A new episode of censorship made in the USA. A few days after ICEBlock was removed from the App Store, Apple is once again criticized for having removed the “Eyes Up” application, which specializes in archiving videos and articles about the actions of the US agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to its creators, this removal was ordered after pressure from the Department of Justice, in a context of political controversy around government surveillance and digital freedoms.
Unlike ICEBlock, which was removed for “federal agent security” reasons, Eyes Up did not offer real-time tracking. “Our goal is government transparency, not espionage,” says Mark, project administrator, who specifies that the authorities mainly seek to “erase compromising evidence.”
Other apps removed
To protect himself from possible retaliation, Mark preferred to communicate only his name during his interview with 404 Media, believing that the Trump administration is embarrassed by the number of sensitive videos identified by the application.
“DeICER,” another app dedicated to archiving the activities of ICE-affiliated law enforcement agencies, has also been removed from the App Store. Earlier this week, Apple and Google had already suspended ICEBlock, an application launched in April that allows its users to report the presence of ICE equipment and exchange location information in real time.
At the same time, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has powerful mass surveillance tools that allow it to track the location of hundreds of millions of cell phones across the country. Agents can access huge geolocation and social media databases, in particular through the Tangles and Webloc solutions, initially developed by the Israeli company Cobwebs and now marketed by Penlink.
Let us remember that ICE operations, the axis of the mass expulsion policy promoted by Donald Trump, are regularly the subject of demonstrations and strong opposition throughout the United States. The agency has been criticized for harsh arrests and the implementation of invasive surveillance technologies targeting migrants and their supporters.
Source: BFM TV
