CIA ‘Open Source Center’ monitors Facebook, Twitter

The CIA has opened the kimono on its Virginia-based Open Source Center, where a team known as the “vengeful librarians” pore over Facebook, Twitter, world wide web chat rooms, and any other overseas forum that anyone can access and contribute to openly, the Associated Press reports.

The focus on social media started after watching how Iranian protestors used Twitter to bypass government censorship during the Green Revolution of 2009. Since then, Web 2.0 sites have been regularly followed by analysts armed with master’s degrees in library science and the capability to talk local languages of the regions they are monitoring.

Many of the dispatches made over Twitter and Facebook lack accuracy, so the vengeful librarians have devised ways to vet reliable contributors to separate them from those who cannot be trusted. The team frequently cross references on-line claims with news reports or even clandestinely intercepted phone conversations.

When media coverage slowed to a trickle during the recent riots in Bangkok, team members examined the updates of a dozen Twitter and Facebook users to determine who among them was providing reliable information.

source : go.theregister.com

Other Post:

• Cray wraps 2010 on a high note
• Deviant DOCK
• Intel tool will convert iPhone apps to run on Intel chips
• Rogers Unlimited Family and Student Plans, Social Networking
• Nokia PureView 808 headed to Mexico soon
• Ice Cream Sandwich is officially a no go for Google Nexus One
• Devices with 'moronic limitations'
• SkyFire Download Removed From App Store, What Do you think?
• Software glitch caused Exchange Online to trip up
• HTC Aria for AT T US is like an HTC HD mini running Android

Details :
Submited at Friday, November 4th, 2011 at 8:00 pm on News by admin
Comment RSS 2.0 - leave a comment - trackback