Baltimore PD Social Media Surveillance
| Submitted | Jan. 28, 2016 |
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Communications
From: Aaron Cantú
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to Maryland's Public Information Act ("PIA"), I hereby request a copy of all records or portions thereof pertaining to, or containing the following:
1. All records regarding the purchase of, acquisition of, installation of, subscription to, payment for, or agreements concerning software designed to access information from social media services;
2. All records that contain any information about the functioning of software designed to access information from social media services that is used or has been used by the Baltimore Police Department;
3. All records regarding correspondence about or with a company that offers software designed to access information from social media services, including but not limited to all correspondence about or with the companies Brightplaent, Geofeedia, Intrado Inc, LifeRaft, Magnet Forensics, Media Sonar, Signal Corporation, and ZeroFOX;
4. All records regarding the policies that govern access to or use of software designed to access information from social media services;
5. All training materials and all records used to instruct members of your agency in the proper use of software designed to access information from social media services or of the information such software is capable of accessing;
6. All records regarding the sharing with entities outside the Baltimore Police Department of information obtained from or obtained by using software designed to access information from social media services;
7. All records referencing social media profiles, comments, posts, messages, or events accessed or retained from social media services through use of software designed o access information from social media services.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public through the public information service MuckRock.com, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Aaron Cantú
From: DCU
[cid:image002.png@01D159E4.F3601170]
February 1, 2016
Aaron Cantú
MuckRock
DEPT MR 23636
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516
MPIA Request Monitoring of Social Media
Dear Mr. Cantú,
You have made a request for public records pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act, Annotated Code of Maryland, General Provisions Article, § 4-101, et seq, to the Baltimore Police Department (“BPD”). The Office of Media Relations has received and forwarded your request to this office for review and comment. You have asked to review documents or communications purchase of acquisition of, installation of, subscription to, payment for, or agreements concerning software designed to access information from social media services and records demonstrating the monitoring of social media.
This office has conferred with the Custodian of the Analytical Intelligence Section of BPD concerning your request. Based on that meeting, BPD must deny your request for records and as grounds for that decision asserts the following:
To the extent that you request seeks documentation concerning monitoring of online social media and social networks Criminal Intelligence Section or any other section of the BPD, the Custodian advised that to disclose such information/documents would otherwise reveal specific technology that BPD uses to gather intelligence information in connection with its law enforcement mandate. To disclose specifics related to that technology, i.e. the provider of said software, could jeopardize law enforcement operations going forward. To this end, please see MPIA Section 4-351(a)(3) which states: “(a) Subject to subsection (b) of this section, a custodian may deny inspection of (3) records that contain intelligence information…”
The Baltimore City Board of Estimates procurement process can be reviewed at http://comptroller.baltimorecity.gov/boe.html#PROCURE
Nothing in this response is intended to indicate that any records sought from the BPD exist or to waive any privileges held by the BPD. You may contest this response by filing a complaint for Judicial Review in Circuit Court pursuant to MPIA Section 4-362.
Sincerely,
Wayne Brooks
Assistant to Legal Affairs
Baltimore Police Department
DCU@baltimorepolice.org<mailto:DCU@baltimorepolice.org>
