Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
FBI To Monitor Social Media
The FBI recently released details of a plan to monitor social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. The intent is to gather information to get higher quality "on the ground" information to respond to crises and even to predict them.
Take a look at the questions and answers pulled from the document Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring. Or, you can read my document Caveats for Using Public Social Media Sites, which follows the excerpts from the FBI's document.
How long is information retained?
Do individuals have the opportunity and/or right to decline to
provide information?
What are the procedures that allow individuals to gain
access to their information?
Given the sensitivity and scope of
the information collected, as well as any information sharing
conducted on the system, what privacy risks were identified and how
do the security controls mitigate them?
Users of social media sites may now want to consider the following caveats:
Describe all the uses of information.
The NOC will use Internet-based platforms that provide a variety of ways to follow activities by monitoring publicly-available online forums, blogs, public websites, and message boards. Through the use of publicly-available search engines and content aggregators, the NOC will continuously monitor activities
on social media sites... using search terms... for information. The NOC will gather, store, analyze, and disseminate relevant and appropriate information to federal, state, local, and foreign governments, and private sector partners
requiring and authorized to receive situational awareness and a common operating picture...
The NOC will retain information for no more than 5 years to provide situational awareness and establish a common operating picture. This five-year retention schedule is based on the operational needs of the Department.
Information posted to social media websites is publicly accessible and voluntarily generated. Thus, the opportunity not to provide information exists prior to the informational post by the user.
...Given the nature of some of the information in the SWO and NOC Tracker Logs (sensitive law enforcement or intelligence information), DHS may not always permit the individual to gain access to or request amendment of his or her record. However, requests processed under the PA will also be processed under FOIA [Freedom of Information Act]; requesters will always be given the benefit of the statute with the more liberal release requirements. The FOIA does not grant an absolute right to examine government documents; the FOIA establishes the right to request records and to receive a response to the request.
Media feed aggregation tools/sites are publicly-available, third-party services. Information is collected by the service itself to establish an account. Thereafter, users determine their level of involvement and decide how “visible” they wish their presence on any given service to be. The ability to choose how much information to disclose, as well as the short period of retention for any information collected by the NOC serves to mitigate any privacy risk.
(Person of Interest)
Some sf fans may be thinking that officials at the Department of Homeland Security have been watching the new series Person of Interest and have been trying to build The Machine, a vast computer system that pulls together data from different sources on citizens in New York City.
Bonus SF Tie-in: Apparently, we have already been informed that this would happen! Here's the relevant bit from the DHS:
Was notice provided to the individual prior to collection of information?
Yes, notice is provided through this PIA and through DHS/OPS – 003 Operations Collection, Planning, Coordination, Reporting, Analysis, and Fusion SORN (75 FR 69689, published November 15, 2010), and the newly published Department of Homeland Security Office of Operations Coordination and Planning – 004 Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative System of Records.
I would compare this kind of notice to the Vogon comments regarding the hyperspatial express route through our solar system and the required demolition of Earth in Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
Uncomprehending terror settled on the watching people of Earth...Observing this, the Vogons turned on their PA again. It said:
"There's no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint, and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now.
From Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring (pdf) via New Scientist; thanks to Erik Glenn for the tip and the reference for this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/26/2012)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 3 )
Related News Stories - (" Surveillance ")
Simple Way To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'... designed to foil facial recognition systems.' - Neal Stephenson, 2019.
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.' - Neal Stephenson, 2019.
Smart TVs Are Listening!
'You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard...' - George Orwell, 1948.
Police Drones In China Would Like To Have A Word With You
''OVERRIDE,' the City Fathers said suddenly, without being asked anything at all.' - James Blish, 1951.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Miss Alabama Beauty Contest Offers Different Standards
'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
Has Musk Given Up On Full Self Driving (FSD)?
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre...'
Prufrock-3 'The Monster' Ready To Launch
Just go for it.
Drones In Vast Airborne Grids
'These pods were programmed to hang in space in a hexagonal grid pattern...'
Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle
Love those special edition spaceships.
Capturing Asteroids With Nets
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.'
Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed!
'We have decided that it shall be but one ship... it must contain everything needed to take us through the generations.'
AI Welfare Position At Anthropic Filled By Human
'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...'
Marslink Proposed By SpaceX
'It was the heart of the Solar System's communication line...'
Simple Way To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'... designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Wood-Panelled LignoSat Launched
'The Consul remembered his first glimpse of the kilometer-long treeship...'
Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories
'His contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory.'
'Iceberg House' Of Travis Kelce Reflects Science Fiction Of Past Century
'The basement was huge... carved deep into the rock that folded up to underlie the ridge...'
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
