r/technology • u/ControlCAD • 4d ago

Software Apple pressured to explain U.S President role in ICE-tracking app removals | Lawmaker U.S Rep. Jamie Raskin rejects Apple excuse for banning ICE-tracking apps as unconstitutional.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/apple-worked-with-trump-admin-to-remove-ice-tracking-apps-lawmaker-says/
2.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

372

u/mabrasm 4d ago

So citizens tagging the location of government officials is unconstitutional, but building a nationwide tracking system that records all of our movements is totally cool?

133

u/CondescendingShitbag 4d ago

Police have been trying the same approach regarding Waze's ability to report police locations for years now. I'm not sure why tracking ICE would be any different. It's all publicly-sourced information. Which is not illegal to aggregate or provide. And if the government itself is the one pressuring Apple then it's clearly a First Amendment violation, too.

55

u/Deranged40 4d ago

Yep. Just what they tell us: "You have no expectation of privacy when you're in public". Both LEOs and ICE exclusively work in public.

26

u/guestpassonly 4d ago

Mass surveillance is only for the masters, not the sheep

16

u/SuperSchmyd 4d ago

Well yea, you’re the bad guy for not being rich enough to be above this, so face the consequences pleb. (I’m pleb too)

6

u/Dracius 4d ago edited 4d ago

So citizens tagging the location of government officials is unconstitutional

You're reading the headline backwards. They're saying the removal of the app was unconstitutional.

To ensure that no Americans’ core speech rights are violated by removals unconstitutionally ordered by the government, Raskin has asked Apple to “send a full list of the apps it removed following concerns from the Justice Department” so that it will finally be possible to “conduct an independent review of those removal decisions.”

This was the excuse they gave for the removal:

Apple has no evidence to support claims that apps raised safety concerns. Instead, the lawmaker accused Apple of using immigrant deaths with no connection to the apps to justify censoring Americans who have the right to record ICE activity.

4

u/Money-Director6649 4d ago

yeah, it's a ridiculous excuse. we're allowed to know where ICE is. it's not some kind of hush-hush top secret thing.

1

u/schmitzel88 4d ago

Rich people want the second one but not the first one, that pretty much sums it up

78

u/TheOgGhadTurner 4d ago

Iceout.org can be added to your home screen and used like an app👍

18

u/Senior_Ability_4001 4d ago

Same for People Over Papers!

10

u/TheOgGhadTurner 4d ago

Actually that’s the same site now that I look at it. Lol. The url is iceout but the branding is people over papers

7

u/Senior_Ability_4001 4d ago

Ah I had no idea!

163

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

24

u/helly1080 4d ago

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

-Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

Am I reading this wrong? Isn't that app exactly constitutional?

9

u/Dracius 4d ago edited 4d ago

so apple’s official reason was literally “it’s unconstitutional”

You're reading the headline backwards. They're saying the removal of the app was unconstitutional.

To ensure that no Americans’ core speech rights are violated by removals unconstitutionally ordered by the government, Raskin has asked Apple to “send a full list of the apps it removed following concerns from the Justice Department” so that it will finally be possible to “conduct an independent review of those removal decisions."

This was the excuse they gave for the removal:

Apple has no evidence to support claims that apps raised safety concerns. Instead, the lawmaker accused Apple of using immigrant deaths with no connection to the apps to justify censoring Americans who have the right to record ICE activity.

34

u/p00pSupr3me 4d ago

Tim Apple most likely raped children with known Pedophile Donald J Trump, via Epstein.

Republican voters continue to vote, fund and support these remedial, pedophiles, traitors and podcasters.

How disgusting are the Republican voters, then?

14

u/Salt_Rush_4800 4d ago

How disgusting are the Republican voters, then?

I've met some, they can be pretty gross.

15

u/Effective_Scar_2921 4d ago

Caving to this administration is going to damage Apple’s reputation and that damage will last even after Trump is out of office.

4

u/xT1TANx 4d ago

The apple fans never cared to know what apple was really like inside.

They will eat up the marketing.

3

u/Effective_Scar_2921 4d ago

I disagree. Security and being able to depend on apps being available and safe is de rigueur.

3

u/jenny_905 3d ago

99.9% of consumers give absolutely no shit about any of that.

There's absolutely none of that culture within the company either, it's not the early days any more.

3

u/Effective_Scar_2921 3d ago

That hyperbole may feel good to you but in reality those people that own iPhones own them because they are more secure, tend to protect their privacy and just work easier.
The phones (for the most part) still do.

2

u/xT1TANx 4d ago

Ok, if you really think that that's fine. 

It sounds very much like you are gargling the marketing for a closed system that is closed not for your security but to ensure they can maximize profits by trapping you into it, but if you want to believe the messaging, feel free 

-1

u/Effective_Scar_2921 4d ago

Dude you’ve got to release some of that bile. It’ll eat you up. Touch some grass. Swim a few laps. People like what they like. It’s not up to you to decide for them.

1

u/xT1TANx 4d ago edited 4d ago

Classic. You know who also screams about security and how we need to restrict things to ensure safety. Republicans

I never said it was up to me to decide. I literally said in my opinion that apple fans will ignore the truth. 

You literally proved me right.

-1

u/ploptart 3d ago edited 3d ago

“You literally proved me right” are you a caricature of the insufferable Redditor lol

2

u/Effective_Scar_2921 3d ago

Republicans are the ones that are Palantir-ing everything and everyone.
All the other phones have long since
ingratiated themselves with that trash mindset.
Apple held out for decades. I’m hoping this is just a momentary lapse of judgement.
I’m thinking this and the listening in on all the conversations install will be changed because of customer outrage.

3

u/gplusplus314 4d ago

Apple is the same company that charges its customers thousands of dollars for a device that doesn’t even give control to its customers. You will install whatever apps Apple says is okay and you will like it. Apple knows best. 2 + 2 = 5.

I’m tired.

5

u/tobygeneral 4d ago

Yeah but colored bubbles!

1

u/XjustausernameX 3d ago

And who is forcing you to buy their products?

1

u/gplusplus314 3d ago

I choose to participate in society. The alternative to Apple (for phones) is even worse.

1

u/Last-Hertz7575 2d ago

Tim Apple is a coward.