The company said they would still cooperate with law enforcement on a case-by-case basis
Yesterday at 1:15 PM
By PoliceOne Staff
Facebook announced Monday that law enforcement can no longer use data to monitor protesters and certain groups.
The Washington Post reported
that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram provide developers access to
users’ public feeds, which has been used in the past to monitor parades,
protests, and other large events.
Last year, the social media sites blocked Geofeedia’s access to the
data after an ACLU investigation alleged Geofeedia provided data to law
enforcement to track protesters.
Police officials told the Associated Press
that companies like Geofeedia help them protect the public. The
services can help find crime witnesses, notify police of potential
problems during large events and can give police feedback from the
community.
Facebook specified in their platform policy
that developers cannot “use data obtained from us to provide tools that
are used for surveillance.” Although using Facebook’s data for
surveillance is blocked, the company said they will still work with law enforcement to solve crimes on a case-by-case basis.
According to the Washington Post, Facebook said they would allow
local and federal police agencies to monitor feeds during national
disasters and emergencies.
Comments:
Ridiculous. FB uses the same data to target audience for sales and vendors so it's ok for them. If protest groups are stupid enough to post thier "burn plans" or collecting buckets of feces, we need to know. Whatever, we'll just create fake profiles and get the intel that way.
