DHS Monitoring Drudge Report and Social Media

Naturally, the big question we all want answered is, "Why?" Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, The New York Times - Technology - The Atlantic Wire

It's unclear exactly why, but the Department of Homeland has been operating a "Social Networking/Media Capability" program to monitor the top blogs, forums and social networks online for at least the past 18 months. Based on a privacy compliance review from last November recently obtained by Reuters, the purpose of the project is to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture." Whatever that means. Either way, the list of sites reported by Reuters reveals in a Wednesday afternoon exclusive is pretty intriguing:

Social Networks

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Myspace

Blogs

• The Drudge Report
• The Huffington Post
• The New York Times's Lede blog
• Wired's Threat Level
• Wired's Danger Room
• ABC News' investigative blog The Blotter
• "blogs that cover bird flu … news and activity along U.S. borders … drug trafficking and cybercrime"

Multimedia

• Hulu
• YouTube
• Flickr

Related articles, courtesy of Zemanta:

• Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, The New York Times
• Report: Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, HuffPo Among Other Sites
• Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, The New York Times

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