ICE - Iris scanners, facial-recognition apps, phone-hacking software and cellphone location data are among the agency's [View all]

[cliffside]

recent technological purchases.

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https://wapo.st/47MPcyk

"The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has been rapidly building out its surveillance capabilities in recent weeks, signing a string of contracts for technologies to identify individuals by their irises or facial features and to monitor their cellphone activity, social media posts and physical movements, according to a review of federal spending disclosures.

.... Technologies purchased by ICE in recent weeks include an iris-scanning app that agents plan to use in the field, spyware that can hack into smartphones remotely and cellphone location software that can enable the tracking of a phone’s movements without a court warrant.
“The acquisition and deployment of this technology in this environment is going to raise substantial concerns,” said John Sandweg, who was an acting director of ICE under the Obama administration.

In one contract that ICE signed last month for Clearview AI facial recognition software, the agency said in a filing that it would be used to investigate “assaults against law enforcement officers.” Other federal contracts show ICE has been expanding its fleet of small, remote-controlled drones, which it has said it is using to film protestors.

ICE’s contracted obligations in September tallied up to $1.4 billion, its highest monthly sum in at least 18 years, according to USASpending.gov. The upsurge in awards coincides with the agency’s access to more than $170 billion in funding that Congress allocated for border security and immigration enforcement in its July spending bill...."