Gov't uses location tracking to find illegal immigrants
Why this is a problem for you
It’s fitting, if disturbing, that last week we highlighted the need for a national data privacy policy during Data Privacy Day, and today we’re learning that the federal government is using data from our phones to find, arrest and deport illegal immigrants.
You may think there’s nothing wrong with that because – after all – they’re illegally in this country. But the fact is they are collecting all the data - where you are at every minute of the day – and then filtering it out to find the targeted population they are looking for. Today, that’s illegal immigrants. Tomorrow, it could be Muslims. Next year, it could be Democrats or Republicans. Maybe African-Americans, or single mothers.
It could be you. Why? Who knows. But the how is shockingly easy.
The apps on your phone use location data to provide services. So the Uber driver can find you, so Yelp can tell you where the nearest coffee shop is, so online maps can help you find your car. And most of us are never separated from our phones. I’ve left the house without my wallet, but never without my phone. You’re probably the same.
Those apps do not protect that data, in fact most of them sell it. National data companies purchase the information and sell it to marketing aggregators, like Gravy Analytics, a firm cited in a Vox story as having federal contracts with both the agencies of Homeland Security and Drug Enforcement.
Those agencies turn around and sell the location information to ad companies. Did you go to McDonalds eight times last month, there’s a good chance you’ll start seeing ads on your browser for fast food restaurants.
How can they do that? Don’t we have some expectation of privacy. Sure, but for the most part, we’ve given them permission. This isn’t news. We wrote about this just last week.
Every time we install an app, we are presented with terms of service. Largely, we ignore those, scroll to the bottom and click OK. Of course, the options are to say OK or don’t install the app. But we should question whether the app is something we really need.
We may get some other chances to make better decisions. Depending upon the type of phone you use, apps may ask for permission to access your location, to use your camera, or microphone. Knowing that app companies are selling your data to lots of marketers and to the government, here’s where we can make better choices.
In breaking the story last week, The Wall Street Journal reviewed documents that “make oblique references to such data being used to track, among other things, tunnels along the border.” Vox noted that DHS could target specific geolocation data along the border “for instance in locations outside of designated entry ports” and plan arrest and detention actions accordingly.
It’s important to note that neither the marketing companies that profit from it, nor the government that targets it, has personally identifiable data about you. They don’t know your name or where you live. But anonymity is not the same as privacy. The unique IMEI number associated with your phone never changes. Using AI and pattern recognition, it would not be a difficult exercise to identify where a device sleeps and where it works, which is just a lookup away from knowing who you are, your age, race, religion, and so much more.
While we need to take all the privacy steps within our control, it is nonetheless a small exercise in self-determination without much consequence.
Social media companies, app developers, retailers, and financial institutions have far more information about us than they should. And they do not do a good job of protecting it. Now that your phone is a digital tracker and the key to your home, your car, and probably most of your passwords and online access, it’s past time for the US to have privacy legislation with teeth.
There are five states that have data privacy laws: California, Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii, Maryland and North Dakota. But how does the California law, for example, apply to someone residing in New Jersey who does business with a California company?
A federal law that provides an umbrella set of essential rights for all Americans is what’s needed. Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts introduced Senate Bill 1214 – the Privacy Bill of Rights – last year. So far its been assigned to a committee but so far there have been no hearings or movement.
Until the government takes steps to protect the privacy of citizens from - well, from them – all we really can and must do is take whatever steps are within our control. Developing a sense of personal responsibility for our own data and privacy makes everybody safer.
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