In June, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) signed an acquisition plan for a 5-year, nearly $5.3 million contract for a controversial surveillance tool called Tangles from tech firm PenLink, according to records obtained by the Texas Observer through a public information request. The deal is nearly twice as large as the company’s $2.7 million two-year contract with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Tangles is an artificial intelligence-powered web platform that scrapes information from the open, deep, and dark web. Tangles’ premier add-on feature, WebLoc, is controversial among digital privacy advocates. Any client who purchases access to WebLoc can track different mobile devices’ movements in a specific, virtual area selected by the user, through a capability called “geofencing.” Users of software like Tangles can do this without a search warrant or subpoena. (In a high-profile ruling, the Fifth Circuit recently held that police cannot compel companies like Google to hand over data obtained through geofencing.) Device-tracking services rely on location pings and other personal data pulled from smartphones, usually via in-app advertisers. Surveillance tech companies then buy this information from data brokers and sell access to it as part of their products.
WebLoc can even be used to access a device’s mobile ad ID, a string of numbers and letters that acts as a unique identifier for mobile devices in the ad marketing ecosystem, according to a US Office of Naval Intelligence procurement notice.
Wolfie Christl, a public interest researcher and digital rights activist based in Vienna, Austria, argues that data collected for a specific purpose, such as navigation or dating apps, should not be used by different parties for unrelated reasons. “It’s a disaster,” Christl told the Observer. “It’s the largest possible imaginable decontextualization of data. … This cannot be how our future digital society looks like.”
EFF recommendation on Ad Tracking: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/05/how-disable-ad-id-tracking-ios-and-android-and-why-you-should-do-it-now
Big brother in action. Got to keep those women in line. /s
Ahh yes, the freedom loving state. Texas. That’s right.
As a reminder, Texas has been Republican controlled for roughly 28 years.
Texas doesn’t have Texan problems; it has Republican ones.
And what would you call that ? A Texas problem. Republicans. Somebody has to vote for the fuckers
The venn diagram is a circle.
Remember that one time in Batman where they built a mass surveillance program using phones and decided it was so morally objectionable they immediately destroyed it after?
This is something that was going to happen eventually it’s just kind of ironic that it’s a deep red state going for government surveillance like this
Nothing says “small government” and “freedom” quite like mass surveillance.
Totally on brand really. Republicans want to eliminate white collar crime (by never prosecuting it) and catch 110% of blue collar crimes.
Should gather Abbott’s device id and his families, and post all of their data in a constant stream of location, search results, and such. Soon as his and his families families data is being posted they’ll rethink it as a privacy issue.
But doxing is illegal 🤪
Device-tracking services rely on location pings and other personal data pulled from smartphones, usually via in-app advertisers. Surveillance tech companies then buy this information from data brokers and sell access to it as part of their products.
WebLoc can even be used to access a device’s mobile ad ID, a string of numbers and letters that acts as a unique identifier for mobile devices.
As if you needed more reasons to use an ad-blocker.
This one should be such a goddamn no-brainer to make illegal.
Is there anyway we can open source this technology? I’d love to surveil police and politician phones if possible.
Government know people love to keep track of police and politicians so they are making it illegal.
nobody has ever said “remember that good thing that came out of texas”.
If it’s not food, then yeah, we’re setting all the wrong precedents.
Y’all aren’t exactly known for great food either lol
As a Texan who has no pride in their state at all and is actively making plans to move to a different state, I strongly disagree.
Name food or foods that originated in Texas that are worth even a mention.
WHO THE FUCK CARES THE COPS HAVE A LEGAL DEVICE TRACKER CAN WE PLEASE STOP MEMEING AND FOCUS FOR ONE FUCKDAMN MINUTE?!
What would you like non-Texans like myself to do to help?
Yeah, I’m not a Texan but I also disagree about this. Also, Austin has produced some amazing music over the years (for example, random Austin band I’ve been in love with recently is Being Dead).
My dude, they do some decent ribs.
BBQ didn’t originate in Texas, my dude.
Never claimed it did. I just said they do decent ribs. Pretty much everywhere has a regional BBQ style.
Small government.
Will they finally see or hear me say
FUCK GREG ABBOTT
I hope they can, I’m doing it as hard as I can …
Weird ass fcking state. Can we pawn this one off to Mexico?
Jesus just bomb them if you hate them that much.
Yeah thats true. I love Mexico. I shouldn’t wish a fate like sending Texans upon them.
Isn’t the US already a surveillance country?
Not to this extent.
NSA: AM I A JOKE TO YOU??
Every fucking top comment in this thread are all jokes.
We’re officially reddit, there isn’t any more intelligent discourse here about important topics, it’s all just fucking memes and jokes and ‘lol the world is fucked’
Every one of you disgusts me, you are 75% of the reason they KEEP getting away with this shit.
Because they know ALL you will EVER do is meme and joke.
Thank you for stopping the massive expansion of surveillance in Texas.
Your sarcasm is not appreciated, I am willing to do what is needed to be done but the only ideas we have in this thread is jokes.
Let me reframe my previous comment:
If you don’t want to network in person locally, you will need to find a forum whose sole purpose is activism and direct action.
It will not be brought to you, and you will not be recruited. You have to actively go seek it out.
The forum you’re on now is called “technology”. Similar ones, like “news” or literally any other topic that doesn’t solely focus on mobilizing activists will not get you what you’re asking for here.
Fucking useless bougie navelgazer, I ban you from my internet forever.
You wield the power. Wield it well.
Are they? I see ones like
Small government
This is sarcastic, but it’s as much of a joke as Stephen Colbert - it’s touching on something pretty real. Not sure what’s wrong with pointing out hypocrisy.
How dare people cope with something horrible by making jokes. Everyone knows it’s impossible to make those jokes while simultaneously being horrified by and pushing back against the thing they’re joking about.