Facebook Refuses to Hand Over Pirate Information

When United Nations investigators approached Facebook for help tracking down suspected Somali pirates, Facebook basically gave them a metaphorical Kanye shrug. Suggested Reading How Detroit’s First Female Mayor Made History—Again, With This Major Announcement Only 4 Days in Office 20 Years After ‘The Secret,’ How Black Folks Still Use Vision Boards to Create The Life…

When United Nations investigators approached Facebook for help tracking down suspected Somali pirates, Facebook basically gave them a metaphorical Kanye shrug.

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Though some groups and companies have obliged such requests in the past, Facebook apparently isn’t one of them, reports the U.N.’s Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea. In an issued statement, Facebook said that the group “had no legal authority to demand data from the company.” 

The Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea reports that pirates use social media networks to coordinate and communicate among themselves, although two pirates who spoke to the Associated Press deny the claims.

It’s an interesting move, considering that Facebook was one of the Internet companies revealed to have supplied the National Security Agency with information on its users. A Washington, D.C., lawyer speculates that Facebook may have turned down the U.N. because “it is trying to become involved with Internet regulation.”

Read more at NBC News.

Tracy Clayton is a writer, humorist and blogger from Louisville, Ky.

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