Homeland Security monitors journalists Published: 07 January, 2012, 01:56 US Dept. of Homeland Security. Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what. Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of DHS headquarters in November, Washington has the written permission to retain data on users of social media and online networking platforms. Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.” According to the Department of Homeland Security’s own definition of personal identifiable information, or PII, such data could consist of any intellect “that permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual.” Previously established guidelines within the administration say that data could only be collected under authorization set forth by written code, but the new provisions in the NOC’s write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency. Also included in the roster of those subjected to the spying are government officials, domestic or not, who make public statements, private sector employees that do the same and “persons known to have been involved in major crimes of Homeland Security interest,” which to itself opens up the possibilities even wider. The department says that they will only scour publically-made info available while retaining data, but it doesn’t help but raise suspicion as to why the government is going out of their way to spend time, money and resources on watching over those that helped bring news to the masses. The development out of the DHS comes at the same time that U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady denied pleas from supporters of WikiLeaks who had tried to prevent account information pertaining to their Twitter accounts from being provided to federal prosecutors. Jacob Applebaum and others advocates of Julian Assange’s whistleblower site were fighting to keep the government from subpoenaing information on their personal accounts that were collected from Twitter. Last month the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk Massachusetts District Attorney subpoenaed Twitter over details pertaining to recent tweets involving the Occupy Boston protests. The website Fast Company reports that the intel collected by the Department of Homeland Security under the NOC Monitoring Initiative has been happening since as early as 2010 and the data is being shared with both private sector businesses and international third parties.
Hmmm identifying characteristics... Did I mention I was a male with 8 kids, live in montana and work for walmart...
The news is public domain. However, this is 0bama's DHS who will use the information to go after conservative journalists.
Just another way hold things over peoples heads and put the fear in them. Nothing to see here folks move along !!
Big Brother's approval isn't want the media need be concerned about. Uncle Israel's approval on the other hand... well I think the fact that the story of the Mossad agents how filmed 9/11 occuring, being blacked out after a single trip through main stream media says it all.
If our next real President - once the illegal alien inhabiting the Whitehouse is sent home to Kenya - really wants to get an immediate major approval rating jump of stratospheric proportions, his first acts would be the disbanding of the DHS, the TSA, the BATFE, the EPA and other totally useless, overbearing and criminal alphabet agencies. Put those agencies leaders on trial for treason, and he'd be a real winner!
https://www.torproject.org/ Tor. Download the browser bundle. Learn it. Use it. Love it. There is a whole second Internet inside of the first, called the onion. Nobody knows who you are, nobody wants to know who you are, nobody can find out who you are if you don't give it away. There are social networking sites inside of the onion that aren't yet as well populated but provide a refreshing alternative where you can speak your mind without having to wait for the guys in the cheap suits & expensive SUV to show up in your driveway. Tor can also be used, as I am using it now, to access regular Internet sites like this one. If you're really going to put yourself out there, it's worth serious consideration.
