August—2025. The new limited edition 4K Blu-ray of the 2005 film Master and Commander has sold out everywhere. Secondary markets are now battlefields. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who read the above sentences and feel an intense pain and yearning for comradery and combat on the high seas, and those…
The Department of Energy (DOE) said in a public notice scheduled to be published Thursday that it will throw out all Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests sent to the agency before October 1, 2024 unless the requester proactively emails the agency to tell it they are still interested in the documents they requested. This…
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) propaganda video that featured Jay-Z’s music was hit with a copyright takedown request on X, and appears to have been hit with copyright violations on both Instagram and Facebook as well. The video features footage of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents training and doing immigration raids set to…
Last month, age verification laws went into effect in Wyoming and South Dakota, requiring sites hosting “material that is harmful to minors” to verify visitors are over 18 years old. These would normally just be two more states joining the nearly 30 that have so far ceded ground to a years-long campaign for enforcing invasive,…
We start this week with Jason’s article about a CBP official wearing Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses to an immigration raid. A lot of stuff happened after we published that article too. After the break, Sam tells us about the bargain that voice actors are making with AI. In the subscribers-only section, Jason tells us how…
📄 This article was primarily reported using public records requests. We are making it available to all readers as a public service. FOIA reporting can be expensive, please consider subscribing to 404 Media to support this work. Or send us a one time donation via our tip jar here. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)…
It’s a brutally hot August across the world, but especially in Europe where high temperatures have caused wildfires and droughts. In the UK, the water shortage is so bad that the government is urging citizens to help save water by deleting old emails. It really helps lighten the load on water hungry datacenters, you see….
A Drug Enforcement Administration agent used a local police officer’s password to the Flock automated license plate reader system to search for someone suspected of an “immigration violation.” That DEA agent did this “without [the local police officer’s] knowledge,” and the password to the Flock account, which belonged to the Palos Heights PD, has since…
We’ve survived and thrived for two years and are ready to celebrate with you, the ones who made it possible! Come have a cocktail or locally-brewed beer on us at vertical farm and brew lab farm.one. We’ll also record a live podcast with the whole 404 crew, for the first time in person together since… well,…
Acting is an industry of feast and famine, where performers’ income can swing widely by role, by month, and by year. It’s a field where people often face the choice between passion, creativity, and taking a commercial gig for a check. As with so much else, this delicate personal calculation is now being disrupted by…
