Notices by Joseph Cox (josephcox@infosec.exchange), page 2

This week's Behind the Blog is out!
- me on which US procurement database to use to find stories (like US Special Forces buying Anduril drone today)
- Sam on the fallout around male tech conference founder
- Jason on our FOIA Forum (w/ link to the video) https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-pickleball-conference-fake-speakers-drones/

New: researchers managed to poke ChatGPT in such a way that it spat out a ton of examples of its training data. In some cases this included personal identifiable information. That data used to train systems presumably without PII owners' knowledge https://404media.co/google-researchers-attack-convinces-chatgpt-to-reveal-its-training-data/

Wild: Google confirms it *is* throttling YouTube load times for some viewers. Firefox users reported the issue today. Google says, instead, it’s supposed to tackle ad-blockers regardless of the browser used https://404media.co/youtube-says-new-5-second-video-load-delay-is-supposed-to-punish-ad-blockers-not-firefox-users/

The report really is extraordinary. For years, me and a few other journalists have investigated the US government's purchase of location data. It turns out agencies were breaking the law basically the entire time. ICE has been told to stop and has refused.

CBP, ICE, Secret Service all had a legal obligation to get approved privacy impact assessments before buying the tech. All failed. CBP had interim policies. ICE and Secret Service didn't have any.

"The report makes it clear that DHS agencies have been playing it fast and loose with their acquisition of Americans’ location data," EFF says. Says Congress needs to pass law forcing warrants (proposed law in response to my reporting is pushing for that).

https://www.404media.co/ice-cbp-secret-service-all-broke-law-with-smartphone-location-data/

New: multiple sources, including executives, explain why sites like Jezebel are being shut down despite being very popular. The "brand safety" industry has created a paranoid environment where companies are not prepared to run ads next to important issues.

In the world of brand safety, black box algorithms are deciding what is safe, what is not. On top of that, some companies explicitly saying exclude important social issues.

It is not the journalism. It is the ad industry that is failing it.

https://www.404media.co/advertisers-dont-want-sites-like-jezebel-to-exist/

Jason gets spicy at RAM on Macs 😬
https://www.404media.co/in-defense-of-ram-on-apple-silicon/

New from 404 Media: AI cameras took over one small American town. Now they're everywhere.

Hundreds of docs we obtained show how a company called Fusus brings usually separate camera feeds (doorbells, CCTV, drones) into one central hub for cops and adds AI to them. Object recognition, "people" more.

Fusus has quietly expanded around the entire U.S., and is now going international too. Qualitatively changes what a security camera is and means in 2023 https://www.404media.co/fusus-ai-cameras-took-over-town-america/

New: YouTube's renewed 'war' on adblockers highlights something much deeper: how Google has its hands on every part of the ecosystem, meaning it can leverage power like no one else on this. https://www.404media.co/youtubes-war-on-adblockers-shows-how-google-controls-the-internet/

New: Bandcamp United, the union for Bandcamp workers, has filed an Unfair Labor Practice violation with the NLRB against new owner Songtradr. Alleges Songtradr and Epic Games discriminated by not hiring any of the Bandcamp United bargaining committee https://www.404media.co/bandcamp-union-files-unfair-labor-practice-charge-against-songtradr/

New from 404 Media: Instagram has been auto-translating phrases that included "Palestinian" into phrases that say "terrorist". Instagram now ‘sincerely apologizes’ in a statement to us https://www.404media.co/instagram-palestinian-arabic-bio-translation/

New on 404 Media: verified Twitter 'OSINT' accounts are destroying the Israel-Palestine information ecosystem. What used to be a network of reliable experts has been taken over by profit and click driven verified accounts. Everyone loses out. "Unprecedented" levels.

I spoke to multiple respected OSINT experts who have been tracking conflict on Twitter for years. Now after Musk's changes on verification, profit:
- "all hell broke loose"
- “this entire space is 90% grifters”
- “It just creates more noise and less signal

https://www.404media.co/twitter-verified-osint-accounts-are-destroying-the-israel-palestine-information-ecosystem/

New from 404 Media: we finally got the dash cam footage of the two LAPD cops who ignored a robbery in progress to play Pokemon Go. Shows they sped through residential areas, drove wrong way down one way street to chase Pokemon

"Got him!" one shouts

https://www.404media.co/video-reveals-crucial-details-of-lapd-ignoring-robbery-to-catch-togetic-in-pokemon-go/

It is done. 85,000 words on what I think is the most important crime/surveillance story of the 21st century so far—how the FBI secretly ran an encrypted app for criminals that grew into a worldwide tech company. More on pre-ordering soon. The deepest investigation I've ever done.

New from 404 Media: bombshell government report finds ICE, CBP, and the Secret Service all illegally used smartphone location data harvested from ordinary apps. They've been using for years with no official oversight. One CBP official spied on coworkers https://www.404media.co/ice-cbp-secret-service-all-broke-law-with-smartphone-location-data/

New: this is crazy. The top Google image search result for "tank man" right now is an AI-generated "selfie" of the man. Shows that as AI content becomes more and more widespread, the platforms we use to surface content don’t have a good way to identify it https://www.404media.co/first-google-search-result-for-tiananmen-square-tank-man-is-ai-generated-selfie/

New from 404 Media: we found the $50 billion payment processor Stripe is directly profiting from the trade of AI-generated non-consensual porn. Multiple sites use Stripe for payments, Stripe takes a cut every time. Ironically, while Stripe bans sex workers.

"It's surprising to hear that Stripe would tolerate what is essentially revenge porn," one expert said.

Stripe has flat out ignored our multiple requests for comment on why it is providing the financial engine that powers the trade of AI-generated non-consensual images.

https://www.404media.co/stripe-forbids-sex-work-but-profits-from-non-consensual-porn/

New: today we reported an AI company whose founder was Forbes 30 Under 30 actually used human workers to do much of the work

Barely hours later, the company called Kaedim has now rebranded its website, messaging, making it much clearer humans are involved https://www.404media.co/kaedim-rebrands-2d-to-3d-images-after-404-media-investigation/

New from 404 Media: a leaked email shows CBP is telling airports it is upping its goals for facial recognition at airports. Will be 75% of all passengers leaving the U.S. Recently one person told they can't opt-out (eventually did)

https://www.404media.co/leaked-email-cbp-facial-recognition-75-percent/

New from 404 Media: hackers can grab your IP address through Skype by just sending a link. Target doesn't even need to click it.

I know because researcher did it to me. Sent me a link, then pasted my IP in the chat.

“Damn, RIP 💀,” I wrote in response.

And Microsoft is in no rush to fix. Company only said it would fix eventually after 404 Media contacted for comment. To fund more impact journalism, subscribe to 404 Media in the buttons in the article.

https://www.404media.co/hackers-find-your-skype-ip-address-microsoft-wont-fix/

New from 404 Media: DHS has spent millions on a tool that scans online content for "sentiment and emotion" according to documents we obtained. CBP confirmed using tech to scan travellers, can include U.S. citizens. The tech also does AI object recognition.

We are making this article free as a public service, but FOIA can cost money. Please consider subscribing via the buttons in the article https://www.404media.co/ai-surveillance-tool-dhs-cbp-sentiment-emotion-fivecast/