FBI to Create Spy System: AP

By David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff

 

United States - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is creating a spy system that will allow it to monitor social media websites, including Facebook and Twitter.

 

FBI analysts are hoping to pick up tips about future terrorist threats by examining “publicly available” material from Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, as well as national and local television news, including Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. The bureau intends to zero in on keywords relating to terrorism, surveillance operations, online crime and other criminal matters. It also hopes to better “track hurricane paths and timelines for landfall and other natural disasters.”

 

Applicants who believe they can provide the system the FBI is seeking must be able to view tweets in at least 12 languages and translate them into English. They must also have the “Ability to display video feeds from traffic cameras to monitor traffic patterns, obstructions, bottle necks, protestors, and flash mobs.”

 

The Central Intelligence Agency has already been spying on Facebook and Twitter, as well as news outlets, as part of its effort to glean intelligence on upcoming threats or overseas upheaval, such as revolutions, before they begin. Doug Naquin, director of the CIA’s Open Source Center, told the Associated Press that the best analysts are those who, like the heroine of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, know “how to find stuff other people don’t know exists.”

Saudi Prince Invests in Twitter

Saudi Arabia - In what has to be a chilling effect for any dissenters in the Saudi kingdom, Prince Alwaleed bin Tatal bought a 3.75% - or 300-million - stake in Twitter.

The social media site is one of the big players in the Arab Spring, which eventually lead to the present-day worldwide revolt against the huge concentrations of power oppressing people everywhere.  Saudi Arabia is one of the few Middle Eastern countries currently unaffected not because the country treats its people well, but because they are good at crushing dissenters.  Sometimes literally.

His investment firm, Kingdom Holding Company, said the investment was "the result of several months of negotiations and comprehensive due diligence.  Our investment in Twitter reaffirms our ability in identifying suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact."

Last year, Rupert Murdoch bought a 9.09% stake in Alwaleed's film, television, and music business Rotana Media Group.  Over 18 months' time he will have an option to increase it to approximately 18%.

Prince Tatal is also the second-largest investor in NewsCorp, which runs Fox News.