The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has purchased a sinister surveillance tool that could allow ICE officers to monitor unsuspecting members of the U.S. public as they go about their day.
DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have bought software that is updated daily with “billions of pieces of location data from hundreds of millions of mobile phones,” according to procurement records reported by 404 Media on Tuesday.
The outlet states that HSI and ICE selected PenLink’s Tangles and Webloc because the package offers “forensic and predictive analytics,” which enables analysts to correlate those movements with social media.
Demonstrations of similar tools have shown how these datasets can map visits to abortion clinics, churches, and other sensitive sites, and raise concerns over potential breaches of civil liberties.
The purchase reverses ICE’s own January 2024 pledge that it had stopped purchasing “commercial telemetry data,” according to 404 Media.
The DHS has a troubled history with this type of surveillance. An inspector general report in September 2023 cited by 404 Media found U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP), ICE, and the Secret Service “did not adhere to privacy policies” or build adequate rules before buying and using location feeds—even citing a DHS official who tracked co-workers.
Having been urged to halt until safeguards were in place, ICE defended its continued use because the data “produces investigative leads,” reports the outlet.
Before springing for PenLink, ICE’s market survey weighed Babel Street and Venntel—both long-criticized brokers of app-harvested and ad-tech bidstream data—but preferred PenLink’s consolidated interface.
It argued that its rivals’ use of “manual” stitching could miss “connections between online behaviors and physical movements.”
Sen. Ron Wyden told 404 Media in a statement that “every American should be concerned” that ICE is again buying location data without warrants.
PenLink absorbed Israeli OSINT vendor Cobwebs in 2023, bundling web-intel modules with device data. Forbes reported last month that ICE has spent more than $5 million on PenLink-family capabilities since last year, as the agency stocked up on surveillance tech.
ICE is now operating amid a sweeping manpower diversion, with nearly 90 percent of HSI agents reassigned to immigration enforcement, raising urgent questions about whether a tool sold for “criminal investigations” becomes a dragnet for removals.
DHS declined to confirm or deny capabilities in a statement to 404 Media, instead attacking media motives. PenLink didn’t answer questions about data sourcing.
The Daily Beast contacted DHS to ask if it wanted to provide any further comment, as well as PenLink.
The DHS request was met with a generic response that read, “Due to the current federal funding hiatus, I will not be able to return emails or telephone calls until I return to duty upon conclusion of the funding hiatus.” It is not clear who the “I” refers to.
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