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The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently got its hands on a juicy little document from the Department of Homeland Security entitled, "Social Networking Sites and Their Importance to FDNS (fraud detection and national security)" (PDF). Turns out that the DHS and immigration officials have been relying on the "narcissistic tendencies in many people" to uncover fake marriages, abuse of benefits and other fraudulent activities. In other words, the U.S. government is not above pretending to be a hot girl and friend requesting you on Facebook. Agents are encouraged to examine user profiles, and track their interactions on social networking sites to ensure they're not attempting to obtain citizenship through dishonest means. The document explains that "once a user posts online, they create a public record and timeline of their activities. In essence, using MySpace and other like sites is akin to doing an unannounced cyber 'site-visit.'" Of course, these cyber visits don't require an officer to give a name or identify him-or-herself as a federal agent. It's a tad creepy to think that the cute guy or girl who just started following you on Twitter might be a government spook, but it's not entirely shocking. Besides, by now you should know not to post or say anything online you don't want people to know. So, making your status, "I love my fake husband for helping me become a citizen" is probably not a bright idea.
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Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsTTREXXXOct 14th 2010 3:48PM
oooh uncle sam do me..do me and i wont tell them about your new flying spy orbs as seen on aol drone planes are now obsolete.except when they carry missles..lol
KimOct 14th 2010 5:55PM
Didnt we used to fight against countries like this to give the citzens of those countries freedom and liberty and democracy??? The more l really get to know my real country and not the one of the "American Dream" the more l realize we arent any different than any other country
sally millerNov 5th 2010 1:34PM
@(Unverified) Silly, war is about profits. Dont get it...huh?
DonOct 17th 2010 5:05PM
Well, even with the sketchy privacy issues that Facebook has had in the past, if users would just establish some common sense guidelines to follow when using any social media, I don't really know why we would worry about big brother. First, don't accept friend requests, group invites, file attachments, or even follow links sent to you by people you don't know or at least know of. And second, users should not assume that information they post is ever completely private. Don. http://www.viewcaster.net/
CooperOct 19th 2010 1:34PM
I'm not quite sure how this is a bad thing. . . If you're stupid enough to advertise your illegal or unethical activities or deliberate attempts to defraud the government out of money (MY money) on a public forum, you pretty much deserve what you get as a result. The lesson here, for the teenage girls who simply cannot resist posting a thousand digital photos of themselves shot in the bathroom mirror, is this: shut up! You don' t need to publicize your every move. Most of us are just not interested.
Ramsay581Oct 20th 2010 11:56AM
If you're not doing anything wrong, it doesn't affect you.
And it's rather idiotic of the author of this article to bring to light what the "wrong doers" are up to.
It enables them to develop better ways to hide their "wrong doings".
Freelance writers will say anything to make a buck, without thought to security.