ICE Uses Tool To Find 'Derogatory' Speech Online (404media.co) 63
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has used a system called Giant Oak Search Technology (GOST) to help the agency scrutinize social media posts, determine if they are "derogatory" to the U.S., and then use that information as part of immigration enforcement, according to a new cache of documents reviewed by 404 Media. The documents peel back the curtain on a powerful system, both in a technological and a policy sense -- how information is processed and used to decide who is allowed to remain in the country and who is not.
GOST's catchphrase included in one document is "We see the people behind the data." A GOST user guide included in the documents says GOST is "capable of providing behavioral based internet search capabilities." Screenshots show analysts can search the system with identifiers such as name, address, email address, and country of citizenship. After a search, GOST provides a "ranking" from zero to 100 on what it thinks is relevant to the user's specific mission. The documents further explain that an applicant's "potentially derogatory social media can be reviewed within the interface." After clicking on a specific person, analysts can review images collected from social media or elsewhere, and give them a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." Analysts can also then review the target's social media profiles themselves too, and their "social graph," potentially showing who the system believes they are connected to.
DHS has used GOST since 2014, according to a page of the user guide. In turn, ICE has paid Giant Oak Inc., the company behind the system, in excess of $10 million since 2017, according to public procurement records. A Giant Oak and DHS contract ended in August 2022, according to the records. Records also show Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the State Department, the Air Force, and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service which is part of the U.S. Treasury have all paid for Giant Oak services over the last nearly ten years. The FOIA documents specifically discuss Giant Oak's use as part of an earlier 2016 pilot called the "HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] PATRIOT Social Media Pilot Program." For this, the program would "target potential overstay violators from particular visa issuance Posts located in countries of concern." "The government should not be using algorithms to scrutinize our social media posts and decide which of us is 'risky.' And agencies certainly shouldn't be buying this kind of black box technology in secret without any accountability. DHS needs to explain to the public how its systems determine whether someone is a 'risk' or not, and what happens to the people whose online posts are flagged by its algorithms," Patrick Toomey, Deputy Director of the ACLU's National Security Project, told 404 Media in an email. The documents come from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by both the ACLU and the ACLU of Northern California. Toomey from the ACLU then shared the documents with 404 Media.
GOST's catchphrase included in one document is "We see the people behind the data." A GOST user guide included in the documents says GOST is "capable of providing behavioral based internet search capabilities." Screenshots show analysts can search the system with identifiers such as name, address, email address, and country of citizenship. After a search, GOST provides a "ranking" from zero to 100 on what it thinks is relevant to the user's specific mission. The documents further explain that an applicant's "potentially derogatory social media can be reviewed within the interface." After clicking on a specific person, analysts can review images collected from social media or elsewhere, and give them a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." Analysts can also then review the target's social media profiles themselves too, and their "social graph," potentially showing who the system believes they are connected to.
DHS has used GOST since 2014, according to a page of the user guide. In turn, ICE has paid Giant Oak Inc., the company behind the system, in excess of $10 million since 2017, according to public procurement records. A Giant Oak and DHS contract ended in August 2022, according to the records. Records also show Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the State Department, the Air Force, and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service which is part of the U.S. Treasury have all paid for Giant Oak services over the last nearly ten years. The FOIA documents specifically discuss Giant Oak's use as part of an earlier 2016 pilot called the "HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] PATRIOT Social Media Pilot Program." For this, the program would "target potential overstay violators from particular visa issuance Posts located in countries of concern." "The government should not be using algorithms to scrutinize our social media posts and decide which of us is 'risky.' And agencies certainly shouldn't be buying this kind of black box technology in secret without any accountability. DHS needs to explain to the public how its systems determine whether someone is a 'risk' or not, and what happens to the people whose online posts are flagged by its algorithms," Patrick Toomey, Deputy Director of the ACLU's National Security Project, told 404 Media in an email. The documents come from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by both the ACLU and the ACLU of Northern California. Toomey from the ACLU then shared the documents with 404 Media.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Just as soon as you inform us which side is supporting terrorism, antisemitim, rape, oppression and actual murder of women in the middle east. Not to mention terrorism apologetics.
And your comparison is "I can murder babies whenever I want instead of using contraceptives"?
You can fuck RIGHT THE HELL OFF with that level of entitlement.
Re: (Score:2)
The term you're looking for for yourself is "Moral relativism".
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Oh fuck off with the both sides bullshit. Look what party is interfering with ability to freely travel
Are all women subject to a pregnancy test when pulled over now?
The extremes of both sides have a long history of seeking the "freedom" to impose their will on others and are both depressingly insane. Bickering over whose loony bin is worse is a pointless exercise.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
NOT under a democrat!
Then you haven't been paying attention to the entirety of censorship that happens across liberal dominant social media, as well as liberal dominant mainstream media.
Sure as fuck hope this stunt set you straight. Finally. Join the growing crowd of disgruntled voters and the rest who are wondering when we're gonna criminalize TDS.
Re: (Score:2)
Moderates of both parties need to get together and govern. The two party only system is broken, but with the campaign system the way it is it is unlikely the parties will split off some wings. However it does seem to be the Republicans that are flailing, with loud minorities rejecting compromise as the highest sin, so that they attack other Republicans more than they attack the Democrats. I honestly thought the GOP would splinter after Trump's first (only) win, but only a few had the guts to stand up and
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A President would have to spend significant political capital to bring them to heel, and it's just not worth it most of the time.
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Jews overwhelmingly vote for democrats (over 70-30 ratio last I checked), and are significantly overrepresented in the high government positions especially among democrat governments (example of just one top Jewish official of many in the current admin: Blinken).
Until the recent Hamas attack, there was widespread belief among them that by actively supporting anti-white movements like BLM, and non-white immigration NGOs they will be spared the main destructive wave of the decolonization purge that is coming.
Re: (Score:1)
Remember when white supremecists used to hide behind hoods?
Re: I would expect this under TRUMP (Score:2)
Now you know why you get extra pat downs when you (Score:5, Interesting)
say unfavorable things about USA online. I realized this in 2016 when I was traveling a lot for work. I stopped saying things online and the patdowns also stopped. It's nice to have some confirmation of my beliefs.
Once again the tin-foiled conspiracy theorist was correct.
Re: (Score:2)
That's pretty tenuous. Sure, it's harmless and free to believe it, but drawing that line definitively might be iffy. :}
Re:Now you know why you get extra pat downs when y (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you're still being a little paranoid, because presently this is only being used on non-citizens. I'm assuming you're an American.
The creepy thing is that this sort of thing certainly could be turned on Americans or used for something like China's social credit system. But preventing that sort of abuse has always been more an issue of limiting the powers of government rather than any technical limitation. If you elect leaders who want to trample your rights, don't be surprised when there's a leopard at your door waiting to eat your face.
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think you're still being a little paranoid, because presently this is only being used on non-citizens
LOLz
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If you want to mess with someone, create a load of fake social media accounts in their name and post "death to America!", befriend Hamas and ISIS, post some home made bomb recipes...
Re:Now you know why you get extra pat downs when y (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you're still being a little paranoid, because presently this is only being used on non-citizens.
That's a bad assumption. We suspected already but know from Snowden that there are numerous unconstitutional citizen spying programs, both now publicly known and unknown. The safest assumption is that any tools being used on foreigners are also being used on citizens.
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Where were you getting patted down and what were you saying?
Re: (Score:1)
If you hint at violence, then yes, you will get more scrutiny at airports. If you simply call a President a dumbass, they don't care, everyone calls at least one recent Prez a dumbass.
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say unfavorable things about USA online. I realized this in 2016 when I was traveling a lot for work. I stopped saying things online and the patdowns also stopped. It's nice to have some confirmation of my beliefs.
Once again the tin-foiled conspiracy theorist was correct.
Unlike conspiracy theories like WEF, Plan/Scamdemic, Soros, et al. ones like this are both plausible and have historical examples.
It's been well known that the US has been searching the social media of foreigners for years, in fact you "have" to put your social media on your ESTA application (I never have, not had an issue). For those who don't know, an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) is something every visitor to the US under the VWP (Visa Waiver Program) has to lodge to be permitted
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Who the heck modded this tripe up? It says right in TFS, the social media snooping is being performed on non-citizens - you know, like the sort of folks that wall you were chanting about was intended to keep out. I would think all the right-wingers ranting about "free speech" would be thrilled that the current administration is doing anything which leads to illegals being given the boot.
But nope, it's all sports team politics these days. It's too much effort to think about issues beyond the level of "my
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TFA and TFS also kind of gloss over the fact that this is simply scraping data people have deliberately chosen to share with the world. It's not monitoring your private communications, unless you classify social media posts shared with "Public" or "Everyone" as private, which would be absurd.
The left found great amounts of schadenfreude (deservedly so, IMHO) in Jan 6th'ers that got busted, after literally filming themselves committing federal felonies and sharing said footage with the world, but it's a br
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You are aware that entering any country, US included, as a non-citizen is a privilege and not a right, correct? The example wasn't saying "harsh" things, it was being radicalized. Muhammad Atta is but one example. I don’t want us letting in white supremists either, nor do I blame other countries who refuse to admit our own white supremists.
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Yeah, they're also using it to track down people for deportation, which, if you had read TFA, you would know wasn't based on anything that would have free speech concerns. Pro-tip, if you're wanted by the authorities, whether ICE or Barney Fife, maybe don't be posting your location on social media, mmm'kay?
Re:You do NOT have the right to police speech! - N (Score:2)
This is where the "No Labels" organization comes in.
F! the Republicans and F! the Democrats! Both are pure EVIL and both are bought and paid for by big corporations, and foreign countries! The U.S. Government, the best government money can buy!
I see this system ICE is using definatley being used against American Citizens VERY easily, if it already hasn't been. Just waiting for a whistleblower to leak som
Re: You do NOT have the right to police speech! - (Score:2)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]
Re: You do NOT have the right to police speech! - (Score:2)
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Who the heck modded this tripe up? It says right in TFS, the social media snooping is being performed on non-citizens - you know, like the sort of folks that wall you were chanting about was intended to keep out. I would think all the right-wingers ranting about "free speech" would be thrilled that the current administration is doing anything which leads to illegals being given the boot.
But nope, it's all sports team politics these days. It's too much effort to think about issues beyond the level of "my team good, your team bad!"
Ahh, yes, I remember this from the 00's and the various changes the Patriot Act bought about.
First it was "but it's only applying to dirty foreigners so I'm alright Jack". Then all of a sudden it applied to everyone within a 100 mile radius of a border crossing and you were all ShockedPikachu.jpg.
If they're permitted to do it to foreigners, it's only a matter of time before they'll be asking (and allowed) to do it to citizens.
Also the easy way around congress is to ask the UK to run the progams and
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Who the heck modded this tripe up? It says right in TFS, the social media snooping is being performed on non-citizens - you know, like the sort of folks that wall you were chanting about was intended to keep out. I would think all the right-wingers ranting about "free speech" would be thrilled that the current administration is doing anything which leads to illegals being given the boot.
Just because you are against unlawful uncontrolled border crossing does not also mean you are against free speech even by those seeking visas, visa waivers or immigrating into the country.
Whether any course of action serves your particular cause or interests does not magically justify perusing it. Simply stated ends don't justify means.
But nope, it's all sports team politics these days. It's too much effort to think about issues beyond the level of "my team good, your team bad!"
The entirety of your argument would appear to collaborate just this sort of inference. By projecting a world of tribal sports teams in which the only objective is to win can
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Sure. Look who was so angry at Jimmy Kimmel he called up the network bosses to whine. https://www.theguardian.com/us... [theguardian.com]
Living in the Upside Down (Score:5, Insightful)
Flood open the borders, but spy on social media posts. Welcome to the upside down.
The US needs... (Score:1)
...some contrarians in their midst. Too much uniformity is hardly ever a good idea.
Might even be better to scan for excessive group think.
Hold up. (Score:2)
The government should not be using algorithms to scrutinize our social media posts and decide which of us is 'risky.'
The FBI has been doing risk assessment based on public posting to prevent domestic terrorism for quite some time. Quite recently, they prevented a would be presidential assassin [nbcnews.com] from harming anyone. The ACLU didn't complain about that, so I think the issue is more nuanced than they let on.
I can understand a desire for transparency and oversight but believe it or not, some people are real dangers to other people's safety. Domestic terrorism isn't going away any time soon.
And with that (Score:2, Insightful)
Republicans suddenly clam up about border security.
Re:And with that (Score:4, Informative)
Republicans suddenly clam up about border security.
Um ... as the guy right above you said, "Flood open the borders, but spy on social media posts. Welcome to the upside down."
I seem to remember back when ice was formed (Score:2, Troll)
Meanwhile we have a massive database of all social media posts that are critical of our government.... It's almost as if the panic over immigration has been used against us. Like it has every single right wing authoritarian government in history.
I have said it before and I'll say it again if you want to stop all this illegal immigration tomorrow stop fucking with South A
Except for terrorism, there's no reason to monitor (Score:5, Informative)
The platforms should be policing for terrorism, but otherwise shouldn't care. The US government shouldn't be chilling speech of visa holders or naturalizing citizens.
In other news, social media is actively monitored by Three Letter Agencies to monitor employees in sensitive industries are associating with people on watch lists. How do I know this? A friend of mine was at a tech conference and taking pictures with people. An hour after posting a pic, he got a call from his boss, who said he got a call from some shadowy government figure that the person in the picture was a "bad guy" foreign agent / industrial spy.
I hope they find this post (Score:1)
Fuck ICE.
And another reason (Score:2)
...not to use real names on the internet besides your bank.
A social-credit system (Score:2)
There's currently no evidence this is being used as a social-credit system but it's very difficult to assume it isn't.
It seems the National Security Investigations Division is using this to find persons 'of interest'.
Should not be ICE's job (Score:3)
GOST is an acronym for "state standard" in Russian (Score:2)
Just sayin...
i'm a believer... (Score:1)