US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is asking firms to supply details about “commercial Big Data and Ad Tech” merchandise that will “directly support investigations activities,” in response to a request for info posted on Friday within the Federal Register, the US authorities’s official journal for company notices, rulemaking, and different public filings.
The posting says that ICE is “working with increasing volumes of criminal, civil, and regulatory, administrative documentation from numerous internal and external sources.” The company frames the request as a technique to survey what instruments are presently obtainable to assist handle and analyze the knowledge ICE has, saying it’s “existing and emerging” merchandise which are “comparable to large providers of investigative data and legal/risk analytics.”
In addition, the entry says “the Government is seeking to understand the current state of Ad Tech compliant and location data services available to federal investigative and operational entities, considering regulatory constraints and privacy expectations of support investigations activities.” The submitting gives little element past that broad description: It doesn’t spell out which laws or privateness requirements would apply, nor does it identify any particular “Big Data and Ad Tech” providers or distributors ICE is concerned about.
The entry seems to be the primary time that the time period “ad tech” has appeared in a request for info, contract solicitation, or contract justification posted by ICE within the Federal Registry, in response to searches by WIRED. The request underscores how instruments initially developed for digital promoting and different business functions are more and more being thought of to be used by the federal government for regulation enforcement and surveillance.
In an unsigned assertion emailed to WIRED, ICE harassed that the submitting was solely for info and planning functions. “Law enforcement across the nation leverages technological innovation to fight crime. ICE is no different,” the assertion reads. ICE mentioned it makes use of know-how to help investigations and to assist within the arrest of criminals, “all while respecting civil liberties and privacy interests.”
The Department of Homeland Security didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
ICE has beforehand used the time period “big data” in a contract justification for Palantir to supply “unlimited operations and maintenance support of the FALCON system” and limitless licenses for “Palantir Gotham.” Gotham is Palantir’s off-the-shelf investigative instrument for regulation enforcement. The firm supplies a customized model of Gotham to ICE often called the “Investigative Case Management” system. FALCON is a instrument throughout the custom-made Palantir system that ICE makes use of to “store, search, analyze, and visualize volumes of existing information” about present and former investigations.
ICE has additionally beforehand bought merchandise that present cellular location knowledge, which is typically among the many info offered by firms that purchase and promote info collected for internet marketing. Ad tech knowledge can embody particulars concerning the gadget and apps an individual is utilizing, the place they’re positioned, and their searching exercise, amongst different info.
ICE has bought business location knowledge obtained from Webloc, a instrument bought by the corporate Penlink. Webloc permits a consumer to gather details about the cellphones getting used inside a particular space throughout a selected time interval. Users have the flexibility to filter the gadgets displayed in response to standards akin to whether or not their location was gathered by way of “GPS, WiFi, or IP address,” or by their “Apple and Android advertising identifiers,” in response to reporting by 404 Media,
In a number of latest years, ICE has additionally bought licenses to make use of Venntel, a knowledge dealer and subsidiary of the agency Gravy Analytics that collects and sells client location knowledge. In a Federal Registry entry closing out a contract with Venntel final 12 months, ICE reported that its Enforcement and Removal Operations division had used the corporate’s software program “to access/gain information to accurately identify digital devices.”
https://www.wired.com/story/ice-asks-companies-about-ad-tech-and-big-data-tools/