(http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Break-the-law-and-your-new-apf-2661969609.html?x=0)
...the FBI is using fake profiles on social networking sites to gather data. Is that a good thing? Or are there privacy violations to be concerned about?
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.
ok. So if you friend commits a crime, the FBI is going to be contacting you on facebook.
"It doesn't really discuss any mechanisms for accountability or ensuring that government agents use those tools responsibly," said Marcia Hoffman, a senior
attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Covert investigations on social-networking services are legal and governed by internal rules, according to Justice Department officials. But they would not say what those rules are.
Nowhere does the article indicate that a court order is required to do this. I hope that's an oversight in the article.
The article goes on to mention that Lori Drew (the California woman who is accused of using a fake MySpace account to cause a young teenager to hang herself) violated MySpace terms of service and this resulted in a conviction of 3 misdemeanor accounts, which were later overturned. Terms of Service are nowhere close to laws, but the concern arises about citizens being prosecuted for it, yet the FBI being allowed to do it. All violators should be treated equally, or not at all.
In the face-to-face world, agents can't impersonate a suspect's spouse, child, parent or best friend. But online, behind the guise of a social-networking account, they can.
"This new situation presents a need for careful oversight so that law enforcement does not use social networking to intrude on some of our most personal relationships," said Zwillinger, whose firm does legal work for
Yahoo and MySpace.
So, who is going to provide oversight to the FBI?
Where does the FBI draw the line?
What are the rules that the FBI is supposedly following?
What's to stop the FBI from snooping on innocent citizens?
Something to be concerned about!
