Description

In September 2013, civilian contractor Aaron Alexis entered the Washington Navy Yard and murdered twelve people before being fatally shot by police. This incident, together with an incident three months earlier involving Edward Snowden, caused the U.S. government to critically

In September 2013, civilian contractor Aaron Alexis entered the Washington Navy Yard and murdered twelve people before being fatally shot by police. This incident, together with an incident three months earlier involving Edward Snowden, caused the U.S. government to critically examine their background investigation (BI) process; because both Snowden and Alexis had supposedly slipped through the cracks of their investigations, there must be some flaw in the BI procedure. The U.S. Committee on Oversight and Reform concluded that rules forbidding “background checkers from looking at the Internet or social media when performing checks” was one of the main factors contributing to defective BIs (Report, 2014). Since the report’s release, the Director of National Intelligence has been debating and trialing whether information from the Internet should be used to form a data double for BIs (Kopp, 2014; Rockwell, 2014). Using this conversation as a discussion catalyst, I argue that due to the nature of the data double, if the United States were to adopt the use of social networking sites (SNSs) for security clearance purposes, neglecting to take into account basic principles of SNSs into the process of BIs may lead to misinformation and unfavorable adjudication. Ultimately, being literate about the social practices involved in SNSs and surveillance would benefit not only investigators, but anyone, including academics, looking at individuals in online spaces.

Reuse Permissions
  • Downloads
    pdf (0 B)

    Details

    Title
    • Literacies for Surveillance: Social Network Sites and Background Investigations
    Contributors
    Date Created
    2015-09-30
    Resource Type
  • Text
  • Collections this item is in
    Identifier
    • Digital object identifier: 10.17645/mac.v3i2.266
    • Identifier Type
      International standard serial number
      Identifier Value
      2183-2439

    Citation and reuse

    Cite this item

    This is a suggested citation. Consult the appropriate style guide for specific citation guidelines.

    Jackson Young, Sarah. (2015) "Literacies for Surveillance: Social Network Sites and Background Investigations." MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION, 3:2, 88-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/mac.v3i2.266

    Machine-readable links