[privacy] Pentagon Sets its Sights on Social Networking Sites

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Via NewScientist.

[snip]

New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and 
code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on 
social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" 
championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as 
banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of 
individuals.

Americans are still reeling from last month's revelations that the NSA has been logging phone calls since the terrorist 
attacks of 11 September 2001. The Congressional Research Service, which advises the US legislature, says phone 
companies that surrendered call records may have acted illegally. However, the White House insists that the terrorist 
threat makes existing wire-tapping legislation out of date and is urging Congress not to investigate the NSA's action.

[snip]

More here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025556.200

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

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