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The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has officially gained agency-wide access to a nationwide license plate recognition database, according to a contract finalized earlier this month. The system gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and new powers of real-time location tracking, raising significant concerns from civil libertarians.
For civil liberties groups, the implications go far beyond immigration. "There are people circulating in our society who are undocumented," says senior policy analyst Jay Stanley, who studies license plate readers with the ACLU. "Are we as a society, out of our desire to find those people, willing to let our government create an infrastructure that will track all of us?"
Meanwhile, countermeasures are already deployed, and obfuscated:
Known as "Bienvenidos," the Spanish word for "Welcome," the app purports to help navigate the treacherous U.S.-Mexico border by alerting users to a range of obstacles and threats.
The anonymous creators of Bienvenidos attempted to pitch their app this month to numerous media outlets before suddenly reversing their announcement. A YouTube video explaining the technology was inexplicably deleted while the Bienvenidos website became password-protected.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by BK on Saturday January 27 2018, @11:07PM (9 children)
Suddenly, when it's being deployed against their favored group, the USA left realizes that these data collection tools might just be excessive. Is this what irony is?
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Kilo110 on Saturday January 27 2018, @11:42PM (6 children)
There was a lot of outrage post-snowden.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @12:03AM (4 children)
Yes, yes there was. Lots of outrage.
However, the outrage resulted in a big, fat zero as far as concrete political action was concerned.
This programme appears to have incited more ground level activity and resistance.
People are outraged about a lot of things, but unless they result in activity, the outrage is about as effective as a toddler tantrum because mummy won't let it play with the shiny rotating saw.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @12:17AM (2 children)
Says the AC bitching about people not doing enough. Uh huh, let us know when you've figured out a method that can actually achieve some change.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @12:28AM (1 child)
For starters, it would be nice if people came out in massive numbers like those seen in the women's march against the NSA's mass surveillance. It would be nice if we could see those kinds of numbers for countless different issues.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @12:38AM
^Quickest way to get put on a list^
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday January 28 2018, @06:56PM
What this has proven to Americans is that the only way to stop the creeping surveillance state is total revolt and its physical destruction.
Commoners are too apathetic and congress is too crooked, and the executive branches love power and the judicial branch has been co-opted by Jews, things will only become worse as time goes on.
Unless, of course, they use the technology only to deport the illegals. Then it would be all good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @12:04AM
Won't someone think of the dick pics! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M&t=1494 [youtube.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @12:20AM
"Because terrorists!!" is much easier to sell than "because they're here without a visa!" Favored group? Lol, and every Republican is a literal descendant of Hitler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 28 2018, @01:37AM
Pretty much. Once illegals have been deported, the US can cancel this policy, handing Soros and the DNC the bill. In full!