This story was originally published by the South Side Weekly.
A data broker that allows users to obtain information about incarcerated people could be a digital backdoor enabling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to access the personal data of thousands of immigrants in Cook County.
At a Cook County Board meeting last year, commissioners raised concerns about the Sheriff’s use of the system, called VINE (Victim Information [and] Notification Everyday), but voted to keep it. VINE notifies crime victims when an offender or defendant is released from jail, transferred, or has a change in custody status…