ICE Asks Companies About ‘Ad Tech and Big Data’ Tools It Could Use in Investigations

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is asking companies to supply accusation astir “commercial Big Data and Ad Tech” products that would “directly enactment investigations activities,” according to a petition for accusation posted connected Friday successful the Federal Register, the US government’s authoritative diary for bureau notices, rulemaking, and different nationalist filings.

The posting says that ICE is “working with expanding volumes of criminal, civil, and regulatory, administrative documentation from galore interior and outer sources.” The bureau frames the petition arsenic a mode to survey what tools are presently disposable to assistance negociate and analyse the accusation ICE has, saying it is looking astatine “existing and emerging” products that are “comparable to ample providers of investigative information and legal/risk analytics.”

In addition, the introduction says “the Government is seeking to recognize the existent authorities of Ad Tech compliant and determination information services disposable to national investigative and operational entities, considering regulatory constraints and privateness expectations of enactment investigations activities.” The filing offers small item beyond that wide description: It does not spell retired which regulations oregon privateness standards would apply, nor does it sanction immoderate circumstantial “Big Data and Ad Tech” services oregon vendors ICE is funny in.

The introduction appears to beryllium the archetypal clip that the word “ad tech” has appeared successful a petition for information, declaration solicitation, oregon declaration justification posted by ICE successful the Federal Registry, according to searches by WIRED. The petition underscores however tools primitively developed for integer advertizing and different commercialized purposes are progressively being considered for usage by the authorities for instrumentality enforcement and surveillance.

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not instantly respond to requests for remark from WIRED.

ICE has antecedently utilized the word “big data” successful a declaration justification for Palantir to supply “unlimited operations and attraction enactment of the FALCON system” and unlimited licenses for “Palantir Gotham.” Gotham is Palantir’s off-the-shelf investigative instrumentality for instrumentality enforcement. The institution provides a customized mentation of Gotham to ICE known arsenic the “Investigative Case Management” system. FALCON is simply a instrumentality wrong the customized Palantir strategy that ICE uses to "store, search, analyze, and visualize volumes of existing information" astir existent and erstwhile investigations.

ICE has besides antecedently purchased products that supply mobile determination data, which is sometimes among the accusation provided by companies that bargain and merchantability accusation collected for online advertising. Ad tech information tin see details astir the instrumentality and apps a idiosyncratic is using, wherever they are located, and their browsing activity, among different information.

ICE has purchased commercialized determination information obtained from Webloc, a instrumentality sold by the institution Penlink. Webloc allows a idiosyncratic to cod accusation astir the mobile phones being utilized wrong a circumstantial country during a peculiar clip period. Users person the quality to filter the devices displayed according to criteria specified arsenic whether their determination was gathered via “GPS, WiFi, oregon IP address,” oregon by their “Apple and Android advertizing identifiers,” according to reporting by 404 Media,

In respective caller years, ICE has besides purchased licenses to usage Venntel, a information broker and subsidiary of the steadfast Gravy Analytics that collects and sells user determination data. In a Federal Registry introduction closing retired a declaration with Venntel past year, ICE reported that its Enforcement and Removal Operations part had utilized the company’s bundle “to access/gain accusation to accurately place integer devices.”

The Federal Trade Commission alleged successful 2024 that Venntel sold delicate user determination information without getting due consent from radical for commercialized and authorities purposes. The FTC aboriginal barred Gravy Analytics and Venntel “from selling, disclosing, oregon utilizing delicate determination information but successful constricted circumstances involving nationalist information oregon instrumentality enforcement.” (Gravy Analytics did not admit nor contradict immoderate of the allegations made by the FTC.)