Texas police acquire AI surveillance tool capable of tracking phones without a warrant

The Texas Department of Public Safety has signed a five-year contract and will spend $5.3 million on an AI-powered surveillance tool. The tool is capable of conducting online undercover investigations and tracking devices, the Texas Observer reports.

Tangles software is developed by Cobwebs Technologies, an Israeli security company now part of PenLink. The intelligence solution can monitor online activity and collect and analyze data from “endless digital channels – from the open, deep, and dark web to mobile and social.”

Meta previously removed 200 company-operated accounts for violating its terms, due to reconnaissance across the internet, including popular social media sites.

The accounts used by Cobwebs customers “engaged in social engineering to join closed communities and forums and trick people into revealing personal information,” Meta’s report said in its surveillance-for-hire industry report in 2021.

According to the Texas Observer report, the surveillance tools include an add-on feature called WebLoc, which can track mobile devices’ movement in a selected area without a warrant. This has raised privacy concerns before, with advocates arguing that such tech circumvents legal protection against warrantless searches and violates privacy rights.

Surveillance tools combine data collected from various sources, including solid data brokers. In-app advertisers can pull a lot of personal data from smartphones.

A PenLink spokesperson told the Observer their “open-source intelligence (OSINT) solutions are used to protect our communities from crime, threats, and cyberattacks by providing seamless access to data that is publicly available.”

Cobwebs has previously sold contracts to the IRS and LAPD, according to Vice. LAPD previously stated that the controversial mass surveillance software greatly aids investigations and acts as a force multiplier in processing obtained data.