Social mediaHouse grills DHS for monitoring Twitter, Facebook
Earlier this year reports surfaced that DHS had awarded General Dynamic an $11 million contract to engage in monitoring of social networks; members of both parties including blasted DHS officials for potentially violating the First Amendment and collecting information on citizens engaged in protected political speech
Last week, at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, lawmakers grilledDHS officials for monitoring social networks
Earlier this year reports surfaced that DHS had awarded General Dynamic an $11 million contract “to engage in monitoring of social networks and media organizations and to prepare summary reports for DHS,” according to documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information (EPIC).
According to PC Magazine, the documents were only made available after EPIC sued DHS for repeatedly ignoring requests for information.
Under the Privacy Act, government agencies are barred from collecting personally identifiable information from individuals, but the documents indicate that DHS found loopholes in the laws that permit personal information to be collected on news “anchors, newscasters, or on-scene reporters who … use traditional and/or social media,” in effect “[allowing] the agency to build files on bloggers and Internet activists.”
Members of both parties including, Representatives Jackie Speier (D – California), Billy Long (R- Missouri), Patrick Meehan (R – Pennsylvania), and Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), blasted DHS officials for potentially violating the First Amendment and collecting information on citizens engaged in protected political speech.
“I find that outrageous,” Speier said.
In defense of the agency’s practices, Mary Ellen Callahan, DHS’ chief privacy officer, explained that the only information DHS collects on reporters is name, affiliation, title, and any other publicly available information in reference to unfolding events. Callahan said reporters are often the first on the scene of a disaster and DHS could use their accounts in its investigation.
Callahan assured the Congressional panel that the information was carefully contained and was not disseminated across the agency for use in other investigations.
In response, Speier said, “What I’m suggesting to you is that [reporter data] is irrelevant and you don’t need it.”
Echoing Speier, Representative Meehan added, “In my view, collecting, analyzing, and disseminating private citizens’ comments could have a chilling effect on individual privacy rights and people’s freedom of speech and dissent against their government.”
Meehan noted that those who post things on public websites “forfeit their right to any expectation of privacy,” but was concerned about “what else the government may be doing with the information.”
To ensure the protection of privacy, Speier fully backed EPIC’s recommendations and urged DHS to ban the monitoring of social networks for conversations that reflect poorly on the government, require all agencies to suspend monitoring activity until safeguards and guidelines are in place, and for all agencies engaged in monitoring social networks to submit annual reports to Congress summarizing their activity.
