The FBI ‘Can Neither Confirm nor Deny’ That It Monitors Your Social Media Posts

guest · Jan 17, 2019

The FBI ‘Can Neither Confirm nor Deny’ That It Monitors Your Social Media Posts
January 17, 2019
https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-spee...onfirm-nor-deny-it-monitors-your-social-media

The FBI, for one, has repeatedly acknowledged that it engages in surveillance of social media posts.
So it was surprising when the bureau responded to our Freedom of Information Act request on this kind of surveillance by saying that it “can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records.”

The six other federal agencies we submitted the FOIA request to haven’t produced a single document.

Today we sued the agencies to get some answers, because the public has a right to know about the exact nature of social media surveillance — especially whether agencies are monitoring and retaining social media posts, or using surveillance products that label activists and people of color as threats to public safety based on their First Amendment-protected activities.
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Social media surveillance raises a number of red flags. First, it discourages people from speaking freely — a phenomenon that research and studies bear out.

Indeed, in its letter responding to our FOIA request, the FBI said that simply acknowledging its use of social media surveillance would “risk circumvention of the law.” The bureau seems to be saying that if people knew that the government is monitoring what they’re saying on social media, they’d be less likely to say it. That looks like an admission of the chilling effect that the First Amendment aims to prevent.
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guest · Jul 13, 2019

The FBI plans more social media surveillance
It may gather user IDs, emails, IP addresses and telephone numbers
July 12, 2019
https://www.engadget.com/2019/07/12/fbi-social-media-monitoring-tool-rfp/

The FBI wants to gather more information from social media. Today, it issued a call for contracts for a new social media monitoring tool. According to a request-for-proposals (RFP), it's looking for an "early alerting tool" that would help it monitor terrorist groups, domestic threats, criminal activity and the like.

The tool would provide the FBI with access to the full social media profiles of persons-of-interest. That could include information like user IDs, emails, IP addresses and telephone numbers. The tool would also allow the FBI to track people based on location, enable persistent keyword monitoring and provide access to personal social media history.
But a tool of this nature is likely to raise a few red flags, despite the FBI's call for "ensuring all privacy and civil liberties compliance requirements are met."
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They're not beating around the bush in terms of how pervasively they're monitoring social media content: pic.twitter.com/Zo528lt8Pd

— Hugh Handeyside (@hhandeyside) July 12, 2019
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mirimir · Jul 13, 2019

I looked through this RFP. And I see no list of "social media" to be monitored. Is it just not there?

guest · Jul 13, 2019

When agencies want to do "illegal" stuff, they don't ask authorization, they just create black cells or hire "specialized" contractors.
How funny when people believe they have a semblance of freedom and privacy...

mirimir · Jul 13, 2019

Yeah, you can't believe anything that they say.

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The FBI ‘Can Neither Confirm nor Deny’ That It Monitors Your Social Media Posts

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