Thursday, February 09, 2006

Oh No! They're Listening

Via Talkleft

Careful boys and girls and watch what you say. As if we didn't already know they were listening. Maybe we are as forgetful as Osama? I guess now the effort has switched to an attempt to suppress free speech with the threat of "Big Brother" is watching every word you post. Well, "big brother" in the immortal words of Dear Leader "Bring It On!"

The Christian Science Monitor reports on a huge, planned data mining program that will troll news and blogs.

The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.

The system - parts of which are operational, parts of which are still under development - is already credited with helping to foil some plots. It is the federal government's latest attempt to use broad data-collection and powerful analysis in the fight against terrorism. But by delving deeply into the digital minutiae of American life, the program is also raising concerns that the government is intruding too deeply into citizens' privacy.

The "core" of the system is called Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE). The Monitor article has more details. Ya gotta love it!

BTW, Do you every wonder how many thousands of dollars and mandays were wasted trying to come with these stupid acronyms. There must be a full time gubmint bureau somewhere tasked with producing these things.

No comments: