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What The DHS Is Looking For In Your Posts
New submitter lister king of smeg writes "As we all know The Department of Homeland Security monitors social networks,in an attempt to expose 'Items Of Interest.' As it turns out many terms including seemingly benign words such as flu, agent, response, cops drill, etc are on the list of words that set off warning bells for the government spooks. Many of the terms make sense ..., but there are some real stupid ones on the list to like 'social network' ... [according to a] list of key words provided to a DHS contractor that were released by EPIC."
Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, Earthquake, Tremor, Flood
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
I guess at least we should be happy that "Dissent", "Protest", "Occupy", "Tea party", and "Third Party" aren't on there...well, not yet anyway.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, Earthquake, Tremor, Flood
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
Well, Homeland security also encompasses the Federal Emergency Management Agency, so they do have some real interest in getting the news fast if there is a natural disaster going on. It turns out that the twitter feeds actually do spread news of natural disasters faster than watching CNN.
(...and, for that matter, if Lex Luthor is up to tricks, shouldn't they want to catch him?)
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Of the 4 examples in this post, "flu", "agent", and "cops drill" aren't inappropriate things to monitor (if it's appropriate to monitor at all, which is another story). "Flu" tracking is important for epidemics. Discussions of the location of cops and agents seems to make sense too. Again, I think it's silly they're trying to monitor social networks to this level, but if they're going to do it those aren't the worst keywords.
Also, I guess now I'm going to be tracked for discussing the keywords. How very meta.
Developers: We can use your help.
And I found a cool way to get a free gps receiver!
Just post the following words on your blog:
allah akbar, jihad!, white, house, flu, anthrax, bomb, airplane!, pope, my brothers!, 70 virgins, hail mary
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
They are trying to catch you, the citizen, organizing to reform the financial elites that have ruined our economy and control our/their politicians.
i have noticed the government gotten more & more drunk and insane with their control & power, and it is steadily getting worse, my only question is how tyrannical will they get before the citizens of this nation wake up and turn on them...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
... Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, ...
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
They're looking for the coed naked twister parties. I haven't seen a t-shirt or hat with that phrase in probably 20 years...
Seriously though I hope they whitelist weather.gov or else a lot of mostly harmless meteorologists will pay the ultimate price in america's war on civil liberties err I mean terror.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
I am going to blow up NYC by using terror, social networking, and flu. Agent orange is my favorite mixed drink.
RADIOACTIVE AGRO TERROR!!!!!!!!!twelve131313
Better yet, I had to get my kids inoculated with TAMIFLU and now can't afford to contribute to this year's IRA. I went to the TARGET last night in SAN DIEGO and had a conversation with a SMART cashier. She told me that she was an AGRICULTURE major before moving from EL PASO but decided that GAS was too expensive for that.
WOOT!
DDOS (Dedicated Denial of Service)
Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, Earthquake, Tremor, Flood
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
Considering that any person considering illegal action that has had at least a modicum of training (which is fairly easily found by simple going to the right websites/forums) would never use terms such as these openly in social networks, I doubt that would ever even happen. One of the first things they would learn would be operational security, ie code-words and code phrases. I highly doubt DHS seriously expects that this will help them identify anyone. More than likely they see it as a way to track general trends, which would explain the inclusion of weather terms. As a poster below me mentioned, FEMA comes under the purview of DHS, so coupling search terms like this with location data can give data on path, damage levels, infection rates/patterns (in the case of "flu"). This is far more than a simple Big Brother-esque surveillance program as the summary is trying to lead people to believe. It has plenty of scientific, beneficial uses as well.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Neither. Who the fuck are you kidding, other than yourself? What terrorist would talk in plain text on social networks about serious stuff? I'd be surprised if they're even into mail and cell phones a whole lot. I mean, the ones that actually end up doing stuff -- surely not the American population, which might after all wake up to how badly it's being shafted, and which is the main target of this. The only threat the terrorists face is the tax payers saying "nah, let's pay for something else, schools maybe". So they come up with stuff like this. And hey, it's not like you have any way of knowing what they're actually searching for, that won't be declassified for 50 years, if ever. This is just something to tell people "they're watching", and the more shallow the discussion about it is, the better.
I think we should find out all the words that they're monitoring, and organize a movement to have everyone slip them all into their facebook/twitter posts.
Hey everyone! I just dropped a dirty bomb in the toilet. So stinky!
or
I'm going to really attack the gym today, do some exercise drills. It'll be an explosion of activity!
or
Molly, I really loved seeing you tonight. Happy Birthday! Chemical weapons.
Isn't it interesting that we now can take for granted that the government is spying on us? When I was a boy, one of the great things about this country, and one of the things that distinguished us from other countries, was that we didn't have to worry about that. In fact we took it for granted that the government wasn't watching what we did and listening to what we said.
Then some people flew some planes into some buildings and we all lost our collective shit. It seems everyone, from the media to politicians to businesses to defense contractors and intelligence agencies, has an interest in keeping the American people cowered in fear. And cower we do! We would never have put up with the wars and the invasions of our rights and privacy 12 years ago. But once people have the shit scared out of them, they will accept a lot of stuff they wouldn't have before. There are people know and count on this.
People, 9/11 was a one-off event. It was horrifying and disturbing, but it isn't going to happen again. In the meantime, there have been no significant terrorist attacks in this country. Sure, we've had the shoe-bomber and then the underwear-bomber (both of whom evaded security). But are those guys worth all this? There is no terrorist threat! Yes, there are those few who think violence will get them what they want, but that has always been true. There is no threat that warrants this overreaction, and shifting of the fundamental character of this country.
But now everyone is afraid, and are kept that way by the entities mentioned above, who see self-interest in our fear. They are not interested in actually protecting you (as if you needed to be protected), they are lining their pockets and building power structures. It's a shame, because it seems that at the end of the day, "the land of the free and the home of the brave" is just a line in a song.
There you go DHS (or NSA, or FBI, or CIA, or NRO), put me on your list.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
What terrorist would talk in plain text on social networks about serious stuff?
The kind the DHS wants us to believe actually exist.
My point is that government surveillance organisations aren't as dumb as the article seem to suggest.
This suggests otherwise! A couple of dumbass kids tweeting about their vacation using generic slang gets them denied access to the US. Score one for paranoia.
No system is 100% accurate, so it's best to have redundancy and correlate multiple sensors. Also, it takes time to process data from them, and then more time to send information to interested parties. Twitter or other sources (say, the amount of 911 calls being made in an area) could be used to prioritize an area for more detailed scrutiny.
Besides, disaster recognition systems cost money, so you can't just blanket every square meter with sensors - you have to decide what disasters are likely to hit where. But even low-probability disasters can hit, and monitoring Twitter is a cheap way of getting basic coverage for everything everywhere, so why not do it?
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
The Department of "Homeland Security"....that name always reminds me of the Nightwatch from Babylon 5. I still cringe when people refer to the U.S. as "Homeland" or "Motherland".
but we are in the US, so we have square feet instead of square meters... which means it takes 9 times as many sensors!
Yeah and I can think of only two words scarier - President Palin.
but we are in the US, so we have square feet
ah, that explains the high cost of shoes, here, then!
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Great, now you've got Lex Luthor with a utility belt and an invisible plane.
Aw, geez, not this shit again. Clark Kent is a reporter. He wears glasses. Superman is... Superman. He's weird and cool. And he does not. Wear. GLASSES!
Give it up already.
I drank what? -- Socrates