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6 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • September/October 2015 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com MY POINT OF VIEW B y Steve L as k y, Edi to rial Dire c to r If you have any comments for Steve Lasky regarding this or any other security industry-related issue, please e-mail him at slasky@southcomm.com. L SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE (USPS 009-826; ISSN 1946-8474 print; ISSN 2158-7078 on-line) is published fve times per year: February/March, May/June, July/August, September/October and November/December by Southcomm Business Media, 1233 Janesville Avenue, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. Periodicals postage paid at Fort Atkinson, WI and additional entry offces. POSTMASTER: Please send all change of address to Security Technology Executive , PO Box 3257, Northbrook, IL 60065-3257. SUBSCRIPTION POLICY: Individual subscriptions are available without charge in the U.S. to qualifed readers. Publisher reserves the right to reject nonqualifed subscribers. 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The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject all editorial or advertising material. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Printed in the U.S.A. ike most people my age – old enough to have used an IBM Selectric typewriter and public pay tele- phone – Twitter was a mysterious waste of time when I first had it thrust upon me. Great, not only will I be able see what my "friends" ate for dinner last night or how junior was recovering from his cat food eating escapade when I decided to tune into Facebook, now I will be enthralled by every move and thought popping into the heads of folks on the Twittersphere. Granted, I did learn to appreciate following my favorite sports pundits and receiving CNN break- ing news – no matter how much they ran it into the ground – on my Twitter account. Like most social media I had encountered, my first perception was it was a total waste of time and did nothing more than placate the base element of society. I mean really, how important was it for to me to receive notifica- tion, in real time, of Uncle Sid's colonoscopy results or my buddy's rage rant after being cut off in Atlanta traffic? For me, the impact of social media in general and Twitter in particular, came more into focus early in 2011. Although I was knew Public Safety and law enforcement agencies had begun to tap into emerging media platforms to help them manage criti- cal communications, data analytics and video monitoring, there were still no real policies or procedures to convert data into actionable knowl- edge in most departments. How- ever, seeing how social media drove events of the "Arab Spring" uprisings across the Middle East starting in Tunisia and quickly spreading to Libya and Egypt, there was little doubt how powerful digital media was in fanning the flame of civil disobedience. Fol- lowing Tunisia's lead, digital revolution continued as the Egyptian revolution used Facebook, Twit- ter, and YouTube to organize the revolutionaries, transmit their message to the world and galvanize international support. And while the Egyptian gov- ernment eventually shut down the internet during this rebellion, it did not stop the ultimate collapse of President Hosni Mubarak regime. As seen in Egypt, activists' technological knowl- edge regarding the use of "circumvention and ano- nymity technology" will inevitably outpace the gov- ernment. So it is imperative to partner law enforce- ment agencies with social media companies to explore the different measures that each could take to help prevent or contain impending disorder. Such collaboration began in 2010 when Google and the National Security Agency (NSA) entered into a pub- lic-private partnership with the rationale that under- standing that the critical infrastructure of the Unit- ed States is best protected through a collaborative relationship between the public and private sectors. It is also crucial that we ensure that law enforce- ment agencies and emergency management cen- ters are equipped with the necessary technological resources to not only respond to real-time threats posted on social media, but are able to extract valu- able information from those social networks. Many large agencies like the New York and Boston police departments understand the importance of enhancing Public Safety's capabilities to effectively leverage social media for proactive policing, predic- tive analytics and quicker response times to criminal events. These agencies have created special units dedicated to tracking for postings, photos, and vid- eos of crimes that have already been committed to prevent repeat occurrences One of the most high-profile instances of social media being used successfully by law enforcement was following the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013. BPD used Twitter to keep the public informed about the status of the investigation, to calm nerves and request assistance, to correct mis- taken information reported by the press, and to ask for public restraint in the tweeting of information from police scanners. Our rapid technology expansion and new social standards suddenly dictate that our private spaces are open for all the public to see. It is the responsi- bility of security and law enforcement profession- als to understand where the expectations of pri- vacy end and the vault of public information begin. Unfortunately for us all the boundaries blur with each horrific event. ■ Private Spaces, Public Concerns Social Media opens a security Pandora's Box