Clearview AI wins an ICE contract as it prepares to defend itself in court

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this week signed a deal with Clearview AI to license the facial recognition company’s technology. According to a federal purchase order unearthed by the nonprofit Tech Inquiry (via The Verge), an ICE mission...

ACLU sues Homeland Security over airport facial recognition records

There's no question that AI surveillance is on the rise, but there are a lot of questions about just how extensively law enforcement agencies, like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are using it. In an attempt to increase transparency, the A...

Federal agencies reportedly bought phone location data to track immigrants

Since at least 2017, the US federal government has been buying commercially-available cellphone location data to aid in immigration and border-related enforcement actions, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The data is the type of an...

Federal judge rules suspicionless device searches at the border are illegal

Civil liberties advocates just scored an important victory in a bid to prevent arbitrary device searches at the US border. A federal court handling a 2017 lawsuit has ruled that US policies allowing device searches without valid suspicion or warrant...

DoJ pushes Google and Apple to ID 10,000 users of a gun scope app

The US government has reportedly ordered Apple and Google to hand over the names, phone numbers and IP addresses of at least 10,000 users of a gun scope app. The data request is part of an investigation into weapons export violations, but it has priv...

Senators propose legislation to protect your phone at the border

For years, US border agents have been demanding access to digital devices as people pass into and out of the country. The practice has raised red flags and lawsuits, and the number of searches has spiked under the Trump Administration. Last month, th...

ACLU: border agents regularly perform ‘warrantless’ device searches

Privacy advocates have long been concerned that US border agents may be overstepping their boundaries when searching devices, and the ACLU just obtained evidence appearing to support that theory. The civil rights group has motioned for summary judgm...

Dozens of law enforcement agencies are helping ICE track cars

More than 9,200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees have access to a license plate database that allows authorities to track the movement of vehicles over time. The American Civil Liberties Union says more than 80 law enforcement agencies a...

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement drop Blackberry for iPhone, employees get early Christmas bonus

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement drop Blackberry for iPhone, employees get early Christmas bonus

RIM may be banking on the release of BB10 and new devices to rejuvenate the flagging brand, but the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) isn't waiting around, opting to end their contract after eight years together. ICE stated that RIM "can no longer meet the mobile technology needs of the agency," and that it intends to purchase over 17,000 iPhones for its personnel at a cost of $2.1 million. Android was also interviewed for the role, but the agency decided that currently, Apple's closed ecosystem was the best choice, offering "reliable, mobile technology on a secure and manageable platform." While this isn't the first group (or likely, the last) to drop the Blackberry, we're wondering if the remaining million government customers in North America will stay loyal after this official stamp of disapproval. We imagine employees from other agencies might also care to make a case for switching -- nothing to do with free iPhones, of course.

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US Immigration and Customs Enforcement drop Blackberry for iPhone, employees get early Christmas bonus originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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