You might notice today’s email looks slightly different than our normal daily emails. Don't be alarmed — there's still a lot of good journalism in here. In fact, more than usual.
Every day, we leave a handful of small stories, random links, not-quite-news items and headlines that make us a little jealous on the cutting room floor. As relentless bloggers, we hate letting a good tidbit go to waste.
So we’re trying something new: Instead of the daily newsletter containing the one big story of the day, we’ll send you the juiciest pieces of our own coverage plus a grab bag of items from around the web that we think are must-see for that day. Maybe these are discourse-owning stories that dominate our timelines, or they might just be an oddball link to a Minion-shaped router (keep reading for that one).
We’re seeing cool, weird, bizarre stuff all day long on our travels across cyberspace, and think you should be in the know, too.
Alright, instead of continuing to describe the vision, let’s just show you:
THE BIG STORY
Woman Arrested After City Council Denies Residents Right to Speak on Flock Cameras
Mia Heider had never attended a public meeting before when she showed up to the city council meeting in Springfield, Missouri. After briefly speaking at a podium during a public comment period, she was arrested and dragged away in handcuffs.
“Hello, my name is Miley Heider. I’m a Springfield, Missouri constituent, and I’m here to oppose the usage of ALPR cameras, most commonly made by Flock Safety. These cameras are not just surveillance,” Heider started.
“I’m sorry ma’am,” Springfield Mayor Jeff Schrag said. Her mic was cut. A cop approached her at the podium. Heider held up both of her middle fingers while continuing to speak: “They are an invasion of our privacy,” she said. The cop said, “You’re under arrest,” grabbed her arms, and pulled her out of the room. “I can do this all night. I get paid by the hour,” the cop added.
“Does this conclude the public hearing,” Schrag said.
“Yes sir,” a council member responded. The meeting continued with a city employee talking about sidewalk code. Heider was one of two people arrested in Springfield, Missouri on Monday during a city council meeting where tensions rose after the council stalled a review of the city’s Flock cameras.
The move passed 5 - 3, the crowd shouted at city leaders, and Schrag ordered citizens to clear the room and shut off cameras recording the event.
Read the rest of this story here.
MORE FROM 404
The FBI hack gets worse. The catastrophic hack of at least thousands of FBI officials’ personal data, including their addresses, phone numbers, and even their spouses, includes members of the FBI’s secretive hacking team, potentially revealing who exactly is in that unit, 404 Media has found. Earlier this week, we broke the news that a high profile hacking group claimed it breached multiple FBI-related services and stolen data “on all FBI employees and applicants.”
“This has potential for so much negative PR.” Oops! Last week, Meta executives announced that its much-hyped AI agent, Muse, had a new feature: It could call businesses for you to do things like make a restaurant reservation or a haircut appointment. But in reality, Meta is testing having these calls being made by human beings in call centers, 404 Media has learned.
Also: Shout out to Josh Hawley’s comically large posterboard of 404 Media that he printed out at the big Senate Flock hearing yesterday (that bit starts around 53:00). Hawley referenced, like, six 404 Media stories at yesterday’s hearing but did not namecheck us. Josh, if you’re reading this, please subscribe to 404 Media. ICYMI, the motorcycle pic he’s referencing is from this story about how hackers stole Flock’s camera software.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
Grammarly is not having a good year. Remember when people impersonated by the writing assistance tool’s new AI features sued the company in a class action lawsuit in March? Well, if you try to cancel, some users are reporting that the company is pushing people to persuade administrators to keep the subscription if they try to cancel. This one takes dark patterns to a different level.
Today in things I’m adding to cart: The 6E WiFi router shaped like a Minion. As someone who still uses the forbidden Haribo charging brick and once disassembled a Spencer’s vibrator to look for malware, this thing is right up my alley. You can get the Minion router in Kevin or Bob versions; I admittedly do not know the difference.
‘Sunball Rocket’ by Henley Spiers earned the prize for Bird Photographer of the Year. Isn’t that a beautiful sentence? From the Bird POTY website: “A northern gannet seems to burst through the sun as it pierces down through the water. The handsome northern gannets lead a dualistic existence. In the nest, their newborn is carefully nurtured, and a couple’s bond is reinforced by pointing sharp beaks to the sky as they tenderly stroke their white necks together.” Gorgeous, thanks Bird POTY.
DoorDash will pay $131.5 million to settle an investigation by New York City regulators—$115 million of which will go to drivers who were paid late or not enough. DoorDash posted a remorseful statement on Instagram (which, btw, has the bio “your back’s not big, it’s beautiful 🫶”): “We messed up. Our mistakes meant some NYC Dashers were underpaid or paid late. That's unacceptable, and we're deeply sorry to the Dashers we let down. We've reached a settlement with the City of New York, and we will make this right by paying every impacted Dasher the amounts they are owed.”
Did you know the island of Curaçao has more than 8,000 licensed casino domains? An international consortium of journalists used data from the Curaçao Gaming Authority’s internal IT and turned it into a searchable database. From casinosecrets.lol: “For the first time, the leaked data offers a detailed look at the CGA, the offshore management companies operating behind the licenses, and the iGaming companies themselves.”
Baby got bars? A YouTube channel devoted to Sir Mix-a-Lot music videos just mysteriously uploaded a 2010 press conference by Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Bob Mansfield where they address “Antenna Gate.” For the unfamiliar/young/Android users here, the iPhone 4 seemed to have issues with reception if you gripped it too hard(?) forcing Apple to address the drop in signal. The presser uploaded by the “Sir Mix-A-Lot Rare Music” channel was mostly thought to be lost until now.
Speaking of beautiful backs: It’s FAT BEAR WEEK. Live STREAM (lol!) the chunky bears of Katmai National Park here.
We’re still figuring out how this newsletter will work and what you want in your inbox, so don’t be shy: Reply to this email to let us know what you like, don’t love, and want to see more of. See you tomorrow for your regularly scheduled weekly roundup.
