Thumbs up, or thumbs down: that's the option presented to analysts when the tool Giant Oak Search Technology surfaces content from social media and other sources for ICE to scrutinize.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has used a system called Giant Oak Search Technology (GOST) to help the agency scrutinize social media posts, determine if they are “derogatory” to the U.S., and then use that information as part of immigration enforcement, according to a new cache of documents reviewed by 404 Media.

The documents peel back the curtain on a powerful system, both in a technological and a policy sense—how information is processed and used to decide who is allowed to remain in the country and who is not.

…

DHS has used GOST since 2014, according to a page of the user guide. In turn, ICE has paid Giant Oak Inc., the company behind the system, in excess of $10 million since 2017, according to public procurement records. A Giant Oak and DHS contract ended in August 2022, according to the records. Records also show Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the State Department, the Air Force, and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service which is part of the U.S. Treasury have all paid for Giant Oak services over the last nearly ten years.

  • dingleberry@discuss.tchncs.de
    210·
    11 months ago

    $10M since 2017, that sounds like chump change in terms of government spending.

    And btw, what’s wrong with it? If you have been posting inflammatory shit about the country you are trying to immograte to, shouldn’t that be considered a red flag? Would you like a human to review these posts instead, an even harder black box to critique?