U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been awarded a new contract to license artificial intelligence social media monitoring software for a total of $5.7 million over five years. The contract is provided by Carahsoft Technology, whose product is called Zignal Labs. The software licenses will be used by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agency, which specializes in real-time data analysis to support criminal investigations.
The Zignal Labs platform uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to scan up to eight billion social media posts per day to provide filtered surveillance information to law enforcement agencies. It is reported that the platform is not only used by the US ICE, but also by the Israeli military and the Pentagon. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took the lead in purchasing licenses for Zignal Labs for the Secret Service in 2019.
In addition to Zignal Labs, ICE uses tools such as ShadowDragon, which maps network activity, and Babel X, which associates social media profiles with Social Security numbers and geolocation. In addition, ICE recently signed a $7 million contract with SOS International LLC (SOSi) to purchase "jump check" services to assist in tracking people, and plans to form a team to monitor social media around the clock.
ICE has been in the news many times since President Trump returned to the White House and began deporting immigrants who were deemed to have no right to stay in the United States. Tools such as Zignal Labs may help ICE advance deportations more efficiently, but this move has also triggered criticism from organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which believes that such "black box" technology may bring privacy and free speech concerns.
As we all know, the U.S. government's widespread surveillance of digital communications is nothing new. The most famous case is the leak of former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Snowden, who fled to Russia during the Obama administration.