Using Social Media To Detect And Arrest Mass Shooters and Terrorist Before They Can Kill

       Our holiday began on a pleasant note. The sun came out. We were able to sleep late. I went out for my morning walk. Elena took the dogs for their walk. When I returned, I opened a nice bottle of red wine from Table Wine Company. I went into the study and dug into a fascinating book about accidents and mishaps associated with nuclear weapons. Elena went to work in the kitchen cooking great Canadian bacon sandwiches with a salad from our garden and strawberries. Elena showed me the progress in the garden afterward. Lettuce and peppers are blooming. Potatoes are starting to sprout (Shades of the movie The Martian.) We made plans to start growing carrots and other vegetables.

     I went up to the deck with Alice. I looked out at the ocean. I reminisced about a time exactly 50 years ago when I was serving in the US Navy at the Bureau of Naval Personnel. I was amazed at the people and animals that I could remember after 50 years. The sun got very hot. I came back to the house.

     Then I got the shocking news that a troubled 22-year-old man had opened fire in Highland Park, Illinois with an AR-15 during a 4th of July parade. Ten people lay dead. 24 people were in the hospital with varying wounds.

     Television went in-depth on the story. The shooter's social media writings were explored in detail. It came out that under current gun laws, a person in the US can be denied the right to buy a gun if very disturbing social media posts are detected.

     I have a standard warning for anyone using social media around the world. You are on "an open microphone." Not only are your friends and family reading your posts. Such diverse groups as law enforcement agencies, tax collectors, political parties, lenders, potential employers, security clearance grantors, insurance companies, marketing companies, other government agencies, and many others you cannot imagine are reading your posts.

    Elena and I remembered a movie from 2002-" Minority Report." It was written by the great science fiction author Phillip Dick. The film starred Tom Cruise. It was thought-provoking and decades ahead of its time. For those of you curious, here is the link:

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

 

    The film is about an elite law enforcement agency that can predict murders before they happen. They arrest the killer before he or she can commit the actual crime.

    One possible scenario for the future is elite law enforcement agencies in many different countries scouring social media "with a fine-tooth comb." If writings like those of the Highland Park shooter are detected, the writer is arrested and detained before they can commit the crime. This has all sorts of troubling ethical and legal concerns. I will leave you to reflect on it.