Joseph Cox

New from 404 Media: police have unwittingly unmasked millions of their surveillance targets because of a Flock redaction error. Police didn't redact specific license plates in public record releases. A site is now making that information searchable, 2.3 million plates

404 Media

Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error

Flock is going after a website called HaveIBeenFlocked.com that has collated public records files released by police.

In Musk's latest masterful gambit, instead of putting a stop to the wave of sexual abuse imagery generated by Grok, he's attempting to monetize it instead by only letting paying subscribers generate images in replies. This isn't curbing abuse, it's profiting off it

404 Media

Masterful Gambit: Musk Attempts to Monetize Grok's Wave of Sexual Abuse Imagery

In an attempt to push more people toward a paying subscription, Grok now refuses to generate images in replies. The paywall is pretty leaky, though.

New from 404 Media: we've obtained material explaining how an ICE surveillance system, called Webloc, works. Draw shape on a map, see all phones available there, follow them home. All without warrant “This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency.”

404 Media

Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods

404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phone...

New: DHS is lying to you. At least four videos show what really happened when ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis. Shots clearly fired while vehicle already turning away from the officer. But DHS lied. Trump lied. Noem lied. Even judges have catalogued DHS' serial lying

404 Media

DHS Is Lying To You About ICE Shooting a Woman

At least four videos show what really happened when ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday. DHS has established itself as an agency that cann...

Grok is being used to remove clothes from random peoples' photos. Journalists think they got the chatbot to 'apologize'. What are you doing? An LLM cannot apologize. It doesn't know what is happening. Journalists doing this is a form of AI psychosis. Full ep here:

Today ICE is allowed to resume using Medicaid data in deportation cases. The transfer of Medicaid data to ICE was unprecedented and put on hold. It's now back. We've uploaded the data sharing agreement here:

404 Media

Here is the Agreement Giving ICE Medicaid Patients' Data

On Tuesday, ICE was allowed to continue using Medicaid data in deportation cases.

The Hilton Hotel that refused reservations from DHS officials has now backpedalled and said it will accommodate them. Came after DHS X account posted emails. For years the right coalesced around businesses being able to refuse customers of certain demographics

404 Media

Hilton Hotel That Refused DHS Reservations Backpedals

The hotel told 404 Media in a statement “We are in touch with the impacted guests to ensure they are accommodated.”

I was hoping when large media covered Mobile Fortify, the ICE facial app we revealed in June, it would add substantial information. Instead this front page WSJ piece rehashes our reporting, presents it as new attributed to officials, and forgets to capitalize M in 404 Media. I have covered this app for months, showing where it gets data from, how it is being used on American streets, and DHS's plan to roll out a stripped down version to local police. You wouldn't get that impression from reading this piece, it would appear new to you. You can read our original coverage here (this is about half of it):

404 Media

ICE Is Using a New Facial Recognition App to Identify People, Leaked Emails Show

The new tool, called Mobile Fortify, uses the CBP system which ordinarily takes photos of people when they enter or exit the U.S., according to int...

404 Media

You Can't Refuse To Be Scanned by ICE's Facial Recognition App, DHS Document Says

Photos captured by Mobile Fortify will be stored for 15 years, regardless of immigration or citizenship status, the document says.

404 Media

Inside ICE’s Supercharged Facial Recognition App of 200 Million Images

404 Media has seen user manuals for Mobile Fortify, ICE’s new facial recognition app which allows officers to instantly look up DHS, State Depart...

404 Media

DHS Gives Local Cops a Facial Recognition App To Find Immigrants

The app, called Mobile Identify and available on the Google Play Store, is specifically for local and regional law enforcement agencies working wit...

We finally bought 404media.com. We couldn't afford this when we launched a couple of years ago, but it recently became available. You can read the transcript of some of the group call here: “This is so fucking stressful.” Only possible thanks to our subscribers.

404 Media

We Bought 404media.com

Don’t worry, we’re not changing our website. But we’re finally the owners of the real deal: a .com domain.

I recently interviewed Craig Silverman, a journalist who has covered fraud, disinformation, and scams for years. He often uses very interesting OSINT techniques. We talked all about that and how AI has shifted the OSINT landscape.