Twitter has a massive amount of public data that could help detect terrorist attacks, but refuses to share it, according to the head of the NSA.
Testifying before the Senate Committee on Armed Services Tuesday, Navy Adm. Mike Rogers and Chairman John McCain engaged in a back-and-forth on how intelligence agencies can use data analyzing services like Dataminr to help detect terrorist attacks as they happen.
“ISIL (Islamic State) remains the most adaptive target I’ve worked in 35 years as an intelligence professional, sir,” Rogers told McCain during his testimony.
McCain then queried the NSA chief on how Dataminr could be a tool to counter the adaptive threat posed by ISIS, citing how the company was able to inform U.S. intelligence agencies about last November’s Paris attacks shortly after they began. More recently, Dataminr was also able to notify clients of the Brussels terrorist attacks 10 minutes before traditional media.
Twitter, which holds a 5 percent interest in Dataminr, has prevented the company from sharing data with U.S. intelligence agencies, hamstringing their ability to detect terrorist attacks.
“We have a situation where we have the ability to detect terror attacks using organizations such as Dataminr, yet in order for us to anticipate these attacks we have to have certain information, and Twitter is refusing to allow them to have information which literally could prevent attacks on the United States of America,” said McCain. “Is that right Admiral?”
“Yes sir,” responded Rogers, noting that Twitter is still willing to sell that same information to private businesses.
“For sale?” asked McCain.
“For sale, for revenue,” responded Rogers.
When McCain asked what ought to be done, aside from exposing such business practices, Rogers replied by saying he wished he had a, “better understanding as to the rationale that leads someone to believe that is the right course of action.”
“So shame on them,” said McCain.
Twitter has defended its decision to cut off Dataminr by citing privacy concerns over government surveillance.
“Dataminr uses public Tweets to sell breaking news alerts to media organizations and government, for non-surveillance purposes. Due to privacy concerns, we have not authorized Dataminr or any third party to sell data to a government or intelligence agency for surveillance purposes,” said a Twitter spokesperson to The Daily Caller News Foundation on the condition of anonymity.
Twitter has a mechanism through which law enforcement can request a user’s information, however, it requires a search warrant and Twitter will notify the user if their information has been shared, unless the law states otherwise. Officials can also make an “emergency disclosure request” for information by filling out a web form. Twitter received 5,000 such requests from the U.S. government last year, providing information in approximately 80 percent of cases.
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