It’s no secret ICE officers are using their phones and their tech toys to do way more than they’ll openly admit to doing. Tech tools that can be abused will be abused. And ICE has plenty of those, including an app that’s supposed to be used for “verification” of migrant status, but is just facial recognition tied to whatever other information ICE has access to.

The cameras come out and the harassment begins, as detailed here in this NPR report. Shortly after Portland, Maine resident Xenia Pantos stopped her car to observe some ICE activity in her neighborhood, their spouse, Carly Williams got a call from a blocked number. The caller identified himself as calling from the Department of Homeland Security.

Williams said the caller asked if anyone else drives her vehicle. When Williams mentioned her spouse sometimes did, the caller asked Williams if she knew her spouse had stopped at an incident that morning.

“What he basically said was, ‘You should let her know to not do that anymore because people who are doing that type of thing are getting added to a domestic terrorist watch list,'” Williams recalled in an interview with NPR.

ICE continues to deny it targets anti-ICE protesters with its surveillance tools. According to the report, it has “repeatedly denied” utilizing its tools and databases to find out more about those who protest or observe its anti-migrant efforts.

Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., cited a well-circulated clip of an ICE agent in Portland, Maine, telling a person videotaping that she would be added to a “nice little database.” 

“I can’t speak for that individual,” said Todd Lyons, who serves as acting director of ICE. “But I can assure you that there is no database that’s tracking United States citizens.”

Lyons doubled down on his denials about the database’s existence during a Senate hearing Thursday. When asked if ICE is giving protester information to any other agency, Lyons said: “We do not.” 

That’s what Todd Lyons said in February. And it’s definitely not true. ICE has a database that is definitely capable of “tracking American citizens,” because it has access to plenty of law enforcement databases filled with information about American citizens. One needs to look no further than the heat it has drawn by asking local law enforcement to perform searches of things like Flock’s ALPR databases on its behalf.

And it’s definitely not true because the same Todd Lyons said as much in a written response [PDF] to congressional queries that has only recently been made public.

Lyons in February: “There is no database that’s tracking United States citizens.”

Lyons in April: “Well… except for this one.”

Your letter asks what specific personal information DHS officers collect. ICE collects information to identify the person(s) with whom the officer or agent is engaging. During these interactions, a variety of data may be collected by ICE law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration and criminal law. ICE collects essential biographic and biometric information and situational details required to support criminal investigations, safety, and immigration concerns.

If individuals who interact with ICE officers are not arrested or detained, any information collected during those encounters is maintained consistent with applicable law and DHS and ICE policies and is treated as an official government record.

That sounds like a database is being created and maintained — one that deals solely with people who are not targets of immigration enforcement effort. And most of those people would be (1) US citizens and (2) protesters and observers engaging with ICE officers.

Further down in the letter, Lyons offers up another phrase that sounds like a denial, but really isn’t:

DHS is not creating or maintaining a separate, standalone database for individuals encountered that haven’t been arrested or detained.

That would mean something if no information was collected on these people. But Lyons has already stated that officers collect this information. If DHS is not “creating or maintaining a separate database,” that only means exactly what that says. However, it does not mean DHS is not collecting and storing information about people ICE officers “encounter” who are not “arrested or detained.”

Even if all applicable laws and retention standards are being followed (and DHS has given us little reason to believe it follows laws and standards), this information is still being collected, stored, and — because it’s there — accessed by federal officers.

And even if we choose to believe Lyons’ dissembling, we’re still left with the fact that people identifying themselves as federal employees are calling up citizens who’ve done nothing more than exercise their First Amendment rights and threatening them with being added to government databases. So, even if Lyons ain’t lying, the people who worked for him (until he stepped down) aren’t doing what Lyons thinks they’re doing. They’re doing the other thing: collecting information on protesters and observers for the sole reason of keeping an eye on them, if not actually tracking them down to harass them.

This week, MrWilson takers both top spots on the insightful side. In first place, it’s a comment about the growing global threat of internet age gates:

One of the biggest benefits of the internet is the ability to talk to people outside your personal sphere. It’s similar to the exposure to diversity that a lot of people get when they leave home for college. You can see how a bunch of conservatives who are dismayed by their inability to control what the youth access and talk about would want to lock them out so they can be limited to the indoctrination of their immediate vicinity.

Internet access helps LGBTQ kids when their parents are unsupportive hateful bigots. Internet access helps kids on the spectrum find other people who share their interests and won’t think they’re weird. Internet access helps kids who are being abused finds strategies to report and escape from those situations.

In second place, it’s a reply to someone who felt they needed to give Trump some reluctant half-praise for ending the war in Iran:

This is a completely unnecessary take. It’s entirely possible to be happy some of the bullshit is over without giving credit to the asshole who caused it. You don’t thank the guy who intentionally shat on the floor for taking a dirty rag and smearing it around while pretending he’s cleaning it up.

He already did double down multiple times.

It’s like saying he gets credit for not punching his wife the 50th time after he punched her 49 times before.

He’s not trying to end the war. He’s trying to get out of a mess he created. And he’s leaving a bigger mess than when he started. Anyone who thinks Iran was a problem before should recognize that they’ll be enriched and emboldened by this. Trump has done more good for the Iranian regime than he has for the US at this point.

“Trying to turn the page” here just means he’s going to move on to another fuck up. He’s going to go back to fucking over our European allies or bullying someone else. He got humiliated trying to bully Iran, so he’ll pick an easier target to shore up his ego and pretend he’s still big and smart and powerful.

Absolutely no credit should go to the man who is responsible for all the fuck ups. He’s too old, arrogant, and stupid to learn from his mistakes. And we’re going to pay the cost.

For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out with a comment from Ninja about what Trump will do next:

He’s rerouting his attention to the Latin America. It’s not only Cuba. It’s every country that doesn’t bow to the US will. He attributed the “terrorist organization” status to PCC and CV, the largest organized crime groups operating in Brazil opening up a window to conduct operations ignoring the country sovereignty under some shitty US law.

He is also attacking Brazilian banking system, mainly what we call Pix, an electronic transaction system that’s free for the ordinary citizen while commercial entities pay a much smaller fee than using Visa and Mastercard for instance. Via USTR. He says it’s unfair competition.

Another major attack vector is against our institution, mainly our supreme court and the electoral system, one of the most advanced and secure in the world. All while tagging along with people that have already been found guilty of trying a coup d’état.

This man is a fucking piece of turd and nobody is stopping him. Hopefully this complete loss and the continued destruction Trump is promoting in all areas of the USA strips some power and the ability to cause so much destruction of future baboons the Republicans will eventually put in power.

Next, it’s a comment from Bloof about RFK Jr. checking out of doing any work:

He’s gotten most of what he wants, but isn’t able to feed raw milk, beef tallow and sodium chlorite to every school kid so he’s acting like the narcissistic trust fund child he is, crossing his arms and sulking because it’s no fun anymore, the day to day work isn’t enjoyable and people are fighting him in the courts.

Over on the funny side, our first place winner is an anonymous quip calling out a bizarre phrase used by another commenter to describe Trump’s supposed “victory” in Iran:

YouTube listslop clickbait be like

“top 10 levels of their government”

You’ll never believe number 7!

In second place, it’s The Phule with one more message about the situation:

Dear Iran: My congratulations for your complete and total victory.

For editor’s choice on the funny side, our first place winner is Stephen T. Stone with a comment about the mess in Microsoft’s Xbox division:

Remember when people actually liked Microsoft as a company?

…yeah, me neither.

Finally, it’s an anonymous comment about a certain annoying venture capitalist:

My main vivid memory of Andreessen is Dan Aykroyd playing him in a 1993 biopic about how he first came to Earth.

That’s all for this week, folks!

This Week in 2016

• Peter Thiel’s Plan To Destroy Gawker Went Way Beyond Hogan’s Case
• Also A Bad Idea: Gawker Exploring Lawsuit Against Peter Thiel For Tortious Interference & Racketeering
• Peter Thiel’s Gawker-Killing Lawyer Now Issuing Bogus Defamation Threats Over Story On Donald Trump’s Hair
• Twitter, Facebook & Google Sued For ‘Material Support For Terrorism’ Over Paris Attacks
• House Intel Boss, Rep. Devin Nunes, Lying To Congress About Attempt To Stop Encryption Backdoors
• Supreme Court Makes It (Slightly) Easier To Award Attorneys’ Fees For Bogus Copyright Lawsuits

This Week in 2011

• The List Of Sites Challenging Domain Seizures
• Rojadirecta Sues US Government, Homeland Security & ICE Over Domain Seizure
• China Seizes Websites, Clamps Down On Speech… Uses Copyright Infringement As The Excuse
• ICE Stalling On More FOIA Requests Concerning Domain Name Seizures
• French Government Looks To Create Great Firewall Of France
• Why Is The Justice Department Pretending US Copyright Laws Apply In The UK?

This Week in 2006

• Recording Industry Still Has Canadian Politicians In Its Pocket
• Sing A Song Of Propaganda For Net Neutrality
• Yes, Everyone Clicks To Skip The Flash Intro On Your Annoying Website
• The RIAA Says No Dancing To Music On YouTube
• Countries Team Up To Better Censor The Internet
• Stop Blaming Technology For Stupidity