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ARMY REPORT SAYS MICRO-BLOGGING SITE ALREADY HOME TO EXTREMISTS, COULD BE USED AS ‘TARGETING TOOL’
Over the past month or so, I’ve worked hard to get The Palmetto Scoop fully “Twitterfied” by using the popular micro-blogging service to live blog the presidential debates and serve as the tool to post “Mini-Scoops” (below), among other things.
I am by no means the only person trying to find new and creative ways to use Twitter. Politicians, celebrities and even school teachers are all exploiting Twitter to stay connected with others.
And now, unfortunately, it appears terrorists have also hopped on the Twitter train, according to a draft US Army intelligence report.
A chapter on “Potential for Terrorist Use of Twitter” notes that Twitter members sent out messages, known as “Tweets,” reporting the July Los Angeles earthquake faster than news outlets and activists at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis used it to provide information on police movements. [...]
“Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives,” the report said.
“Extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by hacktivists and activists for surveillance,” it said. “This could theoretically be combined with targeting.”
The report outlined scenarios in which militants could make use of Twitter, combined with such programs as Google Maps or cell phone pictures or video, to carry out an ambush or detonate explosives.
“Terrorists could theoretically use Twitter social networking in the US as an operation tool,” it said. “However, it is unclear whether that same theoretical tool would be available to terrorists in other countries and to what extent.” [AFP]
I’m not really sure what to make of this news. The Ron Paul tinfoil crowd will be quick to call it a government conspiracy to shut down Twitter. The academic ivory tower elite will say it presents a threat to our First Amendment rights.
But if this report is accurate, then I think it warrants more exploration. I guess I just can’t really grasp how terrorists can use Twitter for much more than propaganda.
Regardless, the folks at Twitter better quickly move to begin monitoring itself before big brother does.
I suppose the idea is that instead of cell phones, terrorists would communicate with each through twitter. That makes sense. If you’re a terrorist and you know what means of communication the government is watching, you’d be looking for something else. voila – twitter.
I guess I’m just not devious enough to envision how it could be used for anything else.
“Terrorists” could basically use anything to further their aims, and there is no specific reason to single Twitter out above other similar technologies that allow fast and simple communication between mobile devices.
The main government action that could be taken as a result of this would be some sort of keyword-seeking automated surveillance, which would take a while to implement, finger alot of innocent people with false positives (think terrorist flight watch list), and not be able to remain secret for long. By the time that happens there will be 5+ other similar services run by different companies and everyone, regardless of noble or vile intentions, will be able to pick and choose for a service that is not being monitored or regulated.
Technology advances much to fast and government agencies are much too slow/incompetent to react to criminal usage of things like Twitter in a timely and effective manner.
I believe terrorists use smoke signals, like the ” Indians” used to do. They fan the fire and make billowing smoke signals. Terrorists learned this technique in order to throw off government agencies on their tail. Terrorists also carve little pictures in the dirt to each other while they are talking.
Terrorists don’t need twitter.
Same old knee jerk reaction by some one who does not understand the technology. I remember being told in the 1990 that we had to remove the Hotmail software off of our government computers …… DUH… & I agree with loulou
Twitter is a cool way to quickly connect with others, create huge online visibility, drive traffic,. and even market and make sales. The problem with twiter is that so many people mess up their marketing strategy from the beginning. The great news here is that makes it easy for you to stand out when you do it right.