https://www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-tool-that-tracks-locations-of-hundreds-of-millions-of-phones-every-day/ Account * Log in * Subscribe Navigation * Home * About * RSS * Support/FAQ * Podcast * FOIA Forum Archive * Merch * Advertise * Thanks * Privacy Follow us Twitter Bluesky Mastodon Instagram TikTok Facebook RSS Sign in Subscribe * About * RSS * Support/FAQ * Podcast * FOIA Forum Archive * Merch * Advertise * Thanks * Privacy Advertisement * Go ad free News ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day Joseph Cox Joseph Cox * Sep 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data. ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day Image: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, via Flickr. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has bought access to a surveillance tool that is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones, according to ICE documents reviewed by 404 Media. The documents explicitly show that ICE is choosing this product over others offered by the contractor's competitors because it gives ICE essentially an "all-in-one" tool for searching both masses of location data and information taken from social media. The documents also show that ICE is planning to once again use location data remotely harvested from peoples' smartphones after previously saying it had stopped the practice. Do you know anything else about this contract or others? Do you work at Penlink or ICE? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co. Surveillance contractors around the world create massive datasets of phones', and by extension people's movements, and then sell access to the data to government agencies. In turn, U.S. agencies have used these tools without a warrant or court order. "The Biden Administration shut down DHS's location data purchases after an inspector general found that DHS had broken the law. Every American should be concerned that Trump's hand-picked security force is once again buying and using location data without a warrant," Senator Ron Wyden told 404 Media in a statement. This post is for paid members only Become a paid member for unlimited ad-free access to articles, bonus podcast content, and more. Subscribe Sign up for free access to this post Free members get access to posts like this one along with an email round-up of our week's stories. Subscribe Already have an account? 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Jason Koebler Jason Koebler * Oct 1, 2025 Advertisement * Go ad free Advertisement * Go ad free * Hide Unparalleled access to hidden worlds both online and IRL. 404 Media is a new independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox. * About * RSS * Support/FAQ * Podcast * FOIA Forum Archive * Merch * Advertise * Thanks * Privacy Twitter Bluesky Mastodon Instagram TikTok Facebook RSS Join the newsletter to get the latest updates. [ ] Success Great! Check your inbox and click the link to confirm your subscription (c) 2025 404 Media. Published with Ghost.