Texas DPS has signed a massive 5-year, $5.3 million contract for Tangles, an AI-powered surveillance tool from PenLink. Tangles controversially tracks mobile devices without a warrant. This data is collected from smartphones by app advertisers, sold to data brokers, and then accessed by companies like Cobwebs Technologies. Privacy advocates warn against the decontextualization of data from sources like dating apps. Companies justify selling this information as anonymous. Tangles has also been sold to ICE and Federal agencies. Questions remain on the legality and effectiveness of using this surveillance tech, with concerns raised around privacy violations and lack of evidence on the benefits.
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-dps-surveillance-tangle-cobwebs/