Sign in

Jason Koebler

@jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
165 followers 0 following 220 posts

journalist @404mediaco Signal: jason.404 // email: jason@404media.co [bridged from mastodon.social/@jasonkoebler on the fediverse by fed.brid.gy ]

PostsRepliesMedia
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026
New: Through a series of complex agreements with cities, the White House built a massive license plate camera database accessible to the feds. The program aggregates data across license plate companies (Flock, Axon, more) & is searchable by many agencies […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
0011
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026
new: A third-party surveillance company is telling cops that it wants to add facial recognition to Flock footage and ALPR reads to help them "close the gap" in what Flock offers. Company offers racial analysis, gender analysis, behavior analysis […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
014
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026
Scoop: Meta's Muse AI can make phone calls. Internally, Meta has told employees that some of these calls will be made by human beings in a call center: www.404media.co/meta-tests-muse-ai-…
115
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026
can someone tell me what cords i need to play a video on this sick space helmet tv i just picked up? am gonna use this as source […] [Original post on mastodon.social]
101
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026
is anyone aware of a way to natively display 9:16 vertical aspect ratio on a regular macos laptop. basically i want to browse and screen record vertical, but on my computer ... without emulators, screen mirroring, or artificially resizing my windows
200
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/08/2026
Exclusive: We obtained a leaked playbook that Flock gives to cops to coach them on "how to speak to city council" to avoid getting their contracts canceled. Includes strategies like "own the narrative" by talking to mayor "before public comment periods" […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
005
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/07/2026
New: Public records show how a city that ended its Flock contract spent months trying to get the company to remove or turn off the cameras. They were told Flock "objects" to the city removing the camera itself. Eventually city put trash bags over them […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
1014
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/07/2026
New Orleans published a document saying its police could put weapons on their drones, deleted it, now says it was a mistake. But it aligns exactly with when the drone manufacturer began musing about allowing police to weaponize their drones […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
013
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/07/2026
New: The LAPD regularly pulls over innocent people because their license plates have been put on a license plate reader hotlist. In a two-month period, it "investigated" 161 innocent people whose cars were improperly put on Flock or Motorola hotlists […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
005
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/07/2026
The FTC's repair settlement with Deere is actually good, & far better than other agreements and settlements that were slaps on the wrist, maintained the status quo, or actively helped Deere. Actual good news. Here's what's different about this one […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
006
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/06/2026
New: Researchers have quantified how easy AI search is to manipulate. Just 13 words buried in a random Reddit comment can poison AI search results. They suggest this is not easy to stop: "The way you can attack these systems is so much dumber than you think it is" […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
5577
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/06/2026
New: A county commissioner in North Carolina refused to let citizens oppose Flock at a meeting this week, instead making dozens of people select one person to represent them: "You will not speak on Flock tonight...I’ve spoken. I’m not debating this." […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
002
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 10/06/2026
New: Cops keep getting arrested for using Flock to stalk people. Seemingly every week there's a new case, the details usually similar. Cops use unfettered access to Flock to surveil an ex. They most often search their plates hundreds of times over course of months […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
1019
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/06/2026
In Mississippi, lawyers on both sides of a court case were caught using AI, essentially two LLMs arguing against each other. The judge dismissed all lawyers from the case and canceled the trial […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
1014
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/06/2026
For weeks I have been desperately trying to ignore a $200k LEGO YouTuber legal drama but then the police dropped bodycam footage and filmed an insane video in The Matrix's white void room and I could no longer help myself […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
102
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/06/2026
A company that makes a no-tech, repairable tractor is having trouble keeping up with demand from farmers sick of John Deere's repair monopoly and simply want a tractor that turns on and works: www.404media.co/demand-is-booming-f…
4118
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/06/2026
New: Google is quietly trying to buy code from Android developers to train an AI coding tool as part of a "confidential" program. Tells them it's a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" for "helping society at large" […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
013
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/06/2026
New: Hackers have been stealing high-profile Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI support chatbot to change the email associated with the account they want to steal. Shockingly easy, terrible flaw associated with offloading support to AI […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
1611
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 13/05/2026
wrote about my new favorite topic: extremely bad billionaire vanity podcasts www.404media.co/washington-post-mak…
006
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/05/2026
I wrote about being inundated with AI writing at every turn, unwittingly turning my brain into the AI police, and how shitty AI writing is randomly showing up in my real life outside of the internet www.404media.co/your-ai-use-is-brea…
1112
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/05/2026
Canvas hack is extremely bad, the "biggest student data privacy disaster in history" because it contains billions of messages between students and their professors, which can be extremely sensitive: "There's personal circumstances, medical circumstances, accessibility accommodations, disputes […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
0020
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/03/2026
Was so fun to go on Close All Tabs to talk about how farmers have fought for right to repair! Thought this episode turned out really great and the show in general is amazing: www.kqed.org/news/12077465/to-hack-…
008
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 05/02/2026
This project from @codinghorror is so needed & good - well-organized guaranteed minimum income projects around the world keep showing huge promise so I'm excited to see what happens here: blog.codinghorror.com/launching-the…
blog.codinghorror.com
Launching The Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative
It's been a year since I invited Americans to join us in a **pledge to Share the American Dream** : > 1. Support organizations you feel are effectively helping those most in need across America **right now**. > > 2. Within the next five years, also contribute **public dedications**
002
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/01/2026
New: DHS now says that two weeks of missing surveillance footage from ICE's Broadview Detention center isn't "missing," it was never recorded in the first place and thus can't be produced in an abuse lawsuit. An utter shitshow […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
002
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/01/2026
extremely broad and alarming drone no fly zone designed to protect ICE agents just dropped. notable in part because some folks have used drones to film law enforcement abuses: www.404media.co/feds-create-drone-n…
0011
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/01/2026
ICE has recently bought the capability of monitoring the location histories of entire neighborhoods worth of phones. The data is likely harvested from apps that sell your data, which filters up through data brokers and eventually to companies that sell to ICE […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
2240
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/12/2025
SCOOP: Flock left at least 60 of its AI-powered, people-tracking surveillance cameras exposed and livestreaming to the open internet. We tracked ourselves. The exposure highlights the power of these cameras and types of things they're tracking. Not just cars. […] [Original post on mastodon.social]
0323
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 11/12/2025
Porn is being injected into dozens of government websites across the country using malicious PDFs. A separate attack is hijacking govt websites to redirect to penis enlargement scams and animal vagina masturbators. Cool stuff […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
1013
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/12/2025
404 Media is making a print zine! About the surveillance technologies used by ICE. 16 pages, riso printed. Shipping early January. Features reworked versions of our best reporting and a few new things. We're very excited! And hope to do more if people like it […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
016
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 24/11/2025
X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
005
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 12/11/2025
New: A judge in Washington has ruled images from Flock surveillance cameras are public records and that anyone can request them. Highlights the pervasiveness of this tech and just how much surveillance is being done. Very notable ruling […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
0112
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/11/2025
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
003
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 06/11/2025
New: The FBI filed a subpoena trying to unmask the person or people behind archive.is/archive.today, which have been running anonymously for 13 yrs. Site was widely used by GamerGate, and then to bypass paywalls but has become kind of core archiving infrastructure […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
1018
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/11/2025
this is very cool: Kodak quietly relisted Kodak Gold and Ultramax on its website and confirmed to me it is selling the films directly to photography stores again. this is a big deal because for the last decade, Kodak has not controlled distribution of its own film […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
2312
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 15/10/2025
The end of Windows 10 support is going to be an environmental and security disaster, an egregious example of planned obsolescence that doesn't have to be this way: www.404media.co/the-end-of-windows-…
404media.co
The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making
In an example of egregious planned obsolescence, as many as 400 million computers will soon hit the waste stream.
0519
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2025
Some exciting news: 404 Media just won a grant via Muckrock to investigate book bans and educational censorship in the U.S. The plan is to file hundreds of public records requests around the country and to report on and archive all the documents for public use […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
1224
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2025
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 […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
012
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2025
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 […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
0122
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2025
New: We have just sued ICE to demand it turns over a secretive spyware contract that it refuses to release: www.404media.co/were-suing-ice-for-…
0012
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2025
Good news: Rather than deal with tariff logistics, some international eBay and Etsy sellers have simply jacked their shipping costs up to $2,000 for Americans buyers: www.404media.co/2-000-shipping-inte…
008
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2025
Talked to 23 people who suddenly have to pay huge tariffs or otherwise cannot get chainmail from Pakistan, yarn from France, retro computers from Japan, metal music from the Netherlands, DVDs from Germany, cosplay supplies, sunscreen, etc […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
003
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/09/2025
BREAKING: Michael Pratt, the ringleader of Girls Do Porn, was sentenced to 27 years in prison today. @samleecole.bsky.social is at the court in what sounds like a completely gut-wrenching day: www.404media.co/michael-pratt-girls…
002
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 03/09/2025
AI "boring history" slop has taken over YouTube and is particularly insidious because it flattens history and drowns out the tireless work of creators who have been integral to legitimizing YouTube as a place for high-quality history videos […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
008
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/08/2025
Trump take LEGO: www.404media.co/lego-stops-shipping…
213
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2025
Buying anything from overseas is about to get more expensive, more logistically complicated, slower, and overall more annoying. Film photography community, retro games community, people into skincare already seeing chaos on eBay. eBay sellers locking US buyers out […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
3010
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2025
New: An app developer has restored functionality to popular Echelon exercise bikes after the company made them all-but-useless unless you have a subscription. But he can't legally release the software […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
015
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/08/2025
Breaking: 4chan and Kiwi Farms have sued the United Kingdom over the Online Safety Act: www.404media.co/4chan-and-kiwi-farm…
206
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 25/08/2025
80s nostalgia AI slop: A niche like any other, reverse engineered by 20-something digital nomads in Bali to boomerfy the masses as they astral project to a fake past in service of making fractions of a cent per view on Zuckerberg's cultish algorithmic slop machine […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
128
Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 22/08/2025
Today is the two year anniversary of 404 Media, which is hard to fathom. We wrote about how it's going, what we've done, what we're going to do, and what we've learned. We cannot do this without the support of our subscribers and for that we are endlessly thankful […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
2116