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Did you Ever Know that Homeland Security Monitors your Facebook Account?

Noah Rinkle
DMCA.com by - 3/16/2012 8801 Views

US Department of Homeland Security Now Regularly Screens Various Social Media Sites

Did you ever complain on Facebook that you were not feeling well? Or advised any of your friends to “watch” a specific show on Television. Have you posted a comment on any social networking website about government “pork”? Tweeted or left a comment about your recent vacation to “Trinidad and Tobago”

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If you have done any of the above things, the Department of Homeland Security must have noticed it. During the recent months, Federal government is keenly monitoring various social media sites. The Manual of Homeland Security contains hundreds of keywords and search terms which are used to detect the act of terrorism. It also contains keywords related to public health threats, natural disasters and many more. However 39 page book of “Analysts Desktop Binder” does not contain brainier or threat full words like “Al Qaeda”, “attack”, “epidemic”, etc. On the other hand it contains words which can be usually interpreted into menacing or innocent based upon the context, the words included are “exercise”, “drill”, “wave”, “initiative”, “relief”, “organization”, etc.
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Websites under the scanner of watchdog group includes
Social networking sites like

Facebook
Twitter
Myspace

Blogs

The Drudge Report
The Huffington Post
 The New York Times‘s Lede blog
Wired’s Threat Level
Wired’s Danger Room
ABC News’ investigative blog The Blotter

Moreover blogs which cover drug trafficking, bird flu, swine flu and also about news and activity in US borders.

Majority of the keywords which are usually scrutinized are “broad”, “vague” and “ambiguous”. Mission behind the analyzing program is to protect the public from the act of terrorism and other disasters. Counter terrorism and intelligence agency regularly keeps an eye on the above websites and makes sure that there is no threat to the nation.

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On February 17 of 2012 Homeland security issued samples to The Huffington Post with different news reports and social media nuggets picked by them. It had news about a teen in connection with bomb plot, Nigerian security issues, regrouping of Boko Haram groups, suspicious package at Alabama courthouse and many more.

Mary Ellen Callahan chief privacy director of Department of Homeland Security commented that, “the program was interested only in events within the department’s mission — like disasters, attacks or continuing operational problems.  For example, if people post to Twitter about an unusually long line at a particular airport checkpoint.”
She also played down the use of keyword searches the program uses for articles and postings on social networks, portraying them as simply related to disasters — “you know, flood, tornado and things like that.”

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US Department of Homeland Security, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace

About Noah Rinkle

Noah Rinkle Hi, I’m Noah Rinkle, and I have been with Submitinme for the past 4 years and enjoy a wonderful working atmosphere here. My role here is to write well researched quality articles, press releases and other content for clients. It is no surprise that my articles easily meet guidelines of popular article directories like Ezine and are immediately approved. If I have to speak about my strengths, the list would go on and a few include confidence, creativity, self starter, flexibility to take multiple tasks, critical thinking skills, etc. I’m always ready to learn new things and grasp the ideas .... more info about the author