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[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

From the article (bold added), more at the link:

Tech startup Voyager Labs helps law enforcement agencies use what you post on social media and who you interact with to predict whether you have or “plan to” commit a crime. It is one of a growing number of companies that claim they can use social media analysis to help predict and solve crimes and has opened many questions about privacy.

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Non-profit organization Brennan Center obtained documents through freedom of information requests that revealed the strategies Voyager uses violate the first amendment protections. For instance, the software uses posts about Islam and social media usernames indicating Arab pride as signs of potential inclination towards extremism. But they can also be used to target any group.

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Additionally, according to the documents, obtained by The Guardian, the company uses questionable processes to access data on social media, and even enables law enforcement officers to infiltrate groups and private accounts using fake personas.

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The company started nine years ago and has offices all over the world including New York, Washington DC, and Israel. The company is one of a growing number of tech firms exploring social media analytics for use in law enforcement. Others include Media Sonar, Palantir, PredPol, and Geofeedia.

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The documents obtained by the Brennan Center show that LAPD has been trialing Voyager Labs software since 2019. The department has also worked or considered working with other such companies.

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According to experts, such kinds of software are a privacy nightmare for the public and potentially illegal as they criminalize otherwise legal behavior such as associating with certain people.