The Legal and Ethical Implications of Sharing Open-Source Intelligence Among Agencies and Contractors

This article seeks to understand open-source intelligence in the 21st century by examining the implications of sharing it with high-reliability organizations, private military contractors, and other outside groups. By comparing the efficacy of finished intelligence collected through overt and covert means, we conclude that OSINT can be far more impactful, primarily because it is easily shareable. The article then begins to develop a framework with which to understand the sharing of OSINT and the nature of its potential impacts. Finally, this analysis concludes that OSINT’s most useful place auxiliary method to disconfirm traditional intelligence and work as an informational proxy that allows the broad sharing of collected information.