The United States Secret Service is set to purchase software that can track Twitter users in real time, prompting concerns that individuals could face greater harassment over tweets deemed to be threatening or anti-government.<\/p>\n
According to a\u00a0solicitation<\/a>\u00a0posted this week, the federal agency announced its intention to use the tool to undertake \u201csentiment analysis,\u201d \u201cinfluencer identification,\u201d \u201caccess to historical Twitter data,\u201d \u201cability to detect sarcasm,\u201d and \u201cheat maps\u201d that will show user trends.<\/p>\n The software will also have the capability to \u201csend notifications to users,\u201d suggesting that the Secret Service intends to directly address Twitter users who are deemed to have tweeted something unsavory.<\/p>\n There have been numerous instances where Twitter users have been harassed by the Secret Service after making anti-Obama or anti-government statements that could not be construed at threatening. The Secret Service\u2019s acquisition of more sophisticated tracking software will only serve to make these incidents more common.<\/p>\n Last year, Tom Francois<\/a>, an outspoken critic of President Obama, was startled by a loud thump on his door and the presence of Secret Service agents who wanted to \u201ctake a look around\u201d his house. The agents also interrogated Francois on his mental health and if he had any plans to travel to Washington DC, while also threatening to seize his firearms.<\/p>\n The Secret Service admitted that they couldn\u2019t identify a single post by Francois that could be deemed threatening to the President.<\/p>\n In January, a Florida Republican running for the state assembly\u00a0also received a Secret Service visit<\/a>after he tweeted that Barack Obama should be arrested, impeached and hanged.<\/p>\n \u201cA couple of years ago, the Homeland Security Department, the agency\u2019s parent, got in trouble with lawmakers and civil liberties groups for a social media program that would work, in part, by having employees create fake usernames and profiles to spy on other users,\u201d\u00a0reports NextGov.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cA House Homeland Security Committee panel called DHS officials into a\u00a0hearing<\/a>\u00a0after reports the department tasked analysts with collecting data that reflected negatively on the government, such as content about the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to a Michigan jail. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has\u00a0sued<\/a>\u00a0DHS for more information on the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Department of Homeland Security has recently intensified its efforts to keep track of what users are tweeting in order to monitor public sentiment and media narratives.<\/p>\n A document obtained in March<\/a>\u00a0revealed that the function of the DHS\u2019 Media Monitoring Capability (MMC) desk is to track news websites and social media in order to gather critical information, \u201cduring normal operations, crises and extraordinary events.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is essential to monitor the media\u2019s storylines and integrate their focus into the Department\u2019s situational awareness and operations analytical process,\u201d states the document, adding that such work is necessary in shaping \u201cpublic statements\u201d made by the DHS.<\/p>\n The MMC desk also keeps tabs on numerous news outlets including the Drudge Report, which has carried hundreds of stories critical of the DHS and the TSA in recent years.<\/p>\n Facebook @\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/paul.j.watson.71<\/a> *********************<\/p>\n Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of\u00a0Infowars.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Prison Planet.com<\/a>. The United States Secret Service is set to purchase software that can track Twitter users in real time, prompting concerns that individuals could face greater harassment over tweets deemed to be threatening or anti-government. According to a\u00a0solicitation\u00a0posted this week, the federal agency announced its intention to use the tool to undertake \u201csentiment analysis,\u201d \u201cinfluencer identification,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,1614,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-122566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news","7":"category-surveillance-big-brother","8":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\nFOLLOW Paul Joseph Watson @\u00a0https:\/\/twitter.com\/PrisonPlanet<\/a><\/p>\n
\nRepublished with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"