http://scgnews.com/facebooks-psychological-experiments-connected-to-department-of-defense-research-on-civil-unrest

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/jun/12/pentagon-mass-civil-breakdown

You guys know anything about it?

Kind of ironic stories like this are released in June and then something like AB 1014 is passed in September.  That "law" directly infringes on an individuals rights that goes even beyond just their 2A rights, but also their right to due process before action is taken against them, which if became widespread, could very well cause civil unrest.

Some will read it and just be scared that the government will try to control us or find ways of preventing protest they don't like and that possibility may exist, but as one with a sociology degree I find the science to be interesting, to examine society and try to figure out what could cause a breakdown. I believe this has great potential in keeping us safe on many levels. This could be done to defuse potential riots, it could be used to manage a dangerous disease outbreak, etc. One might think of it as good verbal judo for a very large group instead of an individual. If we know how a large group reacts then it may be easier to address them in ways that won't escalate the situation. Civil unrest often isn't something that follows conventional logic and values, people go out and do things they wouldn't normally do, so understanding this may be the difference between keeping a protest peaceful instead of it getting violent.

I don't know exactly how the Facebook one was operated so I don't know if some gathering of private data occurred or whether they merely watched people's publicly viewable comments. It could be that this particular study was conducted in violation of someone's privacy but at this point I haven't seen proof that it did.

People have been studying society for a long time though and at this point I don't think we need to consider this some violation of our rights. Some are upset that they didn't know they were being studied but in sociology sometimes if people realize you are observing them they will act differently and your data will be inaccurate. Is it ethical though? Tough question.