Software being developed to monitor opinions of U.S

Would anyone consider this going to far?

(New yorkTimes)-WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — A consortium of major universities, using Homeland Security Department money, is developing software that would let the government monitor negative opinions of the United States or its leaders in newspapers and other publications overseas.

“It is just creepy and Orwellian,” said Lucy Dalglish, a lawyer and former editor who is executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Andrei Sitov, Washington bureau chief of the Itar-Tass news agency of Russia, said he hoped that the objective did not go beyond simply identifying threats to efforts to stifle criticism about an American president or administration.

Full article hear
www.nytimes.com...

(Infowars)-COMMENT-DHS claims that this software will crawl through the web and scan media sites and blogs from across the globe to find "potential threats" to national security. Don't think for one moment that this technology won't be used to sniff out dissent domestically should the Bush regime deem it neccessary to protect the "homeland."

www.infowars.com...





[edit on 7-10-2006 by Black_Fox]

Nobody find this even a little disturbing?

I don't find it disturbing. I might find it disturbing if somehow the First Amendment rights were to be limited by it.

So far, the current administration has been respectful of the rights of Americans to dissent and has even encouraged it to some degree.

It seems to me that the consensus on this board is that such software already exists for law enforcement purposes, so I don't perceive anything really new here.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, get active with organizations that support the First Amendment. Be careful so as to make sure that the organization you choose is legitimate and not just a front for porn, unless that's your cup of tea.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
So far, the current administration has been respectful of the rights of Americans to dissent and has even encouraged it to some degree.

In the meantime, get active with organizations that support the First Amendment. Be careful so as to make sure that the organization you choose is legitimate and not just a front for porn, unless that's your cup of tea.

Well maybe (!) the current administration is respectful to press freedom.. but looking at the constitutional rights they are actually being ignored with the example of guantanamo bay for instance.

(I hope i understood those definitions of yours properly)

This is nothing new. Look up the use of Megaphone software and see how the Israeli foreign ministry used it during the Hezbollah/Israeli war over the summer to manipulate polls and seek out Forums (Like Abovetopsecret) and other Bulletin Boards that were speaking negatively in regards to Israel or polls regarding Israel. Its just software like Google would use that sends out spiders possibly seeking key words or possibly just any text and then sifting through it once its downloaded to their server.


Pie

People like Zogby, Rasmussen, and others have become multi-millionaires from developing and using similar software. Corporations spend billions annually to monitor the pulse of consumers.

What's the big deal?

Originally posted by jsobecky
People like Zogby, Rasmussen, and others have become multi-millionaires from developing and using similar software. Corporations spend billions annually to monitor the pulse of consumers.

What's the big deal?

I dare say that a multi-billion dollar enterprise only wants to monitor the consumers so as to see if the corporations are effectivly influancing the overall mood of the public.
The demand side for public poles is driven by the supply side of the public relations department.