Tear gas is banned in international warfare, yet classified as a “riot control agent” that law enforcement can use for crowd control. “It just doesn’t work well, and it hits the weakest people the most, and causes the most complications in them,” an anesthesiology professor at Duke University said.

It's so important that lawmakers are finally talking about the massive ICE surveillance network being created right now.

Court records reveal the incredibly sad state of ICE's evidence retention systems, including a situation where two weeks of critical footage inside an ICE detention center accused of human rights abuses were never recorded. @jasonkoebler.bsky.social reports. Listen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFv0...

This is a very shocking profile of Mace that nonetheless makes no mention of her obsessive and abusive behavior towards trans people in Congress, one of the more dangerous manifestations of her desperate addiction to attention

I feel like I keep having to add to this list but if I ever suddenly become rich I'm not hanging out with other rich people.

I'm at a Georgetown Symposium on where we are, and I can't help thinking about how much all the conversations relate to Metaphor ReFantasio.

This is the beginning not the end of how surveillance will change America. We could stop it. We should. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...

I was so completely flabbergasted by this article that I wrote a lengthy email to NCMEC about it, telling them to fix their CyberTipline reporting form whose UX enabled a huge overstatement of the scale of the AI-CSAM problem to go uncorrected for 6 months. cyberlaw.stanford.edu/letter-to-nc...

This is huge news. I have spent the past 6 months wondering wtf was up with Amazon: they filed 380,000 AI-related CyberTipline reports to NCMEC in the first half of 2025. Turns out ALL of it was known CSAM they found by screening their AI training data. It's NOT AI-generated or AI-morphed CSAM.

We got Palantir's user guide for ELITE, the tool they made for ICE: www.404media.co/here-is-the-...

I can't believe this government shutdown might be entirely based on Lindsay Graham wanting the government to pay him $500k.

there's this new dynamic where the DOJ cannot win in court and is (relatedly) incapable of meeting the minimum threshold of professional legal conduct, and so an increasing percentage of its actions are purely for intimidation and content

me, emotionally writing an essay on the use of force by federal agents: ok but what if i packaged this in the most insane way possible www.theverge.com/policy/86857...

Here's the Heritage Foundation all-in on repealing Section 230 so that litigious Christian nationalists can dictate the speech rules for the entire Internet It's so embarrassing so many Dems are falling for this www.teenvogue.com/story/some-d...

I am. But there are three things at play here regarding ICE collecting private data. Quick rundown on the issue, why you should be paying attention, and what I'm doing about it:

I've been trying to move a project on the security and privacy risks of AI agents. I had an expert say to me that one of the things they are worried about is what happens when an AI agent is used to testify against their owner. Anyways it's already happening.

I love espresso because all the modern thinking is all the rules are fake and the only thing that matters is taste. It justifies that feeling when you accidentally grind your first shot of a new bag too coarse and the water shoots through only to taste absolutely incredible.

“This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency. This granular location information paints a detailed picture of who we are, where we go, and who we spend time with." www.404media.co/inside-ices-...

At least the storm was polite enough to hit on a weekend.

Hot take: Oath Chronicles of Empire and Exile is a great game.

Any rep - GOP or Dem - who votes for the DHS funding bill today, votes for more of this. Tell them you're watching their vote this afternoon: act.indivisible.org/sign/ice-out...

So the House is going to vote TOMORROW on the DHS funding bill that includes funding for ICE. There's a real chance we can get Dems to vote NO on any bill with ICE funding to sink it. Once it goes to the Senate we likely lose this chance. 24 hours. Go. www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/no-f...

A thing that might not be clear from the outside is that while everyone here is engaged in this fight, ICE’s use of dystopian technology means that you essentially have to pick a lane between observing ICE and doing mutual aid. They are tracking observers’ cars, and taking pictures of their faces.

Palantir is working on a tool for ICE that populates a map with potential deportation targets, brings up a dossier on each person, and provides a “confidence score” on the person’s current address. @josephcox.bsky.social breaks it down. Watch our latest episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-QH...

U.S. copyright’s flawed statutory damages regime has devastating consequences for legitimate online speech. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

There’s a special place in purgatory for politicians who change their “principled stances” on free speech laws because someone said mean things about them.

THREAD: ICE violence is powered by millions of dollars in funding for surveillance. ICE is buying cell phone location data, leveraging Flock and Ring cameras and playing with terrifying spy toys from Palantir. We have a rare chance this week to fight back. Plz share punchbowl.news/article/hous...

The funny thing about this is that the milk industry ran a famous ad campaign that was basically this in the 90s (and had a commercial directed by Michael Bay of all people). Now tax dollars are being spent on behalf of the milk industry.

This was predictable but also it might not matter. The C-Suite and rich capitalists want to crush labor and AI holds the perfect promise. They will chase that promise all the way into the ground.

I'm trying to write a summary of all reported surveillance tech being used by ICE and it's difficult because while I'm writing it there are more reports of additional surveillance tech.

New: meet ELITE, the Palantir app ICE is using to find neighborhoods to raid. Map interface; officers search for immigrants; click person to bring up individual dossier. This is clearest link between what Palantir is building and ICE's activities on the ground yet www.404media.co/elite-the-pa...

DEFIANCE Act bill: www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c... This still only applies to "intimate visual depictions," which (1) does not cover bikini pics, without more, and (2) has an error in the sub-section numbering that they should maybe fix while they're at it? www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/...

Wondering how likely it is for your ID to be leaked when you hand it over for an age check? Want to know how companies are guessing your age in the first place? Read all about it in our guide to age assurance technology. eff.org/deeplinks/2...

NEW: ICE is stopping its purchases of warrantless travel data. This comes after months-long reporting by 404 Media and pressure from lawmakers. Read our story here:

New: I got body camera footage from a case in which a cop used Flock to wrongfully accuse an innocent woman of stealing a package: "Nothing gets in or out of the town without us knowing about it" www.404media.co/cop-used-flo...

KRS One needs to embarrass Nelly again.

New: Police have released info about millions of surveillance targets nationwide from thousands of different police departments because of a public records redaction error in Flock data. Reveals active police investigations, border patrol & ICE targets, lots more: www.404media.co/police-unmas...

Just to be clear, this is a First Amendment issue. You have the right to be express yourself and no matter what "temperature" your rhetoric is the constitution protects your right to expression. Being killed for speech is fascism.

On Wed, Senate HELP will hold a hearing on "Protecting Women: Exposing the Dangers of Chemical Abortion Drugs"—pushing the lie that FDA's regulation has been lax. @reshmagar.bsky.social & I are in @jama.com today, on how FDA has, in fact, been (over-)careful in regulating medication abortion. 1/

Hi, we’re @fightforthefuture.org - a group of activists, artists, technologists and policy nerds who are battling fascist surveillance and censorship so frontline organizers have the tools they need to resist the authoritarian regime. 🤠🫠😎🤯🔥

I wrote this two days after Trump supporters stormed the Capital. Unfortunately, many Democrats have done exactly what this piece warns against: pushing for more censorship and surveillance as a response to right wing extremism. They're helping the fascists. www.fastcompany.com/90592060/cap...

There's a lot of talk on whether Section 230 should apply to AI, and right now my thoughts on it are mixed. There's a lot to this so a thread: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

Ford famously paid assembly workers enough to buy Model Ts, understanding that wages create demand. AI companies have no similar incentive since compute doesn't need a paycheck to generate revenue.

Where I'm at on AI right now is that it's the last stage of late stage capitalism. Companies expect to replace their workforce with automation but also expect people will buy their goods. It's a free rider problem and at some point the whole system collapses.

I've now read two @politico.com articles about a housing bill that is supposed to be a priority for this year and neither linked the bill or even named it.

I swear, even "insider" news publications refuse to link the friggin bill or sometimes even name it in their reporting.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is an incredible game that I shouldn't have waited so long to play. But I did and it's 50% off now on Steam if any of you want in.

I really hate this new thing where instead of giving you a paper bag they just give you a really thick plastic bag that you can't throw away because it makes you feel too guilty. Like the whole reason why we are here is because I can't remember to bring my own bag, you aren't making things better.

I just learned that pancakes are one of the oldest known foods. So any historical event you can think of, no matter how big or small, there's a chance they had pancakes beforehand. I think that's kinda neat.

One of these days I'm going to write up my theory that late stage capitalism is a very real thing and responsible for 95% of everything wrong with the Internet and technology.