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Most cities that have reconsidered their contracts have done so via city council meetings and public debate that have played out over the course of months, and both Dayton, Ohio and Evanston, Illinois city officials told residents that they were not sure whether they could immediately deactivate or remove the cameras under the terms of their contracts. And so both cities decided to physically block them as a stop-gap measure, showing that cities feel that they do not have the ability to unilaterally decide when to stop using Flock surveillance cameras. @Jasonkoebler explains.

Read now at 404media.co

After months of discussion and outrage from residents, the city council of the tiny town of Bandera, Texas voted 3-2 to immediately end its contract with the surveillance company Flock. In the aftermath of the vote, one of the dissenting council members crashed out and said he would be introducing measures to ban cell phones, the internet, cameras, and nearly all technology in the town of roughly 900 people. After the vote, Councilmember Jeff Flowers, a staunch Flock supporter, said that if people in the town wanted privacy then the city council should basically ban all technology, essentially calling people who did not want government surveillance hypocrites. Flowers said he would propose a series of new regulations at an upcoming city council meeting, which he is calling the “Bandera Declaration of Digital Independence.” In a letter posted by the local newspaper, the Bandera Bulletin, Flowers said that in the name of preserving privacy he would suggest the city go back to the days of 1880. @jasonkoebler reports.

Read now at 404media.co

Residents of an Atlanta suburb have been rocked by the revelation that sales employees at Flock have been accessing sensitive cameras in the town to demonstrate the company’s surveillance technology to police departments around the country. The cameras accessed have included surveillance tech in a children’s gymnastics room, a playground, a school, a Jewish community center, and a pool. @jasonkoebler has more.

Find 404 Media on YouTube for more or head to 404media.co to read now.

This week, we talk to Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, about a rash of people physically destroying AI and surveillance infrastructure. Brian puts this wave of attacks in the historical context of the Luddites, who are notoriously misunderstood and fought for worker protections against automation during the Industrial Revolution. Over the last few months, we have seen people in San Francisco and Los Angeles torch Waymos, bash delivery robots with baseball bats, destroy Flock cameras, and threaten AI data centers and the politicians championing them. @jasonkoebler has more.

Find 404 Media on Youtube for more or wherever you listen to your fave podcasts.

Georgia State Patrol used its system of Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance cameras to issue a ticket to a motorcyclist who was allegedly looking at his cell phone while riding, according to a copy of the citation obtained by 404 Media. The incident is notable because Flock cameras are not designed for traffic enforcement or minor code violations, and many jurisdictions explicitly tell constituents that the cameras will not be used for traffic enforcement. @jasonkoebler has more.

Read now at 404media.co

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern Right to Repair movement.

In this episode, tech journalist and @404mediaco co-founder @jasonkoebler takes us to the corn fields of Nebraska, home to the underground world of tractor hacking. We dive into the unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians, which helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states. But the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Listen at the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Photos via Getty Images: SDI Productions / Andrew Sacks/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / redtea / bymuratdeniz

#closealltabs #righttorepair #fixit #tractorsupply #hackathon

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern Right to Repair movement.

In this episode, tech journalist and @404mediaco co-founder @jasonkoebler takes us to the corn fields of Nebraska, home to the underground world of tractor hacking. We dive into the unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians, which helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states. But the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Listen at the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Photos via Getty Images: SDI Productions / Andrew Sacks/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / redtea / bymuratdeniz

#closealltabs #righttorepair #fixit #tractorsupply #hackathon

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern Right to Repair movement.

In this episode, tech journalist and @404mediaco co-founder @jasonkoebler takes us to the corn fields of Nebraska, home to the underground world of tractor hacking. We dive into the unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians, which helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states. But the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Listen at the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Photos via Getty Images: SDI Productions / Andrew Sacks/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / redtea / bymuratdeniz

#closealltabs #righttorepair #fixit #tractorsupply #hackathon

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern Right to Repair movement.

In this episode, tech journalist and @404mediaco co-founder @jasonkoebler takes us to the corn fields of Nebraska, home to the underground world of tractor hacking. We dive into the unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians, which helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states. But the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Listen at the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Photos via Getty Images: SDI Productions / Andrew Sacks/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / redtea / bymuratdeniz

#closealltabs #righttorepair #fixit #tractorsupply #hackathon

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern Right to Repair movement.

In this episode, tech journalist and @404mediaco co-founder @jasonkoebler takes us to the corn fields of Nebraska, home to the underground world of tractor hacking. We dive into the unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians, which helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states. But the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Listen at the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Photos via Getty Images: SDI Productions / Andrew Sacks/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / redtea / bymuratdeniz

#closealltabs #righttorepair #fixit #tractorsupply #hackathon

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern Right to Repair movement.

In this episode, tech journalist and @404mediaco co-founder @jasonkoebler takes us to the corn fields of Nebraska, home to the underground world of tractor hacking. We dive into the unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians, which helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states. But the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Listen at the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Photos via Getty Images: SDI Productions / Andrew Sacks/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / redtea / bymuratdeniz

#closealltabs #righttorepair #fixit #tractorsupply #hackathon

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern Right to Repair movement.

In this episode, tech journalist and @404mediaco co-founder @jasonkoebler takes us to the corn fields of Nebraska, home to the underground world of tractor hacking. We dive into the unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians, which helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states. But the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Listen at the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Photos via Getty Images: SDI Productions / Andrew Sacks/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / redtea / bymuratdeniz

#closealltabs #righttorepair #fixit #tractorsupply #hackathon

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern Right to Repair movement.

In this episode, tech journalist and @404mediaco co-founder @jasonkoebler takes us to the corn fields of Nebraska, home to the underground world of tractor hacking. We dive into the unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians, which helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states. But the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Listen at the link in bio, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Photos via Getty Images: SDI Productions / Andrew Sacks/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / redtea / bymuratdeniz

#closealltabs #righttorepair #fixit #tractorsupply #hackathon

Barely three months ago, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would be bringing user-generated AI slop to Disney+ as part of a landmark $1 billion investment into OpenAI that would allow people to use Sora to create short videos from more than 200 beloved Disney characters. The announcement was so important that Disney’s then-CEO Bob Iger and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman both championed it in a press release that is full of the kind of cope that Silicon Valley AI boosters and some Hollywood executives suggest would unleash a new era of moviemaking and storytelling powered by AI that is cheaper than making movies with human workers.

“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” Iger said.

“Disney will become a major customer of OpenAI, using its APIs to build new products, tools, and experiences, including for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees,” the press release stated. “

Well, Tuesday was a disastrous day for that future, and the complete and utter failure of both Sora and Disney’s dalliance with AI garbage suggests AI slop is indeed not the future of Hollywood. Disney did not even get to the point here it allowed people to build anything with Disney characters before pulling the plug on the whole endeavor and its investment. @jasonkoebler reports.

Read now at 404media.co

The DOGE deposition videos a judge ordered removed from YouTube on Friday after they had gone massively viral have since been backed up across the internet, including as a torrent and to the Internet Archive. Judge Colleen McMahon ordered the plaintiffs to “immediately take any and all possible steps to claw back the videos of the depositions of the witnesses identified in the Government’s motion.” As of Friday, the videos were no longer available on the MLA’s YouTube channel.

404 Media on why the call for removal is absurd and how relevant these clips are to the general public. Find 404 Media on YouTube to listen now or wherever you listen to your fave podcasts.

This month, 404 Media’s @jasonkoebler testified to the California State Assembly about the dystopic surveillance tool Flock and its infiltration across major US cities. Through our reporting we’ve learned that Flock, which is networked across America with over 80,000 automatic license plate reader cameras, has been used by local police to give information to ICE. We also learned that police in Texas used Flock to look for a woman who they said had a self-administered abortion, including cameras in states where abortion is legal such as Washington and Illinois, according to multiple datasets obtained by 404 Media.

This is part of a session hosted by the California State Assembly’s standing committee on privacy and consumer protection.

Why are politicians still focused on trans kids in sports?

Check out the new Factually! episode with Dylan McKeever and Jason Koebler wherever you get podcasts.

Both Polymarket and Kalshi have decided to go with the line that letting people bet on war, politics, and the general nature of reality will not distort reality through the insider trading we’ve already repeatedly seen, but will somehow improve public trust in the reporting of news.

This is, conveniently, a stance that allows Polymarket to continue to profit from death and war, and allows its customers to continue to bet on it.

The obvious farce of all of this is that Kalshi’s line that “we design the rules to prevent people from profiting from death” is obviously untrue on its face, it’s just that the company would rather let you bet on the deaths and suffering of civilians rather than dictators and presidents. Betting that Khamenei would stay in power is an explicit bet that he would be allowed to continue silencing dissent and killing those who oppose him; betting that he would be deposed is an explicit bet on what has already become a very deadly, illegal regional war.

We are discussing the ins-and-outs of which random gamblers get paid out during an illegal war in which already hundreds of school children have been bombed to death feels like the type of grotesque sideshow that is only possible because the U.S. government is only interested in regulating its perceived political enemies, and which only feels possible because much of the American economy feels held together by cope and the gobs of money being thrown into AI, data centers, and gambling, @jasonkoebler reports.

Read at 404media.co

The legal saga over surveillance footage from within an Immigration and Customs Enforcement （ICE) detention center in suburban Chicago has reached new levels of Kafkaesque absurdity, with the federal government losing three hard drives it was supposed to put footage on, refusing to provide footage from five critical surveillance cameras, and delivering soundless video of a highly contested visit from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. @jasonkoebler reports.

Read at 404media.co