Monday, March 18, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Saturday, December 31, 2016
State spends $72K to monitor your social media accounts
By Selected News Articles @ 5:59 PM :: 6558 Views :: First Amendment, Law Enforcement

Hawaii state government spends $72,600 to monitor social media only to get cut off

“Social media monitoring allows police to constantly target, track, and archive information posted on social media from millions of people. It can be used by law enforcement to monitor and log posts on popular sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, regarding everything from protests to potential threats.”—PasteMagazine.com

by Larry Geller, Disappeared News, December 29, 2016

The Brennan Center for Justice queried law enforcement agencies across the country to see which were monitoring social media. Their research turned up purchases in the state of Hawaii (see documents below).

Snaptrends software was purchased in May of 2014 and yearly licenses renewed in two subsequent years. Each purchase was for $24,200 and covered seven licenses.

SnaptrendsAfter a firestorm of protest erupted when news that Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram supplied data feeds to companies including Snaptrends, the social media companies cut off the APIs to these companies, denying them access to the data. A report, which has been disputed elsewhere, indicates that Snaptrends has now gone out of business.

The purchases were made for use at Hawaii’s Fusion Center, which shares information between the federal, state and county law enforcement organizations in Hawaii (see these Disappeared News articles on fusion centers and Hawaii’s fusion center). Presumably they were able to use the Snaptrends software from May 2014 until it was (reportedly) cut off sometime this October.

Police departments nationally have used this and similar software to monitor hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatter, #DontShoot, #ImUnarmed, #PoliceBrutality, and #ItsTimeforChange according to a report on the website PasteMagazine.com. With the software police and other security agencies were (and probably still are) able to monitor, record and permanently log any social media traffic of interest.

Bottom line for Hawaii tweeters and Facebook users: the police are watching you. They are able to spend tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money (your money) to do this. And they are likely doing more than just watching—the software allows them to build a dossier on each of us, even though we have committed no crimes. By mapping the data, they will also know where you have been and whom you have met there.

The Brennan Center cautions that purchase of surveillance software does not prove it was used. In Hawaii’s case, they renewed through 2016 for seven licenses. If they did not use the software, then that is also a questionable use of taxpayer money. So it is safe to assume it was used and that data is on file for citizens not accused of any crime for a space of up to three years.

It’s clear that this power of surveillance has been misused nationally and will continue to be misused.

As any 15 year old knows, social media is also highly context-dependent. A journalist on the national security beat may follow a suspected terrorist for her reporting—but how will an automated software program, or an intelligence agency, know that the journalist doesn’t subscribe to the terrorist’s message? The situation is even more fraught for adolescents in areas with gangs, who might need to “like” a picture to keep themselves out of trouble with neighborhood gang members but simultaneously get into trouble with law enforcement; one teen spent nineteen months in Rikers Island for appearing in pictures with “crew” members and liking their Facebook posts.

[Brennan Center for Justice, Cops Are Watching Your Facebook Feed, 11/21/2016]

For those not familiar with Rikers Island, people can and are held there in abominable conditions awaiting charging or trial for long periods of time. So that the teenager spent nineteen months there does not imply he did anything illegal.

Below are the two procurement documents posted by the Brennan Center for the Hawaii purchase they uncovered.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT