A group of activists, led by Dutch activist, Dominick Skinner, is using facial recognition AI surveillance software to identify masked ICE officers, to then publish the agents’ personal information on the “ICE LIST” website as a form of counter-surveillance, according to Politico.
Netherlands-based immigration activist, Dominick Skinner, told POLITICO he and volunteers have identified at least 20 ICE officials through means of weaponized AI for surveillance that reconstructed their masked faces.
Supported by the AI identification software, the activists’ group then posts the agents’ names on a site called the “ICE List.”
“We’re able to reveal a face using AI, if they have 35 percent or more of the face visible,” Skinner said.
Once used against protestors, the surveillance ai is now being repurposed by activists to turn the tables on law enforcement, pushing lawmakers to confront the legal and moral gray areas of using AI counter-surveillance via facial recognition.
Mass Surveillance in the US
With the second Trump administration waged wars on immigrants, Washington struggles with the implications of using facial recognition and mass counter-surveillance techniques adopted by its Department of Defense (DoD) against its own citizens.
In 2019, a Georgetown Law study revealed US police departments were already modifying photos and even sketches to run through recognition systems when searching for suspects.
DoD personally identifiable information
That technology often criticized as unreliable is now being wielded by activists.
“Regardless of how you use it, it’s a rather unreliable application of the technology when you stop actually scanning the face and start scanning an artificial image,” warned Jake Laperruque of the Center for Democracy and Technology.
Lawmakers are divided.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) argued ICE agents “don’t deserve to be hunted online by activists using AI,” while Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) highlighted “serious concerns about the reliability, safety and privacy implications of facial recognition tools, whether used by law enforcement … or used by outside groups to identify agents.”
In a silent to deaf ears effort to justify their conduct of endless arrests, ICE agents insist their masks are for safety, not secrecy. Yet, for activists on the ground are not listening, and as a response the new ICE doxing AI phenomenon is now in full effect.
“These misinformed activists and others like them are the very reason the brave men and women of ICE choose to wear masks in the first place,” said spokesperson Tanya Roman, warning that publishing names threatens officers’ lives.
DoD’s ABIS Automated Biometric Identification System
he Department of Defense’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) designed to identify individuals through personally identifiable information masking facial recognition, fingerprints, and iris scans – biometric identification using high-res camera – has been employed in counterterrorism and immigration enforcement, according to the DoD.
So, in retrospect, it’s not really a question on the government’s own controversial use of surveillance tools, but a mere set-in-stone fact of the federal agencies’ breach of its own citizens’ rights.
Civil liberties groups observe that Congress has failed to regulate facial recognition, yet federal authorities continue to widen its application.
ICE is the closest example to the heart here, as it has integrated AI into all its operations, from tracking people to selectively conducting immigration raids.
A recent WIRED investigation exposed audio recordings of hundreds of emergency calls placed from ICE detention facilities, revealing instances of suicide attempts, sexual assault, and extreme overcrowding.
Critics have labeled the DoD’s AI surveillance software as a foundational system flaw in the federal governments, as predictive surveillance camera analytics can easily breach international human rights law – depending on its application.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has pushed for legislation criminalizing the kicking of federal officers and the AI in video surveillance to detect agents, warning, “those who oppose the rule of law are weaponizing generative AI against ICE agents.”
Yet, privacy experts argue stronger data protection, not masking officers or banning activist campaigns, are the real solution.
“If someone doesn’t want [their information] online, they should be able to get it scrubbed reasonably,” Laperruque said.
“I don’t believe in public justice, but I do believe in public shaming and public accountability,” Skinner said, insisting his work is about accountability, not endangerment.
The line between AI surveillance software pattern recognition protecting security and protecting privacy grows has officially been blurred.
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