1st Amendment Violated as Facebook Assists Police in Pre-Crime InvestigationsSusanne Posel, Contributor Raubs lawyers saythat he will be held for up to 30 days further confinement in a VA psych ward after government officials again pointed to Raubs Facebook posts as the sole reason for their concern and for his continued incarceration. While Raub was takenforcefully, put into handcuffs and taken by the FBI to be questioned, both the FBI and Secret Service deny that Raub was arrested or detained by them. Facebook comments were recently cited as evidencein a court case concerning cyber bullying where comments on a personal page were ruled by a US Federal court as information that can be lawfully obtained by the police to be used against a defendant. William Pauley, US District Court Judge, stated that because the defendant made violent threats in his posts which are deemed public information that they are allowable as evidence against him by prosecutors. The Electric Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suitwith the US Department of Defense (DoD) because the federal agency refused to admit their relationship with social networks with regard to surveillance and law enforcement investigations. Government officials scan Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and YouTube for evidence of criminal activities, activists and possible suspects who may have not committed a crime just yet. And these agencies named in the lawsuit refused to cooperate with the EFF in explaining how gathering this information would impact citizens privacy rights and associated legal protections. Hoping to dupe Americans into posting on their Facebook page, the CIAgathers information while inviting people to register and read information about the employment opportunities. While government agencies are using Facebook to data mine on Americans, it has been suggested in the social memethat without a Facebook page, a persons mental stability is questionable. Now, having a profile or not is the barometer of whether or not a person is suspicious or not. Some psychologists are even suggesting that not having a Facebook profile means that you are a psychopath. The linkbetween the Batman shooter and the Norwegian mass murderer was their lack of Facebook profiles. In fact, thismay be the first sign that you are a mass murderer. Trapwire, the most impressive pre-crime surveillance software corporation with clients from Wal-Mart to the White House, is but one of many types of Big Brother network grids that have incrementally begun to invade our lives. Alexander Keith, director of the National Security Agency (NSA) described at a yearly Def Concomputer hacking conference that the internet is at great risk from exploitation, disruption and destruction. He went on to voice his concern that its going to flow into destructive attacks that could have consequences for our critical national infrastructure and the Internet itself. Basically, Keith is concerned because the internet is currently not controlled by federal agencies. When the NSAneeds more hackers, they recruit out of colleges and universities across the US under the official Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations. By using college students, the NSA is amassing an elite team of computer geniuses that will be trained in all methodology of hacking based on their exceptional cyber intelligence, military capabilities and ability to enhance law enforcements expansion of spying on Americans. The Department of Justice (DoJ) has requested the authority to criminally prosecute those who lie on Facebook and other social media as a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Accordingto Richard Downing, the DoJ deputy computer crime chief, the law must provide for prosecutions based upon a violation of terms of service or similar contractual agreement with an employer or provider. A felony can be committed by the user of a social media site by exceeding the authorized access; meaning any infraction of the websites term of service. Put in other words, The NSA has transformed itself into the largest and most comprehensive intelligence agency with the expressed purpose of collecting data on American citizens. Emails, cell phone calls, text messages, Google searches, parking receipts, and all other forms of information are collected and stored for future use. Social media sites like Facebook readily give over information to federal agencies that conduct such surveillance. And like we have seen with the case of US Marine veteran Brandon Raub, it can be used against you. 