ICE See You: ICEBlock Crowdsources Reports on the Location of Immigration Officials

Those at risk of deportation from the US now have an app that warns them about immigration enforcement activities. This app “ICE Block” went viral and gained 240,000 users within a few weeks.

WATCH THIS CLIP ON SUBSTACK

It currently ranks at the 3rd most donwloaded app on the Apple App store.

Why so popular? ICE Block is used to report and track police and immigration enforcement activity, warning users of nearby activity.

The developer likens the app to an “early warning system”, the app will send you a notification if ICE has been spotted nearby.

Now the developer Joshua Aaron has got the attention of Pam Bondi, the US Attorney General, who said he needs to “watch out”.

“What they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations and we’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them,” she said. “What they’re doing, we believe, is illegal.”

ICE acting director had this to say:

“Advertising an app that basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs is sickening. My officers and agents are already facing a 500% increase in assaults”

Of course police officers have a dangerous job, much more so when tasked with deporting individuals against their will, however this increase in assault wasn’t supported by any additional details or data.

Legal experts and civil rights attorneys say that ICEBlock falls under protected free speech, and that law enforcement doesn’t have the right to operate in secret.

Although the app is not open-source, the developer pledges that it doesn’t collect user data and sightings auto-delete after 4 hours.

However, because the app runs only on iPhones, the app must use Apple location services, and so Apple has a historical log locations of iPhone users, and could easily isolate users of ICEBlock.

You may remember the first app that popularized police tracking, Waze maps & navigation. Founded by ex-Israeli intelligence veterans of Unit 8200, the app was originally intended to crowd-source community-curated points of interest in Israel, like local events and protests.

It eventually grew to providing a real-time look at the traffic conditions in maps all over the world, including the popular feature that let you report police oficers and speeding traps.

The app was sold for $1.3B to Google in 2013, making it one of the largest acquisitions.

Although its reassuring to get notifications if there’s trouble or speed traps on the road, one must reflect on the origins of the app and whether its tied to a intelligence apparatus.

Citizen is another app that allows users to crowdsource crime reportsw. People submit local crime reports with a picture or video, these reports are then screened and cross referenced with police and emergency radio scanning. Only valid reports that are ‘threats to public safety’ are published to the map. Once on the map, others can live stream or add additional pictures and videos to the event.

Citizen’s revenue model has never been made clear, although the company promises it doesn’t run ads or sell user information. And of course all data sent through the Citizen app is able to be retained if requested by law enforement. Citizen also partners with geo-intelligence firm Axon which makes police body cameras in the US, making the realtime data feeds available to their law enforcement customers.

Law enforcement also uses crowdsourcing apps like LEEDIR, Large Emergency Event Digital Information Repository, developed as a collab between Los Angeles Sheriff’s Dept in 2014. This app activates when there’s a large scale emergency event and lets users upload photos and videos directly to law enforcement.

As of the passing of Trumps ‘big beautiful bill’ in July, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest federal law enforcement agency, granted a $170B total budget greater than the militaries of most nations.

Whatever your stance is on the immigration issue, we should always hold our police accountable and ensure they do not to get to operate in secret, after all they are more than ready to surveil those who they swore to protect.

Crowdsourcing apps like the ones mentioned in this article could be good tools for the common person to avoid unjust enforcement, however because these apps are not open-source nor decentralized, we must ‘trust’ the developers to do the right thing.

👀 Watch this full episode

📱 Get private phones, laptops, and tablets

📅 Use private communications - full privacy tools for $15/month