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The current “workaround” to the 4th amendment is to simply have private companies who do surveillance and then buy bulk data from them.

ICE does this with location data from mobile apps. They simply buy from a private vendor the information about where specific people are. Then they go detain them.

Some real life friends of mine are on a work crew with some migrants. ICE pulled their truck over, asked the migrants to identify themselves (with different names than they’d been using), they complied, and ICE drove off with them after detaining them.

I asked “Did they have their mobile phones with them?” “Yes.” People literally are carrying around a tracking device, voluntarily, with apps installed on them, voluntarily, that report their location to government authorities who want to detain them.



If you are an illegal immigrat how do you even get a mobile phone contract though? In every country I know a valid ID is required to get one.


What's the connection between being an illegal immigrant and having a valid ID?

In my experience as a traveller, any ID from any country is good enough to get a mobile contract. Some countries might check VISA status too, but any valid temporary VISA is generally enough.


The United States is a country that doesn't require any form of identification to have a phone number. You can buy a "burner phone" at any Walmart, with prepaid minutes and no contract, in cash.


Walk into 7/11 and buy a prepaid SIM card


I use an MVNO and I never needed any ID.




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