The Dream Big Sister Is Watching You
8 snips
Feb 13, 2026 Jess Lewis, cyberpsychologist and tech leader who studies AI, ad tech, and privacy risks. She unpacks DHS/ICE requests for ad-tech and location data. She explains how user identities are built from tracking and why repurposing ad data enables mass surveillance. She also discusses industry choices, refusal strategies, and the trust stakes at play.
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Ad Tech Is Probabilistic Not Precise
- Advertising data is primarily probabilistic and built for marketing, not precise identification.
- Using it for law enforcement risks misidentifying and wrongfully targeting people.
RFI Risks Mixing Probabilities With Identities
- ICE's RFI seeks to combine commercial ad-tech data with investigative needs.
- Stitching probabilistic ad data to government identity data creates a dangerous surveillance capability.
Vague Compliance Creates Liability Gaps
- The term “ad tech compliant” in the RFI is vague and unregulated.
- That vagueness creates an accountability vacuum that shields vendors and the government.
