U.S. federal agencies are using a 35-year-old surveillance law to secretly track WhatsApp users without any explanation for the reasons and without knowledge of whom they are targeting. This comes after a government surveillance memo in Ohio revealed last November that investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) requested WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, to track seven users in China and Macau.
The memo disclosed that the DEA did not know the identities of the targets but requested WhatsApp to monitor the IP addresses and the numbers the targeted users communicated with, as well as when and how they used the app. This monitoring is conducted using a technique known as "pen register," and under the law known as the "Electronic Communications Privacy Act" of 1986, federal agencies do not seek to obtain any message content, which WhatsApp cannot provide anyway due to what is known as "end-to-end encryption."
According to a report published by Forbes, which was reviewed by Al Arabiya.net, U.S. law enforcement agencies have repeatedly ordered WhatsApp and other tech companies to install pen register records without judicial authorization or justification for the surveillance actions.
The U.S. Department of Justice stated that it is sufficient for tech companies to obtain three things to assist law enforcement in tracking WhatsApp users: the identity of the requesting attorney or law enforcement officer; the identity of the agency making the request; and a statement from the requester that "the information likely to be obtained is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by that agency."
Additionally, the government clarified in another memo that, aside from the three aforementioned elements, federal law does not require any request for permission to install and use a pen register and tracking device to specify any further justification.
The recent case illustrates that unwarranted American intrusion has a global extension, far exceeding local WhatsApp users and users in neighboring countries, affecting foreign targets whose identities the government does not know. According to another court document discovered by Forbes, in a previous case in Ohio, seven other WhatsApp users were targeted, three in the U.S. and four in Mexico.
**Chinese Opioid Sales**
Due to the unchanged Chinese WhatsApp numbers in the government file, Forbes was able to find indicators that the DEA was seeking to monitor Chinese individuals and entities shipping narcotics via the web and encrypted apps.
While the DEA may legitimately use the "pen register" law to track Chinese chemical suppliers fueling the opioid crisis in America, concerns remain about unconditional surveillance and the lack of stated reasons for such monitoring.
However, despite complaints from the American Civil Liberties Union regarding the decades-old law, there is little evidence of any movement in the U.S. Congress to address any of the more controversial aspects of the law. Consequently, U.S. agencies can continue to monitor users of one of the world's most popular messaging apps without needing to present any reason to either a judge or the public.
