Direct Collection (Without Login)
Definition
Acquisition of a target's public profile content using no credentials. The page is served to anyone. Limited to whatever the privacy settings expose to the public tier.
Related terms
- API-Based Collection
- Acquisition via the platform's official API: X v2 API, Meta Graph API, LinkedIn API. Requires a developer account, often paid tiers, and...
- Direct Collection (With Login)
- Acquisition using the subject's account credentials or a session cookie lifted from a seized device. Requires legal authorisation under BNSS Section 91...
- Hunchly
- Browser-based case-management tool for OSINT. Captures every page visited as a hashed snapshot, builds the case dossier and produces a court-ready report....
- Indirect Collection
- Deriving evidence from interconnected accounts (mutual friends, tagged content, common groups) rather than the target's own profile. Powerful when the target's account...
- OSINT
- Open-Source Intelligence. Investigation using publicly available sources: social media, satellite imagery, news archives, public databases. In deepfake casework, OSINT corroborates or contradicts...
Explained in
- Social Media Evidence Collection: API, Direct, Indirect and OSINTAcquisition of a target's public profile content using no credentials. The page is served to anyone. Limited to whatever the privacy settings expose to the pub...