Podcast: Leak Show Cops Can Break into Locked iPhones
404 Media Joseph Cox
A leaked video claims cops can get into iPhones even after they reboot and lock themselves. The episode also tees up an LLM prison freakout and a ChatGPT-in-court mess.
Based on reporting by 404 Media, Joseph Cox — read the original for the full story.
Summary, retelling and take written by AI under human oversight; images are AI-generated illustrations. How we work · Report an error
404 Media’s latest podcast opens with Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai’s report on a leaked video that claims police can bypass the iPhone’s inactivity reboot and get back into phones that should be locked down. That’s the kind of detail that makes every device seizure story feel a little less tidy. If the claim holds up, the gap between “locked” and “actually protected” is smaller than Apple users would like to think.
The episode doesn’t stop there. After the break, Jason covers the internet’s latest overreaction: people losing their minds over an LLM “torture” prison. The phrasing alone tells you the debate is already doing a lot of heavy lifting, and not all of it is smart.
Then, in the subscribers-only section, Sam walks through a wild ChatGPT case in New Mexico. The source doesn’t spell out every turn here, but the setup is clear enough: the chatbot story has reached the courtroom, where made-up material can turn from weird novelty into something much more serious.
The show is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, with bonus content behind the paid subscriber feed. If you subscribe, 404 Media says Transistor sends an email with the link to the subscribers-only version, and the extended video link is there too. It’s also in the show notes, which is a nice reminder that even in 2026, access management still runs on emails people have to dig for.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the same old pattern with a fresh coat of panic: people love talking about AI ethics and phone security right up until the details get awkward. The real headline is not that systems are mysterious; it’s that institutions keep assuming “locked” means solved. It doesn’t, and the messier the tech gets, the less comforting that word becomes.
Read more about this at: 404 Media