WASHINGTON — The ACLU of the District of Columbia today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information to find out how the Washington DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) has used surveillance software that can track and monitor people’s connections with others and that can monitor what people say, who they know, where they go, and what they do.
The civil rights and liberties organization requested records related to the District’s purchase and use of software offered by Cobwebs Technologies, a cyber intelligence firm founded in 2015 and in 2023 merged into the software company PenLink, Ltd. Cobwebs has offered three types of software (Tangles, Webloc, and Lynx) that can be used to track and monitor people based on cell phone, web, and social media activity , including identifying a person’s location.
Between 2020 and 2024, the HSEMA spent nearly $350,000.00 to license the Tangles software. Little is known about how Tangles and potentially other technologies offered by Cobwebs have been used in D.C. A leaked 2020 Tangles training manual shows local examples of types of targets that could be monitored, including a Twitter username of a Black-led activist group, an anonymous independent journalist who was shot in the leg by DC police in 2020, and #DefundDCPolice.
The ACLU-D.C. filed today’s FOIA request “to understand and analyze how the District is using any Cobwebs products to determine its impact on the privacy interests and civil and constitutional rights of D.C. residents.” The ACLU-D.C. requested “any and all documents” related to Cobwebs products, including HSEMA’s purchase or licensing of Cobwebs products; instructions and training provided to HSEMA staff using those products; the use or capabilities of artificial intelligence in connection with any Cobwebs product; and more.
Since 2020, various U.S. state and federal agencies have entered into agreements with Cobwebs, including but not limited to a 2020 purchase for $181,000 by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a 2021 purchase of $198,000 by the Texas Department of Public Safety, a 2022 purchase for $226,060 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a 2022 purchase for $200,000 by the Los Angeles Police Department.
“The people of D.C. deserve to know how our government is using technology to track people’s speech and movement,” said Aditi Shah, staff attorney with the ACLU of the District of Columbia. “Given the substantial risk of abuse, the government must be transparent in its use of any surveillance technologies. There is no room for secrecy when our fundamental rights and liberties are at stake.”
“This is frightening stuff,” said Arthur Spitzer, Senior Counsel with the ACLU of the District of Columbia. “Is the government tracking what you say, who your friends are, and where you meet them? Is the government using artificial intelligence to track people, and why? We need answers to these and other important questions.”
The law requires the District government to respond to this FOIA request within 15 business days.
The full FOIA request can be found here.
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