Social Networking Monitoring

Big Brother recently made headlines for tracking a U.S. citizen, by placing a GPS device into his vehicle. Now, a privacy watchdog group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has uncovered documents indicating that U.S. government agencies are monitoring social networking sites and tracking public communication online.

The EFF found that the Homeland Security Department monitored public online communication during the period of President Obama's inauguration. In addition, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a unit of Homeland Security, is currently conducting an online effort that actively encourages agents to "friend" residents that they suspect may be involved in fraud.

Once a user posts online, government agencies create a public record and timeline of their activities according to reports.

EFF, along with students from the Samuelson Clinic at UC Berkeley, filed suit against a half-dozen government agencies seeking their policies for using social networking sites for investigations, data-collection, and surveillance.

March 5, 2010
Joint Case Management Statement[PDF, 129.91 KB]
February 8, 2010
Answer[PDF, 85.89 KB]
December 1, 2009
Complaint[PDF, 133.29 KB]