Exclusive: CIA Buys Stake in Firm That Monitors DemocraticUnderground.com

[BuyingThyme]

Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets
By Noah Shachtman October 19, 2009 | 12:03 pm

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.

Visible crawls over half a million web 2.0 sites a day, scraping more than a million posts and conversations taking place on blogs, online forums, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. (It doesn’t touch closed social networks, like Facebook, at the moment.) Customers get customized, real-time feeds of what’s being said on these sites, based on a series of keywords.

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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/exclusive-us-spies-buy-stake-in-twitter-blog-monitoring-firm/

[hobbit709]

1. CIA-Caught In the Act.

[unhappycamper]

2. unhappycamper (you know my IP) recommends this post. n/t

[Echo In Light]

3. Every government's primary enemy is its own populace

[WilliamPitt]

4. Good to see Agent Mike remains gainfully employed

Dick.

[SpiralHawk]

5. Take that, you Toe-tal-it-aryans

[stevedeshazer]

6. Where is DU mentioned? You have a problem with accuracy.

Democratic Underground is not mentioned at all in your link.

[BuyingThyme]

7. Yooz yur branze.

[Aragorn]

9. r u implying

that since anyone can read any post on DU even without registering or signing in, that DU might get "monitored" too? OMG!

[BuyingThyme]

14. No, not implying. It's a sure thing.

The keywords floating around DU surely put this site on the A list.

Fertilizer, Osama, flight path, democracy, Robert Redford, timer, shipment, retaliation, shoe bomb, Racko, revolution, peace.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

8. K&R

[MilesColtrane]

10. Visible Technologies does more than just monitor.

They also "catapult the propaganda".

Companies that engage with consumers will find that they have the ability to guide their brand; while those that don't will find their brand disconnected from consumers and imperiled.

With truVOICE you can identify posts needing response, comment and interact with thousands of authors without ever leaving the truVOICE system, assign conversations to subject matter experts within your organization, manage and track response workflow, and measure and assess engagement and outreach efforts.

As a leading social media monitoring, analysis, and SEO pioneer, we have been enabling the world's largest brands and agencies to manage and protect corporate perceptions in social media and search engine rankings.

Additionally, truPULSE and truREPUTATION can not only help spot potential crises but they can also help with tracking and mitigating brand and executive reputation damage in search engine results.

I wonder if the CIA will instruct their response teams on the correct usage of LULZ, +1, looser, and pwned.

[Sanity Claws]

11. Investment arm of the CIA?

I didn't know there was one. This alone gives me chills. I had heard that the US was involved in propping up the stock market during the Bush years. Was this how it was done?

[BuyingThyme]

15. It sounds less devious than FRONTS.

[Demoiselle]

17. So this means that the Government is investing in private companies? HUH? nt

[Sanity Claws]

20. Glad to hear that I'm not the only with that reaction

Scary, isn't it?

[rucky]

12. CIA spying on citizens.

Yep. That's why we pay 'em the big bucks.

[Echo In Light]

16. And congress voted for "retroactive immunity" for the telecoms

[Froward69]

13. Lets see...

Bomb, airport, truck, Guns, Rocket launcher, device, Islam, Allah, secret, Opium, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mosque, Train, Bus, Airplane, Timer, fuse, Democrat, Liberal, Assassination, Dealt with, Shoot, marijuana, Joint, splif, across state line, Union ...

oh and the activation phrase. "I am really tired of this orgasm".

That should do it. :hi:

[WonderGrunion]

18. These are all public sources. It's hardly spying.

My mom always used to say don't put any words to paper you don't want on the front page of a newspaper.

[BuyingThyme]

21. It is spying and it's illegal.

[forum slut]

23. looks like a government agency is monitoring and filing everything we type. That's spying.

[vadawg]

19. probuably a good idea with what seems half the venezualan secret service posting here

just watch them swarm on any post that shows chavez in anything other than glowwing terms....

[DisgustipatedinCA]

22. so you want the CIA to spy on you and all of us

...just because you hate Chavez?

Jesus fucking christ, I'm glad I don't live in your district and therefore don't have to be subject to what I'll generously refer to as your "judgment". Lick the boots of authority, copper, see where it gets you.

[vadawg]

24. lol do you think i care if the CIA spies on my postings, though i think thou dost protest to much

mayby i was not far off the mark with the venezualan secret service thing, i am glad you dont live in my district (no idea what this refers to) either im not sure you could handle living so close to the CIA HQ as they may be beaming mind control waves your way...

[DisgustipatedinCA]

25. typical pig n/t

.

[vadawg]

27. typical loser idiot n/t

[Cid_B]

29. The tooth fillings act as receivers to activate...

the mind control "vaccinations" which are of course only able to be blocked by a saran wrap tin foil hat ( has to be saran - generic brand won't cut it)

Open to the world, anyone can view it, it's not spying.

[optimator]

26. sounds like TIA 2.0

[blogslut]

28. meh

The CIA using RSS and search bots. Yawn.

[BuyingThyme]

30. kcik