{"id":135973,"date":"2023-10-24T19:44:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T19:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=135973"},"modified":"2023-10-24T19:44:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T19:44:25","slug":"u-s-government-monitoring-pregnant-moms-posts-on-virtual-communication-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/u-s-government-monitoring-pregnant-moms-posts-on-virtual-communication-networks\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Government Monitoring Pregnant Moms\u2019 Posts on Virtual Communication Networks \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internal emails show U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is collecting personal data that might otherwise require a court order \u2014 including expecting parents\u2019 posts about pregnancy on websites like BabyCenter.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s (DHS) premier law enforcement agency monitors expecting parents\u2019 online posts about their pregnancy and reproductive health issues, according to internal emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act<\/em> (FOIA) by the online privacy activist group, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).<\/p>\n

The U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE), the DHS agency that conducts criminal investigations and enforces U.S. immigration laws, is one of a handful of government agencies that use a software tracking tool called SocialNet.<\/em><\/p>\n

SocialNet<\/em> pulls citizens\u2019 online data from a host of websites, including BabyCenter<\/em>, a reference and pregnancy tracking site where new and expecting parents can post information about their health and pregnancy experiences.<\/p>\n

Eva Galperin \u2014 cybersecurity director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a leading nonprofit defending civil liberties in the digital world \u2014 said the revelation is \u201cconcerning<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people post about their pregnancies to BabyCenter, they\u2019re usually doing it without the expectation that ICE or the local police are checking up on the status of their pregnancy<\/em>,\u201d Galperin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE could potentially be reading information about your reproductive health and about your pregnancy or your children<\/em>,\u201d she said, adding that this is particularly concerning due to the current political climate surrounding pregnancy and abortion.<\/p>\n

ShadowDragon, an online surveillance company, developed SocialNet<\/em> in 2009 and still sells it today. The tool pulls data from more than 150 online sites.<\/p>\n

A full list of sites isn\u2019t available, but The Intercept<\/em> in September 2021 reported a partial list including Amazon, YouTube, Yahoo, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook and dozens more.<\/p>\n

ShadowDragon President Elliott Anderson, in a promo video for SocialNet<\/em> said, \u201cYou can pop in an email, an alias, a name, a phone number, a variety of different elements, and immediately have information on your target. We can see interests, we can see who friends are, pictures, videos<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICE did not respond to a request for comment about its use of SocialNet<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In addition to holding contracts with ICE, ShadowDragon has worked with the FBI, the U.S. State Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Galperin pointed out that multiple state and local police departments use SocialNet<\/em>, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there is an entire ecosystem of companies just like ShadowDragon selling their services to all kinds of governments and law enforcement agencies<\/em>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jeramie D. Scott, senior counsel and director of EPIC\u2019s Project on Surveillance Oversight, told 404 Media<\/em> in an email:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur interactions, associations, words, habits, locations \u2014 in essence our entire digital lives \u2014 are being collected for scrutiny now and indefinitely into the future through expanding analytical tools of black box algorithms. The abuse of such tools is not an \u2018if\u2019 but a \u2018when.\u2019<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Online privacy group sues ICE over FOIA requests<\/strong><\/p>\n

EPIC on Dec. 3, 2021, made an expedited FOIA request for ICE\u2019s communications and contracts with ShadowDragon, arguing there was a \u201cclear urgency to inform the public about DHS\u2019s use of the invasive investigative software<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public is growing increasingly concerned by government access to technological tools that enable it to surveil people and collect their data<\/em>,\u201d EPIC said in its letter. \u201cThe public is also concerned about DHS and ICE\u2019s reputation for maltreating undocumented immigrants and migrants<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

EPIC cited evidence ICE had spent at least $891,556 of taxpayer money to purchase SocialNet<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The same day, EPIC submitted another FOIA request for ICE\u2019s communications and contracts with Babel Street, the creators of Locate X<\/em> software, which U.S. law enforcement agencies signed millions of dollars worth of contracts to use.<\/p>\n

Locate X<\/em> uses data from popular mobile apps to track the movement of people\u2019s cell phones.<\/p>\n

After ICE failed to produce the requested materials, EPIC on March 18, 2022, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against ICE to compel disclosure.<\/p>\n

EPIC did not immediately respond when asked for information regarding when and to what extent ICE handed over the requested documents.<\/p>\n

However, a Sept. 18 report by 404 Media<\/em> showed a segment of an obtained document that said ICE\u2019s Homeland Security Investigations Office of Intelligence (HSI-INTEL) has a requirement to purchase 100 licenses of ShadowDragon\u2019s SocialNet<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Is virtual communication networks\u2019 surveillance by government agencies legal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Companies like ShadowDragon specialize in what\u2019s called open-source intelligence (OSINT).<\/p>\n

The U.S. Code defines OSINT as \u201cintelligence that is produced from publicly available information and is collected, exploited, and disseminated in a timely manner to an appropriate audience for the purpose of addressing a specific intelligence requirement<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

UpGuard, a company that helps businesses manage cybersecurity risk, said in a July 27 blog post that although OSINT deals with information that anyone on the internet can find, it often uncovers information that most people do not know is public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lack of knowledge is where the \u2018grey area\u2019 exists for OSINT. The legality and ethics of OSINT come down to how vulnerabilities are managed<\/em>,\u201d Catherine Chipeta, UpGuard\u2019s cybersecurity writer, said.<\/p>\n

ShadowDragon declined to comment on its use of OSINT and its contracts with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

EPIC, on a website about its lawsuit against ICE, pointed out the \u201cdubious<\/em>\u201d legality of ICE\u2019s use of mobile location data, noting:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2018 the Supreme Court held that the government could not obtain data collected by cell site towers to track phone locations without a warrant. Carpenter v. United States, 138 S. Ct. 2206 (2018).<\/em><\/p>\n

Whether ICE can legally collect virtually the same information by other means \u2014 i.e., indirectly by purchasing mobile location data from firms like Babel Street \u2014 is questionable under Fourth Amendment law<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

EPIC added:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public should understand ICE\u2019s relationships and dealings with firms that sell these surveillance tools, the types and amount of data ICE has access to, how ICE is using that data, what privacy protections ICE has implemented to protect the rights of the public, and whether ICE is complying with the Constitution and federal law when carrying out these investigations<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, at least 10 federal agencies monitor citizens\u2019 posts on internet.<\/p>\n

The Brennan Center identified four ways government monitoring of virtual communication networks can be detrimental:<\/p>\n

It can wrongly implicate an person or group in criminal behavior based on activity on virtual communication networks.<\/p>\n

It can misinterpret the meaning of activity on virtual communication networks.<\/p>\n

It can suppress citizens\u2019 willingness to talk or engage online and invade personal privacy.<\/p>\n

The Brennan Center also noted while there are rules that govern federal agencies\u2019 use of virtual communication networks, there are legal limits on their surveillance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost notably<\/em>,\u201d Brennan Center said, \u201cthe Privacy Act limits the collection, storage, and sharing of personally identifiable information about U.S. citizens and permanent residents (green card holders), including data from virtual communication networks<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Virtual communication networks\u2019 surveillance may also violate the First Amendment, which ensures freedom of speech, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which seeks to prevent discrimination by providing equal protection to all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nOctober 24, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Internal emails show U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is collecting personal data that might otherwise require a court order \u2014 including expecting parents\u2019 posts about pregnancy on websites like BabyCenter. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s (DHS) premier law enforcement agency monitors expecting parents\u2019 online posts about their pregnancy and reproductive health issues, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information-control-for-social-manipulation-3480-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135984,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135973\/revisions\/135984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}