SOCINT

Social Intelligence (SOCINT) is the evaluation of data posted on social media sources (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc). For local law enforcement, it can be as simple as checking out the Facebook posts of local people to find the guy bragged about that recent robbery of X grocery store. On a larger scale, it can be scouring social media for rumours about certain people, for posts that would signal possible radicalisation, or using selfies posted on terrorist webpages to identify members of terror groups.
What are your thoughts on this, if any?

Dassault Papillon: "Mass surveillance"

Dassault Papillon: I don't mind surveillance on public things like that. If your dumb enough to post about criminal activity online, that's your problem. When the government watches stuff you never intended to be public, that's cause for concern.

Random Stranger: Except that a lot of data IS posted as "private" or "for friends only" on social media.

Retweeting "I like ISIS" doesn't inherently make you a terrorist. It depends on the context and who you thought was reading that message and why. The ACTUAL terrorists are most likely to post things privately only.

admin: So can governments just casually acsses private messaging like that?

Random Stranger: Well I mean it's technically possible. The question is whether they should.

admin: I guess if I was fully aware that the government could access your messages, and there was at least one medium that could be completely private, then I wouldn't mind.

Random Stranger: Sure but then criminals would use that medium, right?

admin: Yes, but some things are inevitable. Some apps have encryption that the government can't crack, and to my knowledge, there is no way to force the info out of the company.

Random Stranger: Depends where you live, but in general, SOCINT means either mass surveillance or it's completely ineffective. Either way it's bad.

admin: As bad as mass surveillance is, it probably has played a key role in thwarting a lot of terrorist plots:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsuccessful_terrorist_plots_in_the_United_States_post-9/11

Dassault Papillon: What are your thoughts on this, if any?
Sounds just like the NSA surveillance to detect danger (security purposes), which I am opposed to (the NSA shouldn't even exist). I am for minimizing police states. Giving this power to the state isn't going to stop crime from happening, but will intrude on people's privacy.