so the US government just forced a tech company to delete an app it doesn’t like, which is totally normal stuff www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

New: Apple just removed ICEBlock, the app for reporting sightings of ICE, from its App Store after DOJ pressure. ICEBlock's developer tells 404 Media "we are determined to fight this." "Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move." www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

New from 404 Media: Apple just removed ICEBlock, the app for reporting sightings of ICE, from its App Store after DOJ pressure. ICEBlock's developer tells me "we are determined to fight this." "Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move." www.404media.co/iceblock-own...

Red Hat is investigating a breach impacting as many as 28,000 customers. We got some files related to it, shows impacted customers might include the Navy and Congress. Also Federal Aviation Administration, Bank of America, AT&T. www.404media.co/red-hat-inve...

New from 404 Media: the government shutdown is causing even more confusion for U.S. visa applicants. The website employers use for labor certification and immigration applicants use to access documentation for their applications is down www.404media.co/government-s...

@mjgault.bsky.social was interviewing a ABC correspondent about new podcast on the murder of US solder Vanessa Guillén. When brought up Hesgeth's recent speech, ABC PR interrupted, asked not to talk about that. Then asked Matthew to cut that part. Wild, wild stuff angryplanetpod.com/p/vanessa-gu...

Beloved writer Kaleb Horton passed away recently. Then suddenly, an AI-generated "biography" of Horton appeared for sale on Amazon. AI slop capitalizing on someone's death. "I cannot overstate how disgusting I find this kind of AI dog shit." www.404media.co/ai-generated...

People are already farming and selling Sora 2 invite codes on eBay. We bought a code, they work www.404media.co/people-are-f...

New from 404 Media: for the first time in a decade, Kodak is selling its own film. This sidesteps a bizarre distribution agreement that has been in place since its bankruptcy. Now it's direct. www.404media.co/kodak-is-sel...

New: 404 Media and Freedom of the Press Foundation are suing DHS. We're seeking a copy of a data agreement that is giving ICE the personal data of nearly 80 million Medicaid patients. This is on top of our other lawsuit seeking ICE's $2 million spyware contract www.404media.co/404-media-an...

The 404 Media Podcast is up! This week: - landlords demanding workplace logins to scrape your paystubs - 18 lawyers explain why they used AI (after getting caught) - subscribers: the Ruby drama Apple/Spotify/YouTube: www.404media.co/podcast-land...

New: ICE has bought a tool that tracks the locations of hundreds of millions of phones globally, updates every single day. Usually harvested from apps and advertising www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

BREAKING: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has bought access to a surveillance tool that is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones, according to ICE documents reviewed by 404 Media. 🔗 www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

New from 404 Media: ICE to buy tool that tracks locations of hundreds of millions of phones every day. Billions of pieces of location data. ICE previously stopped using data remotely harvested from smartphones. Now it's buying it again. Usually used w/o warrant www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

In an unhinged speech, Pete Hesgeth says he's tired of "fat troops" and says the U.S. military needs to go full AI www.404media.co/in-unhinged-...

New from 404 Media: Google just removed seven years of political advertising history from 27 countries. Google's Ad Transparency Center no longer shows political ads from any countries in the EU. Much harder for accountability now. www.404media.co/google-ad-tr...

New from 404 Media: we've closely been following the wave of lawyers getting caught using AI. But now we know why: here 18 lawyers explain why they used AI. They blame IT, family emergencies, their own poor judgment, their assistants, illness, and more. www.404media.co/18-lawyers-c...

People pinging me about the FBI applying for 'remote access' to hack Telegram: I read the document itself last week (via CourtWatch) and it’s just a warrant to use the person’s phone to log into their Telegram account. Good and normal. 'Remote access’ makes it sound more interesting than it is.

New from 404 Media: Reddit mods sued by YouTuber Ethan Klein are fighting a subpoena designed to unmask their real identities. They fear "sexual violence, extortion, fans showing up to their home, and endless years of harassment," asking judge to not grant it www.404media.co/reddit-mods-...

New from 404 Media: landlords are demanding potential tenants hand over employer login credentials so a tool can verify their income. I was sent screenshot of the tool, Argyle, downloading much more data than necessary to approve the renter. Opt-out means no housing www.404media.co/landlords-de...

New from 404 Media: here is the story of how Ruby went off the rails. 3000 words on developers suddenly locked out, corporate pressure, and claims of a "hostile takeover" of one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure for the internet we all rely on everyday www.404media.co/how-ruby-wen...

In this week's Behind the Blog, I wrote more about our lawsuit with ICE seeking access to its $2 million spyware contract. The language used, what exactly we're seeking, etc. And why it's been a long time coming filing a lawsuit like this www.404media.co/behind-the-b...

On this week's episode of the 404 Media Podcast we went into more detail about why we're suing ICE. Listen here on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, etc: www.404media.co/podcast-were...

Mods of the Twin peaks subreddit opened the doors to users uploading AI images related to the show. So users did just that... and flooded the sub with AI images. Subreddit now banned AI. www.404media.co/pissed-off-f...

Those SIM farms the Secret Service seized? They're also popular with another group in particular: ticket scalpers. “Our SMS gateway devices support up to 512 SIM cards, ensuring you never miss a verification code,” one ad to ticket scalpers says for example. www.404media.co/the-sim-farm...

From a former Palantir worker: “Using software I worked on to send U.S. citizens to a foreign gulag without due process is surely not a situation where ‘if you don’t like it, your remedy is to go vote’ is a reasonable response…”

Surveillance companies justify helping ICE and Trump with ‘democracy’ “It's not my job to play the ethics game because our elected officials will eventually figure that out. I have full faith in the American people to decide who to elect and what to vote on.” 🔗 www.404media.co/how-surveill...

The new argument from surveillance companies building extremely powerful technology for the government is that it is not their business or interest how it is deployed or what it is used for: www.404media.co/how-surveill...

In Trump 2.0 surveillance firms are explaining working for ICE/the government with 'we live in a democracy' and shrugging their shoulders. But this democracy is different. Sources say this is to absolve responsibility. "classic double speak" one Palantir source said www.404media.co/how-surveill...

Another contract for ICE to buy iris recognition technology to identify people in the field. This one is for ~$4.5 million. Details on the company here: www.404media.co/ice-is-buyin...

The 'Find My Parking Cops' map tracks officers handing out tickets all around San Francisco is real time. Developer reverse engineered how the system works and built this tool. Was taken down for a moment, now it's back. The City is very much aware of it. www.404media.co/find-my-park...

The 404 Media Podcast is up! This week: - why we're suing ICE - the rise of AI 'workslop' - subscribers: Steam's malicious game problem and what we all think of Silk Song Apple/Spotify/YouTube: www.404media.co/podcast-were...

A study has found that AI 'workslop', where coworkers use AI and their colleagues have to spend time fixing it, is taking over workplaces. Workers said that they thought of their colleagues who filed low-quality AI work as "less creative, capable, and reliable." www.404media.co/ai-workslop-...

this story has everything. Streaming to survive cancer. Steam scams. Crypto. Behold 2025 and all its horrors

New from 404 Media: we obtained data showing that CBP flew its drones, which include a fleet of MQ-9 Predator drones, for ICE at least 50 times over a single year. Also flew a drone for the Office of the President. Data in here: www.404media.co/cbp-flew-dro...

Steam hosted a malicious game that stole $32,000 from a cancer patient live on stream. Steam clearly not doing enough to monitor its own platform www.404media.co/steam-hosted...

We just sued ICE. Support us here: 404media.co/membership/

We're suing ICE to release spyware contracts the public has the right to see. Could not be more grateful to our subscribers for putting us in a position to be able to do this www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

New: We have just sued ICE to demand it turns over a secretive spyware contract that it refuses to release: www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

we're suing ICE, and your support makes this fight possible: www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

NEW: 404 Media is suing ICE. We have filed a lawsuit demanding the agency release its $2 million contract with Paragon, a company that makes powerful spyware to break into phones and read messages from encrypted chat apps www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

New: 404 Media is suing ICE. We have filed a lawsuit demanding ICE release its $2 million contract with Paragon, a company that makes powerful spyware to break into phones and read encrypted messages. This is expensive for a small outlet but this info is important www.404media.co/were-suing-i...

New from 404 Media: a CIA contractor used classified CIA systems as "his own personal Google," according to a court record we reviewed. The details are staggering: sold classified info to a foreign client accused of embezzlement. Sold info to U.S. lobbying firm www.404media.co/contractor-u...

"Charlie Kirk's legacy should be that of someone who fought against free speech" You have these very big media organizations "continuing his legacy by trying to inflict consequences against anyone who disagrees with them" More on the podcast this week: www.404media.co/podcast-the-...

in one of the videos, French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing a pink nightie, helps Zelensky pick an outfit to wear on a visit to the Kremlin

A TV station run by Russia's Ministry of Defense has launched a new show it claims is "AI-generated," meaning a "Neural Network" is picking the topics and generating the videos.

New from 404 Media: a TV channel run by Russia’s Ministry of Defense is airing a program it says is AI-generated. Says a neural network is picking the topics it wants to discuss, then uses AI to generate that video (Emmanuel Macron in hair curlers, for example) www.404media.co/russian-stat...

The 404 Media Podcast is up! This week: - hack of popular dashcam maker; exposed videos of someone repeatedly visiting CIA headquarters - the sentencing of GirlsDoPorn creator - subscribers-only: the wave of firings after Charlie Kirk's assassination Listen: www.404media.co/podcast-the-...

it was always coming to exactly this www.404media.co/michigan-por...

New from 404 Media: the DOJ quietly deleted a study that showed domestic terrorists are most often right wing. Unclear why deleted, but comes after Kirk assassination. One of the study's co-authors declined to comment. www.404media.co/doj-deletes-...