Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets
By Noah Shachtman
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. Ref. Source 6
CIA Invests in Software Firm Monitoring Blogs, Twitter
Wired magazine has revealed the investment arm of the Central Intelligence Agency has invested in a software firm called Visible Technologies that specializes in monitoring social media sites, including blogs, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. Wired reporter Noah Shachtman writes, "America's spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates-even check out your book reviews on Amazon." Ref. Source 4
Record Number of Americans Targeted by National Security Letters:
The latest report to Congress on the Justice Department's use of foreign intelligence surveillance powers has just been released, and it shows a truly stunning increase in the number of Americans whose sensitive phone, Internet, and banking records were obtained by the FBI - without judicial oversight Ref. Source 7
Secret documents reveal DHS lied about tracking Americans on social media:
One of the nation's leading electronic privacy groups claimed this week that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) misled members of Congress during a recent hearing on whether the Department is paying a defense contractor $11.4 million to keep tabs on protected free speech and dissent against government policies Ref. Source 3