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Logo of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice of the United States of America pictured at the embassy of the USA in Berlin. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
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FBI to mine social media for intel
Updated: Sunday, 12 Feb 2012, 3:51 PM EST
Published : Sunday, 12 Feb 2012, 11:22 AM EST
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. government is seeking software that can mine social media to predict the future.
Solicitations posted online show federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies hope to anticipate everything from terrorist attacks to foreign uprisings by sifting billions of posts from Twitter and other social networks.
The FBI last month outlined its desire for a digital tool to scan the entire universe of social media — more data than humans could ever crunch.
The Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence also have solicited the private sector for similar tools
The proposals already have raised privacy concerns among advocates who worry that such monitoring efforts could have a chilling effect on users.
The FBI says their proposed system will only monitor publicly available information.
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