00:00Because it's so cold outside of the Whipple Federal Building here in Minnesota.
00:07So we're heading to where all the protesters are right now.
00:10Agents are coming in and out in vehicles.
00:14So we're going to attempt to talk to him when he comes out here.
00:19We'll see what happens.
00:26All right, so we are here on the ground in Minneapolis at the Federal Building, really
00:31the epicenter of ICE's operations in the city.
00:33And as we know, the Department of Homeland Security has received a massive influx of funding
00:37under President Donald Trump.
00:39And a lot of that funding has gone to equipping ICE with a lot of surveillance tools and new
00:43techniques that they haven't had previously.
00:46So we are here to see if any of that surveillance can be detected.
00:49And so we have several devices here.
00:51This is just a cheap $20 mobile hotspot from Verizon.
00:55It's totally innocuous, but it's actually running specialized software developed by the
00:59Electronic Frontier Foundation.
01:01And this is looking for what is commonly referred to as stingrays or MC catchers.
01:05These are fake cell phone towers that can force your phone to connect to them to determine
01:09what devices are in an area.
01:11We also have a software defined radio.
01:14This is used to analyze cellular signals.
01:17And so before I came here, I looked up and found out what major cell phone providers are
01:22in the area, what cell phone towers are in the area, what frequencies are they on.
01:26And so I have what's called the GPD Win Mini here.
01:29This is actually a video game device meant for playing video games, but I've converted
01:33it to run an operating system and software that likewise, like this device, is looking
01:39for fake cell phone towers.
01:41It uses a different technique to do so, but it's essentially monitoring the communications
01:47between the cell phones in the area and the cell towers, and it's looking for high amounts
01:52of suspicious messages that are designed to force your phone to give up its identifying
01:57information, which then of course law enforcement can use to determine who's been in the area.
02:01We also have another device here called an ESP 32 Marauder.
02:04Now this analyzes different wireless signals, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and we're actually looking
02:11for Flock license plate reader cameras with this.
02:13This is essentially looking for a Bluetooth signal that Flock cameras have an external
02:19battery that uses Bluetooth to communicate with the actual camera, and so this can recognize
02:25that signature from the Bluetooth being sent from the external battery to the camera.
02:30So we haven't seen any yet.
02:31We are going to pack up all these devices, and we're going to head over to the Federal
02:35Building right across the street here and see if we see any indicators of surveillance.
02:38I'm going to be amazed if this surveillance equipment even survives the cold weather here, you know?
02:45So we're heading to where all the protesters are right now outside of the Whipple Federal
02:48Building here in Minnesota.
02:50There's quite a few people here despite the temperature being about 4 degrees Fahrenheit, negative 15 Celsius.
02:56Where's Flavino at?
03:01So we're right at the entrance now of the Whipple Federal Building.
03:04ICE, presumably, agents are coming in and out in vehicles and are being heckled by protesters
03:10here.
03:11But now that we're a lot closer to the building, I'm going to pull out my computer that's running
03:14this surveillance device looking for, or counter surveillance device really, looking for
03:18signs of cell phone surveillance to see if there's any signs here.
03:21Usually when this type of surveillance is conducted, it's very quick.
03:25They'll essentially turn on their fake cell phone tower, send out a burst of messages to
03:30get phones to give up that identifying information, and they turn off very quick.
03:34That's why this is running continuously.
03:36So if you are to catch this kind of surveillance, it's going to be a real split second thing.
03:41Yeah, no signs of surveillance, so.
03:43All right, yeah, well, that's how we go for now.
03:46I mean, I was looking for those license plate reader cameras.
03:48Those are obviously active all the time.
03:50I just haven't seen it yet.
03:51The cameras, the majority of which are owned by the company Flock Safety, have residents
03:57wondering, is ICE using license plate data to track immigrants or even citizens monitoring
04:02federal agents?
04:03ICE does not have a formal contract with Flock, but police departments across the country have
04:07quietly run thousands of Flock searches on ICE's behalf.
04:11Minneapolis police did not respond to questions over whether they've shared any data with ICE.
04:15Flock's system doesn't just capture license plates.
04:18It uses artificial intelligence to log vehicle color, make, and model as well.
04:23Its software lets law enforcement not only scan data from tens of thousands of cameras
04:27nationwide, but link license plates to individual people using information from sources, including
04:33data brokers and data breaches.
04:35With little clarity on how license plate data is being used in Minneapolis, the debate over
04:40Flock's role in immigration enforcement has only intensified.
04:43We're here in the suburb of Southdale in Minnesota, and we're, you know, discussing potential
04:48surveillance by ICE.
04:49And ironically enough, using this device, I just detected a Flock license plate reader
04:54camera.
04:55There's about 17 in the area where we're at right now.
04:58And we know that ICE doesn't have a formal contract with this company, but they actually
05:01raised some controversy earlier this year when it was learned that they had actually been
05:05reaching out to local police departments with these in order to carry out immigration investigations.
05:10So they asked them, hey, we have a license plate of someone we're looking for.
05:13You look up where they've been.
05:15And so this is just one of the examples of surveillance going on here that people were
05:19probably not even aware of driving past here every day, but this is recording people's
05:22license plates and that can be looked up by police.
05:26Private companies can share their Flock data with authorities, too, often without the public's
05:30knowledge.
05:31At the Southdale Shopping Center, Straight Arrow News used a security testing device known
05:35as an ESB-32 Marauder to detect the presence of Flock cameras.
05:39The device recognizes Bluetooth signals given off by external batteries used by some models
05:44of Flock cameras.
05:46Southdale's owner, Simon Property Group, denied sharing data with ICE, although emails obtained
05:51by Forbes show the company has allowed local police departments access to its data since
05:552023.
05:57So through open source projects like DFlock, which track license plate reader cameras across
06:01the country, we know that there's about 17 just in this area nearby.
06:05And again, so anyone who comes in and out of this massive shopping center here in Southdale
06:10is going to have their license plate data taken by local law enforcement.
06:14Home Depot, another Flock customer, also insisted that it doesn't provide license plate data
06:19to ICE.
06:20But its own privacy policy permits the sharing of customer data with law enforcement when
06:24deemed necessary.
06:25Straight Arrow News also received numerous reports of ICE activity at Home Depot locations
06:29in Minneapolis.
06:30Yet even without cooperation from private companies, experts who warn ICE could still
06:35gain access, like it has before, by using police officers with access to Flock's data.
06:41We're in downtown Minneapolis at the local CBS station WCCO, and Greg Bovino is actually
06:46here apparently just giving an interview.
06:47So we're going to attempt to talk to him when he comes out here.
06:50There's a small group of protesters that have gathered to protest.
06:54His presence inside, there appears to be three vehicles here with ICE officers inside waiting
07:00for him to come out.
07:01So we'll see what happens.
07:03Mr. Bovino, Mikael Thalen, Straight Arrow News.
07:05Can you confirm or deny whether you guys have been using any new cell site simulators here
07:09as part of your investigations?
07:10You don't think so?
07:11Get out of the way, get out of the way.
07:13That sign is more than exemplary.
07:14You guys need to move right now.
07:15More than exemplary.
07:16You need to move.
07:17You need to move.
07:18Get out of the way.
07:19Get out of the way.
07:20Get out of the way.
07:21Get out of the way.
07:22Thank you for our personal opinion.
07:23Thank you for your personal opinion.
07:24What kind of protest you got going on?
07:25I love it though, baby.
07:27How are you?
07:28You think you're cute.
07:29Greg Bovino just left the local CBS here.
07:31He was surrounded by protesters.
07:33He did not answer our questions.
07:34So last fall, I found evidence suggesting that a fake cell phone tower was being used when I reported
07:40from the protests at the ICE facility in Portland, Oregon.
07:43Now, normally using that kind of surveillance technology
07:46requires a warrant, but authorities can bypass that
07:48if they believe there's an immediate
07:49national security threat.
07:51We're still not clear whether immigration officials
07:53have used that justification for that type of surveillance.
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