Friday, March 16, 2012

Tracking pirates through their tweets

According to CNN, Somali pirates blog, tweet and have Facebook accounts, just like the rest of the world. Through their social media activity, shipping lines are discovering how modern pirates operate.

"Somalia is a very sophisticated economy, it has one of the best mobile phone communication systems in the world," said Jessica Lincoln, director of intelligence at Rubicon Resolution, a risk consultancy, to CNN.

Lincoln says she monitors pirates’ movements with “normal web tools.” In one method she compiles online posts about ship attacks from individuals and insurgent organizations, such as Al-Shabaab, which has a Twitter account. When Al-Shabaab claims they carried out a raid, for example, Lincoln will cross check the claim with tweets from the Kenyan army, which a known affiliate, or the International Maritime Organization, which also regularly posts information on pirate attacks.

Lincoln’s work has been noticed by shipping companies and government intelligence agencies. Her work was displayed at a recent shipping conference in Hong Kong, due to rising safety concerns about escalating violence in pirate attacks on cargo ships.

- CNN

Read the complete story: edition.cnn.com

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