Ethical Implications of Social Media Data Mining by Police University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Group Epsilon Group Epsilon Executive Summary Introduction History Current Trends Alternatives Conclusion References 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Group Epsilon EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Social media is constantly inundated with posts that contain rich and timely information about events relevant to public safety Social media can be used track people as they move from one location to the next Software can be deployed to identify key words like “gun”, “fight”, and “shoot” to track posts that are indicative of danger and/or criminal activity The goal of these programs and the partnership with law enforcement is to bypass privacy options of the social media sites Social media data mining has great potential to make policing more proactive – But is it legal? Ethical? Authorities are already using social media, such as posts and comments, to store information and to keep tabs on people Facebook and Instagram oppose this effort 3 Group Epsilon INTRODUCTION Is social media data mining ethical? Should the government and law enforcement agencies be legally authorized to undermine resident privacy in an effort to prevent/deter crime? What is the public’s reasonable expectation of privacy? Is social data mining considered a warrantless search? Social media posts are public – does that make it legal and ethical to monitor an individual’s posts over a period of time? Law enforcement agencies should reveal what data they are collecting, how it is being collected, and what it is being used for Public education/engagement about this effort should be mandatory! Clear guidelines and regulations must be imposed on this process! 4 Group Epsilon HISTORY 100 Representatives attended a Social Media networking workshop. Included federal, state, and local governments, private sector, and news media (to share case studies for learning). Two goals to help emergency management learn how to: Better protect communities. Improve communication during crisis situations. Police have been increasingly using social media 76% to gain tips on crime 72% to monitor public 70% for intelligence gathering 5 Group Epsilon HISTORY (cont.) California fires in 2018 used real-time updates on evacuations and effected areas via social media outlets Used to be done by TV and Radio which not everyone got the information. Amber Alerts posted on Facebook and twitter to increase exposure. Jurys using social media during trials is astoundingly high. Juror was “friending” female defendant and got out of jury duty. Results in numerous new trials and overturned verdicts. Arkansas Supreme Court reverses capital murder conviction because of juror repeatedly tweeted comments during trial. 6 Group Epsilon Social Media posts can be loaded with useful data for policing. This data can assist law enforcement with: Quicker Interventions – Crime Prevention, Incid.

1. Ethical Implications of Social Media Data Mining by Police
University of Maryland University College (UMUC)
Group Epsilon
Group Epsilon
Executive Summary
Introduction
History
Current Trends
Alternatives
Conclusion
References
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS

2. Group Epsilon
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Social media is constantly inundated with posts that contain rich
and timely information about events relevant to public safety
Social media can be used track people as they move from one
location to the next
Software can be deployed to identify key words like “gun”,
“fight”, and “shoot” to track posts that are indicative of danger
and/or criminal activity
The goal of these programs and the partnership with law
enforcement is to bypass privacy options of the social media
sites
Social media data mining has great potential to make policing
more proactive – But is it legal? Ethical?
Authorities are already using social media, such as posts and
comments, to store information and to keep tabs on people
Facebook and Instagram oppose this effort
3
Group Epsilon
INTRODUCTION
Is social media data mining ethical?
Should the government and law enforcement agencies be legally
authorized to undermine resident privacy in an effort to
prevent/deter crime?

3. What is the public’s reasonable expectation of privacy?
Is social data mining considered a warrantless search?
Social media posts are public – does that make it legal and
ethical to monitor an individual’s posts over a period of time?
Law enforcement agencies should reveal what data they are
collecting, how it is being collected, and what it is being used
for
Public education/engagement about this effort should be
mandatory!
Clear guidelines and regulations must be imposed on this
process!
4
Group Epsilon
HISTORY
100 Representatives attended a Social Media networking
workshop.
Included federal, state, and local governments, private sector,
and news media (to share case studies for learning).
Two goals to help emergency management learn how to:
Better protect communities.
Improve communication during crisis situations.
Police have been increasingly using social media
76% to gain tips on crime
72% to monitor public
70% for intelligence gathering
5

4. Group Epsilon
HISTORY (cont.)
California fires in 2018 used real-time updates on evacuations
and effected areas via social media outlets
Used to be done by TV and Radio which not everyone got the
information.
Amber Alerts posted on Facebook and twitter to increase
exposure.
Jurys using social media during trials is astoundingly high.
Juror was “friending” female defendant and got out of jury duty.
Results in numerous new trials and overturned verdicts.
Arkansas Supreme Court reverses capital murder conviction
because of juror repeatedly tweeted comments during trial.
6
Group Epsilon
Social Media posts can be loaded with useful data for policing.
This data can assist law enforcement with:
Quicker Interventions – Crime Prevention, Incident Targeting,
and Protest Awareness
Intelligence gathering – Hashtags, Live Streaming, Pictures of
Emergency Situations, and Potential Criminal Networks
Software is presently being used to sift through this collection
of data in an effort to pinpoint potential danger – Also used to
“flag” and track people
Geofeedia:: Bypasses security settings; monitors key words to
provide location based social data –”fight”, “shoot”, “bomb”

5. Snaptrends: : Creates “dummy” accounts to bait/attract sexual
offenders
Media Son : Looks for insider threats through back-end social
media monitoring.
*Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have blocked these
companies
7
CURRENT TRENDS
Group Epsilon
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claims law
enforcement is targeting racially loaded phrases
#blacklivesmatter, #DontShoot, #muslimlivesmatter
Boston Police has been accused of prejudice – Their social
mining efforts have caused great public distrust
Current social media data mining practices are an invasion of
privacy and a violation of civil rights
Social media posts are public, but bypassing security settings to
monitor people over time and tracking citizen’s movement is
unethical and should be deemed illegal
This could be considered warrantless digital searching
Social media can be used for positive police to public
engagement - Safety messages, danger areas, etc.
Research shows that the existence of this engagement is low
Social media is more commonly used to make police look bad
8
CURRENT TRENDS (cont.)

6. Group Epsilon
Public safety is becoming more technologically sophisticated
Citizens should expect more community engagement by public
safety organizations via social media
Law enforcement agencies have evolved from utilizing posters
to social networks and police radio.
Social media is being used in jury trials
Jurors collect data via social media to research cases and
defendants – Historical understanding of case and those
involved
This can result in an unfair trial or biased verdicts
Social media data mining has influenced how law enforcement
agencies respond to protests
Tracking highly charged phrases and hashtags provides police
with the awareness to keep organized protests under control
Also allows police to intervene and sometimes kill protests
before they start – Protesting is a legal right that should not be
infringed upon – Freedom of speech is being controlled
9
CURRENT TRENDS (cont.)
Group Epsilon
ALTERNATIVES
Social media, if strategically added to the larger information

7. environment, can help to provide the real-time “what,” the
“who,” the “why,” and the “how,” and may even help in
predicting the cascading effects of decisions, actions, and
changing hazards
Integrating social data within all aspects of response, from
planning, to training and exercises, will help to legitimize its
role in public safety and emergency response
Police agencies should provide links to their social media
accounts on their websites to build followers
10
Group Epsilon
ALTERNATIVES (cont.)
Published material should also have the same links to increase
law enforcement’s ability to communicate with the public
Jurors conducting their own research on the Internet could be
made a punishable offense (a form of statutory contempt) to
stop the use of social media during a trial
The use of e-government applications to provide information
from the government to citizens in a mono-directional manner
11
Group Epsilon
Law enforcement and public safety organizations have the
potential to also utilize social media in productive capacities

8. Disseminate productive outreach messages
Disseminate information related to criminal activity
Alert the public of required information for ongoing cases
Utilizing a large social media presence can be advantageous to
law enforcement organizations as they can rely on public
entities to help solve crimes
Using AI and machine learning to access available public
information to recreate crime scenes and capture other evidence
from pictures and other digital media
12
ALTERNATIVES (cont.)
Group Epsilon
ALTERNATIVES (cont.)
Agencies can incorporate warning and alert systems through
their social media fowling to keep citizens in their jurisdictions
informed on latest trends
Public safety and other governmental services can collaborate
with private business and organizations to request assistance
with local and regional criminal trends
Rather than conduct questionable monitoring of private social
media accounts, public safety organizations can also utilize
aggregate sentiment to utilize group trending to change policies
Examples would be used with Twitter hashtags where large
groups of citizens can tag areas of increased criminal activity
These tags would then inspire police in the area to change
policies related to public safety
13

9. Group Epsilon
CONCLUSION
Using social media to essentially “flag”, track, or target people
should not be allowed – this is unethical
There must be rules and regulations imposed to ensure that this
effort is legal and does not violate resident privacy
Does social mining actually work? Where is the evidence?
There must be more testing and more research
The U.S. 4th Amendment protects our right to privacy and the
1st Amendment protects our freedom of speech
People should not be targeted for what they say online
We should not have to adjust the way we talk
Social data mining results in racial profiling and can lead to
biased policing and unfair trials
Be careful what you say and don’t overshare on social media
because law enforcement is watching you!
14
Group Epsilon
15
REFERENCES
Bousquet, C. (2018). Mining Social Media Data for Policing,
the Ethical Way. Retrieved from
https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Mining-Social-Media-

10. Data-for-Policing-the-Ethical-Way.html
Brainard, L., & Edlins, M. (2015). Top 10 US municipal police
departments and their social media usage. The American Review
of Public Administration, 45(6), 728-745.
Cohen, S. (2014). Social Media as a Sensor – Legitimizing the
Role of Social Media in Public Safety. Retrieved from
https://www.ghinternational.com/blog/legitimizing-the-role-of-
social-media-in-public-safety
Gavigan, J. (2010). Article Archive Details Hendon Publishing.
Retrieved from
http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/article_archive/results/det
ails?id=1536
Karakiz, Maria. (2015). The Impact of Social Media in the
Public Sector. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences.
175.10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.1214
Pfeifer, W. (2018, December 5). Will Social Media Affect the
Outcome of Your Trial? Retrieved from
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/social-media-in-the-courtroom-
2151359
Tsytsarau, M. (2013). Large scale aggregated sentiment
analytics. DISI - University of Trento International Doctorate
School in Information and Communication Technologies.
Accessed from:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2d02/03f997c7d51983c57e78ea
2714cc7ec1376c.pdf.
Schneider, C. J. (2016). Policing and social media: Social
control in an era of new media. Lexington Books.
Waters, G. (2012). Social Media and Law Enforcement Potential
Risks. FBI Articles. Accessed from
https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/social-media-and-
law-enforcement.
Williams, C. B., Fedorowicz, J., Kavanaugh, A., Mentzer, K.,
Thatcher, J. B., & Xu, J. (2018). Leveraging social media to
achieve a community policing agenda. Government Information
Quarterly, 35(2), 210–222

11. Group Epsilon
Write a 5-7-page paper. Must be APA 6th Edition format, 1in
margin, 12pt font, New Times Roman or Ariel font Double
spaced, NO EXTRA SPACES , Properly formatted Section
headings as appropriate no less 5-7 legitimate, verifiable
sources try not to use the same sources as in the power point,
Cover page, abstract, body of paper, intext citations, reference
page. This is due Friday October 4, 2019 at 10Am Friday EST
36 hours. Plagiarism Free!!
Instructions
The Individual Paper is worth 100 points and is 30% of your
final grade. In this paper, implement a solution to the ethical
situation identified by the group in the group project. The
implementation paper is to include, but is not limited to
suggested training, identification of stakeholders, the
implementation plan and process, and a draft code of ethics. If
you make use of an existing code of ethics, make sure to
properly cite and reference the work of others. Material from
the group project PowerPoint presentation may be incorporated
as needed, but remember the vast majority of this paper must be
new original material. The body of the paper shall be 5 to 7
pages, excluding other material such as the cover page,
abstract, table of contents, graphics and tables, and references.
The Individual Implementation Paper shall contain:
· Cover Page
· Abstract

12. · Body of Paper (10to-12 pages)
· References Page
The paper shall be formatted as follows:
· APA 6th edition
· 1 inch margins
· 12 point font, either New Times Roman or Arial font style
· Double spaced, making sure there are no "extra" spaces in
between paragraphs
· Properly formatted Section headings as appropriate
Individual Paper
In the Individual Paper, implement a solution to the ethical
situation identified by the group in the group project. The
implementation paper is to include, but is not limited to
suggested training, identification of stakeholders, the
implementation plan and process, and a draft code of ethics. If
you make use of an existing code of ethics, make sure to
properly cite and reference the work of others. Material from
the group project PowerPoint presentation may be incorporated
as needed, but remember the vast majority of this paper must be
new original material. The body of the paper shall be 10 to 12
pages, excluding other material such as the cover page, abstract,
table of contents, graphics and tables, and references.