{"id":6201,"date":"2004-04-28T09:05:50","date_gmt":"2004-04-28T16:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/04\/28\/are-you-reading-this.html"},"modified":"2004-04-28T09:05:50","modified_gmt":"2004-04-28T16:05:50","slug":"are_you_reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/04\/28\/are_you_reading.html","title":{"rendered":"Are you reading this?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not you. I mean you<\/i>. You intelligence and law enforcement<\/a> folks said to be looking at blogs as an information source …<\/p>\n

As a result, some analysts say U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials might be starting to track blogs for important bits of information. This interest is a sign of how far Web media such as blogs have come in reshaping the data-collection habits of intelligence professionals and others, even with the knowledge that the accuracy of what’s reported in some blogs is questionable.
\nStill, a panel of folks who work in the U.S. intelligence field – some of them spies or former spies – discussed this month at a conference in Washington the idea of tracking blogs.
\n“News and intelligence is about listening with a critical ear, and blogs are just another conversation to listen to and evaluate. They also are closer to (some situations) and may serve as early alerts,” said Jock Gill, a former adviser on Internet media to President Clinton, in a later phone interview, after he spoke on the panel.
\nSome panel and conference participants, because of their profession, could not be identified. But another who could is Robert Steele, another blog booster. The former U.S. intelligence officer said “absolutely” that blogs are valid sources of intelligence and news, though he said authenticating the information in blogs “leaves a lot to be desired.”<\/p>\n

Well, yeah. But it’s an idea, at least, not unlike cops picking up “the word on the street.” That “word” needs to be verified, not taken at face value, and may be manipulated (or just wrong). But it’s data worth considering.<\/p>\n

There are some concerns, of course:<\/p>\n

While blog postings are voluntary and available to anyone to read, some observers say blog monitoring by governments or the media raises civil liberties and privacy issues. One such critic is James Love, director of the Ralph Nader-affiliated Consumer Project on Technology.
\n“When you’re conducting surveillance where you have no expectation of illegal activity, there has to be some threshold to justify such surveillance,” Love said.<\/p>\n

To some degree, though, doesn’t that depend on the intended use of the information? And since we’re talking about stuff that’s, well, posted to the Internet, it would seem to me that any presumption of privacy is thrown out the window. (Though, to be honest, it’s an easy false mindset to get into to think that nobody reads — or can see — your blog except for the folks you intend <\/i>to have read it. Folks have gotten into a lot of trouble that way.)<\/p>\n

Interesting, anyway.<\/p>\n

(via Rantingprofs<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not you. I mean you. You intelligence and law enforcement folks said to be looking at blogs as an information source … As a result, some analysts say U.S. intelligence…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","category-homeland-security"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8152,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/05\/06\/mile_high_spies.html","url_meta":{"origin":6201,"position":0},"title":"Mile High Spies","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 6-May-05 10:32am","format":false,"excerpt":"The CIA is moving to Denver. The CIA has plans to relocate the headquarters of its domestic division, which is responsible for operations and recruitment in the United States, from...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11485,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/08\/17\/i_am_the_eye_in_the_sky_3.html","url_meta":{"origin":6201,"position":1},"title":"“I am the Eye in the Sky”","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 17-Aug-07 5:49am","format":false,"excerpt":"Big Brother is watching you.\u00a0 And all his cousins are crowding around the monitor, too.. The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1041,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/10\/22\/fbi_v2.html","url_meta":{"origin":6201,"position":2},"title":"FBI v.2","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 22-Oct-01 9:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times reports that the FBI is looking at significantly changing its role. \"In\" are counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence, complex white-collar fraud, organized crime and political corruption. \"Out\" are...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12675,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/02\/27\/blogs_facebook_scary_red.html","url_meta":{"origin":6201,"position":3},"title":"Blogs! Facebook! Scary! Red Alert!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 27-Feb-08 3:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Air Force bans blogs. More accurately, the Air Force is blocking all sites that have the word \"blog\" in their URL.\u00a0 AFNOC has imposed bans on all sites with...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/WWII%20Talked1_jpg.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42346,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/31\/the-house-of-representatives-actually-approved-of-something-rational-inconceiva.html","url_meta":{"origin":6201,"position":4},"title":"The House of Representatives actually approved of something rational? Inconceiva…","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 31-May-14 11:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The House of Representatives actually approved of something rational? Inconceivable!The House voted,\u00a0219-189, to defund Department of Justice raids on marijuana dispensaries where a state has legalized medical marijuana usage. I am, frankly, flabbergasted ... by the rationality so displayed. Especially by the House.\ufeff Embedded Link Historic Day: Congress votes to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18945,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/10\/16\/unblogged-bits-sat-16-oct-10-1130.html","url_meta":{"origin":6201,"position":5},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Sat. 16-Oct-10 1130)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 16-Oct-10 11:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Gingrich's Latest Scam [Dispatches from the Culture Wars] - Any award that you have to pay to get is interested more in your payment than the award. Windows browsers benchmarked: October 2010 edition Your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}