The 404 Media Podcast

This week we start with Sam’s story discussing something that has come up a lot but no one has really answered: how do you speak to your friend or family member falling into AI psychosis? After the break, Joseph breaks down what happened when the FBI wanted data from ProtonMail. In the subscribers-only section, Emanuel tells us about the viral developers behind an app called Quittr, and how they exposed very sensitive data of hundreds of thousands of users.

1:21 - 'How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'

27:33 - Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester

SUBSCRIBER'S STORY: Viral 'Quittr' Porn Addiction App Exposed the Masturbation Habits of Hundreds of Thousands of Users

'How to Talk to Someone Experiencing 'AI Psychosis'

Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester

Viral 'Quittr' Porn Addiction App Exposed the Masturbation Habits of Hundreds of Thousands of Users

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/oRiJHLIYkkw
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Cecilia D’Anstasio on Roblox efforts to protect children from pedophiles. 

Roblox is one of those games that is more popular than you can imagine, but unless you are of a certain age group and live in that world, you’ll rarely hear about it unless it makes the news for some terrible reason. More recently, for example, we wrote about the Tumbler Ridge shooter who created a mass shooting simulator in Roblox.

But what is Roblox, how big is it exactly, and why does it seem like it's so frequently embroiled in controversy? This week we’re joined by Cecilia D’anstasio in an attempt to answer all of these questions. 

This week we’re joined by Cecilia D’Anstasio. Cecilia reports about video games at Bloomberg, and has written many important articles about the business and controversies of one of the biggest games in the world, Roblox. A few weeks ago we had Patrick Klepek on to discuss Roblox from a parent’s perspective, but today we’re going to hear about it from the perspective of a great investigative reporter and for my money the most knowledgeable journalists about Roblox.

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Roblox’s Pedophile Problem


How Roblox Became a Playground for Virtual Fascists


Roblox Game-Buying Frenzy Is Turning Teens Into Millionaires


Roblox User Group Re-Creates Real-Life Mass Shooting Events

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This week we discuss our coverage of the U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran, specifically how Polymarket and Kalshi are letting people profit from death, and that Amazon data centers were on fire after missiles hit Dubai. Then Emanuel talks about how AI translations are adding 'hallucinations' to Wikipedia articles. In the subscribers-only section, Sam tells us about a change with Amazon wishlists that may expose your address.

0:00 - Intro

1:32 - With Iran War, Kalshi and Polymarket Bet That the Depravity Economy Has No Bottom

29:07 - AI Translations Are Adding Hallucinations To Wikipedia Articles

SUBSCRIBER'S STORY - Amazon Change Means Wishlists Might Expose Your Address

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/paHMe9kFf0w
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Joseph speaks to Cooper Quintin, a security researcher and senior public interest technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Quintin is one of the people behind Rayhunter, an easy to install tool that can detect nearby IMSI-catchers. This tech, sometimes known as Stingrays, poses as a fake cellphone tower to track a phone’s location, intercept calls and texts, and can sometimes even deliver malware.

Rayhunter GitHub: https://github.com/EFForg/rayhunter

YouTube: https://youtu.be/vEFPPaOn0ts
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This week we start with Jason’s follow up to Ring launching its ‘Search Party’ feature. It turns out, according to a leaked email he got, the feature is only starting with finding lost dogs. After the break, Emanuel explains why we’ve learned nothing about amplification when it comes to the recent looksmaxxing trend. In the subscribers-only section, Sam explains how Grok produced the real name of a sex worker who performs pseudonymously.

1:11 - Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand ‘Search Party’ Surveillance Beyond Dogs⁠

30:26 - ⁠We Have Learned Nothing About Amplifying Morons⁠

⁠Grok Exposed a Porn Performer’s Legal Name and Birthdate—Without Even Being Asked⁠

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/IEq8dlnLP8o
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