ICE Block, an app that lets users warn others about the location of ICE officers, and which for a short while was the top of the social media App Store chart, does protect users’ privacy and doesn’t share your location with third parties, according to a recent analysis from a security researcher. ICE Block already claimed that it did not collect any data from the app; the analysis now corroborates that.

“It’s not uploading your location at all, when you make a report that report isn’t associated with your device in any way, and there are no third party services that it talks to or sends data to,” Cooper Quintin, senior public interest technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), who analyzed the ICE Block app, told 404 Media.

ICE Block lets users report nearby sightings of ICE officials. The app launched in April, but skyrocketed in popularity after CNN covered the app in June. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) head Kritsi Noem then said that “we’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute [CNN] for that.”

There is no indication that what ICE Block is doing is illegal, nor the coverage of the app. Its App Store page says “Stay informed about reported ICE sightings, within a 5 mile radius of your current location, in real-time while maintaining your privacy.”

Joshua Aaron, ICE Block’s developer, told 404 Media “there are no legal issues with the app. Multiple constitutional and criminal attorneys looked at it before it launched and all agreed this is protected under the First Amendment.”

He added Quintin’s analysis “was great because he confirmed everything we’ve been saying about the app. It is 100% anonymous and we are not collecting or storing any identifiable user information.” Aaron declined to say how much the app was costing to run. He said Apple has not contacted him at all about the app and doesn’t expect them to.

To analyze ICE Block, Quintin said he viewed its network traffic, which would show what data was being transferred or not, viewed logs, and looked up what software libraries were used in the app.

404 Media asked DHS if it had any plans to identify people who have used or downloaded the app, or make any sort of legal demand against Apple for related user data or to take the app down. That would be legally contentious, but DHS Secretary Noem said in a statement “This sure looks like obstruction of justice. Our brave ICE law enforcement face a nearly 700% increase in assaults against them. If you obstruct or assault our law enforcement, we will hunt you down and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

404 Media recently reported on a different app called FuckLAPD.com that uses facial recognition to reveal the identity of LAPD officers. The developer of that project also made ICEspy, which is designed to provide the name of ICE officials, but at the time the underlying dataset was out of date.

Update: this piece has been updated to include a statement from DHS.

On Thursday, a digital rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, published an expansive investigation into AI-generated police reports that the group alleged are, by design, nearly impossible to audit and could make it easier for cops to lie under oath.

Axon's Draft One debuted last summer at a police department in Colorado, instantly raising questions about the feared negative impacts of AI-written police reports on the criminal justice system. The tool relies on a ChatGPT variant to generate police reports based on body camera audio, which cops are then supposed to edit to correct any mistakes, assess the AI outputs for biases, or add key context.

But the EFF found that the tech "seems designed to stymie any attempts at auditing, transparency, and accountability." Cops don't have to disclose when AI is used in every department, and Draft One does not save drafts or retain a record showing which parts of reports are AI-generated. Departments also don't retain different versions of drafts, making it difficult to assess how one version of an AI report might compare to another to help the public determine if the technology is "junk," the EFF said. That raises the question, the EFF suggested, "Why wouldn't an agency want to maintain a record that can establish the technology’s accuracy?"

Read full article

Comments

Starting today, Google is implementing a change that will enable its Gemini AI engine to interact with third-party apps, such as WhatsApp, even when users previously configured their devices to block such interactions. Users who don't want their previous settings to be overridden may have to take action.

An email Google sent recently informing users of the change linked to a notification page that said that “human reviewers (including service providers) read, annotate, and process” the data Gemini accesses. The email provides no useful guidance for preventing the changes from taking effect. The email said users can block the apps that Gemini interacts with, but even in those cases, data is stored for 72 hours.

An email Google recently sent to Android users.

No, Google, it’s not good news

The email never explains how users can fully extricate Gemini from their Android devices and seems to contradict itself on how or whether this is even possible. At one point, it says the changes “will automatically start rolling out” today and will give Gemini access to apps such as WhatsApp, Messages, and Phone “whether your Gemini apps activity is on or off.” A few sentences later, the email says, “If you have already turned these features off, they will remain off.” Nowhere in the email or the support pages it links to are Android users informed how to remove Gemini integrations completely.

Read full article

Comments

I've recently found two essential resources that have helped me understand what, exactly, is going on with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's takeover of public health: (1) episode 259 of the Conspirituality podcast, MAHA is Project 2025's Trojan Horse, and (2) Conspirituality podcast co-host Derek Beres' accompanying article, MAHA's Goal Is Not Health: Robert Kennedy's Movement Promises More Privatization, which was recently published by the Accountability Journalism Institute. — Read the rest

The post RFK Jr's MAGA project funnels millions from public health to private wellness industry appeared first on Boing Boing.

After anti-vaccine advocate and US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 experts who sat on a revered federal vaccine panel and restocked it with eight dubious members, a growing chorus of lawmakers, health experts, and public advocates are calling for a pivotal meeting scheduled for Wednesday to be scrapped and for the panel to be "dissolved" and remade with qualified members.

On June 9, Kennedy unilaterally cleaned out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). Though vetting for the committee has historically taken up to two years, Kenney announced the eight new members two days later. Some of the members are clear anti-vaccine activists, others have espoused contrarian or anti-public health perspectives, and some also have little to no relevant expertise for being on ACIP.

"[T]he reconstituted ACIP is a farce," Robert Steinbrook, a director at consumer rights watchdog Public Citizen, said in a statement. "Rather than further sullying the ACIP and undermining public confidence in vaccines, this week’s meeting should be rescheduled after the Senate has confirmed a new CDC Director who can both appoint an authoritative and representative committee and be able to approve the panel’s recommendations."

Read full article

Comments

The United States is mounting an ambitious effort to reclaim nuclear energy leadership after falling dangerously behind China, which now has 31 reactors under construction and plans 40 more within a decade. America produces less nuclear power than it did a decade ago and abandoned uranium mining and enrichment capabilities, leaving Russia controlling roughly half the world's enriched uranium market. This strategic vulnerability has triggered an unprecedented response: venture capitalists invested $2.5 billion in US next-generation nuclear technology since 2021, compared to near-zero in previous years, while the Trump administration issued executive orders to accelerate reactor deployment. The urgency stems from AI's city-sized power requirements and recognition that America cannot afford to lose what Interior Secretary Doug Burgum calls "the power race" with China. Companies like Standard Nuclear in Oak Ridge, Tennessee are good examples of this push, developing advanced reactor fuel despite employees working months without pay.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.