ICE seeks industry input on ad tech location data for investigative use

Ad Tech, Tracking, and Personal Defenses

• Many argue adblocking is now a core security control, not just a convenience, protecting against both malware and state misuse of ad data.
• Focus is less on blocking ads than blocking tracking; users note pervasive tracking via CDNs, device fingerprinting, and timing metrics even without obvious trackers.
• Some recommend tools that generate fake ad interactions; others counter that this just produces richer tracking profiles.
• A minority view is that privacy paranoia was previously overstated; most replies say adtech’s weaponization proves earlier concerns were justified.
• Several advocate designing systems that store no identifiable data at all, plus degoogling, strong sandboxing, and FOSS-based stacks.

Ethics and Responsibility of Technologists

• One camp says this should be a wake-up call for adtech and data workers: the abuse is no longer hypothetical, so continuing to build these systems is complicity.
• Others argue many engineers know the harms and do not care, or actively identify with law enforcement/intelligence goals.
• There is tension between “don’t hate the player, blame the law” and the view that relying on employee ethics is naive; legislation and regulation are framed as the only durable constraints.
• Some describe quitting high-paying roles over ethical concerns; others emphasize mortgages, visas, dependents, and job market pressure as real barriers to principled exits.
• Debate over whether working for US law enforcement/natsec is inherently unethical ranges from “4th Reich” analogies to arguments that some policing is necessary and beneficial.

ICE, Civil Liberties, and Historical Parallels

• Widespread distrust that ICE will respect warrants, constitutional limits, or “privacy expectations”; past behavior is cited as evidence.
• Strong comparisons are made to Gestapo/Stasi and early Nazi deportation policies; others call this historically sloppy and insist deporting illegal entrants is normal state behavior.
• Some promote low-level internal “sabotage” (delay, bureaucracy) to hinder cooperation with ICE; others warn this can be criminal obstruction and is easily detected.

Big Tech, Surveillance Capitalism, and Data Hoards

• Commenters link this to PRISM and longstanding big-tech collaboration with intelligence agencies, calling major US platforms fundamentally untrustworthy.
• Suggested responses include open source OSes, self‑hosting, and privacy‑centric mobile stacks; others question practicality and note continued reliance on these ecosystems.
• Some hope ICE’s move will finally make mass tracking visible enough to spur regulation; others predict states worldwide will instead rush to build their own data hoards.