2d ago

Trump Team Has Full Meltdown Over CNN Story on ICE-Tracking App

newrepublic.com /post/197464/donald-trump-pam-bondi-tom-homan-cnn-ice-tracking-app

152 comments

Lets build more ICE-tracking apps

Twenty years ago tracking armed thugs in ski masks would have been called a public service.

Was curious so Iooked up the app's site.
Apparently the devs claim they can't release it on Android because "There's no way to be anonymous on the play store", but it's even more impossible to be anonymous on the platform they've released. That's how you know the developer is incredibly stupid and/or shady as hell- because they've never even heard of Fdroid?
Makes me think the app is a troll/trojan horse (not as in infection, trojan horse as in it has alterior motives)
The Drumpf crew "losing it" over the app just makes it more questionable. They love to create a firestorm so people talk about the thing "they definitely don't want you to use!!" to get people to do things...
- they mentioned that its because push notifications require device id and that would make it easy to be tracked if aubpoenaed.
  https://bsky.app/profile/iceblock.app/post/3lmzykc7rb42d
  edit: for the record i don't agree; i'm just saying what they said on bsky
  
  I'm not sure if this guy is just dumb or it's a honeypot.
  As mentioned elsewhere, they don't use device ID
  Android is the only platform that supports alternative push methods
  Apple knows everyone who downloads this app, which is subject to subpoena
  The gov has been collecting push notification data from both Apple and Google for a long time. It would be as simple as knowing when notifications went out and then comparing timestamps to figure out who is using the app.
  The app is closed-source
  It would take significantly more mental energy on the part of the user but it would be far safer (which is extremely important in this specific case, as the dev agrees) to distribute through F-Droid and then use some other UnifiedPush implementation, as many Android apps already do. Anyone using this app is painting a huge target on their backs for the current authoritarian state.
  
  Interesting, especially with GrapheneOS people shooting it down immediately to call them out on their baloney.
  
  Push notifications though GMS don't use the device ID; they use a generated GCM registration ID that occasionally rotates. Who knows what Google uses internally to associate GCM reg IDs to users, but to overly state that it uses device IDs is simply not correct.
  I'm not suggesting push notifications are inherently secure because it's impossible to make that determination from the outside. But their assessment is incorrect and the same privacy concerns apply to Apple.
- This is a really good comment
  
  Thanks. Remember to always question everything. Especially when that -something- sounds like BS.
- There's no way to be anonymous on the play store
  Aurora store.
  
  I was quoting them but you're right-or Fdroid ofc

This gives honeypot vibes. IOS only with no way to access via browser?

I love how the Streisand Effect works. They just made this app the hottest thing out there.
- It's closed source, and the build and publishing pipeline isn't transparent.
  For me that makes this no different than a potential ICE honey pot
  
  can’t even find “Joshua Aaron” on linked in or github. feels a little sus. my moneys on honey pot
  
  which is exactly what this whole 'meltdown' frame for the pr hints at. republicans know how to use publicity stunts to get what they want.
  
  Haven't followed it much (EU), can you elaborate who did what and what can be done potentially?
  
  the honey pot for what? people who don't like ice? that makes no sense

It's going to be filled with false warnings from MAGA idiots and trolls...

Shouldn’t be an app. It should be a site accessible using vpn and private browsing with an appropriate browser. Nobody should have to worry about the Stasi finding the app on their phone regardless of the situation.
- While this is true, most people are not so tech savvy, maybe giving an option to mask app Icon to user choice can help it hide better.
  
  going to a website (not tech savvy enough for this) vs going to the settings on an app and select a new icon (yay anyone can do it)
  
  While I agree, in this particular case I think it's a good idea.
- Can’t it be both?
- Websites don't support push notifications in a way that normies understand. They're also generally unreliable. And these are time-sensitive matters.

Sweet. I appreciate that their reaction has Streisand-effected this app into my awareness.

Is the app foss?
- No, and even worse, its only for apple devices lmao. These kids are so unserious in their activism it would be funny if it werent so sad. If shit hits the fan, this stuff will go down instantly and im sure it has no backup plan for a Tor based or p2p service. Activists in the US should start using Briar. This situation is exactly what it was made for and people have to get their tech game up fast or they will be done for. Get a shitty 80$ android phone if you only have an iphone. Install a panic trigger app that will wipe the phone if you are in trouble.
  On ICEBlocks website it says:
  Modeled after Waze but for ICE sightings, the app ensures user privacy by storing no personal data, making it impossible to trace reports back to individual users.
  Which worries me, because if its closed source then thats a worthless promise and actually makes the app a perfect candidate for a honeypot or backdoor.
  
  apple is the majority of the market, no? so if e.g. a company wanted to get a product out for a client asap, apple would be the market to aim for.

They could try not being brown shirts. Problem solved.
- I love the quote about how it is putting federal agents in danger...and I sort of think that they are doing that themselves.
  
  Good, those agents are playing a dangerous game and you should know if you play with fire your going get burned. Its a matter of time before they try to kidnap the wrong person, and that person decides its better to die in America then it is to go to a camp then deported.
  
  which is great for necessitating the need to give absolute militant power to police forces. It's like... the PR of him having a 'meltdown' is for a reason or something.

"[the app] basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs"
When it comes to painting targets on backs, better them then innocent civilians.
- Lol.
  R's have not only painted targets, they've made ads, and joked about killing civilians and anyone other than MAGAts
  https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/guns-republican-primary-campaign-ads-midterms-1336903/
  Greene in an ad for her 2020 campaign cocked an assault rifle as she warned “antifa terrorists” to stay out of her district
  Masters, a venture capitalist and favorite of Trump-loving billionaire Peter Thiel, has featured guns prominently throughout his primary campaign. He responded to President Biden’s promise on Monday to crack down on “ghost guns,” which are homemade and untraceable, by tweeting a picture of a “ghost gun” he recently built himself. “Very legal & very cool,” he wrote.
  https://www.indy100.com/politics/eric-greitens-campaign-ad-gun
  "There's no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it doesn't expire until we save our country."
  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/south-carolina-governor-henry-mcmaster-hunting-dogs-b2344416.html
  "I look forward to the day that Democrats are so rare, we have to hunt them with dogs,"
  Edit: and for the record, Blake Masters is a piece of shit buddy of both elon and Vance and they are all tied together in their hate for democracy and love of Curtis Yarvin and the plot to destroy western civilization. (Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/inside-the-new-right-where-peter-thiel-is-placing-his-biggest-bets)

I would imagine this is very similar to marking a cop on Waze and completely legal which is why they are throwing a hissy fit.
- He who saves his Country does not violate any Law
  Donald Trump
  Napoleon

Anyone have a link to the app/website? I’d like to follow some among honing my horn and warning folks.
- https://www.iceblock.app/
  
  Is this only on Apple? Kind of lame.

This app sounds exceedingly useful to me.
- It sounds like a honeypot to me. But I would be happy to be proven wrong.
  Edit: and it’s gone?
  
  It's not gone, it's just currently not available in your country or region.
- Looking at the reviews, ignoring the mega hats, it seems part of the app does not work from time to time

“He’s giving a message to criminals where our federal officers are, and he cannot do that, and we are looking at it, we are looking at him, and he better watch out,” Bondi said. “Because that is not protected speech, that is threatening the lives of our law enforcement officers throughout this country, and shame on CNN!”
Why can't he do that, Pammy?
Gotta say Aaron is a bold motherfucker.
- No, no, no. They painted the targets on themselves.
  This app is telling people where to avoid. Not where to go.
- All of a sudden, so many things are "not protected speech". I find it tempting to be as ignorant as a Republican, but I'd certainly be caught off guard in that case.
- Why can’t he? She literally says why not in the text you copied and pasted lol
  
  Yes, but that statement also contains over 50% lies by volume
  
  Does her word override the first amendment?
  There aren't many exceptions, and what's happening on a public street generally isn't one of them.

Ice and snowflakes always seem to go so well with one another.

if they're worried about being tracked maybe they could do the easiest thing in the world which is not being complete shitheads?

dont they have site as well, just incase they decide to shut the apps.

Seems like the kind of thing a defederated system would be good for...
- *federated
  
  😂 I think I was tired
  
  decentralized + federated = defederated
  Could it be any more clear? /s
- If you mean something on fediverse: while that would be hard to take down or block, it’s far from anonymous
  
  Yeah wasn't thinking anonymity, but keeping something running and making it hard to take down.
  
  fediverse over Tor?
  maybe base it on Briar