Police tracking social media raises concerns

Associated Press

DENVER

Increasingly common tools that allow police to conduct real-time social media surveillance during protests are drawing criticism from civil-liberties advocates who oppose the way some departments have quietly unrolled the technology without community input and little public explanation.

Police say services such as Geofeedia, which map, collect and store information from social media posts, are a powerful way to help find crime witnesses, spot brewing problems during large gatherings and gauge community sentiment.

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union say the software can be easily used to collect information on peaceful protesters or target certain groups. The programs let police gather and record all online posts within specific geographic boundaries, and some allow users to do keyword searches for certain words or hashtags.

Law-enforcement agencies have used the services to mine posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and other sites during parades, protests and other large events.

It is unclear how many departments nationwide are using such software programs. Police in Baltimore, Seattle and Dallas have used them. Los Angeles police officials wrote in a 2014 grant application for the software that more than 500 police agencies were already using it.

The ACLU of California found at least 13 police agencies acquired or used Geofeedia in that state alone.