NYPD Creates Facebook-Police Task Force to Mine Social Media for Clues

Goodbye 4th amendment and civil liberties....

...what he said. This is bad news bears.

This is yet more disastersauce on our already fascist society.

What you have to understand is that in a fascist country EVERYTHING you do is illegal. Sure they might come after you for those firecracker videos, so better take them down. Or maybe they'll come after you for something you had no idea was illegal and had no reasonable reason to think was illegal, something like

In New York, adultery is still a crime.
www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/new-york

So you better not post anything online, just to be safe. Or off-life. Or be friends with anyone who knows you cheated on your spouse. Or be friends with anyone who knows anything about you.

Better yet, why don't you just keep your head down and never, ever go against the politically acceptable thing, never speak up for yourself or for others, never make anyone angry(much less a cop or DA), and never, EVER, do anything that might possibly be illegal, because it surely is.

By making the citizenry fearful of crossing the imaginary lines that don't really exist, they control you. As they control you, they can use you to their ends, or throw you away once you are no longer useful to them.

Well put, Xira666... well put.

Will law enforcement be using fake accounts or will they be using their real names?

Using fake accounts on Facebook is against their TOS. Also using fake names in some states is against the law as its considered identity theft.

Come on guys! What did you expect?!?

Being "THE INTERNET", how dare you consider that anything you put in Facebook, Twitter, etc. will be 100% safe.

The article is just saying that the government is going to use information available to anyone in order to track criminals, which is a GOOD thing for everyone's safety.

If you have done nothing that's illegal, you shouldn't have to worry about this new law, since it doesn't corcern you. It's the exact same thing as the airport security systems.

Basically, what i understand is that everyone who commented before me have something to hide from the judicial system.

Have a good day,
Kherzhul

P.S.: If you did do something illegal, and you're dumb enough to brag about it on social websites, you diserve what'll be coming to you!

I'm terribly sorry about my grammar.
It should've been written "deserve", instead of "diserve".

Oh, and sorry about the double post too.

@Kherzhul

It is refreshing to hear a calm voice of reason in contrast to the fear mongers that posted above.

To those that think we are becoming too strict just visit another country. I just got back from Dubai and one of my coworkers was arrested for drinking water from a water bottle in the street. It's only about 114F before the heat index, but yeah I am glad to be back home in the good ole USA.

"In New York, adultery is still a crime."

Good.

________________________________________________
My FYI Question :)

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-10/fyi-what-would-happen-if-every-element-periodic-table-came-contact-simultaneously

IF YOUR DUMB ENOUGH TO PUT YOUR CRIMES OR SOME EVIDENCE THAT WILL LINK YOU TO A SERIOUS CRIME ON FACEBOOK. YOU DESERVE TO GET CAUGHT.

I understand both sides of the argument, but am troubled by the path that we are headed on. To quote Benjamin Franklin, "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both". With TSA scanners, electronic surveillance (Facebook), red light cameras and such, how much intrusion should we be willing to put up with in the name of safety?

September 11th was the worst day in american history and we need to be ever vigilant as a nation, but the reality is, it doesn't matter how much security we use, the enemy will find a way to hit us again. The only thing happening is the law abiding citizen, the people that do not create these problems, will have their privacy invaded more and more. The gun laws do not keep guns out of the hands of criminals, and more invasion of our rights will not stop any people that are truly dedicated to causing us harm.

Sorry for the lengthy post and my bad grammar, but this needs to be said.

This is not sacrificing any freedoms cadman. You never had the freedom to post your stupidity on facebook as police have searched the internet for well over a decade. Now instead of just having random officers search, they have a department dedicated to it.

Xira666 really needs to go back to school and learn what fascism is as it's painfully obvious he knows not what he speaks.

@Cadman83

Could you please explain to me in what way it restrains freedom? Because i'm not sure i get your point.

You can still say whatever comes to mind, you can still enjoy videos from Youtube, you can still go watch "adult websites" or whatever it is you want. Your freedom isn't compromised in any way.

Kherzhul,

I agree with you, our freedom to do as we wish is in no danger from the police logging onto Facebook. My concern is more along the lines of what we are seeing with security as a general trend. It's more of an invasion of privacy, and don't assume that they are only reviewing public profiles.

Say that a friend you know does something that launches an investigation. Wouldn't you think the odds of your account being investigated go up? You did nothing wrong, but since you are on his friends list, odds are your account will at least be reviewed.

Its just that I read stuff like this and it concerns me. Why not pass a law like the Indiana Supreme Court has, where a police officer can come into your house anytime they wish, warrant or not. Look it up if you don't believe me.

wise it is to get rid of social networks as a whole. i saw this one coming a long time ago. and i bet they have been doing this for a while now. the new age of invasion of privacy. looks like the NWO are coming earlier than expected. first the threat of communism than terrorist and lastly the so called alien threat which will be bogus. they will use holograms and make everyone believe that we are being attacked.

The issue is not that we are losing our freedom. The issue is that we are losing our right to privacy. I am more against facebook than I am against the goverment agencies that are monitoring facebook. They keep your information even if you decided to delete your account and I wouldn't be surprised if this information isn't being used as a public database for the government to access at any given time. Why is Mark Zuckerberg buddy buddy with the president of the united states?

How this country persistently lies to its citizens through social media outlets is beyond me.

*The end isn't coming. It's already here...*

@Cadman83

I don't see it as an invasion of privacy as they cannot monitor every "status update" of everyone. I think of it more as a preventive way of countering events such as in London right now.

If one of your friend does compromising things (one of the best example i can think of is selling drugs), chances are everyone he knows will also be a suspect and be reviewed. It's not anything new. It's a relatively old way of tracking back to the source.

The way that i see it is that you're basically having a garage sale of your information, but you don't want the police to come take a look at what you're selling.

If you read the Privacy Policy of Facebook (and yes, i know most people don't, but it's a contract), it is said, as revised on december 22nd, 2010, that "[Facebook] may disclose information pursuant to subpoenas, court orders, or other requests [...] This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities." There isn't supposed to be anything new in that they may already share information to government.
(Source: http://www.facebook.com/policy.php)

I know that it scares some people that the government may take a look at their information, but the information they are willing to post on Facebook (or any other social network) and that all of their 200+ "friends" (sometimes as much as 1000's, i've seen it) can access should be restricted to what they actually want people to know.

How far exactly CAN the NYPD go?
Do they have free access to my info if I do not invite them?
How far back does the statute of a crime extend?
For ex, shooting off fireworks wasnt always illegal in NY.
And what if my pic or quote was describing me shooting fireworks off in another state, but wasnt apparent.

I know that this isnt exactly what they are setting this group up for, but where does it end?
How much freedom do they get?

And I think that the point of some posters is similar...
It may start out as a good, honest idea...but how often does it get abused and twisted by the powers that be.

Each little step..even made with the best of intentions is ALWAYS corrupted in time.

how exactly does this curtail freedom? it doesn't, just like anywhere else you can be held accountable for your actions, as for cheating on your spouse, a little jail time and i bet you are less likely to cheat on your NEXT spouse, that includes female and male alike, funny how previous posts write as if only males cheat, checked on your wife lately?

look its like this. Facebook is the equivalent to wearinga board in the middle of the street and putting personal information on that board for all too see. you also have the option to take a big black marker and cover up the information you want to hide, but show it to people you want to show it too. And if the government gives you a judge signed warrant to see that information you have to show that information per the law(which has been established for a long long time). Now if person X is stupid enough to post on there board in the middle of the public, that they have commited crime Y, then how is that invasion of privacy, to have privacy you must have the expectation of privacy, like not putting information out on a public, google-ble website. This police group will not have ceratin abilities to look into a hacked account per the privacy statement as posted above. Unless witha subpeaona or a warrant(which still needs evidence or some kind of indication that you might be doing something wrong to begin with) so if you do soemthing stupid don't tell the world. problem solved.

That´s one of the advantages of google+, you are able to set who sees what on your public profiles.