404 Media Live: LA! [TEASER]

Summary

404 Media Podcast – “404 Media Live: LA! [TEASER]”

Date: September 4, 2025
Hosts: Joseph, Sam Cole, Jason Kebler, Emanuel (absent), and special thanks to technical support and interns
Episode Focus: Live event coverage, investigative reporting into ICE technology, and subscriber benefits

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Episode Overview

This episode is a teaser of 404 Media’s first live event in Los Angeles. The hosts, 404 Media’s co-founders, gather in front of a live audience to discuss their recent reporting—especially their investigations into the technology used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They offer behind-the-scenes details on exclusive stories, talk through their experiences as an independent journalist-owned outlet, and express gratitude for community support that makes their work possible.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Community and the Significance of the Live Event

• The Team’s First LA Event:
  • Jason welcomes the crowd, shares appreciation for the venue and support crew, and underscores the DIY nature of the event.
    • “This is truly like a DIY thing. So I'm very, very happy that we haven't all exploded and that there is sound coming out of the speakers.” – Jason (03:57)
  • The podcast reflects on past gatherings (New York, SXSW) and the excitement, challenge, and gratitude involved in bringing people together IRL as a small digital media outfit.
  • Honest admission of nerves and surprises about audience turnout, expressing a profoundly human side of independent journalism:
    • “I didn’t think anybody would come. It’s very nice.” – Joseph (03:06)
    • “I'm always surprised when people come in real life because I'm a homebody and I stay home always.” – Sam (03:17)

2. Reporting Deep-Dive: ICE’s Investigative Databases

• Exposure of ICE’s Investigative Tools:
  • The primary investigative focus was ICE’s “Investigative Case Management System,” a vast database with capabilities far beyond initial expectations.
    • “This database allows filtering according to your visa status and a bunch of other things... It also has things for, quote, scars, marks, tattoos, criminal affiliation, location data, license plate reader data. Spoiler alert. That will be important later.” – Jason (06:08)
  • The team describes its mundane, even “boring,” user interface—masking the very “insidious” breadth and depth of its contents.
    • “You think inside a database... something very sleek and sexy and Techy. And it was pretty boring...the stuff inside was, like, pretty insidious and you would never know it.” – Sam (04:33)
  • The system tracks a massive array of personal identifiers: visa status, border crossings, biometric data, criminal affiliations, license plates, place of employment, etc.
  • The database was created under the Obama administration with supposed privacy guardrails, but the hosts point out the fragility of these protections:
    • “When it was first enacted... there were guardrails... and surprise, surprise, they had to do something called a privacy impact assessment... and they said, well, a future administration could take all these guardrails off, but we're going to launch it anyway." – Jason (06:36)
  • Teaser references to further technology (Palantir, Flock Safety, facial recognition, spyware) to be detailed in the full subscriber-only episode.

3. Behind-the-Scenes of Indie Tech Journalism

• A peek into the team’s process and challenges as a small, expert-run organization:
  • The balance between digital operations (Riverside, Google Docs) and live logistics.
  • Jokes about script reading and the realities of multitasking in live and recorded media.
    • "Every time we do this, it's me reading from a Google Doc and people don't realize that I have Riverside on the left side and then the Google Doc on the right side." – Joseph (00:49)
  • Gratitude and shout-outs for the team, volunteers, and technical staff.
    • “Thank you to Raul, who is running all of our tech. Could not do it without him. Thank you to Rosie, our intern. Rosie, I don't know where you are. Bought the balloons. Amazing, amazing help and thank you to all of you for being here.” – Jason (02:40)

4. Emphasis on Membership and Subscriber Support

• Listeners are encouraged to subscribe for access to the full event recording, bonus content, and to directly support sustainable, independent tech journalism.
  • "If you want to hear the rest of that conversation, please become a paying 404 Media subscriber...you'll get access to all of our bonus content..." – Emanuel (07:30)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the reality of live events:
  • “Didn't think that anyone would come. And you all did.” – Jason (02:47)
• On ICE’s Database:
  • “You think inside a database... something very sleek and sexy and Techy. And it was pretty boring...the stuff inside was, like, pretty insidious and you would never know it.” – Sam (04:33)
  • "It has things for, quote, scars, marks, tattoos, criminal affiliation, location data, license plate reader data. Spoiler alert. That will be important later." – Jason (06:13)
• On surveillance state evolution:
  • “A future administration could take all these guardrails off, but we're going to launch it anyway.” – Jason (06:41)
• On audience connection:
  • “I'm always surprised when people come in real life because I'm a homebody and I stay home always.” – Sam (03:17)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• [00:36] – Show introduction; banter over live reads, scripts, and the reality of podcasting
• [02:03] – Introductions and audience gratitude
• [03:17]–[04:00] – Reflections on previous events, surprise at live audience turnout
• [04:11] – Transition to ICE investigative reporting
• [05:16]–[07:00] – Technical deep-dive on ICE’s Investigative Case Management System
• [07:30] – End of teaser; instructions for subscribing to the full event content

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Tone & Style Notes

• Conversational, candid, and at times, self-deprecating
• Blends technical reporting with human stories from the reporting trenches
• Community-focused, repeatedly expressing thanks and encouragement to listeners/readers

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For the full investigation into ICE technology—including revelations about Flock, Palantir, and more—plus access to exclusive content and Q&A, listeners are urged to subscribe at 404media.co.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info and if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. Lifelock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first [e-mail] podcast terms apply.

[B]

Can you do it from memory?

[C]

Welcome to the 404 Media podcast where we talk about unparalleled access, hidden worlds, both online and IRL.

[B]

404 Media is.

[C]

Thank you for subscribe.

[B]

404 Media is a fraternal.

[C]

Every time we do this, it's me reading from a Google Doc and people don't realize that I have Riverside on the left side and then the Google Doc on the right side.

[B]

To subscribe, go to Four4Media Co as well as bonus content every single week.

[C]

We should do it again with the music and you read it out and I'll show up. But when you're ready to start. Start. Yes, we'll do that.

[B]

Are you doing the music again?

[D]

I thought we did. No, no, I thought we did start. Okay.

[B]

I'm gonna try to do it in your accent. Hello and welcome to the four four Media Podcast. Unparalleled access to hidden worlds, both online and irl. Four Media is a journalist, founding company and needs your support. Subscribe, go to Four4Media Co as well as bonus content every single week. Subscribers also get access to additional episodes where we respond to their best comments. Gain access to that [e-mail]. i'm your host, Joseph, and with me are four4Media co founders, Sam Cole. Unmute. Hi. Joseph Cox.

[C]

I thought I was going to get.

[E]

To mock your voice. After you.

[B]

Oh, go for it.

[D]

Ok.

[B]

Please.

[C]

No, no, no. I don't want to be rude.

[B]

Jason Kebler.

[D]

Hey. Hey. Good to be here. Emmanuel wishes he could be here. He is not. I think before we start, thank you all so much for coming. This is the first time that we've done anything in la. I live here, so it's very good. Thank you. Thank you to everyone at RIP Space for amazing, amazing space. Thank you for having us. Thank you to Dexter Thomas, who will be up here in a minute. Thank you to Raul, who is running all of our tech. Could not do it without him. Thank you to Rosie, our intern. Rosie, I don't know where you are. Bought the balloons. Amazing, amazing help and thank you to all of you for being here. This is. I don't know. Didn't think that anyone would come. And you all did.

[C]

Nope.

[B]

If people in the back want to come in, there's space in the middle. And also you could come sit in the floor in the front. Please come in. I know you're, like, in the hallway. I mean, no pressure. Yeah, sure. Yeah. I mean, I'm sorry this is the.

[C]

Situation, but just on that, I've constantly been asking Sam and Jason, like, so how many people signed up? And it's like the number going up, and I didn't think anybody would come. It's very nice.

[B]

I would be surprised. I'm always surprised when people come in real life because I'm a homebody and I stay home always. So when people come out, I'm excited.

[D]

Yeah. We've done two parties before, and they were both a lot of work. One was in New York and I had Covid, so I did not attend. And the other was at south by Southwest, where we sort of piggybacked on someone else's party. And both of those parties were, like, somewhat easy to put on this. We brought all these cameras. You know, John with ripstates made it very easy for us. But this is truly like a DIY thing. So I'm very, very happy that we haven't all exploded and that there is sound coming out of the speakers. We will probably keep this to, like, I don't know, like, 30ish minutes and then do some, like, Q and A at the end. But we're going to talk a little bit about our reporting about ICE and the technology that they use. Sam?

[B]

Yes. Yeah. So this is. We're going to talk first. We're going to kind of walk you through the last few months of coverage that we've done about ice. So this is from. That's the story. Oh, no, that's a different story. Slide, please.

[C]

It doesn't matter.

[E]

I can't see the story.

[D]

We were using the photo, which is a little peek behind the mirror of indie media.

[B]

Yeah. So the first story we're going to talk about is inside a powerful database ICE uses to identify and deport people. So do we want to walk through what the database is, what we saw? I believe we all got to look at the database behind the scenes, but, yeah. Can we just describe what it was in as much detail as we can? Because I remember seeing it and I was thinking, okay, this is, you think inside a database, and you're thinking something very sleek and sexy and Techy. And it was pretty boring. Content management file system that looked very, like, archaic and the stuff inside was, like, pretty insidious and you would never know it.

[D]

So, yeah, I think this was one of the first stories we did after Trump took office, and Sam and I worked on this together. It's a system called the Investigative Case Management System, which was set up during the Obama administration, I believe. Bump her up. Which number are you again?

[B]

Four.

[E]

Four.

[D]

Okay. It's called the Investigative Case Management System. We have to keep it low. If it's low for YouTube, that's too bad, unfortunately.

[C]

Sorry. YouTube.

[D]

It's called the Investigative Case Management System and it was set up during the Obama administration. And it's a DHS database that I know you cannot see up here because the screen is very cool, but it's not made for displaying black text or white text on a black screen.

[C]

But the one thing it can't display.

[D]

Yeah, but it's a very good vibe. It's a very good vibe. So basically, this database allows filtering according to your visa status and a bunch of other things like when you enter a port of entry. So it has things for, quote, refugee border crossing card, non immigrant alien refused admission, so anyone turned away at the border, temporary protected status, alien, non immigrant alien transiting without a visa, et cetera, et cetera. And then it also has things for, quote, scars, marks, tattoos, criminal affiliation, location data, license plate reader data. Spoiler alert. That will be important later. Country of origin, hair and eye color, race, Social Security number, birthplace, place of employment, driver's license, status, et cetera, et cetera. And basically what we learned was this was a huge database that DHS was creating. And when it was first enacted by the Obama administration, there were guardrails on when ICE could use this and which parts of DHS could use this. And surprise, surprise, they had to do something called a privacy impact assessment when it was first unveiled. And they said, well, a future administration could take all these guardrails off, but we're going to launch it anyway. And, well, maybe that gets to our second story, which came very soon after this.

[E]

So that was a preview of our live event in Los Angeles in July where we spoke all about the tech that ICE was and is using from Flock to Palantir, facial recognition stuff, spyware now as well. If you want to hear the rest of the of that conversation, please become a paying 404 Media subscriber. You can do that at 404 Media co. You should see a subscribe button somewhere on the website. Maybe in the top right corner. Failing that, you can go to 404Media Co membership sign up and then you will get a link to the subscribers premium podcast feed and you'll get access to all of our bonus content, which of course includes this conversation, but our comment episodes as well where we respond to the best comments from our subscribers. Thank you so much.

[A]

Mike and Alyssa are always trying to outdo each other. When Alyssa got a small water bottle, Mike showed up with a four litre jug. When Mike started gardening, Alyssa started beekeeping.

[D]

Oh come on.

[A]

They called a truce for their holiday and used Expedia Trip Planner to collaborate on all the details of the trip. Once there, Mike still did more laps around the pool.

[D]

Whatever.

[A]

You were made to outdo your holidays. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel.