MINNEAPOLIS -- The Intercept exposes how the Mall of America in Minneapolis spied on the AIM Interpretive Center, Black Lives Matter, Idle No More and others using fake Facebook profiles in a scheme known as 'catfishing.' As a result, arrests resulted from peaceful gatherings at the Mall.
The fake Facebook account “liked” Facebook groups associated with Ferguson activists, the American Indian Movement Interpretive Center, Occupy Minneapolis, SumOfUs, the SEIU Minnesota State Council, and Communities United Against Police Brutality, among others, The Intercept reports.
Jim Lukaszewski, a crisis communications expert at Risdall Public Relations, profiled efforts by mall security to carefully track political protesters. In a case study posted on the Risdall website titled “Fulminating Flash mobs,” Lukaszewski explains how mall security responded to a flash mob dance by Idle No More, a Native American rights group. “Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus were being aggressively monitored using Topsy, Monitor, and Kurrently,” the case study claims, noting that arrest kits were prepared in an area “hidden from public view to avoid antagonizing the crowd.”
Read the full story at The Intercept:https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/18/mall-americas-intelligence-analyst-catfished-black-lives-matter-activists-collect-information
