Immigration and Customs Enforcement is trying to make the FBI and the National Security Agency look bad. The scale of the agency's evolving digital was detailed in a new report. According to a new report from Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology, ICE spent over $2 billion on facial recognition and other new technology between 2008 and 2011. The authors of the report claim that new documents show evidence of ICE building up its capabilities five years earlier than previously thought, and that ICE's first facial recognition searches took place during George W. Bush's presidency. The report marks a significant increase in ICE's data collection after the September 11 attacks. More traditional data like call records and utility customer information are included in the new data set. The report states that access to those new data sets, combined with the power of algorithmic tools for sorting, matching, searching and analysis, has dramatically expanded the scope and regularity of ICE. Since the Bush years, the agency's use of facial recognition has grown. According to the report, one-third of all US adults have had a driver's photograph taken. According to a report, ICE has driver's license data on 75% of U.S. adults and can detect new addresses by using utility records. ICE isn't slowing down on its facial recognition pursuit either. The agency plans to spend $7.2 million on new facial recognition monitoring tools. Next-Level Sound can be experienced. Theater-like sound surrounds you with spatial audio with dynamic head tracking.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden expressed concerns over the data available to ICE, which he criticized as having long histories of abusing their authority.
Wyden said that he has been sounding the alarm for years that shady data brokers and unscrupulous companies are enabling the warrantless bulk surveillance of Americans. The government shouldn't be allowed to use its credit card to get around Americans.
In an interview with Gizmodo, Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology Research Fellow and report co-author Allison McDonald said that her colleagues were interested in focusing on ICE because of its underlooked overlap with rights and digital privacy.
McDonald said that ICE is at the center of the two areas.
ICE's personal data was given to state and local agencies in exchange for essential services. ICE would often be able to access that data without a warrant, according to the report. Data collected by state institutions often finds its way onto ICE desks in ways that the report's authors claim lack meaningful transparency or oversight. The report claims that the agency still finds ways to access the data even though some states have restricted their cooperation with ICE.
McDonald said that in a lot of cases the lawmakers who are advocating for driver privilege cards are not aware of the connections that already exist between ICE and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The use of the data is what you need to focus on, not saying that the database can't be used.
The authors note how the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and the IRS can act as honeytraps to get immigrants to give up their citizenship. Thanks to advances in machine learning and sorting tools, ICE has the ability to spot precarious gems within the data morass.
In some of the report's more uncomfortable findings, the authors claim that ICE has used facial recognition scans to deport people in at least six states. Unscrupulous immigrants can apply for driver's licenses in 17 states. McDonald said that legislation to give licenses to immigrants who are not US citizens has the potential to weaken immigrant trust in U.S. institutions.
Only a quarter of Americans trust the government to do what they say is right, a figure which is amongst the lowest levels of confidence since the firm started asking the question in the 1960s. Some immigrants may feel uncomfortable providing data and unable to seek social services because of their uneasiness and lack of trust.
McDonald said that driver privilege cards make the roads safer, but if people can't trust agencies, they will be bad custodians. They are not going to go to the hospital if they think their doctor will send their data to ICE.
McDonald and her co-authors are calling on Congress to update the Driver's Privacy Protection Act to require ICE to get a warrant before using the data for immigration purposes. The author would like to see an end to the purchase of large data sets by ICE.
The authors propose a solution that is at odds with the U.S immigration policy status quo, which is to drastically reduce ICE's ability to carry out deportations.
The most direct way to undermine ICE's authority is through the reforms, according to the authors.
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