U.S. Defense Agency to spend $42 million studing how to better track social media

[Andre]

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is to spend $42 million on new social media spy tools.

In their preamble, they state "Changes to the nature of conflict resulting from the use of social media are likely to be as profound as those resulting from previous communications revolutions".

Now, unless I misunderstand the nature of modern warfare, I do not know any government military force that relies on Facebook and YouTube in combat. These are civilian tools, used by civilians and by military personnel in their personal lives. They are not tools that can be used on the battlefield. So, what is this $42 million to be use for exactly?

In their tender documents DARPA states the program aims "... to develop operator tools and techniques ... for the systematic and methodical use of social media to accomplish four goals:

1. Detect, classify, measure and track the (a) formation, development and spread of ideas and concepts (memes), and (b) purposeful or deceptive messaging and misinformation.

2. Recognize persuasion campaign structures and influence operations across social media sites and communities.

3. Identify participants and intent, and measure effects of persuasion campaigns.

4. Counter messaging of detected adversary influence operations.

Link: http://rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2011/08/darpa-offers-42-million-for-revolutionary-research-on-social-media-analysis.html

I particularly love the bit where it says "track ... the spread of ideas"! (memes?)

Just when you thought surveillance couldn't get any worse!

[Lord Sidious]

The thing is, the battle begins loooooooooooooooooooooong before any shots are fired.
It begins with intelligence gathering.
And that is where it can be won or lost.

[SpookyMulder]

The thing is, the battle begins loooooooooooooooooooooong before any shots are fired.
It begins with intelligence gathering.
And that is where it can be won or lost.

Lordy, I will say it begins with the idea itself, the idea that "they" want to toy with us...
The intelligence gathering is when they all sit down, sip a drink and share some peanuts.

In love and light

[Maia Gabrial]

$42 million could be spent on better things, like feeding the hungry, cleaning the environment, improving education for everyone, etc., But the war machine doesn't see past the destruction of lives....And this constant study of human behavior is deceptive. They will have to change this thinking because times are changing....

[firstlook]

Let them observe. Its good for them.

[Mark]

Now, unless I misunderstand the nature of modern warfare, I do not know any government military force that relies on Facebook and YouTube in combat. These are civilian tools, used by civilians and by military personnel in their personal lives. They are not tools that can be used on the battlefield. So, what is this $42 million to be use for exactly?

It is generally used for intelligence purposes. It really began in recent years with the uprising in Iran. There were, all of a sudden, all of these Facebook accounts that sprung up calling for the downfall of the government, wanting western-style democracy. FB, Twitter and other social media (http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=620748) are used in order to sway the opinions of individuals within a society, particularly young people. Social media works so fast, it can work to mobilize a population faster than traditional law enforcement can move to stop it. So it makes sense for the governments of the world to attempt to control it through PsyOps.

[Mulder]

Unfortunately this $42 million is a drop in the bucket - all of google is really a GOVT intelligence agency - they keep your ip address, all search your history, all gmail, maps, etc is logged. They use your computer's camera & microphone to see what your up to... Just "google" (or another search engine) how laptops given to school kids were used to photograph the kids in their rooms. Look at this search I did:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School_District
http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/general-chit-chat/50676-school-laptops-invading-privacy.html

[Maia Gabrial]

Re: U.S. Defense Agency to spend $42 million studing how to better track social media
Let them observe. Its good for them.
Yeah, but firstlook, will it be good for us? Our lives are invaded in every possible way already. They don't need to know how to handle us anymore than they do....