Second Amendment ATF pushing app to report suspect gun owners

Discussion in 'Bill of Rights' started by Yard Dart, Sep 11, 2016.


  1. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive has announced the development of a new government partnership with an anonymous tip app that will allow users to contact the federal agency at the push of a button.

    From an ATF press release:

    The fight to protect our communities is not just up to law enforcement; it’s a partnership between your community and law enforcement. We look to you who live in these communities we protect to provide us with information about gun violence.

    To make our communities safer, ATF is launching a new way to collect your tips involving firearms or to provide leads to help us prevent crimes from happening. Using your phone, tablet or computer, you will be able to tell us instantly and anonymously about crimes that may be happening in your communities that involve firearms, explosives, violent crime, or arson.

    ATF values your privacy and is offering this service through reportit (link is external)®, a mobile app that allows you to remain anonymous. With reportit® concerned citizens can report suspicious or unusual activities in real time while having the assurance that your identity will remain anonymous and confidential. reportit® makes it easy to create and submit a tip, and attach a photo or video, with confidence that the information is forwarded to us real time. With the time and location of the incident, we can better respond and provide the necessary resources quickly and efficiently. You will have the option to provide your personal information, but this will not be required to submit your tip. You can visit the reportit (link is external)® website for more infomation on their service.

    Many people on internet gun forums worry that the app will become a tool for anti-firearm fanatics to have law abiding gun owners harassed by federal agents without fear of reprisal for false reporting.

    One commenter said: “Great, another ‘snitch on someone you don’t like’ program. What could go wrong with that? Not being confronted by your accuser, relying on manufactured probable cause, more agency witch hunts, selective targeted prosecution, make-work for agents… more of what we have now.”

    On the other hand, maybe they’ll get a tip about who flooded all those illegal guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels…

    ATF pushing government app to report suspect gun owners - Personal Liberty®
     
  2. techsar

    techsar Monkey+++

    Nah...that would NEVER happen...[sarc1]
     
    Sgt Nambu, Ura-Ki, Dunerunner and 3 others like this.
  3. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    Do children get extra credit (or maybe a spiffy brown uniform) for turning in their parents?
     
    Sgt Nambu, VisuTrac, Ura-Ki and 12 others like this.
  4. Mountainman

    Mountainman Großes Mitglied Site Supporter+++

    Everyone should get this app and send pics of the ATF offices in their area. Definitely a terrorist threat that should be investigated.
     
    bebop, Sgt Nambu, VisuTrac and 10 others like this.
  5. Pax Mentis

    Pax Mentis Philosopher King |RIP 11-4-2017

    Interesting idea...and add in all your gun hating lib neighbors...
     
  6. chimo

    chimo the few, the proud, the jarhead monkey crowd

    I see people carrying guns around politicians all the time...they gotta be up to no good, right?
     
  7. DarkLight

    DarkLight Live Long and Prosper - On Hiatus

    My betting quarter says it's not anonymous at all and if we reported any of the above, we'd be the ones getting the visit.

    Not only is it likely not anonymous, it probably grabs all KINDS of uniquely identifying information from your device.

    This is a tool for control using the sheep as an adjunct of their out of control agency.
     
    VisuTrac, Ganado, Mountainman and 5 others like this.
  8. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    I wonder if it is an IOS App, and if it is if Apple has vetted it for sending out Device Information, in background?? This is Expressly Prohibited, under the Apple Vetting process, and Policies, for New Apps....
     
    Sgt Nambu and Ura-Ki like this.
  9. DarkLight

    DarkLight Live Long and Prosper - On Hiatus

    I'm not saying it's done in the background outside of the app, but tags info to the report. It would be interesting to use it on a rooted android that had the ability/app that can or should limit what info the app has access to.

    Suffice it to say that I don’t trust that agency at all.

    ***ETA***
    Okay, I looked up the app on the android store and it wants access to the following:

    Version 1.4.7 can access:
    Location
    • approximate location (network-based)
    • precise location (GPS and network-based)
    Photos/Media/Files
    • read the contents of your USB storage
    • modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
    Storage
    • read the contents of your USB storage
    • modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
    Camera
    • take pictures and videos
    Microphone
    • record audio
    Other
    • receive data from Internet
    • Broadcast data messages to apps.
    • view network connections
    • full network access
    • prevent device from sleeping
    • read Google service configuration
    Now, while some of those things are necessary to allow the app to submit pictures you've taken, etc, not all of it is. It shouldn't need to pull data from the internet necessarily (not required to send), it doesn't need access to my Google service configuration, it doesn't need FULL NETWORK ACCESS, it doesn't need the ability to DELETE from my storage, and it doesn't need access to my storage outside of pictures.

    It's not anonymous by any stretch of the imagination and you agree to giving them this access at install time.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2016
  10. Tevin

    Tevin Monkey+++

    I don't get it. There are already lots of anonymous crime tip telephone numbers, or someone could just dial 911 or use a junk email account on public wifi. What does this app do that can't already be done some other way?

    It sounds like a pet project financed by pork barrel grant money. Or maybe the ATF wanted to look techie and trendy, so they threw together an app just to make themselves look cool.

    As for the app being misused to harass legitimate gun owners, that's always possible, but it was always possible anyway. It does not really change anything in that regard.

    And don't believe for a second that this app is truly "anonymous".

    I do like @Mountainman 's suggestion to clog the system with junk data! Thumbs up for that one!
     
    Ura-Ki and Mountainman like this.
  11. Pax Mentis

    Pax Mentis Philosopher King |RIP 11-4-2017

    Not even a tiny bit surprised.
     
    Ura-Ki likes this.
  12. DarkLight

    DarkLight Live Long and Prosper - On Hiatus

    The app isn't done by the ATF, they are simply leveraging an existing "tattle tale" application...partnering with them as it were.

    My guess is the most money invested is in the posts on websites. Report It has been around for at least a couple of years.
     
  13. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    and ALWAYS remember it is a Federal Crime to Lie to a Federal Agent..... and you can be Prosecuted for such....
     
    Ura-Ki, 3M-TA3 and DarkLight like this.
  14. DarkLight

    DarkLight Live Long and Prosper - On Hiatus

    And we have seen how that plays out. Us little folks would be turning big rocks into tiny little rocks for the rest of our natural lives while others waltz about, carefree after doing much, much worse. Hell, those who reported their suspicious neighbor without cause because they are anti-gun will get a free pass but reporting the ATF to the ATF or the DOJ in general (anyone remember Fast and Furious?) would get locked up with the key thrown away...assuming we ever made it to trial and weren't killed while "resisting arrest" during a no-knock raid at 3am.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2016
    Ura-Ki likes this.
  15. VisuTrac

    VisuTrac Ваша мать носит военные ботинки Site Supporter+++

    Yeah but if your name is Clinton ...
     
    Ura-Ki likes this.
  16. ditch witch

    ditch witch I do stupid crap, so you don't have to

    People do love their apps. They'll be much more likely to use an app than bother with pulling up their email, finding out who they need to send it to, writing it up, and sending it off. An app gives you one stop narc'ing capability. Yeah, I can totally see how they'd lurve this idea.
     
    Ura-Ki and Ganado like this.
  17. Sgt Nambu

    Sgt Nambu RIP 4/19/2018

    Every day, in every way, farther from the basic right to confront your accuser! Straight from the ATSSF! :D:cautious:
     
    Mountainman and Ura-Ki like this.
  18. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    If ever an agency needed to be disbanded...it is the ATF (next would be the IRS). Frankly, their jobs should be turned over to the local and State police...self-licking ice cream cone if I ever saw one.
     
    Sgt Nambu, Yard Dart and Ura-Ki like this.
  19. oil pan 4

    oil pan 4 Monkey+++

    The "probable cause app".
     
    Bandit99, Sgt Nambu and Ura-Ki like this.
  1. fl4848
  2. BTPost
  3. BTPost
  4. Dunerunner
  5. Coyote Ridge
  6. OldDude49
  7. oldman11
  8. Ura-Ki
  9. oil pan 4
  10. OldDude49
  11. OldDude49
  12. Motomom34
  13. Yard Dart
  14. tacmotusn
  15. Dunerunner
  16. T. Riley
  17. enloopious
survivalmonkey SSL seal        survivalmonkey.com warrant canary
17282WuJHksJ9798f34razfKbPATqTq9E7