Internet firms co-opted for surveillance: experts

Internet companies such as Google, Twitter and Facebook are increasingly co-opted for surveillance work as the information they gather proves irresistible to law enforcement agencies, Web experts said this week.

Although such companies try to keep their users' information private, their business models depend on exploiting it to sell targeted advertising, and when governments demand they hand it over, they have little choice but to comply.

Suggestions that BlackBerry maker RIM might give user data to British police after its messenger service was used to coordinate riots this summer caused outrage -- as has the spying on social media users by more oppressive governments.

But the vast amount of personal information that companies like Google collect to run their businesses has become simply too valuable for police and governments to ignore, delegates to the Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi said.

Source: www.reuters.com...







The biggest Internet corporations take the role of Big Brother and are coopting for surveillance - they have been on record doing this for years - it's about time the truth came out, and by now, it is too late to reverse it, but we can actually go defensive a few steps further.

If you got firefox you can get a add on called ghostery which tells
you whos tracking you via web bugs in the page.

The reuters page had 17 of them.ats got 5 to 6.Its mostly ad agencys selling
info to bussness target ads at us.

Facebook and google bugs are everywhere.

reply to post by skuly


This app, 'Ghostery', is also available for Google Chrome!

But, it sorta defeats the purpose of this thread....Using a web browser, run by Google...lol.

& yeah, Facebook likes to track you for ages, after the time you've left their site.