404 Media
Jason Koebler, Samantha Cole, Joseph Cox, Emanuel Maiberg — Journalist-owned tech publication, founded after Vice/Motherboard
404 Media is an independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox.
404media.coIn a kleptocracy, there is no reason for a billionaire to own an adversarial news outlet.
Four journalists who covered tech at Vice's Motherboard went independent and built something sharper than what came before. 404 Media breaks stories on surveillance, hacking, AI abuse, and internet culture with genuine investigative muscle — their reporting has triggered telecom fines, congressional investigations, and platform policy changes. The tone is direct, occasionally darkly funny, and never hedges when something deserves to be called out.
Written by Jason Koebler, Samantha Cole, Joseph Cox, Emanuel Maiberg since 2023.
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AI Agent Platform Reinvents Spam, Floods Inboxes Worldwide
Many years ago, in the early days after email was widely adopted, the technology faced an existential crisis: Spam. Instantly sending people electronic mail was revolutionary and convenient, but inboxes were quickly flooded with unwanted messages, advertisements, scams and other noise that drowned out email’s utility. The fact that Google and other email providers were able to largely solve the spam problem is a great example for how technology can greatly improve according to people ...
Charges Against Man Who Destroyed 3D-Printed ‘Decoy’ Flock Camera Drastically Reduced After State Admits It Was Not Very Valuable
In a move that should surprise zero people but is worth noting nonetheless, three felony charges against a man who destroyed a police officer’s “decoy” 3D-printed Flock camera have been reduced to misdemeanors after the police admitted the fake camera was not worth more than a thousand dollars.In August, we wrote about the Oviedo, Florida Police Department’s strategy to catch would-be Flock vandals by 3D-printing shells of Flock cameras, attaching them to poles around...
A Digital Fly Brain Has Taken Over the Internet
A digital fly brain has been trading bitcoin, parallel parking, exploring bisexuality, cutting doner kebab, playing games—including Minecraft, Doom, and Beat Saber—and generally lighting up social media timelines since it was released earlier this month.The simulated brain, known as a connectome, is a complete map of more than 166,000 neurons that make up the nervous system of an adult male Drosophila fruit fly. Developed by HHMI Janelia Research Campus in partnership with Google R...
There’s a 100% Chance AI Agents Are Already Ruining the Internet
For the last week, much of society has been focused on the idea that there’s a “more than 10 percent chance” AI could kill all humans within the next decade. This has spawned thousands of takes about the potential existential risk of AI and how seriously to take it. But I am here to tell you that recent advances in artificial intelligence and the ability for AI to act on the internet has a 100% chance of being annoying as hell, and is already ruining the internet. We sa...
New York Seizes 12 Celebrity Deepfake Websites
The New York District Attorney announced on Monday that it has seized 12 websites hosting AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery, primarily of celebrities and public figures. The DA’s office said it believes that this marks the largest seizure of such sites in history. The people using and running these sites who are now under investigation used AI tools to turn approximately 1,200 people’s photos into “hyper-realistic” images and videos of them engaged in...
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