More Internet sniffing.. (moved from ATSNN), page 1

An article from The Washington Times online covering the CIA's use of filtering techniques to mine intelligence from weblogs. In particular it describes the Open Source Center at CIA headquarters and their use of computers, software, and commercial databases. It also reveals that not only does the Defense Dept. and POTUS use the intelligence gathered, but several metropolitan police forces use it as well.

www.washtimes.com
"Have we got coups out of it? Close to it," Mr. Naquin said. "But certainly we've had more insight than we've ever had before."
The OSC uses powerful computers and software technology to "sift" the Internet for valuable intelligence. It also buys information from commercial databases.
In the past, open-source reports were used mainly by intelligence analysts.
"But now our customer base literally ranges from the president to local police departments," Mr. Naquin said. The Fairfax County police use OSC products, as do police departments in San Diego, New York and Baltimore. The center also provides support to the U.S. military.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Interesting that as we use the Internet in attempts to uncover the nonsense perpetuated by governments, the governments are using it to possibly perpetuate more nonsense.

Does the obvious domestic use of this intelligence gathered by the CIA (by domestic police forces), violate the restrictions on the CIA concerning its activities within the United States?

Could this be an attempt to misdirect attention away from practices like the alleged NSA/AT&T cooperative and put Internet intel into a more innocent light? As an example; "Sure we use the Internet for intelligence gathering, but we're just looking at sources anyone can see and evaluate".

One question I have...how do they corroborate the accuracy of intel gathered from blogs? Do they simply throw out the anonymous blogs? Or are they somehow cross-referencing them with the "commercial databases" they claim to purchase from?

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
ATS: AT&T Narus Collaboration Sent Your Private Internet Communications to The NSA

[edit on 20-4-2006 by NotClever]

[edit on 20-4-2006 by NotClever]