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highplainsdem

(58,994 posts)
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 05:51 PM Sep 30

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day

Source: 404 Media

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has bought access to a surveillance tool that is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones, according to ICE documents reviewed by 404 Media.

The documents explicitly show that ICE is choosing this product over others offered by the contractor’s competitors because it gives ICE essentially an “all-in-one” tool for searching both masses of location data and information taken from social media. The documents also show that ICE is planning to once again use location data remotely harvested from peoples’ smartphones after previously saying it had stopped the practice.

Surveillance contractors around the world create massive datasets of phones’, and by extension people’s movements, and then sell access to the data to government agencies. In turn, U.S. agencies have used these tools without a warrant or court order.

“The Biden Administration shut down DHS’s location data purchases after an inspector general found that DHS had broken the law. Every American should be concerned that Trump's hand-picked security force is once again buying and using location data without a warrant,” Senator Ron Wyden told 404 Media in a statement.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-tool-that-tracks-locations-of-hundreds-of-millions-of-phones-every-day/

11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day (Original Post) highplainsdem Sep 30 OP
Kick SheltieLover Sep 30 #1
maybe phone users could demand this sort of thing stops. or a new phone co. can make phones that do not have msongs Sep 30 #2
DOGE has all our information so don't think this is going to be used only on immigrants.. Deuxcents Sep 30 #3
Absofuckingloutely! SheltieLover Sep 30 #4
Check in with Electronic Frontier Foundation for tools to protect yourself Hekate Sep 30 #5
Made in China? moondust Sep 30 #6
Makes it easy for them to track us at all times WestMichRad Sep 30 #7
If It Only Targets Samsung Phones, I Can Relax DrFunkenstein Sep 30 #8
Tracking android phones is easy, speak easy Sep 30 #9
Kick! summer_in_TX Oct 1 #10
iPhone and android phone users...go to you tube and learn how to stop all tracking nonsense PortTack Oct 1 #11

msongs

(72,836 posts)
2. maybe phone users could demand this sort of thing stops. or a new phone co. can make phones that do not have
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 05:54 PM
Sep 30

sellable data.

Deuxcents

(24,765 posts)
3. DOGE has all our information so don't think this is going to be used only on immigrants..
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 05:54 PM
Sep 30

We’re all at risk

moondust

(21,136 posts)
6. Made in China?
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 06:29 PM
Sep 30

CCP has a long history of surveillance cameras everywhere, internet censorship, phone monitoring, etc.

Mass surveillance in China

WestMichRad

(2,791 posts)
7. Makes it easy for them to track us at all times
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 08:17 PM
Sep 30

Anyone with a non-disposable phone, that is.

I’m not paranoid, though.

Not yet…

DrFunkenstein

(8,855 posts)
8. If It Only Targets Samsung Phones, I Can Relax
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 08:21 PM
Sep 30

Special shout out to the Israeli developers of this useful tech that can not only track an individual’s whereabouts, read their messages, look at their photographs, but also open and read information held on encrypted applications, like WhatsApp or Signal.

speak easy

(12,507 posts)
9. Tracking android phones is easy,
Tue Sep 30, 2025, 09:00 PM
Sep 30

iPhones not so much but who knows?

Google tracks every android phone so it’s child’s play for the NSA.

PortTack

(35,800 posts)
11. iPhone and android phone users...go to you tube and learn how to stop all tracking nonsense
Wed Oct 1, 2025, 01:58 AM
Oct 1

Many of the posts are easy and very precise. Turn them off!

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