this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods (www.404media.co)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by tonytins@pawb.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
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A social media and phone surveillance system ICE bought access to is designed to monitor a city neighborhood or block for mobile phones, track the movements of those devices and their owners over time, and follow them from their places of work to home or other locations, according to material that describes how the system works obtained by 404 Media.

Commercial location data, in this case acquired from hundreds of millions of phones via a company called Penlink, can be queried without a warrant, according to an internal ICE legal analysis shared with 404 Media. The purchase comes squarely during ICE’s mass deportation effort and continued crackdown on protected speech, alarming civil liberties experts and raising questions on what exactly ICE will use the surveillance system for.

“This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency. This granular location information paints a detailed picture of who we are, where we go, and who we spend time with,” Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy project director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told 404 Media.

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[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Turning off our phones isn't the answer, prohibiting this invasive and predatory practice is the solution. They couldn't follow you around town and all the way home, and take note of your address without getting flagged for stalking, or at least a restraining order.

They shouldn't be able to stalk you electronically, any more than they can do it on person.

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Shouldn't be able to but the vast majority of the public ceded their privacy to corporations long ago for discounts or features or content (or just no reason at all), corporations will always be buddy-buddy with the state, so here we are. The horses are out of the barn, the barn's been burned down, the horses have been cremated and the ashes snorted by Don Jr. I sure would like to see a return to pre-techno-dystopian values tho.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

That needs to change through legislation. A government that operates on behalf of the people should be prohibiting those sorts of invasive programs for any reason, whether commerce or law enforcement.

And yes, we would hear LOTS of excuses as to why this can't end, but it can end. All we have to is end it, and the corporations and law enforcement will adapt to operating without tech they didn't have only 5-10 years ago, you know like back in the olden days when they couldn't solve any crimes because they couldn't track anybody's phone because all the phones were hanging on the wall in everybody's kitchen? I wonder how they solved crimes back then?

They'll figure it out.