Official: America auto-scanned visitors' social media profiles. Also: It didn't work properly The US Department of Homeland Security used software to scan social media accounts of people visiting America, but it didn't work properly. That's the conclusion of a study by the department's inspector general. In a heavily redacted report [PDF] that surfaced this week, the watchdog revealed that in December 2015, US …
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FTA: "It has identified 275 software tools that could be used in the scanning,"
This is also as staggering as the idea the tools could do meaningful scanning in the first place. Are there really 275 distinct tools out there that could do detailed scanning of social media profiles and extract data subject to exacting filters? [And hopefully a bit more sophisticated than: more <profile location> | grep 'allah akhbar|death to murrica|beards FTW'] There may be quite a few tools that claim to work on "Big Data" (which is in the cloud, natch) but social media would be a specialisation that not all of them can handle. Presumably they whittled down a review sample of 275+ software tools to reach that figure. How much time was spent reviewing each proposed tool? What criteria had to be met for a tool to be considered suitable? How do they know they included all tools that may have been suitable in the initial "To review" list?
I still don't have a Facebook account (under my real name), LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat or instagram account. I have a Google+, but only cos I have a Gmail address. The profile is entirely empty. I wonder if that flags me as a miscreant, cos it appears I have something to hide?
See, that's the thing. Combine Zanto's comment and Orv's comment and that is what I am concerned about. As a privacy-preferring person, I am not active on social media. And this very disengagement with what is the new normal could be construed as so unusual that it obviously means I have something to hide. And that could mean "extreme vetting" time, whatever that mean.
Perhaps I should start working on that Facebook profile full of cat videos and duck-face selfies. That's what a "normal person" does, right?
Perhaps I should start working on that Facebook profile full of cat videos and duck-face selfies. That's what a "normal person" does, right?
I was talked into having a facebook a/c by my family several years ago as a way to keep in contact with them. I put a few photos of cloud formations on there, no one was interested so I haven't bothered since. If my browser forgot the password I doubt that I would ever go there again.
@Ivan 4.
Whilst Personally I have actually forgone Facebook for a while now, There is most certainly going to be groups on there that are fascinated by cloud formations. Whilst not a nice atmosphere as meeting in a pub to talk clouds, facebook is actually a good means to bring likeminded people together.
e.g.
https://www.facebook.com/interestingcloudformations/
If you want to purge your empty google+ profile you could do that on google's downgrade page. At least that worked for me a while ago.
If you want to purge your empty google+ profile you could do that on google's downgrade page. At least that worked for me a while ago.
Not so fast. Trying to erase your past is a sign of nefarious intent. Also, leaving behind a long and boring history is a sign of nefarious intent. And being interesting, yeah, that's gonna raise some flags too.
If I were a naughty boy wishing malice, I would have the cleanest social profile imaginable and pictures of the kids in my wallet. So basically all this policy will do is catch the amateurs - not a bad thing in itself but probably not the effect that they are looking for.
When are Americans going to wake up and realize that all this surveillance and paramilitarism isn't to protect them from terrorism but, in the event the voters try and eject the neocons, to implement full marshal law on the continental United States of America.
--
Do you want to see my ID?
No need, sir.
But I could be anybody.
No you couldn't sir. This is Information Retrieval.
to implement full marshal law on the continental United States of America.
No, Sherlock. That's 'martial' law. As mentioned earlier, it would be best if you all stayed away, at least until the Trumpanoia recedes a bit and our legislators weary of ulcerated knees from bowing and scraping at the threshold of the Trump presence might regain their senses.
Truth told, martial law is probably on the horizon but NOT until the Breitbart conspiracy teams can incite a sufficiently horrible terrorist attack worthy of another 'Patriot Act' response. Stay away; don't visit, don't upset our DHS people. You wouldn't enjoy the experience.
@Gray, since this all started with Obami and his administration I'm not so sure your moving it on to the present administration is valid. Wasn't Obama the one that wanted to take away the guns of the population just so it would be easer it invoke martial law?
@ Walter Bishop: "the voters try and eject the neocons"
I think you'll find the voters have no say in the matter. We have successfully implemented a duopoly where we either get 95% of what we want if the voters choose D or 100% if the voters choose R. The illusion of choice, change, and freedom is how you fool all of the people, all of the time.
BB. (Big Business? Big Brother? Bjorn Borg? Bobby Ball?)
I'm going to be even more fascinated as to where they're going to get all the people who can read and understand all the various languages and dialects around the world that the multitude of social media accounts will be written in. Somehow I doubt that Google Translate is going to be up to the job.
Oh, I forgot, we're talking about Americans. The fact that most of the world doesn't speak English all the time hasn't occurred to them yet. After all, God wrote the Bible in English, so Adam and Eve were created speaking English 5,000 years ago. Anything written in funny looking squiggles is just terrorist code.
God help us.
"After all, God wrote the Bible in English, so Adam and Eve were created speaking English 5,000 years ago."
Yeah, the people of Babel and their tower named after themselves are to blame for all the confusion. Is anyone else building towers around the world and naming them after themselves?
...John Kelly, has said that such checks should be mandatory and travelers should also be forced to provide passwords and banking records.
The US of A officials have 2 chances of getting my banking details. None and Buckleys.
In the immortal words of John McInroe, "YOU CANNOT BE SIRIUS!".
A few years ago a francophone Canadian sales manager from Montreal was going to a business conference in New York. On his way there he was exhorting his sales team to greater efforts through the usual bombastic proclamations, including a common French marketroid phrase that apparently translates to "we're going to explode the competition!"
The Americans were apparently already monitoring public social media messaging accounts at that time, and upon arrival at the border that popped up. Needless to say, he didn't make it to the business conference in New York or indeed any further past the border, bur rather spent a number of long hours sweating it out in custody wondering whether his next stop was going to be Guantanamo Bay.
I don't have a Facebook or Twitter account, and the way things are going I would be very unlikely to even consider having one now. Cardinal Richelieu supposedly once said "if you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." Substitute "six social media postings" for "six lines" and you have today's situation in a nutshell.
These idiots have also instituted "mandatory groping" to "check for weapons", at American Airports. They apparently forgot that all of the weapons found, have been in BAGGAGE, not down the tops of women or pants of men. This is little more than legal freakery. And there is NO WAY that it is legal to force ANYONE to submit passwords and banking information to TSA agents, just because they want to monitor everyone for possible terrorists. When the airlines start losing money from less people flying into or around the country and less passengers from abroad traveling to the USA, what will Trump's excuse to the Airlines and Airports be? His money buddies won't be happy. He'll have to back the attack dogs and freaks, off.
> what will Trump's excuse to the Airlines and Airports be?
I'm fairly sure he'll try and find a way to blame in on Hilary, or to claim that Obama bummed it up and he's been working hard to fix it ("no-one understands airlines like Donald Trump does"). Assuming he even bothers to respond rather than simply labelling reports of them being upset as Fake News
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