Facebook turns spy

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Submitted by Managing Editor on Sat, 09/05/2009 - 3:12am
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By Rebecca Stewart

The social networking site Facebook has been embraced by people around the world as a way to catch up with and reconnect with friends, as well as networking and promotion for businesses.

And this has been taken one step further.

The British intelligence agency MI6 are using Facebook as a tool to recruit new agents. MI6 launched their Facebook promotion in September 2008.

“A number of channels are used to promote opportunities in the organisation. Facebook is a recent example,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

On the darker side of things, however, Facebook has been used by militants seeking to recruit spies against Israel.

The Israel Security Agency (ISA) has warned Israeli citizens to be cautious about who contacts them via the social networking site. The ISA has indicated that terrorist groups are using social networking sites to lure Israelis into meeting with them in order to abduct, kill or use as spies.

It doesn't end with social networking sites.

The ISA has also indicated that militant groups are increasingly using the internet to wage their war against Israel. Hamas militants in Gaza have used Google Earth to help increase their precision when firing their rockets.