Mastodawn

Was so fun to go on Close All Tabs to talk about how farmers have fought for right to repair! Thought this episode turned out really great and the show in general is amazing:

https://www.kqed.org/news/12077465/to-hack-a-tractor-how-farmers-won-the-right-to-repair

To Hack a Tractor: How Farmers Won the Right to Repair | KQED

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern right-to-repair movement. In this episode, Jason Koebler, tech journalist and co-founder at 404 Media, explains how an unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians helped win right-to repair-protections across multiple states — and why the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.

Jason Koebler Feb 8

Jeff Atwood Feb 8

In the book Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy (Sept 2025) Mettler and Brown argue that today’s U.S. political polarization is increasingly organized around place — a hardened rural-versus-urban identity divide — rather than simply "red states vs. blue states" or "coastal elites vs. flyover country." In their account, American sense of political conflict has come to feel like a fight between us and them based on where people live, and this rural - urban sorting now cuts across essentially every region and state.

Interesting! 🤔 Who could have possibly seen that coming? Maybe we could form a committee, have a lot of meetings, write a whitepaper or two, get some real solid podcasts going (everyone must know what Ezra Klein's opinion is on this), and get the think tanks to think even more hardererer?

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! We already started working on this nine months ago and we're underway in three rural counties already. My bad, y'all. https://rgmii.org

Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative • RGMII

Funds county-level studies providing direct cash support to rural communities facing generational poverty, while partnering with local organizations to generate evidence-based data and build lasting opportunity.

Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative • RGMII

Jason Koebler Feb 5

This project from @codinghorror is so needed & good - well-organized guaranteed minimum income projects around the world keep showing huge promise so I'm excited to see what happens here:

https://blog.codinghorror.com/launching-the-rural-guaranteed-minimum-income-initiative/

Launching The Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative

It's been a year since I invited Americans to join us in a pledge to Share the American Dream: 1. Support organizations you feel are effectively helping those most in need across America right now. 2. Within the next five years, also contribute public dedications of time or funds towards

Coding Horror

Jason Koebler Jan 27

New: DHS now says that two weeks of missing surveillance footage from ICE's Broadview Detention center isn't "missing," it was never recorded in the first place and thus can't be produced in an abuse lawsuit. An utter shitshow:

https://www.404media.co/dhs-says-critical-ice-surveillance-footage-from-abuse-case-was-actually-never-recorded-doesnt-matter/

DHS Says Critical ICE Surveillance Footage From Abuse Case Was Actually Never Recorded, Doesn't Matter

Court records reveal the incredibly sad state of ICE's evidence retention systems.

404 Media

Jason Koebler Jan 20

extremely broad and alarming drone no fly zone designed to protect ICE agents just dropped. notable in part because some folks have used drones to film law enforcement abuses:

https://www.404media.co/feds-create-drone-no-fly-zone-that-would-stop-people-filming-ice/

Feds Create Drone No Fly Zone That Would Stop People Filming ICE

The FAA has altered a no fly zone designation that was originally created for US military bases to apply to DHS units.

404 Media

Jason Koebler Jan 8

ICE has recently bought the capability of monitoring the location histories of entire neighborhoods worth of phones. The data is likely harvested from apps that sell your data, which filters up through data brokers and eventually to companies that sell to ICE:

https://www.404media.co/inside-ices-tool-to-monitor-phones-in-entire-neighborhoods/

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 phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or to their employer.

404 Media

Jason Koebler Dec 22

SCOOP: Flock left at least 60 of its AI-powered, people-tracking surveillance cameras exposed and livestreaming to the open internet. We tracked ourselves. The exposure highlights the power of these cameras and types of things they're tracking. Not just cars.

https://www.404media.co/flock-exposed-its-ai-powered-cameras-to-the-internet-we-tracked-ourselves/

Jason Koebler Dec 11

Porn is being injected into dozens of government websites across the country using malicious PDFs. A separate attack is hijacking govt websites to redirect to penis enlargement scams and animal vagina masturbators.

Cool stuff:

https://www.404media.co/porn-is-being-injected-into-government-websites-via-malicious-pdfs/

Porn Is Being Injected Into Government Websites Via Malicious PDFs

Dozens of government websites have fallen victim to a PDF-based SEO scam, while others have been hijacked to sell sex toys.

404 Media

Jason Koebler Dec 8

404 Media is making a print zine! About the surveillance technologies used by ICE. 16 pages, riso printed. Shipping early January. Features reworked versions of our best reporting and a few new things. We're very excited! And hope to do more if people like it:

https://www.404media.co/404-media-is-making-a-zine/

404 Media Is Making a Zine

We are publishing a risograph-printed zine about the surveillance technologies used by ICE.

404 Media

Jason Koebler Nov 24

X's location "transparency" feature showing many MAGA accounts are based internationally reveals what we already knew: The world is using American social media and American politics as a slot machine and social media companies are directly incentivizing this:

https://www.404media.co/americas-polarization-has-become-the-worlds-side-hustle/

America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle

The 'psyops' revealed by X are entirely the fault of the perverse incentives created by social media monetization programs.

404 Media