# Feds Order Massive Number Of Tech Giants To Help Hunt Down One WhatsApp Meth Dealer

**URL:** <https://onehack.st/t/feds-order-massive-number-of-tech-giants-to-help-hunt-down-one-whatsapp-meth-dealer/67704>\
**Category:** News & Articles\
**Tags:** tools, social-media\
**Created:** [January 31, 2020, 6:09am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/feds-order-massive-number-of-tech-giants-to-help-hunt-down-one-whatsapp-meth-dealer/67704 "2020-01-31T06:09:12Z")\
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**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TheJoker](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/thejoker/32/22660_2.png) [@TheJoker](https://onehack.st/u/TheJoker)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2020, 6:09am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/feds-order-massive-number-of-tech-giants-to-help-hunt-down-one-whatsapp-meth-dealer/67704/1 "2020-01-31T06:09:13Z")

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As it struggles to get content from encrypted messenger apps and smartphones, the U.S. government is getting creative in how it tracks down criminal WhatsApp users, according to a search warrant uncovered by _Forbes_ . From the report:

 ![whatsapp drug dealer 1Hack](https://onehack.st/uploads/default/original/3X/9/f/9f66e0ae0ab5f422a71ae8b3dbc340b1b756f74a.png)

Aside from shedding light on police data-trawling operations, these new efforts are “problematic,” legal experts tell _Forbes_ . They show that investigators are willing to test the [boundaries of legality by demanding content they may not legally be allowed to collect from WhatsApp](https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/01/29/a-problematic-government-order-forces-tech-giants-to-help-hunt-a-whatsapp-drug-dealer/). And they’re then demanding data from a seemingly endless list of tech providers – from Google to any telecom company imaginable – that could feasibly help them catch a single WhatsApp user.

_In a bid to find an alleged Mexican methamphetamine dealer, the government demanded that WhatsApp hand over basic subscriber details, according to a previously unreported government order filed in Colorado in October. They’d been tipped off that the dealer – a fugitive on the DEA’s most-wanted list – was a frequent user of WhatsApp and had even used the app to talk with an undercover agent. That WhatsApp data would come from what’s known as a “pen-trap.”_

- Think of these as tracking tools that collect limited metadata like user phone numbers, IP addresses and call duration, not the content of messages. _Forbes_ has reported on these before and they’re fairly common. So far, so normal.