Sunday 13 April 2014

NDM: Facebook receives nearly 2,000 data requests from UK police

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/11/facebook-2000-data-requests-police


This article focuses on the issue of Facebook receiving more than 70% of request in 2013 in connection with criminal cases. According to this article, law enforcement agencies in the UK made thousands of requests for users data. Significantly, between July and December 2013 there were 1,906 requests submitted to Facebook  for users data as they believed it was related to criminal cases. As a result, these requests affected 2,277 different accounts, and Facebook stated that 70% of these requests saw some data produced. They revealed: "We respond to valid requests relating to criminal cases. Each and every request we receive is checked for legal sufficiency and we reject or require greater specificity on requests that are overly broad or vague," said the report". This shows that law enforcement agencies use Facebook to track users which they believe have links to criminal cases, thus highlighting that the development of new media has benefited agencies to track individuals easier. 

In addition, Facebook general counsel Collin Stretch claims: "Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share, and to make the world more open and connected. Sometimes, the laws of a country interfere with that mission, by limiting what can be shared there. Effectively, last year Apple and Google created the reform goverment surveillance scheme, which to increase transparency and accountability when it comes to online snooping by the state.

To conclude, it can be argued that the development of new/digital media has had positive impact on law enforcement agencies as they can use Facebook to track down uses for related criminal cases. It is clear that the emergence of new media has given agencies many opportunities, which would not be possible through traditional forms of  media. 

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