The 404 Media Podcast

Latest Episodes:

How to Detect Phone Spying Tech (with Cooper Quintin) Mar 02, 2026

Show notes

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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Ring Is Just Getting Started Feb 25, 2026

Show notes

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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Privacy Under Pressure (With Harlo Holmes) Feb 23, 2026

Show notes

In this week’s interview, Sam is joined by Harlo Holmes. Harlo is the Chief Security Programs Officer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. She’s a media scholar, software programmer, and activist.

Harlo and Sam discuss the important work she does every day, and why it’s only becoming more crucial. They also get into how to fight back against privacy nihilism, digital security practices everyone can be implementing regardless of their threat model, and the recent arrests and raids of journalists in the U.S.

Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you’re a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.

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Inside an AI-Powered School Feb 18, 2026

Show notes

This week we start with Emanuel’s wild story about Alpha School, a very hyped AI-powered school. Emanuel got leaked documents and spoke to former employees. After the break, Sam tells us what happens when someone decides to make an AI nudify OnlyFans with your likeness. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph tells us about the agencies buying GeoSpy, an AI that can geolocate photos in seconds.

2:49 - Understood: Deepfake Porn Empire

5:47 - 'Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs:' Inside an AI-Powered Private School

40:01 - 'The Most Dejected I’ve Ever Felt:' Harassers Made Nude AI Images of Her, Then Started an OnlyFans

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/fy-38hIhykQ

Understood: Deepfake Porn Empire

'Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs:' Inside an AI-Powered Private School

'The Most Dejected I’ve Ever Felt:' Harassers Made Nude AI Images of Her, Then Started an OnlyFans

Cops Are Buying ‘GeoSpy’, an AI That Geolocates Photos in Seconds

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What It’s Like to Be a Data Labeler Training AI Feb 16, 2026

Show notes

I recently traveled to Kenya for a journalism and AI conference. While I was there, I really wanted to meet with Michael Geoffrey Asia, the secretary general of the Data Labelers Association. Data Labeling is a huge job in Kenya. Data labelers are the people who train AI, and who also work on ensuring the outputs are accurate. In some cases, data labelers are themselves pretending to be AI, in order to train AI. Often, data labelers don’t know exactly what they’re working on, because the work usually goes through a platform, a subcontractor, or a combination of both. So basically they can be presented with a backend where they’re asked to perform tasks or answer questions; in some cases their answers may be presented in real time as AI. Data labeling is notoriously brutal and underpaid work. Workers sometimes earn as little as a few dollars a day, work under algorithmic management, and, because they’re sometimes trying to train AI what not to do or show, they are often shown graphic, violent, or sexual content for hours at a time. It’s kind of similar to content moderation jobs, and lots of people do both data labeling and content moderation, or switch back and forth between the industries. It’s such a big thing in Kenya that I mentioned it to the driver who took me to meet Michael for this interview, and she told me that she too was a data labeler, as are many of her friends. Michael has since become critical at the Data Labelers Association, a group that is fighting to organize people who do data labeling work and who is advocating for better working conditions, higher pay, and more protections for data labelers. I met Michael at a coworking space in Nairobi in a very tiny room, so I’m not on camera after this, but here’s my conversation with Michael. The Emotional Labor Behind AI Intimacy by Michael Geoffrey Asia

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/QH654YPxvEE

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Ring Is Back and Scarier Than Ever Feb 11, 2026

Show notes

We start this week with exciting news: we bought a Super Bowl ad! For… $2,550. We explain how. After the break, Jason tells us about Ring’s recently launched Search Party feature, and gives us a very timely reminder of what Ring really is and how we got here. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph breaks down Lockdown Mode and how it kept the FBI out of a Washington Post reporter’s phone.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

2:49 - Watch 404 Media’s Super Bowl Ad

27:29 - With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet:

SUBSCRIBER'S STORY - FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled
YouTube version: https://youtu.be/0JK-VSrtlWw

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The Screen Time Panic Sets Parents Up to Fail Feb 09, 2026

Show notes

Patrick Klepek on the reality of parenting in the age of Roblox and YouTube.

I listened to hours of podcasts about how screen time affects kids of all ages and how parents should manage screen time but I still felt completely unprepared for this challenge when I had a kid.

I think the reason for that is that there’s a lot of reporting about how screens are impacting kids, and a lot of reporting about the research into this subject, but rarely did I encounter a conversation between parents that talks about how any of that information can be realistically applied in the real world.

This week on the podcast we’re joined by Patrick Klepek in order to have the kind of conversation I wish I heard before I became a parent, but I think there’s something here for everyone. Patrick is the cofounder of Remap, a website and one of my favorite podcasts about video games, and the writer behind Crossplay, a newsletter about the intersection of parenting and games. Patrick is also my former colleague at Vice, back when I worked at Motherboard and he at Waypoint. Patrick has been reporting about video games for most of his life, is a wonderful writer, and a parent. I find his perspective on many of these issues—screen time, parental controls, YouTube, Roblox—extremely useful and interesting, and I hope you do as well.

YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/LjK1Swsm1m4

Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

Become a paid subscriber for early access to these interview episodes and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.

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The Latest Epstein Dump is a Disaster Feb 04, 2026

Show notes

We start this week with Sam and Emanuel’s article about the latest Epstein dump, and how it’s really a disaster in a lot of ways. After the break, Matthew runs us through Moltbot and its terrible security. After the break, Emanuel breaks down his two recent stories about a fundamental issue exposing a bunch of very sensitive data.

0:00 - Intro

2:19 - DOJ Released Unredacted Nude Images in Epstein Files

25:08 - Silicon Valley’s Favorite New AI Agent Has Serious Security Flaws

34:55 - Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/gDcOOP_Y9cU

DOJ Released Unredacted Nude Images in Epstein Files

Silicon Valley’s Favorite New AI Agent Has Serious Security Flaws

Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site

App for Quitting Porn Leaked Users' Masturbation Habits

Massive AI Chat App Leaked Millions of Users Private Conversations

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How Identity Literally Changes What You See (with Samuel Bagg) Feb 02, 2026

Show notes

This week Joseph talks to Samuel Bagg, assistant professor of political science at the University of South Carolina. Bagg recently wrote a fascinating essay, linked below, about how the problem with lots of things might be knowledge-based (people believing stuff that’s wrong or dangerous) but the solution is not more knowledge. It’s all about social identity. This is an incredibly interesting discussion, and definitely check out more of Bagg’s writing.

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/lNKOqp-rZL8

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Creators Worry Porn Platform Is Falling Into ‘AI Psychosis’ Jan 28, 2026

Show notes

We start this week with Sam’s piece about ManyVids, and how some creators believe its CEO, and the person who controls their livelihood, may be experiencing ‘AI psychosis’. After the break, Jason gives us an update on some mysterious disappearing ICE footage. In the subscribers-only section, we talk about Flock and what police are being told to do: not describe what they’re using the AI cameras for.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro 2:41 - Aliens and Angel Numbers: Creators Worry Porn Platform ManyVids Is Falling Into ‘AI Psychosis’; Amid Backlash, Massive Porn Platform ManyVids Doubles Down on Bizarre, AI-Generated Posts 32:12 - DHS Says Critical ICE Surveillance Footage From Abuse Case Was Actually Never Recorded, Doesn't Matter

YouTube version: https://youtu.be/EFv0rD9F9es

Subscribe at 404media.co for bonus content.

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