Table of Contents
Listen to this episode on Cybertraps.com, Apple Podcast, or your podcast platform of choice.
Show Notes
The Uvalde School Shooting -- A Trove of Social Media Content
- Gunman posted ominous photos of rifles and other messages on Instagram
- He privately messaged a young woman that he planned to attack an elementary school
- He used Yubo to threaten school shootings and show off a rifle
Context
- Social media is one element of a complex problem
- Uvalde already used security tech, including:
** Raptor Technologies, for monitoring visitors
** Social Sentinel, for identifying social media threats - Challenges posed by new, less-easily monitored online channels
** Increased use of end-to-end encryption even on more well-established sites, like WhatsApp, Apple Messenger, Signal, etc. Facebook wants to make E2E encryption the default for Instagram and Facebook Messenger as well. Law enforcement is opposed.
** FaceTime
** Yubo
** Snapchat
** Instagram direct messaging
** Discord
** Twitch
** "They are fundamentally designed to keep communications private, presenting different challenges than Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, where violent screeds and videos have been algorithmically amplified to millions of viewers."
** "The way that generation uses social media more generally could render years of work to spot and identify public signs of upcoming violence obsolete, social media experts warn."
Responses
- Culture of cybersafety
- Department of Justice School Violence Prevention Program may provide funding
- Increased interest in social media surveillance products. However:
** No solid evidence that they work
** May have built-in racial biases in algorithms
** Helps to create a culture of surveillance
** Conditions children that surveillance is the norm
** Creates conditions (cameras, metal detectors, full-time police presence) that can make school feel like a prison
** Surveillance technology more commonly used to punish minor infractions - Use of AI and algorithm-driven products
** Facial recognition
** Gun detection systems (scans of security camera footage) - Pandemic has driven surveillance in effort to keep kids masked and socially-distanced
- Researchers argue that surveillance measures lower student performance
Resources - Dr. Glenn Lipson. You can listen to Dr. Lipsen discuss some of these issues with Jethro Jones and Frederick Lane on the following podcast episodes:
** TCP Episode 109 -- Keeping Kids Safe with Dr. Glenn Lipson
** TCP Episode 107 -- Threat Assessment Challenges in Schools with Dr. Glenn Lipson
** TCP Episode 005 -- The Power of Connection with Dr. Glenn Lipson - 2 June 2022 -- The problem with schools turning to surveillance after mass shootings
- 28 May 2022 -- Chilling new footage shows Texas gunman Salvador Ramos during shirtless video call with 15-year-old German girl on social media app Yubo - days before he told her about his school massacre plans
- 28 May 2022 -- Texas gunman had threatened school shootings on social media, reports say
- 27 May 2022 -- The Gunman in Uvalde Left Multiple Hints Before His Attack Began
- 26 May 2022 -- As young gunmen turn toward new social networks, old safeguards fail
- 22 May 2022 -- NYC Mayor Eric Adams slams social media after Texas school shooting
