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White House App Found Tracking Users' Exact Location Every 4.5 Minutes via Third-Party Server (www.ibtimes.co.uk)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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The Trump administration's newly launched White House App is under scrutiny after a software developer claimed to have found embedded code that tracks users' precise GPS coordinates every 4.5 minutes and automatically syncs them to a third-party server. The claim, posted on 28 March 2026 by the X account @Thereallo1026, has drawn nearly 260,000 views and prompted questions about data collection practices in government-operated applications.

The post included what appeared to be decompiled source code from the app, revealing what the user described as OneSignal's 'full GPS pipeline compiled in.' According to the post, the code showed the app 'polling your location every 4.5 minutes, syncing your exact coordinates to a third-party server.' The White House has not publicly responded to the specific technical claims.

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[–] 16 points 7 months ago (7 children)

From the US government, I completely agree. But a functional government helps and supports its citizens and there are plenty of ways an app on your phone can help. Admittedly that's pretty ideological, but at the very least I'd argue there is a spectrum

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    In a hypothetical socialist utopia with rigorously defined and enforced guarantees of rights and liberties, government-owned platforms can and should replace corporate-owned ones.

    Imagine a concept like facebook/instagram/twitter, except it's open-source and transparent, and its users are in control of its governance through direct democracy and collective ownership. Plus a set of rules defining explicitly what they can't do, including all predatory, coercive, manipulative, and profiteering practices that are the industry standard now.

    Obviously it's not a simple solution. Government control ≠ fair, equitable, and transparent. That's why I framed this as a hypothetical. It requires that socialist utopia, collective ownership, direct democracy, and open-source format. But it is possible, and we shouldn't let our imaginations be hampered by what exists today, in this system.

    So many things could be done better with centralized planning, but that depends on who is in charge of that planning. And that's why we need direct democracy and collective ownership. Those things can actually be enabled by technology, despite the fact that technology is currently being used to hamper it.

    Like, report a pothole on your maps app, and the state repairs it within a week. Go to the open forum section of your social media, and discuss the items on the upcoming bill proposal with the members of your community. Start a citizen's initiative by filling out a simple form that's accessible to everyone and posting it in the right section of the platform. Audit your local government's budget/expenses as easily as navigating to the right tab.

    There's a better way of doing the things we're already doing. We just have to dare to imagine, to believe, and to persevere until our vision becomes a reality.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    What you wrote reminded me of a minor idea that's been floating in my head: I kind of wish that more governments did something like requiring adding your business to OpenStreetMaps as part of registering the business with the government, or even just publishing the basic data (location, opening hours, ...) somewhere that all the maps apps sync with

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    That would be cool, but isn't OSM the one with the wonky governance issues? A bunch of devs split from them and forked the source code, which they now develop as CoMaps. It's a much more solid option for that reason

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    From Wikipedia, not quite but I learnt so something, so thanks:

    CoMaps is a community-driven, free and open-source, offline navigation app that uses map data from OpenStreetMap (OSM)

    The CoMaps project was initiated in response to growing concerns and dissatisfaction within the Organic Maps community. The original Organic Maps project, while initially promoted as an open community effort, faced significant issues related to governance, transparency, and the potential for shareholder profit at the expense of the community.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoMaps

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