The threat of mass surveillance under Trump
The Trump administration is collecting our data to realize its authoritarian goals.
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One of the most important tools in the authoritarian toolbox is mass surveillance. The more you know about the people, the better you're able to control them. If certain individuals start stepping out of line, you can quickly identify and prosecute those troublemakers, and soon others will learn not to differentiate themselves.
The Trump administration has a vast surveillance state at its disposal that has been growing over the past couple decades. Federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI conduct surveillance, and so do state and local law enforcement. Oftentimes, federal agencies coordinate with police departments.
As the administration works to expand ICE's footprint, bring in agents from other law enforcement agencies to assist with its crackdown and places the military on the streets of American cities, it's crucial to understand the role surveillance is playing in all of this.
Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst for surveillance and technology policy at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), tells me that much of what ICE is doing is "low tech." That means they're engaging in racial profiling, rounding up people at specific locations like courthouses and generally just "trying to instill terror in communities." However, there is a clear technological threat here.
Thor Benson
"What concerns me is the infrastructure that is being built to funnel all information—and I mean all information—to ICE and DHS from commercial tech, data brokers, open-source intelligence, other government agencies, mass social media surveillance, local police and potentially even national security signals intelligence," Guariglia says.
These agencies have a massive amount of data available to them, and they can now use AI to help them sift through the data and identify targets. Who is an eligible target? Well, that's up to the agencies.
"We’re looking at a system that isn’t just tasked with doing immigration enforcement but is capable of nationwide surveillance and policing for political purposes under the guise of national security," Guariglia says.
It's been widely reported that ICE is gathering up data on people from numerous non-law enforcement agencies—from the IRS to HHS—in order to help track down undocumented immigrants. That's an escalation of data collection, and we don't know how that kind of data will be utilized over time.
"If the Trump administration has changed anything, it’s supercharging ICE’s ability to act as a personal and political army, and the subservience of all other government roles for that purpose," Guariglia says.
Donald Trump has also clearly been in bed with Big Tech since day one, and Guariglia says that's an additional threat. Obviously, these tech companies have a lot of data on us, and they're desperate to curry favor with the Trump administration. That's not a great combo.
"Silicon Valley is clearly noticing the massive contracts being thrown around to aid in mass surveillance, because even companies that make consumer-focused technology are finding ways that they can get in on the action," Guariglia says.
This threat appears to be growing, as more and more media and tech companies are being consumed by Trump-aligned tech oligarchs. Oracle founder Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison are buying up major media properties like Paramount—possibly Warner Bros.—and they're also partnering with people like billionaire Trump supporter Marc Andreessen to buy TikTok. That gives them control over content and data.
"If the CEOs of these companies, which are on everyone’s phones, can collect geolocation data, people’s public and private thoughts through posts or direct messages and are in direct cahoots with the administration—there’s nothing stopping them from really opening the spigot of data and funneling it directly into the government or some kind of AI-enabled analysis and fusion program," Guariglia says.
If you haven't previously given much attention to protecting your own privacy, then it's probably time to start. You can use EFF's guides to learn how. Wired also has a guide. Starve the authoritarian of the data they're feverishly working to collect.
"I urge people to think of surveillance as the infrastructure of authoritarianism," Guariglia says.
