By Cat Zakrzewski
Ever since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the
breadth of U.S. electronic surveillance, tensions have simmered
between the government and technology companies over access to
users' online communication. Congress is now raising the
stakes.
The Senate Intelligence Committee included language in an annual
intelligence-funding reauthorization bill last month that would
require companies such as Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Twitter
Inc. to disclose any content they spot on their networks that could
indicate terrorist activity. The proposed measure could cover
everything from emails to tweets to videos.
The move comes as law enforcement struggles to deal with the
increased use of social networks for recruitment and planning among
terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State's use of Twitter.
The companies don't want terrorist activity on their sites, but
they also don't want to play the role of cops. Both Yahoo Inc. and
Google cited a recent post from the Center for Democracy and
Technology, a nonprofit focused on privacy in Internet
communications, that said the bill "would turn online service
providers into law-enforcement watchdogs."
Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and Google all declined to state a
position on the measure.
The new provision is modeled on existing federal requirements
for policing child pornography. However tech company officials say
weeding out terrorist messages is much more complex. Companies
often become aware of terrorist activities after users flag them on
their platforms, unlike child pornography, which is identified by
software.
"When it comes to child exploitation imagery, distribution or
possession of the image is a crime. No additional context is
necessary," said Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of policy
management. "Detecting social media activity associated with
terrorism is very different. It is subjective and requires an
incredible amount of context."
The bill includes a privacy clause that states a service
provider isn't required to partake in additional monitoring of
individuals.
David Grannis, an Intelligence Committee minority staff
director, said the only change for companies is that they would be
legally required to take the extra step of reporting terrorist
content to the authorities after receiving a report from a
user.
"Companies are already in the business of making a determination
of what this terrorist content could be," Mr. Grannis said.
Twitter is already increasing its staff to respond to a rise in
all user reports, not just those pertaining to terrorism. In
February the company said it tripled the size of its support team
to review more than five times as many user reports as it did
previously.
Companies also are under pressure to weigh consumers' privacy
over investigations.
"We've seen in response to the Snowden revelations that people
and providers are trying to limit the access the government has to
their communications," said Emma Llansó, the director of the Free
Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "The
government is responding by trying to obtain greater and greater
access."
Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey has called
for the government to require companies to give law enforcement
access to encrypted communications on Apple and Google phones.
Each company has a different response to the presence of alleged
terror-group activity on their sites, mandated by the companies'
terms of service. Facebook is the strictest and doesn't allow any
terrorist content. Facebook's Ms. Bickert said, "Our policies on
this are crystal clear: We do not permit terrorist groups to use
Facebook, and people are not allowed to promote or support these
groups on Facebook. We remove this terrorist content as soon as we
become aware of it."
Twitter has come under fire from lawmakers for not taking down
content. Recent reports have detailed how terrorist groups such as
the Islamic State are using Twitter to recruit new members and plot
attacks.
"We review all reported content against our rules, which
prohibit unlawful use, violent threats, and the promotion of
terrorism," a Twitter spokesman said. "Law-enforcement authorities
can request information about individual Twitter accounts through
valid legal process outlined on our site."
Critics also have said the new provision doesn't specifically
define what terrorist-related content is.
Mr. Grannis said the provision's language was broad because it
is difficult to identify a "discrete list of items that could fall
under the rubric of terrorist activity."
The reauthorization bill awaits debate on the Senate floor,
which likely won't occur until the Senate returns from its summer
recess.
Some question if the legislation is even needed. Requiring
companies to provide this data to the government could prompt them
to overreport terrorist activity so they aren't blamed in the event
of an attack, civil-liberties proponents say.
Mr. Comey, the FBI director, said at a recent hearing that
technology companies "are pretty good about telling us what they
see." He declined to comment specifically on the provision. The
same week, he disclosed the FBI recently used information found on
Twitter to thwart potential terrorist plots over the July 4
weekend.
Write to Cat Zakrzewski at cat.zakrzewsk@wsj.com
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