US SCHOOLS HIRING PRIVATE COMPANIES TO SPY ON STUDENTS’ SOCIAL MEDIA
The following article is part of a series of articles dedicated to exposing the militarization of schools and universities. To read more about the issues facing young people and to join the IYSSE, visit iysse.com.
More than 100 school districts and public universities have hired social media monitoring companies over the past five years to spy on students’ social media accounts under the pretext of “school safety” and preventing school shootings, according to a report in the New York Times.
The private companies exploit social tragedy, recruiting more institutions after every mass shooting despite little evidence that the spying programs have any effect on violence.
The customers of these companies include school districts experiencing school shootings, such as the Newton Public Schools in Connecticut, as well as some of the largest school districts in the nation, including in Los Angeles and Chicago. Large universities like Michigan State and Florida State have also contracted services from the companies.
The latest surge of contracts has come in the aftermath of the school shooting in Parkland, in which 17 people were killed, on February 14, 2018.
Monitoring students’ social media accounts is a violation of privacy and another layer in the intimate partnership between the US government and tech companies for mass surveillance and censorship of the internet.
Most of the companies offering spying services hold or have previously held contracts with police departments. In 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) exposed one of the companies, Media Sonar, for recommending police officers follow hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter, #DontShoot, and #ImUnarmed during the Ferguson protests. In late 2015, Media Sonar also worked with the Ferguson-Florissant School District, which asked for alerts on the terms “protest” and “walkout.”
The monitoring companies maintain a high level of secrecy on every aspect of their work. Many have direct ties to the military and intelligence agencies.
One of the early companies to offer spying services, GEOCOP, is perhaps the most ominous. The company’s owner, Bob Dowling, worked for the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service as a civilian special agent for 13 years. He was then assigned to work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the US military’s technology development branch, and later the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. GEOCOP was hired initially to monitor various schools in New York, including CUNY. It is unclear how active the company remains today.
Another example is Social Sentinel, run by Gary Margolis, who served as chief of police at the University of Vermont for 11 years. His company’s web site declares, “Don’t miss out on the chance to listen.”
GEO Listening, one of the few companies without a CEO directly connected to the state, is just as secretive about its operations. It lists its address in California, but no operations are conducted at the physical address and the credited Continue reading: US Schools Hiring Private Companies To Spy On Students' Social Media | PopularResistance.Org
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