Twitter Tapping – Critical Analysis, Essay Example

This essay analyzes the New York Times editorial published on December 12, 2009 entitled “Twitter Tapping.” The author of this editorial argues that since government agencies increasingly use social media to “monitor” individuals, they should be more transparent about the guidelines and intent of their monitoring activities. That is, as government agencies from the CIA to the IRS begin to monitor individual’s use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, there should be a more robust discussion and disclosure of the nation’s privacy laws.

The author offers specific examples of how government officials have used social media to monitor individuals’ behavior. For example, the author quotes a Boston Globe story that states local police officers were going undercover using Facebook as part of their investigation. The editorial also quotes a Wired magazine report that the CIA is upgrading its ability to monitor communications on Twitter and You Tube. Finally, examples are offered up from the Wall Street Journal that state tax revenue agents are searching for tax scofflaws by looking at Facebook and My Space profiles. And the F.B.I. searched the New York home of a man suspected of coordinating meetings via Twitter messages. Yes; the examples given (re)enforce the author’s point regarding the use of social media by government officials (both state and federal).

Overall, the argument made is reasonable. With the proliferation in the use of social media, there are likely lacuna in how privacy laws protect or do not protect private citizens. Perhaps even more worrying for citizens: they do not know what the guideline and intent are of government officials using social media. Indeed, while reading the public tweets of an individual may be one thing, intentionally friending a stranger and posing as someone else may break the spirit, if not the letter of the law. The editorial is right to call for greater transparency in how government officials use this information. That is, government officials should be upfront about how they are using information found on the internet to profile certain individuals, including the profiling of potential criminals. The latter is the most disturbing as privacy laws were promulgated long before the challenges brought about social media arose.