Was curious so Iooked up the app’s site.
Apparently the devs claim they can’t release it on Android because “There’s no way to be anonymous on the play store”, but it’s even more impossible to be anonymous on the platform they’ve released. That’s how you know the developer is incredibly stupid and/or shady as hell- because they’ve never even heard of Fdroid?
Makes me think the app is a troll/trojan horse (not as in infection, trojan horse as in it has alterior motives)
The Drumpf crew “losing it” over the app just makes it more questionable. They love to create a firestorm so people talk about the thing “they definitely don’t want you to use!!” to get people to do things…
This is a really good comment
Thanks. Remember to always question everything. Especially when that -something- sounds like BS.
There’s no way to be anonymous on the play store
Aurora store.
I was quoting them but you’re right-or Fdroid ofc
Twenty years ago tracking armed thugs in ski masks would have been called a public service.
Sweet. I appreciate that their reaction has Streisand-effected this app into my awareness.
This gives honeypot vibes. IOS only with no way to access via browser?
Lets build more ICE-tracking apps
They could try not being brown shirts. Problem solved.
I love the quote about how it is putting federal agents in danger…and I sort of think that they are doing that themselves.
Good, those agents are playing a dangerous game and you should know if you play with fire your going get burned. Its a matter of time before they try to kidnap the wrong person, and that person decides its better to die in America then it is to go to a camp then deported.
which is great for necessitating the need to give absolute militant power to police forces. It’s like… the PR of him having a ‘meltdown’ is for a reason or something.
PR for who? Who is on the fence about ICE?
Probably lots of people in red states. Farmers for instance, people who generally buy the Republican bullshit, but may personally rely heavily on immigrant workers. ICE puts them in a really tough position.
I have experienced some recent schadenfreude with farmers who no longer have workers to harvest because ICE scared them away.
You’ve made a potential error in underestimating just how horrible some peoples’ lives are and how filled with hatred they are over that fact. This is really what drives so much of politics in the world–disgruntled people with no future who choose to hate others who have nothing to do with it.
You’ve made a potential error in underestimating just how horrible some peoples’ lives are and how filled with hatred they are over that fact.
What fact? People’s lives are horrible BECAUSE of ICE. They’re so horrible that I considered that nobody would be “on the fence” because either you drank the Fear-Of-Crime Kool-Aid or you are horrified at what ICE agents are doing to children and poor people. The entire reason there are people who don’t think ICE needs to be abolished right now is because Fox News and other right-wing grifters have pumped out propaganda making it look like there is a “crime wave” like it’s the Reagan Era, and people living in the Suburbs not knowing what the outside world is like. Not only do they choose to portray a crime wave, they have to do it, because otherwise people would see their president as the power-hungry maniac he is rather than a savior of order. No riot is actually making people miserable, only the police-reported, sensationalist coverage of protests.
This is really what drives so much of politics in the world–disgruntled people with no future who choose to hate others who have nothing to do with it.
That’s just the American Suburbs. I hope American states can secede to change this. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, there is a high-speed rail being built. This is not driven by disgruntled people, people with no future, or people who choose not to hate others who have nothing to do with it. Neither is Iran defending itself from an imperialist regime, nor Australia having their left-wing Labour party completely outdo the right-wing Liberal party. America is the villain here.
“[the app] basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs”
When it comes to painting targets on backs, better them then innocent civilians.
Lol.
R’s have not only painted targets, they’ve made ads, and joked about killing civilians and anyone other than MAGAts
Greene in an ad for her 2020 campaign cocked an assault rifle as she warned “antifa terrorists” to stay out of her district
Masters, a venture capitalist and favorite of Trump-loving billionaire Peter Thiel, has featured guns prominently throughout his primary campaign. He responded to President Biden’s promise on Monday to crack down on “ghost guns,” which are homemade and untraceable, by tweeting a picture of a “ghost gun” he recently built himself. “Very legal & very cool,” he wrote.
https://www.indy100.com/politics/eric-greitens-campaign-ad-gun
“There’s no bagging limit, no tagging limit, and it doesn’t expire until we save our country.”
“I look forward to the day that Democrats are so rare, we have to hunt them with dogs,”
Edit: and for the record, Blake Masters is a piece of shit buddy of both elon and Vance and they are all tied together in their hate for democracy and love of Curtis Yarvin and the plot to destroy western civilization. (Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/inside-the-new-right-where-peter-thiel-is-placing-his-biggest-bets)
Shouldn’t be an app. It should be a site accessible using vpn and private browsing with an appropriate browser. Nobody should have to worry about the Stasi finding the app on their phone regardless of the situation.
While this is true, most people are not so tech savvy, maybe giving an option to mask app Icon to user choice can help it hide better.
going to a website (not tech savvy enough for this) vs going to the settings on an app and select a new icon (yay anyone can do it)
While I agree, in this particular case I think it’s a good idea.
Can’t it be both?
Websites don’t support push notifications in a way that normies understand. They’re also generally unreliable. And these are time-sensitive matters.
I love how the Streisand Effect works. They just made this app the hottest thing out there.
It’s closed source, and the build and publishing pipeline isn’t transparent.
For me that makes this no different than a potential ICE honey pot
can’t even find “Joshua Aaron” on linked in or github. feels a little sus. my moneys on honey pot
which is exactly what this whole ‘meltdown’ frame for the pr hints at. republicans know how to use publicity stunts to get what they want.
Haven’t followed it much (EU), can you elaborate who did what and what can be done potentially?
the honey pot for what? people who don’t like ice? that makes no sense
Secret police would probably have an interest in lists of people downloading an app tracking their movements no? Particularly if it was downloaded to a mobile tracking device they carry with themselves at most times.
no I honestly don’t know how this would help them
if they can track those who are against them, it’s easier to eliminate dissidents
Using the app becomes obstruction or terrorism. People who do that will also get sent to camps.
It seems far fetched but it’s really not. After all, nobody would step to stop either of those things from happening.
They could argue that attempting to track ICE is illegal, and all those using the app are to be arrested and tried for their crimes.
They’re using the cops’ favorite and extremely generic catch-all crime: “obstruction of justice”.
That expression LOL
Obstruction of whatever cops do, OK.
But usually it has nothing to do with justice.
Anyone have a link to the app/website? I’d like to follow some among honing my horn and warning folks.
Is the app foss?
No, and even worse, its only for apple devices lmao. These kids are so unserious in their activism it would be funny if it werent so sad. If shit hits the fan, this stuff will go down instantly and im sure it has no backup plan for a Tor based or p2p service. Activists in the US should start using Briar. This situation is exactly what it was made for and people have to get their tech game up fast or they will be done for. Get a shitty 80$ android phone if you only have an iphone. Install a panic trigger app that will wipe the phone if you are in trouble.
On ICEBlocks website it says:
Modeled after Waze but for ICE sightings, the app ensures user privacy by storing no personal data, making it impossible to trace reports back to individual users.
Which worries me, because if its closed source then thats a worthless promise and actually makes the app a perfect candidate for a honeypot or backdoor.
apple is the majority of the market, no? so if e.g. a company wanted to get a product out for a client asap, apple would be the market to aim for.
Turn of your capitalism brain ffs. This is not the place for companies and markets. If there is a financial interest then the app is worthless by design. iOS is not a trustable platform for anything security related so obviously you shouldnt use it for anything that concerns your physical safety. Dont forget, apple will always bend the knee to governments in the end.
You see “market” and think capitalism. By market, I meant, market-share. More users of apple products than android. So if a developer wanted greater reach…
Android has the greatest mobile OS market share by a massive margin.
But Apple users are far more likely to spend money on apps, making Apple the most lucrative target for mobile developers to target first.
Not in the US, which is really the only place this app is applicable at the moment.
I don’t know, don’t Apple have a reasonable track record of pushing back against governments? I personally have even less faith in the security of android based devices or Android phone manufacturers.
Apple have a reasonable track record of pushing back against governments
Only when it comes to individual consumer cases like terrorists or other crimes. When it comes to large scale political movements then they are very quick to lend authoritarian governments a hand, see for example their cooperation with the CCP to suppress the Hong Kong protests. But they have also always cooperated with police to some degree and this has only gotten worse.
Forbes for the lack of a better source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2024/10/09/apple-sells-privacy-to-consumers-but-its-quietly-helping-police-use-iphones-for-surveillance/
There’s a widespread perception that Apple has a combative relationship with law enforcement after the company refused to help the FBI hack into the iPhone of the shooter in the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attacks. But since then, it has ramped up collaboration with police through the conference and other meetings with agencies at both Cupertino HQ and its Elk Grove campus, as well as a variety of previously unreported projects helping cops use iPhones, Macs, Apple Vision Pro and CarPlay, the emails show. Most of these projects have not been announced publicly.
Apple declined to comment.
People just love believing in Apple for some weird reasons.
I am the biggest Apple hater and they are absolutely not immune from criticism, but they are generally a more private company. The CCP has their hands deep in every corporation on the planet so none of them are immune from that influence. Apple pushed back when the government demanded they dismantle encryption (Google doesn’t even offer this) for CSAM. They were also the first to disclose the government push notification collection information.
In the US it’s a very small majority.
Not even close.
im not a developer or a genius but I’m pretty sure you can write an app once using a framework like react native or whatever and then compile it for both android and ios and optionally release them along with the source code used to compile them
deleted by creator
This app sounds exceedingly useful to me.
Looking at the reviews, ignoring the mega hats, it seems part of the app does not work from time to time
It sounds like a honeypot to me. But I would be happy to be proven wrong.
Edit: and it’s gone?
It’s not gone, it’s just currently not available in your country or region.
“He’s giving a message to criminals where our federal officers are, and he cannot do that, and we are looking at it, we are looking at him, and he better watch out,” Bondi said. “Because that is not protected speech, that is threatening the lives of our law enforcement officers throughout this country, and shame on CNN!”
Why can’t he do that, Pammy?
Gotta say Aaron is a bold motherfucker.
No, no, no. They painted the targets on themselves.
This app is telling people where to avoid. Not where to go.
All of a sudden, so many things are “not protected speech”. I find it tempting to be as ignorant as a Republican, but I’d certainly be caught off guard in that case.
It’s going to be filled with false warnings from MAGA idiots and trolls…
Seems like the kind of thing a defederated system would be good for…
*federated
😂 I think I was tired
If you mean something on fediverse: while that would be hard to take down or block, it’s far from anonymous
fediverse over Tor?
maybe base it on Briar
Yeah wasn’t thinking anonymity, but keeping something running and making it hard to take down.
