U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can now track and identify cryptocurrency users using a new software program, Coinbase Tracker. The software, offered on a subscription basis, allows the government and private sectors to trace incoming and outgoing funds made through various digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether. Last year, Intercept revealed that Coinbase had sold its analytics software license to ICE for $29,000. The analytics program, which provides ICE with crypto users’ “historical geo-tracking data,” is one of several small contracts between Coinbase and the U.S. government. In April 2021,
The detention of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border [in every single case presented], the wrongful deportation of 7,000 foreign students accused of cheating on a language test, racist or sexist discrimination based on social media profile or appearance – what do these seemingly disparate examples have in common? In every case, an algorithm made a decision with serious consequences for people’s lives. Algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) are starting to augment human decision-making in Canada’s immigration and refugee system, with significant implications for the fundamental human rights of those subjected to
