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Time again for another weekly roundup. How was everyone's week? Normal? On the podcast this week: how the latest dump of Epstein emails were released (spoiler alert: messy), and a contractor hiring randos off LinkedIn to physically track immigrants for $300. In the section for subscribers at the Supporter level: a new adult industry code of conduct that’s been a long time coming. And in this week’s interview episode, Emanuel talks to Jason Schreier, who reports about video games for Bloomberg and is one of the best journalists on this beat. Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Supporters get access to interview episodes on Friday, days before everyone else! You could be listening to the newest episode right now: Jason speaks to Chris Gilliard, the author of the upcoming book Luxury Surveillance. Gilliard has studied the rise of companies like Ring and Flock, as well as the dynamics that lead people to surveil themselves and each other. If you're a Supporter, you can find this episode in your feed right now. If not, sign up here.
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THE DOG ATE THEIR DAMNING EVIDENCE The Department of Homeland Security claimed in court proceedings that nearly two weeks worth of surveillance footage from ICE’s Broadview Detention Center in suburban Chicago has been “irretrievably destroyed” and may not be able to be recovered, according to court records reviewed by 404 Media. The filing was made as part of a class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security by people being held at Broadview, which has become the site of widespread protests against ICE. The lawsuit says that people detained at the facility are being held in abhorrent, “inhumane” conditions.  Broadview's ICE facility. Image: Paul Goyette via Flickr RANDO THE BOUNTY HUNTERA current pilot project aims to pay former law enforcement and military officers to physically track immigrants and verify their addresses to give to ICE for $300 each. There is no indication that the pilot involves licensed private investigators, and appears to be open to people who are now essentially members of the general public, 404 Media has learned. The pilot is a dramatic, and potentially dangerous, escalation in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. People without any official role in government would be tasked with tracking down targets for ICE.  Image: Kovina Đurić via Unsplash + NOT SO SECRET DESIRESAn erotic roleplay chatbot and AI image creation platform called Secret Desires left millions of user-uploaded photos exposed and available to the public. The databases included nearly two million photos and videos, including many photos of completely random people with very little digital footprint. The exposed data shows how many people use AI roleplay apps that allow face-swapping features: to create nonconsensual sexual imagery of everyone, from the most famous entertainers in the world to women who are not public figures in any way. In addition to the real photo inputs, the exposed data includes AI-generated outputs, which are mostly sexual and often incredibly graphic.  Screenshots via SecretDesiresAI on Youtube GROK TOLD ME HE’S AT YOUR MOM’S HOUSE TOOElon Musk is a better role model than Jesus, better at conquering Europe than Hitler, the greatest blowjob giver of all time, should have been selected before Peyton Manning in the 1998 NFL draft, is a better pitcher than Randy Johnson, has the “potential to drink piss better than any human in history,” and is a better porn star than Riley Reid, according to Grok, X’s sycophantic AI chatbot that has seemingly been reprogrammed to treat Musk like a god. Grok has been tweaked sometime in the last several days and will now choose Musk as being superior to the entire rest of humanity at any given task.  Image: Daniel Oberhaus on Flickr READ MOREReplying to Airlines Will Shut Down Program That Sold Your Flights Records to Government, X writes: “Good work. My subscription just renewed and it's already paid for itself. Surprising that ARC capitulated, I do have to wonder if they have some super secret alternative in mind.”
And in response to Ukraine Is Jamming Russia’s ‘Superweapon’ With a Song, Nathan S writes: “Using patriotic songs to brick enemy weaponry sounds like something that the Night Watch from Discworld would do. I love it.”
BEHIND THE BLOGThis is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss how data is accessed, AI in games, and more. JOSEPH: This was a pretty big week for impact at 404 Media. Sam’s piece on an exposed AI porn platform ended up with the company closing off those exposed images. Our months-long reporting and pressure from lawmakers led to the closure of the Travel Intelligence Program (TIP), in which a company owned by the U.S.’s major airlines sold flyers data to the government for warrantless surveillance. For the quick bit of context I have typed many, many times this year: that company is Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), and is owned by United, American, Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska, Lufthansa, Air France, and Air Canada. ARC gets data, including a traveller’s name, credit card used, where they’re flying to and from, whenever someone books a flight with one of more than 10,000 travel agencies. Think Expedia, especially. ARC then sells access to that data to a slew of government agencies, including ICE, the FBI, the SEC, the State Department, ATF, and more. Read the rest of Joseph's Behind the Blog, as well as Sam, Emanuel, and Jason's, by becoming a paid subscriber.
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