Not really spying if you are posting your personal life for the entire world to see. Just as anything done in public is not private, posting on the internet is not private either.


This is really not breaking news though. Law enforcement and government have admittedly used those social networking sites to gather information. Today even employers check on existing and proposed employees.

If you want to better protect your privacy do not post your personal life on the internet.

Raist

It's not just the FBI
Many of the Homeland Security agencies do it too...

ICE, DEA, DOD, not to mention all the smaller local law enforcements folks...

Our local cops really watch Craigslist... every couple of months we get news stories about someone from that site being busted for prostitution, selling stolen goods, pirated movies, cars, you name it...

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find someone going over every post here at ATS taking names and making a list....

When I use to do graffiti I had a few police with fake accounts add me on myspace
.
It was pretty easy to tell they were fake though. The default picture would be a hot chick in a myspace pose yet the only friends on the account would be people added recently, and the only comments if any were of people asking "who are you?". Other times it was harder to tell because they would set up more than 1 account, and comment themselves with it to make them seem legit - but when you looked into the accounts commenting them you saw they were just as suspicious.

I actually messaged one once and said "Hi officer" and eventually word got around that this particular account was police, then a week later the status on the account said something about arresting us all. After that they deleted the account.

Funny stuff.

Hmmm, where to begin...

Being in Law Enforcement and being who I am (ATS member, UFO believer, can't trust gov't etc) I have to say. So what to this?

Well, of course, that is a double edged question that probably will send people off the deep end. Not meant to but...

Like Raist said two post back. The person is posting their private/persoanl info on the web for all to see. As a cop, it is a great info gathering tool, maybe not for every circumstance but still.

Case in point: Out Attorney Generals office has a whole unit dedicated to going to pedophile social networks (yes, they exist). If the cop signs up and is accepted-so be it. What are the perps gonna say?- He lied to get into our group!!!
I am sure EVERY member there is lying about something-if only to cover their identity-just like the cop did. It isn't the cops fault that a "fellow member" asks or sends him illegal stuff with kids involved.

Put in that context, I bet if you had a child that suffered at the hands of one of the social network members, or was a actual target being set apon you would be sure glad some cop out there is monitoring/joining/investigating that group etc.

Sorry, I don't see a big story here. I do see a congrads to the cops for NOT breaking any laws in their attempts to gather evidence of crimes etc.
I don't see it any differently from when I was an undercover narc-you have to gain trust and info on the targets for successful prosecution.

Sometimes you just have to get down in the mud with them.....the mud here is the social site. JMO.

I have at least 3 "Spooks" as FB "Friends" - but that is my fault. That's what happens when you play the Zynga games that require you to have lots and lots of "Friends". I recently quite playing the games and am now in the process of removing over 2,500 "Friends".

I'm sure all my friends, both here and everywhere else are secretly spying on me. I'll bet my family are too and even my girlfriend. Even my cats seem a little too curious at times, trying to get into all my private business. I've just learned to live with it. You can't fight it. Once picked, always picked.

This isn't new folks...just a MSM filler story pulled out for a slow news day.! Been going on for years and probably is going on in this thread!

Do what you do with an eye toward being lawful, and you will be fine! Don't do anything online you aren't willing to see slapped down in front of you in an interview with a cop...

I will tell you this is why I deactivated my facebook account.

Not because I care that the pigs are actively employing this method to solve crimes.

But because it seems it is glutted with spam accounts and a glut of spies, from teachers and parents to way too many pig agencies.

When there as many pigs in the playpen as users, that just drops the cool quotient WAY down, and signals a time to move on.

Anyone who posts about criminal activities online or communicates with strangers online about committing crimes deserves the bacon they are about to eat.