US to monitor anti-Americanism... they'll have their work cut out...

According to this article, DHS is funding development of software that will monitor anti-American sentiment in other countries.

The "sentiment analysis" is intended to identify potential threats to the nation, security officials said.

Researchers at institutions including Cornell, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Utah intend to test the system on hundreds of articles published in 2001 and 2002 on topics like President George W. Bush's use of the term "axis of evil," the handling of detainees at Guantánamo Bay, the debate over global warming and the coup attempt against President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. A $2.4 million grant will finance the research over three years.

Well, each of the topics mentioned there has upset a lot of people round the world who view the US as a hypocritical bully and a danger to the entire planet. I think the results of this study will just further fuel the aggressive and paranoid stance of the current administration and many of its fans. I wonder how many wars will be started and how many people will be locked up because of this monumental waste of money and effort?

It could take several years for such a monitoring system to be in place, said Joe Kielman, coordinator of the research effort. The monitoring would not extend to U.S. news, Kielman said. [probably because it's already under adequate control -r23]

"We want to understand the rhetoric that is being published and how intense it is, such as the difference between dislike and excoriate," he said.

Even the basic research has raised concern among journalism advocates and privacy groups, as well as representatives of the foreign news media. "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.

It certainly is, Lucy. And I don't believe for a moment it'll just be confined to the foreign press. So, not only will we have no-fly lists with names like Gary Smith and John Williams... and more added every year... we will also have errors creeping in from automated translation software.

Let's face it, the people at these universities are rubbing their hands at a fat DHS grant, but extracting nuance (like the difference between "dislike and excoriate" - ROTMFFLMAO) is going to be utterly beyond the limits of any automated effort. But you know how these things work: they will produce convincing-looking lists of numbers purporting to show how the press in a given country is becoming more anti-US, and boom, that country gets moved up someone's agenda. Perhaps destabilisation is ordered, or some more direct action...

Ludicrous.

....and they need computer software to tell them this?

All they need is a cheap Pc with internet access and a few hours surfing. They'll then see that nearly all of what they deem "anti American" sentiment is in fact directed at the administration, and not the ordinary man/woman in the street.

Hell, pay me the $2.4M USD (I am open to haggling) and I'll write a report laying it out for them