What The DHS Is Looking For In Your Posts 278
New submitter lister king of smeg writes "As we all know The Department of Homeland Security monitors social networks,in an attempt to expose 'Items Of Interest.' As it turns out many terms including seemingly benign words such as flu, agent, response, cops drill, etc are on the list of words that set off warning bells for the government spooks. Many of the terms make sense ..., but there are some real stupid ones on the list to like 'social network' ... [according to a] list of key words provided to a DHS contractor that were released by EPIC."
Great, now the terrorists are controlling nature (Score:5, Insightful)
Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, Earthquake, Tremor, Flood
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
I guess at least we should be happy that "Dissent", "Protest", "Occupy", "Tea party", and "Third Party" aren't on there...well, not yet anyway.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Insightful)
Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, Earthquake, Tremor, Flood
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
Well, Homeland security also encompasses the Federal Emergency Management Agency, so they do have some real interest in getting the news fast if there is a natural disaster going on. It turns out that the twitter feeds actually do spread news of natural disasters faster than watching CNN.
(...and, for that matter, if Lex Luthor is up to tricks, shouldn't they want to catch him?)
Kiddie porn (Score:5, Funny)
RADIOACTIVE AGRO TERROR!!!!!!!!!twelve131313
Better yet, I had to get my kids inoculated with TAMIFLU and now can't afford to contribute to this year's IRA. I went to the TARGET last night in SAN DIEGO and had a conversation with a SMART cashier. She told me that she was an AGRICULTURE major before moving from EL PASO but decided that GAS was too expensive for that.
WOOT! [epic.org]
Neat! (Score:3)
That reads like a Zippy the Pinhead quote.
I wonder if someone could reconfigure the Zippy quote generator to optimize it for hitting the watch list.
Not that I would do or condone doing such a horrible timewasting thing to our worthy DHS agents. ;)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Obligatory: http://xkcd.com/723/ [xkcd.com]
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Well, Homeland security also encompasses the Federal Emergency Management Agency, so they do have some real interest in getting the news fast if there is a natural disaster going on.
In that case, they should also watch for "aliens", "alien-human hybrids", "black oil", and "colonization".
Re: (Score:3)
Meh, it's more likely they are looking for "Wikileaks, impeachment, campaign donation, sub-committee, fiat currency, universal healthcare."
You know, to find the real terrorists.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:4, Insightful)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we have systems designed to monitor weather, flooding, seismic activity, volcanism and so on? If they're finding out about natural disasters from social networks, that's beyond pathetic.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Insightful)
No system is 100% accurate, so it's best to have redundancy and correlate multiple sensors. Also, it takes time to process data from them, and then more time to send information to interested parties. Twitter or other sources (say, the amount of 911 calls being made in an area) could be used to prioritize an area for more detailed scrutiny.
Besides, disaster recognition systems cost money, so you can't just blanket every square meter with sensors - you have to decide what disasters are likely to hit where. But even low-probability disasters can hit, and monitoring Twitter is a cheap way of getting basic coverage for everything everywhere, so why not do it?
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Funny)
but we are in the US, so we have square feet instead of square meters... which means it takes 9 times as many sensors!
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Funny)
but we are in the US, so we have square feet
ah, that explains the high cost of shoes, here, then!
Re: (Score:3)
Sorry but I find your thinking to be more like rationalizing what possibility might exist for them to be scanning for these words rather than anything a realistic statement of why they would be scanning social media networks.
If there's any kind of an emergency I am quite sure that local, state, regional, etc authorities (ie your local 911 hotline people) have procedures they should be following to be CLEARLY stating to the feds that there is a crisis, what the situation is, etc. that would be much more effi
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes and no. With today's population all having handheld devices that can twitter, facebook, etc. it's often the case that the local population to an event gets the message out often substantially before the official channels do. Take for example tornadoes - while the NWS may have radar that shows where a tornado might be occurring, and people calling 911 might set off official responses to a tornado, someone who's sitting in their house tweeting that the house next door just flew away in a twister is more immediate and more eyewitness - which is what DHS is looking for - they want to know if something is going on before the official channels can process it. After RTFA and the document related, it appears they have a "trust order relationship" - first off - major news media (CNN, etc.) - second is "local media" - third is things like well known websites and news aggregate sites, fourth is blogs and social media, etc... things that are 3rd and 4th level need "confirmation" from a first level source before it becomes official. This just sets off the warning bells that something might be happening and everyone needs to pay more attention that something could be up.... makes sense if you ask me.
Re: (Score:3)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we have systems designed to monitor weather, flooding, seismic activity, volcanism and so on? If they're finding out about natural disasters from social networks, that's beyond pathetic.
True, but sensors can't tell you what impact a tornado is causing; for that, you need "ground truth" information. The National Weather Service still has a network of weather spotters [noaa.gov] to complement the information given by the sensors, and took storm reports over Twitter [noaa.gov] a couple of years ago to further augment that info (not sure if they are still doing that, though).
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Funny)
Aw, geez, not this shit again. Clark Kent is a reporter. He wears glasses. Superman is... Superman. He's weird and cool. And he does not. Wear. GLASSES!
Give it up already.
Re:Attention DHS! (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
President Santorum? Has sort of a ring to it.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Funny)
Great, now you've got Lex Luthor with a utility belt and an invisible plane.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:4, Funny)
And a hot bustier! Tim Curry will be jealous.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Insightful)
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
They are trying to catch you, the citizen, organizing to reform [juancole.com] the financial elites that have ruined our economy and control our/their politicians.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Funny)
... Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, ...
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
They're looking for the coed naked twister parties. I haven't seen a t-shirt or hat with that phrase in probably 20 years...
Seriously though I hope they whitelist weather.gov or else a lot of mostly harmless meteorologists will pay the ultimate price in america's war on civil liberties err I mean terror.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:4, Funny)
Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, Earthquake, Tremor, Flood
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
They're looking for music pirates! Its a RIAA front! Beware!
Rock you like a Huricaaaaane... (a little over played, but good)
Pantera_Floods.mp3 (pretty good)
"Texas Tornado" by Bobby Braddock (note I spec'd music pirates, not "good music" pirates)
Earthquake by lil wayne (see above note x10)
I need some help w/ the rest...
Re: (Score:3)
Yeah, but when it floods down in Texas, all of the telephone lines are down... How's the word gonna get out??
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Insightful)
Hurricane, Tornado, Twister, Tsunami, Earthquake, Tremor, Flood
Are they trying to catch real-world terrorists or Lex Luthor?
Considering that any person considering illegal action that has had at least a modicum of training (which is fairly easily found by simple going to the right websites/forums) would never use terms such as these openly in social networks, I doubt that would ever even happen. One of the first things they would learn would be operational security, ie code-words and code phrases. I highly doubt DHS seriously expects that this will help them identify anyone. More than likely they see it as a way to track general trends, which would explain the inclusion of weather terms. As a poster below me mentioned, FEMA comes under the purview of DHS, so coupling search terms like this with location data can give data on path, damage levels, infection rates/patterns (in the case of "flu"). This is far more than a simple Big Brother-esque surveillance program as the summary is trying to lead people to believe. It has plenty of scientific, beneficial uses as well.
Re: (Score:3)
It has plenty of scientific, beneficial uses as well.
Most things do, but that doesn't mean its used that way and if you trust the Federal Government to not expand its use, then you are living in a dream world.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Insightful)
Neither. Who the fuck are you kidding, other than yourself? What terrorist would talk in plain text on social networks about serious stuff? I'd be surprised if they're even into mail and cell phones a whole lot. I mean, the ones that actually end up doing stuff -- surely not the American population, which might after all wake up to how badly it's being shafted, and which is the main target of this. The only threat the terrorists face is the tax payers saying "nah, let's pay for something else, schools maybe". So they come up with stuff like this. And hey, it's not like you have any way of knowing what they're actually searching for, that won't be declassified for 50 years, if ever. This is just something to tell people "they're watching", and the more shallow the discussion about it is, the better.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Insightful)
What terrorist would talk in plain text on social networks about serious stuff?
The kind the DHS wants us to believe actually exist.
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Great, now the terrorists are controlling natur (Score:5, Funny)
I think we should find out all the words that they're monitoring, and organize a movement to have everyone slip them all into their facebook/twitter posts.
Hey everyone! I just dropped a dirty bomb in the toilet. So stinky!
or
I'm going to really attack the gym today, do some exercise drills. It'll be an explosion of activity!
or
Molly, I really loved seeing you tonight. Happy Birthday! Chemical weapons.
Re: (Score:3)
There's major interest in using social networks for real-time detection and monitoring of natural disasters. It's cheap, has good coverage, and is faster than the news.
Slashdotters are safe for now (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Slashdotters are safe for now (Score:5, Funny)
DDOS (Dedicated Denial of Service)
Re: (Score:3)
I particularly like this part:
DDOS (Dedicated Denial of Service)
What ?!?! No MSDOS????!?
/ducks
Not so fast (Score:3)
The word "troll" is not yet a "terr'rist term".
No but "Airplane (and derivatives)" are which puts many on Slashdot in danger. Apparently integrals are fine though. Interestingly us brits also apparently get away with our aeroplanes which is undoubtedly where "airplane" was itself derived from.
Re: (Score:3)
Car? They're more like a boat. They have a captain and life preservers, have a branch of the millitary dedicated to them, move by pushing a fluid. They're "Air Boats".
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
I prefer the term "air cars" myself.
Really - I would have thought "Air bus" would be closer but I suppose it is not US Homeland security we'd have to worry about then but the more insidious threat of corporate lawyers.
So... (Score:2)
Examples (Score:5, Interesting)
Of the 4 examples in this post, "flu", "agent", and "cops drill" aren't inappropriate things to monitor (if it's appropriate to monitor at all, which is another story). "Flu" tracking is important for epidemics. Discussions of the location of cops and agents seems to make sense too. Again, I think it's silly they're trying to monitor social networks to this level, but if they're going to do it those aren't the worst keywords.
Also, I guess now I'm going to be tracked for discussing the keywords. How very meta.
Re:Examples (Score:4, Funny)
Is it too late to start calling them the DeHStapo?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Republican persecution complex, ENGAGE!
Re: (Score:2)
And the DHS has what business of doing that, exactly?
"social networks" -- ?? Come on, that's just silly. They might as well save everybody some time and come right out and track "*", cuz that's what they're after. Anyone remember "Total Information Awareness"? Did you *really* think that *actually* died? Sure.
Re:Examples (Score:5, Insightful)
They're only useful if they don't provide too many false positives. If you get fifty thousand pages talking about someone having the flu or mail transport agents, the real threats are going to be buried.
Plus, mere keyword checking breeds a set of newer, stupider DHS agents who miss the whole "intelligence" part of intelligence, and are likely to detain someone who has tweeted that they're going to party and destroy L.A.
Somebody set up us the bomb.
Re:Examples (Score:5, Insightful)
Many of the algorithms used (especially some implementations of Bayesian filters) for this type of scoring are more than capable of correctly (or almost always correctly) identifying and excluding 'trolling'. You look for patterns of recurring words or linked words or synonymic links (aka if 'anthrax' is in my list, also look for '((bacterial OR viral)+agent)'. You look for deltas in the frequency of occurrence with persistence. Couple that with dynamic weighting based on local/national/global new events. So if you suddenly start using the words 'anthrax', 'cities', and 'target' when there isn't anything like that going on, and your conversation persists, that will get a high score. If every 17 days you post a tweet that contains a city name, a time, and a "random" dictionary word (aka a one-time crypto pad), that will probably score much higher than your talking about anthrax right after someone sends a bunch of letters with white powder around the country. IThe sophistication of the language context analysis software that is in existence is way past anything that most people realize.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
You sir, get the gold star!
The analysis software could also be used to detect patterns of "coded" words in relation to events that might occur.
This strategy would allow you to identify repetitive words for later decoding, identify specific geographic locations these
words are used in, and possibly determine the size of the group using them.
Social media platforms (Facebook, Google+, Myspace, etc) provide an excellent mechanism to "drill" out from a "Known" to
potentially identify the recipients and "Key" propa
Re: (Score:3)
Given the current history of stupidity regarding harmless tweets, I seriously doubt that they have anything that really filters the good from the bad. If one of your tweets triggered them, then you are not welcome in the US.
Re: (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
It's 72 virgins you insensitive clod!
- Akmad
Re:Free GPS receiver! (Score:5, Funny)
It's 72 virgins you insensitive clod!
- Akmad
Not after I'm done with them.
Re: (Score:3)
Only two?
May I interest you in some Viagra?
Re:Free GPS receiver! (Score:4, Funny)
Nope... but you can go get me a sandwich.
sudo !!
Responding to your sig (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Would it work for a free trip to the US too? Never been there and a flight for this probably bypasses the regular airport security.
Booking details...
Terrorism Al Queda Terror Attack Iraq Afghanistan Iran Pakistan Agro Environmental terrorist Eco terrorism Conventional weapon Target Weapons grade Dirty bomb Enriched Nuclear Chemical weapon Biological weapon Ammonium nitrate Improvised explosive device IED (Improvised Explosive Device) Abu Sayyaf Hamas FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces Colombia) IRA (Irish Rep
Re: (Score:2)
since 9/11 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:since 9/11 (Score:5, Insightful)
Not till they shut off dancing with the stars, hillbilly hand fishin, and monday night football.
Re:since 9/11 (Score:5, Funny)
hillbilly hand fishin.
That's... that's not a real show, is it?
-googles-
Mother of God... it is.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, we'll get on that right after we finish playing Skyrim. And watching TV. And playing Angry Birds.
Well, tomorrow for sure.
Re: (Score:3)
9/11 was not the turning point you make it out to bee. Long before 9/11 the American people tolerated the government imprisoning people for asserting control over their own biochemistry. How can there be freedom left to lose when you're not even sovereign over your own body and mind?
Re: (Score:3)
Re:since 9/11 (Score:5, Interesting)
We're stuck in a positive feedback loop now. The more the government over-reaches in the interests of security, the more pissed off the populace gets, which leads to more civil disobedience and activism, which leads to more over-reaches in the interests of security, which leads to a more pissed off populace, and so on...
The Occupy protests are just the beginning. Things are going to get much worse before they get any better. It doesn't really matter much at all who is sitting in Washington, D.C., Demican or Republicrat, the bullshit has already reached critical mass, now it's just time to wait for the meltdown.
People call me crazy, but I'm taking steps to prepare myself and my family. A few years ago I read these eye-opening blog posts [silverbearcafe.com] about the effects of the Argentinian Economic Crisis of 1999-2002 [wikipedia.org] from the point of view of a regular, college-educated, city dweller. It's scary shit. I know that if similar things were to happen to the U.S. a lot of people would be in very poor shape to deal with it. I'm not going to allow myself or my family to be victimized due to being unprepared.
Growing up I never thought things would get to even this point in this country.
How long before a 411 eater style site? (Score:2)
Or maybe a Facebook worm that randomly injects these words in innocent posts?
Re:How long before a 419 eater style site? (Score:2)
s/411/419
Brainfarted.
I got it! (Score:2)
I think jihad maybe someone is just really sensitive to social network sites creating terror plots nerve agent. I know sometimes I plume overreact when I see something Center for Disease Control (CDC) that I don't really understand swine, and maybe we should give them a little slack Abu Sayyaf.
My new sig exceeds the 120 charicter maximum (Score:2)
Terrorism Al Queda Terror Attack Iraq Afghanistan Iran Pakistan Agro Environmental terrorist Eco terrorism Conventional weapon Target Weapons grade Dirty bomb Enriched Nuclear Chemical weapon Biological weapon Ammonium nitrate Improvised explosive device IED (Improvised Explosive Device) Abu Sayyaf Hamas FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces Colombia) IRA (Irish Republican Army) ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna) Basque Separatists Hezbollah Tamil Tiger PLF (Palestine Liberation Front) PLO (Palestine Libration O
Not linear (Score:2)
They're not looking for any one of these words. They're cross-indexing usage of multiple words. If a terrorist event is about to happen and they think it's near a bridge, finding "bridge" and "social network" and "ammonium nitrate" might be a good way to identify friends of the perp...
Re: (Score:2)
If a terrorist event is about to happen and they think it's near a bridge, finding "bridge" and "social network" and "ammonium nitrate" might be a good way to identify friends of the perp...
But in that case, a static list of words wouldn't help much as they would have to come up with new search terms for every event.
You've given it away now (Score:2)
False Positives (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:False Positives (Score:4, Interesting)
I predict that future leaks of this sort will be intentional as this one likely was, since it is the best way to fully perfect your algorithms...
Time to play with Markov chains. (Score:2, Interesting)
Throw the words from the DHS list in with the usual spammer's algorithm to generate nonsense text.
The end result could look like it was written by a cross between Sarah Palin and Osama Bin Laden.
Way back when... (Score:2)
DHS drone seeks advice (Score:2)
Al Queda (all spellings)
What would be the regular expression for that?
Routine spying (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't it interesting that we now can take for granted that the government is spying on us? When I was a boy, one of the great things about this country, and one of the things that distinguished us from other countries, was that we didn't have to worry about that. In fact we took it for granted that the government wasn't watching what we did and listening to what we said.
Then some people flew some planes into some buildings and we all lost our collective shit. It seems everyone, from the media to politicians to businesses to defense contractors and intelligence agencies, has an interest in keeping the American people cowered in fear. And cower we do! We would never have put up with the wars and the invasions of our rights and privacy 12 years ago. But once people have the shit scared out of them, they will accept a lot of stuff they wouldn't have before. There are people know and count on this.
People, 9/11 was a one-off event. It was horrifying and disturbing, but it isn't going to happen again. In the meantime, there have been no significant terrorist attacks in this country. Sure, we've had the shoe-bomber and then the underwear-bomber (both of whom evaded security). But are those guys worth all this? There is no terrorist threat! Yes, there are those few who think violence will get them what they want, but that has always been true. There is no threat that warrants this overreaction, and shifting of the fundamental character of this country.
But now everyone is afraid, and are kept that way by the entities mentioned above, who see self-interest in our fear. They are not interested in actually protecting you (as if you needed to be protected), they are lining their pockets and building power structures. It's a shame, because it seems that at the end of the day, "the land of the free and the home of the brave" is just a line in a song.
There you go DHS (or NSA, or FBI, or CIA, or NRO), put me on your list.
Re:Routine spying (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree 100%. The words "give me liberty or give me death" mean more now than ever.
Re:Routine spying (Score:5, Informative)
>>Then some people flew some planes into some buildings and we all lost our collective shit.
No, it was happening well before that. 9/11 just gave them a reason to accellerate it, and to increase their budget for doing it.
Ever heard of Echelon? http://www.scribd.com/doc/49552147/ECHELON-Surveillance-Program [scribd.com] (written in 1999/2000)
Re:Routine spying (Score:4, Interesting)
How old are you, 103?
When I was a kid in the '70's, it was quite common to insert the phrase "screw you J. Edgar Hoover" into any telephone conversation when odd noises were heard over the line. Most adults I knew did it. People my parent's age still say it on occasion. It seems pretty clear their assumtion was that the FBI was listening in on personal phone calls with impunity.
Re: (Score:3)
It has nothing to do with 9/11 and terrorism in general, than with the end of the Cold War and the lack of a common enemy.
But it's not like the government hasn't been snooping on you since forever. Look at J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI and their history of wiretapping politicans and later blackmailing them (see who brought down Nixon--Hoover's protege who was passed over for the next head of the FBI after Hoover's death). The only difference now is that 1) it can happen almost effortlessly because computers a
This is what they want you to believe (Score:4, Interesting)
Call me a conspiracy nut, but I wouldn't think that the DHS would let their wordlist get released if all they were doing was matching texts on specific terms. That is no better than a really dumb bayesian spam filter and would easily be defeated with childishly simple methods. When it comes to content filtering and semantic extraction, the science has moved way beyond such simple methods. Actually it is a very interesting research topic and I would love to have a job working with developing such models for the DHS if it wasn't for such an immoral purpose.
Likely other signals they use to extract information is the dates and times when messages are sent and from which ip addresses. Also how well written they are and what kinds of spelling and grammatical errors. Native speakers of semitic languages such as Arabic make different kinds of spelling errors than Germanic language speakers. That's just from the top of my head. My point is that government surveillance organisations aren't as dumb as the article seem to suggest.
Re:This is what they want you to believe (Score:5, Informative)
My point is that government surveillance organisations aren't as dumb as the article seem to suggest.
This [time.com] suggests otherwise! A couple of dumbass kids tweeting about their vacation using generic slang gets them denied access to the US. Score one for paranoia.
Challenge accepted (Score:3)
What's the challenge, you ask? Write a completely innocuous story using as many of the words as possible, like this:
"So I recall driving home down the interstate with a box full of Kahlua Mudslide in the trunk, but there was so much sleet that that I started sliding around a bit. But I wanted to get home so I could work on recruitment for my startup company, so I kept driving right through the blizzard. I'd grown up in cold weather, but I didn't expect a large brown animal to burst from the forest border right onto the road! Although I tried to slam on my brakes, I hit the moose and slid right into a ditch. Thanks to the erosion, my car lodged on a rock rather than falling down into the river, but even so I decided an evacuation was in order. I stepped outside, and realized if I wasn't careful I might die of exposure. So I struggled up off the side of the ditch, hoping to find some aid, and sat huddled on the side of the road, with my cell phone out of power, checking my watch to see how much longer I might have to live, when a road work gang showed up and stopped. I breathed a sigh of relief, and got into their truck, ignoring any bacteria or cold virus I might pick up in the process. The whole thing seemed almost like a plot to a soap opera or something."
(Really, NSA, I don't wish any kind of harm to the United States, I'm just proving a point)
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, I will not be impressed until you reword and reformat your story so that it does this, too: http://i.imgur.com/akaAE.jpg [imgur.com]
This one should do the job (Score:3)
List + Poem Generator = Fun! (Score:3)
Oh, Dirty Bomb!
All Fusion Centers Burn warm, dead Spillovers.
Infections travel!
Where is the cold Nuclear threat?
Agents wave like rough Coast Guards.
United Nations Explosion!
Death is a warm Department of Homeland Security.
Sail calmly like a misty U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Where is the big Nuclear?
The rainy United Nations roughly fights the Nerve agent.
The Gas Exposures like a warm White Powder.
Wow, Exercise!
Why does the Radiation rise?
The warm Transportation Security Administration swiftly Lockdown the Fusion Center.
Looks like I'm not getting shit done today... :)
This is how the Rhyming slang started. (Score:3)
I am surprised no one posted this yet (Score:4, Funny)
Let's Have Fun (Score:4, Funny)
Seriously... the best way to confound such a keyword system is to make analysis meaningless.
Is it just me... (Score:3)
Or Systems like these are extremely easy to break?
Just overloading social networks with these words using dummy accounts (a small server farm should be enough) would render this approach useless, and at the same time act as misdirection before someone attacked?
I knew the USA government uses social networks to look for possible threats, but the system might turn against them.
DHS (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
"Lightening" (Score:3)
The word "lightening" is on the list. They must have to wade through a shit-ton of motorsports forum posts before they get their day started. This is under the "weather" section BTW, while "lightning" is not.
Seems to be a lot of missng words (Score:3)
But even funnier are the drug names, as they're all proper. Really, what druggie or smuggler refers to their wares by their proper name? Shouldn't they be looking for, "pot", "weed", "blow", "horse", "smack", and stuff like that? (with a decent algorithm to sort out gardening and equine related discussions, natch)
Re:Interesting. (Score:4, Insightful)
Why would a bunch of Nazis monitor a bunch of Nazis?
Which in turn increases the pretext for ramping up security? Again why would anyone in power monitor that, other than to know where to send cheques? It's not like the people who run the country perform abortions, or give a flying fuck about those who do. And religious turmoil is always good, that is the perfect distract from anything and everything that matters.
Yeah, I'm being cranky. So what. Also, Lenny will perform the Green Cheese at the Saturday Lane with a scooter full of bobcats and two, at 72 north hotel sigma poopyhead alpha.
Re: (Score:2)
Undoing an incorrect mod
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Muphry's Law [wikipedia.org] at work.
Oh, and: flu, agent, response, cops drill. Brute forcing my mudslide; WMATA?