May 19, 2023
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in the United States is purportedly using an AI-driven surveillance technology known as Babel X to monitor travelers, including American citizens, refugees, and asylum seekers.
The Babel X was developed by Babel Street and lets users to access publically and commercially available data in over 200 languages throughout the surface, “dark,” and “deep” webs. It also contains “sentiment analysis,” and users may enter information about a target, such as their name, email address, or phone number, and it will return data on social media activity, associated IP addresses, employment history, and advertising IDs.
Motherboard acquired the Privacy Threshold Analysis (PTA) document through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which discloses the use of Babel X data by CBP for targeting, vetting, operations, and analysis purposes. Babel X will be utilized to identify relevant information about travelers, individuals of interest, and benefit seekers. Additionally, the obtained results will be stored in CBP-operated systems for a period of 75 years.
Furthermore, the use of Babel X is covered by the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) associated with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Automatic Targeting System (ATS), and the CBP’s Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative.
The sources for this piece include an article in Vice.
