When “Alison” started working for Operation Underground Railroad, she wanted to make a difference in the lives of kids. She was a former Marine and social worker who’d seen the devastating effects that abuse could have on people. She wanted to stop it before it happened.
She ended up with a broken orbital bone, bleeding and vomiting in a gym after a training exercise gone wrong. This week on Cyber, Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman walk us through their latest reporting on Tim Ballard and Operation Underground Railroad.
Stories discussed in this episode
A Private Island, Downloads From God, and the 'Couples Ruse': Inside the Dangerous World of Tim Ballard's Operation Underground Railroad
Five of Tim Ballard’s Alleged Victims Have Filed a Lawsuit Against Him
Women Accuse Tim Ballard of ‘Spiritual Manipulation, Grooming, and Sexual Misconduct’
A Century-Old, Debunked Theory Is Fueling the TikTok Moral Panic
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What Happens When an Anti-Sex Trafficking Operation Goes Wrong

Hacking. Hackers. Disinformation campaigns. Encryption. The Cyber. This stuff gets complicated really fast, but Motherboard spends its time embedded in the infosec world so you don't have to. Host Matthew Gault talks every week to Motherboard reporters about the stories they're breaking and to the industry's most famous hackers and researchers about the biggest news in cybersecurity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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VICE may be over, but Cyber is still here at the end of it all. Matthew, Emily, Anna Merlan, Tim Marchman and Mack Lamoureux are here to eulogize the company and explain what the fuck just happened.
Thanks for listening over the years. And don’t worry—we’re not logging off for good. Matthew and Emily will be back sometime soon with a new podcast project. Stay tuned.
Vice’s New Owners Prepare to Slash What’s Left of Its Work Force Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The End of Vice

Cyber is a show covering a diverse range of topics. We’ve covered everything from crypto to AI to online cults. If it touches technology or online culture, we’ll talk about it. That’s how you get an episode like today’s, which is both a deep dive into professional wrestling’s latest scandal and a discussion of the latest existential threat: nuclear weapons in space.
Vice features editor Timothy Marchman can do it all. First, Marchman walks us through the newest allegations against WWE boss Vince McMahon. It’s a civil case that may have wider ramifications for how the U.S. handles non-disclosure agreements. Then we get into a bit of Congressional kayfabe: the reports that Russia wants to put nuclear weapons in space.
Co-Defendant in Vince McMahon Sex Trafficking Lawsuit Says He Was a Victim Too
NDAs Vince McMahon Signed Behind WWE's Back May Be Worthless, Say Experts
Despite Denials, WWE Management Knew Wrestler Said She Had Been Raped on Military Base
WWE Wrestler Ashley Massaro Accused Vince McMahon of Sexually Preying on Wrestlers in Previously Unreleased Statement​
Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Congress's Fears of Russian Space Nukes Is Political Theatre

An AI-generated Biden called voters in New Hampshire ahead of the primary and told them to stay home. X locked down the search term “Taylor Swift” after AI-generated nudes of the pop giant flooded the platform. In the wake of both scandals, Congress has struggled with how to fight back against the flood of fake bullshit. Keeping the world from drowning in fakes affects all of us, but some of the cures sound worse than the sickness.
This week on Cyber, Motherboard Senior Editor Janus Rose and Fight for the Future’s Lia Holland come on to talk about the limits of legislation around AI-generated scams and abuse.
Stories discussed in this episode.
Congress Is Trying to Stop AI Nudes and Deepfake Scams Because Celebrities Are Mad
Taylor Swift Is Living Every Woman’s AI Porn Nightmare
‘Palworld’ Is Tearing the Internet Apart
An AI-Generated Content Empire Is Spreading Fake Celebrity Images on Google
Cyber Live is coming to YouTube. Subscribe here to be notified.
Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI Deepfakes Are Everywhere and Congress is Completely Out of Their Depth

Ten years ago, Big Tech reached a peak. Facebook had wormed its way into the lives of billions of people. The mainstream news covered iPhones releases like they were Taylor Swift concerts. Elon Musk was promising to colonize Mars and fill the streets with self-driving cars. In 2024, the wheels have come off all these dreams. Musk has filled the sky with satellites, but no colonists, and constantly fights people on X. Self-driving cars are killing people. Apple has released a $3,500 VR headset that’s been met with middling reviews. And Facebook’s only recent innovation is eating its own tail to churn out massive profits.
How did it come to this? This week on Cyber, PR provocateur and tech critic Ed Zitron stops by to tell us about everything he saw at the Consumer Electronics Show, the problem with most tech journalism, and why we all turned against Big Tech. He’ll explore these topics more in depth on his new podcast, Better Offline, which launches later this month.
Stories discussed in this episode:
Better Offline
Rabbit AI Introduction Video
Where’s Your Ed At
How Tech Outstayed Its Welcome
Cyber Live is coming to YouTube. Subscribe here to be notified.
Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tech Used to Be Bleeding Edge, Now it’s Just Bleeding

We live in a golden age of data. Every day, hacktivists release terabytes of data on sites like DDoSecrets, but sorting through it all requires some technical knowledge. What if you don’t know XML from SQL let alone how to write a simple Python script?
Micah Lee is the director of information security for The Intercept and he’s on Cyber today to talk about his new book: Hacks, Leaks, and Revelations. The book is a manual for people who want to learn how to parse and organize hacked datasets. It also contains stories of how Lee and others handled famous cases such as Blueleaks, neo-Nazi Discord chat rooms, and the Parler leak. If you’re not interested in diving into corporate or government secrets, you might learn something about how to protect your own data.
Hacks, Leaks, and Revelations: The Art of Analyzing Hacked and Leaked Data
Stories discussed in this episode:
How to Authenticate Large Datasets
Tech Companies and Governments Are Censoring the Journalist Collective DDoSecrets
Cyber Live is coming to YouTube. Subscribe here to be notified.
Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What Happens When an Anti-Sex Trafficking Operation Goes Wrong

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