- Earlier this year ICE ordered new vehicles equipped with smartphone-tracking hardware.
- Cell-tower simulating “Stingray” devices gather records on phones in their vicinity.
- Luckily, Android 16 includes new measure for detecting when you may be monitored in this fashion.
Things are bad in the US right now, with the current administration deploying all the tricks in its bag against its perceived political enemies — and that means a huge crackdown on anyone appearing even remotely “foreign.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has found itself leading this effort, with sweeping raids targeting vulnerable communities, all too often leaving divided families and heartbreak in its wake.
We’ve already looked at the role smartphones have been playing in this saga, with moves by Google and Apple alike that appear to support the government’s efforts and remove access to apps designed to protect people from ICE harassment. And now we’re turning our attention to another tool in the agency’s arsenal, as we learn of its latest acquisition of phone-tracking vehicles.