Lawsuit seeks to probe Uncle Sam's role in ICE-tracking app takedowns

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is suing two government departments to understand how they compelled tech companies to remove ICE-tracking apps and websites from their platforms.

It is bringing the case against the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to find out if they used illegal or unconstitutional methods to prevent the public from keeping tabs on immigration officers.

"We're filing this lawsuit to find out just what the government told tech companies," said F. Mario Trujillo, staff attorney at the EFF. 

"Getting these records will be critical to determining whether federal officials crossed the line into unconstitutional coercion and censorship of protected speech."

According to the complaint [PDF] filed in San Francisco, the EFF first tried to gain access to the records via the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act route, but was unsuccessful, so it sought the courts' assistance.

It said it issued ...