The FBI Got Its Hands on Data That Twitter Wouldn't Give the CIA (theverge.com)

The FBI is using a tool called Dataminr to track criminals and terrorist groups on Twitter, according to documents spotted by The Verge. In a contract document, the agency says Dataminr's Advanced Alerting Tool allows it "to search the complete Twitter firehose, in near real-time, using customizable filters." However, the practice seems to violate Twitter's developer agreement, which prohibits the use of its data feed for surveillance or spying purposes. From the report:"Twitter is used extensively by terrorist organizations and other criminals to communicate, recruit, and raise funds for illegal activity," the FBI wrote in a contracting document. "With increased use of Twitter by subjects of FBI investigations, it is critical to obtain a service which will allow the FBI to identify relevant information from Twitter in a timely fashion." [...] Earlier this year, Twitter revoked API access to a tool called Geofeedia, citing the same clause in the Developer agreement, after a reports showed the tool had been used by police to target protestors in Baltimore. Facebook was also a Geofeedia customer, and used it to catch an intruder in Mark Zuckerberg's office. This isn't the first time Dataminr has run up against Twitter's anti-surveillance clause. In May, Twitter revoked CIA access to Dataminr, a move that was taken as part of a larger ban on US intelligence agencies using the product.

Comments

Re:The data is already public, why criplle lawmen?

[mi]

You are deluded you or anyone can control how the CIA and FBI spend their time?

So, you do advocate for abolition of the two agencies?

Try writing your congressman and telling them what the FBI and CIA should be doing.

Funny, whenever I point out this remoteness and unruliness of the government in conversations about things like public transport or public schools, your kind always claim, government is easily approachable and responsive to taxpayers — and therefore is better positioned to provide these services, than competing private corporations would be.

But, when it comes to law enforcement — which is something, that private corporations can not be trusted with due to an obvious conflict of interest — you turn around and turn into the exact opposite. Suddenly, government agencies become both evil and uncontrollable.

Try writing your congressman and telling them what the FBI and CIA should be doing

Only after you write to yours about Department of Education, deal?