Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The wave of civil unrest that has swept the globe over the past year has prompted the Department of Homeland Security to step up its monitoring of Twitter and other social networks in a bid to pre-empt any sign of social dislocation within the United States.
“Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Caryn Wagner said the use of such technology in uprisings that started in December in Tunisia shocked some officials into attention and prompted questions of whether the U.S. needs to do a better job of monitoring domestic social networking activity,” reports the Associated Press.Wagner announced that the federal agency would implement new guidelines that would focus on “gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes.”
Under the new framework, when the department receives information about a “potential threat,” it will then ask its contractors to look for relevant search references using “open source” information.
Although it’s somewhat naive to think that Homeland Security wasn’t already scanning the likes of Facebook and Twitter for social trends and signs of civil unrest, the fact that its now being announced publicly illustrates the increasing concern that riots which have hit the Middle East and Europe over the last 18 months will soon manifest themselves inside the United States.
Indeed, US law enforcement bodies are already scanning Twitter and Facebook for signs of unrest.
Having launched a specialized unit to focus on gleaning clues from social media websites, the NYPD Disorder Control Unit recently brought together police from all five of the city’s boroughs to rehearse what the response would be “should out-of-control riots break out here”.
Social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter came in for harsh condemnation following the UK riots, with Prime Minister David Cameron advocating authorities have the power to shut down access during times of public disorder, mimicking the Communist Chinese system of Internet censorship, which is used to curtail political protests.
Although the Occupy Wall Street movement has been the only real expression of civil unrest in the United States thus far, a worsening economic climate almost guarantees the prospect of an increase in social disorder across the globe.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO), a prominent UN agency, warned yesterday that the world faces an imminent “dramatic downturn” in employment, and a new recession which in turn would lead to greater social unrest, particularly in European countries.
In preparation for potential riots inside the United States, the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Institute issued a report in November 2008 entitled Known Unknowns: Unconventional Strategic Shocks in Defense Strategy Development.
The report lays out the strategy for how authorities would respond to “purposeful domestic resistance,” wherein U.S. troops would be deployed domestically to counter civil unrest.
The report was issued weeks after the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, and included a potential “economic collapse” as one of the scenarios under which troops would be used inside the U.S. to restore order.
By P. SOLOMON BANDA, Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The wave of uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East that have overturned three governments in the past year have prompted the U.S. government to begin developing guidelines for culling intelligence from social media networks, a top Homeland Security official said Monday.
Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Caryn Wagner said the use of such technology in uprisings that started in December in Tunisia shocked some officials into attention and prompted questions of whether the U.S. needs to do a better job of monitoring domestic social networking activity.
"We're still trying to figure out how you use things like Twitter as a source," she said. "How do you establish trends and how do you then capture that in an intelligence product?"
Wagner said the department is establishing guidelines on gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes. Wagner says those protocols are being developed under strict laws meant to prevent spying on U.S. citizens and protect privacy, including rules dictating the length of time the information can be stored and differences between domestic and international surveillance.
Wagner said the Homeland Security department, established after the 9/11 attacks, is not actively monitoring any social networks. But when the department receives information about a potential threat, contractors are then asked to look for certain references within "open source" information, which is available to anyone on the Internet.
The challenge, she said, is to develop guidelines for collecting and analyzing information so that it provides law enforcement officials with meaningful intelligence.
"I can post anything on Facebook, is that valid? If 20 people are tweeting the same thing, then maybe that is valid," she said. "There are just a lot of questions that we are sort of struggling with because it's a newly emerging (issue)."
Wagner was in Colorado Springs to deliver a speech at the National Symposium on Homeland Security and Defense, a conference that included defense contractors and the military.
Aside from discussing the use of technology in unrest that has led to regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, she delivered a speech that addressed the way the department operates, saying that its crucial elements include a nationwide network of 72 fusion centers that gather and analyze reports of suspicious activity, a new National Terrorism Advisory System that replaces the color coded alert system with one that provides more information about a threat, and a "See Something, Say Something" campaign that encourages citizens to report suspicious activity.
She also said another key program involves training hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers across the country in filling out suspicious activity reports.
By Beecher Tuttle, TMCnet Contributor
Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Caryn Wagner acknowledged on Monday that revolts in countries like Tunisia and Egypt have forced the U.S. government to change the way that it views social media tools like Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter, which were highly credited with setting the stage for a number of political and social uprisings this year.
Wagner told the Associated Press that revolts in the Middle East and Northern Africa have driven the U.S. government to consider new guidelines for gathering intelligence from social media tools.
"We're still trying to figure out how you use things like Twitter (News - Alert) as a source," she told the AP. "How do you establish trends and how do you then capture that in an intelligence product?"
The difficulties in collecting and analyzing information from social networking sites are obvious. First off, how do you determine what information is viable and what is merely hearsay or Web chatter? Secondly, how do you implement an intelligence initiative while also protecting personal privacy?
Wagner said that specific protocols will be introduced to guard against lapses in judgment. These protocols include establishing the differences between domestic and international surveillance and developing rules on how long information can be stored, according to the AP.
In addition, the Department of Homeland Security will not actively monitor social networks. Rather, they will look for "open source" information only after receiving viable tips on a possible threat. Wagner admits that establishing a new social media policy won't be easy.
"There are just a lot of questions that we are sort of struggling with because it's a newly emerging (issue)," she told the news source.
The U.S. is far from the first country to look at social media tools as an intelligence channel. The U.K.'s National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) announced late last year that it has begun incorporating social network monitoring into its training program.
The unit embraced the initiative after finding that U.K. authorities have used social network monitoring to solve several high-profile murder cases in the last two years.
Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Rich Steeves
By Amanda Winkler | Christian Post Reporter
The world has seen a wave of civil unrest sweep across nations this year and as a result the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking measures to prevent any sign of social disturbance from happening within America. One of the measures include monitoring social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, for clues on growing civil disobedience.
(Photo: AP / Damian Dovarganes)
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, right, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., speak on their way to a news conference after touring the Los Angeles port complex at the Port of Los Angeles Coast Guard Station on Monday, April 13, 2009, in Los Angeles.
"How do you establish trends and how do you then capture that in an intelligence product?"
The undersecretary went on to explain that the use of social media in uprisings, which began in December in Tunisia, prompted U.S. officials to do a more efficient job of monitoring domestic social networking activity.
Wagner also said that the DHS would create new guidelines to focus on “gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes.” However, she went on to mention, that the guidelines would be implemented under strict laws “meant to prevent spying on Americans.”
Still, many social media users express concern that the government would track what they do on social sites.
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“I agree with the motive behind the government's proposed choice, but still view it as an invasion of privacy against its citizens,” Mark Smiley, a 25-year-old research analyst, told The Christian Post.
“It is unlikely that Intel would be used in a way that is going to bring harm or inconvenience an innocent citizen, but it makes me uncomfortable because it is possible. I see this as no different than tapping our phone lines.”
Smiley went on to say that if the government were to track social media sites it would be problematic considering the flippant and sarcastic nature of messages posted on sites like Twitter and Facebook.
“Sarcastic statements can be easily misinterpreted.”
Wagner admitted that using social media for Intel could be difficult in that it is hard to determine the validity of claims made online.
"I can post anything on Facebook, is that valid? If 20 people are tweeting the same thing, then maybe that is valid," she said to AP.
"There are just a lot of questions that we are sort of struggling with because it's a newly emerging [issue]."
While the DHS still has kinks to work out in their method of online monitoring, it is definitely not a new phenomenon nor is it native to just the DHS. This week, Fast Company revealed that the New York Federal Bank is the most recent organization to try its hand at social media monitoring. This is due, in part, to the Occupy Wall Street protests as the Fed wants to know “how they are perceived.” The Fed is now “evaluating bids for a social media analysis system that will mine data from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and web forums – beginning in December.”
The Atlantic Journal explains how leery citizens like Smiley should perhaps be more concerned with how the government can monitor more traditional online channels, like email. While there is reason to be concerned about the monitoring of social media, participants post things on social media sites knowing that it will be in the public venue. Emails, however, are often meant to remain private.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the government "obtained a controversial type of secret court order to force Google Inc. and small Internet provider Sonic.net Inc. to turn over information from the email accounts of WikiLeaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum" and mentions that this type of secret request happens often. According to The Atlantic Wire, “In the second half of 2010 alone, the government sent 4,601 such requests to Google, who complied 94 percent of the time.”
The law, however, does little to protect citizens’ private data.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act was passed in 1986 and therefore is older than the Internet which was created in 1989. The law, as it stands, allows law enforcement to obtain emails, cell-phone location, and other digitized documents without a search warrant. The government must just show “reasonable grounds” that the records would be “relevant and material” to an investigation.
Currently, big name technical companies like Google and Microsoft are lobbying Congress to update the privacy laws to include a mandatory search warrant in digital investigations.
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