Apparently, Twitter is a threat to government security! And terrorists could be using it to communicate and coordinate attacks! reports cnet.
According to the US army the social media tool and micro blogging application Twitter could be a serious threat to government security. In a paper produced by the Federation of American Scientist entitled, “al Queda-like mobile discussions & potential creative uses”, twitter is described and reported:
“Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences,”
The main threat is perceived by twitters usage through mobile telephony and the ability to exchange information in real time with a selected group. Added to this the ability to direct users to other websites, gprs services and map locations, twitter apparently provides terrorists with the perfect tool for instantaneous communication.
But are terrorists actually looking at social media tools such as twitter to organise attacks? It seems a little far fetched to me. Im sure terrorists are looking for any tools available to keep below the radar but Im just not convinced twitter is going to be their communication channel of choice. The report itself quotes twitters posted relating to the Iraq war sent by individuals involved. The powers that be obviously have the ability to track twitter posts so surely will be picking up on anything even remotely threatening to international security. Now obviously the secret services would not be able to react to real time communications via twitter but Im sure they would be sniffing around profiles which they thought were worth keeping an eye on.