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US agencies using phone location data for immigration enforcement, report says:
The Trump administration has reportedly acquired access to a commercial database that tracks the movements of millions of cellphones in the US. The data is being used for immigration and border enforcement, according to sources and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The data is reportedly collected from apps for gaming, weather and shopping that ask users to grant them location access. The Journal's Friday report said the Department of Homeland Security uses the information to detect undocumented immigrants and people who may be entering the US illegally.
Separately, US gov't using phone location data to track migrants: Report:
The administration of United States President Donald Trump has purchased commercial databases and software that tracks millions of mobile phones and used the information to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the US, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Friday.
Citing sources familiar with the matter and documents it has seen, the WSJ reported that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has made arrests based on the data, which helped identify the movement and location of undocumented migrants.
[...]According to the report, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began purchasing location data back in 2017 from Venntel, a Virginia-based company, which declined to comment. The data is gathered through smartphone applications after users grant access to their locations.
The DHS and its agencies acknowledged buying access to the data, but did not discuss details about how they are using it in law-enforcement operations. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has said it has privacy protections in place and limits on how it uses location data. The agency says that it accesses only a small amount of the information, which is anonymised to protect the privacy of Americans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 10 2020, @01:12PM (4 children)
Yet you (we) continue to use apps that collect such data.
Apparently we've decided the tradeoff is worth it.
Prove me wrong.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday February 10 2020, @02:36PM (3 children)
DeleteTheApp. Come on, you can do it. Just delete them.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 10 2020, @04:33PM (2 children)
Even if you turn off GPS, the carrier can get a pretty good idea where you are based on the relative levels of cellular signal strength between the carrier's closest towers and your phone. Plus, most modern vehicles also have GPS and emergency service options connected to cellular networks like General Motors' OnStar and Toyota's Safety Connect. Even if you don't pay for those services, they're enabled for emergencies. Plus, of course, there are video cameras and license plate trackers everywhere.
The only way to preserve your privacy is to travel without a cell phone, or with all cell phones in the vehicle in a Faraday Cage or with its battery removed, in an older vehicle or one where you've removed the emergency service options, ideally on routes that have small amounts of video camera coverage.
The battle is lost. The portion of the population with the knowledge, interest, and resources to live like that is so small that the government could designate individual agents to track us all manually. We're only going to fix this with a political revolution. Individual resistance and Second Amendment rights (which I support) are not enough.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday February 11 2020, @08:39PM (1 child)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 12 2020, @05:56PM
That's great. No sarcasm. I've got kids with some serious medical problems, so I have the phone with me all of the time in case one kid has another kidney stone or another kid has another seizure. Google, T-Mobile, and Uncle Sammy could probably tell you more about me, my habits, and my personality than my family members know.