Feds on Social Networks?

[Koby]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Feds are on Facebook. And MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, too.

U.S. 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.

Think you know who's behind that "friend" request? Think again. Your new "friend" just might be the FBI.

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.

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 - people posing with jewelry, guns or fancy cars - can link suspects or their friends to robberies or burglaries.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based civil liberties group, obtained the Justice Department document when it sued the agency and five others in federal court. The 33-page document underscores the importance of social networking sites to U.S. authorities. The foundation said it would publish the document on its Web site on Tuesday.

With agents going undercover, state and local police coordinate their online activities with the Secret Service, FBI and other federal agencies in a strategy known as "deconfliction" to keep out of each other's way.

"You could really mess up someone's investigation because you're investigating the same person and maybe doing things that are counterproductive to what another agency is doing," said Detective Frank Dannahey of the Rocky Hill, Conn., Police Department, a veteran of dozens of undercover cases.

A decade ago, agents kept watch over AOL and MSN chat rooms to nab sexual predators. But those text-only chat services are old-school compared with today's social media, which contain mountains of personal data, photographs, videos and audio clips - a potential treasure trove of evidence for cases of violent crime, financial fraud and much more.

The Justice Department document, part of a presentation given in August by top cybercrime officials, describes the value of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and other services to government investigators. It does not describe in detail the boundaries for using them.

"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 civil liberties foundation.

The group sued in Washington to force the government to disclose its policies for using social networking sites in investigations, data collection and surveillance.

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.

The Justice Department document raises a legal question about a social-media bullying case in which U.S. prosecutors charged a Missouri woman with computer fraud for creating a fake MySpace account - effectively the same activity that undercover agents are doing, although for different purposes.

The woman, Lori Drew, helped create an account for a fictitious teen boy on MySpace and sent flirtatious messages to a 13-year-old neighborhood girl in his name. The girl hanged herself in October 2006, in a St. Louis suburb, after she received a message saying the world would be better without her.

A jury in California, where MySpace has its servers, convicted Drew of three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization because she was accused of violating MySpace's rules against creating fake accounts. But last year a judge overturned the verdicts, citing the vagueness of the law.

"If agents violate terms of service, is that 'otherwise illegal activity'?" the document asks. It doesn't provide an answer.

Facebook's rules, for example, specify that users "will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission." Twitter's rules prohibit its users from sending deceptive or false information. MySpace requires that information for accounts be "truthful and accurate."

A former U.S. cybersecurity prosecutor, Marc Zwillinger, said investigators should be able to go undercover in the online world the same way they do in the real world, even if such conduct is barred by a company's rules. But there have to be limits, he said.

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.

Undercover operations aren't necessary if the suspect is reckless. Federal authorities nabbed a man wanted on bank fraud charges after he started posting Facebook updates about the fun he was having in Mexico.

Maxi Sopo, a native of Cameroon living in the Seattle area, apparently slipped across the border into Mexico in a rented car last year after learning that federal agents were investigating the alleged scheme. The agents initially could find no trace of him on social media sites, and they were unable to pin down his exact location in Mexico. But they kept checking and eventually found Sopo on Facebook.

While Sopo's online profile was private, his list of friends was not. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Scoville began going through the list and was able to learn where Sopo was living. Mexican authorities arrested Sopo in September. He is awaiting extradition to the U.S.

The Justice document describes how Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have interacted with federal investigators: Facebook is "often cooperative with emergency requests," the government said. MySpace preserves information about its users indefinitely and even stores data from deleted accounts for one year. But Twitter's lawyers tell prosecutors they need a warrant or subpoena before the company turns over customer information, the document says.

"Will not preserve data without legal process," the document says under the heading, "Getting Info From Twitter ... the bad news."

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The chief security officer for MySpace, Hemanshu Nigam, said MySpace doesn't want to be the company that stands in the way of an investigation.

"That said, we also want to make sure that our users' privacy is protected and any data that's disclosed is done under proper legal process," Nigam said.

MySpace requires a search warrant for private messages less than six months old, according to the company.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the company has put together a handbook to help law enforcement officials understand "the proper ways to request information from Facebook to aid investigations."

The Justice document includes sections about its own lawyers. For government attorneys taking cases to trial, social networks are a "valuable source of info on defense witnesses," they said. "Knowledge is power. ... Research all witnesses on social networking sites."

But the government warned prosecutors to advise their own witnesses not to discuss cases on social media sites and to "think carefully about what they post."

It also cautioned federal law enforcement officials to think prudently before adding judges or defense counsel as "friends" on these services.

"Social networking and the courtroom can be a dangerous combination," the government said.

Source

Well all I can say is don't post ANYTHING on the internet you don't possibly want the whole world to know. Just like you shouldn't post pictures of you drinking or smoking pot, because jobs check this stuff too and can not hire you because of what is on your facebook/whatever you use. Yes, it sucks, but it happens to us everywhere, not just on social networking. Again, don't share with people what you don't want everyone to know. If you're doing something illegal, than it would be pretty stupid to broadcast that anyways. It's common sense that so many people on the internet do not have that these feds are taking advantage of, but it's no one's fault but their own if they get caught over the internet.

[Mtld5]

Even though it is an invasion of privacy, I think people should have common sense when it comes to posting things to the net. Like you said, jobs check the internet about you and try to find any incriminating evidence not to hire you/fire you.

[† cloud1414]

Well i only think this is a good idea if there was something that involved the police, they can check on facebook and check alibis and such.

[Lord_Arigas]

And this is why I don't use Facebook or MySpace much at all anymore. I deactivated my Facebook, took profile pic and everything off, locked it, etc. As for MySpace, I don't even go on that anymore, nor do I have a real life pic of me on there. I do have a 2nd Facebook account where I upload anime convention photos and stuff, but I don't use my real name, only an alias. Same for this site, and GaiaOnline as well. So if anyone were to find anything out about me, good luck. XD

Only clues are this: I like anime, manga, and video games. But then again, alot of people like that stuff, so tough luck there. XD

[Renzourin]

i dont keep real photos or anything particularly embarrasing most of my avatars anywhere no matter im doing are usually anime so meh and i dont even use facebook anymore my poor fish are probably dead =P

[dgbrt]

i think it is an invasion of privacy and the fact that they don't need a warrant to get access to myspace page is a little bit disturbing

[Stuy]

Is there any freedom left in the world anymore.

(freedom is something that the government want's you to think you have.. but you don't)

[Vael]

I think it is a disturbing yet necessary measurement, because in the end illegal is illegal no way of getting around it. If your stupid enough to Do ANYTHING on the internet then the police will most likely find out eventually. For example quite a while a go police cracked an international Pedophile ring using the videos and pictures to track down where they were taken to just one guy then they tracked the rest via email addresses and face book contacts and ALL were found to have Most of the videos and pictures taken by the first guy so don't say that they are doing it just to piss you off or whatever these are necessary.

I'm very anti crime by the way

[wolfmother]

Well as people have said, Is there no privacy? But if I thought my future kids were in danger then privacy be damned. I hope if you not a criminal then your information would not be kept, but being a cynical person i realise that the authorities will keep that information for gain. They can then sell that information to advertising to increase revinue among other things. But i feel there are many dangerous people around and the internet has only made it easier for their habits. I would personally sacrifice a lot of my privacy to rid the world of one of those people and i hope others feel the same.

[pokeguy1]

is this really that surprising? i mean anything anybody does is twittered or facebooked. 'washing my toes for the first time in weeks. alot of toe jam. anyone want to buy it?' if they actually wanted to catch pedo and other malicious acts.. why don't they do like their and our ancestors did and get off their butts and do some real work?

[MaoNaeiki]

I Know it may be a invasion of privacy and i do find it wrong BUT on the other side, Some people need to have Common sense on what they post on the net Like if you said "I'M GONNA BOMB *Insert place here* on your facebook account, and the feds saw that and you were arrested for Conspiracy (or whatever crime that falls under). You deserve to be arrested for being so stupid as to post something like that on your Facebook. NOW if bob were to post his family Vacation photos and how his vacation in Japan was, i'd be a little disturbed as to Feds treating me like a criminal and invading my privacy.

(i know, my Post MAY sound like a Double edged sword lol)

[PseudoSage]

Feds? Checking my profiles? Oh s**t, I better take off that photo I posted on flickr of me learning how to make a briefcase bomb, or maybe remove the journal entry saying I love to smoke dope on the job, or even my forum post about my love of child pornography! Damn Uncle Sam!!!

Honestly though, I must admit I am a rather cautious person about posting personal info online. If I'm going to post a stupid picture of myself online then I certainly won't do it on a profile with my real name. Secondly I say keep some of this stuff to yourself.

[Nero D. Ace]

i agree with Pseudo. even when i'm on a secure site with an anonymous name, i think 100 times before posting my view ... after editing it several times

[Shunsuke]

Even though it is an invasion of privacy, I think people should have common sense when it comes to posting things to the net. Like you said, jobs check the internet about you and try to find any incriminating evidence not to hire you/fire you.

Really? Well thankfully I never use my real name or anything on the internet so unless a place knows my e-mail I use the most they won't ever be able to find me.

[† Mute point]

They've been trolling around those sites ever since they became popular. The only reason they are admitting it now is because they had to. And we all know that while they admit one thing, they've got at least 30 other things going at the same time that no one is making them report on.