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Tech

The Pest Who Shames Companies Into Fixing Security Flaws

A profile of Christopher Soghoian whose “productions follow a similar pattern, a series of orchestrated events that lead to the public shaming of a large entity—Google, Facebook, the federal government—over transgressions that the 30-year-old technologist sees as unacceptable violations of privacy.”

Mike Kessler Wired Nov 2011 10min Permalink

Arts Tech

TikTok and the Vibes Revival

Increasingly, what we’re after on social media is not narrative or personality but moments of audiovisual eloquence.

Kyle Chayka New Yorker Apr 2021 Permalink

Tech

#Riot

On the intersection of technology and revolt.

Bill Wasik Wired Jan 2012 30min Permalink

Politics Tech

A Regulatory Framework for the Internet

“The key differentiator of Super-Aggregators is that they have three-sided markets: users, content providers (which may include users!), and advertisers. Both content providers and advertisers want the user’s attention, and the latter are willing to pay for it.”

Ben Thompson Stratechery Apr 2019 Permalink

Tech World

The Agency

An investigation into the Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency.

Adrian Chen New York Times Magazine Jun 2015 20min Permalink

Business Tech

All LinkedIn with Nowhere to Go

The trouble with the all-but-obligatory networking site, “an Escher staircase masquerading as a career ladder.”

Read more

Previously: Ann Friedman on the Longform Podcast

Ann Friedman The Baffler Sep 2013 15min Permalink

Business Tech

The Inside Story of Facebook’s Biggest Setback

The social network positioned its plan to bring the internet to millions of Indians as a gift. The country saw a catch.

Rahul Bhatia The Guardian May 2016 25min Permalink

Crime Tech

Who Set Jessica Chambers on Fire? The Internet Is Trying to Find Out

A murder case in Mississippi catches the eye of amateur sleuths on Facebook, who proceed to harass everyone involved in the case.

Katie J.M. Baker Buzzfeed Jun 2015 30min Permalink

Science Tech

Instagram’s Most Famous Mules

On the man who has turned the grunt work of packing into a social media phenomenon.

Carolyn Kormann New Yorker Jun 2015 10min Permalink

Tech

All Is Fair in Love and Twitter

On the service’s multiple origin stories.

Read more

Excerpted from Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal.

Nick Bilton New York Times Magazine Oct 2013 25min Permalink

Tech World Media Travel

I Followed My Stolen iPhone Around the World, Became a Celebrity in China, and Found a Friend for Life

“None of this should have ever happened. It makes absolutely no sense at all. It’s truly crazy.”

Matt Stopera Buzzfeed Mar 2015 20min Permalink

Tech

Brianna Wu vs. the Troll Army

“I laugh off 90 percent of the stuff I’m sent,” Wu says. “But it’s the 10 percent.”

David Whitford Inc. Mar 2015 10min Permalink

Tech Media

King of Clickbait

How a young entrepreneur built a media empire by repackaging memes.

Andrew Marantz New Yorker Dec 2014 20min Permalink

Tech

The Lives of Ronald Pinn

Creating, and then attempting to dismantle, a fake persona based on a man who died in 1984.

Andrew O'Hagan London Review of Books Dec 2014 35min Permalink

Crime Tech

How The NYPD Is Using Social Media To Put Harlem Teens Behind Bars

How Facebook ‘likes’ landed Jelani Henry in Rikers.

Ben Popper The Verge Dec 2014 20min Permalink

Tech

The Complete and Chaotic History of Reddit

“Traffic was never the problem. Everything else was.”

Seth Fiegerman Mashable Dec 2014 35min Permalink

Crime Tech

“U Want Me 2 Kill Him?”

A teenager orchestrates his own attempted murder via an Internet chatroom.

Judy Bachrach Vanity Fair Feb 2005 30min Permalink

Politics Tech World

U.S. Secretly Created 'Cuban Twitter' to Stir Unrest

An investigation into the ill-fated text messaging platform ZunZuneo.

Desmond Butler, Jack Gillum, Alberto Arce AP Apr 2014 20min Permalink

Tech

The Facebook Comment That Ruined a Life

“I guess what you post on Facebook matters.” An 18-year-old faces 10 years in jail for a sarcastic threat on Facebook.

Craig Malisow Dallas Observer Feb 2014 10min Permalink

Tech

Sad YouTube

Finding personal stories buried deep in the YouTube comments.

Mark Slutsky Buzzfeed Jan 2014 15min Permalink

Sports Tech

What Happened at Brian Holloway's House?

Searching for the real reason why a bunch of kids partying at the empty home of an NFL player became a national story.

Jay Caspian Kang Grantland Nov 2013 20min Permalink

Tech

That Goddamned Blue Bird and Me

On Twitter’s pleasures and perils.

Kathryn Schulz New York Nov 2013 10min Permalink

Crime Sports Tech

The Strava Files

After two cycling-related deaths, the social fitness network becomes a target.

David Darlington Bicycling Magazine Oct 2013 35min Permalink

Tech

4chan Camgirl Loli-chan Grows Up

What happened to “one of maybe 20 girls who became famous in the mid-‘00s for posting photos of themselves on image boards.”

Allie Conti The Miami New Times Oct 2013 20min Permalink

Business Tech

"It Was the Biggest Game of Chicken I’ve Ever Seen."

A post-acquisition profile of Tumblr’s David Karp.

Molly Young New York Sep 2013 15min Permalink

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