wanted to live and work in France, but I’ve never wanted to feel like I would have to.

🔗 linkblog: Bluesky Deletes AI Protest Video of Trump Sucking Musk's Toes, Calls It 'Non-Consensual Explicit Material''


Honestly, I get the original call, but I’m glad Bluesky backtracked. Content moderation is hard.

🔗 linkblog: Y Combinator Supports AI Startup Dehumanizing Factory Workers'


What gross software.

🔗 linkblog: AI-Generated Slop Is Already In Your Public Library'


I get a lot of reading done through hoopla, but this kind of story is starting to sour me on the platform.

🔗 linkblog: Trump Admin Deletes Video Explaining Grammatical Concept of Pronouns in War Against DEI'


This headline would be hilarious if it weren’t so infuriating.

🔗 linkblog: OpenAI Furious DeepSeek Might Have Stolen All the Data OpenAI Stole From Us'


Yeah, it’s really hard to have any sympathy here at all.

🔗 linkblog: Decentralized Social Media Is the Only Alternative to the Tech Oligarchy'


Yes to all of this.

🔗 linkblog: Donald Trump Has Mark Zuckerberg By the Balls'


Not the headline I would have chosen, but very interesting argument here.

🔗 linkblog: Meta Is Blocking Links to Decentralized Instagram Competitor Pixelfed'


Directly out of Musk’s playbook. All the more reason to ditch Meta for the fediverse.

🔗 linkblog: An Amazon Delivery Confirmation Photo Is the Last Time a Palisades Resident Saw Her Burnt Down House'


The headline doesn’t really make the point, but the article is interesting; of course Amazon drivers would be sent into areas evacuated for fire.

🔗 linkblog: Meta Deletes Trans and Nonbinary Messenger Themes'


Meta’s cynicism and groveling is pretty appalling.

🔗 linkblog: ‘We’re Fine’: Lying to Ourselves About a Climate Disaster'


Chilling read.

🔗 linkblog: Facebook Is Censoring 404 Media Stories About Facebook's Censorship'


I especially appreciate this article in the wake of Meta’s recent announcements. There are cases in which content moderation is inconsistent or overreaching, and there are cases in which less moderation fixes the problem. However, it’s the arbitrary distinctions and self-serving nature of the changes that make the “free expression” argument so flimsy.

🔗 linkblog: Researcher Turns Insecure License Plate Cameras Into Open Source Surveillance Tool'


Uggggggh, ALPRs suck.

🔗 linkblog: Facebook Deletes Internal Employee Criticism of New Board Member Dana White'


Moderating employees but not users seems telling to me.

🔗 linkblog: Elon Musk Uses Cybertruck Explosion to Show Tesla Can Remotely Unlock and Monitor Vehicles'


Modern cars are creepy.

🔗 linkblog: To Log Into WordPress, You Now Have To Agree Pineapple on Pizza Is Good'


Look, I don’t know all the finer points of this debate, but Mullenweg has repeatedly struck me as petty and juvenile, so it’s hard to imagine taking his side on any of the more substantive issues here.

🔗 linkblog: I Went to the Premiere of the First Commercially Streaming AI-Generated Movies'


This is a solid article. I think the opening is reflective and that there’s an effort to be open minded (more than I would be). It’s also amazing to me, though, how explicitly the goal here seems to be profiting from a surveillance-supported content mill.

🔗 linkblog: The Redbox Removal Team'


What a wild story.

The unceremonious end of Redbox is a reminder of how much stuff we make and buy, and how, when companies fail to plan for end-of-life or go out of business, they often leave a bunch of devices that suddenly become e-waste behind.

🔗 linkblog: Someone Made a Dataset of One Million Bluesky Posts for 'Machine Learning Research''


It’s uncomfortable for me to think about how close my “digital traces” research is to surveillance and YOLO data mining.

🔗 linkblog: X's Objection to the Onion Buying InfoWars Is a Reminder You Do Not Own Your Social Media Accounts'


This is an important take, and I appreciate that the article concludes with a reminder that indie is the answer as we move forward with the social web.

🔗 linkblog: Employees Describe an Environment of Paranoia and Fear Inside Automattic Over WordPress Chaos'


Wild to read this so soon after finishing Character Limit, because I’m getting very similar vibes.

🔗 linkblog: ‘The Community Is In Chaos:’ WordPress.org Now Requires You Denounce Affiliation With WP Engine To Log In'


This was a hell of a semester to decide to not dedicate a whole lecture to WordPress in my CMS class.

🔗 linkblog: How Telegram's Founder Pavel Durov Became a Culture War Martyr'


I’ve been trying to think through Durov’s arrest since I first heard about it—there are a lot of complex things going on here. I think this captures nicely my thoughts and taught me a few things, too.

Telegram is a sketchy platform (technically even more than in terms of content), but that doesn’t mean arresting the founder is warranted. Yet, that doesn’t mean that outcry on the right is in good faith, either.