Introduction
In the year 2025, many people have grown complacent about their privacy, they figure their data is already everywhere and they have nothing to hide. The current administration is turning this idea on its head, though, as more and more previously innocuous activity becomes criminalized, and an unprecedented expansion of the police state takes place before our eyes.
While protecting yourself from surveillance is a whole complicated issue, one of the first steps is awareness. So here is a (likely extremely incomplete!) list of major surveillance companies that violate people's fourth amendment rights on a daily basis.
These companies thrive on obscurity, the longer they can remain legally unchallenged and avoid personal responsibility for the harm they cause, the more money they can make for their investors. So if you don't support being perpetually watched by the government your tax dollars fund, let your voice be heard and call them out!
Penlink
Currently has a contract with ICE (as per 404media reporting)
Recently bought Cobwebs, an Israeli OSINT firm https://www.penlink.com/press-release/cobwebs-technologies-joins-penlink-to-expand-its-digital-investigative-platform/
Team
Peter Weber, CEO
Udi Levi, CMO
Investors
Spire Capital (PE)- https://spirecapital.com/companies/penlink/
Babel Street
Mass surveillance company that tracks and verifies identities
Team
Benji Hutchinson, CEO
Shon Myatt - President and CTO
Venntel
Previous contract with CBP
The only company too cowardly to publicly list their team on their website ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Flock Safety
Major surveillance company LARPing as ALPR software
Illegally shares data across jurisdictional lines
Access often illegally given to federal agencies
Team
Garrett Langley, CEO
Investors
Andreessen Horowitz
Greenoaks Capital
Bedrock Capital
Meritech Capital
Matrix Partners
Sands Capital
Founders Fund - Peter Thiel
Kleiner Perkins
Tiger Global