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GroupEpsilon-EthicalImplicationsofSocialMediaUseinPublicSafety1.pptx
Ethical Implications of Social Media Data Mining by Police
University of Maryland University College (UMUC)
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Executive Summary
Introduction
History
Current Trends
Alternatives
Conclusion
References
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Social media is constantly inundated with posts that contain rich and timely information about events relevant to public safety
Social media can be used track people as they move from one location to the next
Software can be deployed to identify key words like “gun”, “fight”, and “shoot” to track posts that are indicative of danger and/or criminal activity
The goal of these programs and the partnership with law enforcement is to bypass privacy options of the social media sites
Social media data mining has great potential to make policing more proactive – But is it legal? Ethical?
Authorities are already using social media, such as posts and comments, to store information and to keep tabs on people
Facebook and Instagram oppose this effort
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INTRODUCTION
Is social media data mining ethical?
Should the government and law enforcement agencies be legally authorized to undermine resident privacy in an effort to prevent/deter crime?
What is the public’s reasonable expectation of privacy?
Is social data mining considered a warrantless search?
Social media posts are public – does that make it legal and ethical to monitor an individual’s posts over a period of time?
Law enforcement agencies should reveal what data they are collecting, how it is being collected, and what it is being used for
Public education/engagement about this effort should be mandatory!
Clear guidelines and regulations must be imposed on this process!
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HISTORY
100 Representatives attended a Social Media networking workshop.
Included federal, state, and local governments, private sector, and news media (to share case studies for learning).
Two goals to help emergency management learn how to:
Better protect communities.
Improve communication during crisis situations.
Police have been increasingly using social media
76% to gain tips on crime
72% to monitor public
70% for intelligence gathering
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HISTORY (cont.)
California fires in 2018 used real-time updates on evacuations and effected areas via social media outlets
Used to be done by TV and Radio which not everyone got the information.
Amber Alerts posted on Facebook and twitter to increase exposure.
Jurys using social media during trials is astoundingly high.
Juror was “friending” female defendant and got out of jury duty.
Results in numerous new trials and overturned verdicts.
Arkansas Supreme Court reverses capital murder conviction because of juror repeatedly tweeted comments during trial.
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Social Media posts can be loaded with useful data for policing. This data can assist law enforcement with:
Quicker Interventions – Crime Prevention, Incident Targeting, and Protest Awareness
Intelligence gathering – Hashtags, Live Streaming, Pictures of Emergency Situations, and Potential Criminal Networks
Software is presently being used to sift through this collection of data in an effort to pinpoint potential danger – Also used to “flag” and track people
Geofeedia:: Bypasses security settings; monitors key words to provide location based social data –”fight”, “shoot”, “bomb”
Snaptrends: : Creates “dummy” accounts to bait/attract sexual offenders
Media Son : Looks for insider threats through back-end social media monitoring.
*Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have blocked these companies
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CURRENT TRENDS
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American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claims law enforcement is targeting racially loaded phrases
#blacklivesmatter, #DontShoot, #muslimlivesmatter
Boston Police has been accused of prejudice – Their social mining efforts have caused great public distrust
Current social media data mining practices are an invasion of privacy and a violation of civil rights
Social media posts are public, but bypassing security settings to monitor people over time and tracking citizen’s movement is unethical and should be deemed illegal
This could be considered warrantless digital searching
Social media can be used for positive police to public engagement - Safety messages, danger areas, etc.
Research shows that the existence of this engagement is low
Social media is more commonly used to make police look bad
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CURRENT TRENDS (cont.)
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Public safety is becoming more technologically sophisticated
Citizens should expect more community engagement by public safety organizations via social media
Law enforcement agencies have evolved from utilizing posters to social networks and police radio.
Social media is being used in jury trials
Jurors collect data via social media to research cases and defendants – Historical understanding of case and those involved
This can result in an unfair trial or biased verdicts
Social media data mining has influenced how law enforcement agencies respond to protests
Tracking highly charged phrases and hashtags provides police with the awareness to keep organized protests under control
Also allows police to intervene and sometimes kill protests before they start – Protesting is a legal right that should not be infringed upon – Freedom of speech is being controlled
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CURRENT TRENDS (cont.)
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ALTERNATIVES
Social media, if strategically added to the larger information environment, can help to provide the real-time “what,” the “who,” the “why,” and the “how,” and may even help in predicting the cascading effects of decisions, actions, and changing hazards
Integrating social data within all aspects of response, from planning, to training and exercises, will help to legitimize its role in public safety and emergency response
Police agencies should provide links to their social media accounts on their websites to build followers
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ALTERNATIVES (cont.)
Published material should also have the same links to increase law enforcement’s ability to communicate with the public
Jurors conducting their own research on the Internet could be made a punishable offense (a form of statutory contempt) to stop the use of social media during a trial
The use of e-government applications to provide information from the government to citizens in a mono-directional manner
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Law enforcement and public safety organizations have the potential to also utilize social media in productive capacities
Disseminate productive outreach messages
Disseminate information related to criminal activity
Alert the public of required information for ongoing cases
Utilizing a large social media presence can be advantageous to law enforcement organizations as they can rely on public entities to help solve crimes
Using AI and machine learning to access available public information to recreate crime scenes and capture other evidence from pictures and other digital media
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ALTERNATIVES (cont.)
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ALTERNATIVES (cont.)
Agencies can incorporate warning and alert systems through their social media fowling to keep citizens in their jurisdictions informed on latest trends
Public safety and other governmental services can collaborate with private business and organizations to request assistance with local and regional criminal trends
Rather than conduct questionable monitoring of private social media accounts, public safety organizations can also utilize aggregate sentiment to utilize group trending to change policies
Examples would be used with Twitter hashtags where large groups of citizens can tag areas of increased criminal activity
These tags would then inspire police in the area to change policies related to public safety
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CONCLUSION
Using social media to essentially “flag”, track, or target people should not be allowed – this is unethical
There must be rules and regulations imposed to ensure that this effort is legal and does not violate resident privacy
Does social mining actually work? Where is the evidence?
There must be more testing and more research
The U.S. 4th Amendment protects our right to privacy and the 1st Amendment protects our freedom of speech
People should not be targeted for what they say online
We should not have to adjust the way we talk
Social data mining results in racial profiling and can lead to biased policing and unfair trials
Be careful what you say and don’t overshare on social media because law enforcement is watching you!
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REFERENCES
Bousquet, C. (2018). Mining Social Media Data for Policing, the Ethical Way. Retrieved from https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Mining-Social-Media-Data-for-Policing-the-Ethical-Way.html
Brainard, L., & Edlins, M. (2015). Top 10 US municipal police departments and their social media usage. The American Review of Public Administration, 45(6), 728-745.
Cohen, S. (2014). Social Media as a Sensor – Legitimizing the Role of Social Media in Public Safety. Retrieved from https://www.ghinternational.com/blog/legitimizing-the-role-of-social-media-in-public-safety
Gavigan, J. (2010). Article Archive Details Hendon Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/article_archive/results/details?id=1536
Karakiz, Maria. (2015). The Impact of Social Media in the Public Sector. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 175.10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1214
Pfeifer, W. (2018, December 5). Will Social Media Affect the Outcome of Your Trial? Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/social-media-in-the-courtroom-2151359
Tsytsarau, M. (2013). Large scale aggregated sentiment analytics. DISI - University of Trento International Doctorate School in Information and Communication Technologies. Accessed from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2d02/03f997c7d51983c57e78ea2714cc7ec1376c.pdf.
Schneider, C. J. (2016). Policing and social media: Social control in an era of new media. Lexington Books.
Waters, G. (2012). Social Media and Law Enforcement Potential Risks. FBI Articles. Accessed from https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/social-media-and-law-enforcement.
Williams, C. B., Fedorowicz, J., Kavanaugh, A., Mentzer, K., Thatcher, J. B., & Xu, J. (2018). Leveraging social media to achieve a community policing agenda. Government Information Quarterly, 35(2), 210–222
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