The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has popped a hole in a story that’s gone viral: Facebook users can check in to Standing Rock to confound police assessments of the number of people camped out to protest the planned North Dakota Access Pipeline.
On Monday, the department said on Facebook that it doesn’t use Facebook – or any online service – for that kind of information:
In response to the latest rumor/false claim circulating on social media we have the following response:
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is not and does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location. This claim/rumor is absolutely false.
Posted by Morton County Sheriff’s Department on Monday, October 31, 2016
Since April, supporters of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have camped on the land, which they say belongs to the tribe under a 19th-century treaty.
They call themselves “water protectors” because construction is approaching the Missouri River: a main water source for the tribe.
According to the Independent, a series of posts began to circulate over the weekend.
The posts asserted that the Morton County Sheriff’s Department was using Facebook check-ins to target and disrupt prayer camps at Standing Rock protests.
Posts also claimed that falsely checking in would “confuse” or “overwhelm” police in attempts to target individual demonstrators.
From one of the posts:
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps. SO Water Protectors are calling on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock, ND to overwhelm and confuse them.
This is concrete action that can protect people putting their bodies and well-beings on the line that we can do without leaving our homes. Will you join me in Standing Rock?
As of Monday, Snopes was deeming the post’s claims unproven.
Protesters told Snopes that they appreciated the solidarity expressed by the posts, regardless of who’s responsible for them.
A Sacred Stone Camp representative told Snopes that they weren’t the source of the rumor, but that there was at least some basis for the posts’ claims, in that police do sift through social media for “incriminating material” and to generally monitor the protests.
And although the sheriff’s department in this particular case doesn’t appear to use sophisticated tools to scan social media, those tools do exist.
Last month, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all cut off police access to Geofeedia: a tool that creates real-time maps of social media activity in protest areas.
Some have wondered whether it’s actually possible to spoof your location via Facebook. Wouldn’t a sophisticated social media scanning tool be able to tell, by your IP address, that you weren’t anywhere near Standing Rock if you weren’t anywhere near Standing Rock?
I’m not familiar with how well such tools might see through location spoofing, but for what it’s worth, GPS spoofing is quite real.
We’ve seen it used to hijack an $80 million yacht, to take over a drone, and by researchers who recently used it to track down supposedly anonymous Yik Yak users.
At any rate, the people who shared the viral posts likely had good intentions. But it was all for naught, based on an incorrect assumption about the local police department’s methods of assessing the protests.
Snopes was kind enough to offer another means to show support in the form of material assistance – by donating to a fund that will help with legal defenses for the Sacred Stone Camp.
Mahhn
“they appreciated the solidarity expressed by the posts” myself and several friends did the “Check In”. We know that it may or may not assist with the intent of the check in, but it did show a huge amount of support for the Water Protectors. I have nothing but respect for their maintaining peacefulness while enduring physical abuses for “no personal gain other than clean water”.
With mainstream media avoiding the subject, it has added in my appreciation that Sophos posted this story. After all, the security of drinking water, is even more important than the security of IT.
KT Glitz
It wasn’t for nothing at all. The visibility of support for the protestors is excellent. Getting the message shared with friends to make them aware of what is happening at Standing Rock is no bad thing. Most of us were aware that this viral message was probably a hoax but what you have really missed here is how social media has been used to spread a message and awareness which is a very powerful thing
Anonymous
Even if it isn’t used to “fool” the police. People are using it as a way to show their support and a kind of passive protest.
Oliver Vollmer (@OVollmer)
I think it is interesting to see how such viral messages have changed in the recent years, from the blanket “copy X to your status so Facebook can’t do Y” to this–something much more in the realm of possibility.
Do you think this indicates a general improvement in the public understanding of social media, surveillance, and security, or simply a one-off?
Mark Stockley
The antidote for your optimism about viral Facebook messages is Talking Angela (292 comments and counting).
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/02/21/the-talking-angela-witch-hunt-what-on-earth-is-going-on/
TracyMcClain
Silly protestors have yet to prove how the water is at risk of getting any dirtier than it already is. This will actually clean up the environment, as they are currently having to transport fuel via semi trucks. That’s a lot of trucks over the course of just one year. Fuel flowing through a pipe removes all of the additional emissions released into the air.
Mahhn
Tracy, please do a search on pipe breaks in the US for 2016 (over 120 this year). You might be surprised. Unlike a single container leak, hundreds of thousands of gallons are typical from a single pipe break.
Johnny Woodpile
Water or imminent domain used to seize land for corporate use, does not matter. If they ran a 30 foot hole through your property and then pumped a ton of sludge through knowing it will fail someday, you would be unhappy about it. But you are sitting off somewhere else, safe and happy. Fill your gas tank, drink some water and enjoy your life. Until they come for your stuff. Then I suppose you will squeak and whine about fairness and health.
Steve
Once again, Lisa Vaas uses a relevant topic to promote a pet cause. I had no problem at all with this article until I reached the end, where not just one, but two links are provided for aiding this cause. How could those links possibly relate to the topic of information security or privacy?
Mahhn
Gee Steve, really stinks that people care about stuff and act all human, interrupting your reading like that. Let me get you a cup of hot coco and a blanket (southpark reference)
Steve
There is no shortage of stuff to care about; likewise no shortage of appropriate places to opine about them and/or to promote them. But this is Naked Security, not the Rainbows and Unicorns blog.
Send your hot cocoA and blanket to the protesters.
Mahhn
do you mean Unicorn Riot? :P