8+ ArchivesDepartment of Homeland Security has bought a commercial database that tracks movements of "millions" of cellphones in America, and is using it to curb undocumented immigrants, The Wall Street Journalreported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter and documents it has seen.
Such databases are legal in the U.S. and are typically used for commercial purposes, for example serving ads. But this is the first discovery of the U.S. government purchasing and using bulk data to detect illegal border crossings and undocumented immigrants.
The Department of Homeland Security admitted to buying access to this data, but would not comment on how it's been used, the WSJsays.
But according to the report, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has actually made arrests after using this data to help identify movements of alleged undocumented immigrants. And the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) is using the data to find cellphone activity in "unusual places, such as remote stretches of desert that straddle the Mexican border," sources told the WSJ.
SEE ALSO: Apple is testing a feature to let iPhone 11 owners totally turn off location trackingThe data is gathered from smartphone apps in which the users have granted permission for location tracking. Though anonymized, a recent report from The New York Timesshowed how easy it is to connect this data to identities of people in the real world.
“While CBP is being provided access to location information, it is important to note that such information doesn’t include cellular phone tower data, is not ingested in bulk and doesn’t include the individual user’s identity,” a CBP spokesman told the WSJ.
An ICE spokesman said the agency "does not discuss specific law-enforcement tactics or techniques."
The report says that the DHS agencies have been buying the location data from a company called Venntel, which also declined to comment. But the fact that the government is purchasing this data from a commercial provider — just like any company could — makes it easy to circumvent court-set limitations for this type of surveillance.
Among other issues the use of this data raises is possible misuse; it's not hard to imagine a slippery slope from tracking undocumented immigrants to registered citizens.
And it's hardly ICE's first entanglement with a tech company. The government entity has previously generated headlines (and heated criticism) for partnering with Peter Thiel's Palantir and iPhone hacking tool creator Grayshift, all in the name of tracking undocumented immigrants.
Topics Politics
The State of PC Gaming in 2016
Wordle today: The answer and hints for February 8
Earth just had its second
Death Is Very Close: A Champagne Reception for Philippe Petit by Patrick McGraw
This is the fattest of the extremely fat bears
An Opera on Little Island by Helen Rouner
Homeland Security is hiring AI experts
Hinge reveals 2024 Gen Z dating trends
Keeping Hope Alive
Wordle today: The answer and hints for February 7
Best portable power station deal: Save 44% on the Jackery Explorer 100 v2
Toys in the TV by Isabelle Rea
Letters to James Schuyler by Joe Brainard
Bernadette Mayer on Her Influences by Bernadette Mayer
5 Ways to Access a Locked Windows Account
Bite by Morgan Thomas
Amazon is testing new driver safety features following shootings
Making of a Poem: Sara Gilmore on “Safe camp” by Sara Gilmore
Best IPL deal: Save $80 on Braun IPL Silk·Expert
It's time to start thinking about cybersecurity for sharks. Yes, the fish.
HODL becomes a rallying cry in the midst of cryptocurrency crashJeanette Epps isn't the only astronaut to be bumped from a missionPatrisse Cullors explains the origin of Black Lives Matter in new bookApple shuttle buses rerouted following suspected attacksReporter has a major fan moment about Ricky Martin in front of Ricky MartinJustin Baldoni's new web series wants to help men growNASA's Jeanette Epps won't make history on the Space Station in 2018Someone just created a site to make browsing Netflix easier'Fire and Fury' rights purchased with eye towards TV seriesHere's what's coming to Hulu in FebruaryAmazon HQ2 list cut down to 20 citiesLady returns sandwich because apparently it wasn't cut equallyHomePod, Apple's Amazon Echo killer is, could launch very soonInternet is bewildered by Philadelphia's #CriscoCops greasing up polesThis woman found a superStubHub adds augmented reality to its app in time for the Super BowlApple shuttle buses rerouted following suspected attacksYour Amazon Prime monthly plan just got more expensiveWoman instantly regrets asking Siri if her crush will text her backPatrisse Cullors explains the origin of Black Lives Matter in new book The Feminine Pillar of Male Chauvinism by Lucy Scholes My Gender Is Masha Gessen What Writers and Editors Do by Karl Ove Knausgaard A Collision with the Divine by Helen Macdonald Why Do We Keep Reading ‘The Great Gatsby’? The Art of Distance No. 35 by The Paris Review Our Contributors’ Favorite Books of 2020 by The Paris Review Home by Nadia Owusu The Libraries of My Life by Jorge Carrión U Break It We Fix It by Sabrina Orah Mark Redux: Morning Full of Voices by The Paris Review What We Know of Sappho by Judith Schalansky From Woe to Wonder by Aracelis Girmay More Primitive, More Sensual, More Obscene by Marina Benjamin The Eleventh Word by Lulu Miller The Shadows below the Shadows Charm and How to Come By It by Dubravka Ugresic Staff Picks: Mammoths, Magazines, and Mysterious Marks by The Paris Review Redux: All of This Was Out of Season by The Paris Review Clarice Lispector: Madame of the Void
2.0282s , 10115.78125 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【18+ Archives】,Wisdom Convergence Information Network