U.S. snoops scan the Web for potential terror risksU.S. snoops scan the Web for potential terror risks
The U.S. government created a special center prior to Barack Obama’s inauguration for analyzing oceans of data passing through Facebook, Twitter, and other sites in an attempt to identify hazards; personnel at DHS’s National Operations Center scan the Web using dozens upon dozens of key search terms and phrases, among them “militia,” “cops,” “riot,” “dirty bomb,” “Mexican army,” “decapitated,” “Iraq,” “radicals,” and many more
Corporations and government agencies, including DHS, are increasingly using new communications tools for surveillance purposes. In October, the Electronic Frontier Foundation obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit showing that the federal government created a special center prior to Barack Obama’s inauguration for analyzing oceans of data passing through Facebook, Twitter, and other sites in an attempt to identify hazards.
AlterNet reports that further records turned over to EFF revealed that federal investigators were taught how they could deceptively “friend” people applying to become citizens and snoop for relationship details meeting the government’s standard of a legitimate marriage. According to one internal memo:
Narcissistic tendencies in many people fuels a need to have a large group of ‘friends’ link to their pages, and many of these people accept cyber-friends that they don’t even know. … Once a user posts online, they create a public record and timeline of their activities.
In documents made publicly available earlier this year by DHS, officials described another new program for maintaining “situational awareness” that involved tracking social media sites and other online destinations.
Personnel at the department’s National Operations Center scan the Web using dozens upon dozens of key search terms and phrases, among them “militia,” “cops,” “riot,” “dirty bomb,” “Mexican army,” “decapitated,” “Iraq,” “radicals,” and many more. The NOC stores and analyzes its results before determining what tips should be distributed to other government agencies and even private companies authorized to receive such information.
As for Social Intelligence, attempting to expose online criticism from employees could become its own liability. The National Labor Relations Board is arguing that condemnation of your boss on Facebook doesn’t justify termination. Lawyers for the labor board alleged in late October that an ambulance company violated the law when it fired an employee for disparaging remarks made on the Web. Observers are calling the case ground-breaking.
