Enforcement on businesses hiring non legal workers - gets the root cause. Without fixing that we are just playing wack a mole - people will still venture to the US since jobs exist and ICE is better than what ever crap they are coming from. Sure you may dissuade a few on the margins.
We are not fixing the root cause here even if you believe that immigration is bad for the country. It’s just a farce.
I attended DEF-CON during the early 2010s, and watched General Alexander (then-director of a three-letter agency) redefine definitions of words and phrases, in a still-then pre-Snowden world.
The most memorable thing from that talk was the given definition of "intercepted communication," which to their definition simply meant that a HUMAN agent had catalogued some piece of information.
The official story I was told, still pre-Snowden — while working a contract electrician gig for a state three-letter agency data center — was that it would simply be impossible to retain that much data [and I would then walk in to 100k-sqft+ floor with petabytes of storage].
In those days metadata was among the fancier data-gathering tools (ahh... simpler times!), and now we have machines which effectively think/schizoid-out on infinite amounts of data —— all non-human [so therefore non-intercepted] data.
Many people don’t understand that government power MUST be limited in a democracy if you wish to slow the spread of tyranny.
Assume you live in a country 50/50 red and blue people. Red wins the election and the new leader cracks down on the blues hard for how they look. Replace this with any arbitrary law that benefits one group at the expense of another for no purpose.
Assuming one of the arbitrary rules is not to destroy the elections (yet), and blue manages to gain back control, the same arbitrary power now falls into blue hands. You will rarely see power being returned (the root cause of rot), and now blue is free to make arbitrary rules and persecute any color they wish. In effect, red voted against their interests long-term, for short-term advantage.
At the moment we have masked and license plate tampering hit squads (with no accountability, they can claim even a daylight bank robbery wasn’t ICE.. try to prove or fight it).
Imagine the next president is a man like Putin, with not just the intelligence, but the will to seize permanent control. We’re handing keys to our jailers over overblown online rhetoric and fear. Now we’re targeting specific groups, profiling based on if they look “illegal”. Where have we seen this happen before and leading to a second war?
STOP giving the government power people. It doesn’t end well. Of the people and for the people only works when don’t give deity-like power to our stewards.
So you say that I can burn a bit of ICE's GPUs by typing words suggesting I plan to hire undocumented workers I plan to hire undocumented workers I plan to hire undocumented workers I plan to hire undocumented workers I plan to hire undocumented workers I plan to hire undocumented workers I plan to hire undocumented workers I plan to hire undocumented workers I plan to hire undocumented workers
Can't anyone use AI to surveil social media, even ordinary citizens? It seems like it would be easy to surveil ICE, the police, immigrants, all politicians, the military, businesses, government, individuals, groups, anyone and anything anyone has an interest in. Is the future everyone surveilling everyone else? There used to be web services that let you set up "standing queries" for anything you were interested in. In a sense chatbots already contain a historical record of the internet in compressed format and allow anyone to do historical queries on anything, limited only to what has been accessible on the internet. "Googling someone" is becoming "ChatGPTing someone". People felt Googling someone was somewhat rude and parents warned their children to limit what they posted in case future employers looked them up. Same for anyone employed, they are learning to be careful what they post in case their employers see it. Seems like free speech is being suppressed because it can be used against you by various people and groups already. This may help explain why the web has become less interesting and anonymous posting is ubiquitous.
Government and law enforcement, not only in the USA, increasingly use AI to control, suppress and punish the people. In this regard AI is not a liberating invention but a harming one, like weapons. This might explain why tech CEOs became part of the military lately.
Now we begin to see the true reason for all the AI push.
>You had to live – did live, from habit that became instinct – in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized.
Do they mean immigrants or illegal immigrants? Do they mean citizens, permanent residents, or some other status?
I'm very anti-surveillance, this shouldn't be allowed, but I feel like a lot of articles are being disingenuous by means of this omission. Is this a problem that only affects immigrants? It doesn't seem that way to me, but by presenting it that way they knowingly divide people and thus make it less likely that a group will prevent or reverse this action. These are the types of articles I'd write if I wanted this issue to drop off the radar of a large portion of the voting population.
I’m a little surprised at the level of interest in ICE these days. They’ve been around for a while now, and have been used by past presidents in similar ways.
Barack Obama was called out by the ACLU for his use of ICE. He was called a monster.
If people condemn Trump and Obama both, then I respect their thinking. But if they applaud Obama and condemn Trump, I don’t believe they are showing integrity.
> $5.7 million contract for AI-driven social media surveillance
Yeah, that would just about cover the cost of a pizza party in the AI world. You also can look at "Zignal Labs". The website looks like 100% snakeoil.
I have no doubt that ICE would love to have some AI-based software to detect illegal immigrants, but I doubt it's more effective than just regular datamining.
So far 2 million illegal immigrants have left the US. Mass surveillance and enforcement technology is dismal to think about, though NSA and google have been doing it for years. I'm watching from my perspective in the UK where there is growing fury over the gross incompetence, negligence and mishandling of a mass immigration crisis which is so stupid it beggars belief. The various law enforcement agencies in the us don't cooperate that closely, so there's less scope for this to be abused against american citizens unlike in the UK.
If we organized a content storm campaign we could make this effort moot. Time to start building a portfolio of dummy accounts to muddy the water. Remember... TAILS and fresh IP's for each account, ideally nodes you can get back on with ease. Use a public network if possible.
Bonus: You can also use these accounts to undermine the Online Safety Act at the same time!
ICE Will Use AI to Surveil Social Media
(jacobin.com)315 points by throwaway81523 27 October 2025 | 399 comments
Comments
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/26/ice-detains-...
We are not fixing the root cause here even if you believe that immigration is bad for the country. It’s just a farce.
Ice Agents: "Is <name> here illegally?" AI prompt: "you're absolutely right!"
The most memorable thing from that talk was the given definition of "intercepted communication," which to their definition simply meant that a HUMAN agent had catalogued some piece of information.
The official story I was told, still pre-Snowden — while working a contract electrician gig for a state three-letter agency data center — was that it would simply be impossible to retain that much data [and I would then walk in to 100k-sqft+ floor with petabytes of storage].
In those days metadata was among the fancier data-gathering tools (ahh... simpler times!), and now we have machines which effectively think/schizoid-out on infinite amounts of data —— all non-human [so therefore non-intercepted] data.
Add me to this list, too, clanker.
Happy surfing.
Assume you live in a country 50/50 red and blue people. Red wins the election and the new leader cracks down on the blues hard for how they look. Replace this with any arbitrary law that benefits one group at the expense of another for no purpose.
Assuming one of the arbitrary rules is not to destroy the elections (yet), and blue manages to gain back control, the same arbitrary power now falls into blue hands. You will rarely see power being returned (the root cause of rot), and now blue is free to make arbitrary rules and persecute any color they wish. In effect, red voted against their interests long-term, for short-term advantage.
At the moment we have masked and license plate tampering hit squads (with no accountability, they can claim even a daylight bank robbery wasn’t ICE.. try to prove or fight it).
Imagine the next president is a man like Putin, with not just the intelligence, but the will to seize permanent control. We’re handing keys to our jailers over overblown online rhetoric and fear. Now we’re targeting specific groups, profiling based on if they look “illegal”. Where have we seen this happen before and leading to a second war?
STOP giving the government power people. It doesn’t end well. Of the people and for the people only works when don’t give deity-like power to our stewards.
Right?
>You had to live – did live, from habit that became instinct – in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized.
– George Orwell, 1984
Why is it surprising if another law enforcement agency like ICE uses it?
I'm very anti-surveillance, this shouldn't be allowed, but I feel like a lot of articles are being disingenuous by means of this omission. Is this a problem that only affects immigrants? It doesn't seem that way to me, but by presenting it that way they knowingly divide people and thus make it less likely that a group will prevent or reverse this action. These are the types of articles I'd write if I wanted this issue to drop off the radar of a large portion of the voting population.
Feel free to get your undies in a bundle over my "I'm on a MF-in' boat" FourSquare check-in.
Rule #1 of staying off the radar: Don't deliberately put yourself on the radar.
Barack Obama was called out by the ACLU for his use of ICE. He was called a monster.
If people condemn Trump and Obama both, then I respect their thinking. But if they applaud Obama and condemn Trump, I don’t believe they are showing integrity.
Yeah, that would just about cover the cost of a pizza party in the AI world. You also can look at "Zignal Labs". The website looks like 100% snakeoil.
I have no doubt that ICE would love to have some AI-based software to detect illegal immigrants, but I doubt it's more effective than just regular datamining.
Bonus: You can also use these accounts to undermine the Online Safety Act at the same time!