Police in Massachusetts accidentally included their bookmarks in a tweeted picture.
There were a quite a few activist groups, including Mass Action Against Police Brutality, some of the groups have been inactive for a while, but it is pretty clear that police are spying on people, albeit in a lazy way, and unsurprisingly are only looking at the leftier groups. In terms of snooping they have also bookmarked tineye, the image search engine, which would allow you to try to find people included in photos or who have used fake facebook details.
Facebook users need to
Facebook users need to realize that the lack of anonymity on Facebook is not trivial. They need to understand that organizing any left-wing activities on Facebook is going to attract police. I think the best strategy would be to abandon Facebook as an organizing platform and use other social media where a real name is not required. Combined with some sort of vetting process to allow people into closed social media groups, this could become a significant step forward in preventing police from spying on leftist activists.
Facebook doesn't require a
Facebook doesn't require a real name, just an email address. But they will link all sorts of things and cross-reference information to discover your real identity, such as IP address, phone number etc. I know activists who used facebook, but the other problem with anonymous groups is that it becomes hard to closely vet people.
A good general rule of thumb
A good general rule of thumb for online activists is not to say anything online that one would not say in public in the presence of strangers, and real name or not Facebook is not a secure venue for activists to discuss the particulars of anything that you would like to remain a secret or that could possibly implicate you or other activists in a crime.