How an iPhone app became a vital tool in fighting Trump’s ICE goons
THE Ice The application changes the situation. Allow users to report ICE activity on a crowdsourced and anonymous – although it cannot be fully guaranteed—Platform, the application is like Waze but for the application of immigration.
According to its creator Joshua Aaron, Iceblock Storage without personal dataoffers no way to trace users and delete observations after 4 hours. It is only iOS for the moment, but it provides real -time alerts for the activity of ice within a radius of 5 miles – increasingly crucial in a country where ice agents now regularly violate civil freedoms and regular procedure.
This is the kind of tool that terrifies the authorities. And as Apple blogger John Gruber notesThe Trump administration will come almost certainly afterwards.
Unfortunately, Apple has a bad history in times like this. When the Chinese Communist Party demanded the withdrawal of a pro-democracy application in Hong Kong, Cavillé Apple. This previous – combined of recent capitulations on our part media companies And Even Columbia University– should trigger alarms.
If a technological company has the financial and legal muscle to defend the rights of the first amendment of its users, it is Apple. But it will be a test.
However, an iOS tool only leaves aside most of the affected users. Immigrant communities massively use Android phones – for obvious financial reasons. Immigrant publication interviewed Its users in 2022 and found that 72% use Android, while only 27% use iPhones.
So, if we are serious about the defense of civil rights in immigrant communities, we need an Android version. Although Iceblock developers explain Why the inadequate confidentiality protections of Android prevent them from developing for the moment.
Another option would be a web tool, which would fully circumvent any repression of App Store. At that time of Trumpist authoritarianism and the complicity of companies, it is clear that we cannot count on the guards.
Tools like Iceblock are a vital resistance infrastructure. The next battle may not be waged in the courts, but in application stores.
