Editing Surveillance (section)

===Social network analysis===
[[File:Kencf0618FacebookNetwork.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Graph (discrete mathematics)|graph]] of the relationships between users on the [[social networking]] site [[Facebook]]. [[Social network analysis]] enables governments to gather detailed information about peoples' friends, family, and other contacts. Since much of this information is voluntarily made public by the users themselves, it is often considered to be a form of [[open-source intelligence]]]]
One common form of surveillance is to create maps of [[Social network analysis|social networks]] based on data from [[social networking sites]] such as [[Facebook]], [[MySpace]], [[Twitter]] as well as from [[traffic analysis]] information from phone call records such as those in the [[NSA call database]],<ref name="keefe">{{cite news|title= Can Network Theory Thwart Terrorists?|last=Keefe|first=Patrick |date=March 12, 2006|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and others. These [[social network]] "maps" are then [[data mining|data mined]] to extract useful information such as personal interests, friendships & affiliations, wants, beliefs, thoughts, and activities.<ref name="part-surv">{{cite journal|last=Albrechtslund|first=Anders|date=March 3, 2008|title=Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance |journal=First Monday|volume=13|issue=3|doi=10.5210/fm.v13i3.2142 |doi-access= free}}</ref><ref name="fuchs">{{cite book|last=Fuchs|first=Christian|title=Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance Society. A Critical Case Study of the Usage of studiVZ, Facebook, and MySpace by Students in Salzburg in the Context of Electronic Surveillance |publisher=Forschungsgruppe Unified Theory of Information|location=Salzburg and Vienna|year=2009|isbn=978-3-200-01428-2 |url=http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/SNS_Surveillance_Fuchs.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/SNS_Surveillance_Fuchs.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|access-date=July 28, 2012}}</ref><ref name="ethier">{{cite web|url=http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/perrolle/archive/Ethier-SocialNetworks.html|title=Current Research in Social Network Theory|last=Ethier|first=Jason|work=Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science|access-date=March 15, 2009|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041116125614/http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/perrolle/archive/Ethier-SocialNetworks.html|archive-date=November 16, 2004|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Many U.S. government agencies such as the [[Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]] (DARPA), the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA), and the [[Department of Homeland Security]] (DHS) are investing heavily in research involving social network analysis.<ref name="pentagon-social-networks">{{cite news|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025556.200?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19025556.200|title=Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites |last=Marks|first=Paul|date=June 9, 2006|work=New Scientist|access-date=March 16, 2009}}</ref><ref name="nsa-myspace">{{cite news|url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6082047-7.html|title=Is the NSA reading your MySpace profile?|last=Kawamoto|first=Dawn|date=June 9, 2006|work=CNET News|access-date=March 16, 2009|archive-date=July 20, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720043006/http%3A%2F%2Fnews.cnet.com%2F8301-10784_3-6082047-7.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The intelligence community believes that the biggest threat to U.S. power comes from decentralized, leaderless, geographically dispersed groups of [[terrorists]], [[subversives]], [[extremists]], and [[dissidents]]. These types of threats are most easily countered by finding important nodes in the network, and removing them. To do this requires a detailed map of the network.<ref name="ethier 2">{{cite web|url=http://spyapps.net/current-research-in-social-network-theory/ |title=Current Research in Social Network Theory |last=Ethier |first=Jason |work=Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science |access-date=March 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226213456/http://spyapps.net/current-research-in-social-network-theory/ |archive-date=February 26, 2015 }}</ref><ref name="ressler">{{cite journal|last=Ressler|first=Steve|date=July 2006|title=Social Network Analysis as an Approach to Combat Terrorism: Past, Present, and Future Research |journal=Homeland Security Affairs|volume= II|issue=2|url=http://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=2.2.8|access-date=March 14, 2009}}</ref><ref name="dydan-blog">{{cite web|url=http://dydan-research.blogspot.com/|title=DyDAn Research Blog|work=DyDAn Research Blog (official blog of DyDAn)|access-date=December 20, 2009}}</ref>

Jason Ethier of Northeastern University, in his study of modern social network analysis, said the following of the Scalable Social Network Analysis Program developed by the [[Information Awareness Office]]:

{{quote|The purpose of the SSNA algorithms program is to extend techniques of social network analysis to assist with distinguishing potential terrorist cells from legitimate groups of people.... In order to be successful SSNA will require information on the social interactions of the majority of people around the globe. Since the Defense Department cannot easily distinguish between peaceful citizens and terrorists, it will be necessary for them to gather data on innocent civilians as well as on potential terrorists.|Jason Ethier<ref name="ethier"/>}}

AT&T developed a programming language called "Hancock", which is able to sift through enormous databases of phone call and Internet traffic records, such as the [[NSA call database]], and extract "communities of interest"—groups of people who call each other regularly, or groups that regularly visit certain sites on the Internet. AT&T originally built the system to develop "marketing leads",<ref name="hancock">{{cite news|url=http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/att-invents-pro.html|title=AT&T Invents Programming Language for Mass Surveillance|last=Singel|first=Ryan|date=October 29, 2007|work=Threat Level|publisher=Wired|access-date=March 19, 2009}}</ref> but the FBI has regularly requested such information from phone companies such as AT&T without a warrant,<ref name="hancock"/> and, after using the data, stores all information received in its own databases, regardless of whether or not the information was ever useful in an investigation.<ref name="threatlevel-fbi-phonerecords">{{cite news|url=http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/legally-questio.html#previouspost|title=Legally Questionable FBI Requests for Calling Circle Info More Widespread than Previously Known|last=Singel|first=Ryan|date=October 16, 2007|work=Threat Level|publisher=Wired|access-date=March 19, 2009}}</ref>

Some people believe that the use of social networking sites is a form of "participatory surveillance", where users of these sites are essentially performing surveillance on themselves, putting detailed personal information on public websites where it can be viewed by corporations and governments.<ref name="part-surv"/> In 2008, about 20% of employers reported using social networking sites to collect personal data on prospective or current employees.<ref name="havenstein">{{cite news|url=http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9114560|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080923065244/http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9114560|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 23, 2008|title=One in five employers uses social networks in hiring process|last=Havenstein|first=Heather|date=September 12, 2008|work=Computer World|access-date=March 14, 2009}}</ref>