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posted by mrpg on Friday September 28 2018, @12:44AM   Printer-friendly
from the this-line-is-not-obligatory dept.

Facebook Warns Memphis Police: No More Fake "Bob Smith" Accounts:

Facebook has a problem: an infestation of undercover cops. Despite the social platform's explicit rules that the use of fake profiles by anyone—police included—is a violation of terms of service, the issue proliferates. While the scope is difficult to measure, EFF has identified scores of agencies who maintain policies that explicitly flout these rules.

Hopefully—and perhaps this is overly optimistic—this is about to change, with a new warning Facebook has sent to the Memphis Police Department. The company has also updated its law enforcement guidelines to highlight the prohibition on fake accounts.

This summer, the criminal justice news outlet The Appeal reported on an alarming detail revealed in a civil rights lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Tennessee against the Memphis Police Department. The lawsuit uncovered evidence that the police used what they referred to as a "Bob Smith" account to befriend and gather intelligence on activists. Following the report, EFF contacted Facebook, which deactivated that account. Facebook has since identified and deactivated six other fake accounts managed by Memphis police that were previously unknown.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by RS3 on Friday September 28 2018, @04:57AM (3 children)

    by RS3 (6367) on Friday September 28 2018, @04:57AM (#741210)

    What is your problem? Did you experience something terrible? Or are you just genetically predisposed to fascism?

    Agreeing with what Runaway wrote, I strongly uphold the Founding Fathers' principle that it's better for 10 criminals to be loose than one innocent in prison. It's a concept that should be applied everywhere. I strongly agree with the Innocence Project, and I find it horrendous that there is a need for such an effort. I feel strongly that it is much more deeply criminal for governments to cause harm (cops beating, shooting), steal (seizure, forfeiture), kidnap (imprison), and murder (capital punishment) an innocent person.

    Frankly I'm much more afraid of cops than I am criminals, mostly because if the cops are bad, now what, who ya gonna call?

    Maybe you're a cop. Either way, there are plenty of police states in the world- go live in one.

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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 28 2018, @05:31AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 28 2018, @05:31AM (#741218)

    My problem is that I can't take a baseball bat to your skull and spray your grey matter all over the sidewalk.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 28 2018, @09:35AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 28 2018, @09:35AM (#741251)

      I see that you had your police brutality training, Mr Bob Smith

    • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday September 28 2018, @02:57PM

      by nitehawk214 (1304) on Friday September 28 2018, @02:57PM (#741354)

      Fascism it is, then, Mr. Brown Shirt.

      --
      "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh