diff --git a/base/api.py b/base/api.py
index e5ada13..f9de217 100644
--- a/base/api.py
+++ b/base/api.py
@@ -308,19 +308,9 @@ def encode(s):
     request_url = '%s?%s' % (url, urlencode(query_params))
     url_fetcher = self._authenticated_url_fetcher if authenticated \
         else self._direct_url_fetcher
-    try:
-      response_text = url_fetcher.fetch(
-          request_url,
-          post_data=urlencode(post_params) if post_params else None)
-    except urllib2.HTTPError, e:
-      if e.code >= 400 and e.code < 500:
-        # Log 400s, since they're usually programmer error, and the response
-        # indicates how to fix it.
-        logging.error(
-            'HTTP status %d when requesting %s. Error response body:\n%s',
-            e.code, request_url, e.read())
-      raise
-
+    response_text = url_fetcher.fetch(
+        request_url,
+        post_data=urlencode(post_params) if post_params else None)
     if self._cache:
       self._cache.set(cache_key, response_text)
     return response_text
diff --git a/reader_archive/reader_archive.py b/reader_archive/reader_archive.py
index f8d5a01..2f9f7eb 100644
--- a/reader_archive/reader_archive.py
+++ b/reader_archive/reader_archive.py
@@ -362,10 +362,18 @@ def work(self, stream_id):
     result = []
     continuation_token = None
     while True:
-      item_refs, continuation_token = self._api.fetch_item_refs(
-          stream_id,
-          count=self._chunk_size,
-          continuation_token=continuation_token)
+      try:
+        item_refs, continuation_token = self._api.fetch_item_refs(
+            stream_id,
+            count=self._chunk_size,
+            continuation_token=continuation_token)
+      except urllib2.HTTPError, e:
+        if e.code == 400 and "Permission denied" in e.read():
+          logging.warn("  Permission denied when getting items for the stream "
+              "%s, it's most likely private now.", stream_id)
+          return None
+        else:
+          raise
       result.extend(item_refs)
       if not continuation_token or (self._max_items_per_stream and
           len(result) >= self._max_items_per_stream):
@@ -419,7 +427,8 @@ def fetch(hifi=True):
               'high-fidelity turned off')
           return fetch(hifi=False)
     except:
-      logging.error('  Exception when fetching items', exc_info=True)
+      logging.error('  Exception when fetching items %s',
+          ",".join([i.compact_form() for i in item_ids]), exc_info=True)
       return None
 
   def _group_item_bodies(self, item_bodies):