(San Francisco) As protesters and immigration officials clash in the streets in many U.S. cities, another battle is unfolding over the data used to identify citizens and agents.
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ICE is using new real-time location and tracking technology tools to arrest immigrants and investigate protesters. The protesting citizens, outclassed in strength and financial means, use disposable phones and automobile dashboard cameras – collected through an appeal on social networks – to document the actions, names and numbers of the masked agents.
The government is responding by criminally prosecuting activists and wants to obtain from online platforms the identities of protesters using their sites.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in San Francisco held a hearing on a request from ICE to have Meta identify users of anonymous Facebook and Instagram accounts tracking raids in Pennsylvania.
An ICE court filing in December reveals that the agency is investigating individuals “colluded to obstruct (its) investigations and operations” which would pose “a serious threat to the safety of law enforcement officers.”
Freedom of expression
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is defending the anonymous account holder, the subpoenas against Meta violate the constitutional protection of free speech and the judge must quash them. “This trial is not aimed at criminal activity, it is aimed at the repression of citizens who oppose his action,” says Ari Shapell, lawyer for the ACLU.
At Wednesday’s hearing, ICE admitted that it could not cite a single precedent that would identify its critics without establishing that a crime was likely committed. According to the agency, this is not necessary as no one has yet been accused of wrongdoing.
Federal Judge Peter Kang expressed skepticism about ICE’s claims, but did not say when he expected to issue his ruling.
Since federal authorities forced Apple and Google to remove ICEBlock and other raid tracking apps, activists use more obscure sites and leaflets. So, in Los Angeles, they put up posters all over the city with the names and faces of ICE agents.
PHOTO ALEX BRANDON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the identification of the agents illegal. Three women who published the home address of an ICE agent were charged in September in Los Angeles with “conspiracy to disclose protected information with the intent to intimidate.” Authorities have promised more such prosecutions.
The defendants moved to dismiss the case last month, arguing that the “Protection of Persons Performing Certain Official Duties” law constitutes an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said Tuesday that any attempt to doxing (identify its agents on social networks) “will be repressed to the fullest extent of the law”.
“Our agents are on the front lines to arrest terrorists, gang members, murderers, pedophiles and rapists,” she added. THE doxing The disgusting treatment our officers are subjected to puts their lives and those of their families in danger. »
Fight for public opinion
The death of Renee Nicole Good, shot dead in Minneapolis on January 7 by an ICE agent, showed the risks faced by activists, but also the importance of videos in the fight for public opinion. Videos of the agent shooting M three timesme Good, taken from different angles, called into question the official version according to which the demonstrator tried to run him over with her car.
“It’s become pretty clear that documenting the actions of all these agents is important for civil liberties,” says Dan Feidt, co-founder of Unicorn Riot, a nonprofit media site in Minneapolis dedicated to social movements. “This also plays out in the courts, where it has a major effect. »
PHOTO CHARLY TRIBALLEAU, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Photo of Renee Nicole Good on a pole in Minneapolis, near where she was shot at point-blank range by an ICE agent on January 7
After the death of Mme Good, a call for donations made it possible to receive 400 on-board cameras. “I thought we would get maybe ten, from friends,” says activist Nick Benson, according to whom the public felt the need to help after this tragic event which made headlines across the country.
For its part, ICE photographs protesters to identify them using an application called Mobile Fortifywhich compares photos to those contained in databases. The agency is using its $30 billion budget — recently tripled by the Trump administration — to expand its surveillance capabilities through license plate readers, social media monitoring and location-based services.
Most of these services rely on mass information collection rather than targeted investigations, and most don’t require a warrant, said Cooper Quintin, a technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“We are not only targeting undocumented immigrants and people who have committed crimes,” says Mr. Quintin, according to whom the State has constituted “a gigantic panopticon of surveillance”.
This article was published in the Washington Post.
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