Police Used This American Startup To Spy on People

Geofeedia is best described as a patented analytics platform which uses data from social networks (like conversations happening on these social networks for example.) to give Geofeedia users information about a desired location or persons in real time.

The services have been used largely by private businesses and government departments to track security of its products and clients. However as the paper by ACLU highlights there is a problem when constitutional rights to privacy are violated as in the case of American police authorities use the startup’s platform to keep track of activist and what they post online.

Following the publishing of the ACLU findings, Facebook stopped access to user data both on Facebook and Instagram (Facebook Inc. owns it), so has Twitter.

“Instagram cut off Geofeedia’s access to public user posts, and Facebook cut its access to a topic-based feed of public user posts,” the ACLU is noted as saying in a blog.

“Neither Facebook nor Instagram has a public policy specifically prohibiting developers from exploiting user data for surveillance purposes. Twitter does have a ‘longstanding rule’ prohibiting the sale of user data for surveillance as well as a Developer Policy that bans the use of Twitter data ‘to investigate, track or surveil Twitter users.’ "

TechCrunch spoke to Facebook about the update:

“[Geofeedia] only had access to data that people chose to make public. Its access was subject to the limitations in our Platform Policy, which outlines what we expect from developers that receive data using the Facebook Platform. If a developer uses our APIs in a way that has not been authorized, we will take swift action to stop them and we will end our relationship altogether if necessary.”

For example, it says developers are not permitted to “sell, license, or purchase any data obtained” from Facebook or its services. And they can’t transfer data they get from Facebook, including “anonymous, aggregate, or derived data,” to any data brokers. Finally, developers are not permitted to put Facebook data into any search engines or directories without the social network’s explicit permission.

The media site further quoted a statement from Geofeedia CEO Phil Harris:

“Geofeedia is committed to the principles of personal privacy, transparency and both the letter and the spirit of the law when it comes to individual rights. Our platform provides some clients, including law enforcement officials across the country, with a critical tool in helping to ensure public safety…"
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Geofeedia has in place clear policies and guidelines to prevent the inappropriate use of our software; these include protections related to free speech and ensuring that end-users do not seek to inappropriately identify individuals based on race, ethnicity, religious, sexual orientation or political beliefs, among other factors."

"That said, we understand, given the ever-changing nature of digital technology, that we must continue to work to build on these critical protections of civil rights.”