Undercover US agents are infiltrating MySpace, Facebook,etc, with false profiles

[h3rm35]

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/16/..._profiles/
Feds use phony MySpace profiles to nab bad guys

Insert ironic comment here

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco

Posted in Crime, 16th March 2010 20:02 GMT

Undercover US agents are infiltrating MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking sites with false online profiles in an attempt to nab users under investigation for breaking the law, a Justice Department document reveals.

The revelation exposes the Kafkaesque double standard employed by federal prosecutors, who in 2008 charged a Missouri mother with four felonies (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/15/..._charged/) for creating a fake MySpace account. The woman, Lori Drew, helped create the profile of a fictitious teenage boy and then sent flirtatious messages to a 13-year-old girl under his name. The girl later hanged herself after receiving a message from the account saying the world would be a better place without her.

A Los Angeles jury eventually convicted Drew of three misdemeanors (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/27/..._guilty/). The verdict was later overturned (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/03/...erturned/) by a judge on grounds the underlying law was vague, but the action was taken against the wishes of the prosecutors trying the case.

Alas, there are no stated prohibitions against federal agents setting up fictitious accounts, even though they violate terms of service for both Facebook and MySpace. According to a 33-page document (http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/social...rking.pdf) (PDF) obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, such undercover operations can be useful for a variety of purposes, including communicating with suspects or targets, gaining access to non-public information, and mapping social relationships and networks.

The Justice Department memo notes the potential problems with such covert operations with the words: "If agents violate terms of service, is that 'otherwise illegal activity'?" The question, a reference to language in MySpace terms of service, is never answered.

Social networks can prove to be a gold mine because they act as diaries, except that they are available online and potentially indestructible. User information and stored files on MySpace are kept "indefinitely," the memo states. The Associated Press has much more here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100316/ap_o...facebook).

[Easy Skanking]

How can you infiltrate something that you essentially helped create or, at the very least, fund?

[h3rm35]

I'm assuming that you were following these directions...

Quote:Insert ironic comment here

[TriWooOx]

Quote:Any criminals dumb enough to brag about their exploits on social networking sites have now been warned: the next Facebook "friend" who contacts you may be an FBI agent.

US federal law enforcement agents have been using social networking sites ‑ including Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter ‑ to search for evidence and witnesses in criminal cases, and in some instances, track suspects, according to a newly released justice department memo.

FBI agents have created fake personalities ‑ in apparent contravention of some of the sites' rules ‑ in order to befriend suspects and lure them into revealing clues or confessing, access private information and map social networks.

The new online efforts were revealed in a justice department document obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based legal advocacy group. The document, a 33-page slideshow prepared by two justice department lawyers, was obtained in a lawsuit the group filed against the justice department, seeking information on its social network policies.

Law enforcement agencies have long used internet chatrooms to lure child pornography traffickers and suspected sex predators and with a warrant, can seize suspects and defendants' email records. But Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites provide a wealth of additional information, in photographs, status updates and friend lists. In many cases, the information is publicly accessible.

In a section entitled "utility in criminal cases", the document says agents can scan suspects' profiles to establish motives, determine a person's location, and tap into personal communication, for instance through Facebook status updates.

Agents can examine photographs for guns, jewellery and other evidence of participation in robbery or burglary, and can compare information on Facebook status updates and Twitter feeds with suspects' alibis. Friend lists can yield witnesses or informants.

The document advises agents that Facebook is now used in private background checks. It indicates that Facebook often co-operates with emergency law enforcement requests.

In one section on working undercover on social networking sites, the document poses but does not answer the question: "If agents violate terms of service, is that 'otherwise illegal activity'?"

Facebook rules bar users from providing false information or creating an account for anyone other than yourself without permission, and says that users should "provide their real names".

A former US cyber-security prosecutor told the Associated Press that federal investigators working online should be able to go undercover as much as they do in the real world, but said rules need to be developed.

"This new situation presents a need for careful oversight so that law enforcement does not use social networking to intrude on some of our most personal relationships," Marc Zwillinger said.

In one case that highlights the use of social networking in law enforcement, a man wanted in Seattle on bank fraud charges fled and police lost track of him. The suspect's Facebook page was private but his friend list was public. Among Maxi Sopo's friends, prosecutors spotted a former justice department employee who did not know he was wanted. When Sopo posted messages on Facebook describing his easy new life in Mexico, his online friend provided information that enabled Mexican police to nab him in September.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar...rime-study