A new iPhone app called ICEBlock lets users track and report on the activities of ICE agents and broadcast them, completely anonymously and in real time, to users of the app located within 5 miles of the activity. The app’s existence was first reported on June 30 by CNN. After masked ICE agents started snatching people from workplaces and public areas around L.A., like at a Home Depot, in L.A.’s fashion district and at restaurants, striking fear into communities in southern California, the app picked up tens of thousands of new users.
The app’s description says,
“ICEBlock is an innovative, completely anonymous crowdsourced platform that allows users to report Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity with just two taps on their phone. In recent years, ICE has faced criticism for alleged civil rights abuses and failures to adhere to constitutional principles and due process, making it crucial for communities to stay informed about its operations.
Modeled after Waze but for ICE sightings, the app ensures user privacy by storing no personal data, making it impossible to trace reports back to individual users. Available exclusively for iOS devices, ICEBlock empowers communities to stay informed about ICE presence within a 5-mile radius while maintaining their anonymity through real-time updates and automatic deletion of sightings after four hours.”
IceBlock’s developer, Joshua Aaron, says he created the app to do something to help communities after seeing the ICE raids going on in the country under Trump. Aaron, who is Jewish, told TIME Magazine that he had had the opportunity to speak with Holocaust survivors and learn about the history of Nazi Germany, and noticed the current political climate is increasingly displaying signs of authoritarianism and fascism. Aaron says it’s like “watching history repeat itself.” He says “The app is 100% anonymous and free for anybody who wants to use it. We don’t collect user data. We don’t even capture user data.” The app is only available on iPhones because it “requires a device ID in order to send push notifications, which requires a user account and a password.” Aaron adds that the app is to inform people so they can avoid confrontations with ICE, and is not intended to obstruct ICE.
Despite this, Attorney General Pam Bondi decried the app. She told Fox News that she is “looking at” the app developer and issued a public warning to him, saying “he better watch out.”
You can download the ICEBlock app here.
I hate facstists, too.
🙂
I know that you claim to be a friend of “brown people”.
Did you know that “Latinos make up 30 percent of ICE agents and nearly 50 percent of Border Patrol agents” ?
So the question is…are they just naturally fascists or did they become fascist?
Something to think about.
What a cool app!
The developer, who is also Antifa adjacent said this:
“The app is to inform, not obstruct. This is to have people avoid having that confrontation in the first place.”
…which is absolute bullsh*t.
This will be used by otherwise unemployed “activists” to gather their minions to attempt to make ICE’s job impossible. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt or killed and then there will be arrests and releases and wailing about the fascist Trump administration.
Saddle up.
Good! Facstists (like other vermin) hate it when you shine a light on them.