This time, to track blogs, tweets, Amazon book reviews. (h/t Lew Rockwell)
America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates – even check out your book reviews on Amazon.
In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using “open source intelligence” – information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.
Does anyone find this surprising? Or did you people who supported spying in the last administration forget that a different group of people might want to use that same power against you?
November 6th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Good point.
So, this means we should all start putting in "info at tenthamendmentcenter.com" in the email submission box below, not a real address.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Do you mean to say that unconstitutional powers accrued by George W. Bush can now be abused by every president to follow him?
But it was called the PATRIOT Act! How can that be bad?
Now it's called the America's Affordable Health Choices Act! How can that be bad?
November 6th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
surprise, surprise….right? All those on the right that cheered this on during the Bush administration to "protect" us will hopefully be learning a lesson – hopefully….
November 6th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I don't think that I'd ever want to put the CIA on the trail of anyone else…..seems like a nasty thing to do.