ATF Cancels Phone Tracking Contract Amid Lawmaker Concerns
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has canceled its contract to use a surveillance tool that allows tracking of mobile devices without a warrant, following concerns raised by two lawmakers, a prosecutor, and a judge regarding the legality of the tool in criminal investigations. The ATF, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the country's gun laws, informed The Associated Press that it suspended what it referred to as a 'pilot' program utilizing a tool called Webloc, after Texas Republican Representative Michael Cloud and Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden expressed reservations about the agency's use of mass location data from commercial sources. Webloc, produced by a provider named Penlink, obtains data from consumer apps and advertising networks that collect the location of mobile devices from users who download apps or browse the internet. This data is sometimes referred to as 'ad tech,' and its use in criminal law enforcement has been controversial, as it allows agencies to bypass the requirements of a warrant to identify mobile devices present in specific areas at certain times. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that police needed a warrant for cell phone companies to provide historical movement data of a suspect in a criminal investigation, but it has not addressed the growing practice of using commercially acquired data. Other users of Webloc include the U.S. Army and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as local public safety agencies, such as police departments in Elk Grove, California, and Durham, North Carolina. The technology has also expanded globally, with clients including the national police of El Salvador and Hungarian intelligence agencies, according to a report published earlier this year by Citizen Lab, a group of researchers from the University of Toronto that analyzes digital threats to civil society.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
