An iPhone application that alerts users to observations near immigration activity and customs application (ICE) is gaining ground in the midst of president Donald Trump immigration. And that turns out to be a controversial platform, with Ice denouncing on Monday.
Iceblock allows its users over 30,000, according to the application developer – to download ICE activity observations. They can identify the location on a card and provide additional information on what they have witnessed. Other users, within a radius of five miles, should then receive a push alert inform them of the observation. “See something, press something,” said Iceblock’s slogan.
There are also measures in place to prevent spam activity. Users can only publish an observation within a radius of five miles from their location once every five minutes, and the alerts are automatically deleted after five hours.
“In recent years, ICE has been faced with criticisms for alleged violations of civil rights and not to comply with constitutional principles and regular procedure, which makes it crucial that communities remain informed of its operations,” said a declaration on the application website.
Joshua Aaron, Iceblock developer, describes the application as a basic initiative and community -oriented in a conversation with time led on signal.
“When I saw what was going on in this country, I really felt like I should do something,” said Aaron, referring to the ice raids that took place after Trump’s return to the White House. In June, more than 100,000 people were reportedly arrested by ice during Trump’s second term.
Having grown up in a Jewish house, Aaron said he had the opportunity to speak to the survivors of the Holocaust and to find out about the history of Nazi Germany, he maintains that the current political climate, noting the cases of “authoritarianism” and “fascism”, resembles a “story to repeat itself”.
“The application is 100% anonymous and free for anyone who wants to use it. We do not collect user data. We don’t capture User data. This is extremely important, ”says Aaron, recognizing the confidentiality problems that people can have. As such, the application is not available on Android because it “requires a device ID to send push notifications, which require a user account and a password”.
But the ice is concerned with the potential security implications for its agents.
In response to a request for comments, Ice returned the time of an acting director, Todd Lyons, who called the “disgusting” application, affirming that it “depicts a target on the back of law enforcement agents” and “encourages violence”.
Aaron says that he hopes that the application, which has become available for iPhone users in April, is used as a tool to avoid interactions with ice agents, rather than users who get involved directly in potential altercations.
“The application must inform, not obstruct. It is so that people avoid having this confrontation in the first place,” explains Aaron, responding to the concerns that people could use the application in order to locate and confront glacial agents.
This feeling is also supported by a warning from blocking users, which reads as follows: “Please note that the use of this application is for information and notification purposes.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has redone the country’s immigration policies, including through ice raids in major cities. Recent raids in Los Angeles have sparked mass demonstrations. Trump responded by deploying the California National Guard, then the Marines, without request from the Governor of State Gavin Newsom, provoking many criticisms and a legal battle. A court finally judged that Trump had been authorized to keep control of the National Guard at the
Aaron noticed a dramatic peak of users during the recent upheaval at the
“Before [the protests started]There were about 2,500 users and I was delighted. Then, I connected two days later, and there were more than 20,000 users, and the application went to number 32 for “social networks” in the App Store, “he said.
Demonstrations opposing the Ice Raids quickly spread to the United States, with people speaking in the streets in cities like New York, Chicago and San Antonio. Aaron says he has not kept any trace of where users have downloaded the application or saved observations, to protect the confidentiality of users.
The application is available in 14 languages, especially in Arabic, Spanish, Hindi and Nepalese, each added after the development team has conducted research on immigrant communities, looking for the most commonly used languages outside of English.
In the middle of the icy beard upheaval, Aaron says that his ultimate goal is to search for the community. “When I see things like ice outside of elementary schools, that’s what we try to grow back, because you have to do more. You have to protect your neighbors,” he said.
