Why are we reinventing the wheel?
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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United States | News & Politics
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One reason is that it is immune to censoring efforts by other platforms like how ICEblock was by Apple, there's no telling whether website hosts or domain registrars will also capitulate. Congresspeople have authority to conduct oversight of the activities of the executive branch, so there will be none of this ICE is a protected class bullshit.
Another reason is people have constantly been asking, "why aren't Democrats doing anything"? Here they are about to do something helpful. Can't it be appreciated just a little bit?
I do appreciate that they're trying to do something, but my fear is that they're going to make An App™ which has the exact same problems as ICEBlock: a) easily censored, b) violates user privacy (inadvertently or otherwise). I'd rather that they work with and offer protection to existing operators that have been successful, rather than spend money on expensive tech consultants just to reinvent ICEBlock.
Besides, even apps are tied to domain hosts and registrars. You can't run anything on the public internet without them. A bog standard website bypasses the App Store middleman, and your browser is able to better protect against data collection than a native app may be (depending on how the app is programmed and distributed).
They are trying to resolve a) by having it be an official legislative function rather than an easily dismissable vigilante effort, and maybe b), but there aren't enough details yet for me to say one way or the other.
Congresspeople can't use their power effectively to coerce one private entity to do something to cover for another, that's why attorneys general, governors and congresspeople are all taking this into their own hands to help make robust cases against this administration.
What you linked is a realtime tracker to keep people safe moment to moment.
The new database is a catalog of identities and abuses meant as a case backlog once the prosecutions start and these people try to disappear back into normal society
Be easier to just abolish the whole thing, but libs gotta lib.