In lawyer’s jargon, a “dynamic tension” exists between personal privacy and law enforcement surveillance. The controversy surrounding the Patriot Act is one example. And here’s yet another. Through a Freedom of Information request, the federal law that allows government documents to be released into the public domain,a civil liberties watchdog group has obtained information about the extent to which the FBI, IRS, Secret Service and other government agencies use social media to extend their reach.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the government to find out how it uses Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites for investigations, data-collection, and surveillance.
As AP explains…
U.S. law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department document that offers a tantalizing glimpse of issues related to privacy and crime-fighting.
Think you know who’s behind that “friend” request? Think again. Your new “friend” just might be the FBI.
The document, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, makes clear that U.S. agents are already logging on surreptitiously to exchange messages with suspects, identify a target’s friends or relatives and browse private information such as postings, personal photographs and video clips.
The EFF has posted the document from the Justice Department, as well as other materials such as an IRS training course about Internet research tools, on its website.
