The ACLU released a trove of documents showing how Homeland Security contracted with surveillance companies to scour location information.
confirming that DHS contracted with two surveillance companies, Babel Street and Venntel, to scour hundreds of millions of cell phones from 2017 to 2019 and access “more than 336,000 location data points across North America.
The majority of the new information details an extensive contract DHS made with Venntel, a data broker that says it sells mobile location data to solve “the world's most challenging problems.” In documents, US Customs and Border Patrol said Venntel's location data helped them improve immigration enforcement and investigations into human trafficking and narcotics.
It's still unclear whether the practice was legal, but a DHS privacy officer was worried enough about privacy and legal concerns that DHS was ordered to “stop all projects involving Venntel data” in June 2019. It seems that the privacy and legal teams, however, came to an agreement on use terms, because the purchase of location data has since resumed, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement signing a new Venntel contract last winter that runs through June 2023.
DHS did not comment on the Politico story, and neither the DHS agencies mentioned nor the ACLU immediately responded to Ars' request for comment. The ACLU says that no laws currently prevent data sales to the government, but that could change soon. The ACLU endorses a bill called the, which is designed to do just that. Even if that bill is passed, though, the new law would still provide some exceptions that would allow government agencies to continue tracking mobile location data. The ACLU did not immediately respond to comment on any concerns about those exceptions.
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