Big Brother is watching and the blogosphere is curious. As we were going through a list of hot topics in social media this week, we noticed several articles were posted about legal issues that involve government agencies, or officials involved with surveillance, privacy, monitoring, or general use of social media. This Round-up will include stories about police use of Twitter, government snoops on Facebook, spying on Americans, and emerging hot legal issues that are arising from data scraping by administrative agencies. Enjoy.
From Colorlines
Government Snoops Use Facebook. The Only Question is, for What?
- The realm of government surveillance and policing through online social networks is a relative legal void, with agencies making their own rules and with little legislated oversight or regulation in place.
From – Digital Journal
US federal agencies use social networks to spy on Americans
- To date the public has not seen such detailed information about the government’s approach to monitoring, especially on its data preservation practices.
From – Corrections reporter
Survey Results – Law Enforcement and Social Media (Twitter)
- Twitter allows for one-to-many communication. This a summary of a recent survey with the goal of determining if Twitter was used to its fullest potential for public communications, emergency management, and other functions, by law enforcement agencies.
From – Media Post Blog
Legal Issues Murky When Government, Marketers Mine Data From Social Sites
- How taking data from social sites via automated means (aka scraping) can lead to legal issues such as copyright, trespass, and violations of terms of use.
