Chicago Cops Can Use Fake Social Media Profiles to Spy On You, With the FBI's Help

The Chicago Police Department created a team to investigate social media. The document detailing the team's strategy of using fake social media profiles to investigate and communicate with people suspected of having committed a crime was released today. The document says that the FBI will help create fake profiles.

Facebook's authenticity policy states that fake social media profiles are a violation. Police in Los Angeles and Memphis have been asked to stop using them. The strategy has stayed the same.

The level of FBI involvement is one of the highlights of the document. The FBI is directly responsible for creating cops online. According to the document, the participating officers are/would be provided an alias identity from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI works with its federal, state, local, tribal and territorial law enforcement partners in task forces across the country in order to detect, investigate, and disrupt federal crimes and threats to national security and to protect the American people. In every instance, the FBI’s investigative activity complies with Department of Justice guidelines, applicable laws and the United States Constitution. The FBI does not investigate or collect information on solely First Amendment protected activity.

Every profile picture for a fake account must be a uniquely created photo and not attributed to an actual individual.

In an effort to further investigate, police are allowed to take their online personas into the real world.

Online undercover operations will only be used if there is reasonable suspicion that criminal offenses have been committed or are being committed. Some examples of suspected crimes include online display of weapons, narcotic sales, armed robberies, murder for hires, etc.

Emails obtained and released by The Intercept show that Chicago police have targeted property damage in their social media sweeps.

Over the past few years, social media has become a conduit for law enforcement to gather information. On top of the bureau's false online identity mill, the FBI recently announced a $27.6 million contract for beefed up monitoring technology. According to The Washington Post, the new contract covers 5,000 licenses for Babel X, a software that combs through the social media profiles of people within a certain geographic area.

The tides may have to shift as more challenges against widespread social media are emerging. More than a million Facebook users in the state of Illinois won $397 each in a class action settlement over the company's use of facial recognition technology. The lawsuit was cleared by a judge because of an Illinois state privacy law.