News
ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day
Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.
News
Landlords Demand Tenants’ Workplace Logins to Scrape Their Paystubs
Screenshots shared with 404 Media show tenant screening services ApproveShield and Argyle taking much more data than they need. “Opt-out means no housing.”
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Behind 404 Media's ICE Lawsuit
This week, we discuss being journalism dorks, our new lawsuit against ICE, and working on bullshit.
News
How Surveillance Firms Use ‘Democracy’ As a Cover for Serving ICE and Trump
Multiple Palantir and Flock sources say the companies are spinning a commitment to "democracy" to absolve them of responsibility. "In my eyes, it is the classic double speak," one said.
Podcast
Podcast: We're Suing ICE. Here's Why
Our lawsuit against ICE; the rise of AI 'workslop'; Steam's malicious game problem; and Silk Song.
FOIA
CBP Flew Drones to Help ICE 50 Times in Last Year
The drone flight log data, which stretches from March 2024 to March 2025, shows CBP flying its drones to support ICE and other agencies. CBP maintains multiple Predator drones and flew them over the recent anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.
Announcements
We’re Suing ICE for Its $2 Million Spyware Contract
404 Media has filed a lawsuit against ICE for access to its contract with Paragon, a company that sells powerful spyware for breaking into phones and accessing encrypted messaging apps.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Debriefing on Two Trips
This week, we discuss San Diego and Costa Rica reporting trips.
News
Contractor Used Classified CIA Systems as ‘His Own Personal Google’
Dale Britt Bendler “earned approximately $360,000 in private client fees while also working as a full-time CIA contractor with daily access to highly classified material that he searched like it was his own personal Google,” according to a court record.
Podcast
Podcast: The (Hacked) Spy In Your Car
A massive hack of a popular dashcam company; the sentencing of someone Sam has covered for years; and the mass firings around Charlie Kirk's assassination.
FOIA
Airlines Sell 5 Billion Plane Ticket Records to the Government For Warrantless Searching
New documents obtained by 404 Media show how a data broker owned by American Airlines, United, Delta, and many other airlines is selling masses of passenger data to the U.S. government.
News
ICE Spends Millions on Clearview AI Facial Recognition to Find People ‘Assaulting’ Officers
A new contract with Clearview AI explicitly says ICE is buying the tech to investigate "assaults against law enforcement officers."