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Big Brother Is Watching, Friending, Following You OnlinePosted on Nov 11, 2010
By G.W. Schulz, CIR The following article was originally published by the Center for Investigative Reporting. Remember that hazy trip to Cabo San Lucas with old friends a few years ago? Those margaritas were huge. You just had to post photos of them on Facebook, along with a few other Kodak moments. Then you mostly forgot about them.
Even if you don’t recall all of the sordid details from that weekend of debauchery, your employer may know all about it. That’s because a new company called Social Intelligence billing itself as a social media private eye will observe your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other online accounts on behalf of employers to make certain you’re not a liability.
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But the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based company takes this concept to a new level offering an automated tool that mines social media content for troubling signs. Search filters can be customized “to reflect corporate culture,” and additional manual reviews are conducted by “social media experts.”
A display tells the human resources manager in your workplace how many “negative” hits are uncovered, placing the names of both job applicants and active employees next to red flags like “drugs/drug lingo,” “gangs,” “poor judgment” and “demonstrating potentially violent behavior.”
Social Intelligence is the latest in an ever-expanding movement by both corporations and government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, to use new communications tools for surveillance purposes. Some of the most provocative examples yet emerged only in recent weeks.
The trend raises fresh questions about how standards enforcing privacy online can withstand the rush of data about you and everyone else that courses through the Internet.
After finally landing a job, the information gathering has only just begun. From there, Social Intelligence will carry out near “real-time surveillance” of your behavior with screenshots and customizable reports used to document activity and keep the front office informed. Its marketing materials play into larger fears every employer could have. According to the company’s website:
Internet.com pointed out Sept. 29 that Social Intelligence doesn’t actively “friend” users to surreptitiously access more private posts online. The goal is to shield companies from job seekers and employees who turn out to be dangerous or untrustworthy. Litigation following violent episodes in the workplace can hinge on warning signs an institution may have been aware of in advance. But clearly bloodshed isn’t the only thing Social Intelligence is promising to help prevent.
Government investigators, meanwhile, will quietly friend you and more generally use social media to seek out evidence of possible security threats and spy on political organizations. New documents unearthed recently in Pennsylvania show that state homeland security officials used Twitter accounts to watch people who had not violated any laws, including elderly anti-war protesters linked to Quaker activism.
The news came shortly after Pennsylvania’s homeland security director resigned amid revelations that the state paid a private contractor thousands of dollars to monitor gay and lesbian groups, environmentalists and even a nonprofit tied to the governor. Findings from the surveillance were compiled in intelligence reports ostensibly designed to inform authorities about potential terrorism. But the public reacted angrily. Gov. Ed Rendell apologized, calling the intel-gathering “ludicrous” and insisting he wasn’t aware of it.
Then in October, the Electronic Frontier Foundation obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act 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.
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:
In documents made publicly available earlier this year by the Department of Homeland Security, 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.
What’s DHS watching online? Below is a list of sites monitored and key terms searched. Click here for a report on the department’s Social Media Monitoring Initiative. G.W. Schulz joined the Center for Investigative Reporting in 2008 to launch its ongoing homeland security project. Read the project’s blog, Elevated Risk, here. New and Improved CommentsWe are launching a major overhaul of our comments section. In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread. Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts. Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with. Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page. |
By OldIvory, November 15, 2010 at 10:28 pm Link to this comment
Department of Homeland Security Social Media Spying
Office of Operations Coordination and Planning
Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative
http://cry ptome.org/ 0002/dhs-s ocial-spy. pdf
Report thisBy Fat Freddy, November 14, 2010 at 8:10 pm Link to this comment
Somebody made a video about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX2L5egeR7I&feature=channel
Report thisBy COinMS, November 14, 2010 at 7:39 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
My 17 year old daughter informed me that Facebook was cool ‘until all the old people starting getting on it’. I realized she was right, I didn’t like it anyway, and had other things to do, like work in my garden or just go outside.
I’m off Facebook, no more blogging on blogspot, and have more time and am much happier. Who cares what an old guy thinks anyway, besides Homeland Security?
Report thisBy Psychobabbler, November 12, 2010 at 8:05 pm Link to this comment
I would just like to say that I am great at multi-tasking and I am definitely a people person who likes to work hard and never complain.
I also think that violence is never a solution unless the government does it because that is really just tough love.
I also think that everyone should conform to what HR people think is appropriate behavior and never question authority.
Report thisBy Orbis Unum, November 12, 2010 at 1:48 pm Link to this comment
Re: finnerty, November 12 at 2:01 pm.
My only response to ‘finnerty, is trying to get back up from the floor, from laughing hysterically.
Well done! Thanks, I needed that!
Report thisBy Orbis Unum, November 12, 2010 at 12:13 pm Link to this comment
Re: Queenie, November 12 at 2:37 am.
You state: “No, I’m not “scared”, gerard. Pissed off maybe, but that’s the way the world is now. It’s a shame and a violation of privacy, which used to be a right, but those days are gone never to return.”
Response: I for one, believe a political solution to maintaining peaceful order should be in place to assure orderly services for 6 billion+ people on planet Earth. Whether such is overseen via U.S. Homeland Security or otherwise.
If one is scared or fears those with certain responsibilities, one should always remember what fear stands for…F(false)E(education)A(appearing)R(real). For this reason, reasonable people test all things, to assure themselves as best as possible, that what is claimed by Social Role Models or Educators, one has the ability to State a Claim for which relief can be Granted, when what is perceived, as obvious to many, can be disproved individually.
The technological advancements allow for social networking. But as we all know, such networking can be used to cause harm as well as happiness. Whether you like it or not, the information age entered its existence for the purpose of data mining by those interested in tracking All Walks of Life.
Fundamentally, there is absolutely nothing wrong with activities to monitor whatever. So long as those monitoring are doing so by agreement and withheld from abusing individuals for some private unrelated ends respective to information others should not be privy too! Misuse of information is known as blackmail or extortion! Misuses can even be unknown by those which it affects or effects (provocateurs of detraction and calumny) but the misuses doesn’t change the outcome, whether one is knowledgeable about its use or not, if one is powerless to State a Claim for which Relief can be Granted.
What I have suggested to many individuals, is to take a closer look at controlling information (presumed property rights therein), which might be destined for public consumption or otherwise, before such information can or is used for ulterior purposes, than was intended by the creator thereof.
Whether one chooses to participate in the use of technology to communicate, one should at least come to the table before the use thereof, and bargain for the rights so to speak, via Variation of Agreement, to prove their competence to venture into society, via such technology or otherwise, stating the purpose and the protocols applicable to any controversy which might arise respective thereto.
In support of my continuing suggestions and/or challenge throughout voluminous postings herein, one only has to avail themselves of facts we present, if they have any honorable bone in them, to accept the challenge, by reading the “4” declarations posted by the SEA at the web link: http://www.scribd.com/rahyah.
Having said all this, I will be constantly vigilant, awaiting evidenced, line for line, contrary to the documentary evidence we have proffered!
We honorably await any evidence to prove the premises presented in-particular to the established facts raised within the Universal Declaration dealing with the Four Freedoms on pages 13-15 to prove otherwise.
And once again, as our humble attempt for those capable of presenting facts line for line, in the light of reasonable propositions or otherwise, just as a reminder for all those who honorably exchange ideas within the ‘Truthdig Forum’ while refraining from hateful or insolent behavior…always remember, sometimes while exchanging ideas, the time and respect we give, from a deep seated desire to foster harmonious behavior to garner enlightenment, can be met on the road of hopeful enlightenment, by those seeking to discourage, rather than exhorting to greater possibilities. My best to all who post herein, for the purpose of proposing hopeful enlightenment or garnering enlightenment, while proffering Good Will in the interest of seeking Universal Peace with All Walks of Life!!!
Report thisBy purplewolf, November 12, 2010 at 11:34 am Link to this comment
And lest we forget, it is hard to find any type of a job for many people in this country and this is going to make it even harder to do so. As it was proven in the 1970’s, than if the information is wrong on one of the government computer systems, it was wrong on about 90% of their computers. Today it has been compounded thousands of times.
And since them love to bug us, shouldn’t they pay for the phone service, Internet service, high speed and especially the computers?
Also, since the “fall back” of Day Light Saving Time-a wasted effort, the pages of truthdig do not download correctly. Sometimes they never load more than half way. If they want to spy on us, you would think they want these sites they monitor to work correctly now wouldn’t you?
Report thisBy purplewolf, November 12, 2010 at 11:22 am Link to this comment
Yeah, they must be bored to death, nothing else more important to do with our taxpayer dollars than to spy and fabricate scenarios that will never ever happen. If the spy agencies and America can afford this, why can’t we afford to cover everyone with health care, decent infrastructure, schools, etc..? The money is there, even though it is borrowed from other countries. If those who dole out the funds cannot come up with a workable way to cut wasteful government spending,like all this spying, I am very good at that, maybe they will offer me a job streamlining their expenses and cutting the “real pork” out of the spending that is currently going on now.
A friend of mine recently bought some boxed dinners from the Good Earth company. There were problems with 2 different types of their meals, so she called the toll free number on the box to tell them about it. They replied back that they see she has bought 4 of their product in the past month. She was floored as she paid cash and did not use a credit card or a store customer card as so many stores have these days that monitor your buying habits. They knew this how? The Kraft company has used technology where they have put nanotech onto the boxes of their Philadelphia Brand of cream cheese so that when you buy it, they follow their miniature GPS tracking dot from the store to your house and then they watch to see how long it takes you to use it before you buy another box of their product. And they have been doing this for years, so no doubt everything you buy is tagged and they know exactly how much of everything you have on your property.
Makes one wonder why this government, businesses are so paranoid that they have to spy on every single person in America and perhaps most of the world. If they put as much effort in making this world a better place for everyone rather than all the fighting, wars, spying etc… the world would be a nice place for everyone and there would be no need to spy and fight all the time.
Now, they can go and put this in my file. Make certain they note I have used spell check and hope I have punctuated everything correctly, my eyesight not being that good. But no need to worry, as most of these people spying on us are younger, thus a lesser education in the proper use of the King’s English or else they are people from countries that hate us(according to Cheney)as the former administration felt it was better to use our enemies to spy on us rather than our fellow Americans who need jobs.
Smile, Big Brother and have a rotten day!
Report thisBy finnerty, November 12, 2010 at 8:01 am Link to this comment
Like some kind of agro terror decapitated Mexican Army environmental terrorist, the hacker pirate nicknamed “Toxic Pork Infection” is on a cyber attack jihad worse than the radicals brute forcing their way out of Yemen or Iraq. The militia and the cops armed with a body scanner want to get him into a shootout, but he is always off looting somewhere. My employer might be getting a report that I wrote this satirical little paragraph made from flagged keywords thanks to Social Intelligence Corp (“A RIV DATA CORP COMPANY”). I hope it doesn’t get me fired for having “bad judgement.” Have a nice day. Oh yeah… too bad about freedom of expression. I guess that’s a luxury we just can’t afford, at least not if one wants to eat and pay the rent.
Report thisBy SoTexGuy, November 11, 2010 at 10:15 pm Link to this comment
I can add personal experience to this topic..
Recently while browsing a major internet shopping portal I was greeted with some suggested reading pop-ups.
Thing is, I had previewed those same books HERE on TD and nowhere else..
Big brother is surely out there watching us! .. TD’s sidebar advertising thumbs are on it too..
Adios!
Report thisBy Queenie, November 11, 2010 at 8:37 pm Link to this comment
I don’t do any of that “social networking” stuff. My life is fulfilling enough without seeking out a bunch of ego-inflated idiots online.
It’s amazing to me that everyone doesn’t realize everything posted online is accessible to the world. I have no doubt that whatever is written can be read.
No, I’m not “scared”, gerard. Pissed off maybe, but that’s the way the world is now. It’s a shame and a violation of privacy, which used to be a right, but those days are gone never to return.
Report thisBy gerard, November 11, 2010 at 7:59 pm Link to this comment
Are you scared yet?
Report this