Australian Defence Force has paid $1.29 million for data mined from citizens’ social media accounts
DATA revealing the online activities of Australians is being purchased by the Defence Department. The Daily Telegraph can reveal almost $1.3 million has been paid since 2014 to “data mining” companies. Here is what they want to know about you.
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EXCLUSIVE: The Defence Department has spent almost $1.3 million buying up social media data from Twitter and third-party “data mining” companies which some experts say could be a way to track the online activities of Australians.
An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has revealed that since 2014, $1.29 million has been spent on “human data” services that collate information such as name, age and locations from social media posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Defence says the data services are being used to “complement other forms of information gathering” during “situations such as natural disasters”.
But analysts warn the data could also be used for surveillance purposes.
University of Sydney Business School Professor of Marketing Vince Mitchell said while there could be “advantages” to Defence using the information, it should explain what it was doing to ensure the data couldn’t be used “to spy on people without reasonable cause”.
“Overall, it’s just another example of the murky world of digital data markets where consumers are not only unaware of what’s being done with their data, but also powerless to stop it,” Prof Mitchell said.
However a Defence spokeswoman said the department took “into account many sources of information when planning and conducting operations, including social media”.
“(Twitter-owned data mining firm) Gnip filters and aggregates large amounts of publicly available data to enhance understanding and decision-making, particularly during fast moving crises when social media can be an important source of information to emergency responders,” she said.
“Enterprise tools such as Gnip complement other forms of information gathering used by Defence during a developing situation.
“(Social media analytics firm) DataSift is used in conjunction with Gnip to aggregate and filter live news feeds during contingency situations such as natural disasters.”
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The spokeswoman said the data was managed in “accordance with the Privacy Act and relevant legislation governing the use of social media by Australian security agencies”.
International Cyber Policy Centre director Fergus Hanson said possible uses for the data for Defence could include monitoring terrorist suspects and gauging local sentiment towards troops in overseas combat zones.
He said it was a reminder to social media users not to post anything they didn’t want “broadcast to the world”.
Australian Communications Consumer Action Network chief executive Teresa Corbin said it was possible Defence had used the data for surveillance.
She said there was a “fine line” between “protecting people” and “privacy rights”.
“I think both young people and older people aren’t aware of how their information is being collected online,” Ms Corbin said. “If (a social media platform) is free, you’re the product.”
A Twitter Australia spokesman said it didn’t “comment on confidential contract matters”, but said it prohibited the use of its data for “surveillance purposes”.
Defence’s contract with Gnip is under its Joint Systems Division branch which counts surveillance among its responsibilities. The contract has run from 2015 and is worth $356,252.
Defence also spent $105,052 in 2016 with Chicago-based firm Geofeedia, which had been given “special access” to data from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter but had access cut off after it was revealed it had been used by US police for surveillance on civil liberties protesters.
Since 2014, Defence has spent another $839,207 with social media analytics firm DataSift, which collects data from social media platforms such as Facebook.