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theme-cultureregulationprivacygovernment surveillance

DHS Stores Protester Photos in Palantir Database

Source: WIRED Daily

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have moved beyond real-time surveillance of demonstrations into systematic archiving—uploading photos of people observing ICE operations into a Palantir-built database, according to court documents. Casual attendance at a public gathering can now trigger permanent inclusion in a law enforcement system designed for threat assessment. DHS chose Palantir's technology for this work because the company's software is built to find patterns and connections across disparate datasets, meaning a single photo can become a node in a larger investigative map.

theme-cultureregulation/policyfree speechgovernment surveillance

DHS Used Subpoenas and Intimidation to Silence ICE Critics Online

Source: The Wall Street Journal (paywall)

The Department of Homeland Security deployed hundreds of subpoenas against social media platforms and pressured individual posters to sign letters acknowledging their criticism of ICE "may" constitute a crime. Federal agencies exploited platforms' compliance infrastructure and users' vulnerability to legal coercion to suppress political speech, even absent actual violations. The campaign conflated law enforcement investigation with viewpoint suppression.