Government Fights For Inauguration Protesters' Facebook 'Likes' And Reams Of Other Data

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Government Fights For Inauguration Protesters' Facebook 'Likes' And Reams Of Other Data

by Rachel Kurzius in News on Oct 13, 2017 5:44 pm

In D.C. Superior Court on Friday, a government prosecutor argued that Facebook "likes" could be probative, meaning they could be used as a piece of proof.

Later in the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Borchert gave an example of a post that could be evidence of criminal activity—"How to dress in black bloc for a protest"—before slightly walking back the claim. ... "A like in itself is not, by itself, evidence of criminal activity," Borchert said. He declined to clarify further after the hearing.

The discussion came up as people involved with the planning of protests on Inauguration Day in D.C. were in court to fight a search warrant that would require Facebook to give prosecutors 90 days-worth of their account information, including "likes."

Lawyers representing Facebook, the holders of the Facebook accounts in question, and three "Does"—unnamed people who were Facebook friends of those accounts—made their cases to Chief Judge Robert Morin.

[Historic NY]

1. The NAZIS all dress alike.

[procon]

2. Guilty by association?

If I buy a book about civil protests, am I then guilty of civil protesting? If I "like" the prosaic philosophy written by someone the government disapproves of, am I also guilty by mere association?

Welcome to Oceania!

[defacto7]

3. Stasi

Its not even a question of association, it's about government manufactured association.

There's a small field on cell phone and computer screens that senses touch or digital layers like pointers or even certain keys on a keyboard. These fields say "like" "tweet" etc. They also can be manipulated externally by software, intruders, or even by mistake . Evidence? Probative? It's entrapment!

These are tactics from the Nazi and cold war era with a bit of McCarthyism mixed with modern technology.