New from 404 Media: Proton Mail, the privacy-focused email service, gave authorities data that let the FBI unmask an anonymous 'Stop Cop City' protester. It was payment data linked to the anonymous email account. From that, FBI ID'd them, then tracked their movements https://www.404media.co/proton-mail-helped-fbi-unmask-anonymous-stop-cop-city-protestor/

Another $5.6 million from ICE to Palantir, in part for its continued work on ELITE (Enhanced Leads Identification & Targeting for Enforcement), which we revealed in January to be the Palantir tool ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid

https://www.404media.co/elite-the-palantir-app-ice-uses-to-find-neighborhoods-to-raid/

Scammers are trying to capitalize on people’s revulsion to ICE by coming up with strategies that would cause users to quickly log into their accounts. In reality, clients would be revealing their username and password to hackers.

https://www.404media.co/ice-phishing-scammers-are-sending-support-ice-emails-to-steal-credentials/

The financialization of everything is all that is left. Which is why we end up with the totally insane situation that people are betting on whether world leaders are going to get killed, or that a nuke will drop this year

Watch, subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paHMe9kFf0w

Polymarket has pulled the bet on a nuclear detonation happening in 2026. There were obv concerns that a platform being used by insider traders would not mix well with a bet encouraging the detonation of a nuke. Polymarket didn't respond to request for comment

https://www.404media.co/polymarket-pulls-bet-on-nuclear-detonation-in-2026/

New from 404 Media: the FBI is using AI to hack targets. FBI official was talking about "remote access operations," FBI's term for hacking. FBI said it's a "game changer". The comments were unusually candid about FBI's very secretive hacking operations. https://www.404media.co/the-fbi-is-using-ai-to-hack-targets/

New from 404 Media: CBP tapped into the online advertising ecosystem to track peoples' movements, according to an internal DHS document. Shows for the first time DHS tracked phones via process for putting ads in ordinary apps—video games, fitness apps, many more https://www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-into-the-online-advertising-ecosystem-to-track-peoples-movements/

Amazon data centers are on fire after Iranian missile strikes on Dubai

https://www.404media.co/amazon-data-centers-on-fire-after-iranian-missile-strikes-on-dubai/

A group of more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers are demanding DHS hand over its definition of "domestic terrorist", after the agency repeatedly used the term against Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and has deployed a vast array of surveillance tech against critics https://www.404media.co/lawmakers-demand-dhs-define-domestic-terrorist-as-it-uses-vast-array-of-surveillance-tools/

Love to log onto Minecraft or Roblox and find ISIS there (literally) https://www.404media.co/the-islamic-state-is-using-ai-to-resurrect-dead-leaders-and-platforms-are-failing-to-moderate-it/

New: the government just made it harder to see what spy tech it buys. This includes ICE, the FBI, essentially any agency. Why? Because they decided to retire the perfectly good system for searching contracts and replaced it with one that fucking sucks

https://www.404media.co/the-government-just-made-it-harder-to-see-what-spy-tech-it-buys/

A planned change to Amazon means that if people buy items on your wishlist, it could expose your address. Definitely a threat to people who have public wishlists.

https://www.404media.co/amazon-wishlist-address-private-third-party/

New: the FBI got Grok to hand over the prompts a suspect used to generate nonconsensual porn. Connected to a harassment case. Pretty rare to see a Grok search warrant like this

https://www.404media.co/fbi-subpoenaed-x-to-get-grok-prompts-used-to-create-nonconsensual-porn/

We revealed that Ring's Search Party feature, which turns Ring cameras into an active surveillance network scanning for particular things, is only starting with finding lost dogs

More here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEq8dlnLP8o

New: this app warns you if someone is wearing smart glasses nearby.

Meta plans to add facial recognition to its Ray-Ban smart glasses. A 404 Media reader made this app after we showed men filming people w/o their consent, and DHS officials were wearing the glasses https://www.404media.co/this-app-warns-you-if-someone-is-wearing-smart-glasses-nearby/

This week, 404 Media speaks to Harlo Holmes from Freedom of the Press Foundation about how to fight back against privacy nihilism, digital security practices everyone can use, and the arrests of journalists in the U.S.

Watch/subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chcNrDPhfo0

Meta's director of AI safety allowed an AI agent to... accidentally delete her inbox. This is supposedly the person at the company who is working to make sure that powerful AI tools don’t go rogue and act against human interests

https://www.404media.co/meta-director-of-ai-safety-allows-ai-agent-to-accidentally-delete-her-inbox/

New from 404 Media: how ICE and CBP are using the free walkie-talkie app Zello to coordinate their operations. We've linked multiple Zello accounts to ICE, found group chats with names referencing immigration. App previously criticized for allowing far right channels
https://www.404media.co/how-ice-and-cbp-use-free-walkie-talkie-app-zello-to-power-their-operations/

"We are in the middle of an amplification renaissance."

https://www.404media.co/we-have-learned-nothing-about-amplifying-morons/

“I feel like, increasingly, it's impossible to talk to a single human [at Pinterest],” Pinterest user Tiana Oreglia said. “Along with being filled with AI images that have been completely ruining the platform, Pinterest has implemented terrible AI moderation” https://www.404media.co/pinterest-is-drowning-in-a-sea-of-ai-slop-and-auto-moderation/