ICEblock, which allows users to alert others to the location of ICE officers, is now the top social networking app in the US

www.engadget.com

ICEBlock climbs to the top of the App Store charts after officials slam it

Technology @lemmy.world

technocrit @lemmy.dbzer0.com

1w ago

ICEBlock climbs to the top of the App Store charts after officials slam it

www.engadget.com /social-media/iceblock-climbs-to-the-top-of-the-app-store-charts-after-officials-slam-it-004319963.html

Technology @lemmy.zip

cm0002 @lemmy.world

1w ago

ICEBlock climbs to the top of the App Store charts after officials slam it

www.engadget.com /social-media/iceblock-climbs-to-the-top-of-the-app-store-charts-after-officials-slam-it-004319963.html

22 comments

The app is only available on iOS, because it would have to collect information on Android that could put people at risk.
I would be curious to learn more about how the OS requires an app to collect data.
- Play store requires a home address for app downloads, both for the publisher and any users, so it would allow precise targeting of people if they ask google to disclose the information. No idea why this isn’t published on F-Droid though .
- They're iOS devs and probably don't want or know how to do a java project. This can 100% be on fdroid. If anyone knows kotlin or otherwise wants to build the thing please link the github for us.
  
  Their explanation for why it can't be on Android is that the nature of Android push notifications is such that they (the developers) would need to maintain a database of device IDs that could be tied back to physical devices and potentially be used to deanonymize which users received which alerts.
  To me, this sounds lazy and like something that could be mitigated with End-To-End encryption.
- They mean push notifications where you need to store a device identifying URL to push your notifications to.
  If traceability is a concern, using the native iOS notifications is not much better, you just move the burden to Apple (which I assume will be more than happy to cooperate, given they're an American corporate), so nothing is really solved.
  The only good solution is your own backend which knows nothing and each app installation maintains a permanent WebSocket connection, then you push them to each client.
Aaron told CNN that ICEBlock doesn't collect personal data, such as device IDs and IP addresses, which TechCrunch has confirmed in a test. The app is only available on iOS, because it would have to collect information on Android that could put people at risk.
Huh? Why? You choose what data you collect…
- (Spitballing here) perhaps a Google Play Services location request necessarily returns a unique identifier that can be requested and seized by law enforcement?
  
  CoMaps and plenty of other apps on F-Droid manage to use location services without relying on Google.
- This makes perfect sense if they're iOS only devs who have no idea what f-droid is.
- See my comment: https://lemmings.world/comment/16626827
Good luck reaching the masses w/o an android version.
needs version of iOS18.? which is too rich for my phone
Is this open source?
The dev put up a post with more info, according to them it has more to do with anonymity and notifications: https://www.iceblock.app/android
- Everything about this screams honeypot. They are lying about push notifications. All push notification tokens can be linked to a device. iOS makes it easier to conceal malicious code. It's more steps to obtain the application for third party decompilation and analysis. Apple is playing nice with the current treasonous administration. As long as the secret court and gag orders apply you can never trust a single company to protect your information. That's why open source releases of Android and other OS are a better option. Because you can't attack the people running it directly. Still don't run any variant of ice block. We need another version. Web based if possible that can be accessed with VPN.
  
  Apple has a method that achieves this without a push token though. The server can update to notify the all copies of the app of locations of significance. Then when you leave or arrive in a location of significance (with the device doing the determination of if you are or are not in that location) the device itself generates the notification.
- There are ways to work around that, though it requires the developer to create some server infrastructure.
  Edit: Also pretending that using Apple is fine is not secure - Apple can provide the data (given it's a US based company) if law enforcement asks, so not knowing them personally doesn't change much.
The app is only available on iOS,
I feel like the kind of people who are on the Apple walled garden, are the kind of people who like ICE to begin with.
- I've only got my family and friends to reference, but it breaks about 70/30 with the MAGA conservatives on Android/iPhone and 80/20 for the liberals/leftists preferring iPhones.
  And of my family at least, I suspect a big part of that is the conservatives are not the tech savvy ones who go into a store, knowing what kind of device they want; they just go into their cell phone provider and get whatever is least expensive for a smartphone
  
  (Not intending to smear iOS users with the crying wojak, BTW; just too lazy to edit the template.)
Coded by terrorists and used by terrorists. The apps developers did 9-11. /s

22 comments