The American Liberties Union (ACLU) has decided to fight the new practices of the Department of Homeland Security. It used the location data of the cell phones to find out the illegal immigrants.
Nathan Freed Wessler, who is a staff attorney with ACLU’s Speech, and Technology project, said in a statement, “DHS shouldn’t use our data without a warrant beforehand. This action has discarded the Supreme Court precedent, which states that the Supreme Court should inform the judge about the cause before accessing sensitive information.”
Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that Homeland Security was getting geolocation data from several entities. Moreover, the location data obtained through cell phone apps, like weather, shopping, games, and search services, is used by Homeland Security to detect the immigrants entering unlawfully in the U.S.
According to privacy experts, the data is available for purchase. Thus, government practices aren’t violating the law. It’s an example of how the state agencies can legally access the data to create surveillance networks, in countries, like India, China, and Russia.
Alan Butler, general counsel of the Electronic Party Information Centre, said in a statement, “This is a situation where commercial surveillance in the private sector is used directly by the government.”
Venntel is the company behind the government’s use of commercial data. The company is a government contractor who shares several of its staff with Gravy Analytics, a mobile-advertising marketing analytics company. In all, the CBP and ICE have spent $1.3 million for software that provides location data to cell phones. Homeland Security also states that it will use the data for functional purposes. Homeland security has good intentions. Around two years ago, it stated that it planned to reunite the immigrant children with their parents.
The ACLU’s Wessler has won similar cases in the past. He argued in the case of Carpenter v United States that the location data was secret information. Moreover, according to a spokesperson of the agency, CBP excludes cell tower data from the information obtained from Venntel. The agency also said that it keeps the data anonymous.
However, the data can be linked to individuals by relating cell phone information with the movement of specific individuals. Agencies can track it easily through public records or social media.
The ACLU is suing ICE for another privacy violation. Last year, the ACLU said that it would take the government to court over the issue of using an individual’s location. Moreover, the ACLU stated that ICE is spending millions of dollars to access location data.
