Malware by Boys Club

What it is

Malware* is the newsletter published by **Boys Club**, the crypto and tech community co-founded by **Deana Burke** and *Natasha Hoskins. Boys Club started as a way into crypto for people the industry had structurally ignored, and it has since grown into a community, a podcast and this newsletter.

The positioning is explicit: "not boring tech and business news", with a promise to make you "the smartest one in your group chat". It runs roughly weekly.

What it covers

Recent issues give the flavour better than any description:

- "asking for Full Disk Access"

- "4 Chinese AI models walk into a bar"

- "the fake brand that ChatGPT fell for"

- "can an AI commit a felony?"

- "RIP free internet"

- "anti-data center folks are vibecoding?"

So: AI model releases, platform permissions and privacy, AI liability, the data centre backlash, internet enshittification. The same beat as any serious tech publication, delivered with jokes and without the pretence that any of this is dignified.

Why it matters

Tech and AI coverage has a register problem. Most of it is written either for investors or for institutions, in a voice that assumes the reader is a professional stakeholder rather than someone the technology is happening to. Malware is one of the few outlets working the other end, treating the reader as a person in a group chat, and treating the industry as a subject for ridicule as much as analysis.

That matters for media literacy specifically. Humour is a legitimate analytical tool. "Can an AI commit a felony?" is a real jurisprudential question dressed as a bit, and the framing gets people to engage with liability questions they would otherwise skip. The Boys Club project has always been about lowering the barrier to entry without dumbing down what is behind it.

It is also a reminder that crypto and AI discourse are the same social world, with the same incentives and much of the same money, a connection that specialist AI newsletters tend to leave out.

Where to start

- "can an AI commit a felony?" for the liability question, seriously handled.

- "the fake brand that ChatGPT fell for" on model reliability and how easily a language model launders a fabrication.

- "anti-data center folks are vibecoding?" on the infrastructure backlash meeting its own contradictions.

Key takeaways

- Newsletter from Boys Club, the community co-founded by Deana Burke* and *Natasha Hoskins.

- Weekly-ish coverage of AI, crypto, privacy and platform culture, written funny and sourced properly.

- Best used as a tonal antidote to industry-voice AI coverage, and as a bridge between crypto and AI discourse.