Image by Annika Gordon, from Unsplash
ICE Plans 24/7 Social Media Monitoring Program For Deportation Operations
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced plans to increase its social media surveillance through 29 permanent private contractors who will conduct continuous online monitoring.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- The program will use nearly 30 private contractors to monitor online activity.
- Contractors will analyze social media posts from Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and others.
- ICE plans to integrate AI and spend over $1 million yearly on surveillance tech.
According to WIRED , federal contracting documents show that the agency aims to establish a multiyear program that would turn social media posts into intelligence for deportation raids, and arrests.
The program will be based out of two ICE targeting centers — the National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center in Williston, Vermont, and the Pacific Enforcement Response Center in Santa Ana, California. Each facility will be staffed with private analysts who will “scour Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms, converting posts and profiles into fresh leads for enforcement raids,” as reported by WIRED.
The planning documents show Vermont will use 12 contractors but California will keep 16 staff members working in shifts at the site. The analysts will gather open-source intelligence from VKontakte, and other foreign and mainstream platforms, through public posts and photos and messages.
The investigators will access LexisNexis Accurint and Thomson Reuters CLEAR commercial databases to build comprehensive profiles through the integration of social media information with property data and phone and utility records.
The system needs to produce results right away because it must process critical cases within thirty minutes while completing less critical tasks before the end of a typical workday.
ICE plans to use artificial intelligence in their operations and will spend more than $1 million each year on advanced surveillance technology.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Privacy Information Center consider ICE’s expanding surveillance system to pose an important threat to personal privacy and individual freedoms.
The tools present a risk of being used to monitor immigrants and journalists and activists which could merge security functions with political surveillance.
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Snapchat Starts Charging Users For “Memories” Storage
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager
The social media platform Snapchat announced new Memories Storage Plans last Friday. Users with more than 5 gigabytes of stored content in their accounts will be required to choose one of the paid plans within the next year.
In a rush? Here are the quick facts:
- Snapchat announced new Memories Storage Plans for users with more than 5GB of content in the “Memories” feature.
- The company said that the “vast majority” of users will not be affected.
- The storage plans will start at $1.99 next year.
According to Snapchat’s announcement , Memories—a feature launched in 2016 that allows users to save their images and videos—has now surpassed 1 trillion stored items. To support this growth, the company has decided to introduce paid storage options: 100GB or 250GB under the Snapchat+ plan, and 5TB under the new Snapchat Platinum plan.
“When we first launched Memories, we never expected it to grow to what it has become today,” explained Snapchat. “We want to make sure that our community can continue to store all of their Memories over the long term, so we are introducing new Memories Storage Plans to support Snapchatters with more than 5GB of Memories.”
Snapchat clarified that the change will not affect most users, since the “vast majority” do not exceed the new 5GB free storage limit, only those with significant amounts of stored content.
In May, Snapchat reported reaching over 400 million monthly users and introduced a new feature called Promoted Places to allow users and companies to interact in a new platform experience.
According to the New York Times , Snapchat has now reached 900 million monthly active users and 460 million daily active users, with most users aged between 18 and 34.
A company spokeswoman told the outlet on Wednesday that the introductory 100GB plan will cost $1.99 per month, the 250GB plan $3.99 per month, and the 5TB plan $14.99 per month, noting that prices may vary outside the United States.
The new pricing structure is similar to cloud storage models offered by companies such as Google—with Gmail and Drive—Dropbox, and Apple iCloud, though it is relatively uncommon among social media platforms.
