Group Forces Congressional Hearing On Big Sis’ Twitter, Drudge Spying
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
February 9, 2012
http://www.infowars.com/group-forces-congressional-hearing-on-big-sis-twitter-drudge-spying/
A privacy advocacy group has swayed Congress to hold a hearing next week into
the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of monitoring social networks
such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as media reports and organizations,
including The Drudge Report.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) recently obtained close to 300
pages of documents, as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit,
detailing the federal agency’s “intelligence gathering” practices on the web.
Among the documents were guidelines from DHS instructing outside contractors to
monitor the web for media reports and comments that “reflect adversely” on the
agency or the federal government.
As Reuters reported last month, in early 2010 contractors were asked to spend
24 hours monitoring news media coverage on popular websites, including
Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks, as well as news sites including the
Huffington Post and The Drudge Report.
The contractors were required to provide the DHS with feedback on any potential
“threats and hazards”, as well as “any media reports that reflect adversely on
the U.S. Government and the Department of Homeland Security (D.H.S.) ability to
prevent, protect and respond, to recovery efforts or activities related to any
crisis or events which impact National Planning Scenarios.”
The documents also state that the program should highlight “both positive and
negative reports on FEMA, C.I.A., C.B.P., ICE, etc., as well as organizations
outside of D.H.S.”
The documents obtained by EPIC indicate that following the exercise, a
procurement official awarded an $11.3 million contract to General Dynamics
Advanced Information Systems in order to carry out the monitoring on a
“24/7/365 basis”.
EPIC director Ginger McCall notes that monitoring what people are saying about
government policies goes too far and has a chilling effect on free speech.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s monitoring of political dissent has no
legal basis and is contrary to core First Amendment principles,” she said.
“The language in the documents makes it quite clear that they are looking for
media reports that are critical of the agency and the U.S. government more
broadly,” said McCall. “This is entirely outside of the bounds of the agency’s
statutory duties.”
DHS officials have admitted that monitoring of social networks for negative
opinion was undertaken by the agency, but claim that the operation was a one
off test and was quickly dropped as it did not meet “operational requirements
or privacy standards,” which “expressly prohibit reporting on individuals’
First Amendment activities.”
EPIC argues otherwise and has presented evidence that suggests the practice is
being held up by the DHS an an example that should be emulated.
“They are completely out of bounds here,” McCall said. “The idea that the
government is constantly peering over your shoulder and listening to what you
are saying creates a very chilling effect to legitimate dissent.
The Congressional hearing, DHS Monitoring of Social Networking and Media:
Enhancing Intelligence Gathering and Ensuring Privacy, will be held Thursday
February 16th.
However, it is already apparent where the House subcommittee for intelligence
and counter-terrorism stands on the matter. As reported by Reuters, the top two
members of the subcommittee, Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Rep. Jackie Speier
(D-CA), wrote to DHS Intelligence Chief Caryn Wagner last month, pressing her
to more carefully monitor users’ posts on sites such as Facebook and Twitter,
in order to help detect “current or emerging threats.”
As we have also previously reported, The DHS has openly announced that it is
actively monitoring social media for signs of “social unrest”, in a bid to
pre-empt any sign of social dislocation within the United States.
——————————————————————
Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’
Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International
Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in
England.
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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.
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