Federal Agents Quietly Using Social Media 171
SpuriousLogic passes along this excerpt from the ChiTrib: "The Feds are on Facebook. And MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter, too. US 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. ... The document... makes clear that US 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. Among other purposes: Investigators can check suspects' alibis by comparing stories told to police with tweets sent at the same time about their whereabouts. Online photos from a suspicious spending spree... can link suspects or their friends to robberies or burglaries." The FoIA lawsuit was filed by the EFF, which has posted two documents obtained from the action, from the DoJ and Internal Revenue (more will be coming later). The rights group praises the IRS for spelling out limitations and prohibitions on deceptive use of social media by its agents — unlike the DoJ. The US Marshalls and the BATFE could not find any documents related to the FoIA request, so presumably they have no guidelines or prohibitions in this area.
-or- Welcome to the internet (Score:5, Funny)
Where the men are men, the women are men, and the little girls are FBI agents.
Well perhaps they're not allowed speakers at work (Score:2, Funny)
Turn it against them (Score:5, Funny)
"Publicly available" (Score:5, Funny)
Re:-or- Welcome to the internet (Score:3, Funny)
Hi, I'm Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC. Why don't you take a seat over there.
Re:Also.. (Score:1, Funny)
Well, not everyone likes pepsi!
Re:-or- Welcome to the internet (Score:3, Funny)
That wasn't a quote. That was an FBI agent.
Re:-or- Welcome to the internet (Score:3, Funny)