Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism

FORCED “ON CALL” COLLABORATION BY PRIVATE ENTITIES
Other than government agencies' monitoring activities, there are cases in which Internet 
Service Providers collaborate spontaneously or over a simple request from the law en-
forcement agencies. The exponential increase in Big Data since 2001 has provided a 
truly unique opportunity. In this respect, a key role has been played by Social Media. 
One need only reflect on the fact that Facebook, Twitter, Google
+
, and Instagram, all of 
which are situated in Silicon Valley, boast around 2 billion users throughout the world
14
 
and many of these users are citizens of the European Union. Facebook's founder may 
have intended “to empower the individual,” but there is no doubt that Social Network 
Services (SNSs) have also empowered law enforcement (
Kirkpatrick, 2013
).
 
Big Data and social surveillance
11 
Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011.
12 
See Letter from John Cunliffe (UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU) to Juan Lopez Aguilar 
(Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs), 1 
October 2013. Available: 
http://snurl.com/282nwfn
 [Jan. 31, 2014].
13 
See United States v. Miller (425 US 425 [1976]). In this case the United States Supreme Court held 
that the “bank records of a customer’s accounts are the business records of the banks and that the 
customer can assert neither ownership nor possession of those records”. The same principle could be 
applied to an Internet Service Provider.
14 
Google 
+
currently has 400 million users, Instragram 90 million, Facebook 963 million e Twitter 
637 million. Retrieved October 28th, 2013, from 
http://bgr.com/2012/09/17/google-plus-stats-
2012-400-million-members/
; 
http://www.checkfacebook.com
 [Jan. 31, 2014]; 
http://socialfresh.
com/1000instagram/
 [Jan. 31, 2014]; 
http://twopcharts.com/twitter500million.php
 [Jan. 31, 2014].

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