if you missed our FOIA Forum last week, where we talk about how we do public records reporting and how you can too, the archive is here:

https://www.404media.co/heres-the-video-for-our-sixth-foia-forum-massive-blue/

Spending the next 2-3 hours shipping merch! If you order now your order will ship today. Tank tops and horse shirts back in stock!

https://404media.myshopify.com/products/doom-code-404-tank-top-pre-order

In 15 mins we're doing a FOIA FORUM about how we reported a story about cops using AI-powered sockpuppet bots on social media. This is for subscribers only, we'll be taking questions about FOIA, showing examples of our requests, etc. Come hang out!

https://www.404media.co/our-new-foia-forum-6-18-1pm-et/

after using it for gazillions of hours as a webcam, my sony a6000 is totally broken now. need recs on:

- good webcams for podcast recordings that ultimately go to YT i.e. want very good quality
- minimum viable used model sony e-mount camera to use as webcam bc i already have lenses/setup dialed in

NEW: Here's an internal police email thread where

1) Local police performs a license plate lookup for ICE HSI
2) Local police in an informal "analyst group" offer each other, ICE's HSI, and the FBI help with a variety of surveillance tools

https://www.404media.co/emails-reveal-the-casual-surveillance-alliance-between-ice-and-local-police/

New: A judge refuses to throw out the FTC's repair monopoly lawsuit against John Deere. Means two major antitrust suits over its repair practices are going to trial, which is a big deal:

https://www.404media.co/john-deere-must-face-ftc-lawsuit-over-its-tractor-repair-monopoly-judge-rules/

Scoop: GitHub code shows Trump administration is building a platform to "accelerate" AI across the government called ai.gov that is supposedly going to launch on the Fourth of July

https://www.404media.co/github-is-leaking-trumps-plans-to-accelerate-ai-across-government/

Airlines sell passenger data to the feds through a separate data broker they spun up and put in the contract that DHS is not allowed to tell anyone that it comes from the airlines:

https://www.404media.co/airlines-dont-want-you-to-know-they-sold-your-flight-data-to-dhs/

I spoke to two former govt workers who helped create IRS's Direct File software, which is set to be killed by DOGE/Trump/Intuit but thankfully just got open sourced. Both of them seem optimistic about what people are going to be able to do with the codebase:

https://www.404media.co/directfile-open-source-irs-tax-filing-software-turbotax-is-trying-to-kil/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter

@slampoud yeah, i don't think it's surprising but just p interesting to see how far the software has come

Extremely interesting story: the Ukraine drones that did this weekend’s massive attack were powered by free open source pilot assistance software

https://www.404media.co/ukraines-massive-drone-attack-was-powered-by-open-source-software/

I talked to 15 teachers/professors about how AI and ChatGPT is ruining their lives:

https://www.404media.co/teachers-are-not-ok-ai-chatgpt/

Scoop: Texas police used Flock's license plate cameras to search *nationwide* for a woman who had a self-managed abortion. Claim it was "about her safety"

https://www.404media.co/a-texas-cop-searched-license-plate-cameras-nationwide-for-a-woman-who-got-an-abortion/

SCOOP: ICE, HSI, and DHS are getting side-door access to the nationwide system of Flock license plate cameras by asking local police to perform lookups for them, new public records show.

ICE does *not* have a contract to use this surveillance tool itself.

https://www.404media.co/ice-taps-into-nationwide-ai-enabled-camera-network-data-shows/

I spoke to the person who AI-generated the Chicago Sun-Times reading list. Says he's embarrassed. This was part of a generic package inserted into newspapers and other publications, so likely to run elsewhere. He didn't know it'd be in Chicago Sun-Times

https://www.404media.co/chicago-sun-times-prints-ai-generated-summer-reading-list-with-books-that-dont-exist/

FYI: under capitalism your DNA is worth $17

https://www.404media.co/23andme-sale-shows-your-genetic-data-is-worth-17/

New: CBP seized a shipment of t-shirts featuring a swarm of bees attacking a cop. The company also sells "ELIMINATE ICE" t-shirt and previously was threatened by LAPD for "FUCK THE LAPD" shirts and hats. Shirts to be "destroyed under CBP supervision"

https://www.404media.co/cbp-seizes-shipment-of-t-shirts-featuring-swarm-of-bees-attacking-cops/

I FOIAed every state's dept of education to see what they were telling teachers about ChatGPT / how they were training them on it, and the situation was bleak. My writeup, pulled from thousands of pages of presentations, emails, and other documents:

https://www.404media.co/american-schools-were-deeply-unprepared-for-chatgpt-public-records-show/

Scoop: Ricardo Prado Vasquez, a man who was 'disappeared' by ICE, is on a hacked flight manifest for a March 15 flight to El Salvador. This means US govt may have a less detailed list of who it's deporting than a private airline:

https://www.404media.co/man-disappeared-by-ice-was-on-el-salvador-flight-manifest-hacked-data-shows/

We spoke to the woman who turned her dead brother into an AI avatar that testified at the sentencing hearing for his killer, and learned more about how the judge considered the AI statement

Really wild story and not sure this is a road we want to go down

https://www.404media.co/i-loved-that-ai-judge-moved-by-ai-generated-avatar-of-man-killed-in-road-rage-incident/