A user on the open information website Right To Know filed an FOI request for the AFP’s social media policy, and the results, published over the weekend, make for interesting reading. The AFP warns officers that if they use social media they “could become a target for humiliation or fall victim to electronic scams, hacking attempts, identity theft and other fraud, physical attacks and other predatory offences such as stalking, harassment and intimidation. Some AFP appointees have already been victim to the above.”

The agency advises AFP officers to be careful with what they put online, warning that it could be put to them while they give evidence or could make the front page of a newspaper.

AFP officers are allowed reasonable use of social media at work, but the policy warns that if social media is used on AFP systems “it comes at a cost to the AFP and can be more costly should a successful security cyber attack eventuate”, and they’re warned against identifying themselves as AFP officers online or risk being compromised.

The AFP also has a policy for “assumed identities” and social media. Officers who are undercover can create accounts for their assumed identities if they get prior authorisation from the AFP’s undercover program.