Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data.

Message-Id	<20260416.110858.28dc8db1@msgid.frell.theremailer.net>
Date	Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:08:58 +0200
Subject	Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data.
From	Activist Whining <boo.ha@ha.ha>
Newsgroups	alt.activism, alt.privacy.anon-server, comp.internet.services.google
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Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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In September 2024, Amandla Thomas-Johnson was a Ph.D. candidate studying
in the U.S. on a student visa when he briefly attended a pro-Palestinian
protest. In April 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent
Google an administrative subpoena requesting his data. The next month,
Google gave Thomas-Johnson's information to ICE without giving him the
chance to challenge the subpoena, breaking a nearly decade-long promise
to notify users before handing their data to law enforcement. 

Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation sent complaints to the
California and New York Attorneys General asking them to investigate
Google for deceptive trade practices for breaking that promise. You can
read about the complaints here. Below is Thomas-Johnson's account of his
ordeal. 

Out of touch but not out of reach 
I thought my ordeal with U.S. immigration authorities was over a year
ago, when I left the country, crossing into Canada at Niagara Falls.  

By that point, the Trump administration had effectively turned federal
power against international students like me. After I attended a
pro-Palestine protest at Cornell University—for all of five minutes—the
administration’s rhetoric about cracking down on students protesting
what we saw as genocide forced me into hiding for three months. Federal
agents came to my home looking for me. A friend was detained at an
airport in Tampa and interrogated about my whereabouts. 

I’m currently a Ph.D. student. Before that, I was a reporter. I’m a dual
British and Trinadad and Tobago citizen. I have not been accused of any
crime. 

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/google-broke-its-promise-me-now-ice
-has-my-data 

Lifetime ban, never allowed in again.

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Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. Activist Whining <boo.ha@ha.ha> - 2026-04-16 11:08 +0200
  Re: Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. chose <chose@INVALID_.gov> - 2026-04-16 08:14 -0400
    Re: Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. Hermes <noreply@oc2mx.net> - 2026-04-16 13:49 +0000
      Re: Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. chose <chose@INVALID_.gov> - 2026-04-16 17:00 -0400
      Re: Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. chose <chose@INVALID_.gov> - 2026-04-16 17:01 -0400
        Re: Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com> - 2026-04-22 08:16 +0200
        [Spam] Re: Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. Bloom County <y@n.g> - 2026-04-25 07:07 +0200
  Re: Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. chose <chose@INVALID_.gov> - 2026-04-16 17:00 -0400
  Re: Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data. chose <chose@INVALID_.gov> - 2026-04-16 17:00 -0400

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