404 Media

2025-11-25 14:42:49

Please, please do our reader survey

Because we run 404 Media on Ghost, an open source and privacy-forward stack, we actually know very little about who reads 404 Media (by design). But we’re hoping to learn a bit more so we can figure out how people are discovering our work, what our readers do, and what other projects people might want us to launch in the future. If you want to cut to the chase: here is a link to our very short survey we would really, really appreciate you filling out. You can do it anonymously and it should take around a minute. If you want to know more on the why, please read below!

As we said, Ghost doesn’t collect much data about our readers. The little info we do have shows broadly that most of our readers are in the U.S., followed by Europe, etc. But we don’t have a great idea of how people first learn about 404 Media. Or whether people would prefer a different format to our daily newsletter. Or what industries or academic circles our readers are in.

This information is useful for two main reasons: the first is we can figure out how people prefer to read us and come across our work. Is it via email? Is it articles posted to the website? Or the podcast? Do more people on Mastodon read us, or on Bluesky? This information can help us understand how to get our journalism in front of more people. In turn, that helps inform more people about what we cover, and hopefully can lead to more people supporting our journalism.

The second is for improving the static advertisements in our email newsletters and podcasts that we show to free members. If it turns out we have a lot of people who read us in the world of cybersecurity, maybe it would be better if we ran ads that were actually related to that, for example. Because we don’t track our readers, we really have no idea what products or advertisements would actually be of interest to them. So, you voluntarily and anonymously telling us a bit about yourself in the survey would be a great help.

Here is the survey link. There is also a section for any more general feedback you have. Please help us out with a minute of your time, if you can, so we can keep growing 404 Media sustainably and figure out what other projects readers may be interested in (such as a physical magazine perhaps?).

Thank you so much!

Who is reading 404 Media?

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

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404 Media

2025-10-01 14:25:57

404 Media and Freedom of the Press Foundation Sue DHS

Last week Freedom of the Press Foundation and 404 Media filed a lawsuit against the multiple parts of the U.S. government demanding they hand over a copy of an agreement that shares the personal data of nearly 80 million Medicaid patients with ICE. The data sharing marked a watershed moment for ICE and its access to highly sensitive data that is ordinarily siloed off from the agency. We believe it’s important for the public to see this unprecedented data sharing agreement for themselves.

As the Associated Press wrote when it first reported on the data sharing agreement between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agreement will give ICE the ability to find “the location of aliens.” The data shared includes home addresses and ethnicities, according to the Associated Press.

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Do you know anything else about this data sharing agreement? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.

Both Freedom of the Press Foundation and 404 Media filed similar Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with DHS and CMS seeking a copy of the agreement. Neither agency provided the requested records in time, so we have now filed the lawsuit. In 404 Media’s case, CMS acknowledged the request but has not provided the records, and DHS did not even acknowledge the request at all.

404 Media’s request asked for a copy of the specific agreement, and if the agencies were unable to locate it, to alternatively provide copies of all agreements between DHS and CMS from this year.

“Despite having received the FOIA requests, and despite their obligations under the law, Defendants have failed to notify Plaintiffs of the scope of documents that they will produce or the scope of documents that they plan to withhold in response to the FOIA requests,” the lawsuit reads.
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Freedom of the Press Foundation is a non-profit organization that monitors press freedom issues in the U.S. and trains journalists on how to keep themselves and their sources safe. It regularly sues the U.S. government for access to records.

The data sharing agreement is just one of a growing list of ways that ICE is sourcing highly sensitive, and sometimes legally protected, information as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort. ProPublica reported on the vast system the IRS is building to share millions of taxpayers’ data with ICE. 404 Media previously reported ICE has gained access to ISO Claimsearch, a massive insurance and medical bill database to find deportation targets. The database is nearly all encompassing and contains details on more than 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills.

Separately, 404 Media filed a lawsuit against ICE in September for access to the agency’s $2 million spyware contract.

If you want to support this work, become a paid subscriber here. If you would like to make a larger, tax deductible donation, please email us at donate@404media.co.

Membership

404 Media is a new independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox.

^{Outpost Staff (404 Media)}

404 Media

2025-09-22 16:23:51

We’re Suing ICE for Its $2 Million Spyware Contract

On Monday 404 Media filed a lawsuit against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demanding the agency publish its $2 million contract with Paragon, a company that makes powerful spyware that can remotely break into mobile phones without the target even clicking a link. The sale of the spyware to ICE has activists and lawmakers deeply concerned about what the agency, which continues to push the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort, may use the technology for. The contract and related documents 404 Media is suing for may provide more information on what ICE intends to do with the spyware.

“404 Media has asked ICE to disclose agency records relating to its contract with a company known for its powerful spyware tool whose potential use in the agency’s ongoing mass-deportation campaign has prompted lawmakers, civil liberties organizations, and immigration groups to express deep concerns over potential civil rights abuses,” the lawsuit says.

404 Media first filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with ICE for documents related to its Paragon purchase in September 2024. Under the law, agencies are required to provide a response within 20 days, or provide an explanation of why they need more time. ICE acknowledged receipt of the request in September 2024, but has not since replied to any follow up inquiries. 404 Media then filed the lawsuit.

ICE signed the contract with Paragon’s U.S. subsidiary in September 2024. Soon after, the then Biden White House put a freeze on the deal as it investigated whether it clashed with a Biden executive order restricting the government’s use of spyware, WIRED reported. At the end of August with Trump in power, ICE reactivated the contract, independent journalist Jack Poulson reported.

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Do you know anything else about Paragon, this contract, or any others? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.

The contract itself is for “a fully configured proprietary solution including license, hardware, warranty, maintenance, and training,” according to a description included in a public U.S. procurement database. The funding office for the purchase is listed as a division of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). It is not clear if the ICE deal is for a custom-made tool or for some version of Paragon’s flagship “Graphite” software.

Graphite is capable of letting police remotely break into messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook Messenger, and Gmail according to a 2021 report from Forbes. While other government spyware tries to take over an entire device allowing all sorts of other capabilities, Paragon sets itself apart by promising to access just the messaging applications, according to Forbes.

Still, that is an exceptionally powerful capability which can skirt the protections offered by end-to-end encrypted apps, and one that is likely very attractive to law enforcement or some intelligence agencies. In March researchers from Citizen Lab, an academic group that investigates the government spyware industry, said they identified suspected Paragon deployments in Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore. Separately the New York Times reported that the DEA has used Graphite.

Citizen Labs’ researchers said they shared their analysis with Meta, which in turn discovered an active Paragon zero-click exploit for WhatsApp. It involved the attacker adding a target to a WhatApp group and sending them a PDF which automatically infected the device. This meant Paragon’s software could hack into a target phone through its WhatsApp client without any target interaction. Later WhatsApp notified more than 90 people it believed had been targeted with Paragon’s exploit.
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Some of those targets were in Italy, including prominent Italian and other European journalists, and activists who rescue refugees at sea. Those revelations have since ballooned into a full-scale political crisis, with parliamentary inquiries and The Guardian reporting that Paragon cancelled its contract with Italy.

Paragon has positioned itself as a more ethical player in the scandal and abuse-ridden government spyware industry. Tools from other vendors stretching back years, from Hacking Team, to FinFisher, to NSO Group, have all been used at some point to spy on journalists or activists. Like the notorious NSO Group, which also tried to enter the U.S. market, Paragon is based in Israel.

Selling to ICE, an agency that has flaunted due process, accountability, and transparency, may complicate that stance for Paragon. ICE has arrested people who were following the steps necessary for legal immigration; waited outside courtrooms to immediately detain people after their immigration cases were dismissed to rush them out of the country; “de-documented” people who had valid work permits in order to deport them; and continues to pick up people around the country while masking their faces and declining to provide their names.

After ICE reactivated its Paragon contract, Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement to Bloomberg “ICE is already shredding due process and ruining lives in its rush to lock up kids, cooks and firefighters who pose no threat to anyone.”

“I’m extremely concerned about how ICE will use Paragon’s spyware to further trample on the rights of Americans and anyone who Donald Trump labels as an enemy,” he added.

The best way to support 404 Media and fund our ability to sue the Trump administration to release public records is to become a paying subscriber. If you'd like to make a larger, tax deductible donation, please contact us at donate@404media.co.

Membership

404 Media is a new independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox.

^{Outpost Staff (404 Media)}