Free Republic

Clues to the federal government’s reason for collecting the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers may be found in a recently unearthed 2010 project seeking to predict criminal activity using vast quantities of data on citizens mined from social network websites such as Facebook and Twitter. In February, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the Massachusetts-based multinational corporation, Raytheon – the world’s fifth largest defense contractor – had developed a “Google for Spies” operation.

The Department of Homeland Security has released their 2011 "Analysts Desktop Binder," detailing how the department has been monitoring activity on the internet and social networks. The binder includes an extensive list of key words and search terms carefully watched by analysts in multiple agencies including the Directorate for National Protection and Programs, Directorate for Science and Technology, Office of Health Affairs, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and others. Many monitored search terms are basic and used on a regular basis by every day American citizens and journalists. DHS is capable of identifying personal...

Next time you call a talk radio station, beware: The FBI may be listening. According to WMAL.com, "The FBI has awarded a $524,927 contract to a Virginia company to record as much radio news and talk programming as it can find on the Internet. … The FBI says it is not playing Big Brother by policing the airwaves, but rather seeking access to what airs as potential evidence." The agency's reasons for recording all these radio programs don't get any clearer as the news report goes on. No doubt that is intentional.

<p>WASHINGTON -- Police can envision limited domestic uses for an urban surveillance system the Pentagon is developing but doubt they could use the full system which is designed to track and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a city.</p>