"Twitter Tapping"

[amborin]

"..The government is increasingly monitoring Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites for tax delinquents, copyright infringers and political protesters.

A public interest group has filed a lawsuit to learn more about this monitoring, in the hope of starting a national discussion and modifying privacy laws as necessary for the online era.

... In October, the F.B.I. searched the New York home of a man suspected of helping coordinate protests at the Group of 20 meeting in Pittsburgh by sending out messages over Twitter.

In some cases, the government appears to be engaged in deception. The Boston Globe recently quoted a Massachusetts district attorney as saying that some police officers were going undercover on Facebook as part of their investigations.

Wired magazine reported last month that In-Q-Tel, an investment arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, has put money into Visible Technologies, a software company that crawls across blogs, online forums, and open networks like Twitter and YouTube to monitor what is being said.

snip

A national conversation about social networking and other forms of online privacy is long overdue. The first step toward having it is for the public to know more about what is currently being done. Making the federal government answer these reasonable Freedom of Information Act requests would be a good start."

<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/opinion/13sun2.html?_r=1&ref=opinion>

[NYC_SKP]

1. I'm astonished that anyone thinks that Facebook or Twitter are at all private.

If one wants to use these networks to do anything illegal or subject to surveillance, they really ought to know better.

The undercover deception isn't much different than what's done in "to Catch a Predator".

[amborin]

2. but it's not limited to those....includes blogs

[WeDidIt]

3. Blogs are public

So there's no argument. the government has every right to monitor blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

[Old Codger]

4. the Gov't

Monitors whatever they please...always, anyone who thinks we have any real privacy on line or phones is naive.

[tekisui]

5. One should assume that every electronic communication is traceable

at least, monitored at worst.

[Old Codger]

6. I am sure

There is much much more than they will ever admit or we will ever find out about.