ICE and the Smartphone Panopticon
so if i build an app that enables endusers to upload videos from their phones to youtube and then offers a labeling system so that ice-related (or other) activities can be interlinked and searched/discovered/traversed i am suddenly engaging in proscribed software development? how far down does this slope go???
The code for Eyes Up seems to be public [0](although there’s no license, so presumably is copyrighted).
I bet that one could refactor it into a PWA.
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> Eyes Up provides a way for users to record and upload footage of abusive law-enforcement activity, building an archive of potential evidence. [...] Then, on October 3rd, Mark received a notice that Apple was removing the app from its store on the grounds that it may “harm a targeted individual or group.”
In other words, [0] somebody in Apple declared that ICE agents, on duty, operating in public, executing federally-authorized violence, have somehow qualified as a "targeted group" just like transgender people.
> Pressure on the tech platforms seemed to come from the Trump Administration; after a deadly shooting at an ICE field office in Dallas in late September, the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that ICEBlock “put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs.”
It makes for an extra-ridiculous backdrop, since absolutely nobody needed any kind of app to determine that ICE agents will be present at... the big building near the highway with a huge concrete sign on the lawn proclaiming "US Immigration and Custom Enforcement."
... I mean, what're the odds?
> Like other forms of self expression, digital-communication technology has become dangerously circumscribed under Trump; only the tools that exist independent of Big Tech seem like safe bets for dissent.
As these platforms start banning software written by private individuals, we'll have to see what kind of incident tracker some Democrats have promised to arrange. [1] I would expect the niche to be long-term documentation like the banned Eyes Up app, rather than real-time notification of, er, road conditions.
Either way, it highlights a different problem with Apple and Google working to prohibit us (users) from freely installing software we onto hardware we own.
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[0] https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/10/apple-decides-ice-agents...
[1] https://gizmodo.com/democrats-will-launch-a-master-ice-track...
First they came for the illegal immigrants and I did not speak out, because I was not an illegal immigrant.
Then they came for the legal immigrants they didn't like and I did not speak out, because I was not a legal immigrant. [0]
Then they came for their political enemies [1] and I did not speak up, because I was not their political enemy.
Then they came for me - and there was noone left to speak for me.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/trump-zohran...
[1] https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/rnc-2016-lock-her-up-...
I have been warning those around me that it's immigrants today and them tomorrow. I don't think the majority of the population grasps how bad things are about to get. Trump has built ICE/CBP into the most well funded law enforcement agency in the US, with a budget exceeding that of some countries militaries. They are broadly loyal only to him. They are building their surveillance and intelligence capabilities and honing them on immigrants. Tomorrow it will surveillance and arrest of politicians (1), leftist political groups, and anyone else critical of Trump. The worst part is all of this will be supported by his followers who are eager for any opportunity to own the libs. As an American I weep at the end of our republic and our slide into authoritarianism. America couldn't survive the invention of social media and the post-9/11 fear.
1) https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-indi...
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The ICEBlock removal is absurd when you consider Waze has been warning drivers about police locations for... Years? The only difference is which government agency is being monitored. This sets a dangerous precedent for selective enforcement of ToS really