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Sam Cole

@samleecole.bsky.social

21K followers 400 following 570 posts

journalist / co-founder @404media.co signal (for sensitive comms ONLY thanks): sam.404 complain about the paywall catch a block

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · Aug 22

it's been two wild years, and we can't wait to keep rocking into year three www.404media.co/two-years-40...

404 Media at Two Years: How We've Grown, and What's Next

We're reflecting on the impact our journalism had in year two, how we've grown with your support, and what we aspire to accomplish in year three.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Sam Cole

Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 17h

The charging documents on this are a wild, wild ride.

National Guardsman Planned American Caliphate on Discord, Sent 3D Printed Guns to Al Qaeda, Feds Say

‘We don’t want democracy lol. We want caliphate.’ According to court records, an Oklahoma guardsman with a security clearance gave 3D printed firearms to an FBI agent posing as an Al Qaeda contact.

www.404media.co

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 1d

I initially gave it six months but I guess I should have given it six days www.404media.co/behind-the-b...

But the thing about slop on those platforms is that it exists alongside real humans, and coming across a truly weird piece of AI content while scrolling hits the right horror-disgust-pleasure point on our lizard brains to make it engaging. When it’s all slop all the time, is that going to eventually become extremely bland? I’m thinking yes, and Sora will be an experiment in platforms that OpenAI abandons within the year. I think it’ll go the way of Zuck’s nu-metaverse and not be fun anymore soon enough. It’s like smoking a whole pack of cigarettes in one sitting: not that enjoyable if you’re allowed, and not that salacious or fun once it’s all you get.

I think reader Tony S has it right in their comment on Jason's Sora blog:

"There's no way that anyone is using this as a 'social media' app in a week or two. The scammers will surely just add it to their growing list of tools that let them rip off advertisers by flooding Facebook and YouTube and where ever else they think they can make $5 on ads with cheap, fast garbage. I truly wonder at what point do the advertisers stop spending money on all these online ads, knowing that this is what they're advertising alongside. The ecosystem has to hit a point of being so polluted that they and the audiences move on, right?"

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 1d

but what's really weird is one of the memes for whining about this issue is making a LEGO minifig do the complaining, IP that as far as I can tell is actively protected by LEGO:

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 1d

someone got yellllled aaaat, and now the guardrails are so strict they're overcompensating and blocking prompts for all sorts of stuff, including public domain characters. no one on the app is taking it well

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 1d

the only thing people want to do on Sora, it seems, is generate images of copyrighted characters. now that they can't, they're crashing the fuck out www.404media.co/sora-2-conte...

People Are Crashing Out Over Sora 2’s New Guardrails

OpenAI’s Sora 2 platform started just one week ago as an AI-generated copyright infringement free-for-all. Now, people say they’re struggling to generate anything without being hit with a violation er...

www.404media.co

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 2d

apparently I need to say "tried to mislead" since some people seem to think we took cops at their word in this or any instance. clearly not lol

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Reposted by Sam Cole

Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 2d

It's laughably easy to remove the watermark from Sora 2 generated videos. 404 Media found dozens of websites and pieces of software that will do it.

Sora 2 Watermark Removers Flood the Web

Bypassing Sora 2's rudimentary safety features is easy and experts worry it'll lead to a new era of scams and disinformation.

www.404media.co

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 2d

thank you and welcome!

Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 2d

love our youtube commenters

Comment on a 404 media YouTube video from @freeload101 1 hour ago:
First time seeing you all. I went though the entire pay feed and just saw you all for the first time. I thought Emanuel was a teenager and Jason was a old man ! A++++

Reposted by Sam Cole

Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 2d

Today at 4:30 PM I'll be moderating a panel about AI and nuclear weapons. Risks? Technology? Games? The IAEA? We'll get into all of it. The expert list is stacked. Register here to watch live.

secure.everyaction.com/rhSOFnj8ekO4...

VIRTUAL - Getting Off the Collision Course: The Case Against Arms Racing

secure.everyaction.com

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 2d

and you'll NEVER GUESS what happened next bsky.app/profile/jaso...

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 2d

On top of all of this, and separately: Since we published this story, the Sheriff I talked to and who has been the main figure in this has been arrested for allegedly sexually harassing his employees and for aggravated perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury about it

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 2d

Cops misled journalists about using a powerful surveillance tool to track a woman across state lines because she had an abortion, then tried to cover it up when we found out the truth. Huge story from @jasonkoebler.bsky.social and @josephcox.bsky.social this morning: www.404media.co/police-said-...

Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime

Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Sam Cole

Emanuel Maiberg @emanuelmaiberg.bsky.social · 3d

Got a tip recently about how Trump's tariffs are preventing libraries from sharing books, and causing their loaned books to get stuck or lost in other countries: www.404media.co/libraries-ca...

Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs

Libraries have shared their collections internationally for decades. Trump’s tariffs are throwing that system into chaos and can ‘hinder academic progress.’

www.404media.co

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 6d

😑😑😑😑 www.404media.co/google-calls...

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 6d

"Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move." www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’

Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Sam Cole

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 9d

Here are screenshots of the document itself, showing that ICE considered two other companies (both of which we've covered before) but went with Penlink/Cobwebs because it's an "all-in-one" solution for location data and social media www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 8d

ICE has a one-stop shop tool for searching massive amounts of social media and location data, including data remotely harvested from peoples’ smartphones www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day

Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.

www.404media.co

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 9d

lawyers caught using AI have used every excuse in the book short of their dog ate their filings www.404media.co/18-lawyers-c...

18 Lawyers Caught Using AI Explain Why They Did It

Lawyers blame IT, family emergencies, their own poor judgment, their assistants, illness, and more.

www.404media.co

Reposted by Sam Cole

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 9d

Spent many (many!) hours pulling legal explanations and apologies from lawyers who were caught using AI that hallucinated in which they explained to a judge why they used AI. The explanations are astonishing and extremely good:

www.404media.co/18-lawyers-c...

18 Lawyers Caught Using AI Explain Why They Did It

Lawyers blame IT, family emergencies, their own poor judgment, their assistants, illness, and more.

www.404media.co

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 10d

"I will not mince words here: This was a hostile takeover." www.404media.co/how-ruby-wen...

How Ruby Went Off the Rails

What happened to RubyGems, Bundler, and the Open Source drama that controls the internet infrastructure.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Sam Cole

Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 16d

The fact they are suing Segpay, a payment processor, based on what a client of Segpay is alleged to have done? That's a shocking escalation, and I don't see how the law as written in any way justifies that.

404 Media @404media.co · 16d

Florida is suing massively popular anime and hentai games platform Nutaku, as well as the payment processor Segpay, in two complaints that allege the companies ignored the state’s age verification law.

🔗 www.404media.co/florida-laws...

Florida Sues Hentai Site and High-Risk Payment Processor for Not Verifying Ages

Florida's attorney general claims Nutaku, Spicevids, and Segpay are in violation of the state's age verification law.

www.404media.co

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Reposted by Sam Cole

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 14d

The much-hyped SIM farm the Secret Service seized uses readily available off the shelf tech that, very interestingly, has also become critical to ticket scalping. I, like others, am extremely not buying the idea that this was intended to take down the cell network

www.404media.co/the-sim-farm...

The SIM Farm Hardware Seized by the Secret Service Is Also Popular With Ticket Scalpers

The tech the Secret Service claims can be used to "disable cell phone towers" is very commonly used by ticket scalpers to game Ticketmaster.

www.404media.co

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Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 14d

listen to the 404 Media podcast wherever you get your pods www.404media.co/podcast-were...

Podcast: We're Suing ICE. Here's Why

Our lawsuit against ICE; the rise of AI 'workslop'; Steam's malicious game problem; and Silk Song.

www.404media.co

Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 14d

on the podcast this week @mjgault.bsky.social joined the gang for a nuanced discussion about Silksong, difficult games, and the challenges developers face. and then they asked me what I thought, so

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