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Fedware: Government Apps That Spy Harder Than the Apps They Ban
The federal government released an app yesterday, March 27th, and it's spyware.
Key Finding: The White House app (version 47.0.1) requests precise GPS location, biometric fingerprint access, storage modification, the ability to run at startup, draw over other apps, view Wi-Fi connections, and read badge notifications. It also ships with 3 embedded trackers including Huawei Mobile Services Core — the Chinese company the US government sanctioned.
Federal Government Apps
| App | Trackers | Permissions |
|---|---|---|
| White House | 3 | Multiple |
| myFBI Dashboard | 4 | 12 |
| FEMA | 1 | 28 |
| IRS2Go | 3 | 10 |
| CBP Passport | 0 | 14 |
Key Findings
- White House app: Ships with Huawei Mobile Services Core (sanctioned Chinese company), has ICE tip line button
- FBI app: Contains Google AdMob (advertising SDK) while reading your phone identity
- FEMA app: Requests 28 permissions for an app whose primary function is showing weather alerts
- CBP Mobile Passport: Requests 7 "dangerous" permissions including background location tracking
- DHS faceprints: Retained for up to 75 years, shared across agencies
- Clearview AI: ICE signed $9.2 million contract for 50+ billion facial images
- Location data: Venntel collects 15 billion location points from 250+ million devices daily
- SmartLINK: ICE monitoring app collects geolocation, facial images, voice prints, medical info including pregnancy data
The Pattern
All these apps could be replaced by a web page with basic RSS feeds. They exist because a web page can't read your fingerprint, track your GPS in the background, or inventory the other accounts on your device.
The GAO reported in 2023 that nearly 60% of 236 privacy and security recommendations issued since 2010 had still not been implemented.
Related Discoveries
- Samsung adds native AirDrop support to Galaxy S26 devices (The Verge)
- What's inside the White House app? (The Verge)