The FBI has submitted a request for the creation of software that will search through “publicly available” information on social networks in order to discover emerging threats.
After shutting down Megaupload, it seems as if the FBI isn’t quite satisfied, they want more control over information. So what’s their next plan? A social media application. You heard right; the FBI has posted a Request For Information (RFI) regarding the development of a social media application that can monitor online activity. ”The application must have the ability to rapidly assemble critical open source information and intelligence that will allow the SIOC to quickly vet, identify, and geo-locate breaking events, incidents, and emerging threats.”
Although the RFI is lengthy and its jargon is technical, it isn’t hard to understand and I recommend you read it. But if you don’t feel like reading it, here are some important features that the application should have:
- Provide an automated search and scrape capability of both social networking sites and open source news sites for breaking events, crisis, and threats that meet the search parameters/keywords defined by FBI SIOC.
- Ability for user to create, define, and select parameters/key word requirements. Automated search of national news, local news, and social media networks. Examples include but are not limited to Fox News. CNN, MSNBC, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
- Provide instant notifications of breaking events, incidents, and emerging threats that have been vetted and meet the defined search parameters.
- Ability to immediately access geospatial maps with coding in addition to providing critical infrastructural layers. Preferred maps include but are not limited to Google Maps, Google 3D maps, ESRI, and Yahoo Maps.
- Ability to instantly search and monitor key words and strings in all “publicly available” tweets across the Twitter Site and any other “publicly available” social networking
sites/forums (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, etc.).
While I believe that it is great that the FBI would like to use social media to discover possible threats, the idea of a “spider” searching through online interactions doesn’t appeal to me. The FBI says that it would monitor “publicly available” information but with 67% of online social networking account owners having concerns about privacy on social networking sites (ESET), I think that a lot of people would add strict privacy settings to their accounts, thus making that information private. Lillie Coney, the associate director of a Washington-based privacy group commented on the FBI’s request calling it “ridiculous. “Get a warrant,” she said. “You don’t know half the people you communicate with on Twitter. They are going to launch investigations and start looking at all sorts of people that they have no right to be investigating. There is no accountability, no transparency and no oversight.”
It’s true, the FBI doesn’t have the right to investigate our private interactions but unfortunately it’s the FBI and they can do whatever they want. With tight privacy settings on many social networks, a lot of information is considered private, so I don’t know how viable this will be. It could cause many court cases and civil liberty actions. I guess we will have to wait and see how the application turns out.
Any thoughts?
[email protected] | @jkaykin
I hate big brother. And the idea that big brother is getting bigger. But, I cant believe the FBI is not already doing this. It seems like a no brainer for the Amerikan Gov.
Hey guys, spread the word, not everybody knows about it.
about 3 years late, the Obama regime has been paying fake posters to spy and ‘isolate/marginalize’ critize those they disagree with.
The majority of people just don’t care (let alone even know). Oh well.
Yea you are absolutely right, Erik. The majority of people will start to care after they get hit directly. This is a worrisome issue.