A partnership between police departments and social media sites discussed at a convention in Philadelphia this week could allow law enforcement to keep anything deemed criminal off the Internet—and even stop people from organizing protests.
A high-ranking official from the Chicago Police Department told attendees at a law enforcement conference on Monday that his agency has been working with a security chief at Facebook to block certain users from the site “if it is determined they have posted what is deemed criminal content,” reports Kenneth Lipp, an independent journalist who attended the lecture.
Lipp reported throughout the week from the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference, and now says that a speaker during one of the presentations suggested that a relationship exists between law enforcement and social media that that could be considered a form of censorship.
According to Lipp, the unnamed CPD officer said specifically that his agency was working with Facebook to block users’ by their individual account, IP address or device, such as a cell phone or computer.
Elsewhere at the conference, Lipp said law enforcement agencies discussed new social media tools that could be implemented to aid in crime-fighting, but at the price of potentially costing citizens their freedom.
"They hate us for our Freedom."
ReplyDeleteCouple this with the “Free Flow of Information Act” that might become law and all a citizen will hear is the sound of crickets chirping and high praise for the empire.
ReplyDeleteI got warned by FB more than a year ago that I would be banned from commenting on public posts if my comments did not pertain to the conversation. I was posting a link to an A&E video on the WT7 collapse on a conversation that was blaming the attack on religious fanatics.
ReplyDeleteFacebook'em Danno...
ReplyDeleteNo surprise here. Like everything else, once a business in this country becomes large, it becomes part of the state apparatus.
ReplyDeleteHowever, don't be blinded by Facebook's current popularity. Facebook is not all of "social media". If Facebook starts censoring at the behest of a police agency, protesters will simply organize elsewhere.