Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Sent Feeds that Helped Police Track Minorities in Ferguson and Baltimore, Report Says
"A powerful surveillance program that police used for tracking
racially charged protests in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., relied on
special feeds of user data provided by Twitter, Facebook and Instagram,
according to an ACLU report.
The
companies provided the data — often including the locations, photos and
other information posted publicly by users — to Geofeedia, a
Chicago-based company that says it analyzes social media posts to
deliver real-time surveillance information to help 500 law enforcement
agencies track and respond to crime. The social media companies cut off
Geofeedia’s access to the streams of user data in recent weeks after the
ACLU discovered them and alerted the companies about looming public
exposure.
The popularity of Geofeedia and similar programs
highlights how the rise of social media has given governments worldwide
powerful new ways to monitor crime and civil unrest. Authorities often
target such surveillance at minority groups or others seeking to
publicly air political grievances, potentially chilling free speech,
said the ACLU’s California affiliate, which unearthed Geofeedia’s
relationship with social media companies through a public records
request of dozens of law enforcement agencies."
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