Proposed Facebook-Police Partnerships Could Make Planning Protests Impossible




/ 11 years ago

facebook_police_partnership

RT reports that a convention this week in Philadelphia discussed the possibility of a stronger partnership between Facebook and police forces all over the world. This partnership would be organised in a way that allows Facebook to block and/or reveal details on users, at the request of police forces, who are deemed to have posted criminal content or who are involved in criminal activity. The partnership is potentially worrying because police forces may use such a partnership to crack down on protests. Indeed in the USA we’ve seen a trend in recent years for American police forces to not only criminalise protests, but to also use excessive violence to contain them further inflaming what are already emotionally-charged events.

PrivacySOS.org reports that one of the speakers who was unable to attend, Facebook security chief Joe Sullivan who is a former federal prosecutor, was due to hold a speech entitled  “Helping Law Enforcement Respond to Mass Gatherings Spurred by Social Media”.

Is Facebook really working with the police to create a kill switch to stop activists from using the website to mobilize support for political demonstrations?” the PrivacySOS blog asked. “How would such a switch function? Would Facebook, which reportedly hands over our data to government agencies at no cost, block users from posting on its website simply because the police ask them to? The company has been criticized before for blocking environmentalist and anti-GMO activists from posting, but Facebook said those were mistakes. Let’s hope this is a misunderstanding, too.”

What are your thoughts on Facebook and police partnerships? Are they a good idea to make policing more efficient? Or will they be abused by police forces and law-makers to crack-down on democratic protests?

Image courtesy of theagencysd.com


Topics: , , ,

Support eTeknix.com

By supporting eTeknix, you help us grow and continue to bring you the latest newsreviews, and competitions. Follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram to keep up with the latest technology news, reviews and more. Share your favourite articles, chat with the team and more. Also check out eTeknix YouTube, where you'll find our latest video reviews, event coverage and features in 4K!

Looking for more exciting features on the latest technology? Check out our What We Know So Far section or our Fun Reads for some interesting original features.

eTeknix Facebook eTeknix Twitter eTeknix Instagram eTeknix Instagram
  • Be Social With eTeknix

    Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Reddit RSS Discord Patreon TikTok Twitch
  • Features


Send this to a friend
})