US Spy Agencies See Bloggers as Journalists

Sniper223 writes with a link to ABC's Blotter blog. That site observes that at least in the realm of US intelligence gathering, the 'are bloggers journalists' question is already decided. "Despite the rap that bloggers simply 'bloviate' and 'don't try to find things out,' as conservative newspaper columnist Robert Novak once sniffed, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have altered policies to indicate they're taking blogs seriously, and a growing number of public offices are actively reaching out to the blogosphere. The CIA recently updated its policies on Freedom of Information Act requests to allow bloggers to qualify for special treatment once reserved for old-school reporters. And last August, the NSA issued a directive to its employees to report leaks of classified information to the media — "including blogs," the order said."

Comments

Boo fucking hoo

[Anonymous Coward]

Waaaah!!! I'm a foreigner and teh big bad NSA is spying on all the phone calls I've been making to the remote tribal regions of Pakistan! Waaaahhh!!! Who will be soft-headed enough to take up my cause? I know - well-to-do liberals who have a nihilist view of the world! Their overblown sense of self-importance and misplaced self-righteous outrage might be able to be used to make them think that someone actually cares enough about them to listen in on them dictating a grocery list to their gay lover over the phone. And maybe those spineless wonders in Congress will jump on the anti-security bandwagon as well - at least until it comes time for a vote on FISA.

Give me a fucking break. You want the government to feed you, pay for your cage, keep you safe, and even pay for all of your meds, and generally keep their good little tax-paying pet fed, dumb, and happy, but God-forbid they listen in on your no-doubt inane and tedious phone conversations.

Bloviate?

[GuldKalle]

At first i thought it was a blogging-related buzzword run amok, but apparently it is a real word.

You learn something every day.

Men in Black all over again

[notnAP]

KAY: Let's check the hot sheets.

Grabs a tabloid

JAY: These are the hot sheets?
KAY:Best damn investigative reporting on the planet.

Now how can I make use of this?

[mnemotronic]

Wow. Opinion being treated as fact. That's a new one for this administration. But there's certainly some opportunities here. How about a blog describing Alberto Gonzales homosexual adventures with a known Al-Queda operative living in his basement, complete with photoshopped pix? How about blogging the truth behind Dick Cheney's rumored drug addiction and child molestation tendencies? And Condoleezza Rice's three abortions and stem-cell derived facial treatments (funded by Ansar al-Islam)? All these accusations can be proven via anonymous sources whispering pseudo-facts. Truth is in the eye of the beholder, or so it seems.