US immigration agencies read visa applicant's social media
www.theregister.com
Two thumbs down as ACLU lawsuit yields uncomfortable results
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    6•1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has used an AI-powered data-scanning tool called Giant Oak Search Technology (GOST) to scour social media looking for post containing “derogatory” comments about the nation.

    Immigration agencies and service providers have apparently been using the data in enforcement actions, according to an The American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and first reported by 404 Media.

    “The Biden administration has been quietly deploying and expanding programs that surveil what people say on social media, often without any suspicion whatsoever,” Shaiba Rather, a Nadine Strossen Fellow with ACLU’s National Security Project, told The Register.

    “These programs chill people from speaking freely online and transform social media into a platform for constant government scrutiny.”

    The firm says its AI-based system allows government agencies and law enforcement to “identify bad actors by behavioral pattern rather than identity labels,” using information found on the open and deep web.

    DHS has reportedly used GOST since 2014, according to documents obtained by 404 Media, and ICE has paid Giant Oak more than $10 million for the system since 2017.

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