Feds Monitor Facebook "Likes," Infiltrate Skype Chats To Build Terrorism Case

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/11/29/facebook_likes_skype_used_to_build_fbi_case_against_california_terrorism.html 

Feds Monitor Facebook "Likes," Infiltrate Skype Chats To Build Terrorism Case

By Ryan Gallagher

Posted Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, at 4:33 PM ET

A "like" sign at the entrance of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.

Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images

Be careful what you blikeb on Facebookbbecause the feds may be watching.

Earlier this month, the FBIbs Los Angeles field office revealed it had
charged four men over alleged involvement in an al-Qaeda inspired terror cell
based in and around California. Since 2010, the men had, according to the
feds, been plotting ways to help provide bmaterial supportb to terrorists in
order to kill American targets in Afghanistan. The FBIbs complaint against
the group was under seal until it was released a few days ago, and it has
since attracted attention from activists because of some of the shadowy law
enforcement techniques it reveals.

The document shows that aside from using the traditional method of paying a
bconfidential source,b the FBI was also trying to infiltrate the group
electronically. Using an bonline covert employee,b the feds posed as
terrorism sympathisers in order to gauge the potential threat posed by
certain individuals. In one case, they say they got a 21-year-old Mexico-born
man to admit he was keen to pursue jihad in order to bstop the oppressors.b
Other sections of the complaint detail how the FBI was somehow able to obtain
audio and video recordings of Skype conversations in which their confidential
informant participated. Given that it remains unclear whether it is
technically possible to wiretap Skype due to its encryption, itbs possible
that the FBI had installed some sort of spyware directly onto the terroristsb
computer in order to bypass any eavesdropping barriers.

But perhaps most interesting is how the feds monitored social networks. One
part of the complaint, headed bDEFENDANTS' SOCIAL MEDIA,b lists Islamist
content the men had blikedb, bsharedb, commented on or posted on their
Facebook pages. The FBI details how Sohiel Omar Kabir, a U.S. citizen who
appears to be the alleged ringleader of the group, posted bphotographs of
himself, non-extremist content, radical Islamist content, and items
reflecting a mistrust of mainstream media, abuses by the government,
conspiracy theories, abuses by law enforcement, and the war in Afghanistan.b
It adds, in reference to two of the other suspects, bKabir has bsharedb
several postings with Santana and/or Deleon, both of whom have blikedb or
commented on several other postings by Kabir.b

This illustrates how important social media behavior is becoming for law
enforcement agencies as they try to build cases against individuals. But it
will also raise concerns about how social network monitoring could have a
chilling effect on free speech, especially if blikingb or sharing any
controversial content on Facebook becomes viewed by authorities as inherently
suspicious or criminal. Other countries have already had to face up to
controversy over how their law enforcement agencies monitor and penalize
social network users. Earlier this month, for instance, two women were
arrested in India: one for posting an boffensiveb comment on Facebook about a
recently deceased political leader, the other for blikingb it. The women have
since been released on bail and, the New York Times reports, a police
investigation into why they were arrested in the first place has been
ordered.