Undercover Cops Break Facebook Rules to Track Protesters

According to NBC News, October 5, 2018, Facebook is teeming with fake accounts created by undercover law enforcement officers. They're against the rules — but cops keep making them anyway.

In the summer of 2015, as Memphis exploded with protests over the police killing of a 19-year-old man, activists began hearing on Facebook from someone called Bob Smith. The name was generic, and so was his profile picture: a Guy Fawkes mask, the symbol of anti-government dissent.

Smith acted as if he supported the protesters, and, slowly, they let him into their online community. Over the next three years, dozens of them accepted his friend requests, allowing him to observe private discussions over marches, rallies and demonstrations. In public postings and private messages he described himself as a far-left Democrat, a “fellow protester” and a “man of color.”

But Smith was not real. He was the creation of a white detective in the Memphis Police Department’s Office of Homeland Security whose job was to keep tabs on local activists across the spectrum, from Black Lives Matter to Confederate sympathizers.

Police officers around the country, in departments large and small, working for federal, state and local agencies, use undercover Facebook accounts to watch protesters, track gang members, lure child predators and snare thieves, according to court records, police trainers and officers themselves. Some maintain several of these accounts at a time. The tactic violates Facebook’s terms of use, and the company says it disables fake accounts whenever it discovers them. But that is about all it can do: Fake accounts are not against the law, and the information gleaned by the police can be used as evidence in criminal and civil cases.

The only reprisals come from Facebook itself, which says it strictly enforces its ban on users pretending to be someone they’re not. Every day, it says, the company’s “detection technology” blocks millions of attempts to create fake accounts ─ and detects millions more within minutes of creation. But Facebook won’t say how often it has taken action against a law enforcement agency for using fake accounts, only that it has done so “many times.”
--

Should law enforcement agencies be able to violate Facebook ToS in order to track protestors? What about non-law enforcement government employees, should they be allowed to infiltrate protest groups? Should a warrant be required - the information gained for infiltrating groups can be used in a criminal trial? 

DOD specifically prohibits this type of activity, with directives stating:

* No information shall be acquired about a person or organization solely because of lawful advocacy of measures in opposition to Government policy.

* There shall be no electronic surveillance of any individual or organization, except as authorized by law.

* There shall be no covert or otherwise deceptive surveillance or penetration of civilian organizations unless specifically authorized by the Secretary of Defense, or his designee.

* No DOD personnel will be assigned to attend public or private meetings, demonstrations, or other similar activities for the purpose of acquiring information, the collection of which is authorized by this Directive without specific prior approval by the Secretary of Defense, or his designee.

We have seen recent examples of protestors becoming violent. Do we want them to be able to organize violent protests on-line, while law enforcement is prohibited from collecting information about these groups?

These undercover investigations on-line catch more than protestors - they also catch sex predators and child pornographers. Surely this is something we want law enforcement to do?

Where do we draw the line with on-line undercover activity?  Should there be a line at all?

 

 

These 8 Areas of King County Have 95% of the Shootings

 

The King County Prosecutor's office has been tracking gun violence across the county for the past two years and learned there were nearly a thousand 'shots fired' incidents in 2017 alone. They focused on eight jurisdictions that have 95 percent of the shootings in the county and tallied how many homicides, injury shootings, and so-called "shots fired" incidents.

The jurisdictions include Seattle, Kent, Federal Way, Renton, Auburn, Tukwila, Des Moines, and the King County Sheriff’s Office.

Almost half of the shooting victims in 2017 were under the age of 25, and 83 percent of the victims are male.

Researchers also found that although Seattle had the most homicides and shootings of any city, the majority of those two crimes happened outside the city limits, predominantly in south King County. Sixty-seven percent of the homicides and 54 percent of the injury shootings in the county were outside the Seattle city limits.

More than half the shooting victims, 55 percent, are African American. Almost 18 percent are Latino, 17 percent are white, and almost 6 percent are Asian.  (KING 5 News, October 11, 2018)
--

Guide to Avoiding State Surveillance

 

 

The Motherboard Guide to Avoiding State Surveillance

Wired Guide to Digital Security

Security in a Box

Dark Web Beginners Security Guide

Surveillance Self-Defense: Tips, Tools and How-tos for Safer Online Communications

Journalist's Toolbox: Digital Security: Privacy and Protecting Sources

Information Security for Journalists

Privacy Tools

Avoiding Internet Surveillance

RATS by Claire Wolfe

 

 

Use These Tools...

e-Mail:  Tutanota or Protonmail

Chat:  Signal Private Messenger or Wire

Search:  DuckDuckGo or StartPage

Browser: TOR or TAILS

File Transfer: WeTransfer or PCloud Transfer

 

 

Explosives Seized From Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia

Authorities in central Russia said they have seized explosives from a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses detained in a year-long crackdown on the religious group that Moscow labels as extremist.

After long encountering difficulties in Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses were outlawed in the country as an extremist organization in 2017. Rights groups have condemned law enforcement officials over raids and arrests against the group that they say violate their religious freedom.

Five Jehovah’s Witnesses were detained in the Volga region of Kirov on charges of organizing and financing extremist activities, investigators said Tuesday.

“A large amount of extremist literature, electronic data carriers, as well as two grenades and a landmine were seized during searches,” the regional Investigative Committee said in a statement. (Moscow Times, October 11, 2018)
--

 

Once Again David Stodden Cleared in Murders of His Wife and Daughter

According to KOMO 4 News (October 10, 2018):   Minutes after detectives asked if he killed his family, David Stodden walked out of the Snohomish County Courthouse Wednesday.

It was the third time Stodden had been asked to take a polygraph test in connection with the July 2006 murders of his wife, Mary, and daughter, Susanna.

“They sort of said they weren’t going to work on the case until I passed a polygraph, so I did finally decide to take it,” Stodden said.

Courtney O’Keefe, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that cold case detectives asked Stodden to take the test.

“He did pass his polygraph test today and at this point they do not believe he is involved in this case,” O’Keefe said. “At this point, there is no new information, no new suspects.”

Mary Cooper, 56, and Susanna Stodden, 27, were shot to death on July 11, 2006. The mother and daughter, a school librarian and soon-to-be teacher, had been shot while hiking in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near Granite Falls.

Stodden has been frustrated with investigators. He said they tell him they’re short-staffed, or they have limited resources. He said that he has offered to drum up tips or hire a private investigator and been rebuffed.

Stodden said the demand that he take another polygraph test, even after he had taken other tests as well as submitted DNA, was “insulting.”

“It seems undignified, I guess. There’s no evidence I was involved at all. I wish they would look for more evidence,” Stodden said.

Stodden said he’s not going to stop pushing on the sheriff’s office, or trying to generate media interest in the case.
--

This is a cold case. Around 40% of murders in the United States go unsolved. After detectives have exhausted all of their leads in a case, examined forensic evidence and interviewed potential suspects, there is little else that can be done until new leads are developed.

Concerning polygraphs, the American Psychological Association has stated: Polygraph testing has generated considerable scientific and public controversy. Most psychologists and other scientists agree that there is little basis for the validity of polygraph tests. Courts, including the United States Supreme Court (cf. U.S. v. Scheffer, 1998 in which Dr.'s Saxe's research on polygraph fallibility was cited), have repeatedly rejected the use of polygraph evidence because of its inherent unreliability. Nevertheless, polygraph testing continues to be used in non-judicial settings, often to screen personnel, but sometimes to try to assess the veracity of suspects and witnesses, and to monitor criminal offenders on probation. Polygraph tests are also sometimes used by individuals seeking to convince others of their innocence and, in a narrow range of circumstances, by private agencies and corporations.

The Speaks Law Firm provides comments on polygraph examinations.

Lakewood Cop Arrested for DUI Told Witness Not to Call Police

According to the Tacoma News Tribune (October 11, 2018): A Lakewood police officer arrested for DUI potentially violated a number of department policies on the day he crashed his department-issued car in Gig Harbor last month, a department spokesman said.

Officer Eric Bell, 46, had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when arrested Sept. 23, according to a report written by Washington State Patrol Trooper Matthew Rogers.  He blew a 0.23 on a breath analyzer. The legal limit is 0.08.

Bell was alone in his unmarked, city-owned 2012 Ford Escape when it left Wagner Way, crashed through trees and came to rest outside the home of an elderly resident. Minutes earlier, he had driven his underage son in the vehicle, Rogers’ report said.

Bell had dropped the boy off with his ex-wife and was heading home at the time of the crash, according to Rogers’ report. Bell told the trooper a deer jumped in front of him, causing him to swerve off the road near The Lodge at Mallard’s Landing.

A witness to the wreck said she didn’t see a deer in the road but heard the Escape coming down the road at a high rate of speed, its tires screeching, and crashing into trees.

She wasn’t the only witness.

Irmi McKinstry, the resident whose home Bell’s car nearly crashed into said I will call the police, McKinstry recalled. “He said ‘No,’ really loud. But I called anyhow."

Lakewood officers are required to notify local police agencies as well as their own department when they are involved in an accident in their city-owned vehicles. In addition, officers cannot tell or intimidate witnesses to not report incidents to other police officers or agencies, Lawler said.

Neither Bell nor his son should have been in the vehicle to begin with. Bell wasn’t authorized to use the car on his day off, Lakewood police spokesman Chris Lawler told The News Tribune on Thursday.

Gig Harbor police responded first to the wreck, but they requested State Patrol assistance due to the fact a police officer was involved.

This wasn’t the first time Trooper Rogers had encountered Bell.

“I instantly recognized Bell as a driver from a prior collision that I investigated,” Rogers wrote.
That incident occurred June 22 at the southbound Interstate 5 ramp from state Route 16, just south of South 38th Street. Bell was driving a Jeep.

“I recalled the collision because it involved two drivers that had been arguing with each other before the collision and following the collision,” Rogers wrote.

It was also memorable, the trooper said, because Bell had identified himself as a Lakewood police officer.

Lawler said Lakewood police were unaware of the June incident until asked about it by The News Tribune. An accident off duty and involving a private vehicle does not need to be reported to the department, he said, but the department would seek a copy of the collision report to review.

After the wreck in Gig Harbor, Bell told Rogers that he was using his police car to drop off his son because his ex-wife had his Jeep and the only other vehicle he had was an RV, according to the trooper’s report.

The only time an officer can drive his or her child in a police vehicle is to drop the child off somewhere, at school for example, and only if the officer is on the way to work, Lawler said.

“We basically don’t allow you to do it any other time,” Lawler said.
--

Why Do Hoaxes Spread So Fast On-line?

How do social media hoaxes, such as bogus Facebook warnings about clone accounts, spread so quickly? Human nature, mostly, experts say.

According to a study conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology social media hoaxes go viral because:

1. Fake stories reach people quicker than the truth - People are more quick to share lies and false information than the truth on social media, according to the 2018 study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

2. People don’t check before sharing - A 2016 study discovered that 59 percent of all links shared on social networks aren’t clicked before being reposted, reported Forbes.

3. Confirmation bias - “Once we have formed a view, we embrace information that confirms that view while ignoring, or rejecting, information that casts doubt on it,” Shahram Heshmat wrote for Psychology Today. “Confirmation bias suggests that we don’t perceive circumstances objectively.”

4. The more we see something, the more we believe it - It may not make any sense, but it’s human nature - the more times we see something, the more likely we are to believe it’s true, according to The Washington Post.

5. Information overload handcuffs fact-checking - A study published in the Nature Human Behavior journal suggests we’re bombarded by so much information on social media that we just can’t make sense of it all.     (The Olympian, October 7, 2018)
--

The above points on how false information spreads is not just limited to Facebook. Any time you share information with a group, by a social media post, e-mail, or some type of bulletin or newsletter you are subject to the same effects. The more "official" your publication of information is, the greater your potential to give credibility to fake news and hoaxes.

Official publications should just never copy and post information as found. Always fact check your information, cite your sources, and include analysis and comment as appropriate to clarify information.